Reflections on the Lectionary for March 2007 Hungering for God By Rev. Dr. Keith A. Russell

Beginning with the last Sunday of February and going through the month of March, the church enters the Lenten season. The challenges to the preacher during this season are several. First, we need to overcome the tendency to equate Lent with personal self-denial as in, “What are you giving up for Lent?” Second, we need to examine our own needs as we move toward the period of Holy Week and Easter. Can we help others to experience something fresh about God? Can we deepen our hunger for the reign of God? Can we focus our need away from consuming to searching or desiring in such a way as to reflect the psalmist’s plea that “as a hart longs for cooling waters, so my soul longs for God”? (Ps 42:1)

Perhaps this Lenten period can be a time when our hunger moves toward God in some new and deeper way. Preaching during Lent can present us with an exciting opportunity to frame the problem and to invite people to examine their yearnings and desires. The readings during these weeks will provide ample material for such inquiry and investigation.

The first set of readings from the Hebrew Bible focuses on a series of promises that God has both made and kept with God’s people. These readings provide us with a testimony of God’s dependability. Whether it is God’s promise to Abraham (Gen 15:1–2, 17–18), God’s invitation to generosity (Isa 55:1–9), God’s promise to Joshua (Josh 5:9–12), or the prophetic promise of God doing a new thing (Isa 43:16–21), the witness is that God is a God who keeps promises. Hence, God is dependable and trustworthy.

This promise that is testified to in the first set of readings may be used to intensify the call to repentance that is echoed in the second set of readings from the epistles. These passages from the epistles focus on “standing firm in the Lord” (Phil 3:17–4:1), a call to righteous living (1 Cor 10:1–13), a call to a new creation (2 Cor 5:16–21), and “pressing on toward the goal of the prize of the heavenly call of God.” (Phil 3:4b–14) It would be worth the preacher’s time to investigate the relationship between promises on the one hand and challenges on the other. Could it be that the promises of God make the challenges of God possible? Could it be that Lent is the opportunity to explore the paradoxical relationship between God’s promises and the call to radical change?

The gospel lessons also deal with the theme of promise and fulfillment. Three readings come from the Gospel of Luke and one from the Gospel of John. The Lukan readings begin with a heavenly declaration: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (Lk 9:35) This declaration is delivered in the context of the transfiguration, where Jesus is paired with Moses and Elijah. The continuity of God’s promises is displayed and Jesus is affirmed. The second reading from Luke (13:1–9) is a parable about a fig tree that bears no fruit. If the tree does not bear fruit, it will be cut down. Here we move from promise to challenge to the church to bear the fruit of new life. The third reading is the parable of the two sons and the loving father (15:1–3, 11b–32), with a focus on both repentance and mercy. The last reading is from the Gospel of John (12:1–8), with Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet as a foreshadowing of his coming death.

With this introduction in mind, I will look more closely at the readings for each Sunday. My primary focus will be on the gospel lessons, with secondary attention given to the other readings.

Second Sunday in Lent: March 4, 2007
Gen 15:1–12, 17–18; Phil 3:17–4:1; Lk 9:28–36

The Lukan reading, the account of the transfiguration, is the second time in Luke that there is heavenly assurance about Jesus. This heavenly affirmation might also be seen as an eschatological preview of what is coming. Luke’s Gospel has heavenly affirmations three times: at Jesus’ baptism, at his transfiguration, and at his death. There is a rich intermingling of promise and challenge, and we need to address both facets in our preaching. In fact, Walter Burghardt in several of his books and Living Pulpit articles has made the compelling argument that the heart of the preacher’s task is always to preach faithfully about the dual reality of God’s promise and God’s challenge. At no time in the church year is this clearer than during Lent. Thus we explore the challenges posed by the transfiguration story against the backdrop of God’s unwavering promise.

Readings from Genesis and Philippians can be tied into this same interpretive frame. The church can bear the challenge put forth in Philippians 3 because we have the promise of Genesis 15 and Luke 9. How can we exegete the challenges that are before us during the Lenten period? How do we understand the Pauline description of those who live as enemies of the cross of Christ? He says bluntly that “their end is destruction; their God is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.” (3:19)

Preacher, help us to understand our destructive behavior in ways that are more than moral finger pointing. What we need help on is not simply feeling guilty. No, what we need is a new analysis of how our lives, personal and communal, are supporting destruction and are set on earthly things. Can we move toward new life without an examination of how consumer capitalism has captured our spiritual imagination and kept us focused on earthly things? How can Lent give us both a new analysis of our captivity and a new hunger for the things and people of God? Here we preachers have a challenge to paint two pictures—the promises of God and the challenges of our humanity—with the assurance that promise can lead to change.

Third Sunday in Lent: March 11, 2007
Isa 55:1–9, 1 Cor 10:1–13;  Lk 13:1–9

Framed by Isaiah’s invitation that— “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!” (55:1)—the challenge of the other readings revolves around repentance. The reading from 1 Corinthians 10:1–13 calls for an examination of personal lifestyle with the admonition that one is called to be faithful. In the midst of this call to repentance and faithful living is a promise: “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so so that you may be able to endure it. (10:13).

The theme of repentance is carried forward in the Luke passage culminating in a parable about a fig tree. (13:1–9) In this text Jesus issues a call to repentance with a note of hope. The parable holds open the possibility that if the tree produces fruit it will not be cut down. If, however, after being given another chance, the tree still does not produce fruit, it will be cut down.

How does the preacher issue a call to repentance that is beyond moralistic indictment? It is possible to trivialize the call to repentance by narrowing the focus in such a way that significant change cannot occur. While we need to be concerned about individual lifestyles, the most significant repentance that needs to occur is actually systemic. How do we talk about repentance that means forgiveness of debt, release of prisoners, and care for the poor and oppressed? Yes, individually we must confront our own sin and failure, but preaching falls short of the mark if repentance is only personal. How do we as preachers lift up the more complicated issues of social and structural change that are akin to the structure of the reign of God?

Fourth Sunday in Lent: March 18, 2007
Josh 5:9–12; 2 Cor 5:16–21; Lk 15:1–3, 11b–32

The New Testament readings for this Sunday provide an interesting opportunity to explore the theme of promise and the call to repentance with compassion. In 2 Corinthians the declaration is, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (5:17) God’s mission of reconciliation is to come about through the message of reconciliation entrusted to the church. God’s commitment to reconciliation undergirds the church’s ability to engage in acts of reconciliation.

The Lukan parable about the father with two sons could be interpreted as a parable about reconciliation—both its success and its failure. The younger son repents by coming back and is received with joy by the father but not by the older brother.

This familiar story can be presented in at least two ways. First, it is good news to prodigals with the assurance that they can come home to a waiting and loving father. There are always some members of the congregation who need to be assured and invited to come back. It also reminds the church that it is a home for prodigals. A second way to approach the parable is from the perspective of the older son who resents the younger brother and his magnanimous treatment by the father. In some ways the older brother is the righteous one who stays home and does his duty. He is much more like most members of the church than is the prodigal who returns. Perhaps the older brother’s attitude can help us understand the lack of welcome in the church for those who are different. There are times when the church is not a welcoming place for the prodigal because we in the church are resentful of those who did not do their duty while we “good church folks” were doing ours. When do we get a party? What is the big deal about the return of the irresponsible and unfaithful?

This second level of the message does focus on our need in the church to repent of our lack of compassion and charity. “The older brother syndrome” may be at the heart of our need for change. The call to the older brother to repent comes with the assurance, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” (15:31) Our own repentance is made possible by a God who is always with us and has already given us new life.

Fifth Sunday in Lent: March 25, 2007
Isa 43:16–21; Phil 3:4b–14; Jn 12:1–8

The readings for the fifth Sunday in Lent make a promise, offer a challenge, and provide a sign of assurance. The reading from Isaiah declares that God is doing a new thing. The prophet counsels, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (43:18–19) The promise of new life runs through these Lenten readings.
We move in the readings from God’s promise to God’s challenge. The Philippians text challenges the church to regard Christ above all else. Paul says, “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (3:7–8) To live a life worthy of the call is the challenge. We must “press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (vv 13–14)

How do we put into contemporary language this call to value Christ above all else? What do we count as rubbish in order to experience this reality? How do we press on? Here the preacher needs to get specific about what keeps us from this heavenly goal so that repentance can occur and the promise can be fulfilled.

The gospel lesson from John is the account of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with costly perfume. After dealing with the Judas’s objection to such extravagance, Jesus commends Mary’s act of loving preparation that foreshadows his coming death. Lent ends with an eschatological assurance that death is coming but that it is not the last word.