Epiphany 3, Year C, January 26, 2025

Quotes That Make Me Think

"...Jesus’ words are a call to real life, real people, real time. This is God in our present and in our reality."

Commentary, Luke 4:14-21, Karoline Lewis, at WorkingPreacher.org, Luther Seminary, 2013.


"A change in condition always accompanies an encounter with the divine. Radical change is what Jesus proclaims and will perform. Jesus does not merely affirm the condition of his children. He is about the reversal of fortunes that results not just in change in one's environmental state, but in the person itself."

Commentary, Luke 4:14-21, Roy Harrisville, at WorkingPreacher.org, Luther Seminary, 2010.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons

Prayer

On this day which is holy to you, O Lord our God, your people asemble to hear your words and delight in the feast you prepare.  Let the Spirit that anointed Jesus send us forth to proclaim your freedom and favor.  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 C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 4:14-21

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Resources for Sunday's Gospel

In our liturgical reading we have moved from the Epiphany through the Baptism of our Lord, to his first miracle at the Wedding in Cana of Galilee.  We arrive this week to settle into a reading of Luke’s Gospel as Luke intended it, sequentially.  We land in this first reading (following the propers for Ordinary Time) on Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth.  It is never easy to come home, and it certainly brings its own challenges when you have been filled with the Holy Spirit, as in Jesus’ case.

We certainly have the parallels for this section in Matthew 13:53-54 and Mark 6:1-2 if you wish to read through them.  And, as in Acts 13:15 and the parallel passages we are given a view of the worship that dominated synagogue gatherings of Jesus’ time. (Haslam)

We are in transition mode in the Gospel once again, and here the words from verse 14: “filled with the power of the Spirit” remind us that in Luke’s Gospel we haven’t been at the wedding but rather at his baptism.  So we are in the midst of Jesus’ inaugural preaching mission which begins, according to Luke, at home.

For Luke teaching and preaching flows out of the Holy Spirit, as do all the activities of ministry.  This is clear throughout the Lukan Gospel and certainly in the first chapter of Acts: 5:3, 5:17, 6:6, 13:10, 22, 19:47, 20:1, 21, 21:37, 23:5, Acts 1.1.  The scholar Luke Timothy Johnson believes the Holy Spirit sent Jesus out on a preaching tour of the many towns and villages and that he is just now coming to Nazareth.  Jesus has returned to “where he has been raised.” Interestingly, Luke uses the term “nourished” here.  Jesus is returning to where he was nourished, and the word frequently means where he was nourished in his religious studies (see Luke, Luke Timothy Johnson, p78).

Some scholars believe that the words “as was his custom” were used to describe Jesus’ custom of teaching in synagogues. I believe this better belongs to the idea that as a pious Jew, Jesus knew that the custom of attending synagogue.  He was nourished in a Jewish home and educated in their religious customs and it was his nature to follow what his family had given him and return to the synagogue to worship on the Sabbath.  (The Sabbath is a theme in Luke’s Gospel and can be picked up in these passages: see also 4:31-37 (teaching and casting out a demon ); 6:1-5 (his disciples pluck some heads of grain), 6:6-11 (restores a man’s withered hand); 13:10-17 (heals a crippled woman); 14:1-6 (heals a man who had dropsy).
Third Isaiah, or later Isaiah, is so very essential in the early Christian understanding of who Jesus was and understanding his ministry.  This is true for Luke that begins with several citations and now continues in this passage with a reading that helps the reader know who Jesus is.  Just think about the prophetic words being read and how here in the midst of the people of Nazareth is Jesus the person who will fulfill in his ministry the very words of Isaiah.  Jesus will cure, bind up the broken-hearted, and announce the day of the reign of God, comfort all who mourn, provide for those who mourn free the captives, and to proclaim a Jubilee year.  You and I can think of moments throughout the Gospel narrative when Jesus does these things.  Moreover, you and I can also tell stories of when Jesus Christ did these things in our own lives, along our journeys.
Handing the scroll back to the minister or Hazzan – a person who is a synagogue leader, Jesus sits down.
We of course continue with the second half of the story next Sunday.  What is very important here is that Luke has moved this event to the very first part of Jesus ministry – considering where both Mark and Matthew place it in the Gospel. Luke is illustrating, and highlighting, who this is, what his ministry is and what kind of messiah is he going to be.  Luke’s Jesus is here for the disenfranchised and for the poor.  Luke wants this message to get out right at the beginning as if to inaugurate Jesus’ ministry with clarity about  his coming from God on God’s behalf to restore creation, making the wounded whole, and filling the hungry with good things.

Like so many stories in the Old Testament where God acts on behalf of his people because they are not being cared for, Luke gives us a vision of the incarnation where God is seeking to restore creation.  The restoration of creation for Luke begins with the understanding of God’s special interest in the poor, powerless, and voiceless.  Jesus’ work is a freedom and release from evil through exorcisms, healings, education, and economic transformation.  Luke Timothy Johnson writes, “the radical character of this mission is specified above all by its being offered to and accepted by those who were the outcasts of the people.” (Luke, 81)


Some questions I am pondering: Are we as a church involved in this work? What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus and not be directly involved in the work that Jesus was involved in? Who are God’s people today that we are not being attentive to?

Some Thoughts on I Corinthians 12:12-31

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Resources for Sunday's Epistle

We have a problem with this passage.  I believe as human beings we have a problem with this passage and as a church we have a problem with this passage.  I know a little about both.  As human beings and as church (we could put all organizations into this category as well) we like everything to be the same.  We just do. We don't need to get all into it; but we ought to admit it. We like regularity, dependability, and the expected.  We order our lives in this way. We order our families in this way. We order our organizations in this way.

The Gospel truth in this passage is, "everything can't be the same." (v19)  Paul writes, "If all were a single organ, where would the body be?"  Everything can't be the same.  The view at the whole of creation should tell us that fact; God didn't mean for everything to be the same.  The universe is filled with various things and colors of things and many multiples of living things.  Everything is not meant to be the same nor can it be...for if it was it would perish.  In Paul's language from the letter, if we there was only one organ it would be just that an organ - it would never be a body on its own.

Moreover, what makes the body the body is baptism; not right belief or right action.  What makes the body the body is God's grace and love.  In baptism we the community recognize the individual as an individual of God's; God's beloved. God's love.  In baptism we say outwardly and we mark the individual so that we may say to ourselves..."See everything can't be the same, look at this beloved person of god who is different from me, yet God loves them and they are one of God's family members." That is what we say in baptism.  

I think we forget sometimes. Sometimes we forget that baptism is just as much about the community as the individual who is being baptized.  We forget sometimes and we think baptism is about making everyone the same.  But in keeping with Paul's letter to the Corinthians baptism reminds us that everything is not the same.  People are not the same.  People come with different gifts.  People are different. Communities are different every time a new person is baptized and marked as Christ's own forever.  We forget that the marking isn't for Christ so he remembers.  The marking is so the individual and we don't forget!

But this same-ology is the sin of the church.  The great sin of the church (on every side of the aisle) is that we must all be the same. We must all think the same. We must believe the same.  We must be either Jew or Greek. We must be either slave or free. We must be either progressive or conservative; high church or low church; right or wrong.  You name the same-ology you choose.  I know my own!

Paul reminds us that when we make same-ology our theology we are doomed. The body will die. It will cut off its members and it will die.  That was the problem for the Corinthians. They thought some were right and some were not right; some had better gifts than others; some were in and some were out.  The Corinthians had a same-ology.

When we have a same-ology we can say I have no need of you.  Paul tells us that is not healthy nor good nor right thinking.  It isn't Gospel thinking to be sure.  

The Gospel of Jesus Christ reminds us all means all.  We have need of one another. Everything can't be the same.  When one suffers we all suffer.  We all have different roles and different work. We have a more excellent way and that is to be a community where everyone is not the same. We are to reject a same-ology.  

This is where we live right now.  I know it.  I recognize it.  Pretty much every side of our cultural divide, our religious power struggles, our cultural wars is promulgated by same-ology.  That will be what history will say about our time as leaders in the church.  I am not sure I am satisfied with that story.  I think I might want to write a new story about how the church awoke from its slumber to find that it was possessed by same-ology. That all sides chose to be clear about how God in Christ Jesus unites us.  We decided together in our different ways to work on God's mission instead of our own. We decided to put down our weapons which had been trained on one another and we charged together against the menace of poverty, lack of food, and all the evils of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God.  I think I would like all the help I can get on that mission!  I think I would give up my same-ology to motivate and move the diversity of God's people to engage the Good News of Salvation and our particular and unique revelation of Jesus.  Yes...that is a much better story; a more interesting and scriptural way of doing Church.  

Epiphany 2, Year C, Sunday January 19, 2024

Prayer

Wedding at Cana, Paul Veronese, Louvre, Paris

O God of salvation, the people in whom you delight hasten with joy to the wedding feast.  Forsaken no more, we bear a new name; desolate no longer, we taste your new wine.  Make us your faithful stewards, ready to do whatever Jesus tells us and eager to share with others the wine he provides.  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 C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on John 2:1-11

In like manner also is what the clouds pour forth changed into wine by the doing of the same Lord. But we do not wonder at the latter, because it happens every year: it has lost its marvellousness by its constant recurrence."
From Augustine's Tractates on John: Tractate VIII (2:1-4)

"As John himself says in John 20:31, his goal in writing down this sign is not that we should be amazed, or even that we should believe in Jesus. Rather his goal is that we should bond with Jesus / abide in Jesus - and receive for ourselves the life that is in Jesus."

Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, John 2:1-11, David Ewart, 2013.

"It is more than poignant that the mother of Jesus brackets his life, surrounds Jesus’ earthly ministry. She is at the beginning of his career and watches him die. She is the nurturing force when he is the Word made flesh, a shared parenthood with God, the father.
Commentary, John 2:1-11, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"And so it was also, we hope, with the bride and groom at Cana and with every bride and groom-that the love they bear one another and the joy they take in one another may help them grow in love for this whole troubled world where their final joy lies, and that the children we pray for them may open them to the knowledge that all men are their children even as we are their children and as they also are ours."
"The Wedding at Cana,""Marriage," Frederick Buechner, Buechner Blog.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

We continue in our season of the Epiphany, where light and life warm our harth, hearts, and home. We are invited to glorify God for the miraculous gift of the incarnation. This week, we hear the Gospel reading for today, John’s account of Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana. And that text reminds us not only of the miracles that Jesus will carry out but also of the greater things to come from his death and resurrection. Or as Jesus himself says to Nathanael in John 1:50, "You will see more things than these."’ And yet, if the Gospel of John exhibits these signs, its purpose is not simply to induce us to believe; it is to invite us to be more closely with Jesus, to love him, and to live in him.

‘It begins,’ writes the author, "On the third day..." (John 2:1). This little detail is full of meaning, theologically speaking. Christ, the second of three persons of the Trinity, is the Word who made all things. He incarnates the New Creation: that is what John uses in his Gospel. This third day is the third day after Jesus called his disciples Philip and Nathanael. Here, it seems, is the rest of the creation narrative – the redemption of the world in the calling of new believers and the miracles of Jesus.

This miracle occurs at a wedding – an imagery with a prophetic resonance. Weddings represent God’s promises, heaven and earth becoming one. In the Old Testament prophetic books, the wedding metaphor describes God’s covenantal relation to Israel (Isaiah 54:4; 62:4-5). The New Testament refers to the kingdom of God as a wedding banquet when Jesus talks about it (e.g., Matthew 22:2-14; 25:1ff). Heaven and earth are married in Christ, while divinity and humanity are married in his incarnation.

In this wedding in Cana, the wedding gets interrupted: the wine runs out. The problem is brought to his notice by Mary, the mother of Jesus. Her involvement has drawn controversies among theologians, and not least Jesus’ answer in verse 4: "Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My time is not yet." Others take this as bitterness, but the Greek for "woman" () was the polite address of Jesus’ day. This isn’t a rejection: Jesus’ reply is an extension of the Johannine message of God’s timing and Jesus’ calling to sanctify the Father.

Mary doesn’t give up on the possibility of Jesus doing things; she just says to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you" (v. 5). This is where Mary’s example of discipleship is a shining example: placing your faith in Jesus and pointing people to him. This miracle of water becoming wine comes out unobtrusively but theologically significant, as the wine becomes the Symbol of Christ’s blood at the Last Supper. Not only does this act foreshadow the sacrificial love of Jesus, but it also points to the bounty of grace and renewal in salvation history. The sanctifying power of the Spirit is visible here and in the Eucharist, where we see God’s presence transform the mundane material of creation. The six stone jars, each containing twenty to thirty gallons, are then stoked with water, which somehow becomes wine. The jars – once part of Jewish purification ceremonies – represent a preparation for the gift of the Spirit. In the way that these vessels contained water distilled into wine, so they anticipate the same process of the mundane being made sacred in the celebration of the Eucharist, as the Spirit sanctifies the objects to refresh and rehydrate the saints. Historians have quarreled about what the jars and how much wine represented, but the lesson remains the same: Jesus gives us much of the finest wine, which represents God’s abundant mercy. This richness is also a mirror of the spiritual gift that Christ offers in the Eucharist: wine itself becomes the sacramental manifestation of Christ’s blood. That same picture is full of significance at the Last Supper, where the Spirit sanctifies the elements to give believers a taste of the immortal banquet of God’s kingdom.

The servant who never knew where the miracle came from boasts to the groom that the wine is superior and that the world has been turned upside down: ‘You have tithed the fine wine until now’ (v. 10). The wedding party sees the miracle, but it is the servants who collect the wine and see Jesus’ power at work. This is how the narrative prepares us for the great deeds of redemption and abundance that will be performed by Jesus' death and resurrection.

This first of Jesus’ miracles shows us his glory and causes his followers to trust him (v11). But it also foreshadows the feast of the Eucharist, in which wine is transformed into the sign of Christ’s blood spilled out for the world's redemption. For early church theologians Clement of Alexandria, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Cyprian, this miracle could not be removed from the sacraments, specifically baptism and the Eucharist. Water as wine anticipated the wine of the Eucharist at the Last Supper when Jesus enacted the sacrament of his blood, spilled for all people. In addition, the Spirit’s sanctifying power reveals how grace and God work in the Eucharist by connecting the faithful to Christ in the sacraments. As water and wine are at the center of this narrative, so are the emblems of God’s grace in the Church. However, the event at Cana not only exemplifies Christ’s divinity but also presages the Eucharist when the Spirit reconditions wine into Christ’s blood. This sacramental action shows the Spirit as interfering between the mundane and the divine, calling believers to share in God’s free gift.

As we look at this passage, there are a few themes:

Devotion of God In All Things: Our life in Jesus is a time to devote ourselves to God and through all things, both ordinary and miraculous. Jesus’ work, as we read it, is always to the praise of God.

Responding to the Call to Serve: Like Mary, who puts everything in the hands of Jesus, and like the servants who do what Jesus says, we are invited to be a part of God’s world work.

Waiting for the Miracle: This tale is about waiting on God’s hand and doing something. Jesus’ miracles show us a Creator who is present at the creation table and whose goodness pours forth.

Taste & See God’s Goodness: We are invited to taste and see the Lord’s goodness by the steward’s testimony (Psalm 34:8). We are to share with others the bounty and bliss of God’s kingdom as an example of his grace.

For those who are drawn to Jesus and reminded of Christ’s birth, may we, like the disciples, be embraced on Epiphany. May we dwell in him, do good works for God, and witness the fullness of His grace in Christ.

Some Thoughts on I Corinthians 12:1-11

"In the midst of divisions, especially denominationally in my own church (ELCA), how do we talk about Christian unity?"
Commentary, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"Paul is suggesting that focus on spiritual gifts can amount to nothing more than being carried away and can achieve exactly the opposite of what Jesus stands for (in effect, cursing him, rather than acclaiming him)."
"First Thoughts on Passages on Year C Epistle Passages in the Lectionary,"Epiphany 2, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

"This text provides a powerful opportunity to share the profound impact racism has had on the idea of diversity amidst unity, labeling it as something deviant or unachievable. Such thinking has undermined America?s ability to become the global salad bowl (not melting pot) it alleges to be."
Commentary, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Janet Floyd, Esq., The African American Lectionary, 2010.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

A number of scholars believe that this portion of Corinthians is in answer to a question about the spiritual gifts.  It is perhaps a response to a group of people who believe they are special because they have been given specific gifts.

Paul says the Spirit gives many gifts.  And, not everyone gets the same gifts. People get many different and various kinds of gifts. They all are to be at work in the kingdom of God doing a variety of services.  Together these gifts make up the one body of Christ and act on his mission in the world.  They are not something to be boasted in personally.

Somehow, though we have gotten into the place of believing perhaps we need the gifts our neighbor has. Perhaps we covet other's spiritual gifts.  Perhaps we are rarely satisfied with the ones given to us.  That is certainly our scenario.  As Brené Brown says, "We steal worth from others."

Another part of the reality in which we live is that people feel they are not given gifts.  Perhaps we feel left out of the gift giving Spirit's work.  I believe people in our culture today more often feel worthless and powerless.

Let's face it: there are probably some communities that need to hear Paul's message directly - "don't brag about your gifts."   However, in today's western culture I think most communities need to hear that God has gifted them for the purpose of kingdom building.

Paul reminds us, as he does elsewhere, God's grace is sufficient. His gifts are sufficient and they are particular and unique to us as individuals.  We are sufficient with God's gifts and grace to do his work in the world.

So, perhaps today's lesson gives us the opportunity to "boast" in the gifts of others used for God's kingdom work; and to seek to better understand our own so that we might put them to good use for the sake of the Gospel proclamation - whether it be in word or deed.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 62:1-5

"I think this text, along with many other prophetic texts of the Hebrew Bible, announce a central truth about what it means to be a believer in any age of history; we Christians (and Jews and Muslims) cannot finally be cynical about the world given to us by God. To be a Christian and to be a cynic is nothing less than an oxymoron."
"New Names for Us," John C. Holbert, Opening the Old Testament, 2013.


"The metaphor of marriage between Yahweh and his people is one of the central images used in Scripture to portray God's redemptive, atoning purpose in relating to humanity."
"The Politics of Marrying God," Timothy F. Simpson, Political Theology, 2013.


"For once the lectionary for the day lists four texts, all of which have something in common. All 4 are visionary texts, loaded with symbols for fragile souls, freighted with more meaning than meets the eye. Each of the 4 pictures makes its own emphasis: here our vision of God, there God's view of us, here the Church's vision of Jesus glorified, there our vision of "the common good." In every case it's theological imagination at work as if our very lives depend on it."
Environmental & earth-centered reflections, Rev. John Gibbs, from the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota Environmental Stewardship Commission.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

So where are we in the story of Isaiah? It turns out that Persia has now overcome Babylon. In doing so they are allowing some of the people of Israel to return to the land around Jerusalem. This is not all the people and it is not all of Jerusalem. The people arrive and are confronted (we know from other texts) with the remnant left behind and a land depleted of resources. The people are probably more than a little disheartened because things have not turned out the way that they thought. 

Here steps in the prophet to remind them that in this new world, context, and time the new Jerusalem is going to be a lot different than the old one! It will be be built up in stone and relationship by people outside the Jewish family - foreigners. And, yet, the people will find a new and renewed faith. They will in the end not keep silent but rejoice because the prophet and the people of Israel are people of the land.

They are married to it. They are one together. No matter what history comes, no matter who becomes part of the family, no matter what comes in the great sweep of conquering armies...the people are the people of Israel, the people of a land.

The image of marriage here is important for us to parse out. The prophet speaks of how a young man marries a young woman. God as the builder of people and creator of land is the bridegroom. And the people of Israel are to be married to the groom. The people of Israel are the bride. In the same way as a groom rejoices over a bride so too God rejoices over the people. 

Now, this passage is attached to this lectionary because of its connection with the theme and metaphor of marriage. This is an interesting choice because the parallel is there. Certainly, John understood Jesus in the great paradigmatic revelation of bridegroom. This is an eschatological tradition linked to Isaiah chapter 25:6-8; chapters 40-55, the passage we have today. It is also present in the imagery of Hosea and Jeremiah chapters 2-4. Explicitly though the messianic and eschatological connection to Jesus as a bridegroom is believed to be rooted in his own teaching, storytelling, and the narrative of the Gospel authors.

However, of note is something quite different expressed by Richard Hays in his book Echos of the Scripture in the Gospels. Here we see a deeper connection with Matthew's Gospel. Matthew is picking up on the message of salvation for the people of Israel. God as savior in Zechariah 9:9 and in Isaiah 62 is the theme here linked to our passage. See Matthew 21:5...Jesus comes to the daughter of Zion in his triumphal entry. Hays suggests the revelation here is of Jesus as Israel's savior. A savior that comes not for violent victory (note that Matthew strikes the image from Zechariah and leaves out any suggestion of a man taking a woman which is implied in our passage). Matthew instead suggests that the groom undoes the stereotypical persona of might and instead comes humble and gentle. (See Hays, Echoes, 152-153. This archetype is new...a different bridegroom...a different taking of Israel. In this case the taking of Israel is one of service.

As Rowan Williams suggests this is a "reorganization of religious language." (Ibid, 187.)

Baptism of Our Lord / Epiphany 1, Year C, Sunday January 12, 2025

Quotes That Make Me Think

"Jesus' baptism is not about repentance. It is about his identity being publicly, ritually re-rooted into God."

Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, David Ewart, 2010.

"I don't think that Luke tells us about Jesus' baptism just to inform us about what happened to Jesus. He relates this story also to indicate something about our baptisms, our need to be in prayer, our anointing with the Spirit, and our subsequent battles with evil and ministry in the world."

Exegetical Notes by Brian Stoffregen at CrossMarks Christian Resources.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons

Prayer

Father of great and everlasting glory, by the power of your Holy Spirit you have consecrated your Word made flesh and have established this Christ, our Savior, as the Light of the world and your covenant of peace for all the peoples.  As we celebrated today the mystery of Jesus' baptism in the river Jordan, renew in us our own baptism: Pattern our lives on this Christ, the One you have specially chosen, the Son on whom your favor rests, the Beloved with whom you are well pleased.  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 forever and ever. Amen.

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

Some Thoughts on Luke 3:15-22

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Resources for Sunday's Gospel

We began our lesson with the Advent theme of expectation. The people were filled with expectation. This expectation and hope for the Messiah are pricked with the emergence of the prophet and Baptist -John.

In Luke's Gospel John clearly points forward to the coming of Jesus and the baptism of fire promised and fulfilled in Luke's second book Acts. (Notice in our Epistle reading the people have been baptized yes, but not with the spirit.) We cannot get away from the Gospels work at defining Jesus' ministry over and against John's. We may guess that both had followers and that the question may very well have remained alive well after John's death and Jesus' resurrection. We might also remember here that Luke's Gospel tells us that John the Baptist will send two of his disciples to inquire of Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" (Luke 7. This, of course, correlates with Paul's later proclamation that indeed he is the promised one in the Book of Acts in the synagogue in Antioch. Acts 13:25) It is quite the switch from Mark's Gospel where John the Baptist makes the proclamation and from John's Gospel where-in the people ask the question of John the Baptist. So a key thing that is being offered in this passage is the revelation of Jesus Christ as God's chosen one.

The themes of power and might are also present. They are apocalyptic themes and again highlight the transformative power of Jesus and the transformative power of baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is a transforming fire. Fire of course is prominent throughout the Old Testament proclaiming the presence of God and returns again in the fire of Pentecost in Luke's telling.

Leaning on Isaiah 21:10, 41:16, and Jeremiah 4:11, 15:7, 51:2, John the Baptist reminds those gathered around him that God is sending this great and powerful prophet with a winnowing fork to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat, burning the chaff in an unquenchable fire. This always reminds me of how John the Baptist's message is a corporate one. He is not the one deciding who is wheat and who is chaff. Rather, he is reminding the nation and all the people that this is God's work and each will be judged and that the whole nation shall be judged. There is mutuality in this judgment and a reminder of whose judgment it is that is often lost in our modern-day discussions on matters of the church. In our day we enjoy sitting in the judgment seat.

Now, something interesting happens here in the text. Herod imprisons John. Some scholars argue that Luke's text does not say that Jesus was baptized by John. I find this a difficult proposition. It is true that this particular Gospel says Jesus was baptized sequentially after John's imprisonment. But is certainly not clear and in the different texts that I have looked at I am more apt to read that simply Luke has removed John from the baptismal event to highlight the actions between the Father and the Son, rather than to imply that John did not baptize Jesus it is more about God action. This should be true for us as well; it would be good to remember as sacramentalists we do the actions - God does the work. It is an interesting thought and may simply have been a literary way of ensuring that Jesus' baptism is a Spirit baptism depending upon no one else. I categorize this as things in the bible that make you go, "Hmmmmm?"

What is important though, and highlighted by Luke, is that the baptism has happened. It is over. And, Jesus is praying. This seems integral to an understanding of Lukan spirituality. It is only when Jesus is praying that the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the bodily form of a dove, and God's voice speaks. Heavens are opened in prayer, and you can hear God's voice in prayer.

The image of the opening of the heavens is an image of a new time. This is a new moment in Luke's Gospel, a new moment in the life of the people of Israel, a new moment in judgment, a new moment in the unraveling and gathering of "all the people" including the gentiles (as we will see in Acts). So this is a new moment, enabled by baptism, but triggered by prayer and the descending of the Holy Spirit.

You can read more about the imagery and details of the words used by Luke here: http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/cpr01l.shtml
The last thing that stands out for me in the Gospel reading this week is the "Beloved" proclamation in verse 22. Beloved is an act and not a feeling, it is a charge if you will to Jesus as Son and servant to take the power given to him and to begin to use it to restore creation and transform the people of God.

So I have been thinking and praying about this text and I am wondering about myself and for us. As we, you and I, look forward into the year, as we look forward into our lives we must be ready to do the work God has given us to do? We are baptized. Are we praying and are we receiving the Holy Spirit given to us in the grace of that prayer conversation with Jesus and with God? We have been expecting; now we are ready. Will we take up our charge as Jesus did, to restore creation and transform the world even as we are being transformed? And, most of all are we ready to do this in partnership with all of our brothers and sisters and most of all with Jesus?

Some Thoughts on Acts 8:14-17

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Continuing in our Baptism-themed week we have this reading about the mission in Samaria by the church in Jerusalem.  Luke seems very keen to show that the church is acting together (this is not news to those of you familiar with the last two decades of studies on Peter and Paul in Acts).  So here we have the idea that people in Samaria are becoming followers of Jesus, they have been baptized but they have not yet received the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the church in Jerusalem must send along missionaries to pray for them and to place hands on them.  This is an essential part of receiving the Holy Spirit - the laying on of hands by the apostle. 

In some way, our own tradition has moved away from this as an essential role and part of the work of baptism.  We have moved more clearly towards a protestant understanding where the apostles are not necessary for the laying on of hands in order for the newly baptized to fully be received into the church.  It is worth a pause then on this Sunday to give a nod to our Episcopal tradition of Confirmation - which is this very symbol of giving the Holy Spirit.  The bishop, as one of the apostles, comes to the community (not unlike Peter and John) because people have chosen to follow the Lord and have even been baptized in the name of Jesus.  But full incorporation historically has included the giving of the Holy Spirit to the people of God by one of the apostles in the great line of apostles. 

Here is a picture of my own lineage of apostolic succession.  It is the family tree of my ministry. For those that are confirmed it is in some way their family tree.  And, it illustrates the very real physical and spiritual connection the baptized and confirmed of our day have to those in Samaria and the first followers of Jesus.

All of this being said what is clear that the Holy Spirit is what inspires the church and it is essential in the work of baptism.  The language of baptism centers around forgiveness of sin, living the new life of grace, sustenance for the pilgrim journey, inquiring and discerning heart, and courage to will and to persevere.  The language of confirmation in our tradition, or the laying on of hands in apostolic succession, is about God's blessing of the Holy Spirit, the giving of wisdom (knowledge and obedience), especially to God's word, and most of all service to God.  We are in the laying on of hands and the Holy Spirit bound to service, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we work to fulfill the service that is set before us by God.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 43:1-7

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text



"The good news of the salvation oracle in Isaiah 43 is that God directly addresses this experience of exile."

1 Epiphany, Year C: Isaiah 43:1-7, Biblische Ausbildung, Dr. Stephen L. Cook, Virginia Theological Seminary. Part 2.

"Believers in every generation have seen in fire and flood all that is larger than ourselves, all that consumes not only hope but life and limb as well. Yet Scripture, including Isaiah 43:1-7, transforms these elements from threats into sources of healing through adversity."
Commentary, Isaiah 43:1-7 (Baptism of our Lord), Patricia Tull, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"Can you imagine that Jesus heard the echo of these words on the day of his baptism? What other passages might he have been remembering then?
"Passing On The Faith," the Rev. Dr. Janet H. Hunt, Dancing with the Word, 2013.

Let me first consider the passage in its original context, then I will consider how the teaching might fit within the overarching Christian vision within scripture.

The passage is about God's desire that the people not fear their present and future lives. God has heard their cries and assures them that despite their diaspora - God will gather the people in. 

The people of Israel see God as savior. God is God alone. God is the creator and also the redeemer of Israel out of bondage. The people are to understand, to hear, and to see, that even the creatures will give glory to God for changing desolation into life. 

The passage reminds the people that they are the ones who brought upon themselves their captivity by forgetting to care for the country and countrymen. 

The passage includes some language of religious violence. In other words, it suggests that God punishes those who worship idols. I believe we might say today that when the people worship idols, they change the nature of their faith. They forget the widow and the poor. They forget the newcomer/immigrant, and they forget their neighbors. 

In Jonathan Sack's 1992 Crisis and Covenant, he writes, “An early rabbinic commentary put the point audaciously: ‘You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God'” (Isaiah 43:12) (28) Regardless of the manner in which this deliverance happens, there is a key mission here that the people are meant to be witnesses of God's action in the world.  The people are witnesses of God's acts of redemption.

In a commentary by Dr. Mendel Hirsch on the Haftarot - our verses from Isaiah. Dr. Hirsch offers that human beings are able to be witnesses, act upon the witness, and live in righteousness. In this new way of living are to be found freedom and hope. The people are witnesses because they proclaim God's hand at work through the historical relationship in creation.

As Christians, we read the text as offering a vision of the Christ and his deliverance as the Messiah. Moreover, that while our sin and wayward ways are forgiven by God through Christ Jesus. This places Christ's work within the long arc of God's forgiving nature. We know from other texts, and from Christ's own proclamation that God is a forgiving, grace-filled, and merciful God and that there is no religious violence. God in Christ puts to end any idea of a religion of exchange. God has been doing so since the beginning of creation. We are the witness of this "forgiving" history. And, we are invited to remember and to act as a people forgiven by God - to act with righteousness. This means that we act as God acts. We act to all people as they are kin, and we do so with blessings and peace.

First Sunday After Christmas, All Years

Prayer

May we welcome this mystery of your love and thus delight in the joy that will be ours as children and heirs of 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 for ever and ever. Amen.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on John 1:[1-9]10-18

"For an alternative approach, rather than helping our hearers to see the light of Christ shining in the darkness, preachers might help them to hear Jesus as God’s love song, singing life into the world’s babble, chaos, and voices of death."

Commentary, John 1:1-14, Craig a. Satterlee, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"The gospel message does not go forward without witnesses like John, and one of the tasks in this sermon is to help show what it looks like to point our fingers towards Jesus. In the age of talk of missional churches, how does that work out practically? How can we point towards Jesus in mission in such a way that others come to know him and come to know and love God?"

Commentary, John 1:(1-9), 10-18 (Christmas 2), Ginger Barfield, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"It would be truly horrendous to be in the hands of an all-intrusive God who never left us alone, and who, when it came time to send his messiah, sent one who ruled the earth like some heavenly Mussolini. In the very unobtrusiveness of the light of Christ, God honors our finite freedom."

"Penetrating the Darkness," Ronald Goetz, The Christian Century, 1988. Atreligion Online.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text



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

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

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

We come to the final and fourth portion of our reading, and we return to the relationship between God and humanity, specifically in how the community of God (God’s people) responds to the living Word. God is dwelling with his people. He has made a “tent”, he is incarnated, and he is present within the community. (Brown, 35) The images here in this last section return not to Genesis but play on our remembrances of the Exodus and the idea that God came and dwelt among the people as they made their way in the wilderness. Here, too, is an expressed intimacy between God and people. God is not simply outside, having wound the clock tight and is now letting it run. On the contrary, just as God was intimately involved with creation and the people of Israel, God also is involved in the new community post-resurrection. God has come and is dwelling with the people in wisdom and in truth. God is the living Word is making community within God’s tent and is revealing himself and the purpose of creation to all those who would call him by name: Jesus.

Some Thoughts on Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7

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

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

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

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text 

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

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

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

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

May we know in faith our deliverance is real. May we receive it in remembrance of the first Advent and Jesus' birth? May we live it.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 61:10-62:3

"The mission given to the prophet of Isaiah 61:10-62:3 is still needed today, so long as the world is populated by those who are brokenhearted, mourning and in captivity."
Commentary, Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3, Michael J. Chan, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.

"In other words, the people as a whole will be entrusted with the former monarchical function of administering God's justice and righteousness in the world."
Commentary, Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3, J. Clinton McCann, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.

"The messages from both Isaiah and Luke have some points in common. As well as the overwhelming joy in the coming of the lord to his people, both have an ethical note to them."
The Old Testament Readings: Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3. Weekly Comments on the Revised Common Lectionary, Howard Wallace Audrey Schindler, Morag Logan, Paul Tonson, Lorraine Parkinson, Theological Hall of the Uniting Church, Melbourne, Australia.


"This "righteousness" stands, likewise, in parallel position to the "salvation" of the previous clause. There, again, the salvation to be achieved by the Messiah is metaphorically portrayed as "garments" (bigdhey-yesha^Ñ [BDB, 447]) with which He has simply "clothed" us [BDB, 527). The hiphil perfect of lbshis, here likewise, employed with the force of a present perfect explaining the basis of the future joy of the church."
"Christmas 1b - Exegetical Notes on Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3," Douglas MacCallum Lindsay Judisch, Concordia Theological Seminary (LCMS - Indiana).

Oremus Online NRSV Text 

"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord..." sings out the prophet. The people are to be delivered and have been changed through their estrangement, captivity, and enslavement in Babylon. The prophet sings out in joy in receiving the God who abhors injustice. The mixed images of wedding garments and the continued eschatological imagination of Isaiah play on the joy and heighten the joy. The prophet "is completely absorbed in his intense expectancy, and it is clear that he will continue to speak until the dawn of the day of salvation." (See the comments by Australian exegetes on this passage here.) The passage is about the present and future joy of the people at God's deliverance. 

I suggest the passage is a character of prophetic joy. 

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks reminds us that the Greeks and the Romans believed in fate. He gives this example:

This was a major difference between ancient Israel and ancient Greece. The Greeks believed in fate, moira, even blind fate, ananke. When the Delphic oracle told Laius that he would have a son who would kill him, he took every precaution to make sure it did not happen. When the child was born, Laius nailed him by his feet to a rock and left him to die. A passing shepherd found and saved him, and he was eventually raised by the king and queen of Corinth. Because his feet were permanently misshapen, he came to be known as Oedipus (the “swollen-footed”).

The rest of the story is well known. Everything the oracle foresaw happened, and every act designed to avoid it actually helped bring it about. Once the oracle has been spoken and fate has been sealed, all attempts to avoid it are in vain. This cluster of ideas lies at the heart of one of the great Greek contributions to civilization: tragedy. (See Sack's article on prognosticating the future here.) 

There is a present fatalism in our society too. Superhero movies and comics promise a Greek ethic of fate.

Against such fate, I suggest prophetic joy stands out. Sacks speaks about how joy is such an "unexpected" word used by the prophet Moses, and I would add Isaiah. Not unlike the Israelite's escape from Egypt and their wandering in the desert, the Babylonian captivity and the feelings of God's silence have been anything but categorically joyous. I offer that Isaiah, like Moses, reminds us that prophetic joy is what "the life of faith in the land of promise is about." No less than a return and commitment to an old Israel is Isaiah's imagining. (See Sacks' article on Moses and collective joy here.) Rabbi Sacks reminds us of the ancient Deuteronomic instance of the idea of collective joy.

The central Sanctuary, initially Shilo: “There in the presence of the Lord your God you and your families shall eat and rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you” (Deut. 12:7).

Jerusalem and the Temple: “And there you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns” (Deut. 12:12).

Sacred food that may be eaten only in Jerusalem: “Eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God will choose – you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns – and you are to rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you put your hand to” (Deut. 12:18).

The second tithe: “Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine, or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice” (Deut. 14:26).

The festival of Shavuot: “And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place He will choose as a dwelling for His name – you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows living among you” (Deut. 16:11).

The festival of Succot: “Be joyful at your feast – you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows who live in your towns” (Deut. 16:14).

Succot, again. “For seven days, celebrate the feast to the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete [vehayita ach same’ach]” (Deut. 16:15).

Sacks suggests that even given the journey that has been made by the people, Moses emphasizes joy because he has a vision of the whole course of Jewish history unfolding before him. Sacks paraphrases this moment "It is easy to speak to God in tears. It is hard to serve God in joy. It is the warning he delivered as the people came within sight of their destination: the Promised Land. Once there, they were in danger of forgetting that the land was theirs only because of God’s promise to them, and only for as long as they remembered their promise to God." The point being made is that left to any one of us the promise and joy will be forgotten. This is then a collective act of joy. again Sacks writes, "What Moses is articulating for the first time is the idea of simcha as communal, social, and national rejoicing. The nation was to be brought together not just by crisis, catastrophe, or impending war, but by collective celebration in the presence of God. "

I want to pull from Sacks' work the idea of collective joy. Isaiah is offering a prophetic joy in that he is inviting the people to look up and see the horizon before them, and like Moses before, he is suggesting that the work of joy is collective. I propose then that far from being a joy experienced by individuals, scriptural joy is prophetic and collective. 

Then prophetic joy is collective. It is about what God has done and what God will do. Christ adds a new dimension to this collective prophetic joy by making it present in the world through the incarnation. It is true that the Old Testament (Indeed Moses and Isaiah, but we might add Hosea and Malachi, too) offer a vision that the collectivity of joy means sharing with the poor and hungry. Prophetic joy is a collective act not simply because the tribe comes together but because the family shares the goodness of the joyful table with others. “Be joyful at your feast – you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows who live in your towns” (Deut. 16:14). See also Hosea 9:4 and Malachi 2:3. 

The prophetic joy of Christ and the incarnation is not a mere congregational event but one intended from the earliest days to not be mere individual deliverance or religious corporate observance. The prophetic joy of Christ is meant to look behind and look forward. But from the perspective of Scripture (old and new), it is to be collective in the moment of its reading. A prophetic joy that is transformed into a collective joy that includes strangers, fatherless, motherless, widows, lost, and lonely. 

Advent 4, Year C, Sunday December 22, 2024

Prayer
God of the everlasting covenant, as your servant David leapt and danced before the ark, so John the Baptist leapt in the womb of Elizabeth when Mary came bearing within her the promised One.  Let that Christ stand in our midst today, and feed this flock in the strength of your name.  Prepare us, O God, to be a people doing your will a nation believing that your promises will be fulfilled. 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 C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke  1:39-45(45-56)

"According to Luke, when Mary sang, she didn’t just name those promises but entered into them. Notice, for instance, that the verbs in Mary's song are all in the past tense. Mary recognizes as she sings that she has already been drawn into relationship with the God of Israel..."

"A Promise That Changes the World," David Lose, WorkingPreacher, 2012.

"Christmas is fascinating as a place of marginalisation..."


"First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Advent 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.


Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

The Icon of the Visitation

In this, the fourth Sunday of Advent, our Gospel lesson (Luke 1:39-56) offers us the story of Mary's visit to Elizabeth and Zechariah's home. We cannot read this lesson without reflecting on the passage before--wherein Gabriel visited and announced the coming of the "Son of God"--and that this child is to be born in the lineage of the great Hebrew King, David. We learned that this new royal son is to bring into creation a new reign, an eternal reign of God. So, what is this God doing in an unwed mother, in a small town, visiting a poor relative.

We have our doubts.  Where is this God?   Mary might have been wondering the same thing.  Wondering and pondering the meaning of this message. The angel puts her heart and mind at rest, reminding her that this is the God of the Hebrews who had done miraculous things, things that cannot be believed, things that are told from parent to child. This is the God who sent Abraham wandering. This is the God who gave Sarah a child in her old age. This is the God who brought Joseph into Egypt and protected him there. This is the God who frees them from slavery and provides for them in the desert. This is the God who returned his people to their land and built up a great city and temple, Jerusalem. This is the God of both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. This is the God who loves his people. He is inaugurating a new heavenly reign in which all the world will be invited to participate and to dwell within. "Yes", we might say, "This is the God of those who have been forgotten, who are in need, or who live on the margins.  Now I remember."

You may have doubts but our ancestral faith story tells us that nothing is impossible with this God. We might remember these words from Genesis 18:14: “Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son."

In the midst of a doubt which questions where our God is, we might recall:

• Exodus 6:6 the delivery from slavery in Egypt
• Deuteronomy 4:34 “by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt”
• Jeremiah 27:5 “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth”
• Isaiah 40:10; 51:9 "Do not fear for I am with you."

For Luke, the author of these passages, Gabriel's news is the inauguration of the final stage in salvation history; or the first stage in a recreated world.  So then, we see these very first words of Luke's Gospel--his good news to his readers--is that their salvation is deeply rooted in the story of their ancient faith ancestors.

This is true for us just as it was for the first readers of the Gospel of Luke. Do we in this moment begin to meet and know Jesus again for the first time, renewing in this, the fourth Sunday of Advent, our relationship with Jesus -- bringing our final act of preparation for Christ's birth on Christmas to a close; and opening for us a way to enter into God's eternal reign?

If this happened to me, I would rush to my closest relative's side -- and that is what Mary does -- bringing us to the Gospel for the fourth Sunday in Advent. When she arrives and tells Elizabeth, the child in her womb leaps. This reminds us of the ancient story of the leaping children in Rebecca's womb, brothers Esau and Jacob. Perhaps the leaping David before God's arc? Perhaps this is even a foretelling of the relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus; and the shifting of power from prophet to savior?

Elizabeth's response is faithful as she wonders how she might be so blessed as to receive the visitation of Mary. And Mary is portrayed as a model believer, having faith and hope in God's promises to her. For Mary what we see is an individual who has accepted this news and deliverance; she is already participating in the new recreated world.  This is the meaning of "blessed" in Luke's Gospel, that she is portrayed as a faithful follower of God. Sometimes we believe the word blessed in the scriptures refers to God's blessings, here and throughout Luke, blessed refers to the idea that the person who receives the blessing is a good steward, faithful follower and believer. It is in their actions, not God's, that show forth and invite the acclamation from those who witness their faith that they are blessed. Remember God's other blessing promises from Luke 6.20ff:

20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
‘Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
‘Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.

22 ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.23Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

I wonder what it would be like to go through the rest of the days between now and Christmas and, where we witness faithful people following Jesus and helping and aiding the less fortunate, doing kind work on behalf of others, working to heal those who are infirmed … what if we mentally and prayerfully marked them as blessed people in our lives? What if we actually verbalized, as does Elizabeth in our Gospel, their giftedness and told them they were blessed?

It is in this moment that Mary offers the words of the Magnificat. I imagine Mary reflecting on the story of her people and the immense sense of collision with her life this news from Gabriel, the leaping of the child in Elizabeth's womb, and the words Elizabeth offer. I cannot describe the potential of this moment. But Mary does describe it and speaks out proclaiming God's greatness and her willingness to serve the Lord and be obedient in all things. She will be a steward and disciple because of all that God has provided for her. In remembering her people's story she proclaims and glorifies God because God is compassionate and remembers that she is in fact one of God's blessed ones. Mary knows and calls out that this God keeps his promises and is faithful to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses, and all the patriarchs and matriarchs.

Mary is rehearsing Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. We see that the past work of God is begun anew in the conception of Jesus. Mighty work is done from the lowliest of people. God is continuing salvation history and fulfilling his promises made to Abraham. But the message of Jesus is a reconstituted reign and a diversified Israel where by all those who have called their father Abraham (remember John the Baptist's words from last week) are joined by all those whose baptism with the Holy Spirit by Jesus may now find their home in Jerusalem. This is not simply an ethnic heritage, but one open to the adoption of God's children not in the fold of Abraham's family.

As we meditate upon the meaning of the words of Luke's Gospel it would be too easy to see this as a past event. Yet this is our story. It is certainly my story. From my parents and faith family I inherit the story of Jesus and the ever widening circles of his reign and his grace-filled embrace. Like Elizabeth I have the opportunity to bear witness to visions of blessed people who faithfully follow Jesus and aid those who are without, in accordance with John the Baptist's proclamation.

I also have the opportunity to thank God in this the fourth Sunday of Advent for my inheritance and the gift given to me in Jesus. Still more opportunity lies before me though, recognizing that my heart leaps at the news of my relationship with the about-to-be-born Jesus. But I also have work to do. So may my words and your words be as Mary's … “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”


Some Thoughts on Hebrews 10:5-10

"During the Advent and Christmas season we have a wonderful opportunity to think through and speak about the meaning and purpose of the life of the Lord Jesus. "
Commentary, Hebrews 10:5-10, Edward Pillar, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.


"Although Jesus 'learned obedience from the things he suffered,' which implies that he grew in his understanding of the divine will, the reading for today wants us to be certain that even at the moment of the incarnation Jesus was thoroughly committed to carrying it out."
Commentary, Hebrews 10:5-10, Michael Joseph Brown, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.


"The starting point must always be: God's goodness and holiness is a gift for all who seek it - no closed doors or curtains!"
"First Thoughts on Passages on Year C Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Advent 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

This Sunday we come to a pastoral letter to the Hebrews.  It is one of eight epistles of which the origin is unknown.  However, it is our tradition to attribute this to Paul and the Pauline school; though unanimously this is given an unknown origin.  I think if I had to capture the ideas of scholarly thought I would say that a generous review of the text lends us to believe we have a pupil of Paul's.  That seems neither here nor there when it comes to preaching the text, but seemed somehow important to mention. 

The document itself is one of deep theology and sacramental thought.  We can imagine that the hand which has written it is thinking carefully about the old and the new covenants, the nature of Christ and his connection to the Temple, and that Jesus is the perfector of faith.  It is most likely from Jewish Christian hands that the text takes its shape.  An interesting idea emerges with the text as a whole for many scholars believe it was written for the emerging gentile Christian community.  That means, in my opinion, the text takes on an almost explanatory quality. It is as if the letter to the Hebrews is something like our catechism. It is a document that seeks to translate traditions in relationship to God in Christ Jesus to a group of people who have no inherited tradition of temple and synagogue worship at all; who in the end may only have the worship of idols as their primary context of interpretation. 

So we come to the plainness of this Sunday's readings.  We are immediately aware that God is not interested any longer in burnt and sin offerings.  Jesus, as the great high priest who sits in the temple of heaven, then teaches that while the law has required such offerings, that the new revelation is one that is about doing God's will.  The old sacrifices were good things but we now understand good things come of God in Christ Jesus.  It is as if to say the old sacrifices, which were good, where never enough. They never quite did the job. In part they were insufficient because we as humans were not transformed by them, in part they were a kind of crutch that we used continually; never quite taking on new behavior. 

In Christ Jesus, whom we sacrificed, we have made our final offering.  God needs no more of this; instead we are to be about God's work in the world.  Christ is the final offering. Quoting from Psalm 40 the author explains that God prefers an obedience rooted in the body, in life, that is incarnational.

I don't believe this does away with the old way of making good offerings so much as it says, enough, now we must be at work. God has finally wiped the slate clean.  We are made ceremonially clean, we are being perfected, we are being made whole...not through our own work but by God's work in Christ Jesus.

I wonder what "sacrifices" we believe we are making this Advent and Christmastide?  What is the ultimate purpose of them?  Do we believe that all the gifts and giving will provide us with new relationships and love?  Will this be the best Christmas ever because somehow the sacrificial credit card purchases will make it so?  For the Christian we are perhaps deeply torn.  Who doesn't like the gifts and the giving and the receiving? I do to be sure. But what this passage may remind us of this Fourth Sunday of Advent is that it is only in the giving of ourselves to one another that true and real transformation is possible. It is only in the work of the body, soul, heart, and mind that we find bound to our families, friends, and neighbor.  There is nothing in this world that will either bind us to one another or to God which is not found in the ultimate example of a God who comes into the world and gives so completely of himself.

Some Thoughts on Micah 5:1-5

"Micah's oracle speaks to a world that is caught in the bewilderment of violence, uncertainty, and economic disruption."
Commentary, Micah 5:2-5, Anne Stewart, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"By pondering the image that Micah sets out rather than leaping to the assumption that this coming savior is the Christian Christ, the preacher can look for the correspondence between disparate ages of human history with divergent needs, all being saved by a God who is justice, kindness, and humility itself."
Commentary, Micah 5:2-5, Melinda Quivik, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"Christmas is a time when the gaping holes in the fabric of our 'family ties' become painfully apparent. It is a time when we desperately need restoration and healing in those most basic human relationships. The future Micah and Mary looked forward to is a vision of the restoration of the whole human family. It is also a time to embrace the restoration and healing God has promised to the whole human family in our families by treading lightly and showing a little extra consideration."
"Embracing Restoration," Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Let us refresh our memories. Micah was an 8th century prophet from Judah. He was most definately in line with other Sinai prophets in that he was independent from the Temple. The land is occupied by foreign armies - the Assyrians. And, leadership in the land was corrupt. The people had abanonded much of their belief in the God of Israel and were turning to the multiple gods of the land while bribing their way through life in order to gain protection and benefit from the broken governing and economic powers of their day. In the midst of the brokenness and sin, Micah calls the people back to hope and to mercy and justice.

He suggests that God will not hold the hand of the foreign powers until there is a return to faithfulness by the people. 

When the people and the land remember the God who created them and freed them, then the people will know peace. Then will the shepherds care for the sheep - their people.

The passage has import far beyond the contextual meaning of Micah's own day. As Christians when we look at this passage what we hear is the prophetic reality that peace and the new shepherd will come and his name will be Emmanuel - God with us. This is what the magi quote when they visit Herod...this passage from Micah. Matthew places these words in their mouth along with the powerful understanding that rulers will seek out this particular shepherd. (Matt 2:1-6) (Richard Hays, Echoes of the Scripture in the Gospels, 146). There is nothing less than the reality that God in Christ Jesus comes into the world to challenge the leaders of the world. (Hays, 186-187)

In other words, the messiah is the one Micah foretells. He will challenge Herod and all the powers and authorities of the world. He will restore the people by caring for them as the shepherd king he is to become. No longer will foreign armies, corrupt officials, oppressive powers, and false promises form lesser God's be the order of the day. The Christ, born in Bethlehem is the one to vanquish the powers of this world and the next....even death will not have the last word.

Micah's prophesy tells us that it is here, in Bethlehem, in that little town of Judah, that the true king shall come. 

Sermons Preached

Waiting for Christmas is like Waiting for a bus in Milan
Dec 25, 2012  Sermon preached at Trinity and St. Mark's Houston, fourth Sunday of advent 2012