August 29, 2021 Prophets – “2nd Isaiah”

             If you’ve heard the sermons we’ve had throughout this series on the prophets you surely recognize that what we read today (Isaiah 40) is totally different.  The prophets have all been harshly critical.  They condemn the people up one side and down the other. 

The people are criticized for:

following false gods,

ignoring needs of others,

manipulating economic systems,

not trusting God,

not following God’s laws,

thinking they can get away with things,

being lazy

and on and on. 

All of the prophets seem to be saying that God is frustrated, mad, disgusted; and ready to do the people in because they deserve it.  Even a prophet like Jonah, if understood as a satire, is a judgment against the Israelites.

And then there is Isaiah 40.  “Comfort, O Comfort my people says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her time, that her penalty is paid…”  What’s happened!?!  This is gentleness, kindness, and mercy.

What’s happened is the fall of Jerusalem, the burning of the temple, and the exile of the Jews to Babylon.  Last week we talked about how the book of Isaiah appears to come from three different time periods and from more than one author.  “Isaiah of Jerusalem” is the man behind it all, but all of his original work is in the first 39 chapters.  Isaiah lived in the 8^th century B.C.E. during a troubling time as the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians. 

What we read today is the beginning of what is often called 2^nd Isaiah.  Many of the same thoughts and themes from the original Isaiah are continued but the time is more than a century later.  Internal evidence suggests that 2^nd Isaiah, which is chapters 40-55, is written between the years 545 and 539 B.C.E. by an anonymous Jew living in the city of Babylon. 

An amazing thing happened to the Jewish faith when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 587 B.C.E.  You’d think that when the Babylonian conquest basically nullified ALL of the promises that God had made to the Jews that they would have lost their faith.  How could it have happened?  God must have been too weak to follow through on the promises, or maybe God had lied; or maybe God didn’t even exist and all of their faith had been foolish beliefs.   Whatever they were feeling, everything suggests they should have abandoned their faith.  That exact thing happened to every other nation and religion when they were conquered.  How many ancient near eastern religions can you list?  Unless you’re a bronze/iron age scholar I’m guessing you can name zero.  That’s because they’re all extinct!  But not Judaism.

Instead of falling apart or fading away, the total loss of everything strengthened them.  And instead of seeing God as weaker it’s like their eyes were opened to realize God was stronger than they had ever thought.  Indeed, the most ancient Jewish writings show that they believed there was only one God.  And that God was the creator.  And that God was all powerful.  But they do not seem to have recognized that God was so great and so powerful that God was absolutely beyond all human comprehension.

For centuries the prophets had warned that they might be destroyed.  And for centuries their words were ignored.  But now it had happened.  And instead of dying out, hope for restoration was sprouting. 

Isaiah 40 is among the warmest texts in the Bible.  It is easy to feel that.  But it is also a text rich with subtle meanings and I don’t want us to miss them.  Let’s get more of the context to appreciate it. 

In verse 3 we read, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low.”  These words lead to scenes that are grand in our imagination.  But let’s remember that behind this imagery are the roads especially prepared by the Babylonians for the festive processionals of their gods.  That the road is in the desert means that it will extend across the desert from Babylon back to Judah, specifically Jerusalem.  The whole nation will travel this grand highway; the glory of the Lord along with them.

In verses 6-8 we read, “A voice says , “Cry out!”  And I said, “What shall I cry?”  All the people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field…”  The voice is God’s eternally reliable voice speaking out across the transitoriness of human existence.  God has been.  God is.  And God will be forever.  The Jewish people are part of something VERY big!  We are too.  We need to remember that as our lives often appear to be so small and insignificant.

In verse 9 we find, “O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings.”  Jerusalem is to be the center announcing the good news of God’s return to the rest of the cities of Judah, and to the whole world.

Verse 11 is a cultural slam on Babylon.  When we read, “He will feed his flock like a shepherd…” we think Christian imagery of God as a shepherd, which is also ancient Israeli imagery of God or the king as a shepherd.  But listen as the text goes on in verse 11, “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.”  Sweet images, but again, actually a slam on Babylon.  The Code of Hammurabi is the oldest significant writing in existence from the ancient near east.  Sure, there are lots of fragments of writing, but the Code of Hammurabi is the oldest that is sizeable, pretty complete – like you’ve got the whole thing.  And the Code of Hammurabi is Babylonian.  Several of the Old Testament authors show they are aware of it.  2^nd Isaiah among them.  Isaiah 40 picks up on it and kind of makes fun of it.  In the Code of Hammurabi, Babylonian King Hammurabi describes himself as the beneficent shepherd and says, “In my bosom I carried the peoples of the land of Sumer and Akkad.”  (Code of Hammurabi, Prologue)

So, you see how the Babylonians -who are about to be conquered- saw themselves as a great cradle and caretaker of civilization.  Funny thing Isaiah 40 points out - it is really the God of the conquered Jews who is the true caretaker.

Isaiah 40 also uses rhetorical questions to express God’s grandeur:

“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand…?” (vs. 12)

“Who has directed the spirit of the Lord…?” (vs. 13)

“Whom did he consult for his enlightenment…?”  (vs. 14)

“Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?”  (vs. 14b)

And it goes on,

“To whom then will you liken God?” (vs. 18)

And, “To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal?” (vs. 25)

            Isaiah 40 expresses that God is beyond human understanding.  Our imagination just cannot grasp the fullness of God.  Our Creator is simply beyond us.  Even the best philosophy, or sociology, or scientific thought, or whatever discoveries or developments we humans ever come up with, are still limited by the limits of the human mind.  But God is simply bigger.  God is more.

            The ancient Jews suffered the loss of all things.  And in so doing they discovered just how big and majestic God is.  They discovered just how dependable God was and how safely they were in God’s care.  That’s learning things the hard way, but it was a big thing to learn!

            I know that when all seems lost, or when we are hurting without hope, all of what we learn from Isaiah 40 is hard to believe.  But remember, it comes to us precisely from the perspective of all being lost.  God sees.  God knows.  God cares.  God will carry us through all things, and do things through us.

 

August 22, 2021 Prophets – “1st Isaiah”

An old prayer, but still a very good prayer, to say at the start of every day is, “Show me how to live in a manner worthy of your holy name.”  Saying that puts the day in the perspective of serving God, having humility, and recognizing that we are ambassadors for God’s kingdom in this world.  We want to live in a way that honors it – both so that what people see us do is honoring God, and also that our choices and decisions are in keeping with God’s will for creation.  We don’t want to contribute to the abuse or exploitation of other people or the world. 

Well, doing the first part of that – living so that what people see us do is honoring God – isn’t all that hard.  (Even many a scoundrel shows a wonderful side in public!)  However, the second part – choices and decisions in keeping with God’s will for creation – is something where Isaiah’s words challenge us deeply. 

The book of Isaiah gives us the messages of the 8^th century B.C.E. prophet Isaiah.  It is also a lot more.  Biblical scholars break it into three parts.  1^st Isaiah includes the original Isaiah’s work and it is chapters 1-39.  Second Isaiah is 40-55.  It was created about 150 years later during the Babylonian exile.  Third Isaiah is 56-66 and was written after the return from exile.  There are also many signs of editing and compiling.  Ferreting out all the sources and edits is complicated!  We’ll leave that to the biblical scholars.  For today we look at the themes of the original Isaiah. 

Isaiah was from Jerusalem and appears to have been well recognized as a prophet.  He had the ear and the respect of many powerful people.  He may have even been on the government payroll.  His messages are directed more at the leadership than at the everyday citizen.  You’d expect Isaiah to tweak his messages to suit the ears of his elite hearers.  In other words,  tell them what they want to hear.  But that is not the case.  His words are to them are harsh. 

Our first reading from Isaiah 6 says, “In the year that King Uzziah died…”  That puts us at the year 738 B.C.E.  Uzziah was a considered to be a relatively good king of the southern kingdom of Judah.  He was a good military leader, had good domestic policies, and was apparently relatively faithful.  While there was a peaceful transition of power to his son Jotham, the future was uncertain.  The Assyrian Empire was growing in power and flexing its muscles.  Sixteen years after Isaiah’s vision the northern kingdom of Israel does in fact fall to the Assyrians.

At the best of times the kings of Judah, Israel, and the other small nations around them, like: Philistia, Moab, Ammon, and Edom, had a tough time of it.  Even if they were to all join forces they were no match for the Assyrians or Egyptians; and later the Babylonians.  From a strategic perspective, being the leader of these little nation states meant doing a delicate dance with the surrounding empires.  Which were you going to pay homage to?  Which was most likely to come to your aid against the others?  Loyalties switched often.  Prophets like Isaiah said the kings should trust solely in God and not make political alliances for survival. 

Isaiah’s message is that God has promised to the Jewish people:

that they are forever the chosen people,

Jerusalem was God’s chosen city,

that the temple was God’s chosen dwelling,

and that the blood line of David would rule in Jerusalem forever.

            They should therefore live in absolute and unswerving trust in those promises.  God would take care of them.  Just be faithful.

At the same time, however, Isaiah says these promises are not to be exploited.  Faithlessness and corruption from the people (especially the religious/political leaders) could become so foul and disgusting that God would leave; or allow punishment to happen, or perhaps directly cause punishment.  In other words, God would not accept having his power and promises exploited even by the “chosen people”.

            Our first Bible reading today was Isaiah 6.  That chapter begins with the call story of Isaiah.  It’s the scene with God in the temple and there is noise and smoke and supernatural beings flying around.  Isaiah doesn’t feel worthy, but God has him cleansed to carry his message. 

Many people are familiar with that vivid scene.  What many people are not familiar with is message, which is the second half of the chapter.  That message is harsh and troubling.  What could be meant when God says, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’  Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.”

            Why oh why would God say this?  It almost seems that God is looking for an excuse to bring about destruction and doesn’t want to have any guilt or complicating factors.

            I could keep us here for an hour more and delve into it more completely but I won’t.  (Indeed our ears will go deaf and our minds will become full!)        Let’s just cut to the chase.  What’s going on?  Perhaps a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers is in order.  He was once asked what was wrong with the world.  “I don’t know,” he said with his slow drawl, “I guess it’s people.”  And that’s just it! 

            People are hopelessly stubborn about some things! 

God created humans to be in community with each other and in partnership with God in the creation.  Everyone was to be equal and all were to look out for the good of each other.  That is God’s design.

            But Adam and Eve weren’t satisfied, were they?  We’re back to their story again!  They don’t trust God’s designs.  They take matters into their own hands.

            The people of Isaiah’s day, and we too, are very willing to embrace the idea that we are not all even.  We decide that some are smarter and some are more talented and some are prettier and on and on goes the list.  We elevate some and reduce others.  We care about some and not others.  And, we easily live for ourselves and look to our own interests.

            An often overlooked part of the Old Testament is the economy God gives the people.  It guaranteed evenness.  It guaranteed that there would never be a permanently poor class.  At the same time there was no welfare system!  It was impossible for dynamics to form where some got richer at the expense of others.  We’ve talked about this before.  The economy was rooted in the idea that farm and pastureland could never be permanently sold out of a family.  And every family was allotted land.  Every family was guaranteed the ability to provide for itself in perpetuity.  But that economy was never implemented.

            What happened instead?  We had Isaiah 1:12-20 as our scripture poetry today.  There God is condemning the wealthy and powerful.  He is saying he does not want their offerings and sacrifices.  God does not want their so-called piety.  Why?  Because their offerings are coming at the expense of the vulnerable.  God does not want offerings that come by oppressing people!  God finds that disgusting!

            What does God really want?  It is verse 17, “…learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”

            Those are all wonderful ideas.  They sound sweet.  But did they do that?  Do we?  I suspect only when it’s convenient!  Their minds -and ours- easily get caught elsewhere; in other things that sound good but are really self-focused – things like: social image and acceptance, investing for retirement, insuring possessions, protecting wealth.  These aren’t necessarily bad things in and of themselves, but they easily become our central priority.  They become the driving thought in our lives.

            What was that prayer we started with?  “Show me how to live in a manner worthy of your holy name.”

God says to the Jews through Isaiah that their focus should be on making sure all have opportunities.  They are to seek true justice, not pervert justice.  Their focus should be on the whole of society, not their own individual needs and wants and desires.

            The complex global economy of which we are a part has many winners and losers.  In its complexity the true costs of things are often hidden from those who are the winners – which keeps them from feeling bad about themselves. 

We’ve talked about this in the past and I’m not going to go into the whole thing, but it’s the old idea of, “out of sight, out of mind.” 

For most of us our lives are made possible by buying pre-packaged pretty things from retail shelves.  That goes for food or clothing or electronic goods and just about everything else.  Clean hot and cold water shows up almost magically from the faucet.  Our houses are heated, air conditioned, and made comfortable otherwise; yet none of the infrastructure of the factories, water and sewage treatment plants, landfills, or anything else are anywhere in sight.  “Out of sight.  Out of mind.”  What did God tell Isaiah?  Make their minds dull, their ears deaf and their eyes blind.  The truth is right there but our ears are deaf and our eyes are blind.  

It is very easy to be guilty of the sins that Isaiah points out.  We all sin.  We just sin in socially acceptable ways.

            You cannot go into Eastview Mall, or Target, or Walmart, or Tops, or Wegmans, or Aldi, or you name it, and not find yourself surrounded by items made by the global exploitation of people and resources.

“Show me how to live in a manner worthy of your holy name.”  That’s tough. 

            The message from God that Isaiah brings stings and stings badly.  I don’t want to sound like I’m taking any political side or point of view.  Isaiah’s message stings Republicans and Democrats and independents alike.  If you do not feel guilty then I am not conveying his message properly.  Isaiah just makes us feel bad.

            Fortunately God is deeply forgiving.  But let us not become complacent.  And let us not pat ourselves on the back for righteousness we think we have but really don’t.  The almighty and all powerful God Isaiah describes can be trusted to hold us secure.  That is the trust Isaiah is calling on people of that day to have.  And it is the same radical trust Isaiah calls us to have.  For when that trust is there at the core everything else will fall into place.  Then we can truly pray: “Show me how to live in a manner worthy of your holy name.”

August 15, 2021 Prophets - Jonah

No one knows exactly what to make of the prophet Jonah. When I was a little kid I thought Jonah was a historical story - that Jonah tried to run away from God and was then eaten by a big fish, where he stayed for three days and three nights. You may have gotten the same idea. The problem is that people don't revisit Jonah from an adult perspective. While some do insist that Jonah is history, most do not. Commentators as far back as 1000 years question its historicity. Martin Luther didn't think it was a true story but rather something else. The question is, what else?

Is Jonah a satire, or maybe folklore, or midrash, or maybe something else? No matter which approach you take you'll run into problems. I personally find that I get the most from Jonah when I treat it as a satire. It plays on exaggeration and silliness. That is the approach we will take in today's sermon. However, I want to note that Jonah does wor on many levels. I always encourage people to read the Bible, and read it over and over again. Approach Jonah from many perspectives on your own. You'll find it worth it!

Jonah is the story of a reluctant prophet. Or maybe I should say it is the story of a stubborn prophet and an even more stubborn God! No matter what Jonah tries he loses,… and God wins!

The story starts off with God calling Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians are enemies of the Jews. If you were here last week when we looked at Nahum you have a pretty good sense of what the Jews wanted to see happen to Nineveh. Jonah does not want God to be merciful to his enemies. So in verse 2 God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh. In verse 3 we learn that heads towards Tarshish instead. Tarshish is not only the exact opposite direction it is about as far in the opposite direction you could go. Tarshish is in modern day Spain; the edge of the known world in Jonah’s day!

Don’t get the idea that Jonah thinks he can actually escape God’s presence when we read, “But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” No, Jonah’s just decided that he’s going to make it impossible for God to carry our God’s plans through him.

But of course God can be just as stubborn as Jonah!

As soon as Jonah tries to get away God upends his plans. It’s in verse 4 (just four verses into the story!) that God sends a storm against the ship. It threatens to break up. The sailors cry to their gods with no avail. They throw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. This could also be an act of trying to appease their sea gods by dumping the cargo as an offering.

Whatever the case, Jonah is below deck and asleep through the calamity! The captain implores Jonah to get up and call on his god.

Does Jonah obey? Nope. He’d rather let the ship sink and its whole crew die along with him than to obey God.

The sailors cast lots to determine who’s at fault for the storm. While we consider dice to be random in those days that is not what they believed. When they wanted to know something from the gods they would throw dice or do some act of randomness, which was seen as a way to let the supernatural forces intervene with an answer. In other words, the gods would make the dice come up with the answer. The lot falls on Jonah. They examine him and discover that he is a Hebrew fleeing the God of the Hebrews.

The sailors are scared but they are unwilling to do what Jonah says; which is to throw him overboard.

Notice how absolutely stubborn Jonah is about not going to Nineveh. He’s saying he’d rather die than to bring God’s message to the enemies. Jonah is absolutely determined that God’s plans for mercy to Nineveh will be thwarted.

Reluctantly though, the sailors chuck Jonah overboard. It’s an interesting aside that these sailors decide to worship the Hebrew God after they chuck Jonah overboard. Notice that Jonah is spreading the word of God whether he wants to or not!

So, it looks like Jonah is going to drown. God is going to have to come up with someone else to take a message to Nineveh. But God is not about to quit! Jonah’s going to Nineveh! God provides a large fish to swallow up Jonah. Jonah spends three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. Scholars debate as to whether the time period has any symbolic meaning. Who knows, but it apparently gives Jonah some time to reflect.

Jonah 2 is quite a pietistic prayer. Like other parts of Jonah, there are many possible ways to interpret it. One way I like to take it – and I’m sure it is a very valid way to take it – is to see it as a prayer of someone in crisis.

How many times have you cried out to God in a time of crisis? Your faith becomes sharp and central to your life. The situation is out of your control and you turn to the only place that you can. Maybe you make promises to God. Then what happens when the crisis is over? What happens when life goes back to normal? What happens when you feel like things are back under your control? What happens to your piety? It slips. You feel like you don’t need God and you go back to your routines.

The story is spoofing that tendency among us. What happens when the crisis is past? Does Jonah become a pious and faith-filled man? Does Jonah’s faith improve? Nope. Not one bit.

I love the way the story says the great fish “spews” or “vomits” Jonah up upon the dry land. Apparently Jonah gave the fish a tummy ache! Now just picture Jonah – he’s spent three days being digested in a fish and now he, and all the contents of the fish’s stomach, have been spewed up on the land. I think a shower is in order!

God’s word comes to Jonah a second time. Go to Nineveh!

In Jonah’s greatest act of obedience in the entire story he give in and goes to Nineveh! But is he going to embrace the task God has set for him? Is he going to put his heart into it?

Nineveh is described in highly exaggerated terms. It is said to be exceedingly large – a three days’ walk across! No city in the ancient world was so big. As the story goes on we realize that everything about the Ninevites will be very exaggerated.

Does Jonah go to the city center, or to the king, or to a religious leader, or to any official with his message from God? Nope. And given what we know of Jonah thus far that shouldn’t surprise us!

Jonah goes one day in. I imagine him in a non-descript ordinary residential street. There are a few people milling around but that’s it. It’s not a public square or market. It’s no place significant. It is as if Jonah is saying to God, “Fine, I’m here. I’ll do what you said,” but we know he’s going to passive-aggressively undermine God at every chance he gets. Jonah’s entire prophetic message to the Ninevites is one single sentence, which he also says one and only one time. “Forty days mor, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

That’s it. That’s all he says. He does not list their sins. He does not say what they’ve done wrong. He does not say how they’ve upset God. He does not say how the predicted destruction would happen. He does not say what they must do or change to prevent the destruction.

Contrast him with the prophets we’ve met thus far in this summer series. The other prophets give warnings repeatedly. They give threats. They give promises. They beg people. Do the people ever change? And consider this, most of the prophets direct their messages to the Jews. These are insiders. These are people who have grown up knowing about God’s will and power. They have every reason to know and to respond. But do they change? In all of the prophets that we have read have there been any hints at all that the people listened to the messengers God sent them and then repented and changed their ways? No. In every case the prophets could yell themselves hoarse and nothing would happen.

How about the Ninevites? How about these foreigners who have no knowledge or respect for the God of the Hebrews. Are they even all that smart? The very last verse of Jonah says that the Ninevites are so hopelessly ignorant that they can’t tell left from right. That’s not a statement about dyslexia. That’s a slam against them. The Ninevites don’t have the intellectual capacity to know the difference between left and right. It’s a racial insult!

How do these hopelessly inept foreigners respond to a prophet of God when that prophet walks to a non-descript street in their capital and says one simple line one time? “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

They immediately respond! Their response is absolute. Somehow the king finds out about this obscure message given on a side street and he calls for city-wide repentance. Every person covers him or herself in sackcloth and ashes. But human repentance isn’t enough. No, the king commands that the animals also be covered in sackcloth. Imagine fitting out the cows, the sheep, the dogs, the cats, and even the chickens of the city for sackcloth!

The Ninevites, despite the dig of their hopeless ineptness, completely and totally change their ways instantaneously!!!
Jonah is not pleased. Like a whiney child he says to God that he knew this would happen. He wanted to see revenge upon his enemies. Instead his enemies have not only received God’s mercy but proven to be more faithful than his own people.

Stubborn Jonah sulks and then goes out to wait and watch. Surely destruction will come. This repentance cannot really be happening.

God asks Jonah if it is right for him to be so angry. And remember that earlier in the story Jonah showed that he would rather die than bear God’s message to Nineveh? Now Jonah says he wants to die.

God is now kind to Jonah. Despite Jonah’s childish temper tantrum God provides a bush to give him shade. Jonah is happy. He can now sulk and hope for revenge in comfort. But then God appoints a worm to attack the bush and it dies. Jonah cries out that it’s unfair. Again, there’s a temper tantrum that he wants to die.

Jonah, God’s chosen messenger, does not want mercy. He doesn’t want God’s mercy for his enemies, and he doesn’t even want God’s mercy for himself!

Jonah is as stubborn as you can get. God is even more stubborn!

Sometimes we fear that we may not be able to carry out God’s will. Or we fear that we may not know what it is, and thus waste time in fruitless or irrelevant activities. Jonah is a satire, yes, but it carries a solid message. God is going to get done what God wants to get done whether you like it or not. You can try to thwart God at every turn. But God is in charge.

And so laugh at Jonah. But also learn from him. Take delight in his stubbornness. But take even more delight in God’s stubbornness. It is a stubbornness that will not let go of you and will never ever give up on you. That is true mercy. That is true grace!

Afghanistan Reflections

The situation in Afghanistan has been interupting my thoughts a lot these last several days.  When I go to bed at night I can't help thinking that when the sun rises I will be living in a place that is stable and secure.  My house will still be standing.  My family and friends will be safe.  My retirement savings will still be in place, etc.  However, that is not the case for many people in Afghanistan (especially women and girls).  Their world is being upended.  They do not have any safe place to go.  They cannot escape.  All that they have worked hard for is under threat.

I ask myself the same question millions of people are asking: after 20 years of NATO military operations, the training of a 300,000 strong Afghan army, and something like 2 trillion dollars invested, how could it all collapse so fast?

I don't pretend to be an expert in these matters.  Recent news reports have been pointing to a long standing problem.  It is one that has been largely overlooked by the American press, but it should have had more light all along.  It is the problem of corruption.  As you may know, St. John's has some connections with the Amin-Arsala family, who have held leadership roles in Afghanistan.  Hedayat Amin Arsala was a vice-president of Afghanistan from 2002-2004.  His son, Salahudein, works for the World Bank and served as head of the country's customs department.  Salahudein was at St. John's in 2018 and I had a chance to talk to him.  He shared that corruption was widespread and very deep.  He was working hard to correct it but having little success.  He shared that resources would pour into Afghanistan and then disappear.  Though he didn't say it outright, it seems that so many people (inside and outside of the country) were benefitting from the corruption that there was little interest in getting to the bottom of it.  Ultimately Afghanistan was at the mercy of international dynamics that cared little for its actual success.

While I want to say I am a proud and devoted American, if our government was inept and hopelessly corrupt it would be hard to be willing to lay down my life for it.  I can understand why the Afghan army didn't offer much resistance.

Please keep the people of Afghanistan in your prayers.  They are facing a very difficult future.  Many of their hopes and dreams have been crushed.  No one knows what their future holds.  I pray that God will give them hope for the future, and open their eyes to possibilities.

And when you go to bed at night be sure to be thankful that you do not fear that the world will have been upended when the sun rises.

August 8, 2021 Prophets – Nahum

(In worship this was an introduction given before the reading of Nahum 3) 

    Nahum is a troubling book.  It is the sort of book that should have a content warning on it.  No part of Nahum shows up in the Revised Common Lectionary the series of Bible readings many churches use for Bible readings for worship.

Nahum comes from late in the 7^th century B.C.E.  It is a pronouncement against the city of Nineveh, which was the capital of the Assyrian Empire.  You may remember from previous weeks that it was the Assyrians who conquered and destroyed the northing kingdom of Israel in the 8^th century B.C.E.  Only tiny Judah to the south was left.

Late in the 7^th century Assyria was waning.  The growing Babylonian Empire was threatening it.  Indeed in 612 B.C.E. Babylon conquered Nineveh and effectively ended the Assyrian Empire.  This is the event Nahum’s prophesy is about.

We often think of the middle east as an unstable place.  These days there seems to be endless terrorism and war.  When I speak about it in sermons I fear I give the sense that empires regularly rose and fell.  But I shouldn’t do that.  That is a mistake.  A nation or empire often lasted hundreds of years.  Some of the nations were stable and even existed for many centuries.  Egypt was one of them.  And so was Assyria.

The origins of the Assyrian empire are unknown.  It appears to have emerged around 2500 B.C.E. as one of the earliest stable agrarian societies that ever formed.  Its territory was along the Tigris river in modern day Iraq.  Babylon formed downstream to the southeast. 

Over the centuries it had its ups and downs, but it was a relatively stable nation that lasted for almost 2000 years!  For its last few centuries of existence Assyria began to expand solidly.  Their military was powerful.  Apparently it could also be brutal and merciless.  The harsh words we will hear from Nahum have that brutality as a context, although that does not necessarily make what Nahum says a right reflection of God’s nature. 

Commentator Francisco Garcia-Treto says this in the New Interpreter’s Bible:

“How can we celebrate, as Nahum seems to suggest, the wholesale destruction of human life as an act of God?

“In like manner, Nahum’s reflection of patriarchal attitudes toward women, current in his society, particularly in the abhorrent picture of God’s humiliating and abusing Nineveh as a prostitute, present serious problems to our religious sensitivity…” 

[Remember, in Nahum’s day a woman’s sexuality was totally controlled by her father or husband.  Therefore, as we will read Nahum’s prostitution imagery that’s the context.  The image is of a woman whose sexuality is not controlled by an established authority.  She is a dangerous uncontrolled temptress who is the opposite of good.]

Garcia-Treto continues, “To read the book of Nahum, then, we must prepare to listen to, but at the same time argue with, this ancient poet.”  (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 7, Pg. 619.)

(Read Nahum 3)

We ask ourselves how can God desire the destruction and humiliation of a nation?  If we somehow dehumanize its residents into caricatures of evil then maybe it works.  But if we understand the Assyrians to be full flesh-and-blood people; people with complex lives, families, feelings, obligations, joys and sorrows, then we have a problem.

I’m not going to try to preach on Nahum in a way that tries to find laudable elements within it.  Nor am I going to apologize for Nahum’s message and minimize the writing.  Nahum is scripture.  It is in the Bible.  And that is that.

I do think Nahum is one of those parts of the Bible that helps us more fully understand what the Bible is.  Reading and interpreting the Bible is complicated!  I think that is a good thing, even though it may undermine our thoughts of the Bible as a divine instruction book that fell from the sky perfect in every way.

We say that the Bible is the word of God.  That is an easy thing to say but a hard thing to embrace.  It is easy enough to take the actions and sermons of Jesus, or the letters of St. Paul, and find in them straightforward teachings to apply to our lives.  But as Nahum shows us, that is not the whole of the Bible.  The Bible is a huge book.  It is complex.  It is diverse.  It was written by many people over many centuries and cultures.  Parts of it show editing and re-editing.  And it is self-contradictory in many ways.  I chose our gospel reading today (Matthew 5:38-47) largely because it is a contrast to Nahum. 

Some say the Old Testament is old.  The New Testament is new, and therefore more important, more relevant, and in some way, more right.  But I’ve said it before, I think that is a flawed approach.  The New Testament has plenty to offend you, and it has plenty of things that seem absolutely irrelevant to today.  For example, St. Paul talks a lot about whether or not you should eat food that has been offered to idols.  A lot of the meat available for sale in Paul’s day had been used for some pagan temple ritual.  While we can learn some principles for our faith by learning about the way Paul thinks, food offered to idols is completely irrelevant today.  If it were relevant, I’m sure Wegmans would have one case specifically dedicated as being certified idol-free meat!

Nahum is a deeply important book.  While we may not get anything directly from it for our faith, the Bible would be all the weaker for it.  We should not, and cannot, chose only those parts of the Bible we like and then ignore the rest.  Nahum usually gets conveniently ignored.  We always have to take the whole thing.  We may not like Nahum, but something of the fullness of scripture is lost – something of the fullness of faith is lost – if we think it should be cut out or ignored.

I have never read sociologist Emile Durkheim’s book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, but I understand it makes a very convincing case that in all cultures “God” is nothing more than a symbolic representation of the dominant values of that society, or perhaps the dominant virtues of that society.  Remember the teaching from Genesis that we are made in the image of God?  Durkheim would suggest that religions tend to reverse that.  They make God into the image of the worshippers.

Whatever a culture considers to be goodness gets personified in their deity.  And goodness varies from culture to culture.  A look around the world proves that Durkheim’s thoughts have their merit.  This goes for the western world - the monotheistic religions of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity - and also the Eastern religions, and primitive tribal religions.   My own critique of many American churches is that they have overlaid Americanism onto Christianity rather than Christianity onto being American.

We find an interesting antidote, or perhaps a warning, fundamental to our faith in the Ten Commandments say?  Remember, “Do not make a graven image.”  While on the surface that may sound like ‘don’t make a statue,’ at a deeper level it God’s warning against our tendency to make God into our own image.

From that perspective, biblical books like Nahum are essential.  I hope you do not like Nahum.  I hope you do not take life lessons from his writings.  I hope you do not use him to create an image of God in your mind. 

And yet, read Nahum to make yourself uncomfortable.  Use Nahum to keep from developing an overly simplistic view of the Bible.  Let it make you feel uneasy.  Let it bring the thought into your mind, “I don’t think God is that way.”  In other words, let Nahum be one of those places in the Bible where you find yourself engaging scripture with critical doubt.

It would be nice if the Bible were a simple instruction book.  It would be nice if the Bible were a simple collection of eternal truths, or principles to live by.

But if it were, it would open wide the door to making God in our image, rather than letting God make us in God’s own image. 

I believe true faith, deep faith, -faith that makes you into God’s own image- comes through the struggle.  It is not having absolute answers and convenient truths.  In other words, it comes through a relationship of trust with God.  Life is a journey with God.  Life is not about “getting it right” by learning “truths” from the Bible.  Just as life is complicated, so is faith with God.  The Bible more fully engages life with its complexities than if it were simple.

And so when people like Durkheim say that God is nothing more than you projecting what you consider to be virtues on some mythical divine being, know that that is not true.  Durkheim is wrong.  The antidote lies in our scripture.  The Holy Spirit deed indeed really know what it was doing when it inspired our faith ancestors to make the Bible – the WHOLE THING!  You are being made in God’s own image.  That’s not simple.  But when the entire Bible gets to speak, it will keep you turning back to God with questions and troubles; uncertainties, constantly reopening you to new things.  For that is how we come to know God.  Life is a journey.  Not a destination.

August 1, 2021 Prophets – Malachi

 Malachi 3-4

A stubborn son was arguing with his dad.  He insisted that 1 + 1 equals 11.  In exasperation his father tells him to go out and two buy two popsicles.  The boy did so and returned with them.  Then the father said, “Now give me one and give the other to your brother.”  The son objected, “But what about mine?”  The father answered, “You can have the other nine left over!”

That’s a silly little joke about stubbornness, but it somewhat fits the faith lives of the ancient Jews.  As we read Malachi today we are reading from another prophet who is writing about times after the Jews had been allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild.  There isn’t enough evidence within Malachi to get a firm date but it is late enough that the temple has been physically rebuilt and is functioning again.  It is often suggested this is during the time period of Nehemiah.  Nehemiah was the governor appointed by the Persians who served in the mid to late 5^th century B.C.E.  If that’s true then at least a few generations have been able to live in Jerusalem.

So, after being an independent unified nation under David and Solomon, the nation split into two…  both nations began to dwindle…  dwindle for decades; a century actually, and then the northern nation was conquered by the Assyrians, did they learn their lesson and become more faithful?  No.

And as the southern nation continued to dwindle ever further, being swept about by the great nations around it, did they learn their lesson and become more faithful?  No.

And then when they were finally ultimately beaten by the Babylonians did they learn their lesson?  Did they follow the advice of the prophet Jeremiah?  No.

And so they rebelled against the Babylonians, which caused the Babylonians to move in and actually destroy Jerusalem and its temple, and haul the people off to Babylon, did they learn their lesson?  Well, maybe for a bit.  In fact a good deal of the Old Testament came into being during that time.  It’s like they put their theological house in order.  But when they were finally allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild did they put their newfound faith insight into practice and truly become the people God made them to be?  No.

After overcoming the intense struggles of rebuilding with very limited resources… at the time of Malachi have they finally gotten their act together?  Do they recognize God?  Do they respect God?  Do they put their faith to work in daily life?  …are they acknowledging that 1 + 1 equals 2 and not eleven?  Nope.

Malachi is a series of pronouncements.  We read a few of them earlier as we read chapters three and four.  We see clearly that nothing has changed in the people’s attitudes.  They don’t even learn things the hard way.  We’re still seeing unfaithfulness, a lack of belief, injustice, and corruption.  On the whole people just don’t accept God as God.

It is easy to look at them as hopeless cases, then with some smugness think that we as Christians have gotten it right.  But of course that is not the case.  I think it is helpful to realize that every time we look at the Old Testament and see the myriad failings there we need to realize it might well be a mirror for ourselves.  We are actually blessed by the humility of the ancient Jews who did not white-wash their past.

Were the ancient Jews really any different than us?  Does not a person who struggles to lose weight tell him or herself with each new diet that this time will be better?  Does a person trying to quit smoking not fail time and time again?  Does an alcohol or drug addict ever really get over the whole complexity of dynamics that goes with addiction?  No.

Perhaps we need to realize that it is easy to be an addict of Godlessness!  Go back to the Garden of Eden stories in Genesis and you realize that from the beginning humans have wanted to be gods themselves.  They don’t want to need God.  And so give us any possibility of thinking that we get to determine our own lives; and find purpose, meaning, and wholeness within ourselves and we’ll take it – even to our deaths; dying broken, hurting, empty, and stubbornly sure that 1 + 1 equals 11.

As Malachi stands at the end of the Old Testament it is an important theological lesson from Malachi for us.  We’ll wrap up with that in a couple minutes, but there is something else we Christians need to realize about Malachi.  Malachi’s message was one of the biggest influences there was on early Christianity.  Perhaps you could even say Malachi is the framework used by the first Christians to understand Jesus and what was going on around them.  Consider how much has come from Malachi: 

-Using Malachi the earliest Christians saw John the Baptist being the messenger who would prepare the way for God’s coming.  Then God would come in the form of Jesus and usher in a new age of righteousness.

-Malachi 4:4-5 mentions both Elijah and Moses.  The gospel of Matthew sets up Jesus as the new Moses.  John the Baptist is Elijah.  At the Transfiguration who do we see appearing with Jesus?  Moses and Elijah.

-Malachi speaks of the great and terrible, “Day of the Lord.”  Early Christians, interpreting Jesus’ ministry through Malachi were certain that the Day of the Lord was the end of time and that it would surely be coming soon. 

Though I may get some people upset by saying this, for Malachi being a very small Old Testament book, and for being a “minor prophet” he has a made an outsized impact on Christianity.  He is the lens through which many early Christians viewed Jesus.

That may or may not have been the right thing to do.  I’m not going to make a judgment on that.  But if you look at Christianity from a objective and critical point of view, you see that it has been significantly shaped by Malachi. 

Again, that’s not necessarily good or bad, but we need to do two things.  One, we can’t let Malachi overly define Jesus.  That is to limit what God was up to in the incarnation.  Yes, much of Jesus’ ministry does fit.  Much of it does not.

And two, we can’t let Malachi’s own voice become lost.  In other words, we should not reverse-interpret Malachi through our Christian expectations.  Malachi is its own prophesy.  It needs to be able to speak for itself.

So let’s come back to Malachi as the final book of the Old Testament and allow it to give us a different trajectory for our understanding of God as Christians.

People often picture God in the Old Testament as harsh and condemning.  Then God in the New Testament is grace-filled and merciful.  That picture is probably a mistake.  God is both in both testaments.  What I see as I read the Old Testament is God becoming increasingly desperate for what to do with people.  We start with Adam and Eve in the garden.  All is good.  But they decide they want to follow their own path to self-fulfillment apart from God.  Everything starts to fall apart.  At our cores we are no different.

As you read through the early chapters of Genesis you see God trying to be gracious and forgiving.  People ignore God.  God also tries being stern and holding people accountable.  That doesn’t work either.  By the time we get to Abraham we realize God is trying something new.  Now God as decided to choose one person as a model.  That person would then become a nation that would be a model.  But all too soon there are problems.  God continues to alternate between being merciful and holding people to account.  But they don’t get it no matter what.  Humanity’s desire to find fulfillment apart from God just can’t be met.

At the end of the story of Noah’s Ark God promises never to harm the earth again but to be a peace with humanity.  That is God putting severe limits on God’s own self, and it sets the path to Jesus and the crucifixion.

By the time we get to Malachi we know there is no hope anymore.  People just won’t change no matter what God does.  Yet God does love people.  God desires to be with them in a real, authentic, healthy, and productive relationship.  But we people just don’t get it.

And so, a significant but different trajectory for Christianity coming from Malachi is this.  In the form of Jesus God tries one more time – the ultimate time.  Over the centuries people have called God a child abuser for wanting the death of his only Son Jesus.  Or Jesus’ death is interpreted as a necessary sacrifice to appease God’s wrathful nature.  But what if both of those ways of thinking are wrong.  What if it is not God who needs Jesus to die, but we humans who have backed God into a corner needing Jesus to die?

In Jesus God has come to live a lifetime in our shoes.  In Jesus God has come to make the definitive and ultimate revelation of his nature, which is love.  And, it is as if God is saying to us, “You give me no choice.  How can I possibly ever prove to you once and for all that I love you… that I love you radically and absolutely unconditionally, and that I really want to be in a relationship with you based on genuine love?  The only way I can get through to you – while still respecting your freedom – is to prove that love by dying for you.”  Jesus’ death is pure gift.  There are no strings attached.  There are no expectations.  There are no demands.  It has been done and done for you.  You cannot change or undo that reality.  God has gone to the extreme to prove his love.  Jesus’ death is proof of God’s love and commitment, and it is an invitation.

I believe Malachi points us in that direction.  That direction should not be lost as we consider the rest of the way Malachi shaped early Christianity.  I’m sure Malachi would agree that we are truly and forever God’s people.