Uniform Lesson for April 5, 2020 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Isaiah 42:1-9 Reading Isaiah 42 in conjunction with Palm Sunday is not unusual. Christians cannot help but see the ways that Jesus fulfills the calling of Isaiah’s servant. But reading Isaiah 42 on Palm Sunday under the heading of “God promises a just kingdom” helps us see other ways that Jesus (and we!) should fulfill the promises of this king’s reign. Three times Isaiah stresses that this servant/king’s rule is centered on justice. How will this servant/king establish justice? For whom is this just kingdom intended? Isaiah 42:1-3 — A king who doesn’t break others Most earthly leaders are loud and aggressive. You know when they enter the room. You know better than to move too quickly toward them, or to make any gestures that might seem threatening. If they sense a foe is wounded, they finish them off. If they see that competitors are faltering, they snuff them out. This world is a battle of the powers, and only … [Read more...]

Uniform Lesson for March 29, 2020 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Malachi 2:1-9; 3:5-6 From Micah, we turn to Malachi. From one of the earlier prophets, we move to one of the latter ones. From a prophet concerned with justice long before Israel’s exile, we turn to a prophet who worried over justice following Israel’s return. The setting is very different, but the concerns are depressingly the same. There are problems in this world, and they have less to do with what is going on outside the community of God’s people than in. A messenger is coming. This messenger’s presence will burn like that of a refiner’s fire. Malachi 2:1-5 — Messing with the offering One of the main problems according to the prophet Malachi is the presentation of compromised cattle for the offering. “When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not wrong?” This looks like an easy charge for us to dodge. Number one, we don’t offer … [Read more...]

Uniform Lesson for March 22, 2020 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Micah 3:1-3, 9-12; 6:6-8 Micah 6:8 may be one of the most beloved and remembered Old Testament verses. I’ve seen it woven into cross-stitch, painted as calligraphy and tucked into wallets as a reminder. Yet, how often do we pair it with the chapters that precede it? Instead, we twist its language about justice and kindness and humility to the point it simply means “be nice.” Micah 3:1-3 — Hyperbolic language? Many church people get upset by the graphic nature of some of Jesus’ rhetoric: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. … And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off” (Matthew 5:29-30). This is not the language of polite company. It goes against any picture of a meek and mild Jesus. Jesus, however, was a prophet. And Jesus was as steeped in the language of the prophets as he was in the rhythms of the psalms. So, maybe we should be grateful that neither Jesus nor we … [Read more...]

Uniform Lesson for March 15, 2020 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Habakkuk 2:6-14 Habakkuk stands and watches for God’s response to his protest. How can a just God employ unjust means to accomplish God’s ends? Are not God’s eyes too pure to behold evil forever (Habakkuk 1:13)? Surely God cannot be God, yet look on wrongdoing without taking action? So then, the Lord answers, and asks Habakkuk to write out God’s vision and make it plain. God’s justice is coming, “if it seems to tarry, wait for it.” Habakkuk 2:6-8 — Lending money God’s answer to Habakkuk moves beyond a simple declaration that the proud will fall, and the wealthy go under. While pride and wealth may make faithfulness difficult, it is the combination of pride and wealth that often proves to be destructive — to our relationship with God and our relationships with our neighbors. Heaping up and loading up is problematic. But heaping up what is not your own and loading up with goods taken in pledge constitutes theft, … [Read more...]

Uniform Lesson for March 8, 2020 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 12-14 The preferred mood of the prophetic voice is the imperative: Repent! A less frequent tone for prophetic utterance is the interrogative: How long? Here, Habakkuk taps into a voice more familiar in the Psalms (the laments) and in wisdom literature (Job). It is not hard to mount a case regarding the world’s injustice — in Habakkuk’s day or our own. But it takes courage, and a prophetic spirit to take such a cause to God. If God is just and is working toward a world where such justice reigns, why is the world such a mess? Habakkuk 1:1-4 — Habakkuk’s first protest Most scholars locate Habakkuk in the southern kingdom (Judah) prior to the conquest (by the Babylonians). Though this people celebrates its claim to be part of God’s chosen people, this election is not evident in its behavior, either individually or corporately. Habakkuk piles up terms that point toward corruption at the heart of its … [Read more...]

Uniform Lesson for March 1, 2020 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Amos 5:18-24 We now move straight from a quarter studying the honoring of God through true worship, to a quarter dealing with “Justice and the prophets.” It would be easy to set these two quarters in juxtaposition, dividing our classes into the “pro-worship” and “pro-justice” parties. Our first lesson from Amos appears to confirm such a contrast. But let’s slow down and see how this passage cues us up for this quarter’s study of justice, a necessary ingredient for any true worship — in the sanctuary or the town square. Amos 5:18-20 — The Day of the Lord Amos is a prophet of mostly unmitigated judgment. Except for a closing coda that many classify as an addition (Amos 9:11ff), the prospect of some remnant surviving God’s judgment is about as hopeful as Amos gets: “It may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph” (5:15). The end is coming for God’s people, so we might as well … [Read more...]