Today in the Spirit: Proper 8A
It is still hard going in this early stage of Pentecost Year A. Through the collect and readings assigned for Proper 8A, the church calls for worship, yielding faith in the face of opposition, even judgment of end-time proportions.
The assigned Gospel reading, Matthew 10:34-42, brings us to the third and final section of Jesus’ teaching discourse to the twelve disciples, who are being sent on mission in Palestine. Many of our Lord’s statements in this section are in the negative voice, probably to counteract false assumptions the disciples still hold about the purpose of his coming: “‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword’” (34); and, “‘Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me’” (37).
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The assigned Old Testament reading from Isaiah 2:10-17 foretells a terrible “day” (11,17) of the LORD’s judgment against the disobedience he finds in the people of Judah and Jerusalem who refuse to obey him: “And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day” (17).
After hearing judgment in the Isaiah passage, the appointed Psalm 89:1-18 will sound like a call to repentance to remember YHWH’s covenant of love toward his people. The king of Israel is likely the speaker of these words, representing the faith of the people: “God is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those who are round about him. O Lord God of hosts, who is like you? Your faithfulness, most mighty Lord, is round about you” (7-8).
Learning from the Romans reading last week that God is magnanimous in grace through Christ, this week’s assigned New Testament reading from Romans 6:1-11 responds to the query, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (1). Paul responds, “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (2).
Before this particular selection of readings, the assigned collect becomes a plea from us who believe ourselves to be preserved on the right side of God’s work in progress: “Put away from us all hurtful things, and give us those things that are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The Collect
O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and on earth: Put away from us all hurtful things, and give us those things that are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The LORD Alone Will Be Exalted in That Day (Isaiah 2:10-17)
10 Enter into the rock
Isaiah 2:10-17
and hide in the dust
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty.
11 The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
12 For the Lord of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
13 against all the cedars of Lebanon,
lofty and lifted up;
and against all the oaks of Bashan;
14 against all the lofty mountains,
and against all the uplifted hills;
15 against every high tower,
and against every fortified wall;
16 against all the ships of Tarshish,
and against all the beautiful craft.
17 And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
The most prominent part of this reading is the rapid-fire repetition of the preposition “against…against…against,” ten times in the space of five verses. As worshipers, the wording will be grating to our ears as YHWH pronounces judgment “against” not only prideful people, but their inventions, their walls and ships, and even their “beautiful craft” (16). Images of nature, such as “the cedars of Lebanon” and “the oaks of Bashan,” serve as metaphors for people who exalt themselves above everyone and everything they consider of lower stature and lesser beauty. Verse 17 is likely the line from the Hebrew scriptures which inspired Jesus to issue his oft-repeated maxim, “‘For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” (Mt. 23:12, Lk. 18:14).
The overall atmosphere of turmoil in this passage complements the Gospel reading for the week in which Jesus says, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Mt. 10:34). We need to be careful not to distance ourselves from Isaiah’s oracle because it addresses a time and place and people foreign to us.
The “day” of the Lord, in fact, foretells the era of Jesus in which we live, his time from his first coming, reported early in Matthew and Luke (see e.g., Mary’s Song, Lk. 1:46-55), to his second coming and final judgment in Revelation (see Rev. 19:11-16). Our Lord, by his death and resurrection, is already bringing down the “haughtiness of man” beginning with the faithful. So the apostle Peter raises the question to the readers of his first letter: “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:16-17).
Today, Lord Jesus, by your Spirit through whom there is now no condemnation but correction for those who trust in you, we ask you to reveal lingering areas within us of prideful unwillingness which you stand firmly “against.”
My Song Shall Always Be of the Loving-kindness of the LORD (Psalm 89:1-18)
1 My song shall be always of the loving-kindness of the Lord; *
Psalm 89:1-18, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
with my mouth will I ever be proclaiming your faithfulness, from one generation to another.
2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up for ever; *
your faithfulness shall be established in the heavens.”
3 I have made a covenant with my chosen one; *
I have sworn to David my servant:
4 “Your seed will I establish for ever, *
and set up your throne from one generation to another.”
5 O Lord, the heavens will praise your wondrous works *
and your faithfulness in the assembly of the saints.
6 For who in the clouds can be compared unto the Lord? *
And who among the gods is like unto the Lord?
7 God is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints, *
and to be held in reverence by all those who are round about him.
8 O Lord God of hosts, who is like you? *
Your faithfulness, most mighty Lord, is round about you.
9 You rule the raging of the sea; *
you still the waves when they arise.
10 You have subdued Rahab of the deep, and destroyed her; *
you have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; *
you laid the foundation of the world, and all that is in it.
12 You have made the north and the south; *
Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in your Name.
13 You have a mighty arm; *
strong is your hand, and high is your right hand.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; *
mercy and truth shall go before your face.
15 Blessed are the people, O Lord, who rejoice in you; *
they shall walk in the light of your countenance.
16 Their delight shall be in your Name all the day long, *
and in your righteousness shall they make their boast.
17 For you are the glory of their strength, *
and by your favor you shall lift up our might.
18 For the Lord is our defense; *
the Holy One of Israel is our King.
The enthusiastic expression of the royal singer in this portion of Psalm 89 contrasts with the harsh tone of YHWH in the OT reading from Isaiah. In our worship, we may struggle internally to bring the two together. One way of doing so is to perceive in broad strokes the opposite poles to which the word of God takes us in general: God is unfailingly faithful and loving toward his people, says the psalmist: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; mercy and truth shall go before your face” (14). The people, by contrast, are serial betrayers of God: “The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled” (Is. 2:11).
Devotionally, we have no choice but to hear these readings and place ourselves among a people completely unworthy to stand in the presence of a holy God. You are God, Lord, and I am not. You are good, Lord, and I am not. The Prayer of Humble Access, which we recite just before receiving Communion, marks a liturgical arrival point at this critical internal juncture in our worship:
We do not presume to come to this your table, O most merciful Lord, trusting in your righteousness, but in your abundant and great mercies.
Here is where the Isaiah reading and this psalm take us—where the gospel takes us–to our knees before a loving God with no other hope than his unwavering devotion to us.
In William Griffith’s pithy translation of Thomas à Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ, we read in English:
Blessed are You, my God. That’s the prayer of one who’s all unworthy of Your blessings. Even to the ingrates and the apostates, Your infinite goodness never ceases doing good. Turn us around till we face You again, that again we may be thankful, dutiful, prayerful.
Today, Holy Spirit, “turn us around” yet again in our worship, through the guidance of the word of God. Turn us around, that we may “face you” and see in your eyes the welcome of an unwearied Father with “loving-kindness” still to spare.
We Were Buried (Romans 6:1-11)
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:1-11
Or, “So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving?” (1, The Message). In this passage, Paul is anticipating that his earlier teaching, “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Rom. 5:20), will lead some detractors to conclude “Well, okay then, sin doesn’t matter anymore and might even be encouraged.” “By no means!” Paul retorts.
The revelation of God’s grace through Jesus Christ is no mere agreement with philosophy, but a dramatic transfer of authority from oneself to the one God; no mere name change on a deed of ownership that makes little difference to the tenant on the land, but a hostile takeover of property which the new owner will occupy. There is a death to sin and a new life in its place. The moral change, while not instantaneous, is inevitable for the person in Christ. Eventually, grace makes continuing in sin unbearable. So, in the passage assigned next Sunday, Paul will write of his own experience of lingering sin:
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:22-25
Today, in the Spirit, understand by Paul’s teaching the seriousness of the transaction that has taken place on your behalf through the cross of Christ, and make your happy and unconditional surrender.
Not Worthy of Me (Matthew 10:34-42)
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
Matthew 10:34-42
Though it is unclear by the way the ESV lays them out, verses 35 and 36 about family division are actually Jesus’ paraphrase of a passage from the prophet Micah (see Mic. 7:6). It seems our Lord liked these verses and used them in various contexts (see Mt. 10:21, Mk. 13:12, Lk. 12:51-53). By way of contrast, it should be noted that Micah uses these images of division within the household family to describe the degradation of society in Judah and Jerusalem in general. Jesus, strikingly, adds the words “I have come” to specify that family discord, even to the point of open enmity within the household, is the inevitable result of his being sent into the world.
For Micah, the breakdown of the family unit is a moral issue; for Jesus, it is a question of spiritual allegiance: those who confess his name and follow Jesus as one family will be against those who do not. Jesus experiences division in his own family over his preaching and causes division in the families he ministers to. (We can look at Jesus’ hard words in Lk. 9:52-62 in that light).
Devotionally, we need to hear our Lord teaching on this matter to his disciples on mission. Not only must we endure opposition within our own families for serving Jesus, we, as ambassadors of Christ, will be seen as the cause of hostility within the families of those we serve. My wife and I operate a Christian school as a ministry of our church in New Haven, CT. While it does not happen often, we have had parents pull their children out of the school because the children are talking about Jesus at home or questioning their parents why they do not pray or attend church. It can be painful to be identified as the cause of discord within another family. We have had to learn the hard truth that Jesus has “come” to do that.
Today, in the Spirit, hearing our Lord’s instructions here, help us to endure the pain of our own family divisions over Jesus, and to persevere in ministry, knowing our devotion to telling others about him will cause division in others’ households, too.
Today in the Spirit
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