Networked Blogs on Facebook

Search This Blog

Monday, August 27, 2007

Lexegete™ | September 9, 2007


Lexegete™ | Year C | Luke


FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Sept. 9, 2007 | (Lectionary 23)

Complementary Series
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Psalm 1 (Ps. 1:3)
Philemon 1-21
Luke 14:25-33

Semicontinuous Series
Jeremiah 18:1-11
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (Ps. 139:1)
Philemon 1-21
Luke 14:25-33

Holy Cross Day
September 14, 2007
Numbers 21:4b-9
Psalm 98:1-4 (Ps. 98:1) or Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38 (Ps. 78:35)
1 Corinthians 1:18-24
John 3:13-17
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________


1a. Context: Luke 14:25-33

This text marks a break in the narrative with a shift in audience (from the rulers of the synagogue to the crowds) and in location (from a house to the road). However, there has been no corresponding shift in theme. The theme remains that of the coming reign of God. This text must be read within the full context of discipleship—its measure and its cost.

The full section consists of an introduction (v. 25), two parallel sayings on discipleship (vs. 26ƒ), two parabolic sayings with an application (vs. 28—30, 31f., 33) and a conclusion (vs. 34ƒ). The opening sayings and the application express the total commitment required from disciples; they repeat teaching found in 18:29ƒ an 9.23, and the parallel in Mt 10:37ƒ indicates that they form a Q doublet to the Marcan teaching. The summary in v. 33 is probably an editorial composition, based on Q (Marshall, p. 591). Why the compilers of the lexionary omitted vs. 34 and 35 is unknown. The preacher must include vs. 34 and 35 in study and preaching in order to retain the integrity of the section and the promise available to the disciple within the journey.

Since Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (9:51) Luke has been employing the theme of a purposive journey to the cross. This journey concerns itself with the cost Jesus himself must pay, and here a warning concerning the cost the disciple must pay in accompanying Jesus. Those who have accompanied Jesus (literally, “as many crowds were journeying with him”) were doing so with uncompromising enthusiasm. They thought that this march to Jerusalem was the victory march of the Messiah and they wanted to be on hand when he claimed the throne. In characteristic fashion Jesus reverses popular thought. This journey requires recruits and not spectators, disciples with undivided loyalty and a clear vision of what is required (Caird p. 178).


The guests in the preceding parable (14:15—24) refused to face the cost of accepting the invitation to the messianic banquet. Here the opposite is the case. The issue is embarking on the journey without first counting the cost. In either case the result is the same, that of missing the Kingdom. Missing the Kingdom is the same in both instances since those invited fail to heed Jesus’ call to bear one’s own cross and follow.” They fail to die to the self and hold Jesus and his journey as the center.


1b. Text: Luke 14:25-33

Lk. 14:25 Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them,

Lk. 14:26 "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

Lk. 14:27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Lk. 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?

Lk. 14:29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him,

Lk. 14:30 saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

Lk. 14:31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?

Lk. 14:32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.

Lk. 14:33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.





2. Analysis: Luke 14:25-33

vs. 26 μισεϖ (οψ μισει) does not hate

It is not hatred in the psychological sense—that of strongly disliking someone—but to renounce, reject or disown that relationship on religious grounds. It is hatred of those people to whom one is obligated to love (see αποτασσϖ below).


vs 27 “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me… ”
There is the expectation that to be a disciple of Jesus would be to share in his fate, or at least be brought into danger of death.


vs 28. πψργοω (υελϖν πψργον οικοδομησαι) desiring to build a tower
This is not a public structure such as a military fortress would have. Nor is it a simple field tower as in Mk 12:1 considering the extensive planning of a foundation. It seems to be a large tower-like private house of many stories. Thus a poor choice of text that President Reagan to used in justifying a military build-up.

vs. 33 αποτασσϖ (οψκ αποτασσεται) does not renounce, give up
In the NT this word is found only in the mid.: “to part from.” Here Jesus demands a radical renunciation of all possessions. This word is closely tied with misev above (to hate 26), but here with the distinction of property. Luke’s Gospel, more than Mt and Mk is concerned with possessions and their effect on discipleship. In many passages being rich is a stumbling block to true discipleship (18.22f) and is a negative good (8:14). In Luke Jesus gives strong ethical directions to the community together with the promise that renunciation of riches is the thing that will bring gain in this time and for eternal life.


vs 35 μϖροω (το αλαω μϖρανυη) the salt has lost its taste
The difficulty of this passage is that salt cannot lose its chemical qualities. Regardless of any dissolving or heating salt remains sodium chloride. Yet, various scholars have attempted to explain this saying by supposing an impure salt.

Certainly, Jesus knew that it is impossible for salt to loose its saltiness, and that impossibility is what lies at the root of this parable. It is akin to the parable of the camel and the needle’s eye or the rich man entering the kingdom of God. Here the point is from the other side, however. What Jesus brings and gives to his disciples cannot become tasteless—loose its value. The Gospel is as incorruptible and insoluble as
salt. The Gospel in not dependent upon the disciples. Salvation is a gift of God and thus cannot be destroyed.


Bertram, in TDNT (IV:838-9), writes of this word: “The μϖρανυη now suggests, not the physical impossibility of a change in the chemical constitution of salt, but the psychical possibility of a change in the faith of disciples. The warning concerns the earthly being of the disciple. He who through the powerful Word of Christ has become an apostle, a fisher, a shepherd, a rock, loses all value if his faith vacillates and he falls away. Thus the Lord’s word of grace becomes a word of judgment.”




3. Strategy: Luke 14:25-33


Jesus said, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 14:27). “When Christ calls a man,” says Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “he bids him come and die.”


Both Luke and Bonhoeffer were writing to churches whose lives of faith were like that of our own, an established, complacent church, a church in which Jesus is one option among many, with a requirement of discipleship tailored to fit the individual’s tolerances and preferences. Luke and Bonhoeffer in their own situations knew there was more at stake in claiming discipleship of Jesus than the prevailing thought allowed or espoused. For Luke it was a church in mission to the very heart of secular Rome, for Bonhoeffer it was a church in opposition to the German Church which embraced and legitimized the Nazi party. For us today, the lines are drawn less well.


In writing about verse 26 of this text in The Cost of Discipleship (Chapter 5, “Discipleship and the Individual”), Bonhoeffer at first seems to call for a radical individuality of the disciple: “Through the call of Jesus men become individuals.” But it is a call to an individuality of which our society is unfamiliar. When confronted with a conflict of loyalty, the disciple will give priority to the requirements of the Kingdom, and even one’s own life may be disposable (Danker, New Age, p. 167).

It is the call of our society to fulfill one’s own potential that is at variance with Jesus’ call to come and die. It is difficult to make strong distinctions between discipleship and being a spectator. The daily life of discipleship in the American church today seems more akin to participation in an ice cream social or group therapy session than in a battle against the forces of evil that surround us. Regardless how much the church seeks to present itself to YUPPIES as the place where individuals may be “affirmed,” the call to a cruciform discipleship remains.

The individualism of Bonhoeffer’s Jesus is one that despises and hates one’s relatives, and more radically, is dead to itself. In hearing and taking up the call to discipleship a barrier is placed between the believer and natural life, between the believer and the self. Yet, this is not a call for becoming hermits or to hold life in contempt, “it is the life which is life indeed, the gospel, the person of Jesus Christ…. By his (Jesus’) calling us he has cut us off from all immediacy with the things of this world. He wants to be the center, through him alone all things shall come to pass” (Bonhoeffer, p. 106).

The death of the individual, and the hating of all that is of the world are harsh things for Christians of any era to hear and even harder to follow, but they are the way to true discipleship. However, the preacher had best be wary lest he or she preach a message of good works to attain discipleship, as though one really had the capacity to die to the self. The Old Adam and Eve in each of us fights (literally) like hell not to die. The way to the radical discipleship Jesus calls us to is not through our own power or intent, but through the One who has already “taken up his own cross.”

It is the power of God in the incarnate Word to convict us of our self-centeredness. It is through our dying together with him in the death of Baptism (Romans 6.4) that we die to the self and are raised again as new creatures to live as God intends us to live. In this death we become freed from that which holds us back from the journey with Christ as his disciples. And in being so freed we can come back to them in a new way. In writing of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac, Bonhoeffer says, “…at that very moment all that he (Abraham) had surrendered was given back to him…. but henceforth he will have his son in quite a new way—through the Mediator (Christ) and for the Mediator’s sake” (p. 111).

The gift of discipleship which Jesus opens to us on the cross and which he brings and gives to his disciples cannot become tasteless—loose its value—just as salt cannot become tasteless. The Gospel is as incorruptible and insoluble as salt. The Gospel in not dependent upon the disciples’ individual capacity to follow, but upon Christ alone. Salvation is a gift of God and thus cannot be destroyed. But there is a warning.


The warning concerns the earthly being of the disciple who through the powerful Word of Christ has become an apostle, a fisher, a shepherd, a rock, loses all value if he or she turns back to the old self seeking to storm the gates of heaven independently. In refusal to die daily through repentance and in a return to the ways of the old self, the Lord’s word of grace becomes a word of judgement.


Exegete: Rev. Thomas S. Hanson



4. References: Luke 14:25-33

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, The Cost of Discipleship, revised edition. Translated by R. H. Fuller. (New York: The Macmilliam Company, 1963).


Caird, G.B. The Gospel of St. Luke. (Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books, Inc., 1963).


Danker, Frederick W. Jesus and the New Age: According to Luke (St. Louis, Missouri: Clayton Publishing House, 1972.)


________________. Luke in Proclamation Commentaries: The New Testament Witness for Preaching, Gerhard Kordel, ed.
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976).


Juel, Donald H. and Buttrick, David. Pentecost 2: Series C in Proclamation 2: Aids for Interpreting the Lessons of the Church Year, Elizabeth Achtemeier, et al, eds. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980).


Kittel, Gerhard and Friedrich, Gerhard, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. 10 vols. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964).


Marshall, I. Howard, The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978).




5. Worship & Music Suggestions

That this text comes on the Sunday before Labor Day, one may wish to use the holiday to talk about and to celebrate the various vocations of the congregation as being ways of cruciform discipleship in the community.

Hymn Suggestions:

Lord of All Nations, Grant Me Grace (LBW 419)

Take My Life, That I May Be Consecrated, (LBW 406) Don‘t forget
that the line goes through the word “consecrated!”

“Take Up Your Cross,” the Savior Said (LBW 398)

Let us Ever Walk With Jesus (LBW 487)

God, My Lord, My Strength (LBW 484)













______________________________________________________



LEXEGETE™ © 2007


Tischrede Software


Dartmouth,MA 02747



______________________________________________________

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

LEXEGETE / Year C / Gospel of Luke


FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
September 2, 2007 (Lectionary 22)

Complementary Series:

Proverbs 25:6-7 or Sirach 10:12-18
Psalm 112 (Ps. 112:4)
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14

Semicontinuous Series:

Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 81:1, 10-16 (Ps. 81:16)
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14


___________________________________________________________________

1. CONTEXT: Luke 14:1,7-14


Since Pentecost 11 (Lk 12:13—21) we have been dealing with themes surrounding the coming Reign of God. The texts have concerned themselves with one’s preparedness for the coming Day. The focus has narrowed considerably in the last two weeks dealing with the End of the Age questions and warnings. In Luke 12:49-53 (Pent 13) Jesus speaks of the coming divisions among those who area a part of the Reign of God and those who oppose it. In 13:22-30 (Pent 14) the warnings continue surrounding those who are inside at the banquet and those who stand outside desiring entrance.


In Luke table scenes are formative for the explication of the gospel in its eschatological reality and its social reality in the present. The issue here and elsewhere is one of status. Who one invites to dinner and by whom one is invited are means of climbing the social ladder. “Jesus’ advice is not simply worldly wisdom but a warning that those who consider themselves privileged may be humbled. Likewise inviting the poor and the outcasts is not simply a more prudent way of achieving status in God’s eyes. Jesus suggests that meals be the occasion for a very different kind of relationship among God’s children” (Juel and Buttrick, p. 37).


Taken from the perspective of Reign of God themes, our text seems to have little or no connection what what precedes it. Outwardly it appears to be yet another controversy story between Jesus and the Pharisees contrasting proper table manners of those who would maintain perfection of the law and Jesus’ new command to love. However, the imagery of the Messianic banquet in 13:22—30 and the sabbath meal of 14:1 provides a direct connection with the text under consideration. The issue is one of more than proper table manners, it is a question of an open acceptance of all under the coming Reign of God.


That Jesus chooses yet another table scene to teach concerning the Reign of God should be of no surprise, for in the Synoptics (and in the church) it is always at table that the disciples see and know Jesus best.


2. ANALYSIS: Luke 14:1,7-14

vs. 1 archonteo —a ruler
The significance of archonteo is not clear. It may refer to rulers who belonged to the Pharasiac party, or to rulers of the synagogue, or to leading men among the Pharisees.

sabbaton —sabbath
The situation appears to be a meal following the sabbath service in the synagogue. That Lk should record that this particular meal took place on the Lord’s day reveals a tie to proper behavior in THE Lord’s day.

vs. 7 kalein (kekleimenogon, and variations) —to invite

Most generally this word is translated “to call” or “to invite,” though there is a special nuance which suggests the more distinctive sense of “vocation.” This gives rise to the main question from the standpoint of biblical theology and serves to bind the whole section together: 14:8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 24; cf 5:32 and 7:39.

kalein is an ordinary word which acquires special significance through the naming of salvation as the basis and goal and especially of God as the Author and Consummator. God calls His own by grace and to grace. He does this finally and definitively through Jesus Christ, who is the fulness of grace.

ekelegomai (exelegonto) —how they chose
Two Lukan passages (14:7; 10:42) which use this word bear the meaning “to select from among many possibilities” or “to decide between two possibilities.” However, in its use in the LXX it is translated as “elected,” thus a link with the idea of God’s election.

protoklisa—place of honor
Where one sat at a banquet depended upon rank and distinction at this time; after AD 300 it depended upon age. The top place at a Jewish meal was at the head end of the table or the middle of the middle couch. (Cf. 14:8; 20:46 par Mk 12:39/Mt23:6).

vs. 9 sxaton—last, least, lowest
Matthew speaks of the ‘worse’ place (eitten) and the arrival of the inferior guest. Luke’s use of sxaton draws the mind of the reader beyond the earthly feast and its table manners to the final feast, the eschaton, the reign of God.

vs. 10 This verse is parallel to vs 9, however, it is stated as a positive command rather than as a negative command.

'ina— so that— expresses the result rather than purpose.

vs. 11 tapeinoo (tapeineystai) —the one who humbles
Three passages in the NT (Mt 23:12; Lk 14:11; 18:14) contain this saying. The saying has an OT basis and there are Rabbinical parallels. It is a two-membered mashal whose very form betrays its Jewish origin. In using it Jesus adopts a basic experience of the Israelite and non-biblical world but makes it into a saying expressing God’s eschatological work, as may be seen from the future form.

In Lk 14:1 the saying comes at the end of an illustration which is modeled on Proverbs 25:6ƒ (the OT Lesson for this day). The starting point in Lk. is the ambition of the invited guests. The conclusion demands submission to God’s decision rather than arrogant anticipation of it.

Jesus is speaking to adults. He is conscious of their lost childlikeness before God. He thus gives humility a special nuance. It is to become a child again before God, i.e., to trust God utterly, to expect everything from God and nothing from self. It is worth noting that Jesus neither practices nor demands the visible self-abasement. Indeed, he is critical of such practices.

vs. 12 antapodidymi (antapodoma) related word (misuoo) —reward, repay
The root of this word is apodidvmi meaning “to give or do something which one should in fulfillment of an obligation or expectation.” Adding the prefix anti-- strengthens the thought of repayment.

In the Synoptic Gospels a related word is (misuoo (reward). The concept of reward is presented just as freely as the threat of punishment. To do God’s will by not heaping up earthly treasurers (Mt 6:19-21), or as Luke says, by giving them away, is to lay up treasure in heaven which will one day be paid out as a reward.

vs. 14 anisthmi (anas. tein dikaiein) — resurrection of the just.

The general resurrection has that of Jesus as its first-fruits (Acts 26:23; I Corinthians 15:20; Colossians 1:18). In the NT, the inner logic of faith is towards the resurrection to life (I Cor. 15:22; Roms 8:11; Jn 6:39,40, 44,54).


Nevertheless, the predominant view is that of a double resurrection (Jn 5:29; cf. Roms 14:9; II Cor 5:10). Possibly in Lk 14:14, and certainly in Rev. 20:5,6, Jewish tradition is followed and the resurrection to life is seen as a prior act in time at the beginning of the millennium.




3. Strategy: Luke 14:1,7-14

The preacher is offered a wide scope of options in this text. The text of season of Pentecost often focus on discipleship, on following Jesus into the world. In this text we are presented with a fork in the road in the journey. One option is to follow the fork of the moral and ethical principles of “table manners.” The other fork follows the believer’s place and actions in the coming feast—the reign of God.

If we take the first fork of “table manners” we are presented with many images to use. Coming as this text does in early September when the harvest is beginning, one can speak of the believer’s status in the reign of God, and the responsibility to the least. When invited to the feast set before us in this country with its bounty we should realize that it is not an earned invitation, but a sheer gift. Therefore, one should not be hauty and selfish when coming to the table. Further, the disciple on the road with Jesus is to share with those who have nothing and who can give nothing in return.

The second fork of the text brings us closer to matters of the heart. Yet here, too, is another fork in the road for the preacher. Each takes us deeper into the woods. The first fork is the fork of “evangelism.” The second fork is the fork of “grace alone.” Which road is taken depends upon the understanding of the believer’s life-situation.

Evangelism means more than telling the story of the reign of God. It means being the gospel for those with whom we come into contact. The believer’s faith relationship to the outsider, the least, is the theme here. No one has anything of which to boast or claim when invited to the feast of God. All are on equal footing. As Luther said, “We are all beggars.”
This confession guides the believer’s response to the host as well as to the least. A church who seeks out “good members,” those who are good prospects with a good chance of contributing to the congregation, has misunderstood its own standing as a “good member” in the reign of God and has misunderstood Jesus’ command.

To be a good guest and a good host is to enter first into the reality of one’s own sinfulness, and unworthiness. And it is from that position of recognized sinfulness that real evangelism takes place, in the depths of human depravity. It is those who minister to the AIDS victim, the abused, the poor—even the hard-core poor—and who do not judge who bring the good news in its purest form.

The fork of “grace alone” leads us into the darkest, yet most beautiful, part of the forest. It is dark because all that we are able to control—evangelism, stewardship and the like—have been stripped away and we are naked.

To walk this path in preaching and living is to take a fresh look at the main character of these twin parables. We are not the center. It is not a question of being a humble guest, nor of being a gracious host. The sabbath feast is set before us already. Jesus has taken the lowest position at God’s feast and God has exalted him for our sake. We who are “the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind” have already been invited to the feast.

Yet, we are the ones looking for ways to repay! God expects no repayment, none is possible. God simply invites all to the feast.

Perhaps for once we need to be still, to come to the Table knowing that these great gifts are already paid for. It is there that we are nourished for our journey which will take us down all those other forks in the road, to people and places that need to hear the gracious invitation:
“You who have no money, come receive bread, and eat. Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk.”



4. References: Luke 14:1,7-14


Conzelmann, Hans. The Theology of St. Luke. (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1961).


Danker, Frederick W. Jesus and the New Age: According to Luke (St. Louis, Missouri: Clayton Publishing House, 1972.)


________________. Luke in Proclamation Commentaries: The New Testament Witness for Preaching, Gerhard Kordel, ed. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976).


Jervell, Jacob. Luke and the People of God. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1972).


Juel, Donald H. and Buttrick, David. Pentecost 2: Series C in Proclamation 2: Aids for Interpreting the Lessons of the Church Year, Elizabeth Achtemeier, et al, eds. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980).


Kittel, Gerhard and Friedrich, Gerhard, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. 10 vols. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964).


Marshall, I. Howard, The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978).





5. Worship & Music Suggestions: Luke 14:1,7-14



It would be most appropriate to celebrate the Lord’s Supper on this day even if it is not regularly scheduled in your parish. Creative Ministers of the Table can always find a rationale for squeezing in one more Holy Communion service. Perhaps it could be justified as a welcome home feast to those who have been “at the lake” all summer, or as a celebration of the beginning of “the programming year.” If all else fails, plan an all-church pot-luck after the morning worship. In whatever way possible, break bread together! It is in the actions we learn around that Table that teach us how to act around the many tables from which we eat in our daily lives. The action of eating and drinking together is the surest sign and work on earth that the reign of God is active in and transforming the lives of God’s people.


Hymn Suggestions: Luke 14:1,7-14


O God of Earth and Altar (LBW 428)

Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service (LBW 423)

Come to Calvary’s Holy Mountain (LBW 301)

The Nunc Dimittis in its various hymn or psalm tone settings would be appropriate if one has followed the last fork suggested in Strategy such as:

O Lord, Now Let Your Servant (LBW 339)

Any number of Holy Communion hymns such as:

O Living Bread from Heaven (LBW 197)
For the Bread Which You Have Broken (LBW 200)




Exegete: Rev. Thomas S. Hanson (St. Paul Synod) is currently Interim Pastor at
Christ the Servant Lutheran Church Vadnais Heights, MN.














































LEXEGETE™

© 2007

Tischrede Software

Friday, August 17, 2007

More Daily Disciples On the Way!

Lexegete ™ | Year C

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
August 26, 2007 (Lectionary 21)

Complementary Series
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Psalm 103:1-8 (Ps. 103:4)
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:10-17

Semicontinuous Series
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6 (Ps. 71:6)
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:10-17


1a. Context: Lk. 13:10-17


For a concise and interesting introduction to Lk. 13:10-17, see the ELCA article

by Robin and John McCullough Bade, “A Freed Woman’s Story” available in pdf form at:

< http://www.elca.org/evangelizingchurch/DailyDiscipleship/ >.


[SEE ALSO: http://www.mc-bade.net/mainpage.html ].



Be sure to look up John and Robin’s other publications (books, videos,

photography) on Hurricane Katrina and other timely topics, available from

Future with Hope Press:

< http://www.futurewithhopepress.org/index.html >




1a. TEXT: Luke 13:10-17

Lk. 13:10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
Lk. 13:11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.
Lk. 13:12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment."
Lk. 13:13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.
Lk. 13:14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day."
Lk. 13:15 But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?
Lk. 13:16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?"
Lk. 13:17 When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.



LEXEGETE: www.Yrobdtsvt.blogspot.com

Lexegete | 12th Sunday After Pentecost

Lexegete ™ | Year C

TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
August 19, 2007 (Lectionary 20)

Complementary Series

Jeremiah 23:23-29
Psalm 82 (Ps. 82:8)
Hebrews 11:29—12:2
Luke 12:49-56

Semicontinuous Series

Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19 (Ps. 80:14)
Hebrews 11:29—12:2
Luke 12:49-56

___________________________________________________________

1a. CONTEXT: Luke 12:49-56

The author of this passage, as perhaps someone
else has noted elsewhere in Lexegete™. is responsible
for over 27 percent of the New Testament (Luke & Acts)
--more than the entire Pauline corpus. On this basis alone,
this ancient theological historian's (or historical theologian's)
voice deserves to be heard today.

To oversimplify somewhat, the first half
of the work that bear's the author's name (the whole
work is most often rather functionally referred to as Luke/Acts)
centers around its "hero", Jesus, his life and ministry,
and his progression to the site of his passion:
Jerusalem--the city and center of Judaism that rejected Jesus and his message. In this gospel, the Kingdom of God is proclaimed--first in Galilee,
then in Judea--and seeds planted for the community
that will continue what Jesus began. In a brief exegetical
survey of Luke-Acts, Dennis Duling entitles volume one of
this two part work, "The Ministry of the Spirit Through Jesus"
(THE NEW TESTAMENT: An Introduction. Perrin/Duling, 1982.)

This text comes from that large body of material that is generally known as the "Journey to Jerusalem" (9:51-19:27). Except for 18:15-19:27, the material is wholly non-Markan and combines the Q and L sources. Such a significant departure from the order of Mark's gospel is a clear indication that here are to be found those concerns both peculiar and important to Luke. This section represents over half of Luke's gospel and contains many of the themes that are central to his theology, including: the delay of the parousia, the mission to the gentiles, special concern for outcasts, the poor and women, discipleship and the Kingdom of God. This section is primarily theological in content and contains most of the best-known Lukan parables.

To narrow the focus somewhat, the passage under consideration is couched in a smaller body of material encompassing the twelfth chapter, which deals with teachings and warnings to the disciples (probably not limited to just the twelve). Luke has arranged a number of loosely connected sayings of Jesus into a set of exhortative teachings aimed at the Jewish Hellenistic Christians of his day. Jesus' words to his followers takes on a severity of tone that we usually expect to be reserved for the "scribes and pharisees".

Today's lection from Luke contains: a sudden outpouring of Jesus' personal feelings regarding his passion and the delay of the parousia, his stern assessment of the effect of Christianity on typical familial relations, as well as a lambasting of his followers for their blindness to the "signs of the times". These are originally unrelated sayings of Jesus that Luke appears to have strung together based on their common note of conflict.

The other lections for the day include: a typical jeremiad from its namesake, a Psalm of lamentation, and familiar words of comfort and encouragement from Hebrews 12 (I feel the relationship of the texts to each other is important - I work from the New Common Lectionary). All of the lections leave the basic impression that to be a person of faith means to encounter substantial opposition and personal difficulties (the first three being expressions of that inevitable difficulty, and Hebrews being words of encouragement for those encountering such difficulty). As is often the case during these ("dog") days of Pentecost, this gospel is part of a semi-continuous series of readings in Luke over twenty-four consecutive Sundays (Prospers 4-28).



1b. TEXT: Luke 12:49-56

Elk. 12:49 "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

Elk. 12:50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!

Lk. 12:51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!

Lk. 12:52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;

Lk. 12:53 they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

Lk. 12:54 He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, `It is going to rain'; and so it happens.

Lk. 12:55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, `There will be scorching heat'; and it happens.

Lk. 12:56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?


1c. Text (Greek, Westcott-Hort)



2. ANALYSIS: Luke 12:49-56

"Attention is focused on Jerusalem as the goal, so that the cross, resurrection, and ascension are anticipated. The section is almost entirely didactic and polemical . . . The fact that the section portrays Jesus as on his way to his suffering and death indicates also that Jesus is equipping his disciples for carrying on his work after his death and resurrection." (Arland Hultgren - Interpreting the Gospel, James L. Mays, ed.)

Within this unit of scripture are four discernible sayings: vs. 49, vs. 50, vss. 51-53, and vss. 54-56. There is no unanimity among translators as to how to group this set of verses. Placing together vss. 49-56 is as tenable as any other suggested grouping.

Luke 12:49 - It is conceivable that Matthew and Luke draw on the same source, as they both utilize the same (rare?) variant of ballo [to send, cast, pour or throw] in what are nearly parallel sayings. (MT 10:34) The image of "cast[ing] fire upon the earth" is reminiscent of the terrible "day of the Lord" that so predominates the thoughts of the minor prophets (Day of Judgment/the Lord - Joel 2:3-5, Nahum 1:5-6, Zephaniah 1:18 Refiner's Fire - Zechariah 13:9, Malachi 3:2).

" . . . Would that it were already kindled" suggests to some scholars that it is already assumed (in Jesus' mind or Luke's community?) that the parousia has been delayed, the subject of which was treated in last week's lection.

Vs. 50 This, again, has no direct parallels. In Mark 10:38-39, however, Jesus uses baptisma/baptizo as an allusion to his passion, as Luke does here. When Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem (9:51), he was well aware just how personally demanding his ministry was to be. The constraint he feels "presses" Jesus down in this very real "mini-portrait".


vss. 49, 50 In these two verses, Jesus echoes the strident apocalyptic themes and tones that characterized John the Baptist's preaching in Luke chapter 3. Possibly this is connected to 3:16's reference to being baptized with "the Holy Spirit and with fire". Perhaps this is an indication of the extent to which Jesus' preaching, like John's before him, was shaped by Jewish apocalypticism, which was an integral part of their immediate religious past.


vss. 51-53 This illustrates the crisis and disruption that Christ and God's Kingdom bring into the world and its relationships. As we will see in the last section (vss. 54-56), the lack of peace is in no small part owing to the stubborn refusal of the people to heed what should be obvious (hence Jesus' lament in 19:42). Vs. 53 is drawn from Micah's words of judgment (7:6) that Matthew has also borrowed.


vss. 54-56 While 49-53 are spoken to the disciples, these words are spoken to the multitudes. This basic saying is shared with MT 16:2,3.
Except for the basic tone of Jesus' words to his followers, this passage shares no obvious connection with the previous passage. The word dokimazo is most often translated discern (KJV) or interpret (RSV, et al). However, the word commonly means "to prove or try", as in a legal sense (hence, the connection with the following verses (57-59) which were not included in today's lection).

Kairos is what Luke chooses to indicate "time". As is so often true in the NT, this connotes the sense of fulness, pregnancy, opportunity and expectancy that chronos does not.



3. STRATEGY: Luke 12:49-56


At first blush, this lection, coming in the heat of the summer as it does, seems to offer very slender homiletical pickings (Which makes this writer think: Just as, in the old Kaopectate ® ad, people at the bus stop huddled under umbrellas in a downpour don't want to hear about diarrhea, neither is it likely that brow-mopping parishioners want to hear that Jesus came to bring fire down upon the earth--though they may be inclined to believe it if told).

Part of the difficulty in shaping a message from this lection lies in determining Luke's audience for these stern words. It seems likely that Jesus originally spoke these words (some or all?) to his followers who 1) sensed that they were living on the edge of the culmination of time (parousia), and 2) were commissioned by Jesus (10:1ff.) to live the lives of itinerant preachers ("wandering Christian charismatics" - Theissen) of the Kingdom of God--a difficult and often unrewarding vocation. Luke appears to have recast Jesus' exhortations into challenging words to the Christians of his day. Luke's fellow Christians saw themselves living in the last days and therefore might find comfort in knowing their Lord had predicted turbulent times for people of faith, and had lived through and died at the hands of that turbulence himself. Certainly, following the destruction of the temple, it would be virtually impossible for Hellenistic Jewish families to maintain unity were part of the family to become loyal to Christ, rejecting the old loyalties.

The preacher will want to be very careful how these exhortations are transformed into "homiletical gems". As mentioned above, the themes of fire, unrest, familial division, and inability to read the times may touch raw nerves in the hearers. Clearly Christianity is not always a blessing or at least perceived as a blessing. People in every age who have attempted to live out their understanding of radical discipleship have awakened unbelievable hostilities. Individual families aplenty have known the division that can occur when one or more of their members "get religion". Denominational families who struggle to be faithful to Christ's spirit in the sticky social areas of abortion, ecumenism, homosexuality, nuclear armaments, Central America, ad nauseum, will at times concur that Jesus came to bring division. Every generation has experienced the shaking up of old loyalties that the "sword" of Christ can effect. This writer's hunch is that this was a popular lection from which to preach during the Civil War.

In our more cynical and "prophetic" moments, it would be every preacher's temptation to point out to the church-folk and the world their attention to things absurd and their utter blindness: to things of importance, to the crying needs of our world, to deeper spiritual realities, to the multitude of ways that they help create the spiritual wasteland that troubles so many. The time that is so filled with the potentiality of God's Kingdom is passed by because all we knew to talk about was the weather. At the very least it would not hurt any of us to be reminded that Christ calls us to continually pull the scales/callouses from our eyes and hearts--that in an age of spiritual and moral torpor we need to find ways to be resensitized to the complexion, complexities and needs of our world. If your preaching of the "Good News" tends to be a bit privatized and one-sided at times, this could serve as a helpful corrective. Finally, at the beginning of The Road Less Travelled, the late M. Scott Peck observed that, "Life is difficult." Regarding the life of faith, this writer believes Jesus would concur. Regarding the homiletical adventure this lection engages one in, this writer concurs.






4. WORSHIP & MUSIC SUGGESTIONS: Luke 12:49-56

God of Grace and God of Glory (Fosdick)
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory (Howe)
We Are Living, We Are Dwelling (Coxe)
Be Thou My Vision (Byrne/Hull)
Once to Every Man and Nation (Lowell)
Lead On, O King Eternal (Shurtleff)
From Everflowing Streams, Ruth Duck, Michael Bausch, eds.
We Are Gathered (Blesoff)
Sometimes I Wish (Etzler)
Vision for Tomorrow, Action for Today (Hunter)


Exegete: Gregory H. Ledbetter


Greg Ledbetter is a Baptist minister, formerly from E. Poultney,VT,
and now the pastor of Shell Ridge Community Church (American Baptist Convention)
in Walnut Creek, CA. Greg was one of the first pastors in the USA to
order Lexegete, and has remained a longtime user.






































_____________________________



LEXEGETE™

© 2007 Tischrede Software

Dartmouth,MA 02747


_____________________________

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Marketing 102 Archives

Logic teaches us that you can't fool all of the people all of the time--unless they're still babes in the woods.....!

Pax, dave buehler
Yrobdtsvt.blogspot.com

======================================

Citation 1: Hebrews 5:11-14:

About this we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of right- eousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.


Citation 2:
" Effects of Fast Food Branding on Young Children's Taste Preferences"
Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine 2007;161:792-797.

Thomas N. Robinson, MD, MPH; Dina L. G. Borzekowski, EdD; Donna M. Matheson, PhD; Helena C. Kraemer, PhD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161:792-797. http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/161/8/792

======================================
Summary: Stanford Study: Marketing Tricks Tots' Taste Buds

(AP) STANFORD, CA Anything made by McDonald's tastes better, preschoolers said in a study that powerfully demonstrates how advertising can trick the taste buds of young children.

Even carrots, milk and apple juice tasted better to the kids when they were wrapped in the familiar packaging of the Golden Arches.

The study had youngsters sample identical McDonald's foods in name-brand and unmarked wrappers. The unmarked foods always lost the taste test.

"You see a McDonald's label and kids start salivating," said Diane Levin, a childhood development specialist who campaigns against advertising to kids. She had no role in the research.

Levin said it was "the first study I know of that has shown so simply and clearly what's going on with (marketing to) young children."

Study author Dr. Tom Robinson said the kids' perception of taste was "physically altered by the branding." The Stanford University researcher said it was remarkable how children so young were already so influenced by advertising.

The study involved 63 low-income children ages 3 to 5 from Head Start centers in San Mateo County, Calif. Robinson believes the results would be similar for children from wealthier families.

The research, appearing in August's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, was funded by Stanford and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The study will likely stir more debate over the movement to restrict ads to kids. It comes less than a month after 11 major food and drink companies, including McDonald's, announced new curbs on marketing to children under 12.

McDonald's says the only Happy Meals it will promote to young children will contain fruit and have fewer calories and less fat.

"This is an important subject and McDonald's has been actively addressing it for quite some time," said company spokesman Walt Riker. "We've always wanted to be part of the solution and we are providing solutions."

But Dr. Victor Strasburger, an author of an American Academy of Pediatrics policy urging limits on marketing to children, said the study shows too little is being done.

"It's an amazing study and it's very sad," Strasburger said.

"Advertisers have tried to do exactly what this study is talking about—to brand younger and younger children, to instill in them an almost obsessional desire for a particular brand-name product," he said.

Just two of the 63 children studied said they'd never eaten at McDonald's, and about one-third ate there at least weekly. Most recognized the McDonald's logo but it was mentioned to those who didn't.

The study included three McDonald's menu items—hamburgers, chicken nuggets and french fries—and store-bought milk or juice and carrots. Children got two identical samples of each food on a tray, one in McDonald's wrappers or cups and the other in plain, unmarked packaging. The kids were asked if they tasted the same or if one was better. (Some children didn't taste all the foods.)

McDonald's-labeled samples were the clear favorites. French fries were the biggest winner; almost 77 percent said the labeled fries tasted best while only 13 percent preferred the others.

Fifty-four percent preferred McDonald's-wrapped carrots versus 23 percent who liked the plain-wrapped sample.

The only results not statistically clear-cut involved the hamburgers, with 29 kids choosing McDonald's-wrapped burgers and 22 choosing the unmarked ones.

Fewer than one-fourth of the children said both samples of all foods tasted the same.

Pradeep Chintagunta, a University of Chicago marketing professor, said a fairer comparison might have gauged kids' preferences for the McDonald's label versus another familiar brand, such as Mickey Mouse.

"I don't think you can necessarily hold this against" McDonald's, he said, since the goal of marketing is to build familiarity and sell products.

He noted that parents play a strong role in controlling food choices for children so young.

But Robinson argued that because young children are unaware of the persuasive intent of marketing, "it is an unfair playing field."

© 2007 The Associated Press.
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "John Spangler" jspangler@ltsg.edu
I don't follow the logic here. Branding doesn't replace content. Of course
it enhances the content nicely when well done, but does not substitute. The
original question didn't seem to run down the road that you took this,
either.

jrs


_______________________
John R. Spangler
Gettysburg Seminary

-----Original Message-----
From: davebuehler@comcast.net [mailto:davebuehler@comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 4:21 PM
To: John Spangler; 2007_CWA_IN_CHICAGO.topic@faithgroups.com

Subject: RE: ELCA Seal


John,

Following that rationale, I guess we might as well turn over responsibility
for our
Church's Catechetics to a " New 'Brand' Developer."

Guess what....ELCA has been there and done that!?

And here I thought I was the Curmudgeon...

S.G.D.,

Dave B.












-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "John Spangler" • jspangler@ltsg.edu
Seals and emblems (logos) are different animals. An official seal must
serve
in a capacity different from logos, with seals functioning on official
documents pressed or printed. Logos must function across media, in very
public ways, on everyting from signs to pens to video screens.

_______________________
John R. Spangler
Gettysburg Seminary

-----Original Message-----
From: davebuehler@comcast.net [mailto:davebuehler@comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 12:22 PM
To: 2007_CWA_IN_CHICAGO.topic@faithgroups.com
Subject: Re: ELCA Seal

Good point, Steve.

Could it be because the ELCA mounted a Media Image Campaign
complete with Videos, etc. about 7 or 8 years ago?

We heard a lot about lot about it for a few months and then it
fell off (my) radar screen....So much for our Persona !?

Rev. David A. Buehler, Ph.D.
Providence College (RI)


-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: STEVE HELMREICH • STEVE.HELMREICH@ecunet.org
Note #16 from STEVE HELMREICH to 2007 CWA IN CHICAGO:


In preparation for the CWA, I've been slogging through the constitution
and
bylaws. Just wondered why the seal hasn't been changed to reflect the
new
ELCA
volleyball logo?

Steve Helmreich
Las Cruces, NM (currently in Chicago)

*** For instructions on using this system (including how to UNJOIN this
meeting), send e-mail to mailrequests@ecunet.org






-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "John Spangler" • jspangler@ltsg.edu
I don't follow the logic here. Branding doesn't replace content. Of course
it enhances the content nicely when well done, but does not substitute. The
original question didn't seem to run down the road that you took this,
either.

jrs


_______________________
John R. Spangler
Gettysburg Seminary

-----Original Message-----
From: davebuehler@comcast.net [mailto:davebuehler@comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 4:21 PM
To: John Spangler; 2007_CWA_IN_CHICAGO.topic@faithgroups.com
Subject: RE: ELCA Seal


John,

Following that rationale, I guess we might as well turn over responsibility
for our
Church's Catechetics to a " New 'Brand' Developer."

Guess what....ELCA has been there and done that!?

And here I thought I was the Curmudgeon...

S.G.D.,

Dave B.












-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "John Spangler" • jspangler@ltsg.edu
Seals and emblems (logos) are different animals. An official seal must
serve
in a capacity different from logos, with seals functioning on official
documents pressed or printed. Logos must function across media, in very
public ways, on everyting from signs to pens to video screens.

_______________________
John R. Spangler
Gettysburg Seminary

-----Original Message-----
From: davebuehler@comcast.net [mailto:davebuehler@comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 12:22 PM
To: 2007_CWA_IN_CHICAGO.topic@faithgroups.com
Subject: Re: ELCA Seal

Good point, Steve.

Could it be because the ELCA mounted a Media Image Campaign
complete with Videos, etc. about 7 or 8 years ago?

We heard a lot about lot about it for a few months and then it
fell off (my) radar screen....So much for our Persona !?

Rev. David A. Buehler, Ph.D.
Providence College (RI)


-------------- Original message ----------------------

From: STEVE HELMREICH • STEVE.HELMREICH@ecunet.org
Note #16 from STEVE HELMREICH to 2007 CWA IN CHICAGO:


In preparation for the CWA, I've been slogging through the constitution
and bylaws. Just wondered why the seal hasn't been changed to reflect the
new ELCA volleyball logo?

Steve Helmreich
Las Cruces, NM (currently in Chicago)