Christ Fills Us Up
Commentary
This Sunday’s lessons in taking their bearings from the Gospel’s report of Jesus identifying with the living bread afford occasion to reflect on The Bread That Brings Life, Wisdom, and Unity.
1 Kings 2:10–12; 3:3-14
The First Lesson is embedded in a book that was probably part of three others (1 and 2 Samuel and 2 Kings). This book and 2 Kings provided an account of Israel’s history from the death of David through Jehoiachim’s release from a Babylonian prison. There is speculation that these texts are the product of the Deuteronomistic reform of Josiah in the 7th century BC, but later revised after the Babylonian exile in 587 BC. This lesson is a report of David’s death and Solomon’s ascension to the thrown (2:10-12). This is in line with the central theme of the book, that the promise that David would have an eternal dynasty remains secure.
Solomon is said to love the Lord and walk as David did (3:3). (This is one of the few Old Testament references to loving Yahweh.) Solomon seems to have gone to Gibeon, the most important worship center for the Israelites in his lifetime prior to the erection of the Jerusalem Temple (3:4; 1 Chronicles 16:39; 21:29). In a dream that followed the Lord appeared to the king. Solomon requests wisdom (an understanding [bin] heart [iebab] to judge the people) (3:5-9). Reference is made to Solomon being a “little child” (3:7). This is not indicative that Solomon was literally a child when he assumed the throne, but a sign of humility.
The people of Israel are said to be elect (3:8). Pleased with the prayer, God pledges to grant Solomon not just his request for a wise [chakam], discerning mind [leb, literally heart], but also great riches and honor (3:10-13). God also promises to lengthen Solomon’s life on condition that he walks in the Lord’s statutes and commandments as David had (3:14). It is good to be reminded that in ancient Hebraic thinking the Law is not merely a set of rules demanding obedience. Rather it is regarded as the complete revelation of what God instructs, the complete guide to life (Leo Trepp, Judaism: Development and Life, p.2). And wisdom was not mere knowledge, but a practical knowledge of the laws of life and of the world, based on experience (Gerhard Von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, pp.418ff.).
With the November mid-term elections on the horizon, we need to be thinking about finding wise leaders. Among the issues may be health care, public works projects, and sexual harassment. Solving these challenges will require leaders who know how to listen, to compromise, to have an understanding heart, to cultivate true and proper speech, recognize that there is an order to life which leads to balance, and a have correct attitude towards riches and poverty. These are the characteristics of the Hebraic understanding of wisdom, and so of the wisdom that Solomon sought and received (Von Rad, esp. p.428). Overall the lesson is a to call for leadership like Solomon’s, then, but also on this Sunday sermons on the text should note that such wisdom can be gained every Sunday for Christians by eating the living bread who is Christ.
Psalm 111
The assigned psalm is drawn from a collection of Hebraic hymns of praise, most of which were composed to accompany worship in the Temple of Jerusalem. Some were composed early in Israel’s history; others after The Babylonian Captivity.
This text is a hymn of praise to Yahweh for his great deeds. It begins with a ritual cry of Hallelujah (Praise the Lord) and proceeds to extol God for his great deeds (especially fidelity to the Covenant [vv.5,9]) (vv.1-3). The Lord’s graciousness, truth, and judgment are noted (vv.4, 7). Reference to giving the people the heritage of the nations (v.6) may refer to Canaan, which the Hebrews seized from various nations. It is good to remember that God’s judgment [mishpat] in the Hebraic sense is a rod of comfort, in the sense that it can cause positive outcomes and comfort in knowing that God’s just actions against the faithful have an end in sight (Gerhard Von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, pp.343,358-359).
Yahweh is said to send redemption to his people, and it is proclaimed that he has a holy and awesome name (v.9). Fear [yirah, literally “reverence”] of the Lord is said to be the beginning of wisdom (v.10). The Hebrew word for wisdom employed here [chokmah] may connote skill. This conclusion and use of an acrostic style in the psalm (beginning each line with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet) may suggest that it was composed for instructional purposes.
Americans do not seem to value wisdom. In part this is a function of the revolutionary changes in doing business, which so emphasize flexibility and reinvention as to devalue experience (Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character, pp.48-50). While many cultures celebrate the aging process and venerate their elders, in Western cultures -- where youth is fetishized and the elderly are commonly removed from the community and relegated to hospitals and nursing homes -- aging can become a shameful experience. Physical signs of human aging tend to be regarded with distaste, and aging is often depicted in a negative light in popular culture, if it is even depicted at all.
To these trends, this lesson and the First Lesson invite sermons that are counter-cultural. As previously noted, wisdom is the voice of experience, rooted in experience (Von Rad, Vol.1, pp.418ff.). Sermons might remind the flock that experience matters (and the aging have more of it than the rest of us), that life only makes sense with God (for he is the beginning of wisdom), and that he will judge our current circumstances to make good out of them.
Ephesians 5:15-20
The Second Lesson is taken from a circular letter, either written by Paul from prison late in his career or by a follower of the Apostle who had had a hand in assembling the collection of his Epistles. These conclusions follow from the fact that the letter includes vocabulary and stylistic characteristics different from the Pauline corpus. It was likely addressed to a younger generation of Christians (1:15). In this lesson the author continues to appeal to readers to renounce pagan ways. He exhorts the faithful to live wisely, understanding the Lord’s will, making the most of time since the days are evil [poneros, a phrase which suggests a sense that we are in the last days] (vv.15-17). This implies an apocalyptic perspective. Rather than filled with wine, we should be filled with the Spirit (v.19). The lesson concludes with a call to praise God (v.20).
A 2016 poll found that 1 in 5 Americans view themselves as procrastinators. Our time use is not praiseworthy. A 2016 CNN Report noted that we average more than 10 hours a day watching a screen. And while a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2016 report found that we spent most of our leisure time (2.7 hours) watching TV, only about 39 minutes per day were spent socializing. We are clearly not living wisely in the Pauline or in the Old Testament sense. Paul reminds us, directs us to proclaim sermons, which make clear that the ways of the world in our time are evil, that our routines are not healthy, but that having Christ (the Bread of Life) brings us the spirit to live in these new ways.
John 6:51-58
The Gospel is drawn from the last of the Gospels to be written, probably not composed until the last decades of the first century. It is very different in style in comparison with the other three. It includes many saying of Jesus, like these verses, not found in the Synoptic Gospels. It is probably based on these earlier Gospels. The book has been identified with John the Son of Zebedee, the disciple whom Jesus loved. This claim was made as long ago as late in the first century by the famed theologian Irenaeus (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.1, p.414). It is likely that it is written by a disciple of John, though more recently some more conservative New Testament scholars have argued that it is based on eyewitness testimony as a late first/ early 2nd century Bishop Papias implied (Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. esp. pp.423ff.). Regardless of its origins, most scholars agree that the book’s main agenda was to encourage Jewish Christians in conflict with the synagogue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God (20:31).
In this lesson Jesus continues with his discourse on being the living bread [artos] that came down from heaven and proclaiming that whoever eats the bread will live forever. This bread is said to be his flesh [sarx] (v.51). Jews dispute this (v.52). He responds, claiming that unless they eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood they will have no life (v.53). The author seems to understand the title Son of Man [hios tou anthropos] in a Gnostic way, as a designation for the pre-existent one who became man and must be exalted again, though combined with the Christian theme of Messiah, an apocalyptic figure who will come at the end of time (Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, Vol.2, p.37; Ibid., p.49). Jesus next proceeds to note that those who eat Christ’s flesh and drink his blood have eternal life, for his flesh and blood and the true food and drink (vv.54-55). Likewise, those who eat his flesh and drink his blood abide in Christ and he in them (v.56). These references are as close as John ever comes to referring to The Lord’s Supper. (Some scholars contend that these verses are too sacramental for John’s theology, and so may be later additions.) Christ then proclaims that whoever eats him will live (v.57). He continues to contrast this bread that gives eternal life to the bread in the wilderness given to the Jews (v.58).
A 2017 study conducted by the Center for Financial Services showed that nearly half of Americans have expenses equal to or greater than their income. No need for these wanton ways when we have Christ, the living bread (often received in The Lord’s Supper). Preachers do well in making clear in sermons that Christ fills us up, meets all our needs, so we no longer will be so inclined to quest for the material things which we have been senselessly chasing. If the Lord’s Supper is celebrated on this Sunday, relating these themes to the sacrament is suggested.
Sermons on any of the assigned texts for this Sunday should focus on how Christ and/or the wisdom of God help us overcome insalubrious trends in American society today.
1 Kings 2:10–12; 3:3-14
The First Lesson is embedded in a book that was probably part of three others (1 and 2 Samuel and 2 Kings). This book and 2 Kings provided an account of Israel’s history from the death of David through Jehoiachim’s release from a Babylonian prison. There is speculation that these texts are the product of the Deuteronomistic reform of Josiah in the 7th century BC, but later revised after the Babylonian exile in 587 BC. This lesson is a report of David’s death and Solomon’s ascension to the thrown (2:10-12). This is in line with the central theme of the book, that the promise that David would have an eternal dynasty remains secure.
Solomon is said to love the Lord and walk as David did (3:3). (This is one of the few Old Testament references to loving Yahweh.) Solomon seems to have gone to Gibeon, the most important worship center for the Israelites in his lifetime prior to the erection of the Jerusalem Temple (3:4; 1 Chronicles 16:39; 21:29). In a dream that followed the Lord appeared to the king. Solomon requests wisdom (an understanding [bin] heart [iebab] to judge the people) (3:5-9). Reference is made to Solomon being a “little child” (3:7). This is not indicative that Solomon was literally a child when he assumed the throne, but a sign of humility.
The people of Israel are said to be elect (3:8). Pleased with the prayer, God pledges to grant Solomon not just his request for a wise [chakam], discerning mind [leb, literally heart], but also great riches and honor (3:10-13). God also promises to lengthen Solomon’s life on condition that he walks in the Lord’s statutes and commandments as David had (3:14). It is good to be reminded that in ancient Hebraic thinking the Law is not merely a set of rules demanding obedience. Rather it is regarded as the complete revelation of what God instructs, the complete guide to life (Leo Trepp, Judaism: Development and Life, p.2). And wisdom was not mere knowledge, but a practical knowledge of the laws of life and of the world, based on experience (Gerhard Von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, pp.418ff.).
With the November mid-term elections on the horizon, we need to be thinking about finding wise leaders. Among the issues may be health care, public works projects, and sexual harassment. Solving these challenges will require leaders who know how to listen, to compromise, to have an understanding heart, to cultivate true and proper speech, recognize that there is an order to life which leads to balance, and a have correct attitude towards riches and poverty. These are the characteristics of the Hebraic understanding of wisdom, and so of the wisdom that Solomon sought and received (Von Rad, esp. p.428). Overall the lesson is a to call for leadership like Solomon’s, then, but also on this Sunday sermons on the text should note that such wisdom can be gained every Sunday for Christians by eating the living bread who is Christ.
Psalm 111
The assigned psalm is drawn from a collection of Hebraic hymns of praise, most of which were composed to accompany worship in the Temple of Jerusalem. Some were composed early in Israel’s history; others after The Babylonian Captivity.
This text is a hymn of praise to Yahweh for his great deeds. It begins with a ritual cry of Hallelujah (Praise the Lord) and proceeds to extol God for his great deeds (especially fidelity to the Covenant [vv.5,9]) (vv.1-3). The Lord’s graciousness, truth, and judgment are noted (vv.4, 7). Reference to giving the people the heritage of the nations (v.6) may refer to Canaan, which the Hebrews seized from various nations. It is good to remember that God’s judgment [mishpat] in the Hebraic sense is a rod of comfort, in the sense that it can cause positive outcomes and comfort in knowing that God’s just actions against the faithful have an end in sight (Gerhard Von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, pp.343,358-359).
Yahweh is said to send redemption to his people, and it is proclaimed that he has a holy and awesome name (v.9). Fear [yirah, literally “reverence”] of the Lord is said to be the beginning of wisdom (v.10). The Hebrew word for wisdom employed here [chokmah] may connote skill. This conclusion and use of an acrostic style in the psalm (beginning each line with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet) may suggest that it was composed for instructional purposes.
Americans do not seem to value wisdom. In part this is a function of the revolutionary changes in doing business, which so emphasize flexibility and reinvention as to devalue experience (Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character, pp.48-50). While many cultures celebrate the aging process and venerate their elders, in Western cultures -- where youth is fetishized and the elderly are commonly removed from the community and relegated to hospitals and nursing homes -- aging can become a shameful experience. Physical signs of human aging tend to be regarded with distaste, and aging is often depicted in a negative light in popular culture, if it is even depicted at all.
To these trends, this lesson and the First Lesson invite sermons that are counter-cultural. As previously noted, wisdom is the voice of experience, rooted in experience (Von Rad, Vol.1, pp.418ff.). Sermons might remind the flock that experience matters (and the aging have more of it than the rest of us), that life only makes sense with God (for he is the beginning of wisdom), and that he will judge our current circumstances to make good out of them.
Ephesians 5:15-20
The Second Lesson is taken from a circular letter, either written by Paul from prison late in his career or by a follower of the Apostle who had had a hand in assembling the collection of his Epistles. These conclusions follow from the fact that the letter includes vocabulary and stylistic characteristics different from the Pauline corpus. It was likely addressed to a younger generation of Christians (1:15). In this lesson the author continues to appeal to readers to renounce pagan ways. He exhorts the faithful to live wisely, understanding the Lord’s will, making the most of time since the days are evil [poneros, a phrase which suggests a sense that we are in the last days] (vv.15-17). This implies an apocalyptic perspective. Rather than filled with wine, we should be filled with the Spirit (v.19). The lesson concludes with a call to praise God (v.20).
A 2016 poll found that 1 in 5 Americans view themselves as procrastinators. Our time use is not praiseworthy. A 2016 CNN Report noted that we average more than 10 hours a day watching a screen. And while a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2016 report found that we spent most of our leisure time (2.7 hours) watching TV, only about 39 minutes per day were spent socializing. We are clearly not living wisely in the Pauline or in the Old Testament sense. Paul reminds us, directs us to proclaim sermons, which make clear that the ways of the world in our time are evil, that our routines are not healthy, but that having Christ (the Bread of Life) brings us the spirit to live in these new ways.
John 6:51-58
The Gospel is drawn from the last of the Gospels to be written, probably not composed until the last decades of the first century. It is very different in style in comparison with the other three. It includes many saying of Jesus, like these verses, not found in the Synoptic Gospels. It is probably based on these earlier Gospels. The book has been identified with John the Son of Zebedee, the disciple whom Jesus loved. This claim was made as long ago as late in the first century by the famed theologian Irenaeus (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.1, p.414). It is likely that it is written by a disciple of John, though more recently some more conservative New Testament scholars have argued that it is based on eyewitness testimony as a late first/ early 2nd century Bishop Papias implied (Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. esp. pp.423ff.). Regardless of its origins, most scholars agree that the book’s main agenda was to encourage Jewish Christians in conflict with the synagogue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God (20:31).
In this lesson Jesus continues with his discourse on being the living bread [artos] that came down from heaven and proclaiming that whoever eats the bread will live forever. This bread is said to be his flesh [sarx] (v.51). Jews dispute this (v.52). He responds, claiming that unless they eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood they will have no life (v.53). The author seems to understand the title Son of Man [hios tou anthropos] in a Gnostic way, as a designation for the pre-existent one who became man and must be exalted again, though combined with the Christian theme of Messiah, an apocalyptic figure who will come at the end of time (Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, Vol.2, p.37; Ibid., p.49). Jesus next proceeds to note that those who eat Christ’s flesh and drink his blood have eternal life, for his flesh and blood and the true food and drink (vv.54-55). Likewise, those who eat his flesh and drink his blood abide in Christ and he in them (v.56). These references are as close as John ever comes to referring to The Lord’s Supper. (Some scholars contend that these verses are too sacramental for John’s theology, and so may be later additions.) Christ then proclaims that whoever eats him will live (v.57). He continues to contrast this bread that gives eternal life to the bread in the wilderness given to the Jews (v.58).
A 2017 study conducted by the Center for Financial Services showed that nearly half of Americans have expenses equal to or greater than their income. No need for these wanton ways when we have Christ, the living bread (often received in The Lord’s Supper). Preachers do well in making clear in sermons that Christ fills us up, meets all our needs, so we no longer will be so inclined to quest for the material things which we have been senselessly chasing. If the Lord’s Supper is celebrated on this Sunday, relating these themes to the sacrament is suggested.
Sermons on any of the assigned texts for this Sunday should focus on how Christ and/or the wisdom of God help us overcome insalubrious trends in American society today.
