Bible Tuesday for September 28, 2014

Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

The word of the Lord came to me: 2What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge”? 3As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine: it is only the person who sins that shall die. 25Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?26When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. 27Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life. 28Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die. 29Yet the house of Israel says, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” O house of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?30Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. 31Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.

Ezekiel is prophesying to the people of Israel during the Babylonian captivity. Several prophets, including Ezekiel, have prophesied to the Israelites that Babylon would lay siege to them and conquer them because they had forsaken God; these are the consequences of their actions. Now, the people in captivity are complaining against God using this idiom, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge”. In other words, the offspring are suffering from the actions of the parents. But God sees this very differently. God sees that all are guilty of abandoning the covenant God made with them. Through Ezekiel, God is urging all, adults and parents, to confess and repent, that they might live in the love of God.

Psalm 25:1-9

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust;
do not let me be put to shame;
do not let my enemies exult over me.
Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;
let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.

Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!

Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees

This is another acrostic psalm, with each stanza beginning with one letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Notice the almost Buddhist humble seeking of the right path. Unlike Buddhism, though, the path is made and giving by Yahweh. The psalmist implores God to act faithfully to the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to overlook his childish impetuousness in the name of this covenant.

A way of translating the last line in this pericope is “All the ways of the Lord are adherence to the covenant for those who keep it, and God’s decrees.” “Steadfast Love and faithfulness” are both English translations of legal language “hesed” and “emet”. The translations “steadfast love” and “faithfulness” sound like valentines and marriage cooing but are far more devoid of feeling than that. These are words that refer to keeping a contract in good faith, as opposed to love. God is always faithful to the covenant, but the Israelites almost never are.

. Philippians 2:1-13

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was* in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Paul admonishes the church in Philippi to amazing behavior, complete selflessness. While Paul does set himself up as an example to the churches with which he corresponds, not so in this letter, wisely, not so. Instead Paul uses an ancient Christian hymn to conjure the only example for complete selflessness, Jesus.

As Lutherans, Paul’s line, “work out your own salvation” smacks of works righteousness. But I think “work out” is not to be understood in works righteousness terms but rather, “Daddy is too busy to settle your fights. You guys work out your own problems.” I understand Paul to be admonishing the Philippian church to humbly sort out their issues, looking to God for guidance and ability.

Matthew 21:23-32

23When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 27So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

28“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

This text occurs on the morning after Palm Sunday. During the parade, when Jesus is seated on the donkeys (in Matthew Jesus rides both the mother and her colt), the Jewish authorities confront Jesus and tell him to silence the crowds. Jesus Christ Superstar portrays this very well, “if every tongue were stilled, the noise would still continue. The rocks and stones themselves would start to sing.” The crowd’s actions and Jesus retort set the entrapment and murder plot spinning against Jesus. Palm Sunday evening Jesus and the disciples went to stay with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. The next morning, Jesus and the disciples all head back into Jerusalem to the temple. The Jewish authorities are waiting for him. They want to check his credentials. However, Jesus answers them cryptically, pensively. He knows they are plotting against him and seems to be eager to expose their false teachings and bad leadership to the crowds and the disciples. Jesus poses to the Jewish leaders a question of authority.

Daniel Patte (The Gospel According to Matthew) makes this observation:

Even though the chief priests and the elders correctly view authority as something given to someone and not as an intrinsic part of someone’s being, for them once it has been received this authority characterizes that person. For them, Jesus has an authority, and with it he does certain things. By contrast, Jesus does not speak of John’s authority but rather of the authority of his baptism: "The baptism of John, whence was it"? (21:25a). In other words, authority, for Jesus, is attached to an act, to what a person does, rather than to the person. The person does not have authority; what a person does, such as the baptism performed by John, is authoritative. [p. 294]

Brian Stoffregen follows up the above quote with his own comment in his textual commentary. “What Jesus has done in the preceding paragraphs was to ride into Jerusalem as a humble, conquering king. He has rejected the temple activities of buying and selling with his own activity of healing — restoring people to wholeness.”

Jesus follows up his challenge to the Jewish authorities with a parable. The father approaches his first son, (the one who has inherited the authority of the family which he will assume once his father dies) and asks him to work. The older son says, “yes” but doesn’t. The second son, (who inherits no authority and only a small portion of his father’s estate) is also approach by the father, declines to work, but then goes and does it. Who actually does the father’s will? The second son, not because of title or inheritance, but because of action. Since the Jewish leaders ignored and condemned John they have failed to do the will of God, but those lesser in the family, prostitutes and tax collectors, did receive John’s testimony, were baptized, and now follow Jesus. They are doing the will of the father, despite they lower status in life.