A word to the wise
Commentary
As we have noted before, the books of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings were probably originally one work and were listed as 1, 2, 3, and 4 Kings in the Septuagint. Because they may have been written at about the same time as the book of Deuteronomy, 1 and 2 Kings reflect something of the same spirit, with an accent on warnings of what will happen if Israel disobeys the covenant God made with her.
That is the principal idea in our lesson for this Sunday. The end of David's reign had not been pleasant. Yet, God had not abandoned them. With Solomon there is an opportunity to restore and even enhance the glory of the rule of David. The one supreme command is that Yahweh alone is to be worshiped. Idolatry is forbidden. Every king, beginning with Solomon, is tested by this command. Thus, in spite of the overall positive impression we have of Solomon in this text, the note in 3:3 that "he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places" is a harbinger of things to come, of the insidious influence of the religions of neighboring countries.
Whatever his natural gifts, which are considerable, Solomon is the beneficiary of his father's work. He inherits an organized kingdom, there is peace with neighboring nations, and the potential for development in economic, political, and religious endeavors is greater than Israel has ever known.
In spite of the note about his inclination to be too religiously eclectic, it would be difficult to find a more unselfish and prayer than that of Solomon as he begins his own reign. And where is there a finer litany of qualities for leadership than we read here? Solomon loves the Lord (3:5), he is obedient to the law (3:5), he has respect for the past (3:6), he is humble (3:7), he understands the opportunity before him (3:8), and he knows his need for wisdom and understanding (3:9). He does not ask for what he is promised: long life, wealth, recognition.
Solomon's prayer and God's promise are the perfect example of what Christ called for in the Sermon on the Mount: "Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
Ephesians 5:15-20
The call to live a godly life in the world continues the emphasis that the author of Ephesians has been working on. Here the accent is on being wise. We remember the counsel of Jesus, that his followers are to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16), and his parable about the wise and foolish women. In this letter there is an urgency about living the godly and wise life because there is the assumption that they are living in the last times. Thus, this is more than saying, as we often do, that one should take advantage of every moment. If we too shared the conviction that Christ would return at any moment, it would make a significant difference in the way we lived from hour to hour. But why should not the uncertainty of life and the possibility of death at any time cause us to live that way?
The contrast between being "drunk with wine" and "filled with the Spirit" is apparently very deliberate on the part of the author. "The Christian, in a sense, is to be drunk -- not with wine but with the Spirit, as the believer is to be filled with the Spirit," writes Walter Taylor. "The contrast drawn here may be between the wine-induced frenzies popular in a number of pagan cults such as the cult of Dionysus and the Spirit-filled ecstasy of Christianity which results in 'psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.' " (Walter F. Taylor, Jr., Ephesians: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament, Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985, p. 87.)
The importance of giving thanks is a recurring part of all of the letters in the New Testament. Though they were often caught in the midst of impossible circumstances and were subject to persecution in many of the churches, they are urged to see all the reasons why they should give thanks, and most of all for the gift of grace in Christ's resurrection.
We often end our prayers with the phrase "in the name." But is it a mere appendage, a habit that we follow without much thought? From the biblical perspective, there is always power in the use of a name. Even in more recent tradition in Europe and the southern hemisphere, choosing a name for a child or giving a name to a respected member of the community was of great importance. What a far cry from the practice of parents who look at a list of names on the screen at the end of a television program to find a "cute" or "clever" name for a baby! Because God's name is holy in and of itself (the Second Commandment, for example), to use the name of Christ in prayer is to invoke all the power that he can give us.
John 6:51-58
The theme of eating and drinking, which we have been following for several weeks in the John texts, continues today. Now, however, the reference seems to be even more directly related to the Eucharist, and for this reason scholars are even more inclined to see in these lessons the influence of the early church. In two places, for example, Jesus speaks of "eating" -- literally "chewing" -- his flesh and drinking his blood. Reginald Fuller is quite specific: "Here at last we reach the definitely eucharistic part of the bread discourse; we move from bread as such to the flesh and blood of the Son of Man. The thought moves from the revelation of the incarnate One as the heavenly wisdom to his sacrificial surrender in the death of the cross. The ... material here is derived from the Supper tradition as it circulated in the Johannine communities." (Reginald Fuller, Preaching the New Lectionary: The Word of God for the Church Today, Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1974, p. 414.)
There was a natural abhorrence among Jews for blood. When an animal was killed care had to be taken to make certain every ounce of blood was drained from the animal before it was eaten or sacrificed. Even today among Orthodox Jews there are rabbis who go to meat processing plants to perform this duty before the meat can be considered kosher. Blood was not to be eaten because "the life is in the blood."
When Jesus says, "Whoever eats me," he is referring to more than the elements of flesh and blood. He is speaking of his whole person. It is God in Christ, God wholly and completely, whom we receive when we have faith. Eating is a metaphor. To eat is to receive. To receive is to believe. We recall the command to Ezekiel to eat the roll. He does so to make the words a part of his very being. It is by faith in the One who comes as Word of God in the flesh that we receive eternal life. And it is faith alone by which we come to have this life.
Suggestions For Preaching
The lesson from John would certainly give one an opportunity to preach on the development of the idea of the Eucharist in the early church tradition and, depending on one's own denominational identity, to address the nature of your church's understanding of the Sacrament today.
Another tack would be to pick up on the biblical idea of wisdom. The wisdom of Solomon is legendary and parabolic. The text from Ephesians gives insight into the New Testament understanding of wisdom. And inherent in the long narrative about bread of life in John 6 is the idea that the wise person will receive Christ and believe in him.
From beginning to end the Bible distinguishes between wisdom as a natural gift -- which Solomon had in abundance -- and wisdom as a gift of the spirit -- which Solomon failed to embrace as he gained more and more temporal authority and power. Job 32:8 sums up well the biblical idea: "Truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding." We need not get caught up in the controversy that has swirled around the "sophia" concept in Proverbs to appreciate that an important part of the very nature of God is wisdom. There is the warning, "Do not rely on your own understanding," but rather to rely on the Lord (Proverbs 3:5).
In the New Testament, wisdom is very directly related to the Spirit. While all have the gifts of the Spirit, some have "the utterance of wisdom" as a special gift (1 Corinthians 12:8). James counsels those who lack wisdom to "ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you" (1:5).
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By James A. Nestingen
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
The last verse of this lesson states bald-facedly one of the defining assumptions and hopes of human industry: "If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life." How is this true?
In fact, looking back over David's walk, a person could wonder if it is true at all. Even taken by themselves, the lessons of the past Sundays raise questions about defining God's statutes and commandments moralistically. In fact, David learned early to shave the edges, harvest opportunities and advance his own interests, even when such adventures involved his king, a married woman, or his own children. The greatest of Israel's monarchs certainly didn't suffer from scruples.
Perhaps, then, it would be better to de-emphasize the parenthetical insertion, "as your father David walked," and focus more closely on the larger statement, "if you keep my statutes and commandments...." Making this move, there is a more mixed report.
On the one side, virtually everyone has had a squeaky clean acquaintance whose uprightness, however defined, provided no protection. Car accidents, cancer, even IRS auditors don't make inquiries before visiting their seemingly random forms of hostility. On the other, there are reports of statistical evidence indicating that people who believe and pray really do cope better with difficulty and even recover faster.
Maybe the difference is the wisdom that Solomon requested. In fact, getting rigid with statutes and commandments can strangle the life out of them. Putting the hammer down, becoming unyielding or overly zealous provokes a harsh reaction. Being wise enough to recognize exceptions, introducing enough flexibility to adjust where necessary can be life promoting.
But there is something even before wisdom. Solomon asked. He still didn't know enough to stay away from the high places. When he went to such pagan sites to offer sacrifice, he was inclined to pile them higher and wider. When he talked about his father, he couldn't restrain the inclination to clean David's whole history of offense and make him a moral hero. But for all of the evidence of indiscretion and misunderstanding, for the moralizing and piousness, when Solomon got the chance he knew enough to take the chance while he had it. A young and gifted king with all of the temptations to self-transcendence, he put out his hand and said, "I'll take it." That isn't the moralism of the moralist or the wisdom of enlightenment: it is faith and just so it is life, even long life though as long as God is given the length is negotiable, here or in the resurrection.
That is the principal idea in our lesson for this Sunday. The end of David's reign had not been pleasant. Yet, God had not abandoned them. With Solomon there is an opportunity to restore and even enhance the glory of the rule of David. The one supreme command is that Yahweh alone is to be worshiped. Idolatry is forbidden. Every king, beginning with Solomon, is tested by this command. Thus, in spite of the overall positive impression we have of Solomon in this text, the note in 3:3 that "he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places" is a harbinger of things to come, of the insidious influence of the religions of neighboring countries.
Whatever his natural gifts, which are considerable, Solomon is the beneficiary of his father's work. He inherits an organized kingdom, there is peace with neighboring nations, and the potential for development in economic, political, and religious endeavors is greater than Israel has ever known.
In spite of the note about his inclination to be too religiously eclectic, it would be difficult to find a more unselfish and prayer than that of Solomon as he begins his own reign. And where is there a finer litany of qualities for leadership than we read here? Solomon loves the Lord (3:5), he is obedient to the law (3:5), he has respect for the past (3:6), he is humble (3:7), he understands the opportunity before him (3:8), and he knows his need for wisdom and understanding (3:9). He does not ask for what he is promised: long life, wealth, recognition.
Solomon's prayer and God's promise are the perfect example of what Christ called for in the Sermon on the Mount: "Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
Ephesians 5:15-20
The call to live a godly life in the world continues the emphasis that the author of Ephesians has been working on. Here the accent is on being wise. We remember the counsel of Jesus, that his followers are to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16), and his parable about the wise and foolish women. In this letter there is an urgency about living the godly and wise life because there is the assumption that they are living in the last times. Thus, this is more than saying, as we often do, that one should take advantage of every moment. If we too shared the conviction that Christ would return at any moment, it would make a significant difference in the way we lived from hour to hour. But why should not the uncertainty of life and the possibility of death at any time cause us to live that way?
The contrast between being "drunk with wine" and "filled with the Spirit" is apparently very deliberate on the part of the author. "The Christian, in a sense, is to be drunk -- not with wine but with the Spirit, as the believer is to be filled with the Spirit," writes Walter Taylor. "The contrast drawn here may be between the wine-induced frenzies popular in a number of pagan cults such as the cult of Dionysus and the Spirit-filled ecstasy of Christianity which results in 'psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.' " (Walter F. Taylor, Jr., Ephesians: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament, Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985, p. 87.)
The importance of giving thanks is a recurring part of all of the letters in the New Testament. Though they were often caught in the midst of impossible circumstances and were subject to persecution in many of the churches, they are urged to see all the reasons why they should give thanks, and most of all for the gift of grace in Christ's resurrection.
We often end our prayers with the phrase "in the name." But is it a mere appendage, a habit that we follow without much thought? From the biblical perspective, there is always power in the use of a name. Even in more recent tradition in Europe and the southern hemisphere, choosing a name for a child or giving a name to a respected member of the community was of great importance. What a far cry from the practice of parents who look at a list of names on the screen at the end of a television program to find a "cute" or "clever" name for a baby! Because God's name is holy in and of itself (the Second Commandment, for example), to use the name of Christ in prayer is to invoke all the power that he can give us.
John 6:51-58
The theme of eating and drinking, which we have been following for several weeks in the John texts, continues today. Now, however, the reference seems to be even more directly related to the Eucharist, and for this reason scholars are even more inclined to see in these lessons the influence of the early church. In two places, for example, Jesus speaks of "eating" -- literally "chewing" -- his flesh and drinking his blood. Reginald Fuller is quite specific: "Here at last we reach the definitely eucharistic part of the bread discourse; we move from bread as such to the flesh and blood of the Son of Man. The thought moves from the revelation of the incarnate One as the heavenly wisdom to his sacrificial surrender in the death of the cross. The ... material here is derived from the Supper tradition as it circulated in the Johannine communities." (Reginald Fuller, Preaching the New Lectionary: The Word of God for the Church Today, Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1974, p. 414.)
There was a natural abhorrence among Jews for blood. When an animal was killed care had to be taken to make certain every ounce of blood was drained from the animal before it was eaten or sacrificed. Even today among Orthodox Jews there are rabbis who go to meat processing plants to perform this duty before the meat can be considered kosher. Blood was not to be eaten because "the life is in the blood."
When Jesus says, "Whoever eats me," he is referring to more than the elements of flesh and blood. He is speaking of his whole person. It is God in Christ, God wholly and completely, whom we receive when we have faith. Eating is a metaphor. To eat is to receive. To receive is to believe. We recall the command to Ezekiel to eat the roll. He does so to make the words a part of his very being. It is by faith in the One who comes as Word of God in the flesh that we receive eternal life. And it is faith alone by which we come to have this life.
Suggestions For Preaching
The lesson from John would certainly give one an opportunity to preach on the development of the idea of the Eucharist in the early church tradition and, depending on one's own denominational identity, to address the nature of your church's understanding of the Sacrament today.
Another tack would be to pick up on the biblical idea of wisdom. The wisdom of Solomon is legendary and parabolic. The text from Ephesians gives insight into the New Testament understanding of wisdom. And inherent in the long narrative about bread of life in John 6 is the idea that the wise person will receive Christ and believe in him.
From beginning to end the Bible distinguishes between wisdom as a natural gift -- which Solomon had in abundance -- and wisdom as a gift of the spirit -- which Solomon failed to embrace as he gained more and more temporal authority and power. Job 32:8 sums up well the biblical idea: "Truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding." We need not get caught up in the controversy that has swirled around the "sophia" concept in Proverbs to appreciate that an important part of the very nature of God is wisdom. There is the warning, "Do not rely on your own understanding," but rather to rely on the Lord (Proverbs 3:5).
In the New Testament, wisdom is very directly related to the Spirit. While all have the gifts of the Spirit, some have "the utterance of wisdom" as a special gift (1 Corinthians 12:8). James counsels those who lack wisdom to "ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you" (1:5).
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By James A. Nestingen
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
The last verse of this lesson states bald-facedly one of the defining assumptions and hopes of human industry: "If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life." How is this true?
In fact, looking back over David's walk, a person could wonder if it is true at all. Even taken by themselves, the lessons of the past Sundays raise questions about defining God's statutes and commandments moralistically. In fact, David learned early to shave the edges, harvest opportunities and advance his own interests, even when such adventures involved his king, a married woman, or his own children. The greatest of Israel's monarchs certainly didn't suffer from scruples.
Perhaps, then, it would be better to de-emphasize the parenthetical insertion, "as your father David walked," and focus more closely on the larger statement, "if you keep my statutes and commandments...." Making this move, there is a more mixed report.
On the one side, virtually everyone has had a squeaky clean acquaintance whose uprightness, however defined, provided no protection. Car accidents, cancer, even IRS auditors don't make inquiries before visiting their seemingly random forms of hostility. On the other, there are reports of statistical evidence indicating that people who believe and pray really do cope better with difficulty and even recover faster.
Maybe the difference is the wisdom that Solomon requested. In fact, getting rigid with statutes and commandments can strangle the life out of them. Putting the hammer down, becoming unyielding or overly zealous provokes a harsh reaction. Being wise enough to recognize exceptions, introducing enough flexibility to adjust where necessary can be life promoting.
But there is something even before wisdom. Solomon asked. He still didn't know enough to stay away from the high places. When he went to such pagan sites to offer sacrifice, he was inclined to pile them higher and wider. When he talked about his father, he couldn't restrain the inclination to clean David's whole history of offense and make him a moral hero. But for all of the evidence of indiscretion and misunderstanding, for the moralizing and piousness, when Solomon got the chance he knew enough to take the chance while he had it. A young and gifted king with all of the temptations to self-transcendence, he put out his hand and said, "I'll take it." That isn't the moralism of the moralist or the wisdom of enlightenment: it is faith and just so it is life, even long life though as long as God is given the length is negotiable, here or in the resurrection.
