Foretaste of the Sermon to Come

A little nibble of the Revised Common Lectionary

Sunday’s scriptures are Ps 118:1-2, 14-24, Acts 10:34-43, Mt 28:1-10

I am currently taking a class at Luther Seminary on the gospel of Matthew, which is great timing given our presence in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary and its gospel journey through Matthew. One of my required texts is “First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament,” a dynamic equivalence bible translation that presents the scriptures using North American First Nations oral traditions and linguistics. For reference, another dynamic equivalence translation you may be more familiar with is Eugene Peterson’s “The Message.” These translations can be characterized as “cultural thought for thought” rather than literal word for word translations and can be a beautiful and insightful adjunct to studying the scriptures. In the First Nations Version, Jesus’ name is translated “Creator Sets Free.” I love this translation of his name because it tells us exactly who Jesus is and what he does, which is what the gospel is: the story and significance of Jesus. So in this indigenous version of scripture, Jesus’ name is the whole gospel, simplified to these 3 words: Creator Sets Free.

The Hebrew Joshua and its Greek transliteration Jesus mean, “God Saves” (Yah Shuah). The first words of John’s gospel tie Jesus with God’s Word, creation, and with God himself, and we see Jesus’ divine creative Word all through the New Testament. Anytime he heals, releases a person from a demon, forgives, blesses, tells a woman all she ever did, resurrects, teaches, etc., Jesus is creating, an act that only God can do. Jesus is the Trinity’s creative voice, eternally active in its present tense verb. So this part of his First Nations name is exactly in synch with his Hebrew name that invokes the name of God, Creator of the Universe.

The rest of the First Nations’ name, “Sets Free,” resonates the so simple, yet so rich style of indigenous languages. Who does Jesus set free and from what? And for what? He quotes the prophet Isaiah in his first sermon in Luke, saying he has come to “proclaim liberty to the captives.” We know from Mt 16 that Jesus has a special concern for prisoners, but Luke’s Greek word that most English bibles translate to to “liberty” or “freedom” is only used elsewhere in the New Testament to mean “forgiveness.” We confess each Sunday that “we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.” Jesus is the One Who Sets Us Free – who saves us – from the captivity of sin, death and the devil. Through his humanity, Jesus took up our human sin and death on the cross and in rising, sets us free, saves us, from sin and death. And for what? Well, in our gifted freedom and Christ’s imputed righteousness, we are free to lives our lives in both kingdoms of God’s world, described by Martin Luther. In the Lefthand Kingdom, he creates and sustains us to be free to engage with our family, society, government, friends, and in our independence imperfectly and without fear. In the Righthand Kingdom, Jesus saves and redeems us to participate in the Kingdom of God on earth as it will be in Heaven. Our Christian freedom binds us to our family, society, government and friends so that Jesus can work and speak creatively though us and proclaim this same freedom to them. These are ancient truths, relevant across the centuries, languages, and cultures.

This image is “Apache Christ” by modern iconographer Robert Lentz, OFM, and is on display in the Priscilla Murr Collection at the Folk Art Museum of Central Texas.