Bible Tuesday for Sunday, September 20, 2015

Jeremiah 11:18-20

It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;
then you showed me their evil deeds.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
And I did not know it was against me
that they devised schemes, saying,
‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will no longer be remembered!’
20 But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.

The preceding chapters of Jeremiah are filled with judgements given by God to Jeremiah for broadcast to the people of Jerusalem. The Israelites are completely polytheistic at in this time, to which God declares through Jeremiah, “You have as many gods are you have villages!” Through Jeremiah, God decries the idolatry practiced by the Israelites, including child sacrifice and ritual prostitution. The Israelites bristle at God’s scolding and, as they cannot go after God, they go after God’s mouthpiece, Jeremiah.

How very different is the theme of retribution, common in the Hebrew scriptures, from Jesus’ turn the other cheek!

Psalm 54

To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, ‘David is in hiding among us.’
1 Save me, O God, by your name,
and vindicate me by your might.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
give ear to the words of my mouth.

3 For the insolent have risen against me,
the ruthless seek my life;
they do not set God before them.
Selah

4 But surely, God is my helper;
the Lord is the upholder of* my life.
5 He will repay my enemies for their evil.
In your faithfulness, put an end to them.

6 With a freewill-offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7 For he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

The introduction to the psalm is cryptic, even to the best scholars. First of all, it is to be played on stringed instruments, but we truly do not know what stringed instruments were used by the Israelites in the year 1000 BC. There are Hebrew words which are translated “harp” and “lute” but that does not mean that what passes for harp and lute in our time is anything like what was known to these ancient Israelites.

“A Maskil”-Scholars speculate that a maskil is a type of song distinguished by rhythm or tone, as we distinguish a waltz, plainsong chant, or rap.

The setting-The book of I-II Samuel tells the story of David being given the honor of serving as King Saul’s armor bearer and harp player until King Saul became so jealous of David that he tried to kill him. David was a fine young man and soldier of great renown by this time. When King Saul put a bounty on David’s head, David gathered his most loyal military buddies to himself, formed a militia, and sought shelter/employment among the neighboring tribes, most of which were Israel’s enemies. During David and his army’s stay with the Ziphites, some of those folks ratted them out forcing them to flee not only the Ziphites but also Saul’s army in hot pursuit.

“Selah”-Scholars speculate this word marks where a musical interlude or well known chorus (such as the “Fa la la la…” in “Deck the Halls”) would be inserted.

James 3:13-4:8

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for* those who make peace.

4Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet* something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. 4Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, ‘God* yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’? 6But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says,
‘God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.’
7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

This passage contrasts the nature of God with the nature of evil and admonishes the baptized to Godly life. “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you,” makes logical sense in this letter. Practice a life that is “peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy” and God will come close to you. But, because of this line of thought, that by our piety and/or works we can attract God, Luther was not fond of the book of James. Instead, Luther embraced Paul as summarized in Ephesians, “For by Grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of you. This gift is of God.”

Mark 9:30-37

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ 32But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ 34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ 36Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

In the gospel of Mark, the author describes the disciples as dim witted and faithless. Here is a prime example. We read above the second time Jesus tells his disciples about what comes next. The disciples are clueless that they, not only don’t understand what Jesus is talking about, but they let their fear stop them from asking Jesus to explain. Peter got chewed out for voicing their thoughts on the subject so now, the disciples just ignore it. Instead, they start posturing with each other. Once Jesus takes the throne, who gets to be King Jesus’ chancellor? Who will get ambassador posts? Who will run the treasury?

Then Jesus points out how truly antithetical human nature is to God’s nature. The humble, the ignored, the all but invisible, the defenseless, the helpless, and those who serve them are those on whom honor is bestowed in the Kingdom of God. The people to whom we pay attention for the greater part, those to whom we are indebted, those who have power over us, those with cultivated comportment, get no more attention than anyone else from God. To be first, or honored by God is to open our eyes to see as God sees and to be used by God to act as God acts.