Baptism of Our Lord, Year A - First Sunday after the Epiphany - January 8, 2023

Prayer

As we celebrate today the mystery of Jesus' baptism in the River Jordan, renew in us our own baptism: pattern our lives on this Christ, your chosen one, the Child on whom your favor rests, the Beloved with whom you are well pleased.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.



Some Thoughts on Matthew 3:13-17

"There is something very open-ended about Jesus' experience of baptism. Rather than closing his life, it opens him to a range of experiences that he will try to understand through the prismatic realities of Servant and Son."

"Water-Fellowship, Water Joy-Divine," Expository Essay, Dr. William R. Long.

"Fulfilling of righteousness requires letting go of our personal sense of what is right and proper in order to let it be God's will that is fulfilled. For Jesus, as at the end, so too at the beginning: a deep and profound aligning of his heart and will with the will and Spirit of God."

Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Matthew 3:13-17, David Ewart, 2011.

"When we say that Jesus is God's son, going about the family business, we are saying not only that Jesus is like God; we are saying that God is like Jesus."

Dylan's Lectionary Blog, Epiphany 1A. Biblical Scholar Sarah Dylan Breuer looks at readings for the coming Sunday in the lectionary of the Episcopal Church.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

The Gospel is one directly related to Mark's account and this connection helps us to understand the import of Jesus' baptism to the earliest of Christians. It is also important in continuing the theme we spoke of during Advent which is the increasing importance and role of the prime actor Jesus in the Gospel narrative and the ever-shrinking role of John the Baptist.

Certainly, the connection between Jesus' baptism and our own has brought with it questions about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism by water. But I am not interested in this debate, but rather the importance and meaning this story has for the person of Jesus. We are able through the lens of Jesus' baptism to understand how he was viewed by his first followers. It is all too easy to get focused on us and to preach this Sunday on the meaning of our baptism. This gospel lesson is essentially a lesson about Christology.

It is the heavenly voice who makes clear that this is God's Son.

Daniel Harrington writes and gives an explanation for naming this passage the "Jesus made manifest":

...an attempt has been made to be faithful tot eh focus of the biblical account -- the manifestation of Jesus' identity at the very beginning of his public ministry. The baptism of jesus by John in the Jordan River is the occaion for the identification of Jesus by the voice from heaven. Matthew agreed with the other evangelists in this Christological emphasis.

We are given here several other ways to understand the person of Jesus: Son, servant, inaugurator of the new exodus and creation, and the one who fulfills all righteousness.

In our passage today we see these themes continued. Jesus who climbs out of the water is the new Adam (John of Nazianzus -Davies, Matthew, vol 1, 345) and like the creation narrative itself, he rises out of the waters of chaos. Jesus' own Red Sea deliverance in baptism reminds us too of the Exodus story. Remember, this story exists in between the flight to Egypt and his journey into the desert to be tested.

We have a unique opportunity in this cycle to read the story of Matthew's Gospel and to recognize that our baptisms and life as Christians are unique only in that they are deeply connected with the very person of Jesus Christ. It is in his identity, in our own Christology that our lives and our ministry have meaning. It will be all too tempting to move quickly into our own baptismal imagery in our preaching. However, we may miss an incredible opportunity to speak to the personhood of Christ and his mission in the world.

I draw our attention to our own Catechism and invite you to consider the questions and answers as they relate in a clear line from Jesus' own personhood and mission to our understanding of ourselves in the waters of baptism.

Q. What do we mean when we say that Jesus is the only

Son of God?

A We mean that Jesus is the only perfect image of the

Father, and shows us the nature of God.


Q. What is the nature of God revealed in Jesus?

A. God is love.


Q. What do we mean when we say that Jesus was

conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and became

incarnate from the Virgin Mary?

A. We mean that by God's own act, his divine Son received

our human nature from the Virgin Mary, his mother.


Q. Why did he take our human nature?

A. The divine Son became human, so that in him human

beings might be adopted as children of God, and be

made heirs of God's kingdom.

Q. How can we share in his victory over sin, suffering, and

death?

A. We share in his victory when we are baptized into the

New Covenant and become living members of Christ.

Q. What is Holy Baptism?

A. Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us

as his children and makes us members of Christ's Body,

the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God.

My hope is that we might this Sunday lift our eyes from our own waters of baptism to the heavens and draw apart the veil and explore with our members who we say Jesus is and how his uniqueness in the family of God provides the salvific Good News of God's loving embrace for all people.

Some Thoughts on Acts 10:34-43

"Beyond stereotypes, beyond deeply seeded religious segregation, Peter obeys his command, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. In a gesture of faith, a movement of complete trust, a posture of submission, Peter tells the story of Jesus, a story in which he knew very well."
Commentary, Acts 10:34-43 | Levi Holland | Post Coffee Co. A Plain Account | A Plain Account, 2017

"Our attempts to control God and keep God safely within our predetermined categories are contradicted by the early Christian preaching about Jesus."
Commentary, Acts 10:34-43, Mark Tranvik, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

"On the day when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, it may, therefore, be particularly appropriate for the church to consider how the Spirit may be moving amongst us in unexpected and challenging ways and to ask how the reverberations of the resurrection continue to be manifest around us."
Commentary, Acts 10:34-43, Eric Barreto, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"May we live and work in our challenging world today--still beset by overwhelming poverty, oppression, violence, death, and much that defies God's goodness and grace--in the Easter hope of Christ's resurrection and restorative justice for all."
Commentary, Acts 10:34-43, F. Scott Spencer, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

"The goal is that people might be released from sin. The Greek word usually translated "forgiveness" is aphesis, which literally means "release." A pattern of sins often brings people to a point where the sins define the present and limit the future. For a person to have a different life, the sins must no longer define the person's situation."
Commentary, Acts 10:34-43 (Baptism A), Craig R. Koester, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

This is a big Gospel kind of moment!  Cornelius walks into the house and it is clear that the Gospel and its messengers are shown by God that they are not to call others "common or unclean." (10.28)  Cornelius then offers a vision of the kingdom of God and shows himself to be a Godfearer and Jesus follower.

Peter then responds "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." And, "He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Peter is in some very real way summarizing the theme of the Gospel of Luke and Acts: the living out of the message of God to his people.  It is a miniature Gospel if you will.

Peter says:

God shows no partiality.

Those who follow God are acceptable to God.
God is lord of all and that message is spreading even now.
God appears as Jesus Christ and his ministry is one of the Holy Spirit and one of power.
Christ did good work: healing people, freeing people, and releasing people from bondage.
Salvation comes from the cross and resurrection.
Salvation is open to all people.
God's family is made up of every kind of person.

The story of Acts 10 illustrates the difficulty the church has all the time with accepting the movement of the Holy Spirit and God's willingness to accept people into the family.  This is powerful good news. Especially since without this particular moment, I would not be here myself and would not have discovered this good news of God in Christ and his love of humanity and desire to reconcile us to him.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 42:1-9

"As the divide between church and state grows here in America (and even among each other), we too may need to reimagine what it is to be a faithful people while living in an unfamiliar place."
Commentary, Isaiah 42:1-9 | Christopher Reiter | Church Planter, Jacob's Well church Boise, Idaho | A Plain Account, 2017

"This passage in Isaiah shows God speaking into the pain of exile to send a servant who will bring justice, and not to Israel only but to all nations."
Commentary, Isaiah 42:1-9, Amy Oden, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.

The ministry of the Servant signifies the dawn of a new era of salvation for the people of God (42:9).
Commentary, Isaiah 42:1-9, Bo Lim, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

The Rabbinical reading of this passage finds that the subject, the servant, is Israel itself - the people.

"Here is my servant" is a direct reference to God's people. The prophet is telling the people (who are in exile) that God will not forget them and that God loves them. God has put God's spirit upon God's people and has watched them as they have suffered. The people of God in captivity have not lost their faith but instead, their faith has grown. God will bring about justice for them. Moreover, their life lived together will itself bring about justice on earth. Just as in previous texts, the prophet is telling them that God will make them a great city on a hill and the whole of the land will look towards their teaching.

So then we read the following in light of the people. We hear the prophet's words as promising. They will all be redeemed, they will see great things, and miracles will be worked. Imagine the prophet before the lost and suffering servants under the oppression of Babylon hearing these words:

Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

This then is good news indeed.

As the messianic movement grew in Israel over some 500 plus years. It would, of course, grow as other kings took possession of Israel and ruled as foreign powers over the people. One can easily imagine how the image of the servant in the passage we have today began to morph and people hoped perhaps the prophet was speaking about an actual person who might come to save the people of God.

As the first disciples looked back at this passage and inherited the messianic hopes of their time, one can imagine it is not hard to see that the person of Jesus fit the description.

If we look at how the New Testament authors used the texts we see that it is clear they have this very thing in mind. Luke, in particular, has in mind the person of Jesus as representing in himself the people of Israel. In the opening of the gospel, Jesus is very quickly not merely as fulfilling this role but filling it as he himself is the culmination of the people of Israel. It is as if to say in Christ Jesus the people of Israel themselves are brought together in a unified offering of the suffering servant Jesus. He is both the highest offering, their greatest servant (prophet, leader), and he is at once in his body their totality. (See Richard Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 242) It is as if for Luke this is not a denial of the people of Israel being referred to in this prophecy, but that the people of Israel culminating in the ministry of the person of Jesus. Both are to be God's suffering servant just as Isaiah prophesied, but in Christ, there is one last and final act such that no other sacrifices need be made.

Matthew in his Gospel will take this further. Not only will he see as Luke sees, but he sees the message of this passage as a message for the whole world - for the gentiles. Matthew seemingly understands as Luke that Jesus is the suffering servant within the messianic tradition and that he himself is the one mentioned here in relationship to Israel itself. In Christ are all the people. Yet, Matthew is saying ALL the people are in Christ. There is clarity here that the good news is not mere deliverance by God in Christ Jesus to the people of Israel but that the good news of deliverance is for the world. Moreover, these are themes that emerge in the baptismal imagery of Matthew. (See Hays, 177.)

Christ is God, the Lord, who created all things. Christ is the one who gives breath and who walks in the spirit. Christ is our righteousness and is the one who takes us by the hand.  It is Christ who saves us. Christ is the new covenant, and light to nations. All people will see that the blind are healed, prisoners are freed, and those who sit in darkness do so no longer. In this way, all the former things are passing away and a new story of God's people, all of God's people, is beginning in the person of Jesus.

Holy Name ABC January 1, 2022

IHS (also IHC), a monogram or symbol for the name Jesus, is a contraction of the Greek word for Jesus, which in Greek is spelled IHΣΟΥΣ in uncial (majuscule) letters and Iησους in minuscule letters and is transliterated into the Latin alphabet as Iēsus, Jēsus, or Jesus.

Prayer

Dear Morning Star, come to earth and with us dwell, help us greet you in our swiftly changing year, and respond with joy and penitence sincere. You bear upon you, in your birth, our sin and take a human name of Godly precedence most dear. Bearing the Holy Name of Jesus, God of our salvation, step with us into hazard and prosperity, bringing peace with every stride and grace to every broken life.

(Based upon Episcopal Hymnal 250, Jaroslav Vajda, 1919)
written by C. Andrew Doyle


Notes about the day and its lessons.

This year, the feast of the Holy Name falls upon a Sunday and takes precedence to our normal cycle of readings. The Gospel falls within a repeat of the readings for Christmas Day and so many of the themes may continue. If you didn't get to preach Christmas eve, maybe you can wind your text backwards and say what you thought should have been said then!

This is a link to the Episcopal Church Glossary describing the history and purpose of the day.

Some Thoughts on Luke 2:15-21

The Gospel Text for this Sunday

Luke 2:15-21

The text adds but this one verse to the Christmas Eve lesson and it is to this I believe a preacher might find a goodly amount to say: "After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb."

From the homily of Pope Francis on the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, 2014. It was preached in part celebration of the Jesuit order and its founder Faber:

The heart of Christ is the heart of a God who, out of love, “emptied” himself. Each one of us, as Jesuits, who follow Jesus should be ready to empty himself. We are called to this humility: to be “emptied” beings. To be men who are not centred on themselves because the centre of the Society is Christ and his Church. And God is the Deus semper maior, the God who always surprises us. And if the God of surprises is not at the centre, the Society becomes disorientated. Because of this, to be a Jesuit means to be a person of incomplete thought, of open thought: because he thinks always looking to the horizon which is the ever greater glory of God, who ceaselessly surprises us. And this is the restlessness of our inner abyss. This holy and beautiful restlessness! (Here is the whole text)

God, surprises us with the incarnation. It is this incarnation and the name of Jesus, our salvation, that we celebrate. 

This particular feast is a feast of glory. It is the worship of God who empties God's self to become lower than an angel and who brings forth salvation to all humanity. This is a gift of grace waited upon by many a generation, and for whom this generation still longs. 

Yet we search for so many other ways to be delivered. So many other lesser gods, fixit plans, we are literally scammed by the multitude of our cultural and contextual offerings. All who desire fealty to their badge and icons.

We worship so many lesser Gods and give them so much of our time and wealth. We are so open to their many misgivings, slights, and public misdemeanors; while, at the same time, recommending them to friends. Meanwhile, we are closed to the possibility of God. We are closed to the imagination and creativity of God. We are closed to wanting to learn more about God and the person named Jesus. 

To follow Jesus, is to reverse our ordered life and place it under the headship of Christ. To become curious about the God we follow more than the church we attend. To discover the mighty acts of God, more than the political allegiances of today. To proclaim God's name with lips of praise, to share what we have, and do good works because our minds are restless with the name of Jesus and all that it entails. 

Holy Name is not only a feast, it is a challenge for those who awaken a desire to follow the most high God.

Some Thoughts on Galatians 4:4-7

"So insidious is Sin that even the good gifts of God, like the Law (Galatians 3:21) or even the gospel, can be easily misused."
Commentary, Galatians 4:4-7, Erik Heen, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.

"The Spirit that God pours into all our hearts is a Spirit of compassion. It is a Spirit that embraces us and makes us a part of a family defined by God's love. It is that compassion that gives us our meaning and purpose in this life."

"Love Came Down," Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer.

The New Testament Text for this Sunday

Galatians 4:4-7

The theologian Robert Farrar Capon in his book on parables (Kingdom, Grace, Judgement, 2002) offers that God in Christ comes to us in the incarnation as both our savior and judge. But his act of redemption and reconciliation is one of grace, forgiveness, and mercy. He judges with love and so we are presented to God through the eyes of our beloved Jesus. It is the eyes of his heart that redeem us.  

Capon though also says that it is our renunciation and rejection of this coming which judges us guilty. It is our rejection of the spirit of God in our hearts, it is our rejection of our forgiveness, and the rejection of Jesus AND our focus upon the law which in the end finds us guilty. 

Paul in Galatians is offering a vision of God who comes and blesses and redeems us. Jesus undoes the power of the law over us. Jesus enables us to be God's children. We are no longer slaves to the law. This is our new reality.

However, the truth is the longer we live focusing upon the law and our own failure and the failure of others - the longer we struggle outside the family. Our message is clear God loves. God forgives. God invites us. In this season of incarnation may we offer a message that does the same and enables us to live in the grace which has come into the world. 

Our deliverance is real. May we live it.

Some Thoughts on Philippians 2:5-11

The New Testament Text for this Sunday

Philippians 2:5-11

"Like Timothy and like Paul's audience, leaders and members of our own congregations are called to imitate Jesus by refusing to insist on their own prerogatives or status, whatever they may be, and serving others in humility."
Commentary, Philippians 2:5-11, Elisabeth Shively, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"What's in a name? From a biblical perspective -- everything!"
Commentary, Philippians 2:5-11, Elisabeth Johnson, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

Paul in this passage uses a first century Christian hymn (possibly even one they would have known) to urge the members of the community at Philippi to have the same mind as Christ. That means that they are to seek to not insist on their own way or their own rights (determined by their social status) but they are to become lower than their stations. Like God in Christ Jesus they are to seek to become power-less and to serve.

Paul invites them to not be better than the other - this is not after all a quality that Christ illustrated.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,8he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. 9Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

It is serving that one is great. It is in taking the lower seat that you shall be known. It is in washing feet and loving each other regardless of station. It is feeding the poor who have no right to be fed and healing the sick who have not fulfilled the law. It is in eating with those who are not worthy to be eaten with. It is in loving those whom you would not dare to love.  These are the qualities by which you will be known as a follower of Jesus.

This is the work of Christ that they are to continue in the world.  

People will talk about a lot of reasons why our church is failing.  They will ponder the reasons why we are shrinking in numbers.  I think in the end it is because we don't do these things very well.  

We do not have the same mind as Christ Jesus and are unwilling to become low. We actually regard equality with God as something to be exploited and lorded over those to whom we do not believe deserve such equality.  We are unwilling to empty ourselves. We will not serve God or his mission over our own needs and desires.  We are quick to take the highest seat. We are not eager to wash each other's feet - especially not the feet of the poor. We are unwilling to hold back or deny ourselves. We will not sit with those unlike us.  We will not dine with those we don't agree with. We will not be seen with those who are not like us. We are wholly unwilling to do the hard and difficult work of following Jesus as Jesus has invited us to follow.

Perhaps this is why Paul has us squarely figured out.  The truth is like the Philippians what is so bad about our church. It is a comfortable place, for comfortable people, comfortable in our going out and our coming in.  Yet Paul may have us figured out...comfortable is not a whole lot like the ministry and character of God in Christ Jesus.

Some Thoughts on Numbers 6:22-27

The Old Testament Text for this Sunday

Numbers 6:22-27


This passage is a wonderful passage, and includes many a clergy's favorite blessing:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

It continues with this statement:

So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes:

These are among the oldest continuously-used words of blessing ever. We recite them daily at the beginning of the morning service. Some say them last thing at night. We use them to bless our children on Friday nights. They are often used to bless the bride and groom at weddings. They are widely used by non-Jews also. Their simplicity, their cumulative three-word, five-word, seven-word structure, their ascending movement from protection to grace to peace, all make them a miniature gem of prayer whose radiance has not diminished in the more than three thousand years since their formulation. (Link whole essay here.)

This passage and Rabbi Sacks help us to understand the very importance of the naming, the importance of kinship to the most high God. The beauty of the passage and the beauty of his nature in and outside traditions.

Here is a taking upon one's self God's blessing, receiving it and becoming remade by its very gift. 

If we take Pauline theology as enlarging the great mission to include all people, then we have indeed a great blessing far beyond the people of God.

But there is more. I refer back to the essay by Rabbi Sacks:

Why then does the blessing for this mitzvah and no other specify that it must be done with love? Because in every other case it is the agent who performs the ma’aseh mitzvah, the act that constitutes the command. Uniquely in the case of the priestly blessings, the Priest is merely a machshir mitzvah – an enabler, not a doer. The doer is God Himself: “Let them place My name on the children of Israel and I will bless them.” The Kohanim are merely channels through which God’s blessings flow.

This means that they must be selfless while uttering the blessings. We let God into the world and ourselves to the degree that we forget ourselves and focus on others.[6] That is what love is. We see this in the passage in which Jacob, having fallen in love with Rachel, agrees to Laban’s terms: seven years of work. We read: “So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her” (Gen. 29:20). The commentators ask the obvious question: precisely because he was so much in love, the seven years should have felt like a century. The answer is equally obvious: he was thinking of her, not him. There was nothing selfish in his love. He was focused on her presence, not his impatient desire.

There is, though, perhaps an alternative explanation for all these things. As I explained in Covenant and Conversation Acharei Mot – Kedoshim, the ethic of character.

The key text of the holiness ethic is Leviticus 19: “Be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” It is this chapter that teaches the two great commands of interpersonal love, of the neighbour and the stranger. The ethic of holiness, taught by the Priests, is the ethic of love. This surely is the basis of Hillel’s statement, “Be like the disciples of Aaron, loving peace, pursuing peace, loving people and bringing them close to Torah.”[7]

That ethic belongs to the specific vision of the Priest, set out in Genesis 1, which sees the world as God’s work and the human person as God’s image. Our very existence, and the existence of the universe, are the result of God’s love.

Here then is no mere altar blessing for those who do not receive communion, no mere blessing for the people, or something taken lightly. Instead here is a very holy act, the gift of the blessing is meant as both a theological statement and way of living for the giver and the receiver. I don't think I will give it in the same way in the future. 

Christmas Day

"The fourth gospel is all about the community indwelling with each other and with God. It is not about the individual's appropriation of Jesus, but rather God's appropriation of humanity through Christ and how God lives in the greatest intimacy with his followers. All through the gospel, the words are plural, not singular."
Lectionary Blogging, John 1:1-18, John Petty, Progressive Involvement, 2010.

Prayer

In this most gentle dawn, O good and most gracious God, we have hastened to behold the wonder that has taken place, for the goodness and loving kindness of our Savior has appeared.  Give us words inspired enough to make known the mercy that has touched our lives, deeds loving enough to bear witness to the treasure you have bestowed, and hearts simple enough to ponder the mystery of your gracious and abiding love.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, your Son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.


Some Thoughts on John 1:1-18

Christmas morning this year falls on a Sunday. The brave and faithful will sneak out of their homes before gifts, some with children in hand, to hear the story of how God became man. 


I like how Raymond E. Brown approaches this text offering a vision that if John is the most beautiful of New Testament texts then the prologue must assuredly be the pearl within the Gospel.  This is the reading for Christmas day.

Brown is clear...there is first the relationship between the Word that is with God (vs 1-2). The opening verses of this Christ hymn used to frame an entrance into the Johannine Gospel is brief and it is completely, or I should say “seemingly”, uninterested in a metaphysical conversation about the nature of God. It is however very clear that Salvation history begins with the relationship between God, revealed through the living Word, and Man. Quite simply God reveals God's-self to us in the work of creation – and by John’s usage here; creation also reveals something about the salvation of man as well. Creation is by its very nature a revealing act. (John, vol. 1, 23, 24)

Secondly, we have in the prologue the relationship between the Word and Creation. “All creation bears the stamp of God’s Word,” Brown writes. (Brown, 25) Here we see the author of John reflecting and re-imagining the opening lines of Genesis. We can see that what is clearly of importance is that creation itself existed primarily for the glory of God and the revelation of who God is. The problem is that the creation is broken; it does not fulfill its purpose as God intended. It is not a sustainable creation. Instead, it is one where there is a constant battle to supplant the power and revelation of God. We can return to the creation story in Genesis to see this played out as an eternal truth, certainly, this seems on John's mind. However, it is not really that hard or difficult to see and imagine as we read the paper or watch television how humanity has created a non-sustainable kingdom for ourselves, and that we wrestle for power with God placing our needs above creations' explicit purpose to glorify God.

We might even reflect on how quickly all of the Christmas season's preparations are quickly consumed! How many minutes did it take?

The third portion of our Gospel selection is the portion where we are re-introduced to John the Baptist. I say reintroduced because we spend several Sunday’s reading passages from Mark and John recently that dealt with him and his ministry. Yet here we get a slightly different attempt to speak about how John responded to the living Word, the Light in the world. How he was clearly not the one everybody was looking for, but how he dutifully gave witness to the revelation of God. Moreover, John the Baptist called everyone to a time of preparation and repentance for the light itself, the living Word was entering the world.

We come to the final and fourth portion of our reading and we return to the relationship between God and humanity; specifically in how the community of God (God’s people) respond to the living Word. God is dwelling with his people. He has made a “tent”, he is incarnated, and he is present within the community. (Brown, 35) The images here in this last section return not to Genesis but play on our remembrances of the Exodus and the idea that God came and dwelt among the people as they made their way in the wilderness.  I am reminded of Habakuk who mans his station in order to have a vision of God or Naham who retells the story of how God dwelled with Abraham, and now dwells in the Temple.  God has returned over and over again to be with his people. Now in the story of Mary we discover that God has come not only to dwell with his people, but to dwell as a person. 

 Here is an expressed intimacy between God and people. God is not simply outside, having wound the clock tight and is now letting it run. On the contrary just as God was intimately involved with creation and the people of Israel, God also is involved in the new community post-resurrection. God has come and is dwelling with the people in wisdom and in truth. God in the living Word is making community within God’s tent and is revealing himself and the purpose of creation to all those who would call him by name: Jesus.

I have found over the years that the Christmas morning service is perhaps one of the most intimate of services in the Christian year.  Holy, and present is the living Word. I hope you as you preach and offer a vision of Sunday worship post our evening celebrations of God incarnate remind people of the incredibly intimate God we worship and how the God news of God dwelling with us is truly Good News. News that all creation is groaning to comprehend and embrace.  As Christians and as Episcopalians gathered together in the early morning hours of Christmas day, it is a message of comfort and joy that draws us closer to God and closer to one another.

Merry Christmas.

 

Advent 4, Year A, December 18, 2022

Prayer

God of mystery whom no eye can see, you yourself have given us a sign we can behold: the virgin is
with child and bears a son whose name is Emmanuel, for God is with us. Plant within our hearts your living Word of promise, that, into a world grown weary of empty dreams and broken promises, we may bring forth the living presence of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.



Some Thoughts on Matthew 1:18-25

"Our lives are marked, since baptism, by the Holy Spirit, the sanctifier, who directs us continually to our neighbor, to the other to live in harmony, everyone attentive to the needs of others (as we have witnessed in the three previous pericopes from the epistles)."

Commentary, Romans 1:1-7, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.


"...our task as preachers is in part to help people identify the ways God is calling them to newness of life in service to Jesus Christ, and at the same time to see the ways God has never been absent from their lives."

Commentary, Romans 1:1-7, Susan Eastman, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2007.


"Anyway, it seems to me that the translation "God is with us" doesn't completely capture the sense of the Hebrew. The words suggest that "God is in common with us people" -- or "God is one of us." In this sense, John captures the sense with "The Word became flesh and lived among us" (1:14a)."
Exegetical Notes by Brian Stoffregen, at CrossMarks Christian Resources.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

The stage is set and Matthew is our guide: "Now the birth of the Messiah took place in this way." The Genesis of the Messiah took place in this way...

Daniel J. Harrington, a Roman Catholic priest, and scholar, in his text on Matthew's Gospel, points out a few important pieces of information that help to make sense of the Birth narrative.

1. Jews of Jesus' time understood marriage as a civil contract. Joseph and Mary and their families have rights.
2. Betrothal had legal consequences and was arranged through elders in families, and the two parties were in their early teens.
3. In Matthew's Gospel the two are living separately, Mary with her parents. Joseph visits from time to time.
4. Reviewing Deut 22:23-27, we understand that at first glance Mary has broken the betrothal and should be put to death. We don't know how often this was carried out.
5. Divorce proceedings were typically easy and included a written document.
6. An angel who is a messenger comes to visit Joseph.
7. Such a visit most often was described in ancient times through dreams. In continuity with other great leaders of Israel the angel gives a message with the identity of the child and the name. We see this with Ishmael, Isaac, Solomon and Josiah.
8. There are many questions about lineage and birth. Is the idea of Jesus' virginal conception a response to a charge of illegitimacy or is what leads to the charge? Regardless, early Christians believe in the virginal conception of Jesus and it remains one of the oldest and most ancient traditions about Jesus and his birth. (Matthew, Sacra Pagina, 36ff)

All of these things are important because the point is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the ancient tradition of Israel. Matthew, as an author, will use this theme throughout his text: 1.23, 2.5, 15, 17, 23; 3:3; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:14, 35; 21:4; 26:56; 27:9. (Harrington, Matthew, Sacra Pagina, 38) Just as in last week's comment from Jesus that John the Baptist belongs to a prophetic age, here in today's reading we see that Jesus himself is the culmination of and the new beginning for Israel.

It is out of this theme of fulfillment that Joseph becomes for us a major character of the Advent season. Joseph is almost the "everyman" of the Gospel. I imagine him not unlike many of the new members of the Matthean community or new members today. Like Joseph, they had some sense of the past. Like many others, Joseph is a good guy. He is wrestling with some pretty weighty stuff. He is struggling to understand and discern how to take the next steps in life. He has a religious experience. He becomes aware that God is with us - specifically with him. God is Emmanuel. Joseph awoke, and his awakening was in more ways than one. He decides to take different a course and to follow the Word of God that came to him.

Some might want to go into a discussion about the creed and belief in the virgin birth. I love that conversation - see the discussion below on Isaiah 7. But I think a more interesting conversation if you are preaching on Matthew 1:18, is a train of thought about how Joseph represents the life of one entering into community with other Christians and Jesus. I find it revealing to sit and ponder the idea that in this reception of the message that God is with him and the reception of the incarnation, Joseph goes from being a man who, within his rights divorces a woman, to the earthly father of Jesus and a key actor in his lineage and birth. What a precarious moment this is! What an amazing view of how one person's action determines the future. In this way perhaps was we see is Joseph playing the role of Ahaz in the Isaiah passage. Or, perhaps he plays the role of a Jew wrestling with the message of the Gospel. Still, perhaps Joseph becomes like you or me who wrestles with the prophetess' child and the message of his birth?

As N. T. Wright explains - it's complicated:

"If the first two chapters of Matthew and the first two of Luke had never existed, I do not suppose that my own Christian faith, or that of the church to which I belong, would have been very different. But since they do, and since for quite other reasons I have come to believe that the God of Israel, the world's creator, was personally and fully revealed in and as Jesus of Nazareth, I hold open my historical judgment and say: If that's what God deemed appropriate, who am I to object?"  "God's Way of Acting," N.T. Wright. 

I am sitting in my study at home as I write this and looking at one of the many manger scenes dotting our shelves and tables. It is Joseph who is there - not someone else.  He like us chooses to say, "yes."

As our Gospel began "Now the genesis of the Messiah took place in this way..." we can see how the genesis of the incarnation takes place in the life of Joseph. We might look at our own lives and see how the genesis of God was rooted in our lives or is taking place in our lives. How is the arrival of God in our lives remaking our own story and our own narrative? How is the incarnation of God the fulfillment of our life lived up until this moment?

God is with us; this is the foundation of the Good News of Salvation. God is in common, in communion, with his people.  The incarnation is the fulfillment of our past and the promise of our future. It changes our perspective on the world and changes what we do with our lives. The incarnation changes our relationship with others and causes us to act differently, perhaps even going against what is justly our right. The incarnation is a powerful revelation and in this season of expectation, Joseph stands before us as one transformed by its message, meaning and invitation and in that moment of action Joseph reshapes the narrative of Good News. Yes, Joseph is everyman and he is a symbol of our potential and possibility. He is a symbol of faithful action deeply rooted in the message, the Word of God, which proclaims: God is with us, together we are reborn, together the world is changed and the continuing narrative spun and re-spun.

Some Thoughts on Romans 1:1-7

"Our lives are marked, since baptism, by the Holy Spirit, the sanctifier, who directs us continually to our neighbor, to the other to live in harmony, everyone attentive to the needs of others (as we have witnessed in the three previous pericopes from the epistles)."
Commentary, Romans 1:1-7, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.


"...our task as preachers is in part to help people identify the ways God is calling them to newness of life in service to Jesus Christ, and at the same time to see the ways God has never been absent from their lives."
Commentary, Romans 1:1-7, Susan Eastman, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2007.


"Such transforming power, which Paul frequently associates with the Spirit (as in 1:4) and in which he experiences the living presence of Christ, draws its energy from God's compassion, which is so radical and far reaching in Paul's mind that it breaks down all barriers, including those erected on biblical principles."
First Thoughts on Year A Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Advent 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.


"We watch God's redemptive work playing out in the arena of everyday life, this insistence God has on redeeming people to love God and one another (cf. Romans 13:10), and we realize it is something we can count on, something we can trust."
"Light Switches & the Obedience of Faith," Pilgrim Preaching, Mary Hinkle Shore, 2010.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

The passage appointed for Sunday is a typical introduction to a letter which is common in most writing of this time. Paul, of course, has added to the greeting revealing both who he is, who he believes God is and what he is to be doing.

In the first verses, Paul is clear that he is a servant to God.  His work is the work of serving and doing the work which God gives him. He is an apostle. He is chosen and the Holy Spirit is upon him and he is to give it to others.  He is in particular given such gifts not by his service (he did not earn them) but rather by and for the purpose of sharing God's Good News of Salvation.

Paul then offers a bit of preaching.  Scholars believe this is possibly early church confessional stuff. God has been at work bringing about this moment of Good News for a long time.  Jesus himself and Jesus' mission was foretold and revealed in the holy scriptures - here, of course, he is speaking about the Torah most likely and some of the traditional texts (there is not yet an Old Testament collection as we know it.)  Jesus is from the line of David and a royal king, and he is God in the flesh, God's very Son.  This is proven by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. It is proven by the resurrection from the dead.  This God in Christ Jesus is Lord of Lords.  (Romans, Fitzmyer, 228)

Paul then returns to the format with a continued greeting.  He offers grace to fulfill our work which is the sharing of God's Good News through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We respond to God's Grace with our own obedience to the work.  We do it all as a response to God's sacrifice for us and so we in turn sacrifice for the Gospel.  We belong to Jesus Christ, our lives and our ministry is Christ's. We are with grace to share this with others.  This is Paul's work and like Paul, this is the work of the people in the Roman Church.

"To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Paul is clear about who he is. He is clear about who God is. He is clear about what his work is and he is clear about what that work is for the church.  We are Christ's and we are to be at work for Christ.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 7:10-17

"Whenever we rush to attach ourselves to another protector out of fear that we will lose what we so desperately wish to retain -- our way of life, our nation state, our individual safety -- our hopes in these intermittent protectors are forever destined to be dashed. The hope of the birth at Christmas is that God is with us in the midst of our greatest fears. "
"The Hope of the Birth," John C. Holbert, Patheos, 2010.


"The lection for this week reminds us this week that God indeed is with us. Even in this day and age when fear runs amuck, we have no need to fear for a small child has proven to us that God is with us and that God is faithful to his promises.
Commentary, Isaiah 7:10-16 | Brent Neely | Pastor, Cape Elizabeth Church of the Nazarene | A Plain Account, 2016.

"God's sign of a child surprised a king and an unwed father named Joseph. This sign matters in a world that continues to worship a vengeful God who can crush our enemies."
Commentary, Isaiah 7:10-16, Barbara Lundblad, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"This is a very challenging chapter to interpret, much less to preach, in part because it requires that one be familiar with a number of related texts (Isaiah 7:1-9; 8:1-8; 2 Kings 16)."
Commentary, Isaiah 7:10-16, Barbara Lundblad, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

"Isaiah 7:15-17 is a bundle of ambiguities, ambiguities that pose some of the most baffling problems of interpretation in the bible. Do curdled milk and honey symbolize plenty and felicity or want and adversity? Should the vv 15 and 16 be construed in the sense, "when he knows," or "in order that he may know"? Do good and evil in vv 1 and 16 refer to moral right and wrong or to that which is pleasant and painful? Is the age at which one learns to reject the evil and chose the good at one, twelve, or twenty years of age? Is the sign given to Ahaz one exclusively of threat, one exclusively of promise, or does it embrace both? If it embraces both, are the threat and the promise relate sequentially or do they happen concurrently? (Gene Rice, Journal of Biblical Literature
Vol. 96, No. 3 (Sep., 1977), pp. 363-369)

By the fourth century, the Christian theologians were arguing over the texts. Eusebius of Caesarea's writings reveal this and that this is one of the passages they discussed and argued about.

So let us take this passage carefully, respectfully, and with an eye to our text's history and tradition and see where it leads us.

Rabbis teach that in this text God gives a sign to Ahaz in the midst of the threat of war. The sign promises that the kings who oppose Ahaz will not be victorious. Here we then get the verse: “before the child knows enough to refuse evil and choose good the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken” Isaiah 7:15

If you read the "whole book" as my professors used to tell me, you will find out that the prophecy is fulfilled in the following chapter! The child is the prophet Isaiah's son, “he (Isaiah) approached the prophetess and she conceived (tahar) and bore (taled) a son and God said to me: Name the child “Maher-shalal-hash-baz” which means (the spoil speeds the prey hastens). For before the child shall know how to cry my father my mother the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Sammaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” Isaiah 8:4 This is brilliant by the way because Isaiah and the Prophetess have a son. Hold on to that gem for a bit.

It is clear that the woman, the prophetess, is a young woman, a maiden, she may be a virgin, she may not. The text does not make that clear. We will come back to this nugget too. 

The child will quickly mature and at a young age, he will know the difference between good and evil. It will be in those times that the prophecy will be fulfilled to Ahaz and those who threaten will threaten no more. 

“Behold I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel.” Isaiah 8:18

The passage includes amazing texts like God is with us, the child will be born to a young woman  (Immanuel –עמנואל).[4] Although this name mean ‘God is with us” it does not mean that the child will be divine. It is very common for biblical personality to have names that include God and part of their name. For example, (Daniel –דניאל) means “God is my Judge.” The implication was that God would be with Ahaz and the Kingdom of Judah in their fight against their enemies.

Isaiah refers to this when he says, “Contrive a scheme, but it will be foiled; conspire a plot, but it will not stand, for God is with us (Emanu El).” Isaiah 8:10  “Thus God saved Hezikiah (son of Ahaz) and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria.” 2 Chronicles 32:22

We must be wise and understand that the text has a biblical history and meaning in the time in which it is read. It is a revelation to Ahaz and Isaiah. It has deep meaning all on its own. Even without a new testament.

The text is clear, the God who created the world, who gives breath to its every day, the God who was with Abraham and Moses, the God who freed the people of Israel, and the God who was with them as they wandered in the desert and eventually returned home is the very same God that is with Ahaz and speaks through both the prophet Isaiah and the prophetess. The message is purposeful and it is part of the overarching theology of Israel and Christianity. God is with God's people Israel.

But here is where we must understand a larger revelation. It is a revelation that does not set Israel's revelation aside but understands clearly that Israel's revelation was not the whole story. It is a revelation that understood that indeed God has been and was with the people. That this prophecy not only was given but came true. And, that the prophecy itself continued. In other words, the prophecy had meaning in that day when it was given to Ahaz and it continued to have meaning. Just at the prophecy revealed who God had been and how that revelation was being played out in the life of Ahaz and Isaiah, so too the prophetic message continued to be revealed - God is with us.

As the people of Israel tried to make sense of the birth and life of Jesus of Nazareth they looked towards the scripture that they so well knew. It Matthew the gospeller who picks up this thread and weaves it well into God's story. It is Matthew's gospel that looks back and lifts this text up and brings it into the narrative.

As he tells it the new prophetess is Mary who will make claims of God's presence with the people once again. In Luke, she will be the one who says:

I’m bursting with God-news;    I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.God took one good look at me, and look what happened—    I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!What God has done for me will never be forgotten,    the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.His mercy flows in wave after wave    on those who are in awe before him.He bared his arm and showed his strength,    scattered the bluffing braggarts.He knocked tyrants off their high horses,    pulled victims out of the mud.The starving poor sat down to a banquet;    the callous rich were left out in the cold.He embraced his chosen child, Israel;    he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.It’s exactly what he promised,    beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

That is the translation of Luke 1:46ff from the Message...love that version! But, while Luke's testimony gives Mary the words, it is Matthew's version that reveals that God is with Mary, this young woman, this virgin, and so is with God's people again. Moreover, as the new testament sought to understand Jesus and write theology they saw that this revelation was more than a word to a prophetess but that it had new meaning. As they understood the resurrection and God's presence in a new way they understood the message was more than a prophet's words and a prophetess' child to Ahaz - this was about God being birthed into the world in the very unique person of Jesus.

In Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, Richard B. Hays writes,

The reader who recalls the context of the prophet's words in Isaiah is drawn to recognize the analogy: Israel at the time of Jesus' birth also stands under foreign imperial domination. Matthew's identification fo Jesus as Emmanuel signifies that his birth is a sign: those in Israel who trust God's promise will see in Jesus a harbinger of salvation (the heir who will restore the Davidic line)...(163-164)

Just as Ahaz has no faith in this prophetic birth so shall many not understand the broader and greater revelation of the person of Jesus. Just as Ahaz didn't imagine God was present or that he and the kingdom of Israel could truly be delivered by God...so too people reading Matthew for the first time, or today, may not imagine this is true - that God came into the world to save it.

Paul understood this in the broadest sense as he explained theologically that God's promise of presence belonged to Israel and the new people of Israel through the gentile mission. God's presence in the world in the unique person of Jesus and God's continuing presence meant that the promise had come true that God would gather all people to God's self.

Advent 3, Year A December 11, 2022

Prayer

Give us strength for witnessing, that we may go and tell others what we see and hear. Give us patience for waiting, until the precious harvest of your kingdom, when the return of your Son will make your saving work complete. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Matthew 11:2-11

"The undercurrent of the entire text is the difference between people's expectations, even John's, and the reality of who Jesus was and the actual character of his ministry."

Commentary, Matthew 11:2-11, Advent 3A, Ben Witherington, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"The challenge for us in Advent is to allow Jesus to restore our senses, to have him open our eyes and ears so that we can go and tell others what we hear and see."

"Hear and See," Blogging Toward Sunday, Erin Martin, Theolog: The Blog of The Christian Century, 2007.

"...tell John about change and transformation in people?s lives. That is what we are here for and that is what excites us. Spiritualities excited by anything else (like the magic of miracles, like overcoming the enemies of God by judgment, like getting all the rules right) miss the point."

"First Thoughts on Year A Gospel Passages in the Lectionary: Advent 3," William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

We have skipped to the end of the second major section of the Gospel of Matthew in order to continue with the theme of John the Baptist and his relationship with Jesus. While our reading for today does not include the whole pericope it is important to note that Jesus has been offering his missiology, his missionary vision for the reign of God. The framework of Jesus’ teaching was to go to the “lost sheep of Israel.”(10:6) Jesus is giving instruction and continuing the overarching Gospel message that the Word and its proclamation include action. As we saw in last week’s reading the action was repentance: change of heart, mind, and place. Now in the preaching of the reign of God we see action as proclamation of the reign of God, healing, raising, cleansing, and casting out. Jesus has finished giving his orders and he has sent the disciples out to teach and preach – to act out the mission.

It is in this important framework of mission, the word is spreading from city to city, that we arrive at the first verse of today’s Gospel reading. John is in prison. He hears of the work being done. John the Baptist sends his disciples to ask: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we wait for another?” Most every scholar I read this week showed an interest in how out of sync this question seems to be with the proclamation made by John the Baptist. The pre-modern scholars too ask similar questions. The themes of doubt, disappointment, and disillusionment are present throughout the scholarly wrestling with the text. Perhaps it is a crisis of faith. Maybe it is the narrator’s desire to distance John from Jesus’ ministry. It seems to me though to go too far down this road of inquiry (while biblically fascinating) can lead us to miss Jesus’ answer: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

Jesus then continues teaching them and reminds them of the image of the prophet and the message of transformation. He says:

“What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Our translation does something interesting here in verse 11. Perhaps you are using a bible that translates it differently too. In the translation by Daniel J. Harrington (Luke, Sacra Pagina, 157) he believes Jesus is saying, “Amen.”  John the Baptist is the greatest prophet of the past, but he remains in the past.

Harrington also writes:

The assessment of John is prefaced by “Amen” – an indicator of special solemnity on Jesus’ part. His saying assumes that John does not participate in the kingdom of heaven, that is, he belongs to a different stage in the history of salvation (see Luke 16:16 [The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until the time of John] for a similar schema). John may be the greatest figure of the past. But from Jesus’ perspective he belonged to another age.

As I meditated on this passage this week I wondered what age has passed for our church. I too think it is the age of prophecy. We have for many recent years spent our time prophetically calling the world to change. This era of prophecy was captured best when one political leader remarked the world had changed from the time when the Presiding Bishop was sitting in the Oval Office to a time when the Presiding Bishop was across on the lawn picketing the actions of the Oval Office. To everything, there is a season. John’s question and Jesus’ answer tell us of a season of proclamation and prophetic work that prepared the way for the incarnation. Jesus is saying that season is over, this is the season of incarnation, of the reign of God. Perhaps the challenging message for our congregations today is the message that as communities that have received the prophetic Word, we are to be at work in the world.

You and I are to be in the world and at work in the world incarnating Christ’s love, community, and transformation. It is time for action on behalf of God’s people. It is a time when the church must enter a new age, an age where it is known not for what it says but for what it does.

Some Thoughts on James 5:7-10

"In the light of the story of Job, we return to the passage of James with perhaps a bit more wisdom. Using a language that might sound distant and removed, James asks his addressees to consider God as in charge, as paying attention."
Commentary, James 5:7-10, Advent 3A, Valerie Nicolet-Anderson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"So to wait for Christ to come in his fullness is not just a passive thing, a pious, prayerful, churchly thing. On the contrary, to wait for Christ to come in his fullness is above all else to act in Christ's stead as fully as we know how. To wait for Christ is as best we can to be Christ to those who need us to be Christ to them most and to bring them the most we have of Christ's healing and hope because unless we bring it, it may never be brought at all."
"Be Patient," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

"None of what James proposes here is possible through human strength, will or power. The patience and the hope are both grounded in faith, that gift of the Holy Spirit."
Commentary, James 5:7-10, Advent 3A, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"...patience is essential to the process of becoming a peacemaker. The premature resolution of conflict usually inflicts some kind of violence on one of the parties involved, by silencing them. The patience to listen, to withhold judgment, to attend to each person's or group's or country's concerns, is a major part of diplomacy..."
Commentary, James 5:7-10, Susan Eastman, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2007.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

So...what is missing?  In James 5:4-5, just before this we are told that God opposes the arrogant, the oppressive rich, and is interested in the cries of the laborer.  What a great passage! Wow! One has to wonder why we don't read that part on Sunday morning.  

Yet it is important because we don't arrive at our passage today without knowing who it is addressed to and why.  The author is telling those who are poor and oppressed to be patient and faithful.  God is very much the judge - and this is not an abstract judge either.  James believes that God will return as judge and this is out of a deep sense of hope and desire for justice.  God will oppose the wicked and reward the good.  

James says, not unlike the farmer who is patient so the poor and oppressed need to be patient.  He writes, "Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord, is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord."  

Depend upon those who have come before you and their stories to understand the present age of oppression is where our text ends. So...what is missing?  Here at the end of the passage, we are missing the last verse which helps to interpret vs 10.   Specifically, Luke Timothy Johnson and others, believe that this last little bit is a reference to Job from vs 11. (James, LTJ, 1995, p 324)  

Which prophet, which story? Specifically: Job.  Look to his endurance, his faithfulness, and his waiting.  "God rewarded the one who, despite his suffering, stayed loyal to God."  (IBID) So too you must wait and be faithful.



Some Thoughts on Isaiah 35:1-10

"Czech dissident and first post-communist president Václav Havel said it so well: "Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it will turn out.""
Commentary, Isaiah 35:4-7a, Patricia Tull, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"Isaiah dares to speak a word out of place. A word that refused to wait until things improved."

Commentary, Isaiah 35:1-10, Barbara Lundblad, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"To preach this passage, then, you will need to exegete not only text but also context. The oracle gives no sure clues as to its own originating context. The contexts it calls you to interpret are your own and those of the people who have called you to preach."

Commentary, Isaiah 35:4-7a, Anathea Portier-Young, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"God in Isaiah 35 now promises a new and fresh wilderness, filled with lovely blossoms, rather than jackals and ostriches, ringing with the sounds of joy and singing rather than the hoots and screeches of owls and buzzards."
"The Hope of New Vision," John C. Holbert, Patheos, 2010.

NRSV Old Testament Text

God's garden social imaginary is a creation abundant. In it, there is community and relationship. It rejects sibling rivalry, mimetic desire, and violence as tools to deal with scarcity. In fact, God's narrative rejects scarcity.

In our Isaiah passage, we hear a prophecy that the world will be made new. The people living in the land and in relationship with others. Desert flowers blossoming, alive with creatures, all reflecting the abundance of God.

God is an interested party and will free the people. He will not withhold his hand from the accountability that comes when responsibility is shirked by authorities and those in power.

The passage we are given is the passage that Jesus likely reads in the synagogue. It is a key image of a renewed social imaginary that is proclaimed in word and deed by God in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah cries to the people on God's behalf: "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way."

Truly a way is made in the desert. We know this way because we have been reading about it in Mark's Gospel. This is the way that John the Baptist says is coming, this is the path that Jesus follows, it is the road upon which the disciples are invited to walk. Jesus, in fact, opens the eyes of the blind. The people who can not hear justice hear again as if for the first time. The lame walk. Jesus feeds the people and brings living water to the woman at the well.

Isaiah is, of course, speaking of the imminent return of the people of Israel from the wilderness of Babylon back to their home. He is showing that God has heard their cry and they have suffered long enough. Isaiah, as he will do in chapter 40, is literally bringing comfort to the people.

It is true that we cannot remove the context of violence from the passage. Isaiah and his prophetic school cannot help but suggest that God will bring a violent end to the people's persecutors. This is not the full revelation that Jesus brings as peacemaker. Isaiah can only imagine a world where the lion is no longer there. Instead, we have in Jesus an image of lion and lambs together.

Isaiah does offer something beautiful. The rejection of violence and scapegoating will end - he suggests. The lion and ravenous beast will not be anymore, instead, there will be a people who are redeemed. Rejecting violence, they will sing, and be glad and sorrow will be no more.

As always, we read the text backward with the first and second commandments and Jesus as our hermeneutical lens. This helps us to understand the eagerness of vengeance placed in the mouth of God as merely a human's desire for repetitive violence - a continuation of scapegoating. When we see clearly the greater vision of Isaiah, we not only see revealed in the passage the revelation of Jesus himself who will come and preach the message of peace and healing. We also see the great potential for a society built upon peace and healing that brings joy and gladness into the world.

This is a passage filled with good news for those who need it. It is also a passage filled with vision for those who have lost theirs. Prophetic leadership always points to our participation in God's narrative. The prophet invites us to find our place within it.

Sometimes I think preaching is described as finding the context that you are in and preaching into it. But this fractures the narrative and reorients it. I think preaching may more be the work of the prophet to invite people into God's narrative, to invite them to hear God's words of freedom and hope for others like them. The scripture is not a medicine kit with salve for this or that issue. Instead, the scripture is a pool in which to wade, swim and dive. It is living and abundant water in which we are invited so we may root ourselves and be like the blossoms in the midst of the desert.

Advent 2, Year A, December 4, 2022

Prayer
With righteousness, you judge the poor, O steadfast and faithful God, and with justice, you decide aright for the meek and lowly of the earth. Shatter the silence of Advent’s wilderness with the voice of the one who cries out to prepare your way and to make straight your paths that we may bear fruit worthy of repentance, lie in harmony with one another, and be gathered at last into the peaceable kingdom of your Christ who was, who is and who is to come.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Matthew 3:1-12

The Kingdom was coming all right, he said, but if you thought it was going to be a pink tea, you'd better think again. I f you didn't shape up, God would give you the ax like an elm with the blight or toss you into the incinerator like chaff. He said being a Jew wouldn't get you any more points than being a Hottentot, and one of his favorite ways of addressing his congregation was as a snake pit. Your only hope, he said, was to clean up your life as if your life depended on it, which it did, and get baptized in a hurry as a sign that you had.

"John the Baptist," Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures.

"Repentance, or metanoia, to use the Greek word, refers to far more than a simple being or saying one is sorry for past sins, far more than mere regret or remorse for such sins. It refers to a turning away from the past way of life and the inauguration of a new one, in this case, initialized by an act of baptism."

Commentary, Matthew 3:1-12, Ben Witherington, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"Repentance is a correlate of freedom. The tearing away that takes place in detachment is only possible because a deeper, more powerful and superior attachment has come: the attachment of faith, the grip of the kingdom."
The Matthean Advent Gospels, James Arne Nestingen, Word & World: Theology for Christian Ministry, Luther Northwestern Theological School, 1992.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

It is clear that in this passage set for today we have two pieces of important and foundational messages which add to our Advent work of preparation and are also signals of what the Gospel of Matthew is all about. On the one hand, we have the expected “Brood of vipers” speech of John the Baptist to begin our season and call us into repentance. However, and I believe more importantly, as we begin a reading cycle of Matthew we have an inauguration underway.

We begin with words that tell us that times are changing. The simple statement of “now in those days” is deeply rooted in the ancient psyche of storytelling within our scripture as an indicator that we are moving into a new time.

We are in a new play, we are in the desert, in the wilderness - an apt setting for an Advent message. More importantly, we imagine the parallels with the ancient Abrahamic ancestors and their dessert/wilderness wanderings.

The message from this man is clear: repent.

Here we begin to see something important and uncomfortable emerge in the Gospel. Repentance is tied to the eschatological, our actions of changed mind (which is the literal Greek translation in this case) is very much a partnership with the coming reign of God. The kingdom of heaven is near and this act of repentance is a component of preparation.

We then receive the quotation from Isaiah. The voice and the wilderness here would have been powerful images in the minds of the listeners to John, and to the first readers of Matthew’s Gospel. This is a new time, we are in a new place with ancient meaning, we must act in accordance with the drawing near of the reign of God, AND it is a particular kind of reign. Our deliverance which is coming is the fulfillment of God’s prophetic words to the captives in Babylon. God’s promise is coming true in a new and revelatory manner which shows a link to God’s Word of the past with the incarnation which is at hand. The listeners could not but help hear the powerful words of the prophet Isaiah that are linked with John the Baptist’s quote:

Isaiah 40:2-5
2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
3A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

 These are words of great comfort and wisdom from a new Elijah. The clothes that he is wearing are clearly the clothes mentioned in the text from Malachi 3:1. This is not only a prophet with powerful words calling people to repentance, but he is also and must be promising great deliverance and hope for all those who feel trapped and consumed by their sin and brokenness.

Then our author, our narrator tells us that ALL were going out to him. This was powerful and a new time was coming to a new emerging message and revelation. It was a time of renewal for the people and they wanted to be a part of this ritual. These first images of baptism are rooted in this hope for something new and for change. And it is clear in the text that this model of baptism is clear: the word is proclaimed, the individual is moved to change their way of being, they are baptized to mark this repentance and confession.

This was a powerful movement and the Gospel’s witness to the fact that John was a powerful actor and player in the politics and religious life surrounding Jesus’ own emergence.

We then add a second scene to our already meaty story of proclamation and repentance. It is here that we begin to see the architecture of Matthew’s storytelling for we see that the narrator moves us quickly from the idea and the Word to action and then into community and community action.

John sees that some of the people (Pharisees and Sadducees) are coming for baptism are arriving and that perhaps they are seeking something other than true amendment of thinking and being that will lead to transformative action.

John and the Gospel are clear: your heritage does not save you, your fruit will reveal who you are. The scholar Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. writes: “The Pharisees and Sadducees are warned not to imagine that the mere ritual of baptism will preserve them from God’s wrath. Rather they must do the good deeds that are appropriate to genuine repentance in view of the coming kingdom…Belonging to the children of Abraham will not protect those who refuse to repent and do good works. There may be an allusion here to the rabbinic idea of the “merits of the fathers” according to which the righteousness of the patriarchs is charged to the account of Israel.” (Matthew, Sacra Pagina, 56)

Now I want to be very careful here by identifying too much the Pharisees and Sadducees and to name and recognize the all too easy way Christian preachers scapegoat them and the anti-Semitism that is all too prevalent in our culture. When we make too much of them we miss the powerful message of the Gospel.

You and I are the ones to hear John the Baptist charge. We are the ones who must hear that perhaps we are about our religious life in a manner that must change. We are the ones who must look at the fruit of our faith and what it is or is not bringing about in our community. The question is not for someone else, but for us: Have we for too long stood on the shoulders of our ancient traditions and ancestry as Anglicans and Episcopalians? Are we bearing the fruit of the kingdom of God?

Are we as we sit in our pews on Sunday morning able to bring to the altar labors this week which were not simply prayers and offerings of our hearts but the glorious work of changing people’s lives?

You and I as we sit and ponder the words of John the Baptist can see that this Gospel of Matthew holds for us a clear message that we are to be at work in the world around us bearing fruit fitting our loving God’s reign. The proclamation of the word leads to transformation and repentance, which leads to real works of faith. Bearing fruit for the reign of God is not an ancillary to the life of faith but an essential component to healthy spirituality in the family of God. “Repentance and return to the Lord,” those words from our Baptismal Covenant are essential keystones in a life well lived with a God who reveals himself incarnationally. We must make real in our world – outside of ourselves - our hearts transformation.

Some Thoughts on Romans 15:4-13

"Just as Scripture's purposes for humanity are inextricable from the very nature of God, the inclusion of the Gentiles is not a back-up plan nor a course-correction: this has been God's intention all along."
Commentary, Romans 15:4-13 | Kara Lyons-Pardue | Assistant Professor of New Testament, Point Loma Nazarene University | A Plain Account

"Unity according to Christ also means that differences are not erased. Members do not have to conform to one particular pattern of behavior, but they do have to realize that the essential and defining character of their identity is now Christ."
Commentary, Romans 15:4-13, Valerie Nicolet-Anderson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"Paul is not making vague and pious statements about scripture but drawing attention to a particular orientation of scripture towards inclusivity and compassion which even enables one to say yes and no in scripture itself or to forego one's freedom for the sake of unity at some points."
First Thoughts on Year A Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Advent 2, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Paul begins this passage in verse one.  I think that is important because without it the words he writes are without context.  Paul is writing to the strong in faith and he is clear that not everyone is faithful, not everyone is in the same place. He says some people are in fact weak in their faith.  Regardless of what New Testament scholar you read you will quickly become aware that whole households (servants and family) were baptized when the leader of the household became baptized. This means that the early church was used to churches existing with many different kinds of people. They were all on a journey and many were at different places on that journey.  What Paul makes clear is that those who are strong in faith are to be hospitable and kind. The individual is to work for the greater cause in their neighbor and work for their success.  They are to be patient with those around them.  Even Christ, Paul reminds us, was accepting of others and well...put up with a lot.  These are the important words that come before our passage.

Just as we are to be strong for others and leaders, we are to remember that we too were given instruction.  We are upheld by the writings of the Old Testament and we are given in them a vision of hope. Just as God was faithful for our Abrahamic faith ancestors - God will be faithful to us.

The God we believe in is the same God.  God is faithful and steadfast, God encourages us, and gives us life. The life we are given by God is one meant to embrace neighbors and live in harmony with them.  We are to share the hope that is in us and share God's promises with them so that together we may become an ever new community.

We the faithful are to welcome others as Christ welcomed us.  Not by expecting perfection first but by truly opening ourselves up to be helpful to them in the journey.  God in Christ Jesus did not do this but instead welcomed us and served us and even died on the cross for us.  Christ was faithful and loving to us to prove not only the truth of God's love but also in order to convince us of his grace.  We too are to do the same for others.  We confess, sing, and tell of God. We are to walk with our neighbors and help them as they grow to know this God. We like the first disciples who reached out to the Gentiles are to also find the other God-fearers and spiritual pilgrims of our day and walk with them.  

Paul concludes this part of the passage with a prayer that we will be filled with hope and joy in this work; for surely any other sentiments fail to glorify God and fail to attract others to his cause.  We shall surely fail if we do not have hope about our future and the future of our faith.  For who wishes to be attracted to hopelessness.


Some Thoughts on Isaiah 11:1-10


"What if we believe this fragile sign is God's beginning? Perhaps then we will tend the seedling in our hearts, the place where faith longs to break through the hardness of our disbelief."
Commentary, Isaiah 11:1-10, Barbara Lundblad, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"This is the mountain of God's holiness. This is the promise, the glorious, abundant resting place where the root of Jesse stands. This is the vision of security. The shoot will grow tall and become a visible sign for the nations. Not a battle standard, but a standard of peace."
Commentary, Isaiah 11:1-10, Anathea Portier-Young, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"The kaleidoscopic portrait of God's power in the prophets both comforts and confuses us. Yet within the biblical text, there is a compelling vision of power that can transform the whole of creation, if only we have eyes to see and minds to engage it."
"I Am About To Do a New Thing," Carol J. Dempsey, O.P., "Prophetic Ethics," Christian Reflection, 2003.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

What is delightful about this passage is the many potential meanings.  The new womanist perspective helps us understand that it is possible that this is about the future prophet, a prophet's son. The message is clear: God is doing a new thing. Let us read the words of the Message as it brings this poetry to life:

A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse’s stump,
from his roots a budding Branch.
The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,
the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength,
the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.
Fear-of-God
will be all his joy and delight.
He won’t judge by appearances,
won’t decide on the basis of hearsay.
He’ll judge the needy by what is right,
render decisions on earth’s poor with justice.
His words will bring everyone to awed attention.
A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked.
Each morning he’ll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots,
and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.
The wolf will romp with the lamb,
the leopard sleep with the kid.
Calf and lion will eat from the same trough,
and a little child will tend them.
Cow and bear will graze the same pasture,
their calves and cubs grow up together,
and the lion eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens,
the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent.
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
on my holy mountain.
The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive,
a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide.
On that day, Jesse’s Root will be raised high, posted as a rallying banner for the peoples. The nations will all come to him.

I like the NRSV version for study but I always keep a couple of different texts nearby. The Message translation does a couple of things for us. First, it helps to see the prophecy in a more poetic form. Secondly, I think it captures the Hebrew imagery a bit better. You really get a sense that the new green shoot is going to grow out of this very old (previously thought of as dead) tree stump. 

It is clear to me that the prophecy is clearly about future prophets. In fact, because we know the rest of the story, this message of hope will indeed come to be. The prophetic school shall raise up a continuing message of hope for God's people in exile. In the midst of their own belief that nothing can change, everything is as it is, and there is no hope, there will rise up among them prophets' sons who will continue to bring the good news of God to the people. 

Why is this important? It is important to remember its context and original hopeful meaning because it is important to remember that God has continually brought hope to the downtrodden and to those who are almost dead. God has since the very beginning been doing a new thing. Regardless of who utters the words of God's message (a prophet, a prophet's son, and member of the prophetic school, a disciple, an ancestor or descendant).

The gospel author Mark will merge this prophetic hope with the vision of eschatology - that all the people's hope will culminate in God in Christ Jesus and his ultimate hope. It is here that the Gospeller Luke will turn in bringing forth the news that God is doing a new thing. It is here that John will turn when understanding how God will judge - with mercy and with heart. the first Christians, captured in their writing, will understand this prophetic message as speaking about Jesus himself. (Note the work of Richard B. Hays in Echoes of the Scripture in the Gospels; 34ff, 231, 298.)

In one act of reading the past, they bring forth a positive theological vision of who Jesus is - he is one that has come with the words of God. He has come with the prophetic hope. He has come to judge with mercy and heart. He has come to vindicate God's people - the poor, the hopeless, the least and the lost.

Moreover, this passage then invites us to consider who brings this message of hope today? How do we as disciples who follow, and apostles who are sent, go out and speak this prophetic message to a world that believes nothing has changed?

We can look at the church as the dead tree stump, or our own hearts, our political and social predicaments that are all around, or even our families. Let us be curious about the word of hope that is required in just such a time as this and ask who will go for God?


Sermons Preached


The Best Sermon EVER for Sinners
Dec 10, 2013
Sermon preached Advent 2A St Albans Waco 2013