Living the Gift of Faith
Commentary
Genesis 29:15-28
The First Lesson, drawn from the Bible’s Book of Origins (the reason why we name it Genesis), the product of four distinct oral strands, recounts the story of Jacob winning Rachel. The source of this account is unclear. The account begins with Laban, the father of Rachel, who was also the brother of Jacob’s mother (v.10), running to meet Jacob, kissing him, and coming to him as kin (vv.13-14). Then Laban proposed that since they were kin [ach, literally “brother”] Jacob should serve him for nothing (and then asked about wages Jacob wanted ) (v.15). Laban’s two daughters are described (vv.16-17). (Rachel the younger is portrayed as graceful and beautiful compared to her elder sister Leah.) Jacob loved [aheb] Rachel and offers to serve Laban seven years for her (v.18). Laban agrees to keep Jacob in his house with him and the time went fast for Jacob because of his love for Rachel (vv.19-20).
After seven years, Jacob demands his bride and Laban responds by surreptitiously giving him his eldest daughter Leah (vv.21-24). Jacob only realized this in the morning after having sexual relations [bo, meaning literally “go into”] with Leah and then confronts Laban (v.25). It is not surprising that Jacob could have been so deceived, because it was custom in the Ancient Near East that the bride was brought veiled to the bridegroom (24:26). Claiming that in his country one could not give the younger in marriage before the firstborn, Laban insists on Jacob serving another seven years for Rachel, and this transpires (vv.26-28). It was typical that a marriage price be paid by the bridegroom (Exodus 22:16-17). And the seven years connotes the seven days of an early Jewish marriage festivity (Judges 14:12). Recall that Jacob had similarly defrauded his father (27:18-39).
This is a text with which to explore the realities of sin (even in family relations). That families are clearly torn by conflict is evidenced in the 2020 Census Bureau report that only 70% of children live with two parents (compared to 85% in 1968). Imagine the conflict with in-laws in these separated families. Life in this sinful condition of conflict can only be made better by an openness to compromise with bad behavior, an openness to opting for what is pragmatic if it serves peace, justice, and God’s will. Living with the gift of faith does not demand that we always strive for ideals and be unwilling to compromise. The life of faith in a sinful world is messier than that.
Romans 8:26-39
In the Second Lesson, drawn from Paul’s introduction to Christians in Rome (written between 54 and 58 AD), he turns in this lesson to a discussion of how the Spirit sustains us even in our weakness, also offering a testimony to confidence in God. The Spirit is said to help us in weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit [pneuma] intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words (v.26). And God Who searches the heart [kardia] knows what is in the Spirit’s mind [phronema, also translated as “inclination”], because the Spirit intercedes for us saints according to God’s will (v.27).
All things are said to work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to his purpose [prosthesis] (v.28). Those whom God foreknew [proginosko] he also predestinated [proorizo] to be conformed [summorphos] to the image of his Son, and those predestinated he also called and justified dikaioo] as well as glorified (vv.29-30). Paul then notes that if God is for us none can be against us. Not withholding his own son, will he not give everything else (vv.31-32)? None can bring charges against God’s elect [eklektos] or condemn them, he adds, for Christ died, rose, and intercedes at the Father’s right hand [dexios] for us (vv.33-34). Nothing can separate us from the love [agape] of Christ. Psalm 44:22 is quoted regarding that point that for God’s sake we are slaughtered (vv.35-36). In all things, Paul adds, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (v.37). He then reiterates that nothing in all creation can separate the faithful from the love of God in Christ Jesus (vv.38-39).
The text affords an excellent opportunity to proclaim the Good News associated with predestination (and so with justification by grace). Given their preoccupation with making choices, having freedom, this is a word which most Americans are not likely to welcome. But we need to note that no reference in this text is made to an election to damnation. Predestination is all about salvation and God’s love in this passage. It is does not pertain to or preclude our freedom in ordinary things in life, like what meal to eat, what job to take, what clothes to wear, and the like. Predestination has a lot to do with love. Just as we “fall” in love, for whom we love is not really an unbiased choice (certainly to love one’s child is not a choice), Predestination operates this way. It is a word to remind us that faith and salvation are God’s work, that nothing separates us from God’s love. Because God is for us, nothing can be against us.
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
In the gospel again we consider the most Jewish-oriented of all the gospels, addressing an original audience that was probably comprised of Jewish Christians no longer in full communion with Judaism (see 24:20). The lesson recounts Jesus’ parables of the mustard seed, of the yeast, the hidden treasure, ands of the pearl of great value. These parables deal with the problem of apostasy in the church. The perspective taken is a clear critique of the tendency of the Pharisees and Qumran community to advocate the creation of a sect of devout believers separate from the unfaithful.
Jesus’ first parable in the lesson begins with the comparison between the kingdom of heaven and a mustard seed [sperma]. The mustard seed is the smallest of seeds, but when grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree so birds make nests in the branches (vv.31-32). Then Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to yeast that a woman mixed with flour until it was leavened (v.33). The point of this and the first parable is that although in their preaching his followers may appear to fail, there will be a success when God consummates his kingdom (Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Matthew, p.307).
After an explanation of the Parable of the Weeds of the Field (vv.33-43; cf.vv.24-30), unique to Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a treasure [thesaurus] hidden in a field that someone found and hid, then in his joy sells all he has and buys the field (v.44). Next Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven as like a merchant in search of fine pearls who finds a pearl of great value and sells all that he had and bought it (vv.45-46). This and the preceding parable proclaim the great joy associated with the kingdom of heaven, a joy that mandates action. The real source of power is the objects found, like the kingdom of heaven gives rise to the actions of God (Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According To Matthew, p.312). Then he compares the kingdom of heaven to a net [sagene] thrown into the sea and caught fish. When full they drew it ashore, sat down, kept the good and threw out the bad (vv.47-48). Jesus asks if his hearers have understood. They claim they have (v.51). Finally, he asserts that every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household [oikodespote] bringing out of his treasure what is new and what is old (v.52). This seems to imply that experts in Mosaic law who have become disciples of Jesus are now able to preserve insights of the past while enlarging on them in new ways in light of Jesus.
The text provides occasions for proclaiming comforting words that the mission of God and the church may start small, not immediately yielding fruit, but that great things can then happen.
This awareness that many of God’s works and ministries start small should also heighten sensitivities to an awareness that Christians need to take the good along with the bad, that good and bad or imperfect are mixed together in light. Likewise, the parable reminds us (a reminder that many in the congregation, especially the youth might need to hear), that there may be as much treasure to old ways as in the new.
All the lessons offer occasions for sermons devoted to the subject of living the life of faith, with faith understood as God’s gift to us, not as something we do. We are to be reminded that because of sin the life of faith is sometimes filled with ambiguities, but that these ambiguities can be encountered with hope and confidence in God’s forgiving love.
The First Lesson, drawn from the Bible’s Book of Origins (the reason why we name it Genesis), the product of four distinct oral strands, recounts the story of Jacob winning Rachel. The source of this account is unclear. The account begins with Laban, the father of Rachel, who was also the brother of Jacob’s mother (v.10), running to meet Jacob, kissing him, and coming to him as kin (vv.13-14). Then Laban proposed that since they were kin [ach, literally “brother”] Jacob should serve him for nothing (and then asked about wages Jacob wanted ) (v.15). Laban’s two daughters are described (vv.16-17). (Rachel the younger is portrayed as graceful and beautiful compared to her elder sister Leah.) Jacob loved [aheb] Rachel and offers to serve Laban seven years for her (v.18). Laban agrees to keep Jacob in his house with him and the time went fast for Jacob because of his love for Rachel (vv.19-20).
After seven years, Jacob demands his bride and Laban responds by surreptitiously giving him his eldest daughter Leah (vv.21-24). Jacob only realized this in the morning after having sexual relations [bo, meaning literally “go into”] with Leah and then confronts Laban (v.25). It is not surprising that Jacob could have been so deceived, because it was custom in the Ancient Near East that the bride was brought veiled to the bridegroom (24:26). Claiming that in his country one could not give the younger in marriage before the firstborn, Laban insists on Jacob serving another seven years for Rachel, and this transpires (vv.26-28). It was typical that a marriage price be paid by the bridegroom (Exodus 22:16-17). And the seven years connotes the seven days of an early Jewish marriage festivity (Judges 14:12). Recall that Jacob had similarly defrauded his father (27:18-39).
This is a text with which to explore the realities of sin (even in family relations). That families are clearly torn by conflict is evidenced in the 2020 Census Bureau report that only 70% of children live with two parents (compared to 85% in 1968). Imagine the conflict with in-laws in these separated families. Life in this sinful condition of conflict can only be made better by an openness to compromise with bad behavior, an openness to opting for what is pragmatic if it serves peace, justice, and God’s will. Living with the gift of faith does not demand that we always strive for ideals and be unwilling to compromise. The life of faith in a sinful world is messier than that.
Romans 8:26-39
In the Second Lesson, drawn from Paul’s introduction to Christians in Rome (written between 54 and 58 AD), he turns in this lesson to a discussion of how the Spirit sustains us even in our weakness, also offering a testimony to confidence in God. The Spirit is said to help us in weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit [pneuma] intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words (v.26). And God Who searches the heart [kardia] knows what is in the Spirit’s mind [phronema, also translated as “inclination”], because the Spirit intercedes for us saints according to God’s will (v.27).
All things are said to work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to his purpose [prosthesis] (v.28). Those whom God foreknew [proginosko] he also predestinated [proorizo] to be conformed [summorphos] to the image of his Son, and those predestinated he also called and justified dikaioo] as well as glorified (vv.29-30). Paul then notes that if God is for us none can be against us. Not withholding his own son, will he not give everything else (vv.31-32)? None can bring charges against God’s elect [eklektos] or condemn them, he adds, for Christ died, rose, and intercedes at the Father’s right hand [dexios] for us (vv.33-34). Nothing can separate us from the love [agape] of Christ. Psalm 44:22 is quoted regarding that point that for God’s sake we are slaughtered (vv.35-36). In all things, Paul adds, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (v.37). He then reiterates that nothing in all creation can separate the faithful from the love of God in Christ Jesus (vv.38-39).
The text affords an excellent opportunity to proclaim the Good News associated with predestination (and so with justification by grace). Given their preoccupation with making choices, having freedom, this is a word which most Americans are not likely to welcome. But we need to note that no reference in this text is made to an election to damnation. Predestination is all about salvation and God’s love in this passage. It is does not pertain to or preclude our freedom in ordinary things in life, like what meal to eat, what job to take, what clothes to wear, and the like. Predestination has a lot to do with love. Just as we “fall” in love, for whom we love is not really an unbiased choice (certainly to love one’s child is not a choice), Predestination operates this way. It is a word to remind us that faith and salvation are God’s work, that nothing separates us from God’s love. Because God is for us, nothing can be against us.
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
In the gospel again we consider the most Jewish-oriented of all the gospels, addressing an original audience that was probably comprised of Jewish Christians no longer in full communion with Judaism (see 24:20). The lesson recounts Jesus’ parables of the mustard seed, of the yeast, the hidden treasure, ands of the pearl of great value. These parables deal with the problem of apostasy in the church. The perspective taken is a clear critique of the tendency of the Pharisees and Qumran community to advocate the creation of a sect of devout believers separate from the unfaithful.
Jesus’ first parable in the lesson begins with the comparison between the kingdom of heaven and a mustard seed [sperma]. The mustard seed is the smallest of seeds, but when grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree so birds make nests in the branches (vv.31-32). Then Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to yeast that a woman mixed with flour until it was leavened (v.33). The point of this and the first parable is that although in their preaching his followers may appear to fail, there will be a success when God consummates his kingdom (Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Matthew, p.307).
After an explanation of the Parable of the Weeds of the Field (vv.33-43; cf.vv.24-30), unique to Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a treasure [thesaurus] hidden in a field that someone found and hid, then in his joy sells all he has and buys the field (v.44). Next Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven as like a merchant in search of fine pearls who finds a pearl of great value and sells all that he had and bought it (vv.45-46). This and the preceding parable proclaim the great joy associated with the kingdom of heaven, a joy that mandates action. The real source of power is the objects found, like the kingdom of heaven gives rise to the actions of God (Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According To Matthew, p.312). Then he compares the kingdom of heaven to a net [sagene] thrown into the sea and caught fish. When full they drew it ashore, sat down, kept the good and threw out the bad (vv.47-48). Jesus asks if his hearers have understood. They claim they have (v.51). Finally, he asserts that every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household [oikodespote] bringing out of his treasure what is new and what is old (v.52). This seems to imply that experts in Mosaic law who have become disciples of Jesus are now able to preserve insights of the past while enlarging on them in new ways in light of Jesus.
The text provides occasions for proclaiming comforting words that the mission of God and the church may start small, not immediately yielding fruit, but that great things can then happen.
This awareness that many of God’s works and ministries start small should also heighten sensitivities to an awareness that Christians need to take the good along with the bad, that good and bad or imperfect are mixed together in light. Likewise, the parable reminds us (a reminder that many in the congregation, especially the youth might need to hear), that there may be as much treasure to old ways as in the new.
All the lessons offer occasions for sermons devoted to the subject of living the life of faith, with faith understood as God’s gift to us, not as something we do. We are to be reminded that because of sin the life of faith is sometimes filled with ambiguities, but that these ambiguities can be encountered with hope and confidence in God’s forgiving love.
