Biblical
Words [596]
People who are thirsty and hungry seek the
nourishment of God’s word – a word about repentance, returning to their
covenant.
For the second
Sunday in a row we have a Hebrew Scripture reading about covenant. Remembering
covenants involves seeking roots and re-commitments to fundamental grounds,
divine and human, in our past.
Our reading is a
rich and complex passage from the Isaiah of the exile, the climax of the
prophecies that began in chapter 40 (“in the wilderness prepare the way of the
Lord”).
The opening
passage is an excited play on the theme of Deuteronomy
8:3 – “one does not live by bread
alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (NRSV ). First there is the summons:
Ho, everyone who
thirsts,
come to the waters;
and you that have
no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and
milk
without money and without price.
A great blessing
is offered; food and drink for the needy.
Cost is not a consideration; this is the food from God. In times of scarcity, water and food have
very high prices. But now God’s word is,
“Come, buy and eat,” even without money!
The things that are most needed are, in God’s abundance, free.
But the prophetic
word gradually shifts.
People can be
mistaken about what is valuable, about what is really food. “Why do you spend your money for that which is
not bread …?” What is really worth
having? “Listen carefully to me and eat
what is good, …Incline your ear, and come to me; / listen, so that you may
live” (verses 2-3, NRSV ). There is a nourishment of the soul and heart
that money can’t buy, though it is worth more than all riches.
If one heeds the
prophetic summons, if one accepts the divine food by listening to the word,
what does one hear? Here it is a word
about God’s covenant with David. “I will
make with you [plural] an everlasting covenant, / my steadfast, sure love for
David” (verse 3).
Thus, what we hear
is a reminder of messianic promises – echoes of the Covenant with
David. God made David a leader and a
symbol (“witness”) for the nations. We
hear God repeating the original promise to David (every “you” here is masculine
singular):
See, you shall call
nations that you do not know,
and nations that do not know you shall run
to you,
because of the Lord
your God, the Holy One of Israel ,
for he has glorified you (verse 5).
What is worth
having in a needy world is the assurance that God will fulfill the promises to
David, and that therefore there will be an international outpouring of support
and abundance for those now in humility and need. That is the gospel of verses 1-5.
And what is the
appropriate response to this
gospel? Our passage concludes with one
of the more profound calls to confession and repentance in all of
scripture.
Seek the Lord while
he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked
forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to
the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
and to their God, for he will abundantly
pardon (verses 6-7).
This is God’s word
for the covenant people in the early days of Lent.
Psalm 63:1-8.
The Psalm reading
is an intense and poignant response to the soul’s need for God’s
nourishment. Comments can scarcely
enhance this marvelous piece. Let’s just
listen to it again in the New Jerusalem Bible version:
God, you are my
God, I pine for you;
my heart thirsts
for you,
my body longs for
you,
as a land parched,
dreary and waterless.
Thus I have gazed
on you in the sanctuary,
seeing your power
and your glory.
Better your
faithful love than life itself;
my lips will praise
you.
Thus I will bless
you all my life,
in your name lift
up my hands.
All my longings
fulfilled as with fat and rich foods,
a song of joy on my
lips and praise in my mouth.
On my bed when I
think of you,
I muse on you in
the watches of the night,
for you have always
been my help;
in the shadow of
your wings I rejoice;
my heart clings to
you,
your right hand
supports me.
I Corinthians 10:1-13.
The Epistle
reading continues the theme of God’s nourishment and care in the wilderness,
applying the experience of the Israelite ancestors even to the new believers in
the Greek city of Corinth .
“Our ancestors
were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized
into Moses … and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same
spiritual drink” (verses 1-4, NRSV ). These are applied in Corinth
to the Christian baptism and sacramental food and drink.
Lent is
traditionally a time of preparation for baptism by new Christians, and
this passage leads into instruction for such candidates. Paul says that Christians should learn from
the experiences of the ancestors, in particular they should learn about certain
gross sins to avoid, which he discusses in order.
(1) The most serious sin is idolatry (verse 7), seen in the Israelites
making the golden calf while Moses was up on Mount Sinai – quoted here by Paul
from Exodus 32:6 . Here again, food and drink are involved,
because when the Israelites sinned most seriously, they “sat down to eat and
drink [before the golden calf], and they rose up to play” (NRSV ).
(2) The ancestors’ experience also warns against sexual immorality (verse
8), a sin that brought twenty-three thousand Israelites to a punishment of
death, as Paul reads the story in Numbers
25:1-9 .
(3) Putting the Lord – or Christ, as Paul reads it – to the test (verse 9)
was a repeated offense against God committed by the ancestors. Paul refers to the incident when the people
complained about the lack of food and water, and the punishment sent upon them
was poisonous snakes. Moses gave
protection from the snakes by use of a bronze serpent – Numbers
21:4-9 .
(4) A separate sin warned against by the ancestors’ example is “to
complain” (verse 10, traditionally “murmur [against]”). Paul seems to have in mind the incident when
the people “rebelled against” Moses and Aaron and a plague broke out sweeping
across the camp. The plague was stopped
only by Aaron taking his smoking incense pan and standing between the plague
and the people – thereby vindicating his special office on behalf of the people
(Numbers 16:41 -50; Heb. text
17:6-15).
In general, Paul
says, one must live cautiously, because falling into error happens when you
least expect it. “If you think you are
standing (firmly), watch out that you do not fall” (verse 12). But the final word of faith, supporting those
who know they are living through times of testing and trial, is, “God is
faithful, and … will not let you be tested beyond your strength” (verse
13).
In Lent, a
repentant people know themselves to be placed in conditions of trial and
testing, concerning such heavy-duty sins as Paul here enumerates.
The Gospel reading,
like the prophetic text, is a summons to
repent. The emphasis here is
strongly on before it’s too late!
This entire passage (Luke 13:1-9) is found in Luke only, though the fig
tree parable is similar to a passage in Mark.
The first part of the passage (verses 1-5)
has Jesus refer to two incidents of local history that we know nothing
about except from this passage. Jesus
hears about a slaughter of some Galileans while they were at worship in Jerusalem ,
and also about the death of eighteen people when the walls of a tower fell on
them in Jerusalem .
The Roman governor
Pilate was blamed in popular lore for a massacre of Galilean Jews at the Jerusalem
temple – graphically expressed here as mingling their blood with their
sacrifices. A shocking and horrible
incident, Jesus acknowledges, but – he says – the event should not be read as a punishment for sin. They did not die in this way because of their
sins. The disaster just caught them –
like a falling tower.
The key question
was not, Were they guilty, but Were they ready? Had they repented? The implication is, one must repent and
change directions in the midst of daily life – because you do not know when the
sudden massacre or the collapsing high-rise will come.
The parable of
the unproductive fig tree (verses 6-9) repeats the message of the first
part, but with a different twist. It too
is about getting ready for the final judgment, but this time with some advance
warning, with a time of preparation allowed.
The fig tree,
planted in the middle of a vineyard, has not produced fruit for three
years. The lord of the vineyard is out
of patience and intends to destroy the tree to make room for more vines, which,
unlike the fig tree, will produce fruit.
The tree has an advocate, however.
The gardener, who takes care of the vineyard, intercedes and asks for
one more year during which he will specially cultivate the fig tree. If it produces then, well and good, but if
not it will be cut down.
This fig-tree talk is similar to
that about the fig tree near Jerusalem ,
which Jesus curses because it has no fruit.
That fig tree withered and died by the next day (Mark 12:12 -14, 20-21; Luke omits this
episode).
In neither of these cases are we
really talking about fig trees; we are talking about Israel
and its response to God, particularly as Jesus represents God’s word to Israel . In Mark the fig tree has failed and is
condemned to destruction. In Luke there
is a curious opening that remains. There
is one more year during which repentance and turning from wicked ways is
possible, so that when the Lord comes the tree will be found fruitful and alive
in the vineyard of the Lord.
There is a time of preparation, of reassessment and changed direction, available to even the wicked, who with others are called upon in this season, to seek the Lord.
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