Learn and Live
Commentary
There are lessons to be learned at all levels of life. In Hosea (and Psalm 107) we learn as spiritual children to recognize that our heavenly parent chides us to improve us, and that regardless of what may come our way, we are loved and that will have a great bearing on our future.
In Colossians we learn what it means to be a community of faith instead of a solitary believer.
In Luke we learn that it’s not always about us and our prosperity. There is a wider perspective, and a more divine peace that should motivate us as God’s people to seek the welfare of all, and not just ourselves.
Hosea 11:1-11, Psalm 107:1-9, 43
The prophet tells a story, and of course it doesn’t take us long to figure out it’s about us, and our history with God. God laments that as a loving parent cares for a child’s welfare and prepares for the best future possible, so Israel was brought out of Egypt. God raised this child with love and compassion, yet the child strayed deliberately, and in consequence, self-imposed punishments were endured by this child. Yet God is a loving parent and won’t give up. A bright future is ordained for the child who learns a lesson from the consequences endured.
Complaint, punishment, and restoration is the pattern to be found in the reading from Psalm 107 as well. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” it says liturgically. One can hear the call and response in this reading. And in addition to the wandering in the desert, the children of Israel endured other stories are told that remind us God is reaching out to us. God helped individuals who lost their way (4-9), rescued prisoners (10-16), healed the sick (17-22), saved those in danger on the sea (23-32), and God’s power is demonstrated over nature, and in God’s care for the needy (33-42). Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
The psalm closes with a wisdom statement (43): “Let those who are wise give heed to these things and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.” Learn from the prophet Hosea. Learn from the psalm. God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Colossians 3:1-11
With words that call to mind the famous passage in Galatians 3:28, we read: “In Christ there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised Barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all….” How did this come to be? Paul reminds the believers in Colossae that they have died to this world and have been raised in Christ. That’s what makes the new life possible. It may not be obvious to the larger world, but we’re no longer a part of it. That’s why there follows a series of imperatives. Commands. “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly….” Paul lists those things in the verses that follow and there are a lot of them. All of them dehumanize others, making them objects, when all of us are sisters and brothers in Christ. This is a new world, a new community. Learn it. Live it.
Luke 12:13-21
The lesson to be learned here is a little tricky. Let’s bear in mind that on the surface nothing that the person Jesus labels as “fool” in this parable is wrong. Crop management, successful harvest, wise stewardship in upgrading equipment and facilities – these are good things! So, what’s the lesson to be learned?
The reading begins with an individual who listens to Jesus, recognizes his wisdom, and calls on him to arbitrate a legal case he has against his brother regarding his inheritance. In the Graeco-Roman world, it was not uncommon for two individuals to stop someone whose wisdom both would accept and ask that person to adjudicate their disagreement. You will recall that in the Book of Ruth, Boaz seeks out the old men of the town whose gather at the city gate to adjudicate the legal question of who owns Naomi’s property and therefore who should marry this Moabite woman.
So, what is wrong with this person asking? Perhaps it is less a matter of justice and more the “me, me, me” attitude of this bystander who sees a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of Jesus’s expertise to pad his pockets. Jesus doesn’t call him a whitewashed sepulcher or anything like that. He even calls him “friend.” But Jesus follows his question, “Who set me up to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” with a parable. Stories invite us to become participants in the lesson, and in this case, we see a wise landowner respond to an abundant harvest with plans to preserve that harvest and enjoy the fruits of his labor.
What’s wrong with that? As it says in Ecclesiastes 8:15, “So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun that to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves….” Yes, it’s true. But as Ben Witherington III and Amy-Jill Levine note in their joint commentary on Luke, the rich man “has no community, no wife, and no children, as far as we know.” It’s all about him, and he ignores the well-being over others. It was wise to build a barn, but foolish to think the harvest all belonged to him. His psyche, his core being, is at rest, he thinks, because he’s got it all under control, when none of us controls everything about our destiny. Nothing is laid aside for the poor.
I think of Scrooge’s legacy in Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. It was in sharing his hard-earned money, blessing the poor, saving Tiny Tim, and raising the level of prosperity for his employee that his psyche could truly have been at peace.
I’m safe, we sometimes think. Let others fall prey to poverty, the pandemic, the ups and down of the economy. But it’s not always about us. Is the purpose of church to increase our bottom line? Should we leave one church and attend another because we’ll have more people to draw into our business net? Should we consider possible political connections in choosing a church?
In Colossians we learn what it means to be a community of faith instead of a solitary believer.
In Luke we learn that it’s not always about us and our prosperity. There is a wider perspective, and a more divine peace that should motivate us as God’s people to seek the welfare of all, and not just ourselves.
Hosea 11:1-11, Psalm 107:1-9, 43
The prophet tells a story, and of course it doesn’t take us long to figure out it’s about us, and our history with God. God laments that as a loving parent cares for a child’s welfare and prepares for the best future possible, so Israel was brought out of Egypt. God raised this child with love and compassion, yet the child strayed deliberately, and in consequence, self-imposed punishments were endured by this child. Yet God is a loving parent and won’t give up. A bright future is ordained for the child who learns a lesson from the consequences endured.
Complaint, punishment, and restoration is the pattern to be found in the reading from Psalm 107 as well. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” it says liturgically. One can hear the call and response in this reading. And in addition to the wandering in the desert, the children of Israel endured other stories are told that remind us God is reaching out to us. God helped individuals who lost their way (4-9), rescued prisoners (10-16), healed the sick (17-22), saved those in danger on the sea (23-32), and God’s power is demonstrated over nature, and in God’s care for the needy (33-42). Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
The psalm closes with a wisdom statement (43): “Let those who are wise give heed to these things and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.” Learn from the prophet Hosea. Learn from the psalm. God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Colossians 3:1-11
With words that call to mind the famous passage in Galatians 3:28, we read: “In Christ there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised Barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all….” How did this come to be? Paul reminds the believers in Colossae that they have died to this world and have been raised in Christ. That’s what makes the new life possible. It may not be obvious to the larger world, but we’re no longer a part of it. That’s why there follows a series of imperatives. Commands. “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly….” Paul lists those things in the verses that follow and there are a lot of them. All of them dehumanize others, making them objects, when all of us are sisters and brothers in Christ. This is a new world, a new community. Learn it. Live it.
Luke 12:13-21
The lesson to be learned here is a little tricky. Let’s bear in mind that on the surface nothing that the person Jesus labels as “fool” in this parable is wrong. Crop management, successful harvest, wise stewardship in upgrading equipment and facilities – these are good things! So, what’s the lesson to be learned?
The reading begins with an individual who listens to Jesus, recognizes his wisdom, and calls on him to arbitrate a legal case he has against his brother regarding his inheritance. In the Graeco-Roman world, it was not uncommon for two individuals to stop someone whose wisdom both would accept and ask that person to adjudicate their disagreement. You will recall that in the Book of Ruth, Boaz seeks out the old men of the town whose gather at the city gate to adjudicate the legal question of who owns Naomi’s property and therefore who should marry this Moabite woman.
So, what is wrong with this person asking? Perhaps it is less a matter of justice and more the “me, me, me” attitude of this bystander who sees a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of Jesus’s expertise to pad his pockets. Jesus doesn’t call him a whitewashed sepulcher or anything like that. He even calls him “friend.” But Jesus follows his question, “Who set me up to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” with a parable. Stories invite us to become participants in the lesson, and in this case, we see a wise landowner respond to an abundant harvest with plans to preserve that harvest and enjoy the fruits of his labor.
What’s wrong with that? As it says in Ecclesiastes 8:15, “So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun that to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves….” Yes, it’s true. But as Ben Witherington III and Amy-Jill Levine note in their joint commentary on Luke, the rich man “has no community, no wife, and no children, as far as we know.” It’s all about him, and he ignores the well-being over others. It was wise to build a barn, but foolish to think the harvest all belonged to him. His psyche, his core being, is at rest, he thinks, because he’s got it all under control, when none of us controls everything about our destiny. Nothing is laid aside for the poor.
I think of Scrooge’s legacy in Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. It was in sharing his hard-earned money, blessing the poor, saving Tiny Tim, and raising the level of prosperity for his employee that his psyche could truly have been at peace.
I’m safe, we sometimes think. Let others fall prey to poverty, the pandemic, the ups and down of the economy. But it’s not always about us. Is the purpose of church to increase our bottom line? Should we leave one church and attend another because we’ll have more people to draw into our business net? Should we consider possible political connections in choosing a church?
