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| Luke 16:15 from a bible printed in 1820. It belonged to Loren's cousin Adin Webb of Cortland, New York. |
Thursday, June 9, 2011
9 June 1861
Sunday, 9th This morn went out to Pulaski to Bro. Nelson, several of us on a hand car. As we were going, a wild turkey stood upon the track till we ran up very close. Arrived at Pulaski at 7 in the morn. After breakfast, engaged in singing and talking till 3, then went to meeting. I preached for the first time since I have been in the army. I had my uniform on. My text was the 16 - 15 of St. Luke. After church we sang several songs or hymns. Took tea and sister Nelson informed me that some cherry pie on the table was made from cherries gathered at C. Rayhill's, St. Clair. Pulaski is 16 miles north of Cairo. After tea took a walk with the Ladies then returned to camp. Arrived at 11 in the night. Warm - 96 degrees.
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Deborah Phillips, Loren Webb's great-great-grand-duaghter provides some theological insight into Loren's choice of Luke 16:15 as his first "Army" sermon :
ReplyDeleteThoughts on Loren Webb’s Sermon on Luke 16:15
June 9, 1861
It is interesting that Loren singled out this one verse as his text for preaching, rather than the entire context in which this verse is found. This verse and those immediately surrounding it are nestled in between two stories having to do with wealth.
Since context informs and enriches our understanding, let us draw back for a moment to get a wider view of the whole chapter. It begins with Jesus telling the disciples a parable (verses 1-13) about a man who managed the affairs of a rich man and had been found to be wasting his employer’s money. At the end of the story, Jesus says its lessons are to: use your worldly resources to benefit others, be faithful with little things in order to be entrusted with big things, and in using your worldly wealth, do not let it become your master (or do not be enslaved by it), for that is incompatible with service to God.
The interlude between the two stories (verses 14-18) tells us first that the Pharisees1 had been listening in on Jesus teaching and since they dearly loved their money they scoffed or sneered at Jesus. The Greek word for sneer, ekmykterizo, means to “turn one’s nose up” at someone. One commentator goes so far to say that the “blew their noses on him…. an expression of utmost scorn and disdain.”2
This is where Loren’s sermon text comes in, 15 Then he [Jesus] said to them [the Parisees], “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.”(New Living Translation). It is likely that he read from the King James Version (or a version very comparable) which reads: 15And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
The term “abomination” is particularly strong, making reference to an offering that stinks, whereas God desires that his people offer their lives as a pleasing sacrifice of service.
There are three more verses in the interlude in which Jesus explains that a new era has come (with Jesus’ arrival) in which the Parisees do not have an exclusive claim on God’s will, but that the preaching of the good news would go forth to all people.
Then comes the second story pertaining to wealth (verses 19-31), in which a rich man dwells in luxury, while ignoring the needs of the beggar at his gate. The story admonishes the reader to have a wider worldview and eternal perspective and not let one’s roots go down so deep into temporal pleasures that the desperate cries of humanity are ignored.
Loren’s sermon
Since Loren doesn’t reveal any details about his sermon, we are left to surmise various possibilities. The verse in context addresses the Pharisees, who considered their wealth to be a sign of approval from God, but “God detested their wealth because it caused them to abandon true spirituality.”3
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1-From Webster online: Pharisee: a member of a Jewish sect of the intertestamental period noted for strict observance of rites and ceremonies of the written law and for insistence on the validity of their own oral traditions concerning the law.
2-Matthew Henry Commentary, http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/luke/16.html
3-Footnote commentary to Luke 16:15 in New Living Translation of the Bible, Tyndale House Publishers, 2004
Deborah Phillips' commentary on Loren's sermon continues :
ReplyDeleteAlthough this admonishment originally was addressed to the Pharisees, it potentially could have applicability to anyone. Loren may have used this verse to admonish the hearers to examine their own hearts for the purity of their motives. Were they putting on appearances? Did they have a correct view of themselves as to the basis of their righteousness? (The Pharisees thought they had earned God’s approval through their works and adherence to the religious law, but Jesus was proclaiming the good news that God’s approval cannot be earned, but only received through his grace). Were they rooted in worldly values or eternal values? Indeed, what more important questions could there be to consider for men facing the possibility of giving their lives in battle.
From another perspective, those hearing Loren’s sermon had already forsaken earthly comforts and were enduring the hardships of a soldier for what they perceived to be an honorable and righteous cause. The Methodist Episcopal Church of Loren’s upbringing, then the largest denomination in the United States, had already suffered a severe split between north and south in 1844 over the issue of slavery.4 Other denominations then followed with splits between north and south. The feeling was that unless one took a stand against slavery, then one is complicit in it. Slavery was described as a “stench in God’s nostrils,”5 which harkens back to Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees lives and actions as being an abomination or a stench to God. From this perspective Loren likely used this verse to encourage the men to stand firm and courageous for the difficult days ahead.
“….As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free…”6
4-Norwood, John, The Schism in the Methodist Episcopal Church 1844: A study of slavery and ecclesiastical politics, Alfred University, 1923.
5-God in America, PBS documentary aired June 8, 2011, http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/
6-Battle Hymn of the Republic, lyrics by Julia Ward Howe, 1861.