Proper 17C, August 31, 2025

Prayer

Not for a place of honor did your Son come among us, O God of the lowly, but to invite to the wedding feast the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Let such humility grace our table and lead us to renounce the quest for power and privilege. Taking our place with other sinners, we may share the banquet your Son has prepared for those who place their trust in your grace alone. 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 C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.


Some Thoughts on Luke 14:1-14

"True humility doesn't consist of thinking ill of yourself but of not thinking of yourself much differently from the way you'd be apt to think of anybody else. It is the capacity for being no more and no less pleased when you play your own hand well than when your opponents do."

"Humility," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

"Giving great honor to those who are distinguished. Ignoring those who are ordinary or 'defective.' Seating charts that are set up to emphasize the high status of some and the lower status of others..."

Commentary, Luke 14:1, 7-14, Jeannine K. Brown, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

I have a friend who likes to say, “The reason Jesus was killed is he ate with sinners.” It always strikes me as a shocking thing to say. I believe it challenges me because I don’t like to think on a day today
basis that in America we have a class system. I was listening to a podcast interview this summer on the Economist and these two British citizens and businessmen were commenting on this very thing. They engaged in a conversation about how in America there does not seem to be a class system and there is a lot of discussion about an egalitarian society. However, they said there is, it is just difficult to see. I mentioned this to a friend and priest and we had a long discussion about the matter and he said something I had not thought of before. He commented on the fact that Americans are able to purchase anything. A member of the middle or lower-middle class, even some of the lower classes can wear the clothes the rich wear; they can eat at the restaurants the rich eat in. He said this gives the false idea of a level playing field and makes money the central commodity in the system that moves you up and down. Therefore your class is established essentially based upon your longevity to afford any particular lifestyle; whether you can afford it for an hour at a fine dining establishment or a weekend in a posh resort.

Jesus has some different ideas about how the system should work. He is challenging and teaching a very radical thing; radical enough that they killed him for it and perhaps so radical that it is hard for us to reconcile ourselves to his lifestyle.

So our passage begins with Jesus at a meal with the Pharisees. We might remember that this sect within the Jewish household has a number of boundaries and policies if you are to be a member; chiefly among these is the rule governing who you can be seated at a table with.

A man appears who is suffering from what we call today edema, or the swelling caused by excess fluid. Jesus has been really at odds with the establishment regarding healing on the Sabbath and he brings it up here in relationship to this man. So, first, we note it is the Sabbath. Second, we must see that this man who is obviously a sinner because of his illness has entered into the midst of their supper and threatens to contaminate them all. The Pharisees are silent.

Jesus teaches on the importance of the Godly commandment to love neighbor and we can easily see the themes of the Abrahamic family running through his thoughts on the child or an ox. We are reminded perhaps of the untying of the mule last week and the daughter of Abraham. Jesus continues in Luke to teach that they are hypocritical when they publicly hold one doctrine clearly for the use of power and authority and separation and division of the family when privately they allow or make room for behavior which contradicts their public word and action.

We are then told a short illustration, almost a parabolic type of teaching, about being invited to the wedding feast.

Jesus says we are to invite the poor with the knowledge they can never repay what is given.  Is this not another way of describing the grace we receive from God? Are we not the poor who receive everything from the grace of Jesus Christ which makes us rich? Instead of class, or money, or any other system defining us we are defined purely by the gift of life and the gift of reconciliation to God and one another by Jesus Christ.

As Luke Timothy Johnson points out, Jesus is challenging all of our conventional patterns of transactions. (Luke, 227)

We might typically see this passage as a call to change our service and outreach to the poor. Indeed it certainly is that. However, it is also a challenge to see more deeply the gap which lies between those we believe are ok to go to church with and those Jesus is inviting into the community, in point of fact inviting to come to the table with us and full members of the family of Abraham.

Are we really willing to give someone else our place at the table? Can we hear Jesus say:  “Behold, here is ____________. Are you willing to help me get his life out of the ditch? If so, give him your place at the table.”

Wow! I am challenged by this idea in more ways than one can imagine. I wonder what name or type of person I might put in this blank?

Until the church can answer Jesus’ challenge honestly, and then do the opposite of what is expected we will forever be limited in our mission, in our evangelism, in discerning God’s imagination, and in seeing the kingdom of God for what it is!

Some Thoughts on Hebrews 13:1-16

"Hebrews 13 can read like a list of rules -- do this and don't do that -- but it also includes some vital and enduring theological truths."
Commentary, Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16, Amy L.B. Peeler, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2016.

"These few verses offer us snippets of what Christian community meant. It wasn't a holy huddle of worshippers scared for their lives and totally obsessed with religious rituals. It was a community which expressed and shared love and in that context praised God - obviously because God is a God who reaches out in love and compassion."
"First Thoughts on Year C Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost 15, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

"Hospitality quickly takes on earthy dimensions buildings, beds, and blankets, pots and pans as we share our place, make use of what is available, or create new places. How can we sustain personal, small-scale places of welcome along with more institutionalized expressions of care?"
"Building a Place for Hospitality," Christine D. Pohl, (other resources at)"Hospitality," Christian Reflection, The Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University, 2007.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

The author of the letter to the Hebrews invites the reader to consider what work might result as a response to the faith of Israel and faith in Jesus Christ? This passage is almost an ethical view of what Christian community is supposed to look like.  It is first and foremost to be a community of love. 

Love from Christ and in Christ will lead to certain actions by the individual follower of Jesus and the community that bears his name. 

1. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
2. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. 
3. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. 
4. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” 
5. Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 

It is unlikely that these were the qualities of every first-generation Christian community.  Nevertheless, it gives a good view of what the author believes should be the qualities, and in some manner, it reflects what the first apostles and leaders of the church thought were key elements within the first few centuries.  These are also the five categories that repeatedly show up in ethical New Testament writings and the writings of the Church theologians.  These are if you will the core and guiding principles of ministry in the fledgling church.

The author then reminds us of the unchanging nature of God.  That we are to continually return to God as revealed in Jesus Christ for our direction.  Moreover that in following this Christ we are to make our following as a response to grace.  

Rules and regulations will not bring us to the altar of grace, only Christ does that.  

Here then the author provides an understanding of the paschal feast and Christ as the true sacrifice and mediator between humanity and God. 

The author writes:  "We have an altar from which those who officiate in the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood."  We see within this text not only a developed understanding of a grace-filled community, norms born out of the grace of forgiveness, but we also see a more fully developed understanding of the paschal mystery which is Christ's offering of himself.

What shall our response be to this God who reaches out to us? How shall we make an offering of gratitude to this God? The author writes: "Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."

Some Thoughts on Jeremiah 2:4-13

""For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13 NRSV). ..."
Commentary, Jeremiah 2:4-13, Anathea Portier-Young, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2016.


"Our priests, our teachers, our leaders, even our prophets from whom we need and expect correction, have too often fallen into the traps of ignorance and self-serving."
"Stupid Is as Stupid Does," John C. Holbert, Opening the Old Testament, 2013.


"Even now, despite a multitude of sins of omission and commission, God will not give up on Israel. Even now, there is hope for the nation."
Commentary, Jeremiah 2:4-13, Alphonetta Wines, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text

A bit about the Sinai prophetic tradition: The tradition is rooted in the covenant that is made with the people of God after God's deliverance of them from Egypt. God's covenant was made as a response to God's mercy and freedom. So the idea here is that the people are to respond to God's love and freedom.

What Jeremiah and the other Sinai prophets must contend with is that the centralization of faith in Jerusalem has caused them a problem. They are now seeing that the core of the Sinai tradition has been flipped. The religious leaders of Mount Zion now ask that the people be faithful in order to receive God's love, mercy, and freedom. The Zion temple faith has reversed the Sinai tradition. Here is Jeremiah's focus.

Jeremiah focuses then first in our passage on the acts of God. God questions:

O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5Thus says the Lord: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves? 6They did not say, “Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?” 7I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. 8The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?” Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit.

 Jeremiah prophesies and is clear that the religious leaders have left far behind the practices and relationship God and the people proclaimed in the covenant at Sinai. So God "accuses" the religious leaders for forgetting. It is as if the people have changed their god and now worship some completely different God.

Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. 12Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, 13for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.

Jeremiah offers a vision of what the people have done. The God who is freedom, mercy, love, and forgiveness offers living water. But what the people have done is create a new religious order whereby the people make their own casks and cisterns and they will not work and they will fail. Furthermore, the religious leaders who help the people build these extravagant ways not only lead the people away from the real God they also create a system by which they will all die from thirst.

Here we see then as Christians that God in Christ Jesus is the God of Jeremiah, both of the living water, but amongst the people, and releasing them from the new religious bondage under which they are suffering.

Proper 16C, August 24, 2025

Prayer

O God, the source of all health: So fill my heart with faith in your love, that with calm expectancy I may make room for your power to possess me, and gracefully accept your healing; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer, 461

Some Thoughts on Luke 13:10-17

"God's focus is not self-aggrandizement as it is with so many who have power and wealth and want to keep it, but generosity and giving, restoration and healing, encouraging and renewing."
"First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost 14, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

"It is the synagogue leader who calls Jesus' actions "healing" (therapeuo in v. 14 twice) -- and thus a "work". He doesn't see it as the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of releasing from bondage -- or a re-enactment of the Exodus journey from slavery to freedom."

Exegetical Notes by Brian Stoffregen at CrossMarks Christian Resources.

"Both themes of praise and rejoicing are emphasized by Luke as appropriate responses to God's work in Jesus (e.g., 7:16) the one who brings the reign of God in healing power to those who most need it."
Commentary, Luke 13:10-17, Jeannine K. Brown, Pentecost +13, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

It is an easy thing to read this passage and to wander off into the strong political imagery of the woman in relationship to those who have power over her. I think we cannot help but wonder about the
relationship between the woman and the ruler of the synagogue. Indeed, as I read many commentaries I was struck by the emotional and convicting imagery of the bent-over woman, possessed by powers, struggling for 18 years and the knowledge that one of the powers that kept her down must have been the hard fist of the religious system of the day. It would not have favored her and in fact, in her healing begins to work against Jesus who frees her from the oppression. As I reread the passage, I began to ask myself am I missing something?

The first piece of information that seems central to this passage is that our reading does not include the whole pericope. We begin this section of Jesus’ teachings with warnings to repent. We see that Jesus is answering the age-old question about God and the manner in which God works in the world. The question: Did God make the tower fall on the eighteen people at Siloam? The answer is no, but it is also that everyone should be ready for the coming of the kingdom. We know that Jesus believes the reign of God was imminent; if not already present as he himself was present. So, Jesus is being clear: be ready. The time to follow is now!

Jesus then gives the parable of the man who saves the fig tree but for a little longer seeking to care for it and to nurture it into bearing fruit. This is an important image because it helps us to understand perhaps how Jesus sees his own ministry. He is the one, spare them but a little longer, let us fertilize and tend to our creation.

So, we come to our text for this Sunday. Here we are told that there is a woman present who has weak. She is possessed according to the Greek. She has been this way for 18 years; notice the connection between her years of possession and the number of people in Siloam that died. Jesus sees her and he frees her. This is done as are all the works of Christ to glorify God.

We are told that the ruler of the synagogue was irritated. Instead of addressing Jesus directly he triangulates the crowd to his cause and raises their ire against the prophet.

Jesus reacts promptly. He tells them that everyone frees even their work animals on the Sabbath and that humans, especially this woman who has been as tied up by the devil, surely deserves her freedom – Sabbath or not.

Notice though too that he calls her a “daughter of Abraham.” She is a neighbor. Like Zacchaeus who is called the “son of Abraham,” she is part of the family; part of the deuteronomistic family of God. Paul calls those in Antioch “sons of the family of Abraham (Acts 13:26). Our prayer book describes the church as the family of God. We are all the inheritors of this designation and as such are free from bondage.

Jesus is connecting clearly the freedom of Israel with the freedom of this woman from her possession. Jesus is offering us a very key understanding of the work of the reign of God and that is to free those who are imprisoned, to proclaim release of the captives. To bring the family of Abraham out of the bondage this keeps it from bearing fruit into a new era of mission. Sabbath here is intimately connected with the work and by the work, of freedom making. The Sabbath is a day of rest; it is a day of proclamatory rest from the bondage of evil, sin, and death.

The crowd rejoices and the opponents are put to shame says the scripture.

This miracle of freedom is one of the signs that play on the great mosaic and messianic themes running through Luke’s Gospel. Jesus is not only the great prophet offering a vision of the reign of God; Jesus is the great deliverer who will bring us out of the land of suffering into a new life of freedom. Here in this story Luke is playing on the powerful images, showing his reader who Jesus is and what our response is to be. We are to see the great signs. Unlike last week's scripture, we are to know the signs of the seasons and the signs of the son of man. We are to see and respond. Luke Timothy Johnson reminds us (Luke, 215) that it is possible that “the woman’s standing to glorify God will remind us of the saying about the return of the Son of Man in 21:28: ‘when these things begin to happen, stand up straight, lift up your heads, for the time of your liberation has come.’”

I can see that in different contexts both messages (the justice and the missionary) will be important. So we might reflect and ask these questions of ourselves: On this Sunday will our proclamation be that the woman is freed and so we are free? Or, will we say “see this is the Christ, come and follow, bear fruit, and make a way in the wilderness so that others may be free”?

Some Thoughts on Hebrews 12:18-29

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

We continue to read Hebrews this week.  The author has been telling the readers that the people of Israel have been responding to this creator God.  Their faithfulness has led them on a great adventure with this God and this God has done great things through them. These people are our faith ancestors.  So this week the author offers a view into the nature of this God.  

The author writes, "You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them."  These words remind the reader that this God is completely unlike us. This God is wild and is known in and among the wild things.  This God is terrific, terrifying, and powerful.

This is a God who promises to shake the foundations!  "At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, 'Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.'"

It is this God's people and this God's kingdom in which we reside. It is this God whom we follow. This is the God who shakes our foundations and offers us life and life abundantly is a realm that cannot be shaken.  It is to this God that we worship and offer lives and ministry. It is this God who consumes us through his love. It is this God who sets our hearts on fire because of his love.  This is indeed a terrifying love.

Paul Tillich wrote a wonderful little book entitled: Shaking the Foundations which I have enjoyed.  He writes:

"How could the prophets speak as they did?  How could they paint these most terrible pictures of doom and destruction without cynicism or despair?  It was because, beyond the sphere of destruction, they saw the sphere of salvation; because in the doom of the temporal, they saw the manifestation of the Eternal.  It was because they were certain that they belonged within the two spheres, the changeable and the unchangeable. For only he who is also beyond the changeable, not bound within it alone, can face the end.  All others are compelled to escape, to turn away.  ...For in these days the foundations of the earth do shake.  May we not turn our eyes away; rather see, through the crumbling of a world, the rock of eternity and the salvation which has no end!" (Tillich, p. 11)

Michael C. Jackson (whose works I was introduced to by reading Margaret Wheatley's The New Science) in his text Systems Approaches to Management writes, "The things we fear most in organizations - fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances - need not be signs of an impending disorder that will destroy us. Instead, fluctuations are the primary source of creativity."  (Wheatley p. 19-20 as cited in Michael C. Jackson (2000) Systems Approaches to Management. p. 77)

What is present in this ancient text is a vision, an artifact of truth, that somehow the world is one of complex potential always renewing, growing, dying, birthing, and shaking.  It is a creation that at the same time holds within itself the eternal and the future.

Some Thoughts on Jeremiah 1:4-19

Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text

Last week we heard from Isaiah, in Jeremiah's time the prophecies come to pass.

Isaiah has been appointed for the special mission of prophesying against the religion on Mount Zion and its leaders. 

In this passage we hear that Jeremiah is specially and specifically called to this vocation:

5Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 6Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, 8Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” 9Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth.

Here is something very important to understand about Jeremiah (And I lean on Levenson in his book Sinai and Zion pp 180ff here) - he was part of the Sinai prophetic tradition. Jeremiah was one of the priests in Anathoth. Now here is the story... the Sinai shrine at Shiloh (one of the most ancient and powerful shrines of the Sinai tradition) was destroyed after its priests supported the wrong king - Adonijah over and against Solomon. Solomon punished the line of Eli which led to Jeremiah. So while the great high priest at the Temple mount succeeded, the shrine was destroyed and the priests and their lineage including now Jeremiah were lost. That is until now.

Jeremiah then resurrects the prophetic Sinai tradition over and against a centralized dynasty in Israel. He reminds the religious institution of his day that God dwells in the midst of the people and that they are invited to partake as members of God's family. They do not own the rights to the religion and should be very careful of thinking they are somehow protected by throwing around God's name.

Jeremiah tells us that God has given him the God's spirit to speak truth to the powers that be and to the religious institution:

8Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” 9Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

God invites the prophet to speak out loud what he sees and to speak the truth about the centralized religion of the day. Jeremiah speaks:

I see a branch of an almond tree.” 12Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”13The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, tilted away from the north.” 14Then the Lord said to me: Out of the north disaster shall break out on all the inhabitants of the land. 15For now I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord; and they shall come and all of them shall set their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its surrounding walls and against all the cities of Judah. 16And I will utter my judgments against them, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have made offerings to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. 

With these words and the passages that will follow Jeremiah sets out upon a mission to preach against the religion who centralizes faith, heaps up codes and requirements upon the people, which rob the people of wealth and who in the end hang a millstone around the least, and lost, and hungry's neck.

God is clear with Jeremiah, he is to give the faith of Israel back to the people and break the back of the oppressive religion. God for God's part will not stand in the way of the armies that are to come, who will bring the reign of man who acts like a God down reminding them this is not their home, nor their place, nor their wealth - but it is God's and meant to be shared to and benefit all of God's people. 

Proper 15C, August 17, 2025

Quotes That Make Me Think

"By and large, we avoid conflict and division in our congregations at all costs, yet here Jesus is talking about bringing just that. We want peace and moreover call Jesus the prince of peace, yet just now Jesus says that’s not what he came to bring."

"A Stressful Sermon," David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2013.

"These words remind us that Jesus keeps us in the tension of longing and looking. On one hand, we yearn for peace, we hunger for the reign of God, we thirst for what is to come, but our prophetic vision cannot blind us to the reality that surrounds us."

Preaching Luke 12:49-56, Carol Howard Merritt, Lectionary Homileticssample.

"It is difficult to over-emphasize how revolutionary Jesus is being in stressing loyalty to him - and kinship with those who are also loyal to him - over family."

Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke12:32-40, David Ewart, 2013.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons from Textweek.com

Prayer

Surrounded by your great cloud of witnesses, we look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith. Let us be consumed in the fire he kindles, and immersed in the baptism of his death, that he may remember us when he comes into his kingdom.  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 C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 12:49-56

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Resources for Sunday's Gospel

As we begin the study of the passage for this week we are mindful of references to Elijah who drew down fire and to John the Baptist who foretold, “the tree not bearing fruit is to be thrown in the fire.” (Luke Timothy Johnson, Luke, 207). Jesus’ time is coming, and he is eager for the judgment and the eschaton – end time. He is also sure that his followers are not ready…that we are not ready. We are not ready to go through the baptism that he will go through.

Jesus continues prophetically by speaking of the peace and the division of families. Unlike Gabriel’s words in 1:17 where the heart of the father will be turned towards the son, Jesus promises a different outcome for those who choose to follow into the fire.

The listener shares the “blindness of the lawyers” previously discussed. (LTJ, Luke, 209) They are hypocrites like them and can’t see it is time to do what is right. Calling his followers and listeners hypocrites raises before them the concept that they can read the seasons but do not know that the Son of God is with them now! The time is now! Follow now! Live the life I give to you now!

I cannot help but connect the prophetic naming of hypocrite with the one who is more willing to bring the faults of others to the Godly throne. Do what is right and be careful of hauling your neighbor before the judge.

Jesus began this section of teaching by encouraging his followers. Jesus ends the teaching with a call to conversion. The reader must assume the conversion is meant for everyone - most of all for the reader.

There is a metaphorical connection between the reader/listener/follower and the parable of the two on the road to the judge. We are reading and on the way with Jesus. His listeners are standing on the road with Jesus. All of us are there on the way to Jerusalem, to the judgment seat (literally and figuratively and literally). Settling into life with Jesus now will be easier than later.

This is as if to say that our purpose is to live the life of Jesus in this world - to get to the work of restoration and glorification of God now, imitating our teacher and loving our neighbor. We may choose at the judgment seat in the next life to accept Christ, but it will be more difficult if not impossible. We may first, like the traveler along the road who rested in the comfort of his neighbor’s sure demise, be required to pay all that we owe. We may have to get all that is coming to us.

This reminds me of what my father-in-law used to say, “Would you like a piece of pie?” You would of course say, “Yes.” Then you would notice perhaps that a little crust was left in the pie plate from your piece. You might then say, “Now Paw Paw, I want all that is coming to me.” He would then smile and say, “Do you really want all that is coming to you?” Knowing immediately what he was thinking you say quickly, “Well…no…not ALL that is coming to me.”

When I think of Jesus and this passage  I am thinking of that piece of pie. How sure I sometimes am that I really want all that is coming to me and I want all that is coming to my neighbor too. But Jesus takes the focus off of the other and beckons us to be introspective and act first out of a sense of repentance to the grace we are being offered. Jesus is standing there before us, just at the time we are sure we are the one’s who have it all right, and he is saying, “Do you really want all that is coming to you?” Then Jesus is saying, “You can read the seasons and times, but you can't see the time is now. I am on the road with you right now, as you are trying to follow the way. You better get things right with me now. You better get to work living the life. You better be careful, because you don’t really want all that is coming to you.”

These are the uncomfortable words of Jesus. Have courage. Get right with Jesus before the judgment. Repent, and take a step into the fire.

I am mindful of the faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedinego, the three young men in the fire by Nebuchadnezzar’s hand. (Daniel 1.1ff).  The passage also made me think of Bob Marley and the Wailer’s song Survival.

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

How can you be sitting there
Telling me that you care -
That you care?
When every time I look around,
The people suffer in the suffering
In everyway, in everywhere.

Say: na-na-na-na-na (na-na, na-na!):
We're the survivors, yes: the Black survivors!
I tell you what: some people got everything;
Some people got nothing;
Some people got hopes and dreams;
Some people got ways and means…

We're the survivors, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
Thrown in the fire, but-a never get burn.
So brothren, sistren,
The preaching and talkin' is done;
We've gotta live up, wo now, wo now! -
'Cause the Father's time has come.
Some people put the best outside;
Some people keep the best inside;
Some people can't stand up strong;
Some people won't wait for long.

Some Thoughts on Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

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From fire to the Red Sea, our Epistle also speaks to us of deliverance.  The author of Hebrews continues to tell the story of the people Israel, offering their story as the Christian story. They are the Christian's faith ancestors.  Their faith, their response to the creator God led them through the REd Sea.  It was their faith in this creator God that led them to understand that when the land became theirs it was because of the creator God.  It was Rahab's faith in this God that saved her as well.  It is not difficult to understand or see how these stories can easily become problematic and used to authorize power and abuse.  This however is not the author's intent.  What is?  "What more should [the author] say?" The author makes his argument clear.  The whole history of the people of Israel is a story of faithful people responding to faith in the creator God.

"And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect."

They made their faithful response.  They were understood to be God's people by their faith.  No matter how hard or difficult life was or how long or arduous the journey was - they were commended by God.

Then follows one of my favorite quotes from scripture, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God."

The life of faith, the creative vibrant life of faith, is always lived in response to God and to Jesus.  This is our privilege, this is our calling, this is what we do as Christians and as Episcopalians.  In fact as faithful people, not unlike the gathering cloud of witnesses, it is our hearts song in response to this God that beckons us forward into mission.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 5:1-7

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A number of scholars believe this is a poem or song that was sung at the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths which is a thanksgiving festival. While it begins with a note of love and joy it is also a parable.

For Isaiah the Temple, mount Zion, and the city of Jerusalem that spreads out around it, is the garden and vineyard prepared by the Lord. God has set this place, this particular space, as the spiritual and moral center of the universe for the people and done all that is required in making it ready and fertile. In fact the whole people of Israel north and south have been nurtured and given fertility by the Lord. Therefore, the fault and failure of the vineyard lies in the religious leaders and people themselves -  not in the creator of the vineyard.

God speaks out and questions the hearer: "And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?"

The accusation that is at work here is not some simple malfeasance by the religious leaders but that they have done one thing and that is to ignore the plight of the poor, the widow and the orphan. The whole nature of righteousness in God's eyes in this parable is that the least, lost, and alone are crying out and reveal the fact that though the religious center is at the heart of the city it is not responsive as a heart should be.

Instead of mercy and righteousness what the people have delivered is bloodshed and injustice. Therefore, Isaiah prophesies against the Temple and against the southern kingdom. Their focus on themselves, upon their division, and upon their wealth has led to this massive failure of the people of God. All will fall because the two houses are not only divided but at war. They neglect the mission, god's favorite people the poor, and so in the end all the walls will come tumbling down, the wild beasts (the Assyrians) will invade, and the garden will languish for season. 

An important piece of this is that God does not bring this on to Judah and Jerusalem, but neither will God act to stop it. The crumbling of the garden and its disintegration is due to the people's goals of power, and wealth and their losing sight of their purpose as a merciful and generous people.

Proper 14C, August 10, 2025

Quotes That Make Me Think

"The generosity Jesus urges is not an accumulative good-deed-doing, to bank on earning you a ticket to heaven, but a rush of self-forgetting, a joyfully celebrative generosity that empties its purse without worries of a harsh future."

"Treasure in Heaven," Nancy Rockwell, The Bite in the Apple, 2013.

"Fear, treasure, and being prepared is the pattern for discipleship. Being without fear, knowing the source of your treasure -- that is, your identity, your worth -- makes it possible to be prepared for and an actual participant in God's kingdom."

Commentary, Luke 12:32-40, Karoline Lewis, Pentecost 12C Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"Let's each use this day to complete our own portfolio reviews. Where am I letting fear cloud my judgment? What possessions could I sell to enjoy greater simplicity while also being a tangible blessing to someone else?"

"Portfolio Review," Steve Godfrey, Church in the World, 2013.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons from Textweek.com

Prayer

Keep our lamps burning brightly, our hearts ever watchful for the hour of your Son’s return, that we may open the gate as soon as he knocks and be admitted by him to the eternal banquet. 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 C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 12:32-48

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Jesus in Luke’s Gospel is clear about our work. We are to share all that we have, just as God has shared all that he is. So we arrive at this Gospel for today prepared to hear Jesus tell us to be watchful and be prepared to serve.

Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out

We are ready. Our belts are cinched and we are waiting for the moment, just as a master of the house expecting a thief.

Unlike the rich man from last week’s Gospel reading, we are to be ready. We do not know when God is coming, but we are to be prepared as if it were now – this very moment.

What we discover is that Jesus is not only talking about the Day of Judgment. Jesus is also talking about the fact that we are to be acting and ready in every moment. God sees us. God sees us all the time. There is never a time when we are alone – the existential and egotism of the modern era would be considered a lie to Jesus.  No we are always in community with our God.

Notice Jesus and the work of the disciples are to be compared with the servant/slave who serves the table and household well. We get caught sometimes in the parables awful tale of woe for the lazy and unfaithful steward; perhaps because we automatically place ourselves in this secondary role.

Jesus though seems to want us to identify with the good servant.  Jesus is offering, beckoning us to take the first role. We are called and invited to be like Jesus (who will after all serve at the last supper). We are to be the first servant. We are to be faithful managers of the household. We are to be sensible. We are to make sure everyone has food to eat and we are to so see that kingdom work is carried out.

Jesus is clearly offering not only a vision of discipleship as the “sensible” servant. He is also offering a vision of those who are currently keeping God’s house.

Here is the work of the church today. We must take care not to become the second servant. We cannot become the one who abuses those who serve with us. We cannot be gluttonous desiring only our own worldly security. This will become clearer as we approach the parables of kingship and vineyard from Luke's gospel.

We as Christians, followers of Jesus, who believe in the divine household of God, given through God’s providence, know that with such a great gift comes a great responsibility for all of creation. It is this great responsibility and great task that we inherit a mandate for healthy and active stewardship.

We must be ready, for we do not know when the master of the house returns. But when he returns, even though we be servants in the household of God for only a short while, may he find here in the church a family of God, a temple of the Holy Spirit, a community of faithful, wise, and sensible servants; and a world changed by our mission on his behalf.

It has me wondering what would a world changed and improved by the church's presence, and the presence of active followers, look like to God?  Would it look like this world?

Some Thoughts on Hebrews 11:1-19

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"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  This is a great passage of scripture!  This is the story of Israel's faith and this is the story of our faith.

This passage is mentioned by Augustine and Aquinas, and is even the answer of Dante when he arrives in Paradise. (Craig Koester, Hebrews, 478). Essentially Paul tells us that faith is something our ancestors had and that God blessed.  Faith understands that God is creator of all things and that God has spoken the whole of creation into being.  And that it is from things not seen that all things flow.  Out of nothingness, from a world that cannot be seen, and from the speaking mouth of God.

The author then recounts the faith of Abel, Enoch and others.  Faith though seems to have some qualities that are presented.

Abel - acceptable sacrifice
Enoch - pleased God in his lifetime of believing
Noah - listened to God and acted
Abraham - listened to God and ventured out not knowing his destination
Isaac and Jacob - listened and were builders of God's vision
Sarah - believed and was given a family

Each of these people were faithful. They did not necessarily see or even experience the results of their faith. (An important fact in the story telling which is often forgotten in a culture of immediately attainable goals.)

In the very last phrase of our passage we are told that God has chosen them and he has not been disappointed.  

Proper 13C, August 3, 2025

Quotes That Make Me Think

"So greed seems to be a rather universal concept, from Norse and Saxon to Indian Sanskrit, the word seeks to describe the universal problem. A 'sickness to have something'."

"Lifting our Mater from Materialism," Peter Woods, I Am Listening, 2010.

"We learn the essential lesson: do not attempt to possess things, for things cannot really be possessed. Only make sure you are not possessed by them, lest your god change."

"Possessed by a Thing," Michael Battle, The Witness.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons from Textweek.com

Prayer

As we labor to produce a rich harvest, do not let greed or self-importance rule our lives. Let us not store up treasures for ourselves, but grow rich in those things that are pleasing to you.  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 C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 12:13-21

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Jesus is surrounded by people and one is a petitioner. He wants Jesus to make his brother divide the house. Jesus’ response is clear. He is not going to be a judge or mediator. This is an interesting lesson to follow the passage on prayer last week. Jesus uses this as a foil to discuss greed; and we should be aware that it tempers the idea of waking God and beseeching providential care that is simply a

masquerade for our own greed.

Greed is the sin that never rests and always seeks more. But Jesus is clear, “Life is a gift of God. No amount of possessions, however abundant, can make it greater or give it security.” (Luke Timothy Johnson, Luke, Sacra Pagina, 199)

The man in the parable is a symbol of this misguided desire and this sin left to its own desires.

Luke has a very particular understanding of stewardship: “Wealth with respect to God has two levels of meaning for Luke; the first is the response of faith, the second is the disposition of possessions in accordance with faith, which means to share them with others rather than accumulating them for one’s self.” (LTJ, 199)

The man is wealthy because he had a lot of stuff; he is fool because he thought that meant he also had security. It seems to me the parable and the teaching is that people are meant for eternity and that this is not so much about death but about the real living of life in the reign of God today.

We can see clearly the foolishness in this way of living for the individual. But do we see it in terms of the institution? Do we believe that things, wealth, buildings, success, rector-ship, or belonging to the right congregation, or singing the right kind of praise song, or worshiping with the right amount of incense will provide some kind of security? One does not have to read the pages of history or even to travel the ancient highways to see the foolishness of men’s desires and dreams.

Only the institution willing to loose everything for the kingdom will live within the reign of God Jesus is proclaiming. What are we thinking of? Are we hoping to secure our future with a budget that keeps the doors open? Or, are we ready to live the kingdom now?

As a bishop these are hard questions to ask of a congregation. These are hard questions to ask about the church.

John Hines said something about risking it all for the sake of the Gospel. Is the sin of greed and the sin of prosperity and the sin of security upon us?

Forgive us lord our sins, and give us our daily bread, for only in you do we live and move and have our being.

Some Thoughts on Colossians 3:1-11

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Paul is saying to us who have been baptized and choose to believe in this God and this unique revelation of God in Christ Jesus: seek heavenly things.  "Seek the things that are above."  "Set your minds."  You already are participating in the death and resurrection of Christ.  So the life of Christ is revealed to you and through you.  

Let your old life die away.  Let the notion that you are controlled by other forces, and maligned by others, and that what you do and what you eat are infecting you away.  That is not the way life is when it is lived in Christ and focused on the heavenly things.  

Anything that separates you from God, any idolatry, seek to put away from yourselves.  Any idolatry that seeks to make you the center of the universe and world put away and look beyond these things beyond these behaviors.  This is the key to Paul's moral theology.

Paul is not content though in simply naming the idolatrous behaviors which consume us he is also interested in help us understand that such behaviors motive: "anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth." Telling lies too is included in the behaviors which seek to gratify or protect our idolatrous selves.  

Here is the fascinating part. If we put on Christ, focus on Christ, live Christ then other things fall away too. When we are focused on our spiritual life and our walk with Christ we no longer have time to tell others how they are not doing it right.  In other words Paul's understanding of idolatry includes the notion that when you put down another person, seek to separate them from yourself, you are actually aggrandizing yourself and making yourself Godlike and perhaps legally holy.  

Paul reminds us this just isn't true; its just another lie which makes us and our life the center instead of Christ's.  When we focus upon the life of Christ and heavenly things and our response to freedom and grace there is no time to (as my friends in the program say) take another person's inventory. So then when we are clothed in Christ and the image of the creator there "is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!"

Some Thoughts on Hosea 11:1-11

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Our lesson structure does not make room for us to read all of Hosea. What we read instead is the ending. Our last lesson from Hosea promised that God would not desert God's people. This concluding chapter of the prophet's ministry offers a vision of God's love.

Hosea begins by reminding that Israel belongs to God's love. Israel is God's child. Hosea reminds the people that God has been faithful but they have offered sacrifices to local idols in order to gain worldly power and security.

God was the one who delivered them, taught them how to be in the world, how to care for each other, and how to be faithful. God delivered them out of Egypt, healed them, and fed them. Hosea writes:

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.

Hosea then says that the people lack of remembering and faith will inevitably bring them back to Egypt where the king will no know them and will devour them. The earthly kings of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and even Israel are all the same - they devour the people, their labor, their economy, their very beings for their own worldly gain. Like Amos, Hosea draws a clear line between the worship and allegiance to the powers and forces of this world will bring about destruction. People will in the end inevitably, always, sell themselves into slavery for the things of this world.

But God will not and cannot forget them - Hosea says. God's heart breaks for his children. Hosea writes,

My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

God awaits their return. God will free them once again. God will return them to their home one more time. God will be faithful and God will act for them even though they are unfaithful. God will stand loyal to God's people, even though they continue to worship and follow after the false gods of the world.

Proper 12C, July 27, 2025

Quotes That Make Me Think

"First of all, we need to admit that prayer is not "putting coins in a vending machine." It is not putting our prayer in the right slot, pushing the right button, and waiting for the vending machine God to spit out exactly what we want. God is not a vending machine."

Exegetical Notes by Brian Stoffregen at CrossMarks Christian Resources.

"If you're going to preach on the gospel reading from Luke this Sunday, I have some advice for you: clear some time on your schedule for additional pastoral counseling in the coming weeks."

"Shameless," David Lose, Working Preacher, 2010.

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Prayer

May we who ask you for our daily bread give gladly and generously to those in need. Let us who search for mercy ourselves be quick to let others find mercy with us. May we who knock at the door of your kingdom keep our own hearts and hands open wide in welcome. 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 C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 11:1-13

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This reading is all about prayer. We learn that John taught his disciples to pray and now Jesus is asked to teach us to pray. We certainly have many occasions to reflect throughout scripture on the manner and form of Jesus’ own prayer. Here we see Luke offering us a didactic moment.

We are given the version of the Lord’s prayer without the doxology as in the didache text.

We begin with a simple greeting of God as father. Sometimes we get caught up on, not an unimportant theological point, but whether or not the particular typological reference to God as a male is appropriate. I find that while I love a good theological discussion and argument this is to miss the point. Jesus here is prescribing that the communal work of prayer should be as intimate as is his prayer to God. So it is Jesus who calls God Father, and it is for this reason that we do the same.

We sanctify God’s name as in the ancient tradition of offering God glory through our worship. A key manifestation of the act of returning to God what God intends of all creation: that God be glorified, magnified, reflected back to God’s self.

More than talking about God as male or female this passage makes clear, as does the Lord’s Prayer, that God is absolutely different, wholly and holy different from the created order.

Then we are to pray that God’s kingdom may become reality in this world. Paralleling the Kaddish we understand that our work is to be a part of, a citizen, in the reign of God. This is the theme running throughout chapter 9 through 11 of Luke’s Gospel: the reign of God is here; our work is to open our eyes to see, open our ears to hear it, and open our hands to work within its harvest.

“The bread we need.” This is a very difficult phrase to translate from Greek into English because this is the only place (here and in the Gospel of Matthew) where it is use in all of the Greek language. (LTJ, Luke, Sacra Pagina, 177) Most every scholar agrees it does not mean supernatural bread, though this is exactly what the Patristic writers seemed to think it meant. It is daily bread, future bread, and necessary bread. It is bread that is received as gift and it is bread that is given. While modern scholars disagree with Patristic scholars we who pray it, I find, have reason enough to believe we know how to translate this particular phrase. I have sat down with friends at table, I have sat in Alanon meetings, I have sat at camp, I have sat in bible studies, and I have sat in prayer circles. In each place this particular request for daily bread has been translated in so many ways that are real and present that while I may not know exactly what it means I know it comes down to this. God, you are a God of providence, you give me all that I have and all that I am, do not stop your giving.

And, in receiving your providence in bread and in forgiveness of sins, let me be repentant. Let me turn away, and do not try me for life is hard enough. The work of a disciple who follows Jesus is clearly difficult and it is one that will test and try us. These are themes throughout Luke and Acts.

Petition and regular conversation with God is the way of prayer. We are to be the shameless petitioner. In the middle of the night, throughout the day, at all the most inconvenient times we are to pray to God. There is never at time when prayer should not be appropriately offered. Jesus is teaching them that this is what I call, “in your face prayer.” Knock on that door. Wake God up! Get God out of bed! But Jesus’ message is clear. God will be even more gracious than a friend who has all things in common with you. This is the providence of God.

Some Thoughts on Colossians 2:6-15

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"It is commonplace that we do not and cannot share the powerful fear of Paul's contemporaries that principalities and powers reign in the upper air, that the stars exercise a malign influence, or that personal demonic forces contaminate food and drink." (Ralph Martin, Interpretation Colossians, page 116)  This is just not what we believe nor how we navigate the world.

However, ever present is the fact that human beings actually do attribute their lot in life to other powers, they do believe other things exercise a malign influence on their life, they do believe that demonic forces are at work. Yep...that is us!

For us Paul has good news.  As believers in Christ Jesus our Lord we have a life that can be lived in him.  We have the potential of a life that is established in faith and gratefulness.  We receive this because the creation and all its powers are God's.  They are birthed through Christ.  Christ is over all things; including those things we fear.  Christ has more power than they do.  In baptism we are yoked with Christ and there is nothing that will over power the God of Love.  In fact we are going to be raised with Christ.  Christ's own public humiliation gives birth to our triumph.

Paul is clear: there is nothing in this world real or unseen that can condemn us.  Food, drink, observing festivals, new moons, sabbaths, or any action - for if we are Christ's we are raised with Christ.

How often are we willing to let someone disqualify us, some power to undermine us.  Paul says, "Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God."  

The message is clear. God loves you. God redeems you in Christ. Live in Christ and upon Christ's faith and work and be free of the possession of things seen and unseen, of powers and principalities.  You don't have to do that stuff it has no power in a world created by God and possessed by Christ.

Some Thoughts on Hosea 1:2-10

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We must put into context the prophesy of Hosea. We have just finished reading from Amos. Like Amos, Hosea is prophesying against the northern kingdom. His time of prophesy lies between Elijah, Elisha, Amos and those who come after Hosea - Jonah and Nahum. He prophesies just before the final death blows are given to the northern kingdom and it comes to an end under the invasion of the Assyrians.

Hosea uses his own life story to explain God's faithfulness. Hosea's wife leaves him with children for other men. Hosea though forgives her and takes her back. He is married to a prostitute. There is some argument about if this is a literary ploy or autobiographical. Regardless, Hosea is communicating that God will be forgiving and just if his people will but hear his invitation to repent and return. God will not leave his people but continuously desires that they embody his love by repenting.

Hosea also reminds the people that God intends compassion for his people. God intends to be faithful to the covenant regardless of Israel's lack of faith. Hosea promises a measure of redemption lies before them, even in the midst of this very difficult time of anarchy.
God promises, "I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen.” They shall be saved by remembering their dependence upon God and that the powers of this world will not provide or bring about the reign I have promised.

Proper 11C, July 20, 2022

Quotes That Make Me Think

"We do know that Jesus invites all of us who are worried and distracted by many things to sit and rest in his presence, to hear his words of grace and truth, to know that we are loved and valued as children of God, to be renewed in faith and strengthened for service.

Commentary, Luke 10:38-42, Elisabeth Johnson, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"This brief encounter within the gospel narrative purposely disrupts expectations and disturbs our sense of propriety. I hope to hear a sermon that resists the temptation to justify Jesus and allows Jesus the guest to offend my sensibilities."

Commentary, Luke 10:38-42 (Pentecost +8), Marilyn Salmon, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

Prayer

Let your gracious presence here in word an at table remind us that one thing only is necessary and that in those to whom we offer hospitality, it is you whom we receive as a guest.  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 C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 10:38-42

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The first thing that is interesting to me is that most scholars group this passage with the passage of the

Good Samaritan. As familiar with the last story as most Christians are the story of Mary and Martha has cultural ramifications and is very popular in its own way.

Martha welcomes Jesus and sets about his comfort. Meanwhile, Mary sits and listens to the word. Overwhelmed by the serving Martha has had enough. She is all tangled up in life and goes to Jesus to seek a better portion. But she finds in the words of Jesus that her cause of anxiety and worry and trouble is of her own making. As Jesus points out there is only need of one thing. So what is the one thing?

Some scribes have made some serious errors. They thought Jesus meant dishes and so replaced one with few. We are all focused on the dishes vs. prayer argument.

Jesus is simply talking about the essential note of hospitality: pay attention.

Others have thought he meant the one thing – Jesus.

The idea that Jesus means to be attentive and that this is the chief concern of hospitality may seem foreign but not when you take it into the context of the last few weeks Gospel lessons. When you are a messenger be attentive to your message (do lift your head from your plow), those to whom you go should be attentive for the kingdom is near, and be attentive to your opportunity to serve even if the person is so very unlike you. In this reading, we see that if we miss being attentive because we have busied ourselves with the practice we will, in the end, miss our opportunity.

Remember, the message of the Gospel of Luke is that Jesus the great prophet is present, he is working miracles, he is bringing in the very real kingdom of God, and he is sending us out. Acts teaches us the Spirit is present with us today. Be ATTENTIVE God is working in our lives and we don’t want to miss it!

Luke Timothy Johnson summarizes this series of episodes on the way to Jerusalem in a wonderful way:

“It is obvious that Luke understands something about human psychology. The pattern of avoidance exhibited by the priest and Levite, the self-justifying bluster of the lawyers, the irritation of the “dutiful daughter” Martha. These are people like us. Less familiar perhaps is what goes beyond psychology into gospel: the compassion that is not simply a feeling but translates itself into the self-giving that takes risks, that disposes of the self and one’s possessions and then allows the other to leave without clinging; the hospitality that receives the other as the other wishes to be received, that listens.”

This Sunday the preacher will have a difficult time staying away from the allegory of Mary and Martha, the worker bee and the contemplative. To engage in that dichotomy may be a false sense of Christian life. In the meditations of a Benedictine at work, we discover work is prayer. In the contemplation of a solitary, we discover prayer is work. Both are true but neither is Godly unless it is attentive to the revelation of Christ.

Let us though ponder a slightly different train of thought. We have come to believe through our overall scripture studies that this particular family is an important part of the Gospel and the mission of the Kingdom of God. We know that Jesus will spend his last days with them and that he is close enough to weep over the loss of their brother Lazarus. So is there more going on here than a debate about work and prayer, and the overarching narrative about hospitality to God?

We do well to remember Jesus' call of a few disciples in this particular Gospel. The author writes: "Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him." We see this repeated as a frame in the passage today.

Mary is in the position of the disciple, sitting at Jesus' feet and learning. She is already following Jesus. Jesus confronts Martha. Is it possible that the purpose of confronting her is not merely to make a judgment about work and prayer but instead to break the social norms and invite her to be a follower - a disciple? Mary is breaking norms... Martha sees this. Jesus then invites Martha to do the same. Come and drop your work (for that is what she is doing) and follow me - be my disciple. Here like the invitation to the fisherman, Jesus invites individuals to drop their work and take on the work of the kingdom.

There is a bit more here too. As the passage is often paired with the passage of the visitors and Abraham at Mamre, we see that God is present and to be attended. (Genesis 18:1-10a) Abraham is faithful in waiting upon the three visitors - sometimes cast as angels and others as the persons of the Trinity. Either way, part of what is happening is that the social convention of waiting upon God is changed to being in a relationship with God. This then is a radical undermining of social and religious norms.

Some Thoughts on Colossians 1:15-29

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

This week we read an ancient Christian hymn.  The purpose of the hymn is to remind us of who it is that is the Church's Lord.

Jesus Christ is the revelation, the manifestation, and the representation of God.  Christ is not a copy but as Ralph Martin says, Christ is the "projection of God on the canvas of our humanity and the embodiment of the divine in the world of men and women." (Colossians,Interpretation,  109)

The hymn is used by Paul to set forth his theology.

Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God.  He is the firstborn of creation.  All things were created, everything in heaven and on the earth.  Thrones, dominions, principles, authorities, are all under his authority.  Creation is his and it exists for him. Christ is the binder of all creation and he is the head of the church.  Christ, the resurrected one is the firstborn of the dead who will rise.  Jesus Christ is the one who has done (and is the only one who can) do the work of reconciliation.  

Not unlike the passage from Luke, Paul is clear that Christ is the revelation of God and that we are to be attentive to this revelation. Moreover, like Paul, we are to reveal this God in our own lives and in our ministry.  I am challenged to reflect today...when people are in contact with me and engage in ministry with me...do they see the revelation of God as through Christ?  Hmm...

Some Thoughts on Amos 8:1-12

Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text

We continue this week with our lesson from Amos. We remember that Amos is a dresser of fruit trees and herdsman. From his context, the prophet brings forth imagery to call people back into a faithful response to God's mercy and deliverance.

We must always remember that the framework of the prophets is located within the following faith system:

1) God acted on behalf of his people
2) At Sinai the people chose to respond to God's action with faithfulness
3) God's people are want to faithlessness and to replace God with kings and rulers
4) The prophets are raised by God to call the people to repent

Amos refers to the failing leaders and idols as a basket of rotting summer fruit. Then Amos says that part of the unfaithfulness has become evident by the people's lack of care for those in need and the poor of the land are revelations of the people's rejection of God and God's desire that all be cared for on God's behalf. 

Amos then reminds the people of their covenant with God and that they have brought upon 

God's poor and the neglected and so themselves shall suffer. This is not merely an act of God upon the kingdom but a direct correlation is made in Amos' prophesy between the kingdom's faithfulness, the poor and needy, and their long-term prosperity. 

Amos makes it clear that the kingdom that remembers their promise to God after Sinai will be a people who remember the poor and neglected (as God once remembered his suffering people) and so will bring about just community. But when the nation forgets their God they bring upon themselves their own terrible suffering. Amos tells the people in no uncertain terms their unfaithfulness is bringing upon them a great calamity, and God will not stop it.

Some Thoughts on Genesis 18:1-10

"Abraham has received a seemingly impossible promise, but his animated efforts on behalf of these strangers under adverse conditions suggest that he still trusts that God can and will do the impossible."

Commentary, Genesis 18:1-10a (Pentecost +8), Jacqueline E. Lapsley, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"Grace always comes first. Because that grace is there, God's people can respond with their best."

Commentary, Genesis 18:1-10a (Pentecost +9), Sara Koenig, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"Along the way, Abraham learns that no one person has a monopoly on God's covenant, and that great endeavors require great partners."

"A Great Partner for a Great Endeavor," Torah Commentary by Wendy Amsellem. BeliefNet.

Oremus Online NRSV First Lesson 

This is a chunk of scripture. But it is good stuff. God has called Abram out of the land of Uhr. Abram has followed God and set up altars along the way. For his work and pilgrimage, God has given he and Sarai new names. Furthermore, God has continued to journey with him even into the land near the oaks of Mamre. 

We are told that God appears there in the person of three men. God is then received, the three men are received, by Abraham and Sarah and they are welcomed and fed. Before God leaves God promises that they will have a son. This seems impossible but God makes the promise that it will, in fact, happen before God is with them again. Indeed God keeps God's promise. 

This event is often depicted in the great masterpiece of the Trinity as written in the icon of my Rublev. The icon is entitled "The Hospitality of Abraham."

Now the passage itself is important for many reasons. Certainly, it is important in the origination stories of the people of Israel for it speaks to God's special relationship with Abraham. It is also important for it speaks to God's relationship with God's people and God's willingness for those people to prosper and to multiply.

The passage cannot be divorced from the Genesis desire on God's part that the people multiply themselves. Nor can it be separated out from God's continued desire to walk with his creation in the eve of the day beneath the trees of his garden.

Mary translates her pregnancy to the story of God delivering God's people but also the story of God's promise to Abraham. This links the past to the present in the Gospel narrative, the old with the new. Jesus calls his followers to the work of the hospitality of Abraham. In fact that they are the inheritors, the very real progeny of the Gospel and covenant of Abraham says Peter in Acts. Paul invites his hearers to understand they are inheritors of the relationship Abraham had with God.