Epiphany 6A
Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon
Diann Bailey, senior minister of First Church Suffield, CT
Musician - Heatherlyn, “Welcome to the Maquerade” from her album Heatherlyn (heatherlynmusic.com, @heatherlynmusic)
Matthew 5:(17-20) 21-37
Initial Thoughts
Verses 17-20 - from last week worth reading if you did not cover this last week- either way is a good reminder to contextualize today's reading
Bible Study
Law
Law is no longer the requirement to live in the Kingdom of Heaven
Those who do not follow the law will enter the Kingdom of Heaven
Some who follow the law will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven
The Law and the Prophets is the beginning of a bookend that concludes with the Golden Rule on Matthew 7:12. The Sermon on the Mount is a commentary on the Golden Rule which is built upon the law and prophets.
Love others as you love yourself - but only when you see yourself with open eyes as salt of the earth, light of the world, beloved child of God, forgiven and forgiving.
Righteousness
True righteousness is not following the letter of the law, but the Spirit of the law
Not to abolish for the Kingdom of Heaven is rooted in the Law, but to fulfill is to interpret the law for contemporary practice ("You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times ... but I say to you." E. Powery, WorkingPreacher.com)
“The demands of discipleship in the new age prove to be more pervasive and radical, calling for a new understanding of the divine will and a higher righteousness.” (Cousar, p. 135)
About how you live in right relationship with God, which is reflected in how you love others and yourself
Mutuality of respect, don’t objectify or villainize God, others, or yourself.
Point out the absurdity of the strict clean/unclean practices or truly declaring a new righteousness?
Four Major Issues:
Anger
Adultery
Divorce
Oaths
Jesus expands the view of these commandments:
“Jesus’ willingness to state the Scriptures, not as ending points that “settle it” but as beginning points from which to re-form them, lends new meaning to “biblical authority.” It moves them word “authority” away from slavish devotion to the written letter to honoring the authorial power that produces the texts. That authorial power was present when “it was said to the ancients” as well as when Jesus says, “but I say to you.” (Mark Davis, Political Theology Network)
“These words, however, are not a counsel of despair, for the extremely radical nature of their demand elicits from the hearer a recognition that these are more than human commands. In a sense, the antitheses set forth both God’s will and God’s presence. The commandments are transparent: God shines through them.” (Anatomy of the New Testament, 7th Edition, p. 102)
Murder
begins with judgment and dehumanization
reconciliation is the ultimate goal of justice
Not about not being angry- but what you do with the anger
Adultery
begins with sexual objectivism
"By collapsing the distinction between thought and action, this extension of the law against adultery to include lust suggests that no one should be regarded as a sex object. The burden here is placed on the man: women are not seen as responsible for enticing men into sexual misadventures." (Amy-Jill Levine, "Matthew," The Women's Bible Commentary)
Jesus did not say: “When my eye causes me to sin, I tell the woman to put on more clothes and be more modest.”
Dehumanization
Divorce is about the rights of the woman
The onus is put on the husband
Divorce leaves the wife open to charges of adultery and lack of social and financial station
Breaking of relationship
Oaths - it is not simply about what you say but about what you do
You actions should justify your truthfulness
If you live a truthful life- then there is no need for oaths
Do not try and bend the rules or find loopholes in the commandments
Thoughts and Questions
There is a lesson here in Scriptural authority:
“I believe what compels Matthew’s Jesus to take up the scriptural tradition and re-form it is not that he lacks respect for the Scriptures, but that he believes strongly in the real, ongoing presence of the God of the Scriptures. What I am positing is a distinction between the authorial God who speaks and acts, as witnessed in the Scriptures, and the writings of the Scriptures themselves.“ (Mark Davis, Political Theology Network)
Is the altar or the Communion table a place for the reconciled to come or a place to become reconciled. How does the church become a place of reconciliation? “Worship includes all aspects of our lives outside of the sanctuary. The relationships we have, how we treat each other, and what we say and do express our faith in God. Thus being worshipful “out there” inspires true worship ‘in here.’” (Grace Pak, The Abingdon Preaching Annual 2020, p. 16).
“Lest we think this is obvious, this is a very challenging truth to preach. Our world favors and rewards individualism, autonomy, and independence. To preach the necessity of connectedness, community, and dependence will not be a popular message. We will need to be prepared for questioning and resistance, or even a flat out rejection of Jesus’ demands. Why? Because they go against what the world favors and values.” (Karoline Lewis, Working Preacher)
If we take these words too literally- then don’t we fall into the same legalistic trap as the Pharisees? What is the Spirit of Jesus words? Reconciliation and right relationship.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Initial Thoughts
The idea of two choices: Life or death, following God or not, is so beautifully captured in this passage and remains a theme throughout scripture
This is a speech by Moses to the Israelites - the choices we make are not individual choices, but affect the community around us. I.e. we cannot choose life/prosperity for ourselves if it means death/oppression for someone else
Bible Study
Life and Death, Good and Evil
While seeing the world in binaries has many problem, there exists a fundamental choice to follow the way of God (as set before in the Torah and summed up in Deuteronomy 6:6-8) or to choose to not follow God’s way
The danger is when we think this is a “one and done” choice when the biblical narrative shows us that we face this choice repeatedly (as many as 35,000 choices a day) - every choice we make, we can choose (or at least try to choose) the way of life.
Good and Evil - Genesis
A call back to Genesis 3
In the same way that Adam and Eve did not die when they ate the tree, we do not die immediately upon making the wrong choice, but we live life a little less abundantly
The tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil represents not eternal damnation, but our human inclination to choose death, to defy God who wants only abundant life for us. What love God has for us to give us the gift to choose to reject God - in this freedom we find love (and perhaps despair)
The land and how we live in it
Moses begins Deuteronomy with “See, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession.” (Deut. 1:8), now at the end Moses urges the people, “See I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil…choose life.” (Deut 30:15). The people are to take possession of land in a way that bring life - unfortunately they choose genocide
We see echoes of this in the infamous Doctrine of Discovery and the continued illegal occupation of Palestine.
“a way that has now been spelled out in detail in the instruction of the Lord. It has to do with the manner of Israel’s worship, purity of life, justice and fairness toward the weak and the poor and the slave, honor of parents, respect of neighbors, administration of justice, leadership of the people, treatment of the natural order, the practice of war, the treatment of women, and many other things. To live in the land according to the directions given about all these things in the Torah of the Lord, God’s instruction, is to create the possibilities for a good and blessed life.” Patrick D. Miller, Interpretation: Deuteronomy, p. 214.
An echo for how we live in this creation of God’s - do we bring life or death to community and creation?
“Whatever notions of the good life may exist as alternatives in a world where many gods, enticing systems of power, and hawkers of attractive elixirs of life contend for the loyalties of humankind, the Bible insists without qualification that there is really only one way to find life and good and well-being, in this world and in any other worlds that may exist. It is the Lord’s way. So choose that way, follow that Lord.” Miller, p. 215.
Unlike the offered covenants of Exodus 19:3-9 (just before the 10 Commandments) and Joshua 24:15-24 (As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord) - the Torah ends without response - it is intentionally open-ended, Moses is not speaking just to the Israelites, but to all of us.
Thoughts and Questions
“Living in the way of the Lord” is not a justification for prayer in schools or the many other forms of civic religion that some Christians would espouse. This passage is often used to justify a false nostalgia of the “good old days” when Western Society was “more Christian”. We must remember those “good old days” brought with them the oppression and death of women, people of color, LGBTQ+ persons, persons in poverty, indigenous persons, etc. In short they brought a lot of death, not life. So this was clearly, not the “way of the Lord” no matter how full the Christian churches were.
A recent study estimates that we make 35,000 choices a day. How many of them are made by choosing life, grace, and love?
Ironically the “way of life” may lead to our own deaths- as it has for countless prophets, people of faith, and Jesus himself.
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Initial Thoughts
Common English makes an important change from “things of the flesh” to “unspiritual”
“The flesh” is so often thought of in sexual terms, or at the very least flesh is associated with evil. The term carries a great deal of baggage.
“When Paul writes about being ruled by the flesh or dominated by its way of thinking, however, he refers not to an inherently evil flesh but to the flawed perspectives that characterize human values and human decisions… ‘Spiritual people’ does not mean to ignore or suppress the needs of the body, but to be guided by the Spirit of God as distinct from the standards of the world apart from God” (Beverly Gaventa, Texts for Preaching, Year A, p. 142).
Bible Study
Spiritual maturity
Growth is a recurring theme in Paul’s writing.
Also talks about “running the race”
Though Paul was transformed by a single moment, he still understood the importance of spiritual development.
Maternal imagery goes against common perception that Paul is purely paternalistic in his understanding of the good news.
He places himself in the role of mother
Spirituality is often seen through lens of individuality “My relationship with God.” Paul goes against this, revealing that spiritual maturity is revealed in how you relate to the community.
Disunity is a sign of immaturity
“But for right now, friends, I’m completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You’re acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I’ll nurse you since you don’t seem capable of anything more. As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything’s going your way? When one of you says, “I’m on Paul’s side,” and another says, “I’m for Apollos,” aren’t you being totally infantile?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-4; Eugene Peterson’s The Message)
“Team Jacob” vs “Team Edward” (Twilight) or now “Team Ron” vs “Team Harry” (Harry Potter). These things seem as immature and ridiculous as “Team Paul” vs “Team Apollos”
“The real measure of maturity is unity and peace in the community” (Richard B. Hays, Interpretation: Paul, p. 49).
The work of the followers
Planting and watering is the work of the people. Growth is only the work of God.
There is a separation of the church and the leaders.
Paul sees himself and Apollos as “set apart”
“We are God’s servants… you are God’s field, God’s building”
It is still only the work of the Holy Spirit that grows the faith
Building is not an actual building- this was a time of church houses but rather the community with allusions to the temple (these are Jews in diaspora)
“You” is always in the plural, not the singular
Co-workers – synergoi (where we get synergy from)
Field: co-workers in Christ
Building: Christ is the foundation, the work of the builders will be tested
Psalm 127: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”
Temple: Where the Holy Spirit dwells- not in a physical location, but within us, just as you wouldn’t violate a sacred space- you should also not violate a community
Leadership in the church – what is the problem when people claim the church, a ministry, committee or project as “their own”?
Thoughts and Questions
Tribalism within the church, communities, and between denominations
What good does the competition do us?
Work in the church can be thankless, and rewards are not always seen.
Does your congregation have a plan for moving people from milk to solid food?
Paul advocates for unity within the Corinthian church. Unity is sometimes used to maintain the status quo of oppressive power structures: “The Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is… the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.” (MLK, “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”)
Is there room to “in-fight” when there is a group within the Body that you stand against?
When is disunity a sign of spiritual maturity? When is unity a sign of spiritual immaturity?
Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, patreon.com/RichardBC). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Miserlou”), Nicolai Heidlas for our transition music (“Sunday Morning”, "Real Ride" and “Summertime”) and Bryan Odeen for our closing music.