Patrick Comerford
Next Sunday, 12 September 2021, is the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XV). The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary, as adapted in the Church of Ireland, are:
The Continuous Readings: Proverbs 1: 20-33; Psalm 19 or the Canticle The Song of Wisdom (Wisdom 7: 26 to 8: 1); James 3: 1-12; Mark 8: 27-38.
The Paired Readings: Isaiah 50: 4-9a; Psalm 116: 1-8; James 3: 1-12; Mark 8: 27-38.
There is a link to the readings HERE.
Introducing the readings:
There is an interesting theme about Wisdom running through the Continuous Readings provided for next Sunday, while the Paired Readings reflect on the theme of Suffering in faith.
The qualities of wisdom as an image of God are described in the first reading. The Psalm describes how wisdom can be searched out and found, while the Canticle, ‘The Song of Wisdom,’ which describes the characteristics of wisdom.
The alternative first reading reflects on the sgnificance of the Suffering Servant, and in the paired psalm the psalmist reflects on his own sufferings.
The Epistle reading warns us against unwise use of our tongues in talk and conversation.
The Gospel reading is an introduction to how the disciples, personified in Saint Peter, find it difficult to be wise about who Christ is, and an admonishment about being prepared to suffer for the sake of Christ.
Proverbs 1: 20-33:
Wisdom, who is personified as a woman, makes her first appearance in this book in this reading and delivers warnings of her own.
She speaks in public places where she can be heard – as did the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah – reaching ordinary people in the street and the busy people who work at the city gates. She calls to the simple, to the scoffers and to fools, all of whom reject wisdom.
If only they would change their ways, she would make God’s ways known to them. But, even though she has stretched out her hand, they have not changed their ways and they laugh at her.
But, she warns them, she will have the last laugh. Their downfall will be sudden and unpredictable, like a storm or a whirlwind, when they will realise it too late. Then, because they hated knowledge and chose not to hold God in awe, because they did not accept the advice of Wisdom, nor listened to her criticism of their ways, they will reap what they have sown. But those who listen to Wisdom’s call will live ‘without dread of disaster.’
Isaiah 50: 4-9a:
The 19th century French writer Victor Hugo included Isaiah in his list of the six great writers of Western literature, alongside Aeschylus, Homer, Job, Shakespeare and Dante. As we read Isaiah 50, we are reminded that we are in a linguistic and theological world that is as far superior to most literary expressions.
This reading is well known as the third ‘Servant Song’ of Isaiah. In all, there are four servant songs of Isaiah:
● Isaiah 42: 1-4
● Isaiah 49: 1-6
● Isaiah 50: 4-11
● Isaiah 52: 13 to 53: 12
Most people are familiar with Isaiah 52: 13 to 53: 12 and many know of Isaiah 42: 1-7. But this third Servant Song is relatively unknown. It builds upon and develops chapter 42 and chapter 49 in that the Servant of God, for the first time, suffers in chapter 50. In words that are adapted by George Frideric Handel in the oratorio Messiah (1742): he ‘gave his back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard’ (50: 6). Then, of course, we have the ‘symphony of suffering’ in Isaiah 53.
This third Servant Song is vitally important in the development of a theology of an individual’s suffering for the sake of the nation and the world.
This text has many literary qualities, but it also raises questions about the identity of Isaiah’s servant, and the response is found in many answers, including:
● Some unknown prophet
● Isaiah himself
● The Nation
● Both the prophet and the nation (see also Jeremiah 11: 18; compare with Luke 2: 32; Acts 13: 47; Acts 26: 23).
In the past, the sufferings of the Suffering Servant in the writings of Isaiah have been identified by Jewish scholars with the sufferings of the whole children of Israel, and in more recent years, by some scholars, in particular with the experiences of the Holocaust.
Christians, on the other hand, have identified Isaiah’s Suffering Servant with the suffering and crucified Christ. And, for early Christians, there was only one answer. For them, Christ was clearly the one long predicted by the exilic prophet.
Most especially, they saw him in the fourth ‘Servant Song’ in Chapters 52-53, where the servant was ‘despised and rejected’ (53: 3), ‘a man of suffering’ (53: 3), ‘has borne our infirmities’ (53: 4), ‘carried our diseases’ (53: 4), who ‘like a lamb was led to the slaughter’ (53: 7), who ‘bore the sin of many, and made intercession for our transgressions’ (53: 12).
For those early Christian believers, this fourth song was clearly about the one they had experienced in his life and particularly in his death on the cross.
In Isaiah 50, the servant is given a clear and powerful description. But so too is God. Four times in this passage (verse 4, 5, 7, 9) the Lord is known as the ‘Lord God,’ an address that is unique in Isaiah. Other versions render this as ‘Sovereign Lord,’ and it catches attention because of the double title of God (adonai Yahweh). Perhaps we should see this as a way of emphasising the dependence of the servant on God.
We could divide this passage (50: 4-9a) into three sections:
1, The Servant’s Teaching (verses 4-5).
2, The Servant’s Sufferings (verse 6).
3, The Servant’s Determination and Justification (verses 7-9a).
1, The Servant as Teacher or Learner (verses 4-6):
Verse 4:
The passage opens with us being told that God has given the writer ‘the tongue of a teacher,’ according to the NRSV translation, although footnote j on the translation offers what may be a more accurate translation – ‘the tongue of those who are taught’ (Isaiah 50: 4a).
The word the servant uses to describe himself in verse 4 (lemudim) has been translated ‘of a teacher,’ or ‘of those who learn,’ or ‘of the learned.’
It is not clear whether the word means that God has given the servant the tongue of a teacher or learner. But we all know that the best teachers are those who are the most eager learners. Theological teachers, in particular, need to listen to human wisdom and divine wisdom, we need to listen to creation and to the Creator. To have the tongue that teaches, I must first have an ear that hears. The servant of God is one who learns and proclaims a message from God.
The prophet implies by that language that the servant is not necessarily a leader, that he does not always need to be out front, but is the one who can speak well when right speech is needed. Indeed, God’s gift of speech is given ‘that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word’ (50: 4b).
The primary role of the servant is to pay special attention to the ‘weary,’ to those who are in desperate need of a word of encouragement and support, to those on the margins of society who are neglected and who are in danger of being forgotten.
This role of listener and right speaker is given to the servant ‘morning by morning,’ again and again (50: 4c).
In contrast to other prophetic figures, who may have received the Word of God while in the Temple praying (Isaiah), while watching the flock (Amos), or in dreams or in visions (Ezekiel), the prophet here emphasises the daily inspiration that came to him. The word ‘morning’ appears twice and ‘awaken’ also appears twice in this verse. It is as if all the prophet needs is an attentive ear to hear what God will say to him.
Verse 5:
The servant refuses to waver from this role. He was ‘not rebellious … did not turn backwards.’
2, The Servant’s Sufferings (verse 6):
Verse 6:
The servant was so committed to the task that he ‘gave his back to those who struck me’ and his ‘cheeks to those who pulled out the beard.’ Neither did he ‘hide (his) face from insult and spitting.’
These acts – striking, beard pulling, insulting and spitting – are harsh, demeaning actions in a shame-based culture. Each of these deeds is designed to humiliate and denigrate a person, forcing him or her to ‘turn back,’ to reject the course he or she had first decided to follow.
However, this servant is not going to be deterred from his task of being a careful listener and a true encourager, no matter what insults are heaped upon him. On the other hand, he is not just going to comfort others or quietly speak his message, as in Chapter 42.
Although the message will be proclaimed, it is his suffering that is emphasised here. Just as the mouth speaks what the ear hears, so the parts of the body that suffer are stressed here. His persecutors strike him on his back and when they pull out hairs from beard they attack him at the front too. They hurt him physically, when they strike him, and hurt him psychologically when they insult him.
Although the suffering is not nearly as bad as that suffered in Chapter 53, it is significant nevertheless.
In the preceding servant song (Chapter 49), the servant also preaches but he only gets discouraged:
But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity’ (Isaiah 49: 4).
3, The Servant’s Justification and Determination (verses 7-9a):
Verse 7:
The suffering servant was empowered to take on his suffering and to not turn his back because ‘the Lord God helps me’ (verse 7a). Because of the presence of the Lord God, the servant feels no ‘disgrace’ and has ‘set my face like flint.’
This second image suggests the unbreakable conviction of the servant to do what he has been called for.
The remainder of the passage enumerates the absolute conviction of this servant to act on the call of the Lord God in all things:
And I know I shall not be put to shame;
he who vindicates me is near. (Isaiah 50: 7c-8a).
He will not be put to shame. Professor John N Oswalt of Asbury Theological Seminary (The Book of Isaiah Chapters 40-66, New International Commentary on the Old Testament) explains that the particular Hebrew use of ‘shame’ here is in the sense of being shown to have taken a foolish course of action.
But, while the Servant may have been set up for public ridicule, in the end it will be shown to all that his decision to trust God, to be obedient to God, and to leave the outcome in God’s hands was the right decision. He will not be shamed by that choice (p 326).
We should also recognise the difference between being treated shamefully and feeling shame is important. Instead of being shamed, the prophet will be vindicated.
Verse 8:
‘The one who vindicates me’ (verse 8) might also be translated as ‘the one who makes me righteous.’ In other words, the servant can perform the work of the Lord God, however difficult and dangerous it may be, because the Lord God stands with the servant, making clear that the servant is on the side of the Lord God, is in fact a righteous one.
Verses 8-9 use a lot of ancient legal terminology to explore the notion of the prophet’s innocence and to express his unshakable confidence that God will vindicate him (see also Jeremiah 1: 18-19; Jeremiah 17: 17-18; Ezekiel 3: 7-11; Romans 8: 33).
Indeed, these verses are reminiscent of the legal language in Job, where he says, among other things: ‘I have indeed prepared my case; I know I shall be vindicated’ (Job 13: 18). God, in the end, is his helper and will vindicate him.
Can we draw some conclusions from this reading?
We live in a society and a culture where we try to avoid suffering. Sickness and ill-health have to be avoided at all costs. We take out insurance against every inevitability and if, despite that, we end up in hospital we want what we have paid for. So much so that doctors and hospitals that fail to provide a ‘cure for every ill’ run the risk of litigation.
Suffering is no longer appreciated or reflected on in our culture these days. We are more interested in the exploits of the rich and famous than in the suffering of the marginalised and the global majority.
With our Easter faith, and when we reflect on the sufferings people we know have gone through during the pandemic, we of all people should know that suffering is at the heart of it, and the servant whose story we hear today is the one who leads us on the way to it. We are invited again to be brought once more to the mystery of divine suffering.
Can we hear that today?
What is it about proclaiming the Word of God that leads to suffering?
What is the relationship between the servant’s prophetic proclamation 2,500 years ago and our preaching today?
But suffering and rejection must never have the last word. All suffering must eventually be put to an end, because that is the promise of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.
Psalm 19:
This Psalm is familiar to many churchgoers because its closing words were often used in the past by preachers as the opening prayer as they began their sermons: ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer’ (Psalm 19: 14).
In the Psalm, the heavens and the firmament are depicted as telling us of God’s glory and work. The firmament was understood as almost like a pudding bowl over the earth, and beyond this was a hierarchy of heavens.
God’s glory is told day and night to all without needing to use words. The sun rises early in the morning, making God’s presence known with its heat.
Verses 7-9 present the wonders of the law as an expression of God’s will for humanity. It revives the soul, gives wisdom to the innocent, rejoices the heart and gives light to the eye.
The Canticle Song of Wisdom (Wisdom 7: 26 to 8: 1):
The lectionary provides the Canticle The Song of Wisdom as an alternative to the psalm on Sunday. This is one of the 20 canticles provided for use at Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer (see pp 132-133), but unlike other Biblical canticles in this section – such as Venite and Jubilate, we are offered only one form of this canticle.
The Book of Wisdom is important for our ideas of Christ. As in the first reading (Proverbs 1: 20-33), Wisdom is once again personified as a woman. She has 21 characteristics of wisdom – although some are repeated to reach this number. In Hebrew literature, the number 7 signifies perfection, while the number 3 is the divine number. So, the number 21 represents divine or absolute perfection.
Wisdom flows from eternal light, is a flawless reflection of God’s activity, and an image of his goodness. Wisdom can do all things, is constant unchanging, gives life to each generation, and enters the souls of the godly. Wisdom is morally perfect and ‘orders all things well.’
Psalm 116: 1-8:
In Psalm 116, the psalmist turns from the collective to the individual. God has saved from a great crisis and he in turn gives public voice to his thanks. Strong emotion leads the psalmist to address God directly in describing the answer to the prayer (see verse 8).
The juxtaposition of the individual and the collective is a significant feature in Biblical texts. The Hebrew prophets and poets never saw the nation as an abstraction or the people as an amorphous mass. The individual never loses significance even in the presence of vast gatherings.
Traditionally, this prayer was included in the Jewish prayers of Hallel, said on such major occasions as Pesach (Passover), Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of a new month), Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks), Sukkot (the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles) and Chanukah (the Festival of Lights), because it spoke to the many among the pilgrims to Jerusalem who had vowed to bring offerings of thanksgiving.
James 3: 1-12:
The author of this Epistle is a teacher who realises the expectations for teachers is greater than those for others, and warns that none of us can live a perfect, Christian, moral life.
The tongue is small, but like a horse’s bit or a ship’s rudder, it can steer and move the rest of the body, with grave consequences. The tongue can be set on fire by hell, is difficult to be tame, and is capable of spreading evil. It can be used for good or evil, to honour God or to curse other people, who are ‘made in the likeness of God.’ It should only be used for good.
In nature, a spring only produces good water or bad water, fig trees do not yield olives, nor do vines yield figs, and salt water cannot yield fresh water.
What do we produce that are signs of a living Christian faith?
Mark 8: 27-38:
In this Gospel reading, Christ travels north from the Sea of Galilee to the villages around Caesarea Philippi, a town known for its shrines to the god Pan. It was first settled in the Hellenistic period, and was also known as Caesarea Paneas and Neronias.
On the way to Caesarea Philippi, Saint Peter tells Christ that he believes Christ is the Messiah (Mark 8: 29-30). Peter has that rock-like faith on which the Church is going to be built (see Matthew 16: 18-19).
But Christ then tells his disciples that it is not all going to be a bed of roses, indeed it is going to be more like a crown of thorns. He tells them that on the journey he is going to suffer, be derided, and face his own execution.
Saint Peter is upset. This is not what he expects. This is not what anyone of the day expects of the Messiah. He takes Jesus aside, and he rebukes him.
But he has got it wrong. Christ in turn rebukes Peter and reminds those present that if they want to be his followers they must take up their cross and follow him.
Later, during the trial of Jesus, Peter denies he is a follower of Christ, not just once, or even twice, but denies Christ three times before the cock crows.
This is the same Simon Peter who has a faith that is going to be so rock solid that the church could stand on it. This is the same Peter who drew his sword in the garden in a futile attempt to stop the arrest of Christ (John 18: 10-11; but see Matthew 26: 51-54, Mark 14: 47 and Luke 22: 49-51, where Peter is not named).
But, when push comes to shove, Peter denies Christ, and denies him three times in the course of just one night (Matthew 26: 69-75; Mark 14: 66-72; Luke 22: 54-62; John 18: 15-17, 25-27).
Yet this Peter is to find his potential, or rather Christ sees his potential, in an Easter story, a story of hope (John 21: 15-17).
The Risen Christ meets the disciples on the shore early in the morning. After breakfast, Christ asks Peter: ‘Do you love me?’ Peter answers, ‘Yes Lord; you know that I love you.’ Christ tells him: ‘Feed my lambs’ (verse 15).
A second time, Christ asks him, ‘Do you love me?’ Peter answers, ‘Yes Lord; you know that I love you.’ Christ tells him: ‘Tend my sheep’ (verse 16).
A third time, Christ asks him, ‘Do you love me?’ Peter feels hurt, and he sounds exasperated and exhausted as he answers a third time, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ This time Christ tells him: ‘Feed my sheep’ (verse 17).
Christ’s three questions to Peter serve as a way of reversing the three denials the previous week. Now he is given a triple charge: to feed the lambs of the Good Shepherd; to tend his sheep; and to feed his sheep.
Despite this, Saint Peter still does not manage to get it quite right all the time. He argues with Saint Paul at Antioch, and Paul rebukes Peter for seemingly trying to insist that Gentiles must become Jews if they are to convert to Christianity (Galatians 2: 11-13).
Even when he gets it wrong in Antioch, Saint Peter goes on to get it right at the first Council of the Church in Jerusalem (see Acts 15: 7-20). He goes on to refer to Saint Paul as ‘our beloved brother’ and his letters as ‘scripture,’ even when they may be difficult to understand (see II Peter 3: 16-17).
A later Church tradition says Saint Peter and Saint Paul taught together in Rome, founded Christianity in the city, and suffered martyrdom at the same time, so that an icon of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, standing side-by-side, is a popular icon of Church unity and ecumenism in the Orthodox Church.
Reflecting on the Gospel reading:
Like the people who are listening to Christ in Sunday’s Gospel reading, we are called to take up our cross and follow Christ (Mark 8: 34). Along the way, we may fall and stumble, we may wonder where we are going and why. But the Easter message is always a reminder that the journey in faith leads to is one of hope and love.
If Saint Peter knew what was ahead of him, he might have been even stronger in rebuking Christ in this Gospel reading. But the triumph comes not in getting what we want, not in engineering things so that God gives us what we desire and wish for, so that we get a Jesus who does the things we want him to do. The triumph comes at Easter, in the Resurrection.
We cannot separate who Christ is from what Christ does. In Sunday’s Gospel reading, Christ asks his disciples, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ (Mark 8: 29). The suffering of the Suffering Servant is an image that is drawn on when Christ talks in our Gospel reading this morning from Saint Mark’s Gospel.
There he talks about his coming passion and crucifixion, when he says that ‘the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected … and be killed …’ (Mark 8: 31).
If we say we believe Christ suffered and died for our sins, then we must also say that he takes on the ways we are sinned against.
When people are taunted and spat on in the streets, when their ethnicity and their language become a matter for rejection and humiliation, then how do we respond to it when we think that it is Christ himself who is being spat upon, that Christ himself takes on the insults and the injuries?
But suffering and rejection must never have the last word. As Christ reminds us in this Gospel reading, all sufferings must end in hope: the Son of Man ‘after three days [will rise] again’ (Mark 8: 31). All suffering must eventually be put to an end, because that is the promise of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.
To be true followers of Christ means taking up our cross and following him (Mark 8: 34). There is no shame in being Christ-like (Mark 8: 38). And so, we too must be willing to see any insult or taunt, any expression of prejudice or rejection, any racism or any discrimination based on ethnicity or language, gender or sexuality, colour or looks, is prejudice against Christ, is prejudice against the Body of Christ, is prejudice against all of us, is prejudice against me.
Some years ago, in my book Embracing Difference, I pointed out that immigrants and asylum seekers in Ireland suffer disproportionately when it comes to industrial accidents and poor wages. Statistics show they are more likely than Irish-born residents to be the victims of violent crime, including murder, to end up in prison, to be the victims of racism, to be killed in road traffic accidents, and to be the victims of workplace accidents, including fatal accidents.
Those same statistics show that a disproportionate number of the children admitted to our hospitals are the children of asylum seekers. If they suffer like this, then how ought we to respond as Christians?
Mark 8: 27-38 (NRSVA)
27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ 28 And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ 29 He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ 30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’
34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’
Liturgical Resources:
Liturgical Colour: Green
The Collect:
God,
who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit
upon your Church in the burning fire of your love:
Grant that your people may be fervent
in the fellowship of the gospel;
that, always abiding in you,
they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect of the Word:
God of mercy,
help us to forgive as you have forgiven us,
to trust you, even when hope is failing,
and to take up our cross daily
and follow you in your redeeming work;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Eternal God,
we have received these tokens of your promise.
May we who have been nourished with holy things
live as faithful heirs of your promised kingdom.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Suggested Hymns:
Proverbs 1: 20-33:
643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
11, Can we by searching find out God
324, God, whose almighty word
Psalm 19:
606, As the deer pants for the water
153, Come, thou Redeemer of the earth
351, From all that dwell below the skies
631, God be in my head
696, God, we praise you! God, we bless you!
616, In my life, Lord, be glorified
97, Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
384, Lord, thy word abideth
432, Love is his word, love is his way
638, O for a heart to praise my God
34, O worship the King all-glorious above
35, The spacious firmament on high
The Song of Wisdom:
643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
33, O Lord of every shining constellation
Isaiah 50: 4-9a:
230, My Lord, what love is this
235, O sacred head, sore wounded
239, See, Christ was wounded for our sake
Psalm 116: 1-8:
494, Beauty for brokenness
374, When all thy mercies, O my God
James 3: 1-12:
31, Lord of the boundless curves of space
589, Lord, speak to me that I may speak
33, O Lord of every shining constellation
446, Strengthen for service, Lord, the hands
Mark 8: 27-38:
666, Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side
460, For all your saints in glory, for all your saints at rest (verse 1, 2j, 3)
533, God of grace and God of glory
588, Light of the minds that know him
59, New every morning is the love
108, Praise to the Holiest in the height
599, ‘Take up thy cross,’ the Saviour said
112, There is a Redeemer
605, Will you come and follow me
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
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