Proper 9 / Pentecost 5 / Ordinary Time 14, Cycle A
THEME OF THE DAY
Sinful but free and forgiven! The texts for this Sunday highlight how much God’s grace provides (Justification by Grace), though it is totally undeserved (Sin).
Psalm 45:10-17
This Psalm is part of an ode for a royal wedding. The author (of the Korahites) is identified as a professional writer, presumably a court poet or singer (see 2 Chronicles 20:19). It is said to be a Maskil, which is an artful song, presumably written by a professional. Reference to the song being according to lilies [shoshanim] is uncertain, but it may refer to a particular melody.
Following praise of the king (vv. 1-9), the queen, who seems to be Phoenician (given the reference to Tyre), is instructed to forget her heritage and to be loyal to her husband (vv. 10-12). The wedding procession is then described (vv. 13b-15). The king is promised progeny and fame (vv. 16-17).
Application: Sermons on this text could be developed focusing on the joy marriage can provide in celebrations and through progeny (Sanctification). Or the text might be read Christologically (v. 6 invites this in claiming that the king’s throne is forever), as referring to the faithful’s union with Christ. Also noteworthy is that the bride of this king (a figure for Christian faithful) was a Gentile. The message seems to be that in faith, as we give away all we have (our roots) in order to be loyal to Christ and him alone (in faith), blessings follow (Justification by Grace and renouncing Sin).
OR
Psalm 145:8-14
A hymn (attributed to David, and so intended as a song 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]) on the characteristics of the God of Israel. Since it is not a lament, this Psalm is also probably not a part of the original collection of Psalms of David (140-143) in book 5 of the Psalms. The hymn is acrostic, with each new verse beginning with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet. God’s steadfast love and mercy [chesed, literally "loving kindness"] is extolled, along with his goodness [tub] and his mercies [rachamim] over all his works (vv. 8-9). All works will give Yahweh thanks and the faithful will bless him (v. 10). The faithful shall speak of his glory, making known his mighty deeds (vv. 11-12). God’s kingdom is proclaimed as everlasting. He is said to raise up [zaqaph] all who have fallen down (vv. 13-14).
Application: The Psalm invites sermons singing praises of God’s love and care for all in all his works (God, Providence, Justification by Grace), which in turn invites our praise (Sanctification and Worship). In verse 7 these traits are linked to God’s righteousness [tsadeq, or in this case the adjectival form tsaddiq]. This opens the way to make clear that even in the Old Testament the concept of righteousness is not about distributive justice but has to do with relationships (Nehemiah 9:8; Isaiah 57:1; Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol. 1, p. 371). This is the way New Testament scholarship tends to understand the concept (Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, Vol. 1, p. 371). And so God is righteous in his compassionate work of restoring right relationships with us.
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
We continue reading from the Bible’s Book of Origins (the reason why we name it Genesis). We have previously noted that it is the product of four distinct oral strands. This lesson, the story of finding a wife for Isaac, is likely written by J (a ninth/tenth century BC source so named for its use of the name Jahweh or Yahweh). The story beings with Abraham’s servant eating at the home of Bethuel, the father of Rebekah, a distant relative of Abraham, whom the servant had met at a well (vv. 10-33). The servant explains that he is the servant of Abraham whom the Lord has blessed with significant wealth (vv. 34-35). He speaks of Sarah bearing Abraham a son who will inherit all Abraham has. The servant has been commissioned to find a wife for the son, one who is not Canaanite but from Abraham’s land of origin (vv. 36-38).
The servant next recounts his coming to the spring and asking the God of Abraham to send a young woman to the site whom he may ask for water, and to let the woman be the one appointed to be the bride of Abraham’s son (vv. 42-44). He reports his meeting Rebekah at the well, receiving the water from her as he had prayed, and learning that she was the daughter of Bethuel. The servant then placed a ring on her nose and bracelets on her arms (vv. 45-47). He then worshiped Yahweh, Abraham’s God, who had led him to a daughter of Abraham’s kin, and asked if he would deal loyally [chesed, a kindness beyond measure] with his master (vv. 48-49).
The lesson omits negotiations between the servant and Bethuel about Rebekah accompanying him on a return to Abraham (vv. 50-57). Rebekah’s wishes in the matter are sought, and she agrees to go with Abraham’s servant (vv. 58-59). They give her a blessing that her offspring may prosper (v. 60). Isaac had settled in the Negeb desert, 100 miles south of modern Jerusalem. (He had come from Beer-lahai-roi, the site where Ishmael’s birth to Hagar had been announced [16:4].) He saw the camels of the caravan including Rebekah coming. Rebekah sees him and wonders who he is. When the servant reports, she veils herself (vv. 62-65). (The reason for this action on her part is much disputed among Old Testament scholars, but there seems to have been an association of wearing a veil and the intention to marry, like today’s wedding gowns still often include veils.) The servant reports to Isaac, and he takes Rebekah to Sarah’s tent to become his wife (vv. 66-67).
Application: Several possibilities for sermons emerge. Opportunities are afforded for sermons on the virtues of marriage and its importance for the broader society (how it is God’s will). The importance of Rebekah’s consent is a reminder of the respect shown women in the Judeo-Christian heritage by comparison to other religious options in the ancient world. The servant’s confession of faith regarding God’s loyal dealings (his kindness beyond measure) (v. 49) could become the basis for sermons on this loyalty and divine kindness (Justification by Grace and Providence).
OR
Zechariah 9:9-12
We turn in this Sunday’s Complementary Version of the First Lesson to a book written in two parts, the first half written by a sixth-century BC prophet and the second half (from which this lesson is taken) a work of the third or fourth century BC era of Greek domination of Israel. After a discussion of the shattering of Israel’s enemies foreshadowing the Messianic Era (vv. 1-8), a psalm on the Prince of Peace and the ingathering of the dispersed Israelites is offered.
Daughters of Jerusalem and Zion are urged to rejoice and shout, for the king comes triumphant and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey (v. 9) (which may imply his peaceful intentions). He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, the war horse from Jerusalem, commanding peace among the nations (v. 10). The Lord promises the people of Judah that because of the blood [dam] of his covenant [berith, the term used for the covenant with Abraham and David] with them he will set the prisoners free from the waterless pit [bor, which here may refer to dungeons, as in Genesis 37:28] (v. 11). A double restoration of what they had is promised (v. 12).
Application: Reading this lesson prophetically is invited by the obvious reference to the messianic themes in the first verses of the chapter and also the obvious foreshadowing of Jesus entering Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. As a result sermons on Jesus as Prince of Peace and what the peace he brings is seem most appropriate (Christology, Atonement, Social Ethics). [The Hebrew term for peace is shalom, and it conveys not just a state in which there is no combat, but a state of well-being and thriving, of social justice (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol. 1, p. 130).] The reference in the text to the king who will set the prisoners free is in line with this image for society and how Christ uplifts the oppressed and sets free.
Romans 7:15-25a
In Paul’s introduction to Christians in Rome (written between 54 and 58 AD) in this text, we encounter a description of the inner conflict of the Christian, offering a word of despair and good news of the release that Christians experience. This follows Paul’s primary discussion of sin. The apostle claims not to understand his own actions, for he does not do what he wants but what he hates (v. 15). Agreeing that the law is good, he notes that sin [hamartia] lives in him (vv. 15-16). Nothing good dwells in him (his flesh [sarx]; this is not a reference to our physical nature as created by God but the reality that we are totally ruled by sin). He says he can will what is right, but he cannot do it (v. 18). No longer are his deeds his own, he adds, but sin that dwells in him (vv. 17, 20). He does not do the good [agathos] he wants, but the evil he does not want he does (v. 19).
Paul says that he finds that when he wants to do good, evil lies close by (v. 21). In his innermost [eso] self he delights in God’s law (v. 22), but war within himself transpires, making him captive to the law of sin living in him (v. 23). (This concept of life as a struggle with evil is evidenced in the literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Manual of Discipline, iii, 13 – iv, 26.) He laments his wretchedness, pleading rescue from his body [soma] of death (v. 24). He offers thanks to God through Christ (v. 25a).
Application: The text affords excellent opportunities to explicate the doctrine of Original Sin, to help people appreciate how they are trapped in sin. Related possibilities include the proclamation of the freedom from the commandments as vehicles of salvation and good news of forgiveness (Justification by Grace) or that we ever remain in a struggle with sin (Sanctification and the Christian as simultaneously saint and sinner).
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Addressing an original audience that was probably Jewish Christians no longer in full communion with Judaism (see 24:20), the Matthean author finds it important to assert Jesus’ authority and his status as wisdom. The lesson begins with Jesus speaking to the crowds, comparing his generation to children sitting in marketplaces who call to each other about wailing but not mourning, playing music but not dancing (vv. 16-17). They are faithless and corrupt. He notes that John the Baptist was criticized for his austerity, but the Son of Man [huios tou anthropos] for eating is called a glutton and friend of sinners. (While for Mark “Son of Man” implies Jesus’ lowliness, it is a title for Matthew identical with “Son of God” [Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Matthew, pp. 336, 340].) Wisdom [Sophia] is vindicated by her deeds, he adds (vv. 18-19).
Jesus proceeds to thank the Father for hiding the Day of Judgment, to which he had previously referred, from the wise, but not from infants [napios] (v. 25; vv. 22-24). (Matthew’s gospel uses this term to refer to followers of Jesus.) Jesus speaks of what is pleasing [eukokia] to the Father. All things have been handed over to Jesus by the Father. No one knows the Son, he adds, except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him (vv. 25-27). Jesus then urges those weary with heavy burdens to come to him for rest (v. 28). If they take his yoke [zugos, probably the yoke of the law, a rabbinic metaphor], they will find rest. For he is gentle and humble of heart, with an easy yoke and light burdens (vv. 29-30).
In these remarks (most of them unique to this gospel), the Matthean author is identifying Jesus with wisdom (from a Jewish perspective the personification of ancient practical insights for coping with life and from a more theoretical construal from a Greek perspective as the personification of reason). The verses in question have close parallels to the Apochryphal book of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 51.
Application: The text affords opportunity to reflect on our social aberrations (how like in Jesus’ day we express emotions but do not really feel anything, plan lots of entertainments but do not really have much fun). But then we need to proclaim how Jesus makes our burdens light and has withdrawn the Day of Judgment (Justification by Grace). Or we might focus on Christology and Sanctification, how he embodies wisdom (in the sense of divinity or in the sense of embodying the practical knowledge about how to live [Sanctification]).
