Colossians 3:12-17

Colossians 3:12-17 (NRSV)

¹² As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. ¹³ Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:12-17 has the theme of the character of the Christian. The concern Paul has in this section is to explain the type of lifestyle appropriate for those who have laid claim to the promise of a new life in Christ. It was the way Paul had of connecting to the virtue tradition of the Greeks and Romans. The avoidance of vice and the development of virtue would occur in the context of a community of people. They would become habit forming even as Aristotle thought of virtue in the context of the Athenian city-state in which he lived. We are to think of 3:5-17 as Paul connecting with what we would call moral philosophy or ethics, especially focused on character. 

This unit — while containing words of wisdom that even today’s Christian can readily understand — is a charge to a church in danger of being ripped apart by false teaching. The Pauline mission must counter false teachings that are threatening the church’s understanding of Christ and, thus, the body of Christ. The unit of Colossians 3:12-17 comes after an argument in 2:6-3:4 countering this teaching. The letter is confident that the Colossians are faithful to Paul's message. Yet, the apostle writes in response to some doctrinal and behavioral errors that were beginning to plague that community. These errors had a tendency toward ascetic ritualism and attraction to angels. In addition, rather than narrow legalism suggested in asceticism, some became “licentious,” as 2:23 suggests. This text is one of several attempts in the New Testament to address the notion that the new life they live in Christ has nothing to do with physical contamination and everything to do with dispositions of the will and affections.

In this passage, love is the sum of all the mercy, goodness, humility, long-suffering and mutual forbearance and forgiveness that those whom God choses, sanctifies, and loves are to put on as a garment what has prepared for them and suits them. Love is the bond that unites all the individual elements that embraces their activity and from which they move toward their goal. Love is the fulfilling of the Law.^[1]

Yet, how do we maintain this wardrobe in a world where people tend to dress their lives in ways that are hostile, tempting, or offensive? 

Colossians 3:12-17 contains an appeal to the members of the church at Colossae to allow the love of Christ to flow through and in them to forge them into the one body of Christ — as they have been called to be. Thus, in the immediate context, the Colossians hear a command to put to death “whatever in you is earthly” (3:5), warnings to purge themselves of vices (3:5, 8, 9), and a reminder that the body of Christ is one that does not recognize divisions between “Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free” (3:11). This body without division was an especially pertinent message to a cosmopolitan city full of a variety of peoples and religions. What distinguishes the Colossians now is their place in the body of Christ. Paul reminds these followers of Christ that instead of being the chosen ones of those “elemental spirits of the universe,” they are the elect of God, “holy and beloved” (3:12). Therefore, they must act like it.

Paul begins by referring to them 12 As God's chosen ones. In the Old Testament, the term “chosen ones” is rare, one finding it mostly in the Psalms as a reference to the children or descendants of Abraham. However, the concept of divine election, of God choosing a people, is the basis for the covenant between God and Israel. The basis of being the people of God is not human decision, but divine choice. Paul makes it clear that the churches of Jesus Christ stand in continuity with the choice of God to have a people that began with the choice of a family, Abraham, and continued to having a nation, Israel. For example, the Lord did not set his heart on them and chose them because they were numerous, for they were the fewest of all peoples (Deuteronomy 7:7). In John, Jesus says he chose the twelve (6:70). He makes it clear that they did not choose him, but that he chose them and appointed them to bear fruit (15:16).  In Ephesians, God lovingly chose “us” in Christ before God began creating so that we would be holy and blameless before God (Ephesians 1:4). The assurance of divine election provides the people of God is that, even when present circumstances suggest the contrary, the people of God have a special connection with God that sustains them. The people of God may be few, they are far from perfect in their part of keeping the covenant, and they experience suffering and persecution. Yet, God has chosen them, and remains intricately connected to them, providing guidance and strength through the trials of life. Further, such divine election suggests a grand mission, for the people of God are such to bear witness to the will and purpose of God in the world. Such a high purpose sustains the people of God through the trials, struggles, and temptations of life. The divine election of both Jews and Christians is meant to explain the incongruity between the unpromising natural condition of those chosen with their spiritually exalted mission, on the one hand, and, on the other, to provide support and encouragement to those facing opposition, trial or persecution for the sake of that mission. The idea serves the latter function in this passage.

Further, Paul assigns to the church of Jesus Christ the Old Testament term holy people. Even in time of exile, persecution, and suffering, Israel received comfort in this knowledge.  The Lord will establish them as a holy people belonging to the Lord, if they keep the commandments (Deuteronomy 28:9). People will know Israel as the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord (Isaiah 62:12). The prophet refers to the holy people of the Lord, who took possession of the land for a while, but adversaries have destroyed the temple (Isaiah 63:18). They are a holy people that wisdom delivered from oppressors (Wisdom 10:15).  

Further still, Paul describes them as beloved. The Old Testament also refers to the people of God as beloved. The tribe of Benjamin is the beloved of the Lord, resting between the shoulders of the Lord (Deuteronomy 33:12). The Lord gives restful sleep to the beloved (Psalm 127:2). The prophet weeps because of the destruction of the beloved people (Isaiah 22:4). 

Paul them urges them to clothe yourselves.  Any time the New Testament refers to “clothing” oneself, most scholars think of the intent of Christian baptism. While many religions then and now focus upon physical contamination, ritual, and purity, Christianity focuses upon the disposition of our will and behavior. Baptism involves stripping off the old clothing and putting on the new clothing. We see the ethical orientation, or the new orientation of our lives, as indicated in baptism. At this point, the emphasis is upon the human response and spiritual transformation to the divine choice, to the divine setting them apart, and to the divine choice of love.

Baptism in Christ is not simply about our relationship to God. In fact, the primary sign of whether we really understand baptism is in the way it transforms our relationships to other people. The churches of Jesus Christ are not to simply enjoy a special relationship to God, or to have profound individual experiences, but to lead transformed lives in relation to others.

Martin Luther, in a sermon on this passage, expresses the content of this “putting on” as being that “by faith we put on Christ, and he us; how in love we put on our neighbor and our neighbor us. The Christian apparel is of two kinds – faith and love. Christ wore two manner of garments – one whole and typical of faith, the other divided and typical of love.” Such love leads to concern for the neighbor and the adornment of Christian character, “an adornment in the eyes of” humanity. Paul continues by identifying the proper response and spiritual transformation that results from the quality of being chosen, holy, and beloved. Martin Luther stresses that in seeking to persuade in this way, Paul uses gentle language, rather than the harsh language of the legalist. 

We find a list of five virtues. Thus, they are to clothe themselves with compassion οἰκτιρμός. One quality of this new self is a compassionate heart, literally bowels of compassion or mercy. Paul uses the word in Philippians 2:1 in a hendiadys meaning “heartfelt sympathy” as a quality followers of Christ are to develop. Mercy is a human quality Christians are to develop. Concerning the word “compassion,” Martin Luther observes that Paul “condemns the works and arbitrary rules of hypocritical saints, whose severity will not permit them to associate with sinners. Their rigorous laws must be all-controlling. They do nothing but compel and drive. They exhibit no mercy, but perpetual reproach, censure, condemnation, blame and bluster. They can endure no imperfection.” He then offers this reminder, which I find powerful, “But among Christians many are sinners, many infirm. In fact, Christians associate only with these; not with saints. Christians reject none but bear with all. Indeed, they are as sincerely interested in sinners as they would be for themselves were they the infirm.” As he continues with this theme, Luther advises his listeners that “when you meet one so ready to censure and condemn, one requiring absolute perfection in Christians--know that such a one is merely an enforcer of the Law, a base hypocrite, a merciless jailer, with no true knowledge of Christ.” He reminds them “with Christians, there is no law but all is love, so neither can there be judgment, condemnation and censure.” From my perspective, however, Luther may enter self-justification of his own language and behavior toward those he preached against in the Roman Catholic Church, as he says that he does not have to have compassion toward people who are not Christian or those of unsound doctrine. He then makes what I think is a bold statement. He says he must not censure, oppress, nor drive people, but persuade, entreat, and tolerate. “A defective life does not destroy Christianity; it exercises it.” However, “defective doctrine--false belief--destroys all good. So, then, toleration and mercy are not permissible in the case of unsound doctrine; only anger, opposition and death are in order, yet always in accordance with the Word of God.” Dare I say it? This attitude is why so many of the educated in Europe turned away from Christianity. They saw the disconnection between people who preached Jesus, who loved his enemies, and had attitudes such as Martin Luther displays here. Such attitudes led to the religious wars in Europe. I find all of this quite sad. He compounds the issue with the other four virtues in this list. Kindness refers to gentleness and sympathy toward all … not, of course, to those of unsound doctrine. As he puts it, faith and love differ in this regard. “Love will be, must be, kind even to the bitterest enemy so long as he assails not faith and doctrine.” However, it cannot “tolerate the individual” who does assail faith and doctrine, “be it father, mother or dearest friend.”

Paul urges them to clothe themselves with a second quality, that of kindness (χρηστότης). Paul refers to kindness again (II Corinthians 6:6). It is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). It refers to moral goodness (Romans 3:12). In other passages in Romans, the word refers to divine goodness toward humanity, such as in 2:4 and 11:22, a use we also find in Ephesians 2:7 and Titus 3:4. Given the context, the mercy shown in Christ is to find a reflection in the character of the individual Christian. Contrary to K. Weiss, Paul does have a humanitarian objective here, as if to unite Christian virtue with the classical virtue tradition of Aristotle and the Stoics. Of course, it occurs in a quite different context, but we must not miss the common ground Paul is seeking here with the virtue tradition of his culture.^[2]

A third quality with which they are to clothe themselves is humility or lowliness (ταπεινοφροσύνη). It can simply mean having a humble opinion of one’s self, a deep sense of moral littleness, and even modesty. He uses the same word in 2:18, 23, to refer to a quality of worship used by his opponents. Here, it refers to a quality of character. He uses the word in Philippians 2:3 as a contrast to self-seeking. It gives a sense of unselfishness. It suggests there a willingness to subject oneself to others and have concern for their welfare. The subjection of Christ to service to humanity becomes a model for Christian virtue, subjecting one’s self in service to others. The passage in Colossians seems to carry the same connotation as that in Philippians., at least as Grundmann sees it.^[3]Ephesians 4:2 also lifts up this virtue. “Lowliness” for Luther, considers oneself the servant of all. Such humility is rare, he says, but all Christian graces are rare.

Fourth, they are to clothe themselves with meekness or gentleness (πραότης). Writers often use this word in contrast to anger. Paul uses the word as a quality of Christian character in II Corinthians 10:1 (point to the meekness of Christ), Galatians 5:23, 6:1 (a fruit of the Spirit), Ephesians 4:2 (a gift of calling), and in the Pastoral Epistles in II Timothy 2:25 and Titus 3:2. In this passage, meekness is a gift of election.

Fifth, they are to clothe themselves with the quality of patience or longsuffering (μακροθυμία). He uses it in 1:11 as well. Paul uses it in II Corinthians 6:6, Galatians 5:22 as a fruit of the Spirit, and Ephesians 4:2. The pastoral epistles use it in I Timothy 1:16, II Timothy 3:10 and 4:2. 

We find other lists in this letter at 2:21, 23; 3:5, 8, 11, 16; 3:18-4:1; 4:7. Scholars caution readers not to try to link too closely Paul's two lists of five vices or this list of five virtues with any particular practices occurring within the Colossian church. Selecting the number five is a common ancient literary device, and Paul may well have been more concerned with recording a specific number here than relating them to the Colossian situation. Lists were common rhetorical devices in nonbiblical as well as biblical writings of the period, and they often took the form of collections of stereotyped or conventional items. None of the attributes is rare or unusual. One can find them in non-biblical sources of the time. Such virtues will help keep the people of God intact, as well as bear witness to the world what God wants. To caution against legalism, we need to remember that the sequence of virtues in 3:12 is possible only because of their status in Christ as chosen and beloved. Yet, that status in Christ also demands such behavior to keep the body of Christ intact. The status is not an abstraction from human life, but intimately related to it. A life of faith is also a life of obedience. 

13 Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other.  Just as the Lord[4] has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Paul is elaborating on what patience means. We find that the churches of Jesus Christ are to have a conciliatory approach within their communities. The basis for this approach to each other is the fact that God has forgiven them in Christ. Practicing forbearance and forgiveness is a test for the people of God to live truly a new life in Christ. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Love is the last article of clothing that holds every other article of clothing we put on together. Above all these virtues, they must clothe themselves with love (3:14; see also I Corinthians 13:4, 13). Love is the “bond of perfection.” Paul singles out one quality that stands "above all" the rest - love ("agape"). He describes this love as "a bond of completeness." Love is not optional. Love is “the bond.” The text does not make clear the function of "agape" and its binding relationship to the earlier listed virtues. The text could be identifying love as that which binds together those virtues or declaring that love produces unity or harmony in the people who experience it. However, this love is a crucial component to one who is raised in Christ. It brings harmony and completion to all the other qualities Christians seek to embody. This letter has already referred to the love the churches have in 1:4 and 8. The writings of John find the source of the centrality of love in the command of Jesus. Jesus gives them the new commandment to love each other, even as Christ has loved them (13:34). His commandment is that they are to love each other as Christ loved them (15:12). He gives them these commands so that they will love each other (15:17). The message his readers have heard from the beginning is that they should love each other (I John 3:11). The writings of Paul continue this emphasis upon the centrality of love. They are to owe no one anything but to love each other, and by doing so they fulfill the law (Romans 13:8). While faith, hope, and love abide, love is the greatest (I Corinthians 13:13). The only thing that counts is faith working through love (Galatians 5:6). Love is the outer garment that holds all the others in their place. Paul's concern is for corporate life, not individualistic piety. To play with the clothing metaphor, love is the last garment that holds the whole outfit together (the suspenders, belt, overcoat, tie, scarf, etc.).

Martin Luther has a good reminder when we read such lists of virtues. He refers to those who complain that real Christians do not exist, given the rarity of the practice of such virtues. He wants his listeners to see the failure in reasoning of such persons. He asserts they know nothing of kingdom living. Such persons misinterpret passages like this, thinking that Christians are to “be kind and meek” as if they must always be such. Such a person is blind. Such a person “fancies Christianity to be a holy order of perfection, altogether without infirmity, a perfection as in heaven among the angels.” The Bible does not communicate such thinking. Rather, one needs to see following Christ “as a progressive order in its beginning,” and then, one will not be offended by the ungentleness, unkindness, and impatience exhibited by one’s fellow disciples. The point of such a list of virtues is not a Law, but that followers of Christ are to strive to develop this type of character. “We are tending toward it (Christian character), we are in a state of progression; but during the progress much of the old and as yet untransformed nature is intermingled.”

15 In addition, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed God called you in the one body. Paul reiterates the body metaphor and reminds the Colossians that they, as God’s chosen ones, are to be one body in Christ. This is possible because the peace of Christ is to “rule” or “umpire” behavior within the churches of Jesus Christ. The peace of Christ will settle disputes within the community. We see the gentleness of Christian love in this admonition. Talk of the ruling “peace of Christ” runs counter to the Roman peace that in fact ruled Colossae. Pax Romana came at the expense of war, but the peace of Christ exhibits love and forgiveness. The "peace of Christ" that results creates "one body" - a unified Christian community. The harmony of the church is God's will. The church is to become in fact what it is intended to be by God's design. "Hearts" are all of life.

Further, they are to be thankful. This thankful attitude continues to inform the advice Paul gives in the next two verses. Such a spirit of gratitude is to permeate the reflection of Christians upon their behavior toward each other. 16 Let the word of Christ, a phrase occurring only here in the New Testament, dwell in you richly. It takes knowledge of both the familiar stories about Jesus and the careful meditation upon them so that they become part of one’s life for believers to experience the full "richness" of the indwelling presence of Christ. The point is that while the rest of the world may rely upon other sources of wisdom and knowledge, the word of Christ provides the wisdom for living that the Christian community needs. They are to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. Only when the believers have put on all these virtues and have allowed the peace of Christ to unite them will they be able to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. In contrast, the false teachers only appear to have wisdom (2:23). The guidance provided by Christ is an internalized voice to which Christians listen and allow to direct their behavior. Any wisdom the community has will arise out of this reflection upon the word of Christ. Wisdom, in fact, is one of the prominent concerns of the writer, since it is false teaching (2:8, 16-18, 23), propounded as esoteric wisdom by false teachers, which has provoked the writer’s concern and letter. Reliance upon other sources of wisdom threatens the unity of the church as the body of Christ and threatens its connection to the head of the church, Jesus Christ. Chrysostom expands on the notion of wisdom, encouraging his listeners not to seek another teacher. Rather, “procure books that will be medicines for the soul.” He urges particularly the New Testament “for your constant teachers. If grief befall thee, dive into them as into a chest of medicines; take thence comfort of thy trouble, be it loss, or death, or bereavement of relations; or rather dive not into them merely, but take them wholly to thee; keep them in thy mind. This is the cause of all evils, the not knowing the Scriptures.” He reminds his listeners, “We go into battle without arms, and how ought we to come off safe?” We can be safe with them, but not so much without them. He offers the encouragement that they should not always be learning, for then they are not taught. If you are always learning, you never learn. His point is simple, “finish learning, and to teach others.” They are to do all of this with gratitude in your hearts. In Paul, gratitude for the saving action of God in Jesus Christ forms the starting point and context of all Christian prayer. Therefore, with special emphasis, Paul here calls on believers to thank God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. If they do this, they will not fall victim to false notions of wisdom. When everything is done in the name of the Lord Jesus, it is as though Christ himself is doing it - an understanding that certainly fits with Paul's sense that Christians are now reborn and clothed with a new self, one in which "Christ is all and in all!^[5] They are to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. The thankfulness or gratitude of the community one best expresses in various forms of music – psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Paul could have much overlap in the words he uses here. Jewish hymnody was highly developed. Note Pauline fragments of such hymns. The practice of such wisdom and thankfulness will arise out of meditation upon the word of Christ.17 Further, whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. In verses 16-17, as Andrew Lincoln insightfully suggests, Paul directs his readers to the type of worship they should experience. Paul has referred to their worship of angels and that some people have visions. In these verses, Paul will remind them of the nature of genuine worship. An important part of the ministry of the community is the offering of praise. The community should allow the Word of God to dwell in it richly, sing, and do all things in the name of Christ and with thanksgiving to God, but also in wisdom teach and admonish each other in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. ^[6]

Fortunately, the presence of love in the world does not depend upon individual Christians or the Christian community. Prior to any decision human beings make to move toward God, God has already moved toward them in love. Love is not such an obvious virtue as one might think. Christians quite naturally think of God as love. However, many religions do not make that assumption at all. Polytheistic religions have gods that have many qualities far from loving. Further, Christians have a sense that God has a special relationship with the Christian community, in continuity with the special relationship God had with Israel. Of course, this special relationship to God is in contrast to the standing that the church has in the world. In a secular society, the church does not have a seat in positions of either political or economic power. However, the tools of the church such are such humble things as words, behavior, and communal life. The Christian community encourages values like compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. It encourages bearing the load of life. It encourages forgiveness. The concern for Christian growth is not simply individual piety. Rather, the concern is for how we treat each other. Love becomes the unifying and harmonizing ingredient of the Christian community. God is love. Jesus is the supreme example of love. Love provides the unity of all the virtues Christians practice. Love also brings unity to the people who practice such virtues. Love becomes the principle that settle disputes, suggesting that the guidance God gives to us is an internalized sense of direction as to where God wants us. 

I have been around Starbucks for a long time. Part of the vision of Starbucks founder Howard Schultz was to create a good third place. He understood that family and work would be the first two places in the lives of most people, but he wanted to create an environment where his company would become a good third place. I like the image. I want to invite you to consider it for a moment as an image of the strategy for the churches today. If we do, the question we in the church need to ask ourselves is how we can introduce the church, not the coffeehouse, as a third place where community and connection take place. Why is the church not serving as a third place for many of our neighbors today? Why are we not creating a community marked by the qualities lifted up by Paul in his letter to the Colossians? 

First, we may need to take seriously the deep human hunger for a third place. Howard Schultz has given people an inviting, stimulating, soulful environment; he has offered them a place to enjoy community and camaraderie within the attractively decorated walls of Starbucks. Are we doing the same within the walls of our church? Are we being inviting, open and inclusive of all people, or are we behaving in ways that are exclusive and isolationist? Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience are irresistible, and they should fill the air of our congregation, like the intoxicating aroma of freshly ground coffee beans. Any other smell is going to drive people away.

People are hungrier for an inviting third place than ever before. In his book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg writes that, due in part to the suburbanization of modern cities, “we do not have that third realm of satisfaction and social cohesion beyond the portals of home and work that for others is an essential element of the good life.” Our neighbors crave a place of satisfaction and social cohesion — it is something they need at the very deepest levels of their hearts and souls. The question is whether they find it here. Alternatively, will they find it only at Starbucks?

Second, remember, “Everything matters.” Starbucks pays attention to detail, and it desperately wants to meet people’s needs for enjoyment. It is hard to have a bad experience at Starbucks, given the delicious coffee, tasty snacks, lovely decor and comfortable chairs. 

Fortunately, an almost unlimited supply of people exists for people who are in the market for an experience of quality community. We do not have to be in competition with the congregation down the street, since many Americans today do not attend any church in a given week. The challenge for us is to remember, “everything matters,” and to draw new people in by caring about their needs and focusing on a broad spectrum of Christian concerns.

“Bear with one another,” advises Paul, but also “forgive each other” (v. 13). Both of these virtues are important, not just one or the other. “Clothe yourselves with love,” he recommends, and “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (vv. 14-15). Everything matters in a quality Christian community, not just one issue or concern. Forbearance, forgiveness, love, peace — all are going to be noticed by people looking for a third place, and all are worthy of our attention.

Third, extend the church into the marketplace. Starbucks cafés are not located in isolated areas, but instead the corporation always places them in the middle of the marketplace in high-volume areas. Drive through a congested area, and you are going to see a Starbucks, guaranteed — sometimes two or three. 

 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God” (v. 16). Paul encourages us to teach and to sing, two things that the marketplace is anxious for us to do. In a world of moral confusion, our neighbors are looking for conversation and guidance about difficult and thorny issues, everything from raising teenagers to responding to terrorism, so the time is right for the church to think creatively about addressing these concerns. 

Finally, care about community. Do not simply care about church attendance figures and the maintenance of this institution. Care about community, and about the filling of needs that people may not even be aware they have. Howard Schultz did this when he opened the first Starbucks in order to fill an emptiness that people could not even articulate. He gave them a third place before they even knew they needed a third place.

“Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (v. 17). If we do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, we will surely meet the needs of our neighbors, because our neighbors are desperately in need of Jesus Christ. Whether they can articulate it or not, they have a hunger for Jesus in their lives — they long for Immanuel, God with us, and the One Eternal God in human form. They need a Savior to bring them forgiveness and new life, and a Lord to lead them through the twists and turns of daily existence. What they require, whether they realize it or not, is a community of Christ-followers that can function as their third place, because only a community centered on Christ can help them to make sense of their first two places, their homes and their workplaces.

The churches need to respect the hunger for a third place. Churches need to offer our neighbors an adventure of hope and discovery — a Christ experience, not a coffee experience — although many churches offer both. We can do this through respecting the human hunger for a third place, remembering that everything matters, extending the church into the marketplace and always caring about community. Whether they know it or not, whether we know it or not, we need what Paul describes here as love, gratitude, teaching, and singing. 

I offer one caveat with a different image. If the church becomes a good third place in the lives of people, it will become their central place, around which everything else in their lives revolves. By center, I mean that in Christian community we receive baptism and receive the reminder of our union with Christ. We receive the Lord’s Supper in a way that points us toward the goal of fellowship with Christ and with each other. We become part of the listening church as we hear the word of God preached. We pray and sing as a community. Out of what we hear and practice in this place, we go into the world to witness and serve. Even though we will spend far more time with family, work, and recreation than we will in church, what we learn and experience in church will touch every part of our lives. 

I want to mention at least two broader philosophical and theological matters raised by passages like this.

First, Paul is utilizing philosophy in this passage, specifically, the already well-established virtue tradition from Aristotle. Virtue, as Aristotle suggested, is a state of character gained by repeatedly performing good actions. Thomas Hibbs, a contemporary philosopher who teaches at Boston College, calls virtue "an acquired excellence of character that renders a person capable over the long haul of behaving in certain reliable ways." However, just how do we activate these qualities and put them to work in the world? The answer is practice. In virtue - as in most things - practice makes perfect.  Hibbs likens the acquisition of virtue to athletic training: Both require repetition and arduous work, and one most easily learns both by following examples. While books, classes, and sermons can be helpful, one still best learns virtue by practice, not through abstract thought. To put it directly, if you want to learn to shoot hoops, playing basketball beats reading a book about basketball. Virtuous living, then, is a team sport, not an individual activity. This means that virtue requires a community of accountability and support, a healthy and unified body like the church. When our children go to Christian Education classes, they absorb from their teachers virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, love, harmony, peace, unity, thankfulness, wisdom and praise.

Second, a theological issue arises in the connection between faith and grace on the one hand and works or human action on the other. The risk is a purely moralistic church. I am not sure one can avoid exposing oneself to this risk. The risk of not connecting faith in the truth that God has revealed in Jesus Christ with its ethical implications is the risk of abstraction. Acknowledging truth would become a purely intellectual matter that would have no effect upon the way one lived. If we care about how people live, then we will need to accept the risk that some will go down the path of legalism. I can only urge any potential reader not to go down that path. The source of our ethical reflections is our union with Christ symbolized in our baptism. The goal is the deep fellowship with Christ and each other, of which the Lord’s Supper is a sign. The virtues, which overlap with the virtue tradition of the Greeks (and with all cultures) are one of the paths to arrive at the goal. Some good practical advice in such matters is to forget an act of kindness as soon as we do it. If someone praises us, forget it quickly. If you hear a piece of slander, forget it before you can repeat it. Forget the wrong done to you quickly. Remember your promises. When people help you, remember gratitude. Remember the happiness you experience in your life. Forget that which worries or distresses. Remain hopeful and forgiving. Remember what is good and true.[7]Theologically, one must connect the character Paul discusses in this passage with the previous section of resurrected and eschatological life in Christ, of which this character is a manifestation. Without that connection, we promote a purely moral understanding of human destiny as developed in modern Protestant theology, typically descending from the approach of theologians like Schleiermacher and Ritschl. Properly understood, the hope of participation in this new life is guaranteed to believers by the fact that even now they put on the new humanity in the power of the Spirit, namely, by righteousness and true holiness, by mercy, kindness, gentleness, and generosity, as Christ has taught and shown.^[8]

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[1] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.2 [68.3], 784.

[2] (TDNT Volume IX, 491)

[3] (TDNT Volume VIII, 22-23)

[4] Concerning a manuscript matter, the editors of the Greek text used by the NRSV chose the word Lord over the alternatives (“Christ,” “God” and “God in Christ”). They based this on the Alexandrian and Western manuscript evidence, as well as the reasoning that at least the last of the alternatives appears to have been introduced under the influence of Ephesians (4:32), the book with which Colossians has the strongest literary affinity.

[5] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology Volume 3, 207)

[6] Barth Church Dogmatics IV.3 [72.4] 866.

[7] Forget each kindness that you do as soon as you have done it. Forget the praise that falls to you the moment you have won it. Forget the slander that you hear before you can repeat it. Forget each slight, each spite, each sneer, whenever you may meet. Remember every promise made and keep it to the letter. Remember those who lend you aid and be a grateful debtor. Remember all the happiness that comes your way in living. Forget each worry and distress; be hopeful and forgiving. Remember good, remember truth, remember heaven is above you. And you will find, through age and youth, that many will love you. —Source unknown.

[8] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 2, 220)

I Samuel 2:18-20, 26

I Samuel 2:18-20, 26 (NRSV)

¹⁸ Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹ His mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year, when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord repay you with children by this woman for the gift that she made tothe Lord”; and then they would return to their home.

²⁶ Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.

I Samuel 2:18-20, 26 is part of a larger segment, 2:11-26, that relates the story of the sons of Eli and Samuel.

I Samuel 2:18-20 reveals that in the corrupt context of the priesthood of Eli, we have the contrasting example of Samuel. Samuel began his ministerial career as child apprentice to Eli, the aged priest serving the ancient Yahwistic shrine at Shiloh with his corrupt sons, Hophni and Phinehas (1:3; 2:12-17, 22). ¹⁸ Samuel was ministering (sharat) before the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod. The ordinary Hebrew word translated “to serve” is `avad. Sharat has the specialized meaning of “elevated” as distinct from “menial” service. The Old Testament uses it to describe the work of royal domestics (II Samuel 13:17, 18; I Kings 10:5; Esther 2:2), as well as those serving as court ministers (e.g., Joseph, Genesis 39:4; 40:4). More often, the Old Testament uses the verb, as here, in a cultic context, where it refers to the ministries of, for example, the Levitical priests (I Kings 8:11), the Levites (Numbers 3:6) and the people (Ezekiel 44:11). This part of the story of Samuel has already used the verb once in verse 11, and will use it again in 3:1, another introduction to Samuel’s ministry, indicating that Samuel’s dedicated status. I Samuel 1:11, referred to here, includes sacerdotal traits. <sup>19</sup> His mother used to make for him a little robe (me`il) and take it to him each year. The message of the text is quite pointed. The child Samuel is wearing as his ordinary working clothes a simplified version of the ceremonial garment worn by the high priest (Exodus 28:6-35; 39:1-26), while no mention is made of the attire worn by the three adult priests (Eli and his sons) who surround him. Samuel’s nascent devotion, conveyed by his attire, is in marked contrast to the dereliction of Eli’s sons and Eli’s own decrepitude. Verse 19 reinforces the point that Hannah would make for her son “a little robe” that she would deliver to the temple during her annual pilgrimage with her husband to offer their sacrifice. The Hebrew word here translated “robe” is an outer, unisex garment usually worn over a tunic (ketonet), here, over Samuel’s plain linen ephod. In particular, people of rank wore the me`il, such as Saul and Jonathan (18:4), princes of the sea (Ezekiel 26:16), Job (Job 1:20), David and his daughters (I Chronicles 15:27; II Samuel 13:18 [although this text is questionable]) and the high priest (Exodus 28:31). The Hebrew word me`il also contains two of the Hebrew letters (`ayin and lamed) found in the verbal root `alah, translated in this same verse as “take.” The repeated use of specific letters, words and ideas in these verses reveals a masterfully woven literary creation of subtlety and beauty, even though there are indications of multiple sources a final editor has incorporated in the version of the text as we have it. She did this when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. In the context of the visits of Hannah to her son, this phrase is almost certainly a double entendre. The sacrifice would obviously refer to the animal presented for slaughter, but it could also refer to Hannah’s sacrifice of her son to temple service. The opening verses of the  book have already made clear that the sacrifice of Samuel was primarily his mother’s, where attention focused on Hannah’s barrenness (1:2), Elkanah’s attempts to comfort his wife (1:5, 8) and Hannah’s vow and song following Samuel’s birth (1:11; 2:1-10). Eli echoes this focus in his blessing (v. 20), in which he refers to “the gift that she made to the Lord,” with no reference to Elkanah having had any role at all in that decision. The blessing by Eli echoes this focus. ²⁰ Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord repay you with children by this woman for the gift that she made to the Lord,” making it clear that Elkanah had no role in the decision of Hannah. Eli’s blessing asks for Yahweh to “repay” Elkanah with children by his wife, Hannah, and as the NRSV text note indicates, the Hebrew word translated “repay” is actually “give,” which has already occurred twice in this narrative (1:20, 28), with the translations of “asked” (v. 20) and “given” (v. 28). The underlying Hebrew verb in all three cases is sha’al, which can have a variety of meanings, reflected in its various translations in the opening verses of I Samuel. More significant, however, is the fact that the triliteral root is the basis of the proper name Saul (Hebrew sha’ul), literally, “the one asked for,” and the Israelites will indeed ask for a king, to Samuel’s consternation, who will turn out to be Saul (I Samuel 8-10). Although all three consonants are also found in Samuel’s name (Hebrew shemu’el), the obvious nominal connection is with Saul, which has led some scholars to suggest that the birth narrative that opens I Samuel, with its emphasis on “asking” (sha’al), was originally attached to the story of Saul, and was re-purposed during its oral transmission for the story of Samuel. Eli’s blessing also repeats his blessing-prayer for Hannah in 1:17, where he asks that Yahweh grant Hannah’s prayer for a son (1:11, mistakenly thought by Eli to be drunken blubbering).[1] Then they would return to their home.

I Samuel 2:26 relates the growth of Samuel. ²⁶ Now, the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people. Such a statement contrasts sharply with Eli and his sons. There are resonances in Luke 2:52 to 1 Samuel 2:26: “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years [or stature] and in divine and human favor.” This text reminds us that spiritual growth is likely to occur gradually. The witness of Scripture is that we can grow in faith, grow beyond the beginning stages of belief to an adult faith that is more than adequate for the bumps and potholes on the road of life. Are we? Parents need to be sure that we not limit our children to what we have learned, for they come into another age or generation that will have new challenges.[2]

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[1] The two occurrences of Eli’s blessing-prayer, as well as the two introductions of Samuel’s ministering before Yahweh (2:18 and 3:1) are two of the indicators that multiple original sources have been folded into the canonical narrative by the biblical redactor.

[2] Do not limit your children to your own learning, for they have been born in another age. - —Rabbinical saying quoted by Robert J. Wicks in Living a Gentle, Passionate Life (Paulist, 2000), 89.

Luke 1:39-45

Luke 1:39-45 (NRSV)

³⁹ In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, ⁴⁰ where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit ⁴² and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. ⁴³ And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? ⁴⁴ For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

Luke 1:39-56 is the story of Mary visiting Elizabeth and the Magnificat. It was in the source Luke used.[1]

Both Elizabeth and Mary find they are in busy, messy, and difficult times. In other words, they face the real life and times we must all face. Think of them like their Old Testament counterparts, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah and the wife of Manoah, Sampson’s mother, all of whom had a miraculous setting for the birth of their children. Elizabeth is far beyond child-bearing age, yet she finds herself pregnant with her first child. Imagine her overwhelming feelings of joy and anxiety. At last a child for whom to love and care. Care for?! Suddenly in her old age Elizabeth was going to be expected to take on all the exhilarating but exhausting duties of motherhood. Could she do it? How would she manage? Was she up to it? Her anxiety must have been running high. This would be true in spades for Mary! Like Elizabeth, she, too, was unexpectedly pregnant. Her betrothed, but not quite yet husband Joseph was understandably confused and upset. Mary was young and poor. She may have even been average in the expectations she had for her life. She had been anticipating setting up a household with Joseph, establishing herself in her new role as wife, and then, hopefully, becoming a mother. Instead, Mary recently had to cope with the astounding visit of an angelic messenger. She was pregnant, receiving the stunning news of the identity of the baby. She was simple, admitting that her life was one of service to the Lord. Yet both Elizabeth and Mary respond to the revelations and situations of these busy, messy, and difficult times by opening themselves to this unexpected divine presence. Luke will remind us throughout this story of the presence of the Holy Spirit leading to the insights we find here. Elizabeth, wife of a priest, humbles herself before the pregnant country girl, Mary. 

 

³⁹ In those days, Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, commonly identified with Ain Karim, 4 miles west of the Old city of Jerusalem, ⁴⁰ where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. After the announcement of the birth of Jesus to her, Mary went unchaperoned and alone to Judea to visit the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth, the latter being in seclusion for five months. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. We find here that the child in the womb of Elizabeth, as special as he clearly is, displays humility in acknowledging the superiority of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, making its presence felt for the first time in this quiet, elderly woman, filled Elizabeth, inspiring her as she ⁴² exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. An interesting similarity is in Judges 5:24, “Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed.” In Judith 13:18 (about 150 BC), we read, “O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all other women on earth.” ⁴³ Why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord (τοῦ κυρίου) comes to me? This title of Jesus, one given to the risen Lord, is by Luke given to Jesus before his birth here, and during his earthly life in 7:13, 10:1, 39, 41, 11:30. Here is the basis for the affirmation in the Council of Ephesus in 431 that affirmed Mary as “Mother of God.” [2]  In Luke 11:27-28, the faith of Mary again receives mention, but this time, Jesus says, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” ⁴⁴ For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. The child in the womb of Elizabeth responds humbly but joyfully to the child Jesus, still in the womb of Mary. The symbol of Elizabeth’s baby leaping in her womb is both a visually descriptive detail and an interesting reworking of an OT image. In the story of Isaac and Rebekah, the latter, who once had been barren, miraculously becomes pregnant with twins. Nevertheless, while in the womb, the unborn twins “jostled” each other. Rebekah learns that this jostling symbolizes the coming discord between the nations that would descend from each of the twins (Gen 25:21-23). The prophecy ends with the foreboding quotation: “and the older will serve the younger.” In fact, the prophecy does come about, and the story of Jacob and Esau, as well as their descendants, is one of strife and anger. Yet in the story of Elizabeth and Mary, there is no indication or hint of jealousy between the two women, nor any between the two unborn sons. In fact, quite the opposite is true. In Elizabeth’s praise of Mary, she reiterates what the story has already told us: that her baby leapt in her womb at the sound of Mary’s arrival. Yet in Elizabeth’s prophetic telling, she adds the detail that the baby leapt “in rejoicing,” or “for joy.” This is a transformation of the story of Jacob and Esau. Here the “older will serve the younger” but this time in joy and thanksgiving. ⁴⁵ Further, blessed is she who believed (πιστεύσασα) that there would be a fulfillment (τελείωσις) of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”  The statement is like John 20:29, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” The beatitude pronounced upon Mary refers to her belief, given the content of 1:38, that she believed the word given her by the angel. She is “blessed” through her faith, not because of it.[3] Indeed, God blesses Mary among women because she hears and responds. She sings. She becomes a model for us. Luke looks at her as the first disciple. We sing in our world of darkness because we believe. As Martin Luther once said in a Christmas sermon, three miracles occurred at Christ's nativity: God became human, a virgin conceived, Mary believed.  For Luther, the greatest miracle that first Christmas was the last.  Mary believed.  Despite all the oppression, closed doors, brick walls, blind alleys, and dark, silent, death, she believed.  She sang.

This passage leads to a discussion of Mary as representing humanity in receiving the gift of the Son. We need to be willing to go there, even wondering why Mary is the one chosen as a female in contrast to the male, especially since the story of the birth of Jesus excludes a male role. Both God and humanity are involved, and thus, the story says something about the role of humanity. The story suggests that humanity has openness toward the work of God. Behind wicked human history there is still hidden a good human being, worthy of communion with the divine. It suggests a plane of human existence upon which the meeting between God and humanity is possible or real, although we must think of it theologically as the result of prevenient grace, the operation of the ever-present and life-giving Spirit, and therefore in virtue of the mystery of the divine mercy. Thus, to disagree with the early Protestant reformers, Mary has no more aptitude for God than does any other human being, but she also has no less. We can still think of the goodness of the creature and its capacity for God due to the source of all life in God, thereby sustained by the on-going creative and transforming work of God.[4]

Throughout the story, Luke wants us to think of whether we would respond with the faith Mary has had. We might even think of Mary as representing the potential in every human being to respond to God with such faith. Mary is not passive in this story. She has had to respond.

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[1] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 296.

[2] (Barth K. , Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67), IV.2 [64.2], 71)

[3] (Barth K. , Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67), IV.2 [64.3], 189).

[4] Inspired by a disagreement with Ba (Barth K. , Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67), I.2 [15.3] 195).

Hebrews 10:5-10

Hebrews 10:5-10

⁵ Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; ⁶ in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. ⁷ Then I said, 'See, God, I have come to do your will, O God' (in the scroll of the book it is written of me)." ⁸ When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), ⁹ then he added, "See, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ And it is by God's will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10:5-10 is part of a larger segment, verses 1-18, that expresses the superiority of the sacrifice of Christ to that of the sacrifices in the Law of Moses. The obedience and submission of Christ to the will of the Father replaces Mosaic sacrifice. A new reality has come. 

⁵ Consequently, when Christ came into the world, referring to the Incarnation. Yet, the reference is broader in that it refers to the world. He may even have in mind a birth something like what we find in Luke 2. Hebrews has an exalted Christology, so it seems the phrase has theological significance for him. He said, quoting from Psalm 40:6-8, obviously understanding the psalm in a Christological way, as if Christ were speaking to God, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. The original, picturesque Hebrew phrase "ears you have dug for me"[1] the author replaces with the Septuagint's more obvious "a body you have prepared for me."  ⁶ In burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken no pleasure.[2] The old order required blood sacrifices (as noted in 10:4) of uncomprehending beasts such as bulls and goats. The new sacrifice that incarnates the new reality is the willing sacrifice of the fully cognizant Christ. While the animals and grains sacrificed under the old covenant had no knowledge of what occurred in the sacrifice, Christ is fully aware and willingly became Incarnate to do the will of the Father even to the point of death. ⁷Then I, the Incarnated Christ, said, 'See, God, I have come to do your will,[3] O God' (in the scroll of the book it is written of me)." The Psalm refers to four of the five types of offerings prescribed by Mosaic Law in Leviticus 1-7, namely, fellowship, grain, burnt, and sin. The sentiment expressed is like other passages in the Old Testament. The Lord takes greater delight in obedience than in burn offerings and sacrifices (I Samuel 15:22). 

In verses 8-10, the author offers a Midrash of the text. ⁸ When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), ⁹ then he added, "See, I have come to do your will." Continuing a reflection on the Psalm, he applies the notion of coming to do the will of God to Jesus. This becomes the key point of the passage. Other passages in the New Testament suggest the same thing. The prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane was while he would like his Father to remove the cup of suffering from which he was about to drink, he does not want his will done, but rather, he wants the will Father done (Mark 14:36). Jesus said that his food was to do the will of the one who sent him (John 4:34). He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.[4] For Hebrews, Jesus fits in perfectly with the chosen scripture. Bringing out that God does not desire animal sacrifices, God abolishes the first covenant, and Jesus came to do the will of God. A scribe hinted at this conclusion when he responded to Jesus concerning the greatest of the commandments that to love God with all one is and to love the neighbor as oneself is much more important than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices (Mark 12:33). The response of Jesus to this scribe was that he was near to the rule of God. Yet, we have a reminder that for those who hold that New Testament theology supersedes Old Testament theology the book of Hebrews presents considerable fodder for debate. For example, the opening chapters of the letter to the Hebrews contend that Jesus as God’s Son is superior to the angels, Moses, and the former high priests. In short, the author of Hebrews persistently argues for the supremacy of Christ’s priesthood when compared to the liturgical practices of the prior covenant. I suggest, however, that it remains inappropriate and misguided to conclude that the Hebrew writer is attempting to undermine and disparage the Hebrew Bible and its promises. Even in this passage, the author selects certain portions of the OT (specifically, Psalm 40) to privilege over other portions (sacrificial law codes such as those found in Leviticus). Thus, he does not envision a New Testament replacement of the Old Testament so much as he uses a selective choosing of texts. Indeed, the choice to understand Christ through the sacrificial system suggests that that system retained symbolic power for the author of Hebrews. Further, as Paul says of his fellow Israelites, “[A]s regards election they are beloved, for the sake of their ancestors; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28b-29). I suspect the author of Hebrews would fully agree. ¹⁰ Further, it is by God's will that God has sanctified us through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. We have now arrived at the main point. The main topic is offerings.  Jesus did the will of God through his atoning death by the offering of his body. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, the people of God no longer need the Levitical offerings and the law.  He is quite consistent with other passages in the New Testament in this matter. Christ loved us, giving up his life for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2). Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we receive healing of our sins by his wounds (I Peter 2:24).

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[1] By using the Septuagint's description rather than the old Hebrew, the author misses an opportunity to make additional correlations between Old Testament promises and New Testament fulfillment. The third Servant Song of Isaiah, which speaks poignantly of the abuse and humiliation heaped upon the Servant as the "reward" or his obedience, uses the "ear" as a focal point. In Isaiah 50:4ff. the "ear of this Servant - also an ear dug for him by his creator - is particularly noted. It is the ear which the Lord "wakens" each morning, for the Servant recognizes the gift of life was not given only on the day of his creation, but is given anew each day. And in verse 5 the Lord "opened" the Servant's ear to the mystery of the divine purpose. Because his ear is opened, the Servant is no longer tempted towards rebelliousness, but is joyfully obedient - even when faced with persecution.

[2] Actually, the Psalmist's words in 40:6 merely stated that these offerings are "not required. "

[3] However, the author fails to continue with the Psalmist's assertion that "your law is written on my heart." Yet, any reader aware of the Psalm being quoted would recall both this conclusion to that text in the Psalm and the link that it makes with the new covenant language found in Jeremiah 31:33. The law written upon the believer's willing heart is a basic requisite of this new reality formed by the new covenant. The writer of Hebrews stops short in his quotation so that he might continue to focus his reader's attention on the sacrifice made to bring this new covenant into existence.

[4] This abolition of sacrifices raises a question about the dating of this book. On the one hand, it could be argued that the lack of a specific reference to the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. suggests an earlier date for Hebrews, perhaps sometime in the mid-60s A.D. However, the general mood and ethical imperatives that permeate the book seem more similar to the concerns of later Christian writers, thus suggesting a date perhaps around 80 or 90 A.D. If a later date is accepted, the lack of explicit reference to the destruction of the temple (which would appear to fit well with the point in v. 9) could be explained on the grounds of the author's interest in a description of the sacrificial system as it appears in the OT rather than with any more contemporary practices that would have occurred in the pre-70 A.D. temple complex.

Micah 5:2-5

Micah 5:2-5a (NRSV)

² But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,

who are one of the little clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to rule in Israel,

whose origin is from of old,

from ancient days.

³ Therefore he shall give them up until the time

when she who is in labor has brought forth;

then the rest of his kindred shall return

to the people of Israel.

⁴ And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great

to the ends of the earth;

⁵ and he shall be the one of peace.

Micah 5:2-5a has the theme of the distress and glory of the Davidic dynasty. It seems to derive from around 701 BC, during the Autumn festival. It has a close relation to 4:11-13. Reflecting upon this passage gives me an opportunity to reflect upon Bethlehem, the hope contained in the birth of a child, and the Celtic notion of thin places.

In Micah 5:2-5a, we find a prediction of restoration for the king.  The passage is messianic in that it promises greatness for the Lord's anointed.  The ruler is probably a contemporary king. Like other prophets of the 700's, Micah described and deplored the sins and shortcomings of the surviving southern kingdom of Judah under the questionable rule of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.  Especially pernicious to both Isaiah and Micah was the oppression of the peasants in the Judean countryside by the land-grabbing ruling classes ensconced in Jerusalem.  Through ever-expanding inheritance laws, land ownership among those actually living on the land was becoming almost impossible.  Isaiah and Micah predict the end of this corrupt ruling class while announcing the birth of a new and old king -- a messiah.  Micah insisted that God would establish this new king's dominion on the grave of old Zion.  Micah declared that God would obliterate old Jerusalem in order for the new king to begin his rule. The point is that with the end of the old city and its rulers comes a new ruler. What this means is that he discounts the legitimacy of the current leadership to lay claim to the Davidic heritage. ² Nevertheless you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me, as one feature of the deliverer, one who is to rule in Israel, and a second, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days (distant past). A biblical theme is God's choice of the unlikely, the small.  The prophecy suggests the coming ruler will be like David.  There is a substantial majesty ascribed to God’s deliverer. 

David was from a little clan in Ephrathah, an ancient name for the area around Bethlehem. Scripture passages use Bethlehem and Ephrath(ah) more or less synonymously. Ephrathites, who lived also in the surrounding area, inhabited Bethlehem, the town. The ancestor of the Ephrathites was apparently Ephrathah, the wife of Caleb, son of Hezron. See the puzzling references in I Chronicles 2:19, 50-51; 4:4.[1] The Bethlehemites/Ephrathites were “one of the little clans [or “groups of a thousand”] of Judah.” Bethlehem/Ephrath(ah) is a biblical paradox. It was insignificant as a town in terms of size. Nevertheless, as elsewhere in Scripture, within God’s providence the smaller, younger, or otherwise less obviously superior person or group was to achieve prominence. (What is more “insignificant” in terms of apparent power than is a baby from Bethlehem?) Yet Matthew 2:6 adapts the Micah 5:2 text to read, You are “by no means least among the rulers of Judah.” Bethlehem was on a major north-south ridge road in south-central Palestine, near a fertile area to its west (perhaps giving rise to its name). It was about five miles south of Jerusalem. Jacob’s wife Rachel died and Jacob buried her on the road leading to Bethlehem (see Genesis 35:19; 48:7). Bethlehem was the home of Naomi’s family (see Ruth 1:1-2) and later of Ruth (a woman of the despised Moabites), who became King David’s great-grandmother, by Boaz (see Ruth 4:13-22). Bethlehem was the ancestral home of David himself. In I Samuel 17:12a David is the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem named Jesse. It was in Bethlehem that the prophet Samuel would anoint David as God’s king over Judah (see I Samuel 16:4-13). Jews of the early first century A.D. anticipated that “the son [descendent] of David,” God’s delivering Messiah/Christ (“the Anointed One”), would come from Bethlehem. John 7:42 states: “Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”  Gospel passages in Matthew 2 and Luke 2 firmly place King Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, with Mathew 2:1-6 explicitly referring to the Micah 5 passage as prophetic anticipation of his birth. Luke 2:4 calls Bethlehem “the city of David,” because of its association as David’s hometown (although “city of David” is used in the Old Testament only for the by-David-captured stronghold of Zion/Jerusalem, except in 1 Samuel 20:6, where a similar expression does refer to Bethlehem). Bethlehem receives no mention in the New Testament outside of Matthew 2, Luke 2 and John 7. 

³ Therefore he shall give them (Judah) up to foreign powers due to divine discipline, as promised in Deuteronomy 32:30, where their defeat could not occur unless the Lord and delivered them up. Yet, this discipline will last only until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth the promised deliverer; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel. The prayer is that defeat and humiliation would be short-lived.  God will deliver the people from exile, a promise we also see in 4:6-10. ⁴ In addition, he, the promised deliverer, shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. The Old Testament understands the Lord God of Israel and the leaders of Israel figuratively as “shepherds,” for good or for ill (as was often the case for human leaders). Matthew 2:6 employs the shepherd theme of II Samuel 5:2. Jesus refers to himself as “the good shepherd” in John 10. Pastors (the word comes from a Latin word meaning “shepherds”) are to feed God’s “flock.” The people of Judah and even Judah’s Davidic king were in subjugation to outside forces and in danger during a time of current besiegement and future exile. In the midst of these troubles (and others like them) God promised to send a strong deliverer who would be from David’s kingly line. That is the metaphoric meaning of Bethlehem in this passage, which we are also take literally.  Finally, this ruler will have the strength to give a gift to the people of God, who shall live secure, for now he, their promised deliverer, shall be great to the ends of the earth, and thus far beyond the borders of Judah. The psalmist said the Lord is a great king over all the earth (47:2). ^5a further, he shall be the one of peace (shalom, Hebrew, “This one will be peace”). He will bring peace or salvation/deliverance. In the immediate context of this passage (vv. 5 ff.), it is the Assyrians who will be defeated, if they should attack Judah. The people of God have longed for peace in this land. The ancient story of Gideon, probably around the 1200’s BC, says that Gideon built an altar and gave it the name, “The Lord is peace.” (Judges 6:23) Famously, Isaiah will prophesy of a child born among Israel who will receive authority and have the name “Prince of Peace.” The New Testament viewed this emphasis upon peace as fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Thus, God will reconcile all things by making peace through the blood of the cross (Colossians 1:19-20. Christ is our peace, breaking down the wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile (Ephesians 2:14). At the birth of Jesus, Luke has the angels announce peace on earth (Luke 2:14). 

Like a raging storm, the Assyrian invaders were bearing down on Judah to sweep them away. Assyria had become an instrument of God for judgment against the people of God. The time was around 701 BC. It was a tough siege, but they escaped. However, about one hundred years later, another empire, that of Babylonia, would carry them into exile. 

In one sense, they thought of God as distant, for Micah and Isaiah both tell us of the corruption of Judah during this time. They thought there was a thick wall between God and them, and they could get away with doing whatever they wanted. They had becomes the instruments of the oppression of the people. Yet, God would break through the wall in judgment. For the prophets, God would destroy the old Jerusalem and the old Temple before the new could come. 

In another sense, the leaders of Jerusalem and the Temple thought they were the thinnest place around, so thin that God and their place were identical. They could not imagine God allowing anything bad to happen to the city or the temple, or even to the descendent of David, regardless of how unlike David he was. What they did not realize was that their salvation would not come from the present experience of king, city, or Temple. They will not find security there. What I find remarkable here is that this prophet will boldly proclaim that salvation will come in a little town about five miles from Jerusalem. All it had was a few shepherd families and many sheep.  It reminds me of a biblical theme is God's choice of the unlikely, the small.  It was insignificant as a town in terms of size. In Bethlehem, in a place few expected, God was going to bring the life of heaven to Earth in a very personal way. Help would come from a small clan, Ephrathah, the ancestor of whom was apparently the wife of Caleb, son of Hezron. The clan settled around Bethlehem. David would be from among them. 

The contrast was sharp. David was the great pattern of what a king should be, while the present kings were little more than a territory of the Assyrian Empire. Samuel anointed the shepherd-boy David in Bethlehem and he would rule Israel and Judah. The promise of God to David would find fulfillment, but in an unexpected way, by going back to Bethlehem. 

The hard thing said here is that God would give up his people to exile until that king would be born. The king will bring the people back from distant lands. The shepherd-king will feed the flock properly. 

About thirty years before this prophecy, Isaiah had said that the Lord would give the king a sign in a young woman giving birth and giving him the name Immanuel (7:14). Isaiah prophesied that people in darkness have seen a great light, and thus experience joy and the lifting the burden they had from oppression. The reason is that a child born in Israel and of the lineage of David, who has the name of Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace, will bring endless peace (9:2-7). This promise will exert great influence upon the Jewish prophetic tradition. In a text many scholars think derives from the early post-exilic period, a descendant of David will be the one on whom the Spirit of the Lord shall rest, giving him wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He will judge with righteousness the poor and meek. Nature will be at peace, as all become vegetarians. A little child shall lead wild animals. The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord (Isaiah 11:1-9). Of course, the gospels (birth passages and genealogies) understand this prophesied deliverer of Israel to be Jesus Christ (= Messiah = “son/descendent of David”), born of Mary in Bethlehem.      As a promise of a future ruler, it links up with other messianic texts. We read of the same vision of the future king who would make a new beginning possible.  Both Isaiah and Micah foresee this ruler coming very literally from the Davidic line.  They also both completely discount the legitimacy of the current leadership to lay claim to the Davidic heritage.  God chooses the same little clan Ephrathah, the same otherwise insignificant town of Bethlehem, from which David himself hailed, once again as the birthplace of the "one who is to rule in Israel."  Although Micah has only a nonspecific future time in mind, he identifies this moment as the time for giving birth.  Micah describes the rule of this new king with the same words and images that God used to initiate David's own rule: "shepherd of my people Israel," in II Samuel 5:2.

All of that would happen because God was going to create a thin place where the people did not expect it, right there, in Bethlehem. Instead of a temple, the place where heaven and earth came together, the place where God would dwell with his people, was going to be the feeding trough in a back alley of the tiniest and most insignificant of places.

Phillips Brooks’ immortal “O Little Town of Bethlehem” pays prayerlike homage to Bethlehem, the “house of bread” birthplace of baby Jesus, God’s bread of life. May we as pastors and other people of God explore the meaning of Micah 5 and the gospel passages, beyond their supposed quaintness and familiarity, to the ever-renewed life-giving nourishment that comes to us through the freshly told and trusted good news of our Deliverer and Lord Jesus Christ.Jesus, who would one day call himself “the bread/food/nourishment of life” (John 6:35, 48) was to come from the “little town of Bethlehem” (which itself means “house of bread/food/nourishment” in Hebrew, pronounced beth-léhem — with a hard “h”). The pageantry of countless children’s bathrobe brigades, Christmas cantata narrations and other Scripture readings for Christmas Sunday and Christmas Eve celebrate Micah 5:2-5a. Have we who preach from these verses become jaded with this text? What riches might we yet uncover in these and related verses?  

I came across two articles written in 2012, and a blog, that reflect on the notion of thin places.[2] It arises out of Celtic spirituality in Scotland. I understand that instead of thinking of heaven and earth as at opposite ends, the Celts believed they were about three feet apart. Sometimes, they thought, that distance was even smaller --small enough for those on Earth to get a glimpse of the glory of heaven. The Celts believed that Iona is a place where people could feel that thinness and experience the kind of revelations and feelings that one might have when so close to the holy. They believed that was true of other places as well, usually places far away from the crowd and wrapped in both mist and mystery.

The Isle of Iona in Scotland is a tiny, windswept place in the western Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It is a skinny little island, only about 3.5 miles long and 1.5 miles wide, but it became the destination of hundreds of people each year who brave a long journey involving trains, boats, busses to get there. It is a quiet place. Only about one hundred people there. You might have even seen Celtic crosses, and the island has a large one. I discovered that no matter how thin a place it might be, when it comes to the weather, Suzanne and I would not want to go. It seems that the rain and wind off the North Sea can drive right through you, no matter what type of gear you have. In any case, the monks who live there welcome visitors from all over the world, searching for something missing in their souls. 

The famous 20th century Trappist monk Thomas Merton once wrote that thin places are even more prevalent than the ancient Celts believed, but we just do not see them. 

 

"Life is simple.  We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time ... if we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes ... the only thing is that we don't (let ourselves) see it."[3]

 

Painter and poet William Blake had a remarkably fertile imagination when it came to things of the Spirit. All his life, Blake cultivated a naive openness to the world around him. 

“I know that this world is a world of imagination and vision. I see everything I paint in this world but everybody does not see alike. To the eye of a miser a guinea [the gold coin] is far more beautiful than the sun and a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful proportions than a vine filled with grapes. The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way. As a man is so he sees. When the sun rises, do you not see a round disk of fire something like a gold piece? O no, no, I see an innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.’”

 

Indeed, Merton and Blake have placed a finger upon perhaps the greatest problem in the thin-place metaphor. The worldview it assumes and the implications that flow from this worldview present a problem. A thin place is, by definition, an exception to the rule. Moreover, the rule states that a thick barrier separates this world and the heavenly world. God is on the other side of the barrier, mostly separate from the world, except for unusually thin places in which he makes himself known. This worldview is common, but it is not biblical. Scripture teaches us to see God as much more involved in this world than the thin place metaphor assumes.[4]

Jürgen Moltmann said in God in Creation (Chapter 7) that one of the places he thought Karl Barth got it wrong is that heaven and earth are not dualities. He prefers to think of the Father creating “heaven and earth” as affirmed in the creed is a way of saying that earth opens up to heaven. The earth, in a sense, has an upward drift toward God. In the context of this reflection, earth may have more thin places, it may have more traces of the divine as Moltmann put it, than we acknowledge.

Preacher Philips Brooks experienced his own thin place in Christmas week of 1865. 

 

After an early dinner, we took our horses and rode to Bethlehem. It was only about two hours when we came to the town, situated on an eastern ridge of a range of hills, surrounded by its terraced gardens. It is a good-looking town, better built than any other we have seen in Palestine. ... Before dark, we rode out of town to the field where they say the shepherds saw the star. It is a fenced piece of ground with a cave in it (all the Holy Places are caves here), in which, strangely enough, they put the shepherds. The story is absurd, but somewhere in those fields we rode through where the shepherds must have been. ... As we passed, the shepherds were still "keeping watch over their flocks or leading them home to fold." 

 

Several years later Brooks sat down to pen a hymn about the experience. The result is the beloved carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem," a moving meditation on the power of place to inspire believers. Truly, it felt to Brooks -- both at the time, and as he wrote about it later -- that "the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight."

In my journey to the Holy Land, Bethlehem was one of our visits. Yes, there are still shepherds herding their flocks. The Church of the Nativity, built over the traditional place memorialized as the place where Jesus was born. You go inside this ornate church, but then you must go down a narrow and winding staircase to get to the place. The ceiling is low. The tour guide asked me to read the story of the birth of Jesus from Luke. I learned something about thin places at that point, although I did not have that phrase. I focused my attention on the reading. I had so many people on the tour come up talk to me of how the setting became a thin place for them. In fact, a layperson on that journey saw me over ten years later and still looked back at that moment as powerful for her. 

Yet, I must say that Bethlehem is a busy place today. Pilgrims from everywhere, meaning you will have to wait before you get into the Church of the Nativity. Monks yell instructions, cameras flashing, and of course, security officers are everywhere. All of this so that pilgrims can come be close and touch this place. In many ways, Bethlehem today is more hectic than holy. 

I do get it. Some of us have our thin places, such as a spiritual retreat, a camp, and so on. Yet, let me suggest that as meaningful as a journey to the Holy Land can be, the pilgrimage we need during Advent and Christmas is not to the Bethlehem of today. The pilgrimage we need is spiritual. The thin place we need to experience in our lives is how near God has come to us in Jesus. We can do that right where we are by simply focusing ourselves on the humble and powerful way in which God chooses to bridge the gap between heaven and Earth. God came in the soft skin and helpless posture of a baby, born to a family under Roman occupation that had their own suspicion of “the Jews.” I like to imagine that life was thin for Mary and Joseph, but the life Mary brought forth in the manger was full of more than God's people and, indeed, the whole world could have ever imagined. 

In Jesus, God broke through the barriers between God and humanity by becoming one of us. We do not worship a God who is distant, cloaked in clouds, and oblivious to our world. Instead, we worship a God who has consented to humble himself, as Paul says in Philippians 2, and take the road to a cross. This is a God we can know because he has a human face and in him, the best of heaven and Earth come together and show us what is possible for us and for the world. 

Therefore, as we prepare for Christmas, perhaps the best preparation is to take some time to go to a quiet place and consider that God is not far away, that the king is quite near and the rule of God is at hand. Allow yourself to live in the reality of who God is and what God has done in Jesus. Take a pilgrimage into the heart of the biblical story of Christmas. Read it as if you are seeing it for the first time. Serve someone who needs to experience the reality that God has come to give them real hope. 

May your Christmas be thin! 

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[1](See Lamontte M. Luker: Anchor Bible Dictionary, “Ephrathah” (person and place), vol. 2, 557-558, for a discussion of some of these issues.)

[2] Emerson, Susan. "Appreciating thin places." Gloucester Times, June 3, 2010. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/lifestyle/x1910025572/Appreciating-thin-places. Viewed June 7, 2012.

Weiner, Eric. "Where heaven and Earth come closer." The New York Times, March 11, 2012, 10.

[3] - Pennington, M. Basil, A Retreat With Thomas Merton, Element, Rockport, MA 1988.

[4] --Mark Roberts, "Thin Places," a 2012 blog entry on patheos.com. patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/thin-places. Retrieved June 19, 2012.