Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

      “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³ But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁵ “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁶ “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18, 19-21 (Ash Wednesday) continues with the prophetic theme of the Old Testament Lesson and urges the obvious sincerity expressed by the psalm for this day. discusses righteousness before God. A polemic against the Pharisees is behind this text.[1]

One might think of this text as the Magna Charta of true piety. All human groups have ways of giving honor to their members. Such honor gives members something worthy to imitate. Since human beings learn by imitating, this process has a positive dimension to it. It encourages the adoption of beliefs and practices valued by the community. However, this process can become negative when members imitate the practice out of a desire to gain honor from the community. Jesus exposes hypocrites for their self-centered piety. He calls for a higher righteousness than that exhibited by the finest religious people in Galilee. As Matthew puts the theme, Jesus urges his listeners to beware of engaging in religious practices in the presence of others (verse 1). Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. When people do good works with the purpose that others see them, they are going down the wrong path. Jesus expresses concern for that which threatens the person who seeks the will of God. Traditional Jewish practices are to be evidence of rightness with God. The three instructions contain vivid warnings about how not to practice piety, followed by a radical commandment of how one should do it. They warn especially against conspicuous behavior. Some parallels exist in ancient literature.[2] One striking example is Cicero, who expresses the concern that people value too much what other people consider honorable. People must avoid assuming the rightness of what the multitude think. He urges a lofty elevation of soul that does not depend on the people and does not aim at applause. It derives its satisfaction from itself. Everything becomes more commendable, the less we court people and the fewer eyes there are to see it. His point is that regardless of the public nature of a virtuous act is not as important as our consciousness of it. An analogy would be the matter of “conspicuous consumption,” the idea being that if no one sees me using my wealth, then I do not benefit from the increased status that my wealth should bring me. In the setting Jesus addressed, increased social status came through displays of religious practice. His concern is that one practice them for the right reason, and thus, do them privately. The only status that matters is that which God recognizes. Refraining from showing piety is a witness to the pious world, allowing for one’s life to reflect what has happened in private. The temptation, especially in a secular world, is to publicize piety rather than let the piety one has speak for itself.[3] One engages in traditional religious practices to glorify God and point others toward glorifying God. Jesus also raises the matter of reward. In doing so, he is consistent with the Judaism of his day, where the driving force behind human action was hope for reward from God. However, the context suggests that they are to forget what they have done, thereby detaching themselves from striving for a reward. His concern is with the reality of the divine recompense.[4] Reward is what one experiences within and provide the conditions for happiness and joy. The focus is intention and motivation. Thus, religious acts done for the purpose of receiving a reward will find disappointment while such acts performed with love receives its reward. Motivation and intention are important in finding a flourishing human life.

Thus, Jesus addressed the religious practice of almsgiving (verses 2-4 unique to Matthew).  He offers the saying in a legal form.[5] The first clause provides the condition. Whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet (caused by a generous gift to stir up other generous gifts,[6] conspicuous charity that gives religious and moral status to the benefactor) before you. The reason is that you would be acting like the hypocrites (actors, false devotees of an artificial, showy piety, one who pretends to be someone else, for which see Pharisees in 15:7, 22;18, and 23:13-15) do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that others may praise them. Jesus focuses on the motive not the value of the deed. Truly, I tell you, (the sole ground of his authority for the demand of God expressed through him[7]) they have received their reward. ³ Rather, in the second clause Jesus offered that radical command that when you give alms, in a paradoxical saying, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. While technically impossible, charity is to be so inconspicuous that one barely notices it in oneself. The point is ⁴ that you may do your alms in secret, hidden from humanity by dwelling in heaven, which sees such hidden things. Therefore, your Father who sees in secret will reward you. The point is not to engage in conspicuous charity that gives you religious and moral status. To do so is to become an actor in religious life, a false and artificial devotee. Jesus directs attention to the motive. Jesus offers the paradoxical saying that one should not let the left hand know what the right is doing. The paradox invites us to consider that the act of almsgiving or charity needs to become so inconspicuous that one barely notices it oneself. Later in Matthew 25:31-46, the righteous sheep who come before the Son of Man are not cognizant of their righteousness. If one engages in such acts secretly, hidden from human recognition, the Father will see and give the only reward that matters. We find our greatest joy in doing a secret good (Emerson).

            Verses 5-15 are a second application of the saying in verse 1. 

In verses 5-8 (unique to Matthew) is a saying on prayer as a regular religious practice that one could put on display for others on the street or in the synagogue during the regular or daily prayer. Such a public action has received the reward it seeks, approval from others. Prayer can become a means for pious self-presentation. However, in verses 5-6, a saying framed in a legal style,[8] Jesus urges his followers to pray by shutting the door to their rooms. In the first clause, Jesus states the condition, offering the criticism that ⁵ “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that others may see them. The focus here is the regular or daily pattern of prayer. Truly, I tell you, (the sole ground of his authority for the demand of God expressed through him[9]) they have received their reward. ⁶ Rather, in the second clause offering the radical command of Jesus, whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door. Jesus will make a point of going to solitary places to pray (Mark 1:35, Matthew 14:23, Luke 5:16). Jesus offered the criticism that ⁵ “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that others may see them. The focus here is the regular or daily pattern of prayer. Truly, I tell you, (the sole ground of his authority for the demand of God expressed through him[10]) they have received their reward. ⁶ Rather, offering the radical command of Jesus, whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door. Jesus urges us to consider right motivation in prayer. Prayer needs to have an orientation toward God alone. Prayer should never have another purpose than to speak with God. One does not address prayer to anyone else but God.[11] The only reward in praying one needs is what one receives from the Father. 

In verses 16-18 (unique to Matthew) Jesus offers advice concerning how his followers engage in public fasting, the third application of the statement in verse 1. Jesus offered a criticism of the religious practice of his time, using the legal style,[12] stating the condition in the first clause: ¹⁶ “Whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, (the sole ground of his authority for the demand of God expressed through him[13]) they have received their reward. The Jewish community usually reserved the fast for extreme situations. Individual fasting is an expression of mourning and repentance, an act of humility that intensifies the experience of prayer. It could give one the reputation of being a saint. Jesus offered a criticism of the religious practice of his time, giving the command in the second clause: ¹⁶ “Whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, (the sole ground of his authority for the demand of God expressed through him[14]) they have received their reward. Mark 2:19 points toward a rejection of fasting, but the practice of fasting in the early church suggests a different course. For Jesus, his disciples are to act in ways that others will not notice they are fasting. The orientation of the fasting person is toward God alone. The only reward that matters is what the Father gives. The connection of this passage in the history of the church with Ash Wednesday is one of the great ironies of the church year. The ash Christians carry with them into the world would seem to be against what Jesus says here, but it is also a way to be a light to the world.

In Matthew 6:19-21 (Luke 12:34) (Ash Wednesday) is an exhortation, a brief proverb enlarged with an illustration,[15] concerning possessions. The saying does not have an eschatological nuance. It reflects the distinctive piety of the community Jesus is forming.[16] They have the character of general folk sayings. Such sayings may reflect common wisdom of first century Judaism, connecting Jesus to his Jewish context. ¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes, emphasizing the transitory nature of earthly possessions,[17] and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The text presents a radical view of material possessions. Jesus is offering the advice regarding possessions to adopt the perspective of eternity. As participants in the rule of God that the ministry of Jesus is bringing, they do not need to worry about food, clothing, or shelter. Earthly wealth is transient, perishable, and at risk, while the wealth we store in heaven has an enduring quality. That which we treasure reveals orientation of our hearts. Our relationship with our possessions is an important one. Acquiring them, holding them, and sharing them, is a complex matter. Precisely because of that, we need the wisdom of Jesus to help us chart the course through this complexity.

There are Old Testament and rabbinic parallels. “Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death” (Prov 10:2, 11:4). “Whoever trusts in riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf” (Prov 11:28). The rabbi has laid up treasures for above (T. Pea. 4:18). “My fathers stored in a place that can be tampered with, but I have stored in a place that cannot be tampered with” (Baba Bathra 11a.) If they have many possessions, they are to make their gifts in proportion, while if one has few possessions, they are to give according to the little they have, so they will be laying up a good treasurer for themselves (Tobit 4:8-9). They are to lose gold and silver for their brothers and sisters so that they may receive a treasure on the day of judgment (II Enoch 50:5, text A). They are to lose their silver for the sake of a friend, not letting it rust under a stone and be lost and lay up treasure that will profit them more than gold and store up almsgiving the treasure and rescue them from affliction (Ecclesiasticus 29:10-13). Other references in Jewish writings refer to the treasury as good works that are stored there. They have a treasury of works laid up with the Most High (IV Ezra 7:77). The righteous have many works laid up for them and they shall receive their reward in consequence of their deeds (IV Ezra 8:33). The righteous justly have good hope for the end because they possess a story of good works which is preserved in treasuries (II Baruch 14:12). The days are coming when the treasuries in which are brought the righteousness of all those who have proven themselves to be righteous (II Baruch 24:1). 

Matthew would be close to the Jewish understanding of the good works of the believer laid up in heaven, but with a difference. For Matthew, the whole Sermon on the Mount is an exposition on the theme of righteousness that involves relationships with other people in 5:21-48 and relationship to God in 6:1-18. The person who follows through on the righteousness laid out here is laying up treasure up in heaven, rather than earth. This is the person who has given complete loyalty to God.

Our relationship with our possessions is an important one. Acquiring them, holding them, and sharing them, is a complex matter. Precisely because of that, we need the wisdom of Jesus to help us chart the course through this complexity. 

There is a story of a conversation between a young and ambitious lad and an older man who knew life. 

     Said the young man, "I will learn my trade." 

     "And then?" asked the older man. 

     "I will set up in business."

     "And then?"

     "I will make my fortune."

     "And then?"

     "I suppose that I shall grow old and retire and live on my money."

     "And then?"

     "Well, I suppose that some day I will die."

"And then?" came the last stalking question.[18]

---

[1] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 177.

[2] One might refer to m. Seqal. 5:6, Epictetus, Diss. 4. 8. 17 also but I could not find them! Cicero (106-43 BC), Tusculan Disputations, 2.26 XXVI. 

[3] (Barth K. , Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67)IV.2 [66.3] 552.

[4] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 215-7.

[5] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 133.

[6] Friedrich, TDNT, VII, 86.

[7] (Fuller, The Foundations of New Testament Christology, 1965), 105.

[8] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 133.

[9] (Fuller, The Foundations of New Testament Christology, 1965), 105.

[10] (Fuller, The Foundations of New Testament Christology, 1965), 105.

[11] (Barth K. , Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67)III.4 [53.3] 88.

[12] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 133.

[13] (Fuller, The Foundations of New Testament Christology, 1965), 105.

[14] (Fuller, The Foundations of New Testament Christology, 1965), 105.

[15] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 81.

[16] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 104.

[17] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 222.

[18] by William Barclay from The Gospel of Luke The Westminster Press, 1975.

II Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

II Corinthians 5:20b-6:2 (3-10)

^20b we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. ² For he says,

“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,

and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! ³ We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ⁶ by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, ⁷ truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

II Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 (Ash Wednesday) is an appeal for reconciliation with God. this study connects Paul’s appeal for reconciliation with God to the broader context of Pauline theology. It identifies the theological concept of reconciliation as initiated by God, with humanity responding in faith. I explain the “exchange” or “substitution” motif in verse 21, where Christ is made to bear sin so that humanity might become righteous. I offer an interpretation of atonement and the vicarious suffering of Christ consistent with mainstream Christian theology, especially within Protestant traditions. My discussion of covenant righteousness extended to Gentiles reflects the universalist message of Paul. I will offer a critique of Enlightenment Protestant theology and refer to Anselm’s satisfaction theory. I apply the text by emphasizing reconciliation as a central Christian practice and contrasts it with cultural motifs of revenge. I acknowledgein a nuanced way the limitations of human reconciliation and the eschatological hope for ultimate peace, utilizing examples from popular culture and film to illustrate the theme of reconciliation and communal peace. I offer philosophical and ethical reflection on risk, gratitude, and perseverance drawing from both biblical and secular sources, offering practical wisdom that aligns with the passage’s themes. I offer a list of things that can destroy a human life in a way that I hope is ethically relevant and consistent with Christian moral teaching.

Introduction

II Corinthians 5:11-6:13 has the theme of the ministry of reconciliation. Paul was in Corinth from Winter of 50 AD to Summer of 51 AD, so Acts 18:1-17. He wrote this part of II Corinthians in the Fall of 55 AD.  Timothy is with Paul.  Titus and two others bring the letter.  Titus has just arrived with good news. Many scholars construe 2:14-7:4 as a rhetorical unit, Paul’s defense of his ministry, of which 5:11-6:10 is a key part as he explains his ministry of reconciliation. 

Verse-by-verse study

In II Corinthians 5:20b-6:2, a segment that began in verse 20a, Paul offers an appeal for reconciliation with God. 

^20bPaul will emphasize that we, providing the agency by which others know Christ, with the priority given to the action of God to which faith is the response, entreat you on behalf of Christ, to experience reconciliation with God.  Reconciliation is a relationship God has initiated and to which human beings must respond by accepting the offer. ²¹ In what some scholars think of a Jewish-Christian formula, Paul says that for our sake he made him to be, or to bear the burden of, sin who knew no sin, (Hebrews 4:15, 5:7-9, I Peter 1:19, 3:18, dependent on Isaiah 53:9), thereby becoming the sin offering for humanity offered by God so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. We have in verses 18-21 the notion that atonement is the work of God. Reconciling here means the conversion of the world to God that took place in the form of an exchange or substitution that God has proposed between the world and God present and active in the person of Jesus Christ. It means that in being present and active in the world in Christ, God takes part in its history. God does not affirm or participate in its culpable nature, of course. However, God does take up the situation of the world into the divine nature. For God to make humanity the righteousness of God, humanity becomes covenant-partners with God.  The conversion of the world to God has taken place in this exchange. In Christ, the weakness and godlessness of the world become a lie. God removes them as an obstacle. In Christ, we see the peace of the world with God, the turning of humanity toward God, and the friendship of humanity with God. This becomes the truth of the new human situation.[1]The great and inconceivable thing is that Christ acts as judge in our place by accepting responsibility for what we do in this place. It ceases to be our sin.[2] The participation in the obedient suffering and death of Christ in 5:17 is the means whereby believers have reconciliation to God through Christ in verse 18. This train of thought helps us to understand the concluding statement that God made Christ to be sin for us in verse 21. Taken alone, this verse suggests a simple exchange of places. In the context of the preceding argument, however, Paul integrates the thought into that of the inclusive significance and effect of the death of Jesus Christ.[3] Such a statement makes little sense apart from a reference to the situation of the condemnation and execution of Jesus, in which political authorities made Jesus the sinner and he came under the curse of the law. For God, by means of the human judges, not only made Jesus to be sin but also had him bear in our place, and not merely in that of his Jewish judges or the Jewish people, the penalty that is the proper penalty of sin. The reason for this is that the proper penalty of sin follows from its inner nature, death as the consequence of separation from God.[4] God has gone to great lengths to reconcile humanity with God. Clearly, an exchange has taken place. God made Christ sin in exchange for God making humanity righteous. To paraphrase, God put the sinless Christ in the place of sinners, so that Christ had to bear the judgment of sin instead of them, expressing the theological thought of representation.[5] He suffered for all and triumphed for all.[6] Perhaps Theodoret of Cyrus, a fifth-century bishop, best captured the spirit of this paradox when he wrote, “Christ was called what we are in order to call us to be what he is.” The Protestant theology of the Enlightenment did not take into sufficient account the fundamental significance of the death of Christ for the Pauline thought of the reconciling of the world by God.[7] The covenant righteousness of God is at issue. Here, Paul finds in those whom God are reconciled to God through the death of Christ a proof of the righteousness of God. The issue is no longer merely the relation of God to Israel, or the divine covenant righteousness to the chosen people. Paul extends to the Gentiles the thought of the covenant righteousness that the saving action of God demonstrates. Involved in divine righteousness is the relation of God to the whole creation. The vocabulary of covenant righteousness in Paul moves forward materially along the lines of the approach of Jesus in terms of the goodness of God as Creator that in the coming of the reign of God shows itself to be a pardoning turning toward humanity.[8] In this situation of condemnation and execution, Jesus, whom through the resurrection God showed to be innocent, bore death as the consequence of our sin, thereby effecting representation in the concrete form of a change of place between the innocent and the guilty. The innocent suffered the penalty of death, which, as the harmful result of sin, is the fate of those in whose place Christ died. The vicarious penal suffering that is vicarious suffering of the wrath of God at sin rests on the fellowship that the Son accepted with all of us as sinners and with our fate as such. This link is the basis on which the death of Jesus can count as expiation for us. Without this vicarious penal suffering, the expiatory function of the death of Jesus is unintelligible, unless we try to understand his death as an equivalent offered to God like the satisfaction theory of Anselm, which has no basis in the biblical data.[9]

The cross represents a dramatic turn in the relationship of God with the world. The new perspective the cross gives us is that God has taken sin seriously – and has borne responsibility for that sin in the cross. As destructive as sin is, God has accepted the punishment for sin in the cross. We do not have to wonder about whether God is so angry at humanity that the anger would lead God to destroy it.  Rather, God loves the world enough to receive the punishment for our sinfulness and to open the way of salvation for us. In terms of our lives, the cross means that we do not have to bear the burden of the past. Rather, we become open to the new possibilities for the future. Becoming a new person, becoming part of a new creation, is what living one’s life in Christ means. Thus, although God has already acted to reconcile humanity with God and with each other, God has given the church the responsibility of telling others what God has done. Another way to view this is that we re-orient our lives away from an anxious focus upon ourselves and toward reconciling life with God and with others. We live in a world torn apart by behavior destructive of self and others. The church itself participates in that division of the world. We need to re-focus our energy upon the reconciling work of God. God has already brought about that reconciliation in Christ. We now have a decision to make. Will we become part of the reconciling work of God in the world? 

In II Corinthians 6: 1-2, the apostles are serving God by extending the appeal God is making in Christ. Today, I am wondering about the risks of following Jesus. ¹ As we work together with (Συνεργοῦντες cooperate with) God in being ambassadors for Christ,[10] we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. His concern is that his efforts in speaking and their efforts in listening would be in vain. Their failure to stand with Paul is a failure to experience reconciliation with God. ² For God says, in Isaiah 49:8-9,"At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!  The text applies to this moment in history, as if the servant songs in Isaiah find their fulfillment at this moment.  

In II Corinthians 6: 3-10, Paul supports the appeal. Paul offers his credentials. Among the most persuasive elements to persuade is the witness of what one has experienced. Here, Paul is encouraging his readers to keep on keeping on. He points to the difficulties he faces. We might experience some temptation to omit this part of discipleship. Yet we should not assume that people want some version of Christianity lite. Those disputing with Paul subvert the gospel. ³ We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no one may find fault with our ministry. Rather, Paul describes his team ⁴as servants of God. Isaiah said the servant of the Lord would encounter trouble, so Paul now reiterates his hardship. He offers this list as a way of defending his ministry and offering an example to others. The passive tense here says he does not seek suffering. Rather, suffering comes upon him. This catalogue of blessings, battles, virtues and afflictions is Paul’s resumé or curriculum vitae. This would be consistent with Paul’s need to remind the Corinthians of his credentials as an apostle. So here, he presents his bona fides. The embattled apostle is establishing that no one has suffered so much, for so long, for so few and with so little appreciation. Reading this list in the light of church history and of the suffering church throughout the world today, many faithful servants have had these experiences. Thus, we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, first, in the general suffering, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵ second, in the suffering endured at the hands of people beatings, imprisonments, riots, third, in the suffering of self-discipline, labors, sleepless nights, hunger.  ⁶ They commend themselves with good characteristics and tools they seek to cultivate and display during their ministry. The characteristics are by purity (ἁγνότητι, chastity), knowledge (γνώσει), patience (μακροθυμίᾳ), kindness (χρηστότητι), holiness of spirit (or in the Holy Spirit), genuine (ἀνυποκρίτῳ, sincere, without hypocrisy) love (ἀγάπῃ), ⁷ truthful speech (or in the word of truth), and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. They commend themselves in the paradoxical nature of suffering for God, the judgment of people overturned by God. Some treat us as impostors, and yet we are true; ⁹ as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, (or others spread rumors of his death) and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Application for Ash Wednesday

The practice of peace and reconciliation is among the most vital and artistic of all human actions.[11]Reconciliation runs counter to some themes in popular culture. In pop culture, the sentiment expressed in the prayer above is not always visible. Popular movies have a revenge motif. Carrie (you are not going to make fun of me); Unforgiven (revenge western style); Ransom (Mel Gibson will make someone pay); Cape Fear (bad guy goes to jail, bad guy gets out of jail, bad guy gets revenge with your family); First Wives Club (divorcees who know how to get even); Taken (don't mess with Liam Neeson); just about any Charles Bronson movie. 

Paul also hints at a sad reality. As much as Christians can joyfully point back to the reconciliation accomplished in the cross, reconciliation remains a promise and hope that will need to find its fulfillment in the future. Reconciliation is the eschatological goal of the work of God. Our present as part of our temporal experience will not be one of reconciliation and peace. Only sporadically are we at peace with and reconciled with ourselves, let alone with family, friends, communities, and nations. Sometimes, even Christians need to recognize that separation or divorce is the best solution in this world. Reconciliation is the work of God. Human beings cannot make reconciliation happen. To assume this would be to assume that a human being has the power to force the terms of agreement between opposing parties. It may well be a mark of love and maturity to recognize that the best solution in this world is to go separate ways. Paul himself had to part ways with his mentor Barnabas. Jesus told his disciples to shake the dust off their feet and move on if a town rejected them. 

We need to sing a song of reconciliation today, because we are hurting from division -- as individuals, as a church, as a nation and as a world. We sing the song if both sides can show reasonable respect for the worth and dignity of the other. If we believe the other has bad intentions, reconciliation is not on the table. Reconciliation happens when we speak open and honest words that, in turn, lead to new and peaceful relationships. We can resolve disputes when we offer and accept forgiveness based on the work that God has done in Christ. Reconciliation happens when we show each other love, mercy and a self-giving grace. We can do this work in our personal relationships, among groups in our congregation, in our increasingly diverse communities, and in the world around us. Reconciliation is a song that should be inescapable in the Christian church, impossible to avoid or ignore. So let us sing it together, keeping it simple and repeating it as frequently as we can. 

The song means we will need to remember. We will take time to reflect upon our lives and its events, especially times of separation and alienation. We will need to reassess, taking time to see our lives. We need to reflect upon who we have become. Have we been content with too little? We need to reflect upon reconciling. We need to make peace with the imperfections within us as well as with the people, culture, nation, and world with which our lives so deeply intertwine. We need to reflect upon reuniting. Granted, such reunion may not be possible. Some divisions may not heal this side of the return of Christ. However, if the possibility is still there, we may need to re-establish a broken relationship and re-discover peace with those around us. We cannot be at peace with everyone. We cannot control them. We can do our part to be at pace with others. Joy Williams sums it up well in her hit song, 

“Is the face that I see in the mirror the one I want others to see 

Do I show in the way that I walk in my life

the love that you’ve given to me?”

 

Robert Benton's Academy Award-winning 1984 film Places in the Heart stars Sally Field, John Malkovich, Lindsay Crouse, Danny Glover, Ed Harris, and Amy Madigan. The film is a semi-autobiographical story during the depression in Waxahachie, TX. Fields plays a young woman, widowed within the first few minutes of the film, struggling against evil forces in everyday life of central Texas during the 1930s. Forces work to take away the only thing her husband has left her and her two small children - a small cotton farm in Texas. Lynchings, brutality, infidelity, racism, greed, duplicity all of these are woven into the lives of those who make up the tapestry of Benton's story. 

The film ends with a communion service (1:44:08 to 1:48:00). The preacher reads the text from I Corinthians 13. At first, the camera shows you a few of the good folk in town. Next, it shows some of the not so good. Then it shows the banker and others who conspired to take away the farm. The camera continues to move with the cups of wine. There is the faithful black farmhand who helped bring in the crop so the widow might pay her mortgage; next to him, the blind boarder. The plate passes to the children, then to their mother. Her husband, who died early in the movie, sits next her. The black boy who killed him sits next him. They commune, and each responds: "the peace of God." All gather at table, to share the bread and cup of salvation. Suddenly this is more than Sunday morning; this is the rule of God, eternity captured in time... clearly, such a scene is no longer a human point of view. The camera has given us a look at life, the way Jesus said God looks at it. God has done something to enable everyone to come home. We are not yet sure how. It will be the work of the Spirit directing people to Christ. Thus, we know it will not be with coercion. We also know it will be with respect for the worth and dignity of each human being. The apostle Paul says it this way: "In Christ, God was reconciling us to himself, not counting our trespasses against us ...."

If you want to progress in life, you will need to take risks. In baseball, you can steal second base with your foot firmly planted on first base.[12] We often hear the advice offered to graduates that they follow their passion, chart their course, march to the beat of their own drummer, find their dream, and find themselves. The American culture of expressive individualism is in harmony with such advice. Yet most successful people do not look inside and plan a life. Rather, they look outside and find a problem. The problem summons their life calling. We do not form a self and then lead a life. We experience the call of a question or problem, and we construct our life considering that calling. We keep refining the question or problem that calls us. We keep discovering the nature of the opposition to fulfilling our sense of calling. We keep discovering the obstacles we will need to surmount. Yet, in the nature of the decision and action, we are willing to confront them.[13]

Life is hard. Life is tiring. We make it more difficult and tiring if we make a priority of loving God and making a career. We want to be good Christians and have success. We want to be saints and enjoy the sensations of the sinner. We want to be close to Christ and popular with people. If we adopt such an approach to life, yes, life becomes even more difficult and tiring.[14]

Paul is encouraging his readers to decide and to act. We must not become too timid and squeamish about our actions. Life is an experiment. The more experiments we make the better. Our decisions and actions may have some coarseness to them. We may become a little soiled and battered. We may fail. We may fall. We need to get up again, never be afraid to fall again.[15]

Many things can destroy a human life. Yet, the difficulties and challenges Paul mentions here do not have the power to destroy his life. Allow me to mention a few things that can destroy your life: Politics without principle, pleasure without conscience, wealth without work, knowledge without character, business without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice. They can all destroy a human life.[16]

Yes, life is hard. Yet, what if I asked, “Compared to what?”[17]

We must not be afraid to act. If we do not like something, we can act to change it. If we cannot change it, we can change our attitude toward it. Too many people simply complain, as if they are victims of the situation.[18] Complaining rarely gets us far. We can complain that thorns are on roses. We can also express gratitude that thorns have roses.[19] We receive a great deal more than we give. We become rich in our approach to life only with gratitude.[20] Although Paul does not express gratitude here, the passage expresses such an attitude. Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.[21]

You have heard the words of Prime Minister Winston Churchill -- Britain's WWII leader -- to "never give in." He said those words to young people when he visited Harrow School in 1941 after they had endured a particularly rough series of Blitzkrieg attacks: 

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never -- in nothing, great or small, large or petty -- never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

 

Here, Paul's "bent, but not broken" message is pertinent to the key to endurance and survival.

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[1] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1 [57.3] 73-78.

[2] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1 [59.2] 236.

[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 420.

[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 425-6.

[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 420.

[6] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 427.

[7] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 407.

[8] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume I, 434-5.

[9] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 427.

[10] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.3 [71.4] 600.

[11] The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.  --Thich Nhat Hanh.

[12] Progress always involves risk; you can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first. —Frederick Wilcox. 

[13] David Brooks, writing in The New York Times ("It's Not About You") discusses this as it relates to young people.

"If you sample some of the commencement addresses being broadcast on C-Span these days, you see that many graduates are told to: Follow your passion, chart your own course, march to the beat of your own drummer, follow your dreams and find yourself. This is the litany of expressive individualism, which is still the dominant note in American culture.

"But, of course, this mantra misleads on nearly every front. ... Most successful young people don't look inside and then plan life. They look outside and find a problem, which summons their life. A relative suffers from Alzheimer's and a young woman feels called to help cure that disease. A young man works under a miserable boss and must develop management skills so his department can function. Another young woman finds herself confronted by an opportunity she never thought of in a job category she never imagined. This wasn't in her plans, but this is where she can make her contribution.

"Most people don't form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed gradually by their calling." 

The people, called by a problem, as Brooks puts it, may not know what the problems will be, the nature of the opposition, the obstacles to surmount, but they have decided they are willing to take them on.

[14] I want to love God, but also to make a career. I want to be a good Christian, but also have my successes as a teacher, preacher or speaker. I want to be a saint but also enjoy the sensations of the sinner. I want to be close to Christ, but also popular and liked by people. No wonder that living becomes a tiring enterprise. —Henri Nouwen.

[15] Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice? Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble. —Ralph Waldo Emerson.

[16] Mohandas K. Gandhi, on things that will destroy us: politics without principle, pleasure without conscience, wealth without work, knowledge without character, business without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice.

[17] When I hear somebody sigh, “Life is hard,” I am always tempted to ask, “Compared to what?” — Sydney J. Harris.

[18] If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain. —Maya Angelou.

[19] Some people complain that God put thorns on roses, while others praise God for putting roses on thorns. —Anonymous.

[20] In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich. —Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

[21] —Melody Beattie.

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17a

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17a

Blow the trumpet in Zion;

sound the alarm on my holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—

² a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and thick darkness!

Like blackness spread upon the mountains

a great and powerful army comes;

their like has never been from of old,

nor will be again after them

in ages to come. 

¹² Yet even now, says the Lord,

return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

¹³      rend your hearts and not your clothing.

Return to the Lord, your God,

for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,

and relents from punishing.

¹⁴ Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,

and leave a blessing behind him,

a grain offering and a drink offering

for the Lord, your God? 

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion;

sanctify a fast;

call a solemn assembly;

¹⁶      gather the people.

Sanctify the congregation;

assemble the aged;

gather the children,

even infants at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room,

and the bride her canopy. 

¹⁷ Between the vestibule and the altar

let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17a is part of a larger segment, 1:2-2:27, that is a lament around the event of a plague of locusts. I provide a detailed summary and verse-by-verse study, focusing on themes of lament, repentance, and hope. I contextualize Joel’s message within the broader prophetic tradition and draw connections to other biblical passages. The application section offers practical insights and analogies to illustrate the importance of repentance and decision-making, offering insight into the relevance of the text to personal growth and repentance.

Summary

Joel invites the elders and the people to listen. Has such a thing happened in their days or that of ancestors? The question implies that it has not. The devastation is so great that they are to tell their children of it, and so is each successive generation. He notes what the cutting and swarming locust has eaten. Drunkards are to wake up and weep. The fruit of the vine is cut off from them. A nation has invaded the land, powerful and innumerable. Its teeth are that of a lion and it has the fangs of a lioness. It has lain waste the vines and fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and burned their branches. He invites them to lament as a virgin child-bride dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth. One cannot even offer a grain or drink offering in the house of the Lord. Priests mourn as ministers of the Lord. Workers will weep, suggesting they will have no work. They have devastated the fields. Trees have dried up. Joy withers among the people, suggesting no reason for the joy of harvest. Then, the priests are to put on sackcloth and lament. As ministers of the altar, they are to wail. They are to pass the night in sackcloth, “ministers of my God.” Grain and drink offering do not come into the house of God. They are to sanctify a fast and call a solemn assembly. They are to gather the elders and the people to the house of the Lord and cry out to the Lord. They are to express their “Woe,” for the day of the Lord is near and destruction from the Almighty comes, for which see Amos 5:18-20, Zephaniah 1:7, 14-16,  Mark 1:15, Matthew 3:2. Joel borrows the notion of the day of the Lord from the prophetic tradition and applies it to his present circumstance. Food does not come to the house of the God, nor does joy and gladness. The seed shrivels. The storehouses and granaries are empty. The animals groan. Cattle and sheep have no pasture. Yet Joel turns his cry to the Lord. The fire has devoured the pastures and trees. Wild animals cry to the Lord because water has dried up. 

Verse-by-verse study

Joel 2:1-2 is the beginning of a formal community lament that continues until verse 11. It provides an opportunity to discuss the significance of the Day of the Lord. Joel describes the invading locusts as an invading army. The point of the prophet is the close connection between the natural and moral order and the occurrence of the judgment of God in historical natural disasters. Other passages, such as the book of Job, Ecclesiastes 7:15, and John 9:2-3 will challenge such notions. The text seems to rely upon Isaiah 13.

Blow the trumpet (shofar) in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Trumpet blasts regularly accompany liturgical action (e.g., Exodus 19:19; Leviticus 23:24; II Samuel 6:15, etc.) Israel used the sounding of the trumpet for summoning the people to action (especially military action, e.g., Joshua 6:5; Judges 3:27; 6:34; and II Samuel 2:28 and 18:16, where it signals the end of the assault). Israel also used it for announcing information of widespread significance. For example, I Samuel 13:3 Saul used a trumpet blast to announce Jonathan's defeat of the Philistines at Geba. II Samuel 15:10 Absalom used the trumpet blast to announce his kingship at Hebron. I Kings 1:34 shows a similar use of the trumpet for announcing a legitimate king, Solomon. In this context, sounding the trumpet was used to raise an alarm, and this is one of the most common uses of the sound of the trumpet in prophetic literature (e.g., Jeremiah 4:19, 21; 6:1, etc.). The image has a particular nuance, however, in several prophetic contexts, which is as the unheeded warning: Despite prophetic announcement of impending and avoidable disaster, the people choose to ignore the signal and meet with unnecessary suffering (e.g., Jeremiah 6:17; 42:14; Ezekiel 33:3-4, 5). Prophets also used the image to nuance the definition of the prophetic office: A prophet who sees disaster coming and does not announce it in time for the people to save themselves bears the burden of guilt for the people's destruction (Ezekiel 33:6). Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near. Joel raises the alarm not for the usual reasons, such as preparation for battle, but to announce the impending arrival of the "day of the LORD," an important concept found only in the prophetic writings of the Old Testament. The idea forms one of the central themes in Joel, occurring here and at 1:15; 2:11, 31; and 3:14. Only the prophet Zephaniah uses the image more frequently than Joel (six times: 1:7, 8, 14, 18; 2:2, 3). The prophetic traditions concerning the day of the LORD are consistent: Whatever the people may have expected on that appointed hour, judgment is an essential element of it, often directed against Israel and its leaders. The day of the LORD may originally have designated the Sabbath, as its use in Revelation (1:10) suggests (one frequently finds the recrudescence of ancient imagery in the book of Revelation), but it quickly acquired the specialized meaning of Yahweh's battle day (Jeremiah 6:10), possibly echoing themes found in earlier Canaanite mythology about the god Baal (whose name means "Lord").  Popular Israelite religion took up this meaning to salve a national consciousness frequently bruised by powerful neighbors. The Day is ² a day of darkness (Amos 5:18) and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!Darkness and gloom were images of judgment (Am 5:18).  Locusts can make the sky become dark.  They are like an invading army.  In the prophetic imagination, the day of the LORD was far from a consoling image. For the prophets of Israel, the glib partisanship underlying popular confidence in divine retribution betrayed the people into a misunderstanding of the nature of their own God: Israel, no less than Israel's neighbors, would be the object of Yahweh's wrath on the day of justice. Alarming news like this leads Joel to direct the attention of his readers. Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come. 

Then, in 2:12-17 we find the theme of true repentance. The message of the prophet is of more than disaster; it is also of hope. ¹² Yet, signaling a turning point in the message, even now, says the Lord, return to me. Israel has had its back to God.  The Lord invites them to return. Israel may yet avert the impending disaster through turning to Yahweh with all your heart, an image embedded in Israel's most basic theological declaration, the Shema: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5). Israel now experiences devastation, not by political foes, but by an awareness of sin that manifests itself in a return to Yahweh. The external signs of such a turn would be to do so with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. However, ¹³ rend your hearts, a sign of genuine of repentance, and not your clothing, a sign of the external display of repentance. 

The Deuteronomistic understanding of the dual nature of the God of Israel deeply influenced the preaching of the prophets, including Joel. Yes, God executes punishment against evildoers on the one hand, but God is also gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents (repenting) from punishing. ¹⁴ Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, (repent) and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? God may relent again!  God may still turn judgment to blessing.  Repentance now will make worship and praise possible in the future.                 

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet (shofar) in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly. This time, the shofar summons people to the temple rather than warns them of impending doom. They are to ¹⁶ gather the people. Regardless of how “introverted” we may be we must not isolate ourselves. God has created us for community, and so, at a critical moment of repentance, we do so in the context of community. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy.  ¹⁷ Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord (an appellation unique to Joel, here and at 1:9) weep. They keep a physical distance as a symbol of their separation from God. No mention of the king is an indication of the time Joel is writing. The priests are to accept the role of interceding for the people. One can only hope that clergy today take their role here seriously.

Application 

True repentance begins with sorrow for what we have done. Yet repentance must move beyond sorrow with the decision to reject the hurtful things we have done. Repentance is complete when we become different persons and a different people. Return to the Lord, your God, the prophet reminding us that the good news is that God is always willing to relent from judgment.  It is to those who know both themselves and their God with such insight that the prophet Joel extends a message of hope. To use an analogy, in the physical realm, the pupil of the eye dilates in darkness and finds what light might be present. In a similar way, the soul may “dilate” in misfortune to find God.[1] Leslie Weatherhead tells of a little boy who was a terrible misconduct problem for his parents. They took him to counselors and tried strict, permissive, and various forms of punishment. Nothing worked. One day this child was in his backyard trying to teach some tricks to a puppy his parents had bought for him. The puppy, though trying to cooperate, had no idea what the boy wanted of him, and the boy soon became so frustrated he kicked his dog with all his might. The dog fell, injured. As the boy stood there, uncertain, the little dog struggled to its feet, a trace of blood on its mouth, and crept over to the boy. When he reached out to the dog, the puppy licked the boy’s hand as a sign of continuing love and affection. This was too much. The boy cried, dashed into the house, threw his arms around his mother, and sobbed out his shame. What discipline, punishment, and scolding had failed to do, his own realization of a hurt inflicted on one who had continued to love him had done. 

I want to pause for a moment and reflect upon the importance of deciding. Joel, while warning the people of dire consequences or wrongdoing, also assures them of a warm welcome home for those who return to the Lord. Then they will encounter a loving, forgiving God. We all need to hear this word.  After all, on the individual level, I doubt that any of us makes it through many days without doing or saying something or other that is hurtful and wrong. Joel is clear that we will experience the consequences of such actions. Joel reminds us that if we repent, the Lord will forgive. While repentance begins with remorse, it does not end there. We may feel uneasy about what we have done but repeat the action under similar circumstances next time. Repentance requires a decision to be different. It also requires inward change that enables us to be different. God can see to that change, which is why repentance is not possible apart from a relationship with God. The greatest thing each person can do is to give oneself completely to God. Yes, we need to give our weakness and fears to God. God wants our obedience more than our good intentions. We too often settle for offering to God the minimal rather than all. We do this out of our weakness.[2]

The operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti tells a story about how his father helped him discover the direction of his life's work. As a young man studying to become a teacher, Pavarotti received an invitation to study with Arrigo Pola, a famous tenor in his hometown of Modena, Italy. When it came time for him to graduate from college, he approached his father for advice: "Shall I be a teacher or a singer?"  His father replied, "Luciano, if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair." Pavarotti chose the singing chair. Although it would be another seven years before he would reach New York's Metropolitan Opera, Pavarotti credited this decision to choose one path, and one path only, as the key to his success.

The divided affection of Israel, in the prophetic mind, was a more menacing threat to the existence of Israel than was any external enemy. What Joel is inviting us to consider is the duality of human beings. We have a capacity for evil and goodness. Evil rises. Yet, when it does, some people will rise to fight against it. Humanity has this duality. Yet this duality cuts across our hearts, for we have a war between the best and worst of our nature.[3]

 

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[1] Victor Hugo, Les Miserables.

[2] Søren Kierkegaard, Spiritual Writings: A New Translation and Selection (Harper Collins, 2010).

[3] Inspired by comments made by novelist and poet Ron Rash.