Light on the Lessons s4

Light on the Lessons

Deuteronomy 30:15-20; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; Matthew 5:21-37

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany; Cycle A; February 12, 2017

Leader Guidance

Materials Needed

+ Bibles for everyone (variety of translations often useful)

+ Lectionary sheets (very convenient if you use them in worship)

+ Chalkboard, newsprint, overhead, or another means for displaying information and recording thoughts.

+ Basic reference books for use as needed: Bible dictionary, Bible atlas, concordance, a one-volume Bible commentary.

I Getting Started

Have the lessons read aloud while others follow the text. Pray for concerns suggested by participants, and then ask the Holy Spirit to be present with enlightenment and insight. After the prayers, turn to the “warm-up” questions.

1. Responses will vary. The black-and-white outlook brings comfort because everything falls into place according to one’s own vision of right and wrong. But it misses the crucial point that as sinners, our vision of what’s good and bad isn’t pure. It also leads one into judgmental attitudes and behaviors, against which our Lord cautioned.

2. God provides the increase for the church. This, like our own faith, is a work of the Holy Spirit. We can do the things that seem useful for promoting congregational growth (or our own faith-life), but we must leave the results to God.

3. Responses will vary. There is nothing wrong with high moral standards so long as they are centered on love, which remains open to new understandings. We also need to focus on the Cross when we deal with our guilt. (Lutherans might recall Luther’s treatment the Ten Commandments in the “Small Catechism” as suggested in 3-C in the study for Epiphany 5 last week.)

II Check the Texts

1. Deuteronomy 30:15-20

A. In 29:1, the speaker is Moses. The language in 5:2-3 and 29:14-15 says that the covenant is not only with ancestors but the present generation as well as those “not here,” or future generations. Deuteronomy aims to make the covenant given at one time on Mt. Horeb (or Mt.Sinai) a living reality in the present and for all time. The Joshua reading describes a covenant renewal ceremony with the same themes of choice and making commitment to Yahweh, his grace, and his expectations

B. The exiles will return to a more prosperous situation than they left. This is also the kind of promise made in Isaiah. Deuteronomy 30:2 states the conditions for this blessing. Verse 6 calls the people to more than formal obedience. “Circumcise your heart” means that one should internalize the marks of the covenant and love the LORD. We don’t know what “exiles” are meant. They could be those from the Northern Kingdom scattered by the Assyrians a century before the time of Josiah. It could also be a later addition to Deuteronomy from around the time of the exile in Babylon.

C. Life, according to verse 16, consists of walking in God’s ways, beyond the physical to embrace the spiritual and relational. Like in Matthew 6, the core of life is trusting in and following God. It means a fully lived life, beyond eating, drinking, and breathing. Matthew 6:33 puts in first place seeking the kingdom of God, which makes much the same point as 30:16. John 1:4 declares that Jesus is “life” and we find “life” in him. For Christians, Jesus is the new covenant.

D. We need to exercise caution when applying the “faithfulness=prosperity; unfaithfulness=adversity” theme to Christian experience. After all, our Lord, perfectly obedient to his Father, died unjustly on a cross. A good theology of the Cross recognizes God’s presence in the midst of suffering.

E. These verses say that keeping the covenant is not impossible. It is not something far away that others must bring home to us. The word from God is intimate, close, in one’s heart. Like Jeremiah, this envisions people following God from deep inner conviction.

2. 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

A. The equivalent term is “spiritual.”

B. Paul was probably chided for being too simplistic and elementary, compared to the so-called “larger issues” of philosophy with which Apollos apparently dealt. Paul says they are children of the flesh (unspiritual, without the Spirit) because they divide into parties while the Spirit unites (verses 3-4).

C. In verse 5, both are servants of the same God, both are missionaries. Planting=milk; solid food=watering.

D. We should focus less on our human spiritual guides and more on God who fills us with the Spirit. Verse 4 speaks of division while verse 8 unites the divisions with “common purpose.”

E. “Field” fits Paul’s images of planting and watering in verses 6-8. “Building” introduces a new metaphor starting with verse 10.

3. Matthew 5:21-37

A. Verses 21-22a raise the ante, as it were, on the law, as verse 20 declares. The point is that God’s expectations of us exceed even the high standards of the Pharisees.

B. The connections are: Leviticus 19:12 [v. 33]; Deuteronomy 5:18 [v. 27], 23:21 [v. 33], 24:1-4 [v. 31]; and Exodus 20:14 [v. 27].

C. The basic issue is anger and its management. We can take anger seriously as a destructive force and seek reconciliation and forgiveness before it festers. Participants may have good advice on handling anger.

D. Cutting off members and such are clearly not to be taken literally. The exaggerations simply underscore the vital urgency for dealing with passions that disrupt basic relationships such as marriage. Sexual passions are fine when channeled through marriage.

E. The divorce question was a hot topic in Jesus day, as it is in our day. Verses 31-32 differ from Mark 10 in that they allow divorce for unchastity. This reflects the debate back then: What, if any, are grounds for divorce? The Torah was unclear on specifics and rabbis differed. That Pharisees used the question to test Jesus (Mark 10:2) and the disciples wanted further clarification (Mark 10:10) hint at controversy.

F. We’d probably stop using so many oaths, such as “I swear to God.” In court we might refuse to take an oath. But the main point here is to live with integrity such that your word is your bond.

III What Does It All Mean?

1. Responses will vary.

2. Responses may vary. Some scholars have called the Sermon an “interim ethic” designed for the presumed very brief time before Christ returned, but not suitable for the long haul. Lutherans have traditionally viewed the Sermon as Law. Some look to the Sermon for general guidelines to living as a follower of Jesus, suggestive but not literal. Those who flippantly say, “I live by the Sermon on the Mount” are either moral super-beings or haven’t read it carefully.

3. Responses will vary. This side of heaven, none of us is a 10. Spiritual growth, both in understanding and faith, is a continual process for Christians. Too many believers have to cope with a complex world armed only with a Sunday school understanding of their faith.

4. Responses will vary. When life really pressures us, we have to consciously give our energy to choosing life. To choose life is to say, “With God I am going to make it!”

5. Responses will vary. Think of “planting” as bringing Christ to those who don’t know him, and “watering” as nurturing believers. Probably most feel more comfortable with the “watering” role.

IV Into the Week

You might bring in a flower or arrangement and use #2 as a closing devotion for your session.