Easter 6 Year B May 5, 2024

The "Love the One You Are With" Gospel

Prayer

Your love, O God, is revealed among us in the gift of your Son Jesus, who laid down his life and bestows on us the joy of abiding in your love.  Baptized into Christ we pray that through the witness we bear you will bring forth fruit that will last and teach us, God of love, how to love one another.  We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

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

Some Thoughts on John 15:9-17

"The love of the Father towards the Son, and of the Son towards us, and of us toward God and our neighbour, are joined together with an inseparable knot: and there is nothing more sweet and pleasant than it is."

From the Geneva Notes by John Calvin.

"Not that God's choosing us is a panacea, as if none of the difficulties of this life matter. Rather, knowing that God has chosen us, loves us, and will use us gives us the courage to face the challenges and renews our strength to do something about them."

"On Being Chosen," David Lose, ...in the Meantime, 2015.

"We preachers would do well to recall that the Greek words for 'grace' and 'joy' share the same root. Joy may very well be a feeling of grace, the emotion of grace, even the response to grace. "

"Choose Joy," Karoline Lewis, Dear Working Preacher, 2015.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

Let me begin by saying that this passage in John's Gospel messes us up! Jesus' words to his disciples are clear: "God loves me, I love you, you abide in my love, you keep my commandments. The commandment is to love others. I have loved you, and I lay down my life for you." Then, tying in last week's lesson about fruit, we tie up this unit nicely.

This messes us up because we deserve love and want love, so we skip down to the part that tells us how to get it. We see the word commandment and that we are to love others. Then we figure this doesn't mean everyone. So we are good. As in the song by Stephen Stills: Love the one you're with.  And that means we are good in God's eyes. We are good, we obey the commandment when we love the ones like us, whom we are with, that cause no ripples in our world view, and create no conflict in our life.  Love the one you are with. 

This translation of the "love commandment" into the "love the one you are with Gospel" undermines and rewrites (revises) Jesus' teaching. 

But let us think for a moment about the world in which this Gospel takes place. It was a world where the righteous were understood by the faith and teachings of Jesus' contemporaries to be people who were closer to God. In other words, like the young man who comes to Jesus and has obeyed all the commandments, he is automatically assumed to be close to Jesus; we find out he has a little more to understand. 

This is part of the problem: We live in a world where we understand capitalism. If I am righteous and follow the commandments, I will receive God's love. It is an exchange policy. 

The hiccup in this line of thinking is that we believe we can be righteous and earn God's love.  The problem isn't the economy but that Jesus spends most of his time with sinners and not the righteous.

All people are created with an "irreducible need" for love and belonging.  We are "biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. " (Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection, 26)

The particular message of Jesus is that God loves sinners.  God loves sinners. These fishermen and followers of Jesus, the tax collectors, and the women and men along the way were sinners. He ate with sinners. He hung out in the homes of sinners. He even died with sinners.  God loves sinners.  This is a radical message in Jesus' time.  Because it means that God is with the unrighteous. Jesus says, "I have come to find the lost sheep of Israel."  After prophesying that Jerusalem kills the prophets, Jesus says, "How long have I wanted to gather you in."  Jesus and Jesus' love is meant for the sinner.  This was a radical notion, and many scholars believe that it was this breaking of clear righteous law that got Jesus killed.

What is worse is that this love for the sinner is agape love. Some of you reading this might remember a small footnote from seminary or your philosophy class about the eros and agape. The systematic professor who is still considered (in my opinion) to have accomplished a work of seminal importance on this subject is Anders Nygren. In it, there are a few bullets regarding God's agape love that are very troubling indeed—to the righteous!

1. Agape is spontaneous and uncaused
2. Agape is indifferent to human merit
3. Agape is creative
4. Agape is the entrance to philoi - fellowship - with God (Nygren, Agape and Eros, vol 1, 48ff)

For the righteous, this is problematic.  You can't earn it, and it is given to sinners.  No matter how hard you try, you still can't get it, and it is given to sinners who don't try.  It is creative and changes life for the sinner who receives it; did I mention they didn't do anything, and God gave this away for free!  And, in receiving it, do sinners become part of the family of God, the friends of God.  Philoi is the word translated as friends in our text this Sunday.  So, agape invites all the sinners to the righteous one's party, and that is REALLY uncool.

So here is what happens now.  What we do is say, "Bishop Andy, You are right! I am a sinner. I am the worst sinner EVER!"  We move quickly to the other side and create a new economy to earn God's love. We throw a pity party for our sin-sick souls, and we say, "Hurrah!" we are saved by God's agape love because we are a really bad person.  In doing this, we reverse the notion and begin to move ourselves into a place of earning love again, causing God's love because we are sinful and gloating that we are more loved than the righteous. 

Then Jesus flips the table again. He tells us the sun rises on the righteous and unrighteous alike. When we read the scripture (all of it), we see that God loves the righteous, too. 

The difficult reality is that we are not either sinners or righteous. We are constantly moving between the two. We are constantly creating God in our image and trying to make God work for us. As soon as we are too righteous, it is good to be reminded that we are really just sinners, and when we are too sinful, it is good to be reminded of the work of righteousness.  

...And God's love is constant, uncaused, and never earned. Yet somehow, in being chosen (like the disciples), we experience this love, the sinner and the righteous alike. We experience unearned, unmerited, and undeserved love. Evidently, the kingdom of heaven, God's family, and the family of friends are made up of loved sinners and the righteous alike.  

The Christian community, especially when it opens itself up to outsiders, has to contend with the incredible levelling of God's agape love, wherein the sinner and the righteous are chosen alike. The commandment to love is not for the sake of earning love but rather for living in love. The love commandment, then, is what helps the sinner and the righteous live together. 

The love commandment reminds us that our brothers and sisters, the sinners and the righteous, do not cause God's love and, therefore, are to be loved by us as God loves. We are to treat one another as though (as Paul says) nothing can separate us from God's love—nor our neighbour from God's love.

The love commandment reminds us that we didn't do anything to earn God's love, which is called grace. Therefore, we are to give grace to others who are struggling along life's road to find a little bit of love.

The love commandment reminds us that we were invited into a community created by God so that we may safely struggle with our fellow human beings in a life lived between complete depravity and righteous living.

The love commandment reminds us we are bound to one another, not out of our actions but God's agape love.  We are united in our Christian fellowship and our friendship, not by what I do or do not do, but rather by what God does, which is love.  After all, it is God's nature to love.

 "The Gospel, like its blessed Master, is always crucified between two thieves -- legalist of all sorts on the one hand and Antinomians on the other; the former robbing the Saviour of the glory of his work for us, and the other robbing him of the glory of his work within us." - James Henley Thornwell

Some Thoughts on  I John 5:1-6

"Truly Christian faith conquers the world not by military might or doctrinal arguments or coercion, but by love."

Commentary, 1 John 5;1-6, Judith Jones, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"In Jesus, God came to walk in our shoes, to experience the fullness of our suffering, our struggles, and even our loneliness. God did this to make it clear that we are not worthless, rejected, unloved people. Rather we are all of us and every single one of us the focus of God's unconditional and irrevocable love."

"Defining Truth," Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer, 2015.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

Textweek Resources for this week's New Testament Lesson

We believe that all those who believe in and follow Jesus Christ are adopted into the family of God. Likewise, they love not only God but also fellow believers. As in last week's lesson, the author believes this love is a sign of our inner love for God. If we hate our fellow believers and work towards their end, then we are indeed not living in God. 

We also know that we are not to take this for granted, that loving God and loving our fellow Christians is sacrificial, and it requires us to give up our own self-interest and good. This is the kind of agape love that the author is speaking about. 

The author is speaking about this when he talks about how baptism and the crucifixion are linked. We are dying daily for one another as we seek to live out our god-like relationship. In other words, we are to die sacrificially for the other. This is not a burden but instead a privilege. 

What a different kind of evangelism is this. We are not to go out and require others to come and serve us or bend to our ego and rule. Instead, we are to convert them and bring them into the family, chiefly by giving up ourselves to them. 

Is it no wonder that our churches shrink the more we choose not to give up ourselves for our neighbourhoods and cities? The more we turn inward and away from the other, the less like God we actually become.

Some Thoughts on Acts 10:44-48

"The question each church and denomination must answer is, will we have the courage, like Peter, to reject traditional distinctions made on the basis of religion or culture in favor of welcoming everyone into God's family?"

Commentary, Acts 10:44-48, Coleman Baker, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"While much is made of multiculturalism and racial diversity, the problem of classcism within churches—the discrimination against the lower class at the expense of the upper and middle class—continues to plague American congregations of all cultures."

"The Politics of Acts 10:44-48," Aaron Howard, Political Theology, 2012.

"God is saying to all who live beyond the barrier of separation from God: I have come to life in Jesus Christ and in the presence of the Holy Spirit to break down all that separates you from me."

Commentary, Acts 10:44-48, Richard Jensen, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

One of the beauties of reading through the Acts passages this Easter cycle is that they reveal the multiple ways of understanding baptism. 

Think about it for a moment. We already had great preaching on the day of Pentecost. In this passage there is preaching, people are moved, baptized by the Holy Spirit and continue in community. We also read the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. He asks to be baptized and then continues on his way. He is the primary mover, and the story is disconnected from the community.

In our story today, people are already filled with the Holy Spirit and then baptized. They are completely outside the community and, in fact, are considered sinners because of their lifestyle. Cornelius the Centurion is a story of how the community of Jesus' followers opened themselves up to receiving people different from themselves. 

The mission places the ecclesia, Jesus's friends, in direct contact with God's people, challenging the community to be transformed.

As modern-day Christians, we have one way of thinking about baptism. People come into our community (we don't go out); they go through training or preparation (a catechetical model used briefly in the church), and then they can be baptized in a public service. This is not at all the model of baptism present in the scripture. In fact, all of them share a few characteristics. They are spontaneous. They take place outside a temple/synagogue/church. They take place in the midst of people's lives. These models look something like the following:

Model One - Jesus and John  1. Preaching/teaching
2. Baptism and Holy Spirit are received
3. People go back to their daily lives

Model Two - Pentecost 1. Preaching/teaching
2. Baptism and Holy Spirit are given
3. People continue in community

Model Three - Ethiopian Eunuch1. The Holy Spirit Moves
2. Baptism
3. People continue their life without attachment to community 

Model Four - Gentiles/Cornelius1. The Holy Spirit Moves during teaching and relationship
2. Baptism is done
3. People considered beyond salvation are incorporated and become part of the community 

Model Five - Samaria1. People are living in community
2. People are baptized
3. The Apostles come and lay hands on them and give them the Holy Spirit

Sermons Preached On These Passages

More than loving the one you are with, St. Peter's, Brenham, May 6 ,2018 , Easter 6B

Mother's Day Is Complicated

May 12, 2015 Sermon preached at Palmer Episcopal Church Easter 6b 2015

Easter 4B April 21, 2024

Prayer

Creator God, you make the resplendent glory of the Risen One shine with new radiance on the world, whenever our human weakness is healed and restored.  Gather all your scattered children into one flock following Christ, our Good Shepherd, so that all may taste the joy you bestow on those who are the children of God. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

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

Some Thoughts on John 10:11-18

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


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

"Jesus’ sheep are drawn into the unity of love and mutuality of knowledge between the Father and Son."
Commentary, John 10:11-18, Meda Stamper, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"Who are those whose trusted voices showed you what it is to listen for and reflect the Shepherd's Voice? What messages did they offer which stay with you still?"

"Listening for the Shepherd's Voice," Janet H. Hunt, Dancing with the Word, 2015.

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

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

Oremus Online NRSV Text


This week we have the Good Shepherd from John's gospel.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There more though theologically bubbling beneath the surface. Theologian and NT Scholar Robert Farrar Capon writes "his death is the operative device by which the reconciling judgment of God works - that the crucifixion is God's last word on the subject of sin, the final sentence that will make the world one flock under one gracious shepherd." (Kingdom, Grace, Judgment, p 376) The authorities, religious and political, have been trying to put this back in their box of control ever since the cross and resurrection.

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

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

Some Thoughts on 1 John 3:16-24

"Unfortunately, there have been trends and crosscurrents of debate and division that have led to a problematic bifurcation that can easily become distorted into a 'faith vs. works' mentality."

Commentary, 1 John 3:16-24, Nijay Gupta, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

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

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

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

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

Oremus Online NRSV Text

So it has been a while since we have been in the letters of John. I remember that these come out of the johannine community and that some scholars believe the author of this particular letter may in fact have been the redactor of John's original notes and manuscripts. That really is neither here nor there. Needless to say, it is a more general type of writing than other letters - especially Paul's. These appear to have been intended to be read aloud to communities in general. Early evidence shows that a number of other congregations had the letter. 

The goal of the message? Well, to deal with different ideas that did not coincide with those held by the leadership of the Johannine community - it is meant to combat heresy. There is a bit of heresy in the letter too...it errs on the side of a kind of Manichaeism whereby the spiritual world is good and the world of matter is bad. or fallen. This of course would be ruled quite out of order in the third century. But that was too late to keep it out of bible and after all it adds a little flavor.

We start off well. A reminder that the community saw itself as part of the arc of the community of shalom working to undermine the sibling rivalry that infected the world by Cain's act of jealousy. We are to love one another. That is very clear. 

But interestingly we discover that here in the text we begin already to see that this is the rule for the brother and sister in the community and maybe not those outside of it. It is a kind of reversal of the good Samaritan story. It allows for neighbor to be rerooted into  community from Jesus' original message that neighboring is part of those who follow him do to those who are outside their own community. The text has it right: for a Christian to hate is equivalent to murder. Jesus is clear on this. But, Jesus is clear about not distinguishing this action between those inside and outside the community.

The text goes on to say that Jesus was an example of this having laid down his life for us. This is the kind of love we are all to have for others. The idea is an active love towards the other. If we are truly God's followers in Jesus Christ, then we will act for the other and on behalf of the other. 

It is only this abiding love outwardly shared that reveals within whose community we are belonging. When we abide in Christ and he in us we are loving and not refusing help to others.

What is very difficult about this passage for Westerners is that they see people as individuals then relationships. This text is written in a moral universe where the community is first and the individual is of second consideration. 

What happens when we don't parse this out...(see Jonathan Haidt's work) we miss the fact that we are constantly reorienting the text into a Western version localized on the individual first and their own set of rights and privileges vs. the good of the community which seems to be at both the johannine core (even if it is Manichean and internally focused) or Jesus' own teaching about neighboring.

Some Thoughts on Acts 4:5-12

"The establishing, negotiating, and naming of power and acts of power is inherently political and very often religious."

Commentary, Acts 4:5-12, Mitzi J. Smith, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"How can good come out of corrupt, callous institutions? Answer: because God remains faithful. Good comes because God refuses to let human rejection have the last word."

Commentary, Acts 4:5-12, F. Scott Spencer, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

"If only the Common Lectionary had gone on just one more verse! Stopping shy of verse 13 deprives us from seeing one of the great passages of the Bible. Because it is there that the ruling authorities ”who are seeking to hush up the apostles” find themselves powerfully impressed that the people doing all these things are, all things being equal, hicks and unlettered rubes."

The Center for Excellence in Preaching, Scott Hoezee, resources from Calvin Theological Seminary: Comments & Observations, Textual Points, illustration ideas, 2015.

Oremus Online Text 

The truth about preaching this Sunday is that most everyone will gravitate to the Good Shepherd text. Why not? It is a great text and you can preach on it a lot and never get to half the good stuff that is in there. Another reason for doing so is to avoid this text altogether. Why? Well because unless you are going to make it about something else it requires that we hear the story as religious leaders and not try and scape goat the past leaders.

So lets take a look and see what we might hear for ourselves that would be important in this missionary age.

Whenever there is really interesting, creative and mission work going on that doesn't look like what we think of as "church" then religious leaders tend to shut it down. We will kill it either by ensuring it gets no funding, support, or attention or we kill by actually telling people to "stop". This is true at the episcopate level but it is also true at the local congregational level.

This is what happens in the passage. The Gospel is being preached, people are being fed, and the Holy Spirit is moving BUT these people have not been properly trained, they are acting strange, and they are doing things that make us look bad - like we don't care about the poor.

They round them up and ask, "By what power or by what name did you do this?" Of course the response isn't particularly helpful to the religious leaders cause. Peter says, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth." Ooops. Mic drop. Bad news for the religious leaders.

Peter then goes on to remind them (and us) that religious leadership, powers, and authorities are threatened by the Holy Spirit, and God's continuous breaking open of the boundaries of relgion. It has been true throughout the arc of the Old and New Testaments. Jesus was no different. He was in fact one of a long line of people who God sent and was rejected. This has been true since the time of Jesus too. Religion and its authority doesn't like it when people color outside the lines. Peter reminds them, and us,  "This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.”

Then, Peter drops the real anti-religion bomb. He says, "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved." 

This is big news because it means that God doesn't need religion to save people. God doesn't need religion to save God. God is perhaps a bit suspicious of how religious institutions go about their work. 

I think the issue for people who inhabit congregations and dioceses and who are stuck within a model of religion based upon the Constantinian era, and haven't figured out it is over,  have a real problem with the Gospel for this very reason. Religion doesn't do well when it comes up agains the real God in Christ Jesus who left us with a message that undoes the powers of this world - including the religious powers of this world.

Previous Sermons For This Sunday

You Will Know Our Religion By Our Lives
This sermon was preached at St. Alban's, Waco on John 10.11 and following. This is the Good Shepherd teaching by Jesus.

No Childhood Good Shepherd Here
Sermon preached at Resurrection and St Michael's churches in Austin on Easter 4b 2015.

The Enduring Voice of the Good Shepherd Sunday, Easter 4 A
Preached at St. Albans and Good Shepherd, Austin, 2011.

All Saints A November 1, 2023

Prayer

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Great is the multitude, God of all holiness, countless the throng you have assembled from the rich diversity of all earth's children.  With your church in glory, your church in this generation lifts up our hands in prayer, our hearts in thanksgiving and praise.  Pattern our lives on the blessedness Jesus taught, and gather us with all the saints into your kigndom's harvest, that we may stand with them and, clothed in glory, join our voices to their hymn of thanksgiving and praise.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and riegns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

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

Some Thoughts on Matthew 23:1-12

"What would it mean if we honored those whom God honors? What would happen if we stopped playing all of our culture's games for status and power and privilege? What would it cost us if we lived more deeply into justice, and mercy, and humility?"

Dylan's Lectionary Blog, Epiphany 4, 2005. Biblical Scholar Sarah Dylan Breuer looks at readings for the coming Sunday in the lectionary of the Episcopal Church.


Jesus saved for last the ones who side with heaven even when any fool can see it's the losing side and all you get for your pains is pain. Looking into the faces of his listeners, he speaks to them directly for the first time. "Blessed are you," he says.

You can see them looking back at him. They're not what you'd call a high-class crowd—peasants and fisherfolk for the most part, on the shabby side, not all that bright. It doesn't look as if there's a hero among them. They have their jaws set. Their brows are furrowed with concentration.

"Beatitudes," Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text


This week most congregations will be celebrating All Saint's Day.  Yet, as we do so, we attempt to weave a major Feast of the Church into the Scripture from Matthew.

I want to step back and take a look at Matthew first, then see how we might allow the scripture to speak to our Feast.

As we look at Jesus’ ministry, it is important to see that there is a framework at work in Matthew.
In the first chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, we see that the individuals who come in contact with Jesus do not have to do anything. Jesus is not teaching about discipleship. He is not charging them to reform the religion of the time -- he is simply giving of himself.

Jesus is intentionally offering himself to those around him. The people in the first chapters of Matthew and in the Sermon on the Mount receive Jesus; this is the primary interaction taking place between those following and the Messiah himself.

Jesus is giving of himself to others.

The Sermon On the Mount begins in Chapter 4.25, and the introduction runs through 5.1. We are given the scenery: the mountain beyond the Jordan (previous verse). This continues to develop an Exodus typology, the foundation of Matthew’s interpretive themes in these early chapters. It follows clearly when one thinks of the passages leading up to this moment: the flight from Egypt, baptism and now the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew’s Gospel, the first five chapters parallel the Exodus story. So, Jesus now arrives at the mountain where the law was given.

The structure of the following verses is beautiful and I offer them here so you can see how they play themselves out in a literary fashion (5.3-5.10).

5.3 Inclusive Voice: Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

5.10 Inclusive Voice: Theirs is the kingdom of heaven

5.4 Divine Passive Voice: They shall be comforted

5.9 Divine Passive Voice: They shall be called sons of God

5.5 Future Active Voice with Object: They shall inherit the earth

5.8 Future Middle Voice with Object: They shall see God

5.6 Divine Passive Voice: They shall be satisfied

5.7 Divine Passive Voice: They shall have mercy
Matthew uses these formulas and structures throughout the Gospel.

Scholars tell us that the classical Greek translation illustrates the pains that Matthew took as he rewrote Luke’s and Q’s Beatitudes to create the parallels we see. Matthew also writes so carefully that when he is finished, there are exactly 36 words in each section of the Beatitudes (5.3-5.6 and 5.7-510). This, combined with the parallels, highlights the two sections that must have been meaningful to the church at Antioch (comprised of those who have fled persecution).

5.3ff describes the persecuted state of the followers of Jesus

5.7ff describes the ethical qualities of the followers of Jesus that will lead to persecution

This view is taken from the work of Allison and Davies in their hallmark text on Matthew's Gospel, volume 1.

In the Beatitudes offered by Jesus, it is easy to see that these words are blessings, not requirements. The teachings therefore are words of grace.

In the initial teachings of Jesus’ ministry, healing comes before imperative statements, here Jesus preaches that grace comes before requirements and commandments. This is a perennial Christian teaching: one must receive first before service.

The difficulties required of followers of Jesus presuppose God’s mercy and prior saving activity.

The Beatitudes are clear that the kingdom of God brings comfort, a permanent inheritance, true satisfaction and mercy, a vision of God and divine son-ship. This may be Matthew’s most important foundation stone within the salvation story. We are given, through grace, our freedom to follow.

We are like the Israelites and sons and daughters of Abraham, delivered so we may follow and work on behalf of God.

The Beatitudes also are prophetic, as in the passage from Isaiah 61.1. Jesus is clearly the anointed one. Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecy from Isaiah, bringing Good News to those in need. Furthermore, the words of Jesus are the result of the prophecy, so they set him apart from all other teachers.

The beatitudes then are also words which not only promise Grace to the follower, they fulfil the prophetic words of the old message from Isaiah: Jesus was meek (11.29; 21.5), Jesus mourned (26.36-46), Jesus was righteous and fulfilled all righteousness (3.15; 27.4, 19), Jesus showed mercy (9.27; 15.22; 17.15; 20.30-1), Jesus was persecuted and reproached (26-7). The beatitudes are illustrated and brought to life in Jesus’ ministry, they are signs that he stands in a long line of prophets offering comfort to God’s people, and he is also clearly the suffering servant who epitomizes the beatitudes themselves. Origen wrote that Jesus is offering this grace he fulfils and embodies his own words, thereby becoming the model to be imitated.

The Beatitudes are words of proclamation. Are we in a place where we can articulate Jesus’ story and life as a fulfilment of God’s promises to his people? God's promise to me personally?

The Beatitudes are words of mercy. Are we in a place where we can hear Jesus’ words for us? Have we allowed ourselves to be saved before we begin to work on Jesus’ behalf?

The Beatitudes are words of care for the poor. Are we in a place where we can hear Jesus’ special concern for those who are oppressed in the system of life? Are we ready to follow him into the world to deliver his people, imitating the work of Moses and Jesus?

As we reflect on the Feast of All Saints, it is clearer how this passage might speak to the church. We understand the saints of the past (holy and common) and the saints of today, along with the saints of tomorrow, to be those who, in their lives, offer us a vision of this grace, mercy, and vision for God's special friends - the poor.  Who are the ones we look up to from the past?  Who are the ones in our life today?

Can we see the potential of saints yet unknown to us already out in the world working and serving? Can we be open to the next saint who is yet to cross our path and offer us a vision of the kingdom of God?

Excerpt from Holy Women Holy Men

In the New Testament, the word “saints” is used to describe the entire membership of the Christian community, and in the Collect for All Saints’ Day, the word “elect” is used in a similar sense. From very early times, however, the word “saint” came to be applied primarily to persons of heroic sanctity whose deeds were recalled with gratitude by later generations.

Beginning in the tenth century, it became customary to set aside another day—as a sort of extension of All Saints—on which the Church remembered that vast body of the faithful who, though no less members of the company of the redeemed, are unknown in the wider fellowship of the Church. It was also a day for particular remembrance of family members and friends.

Though the observance of the day was abolished at the Reformation because of abuses connected with Masses for the dead, a renewed understanding of its meaning has led to a widespread acceptance of this commemoration among Anglicans and to its inclusion as an optional observance in the calendar of the Episcopal Church.  (page 664)

Some Thoughts on 1 John 3:1-8

"It may be significant that this text is full of indicative verbs, not imperative."

Commentary, 1 John 3:1-7, Brian Peterson, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"The church's integrity wells up from, and is channeled by, God's calling (3:1b; 3:3). To be a saint is to live in the same love by which God has loved us (3:16-18; 4:7-12)."
Commentary, 1 John 3:1-3 (All Saints A), C. Clifton Black, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

"We get Christian hope confused when we think that our hope is based on now nice we are, or how well we behave, or on some hidden piece of us called 'the soul' that will survive through death and destruction."
Commentary, 1 John 3:1-7, David Bartlett, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text 

In this letter from the Johannine community, we understand that they take their familial ties with God seriously. They are God's followers and are called the "children of God”. God loves them, and Christ, as Savior of the world, has unleashed that love, and it now claims them. They are God's children.  

New Testament scholar David Bartlet writes:

...John's Gospel points to a future hope. Sometimes that is a kind of individual future hope: "In my Father's house are many dwelling places... I will come and take you to myself" (John 14:2-3). At other times, there seems to be hope more like what we find in 1 Thessalonians, i.e., hope for a general resurrection at the end of time. "Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28-29).

The author reminds the readers that Jesus was not listened to in his own lifetime, and so it is unlikely that his children will be listened to... nevertheless, they are his children now and in the future. There is an understanding that what they experience now is only in part what they will experience once they are unified with God in his kingdom.  They do not know what that will be like, but as his children, they have a sure and certain hope.

So, the author tells the reader live a virtuous life.  Live an ethical life.  Be like God - good and pure.  Now what is important here is that we are not simply talking about a set of words that we interpret through our own lens. We must understand that for John and his readers in the community to be good and pure is to be like God, who loves.  We are to love. Love, love, love, love - Christians this is your call...as the old song goes.  I like how Loader (one of my faves) says it:

It is not about how many morality boxes we can tick to qualify ourselves as righteous or as a child of God. It is about whether love flows. Here, too, it is not about how many acts of love we summon up our energies to perform - ticking the goodness boxes, but how much we open ourselves to receive the love which God gives, which in turn flows through us to others. Love gives birth to love. Later the writer will speak of our loving because we were first of all loved by God (4:19). The author might say today: no amount of doing good deeds and no amount of having impressive spiritual experiences will count for anything if it is not connected to a real change that is relational. It may be cosmetic goodness and religion, but without that love it is nothing much. Paul made much the same point in 1 Corinthians 13.

We are saints and children of God because God makes us so...we are loved. We are the beloved of God.  And our response to this belovedness is to in turn, love others.  This is the chief if not the primary work.  How are we doing with that, I wonder? I wonder how God thinks we are doing with that?

I think rather than pointing a finger at our people and telling them to love more. Giving them new boxes to check and new tasks to fulfil...perhaps we might simply begin by loving them and by telling them that they are loved. Tell them you love them. Tell them they are loved. By all means, please, tell them God loves them. 

Some Thoughts on Revelation 7:9-17

"Led by their Shepherd-Lamb, God’s redeemed people will come through the tribulation into God's new Promised Land.”

Commentary, Revelation 7:9-17 (Easter 4C), Barbara Rossing, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"So much of the imagery is strange if not, perhaps, even estranging. Yet it is a way of asserting hope for people who faced hopelessness. It is a way of making God central and keeping the vulnerability of God in our vision."
"First Thoughts on Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Easter 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV First Text 

All that is needed is faith in God through Jesus Christ that the great abyss has already been traversed and an eternal bridge erected. 

In the New Testament, this is the idea that it is only through God’s work upon the cross – that is the death of Jesus that one enters the reign of God on the last day. Today’s lesson from Revelation describes that day and completes the prophetic words of Jesus.

Our great sightseer into the dream of Revelation sees the many who are saved. When wondering who the people are, he is told, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Jesus offers The sign of Jonah that in the last days, the wedding feast will be consummated by his own death. Not by miracles at Cana nor by telling parables or working miracles. No, all who enter, enter by his grace and work on the cross. It is only for us to believe that it is so. No amount of our work or repentance gets us in – only the blood of the lamb.

It is a macabre image rooted deeply in the psyche of the first-century mind. Nevertheless, it is an image that reminds us of our powerlessness in the face of death.

This second vision, though, is one that is to bring us hope. The passage has been paid. All is needed is faith. For those who come to believe and turn over their lives in this world, the next, even in the last moment as they are faced with the reign of God, their way is afforded to them. Even in the Divine Comedy, all is never lost, and hope has the last word. So the clothes are washed in blood that is already spilt.

So, for everyone then comes the promise: “They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

This is comforting apocalyptic imagery for the believer. But there are many who are living in their own personal apocalyptic world today. People who are the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, and many more…the lost, the lame, the least, and the lonely… They face death today. Will there be food on the table and a roof over their heads? For those Christians who have found the depths of Sheol paved for them, then it is their work, in turn, to do some washing in this world. It is for the faithful to make the paths straight, the valleys high, and the mountains low for the poor who in this world have no way out of Sheol. For the faithful, they are to carry their own cross, lay down their own lives, and sacrifice for the other who faces death as a daily companion. In this way, then the promise of relief is not something to be received in death only but may be received by being given in life now.

I believe the Book of Revelation's author was writing about his present time. It may provide hope today as well, and it may even provide a transformation of community life. But we will have to get over the idea of being afraid of death. It is such a trivial thing if we but believe and then act out our belief.