LEADER'S GUIDE



Light on the Lessons

Jeremiah 15:15-21; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Lectionary 22, Proper 17); Cycle A; August 30, 2020

Leader Guidance

Materials Needed

+ Bibles for everyone (variety of translations often useful)

+ Lectionary sheets (very convenient if you use them in worship)

+ Chalkboard, newsprint, overhead, or another means for displaying information and recording thoughts

+ Basic reference books for use as needed: Bible dictionary, Bible atlas, concordance, a one-volume Bible commentary

I Getting Started

Discuss experiences with “Through the Week,” especially the meditation exercise. Read the lessons. Ask participants to share prayer concerns. Then turn to the questions in “Getting Started.”

1. While some hope that Christ will keep them from suffering, that’s unrealistic. God knows suffering and in our suffering, God is with us to give strength. So B or C, in the sense that with God no amount of suffering will destroy our innermost Self, is the best responses.

2. This “tit for tat” theology appears in the Deuteronomic writings especially. It is very strong in Proverbs. The Book of Job challenges that view, as does our Lord. The Gospel never promises material rewards. Jesus and Paul are frank about the suffering to face the serious disciple. As Luther said, the rain falls on the just and unjust alike. The blessings with God are spiritual rather than material.

II Check the Texts

1. Jeremiah 15:15-21

A. The prophet laments the fact that the people to whom he brings God’s message reject him and laugh at him. So he asks for retribution – hit them, God, as they are hitting me – which is the “tit for tat” theology we frequently encounter in the OT but which Jesus overcame.

B. He delighted in his ministry and his insights into God. Jeremiah loved being a prophet, but he had trouble dealing with rejection.

C. In verse 17, the hand image seems to represent a burden God gave Jeremiah in the form of a compelling message about the wrongs of his society (“filled me with indignation”) that he must preach, though it brings him rejection. In contrast, the examples of the hand image in Ezekiel and Isaiah seem to represent strength and inspiration. Picture Jeremiah’s situation with your hand palm down, pressing on the table. Show the uplifting image with a hand turned palm up and lifting an object.

D. The “incurable wound” seems to be his sensitivity to injustice which drives him to preach but without doing much good. He pictures himself condemned to failure but unable to give up the cause. So he feels let down by God, the “waters that fail.”

E. If verses 15-18 are Jeremiah’s lament, verses 19-21 are God’s answer. God, in essence, says that he will be with the prophet as he does his ministry and the scoffers will not prevail.

F. God says he will fight alongside of Jeremiah. God says, in effect, “I will keep you safe; you’ll make it; stop pouting and get back to work.”

2. Romans 12:9-21

A. In the previous chapters, Paul upholds the grace of God in contrast to the law and speaks of the Spirit setting us free (8:1-4). Thus it is clear that Paul’s exhortations are not intended to be a new law, obeying which makes us righteous before God. Instead, Paul speaks of the new quality of Spirit-life in which good behaviors are not undertaken in order to earn God’s love but rather in response to God’s love freely and grace-fully given in Christ.

B. Responses can vary. Paul’s exhortations are often addressed to members of a Christian community with suggestions on how one Spirit-filled person might relate to another. Advice in verses 9-10 would fit a Christian-to-Christian context. That in verses 14-18 could fit a church situation as well as in relation to the outer world. .In verses 19-21, Paul addresses a Christian’s relationship to the world beyond the Christian community. Paul never speaks of a lower ethic toward the world than the one applied within the community of Christ.

C. Responses will vary. There was a great deal of traveling by Christians, which is why the Gospel spread so fast. Besides welcoming itinerant preachers and prophets, a Christian might host a believing business man or merchant who wanted to avoid the prostitution and drinking that went on at inns.

D. Jesus’ association with tax collectors and sinners is recalled by verse 16b, “associate with the lowly.” Verse 18, “in so far as it depends on you,” recognizes that perfection is not always possible. But Paul clearly understood the conflict that sin creates when we strive for goodness, as witnessed by Romans 7.

E. Philippians connects to verses 17b, “what is noble in the sight of all.” So might verses 14-18. Paul’s ethics give priority to love (see 1 Corinthians 12:31 – 13:13) but otherwise considers the insights of the best pagan ethicists and philosophers to have value for a Christian. Paul also points to his own example as a source of guidance, Philippians 4:9.

F. Paul quotes Proverbs in verse 20. This stands in sharp contrast to what Jeremiah pleaded for in 15:15, which was retribution on his enemies.

G. Responses will vary. Enjoy the varied discussion. Chance are, each participant’s selection reflects something he or she finds lacking in church or society.

3. Matthew 16:21-28

A. Peter, like his contemporaries, thought the Messiah would come as a triumphant figure. He couldn’t image the Messiah being crucified. The “suffering servant” passages in Isaiah, though overlooked by those speculating about the coming Messiah, fit the experience of Jesus in a remarkable way, so the very earliest church made use of them to understand the meaning of Jesus.

B. Matthew’s “third day” corrects Mark’s “after three days,” which suggests that the resurrection came on the fourth day. Matthew uses the passive “be raised” while Mark uses the indicative “rise.” Most other Gospels, the preaching in Acts, and Paul’s letters use the passive to make clear that the Father raised Jesus from the dead; he did not raise himself.

C. Jesus’ suffering (verse 21) and the disciples’ suffering (verses 24-26) are connected. If we are “in Christ” we share in his sufferings that we might also share in his resurrection (see Romans 5:1-5 and 1 Peter 4:12-16).The “cross” represents all the sufferings a Christian endures because he or she is a Christian, as Jesus bore the cross because he was God’s Son. The cross image does not point to ordinary sufferings. It is wrong to say, for example, “My mother-in-law is truly obnoxious, but I suppose she is a cross I have to bear.”

D. The common thought is the transcendent value of the Kingdom. It is worth all one’s wealth or even one’s life.

E. Verse 28 sees wrong. The Son of Man did not return within a generation. Perhaps Matthew inserted the Transfiguration story right after this, to suggest that moment was the dawning of the kingdom. Another view points to the resurrection as the moment when the Son of Man came in his kingdom. (Interesting problem: the church declares Jesus to be the Son of Man in the Gospels. Then why does Jesus always refer to the Son of Man in the third person, when at other times he speaks of himself normally in the first person. The whole Son of Man issue puzzles the best scholars.)

III What Does It All Mean?

1. Responses will vary.

2. Suffering for serious discipleship is to be expected because disciples often run counter to the culture. Other suffering can be thought of as the result of sin after the Fall, in which believers and non-believers share a world of chance and decay. God does not will anyone to suffer, but through suffering our faith often (but not always!) is strengthened by the presence of God.

3. Responses will vary.

4. Responses will vary. Share experiences, even negative ones.

5. Responses will vary. This is one example of the way sin manifests itself. Our newspapers daily testify to the inadequacy of this approach, but we still persist in it.

6. Responses will vary.

7. Responses will vary. If participants suggest something along this line, “If all were really and truly Christians, then we would have peace and harmony,” challenge them. We are at once sinners and saints. Trusting Jesus does not perfect us. The idea that salvation leads to perfect living is a myth, though promoted in some Christian traditions. Talk about how trusting God to do what God promises affects their lives.

IV Into the Week

Try to save time to talk about their experience with the meditation exercises. .

Copyright © 2020, Lutheran Bible Ministries. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to make photocopies for use in church-related study groups.

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