Proper 22 / Pentecost 17 / Ordinary Time 27, Cycle A
THEME OF THE DAY
The surprising places grace sends us. These texts focus us on how grace (Justification and Providence) moves the faithful away from sin to service (Sanctification) and Social Justice.
Psalm 19
This is a hymn to God as Creator of nature and giver of the law. It has been traditionally attributed to David, though not likely written by the king. As we have previously noted, many scholars have concluded that references to David in the psalms may have been a way of using him to represent the inner life of all his subjects and so of all the faithful (Brevard Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture, p. 521). In that sense this song is about the praise the faithful give to the creating God. The sky and succession of days are said to praise God like a choir, and yet they cannot be heard (vv. 1-6). Parallelism (repeating the same point in different words), rather than rhyme, is employed poetically in these verses. The verses that follow may be a later addition, praising the revelation of God’s will in the Mosaic Law [torah] (vv. 7-10). The psalmist prays to avoid sin so he can be innocent [naqah] (vv. 12-13). This leads to the awareness that only with God’s grace can we keep the law. The psalmist concludes with the famous prayer that our words and meditation may be acceptable to Yahweh, our rock and redeemer [gaal] (v. 14).
Application: The text invites reflections on God’s goodness to us in nature (implying a sermon on ecology or the majesty of Creation or Providence) or in making possible that we can do his will (Sanctification).
OR
Psalm 80:7-15
This lesson is a prayer for deliverance. The psalm’s reference to the leader entails that instructions are being given to the director of temple musicians. The meaning of the direction to recite the psalm on Lilies is uncertain, but it may refer to a particular melody. The reference to the psalm as a covenant may also be translated “testimony.” Asaph, to whom the psalm is attributed, seems to have been one of the Jerusalem Temple’s worship leaders appointed by David (1 Chronicles 6:31-32, 39). The tribes mentioned in verse 2 may suggest that the psalm is a product of the Northern Kingdom (Israel).
The lesson begins with a plea for restoration by the God of hosts (v. 7), originally to be shepherd [raah] (v. 1). Israel is said to be a vine once carefully tended by God in Egypt and then sending out its branches (vv. 8-11). This latter point refers to Israel’s settlement in the Holy Land or to the extent of David’s empire. But the psalm continues to lament that now its walls have been broken down and are ravaged, the psalmist proclaims (vv. 12-13). The prayer for deliverance then commences (vv. 14-15).
Application: Sermons on the goodness of God to the faithful are most appropriate (Providence). But the psalm seems more clearly to invite sermons of assurance and deliverance in face of hard times (Sin, Justification by Grace, and Sanctification).
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
We have previously noted that like all of the first five books of the Old Testament, Exodus is the product of several distinct literary strands, all originating between the tenth and sixth centuries BC. The book is so named for the Greek term referring to the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. Its Hebrew name (meaning “These are the names”) refers to the first words of the text’s prologue. In this lesson we read the story of the giving of the Ten Commandments. This is likely the product of a combination of the J strand (the ninth/tenth-century BC oral tradition characterized by its use of the name Jahweh/Yahweh when speaking of God) and the E strand (an eighth-century BC oral tradition characterized by its use of the name Elohim when speaking of God). The editor bringing these oral traditions was then possibly the P strand (so named because it was the work of priests dating from the sixth century BC).
The prologue identifying God and what he has done (v. 2) summarized the previous chapter. In this sense the law and the historical narrative are related. We also find this happening in verse 11b, as the sabbath observance finds justification in the Lord resting from creation on the seventh day. The name Yahweh used in verse 2 may be significant. It means “I am who I am,” but can also be translated “he lets be” (i.e., creates) or “I will be who I will be.” This is a merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (34:6-7). Each commandment is explicated (vv. 3, 7-9, 12-17). People witness thunder and lightning, trumpets and a smoking mountain, so all tremble (v. 18). They ask Moses to speak but do not want to hear God, lest they die (v. 19). They are seeking a mediator, so they need not hear God’s Law directly. Moses gives reassurance, claiming that God has only come to test the people and put fear of him in them that they not sin (v. 20).
Application: A number of related sermon directions are opened by the text. It is good to be reminded that the law [torah] for the Jewish faith is not intended as a judgmental, condemnatory decree, but as instruction or guide for life (Leo Trepp, Judaism: Development and Life, p. 2). Thus the commandments could be proclaimed as guides to life. If this approach is employed it is well to direct the congregation to Psalm 19:12-13, which makes clear that the law can only be observed because God (grace) makes it possible. Other alternatives include an analysis of any of the commandments to make clear that we have failed to observe its demands (Sin). If this approach is taken the final word must be the First or Second Lesson’s message of forgiveness (Justification by Grace through Faith). Another possibility is to focus on the contemporary social issue implied by any of the commandments, noting how God wills justice on that theme (Social Ethics), again complemented by the hints of the need for God to bring this about in Psalm 19.
OR
Isaiah 5:1-7
The book is actually the product of two or three distinct literary traditions. The first 39 chapters are the work of the historical prophet who proclaimed a message to Jerusalem and the Southern Kingdom of Judah from 742 BC to 701 BC, a period during which the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been annexed by the Assyrian empire. Chapters 40-66 emerged in the later period immediately before the fall of Babylon (in 539 BC). In view of close stylistic similarities to chapters 40-55, a hypothesized third section (chapters 56-66) may have been written by Second Isaiah (author of the chapters from 40 on) or by one of his disciples. But the last eleven chapters begin at the conclusion of the Babylonian captivity and are likely written after the restoration of the exiled in Judah, expressing some disappointment about what has transpired since the exiles’ return.
This Complementary First Lesson is drawn from the historical prophet’s song of the vineyard, a didactic poem that may have been composed for a celebration of the Festival of Booths (a seven-day festival of harvest held in the fall) during the eighth-century BC king of Judah Jotham’s reign. It begins with the prophet asking to sing a love song for his beloved concerning the vineyard [kerem] he has planted (v. 1). He cleared the land well and expected it to yield grapes, but instead it yielded wild grapes (v. 2). Judah is asked to pass judgment on itself, as Yahweh asks why the vineyard planted has not yielded grapes (vv. 3-4). Yahweh says that he will remove the hedge around the vineyard; it will be devoured and made waste, overgrown with thorns (vv. 5-7). This vineyard is identified as Israel (cf. 27:2-6; Ezekiel 19:10-14), and the people of Judah are the Lord’s pleasant planting [neta]. He expected justice [mishpat, properly translated "judgment"] and righteousness [tsedeq], but instead saw bloodshed and heard cries (v. 7). We must keep in mind that to be righteous in Hebraic thinking is not so much a demand for morality as it is the expectation of being in right relation with God (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol. 1, p. 371). And likewise the ancient Hebrew term translated “justice” refers not so much to legal rubrics as to the faithful application of God’s will to daily living or when translated as “judgments” may connote a sense of comfort. There are clear similarities between this version of the First Lesson and the gospel.
Application: References to Israel’s faithlessness and failure to practice justice or offer comfort might be related to the faithlessness of the tenants in the Gospel Lesson, and their failure to practice justice toward the poor might entail a sermon stressing Social Ethics. Focusing on Sin and Justification by Grace is also a valid sermonic use of the text.
Philippians 3:4b-14
The lesson is part of a letter written by Paul while a prisoner to Christians in a province of Macedonia (present-day Greece). There is some debate about whether the epistle in its present form might be a combination of three separate letters (as early theologian Polycarp, Philippians, 2.3, spoke of Paul’s letters to this church). Its immediate occasion was to thank the Philippians for their gifts, by way of the return of Epaphroditus to Philippi (2:25-30) who had brought these gifts to Paul. His main purpose is to urge persistence in faith in face of opposition. This lesson is a warning that righteousness is not by the law and a confession of hope.
Paul first notes that if any Jew has reason to be confident in the things of the flesh it is him — circumcised, a member of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, righteous under the law, and a persecutor of the church (vv. 4b-6). Certainly Paul was also fluent in Hebrew (Acts 21:40). Whatever gains he had by these standards, they should be regarded as a loss in light of Christ (v. 7). Indeed, everything is loss in light of the surpassing value of knowing Christ. For his sake Paul says he now regards all this as rubbish [skubala] so that he can gain Christ, be found in him, not having a righteousness [dikaiosune] of his own from the law [nomos] but only the righteousness of God that comes through the faith of Christ based on faith [epi ta pistei] (vv. 8-9; Romans 3:20-27). This way of phrasing his point makes clear that Paul understood the righteousness of faith much as the Reformation traditions and Augustine have, not as our own characteristic but as a gift of God properly belonging to him since righteousness is about a proper relationship. Paul proceeds to add that he wants to know Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in death by attaining resurrection from the dead (vv. 10-11). The apostle adds that he has not obtained this already but is pressing on to make it his own, because Christ has made him his own (v. 12). He also observes that he does not consider yet to have made the life of faith he describes his own, but he presses on for the prize [brabeion] of the heavenly call of God in Christ (v. 14). The prize seems to be to share the glory of God (Romans 5:2).
Application: The text provides an excellent occasion to proclaim that we cannot earn salvation by works but only through the work of Christ (explaining the Pauline concept of Justification by Grace through Faith). Or this point could be made and then the sermon could move on to make clear that faith also leads us to identify with Christ and his sufferings, though not perfectly (Sanctification).
Matthew 21:33-46
We have previously noted that this gospel is an anonymous work based on oral traditions about Jesus (though traditionally attributed to Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples [9:9]). This book may well have been written in the last third of the first century in Antioch, for its Bishop Ignatius seems to quote it as early as 110 AD. That it is written in Greek seems to rule out the disciple as its author. This lesson is Jesus’ parable in the vineyard, sometimes called the parable of the wicked tenants (which has parallels in the other synoptic gospels [Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19]). Isaiah 5:1-7 seems to be in the background of this parable.
Jesus first tells of a landowner planting a vineyard putting a fence around it and building a watchtower. He then leased it to tenants (v. 33). When harvest time came the landowner sent slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. The tenants seized his slaves, beating one, killing one, and stoning another (vv. 34-35). Other slaves sent received the same treatment (v. 36). The slaves/servants [doulos] were the lowest social strata in the Roman empire, indentured servants ranking below the tenants. The slaves likely function here in the parable to signify prophets and the tenants the people of Israel. Then the landowner sends his son, feeling he will be respected. But the tenants (presumably representing Jewish leaders) kill him, feeling they can get his inheritance (vv. 37-39).
Jesus then asks the chief priests and Pharisees what will the owner of the vineyard do, and they claim that the tenants will be put to death and the produce given to other tenants (vv. 40-41). He asks if they had ever read scripture. He quotes Psalm 118:22-23, regarding the stone rejected by the builders becoming the cornerstone [kephalen gonias] (v. 42). In a passage unique to Matthew, Jesus adds that the kingdom will be taken away from them and given to people who produce fruits. The Jesus of this book adds that the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces (vv.43-44; cf. Isaiah 8:14). The chief priests and Pharisees hearing this are said to have realized that the parables were about them. Thus they wanted to arrest Jesus, but it is reported that they feared the crowds who regarded Jesus as a prophet [prophetes] (vv. 45-46; cf. 21:11).
Application: The text provides opportunities to proclaim the Atonement and so Justification by Grace but also Social Ethics (how the poor often best serve God and how good, decent tenants like us often fail to heed their claims and needs). Another possibility is to stress God’s surprising ways in Christ, how this text is a prophecy of how though rejected, Christ is now the cornerstone of faith.
