A
sermon shared with First Presbyterian Church, Spring City, TN on July 16, 2017
The Bible is often
misused, sometimes for completely understandable reasons and sometimes in ways
that distort its character for less than constructive purposes. For example, the emergence
of a scientific understanding of the physical and chemical nature of the world
in the 1800’s, along with the discovery of fossilized remains of animals
millions of years old, similar but not identical to modern animals explained by
the scientific concept of evolution contradicted the literal description of
creation in the Bible. People could choose to use our God-given powers to
explore and understand our newly discovered material existence within Biblical
history, or assume God has tricked us with these relics and then choose to fall
back on a literal reading of scripture that required them to refute the scientific
discovery.
As a second example, beginning in 1948, passages such as I read in Romans, Isaiah and the
end-times description in The Revelation of Jesus Christ by John led many to
defend the dominion of newly formed, modern Israel over Palestine because they believe they can
force the beginning of the final days.
These two lines of
thought fail to do justice to the character of the Old and New Testaments, and
presume to know the mind of God better than God. It is my opinion that a better
alternative embraces the Bible as the history, or story, of the relationship
between God and Humanity.
After all, the books
of the Bible were written in pre-scientific times. It is dangerous to rely on a
literal reading that contradicts reality rather than to rely upon the Bible as
the divine guide that sets forth the principles of a moral and ethical life
that we call righteous. My advice is to accept the Bible as a complex, dramatic
history almost unimaginably written by human hands except by divine inspiration.
Consider literature. Every
dramatic literary story follows a common sequence. The characters become
involved in conflicting circumstances that grow increasingly critical rising to
a climatic situation. Then ensuing events follow a path leading to a conclusion
and usually a positive or negative resolution of the crisis.
The entire bible reads
that way. It testifies to the dramatic covenant between God and the Jews of
Israel, and the contentious relationship between God and all humanity. God promises
in that covenant, “I will be
your God and you will be my people. You will be holy because I am holy.”
Throughout history,
indifference, rebellion, woe and compassion characterize that relationship and force
a spiritual crisis where the very existence of Israel is at risk. Though that
covenant between the people of Israel and God will never break, the continuity
of Israel as a nation, and the shape of the relationship is in doubt. This is
called the existential crisis of Israel.
The scripture
readings (above) I shared with you today explain why that is important to all. These
three passages bring the message that though God has God called them a
stiff-necked people, Israel is reconciled with God from the day of that
covenant and through Jesus, so is all of humanity. The resistance of Israel led to
the crucifixion of Jesus and that act caused Israel’s final redemption by God to
depend on the Gentiles. These passages reveal (1) the nature of our Gentile
relationship with God, (2) with Israel and (3) what the gospel means to Jew and
Gentile today.
I ask you, “Why did
Jesus come to Earth?” There should be no question Jesus came to bring Good News, the
falling rain, to the fallen house of Israel.
That Israel is fallen
is a certainty. The history of the fall began with its people grumbling in the
desert soon after leaving Egypt, bemoaning their fate and wishing to be back in
Egypt as slaves with full stomachs (Exodus 14:10-14; 16:1-3). That crisis grew
increasingly until the people demanded a king rather than rely on the covenant
relationship with God (1 Samuel
8:1-22). After two generations of kings the kingdom split into two kingdoms,
Israel and Judah led by separate kings. It reached a spiritual climax in Israel
when its king could not defend against Assyria and collapsed into slavery/ Its
population was dispersed throughout the Middle East. Shortly later the King of
Judah could not defend against the Babylonians. Jerusalem was destroyed, burned
to the ground, the king and his family killed and the people and possessions
taken into captivity in a foreign land. Every part of the covenant seemed
broken. There was no longer a nation, no longer a temple in Zion, and we think
not even the scrolls of scripture. They heard only Jeremiah’s prophesy for them
to intermarry and become part of Babylonian society (Jeremiah 29:1-7). Only the
promise of the coming of a suffering servant to redeem the chosen remnant
remained.
Then due to that promise,
King Cyrus seemed to resolve this national and spiritual crisis by sending the
Jews home to Jerusalem. But Isaiah
56 was forgotten and the Jews lapsed into old ways. Soon Alexander the
Great and the Roman Empire ravaged the people. When suffering servant, Jesus,
did come to redeem the Lord’s people, the people rejected the servant and
caused him to be crucified on the cross.
We believe that God knew
this before it would happen. For God, as Einstein showed, time is only another
dimension like distance. God sees the beginning and end as we see the driveway
we are about to enter as we approach it in our car, or as the distance between corners of a room. We can’t understand the
ways of God, that is clear, we can only accept it.
If we accept God’s
knowledge there should be no question that God knows Israel would reject him
leaving the good news for the Gentiles. We find this in our scripture reading
today, We hear it in the prophesy of Isaiah 56. We hear it in the
words of Jesus speaking to the Canaanite woman, and we hear it in the words of
the Apostle Paul as he described the history I have just recounted.
The resolution of the
spiritual destruction of Israel is found in the irony that we, the Gentiles are
the key instrument to bring Israel back into the fold. I said “we” but really I
mean the Lord acting through us.
What
does Paul mean when he says (Romans 11:25-28),
“So
that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters, I want
you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel until
the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved;
as it is written, ‘Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish
ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away
their sins.’ As regards the gospel they are enemies of God for your sake; but
as regards election they are beloved, for the sake of their ancestors; for the
gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
Paul perhaps with Psalm 65 in mind, recognized
this irony when he observed that Jesus brought Gentiles into the Jewish
covenant with God, yet Judaism has a hardened heart and has almost entirely
rejected Jesus. According to Paul, the heart of that irony that he calls a mystery is the time of the unification of God and Israel depends upon bringing
all Gentiles into the covenant first. Then, God will bring his chosen remnant back
into the fold.
Paul says that when
the “full number of Gentiles are brought in” the elect Jews (the remnant) “who
are enemies of God for our sake,” will be brought in. What does the “full
number of Gentiles” mean? Does it mean every Gentile, or those who are called
to respond? Only God knows.
I suggest that another
question is more important, “How do we bring the Good News brought to our
brothers and sisters?”
You know the answer
is not building fancy church sanctuaries and attending wearing nice clothes,
arguing whether to say the Lord’s Prayer using trespasses or debts;
or whether we baptize by immersion or sprinkling, or even baptize children, or whether
we should baptize every person who joins the congregation regardless of an earlier
baptism, or whether we celebrate Easter with Easter egg hunts and Christmas by
exchanging gifts, or whether we eat only fish on Friday… or only to come
just to rub shoulders with friends and politicians. So, what should we do? What
brings the good news to all Gentiles?
Earlier I said some
Protestant denominations claim the selfish answer is we should have an
uncompromising loyalty and support of present day Israel. This idea of selfish,
blind loyalty and support of modern Israel diminishes God’s loyalty to Israel, hoping
to bring about the end times on our schedule (forcing God’s hands). Some say we must start
mission work to bring into the fold all the Jews so the end will come and we will
all get to heaven! That too distorts scripture, even when read on a literal
basis because the Jews have an explicit, existing relationship with God bound
by their covenant. The covenant between the Jews and the Lord is permanent and
irrevocable. Paul says the Jews have a relationship with God that has been
twisted into a Gordian knot that only God can untie. By Paul, Israel’s
estrangement from God is for our grace. How about that as a reason for humility
before God?
Paul says they do not
need the Good News, rather we need the good news. Israel has opposed Jesus
for our sake, so that as Jesus said, we may eat the crumbs from the table.
I
repeat, how about that as a reason for humility before God?
Where does this leave
us? It leaves us with an obligation to be the light on the hill that shines with
the good news, the crumbs from the table. When we do that, we are a beacon to
those who have been called to Jesus who are outside the covenant.
How do we become that
beacon? I think you already know the answer, it is living in a way that shows
the good news is in our hearts.
Thankfully Jesus
explained the parable in
Matthew. Jesus says what comes out
of the heart lets people know we are Christians and what comes out of the mouth
proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come
evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.
These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
What should come out
of our hearts? You shall love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. You
shall love your neighbor the way God loves you. When we do that, we are
reminding the world who God loves.
The Canaanite woman
knew one of the worst insults in Judaism (and Islam, today) is to be called a
dog. Think about it. We Gentiles are excluded from inheritance of the covenant,
yet we have been grafted into that tree of life, at the expense of Israel for
the present time. Even though his own have rejected him, finally God will bring
them home. Jesus said of this Canaanite ‘dog’, “Woman, great is your faith! Let
it be done for you as you wish.”
Is our faith as strong
as hers? Shall we live the gospel, spreading the good news to our fellow
gentiles? Israel does depend on us, but not for guns and ammunition. What
greater gift is there to Israel than for us Gentiles who have received
salvation through faith to spread the good news in righteous living. In this
way we who are reviled as dogs eat the crumbs from the table become
the path salvation for Israel.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment