Jeremiah
15:15-21
Psalm 26:1-8
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-28
First Lesson: Jeremiah 15:15-21
Challenges:
We’ve had a few lessons from Isaiah in
the past months and I have to say
that I really like Isaiah. It’s poetic,
inspiring, vivid and extremely quotable (just ask the writers of the New
Testament). Now we have Jeremiah. Far be
it from me to criticize Jeremiah: great prophet, great writings, great book.
Yep. But there’s just something about
Jeremiah that doesn’t make me get up and cheer.
I’m not saying that we should take Jeremiah out of the canon, far from
it! But I think we all have books that we like better than others…and Jeremiah
is not it for me. Having said that,
Jeremiah is Holy Scripture and I will say “Thanks be to God!” after it has been
read. My challenge is this: sometimes we
preachers deal with a text or author that is hard for us personally. How do we
do it in a way that is both humble and open? Because, again, it’s in the canon
(and I’m not).
Opportunities:
The image of God’s Word as a delicious
food is a very interesting and useful one.
I probably quote Mark Allan Powell way too often, but he talks about
this in his book Loving Jesus in the
chapter Something to Savor. It always
struck me that God’s Word is actually delicious, rather than bland and
“good-for-you-even-though-it-tastes-awful.”
Describing what God’s Word might taste like would make for an
interesting sermon.
This could also be a great opportunity to
talk about how prophets are always 100% “Gung-ho” all the time. Many people might think, “Hey, I’d like to
really do the “God-thing” and follow Christ in a major way, but I just don’t
have enough faith…I have some doubt too, so I guess that’s out.” Well, guess what? Jeremiah’s faith wasn’t at 100%, at least not
all of the time.
Good News:
At first blush there might not seem to be
too much good news. There is that
amazing promise at the end: being a wall of bronze, God’s presence and
salvation, deliverance out of the hand of the wicked. Of course, without knowledge and experience
of the one who is making the promises, these words might as well be worthless.
Once you get to know and experience the one doing the promising…well, then it
becomes good news.
The Psalm: Psalm 26:1-8
Challenges:
I don’t know about you, but just about
the time I’d be saying these words (with all honesty, mind you), that would be
the moment that something would come up and show that I actually HAD done all
of those things the psalmist says he didn’t do: sit with the worthless, hate
the company of evildoers, etc., etc.
I’ve found that a lack of boasting in my life is a good thing.
Also, it is interesting that Jesus DID
sit with the worthless and evil-doers (at least those that society judged as
such), And let’s face it: some of them really WERE doing worthless and evil
things. So, how does this psalm mesh
with our view of Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
No, really, I’m asking: I have no idea!
Opportunities:
Okay, I’ve got nothing on this one (and I just used incorrect grammar in that sentence too). Let’s face it though: you probably weren’t going to preach on the psalm this Sunday, were you?
Good News:
For my answer in this “Good News”
section, see the above answer in the “Opportunities” section. It applies here
as well.
Second Lesson: Romans 12:9-21
Challenges:
Yet…another…reading…from….R…R…Rom…ROMANS!!!
I feel like we’ve been here forever. There have been some good things in
previous weeks (especially the renewing and transforming from last week), and
this week has some neat stuff too (I mean, who doesn’t like a big heaping
helping of burning coals? Still, like
most of our readings from Romans lately, there is A LOT of ground to cover
here. Way too much if you ask me. Should
you pick one particular aspect like vengeance, or look at it as a whole?
Opportunities:
If you read this list rather quickly, it
can make your head spin. Paul is
throwing all sorts of good deeds at his audience (and us for that matter). It
can be overwhelming, so why not play up on that feeling? Make a big deal of the fact that this all
seems impossible, overwhelmingly unlikely.
You could even talk about how it’s very rare to see anyone acting like
that. Get people relaxed, get people
laughing. When they hear that you’re about to talk about the passage they just
heard from Romans (if they were paying attention), they are probably going to
cringe…thinking that you will give them a lecture about “doing the right thing”
or that you will go into some long harangue about…whatever. But if you can acknowledge that this is
pretty overwhelming, they’ll be on your side.
Then you can start to work: showing how these things will change the
world around them: totally transforming society.
Paul talks about the way that the
Christian community should treat non-Christians in such a way (“do not repay
evil for evil...live in peace with all.”) that would hopefully make anyone
happy to have some Christians move into the neighborhood. (Well, it certainly would do that for
me). What if our evangelism looked like
that?
Good News:
What Paul is describing here is a totally
new way to live. It’s the kind of life
that is spawned from an existence in Christ.
After all Paul has said about justification and sanctification and
salvation and all of those other “-tions,” this is the natural state of
existence for someone “in Christ.” I
doubt that Paul expected everyone to be doing these things 100% of the time and
100% strength (although, hey, it’s Paul…he might of, who knows?). But Paul’s not the kind of guy who’s going to
mince words and use half-measures.
I heard an amazing Andy Stanley sermon
once ask again and again, ‘Do you want to make a point or do you want to make a
difference?” That seems to be what is
going on here. Paul is telling people to
make a difference.
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20
In Defense
of Peter:
Okay, okay: I’m going to break with
convention here and go with a little statement of sorts. I think we’re a bit too hard on Simon Peter
sometimes. Don’t get me wrong: he’s often a block-head and he will deny Jesus
three times on the night of Jesus’ arrest, no arguments there. But I have noticed that we often have this
habit of harping on how idiotic, stupid, insensitive and mean-spirited the disciples
were, Peter chief of all. Again, don’t
get me wrong, they often ARE…but we get a bit carried away.
Today’s story is a good example of what
I’m talking about. Peter gets it wrong:
unabashedly, gloriously wrong. He starts to rebuke Jesus when Jesus talks about
crucifixion. This is where things get
tricky. Once again, vocal tone starts to
play a huge part. Brian Stoffregen does
a good job taking about what this “rebuke” meant. Check out his commentary
online at www.crossmarks.com/brian, they’re good.
It appears that when Peter says “God
forbid it, Lord!” This must never happen to you!” he is really saying something
to the effect of “May God be gracious to you…” and “may God in his mercy spare
you this.” Stoffregen talks about this and I also found it in the New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the
Greek New Testament by Cleon L. Rogers Jr. and Cleon Rogers III. (Which, by
the way, is an awesome book with a very impressive title).
Here’s the thing: as I hear this
exchange, Peter is saying this out of love for Jesus. He doesn’t want Jesus to die: I mean, would
you? If you had a friend and beloved teacher, would you wish and hope and pine
for their crucifixion?
Peter is operating under one set of
assumptions: the death of my friend and teacher is bad. I don’t blame him.
Matthew’s Gospel often presents the disciples in a slight better light and that
happens here. It’s not that Peter is
evil or selfish or anything like that. It’s just that he’s operating on one
level, and Jesus is operating on a different level entirely.
So when you preach about Peter, I say
give him some slack. At least don’t portray him as a complete idiot. He
wasn’t. I imagine that Jesus’ cry of
“Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me!” would have been said
with quite a bit of alarm and anguish. Later
on, Jesus himself will pray that he wouldn’t’ have to go through with this…how
hard would it be if your close friend and follower started to put these
thoughts into your head. Better to not
be weakened.
And let’s face it: Jesus’ message losing
your life to save it is completely counter-intuitive and takes some getting used
to. If it doesn’t seem that way now, it might be because you and I have been
studying this stuff for so long that it becomes second-nature. It certainly wouldn’t have been then…or now
for many, many, MANY people.
Interpretation:
Okay, I’ve been saying this in just about
every blog-post I’ve done: the way you read this story matters. The way you
describe the interaction between Jesus and Peter is VERY important. We don’t
get Peter’s motivation for saying these things, we don’t know if he’s annoyed, exasperated
or frustrated with Jesus. He might be all of these things. OR…he might be
worried, scared, and generally concerned for his teacher.
The Greek word that we translate as “rebuke”
or sometimes “scold” means “to express strong disapproval of someone, rebuke,
reprove…” (from BDAG so you know that’s right).
So Peter is certainly expressing disapproval, but what exactly is his motivation?
I can express disapproval in people around me in a variety of ways and styles:
not all of them mean or negative.
So which way did Peter say this and apply
this “rebuke?” It differs depending on who is presenting the story: which is
what makes our job so important.
An Image
that Might Help:
I have gone back again and again to Jesus’
words, “You are a stumbling block to me!” Growing up, my family had pet dogs
and I remember that there were many times these animals would get in your way
as you were trying to open a drawer or some other task. The dog’s actions weren’t
done maliciously or even intentionally: quite often their tails were wagging vigorously
and you would see that blessed dog “smile” on their faces. They were just happy to be with you, but they
were causing all sorts of trouble.
These days I don’t have a dog, but I do
have two children. My oldest daughter is
about to turn four and she is still of an age where she loves to “help out”
with any number of tasks. Of course, I
quite often have to gently but firmly tell her to step back because her version
of “helping” is to get in the way, knock things over, and generally get in the way.
Do these action make me love her any less? Of course not! I’m actually glad
that she wants to help: it makes me very happy indeed! But, with no
malice-aforethought she has become a ‘stumbling block’ to me.
When I think of what Peter has to say is
similar to a three year old getting in his or her parent’s way. Someone with good intentions who still gets in the way. On many days that's me!
A Quote:
“Peter continues to think as good human
beings are accustomed to think: reasonably, egocentrically, and in terms of
human friendship and ‘success.’ This periscope
does not contrast the commitment of Jesus with the failure of Peter, or even the
blessed Peter of the preceding periscope with the Peter who becomes the
spokesperson for Satan; rather, it contrasts the way of God in this world,
which comes by a revelation of Jesus Christ, and the ordinary way of human
beings thinking out of their own resources.”
Eugene Boring and Fred Craddock, The Peoples’ New Testament Commentary,
page 71.
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