We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Commentary

Lectionary, Lent 2 Year A

I.Theme –   Signs and promises, signs requested, signs given, and signs difficult to discern. 

 “Christ Instructing Nicodemus” – Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678)

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

Old Testament – Genesis 12:1-4a
Psalm – Psalm 121
Epistle –Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
Gospel – John 3:1-17 

Today’s readings are all about signs and promises, signs requested, signs given, and signs difficult to discern.  Lent is a time to ask God to help us to be more loving, remembering that God is always ready to strengthen us.    The thrust this week is to believe and be reborn.

Abram is covenanted by God; he is given the promise of a being a leader of a great nation, when he was beyond the years of having children. Abram trusted God to chart a path for him into the unknown, leaving his people and country and venturing into a new life.

In contrast, Nicodemus, certainly better educated, never understood the significance of Christ beyond the miracles.  Nicodemus comes to Jesus looking for a sign – and when he is given it, he cannot understand it.  

The issue is how you can be reborn at his age.  The meaning of being “born from above” begins their discussion. The first is ‘anew, again’ on the physical level, which is what Nicodemus understands; the second is ‘from above’ spatially, which is what Jesus seems to intend. Jesus contrasts the realm of the Spirit, which is eternal and heavenly, with the realm of the flesh, which is earthly, weak and mortal (but not necessarily sinful).

Nicodemus never understood that Jesus’ teachings were for more than the Jews and that he would have to abandon his older understandings. His knowledge was a barrier trying to understand. God ultimately gave us his Son for stengthening us and the community.

Paul discusses Abraham’s ‘wages’ which he says are a gift when the promise comes true.  Paul explains how Abraham’s faith, revealed in his willingness to believe and act on God’s promises, makes him right with God.

Who is driving your car ? You or God ?


II. Summary

Old Testament

In a time of migration of peoples about 4,000 years ago, Terah has travelled west with his son Abram, Abram’s wife Sarai ,and his grandson Lot from Ur, near the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Terah and his family settle for a time in “Haran” (11:31), where Terah dies. Abram now comes to centre-stage.

This is the call from God to Abram”

God makes a pact with Abram: if Abram will leave behind his land and kin (and his pagan past), and live in “the land that I will show you” (12:1, cease to be semi-nomadic), God will honor him in seven ways:

-make of him “a great nation” (v. 2), (2) confer favor on him (“bless you”),

-make his name renowned (“great”)

-make him a vehicle of good fortune (“be a blessing”),

-show favor to those who show him favor (“bless”, v. 3), (6) exclude those who show him disrespect (“the one …”), and as other peoples come to trust in God, they will find themselves similarly blessed.

In doing “as the Lord had told him” (v. 4), Abram shows his trust (faith) in God. This covenant marks the start of communal relations with God. Being blessed seven ways is being blessed totally: he, his family and his people. In v. 5, “the land” is identified as Canaan.

At Shechem, when Abram erects an altar at a pagan shrine (“the oak of Moreh”), God promises the land to his descendants. At “Bethel” (v. 8), Abram builds another altar. God is god of the whole land. Abram and his family continue southward in stages and, due to famine, go on to Egypt – to return later.

All this at age 75, when most folk stop wandering or are unable to do so due to age. This is a covenant, an agreement between God and his people, and is something God carries out throughout the history of his people. The covenant with Adam and Eve – with Noah and the rainbow – and later with Moses – God promises great things to those with whom he covenants and his word is his bond.

There may be a feeling that God cannot use us as we get older. We may not be able to do the things we once did but there is always something we can do, encourage, watch and pray – these things we can all do.

Abram steps out in faith and sometimes we too can do no other, frightening though it may seem but resolute in the knowledge that God can do more than we could ever ask or think.

Psalm  

Psalm 121 is a Psalm of the Ascents; this was probably sung by the Hebrew Pilgrims as they climbed the steps to the Temple at Jerusalem. Psalms 120 – 134 were the fifteen psalms of ascent and this particular psalm is a hymn of trust.

The opening imagery can be interpreted in two ways; either that the mountains represent God, who made them, or that they represent the alternative source of hope.

Perhaps a pilgrim asks the rhetorical question in v. 1, as he journeys through hill country, where pagan gods were once thought to dwell. He begins to answer his own question (v. 2): his help is from God, the creator. Then another voice, perhaps a priest, continues, telling of God’s protection of Israel: God is always vigilantly protecting the way of the pilgrim (v. 3). God is “your shade” (v. 5): he protects him from sunstroke and from moon rays (then thought to be harmful). He protects the faithful “from all evil” (v. 7), throughout their lives. 

Epistle

Paul has written that one can attain a right relationship with God through faith, without living by Mosaic law. Now he takes Abraham as an example; he asks: what can we conclude about faith vs. Law by looking at Abraham’s life?

Judaism claimed that Abraham kept the Law before it was given, that he was godly (‘justified”, v. 2) because his “works” were in accord with the Law. Paul rejects this claim; rather, it was, as Genesis shows, Abraham’s faith which counted for him (“reckoned”, v. 3) as godliness. God “justifies the ungodly” (v. 5). For the worker, “wages” (v. 4) are expected, but for one who trusts (with no certainty of reward), such trust counts with God.

In vv. 6-9 Paul quotes from Psalm 32 and Genesis, interpreting the verses jointly as showing that those who trust in God obtain his favour, whether they be keepers of the Law or trusters in God. Paul then argues that, because Abraham trusted in God’s pact before he was circumcised, Abraham’s faith (and not his keeping of the Law) was what counted for him with God (v. 10). Indeed, he says, circumcision was a confirmation of the right relationship he had attained through faith. It made Abraham “ancestor” (v. 11) of all who trust in God, both Jews (v. 12) and non-Jews (v. 11).

So the “promise” (v. 13) that Abraham would be father of many nations (“inherit the world”) came as a result of his faith and not his law-keeping. If the only way of achieving union with God is through keeping the Law, faith is irrelevant and the promise to Abraham is nonsense (v. 14). Because it is impossible to keep every law, sin is inevitable; God’s response to sin is punishment, breakdown of human relations with God: “the law brings wrath” (v. 15). But for those living by faith, transgression (“violation”) of the Law is irrelevant. So a right relationship with God “depends on faith” (v. 16), resting on God’s “promise” of “grace”, his gift of love – made not only to Jews but also to all those who trust in God, “of many nations” (v. 17). God spoke these words to Abraham; God gives spiritual “life” to the unbeliever; he restored Isaac’s life when he was as good as dead; he brought a son “into existence” to Abraham and Sarah, in their old age. They were “fully convinced” (v. 21) that God could do it. If we trust in God and have faith in the power of Christ’s resurrection, our trust will count with God too (vv. 24-25).

Gospel

This story, like several others in the fourth gospel, is primarily addressed to persons living c. AD 90 who were flirting with joining the John’s community, but were reluctant to come forward publicly and do so

Nicodemus was an important and wealthy man in the city of Jerusalem who was both a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. It may have seemed that Nicodemus had everything–money, prominence, and power. However Nicodemus needed something else; he was a seeker of truth. He addresses Jesus as “Rabbi”, recognizing him as a new teacher of the Law.

Unlike the other Pharisees who scoffed or plotted against Christ; Nicodemus went to meet with him defying social prejudice. It was at night so it could be secret . The night may be symbolic with Nicodemus cast in darkness, in ignorance, in unbelief.

Verses 3:1-17 contain 3 questions / statements by Nicodemus, and 3 responses by Jesus – each beginning with Jesus giving his word of honor to his response, “Very truly, I tell you:”

1_ 3:3, no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above; (born anew).

He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God, a teacher, for no one is able to do these signs which you do except God be with him.”

Nicodemus was aware that Jesus had come from God because no one could do the signs/miracles that Jesus did if he weren’t from God and shows his significance

However, Jesus wasn’t simply a great teacher, but the one who reveals God’s essential character of love for the whole world (3:16). A person can see signs and miracles and still not have genuine faith. He is still not quite what faith in Jesus must be.

Jesus tells Nicodemus that “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” (v. 3). Only here and in verse 5 is the kingdom of God mentioned in John. The faith that Nicodemus and his group affirmed is not adequate for seeing the kingdom of God. He needs a spiritual rebirth

Jesus responded that the ties of “flesh,” though real, were spiritually meaningless. These words are the first words directly spoken by Jesus in John’s gospel about transcending the strictures of tribe

One cannot experience the kingdom of God simply by virtue of the miracles of Jesus. Nicodemus and his group are looking at things only from a human perspective. What is needed is new life, new sight. The real birth was a new birth through Spirit, “from above.”

The kingdom of God cannot be seen, observed, or experienced simply as a human phenomenon, legitimated by miraculous signs. It is a gift to be received.

Being born of the Spirit is talking not about a new mystical height of experience but about a way of living out the life of God in the world. When you see like this, you see the connection between Jesus and God and you see God in Jesus not trying to compete for adoration but seeking to establish a relationship of love and community. The focus is life. The means is relationship. The motive is love. This is the emphasis of 3:16.

2_3:5, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit; and,

What does it mean to be born of the water? To have our sins washed away. We never outgrow the need for having our sins and imperfections washed away daily and continuously. The water in baptism reminds us of our need for daily cleansing and washing.

Water is a major symbol in the opening chapters of John.

John baptizes with water (1:26, 31, 33). Jesus has the purification jars filled with water (which become wine) (2:7, 9).

Water is connected with nature and earth. It knows no obstacle. Going around, under, and through, it always attains the lowest level. Water is the great decomposer, ultimately more powerful than any other form of matter.

What does it mean to born of the Spirit? To have the Spirit of Christ living inside of us. It mean to have the love of Christ, the joy of Christ, the peace of Christ, the patience of Christ, kindness of Christ, the goodness of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ, the gentleness of Christ, the self control of Christ living inside of us. It is having the Spirit of Christ taking up residence in us and living within us.

The wild and free spirit, unlike the water, is airborne, blowing where it wills. It has a trajectory. It’s going someplace, though it’s not at all clear where. Spirit is both creative and chaotic, unpredictable and dangerous, inspiring and irrational–the masculine.

To be “born again” means to hear thell of God and throw our lives into his service.

And so, salvation lies in being born anew; in being born from above – in re-defining one’s “family of origin.”

3_3:11, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

Nicodemus apparently, at this moment, did not comprehend Jesus and what Jesus was talking about. He doesn’t have faith.  Jesus says: you, Nicodemus, don’t comprehend what can be told in analogies (“earthly things”, i.e. “wind”, v. 8), so how can you possibly believe mysteries?

The story of the Bronze Serpent in John 3:14-15 can be found in Numbers 21:1-9. Specifically, he recalls the story of the plague of venomous serpents that were threatening the Israelites (Numbers 21:6-9)

Christ is the antitoxin to the “snake” released upon our world (Satan). Christ would be “lifted up” in what Satan thought was his triumphant moment. All are bitten by sin, yet those who gaze upon Jesus will be healed.

In this Gospel, it is Jesus’ being “lifted up” on the cross that is the moment of triumph for the one who is God’s own presence among us.

In John, the Son of Man is “lifted up” (on a cross), whereas in Matthew, Mark and Luke the Son of Man is killed. Indeed, in John, Jesus is not said to die, but rather he gives up his Spirit. (Verse 19:30) Instead of this being a shameful, brutal death, “being lifted up” reveals God’s glory, for it is from on high – where God resides – that God sees the world, and so loves the world as to send his Son.

Jesus, like the serpent, will similarly be lifted up (gloried), and this sign can also easily be misunderstood as a mark of the defeat rather than perceived as the place where Jesus accomplishes the mission entrusted him by God (19:30). Only those who can look beyond the material referent of the sign (flesh) will perceive and participate in God’s redemptive work (Spirit).

The phrase, “believes in him,” occurs here for the first time in this gospel, When we believe in Christ, we are given eternal life.

God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Neither are Jesus’ followers to condemn the world that we live in either.

At the same time, we disciples know that we are to be “in the world but not of the world.” Followers of God and God’s ways are forever tempted and enticed to follow the values of the culture around us.

We human beings are not to judge or condemn any person of any religion, denomination or belief system that is different than ours. We may disagree with their religion, their denomination and their belief system, but we are not condemn that person to hell or everlasting death. We love that person as another child of God. At the same time, we share with them the love and knowledge of the true God, revealed through his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17 clearly states that the purpose of God’s sending his Son was not to condemn the world but to offer it eternal life. He has come to offer it freedom, preservation from obscurity (or worthlessness). The selfish life leads to death.

The incarnation, life, death and exaltation of Christ are all rooted in the love of God. In John the death of Jesus is never viewed as God’s outpouring of punishment on Jesus in our behalf, but as a revelation of God’s love for the world and the glorification of the Father and the Son

God’s love means attaching himself to the world. God sent his Son. The Word became flesh. Love is not necessarily an inward emotion, but outward actions — a theme that reoccurs throughout this gospel.

God loved the whole world including people who don’t like him, who don’t believe in him, who could care less about him. God loves the world, and the world does not love God.

However, the next statement (v. 18) makes it clear that salvation is conditioned upon believing in him. This is most clearly stated in 3:18-21. In effect, it is not God or Jesus as such who judges or condemns, but it is the human response to what God has done in Christ that has within it the makings of human destiny, whether eternal life or eternal judgment (note particularly verse 19).

This passage is about the life which his coming brought as it opened our eyes to a new way of seeing and engaging with God through Jesus. Jesus feeds 5000, but this is a pointer to that deeper reality: he is the bread of life. He heals a blind person; but the truth that matters is that he is the light. So he is also the life, the truth and the way.

John 3:15 is the first time “eternal life” is used in the gospel. Every time the phrase is used in John, it is with a present tense verb — usually “have”. It is something believers have now, and perhaps should be translated “unending life”.

Eternal life was not a concept of time. It meant “perpetual” and, even more, “abundance.” To plunge into the love of Jesus means to finally know perpetual and abundant life.

To have eternal life is to live life no longer defined by blood or by the will of the flesh or by human will, but by God (cf. 1:13). “Eternal” does not mean mere endless duration of human existence, but is a way of describing life as lived in the unending presence of God

So, life eternal is a gift of God’s grace. We apply that grace to ourselves by trusting Christ. It is when we reach out to him as the only ground for our eternal security, that we receive, as a gift of God, eternal salvation. “Ask and you shall receive.”

In summary – To stand accepted before God requires a conversion of one’s whole being. It requires being born from above, washed new by the Spirit of God. Such a dynamic life-change demands a total renewal of our being. For our frail humanity, such a spiritual change is impossible. Our only hope lies in the hands of God. Only the Spirit of God can renew our beings, only he can give eternal life as a free gift.

God has no particular designs or plans for our punishment or rejection. Instead, God only plans and works for our salvation and health. God desires for us only life, life in all of its abundance here and now as well as in the age to come. 

III. Articles for this week in WorkingPreacher:

Old Testament – Genesis 12:1-4a

Psalm – Psalm 121

Epistle – Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Gospel – John 3:1-17 

Art for the 2nd Week in Lent, Year A

Commentary is by Daniella Zsupan-Jerome.

“From James Tissot’s famous Bible illustration series, the Interview between Jesus and Nicodemus strives to depict with careful attention to period detail the scene from John’s Gospel in which Nicodemus seeks out Jesus at night to learn more from him about his teaching.

“Tissot researched his Bible series by traveling to the Holy Land, and the details in clothing, furnishings, and domestic life all help transport the viewer into the world of the Bible, or at least the Middle East at the turn of the 20th century. Even more compelling than the setting, though, is the intimacy between the figures of Jesus and Nicodemus. The image communicates the hospitality, warmth, and friendship that are available to us no matter who we are or when we arrive at Christ’s door.

“Jesus and Nicodemus are seated close to one another. One can almost hear their hushed tones, their low voices so as not to disturb the sleeping world around them. Jesus embodies hospitality—he looks squarely yet kindly at Nicodemus as he explains to him what has become the most quoted passage of the New Testament: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” Jesus reaches over with one hand to reassure Nicodemus and invite his friendship. There is no sense in Christ that Nicodemus is intruding at this late hour, but he welcomes him and meets him where he is with kindness and truth. Nicodemus leans in and looks down; he is listening intently and seems deeply moved by the words.

“For today’s viewer, the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus might bring to mind the contemporary Sacrament of Reconciliation, especially the moment when the penitent, having confessed his sins, now listens intently to the counsel of the confessor. The candle-lit setting is reminiscent of a retreat or a Reconciliation service, often the context of the sacrament. Jesus’ reassuring hospitality is powerful when perceived in this light.

“With this understanding, the removed shoes in front of the mat, a sign of domestic tradition, here become symbols of something more: the holy ground of encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus, a holy ground for friendship and reconciliation, for healing and finding truth.

The Transfiguration – Focus on the Disciples- and us

Source – “Five Ways Into Sunday’s Scripture from Faith Formation and Education”, Trinity Church NY

This week’s Gospel reading is Matthew’s account of the luminous transfiguration of Jesus in the presence of his close disciples, Peter, James, and John, on Mount Tabor. No one can see God and remain unchanged.

As on the Baptism of Jesus, here, at the last Sunday of Epiphany, God reveals who Jesus really is: the Divine Son, the Beloved, truly God. Bright light is a symbol of divine presence and the presence of the great figures of Moses and Elijah also attest to Jesus’ divine nature.  Thus they are changed. He opened their eyes so that instead of being blind they could see.

The disciples’ glimpse of this reality may have helped them (at least in retrospect — and with the eyes of their hearts) to deal with the abrupt and dramatic changes that would soon follow: Jesus’ turn to Jerusalem, his passion, death, and resurrection.

For us,  as we face into the Lenten season, we hold an image of this mountaintop experience, knowing full well that we, like they, must come down from the mountain and move out into the world proclaiming Good News to the poor, learning how to welcome God’s Beloved amid change, challenge, disappointment, and sacrifice

Lectionary, Feb. 12, Epiphany 6

I.Theme –   The joy and blessings of obedience. Also, is the idea of building a new community through new behaviors  (culminating in Matt 5: 37).

 

“Hands across the Divide” – Maurice Harron. A metal sculpture in Londonderry, Northern Ireland  

Since the 17th century, Londonderry has had two cultural traditions: Catholic and Protestant, Irish and Ulster Scots. During the Troubles, this became a big problem. The city became best known for tragedies like Bloody Sunday, and so most tourists stayed away. Yet since the start of the peace process, Londonderry has been transformed. It’s rediscovered its rightful role as a cultural destination, and its dual heritage has become an asset, rather than a source of strife. The image is included in relationship to the Corinthians reading.

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

1A. Old Testament 1 Ecclesiasticus 15:15-20

1B. Old Testament 2 Deuteronomy 30:15-20

2.  Psalm– Psalm 119:1-8 Page 763, BCP

3.  Epistle – 1 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

4.  Gospel – Matthew 5:21-37 

The Old Testament and Gospel readings are linked around the older community in Deuteronomy (The setting is the plains of Moab, as the Israelites prepare to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land) and the new community in Matthew (Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount).  How do we get along in community ? The focus is the calling and teaching of disciples of Jesus. (Paul in Corinthians is centered on a related idea – being or becoming healthy as the body of Christ.)

Deuteronomy

In the four verses immediately preceding 30:15–20, Moses assures the people that the commandments of the LORD are neither too hard nor too remote. 
 
Just prior to our text, Moses announces wonderful blessings for an obedient Israel and blood-curdling curses for an apostate Israel (chapter 28). These benedictions and maledictions are followed by a prediction of eventual exile (29:18–29) and return (30:1–10) . 

Having assured the people that what God commands they can do, Moses launches into his final call for a decision.

The choice is stark. “If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today…then you shall live and become numerous
But if your heart turns away and you do not hear… I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.”  Moses use of the word “today” is the hope for a new beginning.    

Like Matthew there is the emphasis on the creation of a new community. There is the need for a break with the past. However,  in the following chapter, it becomes very clear that both Moses and God know that the people will fail miserably. 

Psalm

The first section of the ‘long Psalm’ is an acrostic based on alpeh, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Like the other 21 sections of the Psalm, it consists of eight double lines. The longest acrostic Psalm, it is therefore constructed with great skill, which no translation can really convey. The choice of vocabulary is also rich, expressing different terms for what we very flatly call ‘law’. Although the Jewish celebration of ‘rejoicing in the law (simchat torah) was a later development in Judaism, the psalm expresses similar sentiments. As a Psalm extolling the torah, it has similarities to Psalms 1 and 19:7-11. These eight verses are a suitable general introduction to the rest of the Psalm.

1 Corinthians 3: 1-9 

Following on from the situation reported to him by ‘Chloe’s people’ (1:11), after an excursus dealing with ‘the message of the cross (1:18-2:16), Paul returns to the theme of factions in the church at Corinth. However, the intervening section emphasizes the cross as God’s wisdom. This stands in sharp contrast to the rivalry exhibited by the groups in the church. The metaphor of ‘growth’ is developed both in the imagery of the ‘child’, and also of the ‘field’. Paul’s favorite dichotomy of flesh and spirit is also to the fore. Nevertheless, the Corinthian believers are still Paul’s ‘brothers and sisters’, and fellow workers. Despite their shortcomings, although he does reprimand them he does not disown them. The fact that only Paul and Apollos are mentioned here (and not Cephas nor Christ, as in 1:12) probably reflects the history of the congregation’s founding and leadership by these two apostles. Paul might have taken some of the glory for this, but he refuses to do so. 

Matthew 5: 21-37 

The first four of the six ‘antitheses’ of the Sermon on the Mount are included in this reading (the final two are in next week’s reading). The quotations from ‘those of ancient times’ include aspects of both torah and tradition (halakah). The time-honoured description of this section as ‘antitheses’ may be misleading, for although in part Jesus cuts across the interpretation of the law, he does not contradict or discard torah itself. Jesus’ own interpretation intensifies and internalises the force of the commands. 

Jesus also broadens the impact of torah/halakah, ie murder becomes an issue of anger and unforgiveness; adultery is broadened to include lust and stumbling-blocks in general; divorce and adultery are linked; and the making of vows is illustrated by specific examples and by the simplicity of Jesus’ teaching. 

The explanatory expansion of these commands by Jesus may also be understood as the root cause of the specific sin, eg anger or unforgiveness in the heart can lead to physical murder. 

II. Summary 

Old Testament – Ecclesiasticus 15:15-20 

Two verses in the Old Testament seem to imply that God causes a person to sin at times:

God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart” in Exodus 11:10 and

in 2 Samuel 24:1 God “incited David” to count how many subjects he has – out of pride.

But Sirach disagrees: in no way can God be held responsible for human sinfulness (vv. 11-12). God not only hates sin but he even preserves the godly person from committing it (v. 13).

In v. 14, he says that God “left them in the power of their own free choice”. (A scholar says that inclination is a better translation.) One can incline:

towards godliness (“life”, v. 17) by obeying the Law (v. 15) or

towards ungodliness (“death”, v. 17) by refusing to obey.

God does allow us to go our own way, but he is always there to help us follow his ways. Only with his love can we attain eternal life. “Fire and water” (v. 16) are opposite extremes, and don’t mix. There are two choices; they are mutually exclusive. Then vv. 18-20: even though God is omniscient (he knows all that we think and do), he does not cause people to sin.

Old Testament – Deuteronomy 30:15-20 

The setting is the plains of Moab, as the Israelites prepare to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. The book states that Moses is the speaker, but the laws given in Chapters 12-28 are updated versions of those in earlier books.

Times have changed since Sinai: the people were semi-nomads then; now they are farmers and shepherds. It is a time of religious revival, of new commitment to God. V. 6 puts the Law in a new light: God will “circumcise your heart” – he will work changes within the people so love becomes the driving force. Note also v. 20: “loving the Lord your God …”. They will keep the Law because they love God.

Our reading summarizes Chapters 27-28, which tell of:

-the ways in which the Israelites will be blessed if they keep this expanded and updated covenant; and

-the consequences of failing to keep many of the laws, i.e. being excluded from the community.

Then it offers a choice: keep the laws in love and obedience, or suffer the consequences of following other paths. Keeping the Law because you love God will have many benefits, including long life (“length of days”, v. 20).

Psalm -Psalm 119:1-8 Page 763, BCP

This is the first stanza (of 22, one for each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet) of the longest psalm. Each of the verses of this stanza begins with aleph, the first letter. The whole psalm is in praise of the Law (the expression of God’s covenant with humankind in the Old Testament) and of keeping it. The emphasis is on the love and desire for the word of God in Israel’s law, rather than being burdened with it. The psalm begins with a prayer for help in observing the Law. To be “happy” (vv. 1-2) is to be blessed by God. As in other stanzas, various words are used for “law”; here they are “precepts”, “statutes” “commandments”, and “ordinances”. The psalmist seeks to avoid sin, and to live in God’s ways.

Epistle -1 Corinthians 3:1-9

In Chapter 1, Paul says that he has learnt that there are divisions in the church at Corinth, that some adhere to particular leaders of the community rather than to Christ. The faith only makes sense to those who understand it spiritually, so he addresses them not as “spiritual people” (v. 1) but as neophytes (“infants”). He has been criticized for oversimplifying the good news, but their “jealousy and quarrelling” (v. 3) demonstrate that they are still only earthly minded, are still behaving according to human standards (“inclinations”).

It is natural to be attached to the person who welcomed you into the church, but you need to recognize that they are all “servants” (v. 5) of Christ. Each has a distinct function in bringing you to faith. Paul founded the church at Corinth (“planted”, v. 6); Apollos nurtured faith (“watered”) in the community; but it is God who causes spirituality and faith to grow. He and Apollos have the same objective (v. 8). Perhaps the rewards (“wages”) are in seeing the church grow; perhaps they are in heaven. Paul and Apollos are co-workers. In the following verses, Paul expands on the church as “God’s building” (v. 9).


Gospel – Matthew 5:21-37

Epiphany is the inbreaking presence in Jesus Christ in the world. We see this in this week’s Matthew’s Gospel

The section is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount. Having announced the good news and the kingdom of heaven having broken in (4:23-24), Jesus proclaims the guiding precepts of that kingdom in the Beatitudes (5:1-12), and announces that his followers are to be “salt” and “light” in the world and proclaimed the fulfillment of prophesy and the law. The law remains in full force “until all has come to be,” a reference to the death and resurrection of Jesus which brings the New Creation.

Matthew builds his Gospel around five main discourses. He probably did this with the five books of the Torah (or the Law) in mind. His intention was almost certainly to portray Jesus as the new Moses, giving a new Law for the New Covenant. Which, of course, makes it very tempting to believe that we have an excuse for doing away with the law altogether. But, this is not what Matthew – or Jesus for that matter – was doing. Rather, in the Sermon on the Mount, to which we continue to listen this week, Jesus makes it clear that he has come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it – literally to perfect or complete it (Matthew 5:17-19).

And in the section which is set for Epiphany 6 (Matthew 5:21-37), this fulfillment is demonstrated in remarkable ways. Jesus, it seems, knew that the law could be cold-hearted. He knew that it could be used to demean and oppress. He knew that a law that was left in the realm of letters and court rooms could often accomplish the exact opposite of what it was originally intended for.

The law must become part of our hearts. Jesus in these teachings is standing on the foundation of prior teachings from Hebrew Scriptures about the heart as the inner source of outer actions, subject to the good or evil influence of imagination. He’s asking, “What is in your heart?

Jesus gives the disciples a new way of life, not rejecting the tradition, but building upon it, explaining what they really meant . It is a way of life that demands more and promises more. He identifies the divine ideal behind the law. God requires righteousness (right living) and it has to be better than what he alleges many Jewish leaders of his time achieved (5:20). It is a necessary surpassing righteousness required of a person to enter the kingdom of heaven. . People can hear the commandments and not understand what they are really about

In that it is all about relationships. And so Jesus speaks the radical message of the complete law, calling us not just to ensure that we uphold the letter of the legal code, but that we uphold the dignity and humanity of our companions in this world. The New Community is not a “new and improved” old community. Rather, it is a reconciled and beloved community in which all people are treated with dignity, not with contempt , and with affirmation, not deprecation .

Jesus shifts our attention from particular behaviors we must avoid to particular interior orientations we must cultivate. Kingdom righteousness saturates our whole lives, and promises much more, too. It is the way of blessedness.

No longer do the teachings on murder and adultery apply strictly to acts of murder and adultery. Instead, they become doorways into the examination of many internal dynamics as well as external behaviors of one’s life: anger, derision, slander, false generosity, litigiousness, arrogance, lust, temptation, alienation, divorce, and religious speech. Jesus advises that one discard, promptly and decisively, anything in one’s life that tempts one to turn away from God.

Then follow six instances in which Jesus announces new interpretations of the law–indeed, some would say, changes the law. He will teach in regard to anger, sexuality, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and hatred of enemies.

In this text Jesus provides his teaching on three of the Ten Commandments (plus divorce):

  1. You shall not commit murder. 

  2. You shall not commit adultery and divorce 

  3. You shall not bear false witness. 

The way Jesus refers to them indirectly was a way to direct importance to them

1. Murder

Jesus extends this law to include propensities to kill: nursing anger, calling someone good for nothing (as the Greek says) or a “fool” (v. 22)

Jesus is saying: if you take the command, “Do not kill”, seriously, then you will not embrace hate and let you anger turn to abuse of others. You will write no one off. The fifth contrast will speak of retaliation – also a form of hate. The sixth contrast matches the first because it has the same theme: love your enemies. In Jesus’ teaching the foundation is God’s love and openness to all.

There is a certain attraction in being able to divide people into those we love and those we hate – and those we don’t know so don’t care about anyway. It seeds racism. It rescues us from complexity and the messiness of needing to think, and to engage the unfamiliar and less amenable to us and our ways. The religious form of this is to deem some people as never having been chosen, never having been of worth, not counting. Religions use it to rationalise rejection. It is, alas, alive and well. It is easier to eliminate people in this way than to take up the challenge of respecting them, engaging them, seeking a right relationship with them – God’s way according to the gospel, though “God” is often made to model, motivate and rationalize our fondness for hate.

There are two more teachings about anger; the first having almost a touch of humor to it: Someone has something against you? Then go back home (to Galilee?!) and sort it out – even if it means a few days’ journey (5:23-24)! Similarly, Matthew has what sounds like advice at conflicts which might end up in court and land you in jail (5:25-26). It is really a powerful way of urging people to deal with conflict directly and immediately. Later Matthew’s Jesus instructs people to put effort into sorting out problems of wrongdoing in the community (18:15-18) and approaching them with compassion and prayer (18:12-14, 19-20, 21-35).

We still need that wisdom: don’t go gossiping! Don’t just sit on it (it might explode destructively one day or you might implode with stress). Deal with it. When Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (5:9), it is clear from Matthew’s gospel, that he did not mean, blessed are those who sweep things under the carpet, or those who lie to themselves and others about pain. If it hurts, say so. Deal with it!

Verse 22, “with a brother or sister.” These teachings of Jesus are addressed specifically to his followers who are to treat one another as they would their blood relatives. In fact, Jesus lays down higher standards. But the key to remember is that at the time of Jesus ones family was everything, and the provision of this alternate family – the community of followers of Jesus – was a radical disruption of a paramount social foundation.

2. Adultery

God expects purity of thought and desire as well as of action.

The punishment for adultery was for both the adulterer and the wife to be put to death, “so you shall purge the evil from Israel.”

But Jesus proposes another way to purge the evil of adultery – tearing out the eye that looks with lust on another man’s wife! The added nuance is the “right” eye. “To pluck out the right eye” means to suffer dishonor. Thus the followers of Jesus are urged to practice self-discipline, both in not committing the kind of seeing that leads to dishonoring of others, and in voluntarily dishonoring oneself in the service of restoring the peace of the community.

The issue is not having sexual feelings, but what one does with them. As with anger, if you have them and harbor them towards a married woman, then you are in effect an adulterer in your mind. Get your mind sorted out. Seeing” for the purpose of “desire” is not seeing a woman as a person but as an object. Again, the kingdom of heaven is about the dignity and affirmation of others, not using them for one’s own purposes.

3. Divorce

With regard to the third contrast, there was no command about divorce, but it is implied in the instructions of Deut 24:1-4, which prohibited remarrying someone you had divorced. Divorce became a problem especially when Judaism began to move away from polygamy.

Divorcing a wife was easy for a man in Palestine: in some circles, he could simply write her a “certificate of divorce” (v. 31) without cause. Jesus’ point here is that marriage is indissoluble, lifelong. Sexual intercourse made people permanently one. He probably thinks of Genesis 2:24: in marriage, God makes man and wife “one flesh”. He makes one exception: “on the ground of unchastity” (v. 32). The Greek word means unlawful sexual behaviour, including adultery. He forbids remarriage because the first marriage still exists. The view that adultery was intolerable was widely held across Greek, Roman, and Jewish culture, requiring the death of both people at some points in history or, if not, certainly divorce.

Because Jesus consistently shifted the focus from just act to attitude of mind we are able to embrace what also the wisdom about human relations has taught us, namely that usually adultery is usually a symptom of something else as well, so that things may have gone badly wrong, even irretrievably so, long before an act of adultery has taken place, indeed even when it has not taken place. Reconciliation and healing mean dealing with these complexities of the mind and attitude towards which the gospel also points us. Our gospel commitment to marriage and relationship remains, but works itself out in ways that may sometimes see (agreed) divorce as the most creative way forward and may also have us recognizing that marriages where adultery has taken place can be retrieved, revived, even to become stronger and more fruitful for having worked through the underlying issues.

4. Oaths

Matthew 5:33-37: You shall not bear false witness.

This extension of the Law was not onerous for first-century Christians, for they expected the world to end soon, and they could live separately from their spouses. Then vv. 33-37: one swore an oath to guarantee that what one said on a particular occasion was the truth.

The Torah allowed for oaths, even prescribed them in some cases, but Jesus said not to swear “at all.” Sometimes today we may need references, witnesses, guarantors, as an aid to those who might otherwise be unsure or where some communally agreed norms are at stake, such as oaths of office or in court,

Jesus says one should always tell only the truth. When one does, there is no need for swearing[-in]. A truthful person is consistent in what he says. Inconsistency is a sign that one has turned against God (v. 37).

People can get quite inventive with oaths, which is why Jesus goes on at some length condemning them/ The problem with oaths is that they can be an effort to cover false promises or to further one’s own ends by invoking God’s name, God’s honor.

Oath-swearing is for people who don’t trust each other, as if underlining our cheap words with a patina of piety might make them more believable. Oaths actually serve to underline doubt, not certainty. In the New Community, there is no need for such oaths because reconciled people speak the truth to each other and live in trust with each other.
 

III. Articles for this week in WorkingPreacher: 

Old Testament – Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Psalm – Psalm 119:1-8 Page 763, BCP

Epistle – 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 

Matthew –  Matthew 5:21-37

Salt and Light, Epiphany 5

This week Jesus spends some time telling the disciples how to BE disciples in real time. And so when Jesus was teaching the disciples on the mountain in the Sermon on the Mount, he gave them some illustrations about how to carry out their work, right?” “He told the disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.” And also light.

Salt preserves and enhances flavor. As salt, we add flavor and zest to the world, and we also preserve goodness in the world. And as light, we reflect God’s glory and bring God’s light into dark places—and there is plenty of darkness in our world.

This perspective of authentic belief and outward practice described as righteousness runs through all of our readings this week. In short, the question is “Who is your God?” This question is at the very core of stewardship in our faith authenticated, or not, by how we use our time and God-given abilities and how we share our material and financial resources.

Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that we are salt and light. We are baptized as partners with Jesus in establishing the kingdom of heaven to preserve the faith of the Gospel for the good of the world. In today’s reading, Jesus gives us our job description, tells us who we are to be as his followers—And that’s all of us. Farmers, parents, horseback riders, nurses, realtors, insurance agents, priests, retired people, students, teachers, accountants, those of us who are still seeking clarity about what God is calling us to do in our lives—regardless of who we are, and who we are to become, God is always giving us work to do, here and now.

Preservation of our own belief in the Gospel comes through authentic practice of our faith stewarding our time and abilities in prayer, worship, and service of others, and stewarding our material and financial resources to support the mission of the Church. The “scribes and Pharisees” in Matthew’s gospel account are characterized by closing themselves off to the presence of the kingdom of heaven because they were busy maintaining their own kingdoms.

The Gospel reading is the second week of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus provided this as an instruction manual that directly addressed the Messianic Jews of Antioch, who found themselves deeply embattled by the Pharisees and Sadducees

As Jesus begins, the audience is apparently his closest disciples (5:1); when he ends, the audience is much broader (7:28). The primary theme of the sermon is righteousness or justice (dikaiosune); the content that follows will give the specifics. Jesus’ teaching opens with the beatitudes (5:3-11).

Matthew follows the Beatitudes with two sayings, one on salt and one on light. Salt was used as a purifier of sacrifices (Ezekiel 43:24). The images of both salt and light also described the law. Light also referred to God and to the restored Israel after the exile.

Verses 17-20 explain Jesus’ relationship to the law. Because of the destruction of the temple, the central authority for Judaism during this period was the law, and Jesus was to be evaluated in relationship to it.

Matthew asserts that a great reversal has taken place: The law is no longer to be the center about which everything revolves. Jesus is the new center, and the law and the prophets must be evaluated in relation to him. That relationship is one not of abolition, but of fulfillment. Matthew sees the law and prophecy as fulfilled in Jesus (11:13). The law pointed forward to, and now finds its meaning in, Jesus.

Lectionary, Epiphany 5, Feb 5, 2023

 Lectionary, Epiphany 5

I.Theme –   How should we act in relationship to others? Actions speak louder than words

 

The Sermon of the Mount Part 2 – “Salt and Light”.  Stained glass is entitled “Light for Others” and from St. Mary’s church, Melton Mowbray, England

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

1. Old Testament- Isaiah 58:1-9a, (9b-12)

2.  Psalm- Psalm 112:1-9, (10) Page 755, BCP

3.  Epistle – 1 Corinthians 2:1-12, (13-16)

4.  Gospel – Matthew 5:13-20 

Isaiah -In today’s verses, God redefines the role of fasting and looks at our role with other. An expression of humility, fasting offers the people an opportunity to do for others what God has already done for them. We need to make a difference for those who live with oppression or poverty or bereavement. The way to serve God is not in pious proclamation but in subversive affirmation. 

The attitude of the heart and use of the tongue must also reflect charity. The people must give more than food, clothing, or shelter: they must give themselves. Instead of seeking their own pleasure, they must first satisfy the desires of the needy, finding their own desires satisfied by God (58:11). 

The Psalmist also affirms that the blessed are those whose everyday actions in sharing their riches proclaims their faith and honours the God whom they serve. 1

Paul in Corinthians asks his listeners to consider his actions, actions rooted in the ancient wisdom of God, a wisdom that he demonstrated before naming. It was important that the folk to whom Paul ministered saw the power of God’s Spirit in Paul’s life before he proclaimed that Spirit.

Jesus after his initial preaching on the Sermon on the Mount exhorts his followers to consider the impact of their everyday living as people of faith on the communities they inhabit and in which they are called to serve and witness.

Following on from the Beatitudes, this further teaching of Jesus seems to root his teaching in a context with which the religious authorities of the day would more easily identify and which it would not be as easy for them to distance themselves.

Here we see Jesus, not abolishing the ancient laws that had become a burden for many people but giving them a makeover so that ordinary people could grasp the essence of love that underpins all of God’s law and teaching.
 

II. Summary 

Old Testament – Isaiah 58:1-9a, (9b-12) 

Written after the Exile into Babylon (6th century BC), this passage speaks of fasting, but its implications are wider: it encompasses the whole of the people’s attitude towards God. Through the prophet, God issues a legal summons to “my people” for “their rebellion”, for “their sins”.

The structure of the passage concerns the sin and attitudes of the people (vv. 1-2). The people respond to God with a complaint (v. 3a). God then addresses the people directly, first by challenging their actions (vv. 3b-4), then by pointing to what they should be doing (vv. 5-10), and finally concluding with a future promise as the result of their faithfulness (vv. 11-12).  

They go to the Temple daily (“seek me”, v. 2) and “delight” (in a sense) to know God’s ways – but their “righteousness” (keeping the Law and seeking godly judgements) are purely ritual, external. Why, they ask, are you ignoring us, God? (v. 3a). The people had called a fast, and wondered why it seemed to have no effect on God. 

The implication is clearly that they were not fasting as part of devotion to God, but for their own interests. They don’t understand what is means to be God’s people in the world .

He begins to explain in v. 3b: “you serve your own interest” (delight yourselves, not me) and (as slave masters did in Egypt) “oppress all your workers”:there is a gulf between the rich and the poor. Because your lives outside the Temple are inconsistent with your worship (v. 4a), God will not hear your pleas.  The very fact that they seem so blissfully unaware of God’s displeasure with their delight in God reveals that their humility is false.  

Here, being God’s people is clearly defined both in terms of specific acts of grace toward the needs of others (food, clothing, shelter), as well as in terms of the larger issues of oppression and injustice that God’s people were actively to oppose (loose the bonds of injustice, undo the thongs of the yoke, let the oppressed go free).

To those two aspects the prophet also added the obligations of relationship within families (v. 7d), as if to suggest that being God’s people was not just something “out there” for the needy stranger or member of the community. It also applied in the closest of relationships with family and kin (cf. 9:20-21). There was no aspect of life that fell outside of what God would “choose” to be an “acceptable” response to his grace and faithfulness to him. 

There is the failure to “keep justice.”  “Justice” today tends to be a legal term, but  much of the Old Testament justice involved the basic needs, requirements, or even rights of people living together in community. To “keep justice” implies a diligence in seeing that those in positions of power as well as the people themselves did not deprive some members of the community of the basic needs, requirements, and rights that would allow them to function as part of the community. That seems to be at risk here. 

You kid yourselves if you think an insincere show of fasting is “acceptable” (v. 5). (“Sackcloth” was worn by mourners and the penitent.) God demands a proper relationship with others, one free from “injustice” (v. 6) and servitude (“yoke”), one in which the rich “share” (v. 7) with the “hungry”, forming one community, giving to the less fortunate. When you do this. God will hear you (“light”, v. 8) “healing” you (restoring you to well-being), and protect you (both before and behind). He will be present with you.

Vv. 9-12 continue this theme, adding that contempt (“pointing” “the finger”) and slander (“speaking of evil”) are unacceptable.

There is the problem of God not acting and the people are discouraged.

The Israelites had been allowed to return home after 70 or so years of exile in Babylon (538 BC). They had expected God to come and establish his dominion over all the earth. But times were hard and the future was anything but certain. It had been nearly 100 years now, and there was no new kingdom and no golden age These people had never seen God’s work in history and had begun to wonder whether it was worth serving God. Apathy and discouragement had dimmed their vision of the future.

And yet Isaiah could envision a new act of God in history, a new act of deliverance and restoration consistent with the God of the exodus, in which he would deliver his people and open up new possibilities for them. So Isaiah spoke of a new light dawning, a new day coming in which God would be revealed to the world and Israel would be vindicated as his people.  They can only be the light to the nations, can only fulfill their mission as the people of God, as they live out God’s grace in the world.

In Isaiah and elsewhere, both darkness and blindness are frequently metaphors for lack of understanding (for example, 29:9-10, 42:16; cf. Jer 5:21) , so there are also overtones of Israel’s own darkness in not knowing who they are as God’s people (cf. 42:18-20).

God will be present with his people, guiding them, strengthening them when they find their trust in him waning, and making them a source of good/godliness for others (“a spring of water”, v. 11). From v. 12, we learn that Jerusalem is still not yet fully rebuilt: God will help them mend the “breach” in the walls, and restore their heritage.
 

Psalm -Psalm 112:1-9, (10)

This psalm portrays the state of well-being of godly people, who hold God in awe (“fear”) and live per Mosaic law (“commandments”). They will be blessed with many powerful descendants (v. 2), wealth (v. 3), and godliness throughout their lives (“forever”). They will be examples to others (“a light”, v. 4). Those who are generous and fair in business and “lend” (v. 5, to the poor, interest-free) will enjoy true happiness, for nothing will cause them to stumble in their trust in God (v. 6); they will be long “remembered”. Their confidence will allow them to “triumph” (v. 8) over “their foes”. (A “horn”, v. 9, was a symbol of strength and power.) But (v. 10), the ungodly are “angry” at the sight of all God gives the faithful; they will perish; God will not hear their “desire”.

Epistle -1 1 Corinthians 2:1-12, (13-16)

Paul continues his letter to the Corinthians by following the theme of competing wisdoms. He began in 1:11 confronting the madness which had crept into the Corinthians’ churches, where people were making heroes of special people like Paul. He then continued in 1:18 by challenging the assumptions which underlay such divisions: typical obsessions with power and wisdom, which he links with Jewish and Greek stereotypes.

Against all this Paul asserts a new kind of wisdom and a new kind of power: the foolishness and powerlessness of the cross. The life poured out there is not the sign of God’s absence but of God’s presence, not the sign of God’s powerlessness or foolishness but the sign of what is truly powerful and wise: the life poured out in compassion.

Paul is being deliberately subversive of their stance. We can see him almost taking delight in highlighting his frailty and unimpressiveness (2:3-4). His power was through the Spirit (2:4). But Paul’s understanding of the Spirit is different from that of the Corinthians, who see the Spirit in terms of miracle and power.

For Paul the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ and brings to life again that same Christ of the cross. Paul does not see the Spirit replacing the Christ of the cross, but rather helping bring that same presence to bear because this is the way God is. That is why when Paul seeks to live in the power of the Spirit, his life takes the shape of the cross: bearing love to others even when life turns ugly – as ugly as the cross.

Paul has decried divisions in the church at Corinth: people have attached themselves to particular leaders because of their eloquence (and other personal traits). Now he says that when he first “came to you”, he purposely avoided eloquence (“lofty words”) and gave the Spirit full reign in bringing people to Christ. To avoid a personality cult, he came neither promoting his own qualities (v. 3) nor using erudite (“plausible”, v. 4) rational arguments. What has happened at Corinth bespeaks immaturity in the faith.

While with “mature” (v. 6) Christians, he does speak “wisdom” ( a total God-centered view of the cosmos – not popular wisdom, and not that of political and religious “rulers”), with the immature Christians at Corinth he speaks only basics of the good news: God’s plan of salvation, decreed by God before creation. He does so in order that they may reflect God’s power (“glory”, v. 8). (Had the “rulers” understood this plan, they would have let Jesus live.) But they are so immature (indeed “unspiritual”, v. 14) that even the basics are beyond them, (“secret and hidden”, v. 7). God has revealed to the mature “through the Spirit” (v. 10) “things” about God’s love (v. 9) that are hidden from others. Just as one person can never plumb the essence of another completely, so only the Spirit can know God comprehensively. Through the Spirit, we (the mature) understand God’s gifts to us (v. 12), which can only be described in spiritual terms. But most of you have never received such gifts, so they make no sense to you (“are foolishness”, v. 14); they are only discernable in a spiritual way. The mature do discern such gifts – and you should not doubt it (“scrutiny”, v. 15). You should refrain from instructing them – for they are one with Christ, of his “mind” (v. 16).

Gospel – Matthew 5:13-20

Since we did the Presentation in the Temple on Feb. 2 we missed the Beatitudes and the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew Chapter 5. Actually there are 5 weeks of passages from the sermon prior to Lent 

Jesus provided this as an instruction manual that directly addressed the Messianic Jews of Antioch, who found themselves deeply embattled by the Pharisees and Sadducees

As Jesus begins, the audience is apparently his closest disciples (5:1); when he ends, the audience is much broader (7:28). The primary theme of the sermon is righteousness or justice (dikaiosune); the content that follows will give the specifics. Jesus’ teaching opens with the beatitudes (5:3-11).

The key meaning is this “..Joy or enduring happiness is discovered when we live outwardly focus on the needs of others”

 Marek Zabriskie, the creator of the Bible Challenge has written “The world teaches us to obtain all that we can get for ourselves, to strive to succeed and not to fail, to be strong and not weak, to be aggressive and even to use violence, if others threaten to harm us, and to avoid unjust punishment or persecution.

 In the Beatitudes, Jesus, turns the logic of the world on its head. He calls for living a counter-intuitive life with God. “

 The writer of the Hidden Gospels provides a list of them 

“Each of the nine couplets invokes supportive and constructive attitudes of heart—practical assistance for beginning and withstanding the inner challenges of a spiritual journey 

 1. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 2. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 3. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 4. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

 5. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

 6. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

 7. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

 8. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 9. “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the  prophets who were before you ” (Mt 5:1-12)

The beginning sentence of each paragraph this week just after the above gives the clue meaning of it 

1 Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth;

When Jesus tells his disciples to “be salt,” he is drawing on a number of Old Testament uses for salt. It was used for seasoning, preservation, and purifying (2 Kg. 2:19-22). It was used to ratify covenants (Num 18:29; Chr. 13:5) and in liturgical functions (Ex 30:35; Lev 2:13; Ezek 43:24; Ezra 6:9). To eat salt with someone signified a bond of friendship and loyalty (Ezra 4:14; Acts 1:4). Salt scattered on a conquered city reinforced its devastation (Jg 9:45) (Reid, 35). 

In rabbinic metaphorical language, salt connoted wisdom (Hill, 115). Today, salt adds flavor to food, cures food, creates traction on icy roads, and can serve as an antiseptic in wounds.

Since salt is a very stable, non-reactive compound, the only way it can lose its flavor is by being diluted with water

There are several ways scholars have suggested the disciples can lose their flavor. It all comes down to submitting to pressure

– Bending under persecution
– Bending under the pressure of the surrounding culture

2 “You are the light of the world.

You are blessed, now go and be a blessing.

In Jesus’ usage, the light is not simply to allow others to see whatever they wish but it is for others to witness the acts of justice that Jesus’ followers perform. Beyond that, it allows the audience to recognize the cause of these actions, the God of heaven.

Scripture scholar John Meier reminds us that there are two facets of the light image: it is meant for all, and it can be smothered only by the disciples’ own failure. In a one-room, windowless house, the lamp would stand in a central place where its rays could extend as far as possible. To extinguish the flame without sparks, the homeowner would place another vessel over the lamp. That thought can prompt self-examination: how do we undercut our own mission? How do we dim our light by lack of confidence, preoccupation with lesser things or a failure to believe?

3. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill

In 5:17 the emphasis is not on abandoning or abolishing the Jewish faith, but fulfilling and upholding. 

Jesus, says Matthew, did not come to lead people away from scripture but to lead them to take it seriously.

The paraphrase might be – Don’t think that my teachings replace or reduce the law and the prophets. And don’t think you can skip the details. Details count. But something more than the details is also needed. You must align your whole self with what God desires – that is what those in Heaven are like.

But he chooses to “fulfill” the law in the sense of interpreting their meaning for contemporary practice.

.. For Matthew there is continuity here. The disciples of Jesus stand in continuity with Israel, are true Israel in what it was called to be. The city on the hill would evoke Zion and the prophecies about peoples coming to worship God and learn of his Law on Zion from all peoples of the earth (as the magi did)

So putting it together   

 The disciples are to be salt and light by living the commitments and virtues Jesus states lead to blessedness in the Beatitudes (5:1-12). Matthew, out of his Jewish background, is not afraid to speak of the rewards for faithful discipleship (5:12).  

Just as “salt” and “light” relate to the functions of Jesus’ faithful followers in the world, so Jesus’ emphasis on the law is about doing good

Salt and light are similar in that they are not useful by themselves – the value comes in application to other things. In Jesus’ usage, the light is not simply to allow others to see whatever they wish but it is for others to witness the acts of justice that Jesus’ followers perform. Beyond that, it allows the audience to recognize the cause of these actions, the God of heaven.  

You are the one to get it going, looking beyond your own circumstances and look to the whole world 

Set an example. Not to get fame and glory for yourself, but so that others will see God’s goodness. 

III. Articles for this week in WorkingPreacher: 

Old Testament – Isaiah 58:1-9a, (9b-12) 

Psalm – Psalm 112:1-9, (10)

Epistle – 1 Corinthians 2:1-12, (13-16)

Gospel –  Matthew 5:13-20

Matthew’s Beatitudes

Today’s scriptures underline the upside-down nature of life in God’s kingdom. The prophet Micah proclaims that the only sacrifice God wants is justice. Paul insists that God’s foolishness and weakness are more powerful than worldly wisdom and strength. In the Beatitudes, Jesus describes true happiness in a way of life that runs contrary to ordinary human expectations.

The Gospel probes contrasts with the Beatitutes. Matthew gathers the teaching of Jesus into five great discourses and balances them with narratives of Jesus’ deeds. Today’s reading is the first of a series drawn from the first discourse, the Sermon on the Mount.

The “blessed” in the Old Testament are those who receive an earthly fulfillment—of prosperity, offspring and long life. In later Jewish writing, the blessings belong to those who will enter the final age of salvation. Jesus offers these future blessings now, for the kingdom is present in him.

The first four beatitudes reflect attitudes that climax with an unceasing hunger for a right relationship with God—both personally and communally. The second four reflect the actions and lifestyles of those who hunger in this way. In verse 10, Jesus teaches that those who live the Beatitudes will face persecution, for this way is contrary to all that the world espouses.

Jesus spoke these words to a crowd of peasants, a tattered bunch, probably not even knowing what they were searching for. They lacked an understanding of their plight. Jesus offered them another view of their aching unhappiness, a hidden dimension beyond their misery.

Jesus assured them that they were holy. He corrected the misconception that salvation must be earned and that earthly prosperity was a sign of divine favor. He reversed “top down” notions of religion, where sanctity filtered from the religious hierarchy to the common folk. He praised the kind of ordinary sanctity that Salvadoran theologian Jon Sobrino called, “in the God of the lowly, the greater God.”

Those whom the world would consider miserable are in Jesus’ eyes most happy. They have seen through the false promises of wealth and the fragility of human relationships. Knowing that all illusions must fail, they seek security in God. Those who mourn are blessed for several reasons: because they have loved deeply, and because God will comfort them.

Lectionary, Epiphany 4, Jan 29, 2023

I.Theme –   The Way of Life –  the Beatitutes

 

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

1.  Old Testament – Micah 6:1-8
2.  Psalm- Psalm 15
3.  Epistle – 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
4.  Gospel – Matthew 5:1-12 

The readings this week are like a mission statement – what should we do. The setting is important for the Old Testament and the Gospel – the Mountains. That’s traditionally where God is , a place of learning, a place where justice is fostered

The prophet Micah speaks to a people who have been led astray by other gods and by leaders who have failed to look to God’s ways. Micah declares that all of creation is listening; the mountains are acting as a jury in which the people and God come together with their conflict. Micah calls upon the people to set aside the religious practices of the peoples around them, which include giving of the harvest, burnt offerings, even one’s own firstborn child—and instead do what the Lord requires: to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.

Psalm 15 speaks of those who will abide with God: the ones who practice God’s ways of righteousness and justice, who live out of honesty and give out of their hearts. This psalm is a song of preparation, for those to come before God, they must live into God’s ways.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 continues Paul’s discourse to the Corinthian church

Proclaiming Christ crucified is the message that should unite the Corinthians—above all else, they follow a Savior who died for them. Corinth is a divided place – it was a diverse group, comprising slaves, freemen, Jews, Greeks, and others.

Paul now wants to show them how their faith distinguishes them from others, or how their faith has changed their orientation within their own tribe or family.  For Paul it is all about knowing – “how do we know God, how to we apprehend God?”  Paul surmises that the Jews have knowledge about God through the Law, and that the Greeks attempt to know God through philosophical dialogues.  Into this sophisticated world, Paul inserts an embarrassing and even upsetting notion – that the cross (stumbling block and foolishness) is the real wisdom of God. 

The focus this week will be on the Beatitudes.  Here Jesus is teaching the disciples like a rabbi.  Jesus is like the new Moses standing on a new Sinai (The Sermon on the Mount), announcing a new set of values for the Reign of Heaven.  The text below is from Progressive Involvement 

“These beatitudes introduce the Sermon on the Mount, which is the first major speech, of five, in Matthew’s gospel.

“Our text follows immediately upon a summary statement of Jesus’ ministry in chapter 4:  “And (Jesus) was going about in all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, healing all disease and all sickness in the people.” (4:23)  This unabashed good news is called the gospel.  

“The Beatitudes which follow are not, themselves, the gospel.  In Lutheran terms, they are “law.”  They tell us what we ought to do.  

“Setting the stage:  Note the formality of the language.  Jesus “saw” the crowds, and goes up “into” the mountain.  Mountains are places of special events and proclamations in Matthew’s gospel.  The mention of the mountain is a signal that something special is about to happen

“His disciples “came to him,” says Matthew . It appears, therefore, that Jesus was primarily instructing the disciples, but doing so within ear-shot of the crowds.

” Jesus is teaching about the “reign of God,” which is not, incidentally, solely about life in heaven.  The “reign of God” is meant for the here-and-now as well as in heaven.  This is what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer:  “…thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven…

” Beatitudes were not a new thing in the world of Jesus.  Usually, they were common sense sayings that expressed what everyone already knew. 

” As he will do often in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus turns conventional wisdom upside down.  Nobody would have associated blessings with being poor or in grief, then or now.  In the reign of God, however, God’s favor is upon those who have been left behind–the little, the lone, the least, and the lost. 

” These marginalized ones–the poor, lost, and bereft–constituted the major constituency of Jesus.  He addressed his message primarily to them.  They found his message of God’s favor to be empowering and uplifting.

“Blessed”?:  The Greek word we translate as “blessed” is makarioi.  Makarioi refers to God’s favor.  It could also be translated as “honored.”

” There are nine beatitudes in Matthew–two groups of four, followed by a final one.  The first four beatitudes speak to the victims of injustice, those in poverty, grief, the meek, and those with a deep desire for justice.

      1 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”

” Matthew’s emphasis seems more to be on those who understand themselves as being in solidarity with the destitute.  Such people would likely have constituted an overwhelming majority of the listening crowds. 

” People in the time of Jesus were regularly forced off their land, and many–perhaps as many as 15-20% of the population–would have been destitute. They lived in the hills or in shadows, and got by, after a fashion, by forsaging off the land or robbing.  Falling into the ranks of the ptochos was a very real fear for the great majority of people.  In addition to the large homeless population, another 60-70% of the people stood in real danger of being forced to join them.

      2  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

” One way to become destitute in the first century was to lose one’s place in their family.  Family identity was exceptionally important in the ancient world.  People were known as the “son of” or “daughter of” their father and mother. 

” One could be reduced to be destitute  and resort to begging was through loss of land or loss of family.  Family could be lost through the death of one’s parents–hence, “blessed are those who mourn”–or through being cast out of the family. 

  1. “ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

” Loss of land and loss of family would make a person “meek.”  Either one represented loss of status.  This was especially important in a society where status revolved around honor and shame.  Loss of land and/or family could move a person from an honored place in society to a shameful one–from high social standing within the context of one’s village to social ostracism.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn and those who are meek.  Blessed are those, in other words, who are down-and-out, rejected, destitute, without a home.  They have honor with God.  They are not despised and rejected.  They are lifted up, held in high esteem, blessed by God.  This is called “preferential option for the poor.”   

  1. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

” These first three “makarisms” are underlined by the fourth:  “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice”–dikaiosunane.  Matthew chose the words “hunger” and “thirst” with a purpose–they recall those who genuinely did hunger and thirst–and then turned these words in the direction not only of food and drink, but also justice.  Blessed are those who yearn–who hunger–for a world where all are honored and none are shamed.

If the first four “makarisms” are for those who lack justice, the next four “makarisms” are for those who work for justice.  They promise reward at the end of time for those who live into the reign of God now–the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and (again) the persecuted.  

  1. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”

” Mercy has a wide range of meaning, everything from forgiving sins to healing the sick.  “Active compassion” would be another way to put it.  The merciful are not only sorry at the suffering of others, but actively try to alleviate it.  

” The followers of Jesus are able to show mercy not because of their inherent goodness, but rather because they have been shown mercy.  Mercy is an attitude of God, which God’s people reflect into the world.     

  1. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

“Pure in heart” is about the center of a person being “cleansed” from the old way of living.  Katharoi is where we get our modern-day psychiatric term “catharsis.”  Catharsis is about purging the old to make way for the new.  The “pure in heart” are “cleaned up,” in other words, from heirarchy and support of what Walter Wink calls “the domination system.”  Their paradigm gets shifted, their worldview reset.  

  1. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

” The “peacemakers” are those who bring God’s shalom into expression in the world.  This is in marked contrast to the supposed “peacemakers” of the day, the Roman Army.  As J.D. Crossan has argued, Rome believed in “peace through victory.”  Rome brought peace to the world by defeating her enemies.  When Octavian defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra, he ended the Roman Civil War and was acclaimed a “peacemaker.”  The early Christians, however, believed in “peace through justice”–peace through righting wrongs and treating all people, particularly the bereft, with dignity. 

  1. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

” The eighth beatitude closes this second pair of four with the same promise extended to the “poor in spirit” in the first beatitude.  Those who are persecuted for the cause of justice, like the “poor in spirit,” receive the kingdom of heaven.  The verb is a perfect participle which indicates a past action with ongoing effects in the present.  The cause of justice has been and is going on.

  1. “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

” This eighth beatitude, with its theme of persecution, transitions to the ninth.  Here, though, Jesus shifts from the third person to the second person–not “blessed are they” this time, but “blessed are you.”  This word is at least partly for the people of Matthew’s church who had, indeed, suffered at least some persecution for following Jesus.  (Luke has persecuted “on account of the son of man.”  Matthew changes this to persecuted “on my account,” thus underlining the close link between Jesus and the disciple.)

” Those who suffer for the cause of Jesus are to “rejoice and be exceedingly glad” for their reward is great in heaven.  They are the unfortunate victims of persecution, yes, but they are in a line with the great prophets of the past as well as John the Baptist and Jesus himself.”

Lectionary – Second Sunday after Epiphany

I.Theme –   Call and response to service

 

“Jesus and John” – Hagia Sophia, Istanbul 532

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

1.  Isaiah 49:1-7 – Isaiah

2.  Psalm- Psalm 40:1-12

3.  Epistle – 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

4.  Gospel – John 1:29-42

Isaiah is there to call  Israel back to God. He identifies himself as chosen before he was born (like Jeremiah, Paul and John the Baptist) and even named (like Jesus). At the first level, in vv. 8-13 God invites the exiles to return from Babylon But note also “a time of favor” (v. 8) and “a day of salvation”: these terms speak of the end times. God saves both now and in the era to come. 

In the Psalm, God has snatched a human being out of the realm of death and has given life back to him. This is the origin of this thanksgiving. But this thanksgiving is not ‘a return,’ a human answer or ‘offering’…— Yahweh has put the song of thanksgiving into the mouth of the singer which begets new obedience.” The self-recognition or self-discovery in the Psalm is an experience every Christian faces.

Paul is called to be an “apostle”, one sent out by Christ to perform a special mission to the Corinthians.  God has strengthened them through their telling of the good news.  He has called them into “fellowship”, union with other believers which is union with Christ. It will be Christ who will really put them on a firm footing when he comes and God is the one we need to rely on ultimately. God is the one who really constitutes the community as a community of Christ, a Christian community. It began with God through Paul and it ends with God.

Jesus was baptized last week and now he is ready to get started in his ministry. He needs some helpers.

In the Gospel, those who are called gradually accept the identity of the one who calls them. With that goes whatever service the Lord calls us to.

There are three themes in the passage: John’s witness to Jesus, Jesus’ epiphany and identification, the call to discipleship. In this passage, Andrew and Peter are called to be disciples.

II. Summary

Old Testament – Isaiah 49:1-7 

This is the second Servant Song. The servant speaks to Israelites scattered around the Mediterranean (“coastlands”); he identifies himself as chosen before he was born (like Jeremiah, Paul and John the Baptist) and even named (like Jesus). Further, God made him an effective instrument in proclaiming his message (“sharp sword”, v. 2). Perhaps God hid him for protection or in preparation for his mission. V. 3 may tell us who the servant is: “Israel”, the community of the faithful, led by the prophet. They will show God’s power to others (“glorified”). But the servant retorts (v. 4): despite all our/my efforts, no one listens! Surely I minister on God’s behalf and God will “reward” me for it (even if people don’t). The servant’s “strength” (v. 5) is from God; he is to turn “Jacob” (Israel) back to God. God (not the prophet) will gather “Israel” to him. But his mission is to all peoples, not only wayward Israelites and the faithful (“survivors”, v. 6).

God continues to speak to the servant, “one deeply despised” (v. 7), hated by many and “the slave of rulers”: God’s fidelity is his surety that all, even rulers, will hold him in awe.

At the first level, in vv. 8-13 God invites the exiles to return from Babylon; this is the servant’s mission (“you”, v. 8). They will travel in safety (“not hunger or thirst …”, vv. 10-12) from throughout the known world. God gave them a “covenant” (v. 8) at Sinai; perhaps the servant is the new covenant – God will make a new covenant with his people. But note also “a time of favour” (v. 8) and “a day of salvation”: these terms speak of the end times. God saves both now and in the era to come. 

Psalm -Psalm 40:1-12

This psalm may have been two psalms (vv. 1-11 and 12-17) later joined through use in a liturgy. Vv. 1-3 tell of the psalmist’s experience (but not what troubled him). The “desolate pit” (v. 2) may be Sheol, the subterranean abode of the dead; perhaps he was near death, and recovered. This hymn is his “new song” (v. 3) of thanksgiving. The “proud” (v. 4) trust in themselves (not God) or in materialism. The psalmist marvels at God’s innumerable “deeds” (v. 5) and “thoughts” for his people. God prefers people listening to him and doing his will over sacrificing to him (v. 6). (It was thought that God kept a “book”, v. 7, a record of how ethically each person lived.) In thanks, the psalmist has told “the glad news” (v. 9) in the Temple, “the great congregation”. He has not held back (“restrained”) in telling of God’s “faithfulness” (v. 10) to him and all God has done for him, so may God not withhold his “mercy” (v. 11), “love” and fidelity to him.

Epistle -1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Paul uses the standard introductory form of ancient letters when he identifies the sender and the recipients, followed by a greeting and thanksgiving.

Paul is an “apostle”, one sent out by Christ to perform a special mission. The church at Corinth is made up of ordinary people “called to be saints” (v. 2), set apart for God’s work in the world, “sanctified” in baptism. Perhaps Paul reminds them that there are Christians elsewhere too. V. 3 is his greeting: he wishes them “grace” (God’s freely given gift of love) and “peace” (the total state of well-being to which we are admitted through Christ): both come from the Father (as source) and the Son (as means or agent). In later chapters, Paul cautions his readers against misuse of spiritual gifts (v. 7), so in v. 5 he may be damning them with faint praise. He praises their eloquence (“speech”) and understanding (“knowledge”) but not (as in other letters) their faith, hope and love for each other and for Christ. He gives thanks for these spiritual gifts,  that were causing so much division and dissension in the Corinthian community. He will later deal with the misunderstanding and misuse of these gifts (in chapters 12 and 14), but they are undoubtedly God-given, the confirmation of “the testimony of Christ”  that is, the preaching of the gospel. 

In v. 6, “testimony” is bearing witness: God has strengthened them through their telling of the good news. They are indeed richly blessed (v. 7), but (as mentioned later), they tend to dwell on the excitement of the present rather than looking forward to “the revealing of … Christ”, his second coming. God will help them prepare for that day, so that they may be among those judged worthy of eternal life (“blameless”, v. 8). “God is faithful” (v. 9): he will not abandon what he has begun. He has called them into “fellowship”, union with other believers which is union with Christ.

Gospel – John 1:29-42

Today’s reading represents the fourth gospel’s version of the baptism of Jesus and the calling of the first disciples, with an emphasis on the meaning of the events.

John the Baptist has denied that he is any of the figures expected by Jews to inaugurate a new era: he is neither the Messiah, Elijah, nor the prophet like Moses; rather he prepares people for the coming of the Lord. He has also told some religious authorities that one is already among them who is far more worthy than he.

“The next day” John acclaims Jesus as “Lamb of God”. He is probably thinking of the fourth Servant Song: there the servant is “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter”.For the author, this term points to the suffering servant of Isaiah and to the Passover lamb as a symbol for the death of Christ. In submitting to baptism, Jesus marks his vocation to an atoning death. 

John recognizes that Jesus outranks him (“ranks ahead”, v. 30) and “was” (existed) before him. This harkens back to the prologue in v1. In vv. 31-33 he recalls his experience of Jesus’ baptism, and justifies what he has proclaimed. He says: I didn’t recognize him as Messiah (“know him”), but I now realize that I baptised with water in order that Jesus might be shown to Jews. The coming of the Spirit showed me that Jesus is the one chosen by God. I am convinced that he is, and I have told others (v. 34). (Later on, on the lips of Martha, “Son of God” and “Messiah” are synonymous.)

Unlike the prophets, to whom the Spirit was a temporary gift, Jesus receives and retains the Spirit and then gives it to others, so that they too may enter that abiding relationship. 

In vv. 35-42, two of John’s disciples begin to follow Jesus.   John in his Gospel  tells us that both he and Andrew accompanied John the Baptist, and that Andrew found his brother Peter and introduced him to Jesus.

In this story of the calling of the first disciples, Jesus takes the initiative by turning and asking the two disciples what they are searching for. They reply by asking for the abiding place, the permanence, they cannot find elsewhere. He responds with the surprising invitation that we also long to hear, “Come and see” (v. 39)  to investigate what he teaches.

Staying” and “remained” are technical terms in this gospel: the two begin to understand the way of life Jesus offers and expects. V. 40 tells us that one of the two is “Andrew”; the other is unnamed. Andrew tells “Simon” (v. 41) the good news and introduces him to Jesus. (The Greek word translated “Anointed” is Christos.) Jesus prophesies that Simon will be nicknamed “Cephas” (v. 42), the Aramaic word for rock. Petros, the Greek word for “Peter”, also means rock. 

In John’s account, Jesus simply tells his Apostles, come, and you will see (John 1:39; and later outside the scope of the lectionary John 1:46). But this challenge is not merely idle conversation. Jesus warns his disciples (twice) that they will see the mighty works of God made manifest through Him. They will witness the seven great miracles in John’s Gospel, and the Transfiguration as well. And of course, they will come to know of the Resurrection, and encounter the risen Christ in the Upper Room. The author of the Fourth Gospel attributes to Jesus, six times, the phrase ὄψεσθε: you will see. 

The calling of the disciples is covered in the other Gospels but John’s account is different. In the synoptic accounts, Peter is called by the Sea of Galilee (I will make you fishers of men – Mt 4:18; c.f. Lk 5:10). In John’s Gospel, there is no association of the calling of Peter and the Sea of Galilee.

The Gospel of John suggests to us that John the Baptist introduced the first disciples to his cousin, Jesus. It would not be surprising that John the Evangelist would remember events not known to Matthew or Luke. 

The accounts in John’s and Luke’s Gospels have one thing in common, though. The calling of Peter is associated with an act of faith and with the witness to the mighty works of God. In Luke’s Gospel, Peter is told to put out into the deep. When Peter objects, Jesus tells him where to drop his net and Peter catches a large haul. In other words, it is Jesus who wills the success of the fisherman’s (Peter’s) work.
 

III. Articles for this week in WorkingPreacher:

Old Testament – Isaiah 49:1-7

Psalm – Psalm 40:1-12

Epistle” – 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

John –  John 1:29-42

Lectionary Epiphany 1 – The Baptism of our Lord

I.Theme –  The Promise of Christ and the revelation of the Trinity 

 “Epiphany”

This is the Sunday for the Baptism of the Lord. It takes us back first to Isaiah.

Isaiahs foreshadows the role Jesus will play. Isaiah promises justice and places the eventual Jesus in God’s sphere. “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight, I have bestowed my spirit upon him.”  Like God he is to be “light to the nations” and to look after the downtrodden (bring out the prisoners from the dungeon) and those that suffer handicaps (eyes that are blind). There are new things to be declared.a 

The Psalm speaks on the role of God noting God’s supremacy, glory,strength and even with a powerful voice that ultimately gives peace to the people. The power of God is particularly evident in nature (waters, trees, the wilderness) . The Psalmist, speaking of God’s covenant with David to be fulfilled in the messianic promise (Psalm 29), is told that he will be named as God’s “first born – highest among the kings of the earth.”

With Isaiah, this story shares the theme of God’s concern for all humankind being impartial, and not limited to the Jews.

The New Testament readings bring Jesus to this mix. Peter is visiting Cornelius in the Epistle, an officer of the occupying Roman army and already a believer in God. Peter breaks Jewish law by visiting a Gentile. The story in Acts 10:34-43 tells of the missionary zeal of the early church in bringing this Good News of the Messiah, the King of Kings and servant King – not only to the household of Israel but to the Gentile world as well. The conversion of Cornelius marks an important turning point in which the Holy Spirit has broken through with a clear new direction, and Peter preaches to this Gentile convert of how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.” 

With the Gospel, it shares the theme of Baptism. “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. The reading is a capsule summary of Jesus meanings.  

Jesus baptism by John is to “fulfill all righteousness.”  Jesus baptism in Matthew shows his continuity with God’s will seen in the Old Testament: the coming of the “Spirit of God” (v. 16), an Old Testament term, shows he is the Messiah; the words spoken by the heavenly “voice” (v. 17) are much like Isaiah 42:1: Jesus is the agent of God who will suffer for others – not the kind of Messiah people expected.  

Christ’s baptism in the Jordan was “theophany,” a manifestation of God to the world, because it was the beginning of our Lord’s public ministry. It was also a “theophany” in that the world was granted a revelation of the Holy Trinity. All three Persons were made manifest together: the Father testified from on high to the divine Sonship of Jesus; the Son received His Father’s testimony; and the Spirit was seen in the form of a dove, descending from the Father and resting upon the Son.

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – Isaiah 42:1-9
Psalm – Psalm 29
Epistle –Acts 10:34-43
Gospel – Matthew 3:13-17 


II. Summary

Isaiah

As appropriate the season of Epiphany, with its theme of revelation/manifestion to the Gentiles, the first reading from Isaiah is a classic text for the idea that God’s chosen one (whether an individual or a collective identity) has a mission to the nations. This was a test time. Chapters 40 to 66 were written during and after the Exile in Babylon. They are filled with a message of trust and confident hope that God will soon end the Exile.

Isaiah 42 is the first of the Servant Songs Growing out of a strong sense of vocation/blessing, these songs develop the theme that those called and chosen will find themselves drawn into a ministry of sharing their knowledge of God with others, and for the sake of others. They can also be understood as aligning Jesus with the shared calling of all Jewish people, and the calling shared with all his followers over time. These are essentially words of solidarity. Rather than marking out Jesus as an exception, they can be understood as celebrating Jesus as an exemplar. 

In 41:1, God speaks to Israelites scattered around the Mediterranean (“coastlands”, also in 42:4) in courtroom language, calling them together “for judgement”. God has “roused a victor from the east” (41:2, Cyrus) to serve him by conquering nations. God has acted in the past (“first”, 41:4) and will prophesy a coming revelation of himself (“last”). Other nations, and the gods they choose, are powerless, for they seek “courage” in what humans make (41:5-7). God demands: “set forth your case” (41:21): prove that you can foretell the future based on the past (“former things”, 41:22)! They cannot (41:28), but God can.

People of other nations choose their gods, but God will select his “servant”, his “chosen”; he has anointed this person (or Israel) with his “spirit”. When the agent comes, he will be unobtrusive and quiet (42:2, unlike Cyrus), gentle, respectful of others, and patient (v. 3). He will “bring forth justice”, i.e. take legal decisions ratifying and executing God’s will. He will not fail (“faint”, 42:4) nor be discouraged (“crushed”) until he has achieved God’s purposes; he will win over people to God’s ways (“teaching”). He will continue to do what God did in the past (42:5): he, the creator, is the source of life for his people (as he was in Adam); he will give his “spirit” to those who follow him. God called Israel as his people, led and “kept” (42:6, Revised English Bible: “formed”, as he formed Adam) them, and swore a pact with them. They are to bring enlightenment to others (“as … a light to the nations”, 42:6), to set them free. 42:8-9 returns to the courtroom: God’s name is Yahweh (“the L ORD”); he alone is God. Having seen his integrity in his acts in the past, his people can be sure that the “new things” he announces will indeed happen. He will bring his integrity to all (42:1).

Psalm

This psalm is probably based on one to the Canaanite god Baal, the storm God, who brings the annual thunder-storm, the source of fertility for the land. In Israelite hands it expresses God’s supremacy and universal rule. In vv. 1-2, all other gods are invited to acknowledge the Lord’s supremacy and the glory due to him. (Israel was not yet strictly monotheistic.) Vv. 3-9 give us a picture of the storm. The “voice of the Lord” (vv. 3, 4, 5, 7-9) is thunder (repetitious claps). The storm is first seen approaching over the Mediterranean (v. 3); it sweeps in to the land, breaking the tall “cedars” (v. 5), as it advances across southern Lebanon. It vents its power on Mount “Lebanon” (v. 6) and then on Mount “Sirion”; it proceeds on into “the wilderness” (v. 8, the Arabian Desert). (“Flames of fire”, v. 7, is lightning.) “Kadesh” (v. 8) is probably Kedar, part of the desert. The Word of God is indeed mighty. In v. 9, “all” the gods do acknowledge God’s supremacy; they cry Glory be to the Lord! God rules over all from his throne (v. 10). May the Lord strengthen Israel and give it peace.

Acts

Peter is visiting Cornelius, an officer of the occupying Roman army and already a believer in God. Peter breaks Jewish law by visiting a Gentile. The Greek here is rough, full of grammatical errors, unlike the rest of Acts, so we may well have Peter’s unedited words. He tells the assembled company that God does not favour Jews over others: anyone, whatever his nationality, who reveres God and lives in unison with him “is acceptable to him” (v. 35). In vv. 36-38, Peter summarizes Jesus’ earthly ministry; he applies prophecies found in Isaiah 52:7 and 61:1 to Christ. (Psalm 107:20 says “… he sent out his word …”) Christ is Kyrios, “Lord of all” (v. 36). In baptism, the Father “anointed” (v. 38) Jesus “with the Holy Spirit” and with the “power” of God (but he was already integral with God’s very being.) The good news (“message”, v. 37) spread throughout Palestine (“Judea”); he “went about” (v. 38) “doing good” and combatting evil, doing deeds so powerful that it is clear that he was God’s agent: he is a model for all to follow.

He suffered death as one guilty of a capital offence, per Deuteronomy 21:23: he hung on a “tree” (v. 39) and was cursed. (By Jesus’ time, the “tree”, a pole, had acquired a cross-arm.) But, although cursed, the Father “raised him” (v. 40) and “allowed him to appear” to those chosen by God – to be “witnesses” (v. 41). In Luke 24:41-43, Jesus eats broiled fish with them, so he was clearly humanly alive again, i.e. physically brought back from death, resurrected. Jesus, the Kyrios, is the one appointed by God to set up the Kingdom and to judge both those who are alive, and those who have died, at Judgement Day (v. 42). Then v. 43: he fulfills many Old Testament prophecies: he is the one through whom sins are forgiven. Forgiveness is now available to “everyone who believes”, not just to Jews.

Matthew

The baptism of Jesus by John is a tradition that Matthew shares with the other three NT Gospels, and that fact alone puts this story into a special category. Interestingly, while all the Gospels agree on the tradition that John was baptized by John, they have different stories about the event. The diversity of the stories stands in contrast to the unanimity of the tradition.

However, Matthew does make one very significant change to the story he inherited from Mark. This is to be observed in the protest from John when Jesus requests baptism, and the reassuring response from Jesus: John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” What matters is not who baptizes but the experience of God, the continuity with God’s will seen in the Old Testament: Jesus really is God’s “Son”;

he is chosen for ministry to God’s people, and

God approves his coming for baptism and his joining with his people in preparing for the coming crisis.

 

III. Articles for this week in WorkingPreacher:

Isaiah – Isaiah 42:1-9

Psalm – Psalm 29

Acts – Acts 10:34-43

Matthew – Matthew 3:13-17 

Advent 3 – Joy

This candle reflects the joy that comes through Jesus’ arrival, and through the salvation he has gifted us. During this third week of advent, this Sunday celebrates the passage Philippians 4:4-5, its verses extolling readers to “rejoice” for “indeed the Lord is near.” This Sunday is traditionally known as “Gaudete” or “Rejoice” Sunday, so called because of the heightened excitement in anticipation for the birth of Christ

During a time where depression is at an all-time high and people seem to be in the most despair, this candle offers a bright light during a dark time.

It is also known as the Shepherd Candle to highlight the joy the shepherds experienced when they received the good news about Christ’s birth (Luke 2:8-20). During the middle of the night, the darkest time, the shepherds encountered angels.

The third candle of Advent has an unusual place. In most advent wreaths, it is the one candle that is a different color, pink, than the others. There is something unique, more spontaneous, and celebratory about the theme of the third week of Advent compared to the others.

In contrast to purple, pink or rose represents joy and celebration. One of the ancient church’s popes gave a citizen a pink rose on the third Sunday of Lent, symbolizing the moment of joy amidst Lent’s fasting and penance. Therefore, when Catholic priests modeled Advent celebrations on Lent, they wore rose-colored robes and set the third Sunday of December as the time to remember joy. The pink or rose-colored advent candle is lit on that third Sunday.

It’s also worth noting that more so than the other three Advent themes, joy is something we associate with spontaneous action. Hope, peace, joy, and love are all things that God places in us and should be ongoing attitudes in our lives. However, hope and peace are generally seen as inner qualities that we cultivate by meditating on ideas like God’s provision. Love is something we do, but also something we cultivate and meditate on.

Joy tends to have a more spontaneous effect. Joy can motivate us to celebrate or worship with glorious abandon (like David did when he danced in front of the ark of the covenant). In that light, it’s appropriate that the advent candle representing joy is a different color, highlighting the different nature of joy compared to the other advent themes.

Preparing the Way of the Lord – Perspectives on Advent 2

Looking at Sin, repentance and Judgement – From Ruth Frey- Trinity Episcopal NY

Matthew’s vision of Jesus’s arrival doesn’t mesh well with our conventional view of the coming of Christmas. No angels or songs here. Instead, we get a strangely dressed man in the wilderness talking about sin, repentance, and fire and calling some people vipers. Definitely not a story that fits into the chatter of a typical holiday party. Yet, John the Baptist is the entry point to meeting Jesus, who declares the reign of God.

Sin, repentance, and judgement carry a lot of negative weight for humans living in today’s world with emotions of shame, guilt, and condemnation following close behind. But what if we considered sin as a matter of how we relate to what we have — be it power, resources, or material goods?

What if we saw repentance as the correcting response when we use our power, resources, and material goods in ways that do not benefit, but rather hurt, our neighbor and the earth?

And maybe being called into judgement is a call to see the world as it really is, in all its glory and pain, and to be given another chance to respond to it all with love.


Prepare the Way  – Karen Hanson

When I imagine John the Baptist urging people to prepare the way of the Lord, I think of my time as a trauma chaplain in a busy safety-net hospital in Minneapolis. It was important to have a direct path from the ambulance bay to the Stabilization Room so that our critical trauma patients could be quickly transported to life-sustaining help.

At that time the paramedics had a few corners to turn and occasionally an obstacle that had to be removed in order to get the patient where they needed to go. Years later, a redesign of the Emergency Department created a beeline straight to the Stabilization Room. It’s almost as if the planners took that Isaiah passage echoed by the Baptist literally: remove the obstacles, make the path straight, and the rough smooth so that people might be delivered from death and set on a healing path.

Christians think too small in Advent. It’s not primarily individual work that needs doing. It is not a time of exclusively private reflection. The coming of the Lord is always happening and requires lots of heavy lifting. As forgiven and free people of God in Christ, Christians are called to do the work of removing obstacles that keep people from the full, liberating deliverance of God. They are to level the hills and fill in the valleys so that everyone is on an equal footing. They are to remove any system, stumbling stone, or barrier that hinders the return. This is what it means to prepare the way of the Lord.

Contemporary Christians who seek to follow this Lord have strayed from the way of Christ if they only feed the hungry and house the homeless. These acts may save lives but they don’t transform. The way of the Lord changed the captives into the homeward bound. Jesus’ good news to the poor was intended to upend the systems of oppression that the rich have always exacted on the lowly, among them the behemoth of advanced capitalism in our present day. Preparing the way of the Lord is not just a private, individual matter. It is world-changing and rallies everyone to be involved. As Mary proclaims in the Magnificat, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly” (Luke 1:52).

Preparing the way of the Lord is urgent work for Christians here and now, for there are many wounded, lowly, grieving, dying, and exiled people that need a level path to get the help they need. Preparing the way of the Lord isn’t a past event; it is ongoing. The Way is made as people walk it together.

Prepare the Way

Looking at Sin by Debie Thomas

John’s gaunt austerity is the only gateway we have to the swaddling clothes, angel’s wings, and fleecy lambs we hold dear each December. As baffling as it may seem, the holy drama of the season depends on the disheveled baptizer’s opening act. So again, why the wilderness?

For starters, because the wilderness is a place of vulnerability, risk, and powerlessness. In the wilderness, we have no safety net. To locate ourselves at the outskirts of security and power is to confess our neediness in the starkest terms. In the wilderness, we have no choice but to wait and watch as if our lives depend on God showing up. Because they do. And it’s into such an environment — an environment so far removed from safety as to make safety laughable — that the word of God comes.

“Sin.” We associate it with shame, guilt, and condemnation.

Advent begins with an honest, wilderness-style reckoning with sin. We can’t get to the manger unless we go through John, and John is all about repentance. Is it possible that this might become an occasion for relief? Maybe, if we can get past our baggage and follow John out into the wilderness, we will find comfort in the fact that something more profound is at stake in our souls than, “I make mistakes sometimes,” or “I’ve got a few issues.” What ails is something deeper, grimmer, and far more consequential.

Sin, at its heart, is a refusal to become fully human. It’s anything that interferes with the opening up of our whole hearts to God, to others, to creation, and to ourselves. Sin is estrangement, disconnection, sterility, disharmony. It’s the sludge that slows us down, that says, “Quit. Stop trying. Give up. Change is impossible.”

Sin is apathy. Care-less-ness. A frightened resistance to an engaged life. Sin is the opposite of creativity, the opposite of abundance, the opposite of flourishing. Sin is a walking death. And it is easier to spot, name, and confess a walking death in the wilderness than it is anywhere else.

John underscores his message of repentance with a harrowing description of the coming Messiah

I wonder if we squirm because we misconstrue the meaning of judgment. I tend to equate judgment with condemnation, but in fact, to judge something is to see it clearly — to know it as it truly is. In my dictionary, synonyms for judgment include discernment, acuity, sharpness, and perception.

What if John is saying that the Messiah who is coming really sees us? That he knows us at our very core? Maybe the winnowing fork is an instrument of deep love, patiently wielded by the One who discerns in us rich harvests still hidden by chaff. Maybe it’s in offering God every particular of our lives that we give Him permission to “clear” us — to separate all that’s destructive from all that is good, beautiful, and worthy.

Finally, Matthew suggests that the wilderness is a place where we can see the landscape whole, and participate in God’s great work of leveling inequality and oppression.

Unless we’re in the wilderness, it’s hard to see our own privilege, and even harder to imagine giving it up. No one standing on a mountaintop wants the mountain flattened. But when we’re wandering in the wilderness, and immense, barren landscapes stretch out before us in every direction, we’re able to see what privileged locations obscure. Suddenly, we feel the rough places beneath our feet. We experience what it’s like to struggle down twisty, crooked paths. We glimpse arrogance in the mountains and desolation in the valleys, and we begin to dream God’s dream of a wholly reimagined landscape. A landscape so smooth and straight, it enables “all flesh” to see the salvation of God.

Where are you located during this Advent season? How close are you to security and power, and how open are you to risking the wilderness to hear a word from God? What might repentance look like for you, here and now? Where is God leveling the ground you stand on, and what will it take for you to participate in that uncomfortable but essential work?

Debie Thomas: The Voice of One Crying
https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/2470-the-voice-of-one-crying

Commentary, Nov. 20, 2022, “Christ the King” Sunday

I.Theme –   Jesus –  A real king – bringing God’s reign of justice and mercy to earth 

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:


Old Testament – Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm – Psalm 46
Epistle –Colossians 1:11-20
Gospel – Luke 23:33-43


This is a transitional Sunday. Christ the King Sunday signals the end of Ordinary Time and the end of our use of the Year C readings. 

The end of year readings are partially about kingship – good kings, bad kings and our treatment of them.  Jeremiah provides an analysis of bad kings – blamed for scattering the sheep and being evil. This is not just one ruler but a trend.

A secondary theme is God’s role in all of this. God will make good kings again and restore the people’s relationship to the earth and to each other. The Psalm demonstrates God’s protection and like a King defense of the people.  It is a praise psalm.  While there will be troubles, dislocations and woundes,  ultimately God will be bring peace end division. 

All of this culminates in the Gospel reading. Jesus is God’s way of ruling in this world and in the world to come.  His ruling was born out of struggle. We are there with him with criminals on either side of him.

Then we see Jesus exercising his dominion in the midst of mockery, coercion, and arrogance. His two "words" from the cross in Luke’s account enact his authority. The first (Luke 23:34) fits powerfully in the narrative: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing!"

The second (Luke 23:43) anticipates Jesus’ authority as the Son of Man, conferring mercy on sinners in God’s ultimate judgment: "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."  He is there meeting the needs of those around him. 

Joining Jesus in paradise had nothing to do with dying. It had nothing to do with being raised from the dead. It had everything to do with seeing beyond the appearances to the truth, that God is victorious in the cross. It has everything to do with the thief’s realization that his own condemnation on the cross bore no relationship to his standing before God. 

He asks neither to be rescued from this plight nor revenged for his suffering. Rather, he wants only to be remembered, to not be forgotten. And how does Jesus respond? He exceeds even the criminal’s wildest expectations, declaring that today, even now, he would enter with Jesus into paradise.  In that moment, he became free. 

The Gospel is the story of how Jesus the Messiah of God brought God’s reign of justice and mercy to earth, and Luke’s account presents the crucified Messiah enacting God’s reign, surrounded by mocking, brutal violence.

David Lose writes how Jesus became a real king. "What kind of king is this, who welcomes a criminal into his realm and promises relief and release amid obvious agony? It is a king who refuses to conform to the expectations of this world, who will be governed neither by its limited vision of worthiness nor its truncated understanding of justice. It is a king who is not content to rule from afar, but rather comes to meet us in our weakness and need. It is a king willing to embrace all, forgive all, redeem all, because that is his deepest and truest nature. It is, finally, our king, come to usher us into his kingdom even as he implores us to recognize and make more manifest that kingdom already around us. 

II. Summary

Old Testament – Jeremiah 23:1-6

In Chapters 21-22, Jeremiah has made prophecies about four of the five last kings of Judah. Three of these he considers bad, for siding with foreigners.

Rather than predicting the fate of the last one, Zedekiah, God now speaks (through Jeremiah) about an ideal future king. God blames Judah’s kings (“shepherds”) for scattering his “sheep”; they will be punished “for your evil doings” (v. 2). But God will bring the people together again, to perfect safety, and will set good kings (“shepherds”, v. 4) over them. Their state will be as God originally intended: in the first creation story, God commanded humans to “be fruitful and multiply” (v. 3). God makes a formal pronouncement (“the days are surely coming”, v. 5) when God will “raise up” a godly “Branch” (shoot, descendant) of David’s line who will be wise, just and godly, ruling over both “Judah” (v. 6) and “Israel”. (Zedekiah is alluded to in a wordplay, the Hebrew for “righteousness” being tzidkenu.) Later prophets, in dark times of unfaithful kings, recalled this ideal rule and promised its realization in the future. This led to expecting a new era, when God would himself rule the faithful.

Psalm  – Psalm 46

This psalm tells of God’s protection and defense of his people. Perhaps the psalmist thinks of Isaiah 8:6-7; there “streams” (v. 4) are what God provides to the godly. The “city of God” is Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place on earth. Even if natural disasters (earthquakes, vv. 2-3) or political turmoil (v. 6) occur, or earth returns to its primordial chaotic state (“waters”, v. 3), God will remain (“not be moved”, v. 5), answering night-long prayer in the “morning”. Israel has suffered “desolations” (v. 8) for not doing God’s will. In a liturgy, a priest or prophet invites participants to consider God’s deeds: he ends political turmoil, bringing peace (v. 9). Recognize that God is supreme over all the earth! (v. 10) He is with his people and keeps them safe (v. 11). 

Epistle – Colossians 1:11-20

The author has heard of the trust in Christ his readers have because of their hope of eternal life. “This hope … is bearing fruit and growing … from the day you … truly comprehended the grace of God” (his freely given gift of love expressed in Christ, vv. 5-6). So he prays for them that they may experience God’s ways to the full, leading the ethical lives God expects, and growing in knowledge of him (v. 10). Faced with deviant teaching, may God make them “strong” (v. 11) and “prepared to endure everything”. God (in Christ) has “rescued us” (v. 13) from the power of evil (“darkness”) and moved us to Christ’s realm, enabling us to share with others in the “inheritance” (v. 12, in being God’s children).

Vv. 15-20 is a hymn about Christ (“He”); he is how we see (and access) God (“image”). Angelology was popular at the time; “thrones …” (v. 16) were orders of angels; each was “created”, had its origin “in him”, and exists “for him”; any power they have is subordinate to Christ’s. The whole of creation, both heavenly and earthly, were created “through him” (v. 16), with his participation. He is the “firstborn” (v. 18), the inheritor from the Father, of created-ness; he governs it and is the cohesive power of the universe (v. 17). He existed “before all things”, before the first creative act. Greeks saw the “head” (v. 18) as the body’s source of life and growth. Christ is this to the Church, and “head” of it in the modern sense. He is “the beginning”, the nucleus of restoration of humanity to union with God, of the new created-ness. In his death (“blood of his cross”, v. 20), resurrection, and ascension to the Father, he is the forerunner (“firstborn”, v. 18) of our elevation to being with the Father, of our reconciliation with the Father (v. 20). Christians at Colossae tried to find ultimate power and truth in various deities, but in Christ all power and ultimate truth is present (v. 19).

Gospel – Luke 23:33-43  

Jesus has been betrayed, arrested, mocked, beaten, and sentenced to death. He, Simon of Cyrene (carrying the crossbar), two criminals and a few police have walked to Calvary, “the place that is called The Skull” (v. 33).

Jesus continues his ministry of giving forgiveness to those who have not heard the Good News (v. 34). The division of his clothing fulfills the prophecy in Psalm 22:18; to be deprived of one’s clothing was to lose one’s identity. (Biblical examples are prisoners, slaves, prostitutes and damned people.)

The mob contemplates what is happening, but the “leaders” (v. 35) taunt Jesus: they blaspheme against God. In accord with Psalm 69:21, a psalm of the innocently suffering godly one, Jesus is offered “sour wine” (v. 36) – to revive him, and to prolong his ordeal.

Ironically, “Messiah of God, his chosen one” (v. 35) and “King of the Jews” (v. 38) are all true.

Three points emerge from this passage. First, we note the passage in general functions as a "last temptation of Christ. " Jesus refuses to subvert God’s plan by saving himself from a horrible death.

One might even say that the temptation here for Jesus to act in some way to "save himself" might even be stronger than it was in Luke 3. First, Luke skillfully uses language that puts Jesus’ trials here in a biblical context of unjust suffering. In v. 35 the high priests are said to "mock" him. A placard was placed around the criminal’s neck, bearing an “inscription” (v. 38) stating his crime.

Second, we see the recognition by the evildoer of Jesus’ kingdom. One criminal joins with the mob (v. 39) but the other responds positively to Jesus (vv. 40-41). For him there is salvation; Jesus pronounces him free of sin. Only a king can give pardon. (“Paradise”, v. 43, was the Jewish name for the temporary resting place of the godly dead.) 

Third, we note the idea that today is the right time to respond to the claims of the kingdom on us.

David Lose writes "The kingdom of God (or of heaven, in Matthew) is not simply about supplanting an earthly ruler with a heavenly one. In heralding the coming kingdom of God, Jesus was not advocating regime change. Rather, Jesus was announcing the advent of an entirely different way of being in relationship with each other and with God. It’s not the ruler that changes, but the realm in which we live… But the kingdom — or, maybe better, realm — of God that Jesus proclaims represents a whole new reality where nothing is the same — not our relationships or rules, not our view of self or others, not our priorities or principles — nothing. Everything we thought we knew about kings and kingdoms, in fact, gets turned right on its head.

"Further, the realm of God over which Christ is king is not lurking somewhere "out there." It is already here among us, heralded by Christ’s preaching and made manifest in his death and resurrection. Yes, some future consummation may await us, yet the new realm is also already here, in our very midst. That means, of course, that we presently live in both realms, citizens of this world and citizens of the kingdom Jesus inaugurated. 

" No longer can we keep our faith a private affair and ignore the need of our neighbor. No longer can we sing robust and rousing hymns about God’s glory and majesty and ignore the plight of God’s good earth. No longer can we pray that God’s kingdom come and yet manage our wealth as if it actually belonged — rather than was entrusted — to us. And no longer can we relegate the realm of God to a comfortably distant — or for that matter frighteningly near — future. The realm and rule of God is all around us, beckoning us to live by its vision and values even now.

All Saints Day

All Saints Sunday

 

In our Baptismal Covenant we, along with traditional Christians around the globe, profess in the ancient Baptismal Creed the words: “I believe in… the communion of saints, … the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.” (Book of Common Prayer, page 304)

From its very beginning, the Church understood the Body of Christ to encompass all baptized persons, both the living and the dead. Christ’s kingdom transcends time and space; and not even death can sever the relationship that the faithful have in Christ.

All are united in a mystical communion with Christ by virtue of baptism (1 Corinthians 6:11). The term saint was used by Paul to designate all baptized Christians (Romans 1:7; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1), even the unruly ones (1 Corinthians 1:2)!

In the New Testament, all those who believe and were baptized were referred to as saints. The word saint originally meant "holy".

On All Saints Day, we make celebrate this idea in the here and now by recognizing and celebrating our relationship, not only with those around us today, but also with all those who have gone before us in all times and place. They are connected in one communion. 

All Saints is also a time for welcoming new members. Traditionally baptisms are held in the Episcopal Church at the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord,  Easter, Pentecost,  and All Saints. 

It wasn’t until round about the third century that the church began using the word saint to refer to those who had been martyred for the faith

The early Church especially honored martyrs, those who had died for their faith. Praying for the dead is actually borrowed from Judaism, as recorded in 2 Maccabees 12:41-45 of the Apocrypha.

Local churches kept a record of their own martyrs and each year celebrated their “birthdays,” the dates of death when they were “born” into eternal life.

By the fourth century many parts of the Church had set a day of observance for their martyrs, their confessors (those who had been punished for their faith but did not die), and their virgins, all of those known by name and unknown.

The celebration of All Saints’ Day on November 1 began as a feast day commemorating all martyrs, confessors and virgin, including those whose names were not known. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV officially established All Saints’ Day in order to honor all the saints at one time.

It was originally celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost, and the Eastern Church still observes this date. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III moved it to November 1.

The confusing aspect of saints is that we have many saints that we honor on specific days. However, there are many unknown or unsung Saints, who may have been forgotten. On All Saints’ Day, we celebrate these Holy Ones of the Lord, and ask for their prayers for us.

Since they are endowed with holiness, saints are close to God, and may perform miracles on earth. Roman Catholics, and some other Christians, honor saints and ask them for guidance in daily life.

Not only is All Saints an occasion on which we might celebrate this communion of saints with prayer, it is also a reminder of God’s desire to sanctify the lives of all God’s people. Too often Christians have used the term saint to describe only those of extraordinary sanctity who have been officially recognized (canonized) by the Church.

But the life of each Christian is to radiate the love of God given to us in Christ so that all the world might know that this love transforms lives.

Lectionary, Pentecost 25, October 23, 2022

I. Theme –  Seeking Virtue in Lowliness 

“The Pharisee and the Tax Collector”- Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872)

The lectionary readings are here or individually:  

First Reading – Sirach 35:12-17   OR
First Reading – Jeremiah 14:7-10,19-22
Psalm – Psalm 84:1-6
Epistle – 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18
Gospel – Luke 18:9-14 

Today’s readings define lowliness and celebrate its virtue. Jeremiah speaks for God’s people, confessing their sin and pleading for God’s mercy. Paul looks forward to the reward of his many humble labors for the faith. In Jesus’ parable, two men come to pray but only the humble man leaves justified by God.

Our life of faith can be trying, at times seeming even meaningless. We feel the pressures around us and wonder where God is. Sometimes our own choices have taken us away from God; but God remains faithful to us. But it is up to us to turn back and see that God has been with us all along. We may leave God, but God cannot leave us. And if we stick with it, we will see that God has seen us through, all along.

Anne Lamott asserts that the essential elements of prayer are “Help, Thanks, and Wow.”  Today’s readings involve a litany of praise – a spiritual “wow” at the many ways God moves in our lives and the world.  God is always at work faithfully in the microcosm and macrocosm and the human and non-human.  The only response we can make to God’s ubiquitous grace is praise.

II. Summary

First Reading –  Jeremiah 14:7-10,19-22

Jeremiah 14 shows two voices: the first is the people, pleading for God’s deliverance because God is their God. The second is the Lord, who declares that since the people have left God, God has left the people, allowing them to experience rejection . The reading is preceded by six verses that describe a horrible drought that affects both rich and poor alike

Jeremiah uses the liturgical form of the communal lament, found in many psalms. He first describes his suffering, then confesses past sins. Israel is aware that she has done something wrong in light of the on-going drought.  The petition is interesting.  God is not asked to look at Israel’s repentance, but rather at God’s own reputation, “act O Lord, for your own name’s sake”! 

 Often there is a plaintive questioning of God, then an appeal to God’s own honor. ”!  This questioning suggests that God has been absent, or even silent.  God is described as a stranger, a visitor, someone who is confused.  This unusual psychological approach is interrupted by an ejaculation of praise, “You, O Lord, are in our midst.” In the communal laments of the psalms, such an appeal seems to have been answered by an oracle of divine assurance. Here, however, the lord responds with a declaration of judgment.

Jeremiah intercedes on behalf of God’s people, not as an official spokesman or temple prophet (for he was rejected by the established religious authorities), but as one whose individual calling involves him in the fate of the nation. In verses 19-22, the people come back, asking God for mercy, acknowledging that they have fallen away and that the punishment they experience is their pwn rejection of God, entering into the absence of God. Now, they acknowledge that it is God who is the Creator, God who restores, and God who is the promise of hope.  God is acknowledged, and the people can make their petitions about rain (salvation).

Israel confesses to a dependency upon God.  How can God ignore them ?

First Reading –  Sirach 35:12-17

The book of Sirach, also called Ecclesiasticus in older Bibles, reflects the teachings of Judaism in the second century BC. The author, Ben Sirach (50:27), describes himself as “one who devotes himself to the study of the law of the Most High” (38:34). Apparently, Sirach ran a religious school, a “house of instruction” (51:23), for those whose wealth afforded them such leisure. He set down in writing the content of his oral instruction about 180 BC. His grandson translated the work into Greek sometime after 132 BC.

By this time in Israel’s history  Israel’s great theological battles about monotheism are over, the kings have come and gone, and the Exile is a distant memory. The prophets have been silent for a long time, and many Jews are living in cities where pagans are the majorities (although Sirach was written in Jerusalem). In these circumstances, writers asked how one should live a good life, what moral and spiritual choices should one make, what behavior is honorable in a religious person?

It was included in the Greek translation of scripture (the Septuagint, usually abbreviated LXX). Although not a part of the Hebrew canon of scripture, the work was highly valued both in Jewish and Christian circles. Thus it acquired its Latin title, Ecclesiasticus, “of the Church,” that is, to be read in church. It is the last major product of the tradition of wisdom literature (such as Job, Proverbs and many of the Psalms), and is an early example of the teaching that developed into the rabbinic schools of Judaism.

The central theme to this reading is justice, and impartial justice meted out by a righteous God

God stands in the midst of all of our pieties and mores and looks away from them to the true righteousness of justice

What are a  worthy of sacrifice to God?

1 Keeping the law, observing the commandments (verse 1),

2 works of charity, giving alms (verse 2),

3 refraining from evil and avoiding injustice (verse 3).

What are unwelcome on the altar of God (the physical altar or any figurative one)?

1 Bribes and the fruits of extortion (verse 11).

2  Believing that if you are poor you will be shown partiality

Psalm – Psalm 84:1-6

This psalm resembles the songs of Zion (see Psalms 46, 48, 76 and 87) and the pilgrim Songs of Ascent (Psalm 120–124). Likely composed on the occasion of a pilgrimage to the temple, the psalm express the strength of the psalmist’s longing for the temple and the trials and rewards of the journey.

Psalm 84:1-7 sings praise of God who is our home, God who is our shelter, God who is the one who is our strength. God is the God of Creation, and in God we find our joy, our contentment, our being.

All find a home in the temple, even the humble bird, and all who make pilgrimage to come there.  They are happy.  The image is of the pilgrim making a journey to the temple, the pilgrim’s every thought being of the Temple.  They journey across mountains, but it is Mt. Zion where they will find a home and see God

Epistle-  2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18

Paul loved the young churchman Timothy and gave him encouragement and various instructions in at least two letters. Today’s is the last passage we’ll read from this source this year. It’s a kind of farewell from the senior apostle. He speaks of himself as one whose life is ebbing away, “poured out as a libation” (v. 6). 2 Timothy proclaims the grace of God’s protection.

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 contains familiar words of perseverance, of keeping the faith and finishing the race. Wreaths and crowns were worn by Jews as a sign of honor and joy at feasts and weddings; for Greeks they were a sign of a victorious athlete.

God is the source of protection and deliverance.  The grace of God has protected the apostle in the “many dangers, toils, and snares” of life and God will “lead him home” to the heavenly kingdom  From divine protection and sustenance, grace abounds.

When we see our faith through, sticking through with God when everything else around us fails us, we know that God will see us through to the end. Similar to the psalms of old, the writer shares that God will be their defender, their strength, and their endurance

The “lion’s mouth” (v. 17) is a common Old Testament metaphor for violent death; thus figuratively for the imperial power. Verse 18 seems to echo the lord’s Prayer. Paul acknowledges that his work is finished, and he looks forward both to God’s reward and Jesus’ return.

Gospel –  Luke 18:9-14 

In last Sunday’s sharp divide between a pompous and unrighteous judge and a persistent widow (two aspects of the social spectrum)  Luke’s again lifts up the poor and the lowly by offering a commentary on prayer – prayer that comes from both ends of the spectrum. 

Jesus uses the example of a Pharisee and a tax collector, figures that would have been common in his day—a Pharisee would have been someone who was respectable and a tax collector would have been despised; he uses these figures and flips the stereotype—the Pharisee ends up being the one who is self-righteous, looking pleased with himself and it is the tax collector who is humble, looking for forgiveness from God

Jesus’ parable contrasts two styles of prayer: the first, by the Pharisee, is loudly self-righteous. The second, by the tax collector (another social reject), is a plea for God’s mercy to a sinner. The prayers themselves are distinctive with the one emphasizing the innate righteousness of his situation, and the other recognizing his sinfulness.  The Pharisee’s biddings all begin with “I am”, while the Publican simply acknowledges that he is a sinner.  The Pharisee’s behavior is typical, attempting to outdo what the Mosaic Law required. 

The Pharisee in today’s story seems truly thankful. According to the beliefs of the times, he shows an honest and laudable desire to contribute to the coming of the kingdom by fulfilling the law. Indeed, he exceeds the demands of the law. Fasting was required only once a year on the Day of Atonement. The Pharisees, however, fasted twice weekly, on Mondays and Thursdays. Likewise, the law required a tithe of all produce of grain, fruit and herd. The Pharisee extended his tithe to include all his income.

The tax collector, whose occupation branded him as an extortioner and traitor, knows he has no merits of his own. Using the language of Psalm 51, he throws himself on God’s mercy. It is he who is “justified” (v. 14), that is, accepted, made right with God.

Caught up in his self-made goodness, the Pharisee closes the door to the grace of interdependence on a power more loving than himself.  In contrast, the Tax Collector knows that he cannot survive apart from divine gracefulness.  He throws himself on God’s mercy, knowing that mercy alone can save.

Another distinction between the praying styles is the amount of time each gives to listening. The Pharisee is so busy extolling his virtues that God would be hard pressed to get a word in edgewise. The tax collector’s simple sentence leaves plenty of silent spaces in which God can speak.

 

From the 10 Lepers

From the 10 Lepers , Luke 17:11-19

Reflections by The Rt. Rev. David C. Jones

“In this wonderful story from the life of Jesus, we see the connection between gratitude and faith. The Samaritan was so grateful that he prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and profoundly thanked him. It is that expression of gratitude, yes, profound gratitude that is at the heart of our stewardship of time, talent and treasure. We give in response to the One who has given us life and the hope of Salvation. It is an attitude of being “all in”, one expressed by the Samaritan, which informs my participation in church life and personal giving.

“I am “all in” when I am fully present in worship, when I am committed to parish outreach or with my personal giving.

“I am “all in” when I am responding from a heart of gratitude – wanting to give and continue to give of myself, my time, talent and treasure.”

Lectionary, Sept 25, 2022 – Pentecost 16, Year C

  

“The Rich Man and the Poor Lazarus” – Hendrick ter Brugghen 1625

The lectionary readings are here or individually:  

First Reading – Amos 6:1a,4-7
Psalm – Psalm 146
Epistle – 1 Timothy 6:6-19
Gospel – Luke 16:19-31 

Today’s readings warn of the dangers of spiritual complacency. Or another word – “You reap what you sow.” As Jerusalem is conquered, Jeremiah buys a plot of land to show his faith that God will restore the land. Amos cautions  that indulgence and apathy will lead to terror and loss. Paul urges Timothy to eagerly embrace eternal life and the riches of Christ Jesus, enduring until Jesus returns.  In the Parable of the Richman , the rich man in today’s gospel story exchanges his comforts for torment, while Lazarus exchanges his tormented life for paradise.

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke, like the words of Timothy, is a warning against wealth, consumerism, and materialism.  Enjoyment and abundance lived apart from care for the poor leads to spiritual destruction.  The rich man’ sin is not only his consumption but his apathy.  He may not even notice the beggar at the door and, if he does, Lazarus is an inconvenience, standing in the way of enjoying his property, and frankly a blight on the neighborhood.  In the afterlife, the tables are turned and now the rich man suffers, while the beggar rejoices.

These scriptures present both challenge and hope.  They root our hope in our relationship with God.  Those who commit themselves to God’s cause can imagine futures and act on their imagination, even if the arc of imagination goes beyond their lifetimes.  They can face illness, external threat, and death knowing that God’s providence encompasses them. 

What is life worth living for? Wealth, worldly success, fame is temporary—it holds us to focusing on what we have right now.  Life apart from a relationship with God eventually leads to hopelessness, especially in the context of life’s limiting situations. Christ calls us into the life that endures for eternity involving love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness endure forever, it cannot be taken away from us.

We need to look out for others . Does someone close to us suffer in silence? We cannot ignore those who hold cardboard signs at our major intersections: “Hungry family,” or “Will work for food.” But what about those who hold no signs and have no visible sores? Do lonely people languish within our offices? What family members feel homeless or neglected in our homes? If we look within, what parts of ourselves do we deny, repress or allow to stagnate? It is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

All too often, Christians focus on eternal life, life after death—heaven. We forget that Jesus specifically spoke about how we need to live for others—the first shall become last of all and servant of all—but yet we don’t live this way. This parable reminds us that our faith in Jesus must be lived out in how we have compassion for others. Because eternity depends upon how we live now. Eternity is not the same as the afterlife. Eternity is what lasts forever—compassion, love, mercy, faithfulness.

II. Summary

First Reading –  Amos 6:1a,4-7

For a long time, the territory we call the Holy Land was divided between a northern kingdom called Israel (Samaria) and a southern kingdom known as Judah (Zion). The city Jerusalem was in Judah. In the northern kingdom, at Bethel (Hebrew for “House of God”) there was a very ancient shrine. Its priesthood was older than that established by Moses’ brother Aaron.

By 800 BC, the Assyrians were weakened through battle and indecisive leadership, allowing the northern kingdom, Israel, a respite from constant pressure from the north. Beginning about 745 BC under the leadership of Tiglathpileser III, the Assyrian empire roused itself and in its conquests later destroyed Israel in 721 BC.

About the time that the new king was coming to power, the prophet Amos saw the signs of approaching disaster. This was not merely astute political analysis, but rather a religious insight into the instability of a society that had forgotten its covenant commitment to justice.

The 9th and 8th centuries BC saw the beginning of a class of urban poor. Archaeological excavations of Samaria show great differences between rich and poor urban dwellings in comparison with the relative uniformity of the 10th century. Oblivious to the needs of the poor, Israel’s wealthy enjoyed their private luxuries.

But Amos sees clearly that neither wealth nor territory will save an Israel corroded by injustice.  Amos has seen the corruption of the wealthy elite, the ruling class, and how they have pampered themselves and worshipped other gods and forgotten the poor—Amos condemns them, sharing that they will be the first taken away. The ruling class lived in lavish excess while the poor suffered, and did not pay attention to anything but their own success and wealth—ignoring the warning signs all around them that the land would fall to Assyria, that they would suffer just as they had caused their own people to suffer.

The difficulty  is not the content of the message, but rather the context in which it must be delivered.  Amos describes it meticulously.  It is a context of prosperity and luxury.  Into the midst of this kind of living, a hard message of doom must be delivered.

The passage begins with the word “Alas”, and we could properly substitute the words “Woe to you.”  The audience for this vision of woe is not only the people of the north (Mount Samaria) but the south as well (Zion). One senses a bit of a sibling rivalry here.  Who is the more prosperous?  Who is the more confident? 

Amos wants them to attend to greater questions of what it is that God wants.  What follows is a laundry list of superficial comforts: lamb, veal, popular songs, music, good wine, ointments, luxurious furniture, and restful times.  Does this sound familiar to you?  The promise that the prophet makes is not a comfortable one.  Those who enjoy these things, he says, will be the first to go into exile. 

Psalm –  Psalm 146

Psalms 146–150 all begin with the shout “Hallelujah!” (meaning “Praise the lord!”). They, along with Psalm 145, were part of daily morning prayers in the synagogue.

Psalm 146 sings of God’s deliverance and praise for God’s faithfulness. It has the form of an individual thanksgiving but invites participation by the congregation. The promises of freedom and sight echo the signs of the expected Messiah. The psalm calls for an unwavering trust in the lord’s goodness, power and sovereign reign in the midst of outwardly dark and painful conditions.

The listeners are reminded that if they are faithful, their hope is always in God who is the creator. God is the one who will reign forever and brings justice.  Of special interest are the activities of God that are praised here which become the signs of the messianic community especially in Isaiah: justice to the oppressed, food to the hunger, sight to the blind, makes the bent stand erect, loving the righteous, sustaining widows and orphans, and care for strangers or outsiders. 

Perhaps this psalm was chosen by the framers of the lectionary to serve as an antidote to the mindless behaviors of the leaders of Israel in the reading from Amos.  The psalmist is clear about the present and the future of things.  He praises God “while I live” and “while I breathe.”  However, the vision of the departing breath, and the return to “the dust” limits life.  Therefore trust in God, not princes, the psalmist repeats.  And while you are here enact acts of love toward the helpless as God does.

Epistle-  1 Timothy 6:6-19

Timothy, whose name means “honored by” or “honoring God” was a companion of St. Paul.  He accompanied Paul throughout Asia Minor and in Eastern Europe, mainly Greece.  He was the son of a Greek man and his mother Eunice was a Jew, who was described as “a believer).  Paul first comes into contact with Timothy in Lystra where Timothy was a disciple.  He then follows Paul for the next few years, serving as an assistant and organizing congregations on Paul’s behalf.  Tradition has it that Paul appointed Timothy as bishop of Ephesus around 65 CE.  He died in 90 CE.  He is honored in the calendar on 26 January, along with Titus and Silas as Companions of Saint Paul.

The author’s purpose  is to oppose certain teacher’s who were proclaiming a “knowledge” that was at odds with the Wisdom that is Christ.  Secondly, the author’s purpose was to urge Timothy (actually all Christian leaders) to a right practice and administration of their calling as disciples and leaders in the Church

1 Timothy 6:6-19 reminds us that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Materialism stands  between us and God.  “But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.”  The encouragement to “fight the good fight” (v. 12) is a metaphor not from warfare but from athletics. The “good confession” (v. 12) probably refers to the confession of faith made at baptism (from which the baptismal creed developed).

Paul uses the word manifestation or appearing both for Jesus’ incarnation and for his second coming. This term was used in the cult of emperor-worship; Paul seems to have deliberately appropriated it to contrast Christ to the emperor. The terms that describe God (vv. 15-16) emphasize God’s sovereignty and complete holiness.

The closing paragraph addresses different issues.  The author returns to his exhortations about how to think about wealth. First it is God who provides for our prosperity.   Our materialistic acquisitions will fade and in the process, cut us off from our ultimate happiness, our relationship with God.    True wealth is measured in what we do for others – in our generosity.  All of this provides for a “good foundation” for what is to come – true life.  The final sentence provides a last gibe at the “false teachers”, “avoid profane babbling and the absurdities of so-called knowledge.” 

When we look back at Amos, we see how the rich lived, and how the lust for wealth caused the poor to be trampled on—Timothy gives a similar warning about the corruptive powers that wealth can have on the faithful. We need to shed the desire to be rich and instead remember the fullness of the promise of God: eternal life, a life that begins now and lasts forever. Riches are fleeting and will fail us, but God’s love will endure forever.

Gospel –  Luke 16:19-31 

During the last few Sundays we have been in the midst of a dispute about values, money, and wealth.  The dispute has been with the Scribes and Pharisees, and a bit of teaching for the disciples as well.  In the verses that precede this parable, Jesus talks about some things of value that exist for eternity: the Law and the prophets, and marriage.  Now begins a parable that contrasts things that are very much the interest of Luke. 

Luke 16:19-31 is the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus and is a double-edged parable. There are two main characters – a rich man, who remains unnamed, and a poor man, Lazarus.  Both are lavishly described.  The wealthy man is “dressed in purple” and the poor man is “covered in sores”.  The rich man ignores Lazarus, and Lazarus remains at the rich man’s gate.  Now Jesus, much to Luke’s delight, turns the tables and it is death that does the deed.  Now it is the poor man who is luxuriating in heaven’s rest, and the rich man that is covered with the torments of Hades

At this time the idea of Sheol (Greek, Hades), the place of all the departed who led there a shadowy quasi existence, had developed into two places, one of torment (usually called Gehenna) and one of bliss, Paradise. The chasm reveals the irreversibility of the situation.  This first part is, then, a parable of reversal, indicating the changes to take place in the kingdom as declared by Mary in 1:52-53. Lazarus, whose name means “God helps,” illustrates God’s special concern for the poor.

During this conversation a third character is introduced, Abraham.  His entrance is an interesting one in that he, the epitome of hospitality, is in conversation with the rich man who was the antithesis of hospitality.  Abraham’s presence is also of interest in that life after death was thought of in terms of a banquet hosted by Abraham and Sarah (cf. Genesis 18). 

The second part of the parable (“He said, `Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house– for I have five brothers– that he may warn them”)  adds a second point: Moses (the law) and the prophets give a sufficient call to repentance. The indifference of the rich man to the poor man’s fate is reflected in the indifference that his brothers will affect when the poor man supposedly goes to preach to them.   This part of the story is a parable of warning; its theme is “too late!” Those whose hearts are closed to compassion will have minds closed to revelation.

Yet the parable holds out hope. The brutal violence is not the final word; those who suffer such shattering losses in this life will be vindicated in the next. There is justice in the divine design. Perhaps it is harder to enter the first part of the parable because it strikes closer to home. While the gospel does not record that Lazarus asked Dives for help, Dives must have passed him daily. The man covered with sores lay at his gate. Sometimes we become blind to the scenes we see most often.

The final sentence may reflect the disbelief of those who were reached with the Gospel of the Resurrection, but refused to believe it.  In this way we are painted a detailed picture of life at the time of Jesus, its values, and its social mores.  Jesus and Luke call both rich and poor alike to rethink what it is that they value.

Lectionary Pentecost 17, Year C, Sept 11, 2022

I. Theme –  Punishment and Grace

The lectionary readings are here or individually:  

First Reading – Exodus 32:7-14
Psalm – Psalm 51:1-11
Epistle – 1 Timothy 1:12-17
Gospel – Luke 15:1-10 

Today’s readings praise God’s merciful pursuit of God’s people even as they sin. The readings contrast punishment and grace. In Exodus  God forgives the Israelites’ spiritual impatience and lack of trust that lead them to turn from God to an idol .  The Epistle and Gospel highlight God’s graceful care, which encompasses the lost and sinful. Paul offers himself as an example of one found by God, transformed by the power of God’s mercy. In the gospel, Jesus tells stories that illustrate God’s great joy over each sinner who repents.

If God’s grace welcomes back the apostle Paul, despite his persecution of early Christians, will it welcome back the wealthy whose largess has come at the expense of the poor. Grace transforms the past, and opens us to become new creations.  We still may have to face the consequences of the past; but grace leads to new behaviors and openness to expanded divine possibilities for ourselves and the good Earth.

Jesus makes clear in the Gospel that everyone falls within the shadow of salvation, regardless of their past behavior and place in society. What Jesus is doing is placing worth and value on what others had deemed worthless. The Jewish mystical tradition proclaims that when you save one soul, you save the world.  This wisdom provides a creative lens through which to read the parable of the lost sheep. 

Each one of us is made in the image of God; therefore, each one of us is worthy. Because of that, we are valued. We belong to God. And God will seek us out to the ends of the earth as a lost sheep, into all the cracks and darkness and lonely, lost places as a lost coin. We are not forgotten to God, even when we fall into despair, into addiction, into hopelessness.

II. Summary

First Reading –  Exodus 32:7-14

Exodus 32:7-14 is from our second thread of the readings this season, in which the theme of God fulfilling the covenantal promises made with the people prevails.

Early in their journey from slavery in Egypt to the promised Land, God’s people became restless and untrusting

When Moses led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, they did not go very long or very far before they lost confidence in Moses and in the path on which he was leading them. They were camped in the Sinai desert at the foot of a mountain, while Moses was up the mountain receiving extensive instructions from the Lord. The people grew restless, then nostalgic even for the ways of their Egyptian former masters. They melted jewelry and formed an idol (or a token of rebellion against Moses) from it in the shape of a calf, then worshiped it with exuberant ceremony.  The  golden calf would be  followed as their god.  Of course the Lord is outraged, and Moses has to intervene, reminding the Lord of the covenant, lest the Lord revoke it.

This reading begins a section on Israel’s sin and God’s forgiveness (chaps. 32–34). It serves both as a narrative sequel to the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai and as a spiritual reflection upon Israel’s repeated apostasy from the time of the exodus to the exile. The worship of the golden calf signified an adoption of the Canaanite rites of Baal.  It may represent not a false god but a challenge to Moses as mediator between the people and God.

In view of the lord’s anger, Moses intercedes for the people.  He reminds God that it was God’s actions that brought them out of slavery into the wilderness.  He reminds the lord of the covenant that these are God’s own people, that God’s name is now bound up with theirs and that God had promised Abraham, not Moses, many descendants.

Moses uses Egypt in a unique way in his argument with G-d.  “What will the Egyptians think?”  And to this he adds significant names: Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob).  To these God had made significant promises of continuity and a future

God changes God’s mind about destroying them all, remembering the covenant to Abraham and Sarah and to their descendants forever. Like wedding vows, God will be their God, through good times and bad, and will never abandon them completely or destroy them.  Although Moses effectively ends the conversation with God’s repentance, he seems to be unable to answer to the evidence that God sets before him.

Psalm –  Psalm 51:1-11

This is one of the great penitential psalms. The psalm’s title, added later, ascribes this psalm to David during the time of his repentance for the seduction of Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah (2 Samuel 11:1–12:25).

Psalm 51:1-10 is the opposite of Psalm 14: in this psalm, the singer acknowledges their own sin, their own turning away from God, and desires reconciliation and forgiveness and restoration. The singer famously asks for a new, clean heart, and a new and right spirit within them, to guide them on the path that leads to God.

The constant hope and the goal of the covenant people was to become a community in right relationship with God and one another. Sin was understood as whatever disordered relationships –  it is everywhere and at every time. The psalmist seeks not merely the removal of guilt, but the restoration of a right relationship to God. Verse 4 does not exclude sin against one’s neighbor, for that was also understood as an offense against God because it broke down the covenant relationships desired by God.

The psalm also speaks to the ubiquity of God’s knowledge of us – in the hidden knowledge within us.  In verse 9 we begin to feel relief.  “Purge me with hyssop” refers to the priest’s sprinkling the people with the blood of the sacrifice, or as in Numbers 19:18-22, where it refers to cleansing with water.  The point is made with both images – the psalmist seeks redemption and forgiveness, and it is given so that it can be heard and be the cause of praise.  The verse regarding “the right spirit” might call us all back to creation again, where the Spirit reboots us into righteousness and holy living.

This psalm has a place in the Liturgy for Ash Wednesday, where it serves as a psalm underscoring the penitential nature of the day.  The introduction to the psalm serves as a poignant notice as well:

Epistle-  1 Timothy 1:12-17

Paul enjoyed God’s mercy, and uses his experience as an example for potential believers.

This selection begins a seven-week series of readings from two letters traditionally attributed to St. Paul. 1 and 2 Timothy, along with Titus, are called the pastoral epistles because of their emphasis on the proper ordering of the administration and worship of the Church. Many scholars today believe that these letters were not written by Paul himself but by a later follower. Such an author may have pieced together some of Paul’s personal letters and added material that presented oral Pauline teaching which addressed later situations.

Today’s reading is a thanksgiving for Paul’s conversion, especially as it serves as a paradigm of God’s mercy in the conversion of all “sinners.” A phrase characteristic of Paul’s emphasis on tradition is “the saying is sure” (v. 15) indicating a quotation from familiar teaching or hymns.

The author intends for the reader/hearer to understand what Paul stood for, and to see in his own story, the story of Christ’s grace intended for them as well.  The exaggerated list of vices that describe Paul’s former life (“blasphemer”, “persecutor”, and “man of violence”) is meant to highlight Paul’s message of grace, which is intended for the reader, ostensibly Timothy.  Thus Paul serves as the primary example of grace that will abound in those who follow the Gospel of Jesus.

This passage is a beautiful statement of thanksgiving to Jesus who is the one who called the writer into this ministry, using him despite of, and because of, his faults and shortcomings to be a witness to God.  Christ came into the world to save sinners. The writer is grateful for God’s blessings, grace and mercy, and that because of God’s grace and mercy the writer is able to use his whole life as a witness of Jesus Christ and of Christ’s faith and love.

The closing is very interesting and is perhaps the remains of an ancient doxology that was used in early Christian worship.

Gospel –  Luke 15:1-10 

Luke writes his gospel for a community undergoing transition. Jesus’ original followers were poor Jews. But now the  situation shifts so that Luke’s audience is composed primarily of respectable people who have an annoying way of looking down on others for a variety of reasons.

Luke 15:1-10 contain the first two of three parables in this chapter—the most famous, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, is not included in the lectionary this time. But these first two parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin are also important. Here Jesus is gathered with both the sinners (tax collectors and their ilk) and the supposedly righteous (the Pharisees and the scribes).  What Jesus does and says will come under the close scrutiny of both camps. 

Jesus was eating with sinners, welcoming them, and that some of the religious leaders were complaining about it. In both of these parables, the protagonist pays attention to something that normally would be forgotten about soon after—a lost sheep, a lost coin. It would have been ridiculous to leave 99 sheep behind to go after one lost sheep. Losing just one was probably a miracle that you didn’t lose more. Same with losing a coin. If you lost a $100 bill but had 9 more of them, you might be a bit angry that you lost it, but you would get over it soon. You certainly wouldn’t be going out and inviting your neighbors to celebrate once you found it

Luke 15 describes God’s joy at homecoming of sinners.  The trilogy of Luke describes three states of being lost: wandering off ignorantly, being lost in the shuffle, and choosing to go astray.  None of these states is beyond God’s redemption.  At any moment we can turn around to awaken to God’s grace

Jesus  uses the unwearied search of a shepherd for a lost sheep or of a poor woman for a lost coin as an image for God’s unchanging love toward the sinner. God’s constant seeking-out of the lost is manifested in Jesus’ redeeming ministry. God’s love takes the initiative; the sinner’s response is repentance. But rejoicing is the central note of these parables, for there is no mention of penitence.

Like Nathan, who convinces David of his sinfulness, by getting him to identify with the poor neighbor of his story (see Psalm 51, above), so Jesus seeks to have the hearer, whether sinner or scribe, to identify with the one who has lost either sheep, coin, or son

There is also the connection in this parable to the others. The shepherd risks the flock, to some degree, by leaving them to find the lost sheep.  But, perhaps more importantly, the ninety nine cannot be fully saved apart from the lost sheep.  They will remain ninety nine and not experience the wholeness of the perfect number, one hundred.  Salvation is relational; our salvation is connected to the well-being of others.  We cannot be complete without the salvation of others.  The joy of heaven is found in the welcoming home of every soul.

The two parables in today’s reading make the same point. They answer those who criticized Jesus for having any dealings with the outcast and despised. It was a strong ancient principle, especially among the Pharisees, that one should not associate with sinners. “Sinners” were both those who led immoral lives and those whose occupations were considered sure to lead them into immorality—tax collectors, shepherds, etc. “Sinners” could not hold office or act as legal witnesses.  

Jesus makes clear that everyone falls within the shadow of salvation, regardless of their past behavior and place in society. What Jesus is doing is placing worth and value on what others had deemed worthless. The Jewish mystical tradition proclaims that when you save one soul, you save the world.  This wisdom provides a creative lens through which to read the parable of the lost sheep. 

Both parables speak to the implicit value of things.  People—human beings, their very lives—are valuable to God, every single one. And when society starts saying you’re worthless, you might start believing it—and ending up in addiction, depressed, and feeling completely useless to the world. But Jesus says “You are valuable—You are precious to God.” Jesus would rather leave the 99 who know who they are to find the one that has been rejected and left for dead. Jesus would rather spend all the time looking to find one who was lost than to forget and move on. People are more valuable than lost coins or even lost

Beheading of John the Baptist, Aug. 29

Matthew has told us of the beheading of John the Baptist – killed because John denounced Herod Antipas’ marriage to his brother Philip’s wife when Philip was still alive (a violation of Jewish law). Jesus is reeling over this.

His reaction is to withdraw privately to a desert-like, remote place. So Jesus withdraws to be alone with his thoughts and his sorrows – in a “deserted place” to regroup, to recharge. But it doesn’t work, of course. The eager crowds are on him – there is no rest for the weary – and he can’t let them down since he is compassionate. Out of his own heartache, he bring riches.

This is the story of the feeing of the 5000. It is the only one of Jesus’ miracles that gets recorded in all four gospels.

The question has surfaced over the years as to why Mark reports it at all. Later evangelists must have asked the same question, as Matthew shortens it markedly and Luke omits it altogether.

The majority opinion is that it serves two key purposes in Mark: it foreshadows Jesus’ own grisly death and it serves as an interlude between Jesus’ sending of the disciples and their return some unknown number of days or weeks later.

Another reason is simply to draw a contrast between the two kinds of kingdoms available to Jesus disciples, both then and ever since. Consider: Mark, tells this story as a flashback, out of its narrative sequence, which means he could have put this scene anywhere. But he puts it here, not simply between the sending and receiving of the disciples but, more specifically, just after Jesus has commissioned his disciples to take up the work of the kingdom of God and when he then joins them in making that kingdom three-dimensional, tangible, and in these ways seriously imaginable.

“Herod’s Kingdom – the kingdom of the world and, for that matter, Game of Thrones and all the other dramas we watch because they mirror and amplify the values of our world – is dominated by the will to power, the will to gain influence over others. This is the world where competition, fear and envy are the coins of the realm, the world of not just late night dramas and reality television but also the evening news, where we have paraded before us the triumphs and tragedies of the day as if they are simply givens, as if there is no other way of being in the world and relating to each other.

Lectionary, Aug 21, 2022 – Pentecost 11

I. Theme – The universality of God’s invitation to wholeness and the difficulty of responding to it.

Woman set free from ailment

The lectionary readings are here or individually:

First Reading – Isaiah 58:9b-14 Psalm – Psalm 103:1-8 Epistle – Hebrews 12:18-29 Gospel – Luke 13:10-17

Today’s readings remind us of the universality of God’s invitation to wholeness and the difficulty of responding to it. Isaiah identifies some characteristics of the right relationship with God. The author of Hebrews reminds us that the trials we undergo, though painful, come from the hand of a loving Father who is training us in holiness. Jesus’ words and actions reveal the tension between God’s desire for healing and our need for genuine conversion in order not to hinder God’s plan.

We are all too often concerned about rules—either rules such as the Ten Commandments, which throughout tradition we have assumed were passed down from God—or unspoken rules in society, such as who is in and who is out, who gets to speak and who must be silenced. We become so consumed by rules that we forget the original reason for them. The Sabbath was a gift from God to the people, but some leaders had forgotten and made the Sabbath into following rules. Jeremiah didn’t think he could speak because he was only a boy, and only elders (being men) could speak in public, but God called him to do so anyway. God shows us time and again there is another way—when we love one another, show compassion, have mercy, and do justice for others—we are following God’s ways much more than following a list of rules. The writer of Hebrews shows us that Jesus fulfilled a rule—the rule of sacrifice—in order to break it forever. And so must we follow the rule—the law—of love, in order to break the chains that keep us from loving our neighbors as ourselves.

II. Summary

First Reading –  Isaiah 58:9b-14

Isaiah 58:9b-14 is from our second thread, showing how God’s promises are fulfilled through God’s covenant even when the people fail

Offering a classic example of empty religious ritual, this passage addresses Israel’s reliance on external practices of piety. Isaiah points out that many religious activities had become a form of manipulation. Through fasting, the people hoped to gain God’s approval even though the pious facade masked a mire of injustice and oppression.

Today’s verses are part of a longer section in which God redefines the role of fasting. An expression of humility, fasting offers the people an opportunity to do for others what God has already done for them. God had chosen to free the captives (52:1-3), feed the hungry (55:1-2) and bring Israel’s homeless back to their homeland (49:8-12).

True spiritual practice attracts God’s attention and results in a new exodus. Verse 8 is reminiscent of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.  Isaiah would have us put into our mind’s eye the situation at the Red Sea, with God serving in the pillar of fire before Israel, and serving not only as the one who leads, but also as the one who takes up the rear guard. Given that context, Isaiah sees the remnant returning to the ruined and dark places of the past, which are now illuminated by God’s light.

The attitude of the heart and use of the tongue must also reflect charity.   The people are bidden to “rebuild”, “raise up”, “restore,” and “repair”.   The people must give more than food, clothing or shelter: they must give themselves. Instead of seeking their own pleasure, they must first satisfy the desires of the needy, finding their own desires satisfied by God (v. 11).

Light shines through us, and we become witnesses of what God is blessing, when we bless others. When we bring healing, we are known as “repairers of the breach” (vs. 12). God will bring restoration to the people who have faced utter destruction, when they bring restoration to others.

This is a description of God’s work that apparently supersedes the normal observance of the Sabbath.  It is more than the community’s work; it is God’s work.  It is a completion of the return from Egypt.

Psalm –  Psalm 103:1-8

Psalm 103:1-8 sings of God’s justice and blessings for those who seek God’s justice. God is the one who brings goodness, and God is the one who works all things towards justice for the oppressed. The psalmist sings of God’s blessings of love and mercy, the one who redeems life.

This hymn of thanksgiving is cast in very general terms, but verses 1-5, in which the psalmist speaks to himself, indicate that it may have come from an individual situation, perhaps of recovery from illness (vv. 3-4a). In verse 4, “the Pit” refers to Sheol, the place of the dead, who retain only a semblance of existence.

The psalmist compares his deliverance to that of Israel in the exodus (v. 7). He affirms the lord’s steadfast love for the covenant people and invites all of creation to join his song of praise.

What we are bidden to do, in this psalm, is not merely an external act of praise, but a deeply internal (Bless the Lord, O my soul) realization of God’s blessing.  The reasons are rehearsed, “he benefits,” “he forgives and heals”, “he redeems”, and “he satisfies” as the list of God’s interactions continues.  Verse 8 repeats Exodus 34:6, when God passes before Moses, shielding God’s glory,

Epistle-  Hebrews 12:18-29

Hebrews 12:18-29 contains a powerful metaphor, a blazing fire that cannot be touched. Recalling the burning bush in which God spoke to Moses, and the pillar of smoke that traveled with the Israelites out of the slavery of Egypt, we remember that the presence of God is near us and yet untouchable; beautiful and terrifying. Jesus has given himself for us, for a new covenant with God, bringing us closer to God and yet this action can never and will never be repeated. Jesus was a sacrifice we desired by taking him to the cross, and yet death was conquered through this act. The act of sacrifice is removed from worship forever. Jesus’ sacrifice ends all sacrifice.

The author presents us with two distinctly different visions.   He contrasts the revelation given to Moses at Mt. Sinai with the revelation given through Jesus, on Mount Zion, which represents the heavenly Jerusalem.  The first transports us to Sinai that rumbles and shakes with the divine presence.  What is seen and felt there is not touchable for it is the abode and presence of God.  The revelation at Sinai is characterized as one of fear, darkness and dread

 The contrasting vision is that of Jerusalem, and not just the earthly city, but the heavenly presence of promise.  If Sinai recalls the presence of sin and judgment, then Jerusalem is a sign of acceptance and righteousness. They join with angels, with “the firstborn enrolled in heaven” (perhaps the whole communion of saints, living and dead), with “the spirits of the just made perfect” (perhaps the pre-Christian saints). In this revelation of a new covenant, Jesus’ blood speaks of redemption rather than vengeance, which the shedding of human blood usually demanded.

A brief comparison in verse 24 is a delightful literary construct where the blood of Abel is compared with the blood of Jesus.  The results are the difference of condemnation and redemption.  The vision is continued with a sense of “words of warning”.  One is earthly, Sinai, and the other is heavenly, Jerusalem.  The author wonders, which one will we hear, which one will renew life and our praise of God?

As earthquake was an important sign of the revelation at Sinai, so it was also expected as an indication of the end of the world-order at the lord’s return. Thus the author quotes Haggai 2:6, emphasizing the Hebrew notion of the end of the universe (v. 26) against the Greek conception of its eternal and indestructible nature. God who is “a consuming fire” will purify the people.

Gospel –  Luke 13:10-17

In this reading, we discover the tension between God’s bountiful gift of salvation through Jesus and the human desire to control it.

The center of concern is the Sabbath, and the situation is one that used to be found in Galilee – teaching in the Synagogue  Both of these elements are combined here as a dramatic confrontation of Satan (the situation of the woman) and of the prevailing attitudes regarding the Sabbath.

Luke 13:10-17 contains the account of one of the healings on the Sabbath that Jesus conducts. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath and heals a woman who is bent over, setting her “free” from her “ailment” (vs. 12).  The woman is bent over – she is a disfigurement of the perfection of creation, and as such becomes as sign of what Jesus intends to do about both sin and Satan.   Jesus’ compassion for the ailing woman, whom he identifies with the surprising description as a “daughter of Abraham,” spurs him to initiate a cure before she can even ask. The woman stands up and praises God.

But the leader of the synagogue can only focus on the action of Jesus that happened on the Sabbath, not the result of that action that was in healing and freedom for this woman. He is unable to understand that the healing is just as much a cause of praise as the religious observance required for the Sabbath day.

Jesus’ rebukes the man and reminds him that God’s desire for our freedom from bondage knows no limit and can never be restricted to times that we find convenient. Jesus’ healing acts invite us to see every place as a healing place and every moment as the right moment for creative transformation.  Providence is broadcast everywhere without limits or exclusion. To participate in God’s saving work on the Sabbath cannot violate the restrictions forbidding human work

Jesus doesn’t soften his warning that a time will come when it will be too late, too late to start caring about the kingdom, too late to come in. Those who have spent their lives dispassionately witnessing Jesus’ work, hearing Jesus’ call and benefiting from Jesus’ teaching without identifying themselves with him will be shut out. It is not enough to eat and drink at his table; it is not enough to hear his word.

When we take rules to the extreme, they are no longer about God but about control and power. Rules such as not having women speak in church, which was probably a specific cultural context for the early Christians in certain communities—rules like these are not about following God’s ways but rather about controlling who gets to preach and lead in a church. We’ve lost the meaning behind them completely. We become so concerned about rules we fail to actually do the right thing.