Narrative Lectionary Program Year – Joel: God’s Promised Spirit
Joel 2:12-13, 28-29
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Furthering the Power of God’s Story – Narrative Lectionary Commentary
by Pastor Ron Valadez
The season of Advent has a lot of similarities to Lent. Some would say it’s the less sad version of Lent. However, you compare the two, one of the similarities is that it’s a great opportunity to take stock of your life, to remind yourself what is most important, and identify any course corrections that need made. And the cool thing about this season is that much of our society, religious or not, join us in that work! Watch any random Hallmark movie at this time of year and you will most certainly see those aspects in it!
This reading we have this week from Joel has those same themes as well. This book is a short one so I’d urge you to read the whole thing as you prepare. It won’t take long! It’s important to put it into its narrative position too. Today, most agree that it is a post-exilic work. So, knowing that, we remember that God’s people were on a journey to rediscover themselves, who they were and whose they were, in spite of (or because of) the exilic trauma that they’re coming out of. But as we have come to know, God never eases up on the whole “course-correction business.”
The book of Joel can be broadly separated into two major voices. The first is the voice of Joel, even though God uses his voice, it is the voice of Joel that we first hear. This is where verses 12-13 come from. The next voice is the voice of God, and remains that way through the end. This is where verses 28-29 come from. So, our pericope for this week could be read as a call and response, so to speak. First, Joel calls God’s people to repent, then God responds to that call.
Joel urges them to not just change what is on the outside, the tearing of one’s clothes, but change what is on the inside, the tearing of our hearts. Joel knows that this is where real change needs to take place. It is our hearts that bring goodness or evil into this world. But Joel is not without grace. There is plenty of gospel to be found here because he ends with reminding his people of how gracious and merciful God is.
As against the grain as this might sound to many of you, this graciousness is not without condition, at least according to Joel. When read as a whole, this book clearly makes God’s goodness contingent upon our willingness to repent. Yikes! That was hard for me to even write! However, let me offer a way to view that contingency that may be a little easier to swallow.
In my denomination, we have a Sunday dedicated to good works called God’s Work, Our Hands Sunday. Of course, we do good works all year, but that’s the day we set aside to do those good works in a larger more coordinated way. Food ministry is particularly important to my congregation so that’s where we focus our efforts for that day. As we feed people that day, we bring God’s goodness to them. Now, let’s say one year we are being rather naughty Christians and decide that we just don’t feel like feeding people. The hungry show up with their empty bowls, but we do not. Will God still show up? Of course! But all those hungry people will still walk away that day, with empty bowls.
God has a vision for how this world is supposed to operate. We get a glimpse of that vision in verses 28-29, where all God’s children are prophesying, are dreamers of dreams, and visionaries themselves—where all God’s children are doing God’s work with their hands and hearts. However, when we don’t act as God’s children, those good works, God’s goodness, don’t come to fruition—and the hungry walk away with empty bowls.
Things get really messy when we turn these passages into matters of salvation. Not every Bible passage is about salvation. In fact, most aren’t, but I digress. This passage is less about salvation, and more about practical matters of our faith, and how we can allow it to bring God’s goodness into the world, or not.
So now, is God’s goodness contingent on our repentance? I believe it is more often that we’d like to admit because of the responsibility that it lays upon our shoulders. But until we can let that settle into our hearts, or get it through our thick skulls, this world isn’t going to get any better.
I write this not long after Breonna Taylor’s murderers escaped conviction. With that court decision came so many questions that we have been asking ourselves, some of those questions have been quite painful. However, we will continue to have Breonna Taylors until we, as Joel reminds us, return to God and God’s ways, and identify what we need to repent of, and then do it. And in doing so, we then become the very conduits with which God uses to pour God’s very self into the world, God’s goodness.
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Contemporary Resources
In My Father's House by Mel Wild – Though a slightly traditional source, here’s a great primer on the word “repentance” and “return.”
A Good Read
Interpreting Prophetic Literature: Historical and Exegetical Tools for Reading the Prophets
by James Nogalski
Exegeting a text—burrowing deep into its history, language, and literary structure—is an indispensable skill for any serious student of the Bible. Given their theological richness and poetic power, the prophetic texts of the Hebrew Bible would seem to be prime candidates for exegetical examination, but they often pose difficulty. In this book, James Nogalski offers solid, practical guidance on how to read and exegete a prophetic text in its literary, historical, and conceptual contexts. Assuming no prior knowledge of Hebrew, Nogalski devises an exegetical method that focuses on the distinctive elements of prophetic literature, rather than on the narrative material one finds in practically all introductions to exegesis. He provides clear examples for understanding poetic texts, prophetic genres, changing voices, and other important aspects of these texts. This book offers essential tools to help readers navigate the particular challenges and opportunities of interpreting the prophets.
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Free Dramatic Reading For This Text (NRSV)
Readers: Narrator 1, Narrator 2
Narrator 1: Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.
Narrator 2: Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.