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Pentecost19
October 10, 2004
Jeremiah 29: 1, 4-7
Psalm 66: 1-12
2 Timothy 2: 8-15
Luke 17: 11-19
The Lectionary provided by the church provides four systematically chosen passages for each Sunday; I find this to be useful as, by using and preaching from one or more of these passages I am less likely to "ride hobby horses". These notes will provide a short summary of the meaning as I see it of each passage, and some suggestions for preaching themes based on the readings. You will be left - of course - to make the linkages with your congregation and with world or local events on each particular Sunday. I encourage you to not always preach from the gospel, but to explore the richness of other passages and perhaps give a mini-series on Jeremiah, Timothy or Thessalonians; I hope that you find joy in your preaching ministry.
Jeremiah 29: 1, 4-7: We may be surprised at Jeremiah's message - there is none of the Jewish exclusiveness evident in some Hebrew Testament writing. Although Jeremiah remains in Jerusalem he is still trying to exercise a ministry by letter to the exiles in Babylon post 597 BCE. He has heard of unrest among them caused by two 'prophets' advising them to rebel against their captors. Jeremiah is clear that this advice is not of God - instead of rebelling or retreating into a Jewish ghetto mentality, he believes that the exiles are to work actively for peace and the welfare of the very people who have humiliated them! Verse 7: 'Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile... for in its welfare you will find your welfare.' Jeremiah is convinced that the very exile itself is part of God's continuing plan for his chosen people, and out of it - in God's time - will come restoration into a new future.
Psalm 66: 1-12: The first section of a two-part psalm; in the part we read the temple congregation praises God whose majesty has been shown in miraculous saving deeds - especially the escape from Egypt under Moses and the settling of the Promised Land. The second part - verses 13 to 20 – is the thanksgiving of an individual who tells the worshippers how his personal prayer has been answered. God is praised at all levels for saving acts, from the day to day life of an individual to the formative events in the life of the nation. Verses 10 to 12 are important because they show that the way to salvation along which God leads his people includes suffering, humiliation, temptation, exile and trauma. This links to the passage from Jeremiah and forward to the 'Way of the Cross' in the gospel representation of the death and resurrection of Jesus and its implications.
2 Timothy 2: 8-15: A series of contrasts and even paradoxes are outlined in this passage - Paul is chained like a criminal but the word of God [the gospel] is not... The gathering threat of persecution faced by the early church as it struggled to cope with a callously aggressive pagan empire are not the only realities for Paul; underpinning his life and work as a missionary is his faith in the love of God as shown in the resurrected Chris t. Verses 11 to 13 are a saying dating back to the earliest days of the church - the 'tit for tat' nature of verses 11 and 12 are in contrast to verse 13 which emphasises the faithfulness in love of Jesus Chris t and therefore, for Paul, of God. I would probably begin the reading with verse 1 of chapter 2, a verse which is a key to Paul's life and philosophy.
Luke 17: 11-19: The life of lepers at the time of Jesus was in effect a living death as the Laws of Ritual Purity banned them from any normal social involvement. Lepers - such as the 10 here - tended to live in hovels on the outskirts of villages and towns, eking out an existence on the scraps of food they could find in the village or town refuse. Some skin conditions cleared and the sufferers could be certified as 'clean' by a priest, but true leprosy - like HIV and Aids today - was deeply feared because there was no cure.
At this bedrock level of human existence, distinctions such as that between Jew and Samaritan had no traction and the leper colony which encountered Jesus contained a Samaritan. As the lepers obey Jesus and go to the priest, they are healed - their lives will return to normal as they reintegrate into village life. The nine Jews disappear from the narrative but the Samaritan returns to thank Jesus and to give glory to God. As in the parable of the Good Samaritan, here the foreigner shows up the Jew! All ten lepers are physically healed but only the Samaritan experiences the deeper healing made possible by his faith. The passage ends with Jesus' familiar: "Your faith has made you well" [compare 5.20, 8.50...]. The word 'faith' is rich and has to do with trust, integrity, steadfastness, fidelity... Here the Samaritan's faith is that the God of healing love is working through Jesus to transform his life.
Directions for Preaching: It seems to me that each of our readings starts from a similar point - one of the crises faced by individual or community. The exiles in Babylon are humiliated as they live with the memory of Jerusalem being razed.; the psalm reminds us that the way of salvation includes suffering, humiliation, temptation, exile and trauma; Paul is speaking to a church beginning to experience the heavy hand of persecution by the Roman Empire; and the lepers in Luke 17 are living the most degraded form of existence.
If you need a text, perhaps 2 Timothy 2.1: 'You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Chris t Jesus.', would suffice. Into any and every human condition, the grace of God can reach to transform, to bring hope out of despair and life out of death. This is the heart of the gospel!
There is no difficulty in the choice of music to support such a central theme as this - 'Amazing grace...' is the first hymn which comes to mind.