Proper 15 | Ordinary Time 20 | Pentecost 12 (Cycle C)

Sunday between August 14 and August 20 inclusive

A unifying motif in most of these texts selected for our use this coming weekend is that in view of the impending word of judgment from God, there is an urgent need for justice and righteousness on the earth. In some of these texts the word of judgment from God is fearful and awesome, a reason for great apprehension. In others the word of judgment from God is needed in order to break the power of the oppressors, both foreign oppressors and domestic oppressors. It is not so much the written, revealed word of God from the past as it is the dynamic, imminent word that is to come that is the concern of the writers of these texts.

Psalm 82

The “divine council” and “the gods” as “sons of the Most High” will probably be problematic this coming weekend for Christians who are not familiar with the theological situation of the ancient Near East during the earlier centuries of Israelite development. At that time, each family, community, tribe, nation, or empire in many instances had its own special name for deity and for its own deity. In this henotheistic (one personal God for each group) system, each group generally thought that its deity was the best for it. The existence of other “gods” for other groups was not denied. Israel as a “nation” claimed that Adonai, its Lord, was God, and that Adonai, its God, was Number One.

Later, after the loss of the Israelite nation, the exile in Babylon, and during two centuries of Persian rule, the Israelites claimed that Adonai was not only the God of the nation Israel, but God over all, the Most High, the King of the Universe, the one who judged the “gods” acclaimed by others. At that point, instead of a henotheistic (one God for us) theology, they had developed a monotheistic (one God, our God, the one God for everyone) theology. They had, in part, learned monotheism from the Persian Zoroastrians, who made that claim for their religion even before it became the state religion of the Persian Empire. (The story of Esther provides for us a reflection of that conflict between competing monotheisms.) After the exilic period, Judaism had become, for the most part, no longer a henotheistic religion but a monotheistic religion. Other monotheistic religions developed after this, including Christianity, Islam, the Sikh religion, and so on. There are residual elements of henotheistic religion in our Older Testament, but the predominant view became monotheistic. Most of our Newer Testament is monotheistic. Judaism continued throughout the centuries, however, to be to some extent still henotheistic as it had been for the ancient Israelites. Much of the religion of the Jews today, especially because of the Holocaust, is basically henotheistic rather than monotheistic. This is also the situation for an increasing number of Christians, almost all Hindus, and a few Muslims today. Henotheists are by nature more likely to be tolerant and respectful of people in other religions than are monotheists.

Israelites understood Adonai as demanding that the Israelites act with justice, and declared that while Adonai is immortal, the Israelites and all other people are mortal. As Word of God for us, Psalm 82 and other biblical texts require justice and righteousness among us and label all of our finite “gods” as less than lasting and less than ultimate.

Jeremiah 23:23-29

This text, in which the transcendence as well as the immanence of Adonai as the God of the Universe is acclaimed, has some similarities to portions of Psalm 82. Here the prophets of Adonai are sharply distinguished from other prophets, and the Word of Adonai is depicted as like fire that consumes everything that will burn and as a hammer that breaks rocks into little pieces. We should note that it is primarily the spoken Word of Adonai rather than the written Word that is described in this manner.

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19

This psalm is a community plea to the Lord God of Israel who had brought a vine out of Egypt and planted it with loving care in the promised land, where it took root and spread over a vast area from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River. The community promises that if the Lord God will restore the people in their land, which they have lost, the people will never ever again turn away from the Lord God.

Isaiah 5:1-7

As in Psalm 80, in this Isaiah 5:1-7 “Love Song about the Unfruitful Vineyard” the vineyard and vine analogy is used with reference to the people and nation of Israel. The vineyard is abandoned by the Lord God because the love that the Lord had bestowed on the vineyard has been unrequited. The Lord expected justice and righteousness to be shown in the vineyard. Because there had been neither justice nor righteousness shown in the vineyard, and because the vineyard had produced no good, fruitful grapes, but only putrid, stinking grapes, the fearful judgment and condemnation of the Lord has come upon it.

Hebrews 11:29–12:2

Although it was by faith that the pre-Israelites had been able to cross the Red Sea on dry land, had conquered the promised land, ruled over it, endured defeat and horrible suffering, and although the courageous Israelites were fully commended for their faith and endurance, it is argued by the writer of this document that the Israelites, even the best among them, did not receive what was promised, i.e., Jesus, the pioneer of the more perfect faith, the Christian faith.

Luke 12:49-56

This text is a composite of various elements. It most likely is comprised of pronouncements of the Jesus of history given in a variety of settings, along with materials from Mark 10:38, from “Q” materials or from an early draft of Matthew (Matthew 10:34-36 and 16:2-3), and from the life experiences of the inspired Lukan writer. The fire that is to be cast upon the earth (v. 49) is probably a fire of lightning, a symbol of instant judgment, a theme of apocalyptic eschatology. In spite of the Lukan writer’s penchant for peace on earth, the “Q” or Matthean call for a sword in included. The Micah 7:6 description of dissension within a household is also used, in which it is in every instance one generation (a father or a mother) against or opposed by the next (a son, a daughter, or a daughter-in-law). The combination of the elements in this text is Lukan, and the text can best be understood in terms of the inspired Lukan writer’s personal situation, a situation of a Greek-background Christian who has seen or known about families divided by generation, most likely with the older generation remaining Jewish and the younger becoming Christian.