Today in the Spirit: Epiphany 5A
At the end of the Beatitudes we heard last Sunday, Jesus makes a dramatic shift from the third person “Blessed are those” to the second person “Blessed are you,” and there he remains throughout the remainder of the Sermon on the Mount. At Epiphany 5A, we hear in the assigned Gospel reading Matthew 5:13-20 the first teaching after the Beatitudes: “You are the salt of the earth” (13) and “You are the light of the world” (14). These come in the form of exhortation, as if to shake us free from any temptation to distance ourselves from the cutting edge of the sermon introduction.
The Old Testament reading in 2 Kings 22:8-20 recounts King Josiah’s awakening upon hearing the words of the Book of the Law discovered during renovations of the temple in Jerusalem. He immediately tears his clothes and seeks a fresh word from YHWH through a prophetess. He reasons,
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“For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
2 Kings 22:13
As the psalms often do in our liturgy, the appointed Psalm 27 this week gives the worshiper a voice of the Spirit aligned with that of “David.” There is: 1) exultation over the experience of God governing our lives, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?” (1); and 2) comfort for enduring periods of wondering and waiting, “O wait for the LORD; be strong, and he shall comfort your heart. O put your trust in the LORD” (17).
Continuing this week in the Epiphany series through 1 Corinthians, we will hear the appointed New Testament reading from 1 Corinthians 2:1-16 in our worship. In this passage, before he launches in earnest into his criticisms of the church in Corinth, Paul reflects on the contrast between his early pioneering ministry among the unconverted marked by “power” (vv. 1-5) and his later ministry among mature Christians, including his letters written later, which he calls “wisdom from God” (vv. 6-16).
The assigned Collect is one of just two (also Pentecost, Proper 7) that contains the phrase “true religion” to describe the practical outworking of the Church’s life in Christ. The petition is for protection by the power of God, implying that, without it, we “who trust in the hope of your heavenly grace” are unable to withstand the opposition of sin and Satan in the world.
The Collect
O Lord, our heavenly Father, keep your household the Church continually in your true religion, that we who trust in the hope of your heavenly grace may always be defended by your mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
Your Heart Was Responsive (2 Kings 22:8-20)
8 And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9 And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” 10 Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. 11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. 12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, 13 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” 14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her. 15 And she said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, 16 Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. 17 Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. 18 But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, 19 because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. 20 Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.’” And they brought back word to the king.
2 Kings 22:8-20
In the Gospel reading, Jesus teaches that “whoever does [the OT commands] and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19). The OT reading presents King Josiah as a model of one who is eager to do just that. Upon hearing the law of God read to him from lost scrolls, he completely changes the course of his reign over the nation of Judah. His zeal displayed throughout this whole section of 1 Kings can be characterized as hard-edged and even violent. But note the words of YHWH (through the prophetess Huldah) describing Josiah this way: “your heart was penitent [or “responsive” NIV], and you humbled yourself before the LORD” (19). That word “penitent” in Hebrew is more literally “soft” or “gentle,” or even “weak.”
What we observe here is the pairing Scripture often makes between unwavering obedience to the word of God on one hand and softness of heart toward God himself on the other. We see this duality in many of the Bible’s greatest saints, and most prominently in Jesus himself: our Lord goes with determined submission to the word of God as far as Golgotha, and yet it is Matthew who tells us that he is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of the “servant”:
He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.
Mt. 12:9-21, Is. 42:3-4
Devotionally, the exhortation here is for us to set aside our own tightly wound determination to follow God and, by grace, adopt the pliant humility of Jesus’ life in us to hear the word of God and act on it. Today, Holy Spirit, stir up in me the zeal of Josiah and Jesus, which arises out of weakness and converts into strength.
He Shall Comfort Your Heart (Psalm 27)
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? *
Psalm 27, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, *
they stumbled and fell.
3 Though a host were encamped against me, yet my heart would not be afraid, *
and though war rose up against me, yet would I put my trust in him.
4 One thing have I desired of the LORD; one thing I seek: *
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
5 To behold the fair beauty of the LORD, *
and to seek him in his temple.
6 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his tabernacle; *
indeed, in the secret place of his dwelling he shall hide me, and set me high upon a rock of stone.
7 And now he shall lift up my head *
above my enemies round about me.
8 Therefore I will offer in his dwelling an oblation with great gladness; *
I will sing and speak praises unto the LORD.
9 Hearken to my voice, O LORD, when I cry unto you; *
have mercy upon me and hear me.
10 You speak to my heart and say, “Seek my face.” *
Your face, O LORD, will I seek.
11 O hide not your face from me, *
nor cast your servant away in displeasure.
12 You have been my helper; *
leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
13 When my father and my mother forsake me, *
the LORD takes me in.
14 Teach me your way, O LORD, *
and lead me in the right way, because of my enemies.
15 Deliver me not over to the will of my adversaries, *
for there are false witnesses who have risen up against me, and those who speak wrong.
16 I would utterly have fainted, *
had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
17 O wait for the LORD; be strong, and he shall comfort your heart. *
O put your trust in the LORD.
Because of what appears to be two distinct tones of voice in this psalm, some commentators believe it to be two separate songs that have been joined together. Maybe. But it is also possible that what we see here is “David” passing through stages of a spiritual crisis: He starts by declaring his complete trust in YHWH, even in the face of enemies on the battlefield (vv.1-8); then he laments as he considers a different crisis–something more personal, possibly family related (vv.9-15); finally, he shakes off fear, returns to his senses (vv.16-17) and concludes: “I would utterly have fainted, had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living (16).”
David has learned through this crisis to hear the word of YHWH, which speaks boldness into his own heart to stand up and to encourage others to “wait for the LORD” (17).
We can all relate to such cycles of wavering in our faith, though they are different for each of us. We may be strong in one arena and weaker in another: Money matters may not bother us much, but maintaining perspective in personal relationships is harder. Moving to new places may be a snap for some, but staying in one place for too long causes dread. What we find, thankfully, is that in every situation God shows himself to be “light” and “salvation.” Where are you just now finding it difficult to shed the notion that Jesus has abandoned you?
Today, like David in the psalm, confess your fears, and see how by the Holy Spirit you will be empowered to say in your heart, “O wait for the LORD; be strong, and he shall comfort your heart. O put your trust in the LORD” (17).
That We Might Understand (1 Corinthians 2:1-16)
1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
1 Corinthians 2:1-16
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
In this passage, Paul makes a critically important point for the Christians in Corinth (and, by extension, for all of us) to understand: the historical fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not sufficient for human beings to perceive the saving hand of God at work. The “spirit of the world” (12) holding the human mind captive to error does not permit the ready apprehension of the message “Christ crucified” (1:23). Hence the quotation from Isaiah: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (Is. 64:4). To the church in Corinth self-imploding through divisions, Paul urges them in effect: “We have been given not only the body of Jesus (the historical person) but also “the mind of Christ” (16) through the Holy Spirit—so, for God’s sake, use it!”
Devotionally, under the influence of the Holy Spirit and “the mind of Christ,” we find we are continually surprised by both the circumstances of life and our responses to it. Even as we grow more mature in the Lord, we are always amazed at how God will move us to forgive rather than judge and unite rather than divide. It is in these moments as Christians when we begin to grasp the truth of the Beatitudes at the center of our worship last Sunday: There is, hallelujah, by God’s working in us mysteriously blessing (happiness) in showing mercy and in mourning what is lost and in making peace after conflict. The surprises are not to be understood in our minds as much as experienced now as gifts given to citizens newly immigrated into the kingdom of heaven.
I wonder if this is, in fact, the surprise in C. S. Lewis’ book Surprised by Joy. Here is Lewis’s reflections on his own experience of conversion and the uncanniness—surprising, wonderful, unsettling—work of the Spirit in all our lives as Christians:
The real terror was that if you seriously believed in even such a ‘God’ or ‘Spirit’ as I admitted, a wholly new situation developed. As the dry bones shook and came together in that dreadful valley of Ezekiel’s, so now a philosophical theorem, cerebrally entertained, began to stir and heave and throw off its gravecloths, and stood upright and became a living presence. I was to be allowed to play at philosophy no longer. It might, as I say, still be true that my ‘spirit’ differed in some way from ‘the God of popular religion.’ My Adversary [the Spirit?] waived the point. it sank into utter unimportance. He would not argue about it. He only said, ‘I am the Lord’; ‘I am that I am’; ‘I am.’
C.S. Lewis, Surprised By Joy
Today, through the Spirit who is the gift to us of Christ’s own “mind” for every situation, we contemplate what we have learned in this reading and hold tight for whatever surprising new things from God will crop up on Monday.
Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:13-20)
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:13-20
At this point in the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord is not only shifting voice from third person (“Blessed are those”) to second person (“You are”), but also from purposive (“Blessed are”) to prescriptive (“In the same way, let your light shine before others,” 16). If we are permitted to struggle with the meaning of the paradoxical language in the Beatitudes, now our conflict becomes applying what comes to us in the form of clear commands to our everyday existence.
This happens to me often as a pastor: A person, once active in our congregation but who has dropped away without explanation, calls me after many months to ask if I would conduct a funeral for a family member. I want to respond, “No way!” or “Sure, this is my charge for NON-MEMBERS!” What God has made clear to me, however, is that for me to react like that amounts to putting the “light” of Christ in me “under a basket” (15). If I am to obey the command “let your light shine before others” in this case, I must first put hard to one side any desire for personal retribution or point-making.
To glorify Jesus often means forfeiting my perceived personal rights, however justifiable they may be to hold. Only then do I earn the right to be heard—and what that former member and everyone in attendance at that funeral must hear is the precious good news.
In what situation are you being asked now to bring your gospel witness out from under your fear or anger or pride, so that others will see Jesus Christ in you? Today, Holy Spirit, speak to us clearly about what you want us to do to make the Son of God shine out in our everyday lives.
Today in the Spirit
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