Luke 13:10-17

Luke 13:10-17 (NRSV)

¹⁰ Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. ¹¹ And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” ¹³ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. ¹⁴ But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” ¹⁵ But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? ¹⁶ And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” ¹⁷ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

                  Luke 13:10-17 is a scholastic dialogue occasioned by a healing story of a crippled woman on the Sabbath. Such a story reveals the attitude of Jesus toward oral tradition, the Halakah, and he could justify his rejection of it, in this case on humanitarian grounds.[1] It is unusual that the healing precedes the scholastic dialogue. The story challenges readers to read the scripture with discernment of the redemption that God intends. Jesus’ rescue of a crippled woman who had been afflicted for 18 years echoes God’s deliverance of Israel from the bonds of Egyptian slavery. The story also points to God’s promise of liberation for all people, when read as we consider Jesus’ ministry at Nazareth (cf. Luke 4:16-30).

Given previous Sabbath encounters, the innocent beginning that Jesus is teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath strikes an ominous chord. After Jesus taught in the synagogue at Nazareth, the people were so angry they were ready to “hurl him off the cliff” (Luke 4:14-30, esp. vv. 28-29). On another Sabbath, the scribes and Pharisees “were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus” after he had healed a man “whose right hand was withered” (Luke 6:6-11; cf. Luke 6:1-5; 14:1-6). The story opens with a subtle warning of an imminent conflict, despite its innocence. Luke quickly moves on to describe in a succinct, graphic portrait the desperate circumstances of one woman who entered the synagogue. It is easy to imagine this poor woman as she struggled to move from one place to another with her frail, awkward and uncooperative body — a woman whose daily existence was tortuous and had been that way for 18 long years. However, rather than waiting for the woman to approach him in faith and ask for healing, Jesus offers an explicit declaration in verse 12, Woman, you are set free (ἀπολέλυσαι) from your ailment. This recalls 4:18, referring to Isa 61:1-2, using a different Greek word than here, but stressing that the mission of Jesus is bring liberty to the oppressed. Before anyone can raise an objection, as happened previously, Jesus laid his hands on her, and she immediately stood up straight and began praising God (5:17-26, especially 21-24, but also the response of the crown to the preaching of Jesus in 4:14-15, 7:16, 9:43). Jesus fulfills the words of the prophet as he had done in Nazareth. Yet not all welcomed the deed of Jesus, as the leader of the synagogue was indignant because Jesus cured on the Sabbath. In an attempt to get those gathered to join him in his indignation, he refers to scripture, which includes the Ten Commandments, that there are six days on which work ought to be done, so come on those days to be cured, but not on the Sabbath (Gen 2:1-3; Exo 20:8-11; 31:12-17; 35:2-3; Deut 5:12-15; Jer 17:19-27). However, the Lord (ὁ κύριος) answered the leader in the plural in verse 15, You hypocrites, suggesting that others must have agreed with him. The point is the blatant contradiction between their outer religious life and the motivations in their hearts. Their knowledge and application of scripture seem good at first, but it can kick up the dust and blind others to the intent of scripture. We then have a saying of Jesus in verses 15-16 that may well have circulated independently, and that Luke utilizes here, using the set form of the counter-question in his reply[2]: does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound (10:18, 11:18) for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond, an image of her as a victim of Satan who needs liberation, an image that describes his healing,[3] and in addition, which he fittingly performs on the sabbath day?" The argument moves from the less to the greater. The emphasis is upon untying or loosening an ox or ass from its stall on the Sabbath and water it, which anyone would do, so how much more would this daughter of Abraham be loosed or released from her bond on the Sabbath![4] If such behavior toward the needs of an animal is acceptable and sanctioned, their concern for another human being ought to be greater. 

Jesus challenged the religious authorities for their narrow understanding of Israel’s Scriptures. Because their memory of Israel’s rich expansive history was selective and bound up in tradition, they had failed to grasp the full meaning of their own nation’s redemption. 

The response was that Jesus shamed his opponents, and, consistent with a theme of Luke, the crowd rejoiced at the wonderful Jesus was doing.

            Jesus uses his power for an unfortunate person. The episode stresses the view of Jesus that the welfare of people takes precedence over religious obligations such as the Sabbath. We should not be timid about doing God's work. In this text, Jesus frees an oppressed woman. Followers of Jesus today have the privilege of continuing the work of God in Jesus. We join him in his witness in the world to the rule of God in our lives and in the world we live. We can begin by liberating oppressed people, as Jesus did when he healed the woman afflicted by a crippling spirit. Although Luke does not tell us the exact nature of her affliction, we certainly know people today who feel the burden and life and find it difficult to stand up straight: Abused women, unemployed men, substance abusers, teenagers caught up in sex trafficking, children who struggle to be successful at school. Further, Jesus also speaks truth to the powerful religious authorities. The connection with verses 1-9 is that the leader of the Synagogue and the opponents of Jesus are in need of repentance. Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath. The story reveals both the hypocrisy of Jewish leaders and the saving power of God.

            I want to focus upon the accusation Jesus makes to the religious authority and those who agreed with his criticism of the behavior of Jesus. He accused them of hypocrisy. We need to explore the question of whether we present one thing to others, but in truth live or believe something else.  

UnChristian, a book based on the findings of a Barna research study, sought answers to those questions. The authors, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, polled young adults outside of Christianity — those who may or may not ever engage our faith communities — about their perception of the church and Christians today. The title of the book comes from the sobering survey results — unChristians find us unChristian! Eighty-five percent of young outsiders claimed that Christianity is hypocritical — saying one thing but doing another. Instead of being a voice against the image-is-everything mentality, outsiders believed that Christians worked just as hard as they did to preserve an image of strength and put-togetherness. Asked another way, 84 percent of those polled had a personal relationship with a Christian. Only 15 percent thought the lifestyles of those Christians were significantly different from the norm. Another Barna research study confirms this perception. A 2007 study showed that lifestyles of “born-again Christians” were statistically equivalent to those of nonbelievers. When reporting activities from their previous 30 days, both groups were equally likely to gamble, view pornography, take something that did not belong to them, physically fight or abuse someone, get drunk, use an illegal drug, intentionally lie, seek revenge or gossip. Sit with that for a minute — no statistical difference between the habits of Christians and non-Christians. More statistics would just get more depressing.

The point is clear: Hypocrisy is a valid critique of the church. What we say we believe does not equal how we behave. There is a huge gap between faith and practice. 

Beyond the hypocrisy perceived outside the church, think of the ways we tolerate it between and within ourselves. What are some of the subtle ways our outward presentation does not match the inward reality? How have we experienced this ourselves? Have we seen it in friends? Why do we tolerate it? These are good questions to pose as we preach with honesty and vulnerability.

The concern for Jesus, then, is that hypocrisy in God’s people leads everyone — both followers and outsiders — further away from him. What is the answer?

Instead of being critical, let us consider the attitudes and practices that can act as antidotes to hypocrisy. 

First, we need to realize that things that appear small can make a significant impact. Jesus would go on to teach the same idea in the next Luke 13 passage, the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast. We can never underestimate the enormous impact our small choices can make on those who are linking their perception of Christianity with our lives. That means our mind-set needs to focus on mission and vision. Every moment is potential evangelism:

• how we correct the kids in public, 
• what we say about shared friends, 
• how we tip,
• the way we engage or ignore the person checking our groceries, 
• how we respond to being cut off in traffic, especially if we have a fish symbol on our bumper!

We do not need to worry about sharing Christ with others by engaging in heavy theological discussions. Remember: Life is evangelism. Even the smallest acts of our public life can be false advertisement or magnetic regarding the kingdom of God. 

            Second, we need to choose authenticity.  Genuineness. Integrity. Transparency. They are slogans in younger churches today, but for a reason. People are tired of Sunday-only Christianity. If Christianity is not true and holistically transformative, then there are plenty of other things to do with one’s time.

I recall the time that I was working on the thesis for my Doctor of Ministry. I shared with one of the people of the church in Brownstown that I had to go through many drafts to get it perfect. “Why, I cannot imagine you would not do anything that was not perfect,” was how she responded. Well, she knew I prepared for things. I got her humor. Yet, it also struck me how we can give that impression. We have it all together. Everything is just fine. At least, we want people to think that way. Letting people know it is not OK is OK. 

In the place of hypocrisy, many churches are going with honesty — publicly normalizing their corporate imperfection. I have seen some slogans that emphasize this for church: “No Perfect People Allowed.” Our own vision statement includes the notion of accepting people as they are. Another church says: “It’s okay not to be okay.” Do we need to adjust our lives or theology? Whatever it takes, reject hypocrisy, and go with honesty — imperfect, in-process, in-grace honesty.

Third, we must not fight with Jesus when we agree with him. Does it strike anyone as a bit ironic that nonbelievers and Jesus share the same harsh opinions toward hypocrisy? That is a great evangelism piece. If we ever hear the hypocrisy argument from nonbelievers, we tell them they sound like Jesus. We tell them about Luke 13. We remind them not to let something they and Jesus agree on keep them from exploring faith. 

Fourth, we need to learn to apologize often. Sometimes, Bumper-sticker theology gets it right: “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” After exposing our hypocritical street reputation for the better part of a chapter, the authors of Unchristian offer a new perspective for us to earn: “Christians are transparent about their flaws and act first, talk second.”

We deepen our spiritual lives when we can admit the wrong we have done and apologize. Regularly. Not just cheap excuses or phony apologies such as “I’m sorry you felt that way.” In contrast, we need to express real, relational contrition. If you say something that you ought not to have said, or do something you ought not to have done, simply admit it. Ask forgiveness. Admit that you really blew this one. If it affected someone else, tell him or her you are sorry. You cannot dictate how the person will respond, of course. Yet, you gain in the integrity of your discipleship. None of us walks that path perfectly. You may not realize the doors it may open. 

In one sense, it should not be that hard. Love God with all you are. Love your neighbor. Simple, when you think about it that way. 

Eugene Peterson once said that everyone has problems with the church because sin is in the church. Yet, one cannot be Christian except in the church. Of course, one finds sin in the local bank, grocery store, and everyplace else you go. I think it naïve to think you will not have problems with the church. 

Bishop Goodson tells the story of a sermon in which he made a passing remark about church hypocrites that the local radio station broadcast.  While walking downtown that week someone approached him, saying that he had heard the then pastor on the radio. He wondered if he knew some hypocrites were in his church. Faking surprise, Bishop Goodson responded that he had sent all the hypocrites to the First Baptist Church.  "No," the man said, "there are hypocrites in your pews and I know who they are."  At which point the man began to list the names of 12 members who were good friends of his. He replied to the man that he had a good list, "but let's not forget about..." and he listed 12 more church members.  The man said that was fine, but what was he as pastor going to do about it.  He said he was going to throw them out of the church.  The man said he did not believe he had the courage to do that.  The bishop said not only would he do it, but also he had a date set when.  Oh yeah?  Sure, "I'm going to throw all the hypocrites out of church on the day that the hospital refuses to admit sick people."  Blessed are even the hypocrites, for they need the church most of all![5]

You see, hypocrisy is simply another form of sin. For that reason, we need them here. In one of the churches in which I was pastor, the testimony of one of our members was that he was on the church board. He went to church most Sunday mornings. Yet, his life privately was a contradiction of what he was doing publicly. It almost destroyed his family. What turned his life around was that he went to Billy Graham crusade. Something touched him, he went forward, and his life dramatically changed. My point is that hypocrites need conversion. You may feel your life is that way. You are just a Sunday Christian, as they say. Are you not tired of that? I invite you to be a disciple of Jesus, through and through.

The only way to avoid hypocrisy is when we die. Until then, we will make the mistakes and sins that might lead others to dismiss our witness. Yet, willingness to see our lack of integrity is way of letting the word of Jesus sink into our lives and challenge us. 

---

[1] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 209.

[2] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 12-13, 41.

[3] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 94.

[4] Lohse, TDNT, VII, 25-6.

[5] Emphasis, Ja-Fe 1993, 38.

Hebrews 12:18-29

Hebrews 12:18-29 (NRSV)

¹⁸ You have not come to something that can 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 not another word be spoken to them. ²⁰ (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” 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 the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one 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 heaven.” ²⁷ This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; ²⁹ for indeed our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12: 18-29 are another discussion of the two covenants. The author makes the point that the approach to God no longer occurs in awe-inspiring theophany as on Sinai, but in verse 22, in a city built by God, for which the Old Testament saints yearned, the heavenly city. The author applies the imagery of Sinai to the realized eschatology of the church. The author shifts from an emphasis upon faith to an emphasis upon the Christian hope.

In Hebrews 12:18-21, the writer does not avoid the greatest glories of the old covenant to make his comparison. He goes right to the foot of Moses' smoking mountain itself. The writer combines the account we find in Exodus 19:12-25, 20:18-21, Deuteronomy 4:11-12, 5:22-26.[1] ¹⁸ You have not come to something that in the words of Deuteronomy 4:11 can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, ¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet, and in the words of Exodus 20:19 and Deuteronomy 5:24 a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. We find the LXX version of Exodus 19:6, 

… but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites." (Exodus 19:6 LXX)

 

Only Moses had permission to approach and ascend the mountain to receive the divine instructions. Approach or movement toward something is an important theme in Hebrews. In all seven instances, he uses the verb to describe coming before God (4:16; 7:25; 10:1, 22; 11:6; 12:18, 22). This is the only instance in which the author uses fearful language to describe the approach toward God. He paints a picture of an ominous place. Symbols of God's presence -- fire, darkness, a tempest, not to mention the voice itself -- all warn the Israelites to leave a wide berth between themselves and the mountain. ²⁰ (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” In a difference with the Old Testament, the people had fear, but the Old Testament account does not say the people begged God to add no more. ²¹ Indeed, the author says the signs frightened not only the common folk, but, contrary to the Old Testament accounts, he says that so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) Only in Deuteronomy 9:19, after the account of the people forming an image, does Moses have fear. The description of Mt. Sinai during the time God's presence dwelt there is terrifying. As a holy place, ordinary people cannot touch it. You can see the penalty of death in Exodus 19:12-13. The Israelites witness a theophany on Mount Sinai. In the Exodus passage, the language of clouds, darkness, thunder, and lightning, and sounds of trumpets emphasize God’s mystery, holiness, and power. The method of interpreting the passage by the author of Hebrews is complex, and often conflated with terms from Deuteronomy. With an overall background in the Sinai traditions from Exodus and Deuteronomy, the author can proceed with his comparison of the two covenants and their implications. Nevertheless, he communicates his point. While Jews counted Sinai's Covenant of Law among the greatest of feats in their salvation history, this author focuses on the "fear and trembling" that accompanied the event. The point of all this is that believers in Jesus Christ do not have such a threatening covenant, and should not consider returning to it. ²² But you have come, indicating present enjoyment of the things he mentions. This passage is a remarkable instance of realized eschatology. Another example is Ephesians 2:4-7, where God now makes us alive together with Christ, raises us up with Christ, and seats us with Christ in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.[2] First, they come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God. This term for God usually suggests a wrathful and militant deity.  They come to the heavenly (an affirmation of divine origin) Jerusalem. The final description of the mountain is that it is Jerusalem. In the case of Hebrews, it is a heavenly Jerusalem, just as other authors of the time describe it.  

For the angels who shall go with me are standing before me and urge me to my departure from you; they are standing here on earth, awaiting what has been told them. For to-morrow I shall go up on to heaven, to the uppermost Jerusalem to my eternal inheritance. (II Enoch 55:2-3)

But that which is called by the Hebrews the city of God is Jerusalem, which name being interpreted means, "the sight of peace." So they do not look for the city of the living God in the region of the earth, for it is not made of wood or of stone, but seek it in the soul which is free from war, and which proposes to those who are endowed with acuteness of sight a contemplative and peaceful life; (2.251) since where could any find a more venerable and holy abode for God amid all existing things, than the mind fond of contemplation, which is eager to behold every thing and which does not, even in a dream, feel a wish for sedition or disturbance? (Philo (20BC-50AD), On Dreams, 2.250-51)

But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. (Galatians 4:26)

 

Hebrews often focuses on heavenly things. The readers have a heavenly calling (3:1). Jesus took his sacrifice to a heavenly temple (9:23), and the faithful of Israel’s past were looking forward to a heavenly city (11:16). As the author directs his audience’s attention to Mount Zion, they can gaze into this heavenly realm.  Second, they come to innumerable (myriad as in Deuteronomy 33:2[3]) angels in festal gathering. Third, ²³ in a thought like Revelation 19:6,[4] they come to the assembly (ἐκκλησίᾳ) of the firstborn ones who are enrolled (or registered in a written document) in heaven. The exact meaning of this unusual title is unclear. Since the author has already named the angels, it seems logical that the author intends the "firstborn" to be descriptive of the whole communion of saints -- including those on Earth, even though they are still awaiting the eschatological gathering. Firstborn is the terminology the author used to speak of Jesus in the first chapter (1:6), a trait common with other New Testament documents as well. 

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. (Romans 8:29)

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; (Colossians 1:15)

He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. (Colossians 1:18)

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, (Revelation 1:5)

 

Yet in this instance, this is not the assembly that belongs to the firstborn one (singular) but the assembly made up of firstborn ones (plural). Every member of the assembly receives the honorable designation of being the firstborn. This is a reiteration of the sermon’s theme that those who follow Jesus are children of God (2:10, 12-13, 14; 3:6; 12:5-9). It is especially comforting after the warning about Esau, who squandered his birthright and lost access to the blessings that come to the firstborn son (12:15-17). That these believers are "enrolled," their "names are written" in heaven, recalls Jesus' promise in Luke 10:20 that believers should "rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Fourth, in an image like Daniel 7:10,[5] they come to God the judge of all. Although this could be as fearful as the Old Testament account of Mount Sinai, the joyful context of Hebrews makes this meeting a quite different type. Further, God is not alone, for, fifth, they come to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.  The saints of Hebrew history whose perfected spirits (with their yet-to-be-resurrected bodies) have granted them admission to this party. Whereas God permitted Moses alone to ascend the site of the first covenant, at this scene of celebration there is gathered an enormous crowd. Most importantly, they come ²⁴ to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. The party on Mt. Zion might be for the benefit of believers. However, Jesus throws the party for all. Of course, the party required the sacrifice of Jesus, so they come to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Without his sacrifice, the "sprinkled blood" which is "better" than any Old Testament sacrifice, no one would have received an invitation. Abel's sacrifice offered vindication. Jesus' once-and-for-all sacrifice offers final forgiveness.  The author relates the atoning blood of Jesus to the Day of Atonement. Such a sacrifice was better than that of Abel. For this author, Jesus is a priest-king rather than a Davidic Messiah. This festive atmosphere, however, should not obscure the fact that this gathering is about serious business. Hebrews' concluding remarks remind readers that this gathering at Mt. Zion, this party thrown for our salvation, is in fact our last gasp chance to cross the gap. There were undercurrents of doubt, continuing asides of disbelief, which threatened the strength and joy of the faith the congregation of Jewish-Christians nurtured. The author's words here add a stern warning to his usual line about the new covenant as the "better way." It is the ONLY way.  

Here is the point. God sternly relegated those present at Sinai to an anonymous crowd to keep its distance.  Those present at Mt. Zion are joyfully welcomed, their names noted and proudly announced to the whole assembly. What a contrast the author now offers between the environment surrounding the old covenant and that which envelops the birthplace of the new covenant, Mt. Zion. This is one of the author’s most significant passages as he illuminates the effects of Jesus’ role as high priest. Rather than a scene of raw divine power that brings terror to the people, the gathering on Mt. Zion is a joyful party scene. Whereas approaching the scene of the old covenant meant death, this new gathering place on Mt. Zion, "the city of the living God," is bursting with life and light. No fires, no darkness, no storms await believers who approach Mt. Zion. There are "innumerable” angels gathered into a "festal gathering." The approach to God no longer takes place in the awe-inspiring theophany as on Sinai, but in a city built by God. Old Testament saints longed for this city.

Hebrews 12:25-29 contain a final warning. If they approach God in the way the author prescribes, let us say that it would be bad form not to follow the directions to that destination. Thus, ²⁵ see that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! Refer to 2:1-3 and 10:28-29 for the same warning. The people asked Moses not to let God speak to them. The author asks these Christians not to make the same mistake. Throughout Hebrews, however, the author is quick to emphasize that even though the community has received these gifts, this covenant, and this place before God; nevertheless, they are not yet permanent residents of this city. They can still “refuse the one who is speaking” (a reference to God, who has been “speaking” throughout the epistle, beginning at 1:1) just as those who received the first covenant refused God, which we can see in the building of the golden calf in Exodus 32. His point is that if God punished those who received the inferior revelation, Christians will receive even more punishment if they fall away. The contrast is not so much between Moses and Christ as between the recipients of the two covenants. The first covenant regulated earthly life, while the second introduced new life, the former being but a shadow of the latter. Clearly, to turn away from the second covenant merits greater punishment. ²⁶ At that time his voice shook the earth. When the Lord descended upon the mountain, it shook violently (Exodus 19:18). The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai (Judges 5:5). When the people marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked at the presence of the God of Sinai (Psalm 68:7-8).  But now, reminiscent of Haggai 2:6,[6] he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” This prophecy predicted that while God shook the earth at Sinai, there would come an even greater time when God would cause both the heavens and the earth to shake. For this author, in contrast to the shaking that occurred at Mt Sinai, Jesus will bring a universal shaking. This would be the sign that God is about to make a final, decisive intervention into creation. This "second shaking" will further winnow out everything that stands apart from God's gift of salvation. Verses 27-29 apply his interpretation of the prophecy to the readers in their present circumstance. ²⁷ This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things, like the old covenant, old law, and old priesthood —so that what cannot be shaken- the new covenant, the new temple, perfect sacrifice, the great high priest, and other benefits from Jesus- may remain. Such cosmic metaphors are typical of apocalyptic literature. This shaking occurred when the administration of covenant changed. 

All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. 

All their host shall wither like a leaf withering on a vine, 

or fruit withering on a fig tree. (Isaiah 34:4)

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, 

but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, 

and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, 

who has compassion on you. (Isaiah 54:10)

For the present form of this world is passing away. (I Corinthians 7:31b)

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. (II Peter 3:10)

And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever. (I John 2:17)

 

²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving, in an image that summarizes verses 22-24, a kingdom that cannot be shaken, [7]  the author affirms that God reigns over both the saints and the angels in the kingdom of heaven, the eternal and the spiritual Jerusalem. From now one, Christians can enter this kingdom and live there a life of Eucharistic liturgy. "Kingdom" is not a common topic for this Hebrews author. However, here he is anxious to clearly show the results of God's ultimate sovereignty. Let me draw analogy with people who need to spend much time in a culture different from the one with which they are familiar. One will need to learn the local customs, language, and ways of being. The same is true for learning to live in the kingdom that no one can shake. To live now aware of the rule of God over our lives individually and corporately is to learn some practices that help us along the way that anticipate our arrival at our ultimate destination. The author now reflects on the implication for worship: let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe. The only proper response to the rock-solid, unshakable kingdom that those believers, redeemed by the blood of the new covenant, will receive is great thanksgiving. Many passages focus upon this aspect of worship. The covenant is for life and well-being, which called for reverence and awe of the name of the Lord (Malachi 2:5). Those who revere the name of the Lord shall see the sun of righteousness rise with a healing presence (Malachi 4:2). Paul appeals to his readers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is their spiritual worship (Romans 12:1). Those who worship God are to worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:19-24). Such worship is obviously not simply a static posture of obedience before God. Rather, it can refer to service of various kinds. With thanksgiving, then, believers are to offer all their service, all their lives to God with awe and reverence, for the tremendous gift that God has given. To accept the grace of God necessarily means to respect the holiness of God, and therefore to accept the divine law, to fear the divine threats, to experience divine wrath and to suffer divine punishment. Otherwise, acceptance of grace is indistinguishable from heathen quietism. However, again, respect for the holiness of God can only mean directly to accept the grace of God in thankfulness. Such acceptance means to receive contentedly the replenishment the grace of God provides.[8] ²⁹ For indeed our God is a consuming fire. The image occurs often. The glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire (Exodus 24:17). The Lord is a devouring fire, a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24). The Lord crosses before the people as a devouring fire and will subdue their enemies (Deuteronomy 9:3). The crucifixion was not criminal punishment but atonement majesty. The author mentions unapproachability, and terror.  However, the author stresses the glories given to the Christian. 1) The New Jerusalem, 2) angels, 3) the elect, 4) God the judge, 5) all people who have reached perfection, and 6) Jesus is the one who has initiated this covenant.  A double responsibility exists for those who hear the gospel as over against those who heard the Law.  "If people are true to God, they gain everything; and if they are untrue to God, they lose everything.  In time and in eternity nothing matters save only loyalty to God." 

            For the writer of Hebrews, the contrast between the old covenant and the new covenant is one his readers need to appreciate at deeper levels than they do. His readers have received the word preached in the past. However, will they continue living in the better way provided by Christ, or turn back to the old way. The contrast is simple. The way of the old covenant led to death. The way of the new covenant, the city of the living God bursts with life and light. The angels gather in this heavenly city for a celebration. The old covenant shook the Hebrews tribes. By extension, one might say that the way of the old covenant continues to shake the Jewish people. However, the way of the covenant provided in Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, the perfect high priest, and the perfect temple, will bring a universal shaking. This second shaking will winnow out everything that stands apart from the gift of God that leads to salvation. What God leaves behind in this second shaking is a kingdom that no one can shake! In that sense, “God is a consuming fire,” removing what is unworthy.

A fourth-grade student needed to do a paper on a simple question: how was I born?  He went to his mother first. "How was I born?"  She did not have time to answer his question at the time, busily engaged as she was in cleaning up after supper.  She gave the simplest answer she could, "The stork brought you."  His grandmother was there as well, so he went to her.  "How was mommy born?"  She was also busy, nor did she want to get into the details.  She also produced the simplest answer she could, "The stork brought you."  He went to his desk and began his paper in this way: "According to my research, there has not been a normal birth in our family for three generations."[9] Obviously, simple answers were not sufficient for this boy.  Yet, I fear the church sometimes gives itself over to simple answers to the questions people have about their lives.  Truly, the simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Asking such simple questions at various stages of your life will yield different answers.[10] Simple questions.  The answers do not come to us quite so easily.  Nor do they necessarily remain the same over the years.  We evaluate ourselves throughout our lives.  Simple questions are the most important. How we answer such questions determines our success and happiness in life. 

If we experience the kind of shaking of the foundations that Hebrews suggests in this passage, what will remain? We look for answers to simple questions as if someone else could give them to us. Rather, our task is to uncover them, for they already within us. The Zen image of a man riding on an ox, looking for an ox, is appropriate here. Ask the question, “Who am I?” Asked in youth, such a question raises the issues regarding our values and the kind of person we desire to be. We will develop an answer in the decisions we make regarding career, family, and faith. At another stage of life, after children graduate from school, we will ask the same question, but the answer will change. We will be evaluating how well our decisions have worked or not worked. We will ponder the wisdom have learned from life experience.[11] Simple questions may well be the most important, but the daily business of life demands our attention. We have to give ourselves the time and place to ask such questions. Where am I from? At one level, I come from Minnesota, the town of Austin.  Its only claim to fame is that it is the international headquarters of Hormel meat packing.  "Where do you come from?"  To answer psychologically, I may come from a content home, or a troubled home.  Biologically, we come from the womb of our mothers.  "Where do you come from?"  Do we not all come from God, who is the source of life?  The simple, profound questions are the ones that challenge us. 

If God is in the business of shaking, are we open to letting God shake us? 

Frankly, those of us who have been in the church a while could probably use some shaking up. Do you not think so? We run the risk of turning everything Jesus and everything church into something so standard that it becomes boring. 

First, the letter to the Hebrews challenges us to focus on a new hope, showing reverence and awe, “for indeed our God is a consuming fire” (12:29). True, we think of the God of Jesus Christ as the coming of the grace and love of God. I agree with fully with that. Yet …

Such thinking reminds me of what German theologian Rudolf Otto called mysterium tremendum et fascinans. He found that at the heart of all forms of religious experience was human contact with a fascinating, awe-filled mystery — an experience that was literally full of awe. Whether we know it or not, we need a God who will disorient us, who will shake the foundations, if you please, not only of the earth, but of the heavens as well. We are in danger of losing this awe-full experience in worship — not awful as in “terrible,” but awe-full as in “full of awe.” We have lost the sense that there is a gulf between human sinfulness and divine purity, between our finite nature and the infinity of God, between our selfish actions and Christ’s perfect sacrifice.

            Here is the desire of one young woman for some awe in worship: 

 

“As a young adult, I do not need flashy graphics, a loud worship band, projected images on a screen or a cool, hip and stylish pastor [George Plasterer is a lot of things, but cool, hip, and stylish would not likely be one such description] to evoke passion in worship. Passion isn’t synonymous with loud, big and flashy. …
“I want to worship a Creator who formed the universe with a word and molded my very being from the fibers of the earth. I long to sing praises to a God who shouts with excitement through the joys of life and holds me tightly, with mutual tears, in the pits. I want to surrender all I am to the workings of a Holy Spirit who guides my movement in ways I never dreamed possible for myself. I want to humbly bow to the most humble of babies who changed the course of history for eternity. I want to lay offerings before a God who offered his own Son to wipe away the distance I continually place between [us]. I want to meet this Jesus over and over again, so maybe someday I will begin to understand the magnitude of a Love so grand, so extreme and so passionate.”

            Second, such new hope comes in all shapes, sizes, and volumes. One can experience such hope in an evening prayer service in a cool, dark cathedral, around a campfire, accompanied by the music of guitars, at the start of a church meeting with scripture and prayer, and in a particularly heartfelt sermon in a sanctuary on a summer Sunday morning. Such an experience can catch you off guard. Sometimes, during a vigorous walk or run, the beauty of where I live almost overwhelms me. Sometimes, I can be watching a movie, and its message does “something” that I find difficult to describe, but I know that I have connected with God. 

One of the anti-Christian philosophers by the name of Feuerbach charged that religion is nothing more than a projection of our own needs onto the divine.  We create the kind of God we think we need.  We project onto God what is most comfortable to us. Now, if I thought that was all we are doing with God, I would not be writing the way I am. Yet, all too often, this is true.  Our temptation is to dissolve our involvement in religion into nothing more than another way to make us feel better. We bring God down to our size, so that God speaks in our voice, and the image of God we see is one we have fashioned.

Third, we need to be open to the possibility that encountering God will make us uncomfortable. I think a church that truly worships opens the door to God in a way in which God can act in a way that causes the people involved to respond by faith with open hearts.[12] There is a well-known legend about a seminary student approaching the great theologian Paul Tillich.  Tillich had just lectured on the authority of the Scripture and the student was clutching in his hand a large, black, leather-bound Bible.  "Do you believe this is the Word of God?" shouted the student.  Tillich looked at the student's fingers tightly gripping the book. "Not if you think you can grasp it," said Tillich.  "Only when the Bible grasps you."  There is an over-familiarity with things holy, which, ironically, can make us numb to the intrusion of the holy in our lives.  We build up such comfortable ideas about God that nothing can shake us, not even by the voice of God.

An Art and Chip Sansom's comic strip "The Born Loser," makes the point humorously. A mother is leaning over the back of her husband's chair, where he rests with his young son sitting on his lap. "Have you ever had a near-death experience, Pop?" asks the lad.  "Can't say as I have, my boy," replied the father.  Whereupon the mother intrudes, "The question is, has he ever had a near-life experience."

We can see the need for a new hope. We can be too confident that the foundation we have built is secure, and therefore close ourselves off from the ways God may want to shake us. Too many of us, preachers included, have become “certain” of far too many things. The longer we are in church, the more we may think have the “answers” for everyone. I hope we never lose the “seeker” in us, open to the new things we may discover about life, self, others, and God. Yet, we may also be so lifeless and hopeless that we become content with such littleness of life. Christian hope is an excess of meaning, a passion for the possible. Such is not just wishful thinking or utopian dreams.

Worship is not simply a moment of time and space in our lives. Rather, worship is a lifestyle, a posture, and an attitude. Worship is an ongoing recognition of the need to respond to God for how God continues to bless us. When you think of whom this God is and in whose presence we are, the end is nothing less than shaking the foundations.  Worship of God is about our access and our need to respond to God’s calling and blessing.

St. John of the Cross, after he escaped from prison, wrote this poem:

 

There in the lucky dark,

none to observe me, darkness far and wide;

no sign for me to mark,

no other light, no guide

except for my heart -- the fire, the fire inside!

Our God is a consuming fire. Jesus is the light of the world. He is the light of our lives. We need to see Jesus. If we do, it may quite well rock our world.

---

[1] 12 You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, "Be careful not to go up the mountain or to touch the edge of it. Any who touch the mountain shall be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch them, but they shall be stoned or shot with arrows; whether animal or human being, they shall not live.' When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they may go up on the mountain." 14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes. 15 And he said to the people, "Prepare for the third day; do not go near a woman." 16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder. 20 When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people not to break through to the Lord to look; otherwise many of them will perish. 22 Even the priests who approach the Lord must consecrate themselves or the Lord will break out against them." 23 Moses said to the Lord, "The people are not permitted to come up to Mount Sinai; for you yourself warned us, saying, "Set limits around the mountain and keep it holy.' " 24 The Lord said to him, "Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you; but do not let either the priests or the people break through to come up to the Lord; otherwise he will break out against them." 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them. (Exodus 19:12-25)

18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, 19 and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die." 20 Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin." 21 Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. (Exodus 20:18-21)

11 you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was blazing up to the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. (Deuteronomy 4:11-12)

22 These words the Lord spoke with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, and he added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me. 23 When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders; 24 and you said, "Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that God may speak to someone and the person may still live. 25 So now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and remained alive? (Deuteronomy 5:22-26)

[2] 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ —by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

[3] He said: The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran. With him were myriads of holy ones; at his right, a host of his own. (Deuteronomy 33:2)

[4] Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. (Revelation 19:6)

[5] A stream of fire issued and flowed out from his presence. A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:10)

[6] Haggai 2:6,

For thus says the LORD of hosts: 

Once again, in a little while,

 I will shake the heavens and the earth 

and the sea and the dry land;

[7] Say among the nations, 

"The LORD is king! 

The world is firmly established; 

it shall never be moved. 

He will judge the peoples with equity." (Psalm 96:10)

[8] Barth, Church Dogmatics II.1 [30.1] 367.

[9] (Lucinda Bates, "Daring to Doubt," April 7, 1991)

[10] Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

[11] (David Neff, "Have I Done Well," Christianity Today, February 17, 1989, 22)?

[12] Robert E. Webber, Blended Worship (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006), 86.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Jeremiah 1:4-10 (NRSV)

⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” ⁷ But the Lord said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’;

for you shall go to all to whom I send you,

and you shall speak whatever I command you.

⁸ Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

     says the Lord.”

⁹ Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,

“Now I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant.”

Jeremiah 1:4-10 is the call of Jeremiah in 627 BC. The Assyrian Empire was weakening. In this year, Ashurbanipal died. It left a political vacuum in which Israel and its neighbors struggled for dominance and survival. Egypt, under Pharaoh Necho, sought a stronghold in Judah and the surrounding countries. The weakness of surrounding powers allowed Josiah to free Judah from the humiliating vassalage to Assyria. Emotions and hopes ran high as Josiah's religious reforms not only re-dedicated the country and people to a purified Yahwistic form of worship, but also renewed the sense of an independent identity for the entire nation.  

The calling of Jeremiah is similar to that of Moses in that the Lord calls him into familiarity with God and the counsel of the Lord.^[1] Like most Old Testament "call" narratives, Jeremiah's personal experience involves six steps.  Reflecting upon the call of Jeremiah has led me to ponder the nature of the summons from the Lord that we may hear today. It has led me to ponder the summons of the Lord upon my life. I hope that in the process, it might lead the reader to ponder such matters as well.

First, ⁴ Now the word (davar) of the Lord came to me. He records a divine confrontation ‑‑ a personal one‑on‑one encounter with the Lord. We do not receive an indication of the form of this word. The phrase is one of the most common and well-known biblical expressions. The phrase occurs over 200 times in the Old Testament, especially in prophetic texts, with the bulk of those occurrences found in the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah. Although the expression covers a broad semantic range, in general it refers to the content of divine revelation, sometimes given to individuals (e.g., Abram, Genesis 15:1; Moses, Numbers 3:16; Samuel, I Samuel 15:10) and sometimes to groups (the king and his counselors, II Chronicles 30:12). The Hebrew word translated “word,” like its Greek counterpart logos, has a much broader semantic range than its ordinary English translation, and may mean (in addition to a simple spoken word) “report,” “thing,” “matter,” “affair” or “business.” In the theological context the set phrase “word of the Lord” usually refers to direct revelation to an individual, either through audition (as in the case of Jeremiah) or vision (as in the cases of Abram and Samuel and, later, Jeremiah), and the expression usually contains the idea of specific command-instruction or prediction (e.g., Jeremiah 19:3). It may also have, especially in wisdom contexts, the broader meaning of the divine will, plan, or design (e.g., Psalm 33:6).  In certain situations, especially situations of prophetic conflict, the expression can vouchsafe prophetic authenticity (e.g., Jeremiah 27:18 and Ezekiel 13:2, where the “word of the Lord” is contrasted with those who prophesy “out of their own imagination”; see also Zechariah 11:11). An author may direct the expression not only to Israel, its customary object, but also to neighboring nations (e.g., Jeremiah 31:10; Ezekiel 25:3). One of the characteristics of the word of the Lord is that, as here, one utters such a word to a particular historical context. One of the consequences of that interaction is that the word can function positively as something to be desired and (sometimes unsuccessfully) sought after (e.g., I Samuel 3:1; Amos 8:12) or negatively as a word of judgment (e.g., Exodus 9:20 and many instances).

This word came, saying, second, ⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,[2] and before you were born I consecrated (qadash, made holy, sanctified, set apart) you.  Jeremiah receives an introductory word that points to his dependence on the Lord. This suggests that he would have to abandon himself if he were to abandon this task.^[3] This view of the consecration is unusual, but Isaiah 49:1, where the Lord appointed him before he was born, is similar. The usual reference would be to set apart at birth, rather than before. Other prominent religious figures, such as the prophet Samuel (I Samuel 1:11) and the warrior-judge Samson (Judges 13:5; 16:17), were likewise set apart prior to their births for special divine service. The idea of being set apart for the particular task of serving the Lord, without regard to demonstrated qualifications, is probably rooted in the idea of the consecration of the firstborn as the Lord’s portion (Exodus 13:2, 12; 34:19), for which the temple service of the Levitical priests was later substituted (Numbers 3:12; 8:16). Before Jeremiah had even entered the arena of human interaction, the Lord had defined the role he would play. The creation of the individual human being, no less than the creation of the world (Genesis 1:1) or the nation of Israel (Genesis 12:2; Isaiah 44:2, 24) was understood in the Old Testament to be the direct result of God’s gracious will and action (see Job 1:2; 10:18; Psalm 139:13; Ecclesiastes 11:5). There is no notion in the Old Testament that existence is either accidental or a right. A related view of history likewise understood the historical vicissitudes of Israel’s existence to be functions of the divine will in both positive and negative circumstances. At the same time, there is no notion of the pre-existence of souls in the early and classical periods of the Old Testament, including this passage. Such a concept will appear in later Judaism, after its contact with Persian and Greek ideas, in the idea of the guf, the heavenly storehouse from which all embodied souls on earth descend. One might compare the roots of this idea the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon 8:19; the Slavonic Book of Enoch 23:5; the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch 30:2-3.[4] Jeremiah 18's famous Potter's House Parable makes use of the dual meaning of this verb by portraying God as the Potter with the power to "form" or to destroy his marred creation and begin again. Many other prophets also use this double meaning to describe humanity's dependence upon its creator (e.g. Isaiah 45). Yet, even as his vocation is holy, his sanctification by God assures his estrangement from the nation to whom he prophesied.

Third, I appointed (ntn, which can mean “to give.”) you a prophet to the nations.”[5] He records the divine confrontation, a personal encounter with the Lord. He has received a divine commission. The prophet explains his inability to do anything else but follow his call. The Lord "gives" his creation Jeremiah to the nations as prophet, but they do not accept this "gift" in the spirit the Lord intended. Thus, Jeremiah knew Yahweh had claimed his life, that he had been predestined for the prophetic life. Jeremiah is not on some "career track" like those false, politically motivated prophets who surround him. Jeremiah’s appointment as a prophet “to the nations” as well as to Israel reflects the theological understanding that Israel’s God was the God of all the nations of the earth and not simply Israel’s exclusive totem. As the servant of that universal deity, God gave Jeremiah a universal commission.

Fourth, ⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” Typical of call narratives is that the prophet thinks he lacks ability. On a factual basis, this argument is weak, for he is eighteen years old. Moses (Exodus 4:10-15) and Solomon (I Kings 3:7) both express reluctance. He tries to convince Yahweh that he is too young to undertake such an arduous career. However, one wonders if we might not have here an answer to the dominant question of philosophical anthropology: Who am I? The answer of the prophetic call narratives is that the answer arises out of a divine mission, charge, and appointment that transcends the bounds of the humanly possible. Confronted by his call, he recognizes what he is and was. Self-knowledge comes about when confronted by the mission and call of God, which demand impossibilities of humanity. It is knowledge of self, humanity, guilt, and the impossibility of oneown existence when confronted wit the possibilities demand by the divine mission. One attains knowledge of oneself by discovering the discrepancy between the divine mission and one’s own being, by learning what one is and what one is to be, yet what one cannot be in one’s own strength. The call becomes the prospect of a new ability to be. One learns who one is not from within oneself but from the future to which the divine mission leads one. We learn who we are only by the history to which the missionary hope leads one. In this history of missionary possibilities one recognizes that we are open to the future and therefore hope for new possibilities of being. This means our future is hidden from his in the present and will be revealed to us in the projects that open up to us as we fulfill the mission.^[6] The prophet protests his unworthiness in a way that reminds one of Moses' response to his call (Exodus 4:10-15), and Solomon's prayer to God for guidance upon assuming the throne of David (I Kings 3:7). Moses protests his inability to speak with eloquence and Solomon begs for God's assistance because he is a mere "youth." It is a weak argument even if he had not made it to the Divine. At the time of his call (627), Jeremiah is approximately 18 years old - young, but according to the cultural standards, hardly a "boy." What is more, it is fitting that, at the time the religious reforms undertaken by the boy-king Josiah are restoring Yahweh's honor, the Word of the Lord should come to boy-prophet, Jeremiah. That Jeremiah feels himself inadequate to the task puts him in good company. From the days of Moses, those whom the Lord had genuinely designated as divine spokespersons had felt ill-equipped to serve - and often for better reasons than Jeremiah could muster. 

⁷ Nevertheless, fifth, the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you (or "I am with you to come to your rescue"), says the Lord.” The Lord dismisses the objections and instead offers reassurance that divine power and presence are with Jeremiah. Yahweh utterly rejects Jeremiah's hesitancy and instead, goes on to recount how completely the Lord will use him. Some translations define Jeremiah's role as not so much a prophet as an errand boy - translating the divine words as "you will go on what errands I send you." The prophet would go where the Lord sent, and say what the Lord commanded. He need not fear anything or anyone, however, because the Lord would be present with him to protect him. He need not even worry about the content of his prophecies because the Lord would put the divine words directly into his mouth.

Sixth, ⁹ Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. The Lord seals the call of this new prophet through a sign. There are other similarities here to other prophetic call stories. For example, the calls of Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel all have some special focus on the prophet's mouth as the instrument of divine speech. In Isaiah 6:5-7 a seraph takes a coal from the altar and touches the lips of the prophet to purify him. The incident in Jeremiah describes no such need for purification.  Jeremiah's call is like Ezekiel's also (Ezekiel 2:1-3:15) in that Ezekiel is told not to fear (2:6), he is told that he will be delivering God's own words (2:7), and he too is instructed to use his mouth to eat God's words which are written on a scroll (2:8-3:1). In this way, he was to absorb God's words without making direct physical contact with the divine. In fact, this is one of the most significant differences among the three stories. Not only does this incident assume that Jeremiah is worthy to receive God's words (unlike Isaiah), Jeremiah survives the hand of God touching him! This is a level of intimacy that neither Isaiah nor Ezekiel would ever tolerate.  The Lord said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. The first message God gives to Jeremiah concludes this "call." In fact, verse10 provides, in condensed form, the basic thrust of Jeremiah's continuing message throughout his prophetic ministry. The infinitive clauses of verse 10 make it clear these are divine orders, not suggestions. With his prophetic words, Jeremiah is to pluck up, to break down, to destroy, to overthrow, to build and to plant. ¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Armies destroying a nation frequently pulled down, not only stones in fortification walls, but also trees to make barricades and weapons. Deuteronomy 20:19-20 forbids Israel to destroy food-bearing trees in times of war because that would do lasting damage to the land. Thus, to restore a land, after one has pulled it down and destroyed it, one must replant as well as rebuild. Jeremiah preached and prophesied during the tumultuous days between Assyrian and Babylonian dominance. It was a tragic, troubling time. However, from the outset, Jeremiah's prophetic message also contains kernels of hope. "To build" and "to plant" are constructive, new energy enterprises. Thus, while Jeremiah's primary role was as a pre‑exilic messenger, warning the people of the Babylonian exile to come, there remained at the heart of Jeremiah's words, seeds of hope and a vision of a future when "planting" and "building up" would once again be part of God's divine plan for the people.  God's offer is to replant the nation that forms the hope of restoration woven throughout Jeremiah's otherwise grim book. Jeremiah knew the history of the prophets and the prophetic role in old Israel. He knew that when Yahweh called prophets to preach an unpopular word to powerful people, the results were not always rosy for the individual prophet. Yet, Jeremiah also knew the impressive record of triumphs that had accompanied those prophets who had remained faithful to Yahweh's word. The Lord outlines the content of the future of the prophecy of Jeremiah in terms that become a common theme throughout the book. Chapter 18:7-10 states that at any moment God may decide to "pluck up and break down and destroy" a disobedient kingdom, but he might just as easily decide to "build and plant" an obedient kingdom. In 24:6, God promises to bring obedient exiles back from Babylon and restore them ("build ... and ... plant them"). 31:27-28 promises that just as God has plucked up and broken down Israel and Judah, he will later build and plant them. In 42:9-10, God promises those few remaining in Judah that if they will stay he will build them up and not pull them down. The call of Jeremiah suggests both the irresistibility of the disaster coming and the dreadful nature of the task in proclaiming the will and act of the Lord.^[7]

Time is finite for all of us. Listening to such a call and responding with Yes builds the virtues to which we would like people to testify at our funeral, in the manner that David Brooks (The Road to Character, 2015) writes. These virtues point the way to deep satisfaction of having lived our lives.  Maybe, instead of wondering what will make us happy, we need to ponder a different question. Are we responding to a summons? Yes, our circumstances can be challenging, and we can hear the call of God in it. 

Some of you might remember the 2004 movie Cellular, in which someone kidnaps a woman, but she manages to use a broken telephone to call for help and reaches a total stranger. She begs him for help, hoping he will not hang up. Well, the movie has many action sequences along the way, but eventually Ryan rescues Jessica. She thanks him and asks him if there is anything she can do to repay him. At that point, the two are attractive enough that you think a hint of romance is coming next. He responds, “Yes, don’t ever call me again.” 

Receiving a call can be difficult. Most of us do not have circumstances as difficult as was the man in the movie. However, we have our difficult circumstances to face. 

In Hamlet, the play by Shakespeare, Hamlet experiences hesitation in a challenging call.

The times are out of joint 

oh cursed spite

that ever I was born to put them right.

 

            Yet, out of such difficult circumstances, we may well experience a summons. In that case, we are no so much looking deep inside. We listen to the people and circumstances that are part of our lives. We respond to what we hear if we are attentive. 

Reflecting upon such matters has led me to ponder the summons of God in my life. I was in college, wrestling with what I was to do with my life. I knew I enjoyed studying and learning. I felt the summons to expand my knowledge through reading and to share that knowledge with others. Yet, I was uncertain how I would fulfill the summons. At a church service, I felt the tug in my heart that God wanted me to devote myself to what in 1970 we called “full-time Christian service.” I steadily found myself wanting to focus my studies on the Bible and share what I learned. Within the church, we refer to this as a call. I have wrestled, however, with the nature of that call. I have wondered, for example, if my calling was to teach and that I might have found deeper satisfaction fulfilling the summons by teaching in a Christian school or Seminary. I may have made a mistake pursuing ordination in the Wesleyan Church and then in the United Methodist Church. If so, it would sadden me, of course. We have only one life to live. I will not get another chance to get it right. At the same time, if this were so, God has still used the summons to learn and teach to serve others. I am confident that I have become an important part of the life story of others due to the insights they have received. I can point to specific persons who have become an important part of my life story due to the obvious advances in learning they have made. My point is that even if I made an error in judgment, being a pastor has allowed me to fulfill the summons of God upon my life to learn and teach. I have done so through my preaching and especially in Bible study classes. 

Some of us run away from the call. Generally, we do not want to hear such a summons. We want it only when we think we need it.[8]  Running away will have harmful effects in the way we lead our lives. To run away from the call will also mean running away from that which will provide deep satisfaction in life. Some of us need to ponder the witness to our lives that we desire. What do want family and friends to say about us when we leave this earth and receive a new life with God? 

Some of us need to cut through some misconceptions. Dan Cumberland[9] identifies three myths to avoid when trying to discern God's call. Myth 1 is that calling identifies itself with a job. Calling provides a direction that influences one’s entire life. You will express your calling in your job, but you will do so in other parts of your life as well. Myth 2 is that your calling is somewhere out there, so you just have to find it. The partial truth of this myth is that we will hear our calling from out there only if we are inwardly attentive to the people and circumstances of our lives. Our calling is in the still small and familiar voice. Myth 3 is that your calling is a place of obligation. Rather, your calling is a place of freedom. Your calling is life giving. Your calling is a place of joy.

The call that we hear may actually bring some difficulty into our lives. It may well push us to our limits and beyond. For that reason, we may well want to run away. Of course, calling moves us beyond a job and a sense of obligation. It moves us toward deep satisfaction, as we are attentive the people and circumstances of our lives, listening and responding at a deep level.

Frankly, reflecting upon calling a calling to which we respond should get us thinking about the end of life. To what do want people to testify about us? For what do we want those who love and care about to remember about us? 

I trust that God knows what God is doing. Sometimes, God seems to value things in our world that human beings rarely value quite so highly. A prophet can complain about God calling him to a task too large in comparison to his youth. He does not like speaking in public. God calls a liberator to lead people out of Egypt, while he wonders if they will listen and reminds God that he has no speaking ability. The Hebrew people are such a small relatively insignificant group of people. The Jewish people today, although in every land, remain a small group scattered among the nations. God even uses a woman from Nazareth to bear Jesus, whom we would come to know as the Son of God. God does not seem to work great words of salvation through the great and mighty political and economic powers. Rather, God seems to delight in selecting the unexpected and often insignificant persons and groups to bring the good news of what God is doing in the world. That may be the reason why we need always to be open to surprising movements of God in the world. God may well surprise us, who expect God to work in one way, while God is actually moving in another direction. 

Leadership begins in the mind of God, as gracious inclusion of humanity into the plan and purposes of God. Speaking of the people whom God calls to lead, they are almost universally, laughably, the wrong people. That is, God goes out of the way to pick those who, at least on the face of it, have no virtues or qualities that suggest they would be good leaders. Perhaps God likes a challenge. Maybe God, being a creator who makes something out of nothing, considers vocation a continuing aspect of creation. Any God who could make an introverted kid like Jeremiah into a really quite wonderfully prophetic leader must be some God. The qualities of “good leadership” are more gracious gifts of God that gratefully receives rather than skills, techniques, or knowledge one must developed. When the chips are down, all biblical leaders have for credentials is faith in the promise, “Go. I will be with you” (1:1). The issue we face is that we enjoy thinking of our lives as something we decide, a project we have chosen, a path we have conceived on our own. Specifically biblical leadership begins, not in our ambition to rule, or in realistic assessment of our talents, but rather in summons. 

We fear loss of control. We have anxiety over what life is like to be accountable to someone other than ourselves. It is somewhat frightening to construe our lives in such a divine cast; to have our lives lived in constant reference to the purposes of God. A life tethered to the movements of God can be tough. However, it is also invigorating to receive the freedom and the dissonance of living the called life in a world where all too many people are answerable to nothing more than their own ill-formed desires. Sometimes the call comes early (Jeremiah felt it from his time in the womb. “Before you were born . . . from the womb” Jeremiah 1:5), sometimes it comes late as with Abraham and Sarai (Gen 17). Whenever the call comes, in saying yes to the summons, we yield to the adventure of a life free of the ideology of personal autonomy that so enslaves this culture. God owns us, using us for purposes greater than ourselves. 

With this demanding, even frightening call comes a promise for young Jeremiah, an astounding promise: I will put you over kingdoms and nations; I will give you authority to pull down empires and make new kingdoms (v. 10). Note the absurdity of telling something like this to this kid! You shall be a prophet! You will speak truth to power. You will go up to the palace and bring this whole kingdom to its knees so that I might plant a new kingdom in its place. What absurd ambitions! Yet, have we not noted, this is an absurdly gracious God. This God thinks it is quite cool to call a kid to speak words that shake the whole world. This God derives enjoyment from making a claim on your life, and on my life, in the form of plans, a job, a task, and a purpose to fulfill. God wants to influence the world through you – through me.

David Brooks (The Road to Character, 2015) refers to two different classes of virtues we write in the course of our lives. One class is the resume virtues. The resume is the career-oriented, ambitious side of our nature. We want to conquer. We want to build, create, produce, and discover things. We have high status and win victories. This resume focuses upon the external matters. We are creative and savor our accomplishments. We want to venture forth into the world and away from home. Brooks will opine that resume virtues in our culture suggests that our accomplishments can provide a deep sense of satisfaction. However, the desires of the resume virtues are infinite. We will never find genuine happiness and satisfaction focusing upon them. The second class of virtues is funeral virtues. They are the virtues we hope people might highlight at our funeral. We want to obey a calling to serve the world. These are the inner virtues, the moral qualities we want to develop. We want more than to do well. We want to be good. We want to love intimately, to sacrifice self in the service of others, to live in obedience to some transcendent truth, to have a cohesive inner soul that honors creation and our possibilities. We might renounce worldly success and status for the sake of some sacred purpose. A primary question we answer in the funeral virtues is why we are here. We often want to return home, savor our roots, and savor the warmth of a family meal. 

The art of living is learning to balance the building resume virtues as they confront the funeral virtues. Confrontation is the proper word, for the resume logic is utilitarian. Effort leads to reward. Practice makes perfect. Pursue self-interest. Maximize your utility. Impress the world. Cultivate your strengths. The funeral virtue is a moral logic. You have to give to receive, surrender to something outside yourself, and conquer your desire to get what you crave. Success can lead to pride. Failure can lead to great success. In order to fulfill yourself, forget yourself. In order to find yourself, you have to lose yourself.  Confront your weaknesses. 

The art of living will involve cultivating humility, a “going down” before you can “rise up.” This concern for pride going before the fall is part of the journey. Yet, the journey does not mean they receive healing of their weaknesses. One can find a vocation or calling. One can commit to some long obedience and dedicate oneself to something that gives life its purpose.

In Chapter 2, Brooks refers to the importance of responding to a summons. He refers to the idea of discovering your passion, trusting feelings, and finding purpose. The assumption in such language is that the answer is inside of us. Therefore, the first step in the business plan of your life is to take an inventory of your gifts and passions, set your goals, and adopt a strategy to accomplish the goals. As William Ernest Henley put it in his poem “Invictus,”

I am the master of my fate

I am captain of my soul.

 

It appeals to our sense of individual autonomy and fascination with self. It answers the question, “What do I want from life?” In contrast, Brooks says, if we focus upon the funeral virtues, the question to which we respond is “What does life want from me? What are my circumstances calling me to do?” We respond to the summons of life. It begins with our embeddedness in a community of people, circumstances, and inter-relations. Frederick Buechner famously put it, “At what points do my talents and deep gladness meet the world’s deep need?” Viktor Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning (1946), said that it did not matter what we expected from life, but what life expected from us. We need to stop asking about the meaning of life and instead think of ourselves as those of whom life asks questions. He concluded that life had given him a moral and intellectual assignment. Such a calling or vocation feels like the person has no choice in the matter. In reality, of course, any of us can run away. We will usually do so with dire results. If one pursues it, however, one’s life becomes unrecognizable without the calling. 

God be in your head, and in your understanding.

God be in your eyes, and in your looking.

God be in your mouth, and in your speaking.

God be in your heart, and in your thinking.

God be in your end, and at your departing.[10]

 

Much food for thought (I know that is a cliché, but maybe a good phrase here). I need to chew on it for a while. I thought it might be good spiritual food for you as well. 

Go now to pursue your calling. 

Silence any noise that threatens to drown out God’s words of love and wisdom to you.

Listen for Christ’s teaching in the places and people around you. 

Be prepared for the powerful movement of the Spirit, for it will sustain you, especially when God’s voice seems hard to hear. May God’s voice echo all around you, sharing words of challenge, bringing songs of peace. Alleluia! 

Amen.

---

[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 203.  

[2] The written Hebrew text of Jeremiah 1:5 has a different verb from the one that is traditionally read in the phrase "before I FORMED you." The Qere (or traditionally read text) reads "Before I FORMED you in the womb, I knew you." The Ketiv (or written text) reads "Before I SAW you, (even) in the womb, I knew you." In the Qere version, there is also creation imagery at work. The verb yatsar is often used to mean "create" as well as to "form" because of the way a potter creates a vessel out of clay by forming it with his or her hands. It first has this meaning, of course, in Genesis 2:7.

[3] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.3 [71.4] 581.

[4] Both of the latter in J. H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 1 [New York: Doubleday, 1983] .

[5] The Greek version of this verse uses the singular term "nation" instead of "nations," implying that Jeremiah's prophecies were intended only for Israel. Verse 10, however, makes it clear that this is not what was originally meant.

[6] (Moltmann, Theology of Hope 1965, 1967) 285-6.

[7] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.3 [71.4] 581..

[8] --Dallas Willard, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God.

[9] --Dan Cumberland, "3 big myths about calling: Ideas to avoid when figuring out what to do with your life." Relevant, April 14, 2015. relevantmagazine.com. Retrieved August 10, 2015.

[10] -Sarum Liturgy, The United Methodist Book of Worship 

(Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1992), 566.