Homiletics 2 File 15 Professor Carl Fickenscher II Question by: Paul >> PAUL: That's helpful. I'm not sure I always think about the liturgical context, but I do know we have to think about the biblical context, how the passage fits in the whole scripture. When does that come in? >> PROF. FICKENSCHER: Well, I would call that Step 3 in our invention process. Remember, first we determine an appropriate text selection. Then we look to the liturgical context. And now, let's consider, third, the biblical context as well. Obviously, you're right, it's crucial to look at the context in the scriptures itself. We all know it's actually a truism to say that taking something out of context is troublesome. When we think about the biblical context, it's perhaps a little broader, though, than we might think. We'll look in a moment at the context in the verses before and after a given text, but first we want to look at an even broader context, and that would be specifically the entire book from which the text is taken. Let's say that you are preaching on the gospel reading for Transfiguration Sunday, and let's say your text is Luke 9:28 36, Luke's account of the Transfiguration of Christ. Well, it's not a bad idea in fact, it's very helpful to begin by looking at some isagogical background of the whole book itself. Who is the author of the gospel of Luke? In other words, who was this guy Luke? To whom did he write? What was the purpose of his writing? What's a general outline of the book? When did he write the book? And so on. With some lessons, that's a more important consideration, and with others it's other texts, it's less important. With some, of course, it's very obvious and some it's more complicated. When we talk about the gospel of Luke, obviously we're talking about the beloved physician Luke, probably a Gentile, someone who perhaps joined Paul on his second missionary journey, as Acts 16 would suggest to us. When we think about how Luke begins his book, he gives us an interesting insight into the person or people that he addressed when he says, back in Luke 1, "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as those who, from the beginning, were eyewitnesses and servants of the word have handed them down to us, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus." Theophilus, of course, means one who loves God, a lover of God, and Luke here could be addressing a particular individual, certainly a person who would be identified as a believer at this point, but he also could be speaking more generically to all of those who love God. Luke has as his purpose to lay out in a very orderly fashion the account of the good news of what Christ has accomplished. He obviously is working with sources that have already been available to him, and probably also even a gospel that has already been made available, probably in the gospel of Matthew. But he is going to then elaborate on certain elements of the gospel in ways that will be particularly helpful for this this audience. Most likely, it usually seemed to be a Gentile audience, which of course has some attractive relevance also for us. As he writes this letter, he structures it moving forward with a very strong emphasis on Jesus' movement toward Jerusalem. In Luke's gospel, perhaps more than in any of the other three, the emphasis is on the city of Jerusalem. And an entire portion of the gospel, beginning in Chapter 9, moves very systematically, very methodically toward that climax. This is the sort of thing that is apparent in the general outline of the book, and might be helpful as you're examining the context of Luke 9, the Transfiguration of Christ. Now, after looking at the isagogical information in this way, then you do certainly want to look at the immediate context around the verses of your pericope, your text of the day. Again, let's say that you're preaching on the gospel for Transfiguration Sunday, year C, which would be Luke's account of the Transfiguration, Luke 9:28 35. It would be very crucial in understanding this text to understand a broader movement of the gospel of Luke and of the immediate context. If you look, for example, at the verses immediately prior to Verse 28, beginning back at Verse 18, we have Luke's account of Peter's great confession, when Peter confesses, "You are the Christ of God." Here, for the first time, clearly and unequivocally, the disciples have announced what they have come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. It's very important to recognize in the verses immediately after Peter's great confession, Jesus begins to talk about what the Messiah is going to do. Verse 22 of Luke 9: "The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised on the third day." It came, frankly, as a scandal to Peter, that if you are the Christ as I've just confessed, that you're going to suffer and die. To Peter, that was a non sequitur. To Jesus, it was the key to his mission. For Jesus to be the Christ of God meant that he was going to Jerusalem to be rejected and killed and rise again on the third day. What follows, then, at the end of that pericope, is Jesus' word in Verse 7: "I tell you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." From that then comes the account of the Transfiguration. Consider how important that is. Jesus' observation that some standing here will see the kingdom of God before death is a very enticing anticipation of the Transfiguration, when Peter and James and John will see Jesus' glory unveiled, see the kingdom before them. But let us not forget, also, that to see the kingdom of God is also a matter of Christ's suffering, as Jesus said back in Verse 22. The connection, perhaps, is this: As Jesus goes to that glorious moment of Transfiguration in Verse 30 28 and following, your text for this particular Sunday, it can never be divorced from Jesus going to Jerusalem to suffer. Jesus goes to the Mount of Transfiguration to prepare the disciples not to remain up on the mountain and glory in the moment, as Peter would have liked...