Proper 16
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III, Cycle A
The church year theological clue
Summer is over, and fall has begun with its return of people to the churches and their activities, and the church is now entering the last quarter of the church year. Informed people will realize that about two and a half months remain in the Pentecost Cycle/Season. They are also aware that such things as Rally Day, Installation of Church School teachers, programs and retreats involving the young, the women, and the men of the churches are getting under way. Halloween decorations and cards are appearing in the stores, reminding people that Reformation Day and All Saints Day are soon at hand and that Thanksgiving Day is just behind them. A few people will remember what Pentecost is all about; they are ready to complete the pilgrimage through Pentecost to Christ the King Sunday and, the following week, the First Sunday in Advent. The sacred and secular years have a way of coming together in this part of Pentecost. They often combine to influence the themes that emerge from the readings for one's preaching ministry.
The Prayer of the Day (LBW) - The address to God in this prayer could just as well have been used with the readings last Sunday, because it speaks of the effort of God to reach out to "all nations" with the intention of calling people into his kingdom. But the petition points to the Gospel for the Day, not only as God "gathers disciples from near and far," but especially in conjunction with the petition, "count us also among those who boldly confess your Son Jesus Christ as Lord." It is here that the theme for the day, according to the Gospel, is introduced.
The Psalm of the Day - Psalm 138 (E, L); 138:1-3, 6, 8 (Note: The Roman Ordo uses almost the same portions of this psalm on the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time and the entire psalm on the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time of Series C. The Book of Common Prayer appoints the entire psalm for Proper 20 of Series C. The psalm has only nine verses.)
While this is clearly a song of thanksgiving for something God has done, the scholars can't agree on the occasion and reason for this thanksgiving; some see it as a response to Isaiah's vision of God in the Temple, others would go so far as to call it a psalm of David linked to the beginning of the royal line that God has established in him. Clearly, it is a song of thanksgiving and praise for the God who has demonstrated his love and faithfulness to Israel. It speaks of a time when
All the kings of the earth will praise you, O Lord, when they have heard the words of your mouth.... Though the Lord be high, he cares for the lowly; he perceives the haughty from afar.... O Lord, your love endures forever; do not abandon the work of your hands.
From the standpoint of the Gospel, God's purposes for all people will ultimately find fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
The Psalm Prayer (LBW)
Lord God, you keep the proud at a distance and look upon the lowly with favor. Stretch out your hand to us in our suffering, perfect in us the work of your love, and bring us to life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 95 (C) - Those familiar with the ancient liturgies of the church will recognize the first seven verses of this song as the Venite exultemus. It begins,
Come, let us sing to the Lord; let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
But the last four and a half verses, beginning at 7b, reveal the reason that this psalm was appointed as a responsory to Exodus 17:
Oh, that today you would harken to his voices! Harden not your hearts as your forebears did in the wilderness, at Meribah, and on that day at Massah, when they tempted me. They put me to the test, though they had seen my works.
The psalm concludes with a recitation of God's displeasure "with this generation" and his determination that none of those who started the Exodus would complete it; a new generation would enter into the land promised to their fathers.
The readings:
Isaiah 22:19-23 (R)
This is the second of two oracles spoken by Isaiah against Shebna, who was steward and master of the palace of the king. The charge against him and his fate are spelled out in the first oracle, 22:15-18; his position had gone to his head, and he had attempted to set himself up as one of the royal family by carving out a tomb for himself where only they could be buried. The second oracle, the first reading for this Sunday, tells of his dismissal from office and the appointment of Eliakim in his place:
I invest him with your robe, gird him with your sash, entrust him with your authority ... I place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; should he open, no one shall close, should he close, no one shall open. (Jerusalem Bible)
Jesus went even further than that in the Gospel for the Day, saying to Peter,
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. [RSV]
Isaiah 51:1-6 (E)
This is a portion of one of the assurances given to the people of God in what has been called, "The Book of the Consolation of Israel" (chapters 40-55). It is a reminder to Christians, as well as to the Jews, that they are to "consider the rock from which you were cut. Consider Abraham your father and Sarah who gave you birth." It also contains the assurance that God will have mercy upon his own people and turn the desolation they have known into a new Eden. His Law and his justice will prevail, and his "salvation shall come like the light, (his) arm shall judge the peoples." The last verse of the reading highlights this eschatological note:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look down at the earth. The heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants die like vermin, but my salvation shall last forever and my justice have no end. (Jerusalem Bible)
The "rock" reference, rather obviously, is the reason this reading was chosen for this day.
Exodus 6:2-8 (L)
God identifies himself to Moses in this pericope and informs him of what he will do for the children of Israel, because he has heard their "groaning" in their bondage in Egypt, and because he has remembered his covenant with them. Moses is to tell them two things: the Lord will bring them out of bondage, will redeem them "with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment," will take them again "for my people," and will be their God so they will know that the Lord is God by his deliverance; and the Lord God "will bring (them) into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." He is able to do this because he is the Lord - and they will know it.
Exodus 17:1-7 (C)
The Roman and Episcopal lectionaries appoint this pericope as the first reading for the Third Sunday in Lent to complement the Gospel (John 4) of Jesus and the Samaritan woman he met at the well. The reading picks up the tale of the Israelites as they travel from Sin to Rephidim, going from a bad situation to a worse one; there is no water here to drink, so once more they put God to the test with their complaining. Yahweh told Moses to take the elders with him and his rod, and to go to Horeb and strike the rock in the presence of the elders, and promised that water would come forth. Moses did as God commanded and water poured forth to slake their thirst. He named the place Massah and Meribah, because they had put God to the test and asked, "Is God with us, or not?"
Romans 11:33-36
No one will ever know if Paul could sing, but he certainly knew how to compose a doxology, and this is one of the best examples he has left us; he almost breaks into song as he writes, "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" As a theologian, he admits that complete knowledge of God is beyond him; he will never know God's mind the way he would like to, and Paul knows this. He also knows that there are occasions when all one can do is worship God and sing his praises and acknowledge the mysteries of the faith in the liturgy of the church. "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." On this note, he ends this first section of his letter to the Romans.
Matthew 16:13-20
When Matthew took over this account from Mark's Gospel, he changed it radically. He has Peter answering Jesus', "But who do you say I am?" with "You are the Christ," adding, "the Son of the living God." Scholars seem to be convinced that this is a post-resurrection redaction, and not anything that Peter said in his years with Jesus. In Mark, Peter's answer is played down, and Jesus proceeds to tell the disciples about his impending fate in Jerusalem; his suffering, death, and resurrection will occur to fulfill Scripture. In Matthew, Jesus reacts positively to Peter's answer, and he is commended and praised as the one on whom the church is to be built and the one to whom the keys of the kingdom are entrusted, as well. Only after he has said these things does Jesus proceed to talk about what will happen to him in Jerusalem, eliciting Peter's objection and Christ's rebuke, "Get behind me, Satan!" All preachers should be able to preach on the first half, or so, of this reading, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." The second half, about building the church on the Rock, Peter, and the giving of the keys to him, will require reflection and meditation to think through the theological problems inherent in the man Peter and the Petrine office, as well as the matter of whether or not the keys of the kingdom are invested in a particular office or the whole church. (See Matthew 18, especially verse 18, addressed to all the disciples.)
Sermon suggestions:
Matthew 16:13-20 - "The Choice."
The set of questions that Jesus puts to Peter are fundamental, indeed, and the second one - "Who do you say that I am?" - must be answered by everyone who hears the good news. One's eternal destiny depends, to a large degree, on how one answers this question.
1. The opinion poll: "Who do people say that I am?" In Jesus' day, the choice was between various of the prophets - John the Baptizer, Elijah, Jeremiah, or some other prophet. Healer/magician and teacher, answers that people might give today, were not even considered.
2. The personal interrogation: "Who do you say that I am?" What really matters is how each person who has heard the story of Jesus answers this question. Is he simply a man chosen by God to announce God's reign and will, who is sent to call people to repentance and renewed faith? Or is he the Christ, the Son of the living God? Jesus puts this question to each of us.
3. The blessing: Assurance that God has spoken to us and has saved us in Jesus. That's what Peter received, plus the responsibility of building up the church and exercising with mercy and compassion the office of the keys of the kingdom. Every Christian participates in the first command, the upbuilding of the body of Christ, the church, and has, at least, the responsibility to ascertain that the office of the keys is being properly administered.
4. The difference: Jesus charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ; Jesus has charged us to tell the whole world.
The manner in which the preacher opens up and emphasizes Jesus' charge to Peter as the Rock and as the keeper of the keys has to, of course, be determined mostly by the needs of the congregation. Point 3, above, may have to be expanded so as to comprise most of the sermon. Since the rest of the story is the Gospel for the Day next Sunday, it may be well to plan a two-part sermon for the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Sunday of Pentecost. Sermon 1 could be on "The Question," and Sermon 2 could be about "The Answer."
Isaiah 22:19-23 (R) - "The Keys to the Kingdom."
1. The office of the keys is to be taken seriously. It has to do with forgiveness and new life, matters which cannot be glossed over lightly because they have to do with the eternal destiny of human beings. In the movie, Lady Mobster, the tragic heroine of the story, who has discovered the identity of the man who killed her parents and her husband, goes to her brother, Paul, a priest, to make her confession. When she refuses his counsel and asserts that she is going to kill the man, he tells her, "I cannot absolve you," and she goes away - unforgiven - to her fate. Father Paul took the office of the keys so seriously that he could not even offer forgiveness to his own sister. It must have broken his heart.
2. Clergy and laity alike must face their responsibilities in the office of the keys. The unworthy clergy, according to Isaiah, are in jeopardy of losing their office and, with unrepentant laity, may lose their salvation.
3. Confession and absolution must be taken seriously by the faithful. They have to do with one's eternal destiny. Each one of us must learn how to say mea culpa, receive the blessing in absolution, and turn around to live a new life.
Isaiah 51:1-6 (E) - "On This Rock."
1. Abraham and Sarah are the rock on which the faith in God is built. Peter comes later as the rock, the foundation, of the Christian church. The roots of the Hebrew and Christian faith are deep indeed.
2. The Word of the Lord has established the rock. God called Abraham and Sarah, the patriarchs and the prophets, Peter and Paul and all of the Apostles. He calls and speaks to you and me, through his Word, just as he has spoken in the past.
3. God's plan for his people will endure to the end of time. Isaiah said it, Jesus affirmed it, and he will complete it at the last day.
4. Come, Lord Jesus! Come, quickly!
Exodus 6:2-8 (L) - "A Divine Announcement."
1. Item number one: God announced to Moses that he was aware of Israel's bondage in Egypt and would take action to set the people free and lead them out of Egypt.
2. Item number two: God announced to Moses that he would lead the people of Israel into the land he had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give them.
3. God's hidden agenda: God would, in time, free his people from the burden of the Law, renew his covenant with them, and seek to bring all people into his kingdom through Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.
Exodus 17:1-7 (C) - "Is God For Us?"
1. That was the question of the children of Israel during the Exodus. There was no water for them, their families, or their cattle, at Rephidim. "Why did God bring us out of Egypt - to die of thirst?" Several excellent stories about thirst in the desert are included in Antoine de St. Exupery's Wind, Sand and Stars. See, particularly, the end of the "Prisoner of the Sand" chapter.
2. Afraid for his life, Moses sought out the Lord. He simply asked God what he should do, and the Lord answered him. God told him what to do; he did it - struck the rock in the presence of the elders - and there was water - and life.
3. Is God with us, or against us? That's our question, too. He has answered the question in Jesus Christ and the church. The water that has come from the rock, the church, in baptism, assures us that he is with us - and will not fail us - no matter what happens in life.
Romans 11:33-36 - "Glory to God."
1. Glory to God in the highest. He is our God, and his ways are beyond our understanding. He is God, and his mind can never fully be known by human beings.
2. Glory to God in the lowest. He has revealed himself to us in his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. In him, the greatest mystery of all - the cross and resurrection for our salvation - is set before us. God became a human being, born as the babe of Bethlehem, to die and rise again for our sake.
3. Glory to God - forever. He really does have the whole world in his hands; we can understand that, have hope for life in Christ, and express our faith by giving him the glory he deserves.
Summer is over, and fall has begun with its return of people to the churches and their activities, and the church is now entering the last quarter of the church year. Informed people will realize that about two and a half months remain in the Pentecost Cycle/Season. They are also aware that such things as Rally Day, Installation of Church School teachers, programs and retreats involving the young, the women, and the men of the churches are getting under way. Halloween decorations and cards are appearing in the stores, reminding people that Reformation Day and All Saints Day are soon at hand and that Thanksgiving Day is just behind them. A few people will remember what Pentecost is all about; they are ready to complete the pilgrimage through Pentecost to Christ the King Sunday and, the following week, the First Sunday in Advent. The sacred and secular years have a way of coming together in this part of Pentecost. They often combine to influence the themes that emerge from the readings for one's preaching ministry.
The Prayer of the Day (LBW) - The address to God in this prayer could just as well have been used with the readings last Sunday, because it speaks of the effort of God to reach out to "all nations" with the intention of calling people into his kingdom. But the petition points to the Gospel for the Day, not only as God "gathers disciples from near and far," but especially in conjunction with the petition, "count us also among those who boldly confess your Son Jesus Christ as Lord." It is here that the theme for the day, according to the Gospel, is introduced.
The Psalm of the Day - Psalm 138 (E, L); 138:1-3, 6, 8 (Note: The Roman Ordo uses almost the same portions of this psalm on the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time and the entire psalm on the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time of Series C. The Book of Common Prayer appoints the entire psalm for Proper 20 of Series C. The psalm has only nine verses.)
While this is clearly a song of thanksgiving for something God has done, the scholars can't agree on the occasion and reason for this thanksgiving; some see it as a response to Isaiah's vision of God in the Temple, others would go so far as to call it a psalm of David linked to the beginning of the royal line that God has established in him. Clearly, it is a song of thanksgiving and praise for the God who has demonstrated his love and faithfulness to Israel. It speaks of a time when
All the kings of the earth will praise you, O Lord, when they have heard the words of your mouth.... Though the Lord be high, he cares for the lowly; he perceives the haughty from afar.... O Lord, your love endures forever; do not abandon the work of your hands.
From the standpoint of the Gospel, God's purposes for all people will ultimately find fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
The Psalm Prayer (LBW)
Lord God, you keep the proud at a distance and look upon the lowly with favor. Stretch out your hand to us in our suffering, perfect in us the work of your love, and bring us to life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 95 (C) - Those familiar with the ancient liturgies of the church will recognize the first seven verses of this song as the Venite exultemus. It begins,
Come, let us sing to the Lord; let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
But the last four and a half verses, beginning at 7b, reveal the reason that this psalm was appointed as a responsory to Exodus 17:
Oh, that today you would harken to his voices! Harden not your hearts as your forebears did in the wilderness, at Meribah, and on that day at Massah, when they tempted me. They put me to the test, though they had seen my works.
The psalm concludes with a recitation of God's displeasure "with this generation" and his determination that none of those who started the Exodus would complete it; a new generation would enter into the land promised to their fathers.
The readings:
Isaiah 22:19-23 (R)
This is the second of two oracles spoken by Isaiah against Shebna, who was steward and master of the palace of the king. The charge against him and his fate are spelled out in the first oracle, 22:15-18; his position had gone to his head, and he had attempted to set himself up as one of the royal family by carving out a tomb for himself where only they could be buried. The second oracle, the first reading for this Sunday, tells of his dismissal from office and the appointment of Eliakim in his place:
I invest him with your robe, gird him with your sash, entrust him with your authority ... I place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; should he open, no one shall close, should he close, no one shall open. (Jerusalem Bible)
Jesus went even further than that in the Gospel for the Day, saying to Peter,
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. [RSV]
Isaiah 51:1-6 (E)
This is a portion of one of the assurances given to the people of God in what has been called, "The Book of the Consolation of Israel" (chapters 40-55). It is a reminder to Christians, as well as to the Jews, that they are to "consider the rock from which you were cut. Consider Abraham your father and Sarah who gave you birth." It also contains the assurance that God will have mercy upon his own people and turn the desolation they have known into a new Eden. His Law and his justice will prevail, and his "salvation shall come like the light, (his) arm shall judge the peoples." The last verse of the reading highlights this eschatological note:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look down at the earth. The heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants die like vermin, but my salvation shall last forever and my justice have no end. (Jerusalem Bible)
The "rock" reference, rather obviously, is the reason this reading was chosen for this day.
Exodus 6:2-8 (L)
God identifies himself to Moses in this pericope and informs him of what he will do for the children of Israel, because he has heard their "groaning" in their bondage in Egypt, and because he has remembered his covenant with them. Moses is to tell them two things: the Lord will bring them out of bondage, will redeem them "with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment," will take them again "for my people," and will be their God so they will know that the Lord is God by his deliverance; and the Lord God "will bring (them) into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." He is able to do this because he is the Lord - and they will know it.
Exodus 17:1-7 (C)
The Roman and Episcopal lectionaries appoint this pericope as the first reading for the Third Sunday in Lent to complement the Gospel (John 4) of Jesus and the Samaritan woman he met at the well. The reading picks up the tale of the Israelites as they travel from Sin to Rephidim, going from a bad situation to a worse one; there is no water here to drink, so once more they put God to the test with their complaining. Yahweh told Moses to take the elders with him and his rod, and to go to Horeb and strike the rock in the presence of the elders, and promised that water would come forth. Moses did as God commanded and water poured forth to slake their thirst. He named the place Massah and Meribah, because they had put God to the test and asked, "Is God with us, or not?"
Romans 11:33-36
No one will ever know if Paul could sing, but he certainly knew how to compose a doxology, and this is one of the best examples he has left us; he almost breaks into song as he writes, "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" As a theologian, he admits that complete knowledge of God is beyond him; he will never know God's mind the way he would like to, and Paul knows this. He also knows that there are occasions when all one can do is worship God and sing his praises and acknowledge the mysteries of the faith in the liturgy of the church. "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." On this note, he ends this first section of his letter to the Romans.
Matthew 16:13-20
When Matthew took over this account from Mark's Gospel, he changed it radically. He has Peter answering Jesus', "But who do you say I am?" with "You are the Christ," adding, "the Son of the living God." Scholars seem to be convinced that this is a post-resurrection redaction, and not anything that Peter said in his years with Jesus. In Mark, Peter's answer is played down, and Jesus proceeds to tell the disciples about his impending fate in Jerusalem; his suffering, death, and resurrection will occur to fulfill Scripture. In Matthew, Jesus reacts positively to Peter's answer, and he is commended and praised as the one on whom the church is to be built and the one to whom the keys of the kingdom are entrusted, as well. Only after he has said these things does Jesus proceed to talk about what will happen to him in Jerusalem, eliciting Peter's objection and Christ's rebuke, "Get behind me, Satan!" All preachers should be able to preach on the first half, or so, of this reading, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." The second half, about building the church on the Rock, Peter, and the giving of the keys to him, will require reflection and meditation to think through the theological problems inherent in the man Peter and the Petrine office, as well as the matter of whether or not the keys of the kingdom are invested in a particular office or the whole church. (See Matthew 18, especially verse 18, addressed to all the disciples.)
Sermon suggestions:
Matthew 16:13-20 - "The Choice."
The set of questions that Jesus puts to Peter are fundamental, indeed, and the second one - "Who do you say that I am?" - must be answered by everyone who hears the good news. One's eternal destiny depends, to a large degree, on how one answers this question.
1. The opinion poll: "Who do people say that I am?" In Jesus' day, the choice was between various of the prophets - John the Baptizer, Elijah, Jeremiah, or some other prophet. Healer/magician and teacher, answers that people might give today, were not even considered.
2. The personal interrogation: "Who do you say that I am?" What really matters is how each person who has heard the story of Jesus answers this question. Is he simply a man chosen by God to announce God's reign and will, who is sent to call people to repentance and renewed faith? Or is he the Christ, the Son of the living God? Jesus puts this question to each of us.
3. The blessing: Assurance that God has spoken to us and has saved us in Jesus. That's what Peter received, plus the responsibility of building up the church and exercising with mercy and compassion the office of the keys of the kingdom. Every Christian participates in the first command, the upbuilding of the body of Christ, the church, and has, at least, the responsibility to ascertain that the office of the keys is being properly administered.
4. The difference: Jesus charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ; Jesus has charged us to tell the whole world.
The manner in which the preacher opens up and emphasizes Jesus' charge to Peter as the Rock and as the keeper of the keys has to, of course, be determined mostly by the needs of the congregation. Point 3, above, may have to be expanded so as to comprise most of the sermon. Since the rest of the story is the Gospel for the Day next Sunday, it may be well to plan a two-part sermon for the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Sunday of Pentecost. Sermon 1 could be on "The Question," and Sermon 2 could be about "The Answer."
Isaiah 22:19-23 (R) - "The Keys to the Kingdom."
1. The office of the keys is to be taken seriously. It has to do with forgiveness and new life, matters which cannot be glossed over lightly because they have to do with the eternal destiny of human beings. In the movie, Lady Mobster, the tragic heroine of the story, who has discovered the identity of the man who killed her parents and her husband, goes to her brother, Paul, a priest, to make her confession. When she refuses his counsel and asserts that she is going to kill the man, he tells her, "I cannot absolve you," and she goes away - unforgiven - to her fate. Father Paul took the office of the keys so seriously that he could not even offer forgiveness to his own sister. It must have broken his heart.
2. Clergy and laity alike must face their responsibilities in the office of the keys. The unworthy clergy, according to Isaiah, are in jeopardy of losing their office and, with unrepentant laity, may lose their salvation.
3. Confession and absolution must be taken seriously by the faithful. They have to do with one's eternal destiny. Each one of us must learn how to say mea culpa, receive the blessing in absolution, and turn around to live a new life.
Isaiah 51:1-6 (E) - "On This Rock."
1. Abraham and Sarah are the rock on which the faith in God is built. Peter comes later as the rock, the foundation, of the Christian church. The roots of the Hebrew and Christian faith are deep indeed.
2. The Word of the Lord has established the rock. God called Abraham and Sarah, the patriarchs and the prophets, Peter and Paul and all of the Apostles. He calls and speaks to you and me, through his Word, just as he has spoken in the past.
3. God's plan for his people will endure to the end of time. Isaiah said it, Jesus affirmed it, and he will complete it at the last day.
4. Come, Lord Jesus! Come, quickly!
Exodus 6:2-8 (L) - "A Divine Announcement."
1. Item number one: God announced to Moses that he was aware of Israel's bondage in Egypt and would take action to set the people free and lead them out of Egypt.
2. Item number two: God announced to Moses that he would lead the people of Israel into the land he had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give them.
3. God's hidden agenda: God would, in time, free his people from the burden of the Law, renew his covenant with them, and seek to bring all people into his kingdom through Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.
Exodus 17:1-7 (C) - "Is God For Us?"
1. That was the question of the children of Israel during the Exodus. There was no water for them, their families, or their cattle, at Rephidim. "Why did God bring us out of Egypt - to die of thirst?" Several excellent stories about thirst in the desert are included in Antoine de St. Exupery's Wind, Sand and Stars. See, particularly, the end of the "Prisoner of the Sand" chapter.
2. Afraid for his life, Moses sought out the Lord. He simply asked God what he should do, and the Lord answered him. God told him what to do; he did it - struck the rock in the presence of the elders - and there was water - and life.
3. Is God with us, or against us? That's our question, too. He has answered the question in Jesus Christ and the church. The water that has come from the rock, the church, in baptism, assures us that he is with us - and will not fail us - no matter what happens in life.
Romans 11:33-36 - "Glory to God."
1. Glory to God in the highest. He is our God, and his ways are beyond our understanding. He is God, and his mind can never fully be known by human beings.
2. Glory to God in the lowest. He has revealed himself to us in his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. In him, the greatest mystery of all - the cross and resurrection for our salvation - is set before us. God became a human being, born as the babe of Bethlehem, to die and rise again for our sake.
3. Glory to God - forever. He really does have the whole world in his hands; we can understand that, have hope for life in Christ, and express our faith by giving him the glory he deserves.
