God In the Second Or Third Person

Zephaniah 2:1-15
Revelation 16:1-11
Luke 13:10-17
I’m no grammarian, but as I understand it there are three forms of pronouns in English. In the singular, the first person refers to me: I am running behind schedule. The second person refers to you: You are late for work. The third person refers to he or she: He is slow, but she is very prompt. Our three readings today each include one of these forms, and how they are used is insightful.

The prophet Zephaniah offers this exclamation. “Is this (Nineveh) that lived secure, that said to itself, “I am, and there is no one else’?” (Zephaniah 2:15). What initially caught my attention in this verse is the near-blasphemous way that the citizens of Nineveh refer to themselves. “I am,” says the city, making a claim that scripture reserves for God alone (See Exodus 3). The most sacred name of God is to be found in forms of “I am.” When Nineveh makes this claim it has transgressed badly.

By contrast the voices of heaven (as heard by John on Patmos) speak of God in the second person. “You are just, O Holy One,” they say, “who are and were…Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just” (Revelation 16:5, 7). And in Luke’s gospel we find an implied third person. “When (Jesus) laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God” (Luke 13:13).

In his song, “Within You, Without You,” George Harrison says,

When you’ve looked beyond yourself,
You may find peace of mind is waiting there.

That’s an oversimplification of course, but it comes close to the truth. When the Ninevites spoke about themselves it was in glowing terms. They were all that mattered. But when the angels of heaven and the woman whom Jesus healed spoke either to God or about God it was with praise and honor. By looking “beyond themselves” they gained a better understanding of who God was and is. In other words, it isn’t about me, it’s about God and God’s relationship with me…and with you, and with him and her, and with them. The challenge is whether or not we can “look beyond ourselves” to find that the peace that surpasses all understanding is waiting there, and that God is its source.

Prayer: Gracious God, help me to be concerned about more than myself and my own needs, so that in praising you I may stand in fuller community with all your people. Amen.