Free to be, to do, and not to do
Commentary
This remarkable passage is nestled in the midst of a long litany of detailed legislative instructions about how the chosen people of God are to live. It is a strong attack against the prevailing polytheism of the day. As continues to be the case to this day where it survives and thrives, polytheism calls for appeasement of a panoply of gods and other powers which are thought to have control over various aspects of one's life. There are endless forms of magic and superstition. Any contact with her neighbor would mean a temptation for Israel to embrace these practices.
In this passage the essence of God's call to one faith in one Lord is underscored. This God stands above any attempt to be influenced by magical incantations. This God cannot be manipulated. This God chooses the manner and the moment of revelation. When the prophet of God speaks, it will be a clear word, in contrast to the devious and unstable word of the false prophet.
This text wrestles with the question of the validity of a prophecy. "How can we recognize a word that God has not spoken? We continue to test the prophets, wondering which are true and which false. The answer given here and in other places is not all that helpful: "If the thing does not take place
it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. That is hindsight and most of us are reasonably good at it. The harder question is: "How do we know it is a prophetic word at the moment it is spoken? How can we know as he or she speaks that this is a true servant of God who brings a word from God?"
The answer may be in recalling that prophecy is more than foretelling. It is also forth telling, as a literal translation of the Greek word would indicate. A true prophet speaks words that are consistent with what God has already revealed. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Malachi - these and other true prophets spoke words that were true to the covenant, true to the Ten Commandments, true to the word of judgment and hope that had never changed.
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Once more, as in our consideration of Corinthian texts on previous Sundays, the context is the point, not the particular details of an issue with which Paul is dealing. Yes, the immediate question is about eating meat sacrificed to idols. Those who are smart go to the market and buy this "budget beef" at a fraction of the cost of meat not sacrificed to idols. For them, meat is meat. Since idols are nothing to them now that they have faith, eating this meat cannot possibly harm them. It is simply a question of economics.
But habits die slowly. Long after we have reasoned out in our minds that something may not be harmful to our faith, the echoes of earlier proscriptions linger. And, for some, it remains an issue of faith.
For this reason, those with "knowledge will take care lest their freedom to do certain things becomes a snare to the weak. At the root of the text, regardless of the specific issue, are some fundamental principles. They are found in these phrases: "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." There is one God and one Lord, Jesus Christ. "Take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak". Luther's well-known prescription goes to the essence of this question: "A Christian is a free lord of all and subject to no one. A Christian is a ministering servant of all and subject to everyone."
We are called to live in tension between these two seemingly opposite demands. Surely we are not expected to conform to the expectations of the most narrow-minded legalist in the congregation or community. At the same time, Christian courtesy and sensitivity mean that our concern to serve others will always take precedence over any inclination to do as we please. In his reflections on Galatians 5:1 ("For freedom Christ has set us free ), Luther comes at the issue by comparing and contrasting human freedom with Christian freedom. A court of law, says Luther, can declare that certain freedoms are to be accorded to every citizen, even though many will continue to practice prejudice against certain others. On the other hand, Christians, out of the reservoir of the love they have found in God, will practice acts of kindness and consideration long before the law demands them to be done. In fact, they will do things never demanded by law.
To put it another way: We are free to do; but we are also free not to do - especially if it offends a sister or brother in Christ.
Mark 1:21-28
Other than some very brief and succinct words about repentance and faith in 1:15, this text is the introduction to Jesus' public ministry. True to what follows in the rest of his gospel, Mark focuses on Jesus as teacher. Paul Achtemeier and others see this as Mark's unique contribution.
Mark saw in Jesus' activity as teacher the central thrust of his mission as the one who announced the inbreaking of God's rule. Again and again, in summaries he has composed, he identifies Jesus as teacher, or names his activity "teaching. Far more often than Mark tells us that Jesus preached, he specifically tells us that Jesus functioned as teacher.
(Paul J. Achtemeier, Mark, Proclamation Series, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975, p. 60.)
But Jesus is not just a teacher, or even a great and good teacher. Mark wants us to understand that Jesus is the teacher. "They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority," says Mark. And the response of the crowd to the healing of the man with an unclean spirit verifies Mark's judgment: "What is this? A new teaching - with authority! This is a text where we could easily get lost in the story of the healing. But the miracle is for Mark only a vehicle to bear the greater ns - we now have a teacher whose authority is beyond anything we have ever known.
In what sense can we say that the healing of the possessed man was "teaching "? We normally think of teaching as conveyed by words, with the instructor using speech as a means for conveying some truth. Though Jesus is called "teacher" there is nothing in the text about what he taught. Lamar Williamson cuts through what he calls this "awkwardness" by suggesting that the repetition of "teaching and "authority before and after the miracle ties the text together into a single passage, "linking Jesus' power both word and deed as evidence of his amazing authority. (Lamar Williamson, Mark, Louisville: John Knox Press, 1983, p. 49.)
The same is true for us. We are inclined to think of ourselves in a teaching role when we are leading a Bible class, preaching, instructing the youth. That is when we tend to feel most "authoritative. That is when folks sit looking at us, expecting that we will share what we have learned. But Mark reminds us that all of life is teaching. Wherever we go, whatever we do, spoken or unspoken, we are teaching.
The same can be said about "authority. Again, we are inclined to think in terms of what we are "authorized" to do. But there is another kind of authority. It is that self-authenticating way of life that we recognize in certain rare individuals who need to be nothing other than themselves. Mark wants us to know that Jesus was one such person.
Suggestions For Preaching
The lessons for this week give us the opportunity to deal with the very delicate issue of Christian freedom. The people of Israel thought they should be free to dabble in a bit of polytheism, so long as they practiced their covenant faith. Some Corinthian believers thought of themselves as above the constraints of laws that had once confined them. Ultimately, it all comes down to relationship with Christ, the authoritative teacher of teachers. Luther indeed had it right - we are free in Christ from any restraints of the Law. But he also had it right - we are bound by our relationship with Christ to serve others and to do anything we can to set them free from the demons that bind and control them. If that means foregoing a treasured freedom, then we will do it for their sake.
The revealing word for this Epiphany Sunday is that Christ is the final authority in all things. "You have heard that it was said, but I say" becomes the watchword for Christian living. Though we cannot and will not always agree on what Christ would have us say or do, the very least we must do is to ask, "What is the mind of Christ? When we undertake our search with that question uppermost in our minds we will usually be amazed at how often we reach consensus, even when the issues beg easy answers.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By James A. Nestingen
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
In the traditions of Judaism, the policy that God established with Moses in this text was provisional. Many prophets followed, but about 2,500 years ago, God stopped calling them. Christians put a different end to the story, however: the word continues, now on the lips of preachers.
Moses embodied several offices, including those of both prophet and bureaucrat. So we hear him in these words, making arrangement for prophetic succession. It is an odd combination. Prophets like Elijah or Amos didn't succeed to office; they were called as God and the occasion demanded. To bureaucratize such an office is to attempt to organize the spontaneous - success at such an enterprise would in itself be the end of it.
The prophets survived the attempt. People like Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel didn't report to anyone; neither did they institutionalize their offices. They heard the Lord's voice and in turn spoke the word which had been entrusted to them.
Generally, the word of the Lord in the prophets' mouths was just what the people had come to fear - a harsh, condemning word. A profound sense of God's gracious promise along with categoric knowledge of the law made the prophets receptive to woes and denunciations not only for the surrounding nations but the people themselves.
Maybe that's why God stopped calling prophets. They gave Israel some protection against the overbearing power of God's presence, as the text says, but even as intermediaries, they become so overpowering that the people wouldn't put up with them - not only the kings and their courtiers, generally the first confronted, but the crowds themselves.
If God stopped calling prophets, the same doesn't apply to pastors. There's a big difference. Prophets live on the edge of town, dressing sycamore trees or picking up a living on the side; pastors live in parsonages or on housing allowances. Prophets generally stand over and against; when pastors confront, they always have to "give the apple with the rod, as Luther said, speaking the healing word with the hard one."
If the offices have shifted among Christians, Moses' standard of judgment remains the same. Both the prophets of old and the parish pastors of this day must speak the truth, the preacher identifying honestly what God demands while faithfully bringing home the gospel so that it is unmistakably, beyond any question, the gracing word of Christ.
In this passage the essence of God's call to one faith in one Lord is underscored. This God stands above any attempt to be influenced by magical incantations. This God cannot be manipulated. This God chooses the manner and the moment of revelation. When the prophet of God speaks, it will be a clear word, in contrast to the devious and unstable word of the false prophet.
This text wrestles with the question of the validity of a prophecy. "How can we recognize a word that God has not spoken? We continue to test the prophets, wondering which are true and which false. The answer given here and in other places is not all that helpful: "If the thing does not take place
it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. That is hindsight and most of us are reasonably good at it. The harder question is: "How do we know it is a prophetic word at the moment it is spoken? How can we know as he or she speaks that this is a true servant of God who brings a word from God?"
The answer may be in recalling that prophecy is more than foretelling. It is also forth telling, as a literal translation of the Greek word would indicate. A true prophet speaks words that are consistent with what God has already revealed. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Malachi - these and other true prophets spoke words that were true to the covenant, true to the Ten Commandments, true to the word of judgment and hope that had never changed.
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Once more, as in our consideration of Corinthian texts on previous Sundays, the context is the point, not the particular details of an issue with which Paul is dealing. Yes, the immediate question is about eating meat sacrificed to idols. Those who are smart go to the market and buy this "budget beef" at a fraction of the cost of meat not sacrificed to idols. For them, meat is meat. Since idols are nothing to them now that they have faith, eating this meat cannot possibly harm them. It is simply a question of economics.
But habits die slowly. Long after we have reasoned out in our minds that something may not be harmful to our faith, the echoes of earlier proscriptions linger. And, for some, it remains an issue of faith.
For this reason, those with "knowledge will take care lest their freedom to do certain things becomes a snare to the weak. At the root of the text, regardless of the specific issue, are some fundamental principles. They are found in these phrases: "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." There is one God and one Lord, Jesus Christ. "Take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak". Luther's well-known prescription goes to the essence of this question: "A Christian is a free lord of all and subject to no one. A Christian is a ministering servant of all and subject to everyone."
We are called to live in tension between these two seemingly opposite demands. Surely we are not expected to conform to the expectations of the most narrow-minded legalist in the congregation or community. At the same time, Christian courtesy and sensitivity mean that our concern to serve others will always take precedence over any inclination to do as we please. In his reflections on Galatians 5:1 ("For freedom Christ has set us free ), Luther comes at the issue by comparing and contrasting human freedom with Christian freedom. A court of law, says Luther, can declare that certain freedoms are to be accorded to every citizen, even though many will continue to practice prejudice against certain others. On the other hand, Christians, out of the reservoir of the love they have found in God, will practice acts of kindness and consideration long before the law demands them to be done. In fact, they will do things never demanded by law.
To put it another way: We are free to do; but we are also free not to do - especially if it offends a sister or brother in Christ.
Mark 1:21-28
Other than some very brief and succinct words about repentance and faith in 1:15, this text is the introduction to Jesus' public ministry. True to what follows in the rest of his gospel, Mark focuses on Jesus as teacher. Paul Achtemeier and others see this as Mark's unique contribution.
Mark saw in Jesus' activity as teacher the central thrust of his mission as the one who announced the inbreaking of God's rule. Again and again, in summaries he has composed, he identifies Jesus as teacher, or names his activity "teaching. Far more often than Mark tells us that Jesus preached, he specifically tells us that Jesus functioned as teacher.
(Paul J. Achtemeier, Mark, Proclamation Series, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975, p. 60.)
But Jesus is not just a teacher, or even a great and good teacher. Mark wants us to understand that Jesus is the teacher. "They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority," says Mark. And the response of the crowd to the healing of the man with an unclean spirit verifies Mark's judgment: "What is this? A new teaching - with authority! This is a text where we could easily get lost in the story of the healing. But the miracle is for Mark only a vehicle to bear the greater ns - we now have a teacher whose authority is beyond anything we have ever known.
In what sense can we say that the healing of the possessed man was "teaching "? We normally think of teaching as conveyed by words, with the instructor using speech as a means for conveying some truth. Though Jesus is called "teacher" there is nothing in the text about what he taught. Lamar Williamson cuts through what he calls this "awkwardness" by suggesting that the repetition of "teaching and "authority before and after the miracle ties the text together into a single passage, "linking Jesus' power both word and deed as evidence of his amazing authority. (Lamar Williamson, Mark, Louisville: John Knox Press, 1983, p. 49.)
The same is true for us. We are inclined to think of ourselves in a teaching role when we are leading a Bible class, preaching, instructing the youth. That is when we tend to feel most "authoritative. That is when folks sit looking at us, expecting that we will share what we have learned. But Mark reminds us that all of life is teaching. Wherever we go, whatever we do, spoken or unspoken, we are teaching.
The same can be said about "authority. Again, we are inclined to think in terms of what we are "authorized" to do. But there is another kind of authority. It is that self-authenticating way of life that we recognize in certain rare individuals who need to be nothing other than themselves. Mark wants us to know that Jesus was one such person.
Suggestions For Preaching
The lessons for this week give us the opportunity to deal with the very delicate issue of Christian freedom. The people of Israel thought they should be free to dabble in a bit of polytheism, so long as they practiced their covenant faith. Some Corinthian believers thought of themselves as above the constraints of laws that had once confined them. Ultimately, it all comes down to relationship with Christ, the authoritative teacher of teachers. Luther indeed had it right - we are free in Christ from any restraints of the Law. But he also had it right - we are bound by our relationship with Christ to serve others and to do anything we can to set them free from the demons that bind and control them. If that means foregoing a treasured freedom, then we will do it for their sake.
The revealing word for this Epiphany Sunday is that Christ is the final authority in all things. "You have heard that it was said, but I say" becomes the watchword for Christian living. Though we cannot and will not always agree on what Christ would have us say or do, the very least we must do is to ask, "What is the mind of Christ? When we undertake our search with that question uppermost in our minds we will usually be amazed at how often we reach consensus, even when the issues beg easy answers.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By James A. Nestingen
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
In the traditions of Judaism, the policy that God established with Moses in this text was provisional. Many prophets followed, but about 2,500 years ago, God stopped calling them. Christians put a different end to the story, however: the word continues, now on the lips of preachers.
Moses embodied several offices, including those of both prophet and bureaucrat. So we hear him in these words, making arrangement for prophetic succession. It is an odd combination. Prophets like Elijah or Amos didn't succeed to office; they were called as God and the occasion demanded. To bureaucratize such an office is to attempt to organize the spontaneous - success at such an enterprise would in itself be the end of it.
The prophets survived the attempt. People like Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel didn't report to anyone; neither did they institutionalize their offices. They heard the Lord's voice and in turn spoke the word which had been entrusted to them.
Generally, the word of the Lord in the prophets' mouths was just what the people had come to fear - a harsh, condemning word. A profound sense of God's gracious promise along with categoric knowledge of the law made the prophets receptive to woes and denunciations not only for the surrounding nations but the people themselves.
Maybe that's why God stopped calling prophets. They gave Israel some protection against the overbearing power of God's presence, as the text says, but even as intermediaries, they become so overpowering that the people wouldn't put up with them - not only the kings and their courtiers, generally the first confronted, but the crowds themselves.
If God stopped calling prophets, the same doesn't apply to pastors. There's a big difference. Prophets live on the edge of town, dressing sycamore trees or picking up a living on the side; pastors live in parsonages or on housing allowances. Prophets generally stand over and against; when pastors confront, they always have to "give the apple with the rod, as Luther said, speaking the healing word with the hard one."
If the offices have shifted among Christians, Moses' standard of judgment remains the same. Both the prophets of old and the parish pastors of this day must speak the truth, the preacher identifying honestly what God demands while faithfully bringing home the gospel so that it is unmistakably, beyond any question, the gracing word of Christ.
