Lectionary Commentaries for August 1, 2010
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Stewardship season, already?

Perhaps not if you operate by the programmatic calendar typical of many mainline congregations in North America. But if you are following the lectionary’s ordering of Jesus’ teaching, then it is absolutely time for a stewardship sermon – not to raise money for the mortgage or heating, but rather to prepare for life as a Christian in this world and the one to come.

So preachers should be warned: if you dare preach this passage, you will need first to deal with your own discomfort in talking about money, as our culture has foolishly declared conversations about money taboo. If you can get over your insecurities, however, you may offer a sermon of greater-than-average interest and import to your hearers. For the fact of the matter is, no one is untouched by concerns about money – do we have enough, too much, how does it relate to our faith, how do we teach our children values about wealth – and our culture offers woefully inadequate advice to address our concerns. Gauging from Luke’s portrayal of this episode from the life of our Lord, perhaps it has always been so.

The Rich Fool
Jesus is in the middle of encouraging his disciples to confess even when they are under duress, when he is interrupted by one of the crowd who wants Jesus to settle a financial dispute between siblings. Jesus, however, refuses to enter into the family squabble and instead uses the situation as an opportunity to teach about the seduction of wealth.

In interpreting this parable, it will be critical to assess carefully what the farmer’s error is. He is not portrayed as wicked – that is, he has not gained his wealth illegally or by taking advantage of others. Further, he is not portrayed as particularly greedy. Indeed, he seems to be somewhat surprised by his good fortune as he makes what appears to be reasonable plans to reap the abundance of the harvest. What is wrong, we might therefore ask, about building larger barns to store away some of today’s bounty for a potentially leaner tomorrow? Nothing, we might answer, except…

Except for two things. First, notice the farmer’s consistent focus throughout the conversation he has with himself: “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul….”

The relentless use of the first person pronouns “I” and “my” betray a preoccupation with self. There is no thought to using the abundance to help others, no expression of gratitude for his good fortune, no recognition of God at all. The farmer has fallen prey to worshiping the most popular of gods: the Unholy Trinity of “me, myself, and I.” This leads to, and is most likely caused by, a second mistake. He is not foolish because he makes provision for the future; he is foolish because he believes that by his wealth he can secure his future: “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”

Whatever our technological advances over the millennia, whatever our intellectual prowess or cultural achievement, each of us and the human race as a whole remain contingent, vulnerable, fragile beings. Human life for this reason is fraught with uncertainty and insecurity, and perhaps for this very reason we are tempted to strive for a measure of security and control over the vagaries of life through our own efforts or accomplishments. The farmer is called “fool” because of neither his wealth nor ambition but rather because he accords finite things infinite value. He has tried to insulate himself from fate and fortune through productive farming and adequate finances, and he has come up empty. He has all he believes he wants and more, yet at the end – which comes that very night! – it proves inadequate.

Faith & Money
Most of us have experienced both of the poles Jesus names, particularly during the recent years of recession. We have swung from the pernicious belief that if we can just earn, make, or buy a little more we will be okay to the crushing disappointment when the new car, or laptop, or sneakers failed to transform our circumstances. Nevertheless, the false promise that we can meet our deepest needs materially has been embedded so deeply in our culture that all too often our response to disappointment with material goods is to shop some more. Here we might be instructed by sisters and brothers in the “two-thirds world.” Rarely have I spoken with North American Christians who went on a “mission trip” to a materially poorer part of the world and not heard testimony to the humbling generosity of their native hosts. Perhaps because those who are poor are less insulated from death, they have fewer illusions about the efficacy of material goods to save or transform us.

This may be why the carefully crafted sermon on wealth is usually so well received. Money is often the cultural elephant in the room. We know material abundance is not enough, we struggle to overcome the seduction of possessions despite cultural messages to the contrary, and we covet the support of our congregation in wrestling with these issues. It will not serve, of course, to scold, cajole, or moralize. That is, the question to put to our hearers (and also ourselves) is not, “Is material abundance bad?” but rather, “Is our material abundance sufficient to meet the weight of meaning, significance, and joy that we seek?” Can our wealth secure a relative degree of comfort? Certainly. Can it grant to us confidence that we are worthy of love and honor and in right relationship with God and neighbor? Certainly not. Only as we recognize that the gifts of ultimate worth, dignity, meaning, and relationship are just that – gifts offered freely by God – can we hope to place our relative wealth in perspective and be generous with it toward others.

This will not be the last time we have an opportunity to speak about the relationship between faith and money. Luke, more than any of the other evangelists, is concerned with issues of wealth. From his naming of a patron in the opening to his Gospel (1:3-4), perhaps we can hazard to guess that Luke and his community had first hand knowledge of the seduction of wealth, the temptation to believe that material abundance equates spiritual and existential joy. But if you want to connect with your hearers and their immediate concerns and needs, this week’s gospel reading – and, indeed, all the readings appointed for this day – is not a bad place to start.

For addition resources on preaching about money, see

www.workingpreacher.org/preachingworship.aspx?article_id=272
www.workingpreacher.org/sermondevelopment.aspx?article_id=273
www.workingpreacher.org/theologypreaching.aspx?article_id=275
www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=381

It is the beginning of August. You are two-and-a-half months into Pentecost with three-and-a-half months to go. Perhaps you are need of a little adrenaline rush.

Enter stage right: Qoheleth, the Hebrew name of the book which has come to be known as Ecclesiastes. Qoheleth made the canonical cut against all odds. He is honest, he is cynical, and he appears to be the pre-Thomas doubter. Ecclesiastes is truly the bungee jump of Hebrew Scripture’s wisdom literature. Is your congregation ready? I leave that to you. Are you ready? If so, read on.

Some of you may be thinking there just is not enough substance in this pericope for a sermon. Others of you may be concerned that Ecclesiastes will only invite deeper suspicion from your congregation’s cynics. Still, others of you may think the only value in this biblical book is its famous sound bites, “Eat, Drink, and be Merry,” or “For everything there is a season,” to name a couple. To these suspicious views (How Qoheleth of you!), I have this response, “Hevel! Hevel! All is Hevel!” Or, as the NRSV puts it, “Vanity of vanities! All is Vanity!” In other words, I am suspicious of these views and invite you to consider this pericope’s homiletical fodder.

Qoheleth is the Hebrew word for someone who speaks to an assembly. That’s you. (Interestingly, Luther translated this book, Der Prediger, or, The Preacher.) Somehow, some folks saw fit to hand this one the microphone, so to speak. The following elements suggest why I am thankful they did and serve to spark your engagement with this text (if not for the sole focus of your sermon, at least for a cameo).

First, the way in which Qoheleth speaks can serve as a model for laying bare our claims for the sake of conversation. His honesty is a breath of fresh air. While his stark speech takes some getting used to, once given a hearing, one notices he is on to something. Here is one who has tried and tried again to legitimize and/or justify his life through reason. In the end he cannot do it. No wonder he is frustrated. Perhaps he airs his frustration to help those who have done the same, and concluded the same. Qoheleth does what some are asking of the church. He “keeps it real!” His honesty is an access point for the doubters in your congregation and those faithful ones who inevitably have moments of doubt.

Second, one of the things Qoheleth admits is a sense of meaningless and despair regarding those things which one would have expected to provide a sense of meaningfulness and joy; namely, wisdom or reasoning and work. Of course, Qoheleth was not privy to Luther’s doctrine of vocation; that is, recognizing that the work we do is not simply work, but actually a calling from God which God desires us to fulfill. Perhaps the reason this vocational view of work is so attractive is precisely because in and of itself, our toil is, as Qoheleth calls it, “hevel” (vanity). Hevel, to be clear, is that which is fleeting, like an ephemeral puff of wind which cannot be grasped, concretized, or hung on the wall. (By the way, this word is repeated 9 times in this pericope. In other words, it is not to be missed.)

Set alongside the “Parable of the Rich Fool,” one cannot help imagine that Qoheleth would say that even storing up treasure and using one’s reason to solve the conundrum of what to do with such treasure, is “hevel.” According to Qoheleth, one cannot win. Doing as the rich fool does and building larger storage bins is “hevel.” Even doing so for the enjoyment of future generations is “hevel.” (“I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun.”) So much for “leaving a legacy.” (You were warned that this would get the adrenaline pumping.)

A challenge for the preacher will be to take the seemingly foolish action of the rich man to relax, drink, eat, and be merry (now that he has ample goods stored up) and square that with Qoheleth’s overall contention (not explicitly addressed in this Sunday’s pericope but certainly evident when Ecclesiastes is read as a whole) that the only thing we are left to do is to eat, drink, and be merry. It is this contention by Qoheleth that is the third reason I am grateful that he has had his say. For Qoheleth, to eat, drink, and be merry is an act of faith toward God. Ultimately, try as he might, Qoheleth cannot not (sic) believe. Ultimately, he is faithful. This is the difference between Qoheleth and the rich one in Luke 12. The latter is a fool because he stores up treasures for himself and not for God.

Allowing this text to speak through your sermon might create a space for your hearers to face their own skepticism and/or cynicism. But first, it will likely have to create space for you to do the same. Perhaps such honesty may lead you and/or your hearers to affirm faith in God as it did for Qoheleth.

What began as a much-needed jumpstart in the middle of the long season of Pentecost continues with a welcomed invitation in the middle of summer to worship God through enjoyment of all life’s joys and pleasures.

Like last week’s Old Testament lesson (Hosea 1:2-10), Hosea 11:1-11 offers striking testimony to the gracious, merciful, and steadfastly loving character of Israel’s God.

While the message is much the same, the metaphor is different (and almost certainly less problematic) — not marriage this time, but parenting. And clearly, this metaphor too is full of poignancy and power. As Walter Brueggemann observes, Hosea 11 is “among the most remarkable oracles in the entire prophetic literature.”¹ But perhaps this assessment is too modest; according to H. D. Beeby, having arrived at Hosea 11, “we penetrate deeper into the heart and mind of God than anywhere in the Old Testament.”² In a word, what the prophet finds in God’s innermost mind and heart is grace.

Like Hosea 1, Hosea 11 alludes to the exodus (see Exodus 4:22 where Israel is called God’s “son”). The deliverance from captivity and oppression in Egypt was an act of love (verse 1), establishing a relationship and constituting a call (see “called” in verses 1 and 2) to honor that relationship, as a child honors her or his parents. But Israel proved to be a wayward child (verse 2), despite the attentive nurture and loving care (see “loved” and “love” in verses 1, 4) of the faithful parent (verses 3-4). The importance of knowing God is a central theme in Hosea; and as here, Israel consistently fails to know (see 2:20; 4:1, 6; 5:4; 6:3, 6; 8:2; 13:4; 14:9).

The parental image in verse 4 is particularly worthy of note. Older commentaries were inclined to describe verse 4 in terms of a loving father, but the portrayal is almost certainly of God as a loving mother. A translation of the Hebrew of the middle poetic line of verse 4 is contained in the NRSV note b, in which case the image belongs in the realm of animal husbandry. But a very slight re-vocalization of the Hebrew text results in the NRSV’s “I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks.” This rendering maintains the consistency of the parent-child metaphor. It also results, of course, in the striking portrayal of God as a nurturing, indeed nursing, mother (a helpful balance perhaps to the portrayal of God as an aggrieved husband in chapters 1-3).

Verses 5-7 seem to articulate the well-deserved punishment of the disobedient child, and they may well reflect historical realities in the years following 733 BCE when Assyria invaded and conquered parts of the northern kingdom. The “return to the land of Egypt” (see also 7:16; 8:13; 9:6) may suggest that some Israelites fled to Egypt as refugees in 733 in the face of Assyrian domination. In any case, it also suggests something like a reverse-exodus, in sharp contrast to verse 1. The key word in verses 5-7 is Hebrew shub (“return”), which occurs twice in verse 5 and as “turning” in verse 7. These three occurrences anticipate verse 11, where a fourth occurrence finally communicates a positive sense (see also 14:1, 2, 4).

The positive direction begins already in verses 8-9. Indeed, it seems that the punishment may not happen at all; or if it has already begun, as verses 5-7 suggest, it will not continue. The reason has nothing to do with the people’s change of heart and mind — that is, the rebellious son does not repent (indeed, 5:4 has suggested that the people are incapable of repentance). Rather, the remarkably different direction of verses 8-9 has to do with the heart and mind of God, whose questions in verse 8 indicate that God agonizes over the future of the disobedient child.

According to the Torah, rebellious sons are to be stoned to death (see Deuteronomy 21:18-21). As for Israel, it deserves destruction, like Admah and Zeboiim received for breaking covenant (see Deuteronomy 29:22-23). But God cannot bring the divine self to follow through with what is deserved. God is even willing to break God’s own Torah for the sake of the life of the beloved child/people! As Beeby puts it, “The rebel against the law is now not Israel but the heart of God as it recoils within [Godself].”³

Because God’s “compassion” prevails, there will be no further destruction (verse 9). In short, God is moved by compassion to pursue justice by forgiving, not punishing. Indeed, such sheer grace defines what it means to be “God and no mortal” (verse 9). And such grace necessitates a fundamental re-definition of holiness. No longer can holiness mean separation from the sinner. God is “the Holy One in your midst” (verse 9), thus bearing the burden of the people’s sin. As Karl Plank concludes, “To be motivated absolutely by concern for the other — this is what it means to be God, not human. . . . Holiness is the turning of God.”⁴ Given the people’s unwillingness and/or inability to repent (turn), God will do the repenting (turning)!

Such compassion, such suffering-with, such amazing grace is what makes life and hope possible for Israel. As suggested above, the occurrence of “return” in verse 11 recalls verses 5-7, where Israel’s turning/returning is all wrong. The repetition is another reminder that it is ultimately and solely God’s perpetual willingness to turn/return to sinful Israel that makes possible for the people a “return . . . to their homes” (verse 11).

The mention of Egypt and Assyria again in verse 11 also recalls verses 5-7, and suggests that Israel’s infidelity has had “punishing” consequences. Infidelity always does. But Israel’s sin is not the determining factor for its future. Rather, what is ultimately determinative is God’s grace.

Christian readers of Hosea 11 will be reminded of Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal Son, or more aptly, the Parable of the Loving Father. Here too, things are set right by forgiving, not punishing. Or, as the apostle Paul put it, God justifies — that is, pursues justice — by grace. It is the gospel, then and now.

¹An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 218.
² Hosea: Grace Abounding (International Theological Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 140.
³Ibid., 146.
⁴“The Scarred Countenance: Inconstancy in the Book of Hosea,” Judaism 32 (1983):354.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Ransomed

The four lectionary texts assigned for this Sunday have a common theme: wealth. More specifically, the texts are concerned with attitudes toward wealth. The theme is considered in a variety of literary types: a parable, a piece of wisdom literature, a letter, and a psalm. The comments below suggest a sermon on Psalm 49, drawing insights from the other texts along the way.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Foolish

Luke 12:13-21. Once Jesus told a story about a young farmer who worked hard and made lots of money. He bought more and more land so that each of the children would inherit a quarter section. We can imagine him buying a new tractor, a new combine, a couple of new automobiles, anything he wanted. Had the show existed at that time, he would have been a candidate for Robin Leach’s “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”

But one night God spoke to him, saying: “You fool! Tonight you are going to die! And you can’t take all this stuff with you. You are a rich man. But when it comes to God, you are very poor.”

This man had no problems with his farming skills or even with money management. His problem, as Jesus diagnosed it, was his attitude toward his wealth. It had become his ultimate concern, his god. He would have been a candidate for a new TV show, “Lifestyles of the Rich — and Foolish.”

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23. The picture of the seeker in Ecclesiastes could have been drawn with that same wealthy young farmer in mind. The writer sat alone late one night and thought about what he had been doing with his life. He said to himself:

        I hated everything I’d accomplished and
        accumulated on this earth. I can’t take
        it with me–no, I have to leave it to
        whoever comes after me… What’s the point
        of working your fingers to the bone if
        you hand over what you worked for to
        someone who never lifted a finger for
        it? Smoke, that’s what it is. A bad
        business from start to finish.
        (Ecclesiastes 2:18-22, The Message)

So this successful, wealthy man reflected on his life and realized that he could not take it all with him: his collection of Rolexes, his BMWs, his countless sets of custom-made golf clubs, and all the rest. He too would have been an ideal subject for a segment of “Lifestyles of the Rich — and Foolish.”

Colossians 3:1-11. Yet one more example. Paul is writing to the young church at Colossae, telling them how to live after they have now become believers. “Throw away the old stuff,” says Paul, “like sexual impurity, uncontrolled passion, evil desire, and (now watch this one) greed, which is idolatry.” He advises them to put on the “new clothes” of “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” He says it again, advising them to get rid of more “old clothes,” such as “anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language.” Then, says Paul, put on the new clothes that fit you as Christians, like love and peace and gratitude (Colossians 3:5-15).

So we get the point. All of these texts point to the danger of greed, also known as covetousness or avarice. The commandment says “You shall not covet” and the RSV translates Colossians 3:5, “covetousness, which is idolatry.” There are warnings enough in Scripture and tradition against this sin. But now, is there any good news? We turn to the psalm for the day, considering it as a whole.

Lifestyles of the Rich — and Ransomed (Psalm 49)

Verses 1-4: Your Attention Please! This psalm is designed to provide instruction; see Psalms 1, 37, 73, and 119 for others in this category. The “hear” and “give ear” language could be imagined as the way a teacher begins a class session. Here is teaching deemed important enough to go out to the whole world (verse 1) with words of wisdom for all people, whether high-ranking or humble, rich or poor (verse 2). This teaching is the result of thought and reflection (verse 3), aimed at the afflicted (verse 5), intending to comfort them (verse 16).

Verses 5-15: They can’t take it with them! The problem that gave rise to the psalm is identified in verse 5: certain wealthy persons are making the lives of others in the community miserable so that they live in fear (verses 5, 16). The teacher gives three reasons why those being oppressed should not fear the wealthy: 1. They too will die (verse 9, summarizing 5-9); 2. When they die, they will not take their wealth with them (verse 10, summarizing 10-12); 3. Like so many sheep, these oppressors are marching toward Sheol, hell, the place of Death (13-14).

Verse 15 is a key statement because it makes the main point about God in this psalm, in the form of an “I” statement (see also verse 5). The sense of this verse is: “I won’t fear because God has ransomed me from the power of death and now I can live as a free person!” Here is one of those rare places in the psalms with a hint that beyond death, the believer will be with God (see also Psalm 73:23-24). Verse 16 puts it clearly, “So do not be afraid!”

Preaching on Psalm 49
But is there any Good News in these texts? The statement about God ransoming points in that direction (verse 15). We are directed toward the Good News as expressed in Mark 10:45, “and to give his life a ransom for many” and 1 Timothy 2:6, “who gave himself a ransom for all.” Because of God’s work through Christ’s death and resurrection, the ransom has been paid. We need not fear death (Romans 8:38-39). And now we can go on — or start anew — living as people who have been ransomed which means we are free, yes, free indeed! And rich, yes, rich toward God.

Your best life now…is hidden.

Not inside of you—like some dormant seed that, once found, can be watered, nurtured, and coaxed into maximum fruit-production—but hidden. Your Hidden Life Now; perhaps this could be the subtitle of the letter to the Colossians.

The third chapter of Colossians describes what may seem like a bit of a paradox. The life of the Christian is. And (but?) it is hidden with Christ. This is not something that has to be earned, but it is both encouraged and expected. It is something that is a reality—if a reality that can be hard to recognize, realize, and really show forth every day.

In The Letter to the Colossians: Your Hidden Life Now, and in particular in these eleven verses from chapter three, Paul confronts ideologies that stand in opposition to the word of truth, which is the gospel (Colossians 1:5). And the reality is that the message to the Colossians, and if we preachers echo it our own message, is pointedly counter-cultural.

What is real life in Christ?
Much (if not all) of Colossians is about dealing with counter-christologies, different and—in terms of the body of what would become the New Testament—divergent ways of understanding who Jesus is and what Jesus means.

With apologies to Joel Osteen and those like him (all of whom I am willing to grant the benefit of doubt in terms of their sincerity and the genuineness of their beliefs), some of the loudest and most popular modern christologies portray Jesus as a life-giver in the daily, physical, present terms of wellness—health and wealth. Jesus came to us, died for us, rose for us, all, apparently, so that we might do well in both waste-line and bottom-line.¹ The problem is that, at least in biblical terms, all of this is simply wrong. What is most troubling about the prosperity gospel (sic) is that it sounds a bizarre combination of first century gnosticism and twenty-first century consumerism. It smacks, at least to me, of Christian Greed.

The prosperity gospel echoes all too closely another of the major voices in American culture, the secular culture’s call to a measureable success. The voice of the character Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) sounds this particular call clearly and perhaps compellingly to the tune of the late 1980’s:

“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms. Greed for life. Greed for money. Greed for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind….”²

Obviously the key word here is “greed,” a word used in both the Gospel reading and in Colossians 3:5. In this week’s Gospel text Jesus says that “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15). Jesus introduces this description of real life by saying urging us, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” Among a catalogue of other potential misbehaviors Colossians labels greed as idolatry. In Luke Jesus calls on us to be “rich toward God” (12:21), and in Colossians we are exhorted to “seek the things that are above” (3:1)³. All of which is counter-cultural, preaching not the rewards of greed (even greed veiled in the seeking of Christian life), but the danger of it—Greed is, for lack of a better word, idolatry. Greed is wrong. Greed does not work. Greed confuses, covers up, and corrupts the Spirit of Christ. Greed, no matter its form. Greed for your best life, for spiritual wisdom, marks only human traditions and empty deceits (Colossians 2:8).

Real life in Christ, according to Colossians, is nothing like these others voices would have us believe. Real life in Christ is something different (from the old), something new (to us), and yet something to which we are already raised (in Christ), something which cannot abide the trappings of any kind of false life (i.e. our old selves).

The New Self—Your hidden life now as the Emperor’s New Clothes?
One of the striking things about Colossians 3:1-11 is the way in which it describes the paradox of life in Christ. This life is something which we already have—if you have been raised with Christ, and you have, for you have died, and your life is hidden with God (3:1, 3); and it is something which we must strive to live into—put to death therefore whatever in you is earthly…these are the ways you once followed…you have stripped off the old self with its practices…(3:5, 7, 9).

At the end of our reading the Paul of Colossians echoes the baptismal promise of Galatians.

Colossians 3:10-11:
“[You] have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11 In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!”

Galatians 3:27-28:
“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

We who have heard the gospel are now clothed with a new self, clothed with what may appear at times and to some to be a life like the emperor’s new clothes—we still struggle with anger, slander, abusive language (Colossians 3:8) and at times give ourselves over to impurity, evil desires, and the idolatry of greed (Colossians 3:5); but we are in fact clothed in Christ Jesus, raised with him, renewed in him, clothed in the majesty of not of an emperor, but the King of Kings.

What Colossians describes is the reality of our present selves, a reality which we need to preach, hear, and as best we are able to practice—a life hidden not inside of us, but in Christ.

¹“You have the seed of Almighty God on the inside of you. You were never created to be average. You were never created to reach a certain level and then plateau. You were created to excel.” Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day, (New York: Free Press, 2007), 5.
²Wall Street, Dir. Oliver Stone, 20th Century Fox, 1987.
³Compare Peter in Mark 8:33 divine things / human things.