INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURES
Year C - Fourth Sunday of Lent
JOSHUA 5:9-12. Throughout their forty year journey through the wilderness
from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan, the Israelites had been provided for by God's gift of manna. Now that they had entered the land, they recalled their escape from Egypt as usual by celebrating the festival of the Passover. This time they used the produce of Canaan to make their unleavened bread. On that same day, the gift of manna ended.
PSALM 32. The relation of sickness to sin was common to all people in ancient times. This psalm reflects that attitude. While we no longer accept such limited view of sickness, we may still reflect the penitence with which every sinner approaches God and trusts in God's forgiveness.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:16-21. This most significant of all of Paul's interpretations of the meaning of Christ's life, death and resurrection contains three key words: reconciliation, the world, and ambassadors. In this instance, reconciliation meant a renewed relationship with God established through Christ. The world referred to the whole of creation, not just our planet Earth. An ambassador represented and interpreted his/her country in a foreign land.
Paul believed that because we have been given a new relationship with God
through Christ, we are now God's representatives in the world, and perhaps also the universe, which God has destined for re-creation through love.
LUKE 15:11-32. The parable of the lost son welcomed home by his forgiving
father tells the whole gospel of God's reconciling love in Jesus Christ in short story form. But what of the elder brother? Did he ever become reconciled?
A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.
JOSHUA 5:9-12. Whether a natural product or not, manna was deemed to be a gift from Yahweh to the Israelites in the wilderness of Sin (Exodus 16). It is now believed to have been the carbohydrate excretions of an insect which fed on the sap of the tamarisk bush. Rich in sugars and pectin, even a large amount would have been insufficient to supply the need for food. Thus, it must be assumed that it is symbolic rather than materialistic, in somewhat the same way as we now regard the bread of the Eucharist. (Cf. John 6:31-35) In this story it symbolized that throughout their forty year journey through the wilderness from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan, the Israelites had been provided for by Yahweh.
Now that they had entered the promised land, they recalled their escape from
Egypt as usual by celebrating the annual festival of the Passover. This time they used the produce of Canaan to make their unleavened bread. On that same day, the gift of manna ended.
Of course, this may have been due to the changing flora and fauna of the Israelites new homeland. According to Christian monks who lived in the Sinai in early Christian times, manna was available for about three to six weeks in June and July. The quantity depended on the rainfall of the previous winter. It appeared on the tamarisk in small deposits about the size of pea. A good worker could collect about a half a kilogram a day, not much to survive on.
Faith interprets actuality according to its own spiritual insights.
From a religious point of view, the point of the story is that when we reach the end of one set of resources, God makes others available. Devoted Christians have been able to survive under extreme circumstances with such faith. Victor Frankl, the Austrian psychotherapist who survived three years in a Nazi concentration camp, discovered that the one essential to survival was a sense of meaning. Faith that God is with us in life, in death and in life beyond death is an existentialist creed to which countless believers can witness. It gives sustaining meaning to the most disastrous events.
This may be especially true for parents whose children are born with unexpected disabilities or incurable genetic diseases. The same may be true for those in middle age whose parents suffer from various forms of late life dementia. If there is such a thing as surd evil - something so evil as to have no explanation or meaning whatsoever - only faith that God is with us and loves us regardless of all possible circumstances can help us to survive. That is the only way we can make sense of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
PSALM 32. The relation of sickness to sin was common to all people in ancient times. This penitential psalm reflects that attitude. While we no longer accept such limited view of sickness, we may still reflect the penitence with which every sinner may approach God and trust in God's forgiveness.
In its original form, the psalm had the didactic character of Wisdom literature
which points to a late date. Yet there is a refreshingly frank honesty about it that speaks to any age. There is no hiding one's sin from God and no self-deceit about one's wrongdoing. In this day and age, a good deal of human illness can still be traced to deliberate sin. Sexually transmitted diseases, illnesses caused by excessive alcohol consumption, compulsions for certain foods, hyperactivity or deliberate inactivity that results in mental or physical breakdown could be included in that category.
The psalmist's illness is not clearly described, although there does appear to have been both a wasting of the body, weakness and considerable pain (vss.3-4). Nonetheless, as vss. 1-2 suggest, he still has memories of healthier times which he interpreted as a genuine blessing. How many times have we heard people say that they are grateful to be blessed with good health? Does anyone ever express gratitude for ill health? Or persistent, incurable pain?
Whatever his illness, the psalmist recognizes his affliction as an opportunity to
draw nearer to Yahweh through prayers of confession and expressions of trust
(vss. 5-7). There is even a touch of ironic humor in vs. 9 where the stubbornness of a sick man is likened to an unruly horse or mule which must be controlled with a bit and bridle. This may have been ancient proverb, but the psalmist may also have been speaking from experience. The letter of James the Apostle makes use of the same metaphor in James 3:2-3.
Like all Wisdom literature, the contrast between the wicked and the righteous is clearly stated in the closing couplet. While we may question the cause and effect relationship between righteousness and health, the psalmist never doubts that his trust in Yahweh's steadfast love will be rewarded with rejoicing. That is an ageless emphasis we too should not forget. It could be the only way to live through devastating illness that can never be cured. This is the trust that God will be with us come what may.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:16-21. This is perhaps the most significant of all of Paul's interpretations of the meaning of Christ's life, death and resurrection. The passage contains three key words: reconciliation, the world (literally in Greek cosmos), and ambassadors.
Reconciliation was undoubtedly one of Paul's favorite words. In one form or
another, it occurs five times over in this single paragraph. Obviously it expressed so completely his own spiritual experience. In this instance, it meant a renewed relationship with God established through Christ's life, death and resurrection. As one who had tried so zealously as a Pharisee and failed to achieve a fully satisfying relationship with God, he was overwhelmed by the realization that he now had "friendship with God" through Christ Jesus. This was like being "a new creature" or, in the terms of John's Gospel, "born again." By the gracious gift of God in Christ, he - and we - now possess the right relationship God desires to have with us.
In the New English Bible (1970) vs. 15 immediately preceding this passage, we find the key to how reconciliation can be experienced day by day: “His purpose in dying for all was that men, while still in this life, should cease to live for themselves, and should live for him who for their sake died and was raised to life.”
The Greek word kosmos occurs 46 times in the Pauline corpus. For Paul it may
well have meant no more than the inhabited world around him, but it could also have represented the universe or the whole of creation. Even more likely is the possibility that Paul saw the kosmos as that which was in total enmity with God, the locus of human rebellion and alienation from God, and the place where humanity is under the domination of evil. It was to remove this alienation and hostility and to break the power of sin and evil enslaving humanity that Christ had died.
An ambassador represented and interpreted his/her country in a foreign land. It was an ancient a honorable profession even in Paul's time, as it still is. Every
country has its ambassadors in other nations' capital cities. Paul believed that
because we have been given a new relationship with God through Christ, we are now God's representatives in the world which God has destined for re-creation.
The representative view of the atonement has been given strong theological
support in the work of such theologians as Douglas John Hall in the third volume of his trilogy, Confessing The Faith: A Christian Theology In The North American Context.. (Fortress Press, 1996). Hall's view of social justice and Christian stewardship follows directly from this position. As God's representatives in the world endowed with the Spirit that was in Christ who overcame the dominance of human selfishness, we are to manage the world's resources and environment for the benefit of all humanity.
In the divine economy, everyone is a shareholder with the Creator. Never was there a time in recent years when this insight was more valuable. With natural disasters, millions starving and the gap between rich and poor ever widening, sharing in love for one’s neighbour has never been more necessary in obedience to God.
LUKE 15:11-32. The parable of the long lost son welcomed home by his
forgiving father tells the whole gospel of God's reconciling love in Jesus Christ in short story form. We tend to give the story the popular title of "The Prodigal Son." But the story is really about the father, not one or other of his two sons.
An unusual interpretation to this story has been given in a book by Professor
Bruce Chilton, Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography. Chilton posits the thesis
that this is an autobiographical parable. He infers from scant evidence that Jesus was never accepted in Nazareth because of his uncertain parentage. He had a falling out with his family after Joseph's death and left home to become one of the disciples of John the Baptizer. Only after John had been imprisoned and executed several years later did he return home to Nazareth where he was warmly received by Mary, but not by James. Being Joseph's eldest son by a previous marriage, as Chilton claims, James was both older than Jesus by several years and head of the family. Chilton recognizes that there is little actual evidence for such a story. Even if highly speculative, it does add an additional dimension of realism to the parable.
It may be tempting to interpret the parable allegorically, as if each element
represented a different aspect of our human experience of sin, reconciliation and resistant pride. As such, it could represent the dual mission of the apostolic church to Jews and Gentiles. In that light, the young brother may represent the Gentiles accepted by the early church, but not by traditional Jews. The elder brother could be regarded as representative of Israel's resistance to Jesus, the Messiah. However, this advances our understanding no further than Chilton's speculations.
Jesus' parables were intended to convey only one core message. In this case, the lost son is reconciled and restored by the father's gracious, forgiving love. It is the story of God's covenant love that desires to reconcile the world to our relationship with God. But the story is unfinished. The elder brother is left to make up his own mind whether or not to join in the celebrations. A unique Bible study question might be for the participants to consider what they might do if they had been the elder brother.
The late Al Forrest, one time editor of The United Church Observer, visited with a Lebanese Christian scholar who interpreted the story as his people read it. What the father did in dividing the family's resources, then later celebrating the younger son's return, was an outrageously wasteful and careless deed. The elder brother who would normally inherit the estate had every right to be angered and to take steps to protect the family's livelihood by regarding the old man as senile. The real profligate was the father, not the younger son. It would be absolutely unprecedented and unconscionable to forgive and renew the broken relationship in this way.
Yet this is how grace functions in God's realm. Would that Arabs and Israelis
might recognize that this is the way their common deity views the geopolitical
dilemma in which history has imprisoned them!
There is an old Scottish tale of a son who fought with his father about church-
going and left home in stubborn, self-willed anger. For many months he wandered hither and yon living like the typical prodigal. At last in a city he happened on an outdoor preacher telling the story of this parable. The lad listened intently and when the preacher narrated how the father had received his runaway son, he cried out, "Yon's a fine auld man. I'd tak' a lang die's tramp to see the lum reek in my father's cotte." (Translate: That's a fine old man. I'd take a long day's walk to see the chimney smoke in my father's cottage.") And he set off for home.
But the parable does not have an altogether happy ending, does it? Despite the father’s reiteration of his forgiveness for his younger son, the elder brother is not so generous. Is there not also a deep truth there? Not everyone is pleased to see the sinner repent or accept God’s gracious and forgiving love. Those who claim “to hate the sin, but love the sinner,” or insist that sinners repent before being forgiven, may have more work to do on their understanding of God’s grace. God’s reconciling love is what theologians used to call “prevenient grace.” It precedes our need for it. As Paul discovered and told the Romans in his letter to them, (Romans 32:23) God loves and has forgiven us even while we are still sinners.
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