Today in the Spirit: Proper 7A
The major themes of Jesus’ teaching discourse to the disciples as they prepare to go on mission are the priority of proclaiming the gospel in Christian service and the inevitable resistance all messengers of the gospel will face. It is no wonder, then, that the messaging of the church in these early weeks of Pentecost Year A is much the same.
The assigned Gospel reading out of Matthew 10:16-33 contains instructions from our Lord about what the disciples should do when faced with the inevitable opposition of persecutors: “When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (19-20).
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The assigned Old Testament reading from Jeremiah 20:7-13 starts as a complaint from the prophet who suffers so greatly at the hands of his detractors in Jerusalem that he feels YHWH has “deceived”(7) him. Nevertheless, by the end, the compulsion of the word of God on his life and YHWH’s saving hand from his enemies move the prophet to spontaneous worship: “‘Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers’” (13).
Hearing the Jeremiah reading and then reciting the words of Psalm 69:1-15(16-18) puts us as worshipers in the mindset of any person who proclaims the gospel and suffers for it: “Because zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen upon me” (9). Thus, we are prepared to contemplate the instructions of Jesus as disciples called to take up our service to the good news.
In Romans 5:15b-19, continuing with assigned New Testament readings from the early chapters of Romans during this cycle, Paul further enlightens his audience on justification by faith with a compelling comparison between the consequences of “the trespass” of Adam and “the free gift”of Christ’s saving acts: “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (19).
In the BCP 2019, this collect has returned to its original position in the BCP 1662 early in the ordinary season after Trinity. The petition to God, whom we confess holds “all power” and is “all good,” is that he works in us four important gifts needed to serve: “the love of your name;” then “true religion;” then “all goodness;” then “the fruit of good works.”
The Collect
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
O LORD, You Have Deceived Me (Jeremiah 20:7-13)
7 O Lord, you have deceived me,
Jeremiah 20:7-13
and I was deceived;
you are stronger than I,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
everyone mocks me.
8 For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
9 If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
10 For I hear many whispering.
Terror is on every side!
“Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
say all my close friends,
watching for my fall.
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then we can overcome him
and take our revenge on him.”
11 But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble;
they will not overcome me.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.
12 O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous,
who sees the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.
13 Sing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
The persecution experienced by Jeremiah at the hands of one Pashur in Jerusalem (see 20:1-6) has the ring of that which Jesus predicts for his disciples in the Gospel reading (Mt. 10:17ff). That Jeremiah apparently remains strong through his ordeal does not prevent him from feeling profoundly the pain of betrayal: even his “close friends” cause him to suffer (10). The pain of the prophet is so intense he feels betrayed even by God: “O LORD, you have deceived me” (7, or “coerced me” NET).
Devotionally, we might ask, is it ever just to feel betrayed or “deceived” by God, and then complain to him about it? I often tell my congregation that you really don’t know God intimately unless you can be angry with him. The fact is, Jeremiah was told when he became a prophet that [the people] “will fight against you” (see 1:19); but we know from experience that the burdensome reality of opposition (like the freedom of grace) almost always takes us by surprise. Our protests, like those of Jeremiah, arise from the pain of passing through the suffering. God in heaven can handle our complaints; we need only be ready, like Jeremiah, to expect relief and to always acknowledge deliverance with thanks: “But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me” (11).
Today, Holy Spirit, let our complaints to you like those of Jeremiah be not in vain. Give us the courage to enter service to the Father and the Son, knowing there will be opposition but also deliverance from it, “for he who is in [us] is greater than he who is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:4).
What I Did Not Steal Must I Now Restore? (Psalm 69:1-15 [16-18])
1 Save me, O God, *
Psalm 69:1-18, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
for the waters have come up even to my neck.
2 I sink down in the deep mire, where there is no ground; *
I have come into deep waters, so that the floods run over me.
3 I am weary of crying; my throat is dry; *
my sight fails me from waiting so long for my God.
4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; *
those who are my enemies, and would destroy me wrongfully, are mighty.
5 They bid me restore things I never took. *
O God, you know my foolishness, and my faults are not hidden from you.
6 Let not those who trust in you, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me; *
let not those who seek you be confounded through me, O God of Israel.
7 Surely for your sake have I suffered reproach; *
shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brethren, *
unknown to my mother’s children,
9 Because zeal for your house has consumed me, *
and the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen upon me.
10 I wept, and humbled myself with fasting, *
but that was turned to my reproach.
11 I put on sackcloth also, *
and I became a byword among them.
12 Those who sit in the gate speak against me, *
and the drunkards make songs about me.
13 But, Lord, I make my prayer to you *
in an acceptable time.
14 Hear me, O God, in the multitude of your mercy, *
even in the truth of your salvation.
15 Take me out of the mire, lest I sink; *
O let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.
[16 Let not the floodwaters drown me, neither let the deep swallow me up, *
and let not the pit shut its mouth upon me.
17 Hear me, O Lord, for your loving-kindness is good; *
turn to me according to the multitude of your mercies;
18 And hide not your face from your servant, for I am in trouble; *
O hasten and hear me.]
Or, “What I did not steal must I now restore?” (4b, ESV). Most English translations render this line in the form of a statement, as in the Prayer Book, “They bid me restore things I never took” (5a). As a question, the words come across as perhaps more agonizing, an interrogation by “David” directed to God for him to answer to (as with Jeremiah in the OT reading): “Lord, is this what you intend, that I should take the false allegations lying down? Should you let them unjustly exploit me as they do?” That God’s servants will be the victims of lies against them is implied in Jesus’ instructions to the disciples the Matthew reading, and it is stated clearly in the beatitudes: “‘Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account (Mt. 5:11). We face the fact in the scriptures God permits suffering on the basis of falsehoods against us as the natural course of things.
The longer you serve in ministry, the more you come to treat false accusations as the cost of doing God’s business; yet, however much we may anticipate them, they always present themselves as among the greatest of hurts to endure. Are you, minister of Christ, enduring some outlandish false claim against you that may be costing you time, money, and sleepless nights? There is some comfort in knowing that others like David have gone through it before you, but in the end, the only real consolation that exists is the comfort of Christ. People will be permitted to tell lies about you, but in one form or another, the truth will come out, and justice will be served. It is always okay to bring your complaints to God, but they must not close our hearts to the knowledge of God’s love. With David, we welcome the comfort of the Holy Spirit and declare, “Hear me, O Lord, for your loving-kindness is good; turn to me according to the multitude of your mercies” (14).
Today, Holy Spirit, meet us in the distress of facing opposition in the ministry we undertake in your name. Where we are in the wrong, show us and forgive us our sin. And where we are being falsely attacked, we pray that you protect our lives, our livelihoods, and our loved ones in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Much More (Romans 5:15b-19)
15b For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Romans 5:15b-19
There is much that is puzzling in this passage. For instance, we can get stuck on the question: If sin coming through Adam affects everyone and justification through Christ helps only those who believe, how can we say the gift of grace is really “much more” (15,17) than the trespass? Short of adopting a doctrine of universalism by which everybody will be saved, it is a difficult point to reconcile.
Here is one way to think about grace as “more” in this passage: Imagine the mother of a child who one day must give out a punishment for a child’s wrongdoing and the next a reward for good behavior. Which will she prefer to do more? Surely, it will be to give the reward more than the punishment. Why? Because the reward will be a more fitting expression of the mother’s love for and delight over the child than the punishment, which, while it may be necessary, conceals that love. The “much more” of this passage must be understood outside the realm of quantity, the number of those saved, but rather on the quality of the affections of the giver. In every respect, considering the saving ministry of Jesus has affected the world in ways we will never be able to grasp until later, the free gift of Christ amounts to much, much more than the trespass of Adam–and this in no small part because God the Father, like the mother of the child, desires to release grace far more than he wants to judge and condemn.
At the center of the Book of Jeremiah, which is full of harsh words of judgement against Israel and the nations, comes this passage: “‘Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord’” (31:20). In his wonderful book Gentle and Lowly about the heart of Christ, Dane Ortlund points out that “my heart” is literally “my yearning bowels” in the Hebrew, describing a love of God that lies in the gut of God in a way punishment does not.
Ortlund quotes Thomas Goodwin, the 17th century Puritan theologian commenting on this passage: “Christ takes part with you, and is far from being provoked against you, as all his anger is turned upon your sin to ruin it; yea, his pity is increased the more towards you, even as the heart of a father is to a child that has loathsome disease, or as one is to a member of his body that has leprosy, he hates not the member, for it is his flesh, but the disease, and that provokes him to pity the part affected more. What shall not make for us, when our sins, that are both against Christ and us, shall be turned to motives to him to pity us all the more?”
Here, then, in the heart of Christ lies the “much more” of Paul’s teaching in Romans. Today, worshiping in the Spirit, we tune into the grace of the Father that has “abounded for many” in the ministry of the Son.
Fear Not (Matthew 10:16-33)
16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. 26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 10:16-33
Accounts of Jesus sending the twelve apostles are found in Mark, and Luke, but the narrative and teaching material is far more extensive in Matthew than in the other two. Our Gospel reading (10:16-33) appears to be the second of three sections in this major teaching discourse of Jesus found in this Gospel. The severity of the language comes across as perhaps excessive for the delivery of basic instructions in missionary service: being dragged into court and flogged, giving testimony to governors, really? Structurally, that is because this material was likely transferred here by Matthew from end-time teaching found in Mark and Luke; either that or Jesus repeated himself.
Devotionally, we must ask ourselves what the Spirit might be trying to say to us through these dire warnings delivered in the context of instructions for ordinary gospel ministry? Few of us have faced or will face (God willing) official court tribunals for giving Christian testimony, but we can all relate to the temptation to leave out our confession of Christ in conversations with others because we sense there may be uncomfortable pushback. We need to hear the principles of giving gospel testimony that our Lord puts forward here: opposition is inevitable; you will be disliked by some; Jesus faced enemies and so must we; your eternal security is assured no matter what happens in the world; and disowning Jesus is worthy of judgment (though never beyond the bounds of forgiveness through the cross). These apply in even the most casual settings of service to Jesus.
Today in the Spirit
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