Today in the Spirit: Proper 16C
In Year C, the Sunday lectionary in the stretch of Ordinary Time that follows Pentecost or Trinity Sunday features Gospel readings from the special section of Luke (9:51-18:14) containing mostly narratives unique to that New Testament Gospel. In this section, we find our Lord, as he approaches Jerusalem for the last time, alternately conversing with his disciples who struggle to understand him, religious leaders who plot to kill him, and hangers-on (in individuals and groups) who pester him with leading questions. At Proper 16C, the Gospel reading out of Luke 13:22-30 begins with an unnamed person who asks, “‘Lord, will those who are saved be few?’” (23). As the dialogue continues, Jesus warns all those who seek to justify themselves before God by simply associating themselves with the Messiah without believing: “‘In that place [the judgment seat] there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out’” (28).
The assigned Old Testament reading from Isaiah 28:14-22 is a stinging condemnation of YHWH against the political leaders of Jerusalem in the prophet’s day. The passion and frankness of the prophet is like Jesus’ when he Jesus speaks to the crowds about being left out of the kingdom of God in the Gospel reading: “Now therefore do not scoff, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land” (22).
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Psalm 46 appointed this week (and on Christ the King Sunday, Year C) picks up on the theme in all the readings this week of an overwhelming, all-consuming judgment of God at the end of all things: “He makes wars to cease in all the world; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, and burns the chariots in the fire” (9). But here is also assurance for the faithful who will pass through it: “Be still then and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.” The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge (9-11).
The New Testament reading from Hebrews 12:(15-17)18-29, though assigned to move us forward in the Year C series through Hebrews, also fits into the theme of warning against consuming judgment. The new covenant of Jesus, like the “narrow door” in the Gospel reading, is the only means of escape from death and entrance to heaven:
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering…and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking” (22, 24, 25).
Note the juxtaposition of “continual” and “continue” in the assigned Collect. God’s “continual mercy” upholds the Church, which “cannot continue in safety” without him. With the readings from Scripture this week so focused on cataclysmic judgment from above, this prayer seeking mercy and goodness from God is especially meaningful in our worship.
The Collect
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Strange Is His Deed (Isaiah 28:14-22)
14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers,
Isaiah 28:14-22
who rule this people in Jerusalem!
15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we have an agreement,
when the overwhelming whip passes through
it will not come to us,
for we have made lies our refuge,
and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;
16 therefore thus says the Lord God,
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
17 And I will make justice the line,
and righteousness the plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
18 Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,
you will be beaten down by it.
19 As often as it passes through it will take you;
for morning by morning it will pass through,
by day and by night;
and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.
20 For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,
and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
21 For the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim;
as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused;
to do his deed—strange is his deed!
and to work his work—alien is his work!
22 Now therefore do not scoff,
lest your bonds be made strong;
for I have heard a decree of destruction
from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.
The passage is a word probably directed against the political counselors who advised King Hezekiah to enter an ill-fated alliance with Assyria around 700 BC. It was, so they thought, “an agreement” (15) to cheat death. YHWH responds with a word of coming judgment against all of Judah, predicting the nation’s defeat at the hands of the Babylonians more than a century later. Verse 21, which is Isaiah’s commentary on the matter, describes the work of God’s justice as “strange” and “alien” in that God usually defends his people against his enemies–but here he will not. However, as later chapters of Isaiah will make clear, the judgment of God bringing his people to exile will lead to mercy and restoration: “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you” (60:2). Strange judgment is made stranger still by a return to grace.
How can judgment be merciful? How can the cross of Christ lead to salvation? In 1 Corinthians, Paul calls it “the foolishness of God” and the “weakness of God,” yet it is “wiser than men” and stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). Beloved, let our testimonies to the power of Jesus Christ be the accounts of his strange judgment on our lives–the times we have fallen into traps of our own making, suffered for it and, yet, experienced by God’s hand recovery and a fresh start. The people of Judah would eventually return from exile, and in Christ, so do we!
Today, Holy Spirit, grant me the humility and courage to tell others of the strange work of the Father operating in my life through the mercy of the Son.
Be Still Then (Psalm 46)
1 God is our refuge and strength, *
Psalm 46, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, *
and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though its waters rage and swell, *
and though the mountains shake at its tempest.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, *
the holy dwelling place of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; therefore she shall not be moved. *
God shall help her at the break of day.
6 The nations are in an uproar, and the kingdoms are moved, *
but God has lifted his voice, and the earth shall melt away.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; *
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
8 O come and behold the works of the Lord, *
what devastations he has brought upon the earth.
9 He makes wars to cease in all the world; *
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear,
and burns the chariots in the fire.
10 “Be still then and know that I am God; *
I will be exalted among the nations,
and I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; *
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
“O come and behold the works of the LORD…Be still then and know that I am God” (8,10). That final, beloved exhortation “Be still and know” in this psalm must not be separated from what comes earlier. With the rendering “Be still then,” the Prayer Book translation makes it clear that acquiring stillness in the knowledge of God requires “coming” and “beholding” the activities of God, past and present.
But, as to our devotional life, what exactly are “the works of the LORD” we are meant to come and see? First, they are the works revealed in the Bible. We are meant to come to Scripture often, daily, to find in each page how God reveals himself in our world–his mercy, his power, and his wisdom by his intervention in creation and the history of man, and especially in his work of sending his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. But, second, we are also meant to take account of the works of God in our own experience. Our own “devastations” in life may not be the cataclysmic events that send nations into uproar, but to us they are just as disturbing. I meditate on the way the Lord prepared me to meet him before conversion, brought me to my knees in repentance over and over, and guided me to the fulfillment of his purposes, and it causes me to shudder.
Today, Holy Spirit, by heeding the exhortations of this psalm to “come and behold” and “be still” at the contemplation of your works, I thank you and fear you, together with the Father and the Son, in my worship.
Something Better Than the Blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:[15-17]18-29)
15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. 18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Or, “…and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than the blood of Abel” (24, NET). We read Gen. 4 and find “the blood of Abel” speaks of revenge and cursing from God, deserved and destructive. “Something better” is spoken into the world by the “sprinkled blood” of Jesus: mercy, forgiveness, and edification. Also, we note that the murder of Abel leads not to sorrow but to further disdain on the part of Cain. In response to God’s question to Cain about the whereabouts of his brother Abel, Cain answers, “Am I my brother’s keeper? (Gen. 4:9). The “better word” of the blood of Jesus is one of potential caring for one another in the fellowship of those covered by that blood. Just so, the passage begins with an exhortation to the church to be brothers’ keepers to one another: “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled” (15). New blood with a reversal of the effect of the old.
We are the keepers of our brothers and sisters in the church. The writer of Hebrews will not cease telling us to encourage one another in the faith. Earlier, he writes, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (10:24-25). In the NT reading assigned for next week we will hear, “Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters” (13:1). Notice in no case the movement to fellowship is automatic. We struggle to shrug off the callousness of Cain. But by the power of the blood of Jesus “something better” is possible, and we can strive to achieve it.
Today, by the Spirit who imparts in us the life of Jesus, we will hear this reading and press into the community for increased mutual concern and encouragement in the faith.
We Ate and Drank in Your Presence (Luke 13:22-30)
22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
“‘Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence…’’” (26). Here, Jesus is found putting words in the mouth of the crowd listening to him teach. He knows the hearts of all people, so we assume it is an accurate assessment of their thinking. But what is our Lord referring to when he says, “ate and drank in your presence?” Is he assuming many in that crowd would have been present at the time of the miraculous feedings, or that others may have attended a Matthew party somewhere? Whatever the case, in that culture, to eat and drink in the presence of Jesus would have been understood to be a sign of intimate fellowship with him. Jesus will annihilate that popular presumption in this discourse, even going so far as to say that, unless anyone goes through “the narrow door” of faith in their relationship with him, they will be refused from “reclining at table” at the heavenly banquet.
Devotionally, those of us who receive Holy Communion every Sunday might be moved by this reading to “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith” (see 2 Cor. 13:5-6). We must not be found presuming good standing with the Lord based on being there to consume the bread and wine alone. For those who trust and obey Jesus Christ (and who humbly confess they have not believed as they should), the Holy Eucharist is truly a foretaste of a feast in heaven. For those who do not, the act of eating and drinking in the church is a fatal error in the discernment of the truth, just as Jesus said it was to the crowd.
Today, Holy Spirit, hearing this Gospel reading, we declare with extra devotion this week, “We do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your abundant and great mercies.”
Today in the Spirit
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