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Bible Tuesday for Pentecost 12, 2017

Bible Tuesday for Pentecost 12, 2017

Isaiah 51:1-6

Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. 2Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many. 3For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

4Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples. 5I will bring near my deliverance swiftly, my salvation has gone out and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope.6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who live on it will die like gnats; but my salvation will be forever, and my deliverance will never be ended.

This passage of Isaiah is written to Israelites returning from exile who see before them all the work that is to be done to restore their homes, farms, businesses, synagogues, and Temple. Sooooooo very much work and so few hands.

To these people God delivers the above imperative exhortations. I have bolded them above. God commands the complaining, worrying Israelites to Listen to me! Drop your hopelessness and pick up faith in me! Why should you trust me? Because Abraham and Sarah were just two people but I made a whole nation out of them! I will do it again with you!

“My teaching” – literally “My Torah” This statement implies that God will send the Torah/Law/Teaching/Word to all the nations not necessarily by written scroll but definitely by word and action.

“Coastlands” – In Isaiah, this word refers to the coasts of Israel held by the Philistines, and those coastlands north held by other goyim/non Jews. Note that God will send his deliverance of all people, even those traditional enemies of Israel, with whom God hopes to make peace.

“Lift” – God commands that Israel look at the seeming permanence of earth and sky, which is nothing but a gnat’s life when looking at the power and permanence of God’s salvation.

Psalm 138

1I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise;

2I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything.

3On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.

4All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth.

5They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.

6For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away.

7Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me.

8The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Regarding this psalm, The Jewish Study Bible “This is the first of a collection of hymns (psalms 138 – 145) that conclude the Psalter. Petitions characterize the Psalter’s opening, and many see an intentional movement from petitions to hymns as part of the structure that the editor tried to convey. The book of Psalms would then reflect a movement from lament to praise.”

“before the gods” – can also be translated “before the divine beings”. Ancient Israelites believed God to be the greatest of many divine beings, though that is not what God says about God’s self through the prophets and direct communication to Abraham, Elijah, Moses, etc. To that point, at the burning bush when God gives Moses a name for Himself, God says “I am” which is to state emphatically that God IS while all other imagined divine beings ARE NOT.

“he regards the lowly, but the haughty he perceives from far away” – This sentence conveys God’s “very present” immediacy with those who humbly walk with God. However, those who proudly march off in their own directly put great distance between God and themselves.

Romans 12:1-8

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

What does Paul mean by “living sacrifice?” Throughout the readings from Romans leading up to this week’s pericope, Paul has been talking about the salvation of the Jews and the grafting of the Gentiles onto the family tree of the Jewish people. In the above passage, Paul again draws on religious worship language of the Jews and uses it to make a very important distinction. Whereas Jews (while the Temple still existed) offered thank offerings of grain and animals, sin offerings of lamb “without spot or blemish”, and wellbeing offerings of incense, grain, oil, and/or animals most of which was burned on altars, those who believe Jesus was the final sacrificial lamb are to make themselves and their whole lives an offering to God. Specifically in this passage, Paul is admonishing the baptized to live in such purity that they are like the sacrificial lambs, without spot or blemish. Those who truly believe in Jesus and take seriously his teachings will not engage in behaviors that dirty themselves before God and others. Hence, the faithful are to imitate Jesus as best they can, and not imitate (be conformed to) the self indulging, self focused world.

The final verse of this passage reminds us that faithful living is as varied as the faithful people, themselves. While some might feel connected to God through lotus position meditation, others might experience connectedness through gardening or mountain hiking. While some might serve God through caring for aged neighbors, others might tutor in the local after school program. None of the members of the body of Christ are given the privilege of defining “the perfect way of being a Christian” for all of the rest of the body. We each are different and God connects with each of us differently, though God always connects to us in community.

Matthew 16:13-20

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Last week’s gospel took place in the lands of the Gentiles. This week, Jesus and his disciples are back in Galilee, Jewish territory. In this passage, Jesus uses both “Son of Man” and “I” to refer to himself. “Son of Man” is a curious idiom which means a human man who is specially chosen by God. But throughout the gospels, Jesus uses this term to refer to himself, because the term comes from the Hebrew Scriptures and traditional interpretation of them to refer to a very special human God would choose to lead Israel.

In this passage, Jesus uses the term “Son of Man” to refer to himself when he asks the disciples who the crowds and Jewish authorities say he is while they gossip. Note that all the folks the crowds identify with Jesus are dead. Only Simon identifies Jesus correctly as the Messiah in Hebrew, the Christ in Greek, the God sent Savior in English. Upon this correct identification, Jesus gives Simon a new name, Peter, or petros, which is Greek for “rock”. Then Jesus makes a pun on this new name, saying, “On this rock I will build my church.”

Jesus goes on to give the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter. In this passage it seems that the Keys of the Kingdom are not explained but in other gospels, the ability to bind and loose on earth and in heaven are the Keys to the Kingdom. In Greek as in English, the word “bind” means both to tie up/shackle (Regarding Lazarus, Jesus says, “Unbind him and let him go.) and to bandage (In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus says that the Samaritan bound the wounds of the man on the side of the road.). To loose in Greek as in English can mean to let loose, letting an attack dog loose on an intruder, and to unbind, unbinding bandages. The keys are both to lock and to unlock, all in accordance with Jesus’ teaching.