Light on the Lessons s7

Light on the Lessons

Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22

Third Sunday in Lent; Cycle B; March 4, 2018

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

+ Read Bible dictionary articles on “temple,” ”wisdom,” and “covenant.” In advance, prepare two charts on newsprint or chalkboard: a listing of the commandments according to the two numbering systems, a separate listing of the commandments according to the system you use. Lutherans may want to distribute copies of Luther’s “Small Catechism” which provides excellent interpretations of the commandments.

I Getting Started

Pray for peace and enlightenment and needs within the group. Read the lessons now, or as you study each one. Briefly discuss “Getting Started” questions.

1. The two extra commandments are the two Jesus offered: Love God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). Actually, these two summarize the whole law, so Christians can be said to have two commandments, not 10 nor 12.

2. Responses will vary. One definition of wisdom: The ability to discern inner qualities and relationships, including God as well as people. A more folksy approach: Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting one in a fruit salad.

3. It would hurt rather than help. You can discuss this issue more fully under III, 6, below.

II Check the Texts

1. Exodus 20:1-17

Review the two numbering schemes for the commandments.

A. This covenant is based on God’s gracious deliverance of the people from Egyptian slavery. He makes this covenant to be their God on their wanderings after leaving Egypt. Moses in Deuteronomy 5:1 forcefully urges their observance. (Horeb in Deuteronomy is the same mountain as Sinai in Exodus.)

B. There were two tablets. The God-ward tablet would carry 1-3 (Lutheran) or 1-4 (Protestant) with the people-ward tablet holding the other commandments. This is how Jesus summarized them as well. He gives priority to loving God because if one does that, all else follows; the commandments are basically religious in motivation. Jesus, of course, adds love to the commandments. See 1 John 4:19-21 for a neat summary of the role of love in the commandments. (Luther captures this in the “Small Catechism”: We should so fear [respect] and love God [the basic for our obedience] so that we do not [what we avoid doing] but [examples of what we do positively as our expression of love].)

C. Verse 4-11 all show signs of expansion. The command to honor parents, verse 12, is the only one to carry the blessing. D. List the commandments in summary form and mark off the pairs. Talk about what common thread holds each pair together, then work on possible titles, which will vary. One set of titles: Person of God, Things of God, Family Life, Person of Neighbor, Things of Neighbor. Note the central place given to Family Life.

E. “Kill” is more general; besides, Israel was authorized by God to kill in wars and with capital punishment. “Murder” means killing within the tribe, as an extended family. This commandment really does not support the pacifist position to eschew killing in any form, although that position has merit on other grounds.

F. Luther gave high priority to “honor parents.” He felt that without a healthy family structure, society would fall apart. He also gave families great responsibilities, to teach the Gospel and to encourage socially proper behavior.

2. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

A. Paul pleads for unity and a common vision among the Corinthians. In verses 11-16, they seem divided along party lines around various teachers. They evidentially thought baptism somehow united them to their baptizer-teacher rather than to Jesus Christ. Apollos was eloquent and learned. Some at Corinth thought Paul did not have the style and eloquence Greeks expected from their philosopher-teachers, while Apollos probably manifested these gifts in abundance. Paul concentrated on preaching and proclamation at Corinth, verse 17.

B. Paul speaks of the perishing (non-believers) and those being saved (in the process of salvation; full salvation, for Paul, comes when we join Jesus on his return). The perishing, according to 2 Corinthians, have been blinded by the god of this world. (Paul does not mention that perhaps he failed to communicate his message well; for him, the proclamation of the Gospel, the cross of Christ, was sufficient for that message was the true word of God.) Apparently some did not take him seriously because he lacked eloquence, style, and sophistication. Thus, the Isaiah quote fits his argument: Don’t get lost in eloquence and rhetoric which God knows can easily mislead. We can imagine Paul as the country bumpkin making himself acceptable to the city slickers, who are put off by his accent, poor grammar, and the way he wipes his nose with a red bandanna!

C. “Wisdom” means human philosophy and intellectual endeavor. It was the Greek path to God (verses 21b, 25) or a way of expressing philosophical -religious truths in eloquent philosophical discourse (verse 22; sheer eloquence would validate a message for a Greek). In contrast, the wisdom of God is embodied in Christ (verse 24b) and proclaiming Christ is God’s plan of salvation. Proverbs 8 speaks of wisdom as pre-existent, a co-creator with God; thus, wisdom relates to God’s creative power. John 1 uses “logos” or “Word” to describe Jesus in the same terms. Thus, Paul agrees with John in 1:24: Jesus is the wisdom of God.

D. For Jews, the Roman cross was an example of the “tree” in Deuteronomy 21:22; thus, a crucified Messiah was an oxymoron and scandal (the Greek word translated “stumbling block”). Those who respond to the message are “called,” that is, God has spoken to them and empowered their response, as 1:30 declares. Note the parallel: The believers are the losers of society; their Lord, in human terms, was also a loser.

3. John 2:13-22

A. Mark and the Synoptic Gospels (Mt., Mk., Lk.) place the Temple incident in Jesus’ last week, likely the more accurate historical placement. Such an action would be the ultimate assault on the religious establishment, since the money-changers and livestock dealers were essential for the operation of the Temple. We can imagine the Temple as a factory, with busy production lines making sacrifices to develop the final product, forgiveness of sin. It was a very profitable operation.

B. One can imagine Jesus shouting Jeremiah’s words as he cleansed the Temple courts. Both Jeremiah and Jesus warned against trusting in religious routine rather than attending to the needs of one’s neighbor.

C. A “sign” in John is a miracle that points to the divinity of Jesus. In verse 18 it means something more like Paul’s use 1 Corinthians 1:22: Some clear indication that this business is God’s business, or a justification for what one does or says.

D. Construction started on the Temple in 20 BC. Deduct 20 from 46 and we get 26 AD. Remember: There is no year 0; we go from 1 BC to 1 AD. These calculations, of course, are only approximate.

III What Does It All Mean?

1. Responses will vary.

2. Our overarching command is to love our neighbor. Love means positive behavior to benefit others. The commandments on the surface only restrain harmful behaviors. Luther does a great job with this negative-positive aspect of the commandments in his “Small Catechism.”

3. This movement keeps Sunday as the Lord’s Day and holds Saturday as a Sabbath day of rest. Such a program could bring spiritual and emotional benefits, but we cannot be legalistic about it. Talk about ways to find time for quiet and reflection, private space within public lives.

4. While God’s ways on our behalf are known only by revelation, zeroing in on their meanings and applying God’s grace to life clearly requires thought and discussion and insight, which is to say, reason.

5. Responses will vary.

6. Responses will vary. “Vocation” is one meaning for “calling.” God calls us to be parents, workers, and so forth; our call to be disciples is lived out in the ordinary affairs of life. Thus, being a loving parent expresses one dimension of our discipleship. 7. Responses will vary. Someone cynically termed financial stewardship as “the last and final test of discipleship in our culture.” Consider money as “congealed sweat,” a portable form of our thoughts, labor, and time. Since the potential for job loss is real as is the difficulty of obtaining a new job with the same status and income, talk about how we connect our money-making capacity with our self-worth. How can we realize our self-worth as God’s person, even when we are unemployed or living on a reduced income?

IV Into the Week

Talk about #2. Lutherans may wish to distribute copies of Luther’s “Small Catechism.”