Luke 12-20

Luke 12--  note v. 1 “the crowd gathered by the thousands”.  I wonder what it was like for all those people to hear Jesus.

In the context of all the conversations about privacy especially on the Internet, verse 3 seems important: “Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.”  If we are the sort of person who is completely un-hypocritical and who treats everyone as of equal value, then perhaps we would not fear for people to say things we’ve said in private. 

12:4-7 are strange.  On the one hand we are told to “fear him who…has authority to cast into hell” and on the other hand, we are told that God values us more than “many sparrows.”   

And here’s where Luke puts the language about blaspheming the Holy Spirit (v. 10).  Someone helpfully said once that if you’re worried about whether you have ever done it, you may be sure that you didn’t and that God forgives the sin you do commit.

And now beginning at 12:13, we have parables about slaves/stewards who work for or manage for an Owner or Lord.   These parables are kind of another approach into the end times, into questions about what our lives are for, and how we are to live as faithful slaves in the Kingdom of God.   

Jesus sees what is coming next as challenging and divisive.  It’s as if the “thousands” of the beginning of the chapter are threatened by the end. 

Luke 13--  Parables of the Kingdom abound here!  Including the open-ended one about the barren fig tree that has a second chance and is not to be chopped down, but to experience manure put all around it.  Hmmm….funny how that makes us grow! (vss. 6-9)

Then the parable of the mustard seed, the yeast, and the narrow door.

And again the shadow of the cross starts to fall across their path as Jesus puts the works he does in the context of what is coming and weeps over Jerusalem: “And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord’” (13:35).

Luke 14--  Okay, so what is dropsy?  “An old term for the swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water. In years gone by, a person might have been said to have dropsy.”  ( http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=13311 )

Jesus is emphasizing that the Sabbath is a day of blessing.

More parables about the way things work in the Kingdom of God.  Banquets and dinners!  One of my favorite commentaries on the Gospel of Luke is called The Hospitality of God. (Brendan Byrne: Liturgical Press).    Meals are very, very important in the Gospel of Luke!

Now Jesus moves on in 14:25-33 to talk about what it costs to be his disciple.  It involves taking up one’s cross.  Those hearers could have had no idea about how literally to take this teaching. 

Luke 15--  More parables:  the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin.  And people have commented many times about how God’s behavior if it is like the behavior of the shepherd or the woman is completely imprudent and irrational!  God is simply relentless in seeking out the lost!!!!!

And so we come to the centerpiece of the Gospel of Luke.  Every Christian who speaks English should sometime read Henri Nouwen’s magnificent little book: The Return of the Prodigal Son.  Recently there was  an article by Deanna A. Thompson in The Christian Century  about a book by Sharon Baker called Executing God: Rethinking Everything You’ve been Taught about Salvation and the Cross.   It begins with this thought experiment:

            And what if Jesus said:

   A man had two sons.  The younger son demanded his inheritance from his father, left home, squandered it, and returned home, admitting to his father that he had sinned and begging for forgiveness.

   The father responded, “I cannot simply forgive you for what you have done.  You have insulted my honor by your wild living.  Simply to forgive would be to trivialize your sin.  Justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation cannot occur unless the penalty for your sin is paid.  Either you must be punished or you must pay back the honor you stole from me.

   The older brother spoke up, telling his father he would pay the debt of his younger brother.  The brother worked day and night to pay the debt until he died of exhaustion. The father’s wrath was finally placated against the younger brother, and they lived happily until the end of their days.

(Christian Century April 30, 2014, p. 31)

But of course that is not how this story is told.  And remember, it’s only told in Luke.  What does it tell us about how Jesus understood his role in bringing us freedom and salvation?

Luke 16--  More marvelous parables!  Including the only parable where one of the characters has a name: Lazarus, which is the Anglicized version of a Hebrew name, “Eliezer,” which means “God helps.”  A wonderful way for us to remember that God helps the poorest of the poor.  Money is very hard to live with in ways that don’t keep us from fully embracing the values of Kingdom of God or its King!

Luke 17-- The juxtaposition of the sayings in the beginning of this chapter about forgiveness with the story of the ten men healed of leprosy, of whom only one returned, reminds me of a little quotation attributed to Mother Teresa:

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

[Reportedly inscribed on the wall of Mother Teresa's children's home in Calcutta, and attributed to her. However, an article in the New York Times has since reported (March 8, 2002) that the original version of this poem was written by Kent M. Keith.]

http://www.dbooth.org/guat2000/small/teresa.htm

Luke 18—More parables!

·      The Widow and the unjust judge—the importance of perseverance in asking God for justice.

·      The Pharisee and the Tax Collector.   There is a wonderful painting in St. Mary's Cathedral,  Edinburgh called “The Presence” by a not particularly well known early 20th century painter called A.E.Borthwick.  My parents had a lithograph of it in the hallway of my childhood home, and I loved it.  It has the same mood, though the painting is of people contemporary to the painter.  It took me a long time to find it the last time I preached on this text, but I just had to locate it.  It shows Jesus comforting a very humble person praying in the back of St. Mary's Cathedral in a dark corner only illumined by His light, far from the brightly-lit and sumptuously appointed altar. 

Jesus also has words again about the way wealth and possessions can be a kind of security that we put in place of God’s security.  The “rich young ruler” “goes away sorrowful” (v. 23), but we don’t know whether he ever was able to do what Jesus asked him and return joyful… 

Note also, how in this chapter, Jesus explicitly predicts his death and resurrection again.

Luke 19—The story of Zacchaeus begins the chapter.  We have a baby boy in our congregation who is named Zacchaeus.  He is not going to be the “wee little man” that children sing about in the little chorus.  He’s already really tall for his age!  But he may, God willing, be a person who invites Jesus to come into his house, and who will find then that “salvation has come to [his] house” (19:9). 

Then we have another parable:  The ten Pounds, given to stewards to trade with by an Owner who goes away and will come back.  Jesus has a LOT to say about money, about stewardship, and about what happens while he is “away,” doesn’t he?

And so at last we come, at 19:28, to Holy Week.

Triumphal entry, Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, Jesus cleansing the temple… all in rapid succession

Luke 20  But then the dramatic speed of the narrative slows way down while Jesus cleverly (perhaps wisely would be better) responds to the challenges of the religious leaders of his day.

Psalms 66-74

Psalm 66--This was the psalm that was our Response in the Revised Common Lectionary yesterday, the 6th Sunday of the Easter season.  This is a psalm about giving testimony/bearing witness to God's saving actions in the world and in the life of the psalmist.
66:5--    Come and see what God has done:
             he is awesome in his deeds among mortals
66:16--  Come and hear, all you who fear God,
             and I will tell what he has done for me.

These ideas bracket this psalm, though the psalmist sees his hardships as testing from God:
66:10--  You, O God, have tested us;
              You have tried us as silver is tried.
              You brought us into the net
              you laid burdens on our backs;
              you let people ride over our heads;
              we went through fire and through water
YET    you have brought us out into a spacious place.

It takes a special kind of trust to see God as bringing us through places of suffering: flat-out saying that God took us to those hard places--and then to be aware that it was also God's guidance that brought us to the "spacious places" in our lives.

Psalm 67--  Here's more language about God's face "shining upon us".
This is simply a joyous and beautiful psalm, one we should rejoice in praying to God on a regular basis.

Psalm 68-- This is also a song of praise, filled with imagery of God as God of the Storm, the clouds, the rain, which, in the arid Near East, is truly a blessing.

68:11 is one of the verses that we hear in Handel's Messiah: "The LORD Gave the Word" which you can hear at the link.
(Just so you don't think you're crazy, it has not been clear to biblical scholars either, what exactly is happening with 68:13 "the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with green gold", which seems perhaps to be a thing that was part of the spoil..." )
Also, in this psalm, enjoy the description of the musicians participating in a holy procession in 68:24-27.

Psalm 69-- If the previous psalm is one of triumph, this psalm is one of desperation by a loyal servant of God who is really going through hard times.  Note how it is associated with and quoted in the synoptic gospels in association with the crucifixion of Jesus (v. 21)

And what are we to do with the kind of prayer the psalmist prays in vss 22-28?  These are the sorts of verses that are sometimes called "imprecatory," i.e. imprecations or calling down God's wrath on those the psalmist perceives to be God's enemies.

Note also how the mood of the psalmist turns by the end:
v. 33-36      The LORD hears the needy,
                    and does not despise his own that are in bonds.
             Let heaven and earth praise him,
             the seas and everything that moves i them.
             For God will save Zion
             and rebuild the cities of Judah;
             and his servants shall live there and possess it;
             the children of his servants shall inherit it,
             and those who love his name shall live in it.

Psalm 70--  This is the psalm that was particularly beloved of the Desert Fathers.
v. 1--  Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
           O Lord, make haste to help me!"
John Cassian writes:  This then, is the devotional formula proposed to you as absolutely necessary for possessing the perpetual awareness of God: "O God, incline to my aid; O Lord, make haste to help me."  Not without reason has this verse been selected from out of the whole body of Scripture. For it takes up all the emotions that can be applied to human nature and with great correctness and accuracy it adjusts itself to every condition and every attack.  ...This verse, I say, is necessary and useful for each one of us in whatever condition we may live.  For whoever desires to be helped always and in all things shows that he needs God as a helper not only in hard and sad affairs but also and equally and as much in favorable and joyful ones, so that just as he may be snatched from the former he may abide in the latter, know that in neither instance can human frailty endure without his assistance"  Conferences 10.9.2-5  (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Vol.8. Ed. by Quentin Wesselschmidt, 2007.  Downers Grove, IL InterVarsity, p. 88.)

Psalm 71--  Prayer to God for rescue in time of trouble.  Note how v. 12 puts this psalm in relation to the one that came before it: 
71:12--    O God, do not be far from me;
               O my God, make haste to help me!  

Psalm 72-- This is a "Royal Psalm" attributed to Solomon.
The petition in v. 2 is part of daily prayer in the Anglican Tradition:
72:2--    May he judge your people with righteousness,
             and your poor with justice.
Note how the expected role of a king is to "defend the cause of the poor," to "give deliverance to the needy" and in order to do so, to "crush the oppressor." (v. 4).  

Note how this psalm incorporates and expands the traditional ideal boundaries for Israel (the Sea to the Great River), making it clear that God is the God of the whole universe:
Psalm 72:8--May he have dominion from sea to sea, 
                    and from the River to the ends of the earth"
The "River" is the Euphrates.

Psalm 73--  This one is attributed to Asaph.
The psalmist is aware of how God pulls him back from the brink of useless and destructive thoughts about the "arrogant and the wicked."
73:16--"But when I thought to understand this [the ways of the wicked]
             it seemed to me a wearisome task,
      17   until I went into the sanctuary of God
             then I perceived their end.

Psalm 74--  One of the great "Why, LORD?" psalms!  The psalmist sees the destruction of war
74:4--  Your foes have roared within your holy place;
            they set up their emblems there.
     5    At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes.
     6    And then, with hatchets and hammers,
           they smashed all its carved work.
     7     They set your sanctuary on fire
            they desecrated the dwelling place of your name,
            bringing it to the ground.

And then he asks: Why?  How long will you let this go on?
But then we come to the marvelous word: "YET.." v. 12:
YET God my King is from old, 
working salvation to the earth.

Then the petition comes to God: "REMEMBER!" (v. 18) "Have regard!" (v. 20)
and finally, "Rise up, O God!" (v. 22)
and "Do not forget" (v. 23)

Waaay behind again. Let's focus on Joshua today.

It's Sunday, the day for catching up when we're behind.  By now, according to the Lent to Lent reading guide, we are supposed to have completed 15 chapters of Joshua.  So... I'll try offering some running commentary on chapters 4-21.

Joshua 4  I have an acquaintance in Georgia who has a farm called Twelve Stones Farm, an explicit reference to the twelve stones that the Israelites took out of the Jordan to represent and remind the Twelve Tribes of Israel of God's part in getting them safely to the Promised Land (4:1-9).  These stones are to be a lasting monument, so that when children in the next generation ask, the parents can tell the story (vss. 22-24). Notice, also, how Joshua's authority was now established in the minds of the Israelites (4:14).

Joshua 5:  This miraculous crossing of the Jordan made the neighboring countries nervous about the Israelites and the sort of power their God commanded.  The text says "their hearts melted" (5:1).
The first thing Joshua did was to re-establish the practice of circumcision, which had not been part of the practices of the Israelites while they were in the wilderness.  The ritual was connected, according to this text with God's words: "Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt." (v.8), giving the village there the name "Gilgal."  While there they had their first Passover in their new home.  "The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year" (v. 12).  They are settling in.  And Gilgal will be their base camp as they make forays into Israel to claim the land they were promised.
Then Joshua had a vision.  It's really quite important.  He sees a man (an angel?) with a sword and asks: "Are you one of us or one of our adversaries?"   The man responds: "Neither; but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come" (v. 14)  And, as the LORD had said to Moses at the burning bush, this man commands Joshua to remove his sandals because he is on holy ground.  It should be important for us always to remember that the LORD doesn't take sides in a straightforward way in the wars of men.

Joshua 6:  The wonderful, beloved story of the taking of Jericho.  My sister and I had an LP record of dramatized Bible stories, complete with sound effects.  This story was one of them.   Jericho is in a very strategic location and the archaeological record shows that it or its walls have been destroyed several times.    Joshua's curse in v. 26: "At the cost of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest he shall set up its gates" becomes important later in Israelite history.

Joshua 7:  As we continue through the books of Joshua and Judges, we will see a recurring theme; and it is articulated here in the first verse of Joshua 7:  "But the israelites broke faith..."
The theme becomes a formula in Judges, as God rescues the Israelites, as they express gratitude, then begin to forget, as they break faith, as God allows their enemies to overrun their territory, as they cry out for help, as God raises a judge and faithfully rescues them again under the judge's leadership.

Here, the "breaking faith" involved their stealing of things that were ritually devoted to destruction, as a sort of analogue to animal sacrifice.  God's plan was not that the Israelites would get rich off the spoils of war, but that they would come to depend on him alone.  Achan kept spoils of war for himself, and his disobedience led for trouble for all the Israelites until, by lot, he was identified.  Then he was stoned.  This seems like a very big punishment for the crime.   Our experience of God tends, after the coming of Jesus, to be more grace-filled.  In spite of our sin, God offers forgiveness and love.  The picture here in Joshua is quite different.  We need to think about and discuss (in person!) this tension.

Joshua 8:   The capture of Ai is a second chance, in a way, for the Israelites.  If Achan failed at Jericho, the Israelites were more obedient in this instance.  
Notice how Joshua then renews the covenant that God made with Moses, reading "all the words of the law, blessings and curses, according to all that is written in the book of the law" (8:34).  He has made it clear that his leadership is in continuity with that of Moses.

Joshua 9:   This story of how the Gibeonites managed to trick the Israelites into a treaty by appearing to have traveled a long distance is a quite marvelous story, with elements about it of a folk tale.  Also, it explains how there happened to be a slave class of people in Israel despite God's command that they were to have killed all the local inhabitants.    Again, as we will many times in the book of Joshua, we will have occasion to ask how it seems just or fair that God appears here to be the author of what really could be called genocide or ethnic cleansing.

Joshua 10:  The story of the sun standing still.  This one also reads like a folk tale.  The point is that God was upholding Joshua and fighting for the Israelites.  They couldn't have done it on their own without divine intervention.   Notice also how in 10:1  Jerusalem is mentioned for the first time!  The kings in vss. 16 and following are war lords of little city states that ally together when threatened by invading forces.

Joshua 11: continues the story of the Israelite forces as they conquer territory.    Note the summary in v. 18 and following: "Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.  There was not a town that made peace with the Israelites, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon; all were taken in battle  For it was the LORD's doing to harden their hearts so that they would come against Israel in battle, in order that they might be utterly destroyed, and might receive no mercy, but be exterminated, just as the LORD had commanded Moses."  Maybe the most charitable thing we can say about this passage is that it is written from an Israelite point of view.

Chapters 12 to 17 are like a catalogue of the conquering of territory for Israel to occupy.  The tribe of Joseph lodges a complaint in the end of the 17th chapter.  They are also known as the half-tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and they try to see if they can have a larger allotment.  The answer is "No."  The initial plan that God revealed to Moses provided sufficient land for them.

Joshua 18:  Notice the summarizing statement here: "The land lay subdued before them" (18:1).  It was time to attempt as fair a division of the land as was possible.  This would be done by casting lots.

Chapters 19-21 continue a description of the allotment.

While it is seldom inappropriate to read the Bible, it is hard to imagine how these chapters could reward you spiritually as you read.  I think this is the sort of section that it's  okay to skim, aware that there are specifics here that actually mattered to the people of Joshua's day and to the tradition of the Israelites in the generations to follow.  And it might also be important to note that Joshua, following in the tradition of Moses, is establishing for Israel what will eventually become a theocracy.

New Post: Joshua 1-3; Psalm 65; Luke 11

Joshua 1-3  This book which, along with the 5 books of the Torah (the Pentateuch), is sometimes referred to as comprising the Hexateuch, continues the narrative of the conquest and settling of the land that God promised to Israel.  It begins in a remarkably direct way: God tells Joshua, "Moses has died. Now you take the Israelites the rest of the way."  They are to prepare for what is a military invasion.

And once again, my questions about violence that is apparently done in the name of the LORD come bubbling to the surface.  How is this right???

Chapter 2 tells the story of Rahab, who shelters the Israelite spies.
Chapter 3 tells of the waters of the Jordan (as they cross over into the Land of Promise) standing up like the waters of the sea had when the Israelites left Egypt.

Psalm 65 Another of my favorites, especially on a spring morning like this one.  It's a song of praise to God, that the whole creation joins in singing.
"You visit the earth and water it
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges, softening it with showers
 and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty...

This is all about the world that is, in the words of the wonderful poem of Gerard Manley Hopkins, "charged with the grandeur of God":

God's Grandeur

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Luke 11  If there is any sort of narrative logic to this chapter, it is hard to detect.  It is chapters like this that make it easy for us to break the Gospels into little pericopes (passages that seem to hang together with some internal consistency) and look at them one at a time, but not feel like one is moving forward toward any sort of narrative goal.

The disciples asked Jesus how to pray after they watched him make time and space for prayer.   Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer is a little different from Matthew's, but in essence the same.  The Luke version uses the Greek word for "sins" and the Matthew version "trespasses" or "debts" for a concept that Jesus most likely taught them about in Aramaic.  And we, of course, read in English translations.  A sin against God, a trespass into territory that is not ours, debts we owe because we have taken and not paid or compensated the one from whom we took...  We need forgiveness.  And the way we forgive is tied up with the way we receive forgiveness.    The Luke version ends, "Do not bring us to the time of trial" (11:4).

Then, since they're talking about prayer anyhow, Jesus talks about perseverance when it comes to prayer, employing an example of somebody going to borrow bread from a neighbor in the middle of the night to feed a guest who has just arrived.  Jesus admits that such behavior would stretch a friendship; but that perseverance pays off in the end.  Interesting that it is perseverance for the sake of being able to help meet the needs of somebody else, in this case a guest.

Then there are two little sections on Jesus and how he relates to the spiritual powers that oppose him: "Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out?" he asks (11:19).  And his words in vss. 24-26 so accurately reflect our own experience of making fundamental changes in our own lives.  We get things cleaned up, the old devil kicked out, and then seven more come.  

Note also in v. 32 another oblique reference to the crucifixion and resurrection...

Then Luke gives us material that is like the 'light of the world' analogies in Matthew's Sermon on the Mount.  And he has another section of "woes" --this time it's woe to the lawyers and Pharisees! for their hypocrisy.

May 20: Deuteronomy 34; Psalm 64; Luke 10

Deuteronomy 34  This passage gives the facts about the death of Moses.  There's a reason so many African American Churches are called "Mount Nebo" or "Mount Pisgah."  For so many, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., these places symbolize the hope that while we're not yet at the Promised Land with respect to equality of opportunity and civil rights for all, regardless of color or creed.
I forget where I read that Jews believe that it is a blessing that nobody knows exactly where Moses is buried, because there is then no temptation to make a shrine to Moses rather than allowing him to be who he is: a servant of the LORD God.

Psalm 64  Powerful language in this psalm about the power of the tongue to do terrible damage: "...evildoers,
who whet their tongues like swords,
who aim bitter words like arrows,
shooting from ambush at the blameless;
they shoot suddenly and without fear" (64:2-4)

We live in a time when a person's reputation can be destroyed online, when that reputation can be very difficult to be repaired.  Perhaps it might be helpful to share this psalm with someone going through that sort of experience.

Luke 10  This time Jesus sends out 70 followers.  (It's sometimes important to remember that while there were 12 apostles, there were quite a few others who also followed Jesus.  And they, too, were called to keep pointing out that the Kingdom of God has come near (10:11).  When the 70 return, we overhear Jesus praying in gratitude in a voice that sounds uncannily like Jesus does in the Gospel of John:  "All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (10:22).

And then we get the parable of "The Man who Helped,"  one of the most marvelous stories in the whole New Testament.  What is absolutely arresting is how Jesus turns the question of the lawyer (as he's called in Luke), who, like many lawyers, seeks to limit his liability, on its head.  The question is not: what is the smallest subset of the human race to whom I have a responsibility?  It is, rather: to whom may I myself be a neighbor?  It's not neighbor as liability; it is rather neighborliness as faithfulness to God.  Brilliant!!!!  And somewhat scary...

Then comes the little vignette of Mary and Martha.  Martha "welcomes" Jesus but then is too busy to pay attention to his teachings.   Mary somehow realizes that there will be time enough to take care of Jesus, after she listens to him.  It's the problem of "many things" vs. "one thing."  I think it's Stephen Covey who uses the example of filling a jar with the big stones first and pouring the many tiny stones in afterwards.

May 19 Deuteronomy 31-33, Psalm 63, Luke 9

Deuteronomy 31-33   "Be strong and bold!"  Moses is wrapping up his speech, and formally names Joshua successor.  There is a commandment to read the law publicly before the whole congregation in the "sabbath year."   And Moses is aware that the Israelites will not remain faithful to the LORD after his death.  (Not that they've been that faithful from the beginning...)
There are several poetic sections at the very end of this book.    God's sustenance and faithfulness are contrasted with Israel's idolatry and faithlessness.  He reminds them again in 32:47: "This is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life; through it you may live long in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess."
Moses will be dying on Mount Nebo, but not before he blesses each tribe.
Psalm 63  As I read the psalms in order, I become aware in a different way than when I read them in the Daily Office that there are dozens of hymns that I know and love, based on psalms.  "Thy lovingkindness is better than life..." was a song we sang often in college based on 63:3.
Luke 9  "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money--not even an extra tunic." (9:3).  I remember meeting two different women who had come to Minot to be "missionaries," and they each cited this verse or its synoptic sisters.  I think I gave one a place to sleep at night, and helped the other with a tank of gas.  For some reason we didn't exactly connect.   I don't quite understand that sort of approach to life, that sort of obedience to Jesus.  Because I am in a settled ministry, I am blessed by the generosity of the people in my congregation.  I try to be faithful in one place, year after year.  I guess it is just a different way of seeking to be obedient.  And perhaps Jesus calls some of us to itinerant ministries and others to ministries in one place.
    There's a quick reference to Herod in 9:7-9, and then Luke is on to the feeding of the 5000.  What I find remarkable about this story is Jesus saying: "You give them something to eat" in 9:13 and then giving them guidance to accomplish what he had asked them to do.
   Then Luke tells the story of Peter confessing Jesus to be the Messiah "The Christ" of God (9:18-20), and from there launches into a prediction of his death and resurrection "on the third day" (9:22).  And the account of the Transfiguration follows in 9:28-36.  In fact, separated by a healing of a boy with a demon, there are two predictions of Jesus' suffering and death.  And in the second, Jesus seems to be aware of how hard it is to understand what that means.  He begins: "Let these words sink into your ears..." (9:44).  Luke adds: "But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was concealed from them, so they could not perceive it.  And they were afraid to ask him about this saying."   Who is doing the "concealing" in this passive-voice construction?  And why?
   Then, in quick succession,

• there is an argument among the disciples about who is greatest; and Jesus reminds them that greatness consists in welcoming the least important and least influential.  
• the disciples meet somebody else casting out demons in Jesus' name, and Jesus has to tell them it's okay: "Whoever is not against you is for you" (9:50)
• the disciples suggest commanding fire to come down on a Samaritan village that rejected Jesus.
• People offer to become disciples, but with conditions attached; and Jesus says one of his hard sayings: "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God" (8:62). 

But WHY did they reject him?  "because his face was set toward Jerusalem" (9:53).    And we realize that in some ways this chapter, with the feeding of the 5000, with the Transfiguration, and with two predictions of his coming death and the disciples' behavior that totally demonstrates that they don't get what this event will mean, is the beginning of the Passion Narrative.

Having some problems with publishing blog entries

Hello, Everybody,

I seem to have lost several days' worth of published blog entries.  So we'll just try again from here, and my next published blog will be for May 20.  If this entry doesn't publish either then I'm really going to have to see about getting some help from the blogger people.

Keep watching for updates!
Thanks,

Mary

May 15: Deuteronomy 22-24; Psalm 60; Luke 6

Deuteronomy 22-24  Laws about living responsibly in community.  The laws of 22:1-4, 8,9 are about property and managing it responsibly.  Laws of 22:5,9,10, and 11are about not obliterating distinctions made between species, sexes, varieties of seed.   Vss. 6 and 7 suggest sustainable and even compassionate ways to take care of the natural resource of game birds.

Once again in 22:13-30 we see that there is a real inequality presumed between men and women; yet there is also an attempt to keep exploitation from happening.

In 23:1-6 there are restrictions put on who can join the assembly of the Israelites.  Interestingly, 23:3 says "No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.  Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD, because they did not meet you with food and water on your journey out of Egypt.."  Yet soon we will consider the story of Ruth, the Moabite grandmother of King David.

There follow miscellaneous laws, some of which are quite interesting.  Especially important are the safeguards against exploitation or humiliation of the very poor (widows and orphans) by the rich.  24:10-15 reads:  "When you make your neighbor a loan of any kind, you shall not go into the house to take the pledge.  You shall wait outside, while the person to whom you are making the loan brings the pledge out to you.  If the person is poor, you shall not sleep in the garment given you as the pledge.  You shall give the pledge back by sunset, so that your neighbor may sleep in the cloak and bless you; and it will be to your credit before the LORD your God.  You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns.  You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the LORD against you, and you would incur guilt."
It would be helpful if this advice still to this day was followed by large companies who employ workers at minimum wage.  The first two to four weeks of work are really challenging for workers here in Minot until they receive their first paycheck.  Shelter is expensive here, and it's hard to save up the deposit and first and last month's rent.

Psalm 60    A prayer for victory (for the nation of Israel) against their traditional foes: Moab, Edom, and Philistia.  "O grant us help against the foe/for human help is worthless.
                       With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes." (60:11-12)

Luke 6  It's amazing how small a thing was interpreted as "breaking the Sabbath" in Luke 6.  6:1 says Jesus' disciples (interestingly, not Jesus himself...) were "plucking some heads of grain and rubbing them in their hands, and eating them."  It's the sort of thing we're all tempted to do when wheat is almost ripe and we are walking alongside a field. It's what was described in Deuteronomy 23:25, from which we read today.   When criticized, Jesus cites to the Pharisees the example of David, beloved King of Israel, who appropriated bread dedicated and presented before the Presence of God in the Temple for himself and his companions.  Then he says "The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath" (6:5).   This anecdote is followed with another story that explains what the sabbath is about at its core, the healing of a man with a withered hand.  Jesus' comment is: "I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?" (6:9).

Then we have Luke's version of the Beatitudes that appeared in Matthew as a sort of prologue to the Sermon on the Mount.   Luke divides this set of sayings into Blessings and Woes.  (The woes are absent in Matthew.)  Note also the emphatic "now" that appears in 6:21 and again in 6:25.

There follow some sayings that are reminiscent of the sayings in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Luke's compilation of these sayings is sometimes called, by analogy, the Sermon on the Plain.   Love your enemies; be merciful; bless those who curse you; treat others as you would be treated; don't judge others; forgive and you will be forgiven; give generously... (6:27-38)
In my previous post I suggested that not all of the Scriptures are equally central to the Gospel.  This passage would, in my mind, be utterly central, at the very heart of what Jesus teaches and still essential teaching for us in the 21st century.

The chapter ends with the same figure of speech as the Sermon on the Mount, about building on sand vs. building on a rock foundation.

May 14: Deuteronomy 19-21; Psalm 59; Luke 5.

Luke 5:  The calling of the Disciples.  In Luke, Simon already calls Jesus "Master," but Jesus assumes that Simon is his follower and simply reassures him: "Do not be afraid; [and how often we have heard those words when humans encounter the Divine!] from now on you will be catching people" (5:10). This is really quite a different call story from what I've seen in the other gospels; but I really didn't notice it until now.
    It might also be helpful to notice that things we might put under the general category of "healing" are distinguished from each other in the New Testament.  Lepers are "cleansed." The man with paralysis is "healed."  Those with what we might call neurological or mental health issues have demons cast from them.  The result in all cases is a new kind of wholeness.
   Finally, in v. 39, there has been a lot of discussion of what Jesus intended by his seemingly out-of-the-blue praise of the old wine.  After all, he has been speaking about how to contain "new wine," how to put a patch on an old garment, how to do anything but rejoice when the bridegroom is near.

Psalm 59  Another prayer for deliverance from enemies.  If nothing else, these psalms are a reminder that God cares for and watches over those who are struggling.  We are not always used to being the people in need.  But praying these psalms puts us into that mode.  My husband was once involved a decade long lawsuit and during that time he said that these "imprecatory" psalms came more naturally from his heart than at any time before or since.

Deuteronomy 19-21.  Notice the practical nature of the anecdotes that make an argument for the setting up of cities of refuge, of property boundaries, and of laws about witnesses.  Lying when called upon to be a witness is terribly disruptive of human trust.  Thus there are heavy penalties associated with bearing false witness.  It is in this context (19:15-21) that we have a restatement of what is called "Lex Talionis": life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.  This is not a principle that perpetuates Hatfield vs. McCoy vendettas.  Rather, it is an appeal to limit vengeance proportionally.

Chapter 20 assumes that Israelites will have to go to war.  (Of course this is anticipated as they will need to kick out the current residents of the land they believe God promised to them.)   If the war is carried on for legitimate reasons, they may anticipate that God will be with them and help them (20:3-4). There is a certain compassion about who may be conscripted: "Has anyone built a new house but not dedicated it?...Has anyone planted a vineyard but not yet enjoyed its fruit...Has anyone become engaged to a woman but not yet married her....Is anyone afraid or disheartened?"  All these people should postpone their military service.  The wisdom of these instructions seems apparent in our day when we have now been at war for more than a dozen years, and some soldiers from the USA have served multiple deployments.  

Notice how first before attacking the Israelites are to offer terms of peace, allowing the residents of the city they are attacking to become essentially slaves.  Males are to be slaughtered; women, children, livestock, are considered spoils of war.  (Women are, along with children, understood to be property?)

But God appears to be commanding genocide, ethnic cleansing, of the peoples of the Promised Land. "As for the towns of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes remain alive.  You shall annihilate them--the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites--just as the LORD your God has commanded, so that they may not teach you to do all the abhorrent things that they do for their gods, and you thus sin against the LORD your God"  (20:16-18).

Is this really God authorizing ethnic cleansing?  There has to be another way to read these passages.  And it is not enough simply to say, "Well, the people were evil; they worshiped other gods instead of the LORD."  That does not exclude the killing of innocent children or adults who knew no better.  And besides, the Israelites themselves were, according to the LORD, "a stiff-necked people," who were wicked and rebellious.  Yet they were the LORD's wicked and rebellious stiff-necked people, and so they were redeemed.  There is no way to read this passage charitably beyond perhaps saying that Moses misunderstood the LORD; or saying that the rules changed after Israel learned to be a light to the nations after some centuries of developing nationhood.

I don't see the people who want to take the prohibitions against same-sex unions taking literally the commandments about rebellious children in 21:18-21.

Anybody who says there is no "canon within the canon," that is, no way that we should privilege some passages of scripture over others, that all is equally authoritative for our lives today, is lying or self-deceived.

May13: Deuteronomy 16-18; Psalm 58; Luke 4

Deuteronomy 16-18  Notice how there are historical reasons given for the instructions to observe the Passover: (16:3) "For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with [your sacrifices]--the bread of affliction--because you came out of the land of Egypt in great haste, so that all the days of your life you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt."  Notice, too, how future generations are in their re-enactment of Passover, considering themselves part of the group that made the Exodus journey.  And note how the Festival of Weeks, an early harvest festival, is to be observed (16:11-12):  the whole community, whether slave or free, whether Israelite or not, whether poor or well off: "Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and diligently observe these statutes."  I love that times are set aside specifically for celebrating and rejoicing.  Not for getting extra work done around the house, or for having a big sale at the mall.  For celebrating and relaxing together.  Amazing!

As Moses reminds them to set up a justice system, look at his colorful language about bribes:  "a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.  Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

As Chapter 17 continues this concern with justice, note that it is really serious to be a witness against somebody; because if they are convicted, the witness must be one of those that casts the stones which kill the criminal.   Also note the concern that nobody may be condemned to death unless there are at least two witnesses.   Note also the big role that is envisioned for the Levites and priests as judges and consultants on matters of justice.

And notice in 17:14 and following how Moses discusses the possibility of a king.  Note how it seems that God doesn't think it is a very good idea--it's an idea that comes from the people "like all the nations that are around [us]" .  But if they have to have a king, then he must be Israelite; he must not acquire many wives or horses or wealth.  Of course, as we read further, we will discover that these are the very temptations that Saul, David, and Solomon fall into!

Note in Chapter 18 how the concern is for the Israelites to stay entirely loyal to the LORD and not to fall into the religious ritual habits of the neighboring nations.

Finally, note how in 18:22, a prophet's reliability can only be judged after the fact, not prospectively.

Psalm 58  How comfortable are you with the idea of asking God for vengeance on one's enemies?  This psalm makes me squirm.  Again, remember that the prayers of the psalmist may not necessarily all be prayers that we should emulate.

Luke 4  Jesus, returning from his baptism has his own wilderness experience.  Like the prophets.  Like John the Baptizer who lives in the wilderness.  Like Moses.  Like the Israelites.  Each of the Gospel writers has a different way of saying what happened to Jesus in the wilderness. In Luke, the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness.  (In Mark, the Spirit drives him into the wilderness!  Not exactly the Comforter we see portrayed in John.  At least not on the surface.  Comfort really is about making one stronger, and sometimes that requires leading us where we don't necessarily want to go.)   Matthew and Luke both tell the story of the Temptation of Jesus.  Note the differences in the order that the temptations are presented.  What might that mean to the emphasis of each of these gospel writers?

Note how in Luke, the rejection of Jesus and his ministry comes at the very beginning.  And note how his time in the wilderness has enabled Jesus to understand and articulate his vision for his mission.  Then look at how in a few short verses Luke gives us a sense of a typical day in Jesus' ministry in Judea.  

May 13--Back in the Saddle after an unplanned break!

I missed a week of entries.  Rather than try and fill them in now, I'm going to move ahead with some general remarks about Deuteronomy, which is actually one of my favorite books of the Old Testament. It is cast in the form of a speech that Moses gives to the Israelites as they are about to cross the Jordan into the main part of the territory that God had promised them as their homeland.  Moses summarizes where the Israelites traveled, how they happened to spend an entire generation in the wilderness, and he reminds them of the important ways that things may change for them, especially with respect to their relationship with God once they are settled, once they are experiencing plenty instead of poverty.  It is especially important because, of course, Moses will not be joining this new generation of Israelites as they cross over.  And thus the speech functions also as a way for Moses to hand over the reins of leadership to Joshua.

Also, if you're ever running behind and wanting to catch up, you may want to focus on the Old Testament readings, which are perhaps less familiar than the New Testament chapters.  It really is okay to sometimes skim these readings if they are full of geographical detail or names or lists.  Taken as a whole, the Scriptures are the Word of God; but verse by verse you will find that some passages have greater potential than others to bring you closer to God.  Having said this, however, I know of one woman who chose to follow Jesus because of the "begets," the genealogical passages.  She thought that if these people's names mattered to the writers of the scriptures, they mattered to God, and so did she!

May 6: Numbers 36; Psalm 52; Romans 13

Numbers 36  Questions arise again about what happens to the land of the daughters of Zelophehad if they marry outside their tribe.  The goal is to keep the tribal inheritance within the clans of the tribe.  There is reference to the jubilee principle, which was designed to "reset" to the original every fifty years the property holdings of any families who had to sell them to pay debts.    The solution was for these women to marry within their tribe.

And so the Book of Numbers ends.   What do you think?

Psalm 52  This is one of the psalms that makes us aware of how challenging it is to control the tongue; and how much damage lies, deceit and cruel words can do.
The psalmist is confident that those who have felt the pain of the razor-sharp tongues of their enemies, spreading lies, don't escape God's oversight.  God notices and cares.
There is also a characteristic reference to the dangers of wealth:
52:6:    The righteous will see, and fear,    
               and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,
            "See the one who would not take refuge in God,
                but trusted in abundant riches
                and sought refuge in wealth."

Romans 13   This is the chapter that is the source for much of John Calvin's view of the state as God's tool.  I would like to see how the Mennonites and other Anabaptist groups of the radical reformation read and interpret Romans 13.

Paul summarizes: "Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law" (13:8).

And he makes reference to the coming of the Lord, which he believes is near.  "Salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.  Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light" (13:11-13).  This is a passage that we often read in Advent.

May 5: Numbers 33-35; Psalm 51; Romans 12

Numbers 33-35.  Chapter 33 is a summary of where the Israelites traveled.  The next chapter looks forward, defining the boundaries of the land of Canaan, and defining a member of each tribe who would divide the apportioned tribal land among the members of each tribe.  Chapter 35 defines the founding/appointment of cities for the Levites to live in among the holdings of the other tribes; and of cities of refuge, to which a person could flee if they were accused of a murder, and they would be guaranteed safety until the time of a trial.  This prevented the practice of vendettas, of private citizens taking the law into their own hands.  The important idea that nobody should be put to death except on the evidence of TWO witnesses is also reiterated here.

Psalm 51    The best-known psalm of penitence.  Also the source of the beginning of the daily office of Morning Prayer in the Anglican tradition: "O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise." (50:15)

Romans 12  Paul has finished his meditation on the place of the Jews and Gentiles in God's plan; so now he addresses everybody, both Jews and Gentiles.  He often moves in his letters from teaching about the meaning of God's acts to instructions about how followers of Christ are to live in light of those acts.  You can get a hint that you are there when you come to a "Therefore" in Paul's writing. In 12:1 we read: "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters…" This is that hinge-point for the Letter to the Romans.    J.B. Phillips, the great English biblical scholar and translator famously translates 12:2 with the words: "Do not let the world squeeze you into its mold…"  which is really brilliant and spot on.  The NRSV goes rather with the contrast between "con-form" and "trans-form," which is also memorable and an accurate reflection of the Greek text.   Paul concludes that we are to behave in ways that enable us to "overcome evil with good."

May 3: Numbers 30-32, Psalm 50, Romans 11

Numbers 30-32  I wish I knew more about how the passage about women and vows has been interpreted in Judaism.  Women could make a vow to the LORD; and they would be bound to fulfill it--UNLESS their father or husband "disapproved" of the vow.  Then the woman would be let off the hook for her vow.    This provision may either be considered to be kind or it may be considered to demonstrate how men in the Hebrew world had ultimate control over women.  It was like being perpetually a child…  It makes me think, from my 21st century perspective, that women weren't even remotely equal in that time and place.

In Numbers 31, Moses receives one of his last assignments from the LORD (31:2): "Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people."  And we see terrible violence wreaked on the people, with women and children taken as booty along with livestock.  As we read the whole Bible, the behavior of the Israelites becomes more and more morally/ethically suspect.
As it becomes clear in the prophets that God is the one who looks with concern on those who don't normally receive justice: the widow, the orphan, and the alien, it is harder and harder to understand and countenance the acts of war that we read about in the Torah, Joshua, and (especially!) Judges.

Numbers 32 makes it clear that tribes who receive their allotment of land, that is, who conquer and subdue the peoples early on, must help the later tribes to receive their allotments, also.  No Israelite is really settled until everybody has a place.

Psalm 50  Famously, an earlier English translation (the RSV, I think…) translated v. 9 as: "I will accept no bull from your house."  During the 1960's and '70's, this became somewhat problematic among the younger generation, as "bull" was short for a more scatological term.

This is really a psalm about the attitude of the heart being essential to proper offerings of sacrifice.

Romans 11  This is the third of 3 chapters in which Paul considers the "problem" of his fellow-Jews who do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah in Paul's day.  Paul ponders this great mystery and comes to the conclusion that perhaps the (temporary) "stumbling" (11:11, 12) of the Jews has enabled the Gentiles to be grafted into the Great Olive Tree of the Kingdom of God.  And he makes a cosmically hopeful statement:  "If their [that is the Jews'] rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead!" (11:15).  God's plan is "to be merciful to all," says Paul.  And he concludes this section with the words: "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (11:33)

May 2: Numbers 27-29; Psalm 49; Romans 10

Numbers 27-29:  One of the places where the rights of women were recognized, if in a limited way, is in the treatment of the daughters of Zelophehad, who asked, after he died: "Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son?" (27:4)  It was not intuitively obvious to him, so he put the case before the LORD,  and it was determined that daughters could inherit if they didn't have brothers.

This chapter also has the account of how Moses was to die without seeing the land God had given to the Israelites.  Moses showed great concern for the Israelites and asked the LORD to appoint someone to take over, so they would not be "like sheep without a shepherd" (27:17).  Interesting!  Jesus used that language to describe the people of his day.  

And Joshua is appointed.  There is a clear plan for succession.  Moses is to introduce him in his new role: The LORD says in v. 20: "You shall give him some of your authority, so that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey."
Then, strangely, Ch. 28-29  are concerned with offerings: which, when, why: a sort of refresher course of what has appeared previously in the Torah.

Psalm 49  Interesting joining of the ideas of "wisdom," "meditation," "understanding," "proverb," "riddle," and "music."  These are not ideas we naturally think of in our day as part of the psalms.  But perhaps when the theme of the psalm is wealth and the human accumulation of riches in an attempt to become secure, well-regarded, to outwit death… it makes more sense.  Those are ideas that are a kind of riddle of human existence.  The psalmist reminds us that all true security comes from God.

Romans 10  Paul's "heart's desire" is as much for his own brothers in Judaism as it is for the gentiles to whom he had been called.
A very famous and much-loved verse is often lifted out of this larger context:  Romans 10:9-10: "If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord ["Jesus is Lord" is thought by many scholars to be the earliest credal formation] and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved."  Then Paul goes on to say, importantly, there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.  
Whatever else Paul means here, I am pretty sure that you can't boil this down to a sort of promise that all you have to say is the magic password and you have your "get out of hell free card" in the cosmic Monopoly game.    This is more a statement about God's consistently gracious and generous character than it is a formula.

I would also encourage people who have a tendency to doubt, especially in our modern/postmodern times, to not get too caught up in the hall of mirrors of asking if they believe "enough" that God raised Jesus from the dead.  Many of us have doubts, many of us think that there is no way to prove that the resurrection occurred--even to ourselves, much less to others who doubt.  Yet in the sense of trusting, of even staking our lives on the God who has revealed himself in scripture, we do believe.  The Greek word for "believe" can just as validly be translated "trust."

May 1: Numbers 24-26; Psalm 48; Romans 9

Numbers 24-26  The rest of the Balaam story (with some really lovely poetry about the Israelite tribes), and a re-counting of the younger generation of Israelites, as they get ready to take possession of the Promised Land.  God commands Moses to be concerned for justice (26:54) "To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance according to its enrollment."

Psalm 48  I keep noticing how many of the psalms, including this one, have beautiful songs associated with them.    In the more antiquated language of the Anglican psalter comes a choral piece that is associated with Evensong and Lessons and Carols: "We wait for thy lovingkindness, O LORD, in the midst of thy temple."
Romans 9   Paul begins a 3 chapter discourse on the mystery (to him!) of his fellow Jews' failure to see the role of Jesus as Messiah and how it holds together with God's promises and God's faithfulness.  He says of his fellow Israelites in 9:4-5: "To them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promise; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever.

Part of how Paul resolves the mystery is to make belonging to Israel metaphorical, so he can write: "Not all Israelites truly belong t Israel, and not all of Abraham's children are his true descendants…it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants" (9:7-8).

He says, whatever conclusions Christians come to, they must not come to the conclusion that God is unjust (that strong negative again!).  It all comes down to God's mercy (v. 18).  Yet it also appears that at times God hardens the hearts of some.  And Paul says that this is essentially something we cannot fully understand:"Who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? (9:20).

He says that the truly lovely mystery is that God has chosen to have mercy on the Gentiles.  And he again draws a contrast between works (which cannot make a person righteous before God) and faith (which makes Jews and Gentiles alike righteous).

Keep reading!  Paul's writing is often maddeningly enigmatic, but taken as a whole he is very caught up in the merciful ways of God.