Joel 2:23-32; Psalm 65; II
Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke
18:9-14.
The spirit of the Lord
crosses boundaries of age, class, and gender, humbling the proud and accepting
the repentant.
Joel 2:23-32.
After the age of
Jeremiah, prophecy became a less focused force in Israel’s
life, in both the Diaspora and the re-settled homeland.
(There was one
towering exception: the exilic prophet –
“Second Isaiah,” Isaiah 40-55) – who proclaimed in a new way God’s world sovereignty and new
saving intervention for Israel.
)
For the rest, the
mixture of moods and messages in Isaiah 56-66,
for example, shows a mélange of prophetic themes and impulses, but no sustained
vision or consistent thrust. Among the
diverse prophetic flights that appeared in the three hundred years after
Jeremiah was the book of Joel. This was a collection of visions and exclamations over domestic crises seen as the work of the Lord.
The early part of
this book is occupied with interpreting a near-cosmic plague of locusts as the
awesome appearance of the Day of the Lord.
The moods of this section are visionary, but also liturgical, with
attention to fasting and rituals.
In the latter
sections of the book, from which our reading comes, the book is hopeful. It is hopeful first because God is sending
abundant rains to replenish the land that was devastated in the plagues (verses
23-27), and then the hope soars into charismatic and even apocalyptic
proclamations (verses 28-32 [3:1-5 in Hebrew]).
Our reading. The charisma is the outpouring of God’s
spirit upon all sorts of folks. We hear
an astonishing proclamation: “I will
pour out my spirit on all flesh…” (verse 28) – upon ALL flesh.
[Y]our sons and
your daughters shall prophecy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions (NRSV).
Social differences
based on gender will be eliminated, and slaves as well as masters will be
anointed by the spirit:
Even on the male
and female slaves,
in those days, I will pour out my spirit
(verse 29).
The perspective is
universal. There is nothing said of any
special status of Israel
or Judah. The spirit of the Lord is a blessing
dispersed over humans in a radically leveling manner.
This was visionary
indeed! This is a long stretch from the
exclusionary policies of Ezra in the small province
of Judah around this same general
period. In time, Ezra’s program acquired
fixed institutional embodiment; Jewish people separated themselves from
foreigners in their own neighborhood – especially separated themselves from
foreign wives (see Ezra 9-10). The Joel vision, on the other hand, was
ethereal and idealistic in its own time.
Much later,
however, a handful of Jerusalem pilgrims broke into charismatic activity and
found the Joel prophecy fulfilled in their experience – and realized, in fact,
that the prophecy was intended for all the nations of the earth (Acts
2:1-21).
Psalm 65.
While the Joel
passage has its visionary, almost other-worldly, aspects, part of it stays
close to the land, rejoicing over the rains and the abundance of the watered
fields. Both aspects are sustained in
the Psalm reading.
The psalm begins
with a liturgical prelude. God is
praised as a God who answers prayer and “brings near” God’s favored ones to the
holy courts (verses 1-4). Then there is
an acclamation of God’s great cosmic works in the seas and “at the earth’s
furthest bounds.” In these sections the
perspective remains universal. “To you
all flesh shall come” (verse 2). “…You
are the hope of all the ends of the earth” (verse 5, NRSV).
The psalm then
moves to a celebration of the blessings of water upon the land – God’s
gift for a forgiven and delivered people.
The vision even gets quite earthy:
“your wagon tracks overflow with richness,” and the conclusion
personifies the landscape so that the hills “gird themselves with joy,” the
meadows “clothe themselves with flocks,” and the valleys “deck themselves with
grain” (verses 12-13).
An exuberant and
abundant agrarian world flourishes for God as God’s gift to many expectant
peoples.
II Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18.
These moods of
celebrating abundance and expecting startling divine outpourings are partly in
contrast and partly in harmony with the Epistle reading.
This passage from
the Apostle to Timothy is perhaps the most poignant section in the
Pastoral epistles, if not in all of the Pauline letters. A weary, exhausted, and perhaps lonely
Apostle knows he has reached the end of his assigned course. His service has been a drink offering presented
to the Lord, and now the pouring out of the libation is completed: “…the time of my departure has come.” From a ritual metaphor he turns to athletic
ones: “I have fought the good
fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith” (verse 7, NRSV).
The mood is not
only that of termination, however. There
is a grandeur ahead also. “From
now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, will give me on that day.”
And having focused for a bit on his own coming acceptance as a faithful
servant, his thought passes on to the communion of the many who share the same
consummation: “…and not only to me [will
the Lord give the crown], but also to all who have longed for his appearing”
(verse 8).
For a little
while – in the section not included in our reading – the Apostle goes into
details about his companions (who have mostly left him) and other minor
personal interests. Then he returns to
his trials and speaks of his end with some equanimity. At the time of his “first” trial, “all
deserted me. May it not be counted
against them” (verse 16). Nevertheless,
“I was rescued from the lion’s mouth” – perhaps quite literally, if Paul
actually escaped death at his first trial.
But his last word
about his own fate is one of confidence and faith: “The Lord will rescue me from every evil
attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom” (verse 18).
Luke 18:9-14.
In the Gospel
reading Jesus tells a parable about two who pray – and their sharply
contrasting attitudes. He presents the
well-established Pharisee on one side, who has status, abundance, religious
prominence, and – not a little pride and arrogance. On the other side is a tax collector, a man
who might or might not have substantial wealth, but who was viewed as a social
outcast and a hopeless sinner.
The parable gets
a little heavy-handed in its treatment of the Pharisee. He is quoted as informing God that he fasts
twice a week and is careful to tithe his income correctly. (Other standard acts of piety, such as
Sabbath observance, can be taken for granted.)
What we are really hearing from the Pharisee is not so much a prayer as
a recitation of what he wants all people to know about him. He is, indeed, getting his reward as he
speaks. He will not get it later – in
the form he hopes for.
The tax
collector accepts much of the world’s opprobrium toward him. He feels profoundly the burden of “sinner”
that others attach to him, but the big difference between him and the Pharisee
is – that the tax collector brings his lowliness before God. He laments his miserable condition, confesses
his sin, and dares not even to look upward toward God as he begs for
mercy. Rather than lowliness, the
Pharisee brings his worthiness before God, and – as the name “Pharisee” denotes
– separates himself from other humans who indeed occupy lowly places in their
world.
Jesus’ concluding
word is that the humble sinner goes down to his home as the righteous man
(“justified,” verse 14). The Pharisee
has declared himself before people in the sanctuary – though apparently he is not
“justified.” Jesus comments, “all who
exalt themselves will be humbled.”
The scene in the parable is a far
cry from the leveling spirit of the prophecy in Joel. A time will soon come, however, when the
humble followers of Jesus will be exalted by the ecstasy of that divine Spirit
foreseen by the prophet. (It will happen
at Pentecost.)
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