This week's lessons: Isaiah 40:21-31, Psalm 147:1-11, 20c, 1 Corinthians 9:16-23, Mark 1:29-39
This
week's lessons: Isaiah
40:21-31, Psalm
147:1-11, 20c, 1
Corinthians 9:16-23, Mark
1:29-39
Emmanuel Community Church
Inter-generational Lectionary Study;
Sundays from 10:0 to 10:45 in the Board Room
Opening
Opening prayer by leader, or invite another participant to pray, or us:
Almighty God, who has caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning, open our ears and hearts today to learn from your word and from one another, we ask in Jesus' Name. Amen
Set the calendar-clock to the right date. Epiphany is the season when we celebrate that Jesus was “shown forth”, especially that He was shown forth to the Gentiles. It started with Epiphany when the infant King Jesus was shown to the wise men from the East, and will end with the feast of the Transfiguration when Jesus was shown to Peter, John and James in His transcendant glory. In the middle of Epiphany we celebrate Candlemas, when Jesus was presented in the temple and recognized by Anna and Simeon as “a light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of his people Israel”.
Today, the Gospel reviews for us ....
Review of Last Week
What was the sermon on? - Spiritual gifts
What was the Gospel lesson? - A man with an unclean spirit.
Did anyone have any insights about...
Where do you find prophetic voices, messages from God to guide your life?
What is the cost of following a prophetic voice?
How is God’s authority shown in the way you live and teach by example?
What compromises are you willing to make, so as not to be a stumbling block for a “weaker brother”?
What are some of the ways in which we want change without wanting to be changed?
28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Vv. 1-11 (read during Advent) tell of the glorious procession back to Jerusalem, but vv. 12-31 speak to a people who are tempted to desert their faith in God. Here God (through his prophet) speaks directly to his people. Can anyone measure the extent of God’s domain in human terms ? (v. 12). So how can you think you can tell God what to do? Surely he decides what is just; surely he is the source of all “knowledge” (v. 14) and “understanding”. All nations are “like a drop from a bucket” (v. 15) compared to him. Finely crafted as the idols worshipped by other nations are, they cannot be compared to him (vv. 18-20).
Are you not aware – you and your ancestors back to creation itself – that it is God who controls the earth? (v. 21) He is enthroned on high (“above the circle”, v. 22, the horizon); to him humans appear to be “like grasshoppers”. (“Heavens” and “tent” – the vault of heaven – are reminders of the ancient world view: there God lived in the highest of the heavens, all of them above the stars.) Dynasties come and go, at his behest (v. 24). God is “the Holy One” (v. 25); he created the stars (“these”, v. 26) effortlessly – by simply naming them. Why, O my people (“Jacob”, v. 27, “Israel”) do you think that God does not see how you live (“way”) and ignores your rights? Surely you know that God is from, and for, ever. Unlike you, he does not “grow weary” (v. 28); in fact, he helps doubters and “strengthens the powerless” (v. 29). “Those who wait for the LORD” (v. 31), confident that he will care for his people, will be rewarded. He will restore them.
Clippings:
Verses 12-31: These verses shift attention back to exile and the weary people. While vv. 1-11 resonate the exuberant hope of chapters 41-48, the tone of these verses is overcast with the gloom of chapters 49-54. [NJBC]
Verses 12-17: God’s voice thunders in a series of questions, in which irony plays a part, as in Job 38:1-42:6. [NJBC]
Verse 12: “waters ... heavens ... earth”: The world’s three divisions. “Waters” is seas. [NOAB]
Verses 13-31: The impossibility of measuring God’s power over nature and history, or of offering him advice, is contrasted with his concern for helpless humanity and his special care for those who rely on him. [CAB]
Verses 13-14: For God as the source of all knowledge and wisdom, see also Proverbs 8:22-31 and Job 38:2-39:30. [NOAB]
Verse 13: Paul quotes this verse in 1 Corinthians 2:16. He associates the mystery of Christ crucified and the mystery of Israel’s temporary estrangement from salvation in Christ (see Romans 11, especially 11:34) with a new universal salvation in Christ Jesus. [NJBC]
Verse 13: “spirit of the LORD”: The active, life-giving power of God. 61:1 says “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted ...” and Genesis 1:2 says “... a wind [spirit] from God swept over the face of the waters”. See also Psalm 104:20. [NJBC]
Verse 14: Unlike other deities, Yahweh depends on no one else for knowledge. Angels approve and carry out divine decisions, but they never form or challenge them.
Verse 14: “justice”: Throughout the Bible, “justice” (Hebrew: mispat) indicates the authoritative declaration of what is just and the effective achievement of it. God will act in a way consonant with his own goodness and with the covenant between him and Israel. [NJBC]
Verse 15: Not even the mightiest nation can stand in God’s way: neither the Greek colonies along the coast of modern Turkey (“Tarshish”, Psalm 72:10; Isaiah 11:11; Jeremiah 2:10) nor the neighbouring giant powers, symbolized by the majestic cedars of Lebanon (see 1 Kings 5:6; Isaiah 10:34; Psalm 29:6). [NJBC]
Verses 18-20: Idols cannot be compared with him: see also 42:17; 45:16, 20; Jeremiah 10:1-16. [NOAB]
Verses 19-20: Deutero-Isaiah never tires of ridiculing the pseudo-deities of other nations, who posed such a severe temptation for many who felt that Yahweh had been defeated by these gods in the collapse of their own nation. See especially 44:9-20. [NJBC]
Verse 22: “circle of the earth”: Proverbs 8:27 uses “circle in the same sense: “When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep”. See also Job 22:14. [NOAB]
Verse 22: “like grasshoppers”: Although this phrase can be demeaning (as in Numbers 13:33), it can also, as here, be a term of endearment, as also in 41:14: “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you insect Israel! I will help you, says the LORD ...”. [NJBC]
Verse 26: “created”: A word reminiscent of Genesis 1:1 and used more often by Deutero-Isaiah than by other Old Testament writers. See also v. 28 and 41:20; 42:5; 43:7, 15; 45:7-8, 12, 18; 54:16. [NOAB]
Verse 26: “these”: To NJBC, this is a reference to stars. In Babylonian mythology they were prominent deities. Psalm 147:4 helps in seeing the reference as being to stars: “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names”. Here Yahweh creates them effortlessly but elsewhere they were deliberately left for other nations to worship: see Deuteronomy 4:19; 29:25; 32:8-9. The notion that God created the stars is a decided advance in Israel’s monotheism. [NJBC]
Verse 26: “host”: i.e. of heaven. In 3:1, God is called “the Sovereign, the LORD of hosts”. [NOAB]
Verses 28-31: The omnipotent God is concerned for the people he has created. [NOAB]
Verse 28: “everlasting God”: This recalls Genesis 21:33: “Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God”. [NJBC]
Verse 28: “faint or grow weary”: Key words that reappear frequently and tie the servant songs with Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah: see vv. 29-31 and 43:22-24; 44:12; 49:4; 50:4; 57:10; 62:8; 65:23. The servant turns the liability of weariness into a way of ministering to fellow Israelites! [NJBC]
Verse 31: “wait”: Expression of confidence that God will not desert his people is a common concept from this period on. [NOAB] An excellent Old Testament description of faith. [NJBC]
© 1996-2003 Chris Haslam
This hymn is an invitation to praise God for his universal power and providential care. He is to be praised for rebuilding Jerusalem and gathering the people, especially the “outcasts” (v. 2, exiles), the distressed (“brokenhearted”, v. 3) and the “downtrodden” (v. 6). There is no limit to his wisdom (v. 5b). He is creator of the universe (v. 4); he provides the winter rain (v. 8); through it comes “food” (v. 9) for “animals”, including “young ravens”. While we may delight in “strength” (v. 10) and “speed”, he “takes pleasure” (v. 11) in those who hold him in awe and who, knowing of his loving covenant with Israel (“steadfast love”, v. 11), look forward to better times. He guards Jerusalem (v. 13), blesses children even from the womb, and gives prosperity and peace (v. 14). He is active in natural phenomena: he sends “snow” (v. 16), “frost” and “hail” (v. 17) as punishment, but he forgives by melting them (v. 18). Only with Israel does he have a relationship based on the Law (v. 20)
Clippings
A Hallelujah psalm. (Hallelujah means Praise the Lord: see vv. 1, 20.)
A communal hymn generally dated to the post-exilic era. Support for this dating is provided especially by vv. 2-3 which contain such late themes as the rebuilding of Jerusalem by Yahweh (see Ezekiel 40-48) and the gathering of exiles (see Isaiah 56:8 and Nehemiah 1:9). [NJBC]
Verse 4: See also Isaiah 40:26 (see today’s first reading). [NOAB]
Verses 13-14: The themes in these verses also occur in Psalms 127 and 128:
|
security of the city |
|
|
blessing of children |
|
|
prosperity and peace of the city |
|
|
provision of food |
Verses 15-18: 33:6 says “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth”. [NJBC]
Verses 15a,18a: Parallel to the creative word in the natural world is God’s word to Israel. [NJBC]
Verses 16-18: Job 37:6-11 says “For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth’; and the shower of rain, his heavy shower of rain, serves as a sign on everyone's hand, so that all whom he has made may know it. ... From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds. By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning.” [NOAB]
© 1996-2003 Chris Haslam
Paul has written that, whatever others may think, he is an apostle for he has seen the risen Christ and he has brought many to him, especially at Corinth. So he, as are other apostles, is entitled “to be accompanied by a believing wife” (v. 5) and to be supported financially by the Church. However, lest asserting this “right” to be paid put an “obstacle” (v. 12) to faith in the way of coming to Christ, he will not insist on this right. Nothing must get in the way of “boasting” (v. 15, telling), the good news.
But proclaiming (boasting) the gospel is an obligation placed on him, so he has no grounds for boasting about his performance. He does not proclaim the good news of his own will, but rather as one commissioned to do so by God; however that he does so “free of charge” (v. 18), without being paid, is his choice (of his own will), so he is due a “reward” (v. 17). This reward is:
bringing even more people to him. He has brought people to Christ by becoming as one (v. 20) religiously with them: he has behaved in a way not to give offense to prospects for conversion, in order to establish communications with them, respecting their customs. He has voluntarily restricted the freedom he has in Christ, making himself “a slave to all” (v. 19). With those who are “weak” (v. 22), those who easily lose faith when apparent obstacles appear (e.g. eating meat left over from pagan rites) he has avoided doing what would upset them (e.g. he has refrained from eating such meat). He has accepted self-control and self-denial the more effectively to spread the good news (v. 23). He can only share in Christ’s gifts if he carries out God’s commission.
Clippings
In 1 Thessalonians 2:7, Paul speaks of his restraint from asserting his rights as an apostle: “... we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children”. [NOAB]
Verses 1-2: “an apostle”: In 15:8-9, Paul writes: “Then he [Jesus] appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles ...”. See also Galatians 1:1, 11-12; Acts 9:3-6 (Paul’s vision), 17. [NOAB]
Verse 1: “Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?”: See 15:8 (quoted above). [NJBC]
Verse 4: i.e. at the expense of the church. [NOAB]
Verse 5: “the brothers of the Lord”: In Matthew 13:55, some who have heard Jesus in the synagogue ask “... And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”. That they and “Cephas” (presumably Peter) are mentioned suggests that the opposition to Paul originated in Jerusalem. Of Jesus’ brothers, Paul only names one: James (see Galatians 1:19). See also Mark 3:31; 6:3; Acts 1:14. [NJBC]
Verse 5: “a believing wife”: Mark 1:30 tells us that Peter was married: “Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever ...”. [NOAB]
Verse 6: “Barnabas”: He is mentioned in Galatians 2:1 as Paul’s companion on his visit to Jerusalem. In Galatians 1:13, Paul says of him: “even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy”, meaning the hypocrisy of Jerusalem Christians. “Alone” is singular in the Greek so Paul may have suddenly remembered another apostle whose practice mirrored his own. [NJBC]
Verse 6: “ have no right to refrain from working for a living”: Paul employs four arguments to justify the right to support:
From common sense (v. 7-8, “on human authority”), an argument also used in 2 Timothy 2:3-6
Mosaic law (vv. 8-9)
Ancient cultic practice (v. 13), and
Verse 9: The quotation is from Deuteronomy 25:4. The ox has a right to eat the grain. [NOAB]
Verse 11: A quid pro quo. [NJBC]
Verse 12: “If others ...”: Other missionaries have passed through Corinth, and have had the right to support accepted. [NJBC]
Verse 13: In Judaism, this is prescribed in Leviticus 7:28-35. It was also the practice in Hellenic cults. [NOAB]
Verse 14: In Luke 10:7, Jesus tells the pairs of emissaries he sends out: “Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid”. Deuteronomy 25:4 and this verse are quoted in 1 Timothy 5:18. [NOAB]
Verses 15-18: In 2 Corinthians 11:7-12, Paul says that his mission to the Corinthians is financed by “friends who came from Macedonia”. [NOAB]
Verse 17: “entrusted with a commission”: In Galatians 1:15-17, Paul tells us “ ... when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, ... I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.” [NJBC]
Verse 18: “free of charge”: NJBC sees this as a feeble joke. The wages of one not entitled to any is to work for nothing!
Verse 18: “not to make full use of”: The verb in Greek is katachraomai, meaning overuse. NJBC says that Paul uses this word deliberately to disguise a mental reservation, because while at Corinth he was subsidized from Macedonia.
Verses 20-22: Paul proceeds with his mission with consideration and tact, not cowardice and compromise. [NOAB]
Verse 21: This verse is difficult to understand; in Comments I present a general understanding of vv. 19-23. Blk1Cor says “this is one of the most difficult sentences in the epistle”. It is perhaps helpful to recall Galatians 6:2, where the “law of Christ” is fulfilled by bearing one another’s burdens, i.e. in love. Christ fulfills “God’s law” but now love helps us to be obedient to God, as Paul is, “entrusted with a commission”. NJBC also sees an allusion to the “law-less” at Corinth, i.e. those who saw no requirement for ethical behaviour because the Second Coming was thought to be so close. See 6:12 and 10:23.
Verse 22: Comments: eating meat left over from pagan rites: In 8:12-13, Paul submits himself to the conscience (and discipline) of the “weak” and recommends such discipline to others who have progressed significantly in their journeys of faith: “... when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ”. [NJBC]
Verse 22: “win the weak”: As will become clear in 10:23-11:1, the hearts of the weak also needed to be changed. [NJBC]
Verses 24-27: Athletic metaphors on the importance of self-discipline out of consideration for others. [NOAB] In a sense, Paul trains himself to better carry out his God-given commission.
© 1996-2003 Chris Haslam
Mark has begun to tell us of a day, a sabbath, early in Jesus’ ministry spent at Capernaum. In the synagogue, Jesus has taught “as one having authority” (v. 22) beyond knowledge of the scriptures; he has healed a man possessed by evil – simply by commanding the evil force to leave him.
Now, with the four disciples he has called so far, he heals the mother of Peter’s wife. That she serves them shows that she is completely and immediately cured (v. 31). Note that Jesus “took her by the hand”: no respected religious leader would do so, especially not on the Sabbath. Was she so seriously ill that Jesus could not wait a few hours to heal her until the Sabbath ended, thus avoiding controversy as to whether this healing could be done on the Sabbath? Mark doesn’t tell us of any.
Then, after the Sabbath, at the start of the next Jewish day (“that evening”, v. 32), many who are in like condition to the man in the synagogue (mentally ill) and to Peter’s mother-in-law (physically ill) are brought to him. Many gather around the doorway (“door”, v. 33) of the house to see his miracles. The evil forces recognize his power over them but he intends to show himself as God’s agent later, so he does not “permit the demons to speak” (v. 34). Jesus then withdraws to be alone to commune with God (v. 35). Perhaps Peter and the others see him as missing an opportunity to heal, but Jesus insists that his mission extends beyond Capernaum (v. 38). He travels throughout the region, proclaiming the good news to Jews who meet for worship and study, and overcoming evil forces in people (v. 39).
Clippings
Verses 29-34: The parallels are Matthew 8:14-17 and Luke 4:38-41. [NOAB]
Verse 29: “the house of Simon and Andrew”: Archeologists may have discovered this house south of the synagogue at Capernaum. The four disciples are called in vv. 16-20. [NJBC]
Verse 30: “fever”: We do not know what kind of “fever” this was. Such ailments, which [mostly] come and go quickly, are common in the Near East. Malaria is a possibility. [BlkMk]
Verse 31: “He ... took her by the hand”: Jesus could be accused of contracting uncleanness. [HenMk]
Verse 31: “she began to serve them”: The religious authorities generally disapproved of a woman’s serving at table but in villages women always had more freedom, and the Pharisees still had little influence in Galilee. [BlkMk] HenMk quotes a rabbinic writer, admittedly 200 years later: “‘One must under no circumstances be served by a woman, be she adult or child’”. The meal she served them what would be the one at the end of Shabbat, which would be an important part of her religious practice – a big mitzvah – especially with guests. [Christopher Seal]
Comments: wait a few hours: Some scholars see 1:24-34 as being the events of one Jewish day. This view would place the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law near the end of the day.
Verses 35-39: See also Matthew 4:23-25 and Luke 4:42-44. [NOAB]
Verse 35: For prayer as part of many recorded momentous events in Jesus’ life, see also Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28 (the Transfiguration); 11:1; 22:41-46 (on the Mount of Olives). [NOAB]
Verse 35: “he ... went out to a deserted place”: This recalls his initial preparation by the Spirit for ministry in the “wilderness” (v. 12). [CAB]
© 1996-2003 Chris Haslam
“Pew-work” is like Home-work, except that it is done in the pews, instead of being done at home. Because it is focussed on the readings (as the sermon, presumably, also is) it can be done during the sermon to help the listener concentrate. Or, it can be done while waiting for everyone else to finish their communion. It isn't done during prayers, or hymns, or the readings, because
During Prayers, we pray
During Hymns, we sing
During the Readings, we listen
Middle-school Students' Pew-work
Elementary-School Students' Pew-work