LECTIONARY DISCUSSION GROUP

Week of Sunday, October 7, 2007, Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Habakkuk 1:1-6(7-11)12-13;2:1-4

The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,

and you will not listen?

Or cry to you "Violence!"

and you will not save?

Why do you make me see wrong-doing

and look at trouble?

Destruction and violence are before me;

strife and contention arise.

So the law becomes slack

and justice never prevails.

The wicked surround the righteous--

therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

Look at the nations, and see!

Be astonished! Be astounded!

For a work is being done in your days

that you would not believe if you were told.

For I am rousing the Chaldeans,

that fierce and impetuous nation,

who march through the breadth of the earth

to seize dwellings not their own.

[Dread and fearsome are they;

their justice and dignity proceed from themselves.

Their horses are swifter than leopards,

more menacing than wolves at dusk;

their horses charge.

Their horsemen come from far away;

they fly like an eagle swift to devour.

They all come for violence,

with faces pressing forward;

they gather captives like sand.

At kings they scoff,

and of rulers they make sport.

They laugh at every fortress,

and heap up earth to take it.

Then they sweep by like the wind;

they transgress and become guilty;

their own might is their god!]

Are you not from of old,

O LORD my God, my Holy One?

You shall not die.

O LORD, you have marked them for judgment;

and you, O Rock, have established them for punishment.

Your eyes are too pure to behold evil,

and you cannot look on wrongdoing;

why do you look on the treacherous,

and are silent when the wicked swallow

those more righteous than they?

I will stand at my watchpost,

and station myself on the rampart;

I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,

and what he will answer concerning my complaint.

Then the LORD answered me and said:

Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so that a runner may read it.

For there is still a vision for the appointed time;

it speaks of the end, and does not lie.

If it seems to tarry, wait for it;

it will surely come, it will not delay.

Look at the proud!

Their spirit is not right in them,

but the righteous live by their faith

2 Timothy 1:(1-5)6-14

[Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my beloved child:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am grateful to God---whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did---when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.] For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

Luke 17:5-10

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, `Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

"Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, `Come here at once and take your place at the table'? Would you not rather say to him, `Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, `We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'

BACKGROUND & ASSORTED TIDBITS

• The book of Habakkuk is focused on a vindication of God’s goodness in circumstances of great evil (also known as Theodicy). [1]
• The reading for this week takes the form of a conversation between the prophet and God. Habakkuk’s complaints to God (1:2-4 and 1:12-17) concern the problem of how a just God can remain silent when the righteous suffer at the hands of the wicked. [4]
• The Chaldeans (a.k.a. “New Babylonians”) became the dominant force in Mesopotamia after the defeat of the Assyrians under the leadership of Naboplassar. The Exile (an important milestone in Jewish history) occurred under the Chaldean rule when 10,000 of the most wealthy and prominent Jews were deported to Babylon beginning in 597 BC by Naboplassar’s son, Nebuchadnezzar II. Their reign lasted from 612 to 539 BC.
• The Hebrew term that has been translated as “faith” in 2:4 expresses reliability, confidence, continuity, and trust. [1]
• The book of Habakkuk aided the apostle Paul in his formulation of the doctrine of “justification by faith” (see Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11). [1]

• 2 Timothy is believed to be a pseudonymously written letter. Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus are referred to collectively as the deutero-Pauline letters because there is reason to think that they were not written by Paul, but by a follower of Paul, either at his request or at a later date. [1]
• While writing in someone else’s name without their knowledge can get you into serious legal trouble in today’s culture, pseudonymity was a common practice in ancient times and was not always associated with sinister motives. [1]
• Paul “wrote” the letter while in Roman captivity, shortly before his death in 66-67 AD, as pastoral instruction and encouragement for Timothy, a younger colleague in charge of a number of churches (in Ephesus?). [4]
• Shame was considered to be a strong deterrent in Greco-Roman times. 1:8 begins with the author (Paul?) separating shame from his suffering for the Gospel. This separation is repeated a few lines later in 1:12 and then once again at the end of the chapter (not in the reading). [1]
• “That day,” referred to in 1:12, is the second coming of Christ. [4]
  
  
  
• The passage from Luke exhibits strong similarities to Mark 11:23 (Jesus tells the apostles to have faith and then talks of commanding a mountain to move into the sea), Matthew 17:20, and 23:23. All three writers deliver the message that God empowers the disciples and through faith in God: nothing is impossible. [2]
• Jesus’ parable about the master and the slave is meant to convey the understanding that obedience to God is a duty of love for Him and not something for which you should expect praise or reward. [3]
• A mustard seed is approximately 1mm in diameter.
• In Greek there are two types of “if” clauses (one contrary to fact and one according to fact). Since the “if” clause used in 17:6 is of the second type, it could alternatively be translated as: “If you had faith [and you do].” This takes the bite out of Jesus’ exclamation and makes it more of an affirmation than a reprimand. [2]
• HOWEVER, the construction of the apodosis (the consequential clause regarding the tree) suggests an “unreal condition” and thus would imply that the apostles did NOT possess such faith. [3]
• The master/slave analogy appears many times in Luke (12:35-40, 42-48; 13:25-27; 14:16-24; 16:1-13). [3]
• The Greek phrase charin echein in 17:8 means “give thanks,” however this is not the “thanks” of good manners, but rather a social obligation/expectation. Thus the question regarding whether one would thank the slave for doing what was commanded would have certainly elicited a strong “no” response. [3]

QUESTIONS

1. In the Old Testament reading, Habakkuk openly questions God’s willingness to allow the wicked to triumph over the righteous.
1. Do you have examples from your life where you have questioned God’s plan after witnessing “bad things happen to good people?”
2. In what ways have you used faith to deal with these situations?
   
   
2. In the reading from 2 Timothy, Paul continues to preach the Christian faith even under conditions of great hardship and persecution.
1. What message is there in this reading for us in our daily lives?
2. What do you find difficult or inconvenient about living the Gospel?
   
   
3. The Gospel reading finds Jesus expounding upon the power of faith and the notion that we should not expect thanks for simply doing what God commands of us.
1. How do you interpret Jesus’ comment regarding the mustard seed: as a reprimand or an affirmation?
2. How does the difference between the two interpretations affect your understanding of his message?
3. In what ways has your faith helped you to accomplish the “impossible?”

REFERENCES

1. Mays, James L. The HarperCollins Bible Commentary. San Fransisco, CA: HarperCollins,

2000. Pp. 668-670, 947-948, 1141-1142.

2. Graddock, Fred B. “Luke.” Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching.

Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990. Pp. 198-201.

3. Johnson, Luke T. The Gospel of Luke. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1991. Pp.

257-259.

4. Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament. New York, NY: Doubleday,

1997. Pp. 672-680.