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DonateOctober 28, 2001 |
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Joel 2:23-32
Psalm 65
2
Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14
The Joel text is eschatological. The context is a devastating plague of locusts that has ruined the harvest. The people cry to God, and in answer receive word of the Day of the Lord, a day of judgment more scathing than that of the lost harvest. God will judge the nations in the midst of awesome phenomena; it is a day of dread. But in the midst of the prophecy of dread there comes a turning point. The dreaded judgment becomes, suddenly, not judgment at all, but a call to repentance with the promise of grace and mercy. God restores the fields, drives out the enemies, provides peace. And then the words repeated in Pentecost are given: "I will pour out my Spirit . . . and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions." Notice the movement: loss, judgment, the invitation, the promise, the Spirit.
We can read it as a localized process that referred to ancient Israel; we can take it as the movement of salvation in history through the coming of Christ and the beginning of the church, and we can read it as a description of the individual’s drama of salvation through conviction, repentance, conversion, mercy. The three forms of reading are not in competition; rather, the text gives a thickness of meaning that can be drawn out to address all three situations.
The epistle text is, again, eschatological, but now not in terms of the judgment of nations and of a particular people, but individual. Paul faces his own death, and declares his faith. Death is not the last word, loss is not final. There is a future, and it is God’s. God’s righteousness shall at last prevail. To know this "in one’s bones" is to be immeasurably empowered for steadfastness in doing good. How we think about the future shapes our present actions.
The Luke text follows the story of the unrighteous judge with the story of the Pharisee and Publican at prayer. It can serve as an illustration of the lesson of the unrighteous judge, for God sees the heart, and justifies. The story is familiar: the Publican prays to applaud his own righteousness, whereas the Publican prays to confess his sin. It’s not that the Pharisee was not righteous in his actions—they were fine actions. The problem was in his motive. He acted not because the actions were good, but in order to prove himself righteous before others. The Publican’s prayer was appropriate: he was a tax-gatherer, and traditionally these persons overtaxed the people in order to supplement their income. In overtaxing the people, he was robbing them; he was unrighteous. But he was honest about himself and his motives, naming himself a sinner before God, asking for mercy. God heard each prayer for what it was: the Pharisee asked nothing of God; his purpose was self-congratulations. The Publican asked for mercy, and received it, and presumably changed his ways. What of our own praying? Are we honest before God? God knows us so thoroughly that we might as well be honest. Do our prayers represent our own heart-searchings? Do we take confession seriously? The promise is that God answers our confessions with mercy, grace, and the empowerment to do good.
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