November 28, 2021 Advent 1 Luke 1:1-25

             When was the last time someone called you “excellent”?  I’m guessing it’s been a long time, and maybe never.  It’s certainly not a compliment we get every day!  Luke’s gospel starts off with a dedication by the author, “I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write and orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.”

The question is, who is Theophilus?  Who is this “most excellent” person?

Most biblical scholars that I know of say that Theophilus was the author’s patron.  He was Luke’s financial benefactor.  It’s no surprise that if someone is financing your life you’re going to be flattering toward them.  Theophilus is otherwise unknown though.  And importantly, not all biblical scholars take that approach. 

I think it is contrary to the theology of Luke’s gospel to butter up a wealthy person.  Luke has a contemptuous view of wealth.  Also, “theophilus” as a word means “friend of God,” or “lover of God”.  So, some biblical scholars say that Theophilus is the reader, whoever that reader is – including you.  I think that fits.  Luke is a clever and playful writer.  At the very least it’s the sort of thing he would do.

So, quite possibly Luke is calling you, you who he’s never met, “most excellent lover of God.”  Part of the Bible is dedicated to you!  And the Bible is calling you “most excellent”.

Now if that gives you an inflated ego you’ve missed the point.  It is intended to be a compliment and also an affirmation.  We need to take a moment to remember the world that Luke is writing into.  It seems most likely that this gospel was written around the year 80.  You’ll remember that there were Jewish revolts in the 60’s and the Romans clamped down in the year 70.  They destroyed Jerusalem completely, which of course included the temple.  The Roman destruction was so complete that archaeologists can only find fragments of the foundations of buildings. 

As a religion Judaism was in shambles.  The temple was gone.  The central leadership appears to have either fled or been killed.  Several of the sects within Judaism disappeared – either the Romans killed them or they were too scared to continue.  Romans also didn’t consider Christianity to be its own religion.  They saw it as another sect of Judaism.  In some places Christians were persecuted.  In other places not.  Regardless, it wasn’t safe to go around proclaiming that one was a follower of Jesus of Nazareth.  All in all, Luke’s original audience did not feel like they were most excellent lovers of God.  Their faith and the world around them were a mess.  They needed reassurance.  And they needed to know that God was in control.  They needed to know that God would bring order to the chaos.

And so the first person we meet is Zechariah.  We are told that he is a priest.  Being a priest was not, for the most part, an occupation.  Being a priest was a role you were born into.  It just meant you were of the tribe of Levi.  It appears as if there was a rotation among the priestly tribe and they would come to serve in the temple for a time, probably twice a year.  Once there what they did was determined by lot, which is basically like rolling dice.

Luke tells us that not only was Zechariah a priest his wife Elizabeth was also of priestly descent.  And both Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous people. 

Luke wants his readers to see the orderliness of God’s actions.  He wants his readers to see that God remembers and honors the religious laws and those who live righteously.  The whole world may appear to be going off kilter, but God’s firmly in control.

We learn that despite their righteousness they have been unable to have children.  That would have been seen as a contradiction in those days.  With a lack of medical knowledge most people viewed a couple’s inability to have children as proof that God did not like them.  They must be somehow in wrong with God.  Typically the woman would bear the brunt of the blame.  The eventual birth of John the Baptist brought honor and dignity to Elizabeth. 

The barrenness of the Zechariah and Elizabeth as an old couple also carries a symbolic meaning.  We just spent the whole summer in a worship series on the prophets.  You’ll recall that by the time we got to the prophet Daniel the people had been waiting in expectation for God to act for hundreds of years.  Israel’s hope is paralleled by an aging couple hoping for the birth of a child.  In both cases the waiting had been so long that they were despairing of it ever happening.  The announcement of the birth of John is a call for renewed hope.

The hope is not going to be exactly what the people had in mind, however.  The angel’s message says nothing about a restored kingdom of Israel.  It also says nothing of the expulsion of the non-Jews, which was another Jewish expectation.  The message is one of renewed hope, begun by repentance and ongoing faithful living.

            We know the story of Jesus well, so it will carry no surprises for us.  But as Luke tells it, it is a story of surprises.  Zechariah is certainly surprised.  Elizabeth will be surprised.  Many characters will be surprised.  King Herod is mentioned as a reference point.  There are some surprises there too.  What is King Herod most known for?  Or perhaps I should say it this way: Herod is one of the most famous people in history.  But why is he famous?  He undertook great building projects.  He often acted to solidify his power.  He was interested in proving his legitimacy as a ruler.  He saw himself as a power player in the Roman world.  But is he actually known for any of that stuff?  No.  Herod’s known not because of what he intended to do.  He is known for how his life intersected with the lives of John the Baptist and Jesus.

            So much for the grand plans of human beings!  We need to remember that our greatest efforts are nothing if they aren’t connected to God’s designs.  And there’s no point trying to convince God that your agenda is going to be of benefit to God.  You just can’t make that case.  It is far better to let God’s desires and designs be what makes the plans for your life.

Things don’t go according to Zechariah’s ideas either.  I know that the Bible always describes angels as terrifying beings.  Every time an angel appears its first words are, “Do not be afraid.”  I know if my life were ever interrupted by the sudden appearance of a divine messenger I’d be terrified out of my wits!  But remember, Zechariah was ministering in the sanctuary of the temple complex.  Only the Holy of Holies was a more sacred place, and that was just a few feet away from where he receives the visit of the angel.  Zechariah was not just out in the street somewhere.  Perhaps he would be startled, but he should not be shocked that something divine happens when he is in a holy place.  Nevertheless he is terrified.  He also appears unprepared to accept the amazing news the angel brings.  He says a very logical but very foolish thing.  He asks for proof.  Here’s a hint.  If you’re ever met by and angel, and the angel promises something beyond belief, just accept it.  Don’t ask for proof!  You might just get it!  Zechariah got his proof.  He was unable to speak until the promise is fulfilled!  Who knows, those quiet days may have been the best days of his wife’s life!

We can sense some of the themes that are going to be laid out in Luke’s gospel right here at the beginning.  While yes, God will honor and fulfill promises made long ago, they will not be fulfilled as humans thought.  Also while God respects the promises made to the Jews and God honors their ideas of righteousness, God will also not be overly bound by such things. 

            There are many parallels between the announcement of the conception of John the Baptist and the announcement of the conception of Jesus.  We’ll look at them more next week.  For now realize that the Bible has called us excellent lovers of God.  Whether we feel it or not God is working in and through us.  Maybe we will see the results of what God is doing through us.  Maybe we won’t.  But we do not loose heart.  We, like Zechariah and Elizabeth, and Mary who we will meet next week, and many others we have yet to meet in the gospel, embark on the adventure of being a lover of God.

11/21/21 Prophets – Daniel; Lion’s Den Daniel 6

            There is an old story about a hungry lion roaming through the jungle looking for food.  He came across two men.  One was sitting under a tree reading a book.  The other was intently, incessantly writing in a journal.  The lion quickly pounced on the man reading the book and devoured him.  You see, even the king of the jungle knows that readers digest and writer’s cramp.

The story of Daniel in the lions’ den is one of the mostly widely known biblical stories.  It is always included in Children’s Bibles and there are countless pieces of art about it.  In the art Daniel is usually depicted as a strapping young man at the height of his manhood.  You almost think he could take on the lions in a fight and win. 

But what if Daniel isn’t a young man?  The timeframe of Daniel doesn’t work historically.  There are outright factual inaccuracies.  I’m not going to get into them, but for those scholars who do attempt to wiggle some consistency out of it, Daniel would have to be about 80 years old when he is thrown in the lions’ den.  How does seeing Daniel as an 80 year old affect your understanding of the story?

The origins of the book of Daniel are puzzling.  One thing that I do find consistent among the diverse scholars who attempt to make sense of it is that they all categorize Daniel as folklore and not history.  They then interpret it as such.

Last week we looked at Shadrach, Meshack, Abednego and the fiery furnace.  It has a lot of parallels with Daniel in the lions’ den.  In both cases innocent Jews are persecuted for their faith.  In both cases there is a king who is in charge.  In both cases the Jews survive but others are killed.

There are two major distinctions though.  Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego simply refused to comply with the demands of the king.  In Daniel’s case other leaders are plotting against him and come up with a trap.  The other distinction is that, again,  Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego simply refuse to comply.  However, Daniel flagrantly disobeys.  In 6:10 we learn that Daniel continues to go to his house, “which had windows in its upper room open toward Jerusalem,” and he gets down on his knees three times a day to pray.  There are variations in the ancient texts here.  Some say, as our translation chooses to follow, that the windows were simply always open.  Others say that Daniel deliberately opened the windows.  There’s no way of knowing which is the original.  What is certain, though, is that Daniel is deliberately performing an act of civil disobedience.  He knows it’s against the law.  He knows he will get in trouble for it.  But he does it anyway.

Civil disobedience has been used by powerless people for many centuries.  You’re surely familiar with it being used by many in America today, especially to address issues of race and poverty.  If Daniel is folklore then the entire Daniel in the lions’ den story can be symbolic of what the Jews were facing as they lived in perpetual oppression.

Notice that Daniel is described as having “an excellent spirit.”  Apparently he is trustworthy, hard-working, and loyal.  These are qualities the ancient Jews felt they needed to maintain even as they were being oppressed.  And it forms the foundation of a reform movement based on civil disobedience.  If the people using civil disobedience to bring about change are not upright and trustworthy then the whole thing doesn’t work.  The oppressor can just say, “Look at those worthless, lazy, criminal rebels.”

            Also notice that the other races – or the dominant race – are jealous of the power the Jew, Daniel, has acquired through his integrity.  They conspire to create a legal trap against him.  Some scholars suggest the den of lions is symbolic of the imperial oppression the Jews had long lived under.  If Daniel is indeed written in the second century B.C.E. then the Jews have been almost perpetually under foreign control for 300 years.  300 years!

            Actually, we may be able to get a handle on that.  The United States is almost 240 years old but its roots clearly go back a century or two more:

What is the story of America if you are of European background? 

What is the story of America if your background is African and your ancestors were part of the slave trade?  

What is the story of America if you are from one of the indigenous Indian civilizations? 

            (I know there are Asian and Hispanic dynamics in America too, but I mention European, African, and Native because they all share the same centuries-long experience.) 

I don’t want to get into hot button issues like critical race theory, but I’m sure you’d agree that the same factual history is going to be experienced differently depending on where in that history you connect.  It also affects how you experience other people’s history.  It can be very difficult for those of European descent in America today to understand Daniel in the lions’ den.  We see it as a story about the persistent faith of a young man.  Others however, may see it as a pathetic old man from the race of a captured people who has been trapped in legal maneuvering and is being pointlessly thrown to lions. 

Perhaps we ignore, or maybe we are offended by, the scene near the end when after Daniel survives those who sought to kill him are thrown in to the lions; along with their whole families!

How can this be?!?  How can the innocent children suffer because of their father’s failings?  How can that be a Bible story about faith?

How indeed?  But we have to remember the story is from the point of view of people oppressed for centuries.  I certainly do not condone their desire to see their oppressors hurt, but I think we can understand their feelings.  Texts like this should not be used to condone violence.  However they do give us insight into the seething anger that develops when one people feels the ways of society forever punishes them or keeps them oppressed.

At an adult level the story of Daniel in the lions’ den is a story about oppression and civil disobedience.  The Jews felt like their whole existence was like being in a den of lions.  Deadly threats that were far more powerful than they were all around.  The ultimate moral is for the Jews to stay the course.  They should not lose faith.  They should not lose hope.  And they should continue to be productive and supportive citizens so as to give their enemies no reason to hurt them; or to shame their enemies when they do.

Some Christians creatively see Daniel and the lions den as having parallels with Jesus.  Daniel is unjustly thrown to the lions by a great imperial power.  Jesus is unjustly killed and put into a tomb by a great imperial power.  Daniel survives the ordeal of the lions and emerges unscathed.  So much for the might of the Persian Empire!  And Jesus too is resurrected, leaving the tomb unphased by death.  So much for the might of the Roman empire! 

And there is the threat.  Resurrection is a threat to imperial power.  If the imperial armies cannot keep their prisoners dead, where now is their power?

For the most part we live as the people who call the shots in the world.  Most of us are of the dominant race in the dominant nation on earth.  We need to exercise our power with conscientiousness and kindness.  We need to be careful not to exercise imperial power, whether that is in the form of our nation’s policies and laws, or our own interactions with those around us.  In other words, we have more power than most.  That is both privilege and obligation. 

Of Daniel 6 John Calvin writes, “Earthly princes deprive themselves of all authority when they rise up against God, yea, they are unworthy to be counted amongst the company of men.  We ought rather to spit in their faces than to obey them when they… spoil God of his right.”  (John Calvin, Commentary on Daniel, quoted in New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 7, Pg. 94)

So yes, we need to humbly submit to God in our use of power.  God sees and God knows.  God’s power is greatest.  When people are saved from lions and people rise from the dead we know that earthly power is no real power at all.  Real power only belongs to God.

11/14/21 Prophets – Daniel; Fiery Furnace Daniel 3

            The story of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and the fiery furnace is a vivid one.  I remember first hearing it in Sunday school when I was a little kid.  Three guys who stand up to the king whose decree would compromise their faith are punished by being thrown into a burning furnace.  They should have been incinerated.  The guards were.  But, God miraculously protects them and they not only survive but are rewarded for their faithfulness.

            I don’t think I asked at that time if the story was historically true or not.  I just assumed that every Bible story told by an adult was true.  But as an adult such questions do come time mind; and also an ability to understand this story on a much more sophisticated level; for indeed, there is more going on than a child would pick up.

As to whether it is true or not… Well, God can do anything.  So I won’t go so far as to say it is untrue.  However, it is not just the fact that it requires a suspension of the laws of thermodynamics to work, the literary style is crafted in such a way as to be more of a spoof, or a satire, than as an historical story.  And whether there is historical truth behind it or not, this story gets at the issues of ego and the use of power.

First there is this gigantic golden statue.  We are told it is sixty cubits high and six cubits wide.  That works out to being ninety feet high and nine feet wide.  We should get the image of an obelisk (like the Washington Monument) in our minds rather than a statue.  Dutch theologian Ton Veerkamp describes it as a “golden monstrosity”. 

Remember, it is at about this time in human history that gold becomes money, or a medium of exchange.  Earlier in the book of Daniel we learn that King Nebuchadnezzar likes to be considered the “king of kings”.  His ego is gargantuan.  Among the things he does is set up this enormous monument to himself made of gold.  Whether Nebuchadnezzar ever actually did erect such a thing to himself (and the Babylonians were known for creating colossal statues and monuments) the point is that he could.  He could amass that much gold! 

This story is all about power.

You may have found it somewhat annoying, or maybe silly, the way the text said numerous times, “the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces”.  You start to think, “Okay, enough, I get it already!”  But this is part of the storyteller’s style.  Commentator Daniel Smith-Christopher notes, “This frequent repetition of orders, usually repeated word for word, gives the impression that all the minions of the Babylonian emperor obey his whim to the letter.  This is what he wanted, and this is exactly what happened.”  (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume VII, Pg. 62)

Similarly it becomes annoying the way the story lists the musical instruments over and over again, “horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble.”  You start to think, “How ‘bout if you just say ‘every time you hear music’?”  And that would be the point.  Notice how invasive the decree of Nebuchadnezzar is.  He does not say something like: three times a day you have to bow down to my statue, or whenever you hear the official trumpets sound, or anything like that.  No, it is any instrument and all forms of music.

Andre LaCocque in his book, The Book of Daniel, (pg. 57) notes that the instruments cover the entire economic spectrum.  The ‘flute’ was a simple peasant instrument.  While the lyre would be made of precious metal or ivory and would be an aristocrat’s instrument.  He also notes that instruments like the trigon and an entire musical ensemble had a bad reputation with the Greeks.  In their culture they were associated with shameful public spectacles.  This may have been the case with the Babylonians too, but it isn’t proven.  Still, if LaCocque is correct, then the decree is meant to cover all economic classes: rich and poor, native and foreigner, shameful and proud.  In other words, more of the idea that Nebuchadnezzar wanted his power to invade all aspects of everyone’s life throughout the empire.  He was demanding universal obedience from all his subjects at all times.

As the story sets it up Nebuchadnezzar was demonstrating to his empire that he had the gold and the power to do whatever he wanted.

The story doesn’t tell us how all Jews reacted to the king’s decree.  We just focus in on three Jews who held positions of leadership: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  They are caught and brought before the king.  Will they obey and worship this statue set up by the king?  Or will they stay true to their faith and suffer the consequences?

As we read through Daniel we discover this to be a recurring theme.  Will the Jews compromise on their faith?  The answer is no.  And when the consequences come God protects.

What is perhaps the most powerful statement of faith in the book of Daniel comes in verses 17 and 18.  The men say, “If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us.  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”  We will come back to that in a bit.

At these three Jews refusal to obey this tyrannical king’s command the king throws a temper tantrum.  He doesn’t just command that they be executed he makes a big deal of way overheating the furnace.  Apparently King Nebuchadnezzar has no regard for the life of his faithful subjects either because he seems unconcerned about the death of his guards as they throw the three men into the furnace.

Nebuchadnezzar then observes four men in the furnace.  The fourth is presumably a protective angel.  And significantly, don’t overlook this point, the men were thrown bound into the furnace.  Now they walk around unbound and unburnt.  God not only protects them from the tyranny of the king and his absurd reaction to disobedience, God frees them as well.

Stories like this one about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego have been used by Jews and Christians alike to say that with enough faith all things are possible.  That if you faith is deep enough and pure enough nothing can hurt you, not even an overheated furnace.

But there are problems with those thoughts.  Most obviously, when something bad does happen people immediately think their faith is lacking or not pure enough.  People can beat themselves up endlessly when things don’t improve.  Or, people can become so obsessed with believing in things without doubt that they forget that their faith is not an end unto itself.  Faith is a means to relationship with God and wholeness of life.  It is not a measuring stick of its own.

And the other problem is what we read in verses 17-18, which is where we’ll conclude.  The three men say that if it is God’s will that they be spared then so be it.  And if not?  What happens if they are not saved?  Has God failed?  Has their faith failed?

Remember, the time the story presents itself as being written in is during the Babylonian captivity.  The Jews had lost everything and had been hauled off into exile.  And at the time of the writing of the story – centuries later – life for the Jews was still miserable under the oppression of imperial forces.

The answer, and this is a statement of true faith, “But if not, be it known to you, O king that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”

These three men never asked for divine protection.  And whether they got it or not didn’t matter.  They were going to stay faithful to God whether it benefitted them a lot or did nothing for them.  It is hard to stay strong in faith when you feel no benefits from it. 

Though it is unlikely that this story is historically true, it does speak to deep truths.  Tyrants will always emerge and want complete obedience.  Powerless people get caught and hurt.  Whenever we are in power, we need to exercise it with responsibility and kindness.  When we are the powerless we remember that God is with us whether we benefit or not.

This story in Daniel is a story of great defiance because of faithfulness.  If we are ever so tried may God give us the faith that is needed.

11/7/21 Prophets – Daniel; Afterlife Daniel 12

11/7/21           Prophets – Daniel; Afterlife                Daniel 12

         

Our bulletins for All Saints Sunday use the same cover art that we use for funeral bulletins.  It is a piece of art that is both simple and yet grand.  It is the risen Christ with his arms outstretched.  In his garments and around him you see the sun, moon, and stars; there are suggestions of water, wine, and wheat – showing the sacraments; there are the four seasons depicted - showing that time itself is embraced in Christ.  It is all-encompassing, that in Christ are all things, and the fullness of all things.  I’m not sure of the artist’s inspiration but our second reading from Colossians 1 comes to mind.  Those verses are a grand vision of Jesus’ role in the cosmos.

Underneath that piece of art we put what seems like a sweet saying.  But it is actually a defiant and absolutely audacious claim, “Yet even at the grave we make our song:  Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.”

Perhaps we are total fools.  Many a skeptic would say such a thing, although it appears as if most people in the world today believe in some sort of existence after death.  Or perhaps we are proclaiming a universal truth, as Ephesians 3:18-19 says, “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

It is important for us to realize that such claims as I read from Colossians and Ephesians have not come out of a vacuum.  There is a long and complex history behind such statements.  We see an important step in that history in our reading from Daniel today.

When studying Daniel it is very helpful to understand its background.  The book of Daniel pretends to be written during the 6^th century B.C.E., which is the Babylon captivity of the Jews, and sometime shortly thereafter, but that is not when it was actually written.

The writing date of Daniel is remarkably easy to determine, especially for a writing of its age.  I’m not going to get into the details of the evidence, but it was written sometime between 167 and 164 B.C.E.  Thus it is among the youngest, if not the youngest writing in the Old Testament.  Understanding life for Jews in that time period gives us incredible insight into not only Daniel but the development of the Jews understanding of God.

As we’ve been studying the prophets we realize the earliest of them (Hosea and Amos) were dealing with the Assyrian threat to the northern kingdom of Israel.  They proclaimed that if they didn’t repent they would be destroyed.  Indeed they were in 722.  That left the smaller, weaker southern kingdom of Judah.  Most of the Old Testament prophets deliver a similar message to them: change from your sinful ways or you will be punished.  The southern kingdom stumbled along as a semi-independent nation for a couple centuries.  It was buffeted and bullied by the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians.  Existence was always tenuous, but it did exist…

Until the Babylonians wiped it off the face of the earth in 587 B.C.E.  I’ve said many times over the last few months that that was Judaism’s deepest crisis.  How could then endure?  Would they endure?  Had God given up on them, or maybe was God a lie?

Bolstered by prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel they endured until the Persians conquered the Babylonians in 539 B.C.E.  The Persians then allowed the Jews to return to the Promised Land and rebuild.

From the Bible’s narrative you get the feeling that the Persians were God’s savior to the Jews and now life and faith could get back to normal.  Historical books like Ezra and Nehemiah, as well as prophets like Zechariah and Malachi, write of hope for a restored nation; but wiser now because they had learned their lessons from God. 

The truth is that life for the Jews was not at all good.  While the Bible describes the Persians as benevolent people who allow the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem, from the Persian perspective the Jews were serving the needs of their growing empire.  Allowing the Jews to return and rebuild was the Persians way of shoring up the western flank of their empire.  There the Greeks were emerging as a power and they were becoming a troublesome presence in the Mediterranean. 

If the empires of the late bronze age that threatened the Jews seemed powerful (think Egypt and Assyrian) they were nothing to the power of the empires that followed: the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and eventually the Romans.  These were powerhouses who ran over the Jews like they were a worn-out speed bump.  Empires grew stronger.  Armies grew stronger.

Biblical scholar Daniel Smith-Christopher writes of his namesake Daniel in the New Interpreter’s Bible.  He calls the historical background of Daniel, “the context of empire.”  He notes that life for the Jews under the rule of these empires was not good.  While yes, the Jews were allowed to live in their homeland, they were treated harshly and saddled with heavy burdens.  If you look at other Jewish writings of the time period, writings that didn’t make it into the Bible, you realize that the hope that God will bring about a swift restoration of the nation is waning.  It is as if they are resigned to the fact that national independence will be far off at best.

At the same time as this their language about God takes on a more empire like tone.  Instead of God being seen as king God is now described as emperor.  The idea of angels begins to develop.  In earlier Jewish writings angels would show up once in a while and they were always messengers from God.  In these later writings angels show up more and more.  What we could call angelology begins to form.  Angels are depicted in more detail, and more as warriors in the divine army.  Just as the imperial forces had various ranks of military leaders so also ranks of angels begin to form.  The angel Michael, who we met in our reading from Daniel, comes to be seen as the head of God’s vast army of angels.

And perhaps most significantly, the idea of eternal life begins to form.  Daniel 12 is one of only a couple places in the Old Testament where there is any concept of resurrection or eternal life at all. 

If you look at the whole situation as an atheist sceptic you could conclude that since the Jews have now lost hope in an earthly restoration of their nation, especially not coming about any time soon, they’ve developed this escapist idea where God still sees them and knows them.  And God will eventually reward them with eternal life.  But God also sees the actions of the bad guys – the evil empires around them – and God will give them eternal punishment.  So, the message is suffer through a completely miserable life now but be rewarded for all eternity.  Indeed many skeptics say the current understanding of eternal life found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is all rooted in this escapist thinking of the ancient Jews.

Perhaps that is a troublesome thought for many.  I, however, see it as an expression of the development of faithful people as they wrestled with the struggles of their reality yet felt God’s sure and abiding presence.  And those who say the Christian understanding of eternal life is nothing more than an extension of the escapist thinking of Jews in the second century B.C.E. are overlooking one very big thing.

The trajectory of Jewish thought comes to a crashing halt with the life and ministry of Jesus.  Remember how I said God was increasingly being depicted as an emperor of higher and higher power?  Also angels were taking on the role as a parallel to the armies of the empires?  What are the core teachings of Christianity?  God is no longer emperor - so high and aloof as to be unreachable.  God is now human, one with us, entirely relatable.  And instead of God coming to crush the empires with armies of angels, God dies at the hands of imperial might.

And as for eternal life, Jesus reverses that trend too.  While Jesus references eternal life several times, his main thrust is God’s kingdom here on earth.  Jesus never taught the escapist thinking that we should suffer now to be rewarded later.  Jesus never taught that life is a test to see if you are worthy enough to go to heaven.  No, Jesus taught that God’s reign was breaking into the present and that, not angels, but you and I are the messengers who bring God’s message to the world.

As Christians we want to see the contrast between the ministry of Jesus and the writings of Daniel.  Yes, the time of Daniel awakened people’s understandings of eternal life.  Jesus continued that.  But Jesus mostly returned people’s attention to the world of today and the goodness of life.

As we celebrate All Saints Sunday we remember those whom we love who have died not as those who have escaped the burden of this life, but as witnesses and inspirers for our own faith.  They have fought the good fight.  They have run the race.  We are thankful for what they have given to us, and for how they have shaped us, and then, along with God who is beside us, we continue on in the work of God’s kingdom here and now. 

10/31/2021 Prophets – Ezekiel; Justice Ezekiel 34:11-16

             If you were in worship last week today may feel like theological whiplash.  Last week we read from Ezekiel 33 where he gave the message that each person was accountable to God for his or her actions.  God was clearly standing above and acting as judge.  God would give life to the righteous and death to the wicked.  To round out the Bible readings in the worship bulletin I found a passage from St. Paul and a saying from Jesus that were along the same lines.

            But today we’re hearing almost the opposite message.  Let me read those verses from Ezekiel 34 again so that we can fully realize the contrast:

¹¹For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹²As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. ¹³I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. ¹⁴I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. ¹⁶I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak,

 

This is a message of deep love and grace.  These are words we like to hear!  God is doing all the acting.  The people – the sheep – are not even seeking God.  God is seeking them.  God is bringing them back to their homeland.  God will provide them with all their needs. 

            And so within the prophet Ezekiel at different times we have completely opposite messages.  That goes for more than just Ezekiel.  It is a tension we find throughout our scripture.  What is the life of faith?  Are we judged by our works?  Do they make us likeable to God and as reward God looks favorably upon us?  -Or- Is the life of faith something that is completely God’s?  Are we saved by what God has done for us?  And is even our faith a product of God?

            The answer is, “Yes!” to both ideas, even though they are contradictory.  In seminary I was always taught that sermons need to have a tension between law and gospel.  Law being the reality that we fall short of the glory of God, that we are not in right relationship with God.  And gospel being the word of grace that we are unconditionally and forever loved and held secure by God.

            Many people – many theologians, especially protestants, attempt to come up with a middle of the road approach.  They say that God has given us everything as a free gift but that we must accept it.  If we don’t accept it then we don’t get to have it.

            That’s a likeable idea to us.  It preserves our free will – it preserves our agency in life and salvation.  It is, however, wrong.  It’s not even remotely biblical.  It’s actually heresy.

            Most Roman Catholic theologians along with many protestant theologians, especially Lutherans, will talk about the complete depravity of the soul.  It is the truth that without God we are nothing.  God created the dust that we are made of.  God created the life that animates the dust that we are made of.  God sustains that life in us and in everything.  And that even the faith that is within us is also God’s work. 

            What can we take credit for?  Nothing.  Not our good works.  Not our righteousness.  Not our faith.  Not our “decision” to believe and accept God’s goodness.

            Truly it makes a tatters of the idea of free will, but then again, the idea of free will is a human invention anyway.  And the resulting contradiction is a product of the limits of our human thinking.

            The idea of our complete dependence upon God and God alone formed the center of Martin Luther’s theology.  But those thoughts were hardly new to him.  They were not even new to Christianity and Jesus 1500 years before.  Go back even 600 years further and to the prophet Ezekiel and you find them.  And in fact it goes to well before Ezekiel’s time.  We depend upon God for everything – even our faith is a work of God.  This is a truth that humans always struggle to accept.  But God is simply beyond our limits.  I suppose it will always be a struggle.

            Today is Reformation Day.  It commemorates the beginning of the Protestant Reformation which led to many reforms in the church, especially the church in northern Europe, which in the 16^th century appears to have gone quite astray from the core of Christianity.

            Things had gone astray in Ezekiel’s time too.  You’ll remember that Ezekiel was a prophet who worked among those Jews who were taken into exile by the Babylonians after they had conquered Israel.  Later these people would learn that Jerusalem had been destroyed and that its 500-year-old temple had also been destroyed.

            The front of the bulletin lays out the four things Ezekiel needed to reform in the thinking of his countrymen.  All of them were expectations they had of God.  They were promises they thought God would make good on.  But now it appeared as if God had not.  Had God lied?  Had God failed?  Was God even for real?  Had they been foolishly duped into believing in old traditions and teachings?

            The four things are:

One, that they alone were God’s chosen people.  Of all the nations of the earth God had chosen them and made an eternal covenant with them through Moses when they were coming out of Egypt and moving to the Promised Land.  They had confidence that God would ensure their wellbeing and protect them.  To be sure, that covenant included obligations on their part as well as promises from God.  But it appears they focused more on benefiting from the promises than taking seriously their obligations.

            Two, that God had granted the land of Israel to their ancestors.  God owned the land – at least according to Leviticus there was no real personal ownership of land – and they were caretakers of it who would reap its blessings.  They believed that God would fight to protect them and to ensure that the land would forever be available as theirs.

            Third, God had entered into a covenant with King David that his family would forever be the rulers of the nation.  They saw it as an unconditional promise from God.  Meaning that no matter how bad they were, or how bad the king was, God was honor bound to keep the covenant forever.

            And fourth along with that, that the city of Jerusalem, and especially the temple within it, was God’s chosen dwelling place and would stand forever.  What are the final words of the famous 23^rd Psalm?  The Psalm starts off with, “The Lord is my shepherd,” the same theme we read from Ezekiel today.  And it ends with, “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  That translation actually misses it somewhat, but you get the idea.  The temple is God’s chosen dwelling place.  God will dwell there forever.

            We aren’t spending enough time with the prophet Ezekiel to do his writings justice.  There just aren’t enough weeks to truly cover the prophets.  One of Ezekiel’s major visions that we are not covering is Ezekiel 10.  It’s a vivid vision where God’s glory departs from the temple.  Leading up to that vision are descriptions of all sorts of corruption and wrongdoing in and around the temple.  God becomes so disgusted with the filth that God can’t take it anymore and ultimately decides to leave.  That is one of Ezekiel’s messages intended to explain their current situation and to bring about a reformation in their thinking.

            Ezekiel’s original audience were the Jews taken to exile in Babylon were their country’s leading citizens.  These four things were the core of their faith.  They had lost all of them.  What was left of faith?  What was left of their national identity?  Ezekiel’s role was to reform their thoughts and understanding of God into something else.

            After harshly condemning the people for their constant corruption and faithlessness Ezekiel tells them there are deeper promises from God.  God has not failed.  God has not lied.  They are still God’s people and still within God’s power.  And we see in our reading from today, God will bring about a restoration.  They should live and trust in that.  Ultimately they did.  Judaism continues to flourish to this day.  It is the only religion from that time to do so. 

The reforms Martin Luther called for were actually far less significant than the major changes Ezekiel called for.  But the underlying truth is the same.  We are God’s.  We are created by God, loved by God, and saved by God.  As for our part, yes the news of our value being held by God should inspire us to work, work hard, be creative, and to know that suffering often goes along with it. 

God had not actually forsaken the people of Ezekiel’s day at all.  But they needed to rethink many parts of their faith to see it.  May we also be able to question and reform our own thinking regularly so that we never miss what God is up to.