1 Corinthians 13
22nd Sunday
after Pentecost/ 20th October 2013
The
Thursday Morning Bible Study resumed several weeks ago. We’re walking our way through the book of Isaiah. In addition to the actual text itself we’re
using Walter Brueggemann’s commentary as our guide.[1]
Brueggemann is fond of using the proper name Yahweh when referring to the God of Abraham and Sarah. Why does he
do this? Because, in part, the use of the word “God” really isn’t all that
helpful and tells us very little about the nature and purpose of this One we
address as God. “God” has become such a generic word, meaning
whatever we want to project upon it.
And so we took some time in the
class exploring the meaning of the word.
What do we mean, biblically-, theologically-speaking, when we use the
word God?
We get our cues from a burning bush
that spoke to Moses. We find the story in Exodus, chapter three. You’ll recall that after murdering an
Egyptian who was caught beating a Hebrew slave, Moses fled to the wilderness of
Midian. He became a shepherd, minding
his own business, trying to life as inconspicuously as possible. One day he took his flock up to Mount
Horeb. It was there that a bush was set
alight, without being consumed by the flames.
When Moses noticed the bush he “turned
aside.” And when God saw that Moses turned, God spoke to him out from the
bush, “Moses! Moses!” Moses was summoned, called and he
responded. God told him that the Hebrew
people in slavery are suffering greatly.
They need someone to go and save them.
They need someone like you, Moses.
So, I’m sending you back to
Egypt, back to Pharaoh. You’re to go to
Pharaoh and tell him that he needs to release all his Hebrew slaves. Then Moses asks, “If I come to the Israelites
and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors have sent me to you,’ and they ask
me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Ex. 3: 3:13).
Then God responds to Moses, “I AM
WHO I AM.” God said further, “Thus you
shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” And here we’re given God’s true name: I AM.
“This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations” (Ex.
3:15). I AM. That’s the name of
God. Eyeh
asher eyeh. I AM WHO I AM. Or, simply, I AM. In Hebrew four letters are used, Y-H-W-H
(there are no vowels in ancient Hebrew).
Just four letters: YHWH. The vowels came later. YAHWEH.
What does it mean? It’s not easy to translate but it means
something like this: the one who causes
to be, the one who creates. Or simply, he creates. It means, “I was who I was and will be who I
will be.” What’s significant here is
that this name is not a noun. It’s a
causative verb form. God’s name is not a
noun, but a verb. Yahweh is the One Who
causes all things to be, the one who causes one to exist, to be. Yahweh is the one who gives life. It can mean “the one who causes to breathe,”
meaning to breathe is to live. What’s
fascinating about this word is that the image of God we’re given here is not a
static noun, but a dynamic verb. Yahweh
acts, moves, causes to be—not only once at the beginning of time, at creation,
but continually acting, moving, causing to be.
The name is unpronounceable (to this day for Jews) and not read in
temple. Every time you read the word LORD, capitalized in the Old Testament,
behind it, in Hebrew is YHWH. The name is Holy.
Yahweh is a verb. Yahweh creates, restores, heals, saves,
judges, redeems, energizes, authorizes, empowers, calls, sends,
transforms. Yahweh acts. In fact, theologians have said that we don’t
know anything about God beyond God’s actions because the only thing we know
about God is what we know when God acts.
And from a Christian perspective, there is no stronger demonstration of
the God who acts than that moment when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us
full of grace and truth (John 1: 1-5).
From the Christian experience, the fullest revelation of God’s actions
toward humanity is in and through the life, death, and resurrection—the
acts—of Jesus Christ, who taught us and showed us that Yahweh’s being is summed
up with this understanding: that Yahweh is
love and loves you and me.
For it’s Love—with a capital “L,”
meaning God’s Love, or just simply God—it’s Love that creates and restores and
heals and saves and judges and redeems and energizes and authorizes and
empowers and calls and sends and transform.
Love in scripture is not exclusively
a feeling. It’s a verb. It’s a choice. It’s action.
We hear in 1 John 3: 18, “Little children, let us love not in word or
speech, but in truth and action.” Love does
something.
We can hear it here in 1 Corinthians
13: Love is…with echoes of “I AM,” enacted through the verb “to be.” Listen to the various ways love is
enacted: Love is patient. Love is kind.
Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Love doesn’t insist on its own way; it’s not
irritable or resentful; Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in
the truth. Love bears all things. Love believes all things. Love hopes all things. Love endures all things. Can you hear, can
you feel the dynamism, the movement
at work here? Love enacted. Love embodied. Love acting and moving and calling and trying
to realize something, achieve something, cause something to exist or come into
being. Love working toward something, with a goal in mind.
Because we know in Christ that God is love, then love and God become
synonymous. God bears all things. God hopes all things. God endures all things. We know through Christ that God desires to
become enfleshed in our lives. Love is
God enacted. God is love enacted. God embodied.
God acting and moving and calling and trying to realize something,
achieve something, cause something to exist or come into being in us and through us, through this
congregation (!), for us and for the
world. Through us, God is working
toward something, with a goal in mind, and we have been called, summoned,
chosen to be God’s co-workers building the Kingdom. God’s presence, power, will, drive, hopes,
dreams are at work in and through us.
I believe
there is a power at work within us. By virtue of
our baptisms, the power is there. In fact, this extraordinary power—that does
not belong to us—is alive within us and working through us and allowing us to
do far more than we could ever possibly imagine, allowing us to love more
deeply than we could ever possibly imagine, enabling us to do more, give more,
risk more, accomplish more, forgive more, serve more, endure more than we could
ever think possible.
That’s
what Love is doing. And as I suggested several weeks ago in a sermon, regarding this Love
at work in the world…yes, it’s within us, but it’s also asking something of us. This
Love is looking to us, counting on us, dreaming through us. This Love that created and sustains us is
also requiring something of us. There’s
considerable expectation built into our relationship with Yahweh. There’s a burden of responsibility. For Love
waits for your response, waits for you to “turn aside” and move toward the
burning bush, waits for your reply, waits for you to act; Love waits for you to
say, “Here I am, send me.” Or, “Here I
am, use me, Lord.” Or, “Here I am,
Lord, with gratitude I give…
I
will serve…
I
will forgive…
I
will heal…
I
will restore…
I
will build, rebuild…
I
will act….
What is Love asking of me? That’s the question we’re being asked to ponder. As we approach Commitment Sunday on November 17, as we consider our financial
pledge to God’s work among us, the Stewardship Committee is asking us to
prayerfully reflect upon this question.
Love, with a capital “L,” is another way of saying God or Yahweh. What
is Love asking of me? We intentionally framed it this way to make it
personal. We invite you to pose that
question to yourself, prayerfully, address the question to Love, and then listen to your heart for the response. We’re not suggesting that you to ask, what’s
the church asking of me… Not what “I” want
to give… It’s bigger than the church,
bigger than you and me. But what is Love asking of me, requiring of me? …
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