Salvation

Luke 19: 1-10 (October 24, 2010)

1) The Text

19 He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

2) The Context

In the previous chapter, Jesus was asked by a rich “ruler” (18:18) what he must do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus told him to keep the Ten Commandments, he said that he has done so since his youth. Jesus then adds: “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” (18:22). He finds it hard to give up his wealth.

Now we meet Zacchaeus, a tax farmer working for the Romans and therefore also rich – a despised person and an outcast from Jewish society. He is curious about Jesus (v. 3). Jesus senses his presence up in a “sycamore tree” (v. 4). He even invites himself to Zacchaeus’ home! (God extends hospitality to all people.) The crowd grumbles (v. 7), for Jesus has crossed social and religious barriers: good people don’t associate with sinners. Zacchaeus, unlike the rich ruler, is prepared to give generously, and to recompense anyone he has defrauded, as the Law requires. (The Law required that a stolen sheep be replaced by “four”, v. 8, sheep.) “Salvation has come” (v. 9) to Zacchaeus’ house, indeed to his whole household: Jesus chose to stay with him, Zacchaeus accepted him and has changed his life. Being saved is the same spiritual experience as inheriting eternal life and entering the kingdom of God. In spite of the crowd’s grumbling, thinking him “lost” (v. 10), the tax (or toll) collector is a “son of Abraham” (v. 9), a true member of God’s people.

3) Interpretation

By the end of this Chapter, Jesus will have entered Jerusalem and the last week of his life before he is arrested, tortured and executed. In this passage he enters Jericho near Jerusalem. Zacchaeus is a CHIEF tax collector. This probably means he has been given a contract by the hated Roman authorities (for an agreed set price) to collect taxes from a large region. He would employ others to actually do the collecting. Zacchaeus is also rich. The fact this is mentioned in addition to the fact of him being a chief tax collector suggests that some chief tax collectors were not wealthy.

Zacchaeus is NOT popular. Not only does he collect taxes for the oppressive Roman occupiers; in everyone's eyes he has wealth that does not properly belong to him. That is, no matter how legitimate and honest he might have been, the fact that he has acquired wealth (as compared with having it from his family) means that someone else has lost wealth. Zacchaeus is despised for this, and not trusted.

Climbing a tree would be a highly unusual, foolish, and immodest thing for a rich person to do. Zacchaeus would now be openly mocked as well as despised and distrusted. But it would be obvious to Jesus that here was someone exceptionally interested in him. Jesus honors Zacchaeus' foolish behavior by announcing that he will eat with him. Eating with anyone was a sign of social approval. Zacchaeus is aware of the honor being bestowed on him by Jesus and is made happy by it.

But the crowd disapproves. Jesus has presented them with a tough choice. They despise and distrust Zacchaeus; but Jesus is honored and lauded by them. Since Jesus goes to eat with Zacchaeus, if they want to continue to hold Jesus in high regard, they will have to accept Jesus' opinion of Zacchaeus and also grant honor to Zacchaeus and stop despising him. Or they will have to change their regard for Jesus - and their hopes that he was going to do big things next week during the Passover in Jerusalem.

The response of the crowd, shifting from approval to disapproval of Jesus, foreshadows what lies ahead for Jesus in the week to come: "Hosanna!" during his triumphant entry to Jerusalem, and then "Crucify him!" during his trial. To counter the crowd's opinion of him, Zacchaeus responds by pointing out the good works he already does. The actual verb tenses here for "give" and "pay back" are present tense, and NOT future tense as shown in most English translations (including the one above): "will give," "will pay back." Zacchaeus is not promising to change his behavior, he is pointing out the good he already is doing. That is why there is no mention of any repentance at this point. Jesus acknowledges Zacchaeus' good works and solidifies his honoring of Zacchaeus by declaring that salvation has come to his house, and that Zacchaeus is indeed "one of us," a son of Abraham. Thus Jesus restores Zacchaeus into the social fabric of Jewish life in Jericho.

Notice that Zacchaeus does NOT repent of his occupation; he does not give up being a chief tax collector. Like all of us, Zacchaeus remains compromised, impure, sinning. Thus, one possible moral of this story is to realize that salvation does not require, nor result in, perfection. Salvation in this lifetime is not about the end state. Salvation is the process, the healing and reconciling that is needed for creating right relationships within which compromised, impure, and sinful people - like us - can live within, in response to, and toward, the realm of God.

4) Thought Exercise

What is involved in the process of salvation?

Is there a state of perfection we can strive for?

Praise For God, From God

Psalm 65 (October 24, 2010)

1) The Text

1Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion; and to you shall vows be performed, 2O you who answer prayer! To you all flesh shall come. 3When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions. 4Happy are those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple. 5By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.

6By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might. 7You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples. 8Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs; you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy. 9You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. 10You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. 11You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. 12The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, 13the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.

2) The Context

Sometimes we need a prayer to remind us that praise for God comes from God. Psalm 65 is such a prayer. It was an agricultural hymn of praise to the Creator. In an arid climate like Palestine has, the nation depended upon the seasonal cycles that brought rain. So, this psalm could have been a song celebrating the end of drought or a part of the liturgy from the Feast of Booths (or Sukkoth). The Feast of Booths was a fall celebration that marked the beginning of the planting season; after a long, hot summer, farmers needed the rains of late October for their new crops. The psalm recognized God’s power and Israel’s dependency on that power to sustain the nation.

3) Interpretation

Psalm 65 is a thanksgiving psalm often associated with a harvest. As a whole the psalm challenges many ways in which we perceive praise of God and who/what offers praise. The thanksgiving and praise offered God comes from three quarters. The psalm opens in vv. 1-2 with a declaration of the universal praise of the ‘God, in Zion’ who is the one ‘who answers prayer’. The second section (vv. 3-4) focuses on the temple in Zion. It emphasizes the gracious movement of God toward the people in terms of forgiving the sins which overwhelm them and in bringing God’s chosen near to the temple. Verses 5-8 see the scene change to a cosmic one. God answers the prayer of the psalmist’s community. The section establishes the mythic background for the rest of the psalm. It declares that God is the one who orders the cosmos. This is the one who can pardon sins and grant abundant fertility. Finally, in vv. 12-13 the psalmist’s praise joins with the joy of earth. These verses begin and end with statements expressing joyous exclamation and singing. God is the source of earth’s life and abundance (vv. 9-11).

While each of the sections of Psalm 65 has a distinct emphasis, they are intricately connected in the present form of the psalm, relating the various forms of praise and thanks evident in creation. One connection between vv. 9-13 and vv. 3-4 which focus on the temple is the word ‘goodness’ (vv. 4 and 11). Both temple and earth reflect the ‘goodness’ of God. The connection draws together earth’s abundant fertility and the worship in the temple.

Another connection concerns the movement within the last three sections of the psalm. In each God moves outward toward the creation: in forgiveness when sin overwhelms the people (v. 3), in establishing the mountains and stilling the seas (vv. 6-7), and in giving fertility to earth (vv. 9-11). In each there is a corresponding movement back toward God: as God brings the chosen near to the temple (v. 4), as the inhabitants of the earth stand in awe and ‘east and west sing for joy’ (v. 8), or as earth responds in joyous praise (vv. 12-13). The sections thus detail how ‘all flesh’ comes to God (v. 2b). The coming together of worshippers and God in the temple, the inhabitants of earth standing in awe of God’s signs, and the coming together of God and earth in abundant fertility, complement each other. In each case intimacy is the result of God’s initial movement toward creation. Thus, the presence of God in the temple, and the ‘awesome deeds’ in ordering creation, are continuous with the work of God in and with earth.

Psalm 65 both challenges and encourages us to see our relationship with the earth, and its relationship with God, in ways different to those we have inherited. The psalmist assumes an intricate connection between the activity in the sanctuary, the orderliness of the cosmos and the nations, and the fertility of earth. God’s gracious action toward each part of the creation gives rise to the joyous response of each part: of worshippers, the peoples, and earth. All this was part of the psalmist’s world view which saw connections many in our own world no longer see.

The psalmist sees earth as a living entity, with a voice of its own, capable of giving praise to God. This is more than ‘mere metaphor’. The psalmist’s association of pastures, valleys etc. with joyous song, invites a broadening of our understanding of what we think of as praise and what can praise God. The psalm suggests that praise is not necessarily linked to human worship alone. In vv. 11-13 earth sings and shouts for joy in its abundant fertility. It sings for joy in following its life cycle. Life itself, which is lived in fullness, wholeness and peace, is an offering of joy and praise to the God whose gift that life is. Praise is embodied in the very life of earth and its community. Human praise is but a part of the chorus. We are challenged to recognize that and to be lost in the wonder of the life of the world around us.

4) Thought Exercise

When do you feel the need to praise God? How does your praise of God help you to realize his overwhelming power in your life?

How is your life an offering of praise and joy to God?

A Renewed Covenant

Jeremiah 31: 27-34 (October 17, 2010)

1) The Text

27The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. 28And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. 29In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” 30But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge. 31The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

2) The Context

From Chapter 1, we know that Jeremiah was either born or began his ministry in 627 BC. During his life, Babylonia succeeded Assyria as the dominant power in the Middle East. He was a witness to the return to worship of the Lord (instituted by the Judean king Josiah), and then (after Josiah's death in battle in 609), the return of many of the people to paganism. When Babylon captured Jerusalem in 587, Jeremiah emigrated to Egypt. God called him to be a prophet to Judah and surrounding nations, in the midst of these political and religious convulsions.

This reading is in the section of the Book of Jeremiah known as The Little Book of Consolation (chs. 30-33). This is used to note that the subject matter of these chapters has shifted from Jeremiah’s 40 year ministry of proclaiming judgment by means of the Babylonian invasions to a concern with the future restoration of the people beyond the impending exile.

This title also reveals that some scholars see this portion of the book as coming from a later time than Jeremiah himself. Usually, scholars attribute it to the post-exilic community as they began to understand Jeremiah’s message and elaborated on the themes of hope, restoration, and obedience to torah. The person or group that collected this material is generally referred to as the Deuteronomist, reflecting the similarity of perspectives with the book of Deuteronomy. These similarities are evident particularly with the emphasis on covenant (e.g., Deut. 5:2-3), the language of the heart (e.g., Deut 4:29; cf. Jer 29:13), and the concern with proper faithfulness to God based on love and commitment that goes beyond legal restraint (e.g., Deut 6:4-9).

3) Interpretation

There are three oracles in chapter 31 all beginning ‘The days are surely coming …’ (vv. 27-30, 31-34, and 38-40). Today’s reading takes in the first two oracles. The first, vv. 27-30, announces a new beginning for both Israel from the north and Judah from the south, i.e. a restoration of all Israel. Repeated here are themes and language from the call of Jeremiah (v. 28; cf. Jer. 1:10), but now the tasks of plucking up, breaking down, destroying, overthrowing, building and planting, are those of God not just of the prophet. The oracle turns abruptly in vv. 29-30 to the area of ethics, presenting a new understanding of individual responsibility. No longer can the blame for the trauma of exile be sheeted home on the sins of past generations (cf. Ezekiel 18).

The second oracle, vv. 31-34, speaks of a new beginning in terms of a renewed covenant, of which again Israel and Judah are both beneficiaries. Apart from the ‘new song’ in some Psalms (e.g. Psalms 96 and 98), the ‘new’ is not a frequent theme in the Hebrew Bible until it emerges with the prophets following the exile.

The Hebrew can be interpreted to mean a ‘renewed’ covenant rather than a ‘new’ one. ‘New’ could imply something entirely different to previous covenants and is not really what is implied here. What is ‘new’ about the covenant is not the covenant itself, but the way it is to be affected. The people broke the covenant in its old formulation, even though God had ‘led his people by the hand’ out of Egypt, and had become their ‘husband’ or master. In this new manifestation of the covenant, God will put his torah within the people and ‘write it on their hearts’. In Hebrew, ‘heart’ represents not so much the seat of the emotions as that of practical knowledge, and is not significantly different from ‘mind’. The torah written on the heart will replace the sin previously engraved there (Jer. 17:1).

This change in imagery represents the new covenantal relationship with God as an internal matter rather than an external one. Each person will have a personal knowledge of God, not dependent on the instruction of another. Jeremiah goes on to anchor this new knowledge in forgiveness (v. 34). They shall each know that experience personally. No longer will they just hear from another the tradition of God’s liberation of his people long ago in the exodus (v. 32). No longer will they need to be taught the torah by another. It will all be part and parcel of their own being – both the experience of forgiveness and the desire to live out the way of God.

Finally, there are two key aspects of this renewed covenant. First, the oracle affirms the ongoing place of torah, the law, although now written on human hearts (Jer. 31:33). Secondly, the oracle repeats the old covenant affirmation ‘I will be their God, and they will be my people’ (cf. Exod. 6:7). Even with the new individual knowledge of God, the corporate side of the covenant relationship remains essential. Individuals, with their own experience of forgiveness and their ‘internalized’ law, are neither free from discipline nor without connection to the whole community of God’s people. One could develop this in many ways but it is also important to note that it is true of both modern communities, Jewish and Christian, who rightly see their relationship with God in terms of Jeremiah’s words. Both seek to live God’s way from the heart, with the same sense of a personal knowledge of God.

4) Thought Exercise

How would you characterize your personal knowledge of God?

How does this connect you to the whole community of God’s people?

Expectations

II Kings 5: 1-3, 7-15 (October 10, 2010)

1) The Text

5Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

7When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.” 8But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”

9So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” 11But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. 13But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. 15Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.”

2) The Context

The two books of Kings were originally one. They continue the story of the monarchy begun in 1-2 Samuel. 1 Kings begins with the enthronement of Solomon and the death of David. 2 Kings continues the story of the monarchies of Israel and Judah. It covers the period from about 850 BC to about 585 BC when Israel fell to the Assyrians (in 721 BC) and Judah to the Babylonians (586 BC). While these books read like a political history, they trace the apostasy (i.e., a total departure from one's religion) that led to the loss of national identity and autonomy.

3) Interpretation

The background to this intriguing story is the history of conflict between Israel and Syria (Aram). The fact that the king of Aram is willing to ask for help from the king of Israel on behalf of Naaman indicates the high regard in which the general is held. He is a mighty warrior, through whose courage and foresight Aram has won many victories over neighbouring nations, including Israel. Therein lies a problem that will manifest itself further on in the story. The fact of the defeat of Israel by Naaman’s army is inferred by the identification of Naaman’s wife’s slave as an Israelite: ‘Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel’ (v. 2).

But the most important issue is that a terrible affliction has now incapacitated Naaman. The disease limits his capacity as commanding general and is viewed with personal dismay by his benefactor, the king of Aram. The solution comes from a highly unlikely source. The Israelite slave girl in Naaman’s household offers what is likely to be the only possible hope for a cure. She tells her mistress that there is a prophet in Samaria who could cure the leprosy. The prophet is Elisha, who is a fierce opponent of the worship of other gods, including the gods of Aram. The help comes from a female slave who represents a nation which Naaman’s armies have defeated in the past. Thus, Naaman will have to overcome his pride to ask Elisha to cure his disease.

Yet there is no other choice, so he sets off armed with a letter of referral from the king of Aram to the king of Israel. He will need to humble himself. But when Naaman presents the letter to the king of Israel, we find that the letter mistakenly asks the king himself to cure Naaman. The king of Israel is suitably terrified. He knows he is not capable of such healing, but does not wish to offend the powerful king of Aram. Fortunately, his distress is communicated to Elisha, who suggests that Naaman be sent to him ‘that he may learn there is a prophet in Israel’. In other words – a true prophet of the true God. This is the beginning of a series of ‘come-downs’ for Naaman. He is sent from the royal court to the humble abode of the prophet. When he arrives he expects to remain outside on his camel while this prophet comes to him. But the prophet just sends a message by a servant. The instructions are so simple: ‘Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.’

Naaman cannot take this. He had pictured himself instantly cured as the prophet waved his hand over him. He also resists the idea that a river of Israel might have more curative properties than rivers in his own Syria. None of it is happening the way he expected for a man of his station in life. So he turns it down. Again the advice of humble servants turns out to be the wisest: ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’ So he does wash, and is cured.

While Naaman remained self-sufficient and ‘closed off’ to the healing help of God, he could not be helped. But the story is not simply one about humility. It is about the surprising and unexpected way of God in the world and our openness to that way. It is about our expectations being undone as we engage with a God who does the unexpected. And above all it is about the healing being totally the gift of God, neither initiated nor controlled by human action.

The first surprise in this story is that God would heal this Aramean at all. The second is that this God entrusts his message to servants for its conveyance. The final surprise concerns what Naaman is told to do – bath in the Jordan. The ways of God seem to respect neither personnel nor proper protocol, and they are not to be controlled in any way. Here is a God whose word and spirit move to their own tune, and with surprising effect, on whomever they will.

4) Thought Exercise

What expectations of yours have been “undone”?

Where do you find God in the unexpected?