Introducing Joy

The Book

We are beginning a four-part series on the book of Philippians. Far too short, but we will do a chapter a week for the next four Sundays. Many years ago, as a young pastor in Pennsylvania, I spent six months preaching through Philippians, paragraph by paragraph. It was a wonderful experience, and I can recommend taking time to read and re-read this short letter from Paul. But we are taking a brief dive into it over the next month.

I have two preliminary impressions of the letter that serve as our starting point this morning. One is the note of joy and confidence that pervades the letter. Warren Wiersbe was an American pastor who wrote a series of fifty books (so Wikipedia tells me) with titles like “Be free” (a study of Galatians), “Be rich” (a study of Ephesians), “Be right” (a study of Romans), and “Be mature” (a study of James). Then he delved into the Old Testament with “Be patient” (a study of Job) and others. His title for studying Philippians? “Be joyful.” The second is the fact that Philippians is one of four letters that Paul wrote from prison, with Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon.

These two notes – the distress of being in prison and the confidence and joy of living in Christ – lead me to wonder how Paul did it? How could he move from distress to delight in this way? Imprisonment, with the threat in his case of being executed, could have left him in despair, but instead he invites the Philippians to join him in the confidence of joy. We will return to this dynamic as we look at the text.

Background

We think of Paul as one of the great founders of the Christian church. The church is, of course, built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, so that Jesus is Lord and founder and Saviour and builder. Within that fundamental understanding, his disciples (who then become the apostles) provided leadership within the institution that grew out of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

The core leadership group appears to have been Peter, James, and John: Three whom Jesus gathered around him during his ministry. James and John were brothers, and the death of James is recorded in Acts 12, the first of the apostles to be killed by the political authorities of the day. Another James rose to prominence in the young church; he was the younger brother of the Messiah Jesus and probably wrote out book of James. Paul was a latecomer on the scene and something of an outsider. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul records different people to whom Jesus appeared after his resurrection – Peter, the Twelve, more than 500 brothers and sisters gathered together, “and”, says Paul, “last of all he appeared to me also.” He continues, “I am the least of the apostles.”

Paul was a complex person – born in Tarsus, still a major city of modern Turkey. At that time it was the capital of the Roman Province of Cilicia, and Paul was born into a Jewish family that held Roman citizenship (cf. Acts 22: 22-29). In Philippians 3, Paul lays out his Jewish credentials: of Israel; of Benjamin; trained as a Pharisee; zealous for the Law (Torah); persecuting followers of Christ. Acts 22 records his statement to the people of Jerusalem who wanted him arrested: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel [a noted Pharisee] and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors.” He continues with his conversion as he chased disciples of Jesus to Damascus and met the risen Lord on the way.

In that experience, Paul received his call to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. He remained a Pharisee – the word means “set apart”, they were set apart for Torah, for the Law given by Moses; but now he was a Pharisee for Jesus, set apart for the gospel of God (Romans 1:1). His encounter with the Risen Lord changed him forever, and he joined the Jesus movement, becoming one of Jesus’ followers.

This change put him on the outside of his identity as a Pharisee, as the Jews rejected him and his teaching. It put him on the outside of his identity as a Roman citizen, as Rome scrutinized emerging sects like the Christian church with great suspicion. He was really only inside with the church, but even with the church he faced suspicion and questions. People wondered at first if his conversion was genuine, and then he took up the cause of the Gentiles, setting circumcision aside in favour of baptism into the death of Christ. [I know that’s an oversimplification, but I think it is generally accurate.]

Philippi was also an important city – located in northern Greece, i.e., Macedonia. It was very much a Roman city (although it has a pre-Roman history as well), where Roman citizens who did not want the overcrowded conditions of Rome might move. Acts 16 records what may have been Paul’s first visit to Philippe. He and Silas entered the city on a preaching mission, telling people about the resurrection of Jesus. Acts 16 records the first converts, among whom was a wealthy businesswoman named Lydia. She and her household formed the nucleus of the first church in Philippi, which met in her home.

Then events turned ugly. Paul and Silas ventured into the city, where they saw a female slave who made a lot of money for her owners by predicting the future. She was possessed by an evil spirit, and she followed Paul and Silas around shouting that they were servants of the most high God. In response, Paul and Silas exorcized the spirit. She became quiet, which meant that her owners also lost their source of revenue. They went to the authorities, who arrested Paul and Silas and put them in prison. That night an earthquake opened the prison doors. The jailer in charge of the prison assumed that he would be put to death and prepared to take his own life. Paul stopped him, showing that they were all still there and had not tried to escape. The jailer and his whole family were the next converts, as the young church grew.

This background suggests that Paul and the Philippian church were bound together intimately. They knew what persecution meant, and they supported and strengthened each other as they faced the dangers of following Christ in the first century.

The Text

So we come to chapter one.

Verses 1 and 2: A formal greeting, showing who is writing (Paul and Timothy) and who they are writing to (to the first Christians and their leaders in Philippi). We don’t know how many people were in the church. Gordon Zerbe suggests perhaps around 50, but it may have been 500. We simply don’t know. They may have been one small house church (30 to 50 people), or two such groups, or ten. In any case, Paul sent the letter to one of the house churches in Philippi, and we can assume that it was passed around to all of them and read aloud in their service. [Perhaps that’s what we should have done this morning for the sermon!]

Verses 3 to 11: Paul describes his constant prayer for the Philippians. He prays that their confidence, love, and joy will grow whatever their outer circumstances are. One notes especially the intimacy of their relationship as Paul emphasises their union in the gospel. He uses several different words that share the root word “koinonia”: especially the words “partners” and “partnership”.

This fellowship or partnership is significant. The members of the Philippian church include Lydia, a wealthy businesswoman – probably middle class in the Philippian context. It also included many who were from the lowest class of that city. The highest class were the Roman citizens who ran the city and benefitted most from its status within the Roman Empire. Next on the social ladder were the Greek-speaking intelligentsia. Then came the business community, and finally at the bottom of the ladder were the artisans (like Paul himself) and the slaves.

But whatever their status in the surrounding society, in the church they were simply brothers and sisters. Paul was the apostle, but he was also simply one of them. Lydia had financial resources, but she was also simply one of them. Even the slaves in their group, at the bottom of the social ladder, were simply brothers and sisters in the church.

I experienced this relativizing of social status in my own baptism and entering the church. About 60 years ago, I was baptized into the Brethren in Christ Church in Zimbabwe. Baptism made me a member, and the first thing we all did was participate in our first feetwashing service. I remember sitting in a circle of men and taking off my shoes and socks. The man beside me knelt in front of me and washed my feet. Then he dried them and we embraced. I took the towel and knelt in front of the next man. I washed and dried his feet and then we embraced.

That man was the servant in our house. Society at that time was segregated White from Black. In society I was part of White privilege. As a black man, he was my servant. In the church we were simply brothers and I washed his feet. The church often looks weak and unstable, while government look like they will last forever. But in fact, the government of Southern Rhodesia has disappeared, while the church at Mpopoma continues. Paul knew this reality – that Rome looked all-powerful, but Jesus is Lord!

Verses 12 to 26: This brings Paul to his own situation – in prison on religious and political charges. New Testament scholars have worked hard to determine when and where this imprisonment was – either in Ephesus (another Roman capital) or in Rome itself. I have read some of the arguments for both places and cannot say which it was. I both cases, Paul was near the end of his life (nearer in Rome than in Ephesus). His imprisonment appears to have been a kind of house arrest, in which he was able to receive visitors and write and send letters. At the same time, the charges that led to his arrest included the possibility of a kind of treason against Caesar. They had the potential to lead to his death, and Paul knew it.

While he was in prison, his opponents (within the church) worked to gain greater influence and displace him. He notes this pattern and says that, since they are preaching Christ, he remains hopeful and committed to the gospel. He notes again the danger of dying – those political charges! Death would unite him with Christ, but separate him from the Philippians. Being acquitted and staying alive would provide him with more opportunities to preach the gospel. What looks like a desperate situation is in fact a win-win situation.

Verses 27 to 30: In the last verses of the chapter, Paul returns to the note of partnership. The Philippians share his danger just as they have shared his joys. He prays that they will remain committed to Jesus and grow in their relationship with God. These verses serve as a transition to chapter two, so we leave them aside for next week.

Distress to Delight

How does Paul hold on to joy and confidence in the midst of prison and distress? I started with that question, and it’s time to give a brief answer. The answer is brief, quite simple really: Through his commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What is the gospel? The word means “good message”, a message so good and powerful that it changes the world completely. Modern examples from American history might be the Declaration of Independence or the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves. Life after the Emancipation Proclamation was different and could never simply be the same again.

The proclamation Paul is referring to is the fact that God has entered our world in the person of Jesus the Messiah, and that this Messiah died on a Roman cross and rose from the dead to set us free from the power of sin. Embracing this message brings confidence and hope as we enter into God’s reign, filled with God’s Spirit, as one with God’s People.

This is why he can deal with opposition from others preaching the gospel. Think of Steinbach. We have a lot of churches, and we preach Christ in different ways. Some think that we emphasise the social effects of the gospel too much. We may think that others are too focussed on staying out of hell. When I say, “preach the gospel!” you may reasonably ask, “Which gospel?” In all the fuss, we can rejoice with Paul that Christ is preached.

Prem Pradhan

I can illustrate the power of the gospel with a story that Jon Bonk has told. It’s recorded in a journal called Missiology, back in April 2000. Here it is:

Read from article the section on Prem Pradhan. [The story describes the work of Prem Pradhan, “the apostle to Nepal”, imprisoned repeatedly for preaching and baptizing in Nepal. Under his 40-year ministry, a few converts (nine adults with their children: imprisoned together when Pradhan baptized them) grew into a church of several hundred, and by 2000, when the article was written, had become a church of more than 100,000. I encourage finding a copy of Missiology, April 2000 and reading Jon Bonk’s original article.]

You see the power of the gospel? Paul placed his confidence in the power of the gospel, which transformed his distress into delight. We can do the same.

7 April 2024

Steinbach Mennonite Church 

Philippians 1

Salutation

1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: ² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians

³ I thank my God for every remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy ⁵ for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶ I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, for all of you are my partners in God’s grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸ For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the tender affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹ And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight ¹⁰ to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, ¹¹ having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Paul’s Present Circumstances

¹² I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the progress of the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ, ¹⁴ and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.

¹⁵ Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry but others from goodwill. ¹⁶ These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; ¹⁷ the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true, and in that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will rejoice, ¹⁹ for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my salvation. ²⁰ It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way but that by my speaking with all boldness Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet I cannot say which I will choose. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, ²⁴ but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. ²⁵ Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, ²⁶ so that, by my presence again with you, your boast might abound in Christ Jesus because of me.

²⁷ Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel ²⁸ and in no way frightened by those opposing you. For them, this is evidence of their destruction but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing. ²⁹ For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ but of suffering for him as well, ³⁰ since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Christ Among Us!

Easter Sunday

This day is the climax and capstone of the church year. Today we say, “Christ is Risen!” And we echo in reply, “Christ is Risen Indeed!” Hebrew-speaking Christians in Jerusalem say, “Ha Mashiyach qam!” Greek-speaking Christians say, “Christos Anesti (Χριστός ἀνέστη)!” Our grandparents in Russia-Ukraine might have said, “Christus ist auferstanden!” Our French-speaking neighbours when we moved to Canada said, “Le Christ est ressuscité.” I can still hear my Zimbabwean brothers and sisters sing out, “Namhla uvukile! Alleluia!”

All around the world we celebrate in every language the reality that Jesus overcame death and hell and has set us free. Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

The Idea of Resurrection

What is “resurrection” anyway. Our words are too small to capture the enormity of this event. Lazarus was raised from the dead a few weeks before (John 11), but that just meant that he was alive again – as if he had never died. The resurrection of Jesus means much more than simply “brought back to the life we have on this earth.”

In the reading from John 20, Jesus refers to being glorified, taken into the heart of God and then returned to us in his risen state. When he meets others later in John’s gospel, he does not avoid physical contact. He has now been “glorified”, whatever that means, and stands before them in his risen glory. Resurrection means more than simply “made alive again”. What is that more?

Many think of earth and heaven as two spheres or realms, in which heaven is “up there” and earth is “down here”. Down here is earthly and real; up there is spiritual and only may be real. You can see this viewpoint in the way that we think about the coming of Jesus at the end of times. “Lo he comes with clouds descending …” Jesus will come down from heaven to earth: At least, that’s the way we think of it. He is “up there” now, and then he will be down here with us. You can see this viewpoint also in the way that we talk about what happens to us then, as well as what happens when we do. We will go “up to heaven” to live with Jesus “up there”. 

Of course, the NT uses this language. “You Galileans, why do you stand here looking into the sky. Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen him go.” (Acts 1:11) But the New Testament also uses other language that suggests something other than this two-level kind of thinking with heaven and spiritual and God “up there somewhere” and earth and physical and real down here around us. The NT also speaks of a new heavens and new earth, something that is already present. It speaks of Jesus appearing, not simply coming back.

Consider the way Luke 17:30 puts it: “It will be just like this on the day that the Son of Man will be revealed …” You hear that note: When [Jesus] will be revealed. Jesus is here now, already, even though we cannot see him. In his second coming, he will be revealed and we will see the one who has always been here with us. Or as Hebrews 9:28 puts it, “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Again, John says in 1 John 2:28: “Now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” Or John the Revelator’s picture of the judgment at the end of all things: “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence …” (Rev. 20:11).

The most common metaphor for all of this is that Jesus is “coming” again, but I have emphasised these particular texts to help us see that this does not mean Jesus is somewhere off in the sky and will come down to earth at the end. Rather, Jesus is here, and we will see him. He will step out from behind the curtain, and we will see him. He will take the veil from our eyes, and we will see him.

Paul does use the image of going up in 1 Thessalonians 4: 16 and 17: “The Lord himself will come down from Heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” But taken together with all the other passages, I suggest that Paul is trying to picture something beyond our comprehension and uses images to help us grasp its wonder and glory. I want to offer another image alongside Paul’s – not in place of it, but something to help us get inside of it.

 

As N.T. Wright has noted, we think of the End of all things as being the moment when the earth is destroyed and we go up to Heaven. Earth, we think, will be taken up into Heaven, but the book of Revelations suggests as different picture. I read from Revelations 20 earlier: “The earth and the heavens fled from [God’s] presence.” The next chapter elaborates on that picture in language borrowed from Isaiah 65 and 66: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And there was no longer any sea.” This is the new creation. This is the creation as it was meant to be, and we live in it. Earth is not taken up into Heaven, but the New Heaven and the New Earth come down and swallow up the old creation with all of its faults. This old creation, full of sin and despair, flees from God’s presence, and we live in the New Creation, inaugurated by the resurrection of Jesus.

So What?

Where is this new creation? Out there somewhere at the end of time? Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is within you!” (Luke 17:21) Listen to the verses where Jesus said this: “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say – Here it is, or There it is – because the kingdom of God is in your midst.’”

Do you get it? The resurrection is the inauguration of God’s Reign in the New Heavens and the New Earth. We don’t have to wait until the end of time for this new creation, because it is already here in us, in our congregation, in the gathered people of God, stuttering and stammering about, struggling to make it through, and already God’s Reign is here in us!

Wright suggests an image to describe this reality. Think of us as the characters in a play, with an audience that we can’t see because of the floodlights and action that goes on all around us beyond our senses. Then the curtain is raised, floodlights go off and the general lights come on, and we can see what is really happening. We have been on our own little corner of a much larger stage than we knew existed, and when the curtain goes up and the lights all come on, we see what has really been going on all along – the full reign of God in the new heavens and earth.

Really?

Life in the congregation of God’s People is not always easy. It is not always nice. We are not always kind to each other. The old creation lives on in our memories, and we act out of those memories all too often. But we really are a new creation, the promise of the resurrection. Paul says it, “If any one is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Our life together may be filled with failure and regret: In that respect, it’s a lot like the disciples’ experience with Jesus. That’s why Jesus died for them and for us. Jesus rose for them and for us. Jesus creates heaven and earth anew in them and in us.

The Texts

Look back at the texts that we read. Isaiah 25 draws the picture that I have been trying to describe:

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the covering that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the LORD God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, “See, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

This is an image of the new creation, brought to us by the resurrection of Jesus! This is a picture of the fuller reality of God’s Reign, already here and yet still coming.

In John 20, we have the story that we have heard many times – Mary Magdalene (and some other women named in the other gospels) come to Jesus’ grave early in the morning; they find it empty, so Mary runs and tells Peter and John that the grave is empty. They run to the grave and find it empty, with the evidence left behind of Jesus’ graveclothes. Then Mary returns. She sees two angels who ask her why she’s crying; she replies that the grave is empty and she doesn’t know where Jesus’ body is. Then she sees Jesus, but doesn’t recognise him until he says her name, “Mary.” She falls at his feet, and he tells her not to touch him because he is on his way to the fullness of the Godhead. Mary then returned to the disciples and told them what she had seen.

The note about Jesus going to his Father – what I called “the fullness of the Godhead” – is a clue to the inauguration of the new creation: When Jesus is glorified, he makes all things new. But I note just one small point about this interaction between Jesus and Mary, decisive in helping us understand the new creation. Mary did not recognize the risen Lord until he said her name. She knew him because he knew her. At the very centre of the new creation, we see the reality of relationships.

I said that the new heavens and earth have already come, and that we find them in our midst. How do we find the beginnings of the new creation? Where is it? It is in our relationships – with God and with each other. The way that God cares for us and the way that we care for God. The way that you care for your brother or sister and the way that they care for you.

You remember the old TV show, “Cheers”? It was set in the bar where “everyone knows your name.” You sometimes find this kind of caring enveloping friendship outside of the church – quite often, in fact. It’s something that God has placed within us and wants to nurture in all of our lives, but we take it a step further in the church.

Remember Philippians 2: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.” This is the mark of God’s Reign. This is the beginning of the new creation, brought in by Jesus’ death and resurrection. We take care of each other at the deepest most fundamental levels.

An old preacher’s story makes the point. A man dreamed that he had died and found himself standing before two doors. One door was marked as the way to Hell. It opened, and he saw a great banquet table filled with the best food and drink imaginable – just like the vision in Isaiah 25. But everyone seated at the table had only a spoon chained to their wrist, which was far too long to turn around and put into their mouths. They suffered forever straining to reach the bounty before them, forever going hungry.

He turned towards the other door, marked as the way to Heaven. It opened, and he saw a similar great feast, all the best food and drink available for the guests sitting at the table. He saw that they also had the same long spoons chained to their wrists, but they were all feeding each other. They enjoyed the banquet to the full as each one looked out for the interests of the other.

It’s a simple picture, but it is also true. Jesus’ resurrection inaugurates the new reality of God’s Reign in the New Heavens and the New Earth. We can step into that new creation as we embrace the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, a reality we see most clearly as we enfold each other in the love of Christ. The New Creation really is the place where everyone knows your name. God knows it, and God calls you and me by name, just as he spoke to Mary.

It’s true. Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

Steinbach Mennonite Church

Easter Sunday 2024

Scriptures

Isaiah 25:6–9

⁶ On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. ⁷ And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the covering that is spread over all nations; ⁸ he will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

⁹ It will be said on that day, “See, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

 John 20:1–18

The Resurrection of Jesus

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. ² So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ³ Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. ⁴ The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷ and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed, ⁹ for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the disciples returned to their homes.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, ¹² and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she told them that he had said these things to her.

 

Focus Statement

In the garden, when Jesus called Mary’s name, all things were made new. In a time when women were considered insignificant, the resurrected Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, trusted her to be a reliable witness to his resurrection, and commissioned her to be the first to preach the good news of his resurrection. Since that day, social constructs and barriers are broken down, the shroud is lifted, and sins are forgiven. We are a new creation. Death is swallowed up, and life is everlasting! Alleluia, Christ is risen! Christ is among us!

Blasphemy and Stoning

Some years ago, we had a series in the all-school chapel on Wednesdays on the attributes of God. David Smith, ordained in the Baptist Church, was assigned the love of God. I, ordained in the Mennonite Church, was assigned the wrath of God. It felt backwards to me, but it has happened again! Instead of speaking on the Jubilee Law in Leviticus 25 (Dr. Dean drew that assignment for next Tuesday), I get to speak on the response to blasphemy against God: Stone the offender to death! What am I supposed to do with this?

 

Well, well. I know how some people respond: They just don’t read the Old Testament. They suggest that people of that day had no regard for human life; they were barbaric. Of course, if people from that context could survey our society, they might ask how we can so easily abort fetuses and consider MAID for older people. They might think we are the barbarians. Of course, it’s a kind of chronological imperialism for either they or us to appoint ourselves as judge of the other. Instead, the proper response is to set our inhibitions and automatic reactions aside and ask what the text says. So, what does the text say?

 

Verses 10 to 12 set the stage. Although Leviticus contains many specific laws, they are set within a narrative, the ongoing story of God delivering God’s people and leading them through the desert to the promised land. While they were travelling, a sharp disagreement arose between two men – the sort of thing that happens when people go camping together for an extended period of time. During the resulting fight, one of them blasphemed the name of God with a curse. The people around them recognized a major problem. They put the man in custody and sought God’s response to blasphemy against God. God’s response was clear: Kill the offender by stoning.

 

Then comes a set of laws that deal with appropriate punishment – life for a life, injury for injury. I take it that the principle of equitable and appropriate punishment is in view. The point is not to replicate the injury caused by precisely same injury to the offender. We might like such a punishment when an out-of-control hockey player injures our favourite player, who then has to sit out half a season, but a precise equivalency is impractical. The pound of flesh recorded in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice illustrates the impossibility of precise equivalency. The point rather is that punishment is equitable and appropriate.

 

The action then returns to the case of the blasphemer, who is taken outside the camp and stoned.

 

Some Thoughts

 We struggle with the idea of the death penalty, and rightly so. This leads to a question: Why are the laws of appropriate punishment are inserted at just this point? Perhaps it is precisely as a reminder that taking life is God’s prerogative, and that the stated penalty for blasphemy does not change that.

[Compare Deuteronomy 25, where the law of levirate marriage is followed by a strange law that forbids a woman emasculating a man – which is sort of what happens in the way that levirate marriage is stated. The follow-up law makes it clear that the actions of Deuteronomy 20: 5-10 are exceptional, not normal. A second reason for inserting the laws of appropriate punishment here is that killing a person – which these laws deal with – is an offence against the image of God: A kind of blasphemy, if you will.]

 

This struggle leads me to the point that I considered most fully in my preliminary thinking. What is so terrible about blasphemy that it should call forth the death penalty? Why does God say, “Stone the offender to death”?

 

The text (verse 10) says that he “blasphemed the Name with a curse.” “Of the Lord” is assumed. The reference to “the name” contains the whole of God. I remember flying from London to New York a little over 30 years ago. I stood aside to let a father and son come out of the row in front of me. From their dress, I assumed they were Hasidic Jews and said to them as they passed, “Baruch ha Shem”: “Blessed be the Name.” The smile that lit up the son’s face was a delight! The Name means God.

 

In verse 15 and 16, the identity of the Name is made explicit; so also is the offence: “Those who curse their God will be punished for their sin. Anyone who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel.” The problem is not that this man lost his temper, or that he said a bad word. The problem is that he cursed God.

 

 You remember that Job’s wife tells him to “curse God and die.” [Note that Job 2 uses a different word for curse, “barach”, which usually means “bless”.] Job refuses. To curse God is to cut oneself off from God. That is the problem here in Leviticus 24.

 

The Children of Israel are learning to be God’s People. They are discovering the meaning of redemption from slavery, of life in covenant with their Redeemer God. They are on the way to the Promised Land, where they will work out the law that they have received in Exodus and Leviticus. In this context, a half Egyptian, half Israelite young man epitomizes the way that God welded a disparate gathering of people into God’s People. Then he gets into a fight and curses God. He speaks words of power against redemption, against covenant, against creation. And God holds him to the words that he speaks.

 

Why does blasphemy lead to stoning? Stoning the offender to death simply takes him at his word. The stoning works out the inner logic of what the offender has said and done. He has spoken words of death, and he receives the death he has spoken.

 

Seen this way, his identity as both Israelite and alien is a reminder that all stand equal before God. The insertion of the laws of appropriate justice reinforces the point that all stand equal before God. But seen from where we are standing today, a basic and vital point remains to be made.

 

Holy Week

This is Holy Week. Three days from now we observe the death of Christ. The charge for which he was crucified was precisely the charge against this young man. He was accused – falsely – of blasphemy. Although completely innocent of the charge, he was accused and convicted and killed for this young man’s offence. The cross of Jesus stands as a stark reminder that God’s grace overwhelms God’s righteous judgment for all who turn to Jesus in faith.

 

Evil in our world is great. Our leaders speak words of death and threaten us all with destruction, whether through warfare or political anarchy or a simple strangulation by a chaotic climate. Unchecked, their words and deeds, our words and deeds lead to death.

 

So Jesus died. He died for us. He died in our place. He died to give us life. The creed reminds us:

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father.

 

Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end.

 

For us, and for our salvation: Egyptian, Israelite, Chosen People, Canadian, African, Asian, European, Indigenous, even our American cousins. God’s gracious and wonderful justice wrapped up in glory on the cross.

 

Amen.

 

Providence Seminary Chapel

 26 September 2024

 Leviticus 24: 10-23

 

An Example of Just Punishment

¹⁰ One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father came out of his tent and got into a fight with one of the Israelite men. ¹¹ During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the Name of the Lord with a curse. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. ¹² They kept the man in custody until the Lord’s will in the matter should become clear to them.

 

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁴ “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard the curse to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. ¹⁵ Say to the people of Israel: Those who curse their God will be punished for their sin. ¹⁶ Anyone who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any native-born Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be put to death.

 

¹⁷ “Anyone who takes another person’s life must be put to death.

¹⁸ “Anyone who kills another person’s animal must pay for it in full—a live animal for the animal that was killed.

¹⁹ “Anyone who injures another person must be dealt with according to the injury inflicted— ²⁰ a fracture for a fracture, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Whatever anyone does to injure another person must be paid back in kind.

²¹ “Whoever kills an animal must pay for it in full, but whoever kills another person must be put to death.

²² “This same standard applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.”

 

²³ After Moses gave all these instructions to the Israelites, they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him to death. The Israelites did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.