Source: http://preachingdownunder.blogspot.com/2013/10/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 01:20:16+00:00

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Relating to 'All Saints' the key words are 'the holy ones of the Most High' (v.18).
The verses read here set the scene of a terrifying vision Daniel receives in the context of Babylonian exile which look ahead to four great kingdoms dominating and opposing God's holy ones, Israel. Readers familiar with 'end times' speculations regarding the meanings of such visions will be familiar with proposals for interpreting the four beasts. One example: Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. It is widely thought by Daniel scholars that the vision occurred in the period when Greece was the imperial power dictating terms to Israel and acting in profane ways in the Jerusalem Temple. Its setting in the story of Daniel as a court official in Babylon enables the readers of Daniel to believe that God will prevail for the Babylonian kingdom fell and the Babylonian Exile of the Jews came to an end. Thus verse 18 is a ringing affirmation of the biblical truth that God always wins in the battle between good and evil and the holy ones or saints of God never suffer or die in vain.
But the psalm takes a darker hue when in the second half of v. 6, which has begun 'Let the high praises of God be in their throats,' we read 'and two-edged swords in their hands.' The rest of the psalm is about the vengeance of Israel on the nations. A tricky psalm to say without some explanation for we must presume that the psalm has a reasonable explanation for its second part.
One thing to note is that this is the second to last psalm and if we go to the second from the beginning psalm (Psalm 2) we find a strong theme of sovereignty for Israel, expressed through talk of the royal Davidic ruler of Israel. At the least we might understand Psalm 149 as a psalm written after Israel has suffered an infringement of its sovereignty. The oppressors against Israel have had judgment decreed against them (149:9) and now Israel executes the judgment and restores its sovereign status. Read in this way, the psalm is in keeping with much talk in the Old Testament of Israel's many battles with invading forces from near neighbours or far off empires.
As Christians we might read 'two-edged sword' as the written Word of God, the Bible, and think of ourselves as a people who praise God and proclaim the Word of God. Vengeance on the nations, on this understanding, would be the Word of God undermining the prevailing 'word of humanity' or ideology which drove the nations forward in their malevolent ways.
Ephesians is, arguably, the purest 'gospel theology' of all Paul's letters. It has a clear and coherent argument from start to finish (we might contrast the enigmatic 'bump' in the argument of Romans when we read chapters 9-11). One great theme is the wholeness of the gospel: it is a message to the whole world setting out God's plan for the whole universe to which all people are called to participate in Christ who is the totality of the whole life of God. Our passage today is a substantive portion of chapter one in which this great theme is introduced and developed.
On this Sunday, 'All Saints', our eye is caught by v. 15, 'I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints ...'. Here is a sharp reminder that saints are 'just God's people', you and me, the ordinary people of God for whom God has extraordinary plans (as Ephesians articulates, especially through chapters 1-3). Paul rejoices here in the members of the church to which he writes: they have faith in Jesus and they love one another without exception.
Among many wonderful theological pearls we might pause to admire in this passage, two more deserve mention in connection with 'All Saints'.
1. Paul prays that his readers may know '... what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe ...' (vv. 18-19). God's future is never for us as individuals. Our glorious inheritance is not a personal, individual pass to paradise. Rather it is to fullness of divine life in the corporate family of all God's people. We live Christianly in the church on earth (with all its difficulties and tensions) as preparation for the greater day when we live eternally as the bride of Christ in the heavenly realms. 'All Saints' is a reminder, on this matter, that we are called to be in fellowship with all God's people.
2. '... for the church ...' (v. 22) Despite the many frailties of the church, which were an experience of church life then as well as now (see various concerns through Ephesians about failure in the church), God's amazing plan for the universe involves the church (i.e. all the saints as the body of Christ). Christ is head over all things for the church. The church is the body of this supreme Christ, filled with the very life of God itself.
Who are the saints of God now that Jesus has come proclaiming his gospel? They are the ones who are disciples of Jesus, learning the way of God's kingdom while also enduring life in the kingdom. These ones are blessed. Yet the blessing of 'the poor' and the contrasting woe of 'the rich' points to a characteristic of disciples, reworked as a theme throughout Luke's gospel, that they have left material possessions behind and entered into the kingdom trusting in God for provision of material needs. On such understanding, saints are those for whom their most treasured possession is the kingdom itself, that is, life lived under God's rule.
Holiness, then, for the holy ones of God is the distinctive way of life which receives the blessing of God and the opprobrium of the world (vv. 22-23). In this distinctive way of life, the response of the saints to opposition is not like for like retaliation but love for enemies, good for those who hate, blessing on those who curse and prayer for abuser (vv. 27-28). Generosity of spirit and purse (vv. 29-30), thus, is the way of Christ's holy ones.
We might make one very important final observation: whatever the merits of calling particular people of God, 'St. Someone', there is an important demerit to this churchy custom. It implies that the calling to saintly or holy living is for the special few and not for all who follow Jesus. All today's passages are addressed to all God's people. We are 'all saints'.
In these verses we have a corporate version of the tax collector in the gospel reading: Jeremiah speaks words of confession of Israel/Judah's many sins.
In the first part of the reading God is mindful to 'remember their iniquity and punish their sins' (v. 10) but in the second part of the reading, Jeremiah cries more deeply the confession of sin and pleads that God might 'not spurn us' (v. 21).
This psalm connects to our reading in the gospel by exalting the virtues of the temple (in which the two men in the gospel parable are praying).
In these seven verses we have a wonderful eulogy to the temple as the earthly house of God in which the Lord dwells. Who would not desire to be there to be with the Lord? Who would not be happy, ever singing God's praise in such a place?
Paul is writing at the end of his ... life? (vss. 6-8) or ministry to this point? (vss. 16-18). The latter reading is consistent with Paul thinking his earthly life is at an end and the heavenly life will shortly begin.
We might usefully cross-check with the gospel reading and ask whether Paul is in danger of declaring himself to be righteous like his Pharisaical colleague (Paul, remember, was a Pharisee). But Paul voids this danger through the words he uses which unmistakably point to the role of God in enabling him him to have fought the good fight of faith and to have finished the race (see v. 17 'the Lord stood by me and gave me strength').
V. 16 has more than a hint of identification with Christ on the cross (whose disciples deserted him). Enigmatically, the reference to being rescued from 'the lion's mouth' implies Paul had his own brush with another form of Roman execution. We do not know whether the rescue was in the form of his release from imprisonment before going to the Colisseum, or from the mortal attack of a lion in the arena itself.
For ourselves the question might be whether we too are fighting the good fight faithfully?
There is nothing quite like this parable to make sinners feel self-righteous (about not being 'up themselves' like the Pharisee) ... which is perhaps not the intention of Jesus!
The opening to the telling of the parable (v. 9) parallels the opening to the telling of the parable at the beginning of the chapter (v. 1). Presumably Luke has to hand two parables he wants to share with us, whether or not he sees a connecting theme between them. (There is a slight connecting theme of 'prayer' but only slight because prayer is the theme of the first parable and an incidental detail in the second).
The points of the parable are twofold and, well, pointed. It is told against those who either 'trusted in themselves that they were righteous' and/or 'regard others with contempt'. Few of us have never suffered from either fault. We do well to listen carefully.
The structure of the parable is simple. Two deliberately contrasting figures, a Pharisee (i.e. respected religious adherent of the Jewish faith) and a tax collector (i.e. a despised, likely greedy lackey of the imperialist Romans, at odds with fellow Jews) perform the same action, going up to the temple to pray.
The Pharisee prays a prayer of thanksgiving, which is directed at himself and his many virtues. We might note that his virtues are not that virtuous: I guess most readers here could also say that we are not a thief, rogue, adulterer or cheat-on-our-fellow-citizens. Many of us would tithe and some of us might fast regularly. We could note, with careful observation of detail, that the Pharisee does not pray, 'Thank you God for enabling me to not be like ...' Rather the prayer has the effect of drawing God's attention to how successful the Pharisee has been in being virtuous. In sum, the Pharisee exalts himself before God (and, in terms of the narrative, before those hearing his prayer).
The tax collector prays a prayer of confession which is directed to God and God's many mercies. 'God be merciful to me, a sinner!' His demeanour matches his words as we are told that he stood far off (in an obscure corner of the temple?), refused to look to heaven and beat his breast. His prayer is both a prayer of confession, I am a sinner, and a prayer of intercession, God, be merciful to me.
Jesus tells us that that man went home 'justified rather than the other.' To that key judgment of the situation is added a familiar saying from elsewhere in the gospels, that the humble will be exalted and the exalted humbled (e.g. 13:30; 14:11; Matt 18:4; 23:12).
It is worth pausing on the word 'justified.' Sometimes the writings of Paul with his key theme that God justifies sinners (and sinners do not justify themselves through good works) are pitted against Jesus and his teaching. But here Jesus and Paul are one: our apparent righteous status does not justify us, nor do our good works and hard earned virtues, only throwing ourselves on the mercy of God leads to justification.
This mysterious story of Jacob wrestling with 'a man' through the night, Jacob demonstrating immense prowess and, upon being blessed, recognising the man was in fact God offers much food for thought for the student of the Bible. Only a small portion of the food is served up here!
2. Although the story ends with a quaint explanation about why Israelites do not eat the 'thigh muscle that is on the hip socket' (a prohibition not actually attested to anywhere else in the Old Testament), its central importance in the 'theological history' of Israel (the nation) as narrated through the Old Testament lies in the explanation it gives for the name 'Israel' which is bestowed on the patriarch Jacob whose twelve sons spawn the twelve tribes which define the extent of the nation Israel.
3.2 The location of the story is at Peniel/Penuel (vss. 30-31) which means 'face of God' because Jacob has seen 'God face to face' (v. 30).
4. Jacob's lack of recognition of 'the man' who turns out to be the presence of God mirrors his grandfather Abraham's experience of entertaining three 'men' unaware of their divine status (Genesis 18:1-15).
Sometimes this psalm is misunderstood in respect of its starting point. It is not a call to lift up one's eyes to the hills in order to seek God's help. Rather, the hills (likely the hills of Jerusalem) are precisely where help does not come from. Rather, help comes from the Lord the creator of the whole world (plains and valleys as well as hills). It is this God, a God not confined to a specific geographic location, who can help us wherever we are. Further, this God, not confined to a body and thus not subject to the need for sleep, can help us at any time, day or night.
Nevertheless, since this psalm is one of 'Songs of Ascent' or psalms said by pilgrims on their way 'up' to Jerusalem, there is a certain irony in declaring that help does not come from the hills.
Connecting this psalm to the gospel reading, we can pray confidently to the God who presides over every aspect of our lives 'your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore'.
A consistent concern through 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus is 'sound teaching.' No passage in these three letters better captures this theme. Paul urges Timothy to 'continue' (3:14) in what he has learned, maintaining his knowledge by recalling how he has learned (both from 'whom', his mother and grandmother and Paul himself, and from 'what', the 'sacred writings', 3:15).
As an aside Paul states his view of 'scripture' (3:16, which meant at the least what today we call the Old Testament, but could also have included Christian writings being received by Christian communities as 'sacred writings') and its purpose (3:17).
In chapter 4, Paul sets up a strong, specific, God-and-Jesus-Christ backed commission for Timothy (4:1-2) in respect of proclaiming 'the message' (i.e. sound teaching). Note the imperatives: 'proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.' Further imperatival underlining occurs in v. 5.
So, what is the problem to which this 'urging' of Paul is the solution? He foresees a coming time 'when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths' (v. 3-4).
If we are honest about this parable, it is quite tricky to make sense of all of it!
v. 2-5: A parable is told which accords with the intention in the sense that a widow persists in asking a godless, heartless judge for justice and her persistence wears the judge's resistance down to the point where he grants her request.
But the parable 'works' in terms of being about persistent prayer only if we imagine that God is much, much kinder than the heartless judge.
There is then a problem for those of us who also know Jesus' teaching in Matthew 6:7-8 where Jesus teaches against using lots of words in repetitive prayers. A possible resolution of the apparent contradiction is for disciples to distinguish between occasions when prayers are prayed with the intention of flattering God into responding by virtue of quantity of prayers and occasions when a simple, short prayer is persistently prayed (e.g. on a daily or weekly basis) in the belief that God (perhaps for reasons hidden from us) calls us to pray persistently for a matter.
v. 6: The Lord then offers an enigmatic comment on the parable: listen to the judge. Presumably this means, think about what the judge says in the parable and then make the appropriate calculation of what it is that God says to us about our persistent praying. Calculate that God is more eager to answer our prayer than the judge was to answer the woman's plea.
v. 7-8a: Things are starting to get trickier! An additional comment is made but it is not about prayer but about justice!
v. 8b: 'And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?' Further tricky material to comprehend comes with this ending. The introduction of the Son of Man and his 'second coming' is unexpected, as is the introduction of the theme of 'faith'. A possible explanation lies in recalling the beginning of this passage in verse one. If Jesus is teaching patient persistence in prayer, the ultimate patience is demonstrated by those disciples who keep praying with faith believing for an answer even to the day when the Son of Man returns. But that explanation then highlights the implausibility of v. 7-8a speaking of God acting 'quickly' if by 'quickly' we mean 'very soon.' Thus some commentators think a better translation would be 'suddenly', that is, we pray persistently for justice, God does not act straightaway but when God does act he acts with urgency and immediacy (indeed, the ultimate act of justice is the judgment of the Son of Man whose coming may be delayed but when he does come it will be sudden and for most, unexpected).
a. there is a parallel here between the shifting sands of themes through eight verses (albeit roughly conjoined around 'prayer') and the beginning of chapter 16 and its shifting themes (albeit roughly conjoined around 'money').
b. dealing with the trickiness of the passage may be 'our problem' as Western exegetes/preachers used to a certain kind of rational coherency more than Jesus' (or Luke's) 'problem' as preacher in a different time, place and culture.
c. the shifting nature of the themes does permit a preacher to make a decision about what to focus on: prayer or persistence and patience in prayer, justice or seeking justice, the character of God, faith.
This story of God healing a non-Israelite fits well with the healing in Luke 17. In both cases leprosy is the problem. A common element between the two stories is that Naaman, like the Samaritan leper, understands that God has done this work and wishes to acknowledge it appropriately.
Two matters stand out for me from this reading which has many dimensions and points of interest.
Further 'remembering Jesus Christ' must also include the immediately to hand things Paul has said about the gospel, e.g. 2 Timothy 1:8-10 which speaks of God's power to save us and to call us to holy living, according to God's gracious purpose, which includes abolition of death and bringing of immortal life.
Why then does Paul say at this point 'Remember Jesus Christ'? The context is an urging of Timothy and through Timothy, his congregation, to engage fully in the Christian life, which includes suffering for the gospel and earnest endeavour to 'obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus' (v. 10). To remember Jesus Christ is to recall that Jesus led the way in suffering that God's purpose might be fulfilled and in endeavouring to be faithful to God in all circumstances.
(2) Paul himself endures many things as an apostle and herald of the gospel. Why? 'For the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory' (v. 10). Sometimes Christians get caught up in a debate over whether God's choice of us overrides any real sense that we choose to put our faith in God. Here Paul appears to transcend such debate! Christians are 'the elect' (those chosen by God to have faith in him) yet Paul worries that they (we) might not 'make it' to the full inheritance of salvation (i.e. election does not override out choice to keep placing our faith in God). Such thinking is at one with Paul's thought in Philippians 2:12-13.
This is a popular and memorable story. Popular because it touches all who hear it about gratefulness. We all have memories of people who never show their gratitude for something we have done for them. We might even remember occasions when we have not thanked someone for a kindness. Memorable because (as with other gospel stories) the numbers are striking and simply to recall: 10 / 9 / 1.
A detail in the story might be overlooked but it is important. The returning thanker was a Samaritan and Jesus praises him for being the exceptional 'foreigner' who gives thanks when the others do not.
Thus the story is arguably less about the one out of ten who gives thanks (and so must we) and more about the outsider who understands Jesus and responds to him (and so the gospel is for all, for Samaritans as well as Jews, for Gentiles and for Jews, for outsider and for insiders).
If so, then this story is representative of the gospel Luke preaches through his Luke-Acts narrative: the gospel is God's inclusive love for all and the gospel is for all.

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