Proper 23C / Ordinary 28C / Pentecost +18 October 9, 2023

Prayer

The Church of the Ten Lepers in the West Bank.
One of the oldest Churches in the world. 

To us sinners, cleansed and forgiven, give a spirit of constant praise and thanksgiving. Let faith be our salvation and service of others our gift of thanks, as we follow your Son toward the cross and new life. 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 17:11-19

"Amid the various ecclesial, ethical, and liturgical reforms of the sixteenth century, Martin Luther was once asked to describe the nature of true worship. His answer: the tenth leper turning back."

Commentary, Luke 17:11-19, David Lose, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"Los pasajes bíblicos que ilustran los encuentros entre extranjeros tienen mucha potencial para informar la predicación."

Comentario del Evangelio, San Lucas 17:11-19, Gilberto Ruiz, WorkingPreacher.org, Luther Seminary, 2010.

"We see the faith in the one whose beliefs made a difference in the way he acted. I find it ironic that for him to return and glorify God by thanking Jesus, he had to disobey the command from Jesus to go show himself to the priest! When might our thanksgivings to Jesus mean going against what is deemed good and proper?"

Exegetical Notes by Brian P. Stoffregen at CrossMarks Christian Resources.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Last week I concluded with these words:

Christians are called to live between the reign of God and the world of today. We are called to work on God’s behalf. I pray, “Heavenly father give us faith, add to our faith…for the work God give us to do is demanding. Give us some comfort Lord that we may repent when we need amendment of life and forgive when we are bound to tightly to the sin of others.” Like the pilgrims in the dessert waiting outside the caves hoping for a word from the dessert monks, we shout, “Abba, Father, give us a Word.”

This week we receive from Jesus hope for the mission. We are given a Word for the path of demanding work that lies before us.

In the narrative, we see our prophet is heading to Jerusalem and his death. We have been listening to his instruction. We have begged for added faith that we may follow. So we find ourselves in Samaria and Galilee.

The ten men follow the prescription in Numbers 5:2ff to call out and warn others away from them. However, this time they call out for help. They call out for mercy.

Not unlike the apostles following Jesus, these men are forgiven, soon to be cleansed and healed. We as followers are like the lepers. We are brought into the family of God, remade sons and daughters of Abraham.

At this moment we see the expectations of the kingdom. We are not to receive thanks but we are to act out of our thanksgiving. We are to offer thanks to God for our healing, for our deliverance. As followers of Jesus gifted with the waters of Baptism and the Holy Spirit you and I are to be thankful for our adoption as full members of Christ’s reign.

We know what it is like to be an outcast, in the words of Jesus, none more so than the foreigner in our midst. Their faith has saved them.

Perhaps when we have faith, even as a mustard seed, we are not only cleansed but supported in our work of redemption and thanksgiving.

You and I are on the one hand like the disciples hungry for faith, because like the other nine we quickly forget what we have received by the grace and mercy of Jesus and long for more. Unlike the leper, with faith like a mustard seed, we struggle to remember daily, even hourly, the gifts given and to glorify God in praise and in action.

Faith, therefore, is not simply as it says in Hebrews 11:1 "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," it is more. Faith is also a substantiation of things realized. When we divide faith from works and works from faith we set up both a false dichotomy of competing truths and philosophically protect the human ability to sin without accountability. Faith is the action of thanksgiving; it is the action of living life for God and for others. It is why I am a liturgical Christian where faith is enacted ritually.  It is also why I am focused on the unique proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ - sharing what I have received.  And, it is why I believe in virtuous work that enacts the Good News as it transforms the world. We as Episcopalians are in the business of enacting Eucharist at a table and in the world.

Let us always be on our knees pleading for more faith and giving thanks to God by works that change the lives of people, just as Jesus changed the life of the lepers.

Some Thoughts on 2 Timothy 2:3-15

"If Timothy hasn't yet figured out that success in his ministry isn't predicated on his creativity and insight, this part of the letter might fix that."
Commentary, 2 Timothy 2:8-15, Matt Skinner, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.


"Are we credible teachers of the word? Can we stand and share God's word accurately?"
"Studying the Law As We Study the Word," Yolanda Smith, ON Scripture, Odyssey Networks, 2013.


""And now, brothers, I will ask you a terrible question, and God knows I ask it also of myself. Is the truth beyond all truths, beyond the stars, just this: that to live without him is the real death, that to die with him is the only life?""
"To Die With Him," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

Oremus Online NRSV New Testament Text



The author invites Timothy and his Christian community to embrace the life of suffering. It is very possible that they were in the midst of persecution. The last lesson from Timothy reveals some concerns about their timidity. The author says there is no timidity in the Gospel. 

In today's reading what is revealed is that part of what is entangling the community is concern over the "everyday affairs" of the community. 

No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer. And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules. 

The author reminds the reader and his community that there is no way of getting out of this alive and that the ministry is a cruciform one of discomfort and suffering. The life of the lost and least is the life lived in Jesus Christ. Only in the participation with Jesus' own death do those who follow participate in the resurrection. 

This is far more than a kind of cult of martyrs. What we are reading in today's Gospel is a confirmation of the Gospel that life only comes after death. Deliverance only after suffering. The author writes:

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal... If we have died with him, we will also live with him...

The living God and the living word will not be bound by death. It isn't simply that resurrection comes after death but that the defeat of death itself has unchained the living word to be about God's work in the world. There is no life, no faith, no proclamation without our death and the living Word's presence with us.

Scholars believe that this last bit (11-13) may actually be a hymn. Singing Christ has died, we share in his death, like him we will have eternal life. Do not give up, do not deny him, his covenant is always faithful and his presence and promise unwavering...sang the early Christians. Reminding them of the centrality of Christ and his cross.

The author concludes with an invitation to remember this and to live it out. Fear nothing, not even death, don't "be ashamed" and teach this Gospel paradox. Only in this will the fears of daily living fall away and take their rightful place in the broad scheme of things. Only in understanding that deliverance is ours, death is ours, and so is life, will the powers and authorities of this world fall away and along with them their powers of binding and enslavement. Don't be persuaded that you should make the truth of the Christian faith any less than an embrace of loss and losing for the sake of life. Any teaching that you offer that eases this truth for the hearer is no teaching at all. 

Some Thoughts on Jeremiah 29:1-7

"It was for all intents and purposes the end of the world."
Commentary, Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7, Wil Gafney, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.


"Real hope for the people, according to Jeremiah, lay not in some immediate relief from social and communal death, but in living through that experience as faithful people, awaiting the Lord?s 'future with hope'."
Jeremiah 29:1-7, The Old Testament Readings: Weekly Comments on the Revised Common Lectionary, Theological Hall of the Uniting Church, Melbourne, Australia.


The prophet does not speak this for the affection that he bore to the tyrant, but that they should pray for the common rest and quietness that their troubles might not be increased, and that they might with more patience and less grief wait for the time of their deliverance, which God had appointed most certain: for not only the Israelites but all the world yea and the insensible creatures would rejoice when these tyrants would be destroyed, as in Isa 24:4."
from John Calvin's Geneva Notes (c.1599).

Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text

We continue our reading through Jeremiah. Today's reading is clearly a part of a letter written and "sent from Jerusalem" to the leader of the exiles. He is writing to those "priests, prophets, and elders" who guide the people who have been taken away to the court of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon.

Jeremiah is here revealed as offering a very controversial prophecy. Moreover, it reveals his ties to the court of Zedekiah and his revolutionary alignment with Babylon over and against the Temple and the Temple's political power over Israel. 

Jeremiah says:

...The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 

Moreover, he says, 

...Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

We might well ask how this came to be in the scripture at all. Go and be happy in the foreign land? Multiply and pray for your captors and their welfare? This is a radical prophecy. 

Yet it is part of our deep ancestral faith. Here we find in Jeremiah not only, for Christians, the idea that Jesus is the one to bring the new covenant. We also see a vision of a faith that is completely disbursed from the Temple mount. That the people of God, no matter where they are and no matter what the circumstance is, they are not released from responding to their God. They are to pray and worship wherever they are, they are to make homes and grow their community. They are, no matter where they are, to work for the improvement and betterment of the common good of the city in which they find themselves.

Proper 22C / Ordinary 27C / Pentecost +17 October 2, 2022

Prayer

Alfredo Ramos Martínez, Paisaje Mexicano / Mexican Landscape,
ca. 1935. Gouache and Conté crayon on paper,
27 x 32 1/2 inches.

You hear O God, the prayer of those whose faith is the size of a mustard seed. Give us humility of heart, that we may work with all our strength for the growth of your kingdom, yet recognize that we are yours, “doing what we were supposed to do”. You have called us in order to reveal to all the wonders your love has accomplished.  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 17:5-10

"Pointing out one's failings is meant to lead to metanoeo -- perhaps most literally in this context to "re-think" the actions. metanoeo besides meaning "to repent" or "to change one's mind," which are part of the meaning here; but it also carries the sense "to perceive afterwards" or "to perceive too late". Sometimes the words or actions we thought were OK at the time, with hindsight were seen to have "missed the mark". Such insight is meant to lead to repentance and forgiveness."

Exegetical Notes by Brian Stoffregen at CrossMarks Christian Resources.

"What is our value if it is not in what we achieve?"

"First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost 20, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.


"Instead of assuming that Jesus is promising that if our faith is big enough we will be able to do miracles, let's wonder if Jesus isn't chastising us for thinking in the first place that faith / trust comes in sizes."
Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke 17:5-10, David Ewart, 2010.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Last week we had the story of Lazarus and the rich man.  How we live matters to God and it matters to Jesus. In this reading, we learn we are to do what has been given to us to do. Let’s begin by looking closely at the text as our conversation with Jesus and his disciples continue to develop in this 17th chapter of Luke.

We cannot guess why the “apostles” ask Jesus to add to their faith. He has been teaching some very tough messages about stumbling blocks on the journey of faith and he’s been very direct with the religious leaders of the day. I can only imagine, especially after the message of accountability, that I, in their shoes, would ask the same thing. I might say, “Jesus what you say is hard. It is actually REALLY difficult. Give me faith to do these things … add to my faith.”

Jesus then gives the apostles and us the image of “faith as a mustard seed” with which to face the challenges of discipleship. If we had faith “like” a mustard seed the mulberry bush would obey us. Here we believe that it is about the size of the seed and not about the nature of the mustard seed.

The mustard plant is an aggressive weed that will take over and push out other crops if not carefully removed or contained within a garden. If you are not careful that tiny seed will grow and generate a whole garden of mustard. The rural people of Jesus’ time would have understood this immediately.

What Jesus means is if we had just a little faith it would spread and all of creation would obey us. In fact, we might lean into the parabolic teaching a little here to believe that Jesus is saying we could, with just a little faith, be at work restoring one another and all of creation into the reign of God. Our work is to proclaim the Gospel of Salvation and the unique person of Jesus Christ and emulate his actions in the world, transforming and changing the world.

Like the “slave” or “servant” (both of which are unsuitable images in our modern context) we are bound or tethered to the work of God. As creatures of God, we have been created to reflect the glory of God. Jesus’ death and resurrection provide the grace needed to overcome the obstacles to our work with God in creation; those obstacles are sin and death. Now that we have received the good news of Christ, we are to do as God has invited us: participate in the work of the divine trinity. We are to be a community in a healthy relationship with one another, transforming the world around us that it may better serve God as was intended.

I am not talking about a return to some false Constantinian model of Christendom here. But we must meet the needs of the hungry, poor, oppressed, and voiceless ones with whom Christ has a special relationship. We must return to a sustainable model of creation. These are stewardship themes that should rattle our cages at the very least.

It is at this point that we must recall the verses that come before in order to have greater clarity about God’s expectations of our faith and ministry:

We are not to be involved in scandal and if so we are to repent

We are not to cause others to stumble and if so we are to change our ways

Be accountable one to another and offer or seek out forgiveness

Luke Timothy Johnson describes this overall section in this way:

“First the reader has been schooled by this point to identify with ‘the poor’ who are called into the kingdom. The reader’s natural temptation is to assume that one is ‘Lazarus’ to the enemy’s ‘rich man.’ The rich man of the story ‘stumbled’ over the demand to share possessions, and did not repent. The community of the poor can easily see itself as pure victim. But the saying on the scandal and repentance turn the ethical demand on this community as well. Even in the kingdom there is opportunity for scandal and the need for repentance and forgiveness. The demand placed by Jesus on his followers is that they are themselves responsible for both; they cannot plead innocence because they are oppressed by others. If they cause scandal, they will be punished for it. If they are sinned against, they must forgive.” (Luke, 261)

How often do we spend our time on one topic or another? We either devote a lot of time on our own needs and wants and how they are not met by others, or we spend time giving clarity to our perception of the problems outside in our culture or in the lives of others. Christians are called to live between the reign of God and the world of today. We are called to work on God’s behalf. I pray, “Heavenly father give us faith, add to our faith for the work God gives us to do is demanding. Give us some comfort Lord that we may repent when we need an amendment of life and forgive when we are bound too tightly to the sin of others.” Like the pilgrims in the desert waiting outside the caves, hoping for a word from the desert monks, we shout, “Abba, Father, give us a Word.”

Some Thoughts on 2 Timothy 1:1-14

"Faith is a gift of God and also a gift from our forebears in the faith."
"Indebted Faith," Will Willimon, The Hardest Question, 2013.

"Being a bearer of the tradition according to 2 Timothy does not mean closing up shop, burying the treasure, to use the imagery of the famous parable. Rather it means ensuring the connections are upheld and consistency maintained while letting the fire burn and good news shine in our contemporary contexts and never losing sight of this central task, whatever disputes and wrangles, right or wrong, may (and may need to) way-lay us."
"First Thoughts on Year C Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost 20, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

You may remember from seminary studies or readings or a PBS special on the Bible that more than likely the church being presented in 2 Timothy is not the church of Paul but rather one of the churches in the second generation after Paul. We have a more institutionalized church, a church that is well on its way to developing its core traditions and a church that feels directly in line with the work and mission of Paul. They are inheritors if you will of the tradition.

To this end, our lesson today rehearses Paul's ministry with a typical introduction to his work. They see themselves not only in line with Paul's mission but the faith ancestry of the Jews.

Timothy is the recipient of this long lineage of faith.

What has happened recently though is that the faith of the church is waning and is in need of being rebirthed by the Holy Spirit?

Where to begin the author poses? Begin with the teachings and life of Jesus. God's incarnation is the core teaching of the faith and here we find not simply a body of faith or doctrine but rather the spirit of life that will enliven the community. The author writes in Paul's name:

8Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, 9who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. 13Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

This is a great encouragement. What is needed is faith and the remembrance that just as Paul is with us so is Christ. It is none other than Christ that has called us and has appointed us to be the faithful in this age.

So too in our age, a much more institutionalized church, let us once again reclaim the mystery and remember God's presence. No matter what our circumstance God is present with us in Christ and through Christ's love. We are inheritors of the great faith and hope that was in Paul's generation and all the generations to come. We are the ones who today write the story of Timothy, in our time, in our context. What will the faith say about us and how we told and retold the story?

Some Thoughts on Lamentations 1:1-6

"National tragedies threaten to render communities speechless. The collective grief can be overwhelming."
Commentary, Lamentations 1;1-6, Frank M. Yamada, at WorkingPreacher.org, Luther Seminary, 2010.


"When the Holy One grieves, He strikes both hands together, clasps them over His heart, then folds His arms as He weeps over the righteous, sometimes secretly, sometimes openly."
Tears from Jewish Heritage OnLine Magazine. See esp "During the Exiles' Long Night, God Weeps."


"The book of Lamentations articulates the anguish of the Hebrews in the wake of the conquest of Jerusalem and the razing of the city by Babylon."
Commentary, Lamentations 1;1-6, Walter C. Bouzard, at WorkingPreacher.org, Luther Seminary, 2013.

Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text

A word about lamentations. Lamentations is believed to be written while the Israelites have been carried off to Babylon. Scholars tell us that the songs were written back at home during the ensuing crisis. The songs are songs of the morning for the loss of Jerusalem. There are five major sections to the text. These are laments, tears and songs, and sadness.

The text compares Jerusalem to a widow who now is alone. Once a princess, a great woman, bejeweled, now she is a servant, slave, and vassal. 

This widow weeps with no one to comfort her. We are reminded that the city (the leaders and people) sought to play a power game with the nations around them only to be destroyed by them in the end. So now our widow weeps - for they treated her terribly. 

The lament proclaims:

Her foes have become the masters, her enemies prosper, because the Lord has made her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe. 6From daughter Zion has departed all her majesty. Her princes have become like stags that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer.

So it is that: 

The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the festivals; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter. 

To read the lament of Jerusalem is to enter into the deep pain of brothers and sisters. To hear another's lament is to understand and to feel with them. The words of lamentation could be said in any country today...in our own...in Israel...in Palestine...Iraq. The words are the words of countless widows, orphans, widowers, mothers and fathers left without sons and daughters.  The lament of today is a lament of Christians, Jews, and Muslims. What is our response? To wail and weep and lament with them at the loss.  Being present with those who are suffering is to love and care.

One of the greatest gifts to those who mourn is not a sunny face or empty hope or trite words...no it is abiding friendship that sits and is present in the lament. Here we find our common humanity.

Before peace, before the laying down of weapons, before the end of wars civil and global must always come the entering into of the pain and suffering of the other. Putting up with another, living with the other, is very different from being present with the other in their pain and suffering.

What does the Christian do? We lament. We remember we learn the names, we lament and we pray.

Proper 21C / Ordinary 26C / Pentecost +16 September 25, 2022

Prayer

To the poor man of the parable, O God, your Son gave the name Lazarus, while the rich man’s only identity begins and ends with his wealth. Do justice for all who are oppressed. Put an end to humanity’s unbridled thoughtlessness. Let us cling to your word in Moses, the prophets and the gospels, so that we may be convinced that Christ is risen from the dead and be welcomed by you into your 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 forever and ever. Amen.

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


Some Thoughts on Luke 16:19-31

"How far may we push a parable? Should we regard parables as helpful fictions that open our imaginations to new possibilities, or should we approach them as condensed pedagogical vehicles designed to carry specific teachings?"

Commentary, Luke 16:19-31, Greg Carey, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"Nothing quite like a sermon about a rich guy going to hell just before the fall Stewardship campaign kicks off, is there? Seriously, though, the clarity of today's Gospel reading offers a stark contrast to the ambiguous, even confusing lection of last week. But what, precisely, is this passage clear about?"

"In God We Trust: God & Money, Pt. 2," David Lose, Working Preacher, 2010.

"A reversal at the outset of the story is that the beggar is given a name and the rich man is not. That single fact ought to alert us that the story we are about to hear is going have surprises in it."

Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke 16:19-31, David Ewart, 2010.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

I cannot begin my reflection upon the story of Lazarus without pointing out the several verses that begin this pericope; without which I believe the context may indeed be lost.

Luke tells us that the “Pharisees were money lovers.” They were disdainful of Jesus and of his teachings about wealth and stewardship. Jesus tells them that while they may justify their lives and manner of living in front of the people that God knows their hearts. No matter how society treats the privileged - God will see that they truly serve wealth and not God alone. Jesus also is clear that the reign of God, the kingdom, is now being proclaimed and all are being urged to enter it. Jesus then gives the words on divorce and how in God’s eyes it is adultery.

Scholars point out that “idolatry, money, and divorce are joined in the law by the term bdelygma.” (Luke Timothy Johnson, Luke, 255) The word is translated from Greek into English with the meaning abomination, or abuse. Fornication is added to the list in the Qumran writings. (LTJ, 255) Jesus brings us all up short reminding us with these words of the singular focus upon God that is called for in the work of discipleship and how we cannot pretend piety when we also live a life of abuse.

I am not going to enter into the debate between Pelagian and Augustine on the responsibility or depravity of human beings, though this passage clearly touches on this theological theme. Nevertheless, these first words of the passage tell us that Jesus understands that his followers are to enter into virtuous living. The reign of God has a particular life that is lived and that life is one focused upon God. Those who reject the prophet will, in turn, be rejected by God.

I want to now remind us that Jesus is clear that John’s prophetic Gospel which begins with repentance and turning to the Lord is essential. Jesus says in this passage “the law and the prophets continue through John.” Luke Timothy Johnson believes that Jesus in the polemical speech may be challenging those who listen, and maybe rhetorically asking, “Can those who love wealth even hear the law, the prophets, and the proclamation of the Gospel?” (255)

The way in which we might read the parable now of Lazarus is through the lens of these polemical teachings about a life lived in the reign of God. It is, in fact, teaching which illustrates the beatitudes themselves.

6:20 "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 "Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. "Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. 22 "Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. 24 "But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 "Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger. "Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 "Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

The blessings and the woes are clearly illustrated in the characters of Lazarus and the wealthy man.

The parable continues past the result of lives lived and rewards received in Heaven. The rich man still wants Lazarus to serve him to serve his brothers. We then discover that the rich man was more than wealthy he was a hard-hearted man for he did not pay any attention to Lazarus in their life together. Luke Timothy Johnson reminds us of the law laid out in the Talmud: “Whoever turns away his eyes from one who appeals for charity is considered as if he were serving idols.” (256).

I have over time heard a lot of sermons on this passage. Most of them shy away from the issue of rejection. Jesus is clear though if one rejects God in this life if one rejects living in the reign of God in this life if one rejects the work of the reign of God in this life one will be rejected in the life to come.

In some way, I want to chart a clear path for the Christian response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are charged to live a virtuous life. We, humans, have a very difficult life living such a life devoted to others and to God. It is natural for us to be selfish and to seek our own desires over the desires of others. Yet we are in the end also responsible for our life and our living.

I am convinced that how we live our lives today affects how we live our lives in the reign of God (realized in this world and in the age to come). The blessing of the cross and the resurrection is not our free ticket out of jail, but rather the removal of the stumbling block of sin that we may serve others and God in the name of Jesus Christ. We are to live a glorious life of caring and service. This is the greatest narrative to be told, and the living of the tale is what will ultimately be what attracts others into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Like the Pharisees, we must recognize and name all that separates us from the love of God, claim our own abominations and the chasm we have dug for ourselves. After the repentance of John is undertaken in response to the message of Christ then we must realize the life we have been given is for living. We must live our lives in Christ and live them for the Lazarus dwelling at our own city gate..

Now that you have accepted your redemption and promised to live a life of Christ open your eyes to those sitting at the gates around you. See their faces. Know their names. Change their lives. We are to do nothing less than bring into this world the reign of God that the Lazarus at our gates may begin life in the bosom of Abraham today.

Some Thoughts on I Timothy 6:6-19

"Righteousness is getting it all right. If you play it the way it's supposed to be played, there shouldn't be a still foot in the house."
"Righteousness," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

"'Fight the good fight,' he says (1 Timothy 6:12), where it's not the fight to overcome the best of the competition that he's talking about but the fight to overcome the worst in ourselves."
"Run with Perseverance," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.


"The author does not envisage preaching which rebukes the rich and then leaves them with unreal choices which their intelligence knows are wrong and from which they then switch off, innoculated against future challenges. Rather 6:17-19 speaks about using one's wealth effectively."
"First Thoughts on Year C Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost 19, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

"Material wealth can get in the way of putting one's trust in God, and it can be a hindrance to following Jesus (Mark 10:17-22). Yet many of the church ministries and services depend on financial resources of those who are willing to share them. Therefore, those who have riches "are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life" (1 Timothy 6:18-19)."
Commentary, 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Chriatian A. Eberhart, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

In typical liturgical style, we have skipped great portions of Paul's letter and now we draw to the end of the letter.  We get here to the meat of the call for reform from Paul.  He directly engages the Ephesian community on the topic of their wealth.

Paul says, "...those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains."

Paul offers a different view of the God follower.  The God follower pursue the following: "pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness."  The followers of God "Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses."  This is the difference between those who follow Jesus and those who follow the money.

Paul of course in Timothy is talking about the false teachers. So, this passage is not simply about the follower of God in general.  It is mostly about the reality of the religious teachers who are teaching false doctrine and trying to use it to gain wealth.  For Paul, this is the most untenable and sinful situation.

This particular passage is directly focused not on the individual in the pew but rather on the one in the pulpit! So...beware preaching to your people about how they use their wealth and remember that this passage is mostly directed at the religious practitioner.  This passage through bridges Paul's writing against the false teachers and his positive encouragement.  So, let us not stop at the part which raises a judgmental eye, let us instead continue on.

Paul says God gives life to all things.  Christ Jesus modeled how to confess the truth.  And these two things already dwell in the religious practitioner. Paul is saying you are made by God and you yourself bear witness to his truth.  God is light and lord of all.  Your calling is to face bravely the rich.  You are to inspire them to set their hope on God "who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."  Inspire the rich in your midst, "to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share."  Preach these things and tell them that they are living in the realm of God, they are living upon the foundation of the reign of God.  Moreover, when they live in this manner they will have life and have it abundantly.

What I find interesting is that Paul, while clear about the sinfulness/brokenness of the person who is wealthy and seeks their security and hope on wealth, he does not say to shame them.  Instead, he urges inspiration. He urges face your people and invite them to do good work, to be known by their good works, to be generous, and share what they have.  These are the marks of the follower of God.  These are the marks that reveal us as followers of God.

Some Thoughts on Jeremiah 32:1-15

Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text

Over the last month we have been preparing for the invasion. Nebuchadnezzar II into Judah and the Egyptian armies into the south. A puppet ruler is placed in power - Zedekiah. 

Jeremiah is imprisoned as a prophet in the line of Anathoth and as a deserter. He attempts to go home without luck and finds himself imprisoned.

And, while he is in under guard he takes the opportunity to purchase some land in his home town.

What is the meaning of all of this? Are these simply little factoids about his life and the crazy workings of kings and powers that swirl around as the plans of men are brought to their inevitable end in the triumph of Israel's enemies?

Perhaps the purchase of the land is itself an outward and visible sign that even as the destruction of the kingdoms is at hand, as was prophesied in last week's lesson, God is at work renewing the garden of Israel.

As Garrett Galvin, Old Testament professor and OSM at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif., writes:

In the future just as God will watch over building and planting, God will also watch over a time when “all shall die for their own sins.” Jeremiah announces a freedom that takes us right back to the Garden of Eden. Everyone can make the same choice as Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or not. We find here a reversal of the downward spiral of sin initiated in the primeval history of Genesis. 

Commentators have noted the eschatological nature of the renewal found in the new covenant of verses 31-34. This eschatology can easily be seen as conditioned by the goodness of creation found at the beginning of Genesis. Protology is eschatology and eschatology is protology. Earlier in this chapter, Jeremiah has announced that God “has created a new thing on the earth” (Jeremiah 31:22). Now we hear of a new covenant in verse 31. The Bible invokes the theme of newness repeatedly in another important eschatological book: Revelation (see 21:1, 2, 5). Jeremiah invokes God’s goodness to Israel in the exodus from Egypt, but not even this goodness is enough to understand what God will do. We can easily imagine this new covenant initiating a new beginning like after the flood and Noah’s ark.

Frank M. Yamada, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at McCormick Theological Seminary, offers that our witness to the land deal is actually not only a witness to legal purpose, but a witness to the purposes of God being set into place even as the hoard is at the gate. This is a tangible sign of the promise Galvin speaks of and Jeremiah prophesies.

The detail in verses 16--25 has a meaningful function in this text. It not only shows the complete extent to which Jeremiah has fulfilled the instruction of the LORD--a perfect obedience. Jeremiah's meticulous fulfillment of this command also points to the prophet's and God's careful attention to a future that is still very distant and hard to see given the current circumstances. This hope is as certain as the Babylonian armies that are at the gate. Thus, the observers of this transaction are not there simply to verify the purchase of land. They are witnesses to the future that the LORD has announced through Jeremiah's prophetic action.

Some Thoughts on Amos 6:1a,4-7

Online Oremus NRSV Text

"One can consider Amos 6: 4-6 as a portrait of a life of faith that has gone horribly wrong at some point..."

Commentary, Amos 6:1a, 4-7, Rolf Jacobson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

 One of the things I remember from one of my mentors is this: the prophets of Israel focused their prophecy outside to their neighbor nations when the people of God were threatened from the outside; they focused their prophecy on the kings and people when they threatened their relationship with God - their corporate relationship. Amos is a prophet who focused on the people and their king. 

What he is saying is that the people of God have forgotten a key element of their relationship with God which is covenanted. This reminds the people that God expects God's people to focus upon and care for through giving the strangers in the land, the poor, the widow, and the orphan. Amos points out in our passage that the rich leaders of the people now "lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches."

"They eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall" refers to the hungry who long to be fed.

"Who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on instruments of music." refers to the need to worship God and not worship ourselves.

"Who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils," while people have no ability to wipe their face or wine to drink.

Amos is suggesting in the words,  "but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph" that the people of God have taken their focus from God, God's wishes, and the covenant to serve God through the least in the community.

The question one has to make here as a preacher is this: while Amos is focused upon the leaders and people of Israel, is this a time when we as congregations need to focus our prophetic work on the people? Or do we need to help our people know how Amos' words might be applied to the leaders of our world? This is a time when the people of our congregations are stepping forward, they need to be brought along to understand how these prophetic words may invite a better collective eye of national and statewide leaders to the plight of the powerless, least, widows, and orphans.