Good Friday, Holy Week, Year ABC March 25, 2016

Quotes That Make Me Think


"Today the Master of the creation and the Lord of Glory is nailed to the cross and his side is pierced; and he who is the sweetness of the church tastes gall and vinegar."

Byzantine Liturgy, Triduum, (LTP, 1996)


Sunset to sunrise changes now,
For God creates the world anew;
On the Redeemer's thorn-crowned brow
The wonders of that dawn we view.
Although the sun withholds its light
Yet a more heavenly lamp shines here; and from the cross on Calv'ry's height
Gleams of eternity appear.
Here in o'erwhelming final strife
the Lord of life has victory;
And sin is slain, and death brings life,
And earth inherits heaven's key.
Clement of Alexandria

"In the end, Pilate attempts to crucify the Truth. He places a placard nearby mockingly announcing Jesus as The King of the Jews. The irony is thick, of course, because Pilate has unwittingly announced the truth."

Commentary, John 18:33-37, Jaime Clark-Soles, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons

Prayer

Prostrate on the ground, your Son prayed, O God, that this hour might pass, this cup be taken away.  But then he rose to do your will, to stretch out his arms on the cross, to be lifted up from the earth an to be glorified by you.  Prostrate before you, O God, we ponder the mystery of your saving will.  In this hour of Christ's exaltation, we beg you: Open our hearts to hear the story of our salvation, to stretch out our hands in prayer, to venerate the cross by which the whole world is lifted up to salvation, life and resurrection.  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 John 18:1 - 19:42

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Resources for Gospel

Raymond Brown writes:  "The other gospels mark Jesus' death with miraculous signs in the ambiance: The Temple curtain is torn; tombs open and bodies of the saints come forth; and an expression of faith is evoked from a Roman centurion. but the Fourth Gospel localizes the sign in the body of Jesus itself: When the side of Jesus is pierced, there comes forth blood and later. In 7:38-39 we heard: "From within him shall flow rivers of living water," with the explanation that the water symbolized the Spirit which would be given when Jesus had bee glorified. That is now fulfilled, but the admixture of blood to the water is the sign that Jesus has passed from this world to the Father and has been glorified. It is not impossible that the fourth evangelist intends here a reference not only to the gift of the Spirit but also to the two channels (baptism and the Eucharist) through which the Spirit had been communicated to the believers of his won community, with water signifying baptism, and blood the Eucharist."

One of my mentors once remarked of how careful one must be when dealing in sermons preached in the midst of the great liturgies of the church. I have come to understand and to agree. When we address the text that is before us we quickly realize that the text itself, and the reading of it in publicworship, is carries a weight which can barely be matched by a few meager words from the pulpit.

The piece that I find the most interesting is the uniqueness of John's Gospel and in particular the last words of Jesus. There is a tremendous feeling of agony and suffering in the last words of the synoptics: "My god, my God, why have you forsaken me?" John's words echo Luke's in their triumphant nature and give us a sense that in this moment we have victory.

Jesus in the fourth Gospel accepts death, in all of its pain and suffering, as the completion of God's plan to unite the world (its earthiness and creatureliness) with the Godhead. The fourth Gospel's death scene from the cross is a song of victory.  It relishes the death of death, the finality of sin, as the falling cross bridges the gap once for all between heaven and earth.

Psalm 22 gives us this victory song:

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
8 “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”
9 Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
10 On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
15 my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled;
17 I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
28 For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.
30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,
31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.

The Psalm captures both the defeat and the ultimate victory which is God's. It is John's Gospel thought that is most like the end. The words, "It is finished." are a victory cry and not some pitiful words from a dying prisoner!

Raymond Brown explains it this way, "In John's theology, now that Jesus has finished his work and is lifted up from the earth on the cross in death, he will draw all men to him. If "It is finished" is a victory cry, the victory it heralds is that of obediently fulfilling the Father's will. It is similar to "It is done" of Rev. 16.17, uttered from the throne of God and of the Lamb when the seventh angel pours out the final blow of God's wrath. What God has decreed has been accomplished." (John, vol II, Anchor Bible, 931)

If we combine this then with the images of Brown's above, Psalm 22, we see that the piercing then is the handing over of the sacramental life of the Godly community into the hands of those who will come after. The Spirit which is about to be poured out in chapter 20 is already here prefigured. Be cautious not to move into Pentecost too soon. However, I do think it is important to understand that the work of Jesus on the cross is the culmination of his earthly mission and for John it is the final death blow to the ruler of this world.

Some Thoughts on Hebrews 10:16-25

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Resources for Epistle

Paul has been teaching the Hebrews that the Holy Spirit has brought them to faith, and that it is the same Spirit which speaks to them in scripture.  As an example he pulls from a passage that I spoke about in the Maundy Thursday meditation and that is the passage from Jeremiah chapter 31.  

31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

The passage speaks of God's promise for a new covenant.  Paul says that the promise itself is that God's action on the cross, takes away the sins of the past and moves the follower of Jesus towards a sinless life. Craig Koester (Hebrews, Yale Bible, 441), Luther Seminary professor of New Testament, writes that Paul offers to his readers the notion that "God creates a situation in which he does not allow past or present sins to define his relationship with people."  God wills that such a divide is bridged by the cross.

There is justification and reconciliation between God and humanity.  The work on the cross is complete and final.  This is a unique Christian thought.  There is no need for a temple or Colosseum where sacrifices need to be made in order to create a renewed relationship between humanity and the gods.  There is no long list of law that is to be followed in order to fulfill the requirement to bridge the gulf.   God's action upon the cross is what puts and end to remembering the human disobedience.

We are boldly given permission to be in God's presence.  The sacrifice of Jesus, freely given for the sake of his friends and on behalf of sinners is what provides the release. This is new and it is a way of living.  Paul says the sacrifice is made and the curtain removed.

New life is given through the opportunity of putting behind us anxiety, fear, death, and impurity. (Koester, 444).  Instead we are given the opportunity as Christians to live a new life, to participate in the new covenant.  The Holy Spirit gathers us in and sends us out. We are purified by Christ's action and with the character of boldness and hope we are sent out to confess and make known our faith.  We are to "provoke" one another.  [Paul here uses a negative work in a positive sense. (445)  We are to encourage a new life of witness in one another.  Furthermore, this new life is to look like love and good works.

Craig Koester writes, "Love is not simply an emotion, but entails care for others, including strangers and the afflicted.  Love is congruent with righteousness and can be expressed in parental instruction.  Good works of love are the opposite of the 'dead works' of sin....they are the saving work of Christ in the believer's actions. (445)

The Hebrews text gives us both a theological underpinning to the Johannine Gospel of victory.  It defines what that victory is and it offers a vision of what the Christian is to do with their new freedom.

Good Friday Meditation: Boxes

Sometime in the early 1970’s the pop artist Andy Warhol moved from his studio at 33 Union Square West to a larger one at 860 Broadway.

As he looked at the acquired, comic, sentimental artifacts of culture that he had collected from both personal life and business affairs, he came up with a “crack pot filing system.”

Warhol from the time he was 11 had been fascinated with the 1939 time capsule buried at the New York World’s fair. This would be his idea; he would create time capsules.

So, he began to stuff time capsules with the artifacts of his life. Some required no more thought than emptying the entire contents of his desk drawer. Another devoted entirely to his mother contains articles of her clothing as well as correspondence. There is one which contains the contents collected on a Concorde flight in 1978. Still others contain taxi receipts, wig tape, invoices, a slice of Caroline Kennedy’s birthday cake, a 17th century German book on wrestling, a letter from Dennis Hopper, a valentine from the poet Allen Ginsberg, an invitation to the Vice-President’s house warming party, and an angry letter from his florist regarding an overdue account.

By the time he died in 1987 Andy Warhol had filled 612 boxes with the memories, art, artifacts and refuse of his life.[1]

How many boxes have you and I filled? What are in our boxes?

I imagine lives lived and boxes filled with joyful memories, happy times, blessed moments and hope for a future yet to be filed away.

Then I imagine there are lives lived and boxes filled with unexpressed pain, hidden suffering, wounds inflicted, wounds acquired, abuse of body and the bodies of others, and pointed words which can never return.

Sin and brokenness openly and secretly engaged are then hidden away. Late nights, trips, parties, pornography, alcohol, food, and over indulgence purchased with our lives on credit hoping the creditor never knocks on the door.

Boxes more subtly filled. Scarcity of food and resources globally stored by others on our behalf… boxes of wasted consumption. Boxes and bins filled with the refuse of a green planet now in decay.

Lives lived and boxes filled with vivid moving pictures and recorded sound of events played over and over again paralyzing our lives, relationships, and ministries.

Lives lived and boxes filled with a past we store away, peaking at in darkest hours then locking away again the world only seeing what we want to be seen.

Lives lived, boxes filled, -- stumbling blocks each – stumbling stones in our relationships and in our relationship with God … scattered throughout a life’s journey.

The joyous moments we discover will never be enough. The hope not quite what we thought it would be. The highest moments never quite high enough.

How many boxes? How many shelves of boxes? How many storage units of boxes?

Jesus’ journey into darkness carries with it a mass of boxes, each box, one by one, step by step is carried to Golgotha.

Jesus’ binding and arrest in the garden of Gethsemane binds our boxes of violence, betrayal, and darkest fears to the heart of Jesus.

Jesus’ trial before the high priest puts on trial our boxes filled with religious intolerance, religious abuse of power, religious abuse of authority, our tendencies towards conservative and liberal fundamentalisms, and our willingness to diminish faith into meaningless platitudes of inaction masquerading as concern for our common man.

The handing over to Pilate of Jesus opens for scrutiny our boxes of idolatry, scapegoating, our lack of honor, honesty, and onus. We see in Pilate’s courtyard our own willingness to allow others to sin on our behalf, abuse on our behalf, and falsely accuse and punish that our own consciences may be relieved of any wrongdoing and our feasts not spoiled by the true cost of our wealth.

The mocking of Jesus mocks our boxes filled with just enough faith to be respectable. Instead of the crown of our heart we give Jesus a thorny crown of false adoration. Instead of the throne of our souls we wrap Jesus in a purple robe to hide the wounds and lashings of an inactive faith that fails to make our relationships healthy and whole, the wounds of failed family and friendships, the scars of a faith that leaves people hungry and without shelter.

So painful is the work of Jesus, the picking up and opening of our boxes, one by one, humiliation by humiliation, pain by pain, sin by sin, scar by scar that when forced to look upon him we see all that we keep secret. And we do what we must in order to escape the truth -- we reject him.

When Jesus stands before the seat of judgment, upon the stone pavement, our boxes laid open around him, contents spilled and mingled, we are so ashamed that we must turn from him, we cannot bear our countenance, we cannot bear our humaneness bent down and taken upon him our God and our King.

So we say what we must…hoping to close our tiny boxes…hoping to hide again…we say: crucify him. Crucify him.

Lives lived and boxes locked away into the darkest recesses of our hearts cannot be hid before the suffering of Jesus. They are here and now brought out into the open and picked up and carried by Jesus to Golgotha.

It is so easy not to look now though. As he walks to the place of the skull it is so easy to turn away. Much better not to look at our lives carried up that hill. Perhaps the grey sky and the rain will hide what was once hidden. Maybe the mud will cover the remains of our life laid before him on the cobbled streets of Jesus’ walk to the cross. But they are not.

And so when we dare to look at his walking his caring we see that the weight of the cross is the weight of our lives and our boxes, our memories, art, artifacts and refuse. The weight is of those things done and those things left undone and those things done on our behalf.

Each step, then each nail, is a memory now of our pain, and sin, and brokenness.

For those who look now see something different than the death of a criminal. For those who look now see more than the death of a prophet or a wise man. For those who look now see more than just a man on a cross.

For those who dare to look with Mary and Peter and the few gathered we see the death of all that we have believed keeps us from the love of God. We see the death of every event, every word, and every action taken that has kept us from our God’s embrace.

We see the death of our sin.

We see the death of our hypocrisy.

We see the death of our consumption and the death of our indulgence.

And here we see the commingling of Jesus’ suffering with our suffering.

Here at the cross, with Jesus’ body almost lifeless, the pain a pain we wish not to imagine, the last boxes of lives lived are opened. Here are broken open the boxes filled with our pain inflicted by others. Here are our boxes of suffering from illnesses our bodies cannot fight alone. Here are the boxes of physical and mental abuse perpetrated by others on our lives.

And, here are the boxes filled with the pain we carry in our hearts for the death of our loved ones. Boxes filled with photographs of those lost at war, those lost from disease, those lost in tragedy, those lost with lives before them, and those lost after long lives lived.

We see today, again, perhaps for the first time, the bearing of our sins, pain and our own suffering here in this place.

We see our lives laid bare before us and before Jesus and his cross.

We mourn and we weep for Jesus and we mourn and weep for ourselves.

We must let this Jesus go. We must let him go and carry our lives with him into death. We must let him die and the brokenness of this world and of our lives die with him. We must let him and all of our hidden lives be buried in the tomb. We must let him be buried beneath the earthworks of our sin.

That is all, there isn't anymore today. We couldn't bear to see anymore.

So we watch and we listen. We listen for our cue.

And, we hear Jesus say, “It is finished.”

And it is. It is finished.

---

[1] Box Pop, author unknown, The World of Interior, December 2008, n 12, p 172.

Ash Wednesday February

Quotes That Make Me Think

"In Jesus' prayer we are connected and bonded with each other. We find our health, our integrity, and our righteousness; that is true piety."

"Preaching on the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:1-8)," Irving J. Arnquist and Louis R. Flessner, Word & World: Theology for Christian Ministry, Luther Northwestern Theological School, 1990.

"What are we praying for when we pray for God's kingdom to come?"

"Thy Kingdom Come: Living the Lord's Prayer," N.T. Wright, The Christian Century, 1997.

"That piety should be a private matter is a radical not to say revolutionary idea. It goes totally against the cultural grain. For traditional piety is something performed for others to see. In Roman culture, pietas referred to the public veneration of the gods. Without such a display from prominent citizens, what would happen to the traditional values that were associated with the gods? Pietas was the cultural glue, holding all things in place. How could there be law and order without it?"

"The Call to Secret Service (Matthew 6:1-18)," John C. Purdy. Chapter 4 inReturning God's Call: The Challenge of Christian Living. At Religion Online.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons

Prayer

At this, the acceptable time, O God so rich in mercy, we gather in solemn assembly to receive the announcement of the Lenten spring, and the ashes of mortality and repentance.  Let the elect, exulting, to the waters of salvation; guide the penitent, rejoicing, to the healing river; carry us all to the streams of renewal.  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 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-20

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Resources for Gospel

If we were reading along in the scripture and we arrived at our passage for this Ash Wednesday we would see the continued conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day.  The religious hierarchy have set themselves above the faith and have become, if you will, arbiters of piety. They are the intermediaries between God and God's people.

Jesus has been expanding and expounding on the nature of the law revealed by the messiah and now he turns to talk a little about how Christians should live with one another.  What we have in our passage are the characteristics of a Christian community according to Jesus; and they are contrasted with the practices of these other religious leaders.   Of course we are doomed to exhibit the same tendencies at our very worst but we have here some outlined behaviors that should at least set our trajectory.

Don't get in other people's faces about how you are better than them when it comes to prayer, believing, and the rest of it.  After all, living a Christian life benefits God and others.  Here are a couple of examples of what not to do...

• Example One: Just be a good steward and don't brag about it.
• Example Two: Don't be verbose in your praying.  It is a real turn off to God an others.
• Example Three: Please pray privately and sincerely.
• Example Four: God knows what you need so you don't have to always be telling God out loud.
• Example Five:  Don't look dismal and sad.  Look happy and enjoy your relationship with God.
• Example Six: Remember that what matters is the love of God, the love of neighbor - these are the treasures worth having.

All of this is because good works are done for God and on behalf of others.  This service is purely for the reward of doing what is good and well in the eyes of God and not for a community's lauds or glory.

What we have in our reading today is very good and it is the parenthesis between Matthew's teaching on the Lord's prayers.

I say this because in my mind it helps to frame what Jesus is teaching about prayer.  The reality is that Jesus' prayer is very powerful when seen through the eyes of the overall passage and its meaning is much greater than the by rote version we say without thought most Sundays. So, here is a meditation on Jesus' Prayer with an eye to Matthew's Gospel and to the passage for Ash Wednesday.

Jesus’ Prayer

In the Episcopal Church, the Lord’s Prayer--the prayer Jesus taught his disciples--is central to our common life of prayer. It is present in all of our private and corporate services of worship, and is often the first prayer children learn. With the simplest of words, Jesus teaches those who follow him all they need to know about prayer, as they say:

“Our Father”: Our Father, because we are to seek as intimate a relationship with God as Jesus did. We are can develop this intimate love with God, recognizing we are children of God and members of the family of God.

“Who art in heaven”: We are reminded of our created nature as a gift from heaven. Life is given to us from God, who is quite beyond us. We recognize in this short phrase that we are not God. Rather, the God we proclaim is a God who makes all things and breathes life into all things.

“Hallowed be thy name”: In response to the grace of being welcomed into God’s community, bowing humbly and acknowledging our created nature, we recognize the holiness of God. We proclaim that God’s name is hallowed.

“Thy kingdom come”: We ask and seek God’s kingdom. The words of Jesus remind us that, like the disciples’ own desires to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus, this is not our kingdom. The reign of God is not what you and I have in mind. We beg, “God, by your power bring your kingdom into this world. Help us to beat our swords into ploughshares that we might feed the world. Give us strength to commit as your partners in the restoration of creation, not how we imagine it, but in the way you imagine it.”

“Thy will be done”: We bend our wills to God’s, following the living example of Jesus Christ. We ask for grace to constantly set aside our desires and take on the love of God’s reign. We pray, “Let our hands and hearts build not powers and principalities but the rule of love and care for all sorts and conditions of humanity. Let us have a measure of wisdom to tear down our self-imposed walls and embrace one another, as the lion and the lamb lay down together in the kingdom of God.”

“On earth as it is in heaven”: We ask God to give us eyes to see this kingdom vision, and then we ask for courage and power to make heaven a reality in this world. We pray to God, “Create in us a will to be helping hands and loving hearts for those who are weary and need to rest in you. May our homes, our churches, and our communities be a sanctuary for the hurting world to find shelter, to find some small experience of heaven.”

“Give us this day our daily bread”: In prayer we come to understand that we are consumers. We need, desire, and just want many things. In Christ, we are reminded that all we need is our daily bread. So we pray, “O God, help us to be mindful that you provide for the lilies of the field and you provide for us. As we surrender our desires, help us to provide daily bread for those who have none today.”

“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”: Sanity and restoration are possible only because God forgives us. Because of that sacrificial forgiveness--made real in the life and death of Jesus--we can see and then share mercy and forgiveness. Then we can pray, “God, may I understand your call to me personally to offer sacrificial forgiveness to all those I feel have wronged me. I want to know and see my own fault in those broken relationships. May I be the sacrament of your grace and forgiveness to others.”

“Lead us not into temptation”: As Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge and replaced God with their own understanding of reality, we need help turning away from our own earthly and political desires and turning toward the wisdom of God in Christ Jesus. So we ask, “We are so tempted to go the easy way, to believe our desires are God’s desires. We have the audacity to assume we can know God’s mind. Show us your way and help us to trust it.”

“And deliver us from evil”: Only God can deliver us from evil. There is darkness in the world around us. We know this darkness feeds on our deepest desire: to be God ourselves. That deceptive voice affirms everything we do and justifies our actions, even when they compromise other people’s dignity. It whispers and tells us we possess God’s truth and no one else does. We must pray, “God, deliver us from the evil that inhabits this world, the weakness of our hearts, and the darkness of our lives, that we might walk in the light of your Son.”

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen”: Without God, we are powerless. So we devote our lives to God, resting in the power of God’s deliverance. We humbly ask, “Help us to see your glory and beauty in the world, this day and every day. Amen.”

Using prayers like this one, Jesus modeled a life of prayer as work, and work as prayer. The apostles and all those who have since followed him have sought a life of prayer. They have engaged in prayer that discerns Jesus’ teachings and then molded their lives into the shape of his life. We can take up the same vocation and become people whose lives are characterized by daily and fervent prayer. Indeed we reflect and acknowledge the centrality of prayer and work in our own commitment to God when we say, “I will, with God’s help, continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.”  [This is an excerpt from Unabashedly Episcopalian.]

Some Thoughts on 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Resources for the Epistle

One of the things that has happened to us in our culture is that we think not about whom we represent.  Yet, we represent (as Christians) Jesus Christ to the world.  This lack of mindfulness is complex; yet for the world in many respects God in Christ Jesus is not the problem for Christianity but rather it is his followers that create the stumbling block.  This passage is about the life of Grace which transforms the Christian first.

We are ambassadors for Christ.  In Paul's setting this would have meant that we are the oldest and wisest of Christ's children.  We represent Christ but not in the worst way but on behalf of him in the very best of manners.  This is difficult to do if we are always at war with ourselves.  It is hard to be Christ's representative if we can't represent Christ to one another; which means forgiving one another and offering Grace.  We are the great law givers rather than the donors of grace.  So what do we do?  How do we get there? How do we make room for the other?

We like Christ must give grace, make room for grace, and offer grace.  However, before we can do this we must receive Grace.  This is easier said than done.  We must really and truly receive the saving Grace of Christ; this means allowing God to love and save us in our mess and not waiting for perfection.  We are truly saved and perfected through the grace we receive. We are made a new creation by God if we will but let him.  Instead of performing for God or hoping that God will deliver us out of our "labors and sleepless nights" we are invited instead to live under the umbrella of God's Grace; within the saving embrace of God.  When we do this Paul believes the other things will fall into place.

We don't become the new creation and then we get grace.  Instead we allow ourselves to receive God's Grace and we become new.  We don't live and so we don't die.  We die to our desire to be perfect and so we live in the Grace of God who takes us just as we are.  It is this reversal of the world's economy of salvation that enables us to be alive, joyful, satisfied, and content.

When life is lived with the mantle of God's Grace upon our shoulders then we are beautiful and resplendent ambassadors of Christ to the world.  When we live in Grace we give grace freely, we share life freely, we embrace the other freely, we see there is enough and offer plenty of good things freely.  This is the life lived as a new creation, this is the life of Grace. This is the life of ambassadorship.

Proper 4C / Ordinary 9C / Pentecost +2 June 23, 2019

The Centurion

Prayer

To you no one is a stranger, God of all peoples and nations, for your saving love knows no boundaries, and your compassion extends to all.  In Jesus, you have come under our roof to speak but a word, and we are healed.  May we, in turn, never set boundaries to your grace, but gladly offer the embrace of your peace to all without difference or discrimination.  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 7:1-10

"Like the people of Nazareth who respond to the story of Elisha and Naaman with anger and rage (4:28), people might respond less than positively if we preach that Jesus cares about, ministers to, and wants to bless our enemies."

Commentary, Luke 7:1-10, Jeannine K. Brown, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"Have your needs been carried to jesus by your friends?"

"The Centurion's Friends," Lauren Winner, The Hardest Question, 2013.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

As we begin our season of ordinary time following the great Eastertide, we return to Luke who will be our primary companion over these next months of preaching and teaching.

In this passage Jesus heals the centurion's slave.  In the passage we have emerging the themes of the prophet king who is powerful and does acts of power.

In the healing we see the generosity of God to the gentiles. We also see God's power reaching down to earth in love. We see the living out and practice of the words that Jesus spoke to the crowd as he taught.  It is a revelation that Jesus is like the prophets who did such work in the ancient days of Israel.  here again is a great prophet.

All of this is very important in the Lukan narrative as it prepares for the prophecy of Jesus' own death and rising to life again and mission to be fulfilled; and for the gospel message to be proclaimed throughout the world to become a reality.

This passage has in it some interesting themes for our church today.  These are well worth a moment before you pen those final words to your sermon text.

Let us for a moment take the model of this passage as a mission strategy for the proclamation of the reign of God and its transformative potential.

1.  Like Jesus the church is in the world engaging with people who do not belong - the Gentile Centurion.
2.  Like Jesus, the church engages not by blaming the world but by coming into the life of the world - Jesus goes to the centurion's home.
3.  Like Jesus, the church listens to what is needed - healing.
4.  Like Jesus, the church discovers in the world faith, and proclaims that it is there - Jesus proclaims the faith of the centurion.  This faith is foreign to the faith of the church and is exhibited by humility, desire, and seeking.
5.  Like Jesus, the church works to heal what is in need of healing.

The prophecy model here is one where in Jesus proclaims that God loves people... and wants the very best for them... and then meets people.. and then points out their faith... and then helps them.  I wonder is this the kind of prophecy the church is engaging?

I wonder as we look across our congregations this Sunday and think about our ministry as a preacher, teacher, bishop, priest, deacon or lay person...does what we do as church fit this particular model of ministry?

Some Thoughts on Galatians 1:1-12

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

There is a great deal in this passage!  It contains particular words which tie into the discussion about Paul's own authority.  It contains pieces that are believed to be part of ancient liturgies.  It is theological in its understanding of God's redeeming work.  There is much here to intrigue the student and reader to be sure. Indeed the themes in this first passage are the themes of the whole text.

I want to focus on the work of the church.  I am most interested in how Paul communicates his understanding of the ministry of Christian Community.

Rooted deeply in his understanding of the Godhead and in human nature Paul makes a particular argument.  This argument is meant to counter those arguments that the Galatians are making within a very divided community.

Individuals commit and will continue to commit sin.  For Paul the solution or "antidote" is not forgiveness for the particular sin. It is instead that God is God and is even now overcoming through the work of Jesus the power of sin.  (J. Louis Martyn, Galatians, 97)  God is working his purposes out and God's work is grounded in the incarnation.  Paul writes:  "Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father".

Paul believes firmly that God has called the church into being.  God has created it.  It participates in the new creation - the reign of God.

As one person recently challenged - the church is a principality of this world and we should not forget that as such it is part of those principalities which the devil has oversight.  I understand the point.  The church is made up of sinful broken human beings in need of redemption and as such is not perfect to be sure! Sometimes the church does really horrific things; history tells us this truth to be sure.  But there is much good in her too.  And, Paul sees this good and is very intent on focusing our attention on it.

The church even in its brokenness even now participates in the good and heavenly work of the reign of God.  It does this in spite of our human tendencies to harm others and to sin.

For Paul one of the things the church does is to deal with instances of sin.  If it forgives the sins of any they are forgiven and if it binds the sins of any they are bound.

More importantly though is this notion that it is in community that people are able to be at their best.  It is in the Christian Community of the faithful, where the good news is offered, that we outperform the norm of a society that is fallen and "evil" in Paul's words.

Some Thoughts on 1 Kings 18:20-39

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The story of 1 Kings is a story of prophecy by Elijah. This is a Sinai prophecy, it is not oriented at the Temple mount, but from the wilderness rooted in the first covenant with God on the mountaintop.  

While this is often correlated with the ministry of John the Baptist, and the later desert fathers, what we see here is that the work of the Sinai prophet is to be responsive to God's love and to enact in life a response. In this we see that Elijah and his story and prophetic work is about life lived in the wake of God's action. 

In this passage Elijah is calling the people back to God. He is reminding them of God's action and how they are to be in response to this delivering God. 

Unlike the church which seems to cower inside over and against the silence of the world around it, Elijah's response to the people is not to resent them or to be moved to inaction. Instead, Elijah calls the people together, he repairs the altar, and makes a sacrificial offering. In doing this he restores the Sinai site to its rightful holy place. It is this re-newing of the temple that prepares him for the contest agains the prophets. 

What seems important here is the reality that instead of allowing the temple to continue to be used for the secular he renews it for the sake of evangelization of the community around it. It is the renewing of the Sinai worship site that brings about the renewal of the people. Elijah calls the people to action, and after the renewing of the site, they obey and do as he commands.

Then Elijah calls upon God:

“O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

Then God acts:

Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench.

Then the people respond:

When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.”

God is acting, and God will act in the world. However, in order to encounter the world we must renew ourselves, renew our altars, call upon God, and faithfully respond to the God who freed the Israelites and has made a covenant with them. In this then we may reenter the world and respond to God's work and acts.

When we stay huddled in our broken down and decaying buildings it is very difficult to remember the mighty hand of God at work in the world. Elijah calls us to renew our faith, to get busy, to make sacrifices, to clean up, and to renew our faith that we might receive God's fire.

Easter 4B April 26, 2015

"This is part of what it means to be the Body of Christ -- to remind each other of God's promises and speak Jesus' message of love, acceptance, and grace to each other."

 "Abundant Life," David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2012.

"Then Jesus said, "Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep;' and you get the feeling that this time Peter didn't miss the point. From fisher of fish to fisher of people to keeper of the keys to shepherd. It was the Rock's final promotion, and from that day forward he never let the head office down again."

"Feed My Sheep," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

"These are wonderful, comforting images, but this passage includes one other challenging thought. The good shepherd decides who is in the sheepfold, we do not."

Commentary, John 10:11-18, Lucy Lind Hogan, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"This is part of what it means to be the Body of Christ -- to remind each other of God's promises and speak Jesus' message of love, acceptance, and grace to each other."

"Abundant Life," David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2012.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons

Prayer
Creator God, you make the resplendent glory of the Risen One shine with new radiance on the world, whenever our human weakness is healed and restored.  Gather all your scattered children into one flock following Christ, our Good Shepherd, so that all may taste the joy you bestow on those who are the children of God. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord 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 B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.


Some Thoughts on John 10:11-18

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It comes as part of an overall scriptural unit.  Chapter 10: 1-21.  Most New Testament scholars break our reading up into two sections. The first section is made up of verses 11-16 where in the reader discovers the nature of the shepherd.  The second section is made up of verses 17-18 wherein we read about the specific work of this Good Shepherd.

Jesus is the model of the good shepherd because he is willing to die for his sheep - this is a unique Johannine theology.  This model is a shepherd who cares for all the sheep and for their very lives. This shepherd is willing to lay down his life for all; and all means all.

The hired hand and the wolf prey on the sheep. They care only for themselves.  They steal and consume the sheep.  What is interesting here is the parallel drawn by scholars to those religious leaders who betray their flock.  Certainly, in the early tradition there is a notion of being sent among wolves.  In Acts Paul reminds church leaders they are to feed their sheep.

I think that the next section is important as a defining boundary for the care and tending of sheep.  The shepherd here does not only know their work, but also knows their sheep intimately.  They know all their sheep intimately.  They recognize the shepherd's voice.  And, that there are sheep who are being added to the fold (the gentile mission).  Therefore the shepherd knows his sheep and knows sheep who are to be gathered in.

This tradition falls in the long line of prophetic witness wherein the leaders of Israel have been seen as shepherds of their flock.

As I read through a number of texts on this passage (including my own preaching) I am ever mindful that the Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep; and that God takes up his life for him when his work is done.  Resurrection, new life, transformed life, comes to the shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for his sheep - those in his fold and those without.

Today we live in an age where we protect ourselves at all cost. We do this by projecting out into the world our own desires. We disguise this protection by gathering around us like minded people.  So we get our cause (political, religious, social) and we gather with people who have the same interest in maintaining ego protection on any given topic.

Paul Zahl reminded me in a recent podcats (PZ's Podcast available on Itunes) that one reason why when people accomplish what they set out to do on any given agenda and they usually feel unfulfilled is because they set out based upon ego protection and not based upon their own true nature's need for salvation, grace and mercy.  They set out to change the world because they were sure everyone else was wrong not because their own heart needed transformation.

The shepherd is in need of resurrection when the life is laid down; this mimics the Good Shepherd's own death and resurrection.  The individual who truly lays down their life and loses it will in the end find it.  But it is real life that is lost, a costly ego death, that must be allowed to take place.

This means more frequently a non-heroes death and/or the failure of perfection.

What does it really mean to be one of the good shepherds, serving the One Good Shepherd?  It will mean being shepherd to all.  A leader must lead and be a shepherd for all the sheep.  All the sheep include: those who agree and those who disagree; those who love you and those who hate you; those who are pleased with your action and those who are pounding down the doors of your fortified ego castle; and the unseen sheep not in our fold.

So as I prepare to preach this week I have a lot of questions running through my mind.  None of these questions have much to do with the loving shepherd finding me in the darkness and carrying  me off to the sheepfold.  Rather, the questions I am asking are based upon that redemption already being underway:  What part of myself must die in order for me to be shepherd (in the mold of the Good Shepherd) for all the sheep?  How shall I lay down my life for them?  Am I willing to die a hundred thousand deaths (not as vanquishing hero) but as a lonely herdsman in the midst of a valley of wolves and thieves?

Ah yes, perhaps that is the real work after all.  You and I if we brave this sacred journey we should be prepared for the silence, the lack of followers, a shameful death, and...and...in the end God's hand snatching us from the grave.  It is the silent waiting of the dead in which God's love, grace and mercy resides.  That is the meaning of life as a good shepherd; would that we had a church full of such men and women!

Some Thoughts on I John 3:14-24

"The whole idea behind this week's reading from 1 John, and indeed the entire book, is that in the sacrificial love of Christ we see and experience God; in doing so we are compelled to live out that love in word and deed."

"What's the Catch?" Sharron R Blezard, Stewardship of Life, 2012.

"This epistle, really a sermon, was written for a community that defined itself over and against the world around it."

Commentary, 1 John 3:16-24, David Bartlett, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

"The writer clearly envisages a relationship with God where people are not diminished but encouraged to stand on their own two feet with confidence."

"First Thoughts on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Easter 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

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Powerful words from my fellow blogger who encapsulates the beginning of this passage very well. Here it  is from Chris Haslam: 

1 says “For this is the message ... that we should love one another.” Abel’s godly deeds (Genesis 4:8) stirred Cain’s hatred for him, even to murdering his brother, so don’t be surprised if the “world hates you” (v. 13). For a Christian to hate a fellow Christian is equivalent to murder. “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another” (v. 14).

God is love and Jesus is our great icon of God's love. True love lays down one's life for the other. For the author of John this meant real action.

This is so very unlike a lot Christian behavior today. We tend to tell people what to do and how to be. We expect them to lay down their life for the Gospel. We tell them how they are to act and what they are to do and not do. We make lists and we judge them unequal to the task.

This is all a way of masking our own lack of love for them - our own inability to follow God's second commandment.

The Christian Gospel says that we are to lay our life down for the other. We are to lay our life down for the neighbor. We are to lay our life down for the one we disagree with. We are to lay our life down for the one different than us.

Only, when we do this are we truly moving closer to God. Only when we lay down our expectations and our life do we find it. This is the cross and this is the commandment. As a good friend says, "As soon as I hear the 'but' we have moved away from grace." How true!

There is a lot of hatred, there is a lot of fear, there is a lot of anxiety all of which moves to anger and violence very quickly. This is the evil in our midst and it is deeply rooted in our inability to lay down our lives willingly for one another. What evil schemes we will deploy which kills our brother all in the name of protecting ourselves. It sounds reasonable - but it is not the Gospel. 

February 8th, 2016, Transfiguration - The Last Sunday in Epiphany

"Mark's use of the story connects so strongly to what follows that we can scarcely interpret it without reference to what Jesus disciples were to listen to in the chapters which follow, namely lowliness and compassion. It is not just any elevation of Jesus which will do, but this particular one, which we appreciate when we know the whole story. Mark's story reminds us that disciples, then and now, frequently get it wrong, through fear and ignorance and much else."

"First Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," The Transfiguration of Jesus, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Prayer

God of life, in a blaze of light on Mount Tabor you transfigured Christ, revealing him as your Beloved Son and promising us a share in that destiny of glory.  But in a blinding flash we, children of the promise, annihilate life, disfiguring the face of Christ and mocking his Gospel call to gentleness and peace.  Let the beacon of that gospel pierce again the clouds enshrouding the earth, so that even in the darkness of these times we may believe your day will dawn.  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 B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.




Some Thoughts on Mark 9:2-10

The passages that come before this are filled with a pounding and unrelenting march by Jesus to proclaim the good news and to overturn the forces that now bind God's people. He knows this proclamation and action campaign (to use the military imagery of the Greek text) which is the Way will ultimately lead to the cross.  Therefore, everyone who is on the Way must be prepared to pick up his cross and follow. (8.34)

Yet here in this passage we have a vision of the God's glory and in the last two verses the connection of this mission with the resurrection.

Jesus in this moment of transfiguration is revealed as the new Adam, the new Moses, the great prophet, the Son of God and is clearly the Messiah.  He is God in all his glory revealed in the person of Jesus to the disciples sitting at his feet, to the first hearers of this Gospel, and to us.  And, this work is well pleasing to God.

We are reminded perhaps of the words of Enoch and his response to his own heavenly vision.

And there I saw another vision of the dwellings of the righteous and the resting-places of the holy.
And there my eyes saw their dwellings with the angels And their resting places with the holy ones...
And I saw their abode beneath the winds of the Lord of Spirits,
And all the righteous and elect were radiant like the brightness of fire before him....
There I desired to dwell and my spirit longed for that abode.  (I Enoch 39:4-8, trans. Marcus, Mark, 638)

While Peter echoes Enoch's vision in this world, the disciple and follower of Jesus along the way (with the certainty of the cross before them) sees instead the great hope of Resurrection and our eternal dwelling beneath the wings of our "father hen when he calls his chickens home" - to quote Johnny Cash.
The transfiguration is a theophany in which the followers of Jesus and the generations that follow are able to glimpse their future.

In the months to come our people will enter Lent, we are in tax season, election time, our economy is slow, people are suffering and hurting.  They are pretty sure that this is not heaven!

Our preaching is to so move those who listen that they may have a glimpse of the transfigured risen Lord.  That they may see the promise of their future and understand that the present sufferings in this world are ones that will eventually be swallowed up by the glory of God.

We are to so move our hearers that on this Sunday, they like Jesus and his first followers, will be moved through their vision of things to come to change the world around them. We are to move our people to understand that their glimpse of the heavenly family and our place under God's embrace is not something to be waited for in some distant future, but that we are to make our drum beat loud and to act in this world building up stone by living stone the kingdom of heaven.

A Little Bit for Everyone

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Mark 9:2-10
2Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

9As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.

Epiphany 6B February 15, 2015

Quotes That Make Me Think

"By the end of this story, Jesus has shown us what it costs to go where the people are and it is a cost he is 'willing' to pay."

Commentary, Mark 1:40-45, Sarah Henrich, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"Jesus steps right into a terribly risky reimagining of social order."

"Lepers and Risky Love," Katie Munnik, Presbyterian Record, 2012.

"Maybe we don't need to choose between the two emotions, anger and pity. Pity and anger can intermingle."

"Blessed to Be a Blessing," Alyce McKenzie, Edgy Exegesis, Patheos, 2012.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons from Textweek.com

Prayer

Cleanse and restore us, O God, and heal us continually from the sinfulness that divides us and from the sinfulness that divides us and from the prejudice and discrimination by which we degrade ourselves and dishonor your image in others. Help us to stretch out our hands in love especially to those our society scorns and to recognize in their faces the very image of Christ, blood-stained on the cross. 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 B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Mark 1:40-45

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Jesus made a noise like a horse - he was so exasperated and incensed!

A lot of preachers will be trying to figure this one out. We will turn to scholars and they will say, and we will typically preach:

Jesus was upset because his preaching mission was interrupted.

Jesus was upset because the man is unclean.

Jesus was upset because the man doesn't believe Jesus can heal him. (Marcus, Mark, 209)

I was struck by the scholar M. D. Hooker's thoughts (Commentary on Mark, 80). He believes Jesus is disgusted with the demon. One might expand this to include the system as well; as in Ched Myers' text Binding the Strong Man.

How often do we get exasperated with the person and not the illness? How often do we get exasperated because we have more important things to tend to? How often do we get exasperated because of how we might be perceived if we are with someone for whom they disapprove?

We are all guilty of this. Me included. We may however loose a great preaching moment if we simply take our exasperation and project it onto the text.

What if we reread the story this way: The leper comes to Jesus. He has, more than likely, already been to the priests to no avail. He comes to Jesus who is not a priest and simply says, "Jesus you could make me clean"; which given the last few chapters is true.

Jesus snorts like a horse because he is simply disgusted - with illness, with the powers that be, with the world...but not with the man. No with the man he is moved and so he acts. He reaches out and touches the leper, making himself unclean according to the holiness code.

Then he sends the clean man away, not in secrecy, but why send him back to the religious power that could not make him well in the first place. No, he can go and he not tell anyone.

How do we begin to move our congregations to snort like a horse when confronted by the brokenness of the world, to be incensed; and then move them to action on behalf of those who come to us and invite us to engage in healing?

So often we are thinking someone else more talented, someone more generous, someone more schooled, someone else will come along and heal the leper raising their hand before us and inviting us into their life. The reality is that we are being invited - you and I. There is just us. And, we have been sent by Jesus.

Some Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

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"The proclamation of the gospel, be it public or private, in front of an audience or one-to-one, can be difficult. As Paul says elsewhere it may seem like foolishness and folly to many who hear it, and this will, from time to time, reflect back on we who proclaim it. But this is our imperishable wreath, the life and salvation of those for whom and with whom we run this race."

Commentary, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Karl Jacobson, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

"Paul's Lord, Jesus, was not a slave of patterns (or the lord of patterns!) and obsessed with being a lord, but one who emptied himself, poured himself out."

"First Thoughts on Passages on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary,"Epiphany 6, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.


This is one of my favorite passages. I used to be a long distance runner. I even ran a marathon. I loved running. Somehow this passage really spoke and continues to speak to me. 

What I did not know until recently is that the games for which our modern day Olympics are modeled were held in Corinth! So Paul isn't simply picking up an image of running because it is generally known or helps him move back to the major content of the letter. He chooses it because he knew they knew this image quite well there in Corinth. We might even infer that it was an important image for them. 

Of course he uses the race as metaphor to his life and the work of all Christians. Paul uses it to help the Corinthians understand that a Christian life is not a magical fix but rather a lifetime of work. I have to say that in the midst of crisis, pain, suffering, grief, and trouble it would be great if Christianity WAS a magical remedy! 

I don't believe there are perfect Christians. Our perfection is rooted in the perishable world - not unlike the wreath. We must realize that we are a work in progress, our communities are a work in progress, our neighbors are a work in progress, and God has saved us and made us his own anyway. 

November 9, 2014: Proper 27 Ordinary 22 Pentecost +22

Quotes That Make Me Think

"Our discomfort with the parable of the virgins likely arises from self-awareness. Most of us know ourselves as wise in some contexts and foolish in others."

Commentary, Matthew 25:1-13, Greg Carey, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.

"...focus on the core issue of waiting and admit, quite frankly, that the kind of waiting Matthew is encouraging through this parable is hard. Waiting for something way over due, waiting for something you're not sure will even come, waiting that involves active preparation when you're not even sure what you should be preparing for. That kind of waiting is challenging."

"Hope and Help for Foolish Bridesmaids," David Lose, ...in the meantime, 2014.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons from Textweek.com

Prayer

Lord, give me grace to take my task from you seriously. Let me prepare so that when the crisis comes, the oil will be there on the day of reckoning. In Jesus I pray. Amen.

by Stephen M. Crotts

Some Thoughts on Matthew 25:1-13

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Jesus is teaching in parables about the Kingdom of God. We have just heard about a householder who leaves and the servant is blessed who lives a good, ethical life while left in charge. Jesus is telling his followers that they are to live a good life and a life worthy of the Gospel. They will be blessed upon the master's return. This was an important teaching within the Matthean community because they were trying to understand how they were different from their religious neighbors, and they wanted to understand how they could please God.  The image of the followers of God living a good life as opposed to a wayward life brings differentiation to the community struggling for identity in the first century.

Carrying on this discussion we enter our passage. It is important to note that the Gospel tells us we do not know when the householder will return. Jesus again offers a parable, an allegory, which tells the Matthean community who they are, whose they are, and what business they are to be about in the mean time.

In today's passage the master is delayed. Everyone is ready, but some are unprepared. Some have not brought enough provisions to make the long journey into the night. They don't have enough oil. Others do not share. The point seems to be that each is responsible for their own and not for the others. The follower of God is to be concerned with what is expected of us alone and not the other. I am to be prepared - I am not responsible for your preparedness.  I am to live a life which is goodly and seeks holiness. The message in this parable is clear. You need to be ready. You need to work on you and you need to make sure that you can make it through the darkness because when the bridegroom comes the door will be shut.

Our work is to be prepared and we are to stay awake. We are to be ready for the bridegroom, responsible for ourselves, and watching so that the door does not shut without us.

My first response is: YIKES! John Stott, the great Anglican theologian wrote, “We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.” So let us wade into this disturbing parable and reflect a bit.

I am thinking that there are several important images and thoughts bumping around in my mind after working on this. The first is that we are responsible for us. I am responsible for making sure I am living the life that I believe God has called me to lead. I am not responsible for others - that is their work. That is a good boundary to have. Sometimes I think I get caught in trying to police other people's lives because that is easier than policing my own.

The second thought is that the master is late! The bridegroom is late. I was thinking that from an evangelism stand point we are the body of Christ, we are the bridegroom let loose in the world. We are late. There are people out in the world who are doing well and they have plenty of oil. There are others who are running low. They are both waiting for the bridegroom. They are waiting and expectant. They are waiting on us to bring good news. They are hoping that the door will be open to them. And, I am wondering shall we wait to go, as Christ's body in the world, as the bridegroom? Shall we wait and let their oil run out and the door be shut. Let us not hesitate to bring them good news.

I understand that the Matthean community was trying to define itself over and against other religious movements. I get the reality of what it means to not worry about others and not be responsible for them. This edge makes this a very difficult parable. It grates against me. I get that we don't need to be in other people's business. This is a good teaching. However, I would like to think that the Christian community today might offer a bit of oil to our neighbors who are running low. We might offer a bit of encouragement to those who are losing hope. I would like to think that the Christian community today would make sure the door is left open as long as possible - even to the last minute.

But here is the real twist. What if as (many scholars are now offering) the kingdom of heaven is not about the master or the ones with the oil. What if the parable is about those left out in the cold. What if it is about the reality that many other religions and many other traditions will want to offer the vision of the angry punishing God who is for the wealthy and the prepared. What if instead we saw that God's kingdom is actually made up of the people on the outside of the door? I hope that if we are the bridegroom we might hasten to our friends who wait for Good News.

Some Thoughts on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

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Our passage from Paul's letter to the Thessalonians is not unlike the invitation to live a Godly and goodly life as Matthew's Gospel.  The faithful are intended to live a life with God in the future.

Paul then is confronted with the question: what about those who have died and we see no longer but were faithful and unfortunate enough to have died before Jesus came into the world? Paul says, "Look, don't worry. Don't believe what some say which is that when you die there is nothingness. That is not the way it is."  Paul says that we have a hope. We believe in Jesus who has conquered death and because of this conquering God is able to draw all of those who have already died into his company. The faithful today and the faithful who have died will all find their home in God.

We might get caught at the end of the passage with Paul's understanding of the world and heaven. But this is a needless concern. What Paul is saying, I believe, is that God will come and connect all things and all worlds. The world of the living and the world of the dead, the world of heaven and the world of earth are all worlds that are connected by the creator of all things. We are connected to God and God to those who have died in a never ending relationship. We believe in God who is love and who brings us all together.

Amy Peeler, New Testament prof at Wheaton wrote: "Here, at least, Paul does not get into a discussion of what happens to those who are not believers. That is because -- and this is the second assurance -- Paul is writing this in order to encourage his readers. “Therefore, encourage one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:18).” Anyone who uses the discussion of the “rapture” to scare people into faith applies eschatology in a way that Paul (and John!) does not. Jesus’ return should be a thing to anticipate and celebrate, not fear if you happen to return home one day and find no one there."

The Gospel and this lesson from Paul can both spiral into sadness and hopelessness. They both can be used to convict others that behavior is linked to getting into heaven. I believe Paul is clear it is the creator God who connects all things, it is Jesus who does the saving work for all, and it is grace that in the end pours out from the cross and redeems the world reconciling us to God. Our response says Paul is that we are live a hope filled life which reflects our thanksgiving for what God has brought about. So, live with hope and not with fear for yourself. Live with hope and not fear for your neighbors. Live with hope and not fear for those beloved ones of yours who have already died and even now rest with God.