- Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:38-48 You have heard it said
- Psalm Nugget: Psalm 119:33-40 Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
- Second Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Be Holy as God is Holy
- NOTES - after show excerpt from 2014: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 God’s Holy Temple
Hello and welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, the lectionary podcast for preachers, seekers and Bible geeks. This is episode 206 for Sunday February 19, 2017, the 7th Sunday After Epiphany Year A.
- Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:38-48 You have heard it said
- Psalm Nugget: Psalm 119:33-40 Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
- Second Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Be Holy as God is Holy
- NOTES - after show excerpt from 2014: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 God’s Holy Temple
Introduction and Check-in
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What a couple weeks!
- Immigration ban
- Standing Rock Pipeline
- POTUS v Nordstroms
- Axel Christian Fistler and the puking older brother
Featured Musician - Christopher Grundy, “Church of the Shelved” from his album In This Life.
DONATE: www.pulpitfiction.us/donate
Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:38-48 You have heard it said
Initial Thoughts
- Complete or Perfect
- Jesus was not a Biblical literalist
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From Charles Cousar, Texts for Preaching, Year A.
- “Any of these lessons isolated from the context can read like a horrendous burden laid on the backs of disciples, who must exhibit a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees (5:20). It is critical to keep the lessons firmly anchored in the setting that Jesus is God’s Son… A radically new era in God’s relations with the human community has been inaugurated, and the Sermon on the Mount clarifies the nature of the new era.”
- “The lesson for today focuses on the final two antitheses established between Jesus’ teaching and the teaching of the law, culminating in the command to be perfect ‘as your heavenly Father is perfect.’”
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Law of Retaliation
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“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” → “Do not oppose those who want to hurt you.
- Slap you on the right cheek → Turn the left cheek
- Haul you to court for your shirt → Give them cloak
- Make you walk a mile → Go with them two
- Ask → Give
- Ask → Lend
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A slap in the face, a lawsuit, and conscription are all things that would be commonly understood in an occupied territory. All of Jesus’ prescribed reactions are revolutionary.
- An insult is not to be returned.
- A poor person about to lose his shirt would shame the one taking it by also offering the cloak - which could be the last thing preventing the person from death.
- “The Romans could force anyone to assist in an exercise. It displayed public control over the colonized. Later in the Gospel narrative, Matthew describes one such example: Simon of Cyrene is forced (aggareuo) to carry the cross of Jesus (Matthew 27:32). Jesus' response epitomizes a response unlike the Zealots: "go also the second mile" (5:41). Do not receive the humiliation intended.” (Emerson Powery, Working Preacher)
- “Jesus does not adjust the law of retaliation to make it more humane… It is not the improvement of this world’s system he is about, but the vision of a new world, the depicting of human conduct that becomes the sign of God’s rule of peace and justice.” (Cousar, p. 153)
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This is about ending cycles of violence - not perpetuating them.
- This is not a command to remain in an abusive relationship - for to do so would be to ignore the command “to be complete in love.”
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“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” → “Do not oppose those who want to hurt you.
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Law of Love
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“You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” → Love your enemies and pray for those who harass you.
- Where is it written to ‘hate your enemy’? I’m not sure that is directly in the bible, but we have certainly heard it said.
- Cultural understanding of an enemy is that it is one who is worthy of hatred.
- “Speak all the good you can to and of them, who speak all evil to and of you. Repay love in thought, word, and deed, to those who hate you, and show it both in word and deed” John Wesley’s notes
- Who is worthy of my hatred? Who is worth changing my heart, perverting my faith? Who is worthy of distorting myself so much as to hate them? No one.
- Paraphrase: “It’s easy to love the people you like. It is much harder - and much more important - to love the people you don’t.”
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“Be perfect” or “Be complete”
- Show love to everyone.
- Justice is love distributed - not just to those whom you favor.
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“You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” → Love your enemies and pray for those who harass you.
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Is this pure pacifism? True pacifism is to never use violence - even to defend oneself. Philosophers and theologians have been debating this for generations. Things such as “Just War Theory” have emerged from the idea that this is an unobtainable goal; even an immoral one given certain conditions. Yet any use of violence by one who professes to be Christian must be weighed against this statement of Jesus.
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Wesleybros comic strip has a great short exposition on this, using the Niebuhr brothers as a framework.
- Reinhold: Must intervene, even with violence, when there is evil in the world.
- Richard: Must shame evil with nonviolence. Violence is never the way to bring about peace.
- “We are devastated by all that’s wrong, and we’re not going to sit back and watch the bullies win. Reinholds need to take one step back and ask ourselves: will our use of force, will our verbal outrage, will that angry post help bring about the kingdom of God? Others are Richards, hoping that our acts of mercy will somehow make a difference and prove a better way. Richards need to take a step back and ask ourselves: is this enough? Are we doing this more to protect ourselves than out of a Christ-like concern for the defenseless? And how are we doing this on an international level?”
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Wesleybros comic strip has a great short exposition on this, using the Niebuhr brothers as a framework.
- Who is your enemy? Is ISIS your enemy? Are Muslims or immigrants, or refugees, or secret terrorists? Is Trump your enemy? Is your uncle who posts Alternative Facts? What does it look like to love your enemy in the social media age? What does it look like to turn the left cheek to the one who has slapped you on the right? How do we balance being complete in showing love and speaking truth to power?
- The word “complete” may soften the idea of being “perfect,” but is it really any less difficult? John Wesley talked about Christian Perfection. All ordained United Methodist clergy answered that they believe that Christian perfection is attainable, and that they hope to attain in this life.
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Psalm Nugget: Psalm 119:33-40 Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
Second Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Be Holy as God is Holy
Initial Thoughts
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Only passage to appear in the RCL
- Appears twice this year: Epiphany 7 and Proper 25A (October 29, 2017)
- Rare to reach this passage because usually Lent gets in the way
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Leviticus gets a bad rap - definitely read this one because of its remarkable consistency with the Sermon on the Mount (i.e. counter Marcionism!!!)
- “Leviticus records more words from the mouth of God than any other book of the Bible.” Sheldon Sorge (Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 1)
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v. 1-2 Commentary and reminder of the 10 Commandments
- Command to be holy, separate, other like God is
- These commands will not make rational sense or follow the status quo- they will set you apart as holy (as “other”)
- Paired with Matthew 5:48 - Be holy as God is holy = be perfect as the Father is perfect
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v. 9-10 Gleaning
- Leaving harvest in the fields is the equivalent of leaving money or giving money to the poor and the alien - DO NOT SEPARATE THIS FROM MONEY
- Care for the poor and the alien (read “immigrant”) is paramount in God’s eyes (and Jesus’ too)
- You take less so that the poor and immigrants can have what is needed to survive
- Care for the foreigner is a divine mandate (Lev. 19:34 - you shall love the alien as yourself)
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v. 11-12 Do not steal, deal falsely, lie or lie in God’s name
- Do not steal the truth - lie to one another
- V. 13 Do not steal material possessions, wages from your neighbor or laborer
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Lying is built into our culture and life
- Majority of people cannot go more than 10 minutes without telling a lie (especially to their friends and family)
- What would it look like if we told the truth?
- v. 14 You shall not mock the disabled: deaf and blind
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v. 15 Justice
- No “preferential option for the poor” - judge equally and justly
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v. 17 Do not hate
- Jesus quotes this in Matthew 5:21-22
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I am the LORD
- If you truly believe that God is the LORD (the one to be obeyed and followed), then you will do these things
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If you do not do these things it is the same as denying that God is the LORD
- Faith is seen in work and life lived - not only in theology believed
- Faith is a verb!
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What does it mean to be holy? We spend a lot of time and energy trying to fit in and go with the flow.
- God invited us into a relationship marked by holiness, otherness, separateness
- Jesus warns us (Matthew 5) that this “holiness” will lead to our rejection and persecution
- Jesus shows us that this “holiness” leads to the cross and to the Kingdom of God
- Holy evangelism - when people see our holiness (care for the poor and alien, love for neighbor, rejection of vengeance, lies and slander) we reveal God- God is seen through this
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Be honest about your needs and wants. Tithing and gleaning is a ridiculous concept in many churches. We worry about what we need- if we leave a substantial portion for the poor and the alien - will there be enough left for me? I have found that usually the answer is resoundingly yes. There may not be enough for what I want, but there is plenty for what I need and shouldn’t my want be for my neighbor’s needs to be met?
- How can we love one another if we are unable to help provide for each other?
- How can I love you while you starve and I am overweight?
- How can I love you when you are living in fear and I am secure?
- How can I love you when you are homeless and I have spare rooms in my home and my church?
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Love for neighbor
- Extends to the poor and the alien
- Requires sharing material and financial resources
- Requires truth telling
- Requires ethical practices in business, civics and personally
- Requires impartial justice
- Rejects gossip or anything that prevents you from seeing the neighbor or alien as a beloved child of God
- Rejects vengeance, hatred, lies and an “ends-justifies-the-means” rationalization
Tasty Wafer of the Week:
AFTER THE SHOW - 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 (from 2014) - You are God’s Temple
Initial thoughts
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verses 12-15 - seems like a Pauline tangent...but it isn’t
- It is connected but is a separate point and may distract from the message of God as the foundation, we as the temple
- Christ is the foundation - we are the temple - how we build our lives must be worthy of the temple it is build on
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GRACE - even if it isn’t, if the temple is burned away - the builder is not destroyed, v.15
- What a message of grace, when the fires comes it refines and burns away, but does not condemn
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Three Thesis
- Foundation of the Church is Jesus
- The Community of Faith is the dwelling place of God
- Everything is under the sovereignty of the Church which is under Jesus and God (not subservient to the World, only to God)
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Temple of God - where God dwells vv.16-17
- Ezekiel 37:26-27, “26 I will make a covenant of peace for them. It will be their covenant forever. I will grant it to them and allow them to increase. I will set my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling will be with them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
- Destroy (phtheiro) the temple - also translated as defile, corrupt or ruin.
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How do we defile or corrupt the temple of God?
- Corinthians - division, self aggrandizement, etc
- i.e. not loving God and neighbor
- Word of grace looking back to v 15?
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Paul’s major points in the builder metaphor (J. Paul Sampley, NIB Commentary X)
- The Corinthians belong to God (as opposed to Paul to Apollos)
- Each believer is expected to build good works
- The only suitable foundation is Jesus Christ
- The works, i.e. how and what they build, will be evaluated on judgment day (cookies and beating to commence)
- Potential destruction for any individual
- The Corinthians are a place for the Holy SPirit, so they must be holy
- The Spirit resides in them
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YOU is plural… NOT SINGULAR
- The Temple is built in community
- Perhaps this has nothing to do with how we treat our bodies, but how we treat one another…
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Wisdom and Foolishness vv.18-25
- Reorders our thinking - what matters? Belonging to God
- When belonging to Christ and God is our focus- the rest does not matter
- Star Trek TNG - the pursuit of “bettering oneself” not acquiring things
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Don’t deceive yourself - Serenity Prayer
- Do not think you can achieve more than you can
- Do not think you are unable to achieve anything
CLOSING
Thank you listeners
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Featured Musician - Christopher Grundy, “Church of the Shelved” from his album In This Life.
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Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Misirlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Sunday Morning”, "Real Ride" and “Summertime”) and The Steel Wheels for our transition music(“Nola’s First Dance” from their album Lay Down, Lay Low) and Paul and Storm for our closing music (“Oh No”).