Prayer of the Day
Sovereign God, you have established your rule in the human heart
through the servanthood of Jesus Christ. By your Spirit, keep us in the
joyful procession of those who with their tongues confess Jesus as Lord
and with their lives praise him as Savior, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
On Palm Sunday we are surrounded by joy and triumph, but we know what's coming. We've known since the beginning of our Lenten journey where we are going, On this Sunday, we turn the corner from Lent into Holy Week. This Sunday, the story is about to change.
Procession with Palms - John 12:12-16
The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord— the King
of Israel!”
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written:
“Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus
was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written
of him and had been done to him.
Comments:
Jesus enters Jerusalem, triumphant! And yet humble, riding on a simple donkey rather than a warhorse or a more noble steed. He's surrounded by adoring crowds, shouting "Hosanna!" and calling him King. Though this is not the Messiah they were expecting- the Old Testament is full of talk about the Messiah, and most of it involves expectations of war and conquering and probably a certain amount of riches. Jesus has avoided conflict, gathered no armies, and lives simply. For that matter, Jesus doesn't really sound like the kind of savior we'd expect today, in our culture that worships wealth and popularity.
If this were a movie, we might expect this part to be the ending- Jesus was born, grew up, started his ministry, wandered around Judea for a few years healing people and performing miracles, gathered some followers, got a lot of death threats. And finally arrives triumphant in Jerusalem, surrounded by cheering crowds! But we who know the story, we who have been here before, know otherwise. The story is about to turn.
Isaiah 50:4–9a
The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens— wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backwards.
I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.
The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.
It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty?
Comments:
As Christians, we often see this passage as a direct reference to Jesus. After all, we have a teacher whose words bring comfort and who speaks with God. We have a person who does not rebel against God and who practices nonviolence- the parallels to "turn the other cheek" are obvious here.
So the next few lines are rather surprising- if it's Jesus we're talking about, he was not disgraced? He was not shamed? We aren't to the crucifixion yet, but we know it's coming, and it was the most disgraceful and shameful way a person could die in that time- so much so that full citizens of the powerful Roman Empire could not be put to death that way. It tells us something about Jesus' death, and his path to it, that there is no disgrace or shame involved, no matter the intentions of the other people involved. And what an appropriate ending line- who will declare Jesus guilty, indeed?
Psalm 31:9–16
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief,
my soul and body also.
For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away.
I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many— terror all around!—
as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.
But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’
My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.
Comments:
Here we have a Psalm about persecution, one which reminds us of what kind of situation Jesus really is in. Because while he was welcomed just a few minutes ago (in the service) into Jerusalem to the shouts of crowds, in a festival atmosphere, in less than a week the crowds will turn on him. We are on our way to Good Friday, and this is a Psalm written by someone who understood what it meant to not be able to trust the people around you. Soon people will flee from Jesus in the street, the whispers all around will come.
And yet, in the end, we will find parallels between the Psalmist's reaction, and Jesus'. But that's next week.
Philippians 2:5–11
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Comments:
This text is commonly known as the Christ Hymn. As I mentioned earlier, during the processional text, Jesus did not fulfill all of the expectations of the Messiah who would save the Jewish people. He was humble where sovereignty was expected, he was peaceful where war was expected, and his parables never quite meant what the disciples first expected.
Here we also have a bit of the "first shall be last and the last shall be first" theology that we're going to hear about much more in the Easter and post-Pentecost Sundays. But Palm Sunday, a day of reversal, is a very appropriate time for it.
(Luke 23:1-49)
This text, when I was a kid, was strictly understood as optional on Palm Sunday, because this was before the whole Passion Sunday idea became a... thing. It's become more encouraged to do this text as well (or an even more extended version!) in addition to the processional text as the years have gone by. But I won't do it. No. I refuse. See, if you look this text up in the Bible (which, by all means, I encourage!) you'll notice it's the Passion story. It's the crucifixion. And the idea that's been getting more popular these days is that lots of people won't come to the Three Days services (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil/Holy Saturday) so you may as well tell the story on this Sunday too.
And that's the kind of thing that gets right up my left nostril, frankly. I don't think I could keep it up for the entirety of Holy Week, but I would rather hold a Good Friday service every two hours until past dinner on Good Friday, than to tell the Passion story on Palm Sunday. Because it messes with the narrative, and it messes with the Lenten journey, and that's not something I'm willing to do. We've spent weeks upon weeks getting up to this point- I'm sure there were a few Christmas sermons that mentioned this, so months of time, getting to now- and I will not ruin the journey we've been on this whole time right at the end. If a movie messed with pacing like this at the very end, after a complicated and riveting plot, you'd leave disgusted, wouldn't you? I won't do it.
So, read this text, certainly, please do. Study it, pray with it. But I'm keeping Palm Sunday about the procession, here- there's plenty of sermon there, lots of both Law and Gospel, it's a necessary part of the journey. I will not skip it. We will get to Calvary at the proper time.
Go in peace, remember the poor. Thanks be to God.
Showing posts with label lectionary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lectionary. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Lectionary: 3/10/2013- 4th Sunday of Lent (C)
Prayer of the Day
God of compassion, you welcome the wayward, and you embrace us all with your mercy. By our baptism clothe us with garments of your grace, and feed us at the table of your love, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
This week we continue talking about how God's ways are different from ours. We particularly examine how God's concept of forgiveness is strange to us in the parable of the Prodigal Son. There are theme of coming home and trust that expand on this as well. Also, we have some hints that Easter is coming!
Joshua 5:9-12
The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
Comments:
The first couple lines of this reading sound odd and disconnected to our ears, so they require a bit of explanation. The word "Gilgal" is a name, which sounds very similar to the Hebrew phrase "I have removed". (And no, I'm not going to try to sound that out for you, my Hebrew is legendarily terrible.) This happens a lot in the Bible, all sorts of places get named after things that happen there, but it's harder for us to tell because, of course, those names are in Greek or Hebrew.
This reading is from the end of the Israelites' wandering in the wilderness. 40 years before they had been enslaved in Egypt, until Moses led them out (through the Red Sea), and they wandered in the desert for a few decades for reasons that would take awhile to explain. During this time, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God, and the Israelites complained about not having enough food for long enough that God started providing them with manna every morning- food that appeared miraculously on the ground every day but the Sabbath.
Anyway, the Israelites have now arrived in Israel, they have raised a set of crops, and they have, for the first time, eaten of those crops. So this is officially the end of their wandering- they are home. And God recognizes this by ending the manna, because, not being wanderers, they don't need it anymore. It's also interesting to note that this happens as they celebrate Passover, which, if you remember the ten plagues from their time in Egypt (or it's easy enough to Google), that is the remembrance of the last plague, that of the first born, which is what prompted their leaving Egypt.
Psalm 32
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.
You are a hiding-place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.
Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Comments:
There are some lovely themes in this story, but the one that strikes me right off is the implicit trust in God. We can be honest with God about our sin, because we trust God. We can take shelter in God's love, and find God as a refuge, because we trust God. We can be glad and shout for joy, because we trust God.
And near the end- we find that God contrasted with a "bit and bridle". It sounds to me like the Psalmist is saying that God is not controlling us, as an unthinking animal must sometimes be controlled. Rather, we are capable of (some amount of) self-control, and because of that we have a different kind of freedom.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Comments:
Here we have a bit of Easter come early (of course every Sunday is a celebration of Easter, even during Lent) with all things being new in Christ. And in this passage we're given a short, pithy definition of Christian belief and practice: just as we have been reconciled to God by Christ (that is, our relationship with God has been made right by Christ), we have also been given the "ministry of reconciliation"- we also seek to make relationships right, as Paul says, as ambassadors for Christ. We are forgiven, and so we forgive; we have been appealed to, and so we appeal.
The concept of reconciliation and "do-overs" is going to get a bit of a workout in the Gospel text. But I will note here that the "all things being made new" is also a theme that pops up in the book of Revelation, and if you connect it to what's being said here, and has been said elsewhere, it sounds a lot less scary than what some people I've heard of have tried to turn it into.
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.
But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”
Comments:
Every time I say this, I am met with blank disbelief, but here we go again: I almost kind of hate this parable. It drives me up the wall. Often, when I've heard it preached, it turns into some kind of morality tale about the purity and strength of a parent's love, and that makes me recoil in horror.
Look, I am not about to discuss my family's personal history on the Internet, but let's just say that from the very first time I heard this story, which must have been about age 6 or 7 at the latest, I found it perfectly right and natural to side heavily with the older brother. Not so much about the "I want a party too" part, but certainly about the "You're celebrating this guy's return? Seriously?" part.
This is the kid who, by asking for his inheritance early, was asking his father to sell half of all he owned. And his father did it. And then this kid went into town and spent everything, and came back. And the father celebrates this? This is not an example of good boundaries, of healthy relationship, of a parent teaching a kid anything about the world, or indeed parenting.
So being lazy about this parable is one of the fastest ways to get me to stop listening to you. Because what few people mention, is that this is not an example of good parenting, or indeed what we're supposed to be like. This parable is surrounded by others where what's happening is bizarre or unthinkable. We do not throw an expensive party when we find a quarter we lost, we do not risk our entire livelihood when we've lost one small part of it. And so, when someone has shown themselves to be incapable of planning, budgeting, or in fact basic people skills, we do not throw more money at them and have parties when they show up. This is not who we are.
Jesus tells story after story of bizarre reactions for just that reason: these stories (and by all means, look them up, this is by far the longest) sound weird and strange to us. We don't operate that way. But God does. This is not a parenting lesson, this is a lesson in how different God's ways are from ours- seems to be an ongoing theme this Lent, doesn't it? With God, we are home as the Israelites were when they no longer needed the manna. With God, we can trust and be honest and sheltered as the Psalmist sings. With God, all things are made new in Christ. With God, we are forgiven and welcomed, whatever the reason for parting. All of these sound strange to us, because they aren't what we're used to, or how we're used to working. But God's ways are strange to us.
Go in peace, love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
God of compassion, you welcome the wayward, and you embrace us all with your mercy. By our baptism clothe us with garments of your grace, and feed us at the table of your love, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
This week we continue talking about how God's ways are different from ours. We particularly examine how God's concept of forgiveness is strange to us in the parable of the Prodigal Son. There are theme of coming home and trust that expand on this as well. Also, we have some hints that Easter is coming!
Joshua 5:9-12
The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
Comments:
The first couple lines of this reading sound odd and disconnected to our ears, so they require a bit of explanation. The word "Gilgal" is a name, which sounds very similar to the Hebrew phrase "I have removed". (And no, I'm not going to try to sound that out for you, my Hebrew is legendarily terrible.) This happens a lot in the Bible, all sorts of places get named after things that happen there, but it's harder for us to tell because, of course, those names are in Greek or Hebrew.
This reading is from the end of the Israelites' wandering in the wilderness. 40 years before they had been enslaved in Egypt, until Moses led them out (through the Red Sea), and they wandered in the desert for a few decades for reasons that would take awhile to explain. During this time, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God, and the Israelites complained about not having enough food for long enough that God started providing them with manna every morning- food that appeared miraculously on the ground every day but the Sabbath.
Anyway, the Israelites have now arrived in Israel, they have raised a set of crops, and they have, for the first time, eaten of those crops. So this is officially the end of their wandering- they are home. And God recognizes this by ending the manna, because, not being wanderers, they don't need it anymore. It's also interesting to note that this happens as they celebrate Passover, which, if you remember the ten plagues from their time in Egypt (or it's easy enough to Google), that is the remembrance of the last plague, that of the first born, which is what prompted their leaving Egypt.
Psalm 32
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.
You are a hiding-place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.
Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Comments:
There are some lovely themes in this story, but the one that strikes me right off is the implicit trust in God. We can be honest with God about our sin, because we trust God. We can take shelter in God's love, and find God as a refuge, because we trust God. We can be glad and shout for joy, because we trust God.
And near the end- we find that God contrasted with a "bit and bridle". It sounds to me like the Psalmist is saying that God is not controlling us, as an unthinking animal must sometimes be controlled. Rather, we are capable of (some amount of) self-control, and because of that we have a different kind of freedom.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Comments:
Here we have a bit of Easter come early (of course every Sunday is a celebration of Easter, even during Lent) with all things being new in Christ. And in this passage we're given a short, pithy definition of Christian belief and practice: just as we have been reconciled to God by Christ (that is, our relationship with God has been made right by Christ), we have also been given the "ministry of reconciliation"- we also seek to make relationships right, as Paul says, as ambassadors for Christ. We are forgiven, and so we forgive; we have been appealed to, and so we appeal.
The concept of reconciliation and "do-overs" is going to get a bit of a workout in the Gospel text. But I will note here that the "all things being made new" is also a theme that pops up in the book of Revelation, and if you connect it to what's being said here, and has been said elsewhere, it sounds a lot less scary than what some people I've heard of have tried to turn it into.
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.
But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”
Comments:
Every time I say this, I am met with blank disbelief, but here we go again: I almost kind of hate this parable. It drives me up the wall. Often, when I've heard it preached, it turns into some kind of morality tale about the purity and strength of a parent's love, and that makes me recoil in horror.
Look, I am not about to discuss my family's personal history on the Internet, but let's just say that from the very first time I heard this story, which must have been about age 6 or 7 at the latest, I found it perfectly right and natural to side heavily with the older brother. Not so much about the "I want a party too" part, but certainly about the "You're celebrating this guy's return? Seriously?" part.
This is the kid who, by asking for his inheritance early, was asking his father to sell half of all he owned. And his father did it. And then this kid went into town and spent everything, and came back. And the father celebrates this? This is not an example of good boundaries, of healthy relationship, of a parent teaching a kid anything about the world, or indeed parenting.
So being lazy about this parable is one of the fastest ways to get me to stop listening to you. Because what few people mention, is that this is not an example of good parenting, or indeed what we're supposed to be like. This parable is surrounded by others where what's happening is bizarre or unthinkable. We do not throw an expensive party when we find a quarter we lost, we do not risk our entire livelihood when we've lost one small part of it. And so, when someone has shown themselves to be incapable of planning, budgeting, or in fact basic people skills, we do not throw more money at them and have parties when they show up. This is not who we are.
Jesus tells story after story of bizarre reactions for just that reason: these stories (and by all means, look them up, this is by far the longest) sound weird and strange to us. We don't operate that way. But God does. This is not a parenting lesson, this is a lesson in how different God's ways are from ours- seems to be an ongoing theme this Lent, doesn't it? With God, we are home as the Israelites were when they no longer needed the manna. With God, we can trust and be honest and sheltered as the Psalmist sings. With God, all things are made new in Christ. With God, we are forgiven and welcomed, whatever the reason for parting. All of these sound strange to us, because they aren't what we're used to, or how we're used to working. But God's ways are strange to us.
Go in peace, love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Lectionary: 3/3/2013 - 3rd Sunday of Lent (C)
Prayer of the Day
Eternal God, your kingdom has broken into our troubled world through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son. Help us to hear your word and obey it, and bring your saving love to fruition in our lives, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
This week there are certainly themes of nature, and "bearing fruit", and that our actions have consequences. But the one that came out the strongest for me is the differences between our ways and God's ways, and how our forgiveness and God's are so very different. This is especially interesting after last week's text where a Pharisee warned Jesus his life was in danger, and in light of next week's text of the story of the Prodigal Son (and Jesus as the Good Shepherd!).
Isaiah 55:1-9
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.
See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Comments:
What a wonderful dose of good news and grace! Hang on to it, you're going to need it later. There are three notes here I want to comment on. First, we are invited to do the impossible; second, God's love for sinners is steadfast and sure; and third, God's ways are not our ways. The first thing we're told to do in this passage sounds impossible. To buy without paying, to purchase without cost? How could that work? The Old Testament is full of carefully constructed rules and systems to help society function, if society worked this way, how long could it last? What is this impossible idea Isaiah invites us into?
And yet that's just what God's love is like. Isaiah assures us that God's love for David (a sinner- adulterer, murderer, and occasionally just plain didn't listen to God) was steadfast (constant) and sure. The wicked can be pardoned their actions and the unrighteous their thoughts. In this Lenten season, as we wait for Easter and the new life Christ brings, here we are reminded that not only eternal life, but new life in the here and now is always possible. Redemption is never truly impossible, and no one is beyond God's grace.
Finally, God's ways are not our ways- and we certainly know that. Redemption is always possible with God, but we are not always so forgiving. True forgiveness does not include whispered rumors and gossip. True forgiveness does not include grudging resentment and latent anger. Sometimes we simply cannot forgive, we do not have it in us. But God, we are assured, has different ways than we do.
Psalm 63:1-8
A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
Comments:
There are so many ways we seek God- in prayer and meditation, in our last thoughts of the day, in action and joyful praise. And yet we continue seeking, because as Isaiah just reminded us, God's ways are not our own. We will always be seeking God, because we will always continue to thirst. (I am not terribly impressed with people who say they find God in a sunset. Anyone can find God in a sunset, that doesn't involve looking very hard at all. You want to impress me, look harder.)
Interesting note on the Hebrew- the word translated into English as "soul" in the second line is one of those words that has two meanings in Hebrew. The other possible meaning besides soul (or "essence", really, rather than "spirit") is the face and throat area of the body. So when the Psalm speaks of the soul "thirsting" for God- that word wasn't chosen idly. It is a very apt way to talk about it though, isn't it? Sometimes we are as desperate for God as we are for water at the end of a long walk.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
Comments:
I'm going to try not to do this to you very often, but do me a favor real quick- scroll down a bit to the reading from Luke, read the last half or so of the first paragraph, and then scroll back up here.
Back? Okay- what you just read down below? Was from Jesus. What you just read above? Was from Paul. Anyone who disagrees with me that Jesus outranks Paul by kind of a lot, you want to go have a chat with your pastor.
And yet, what Paul just gave us here was a wonderful example of a way in which our human ways are different from God's. It is absolutely our way to "blame the victim". How many times have you heard someone say that poor people are poor because they're lazy, or fat people are fat because they aren't healthy, or the survivor of a sexual assault must have been asking for it? And yet we know perfectly well that there are plenty of hardworking poor, and plenty of healthy people who are overweight (and also that the BMI index is terrible for making judgments about individuals), and that it is literally impossible to "ask" to be sexually assaulted. God's ways are not our ways. God does not make the judgments we make.
Luke 13:1-9
At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’
Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” ’
Comments:
The first thing I'd like to say about the first half of this passage, is that this ends all the arguments for "God punishes the wicked" or "God rewards the holy" forever and ever, amen. Yes, all of them. Yes, even that one. (Now that you're paying attention, you will be stunned, as you go through daily life, how often this comes up. It is a constant thing. It certainly comes up often enough in the Bible.)
However, what is going on with the very last line of this part? What is Jesus talking about, how is he not contradicting himself? But when we think about this further- look, spoiler alert, but we are all going to die. None of us are immortal. So when Jesus says "perish as they did"- I don't think the dying is what he's talking about, because of course we're going to do that whether we repent or not. These people he's talking about were sinners, just as we all are. I think the difference he's talking about is that a sinner is separated from God, by sin which is a chasm between us and God. But a repentant sinner is, like the Psalm above, thirsting for and reaching for God. We are all separated from God, but some of us are facing towards God and reaching out, and because of that we both live, and die, somewhat differently. The sermon linked to below on the text from last week really digs into that.
As for the second half of this passage, well, that's a little more complicated. Next week we'll be hearing the parable of the Prodigal Son. Everybody has that one story or passage from the Bible that makes their head explode, and that's mine, so I'm going to try to keep from getting into it now as well.
I don't read this, as others often have, seeing the vineyard owner as God, and the gardener as Jesus, with us as the fig tree. God promised Noah to never destroy the Earth again, and I don't believe Jesus is all that's keeping God from breaking that promise. (Not to mention that they are of course also one and the same, along with the Holy Spirit, so reading it this way just feels odd.) Not to mention quite a few of us do bear fruit, and no one suggests getting rid of a kid if they don't "bear fruit" after three years.
So perhaps this story is simply suggesting that yes, we can set safe boundaries in our lives? And yes, while there's room for grace and freedom, there's also no reason to throw resources away where they won't be used? I'm pretty sure I'll be getting into this more deeply next week, so stay tuned.
---
I don't really plan on doing this very often, but yesterday I happened to listen to the weekly Day1 podcast, and I heard a fantastic sermon on the text from last week, which I think addresses a lot of important issues. So, if you feel like being challenged, I suggest reading The Fox Is In The Henhouse, a sermon by the Presbyterian Rev. Joseph Evans, from Tennessee.
---
Go in peace, love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Eternal God, your kingdom has broken into our troubled world through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son. Help us to hear your word and obey it, and bring your saving love to fruition in our lives, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
This week there are certainly themes of nature, and "bearing fruit", and that our actions have consequences. But the one that came out the strongest for me is the differences between our ways and God's ways, and how our forgiveness and God's are so very different. This is especially interesting after last week's text where a Pharisee warned Jesus his life was in danger, and in light of next week's text of the story of the Prodigal Son (and Jesus as the Good Shepherd!).
Isaiah 55:1-9
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.
See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Comments:
What a wonderful dose of good news and grace! Hang on to it, you're going to need it later. There are three notes here I want to comment on. First, we are invited to do the impossible; second, God's love for sinners is steadfast and sure; and third, God's ways are not our ways. The first thing we're told to do in this passage sounds impossible. To buy without paying, to purchase without cost? How could that work? The Old Testament is full of carefully constructed rules and systems to help society function, if society worked this way, how long could it last? What is this impossible idea Isaiah invites us into?
And yet that's just what God's love is like. Isaiah assures us that God's love for David (a sinner- adulterer, murderer, and occasionally just plain didn't listen to God) was steadfast (constant) and sure. The wicked can be pardoned their actions and the unrighteous their thoughts. In this Lenten season, as we wait for Easter and the new life Christ brings, here we are reminded that not only eternal life, but new life in the here and now is always possible. Redemption is never truly impossible, and no one is beyond God's grace.
Finally, God's ways are not our ways- and we certainly know that. Redemption is always possible with God, but we are not always so forgiving. True forgiveness does not include whispered rumors and gossip. True forgiveness does not include grudging resentment and latent anger. Sometimes we simply cannot forgive, we do not have it in us. But God, we are assured, has different ways than we do.
Psalm 63:1-8
A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
Comments:
There are so many ways we seek God- in prayer and meditation, in our last thoughts of the day, in action and joyful praise. And yet we continue seeking, because as Isaiah just reminded us, God's ways are not our own. We will always be seeking God, because we will always continue to thirst. (I am not terribly impressed with people who say they find God in a sunset. Anyone can find God in a sunset, that doesn't involve looking very hard at all. You want to impress me, look harder.)
Interesting note on the Hebrew- the word translated into English as "soul" in the second line is one of those words that has two meanings in Hebrew. The other possible meaning besides soul (or "essence", really, rather than "spirit") is the face and throat area of the body. So when the Psalm speaks of the soul "thirsting" for God- that word wasn't chosen idly. It is a very apt way to talk about it though, isn't it? Sometimes we are as desperate for God as we are for water at the end of a long walk.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
Comments:
I'm going to try not to do this to you very often, but do me a favor real quick- scroll down a bit to the reading from Luke, read the last half or so of the first paragraph, and then scroll back up here.
Back? Okay- what you just read down below? Was from Jesus. What you just read above? Was from Paul. Anyone who disagrees with me that Jesus outranks Paul by kind of a lot, you want to go have a chat with your pastor.
And yet, what Paul just gave us here was a wonderful example of a way in which our human ways are different from God's. It is absolutely our way to "blame the victim". How many times have you heard someone say that poor people are poor because they're lazy, or fat people are fat because they aren't healthy, or the survivor of a sexual assault must have been asking for it? And yet we know perfectly well that there are plenty of hardworking poor, and plenty of healthy people who are overweight (and also that the BMI index is terrible for making judgments about individuals), and that it is literally impossible to "ask" to be sexually assaulted. God's ways are not our ways. God does not make the judgments we make.
Luke 13:1-9
At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’
Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” ’
Comments:
The first thing I'd like to say about the first half of this passage, is that this ends all the arguments for "God punishes the wicked" or "God rewards the holy" forever and ever, amen. Yes, all of them. Yes, even that one. (Now that you're paying attention, you will be stunned, as you go through daily life, how often this comes up. It is a constant thing. It certainly comes up often enough in the Bible.)
However, what is going on with the very last line of this part? What is Jesus talking about, how is he not contradicting himself? But when we think about this further- look, spoiler alert, but we are all going to die. None of us are immortal. So when Jesus says "perish as they did"- I don't think the dying is what he's talking about, because of course we're going to do that whether we repent or not. These people he's talking about were sinners, just as we all are. I think the difference he's talking about is that a sinner is separated from God, by sin which is a chasm between us and God. But a repentant sinner is, like the Psalm above, thirsting for and reaching for God. We are all separated from God, but some of us are facing towards God and reaching out, and because of that we both live, and die, somewhat differently. The sermon linked to below on the text from last week really digs into that.
As for the second half of this passage, well, that's a little more complicated. Next week we'll be hearing the parable of the Prodigal Son. Everybody has that one story or passage from the Bible that makes their head explode, and that's mine, so I'm going to try to keep from getting into it now as well.
I don't read this, as others often have, seeing the vineyard owner as God, and the gardener as Jesus, with us as the fig tree. God promised Noah to never destroy the Earth again, and I don't believe Jesus is all that's keeping God from breaking that promise. (Not to mention that they are of course also one and the same, along with the Holy Spirit, so reading it this way just feels odd.) Not to mention quite a few of us do bear fruit, and no one suggests getting rid of a kid if they don't "bear fruit" after three years.
So perhaps this story is simply suggesting that yes, we can set safe boundaries in our lives? And yes, while there's room for grace and freedom, there's also no reason to throw resources away where they won't be used? I'm pretty sure I'll be getting into this more deeply next week, so stay tuned.
---
I don't really plan on doing this very often, but yesterday I happened to listen to the weekly Day1 podcast, and I heard a fantastic sermon on the text from last week, which I think addresses a lot of important issues. So, if you feel like being challenged, I suggest reading The Fox Is In The Henhouse, a sermon by the Presbyterian Rev. Joseph Evans, from Tennessee.
---
Go in peace, love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Lectionary: 2/24/2013- 2nd Sunday in Lent (C)
Prayer of the Day
God of the covenant, in the mystery of the cross you promise everlasting life to the world. Gather all peoples into your arms, and shelter us with your mercy, that we may rejoice in the life we share in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
As reflected in the prayer for the day, the themes for this week's readings center around God's promises to us, especially to remain present with us. All of the stories in the Bible center around this one covenant, that we will not be abandoned. In the journey of Lent, while we walk with Jesus towards the cross, that is the promise that we cling to in the darkness.
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’ But Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.’ But the word of the Lord came to him, ‘This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.’ He brought him outside and said, ‘Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Then he said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.’ But he said, ‘O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?’ He said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.’ He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire-pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates...."
Comments:
This is the great covenant (promise) that God made to Abraham. This is one of the great beginnings in the Bible. The Creation stories are one, God's covenant with Noah not to destroy the Earth again was another, and of course each of the Gospels start with one. This is the beginning of God's special relationship with the Jewish people, which is a theme found all over the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. When Esther saves her people, it's a demonstration of this covenant. When Jesus speaks to the Syro-Phoenician woman, it's a surprise because she is not party to this covenant.
God's promises to Abraham here are fairly simple- many descendants and a land for them. The promises we will see implied in the other readings for this Sunday are a little more complex.
Psalm 27
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes— they shall stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident.
One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock.
Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me!
‘Come,’ my heart says, ‘seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.
Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation!
If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up.
Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they are breathing out violence.
I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Comments:
I hope that I will never have to fear what the author of this Psalm apparently had to fear. But I certainly have fears nonetheless. And the author is seeking safety and refuge with the Lord- a theme we've seen before, and something I've certainly done myself. But what kind of safety? People who trust in God die every day. Tragic things happen to both good and bad people. The author of this Psalm can't possibly be saying that if you trust in God, nothing bad will happen to you- right?
Which brings us back to God's covenants with us, and here we see what the author seems to be seeking. The kind of safety the author's hoping for is certainly physical safety, but that doesn't mean it's the kind that's expected. What's sought after here is not physical but spiritual safety- to be with God, to be acknowledged by and loved by God, to be surrounded by God. There are some requests of protection, certainly, but the requests that are most emphatic and emphasized are those that have nothing to do with physical safety.
As Abraham and his descendants eventually found out, the covenants that God has made with us do not always mean prosperity or safety- but they do mean we're not alone. They do mean God is always with us. We are not and will not be abandoned.
Philippians 3:17--4:1
Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
Comments:
Occasionally Paul gets on my nerves- besides some of the things he's said about women, I'm just not too fond of people who say that others should imitate them. Someone who's an authentically good example to live by doesn't usually have to tell others that. But here he's reinforcing what's been talked about in the previous two readings. We certainly have promises and covenants with others, and of course we honor them, but we also remember that "our citizenship is in heaven". That is where our true allegiance lies, with God. All else may fail us, everyone else may betray us, but God remains with us no matter what.
There is some troubling language in this passage that I would like to address, but to be honest I don't believe I currently have time to do it justice at the moment. I'm sure it'll come around again, though, so I'll ask for your patience on that.
Luke 13:31-35
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’ He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’
Comments:
This is one of the passages that I wish people would read more often, because it comforts me, somewhat, to know that Jesus had a temper. If Jesus did, then perhaps God understands my own as well.
And yet, even in the midst of this temper, in the midst of sparring (verbally) with the Pharisees, Jesus will not abandon his ministry. Jesus will not abandon his journey to the cross. Jesus would gather us as though under wings, which I think is one of the loveliest images we're given of God's love. Jesus does not abandon us, and though it's not phrased in a very cheerful manner, at the end he also gives us the promise that we will see him again. The covenant, again spelled out that God does not leave us alone, we are not abandoned, come what may.
Love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God.
God of the covenant, in the mystery of the cross you promise everlasting life to the world. Gather all peoples into your arms, and shelter us with your mercy, that we may rejoice in the life we share in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
As reflected in the prayer for the day, the themes for this week's readings center around God's promises to us, especially to remain present with us. All of the stories in the Bible center around this one covenant, that we will not be abandoned. In the journey of Lent, while we walk with Jesus towards the cross, that is the promise that we cling to in the darkness.
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’ But Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.’ But the word of the Lord came to him, ‘This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.’ He brought him outside and said, ‘Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Then he said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.’ But he said, ‘O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?’ He said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.’ He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire-pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates...."
Comments:
This is the great covenant (promise) that God made to Abraham. This is one of the great beginnings in the Bible. The Creation stories are one, God's covenant with Noah not to destroy the Earth again was another, and of course each of the Gospels start with one. This is the beginning of God's special relationship with the Jewish people, which is a theme found all over the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. When Esther saves her people, it's a demonstration of this covenant. When Jesus speaks to the Syro-Phoenician woman, it's a surprise because she is not party to this covenant.
God's promises to Abraham here are fairly simple- many descendants and a land for them. The promises we will see implied in the other readings for this Sunday are a little more complex.
Psalm 27
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes— they shall stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident.
One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock.
Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me!
‘Come,’ my heart says, ‘seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.
Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation!
If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up.
Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they are breathing out violence.
I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Comments:
I hope that I will never have to fear what the author of this Psalm apparently had to fear. But I certainly have fears nonetheless. And the author is seeking safety and refuge with the Lord- a theme we've seen before, and something I've certainly done myself. But what kind of safety? People who trust in God die every day. Tragic things happen to both good and bad people. The author of this Psalm can't possibly be saying that if you trust in God, nothing bad will happen to you- right?
Which brings us back to God's covenants with us, and here we see what the author seems to be seeking. The kind of safety the author's hoping for is certainly physical safety, but that doesn't mean it's the kind that's expected. What's sought after here is not physical but spiritual safety- to be with God, to be acknowledged by and loved by God, to be surrounded by God. There are some requests of protection, certainly, but the requests that are most emphatic and emphasized are those that have nothing to do with physical safety.
As Abraham and his descendants eventually found out, the covenants that God has made with us do not always mean prosperity or safety- but they do mean we're not alone. They do mean God is always with us. We are not and will not be abandoned.
Philippians 3:17--4:1
Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
Comments:
Occasionally Paul gets on my nerves- besides some of the things he's said about women, I'm just not too fond of people who say that others should imitate them. Someone who's an authentically good example to live by doesn't usually have to tell others that. But here he's reinforcing what's been talked about in the previous two readings. We certainly have promises and covenants with others, and of course we honor them, but we also remember that "our citizenship is in heaven". That is where our true allegiance lies, with God. All else may fail us, everyone else may betray us, but God remains with us no matter what.
There is some troubling language in this passage that I would like to address, but to be honest I don't believe I currently have time to do it justice at the moment. I'm sure it'll come around again, though, so I'll ask for your patience on that.
Luke 13:31-35
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’ He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’
Comments:
This is one of the passages that I wish people would read more often, because it comforts me, somewhat, to know that Jesus had a temper. If Jesus did, then perhaps God understands my own as well.
And yet, even in the midst of this temper, in the midst of sparring (verbally) with the Pharisees, Jesus will not abandon his ministry. Jesus will not abandon his journey to the cross. Jesus would gather us as though under wings, which I think is one of the loveliest images we're given of God's love. Jesus does not abandon us, and though it's not phrased in a very cheerful manner, at the end he also gives us the promise that we will see him again. The covenant, again spelled out that God does not leave us alone, we are not abandoned, come what may.
Love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Lectionary: 2/17/2013 - 1st Sunday in Lent (C)
Prayer of the Day
O Lord God, you led your people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide us now, so that, following your Son, we may walk safely through the wilderness of this world toward the life you alone can give, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
So, Lent has begun! We've spent the last several weeks talking about the beginning of Jesus' ministry, and now, thanks to Christmas and Easter being so close together, we're going to be skipping to the end soon. (To hear about the middle, come to church during 'Ordinary Time' in the summer!) We have put away the word "Alleluia" during worship, many of us now have midweek Lenten services to attend, and the services take on a new emotional tone, because we need to explore the darkness of Lent in order to be able to truly understand the celebration coming at Easter.
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’ When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.
Sometimes it's easy to forget, but we know that everything that we have, came from God and belongs to God. Intentionally giving some back to God is one way of recognizing that in our lives. There are many texts about tithing (that is, giving a tenth of our income to God- often to support your church) but this passage has a slightly different spin. Here, the emphasis is put on giving to God first. Often, even if we've pledged a certain amount of our income to our congregation, denomination and various charities, we find ourselves giving them the last ten percent. First we pay our bills, then we take care of other necessary things, then we have some fun, and finally we hope to have not accidentally overspent so we can still give the amount we've promised to the church.
Of course I recognize that these are difficult economic times for everyone. And because of that, I suggest that what ever person and family truly needs is a carefully thought out budget, written down somewhere. And one of those line items, for those of us of the Christian faith, will be a certain amount to give to our congregation.
And for that line item I have two suggestions. First- I suggest calculating it as some percentage of your total income. If you're not used to tithing (or for that matter giving a certain pre-decided amount) starting at 10% would be quite a shock- so don't. Start at two or three percent, or whatever amount feels financially comfortable for you- the idea is to turn this into a habit that will continue. Divide that amount into monthly or weekly amounts, and you have your regular giving amount. And if you miss a Sunday, don't forget to make up for it- or look into Simply Giving if you're Lutheran and never miss a week. Then each year you can increase it by half a percent or so until you reach 10%.
My second suggestion is to keep that amount separate from another line item for other charities you may give to. That's simply a matter of being detailed in your budgeting, and will help you keep track of exactly where your money is going. And then set these percentages aside right away, first thing, as your first fruits.
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.’
Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
the Most High your dwelling-place,
no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder,
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.
When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble,
I will rescue them and honor them.
With long life I will satisfy them,
and show them my salvation.
This Psalm ties in nicely with the Gospel reading for this week, in what may be a way that will surprise you. I especially appreciate the first line of this- while many people think of being under the shadow of God's wings as God's looking out for us, I prefer to think of a more literal shadow. As pointed out by our first reading, everything that is ours was God's first, and we also know that everything that is, exists because God caused it to be. So any actual shadow you actually stand in? Is God's shadow. When you stand in the warmth of the sunshine? That's the warmth of God's love for us, to make a place where we can live. Think about that long enough, and suddenly it's really hard to complain about your ice cream melting.
Romans 10:8b-13
‘The word is near you,
on your lips and in your heart’
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
So, the first two readings point out that everything that is, belongs to the Lord, and this reading reminds us that we are part of that list. God has put our faith on our lips and in our hearts (that is, we speak of it and believe it) no matter our background. Paul brings up the "no distinction between Jew and Greek" because that was a major question in his day- in order to be Christian, did you have to be Jewish first? He and Peter (Jesus' best-known disciple) disagreed on this, but Christians eventually accepted that Paul was right. All Christians who confess "Jesus is Lord" are equal in the eyes of God, and to this day that is the only commonly-accepted requirement for being considered a Christian. We are all God's children, we can and do call on God, and there is no difference between us that matters to God.
Luke 4:1-13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.” ’
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written,
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” ’
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you”, and “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Jesus has fasted for forty days (hey, that's how long Lent is! what a shock...) and at the end, after forty days of constant temptation, the devil tempts him three more times. First, with a basic human need- hunger. (If you've ever wondered why people give things up during Lent, and why it's so often food, this is where it comes from.) Second, with something that tempts so many of us- power. (Though it does seem odd that the devil would choose that particular method with Jesus, seeing as Jesus is God and therefore already has power over all that anyway.)
And the third temptation? That one isn't really something we talk about a lot, is it- testing God. The devil has been trying to get Jesus to admit a lack of trust in God (in himself) this whole time. You can turn these stones into bread if you want, why suffer? You can *use* the power you have over these people, why be humble? But one of the points of God becoming one of us and coming to us as Jesus was to be like us- to suffer as we would, to experience humility from our end. Jesus could have flown right off the top of that temple if he'd wanted. But he was here as one of us, and the only times he used his power while he was here was to show the love of God for us in his miracles. What the devil suggested wouldn't have done that. Jesus has no need to test God, and neither do we.
And did the devil really just quote Scripture? Yes. We don't say this often enough- anyone can say the words of the Bible, and the Bible is a long enough book that it's words can be used to say nearly anything, if you pick the right sentence here and there. Which is why we read the Bible regularly, to get a sense for it as a whole, to understand who Jesus was and what he worked for and stood for, so that when people take these phrases out of context, we can say "I don't think that word means what you think it means." Because we have come to understand God's love for us, shown through Jesus Christ, and throughout the Bible.
Go in peace, serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
O Lord God, you led your people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide us now, so that, following your Son, we may walk safely through the wilderness of this world toward the life you alone can give, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
So, Lent has begun! We've spent the last several weeks talking about the beginning of Jesus' ministry, and now, thanks to Christmas and Easter being so close together, we're going to be skipping to the end soon. (To hear about the middle, come to church during 'Ordinary Time' in the summer!) We have put away the word "Alleluia" during worship, many of us now have midweek Lenten services to attend, and the services take on a new emotional tone, because we need to explore the darkness of Lent in order to be able to truly understand the celebration coming at Easter.
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’ When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.
Sometimes it's easy to forget, but we know that everything that we have, came from God and belongs to God. Intentionally giving some back to God is one way of recognizing that in our lives. There are many texts about tithing (that is, giving a tenth of our income to God- often to support your church) but this passage has a slightly different spin. Here, the emphasis is put on giving to God first. Often, even if we've pledged a certain amount of our income to our congregation, denomination and various charities, we find ourselves giving them the last ten percent. First we pay our bills, then we take care of other necessary things, then we have some fun, and finally we hope to have not accidentally overspent so we can still give the amount we've promised to the church.
Of course I recognize that these are difficult economic times for everyone. And because of that, I suggest that what ever person and family truly needs is a carefully thought out budget, written down somewhere. And one of those line items, for those of us of the Christian faith, will be a certain amount to give to our congregation.
And for that line item I have two suggestions. First- I suggest calculating it as some percentage of your total income. If you're not used to tithing (or for that matter giving a certain pre-decided amount) starting at 10% would be quite a shock- so don't. Start at two or three percent, or whatever amount feels financially comfortable for you- the idea is to turn this into a habit that will continue. Divide that amount into monthly or weekly amounts, and you have your regular giving amount. And if you miss a Sunday, don't forget to make up for it- or look into Simply Giving if you're Lutheran and never miss a week. Then each year you can increase it by half a percent or so until you reach 10%.
My second suggestion is to keep that amount separate from another line item for other charities you may give to. That's simply a matter of being detailed in your budgeting, and will help you keep track of exactly where your money is going. And then set these percentages aside right away, first thing, as your first fruits.
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.’
Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
the Most High your dwelling-place,
no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder,
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.
When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble,
I will rescue them and honor them.
With long life I will satisfy them,
and show them my salvation.
This Psalm ties in nicely with the Gospel reading for this week, in what may be a way that will surprise you. I especially appreciate the first line of this- while many people think of being under the shadow of God's wings as God's looking out for us, I prefer to think of a more literal shadow. As pointed out by our first reading, everything that is ours was God's first, and we also know that everything that is, exists because God caused it to be. So any actual shadow you actually stand in? Is God's shadow. When you stand in the warmth of the sunshine? That's the warmth of God's love for us, to make a place where we can live. Think about that long enough, and suddenly it's really hard to complain about your ice cream melting.
Romans 10:8b-13
‘The word is near you,
on your lips and in your heart’
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
So, the first two readings point out that everything that is, belongs to the Lord, and this reading reminds us that we are part of that list. God has put our faith on our lips and in our hearts (that is, we speak of it and believe it) no matter our background. Paul brings up the "no distinction between Jew and Greek" because that was a major question in his day- in order to be Christian, did you have to be Jewish first? He and Peter (Jesus' best-known disciple) disagreed on this, but Christians eventually accepted that Paul was right. All Christians who confess "Jesus is Lord" are equal in the eyes of God, and to this day that is the only commonly-accepted requirement for being considered a Christian. We are all God's children, we can and do call on God, and there is no difference between us that matters to God.
Luke 4:1-13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.” ’
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written,
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” ’
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you”, and “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Jesus has fasted for forty days (hey, that's how long Lent is! what a shock...) and at the end, after forty days of constant temptation, the devil tempts him three more times. First, with a basic human need- hunger. (If you've ever wondered why people give things up during Lent, and why it's so often food, this is where it comes from.) Second, with something that tempts so many of us- power. (Though it does seem odd that the devil would choose that particular method with Jesus, seeing as Jesus is God and therefore already has power over all that anyway.)
And the third temptation? That one isn't really something we talk about a lot, is it- testing God. The devil has been trying to get Jesus to admit a lack of trust in God (in himself) this whole time. You can turn these stones into bread if you want, why suffer? You can *use* the power you have over these people, why be humble? But one of the points of God becoming one of us and coming to us as Jesus was to be like us- to suffer as we would, to experience humility from our end. Jesus could have flown right off the top of that temple if he'd wanted. But he was here as one of us, and the only times he used his power while he was here was to show the love of God for us in his miracles. What the devil suggested wouldn't have done that. Jesus has no need to test God, and neither do we.
And did the devil really just quote Scripture? Yes. We don't say this often enough- anyone can say the words of the Bible, and the Bible is a long enough book that it's words can be used to say nearly anything, if you pick the right sentence here and there. Which is why we read the Bible regularly, to get a sense for it as a whole, to understand who Jesus was and what he worked for and stood for, so that when people take these phrases out of context, we can say "I don't think that word means what you think it means." Because we have come to understand God's love for us, shown through Jesus Christ, and throughout the Bible.
Go in peace, serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Lectionary: 2/10/2013 - Transfiguration Sunday (C)
Prayer of the Day
Over the last several weeks, we've heard stories of Jesus as he grows and begins his ministry during the season of Epiphany. We've been getting used to the idea of God incarnate, coming to us. This week, Transfiguration Sunday, we're about to get into Lent, so we change gears a bit. This week is about how God's power changes, or transfigures, those who speak with God, do God's will, and help God's people. During Lent we will be shifting in time a bit and hear about the end of Jesus' ministry- the stories from the middle are told during the summer, in "Ordinary Time".
Holy God, mighty and immortal, you are beyond our
knowing, yet we see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Transform us
into the likeness of your Son, who renewed our humanity so that we may
share in his divinity, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Over the last several weeks, we've heard stories of Jesus as he grows and begins his ministry during the season of Epiphany. We've been getting used to the idea of God incarnate, coming to us. This week, Transfiguration Sunday, we're about to get into Lent, so we change gears a bit. This week is about how God's power changes, or transfigures, those who speak with God, do God's will, and help God's people. During Lent we will be shifting in time a bit and hear about the end of Jesus' ministry- the stories from the middle are told during the summer, in "Ordinary Time".
Exodus 34:29–35
Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Comments:
Very often, these days, when we talk about God, we try to emphasize having a personal relationship with God, and how much God loves us, and how human Jesus was, and so on. And all of that is certainly true. But there is another side as well. We cannot describe God completely without including God's power. Moses was apparently pretty terrified when God first spoke to him from the burning bush. Here, God's power is so raw and direct when they speak together that Moses has to wear a veil to protect himself. Don't forget in the Christmas story, when the angel appears to the shepherds, the first thing the angel says is "Don't be afraid!"- which I have to think means that they were.
God loves us, and Jesus was human, yes. But God is also so powerful that Moses' face would shine after a conversation on the mountaintop. Over and over again in the Bible, when God appears to someone, the first reaction is often partly stunned amazement, and partly fear at the incredible power on display. God has told us not to be afraid, but we do need to be told that as well. And we cannot speak about God honestly if we forget this aspect.
Psalm 99
The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!
Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.
He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
Extol the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy.
Comments:
This is what's called a praise Psalm, which means it was written to praise God. It focuses mostly on God's power, which is probably why it was chosen for this Sunday, and Moses and Aaron get a mention. Notice how it also mentions God's justice twice- and when it talks about God as the "avenger of their wrongdoings" don't make the mistake of thinking it's talking about the wrongdoings done against Moses and Aaron. They did screw up themselves as well a few times, and the Bible records God's justice towards them.
I think the mention of Samuel here is interesting- he's one of the few in the Bible whose first encounter with God was unknowing and not frightening at all. The "called on his name" bit is sort of an in-joke for those who read all about it in 1 Samuel, chapter 3.
2 Corinthians 3:12—4:2
Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
Comments:
This week we skip ahead a bit, to the next book, to get to this part where Paul talks about Moses. Why does Paul say that "only in Christ is [the veil] set aside"? Again, throughout the Bible, people directly encountering God were always bowled over by the power of God's presence- unless God was coming to them as Jesus Christ, human and divine at once. Many people were certainly very stunned by Jesus as well, but not in the same way. The need for the veil that Moses wore wasn't there when people spoke to Jesus.
Paul then also points out that, as the Spirit works in each of us, we can see God in each other, and that does not require the veil either, because God's power and glory is "reflected in a mirror"- each other. We have nothing to hide because we are surrounded by God's presence in each other, every day.
Luke 9:28–36
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
Comments:
So, Jesus has been beginning his ministry, sort of getting things going. He was baptized, he did a miracle at his mother's suggestion at a wedding, he went home after a bit (and got thrown out). He's found the disciples, and they've been traveling around together for awhile by this point (notice we've skipped several chapters ahead again, the church year intervenes in our nice linear readings sometimes).
And yet here Peter has no frame of reference. He clearly has no idea what to do- he wants to be helpful, so he comes up with the idea of making them dwellings, but it's a bit nonsensical. (I'm not sure, but I've always figured there has to be a connection to the Jewish festival of Sukkot in there somewhere.) When confronted with Moses and Elijah- not to mention Jesus taking on a very different look than usual- he doesn't know what to do.
I've never really decided if I think that God is answering Peter's unspoken "What should I do now?" directly, but I have to say, if you have no idea what you're doing, listening to Jesus is often a good idea.
Love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Comments:
Very often, these days, when we talk about God, we try to emphasize having a personal relationship with God, and how much God loves us, and how human Jesus was, and so on. And all of that is certainly true. But there is another side as well. We cannot describe God completely without including God's power. Moses was apparently pretty terrified when God first spoke to him from the burning bush. Here, God's power is so raw and direct when they speak together that Moses has to wear a veil to protect himself. Don't forget in the Christmas story, when the angel appears to the shepherds, the first thing the angel says is "Don't be afraid!"- which I have to think means that they were.
God loves us, and Jesus was human, yes. But God is also so powerful that Moses' face would shine after a conversation on the mountaintop. Over and over again in the Bible, when God appears to someone, the first reaction is often partly stunned amazement, and partly fear at the incredible power on display. God has told us not to be afraid, but we do need to be told that as well. And we cannot speak about God honestly if we forget this aspect.
Psalm 99
The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!
Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.
He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
Extol the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy.
Comments:
This is what's called a praise Psalm, which means it was written to praise God. It focuses mostly on God's power, which is probably why it was chosen for this Sunday, and Moses and Aaron get a mention. Notice how it also mentions God's justice twice- and when it talks about God as the "avenger of their wrongdoings" don't make the mistake of thinking it's talking about the wrongdoings done against Moses and Aaron. They did screw up themselves as well a few times, and the Bible records God's justice towards them.
I think the mention of Samuel here is interesting- he's one of the few in the Bible whose first encounter with God was unknowing and not frightening at all. The "called on his name" bit is sort of an in-joke for those who read all about it in 1 Samuel, chapter 3.
2 Corinthians 3:12—4:2
Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
Comments:
This week we skip ahead a bit, to the next book, to get to this part where Paul talks about Moses. Why does Paul say that "only in Christ is [the veil] set aside"? Again, throughout the Bible, people directly encountering God were always bowled over by the power of God's presence- unless God was coming to them as Jesus Christ, human and divine at once. Many people were certainly very stunned by Jesus as well, but not in the same way. The need for the veil that Moses wore wasn't there when people spoke to Jesus.
Paul then also points out that, as the Spirit works in each of us, we can see God in each other, and that does not require the veil either, because God's power and glory is "reflected in a mirror"- each other. We have nothing to hide because we are surrounded by God's presence in each other, every day.
Luke 9:28–36
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
Comments:
So, Jesus has been beginning his ministry, sort of getting things going. He was baptized, he did a miracle at his mother's suggestion at a wedding, he went home after a bit (and got thrown out). He's found the disciples, and they've been traveling around together for awhile by this point (notice we've skipped several chapters ahead again, the church year intervenes in our nice linear readings sometimes).
And yet here Peter has no frame of reference. He clearly has no idea what to do- he wants to be helpful, so he comes up with the idea of making them dwellings, but it's a bit nonsensical. (I'm not sure, but I've always figured there has to be a connection to the Jewish festival of Sukkot in there somewhere.) When confronted with Moses and Elijah- not to mention Jesus taking on a very different look than usual- he doesn't know what to do.
I've never really decided if I think that God is answering Peter's unspoken "What should I do now?" directly, but I have to say, if you have no idea what you're doing, listening to Jesus is often a good idea.
Love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Lectionary: 2/3/2013 - 4th Sunday after Epiphany (C)
Prayer of the Day
Almighty and ever-living God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and love; and that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
The biggest theme to the readings this week is love. God's love for us, our love for God, and our love for each other- not to mention how all that plays out in our lives. The New Testament reading this week continues straight on from last week, when Paul was writing to the people of Corinth about spiritual gifts in community. The gift he's talking about this week is love, and this is one of the best-loved wedding readings from the Bible, despite it having nothing to do with romance. The Gospel reading also continues from last week. Jesus had just read a few verses from Isaiah to his home congregation, and then claimed that he fulfilled them, and now we see what happens afterwards.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Comments:
I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I've had someone tell me an echo of Jeremiah's statement here- I can't make a difference, I'm not good enough, old enough, smart enough, I can't do it, not me, I don't have money, talent, I'm not nice enough, no one likes me that much, really you don't want me to sing. Over and over again, just like Moses did it when God told him he would be a leader, we think we cannot possibly do God's work, not us.
And here we have God's answer for us. God has always known us, God has always been with us, and God will stay with us. Immanuel- God with us- promises Jeremiah here that words will be put in his mouth and he will upend nations. Now, certainly, that may not be the future for all of us- I hope not, that would be a very rocky world to live in- but as we heard over the last two weeks, each of us has been given gifts, and here we are reminded again that God is with us through our lives, and knows perfectly well what we can do. Perhaps our gifts aren't that easy to see compared to others- maybe we have patience, or stubbornness, or a talent for speaking the truth in hard places, or conviction towards justice. Maybe we can knit or sit with the dying or convince a frightened child they are finally safe. But we have been given these gifts, and God will be with us when we use them.
Psalm 71:1-6
In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.
Comments:
How often do we need a refuge, a safe place? How often are we desperate to feel calm and rescued and hopeful? Physical safety is something that many of us take for granted, but not all of us can. Emotional and spiritual safety is something we require to thrive and to grow, but some of us do not even have that. The Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible- the book where we talk back (or often sing back!) to God. And a lot of the Psalms have images like this and pray for safety. God is where we have turned for safety for generations, and while God has never promised that faith or service will make us safe, we have been promised, as in the previous reading, that God remains with us, wherever we go. We are not alone.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Comments:
So for the last two weeks Paul has talked at great lengths about spiritual gifts- and that we all have different ones but they are from the same God, and their use in communities and for God's service. And then we have this reading, which a lot of people have heard, frequently, at weddings. But when we read it in context of what Paul's been talking about for the last two weeks, it becomes clear very quickly that the love he's talking about isn't the romantic love between people getting married.
In the first paragraph he talks about the importance of love to an individual. It is the primary spiritual gift- without it, no other gifts are possible, nothing else matters. In the second paragraph he talks about love in relationship- and certainly all of what he says is true both in human relationships and our relationships with God. God is not petulant or irritable or abusive or fickle, and the love present in our relationships with each other leads us away from those actions, when we follow it. And when all things end, and our other spiritual gifts are no longer needed, still love will bind us together, and we will be with God.
Luke 4:21-30
Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Comments:
So, Jesus gets up in front of a worship service and claims to be God incarnate. Now, that happens to be true, so when we look at it from a couple thousand years removed, the reaction of the town looks pretty radical- but if someone you'd known for years did that this Sunday at church, what would your reaction be? So sure, that's one way to get yourself rejected from your home. The people in the synagogue weren't taking Jesus very seriously after he'd said that.
But then we have Jesus pointing out that the prophets have not been able to heal or help everyone- that, in fact, people have gone on dying and suffering and sometimes starving while God's chosen messengers were right nearby. And claiming to be the Messiah, the deliverer of the Jewish people, as Jesus just has, and then saying that- well, I'm guessing that leads to a whole different type of rejection entirely. One that apparently involves cliffs.
But while he may not have been very diplomatic about it (and Jesus could certainly be very diplomatic when he chose to be, Luke abounds with stories about that) he was essentially pointing out something we already know to be true. Trusting in God, and God's word, and God's word through the prophets, does not necessarily mean you'll be healed, or be made more safe than your neighbors. The one promise God has made us- in the other readings today and, more implicitly, in this one- is that God is with us. This is how God shows God's love for us, by being with us- by coming down and becoming human, and experiencing life, joy, grief and death as one of us.
Go in peace, serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Almighty and ever-living God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and love; and that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
The biggest theme to the readings this week is love. God's love for us, our love for God, and our love for each other- not to mention how all that plays out in our lives. The New Testament reading this week continues straight on from last week, when Paul was writing to the people of Corinth about spiritual gifts in community. The gift he's talking about this week is love, and this is one of the best-loved wedding readings from the Bible, despite it having nothing to do with romance. The Gospel reading also continues from last week. Jesus had just read a few verses from Isaiah to his home congregation, and then claimed that he fulfilled them, and now we see what happens afterwards.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Comments:
I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I've had someone tell me an echo of Jeremiah's statement here- I can't make a difference, I'm not good enough, old enough, smart enough, I can't do it, not me, I don't have money, talent, I'm not nice enough, no one likes me that much, really you don't want me to sing. Over and over again, just like Moses did it when God told him he would be a leader, we think we cannot possibly do God's work, not us.
And here we have God's answer for us. God has always known us, God has always been with us, and God will stay with us. Immanuel- God with us- promises Jeremiah here that words will be put in his mouth and he will upend nations. Now, certainly, that may not be the future for all of us- I hope not, that would be a very rocky world to live in- but as we heard over the last two weeks, each of us has been given gifts, and here we are reminded again that God is with us through our lives, and knows perfectly well what we can do. Perhaps our gifts aren't that easy to see compared to others- maybe we have patience, or stubbornness, or a talent for speaking the truth in hard places, or conviction towards justice. Maybe we can knit or sit with the dying or convince a frightened child they are finally safe. But we have been given these gifts, and God will be with us when we use them.
Psalm 71:1-6
In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.
Comments:
How often do we need a refuge, a safe place? How often are we desperate to feel calm and rescued and hopeful? Physical safety is something that many of us take for granted, but not all of us can. Emotional and spiritual safety is something we require to thrive and to grow, but some of us do not even have that. The Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible- the book where we talk back (or often sing back!) to God. And a lot of the Psalms have images like this and pray for safety. God is where we have turned for safety for generations, and while God has never promised that faith or service will make us safe, we have been promised, as in the previous reading, that God remains with us, wherever we go. We are not alone.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Comments:
So for the last two weeks Paul has talked at great lengths about spiritual gifts- and that we all have different ones but they are from the same God, and their use in communities and for God's service. And then we have this reading, which a lot of people have heard, frequently, at weddings. But when we read it in context of what Paul's been talking about for the last two weeks, it becomes clear very quickly that the love he's talking about isn't the romantic love between people getting married.
In the first paragraph he talks about the importance of love to an individual. It is the primary spiritual gift- without it, no other gifts are possible, nothing else matters. In the second paragraph he talks about love in relationship- and certainly all of what he says is true both in human relationships and our relationships with God. God is not petulant or irritable or abusive or fickle, and the love present in our relationships with each other leads us away from those actions, when we follow it. And when all things end, and our other spiritual gifts are no longer needed, still love will bind us together, and we will be with God.
Luke 4:21-30
Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Comments:
So, Jesus gets up in front of a worship service and claims to be God incarnate. Now, that happens to be true, so when we look at it from a couple thousand years removed, the reaction of the town looks pretty radical- but if someone you'd known for years did that this Sunday at church, what would your reaction be? So sure, that's one way to get yourself rejected from your home. The people in the synagogue weren't taking Jesus very seriously after he'd said that.
But then we have Jesus pointing out that the prophets have not been able to heal or help everyone- that, in fact, people have gone on dying and suffering and sometimes starving while God's chosen messengers were right nearby. And claiming to be the Messiah, the deliverer of the Jewish people, as Jesus just has, and then saying that- well, I'm guessing that leads to a whole different type of rejection entirely. One that apparently involves cliffs.
But while he may not have been very diplomatic about it (and Jesus could certainly be very diplomatic when he chose to be, Luke abounds with stories about that) he was essentially pointing out something we already know to be true. Trusting in God, and God's word, and God's word through the prophets, does not necessarily mean you'll be healed, or be made more safe than your neighbors. The one promise God has made us- in the other readings today and, more implicitly, in this one- is that God is with us. This is how God shows God's love for us, by being with us- by coming down and becoming human, and experiencing life, joy, grief and death as one of us.
Go in peace, serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Lectionary: 1/27/2013- 3rd Sunday after Epiphany (C)
Prayer of the Day
Blessed Lord God, you have caused the holy scriptures to be written for the nourishment of your people. Grant that we may hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that, comforted by your promises, we may embrace and forever hold fast to the hope of eternal life, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The theme this week is the Word of God as Scripture, particularly when read in worship services. There's also an underlying theme of God's laws for us and Jesus' fulfillment of the law. The New Testament reading this week continues from last week, and talks about spiritual gifts and Christian communities and relationships. Last week, we saw Jesus' first miracle at the wedding at Cana, this week we see him return home for the first time since the beginning of his ministry (and we also return from John to the gospel of Luke).
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
...all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Comments:
In case you're worried about verses four and seven, they're gigantic lists of names that don't add much to the story, so for lectionary purposes, they've been skipped to make the readers' lives easier. If you're really worried about them, just know Ezra was standing on a wooden platform at the start and the people in the lists helped the other folks understand the law. Or you could look it up.
There were a couple periods of time where the Jewish people did not have access to their scriptures, during the time covered by the Bible. In this case, they have just returned from what we call the Babylonian Exile. Generations before, armies from the nation of Babylon came and destroyed Israel, and took thousands of captives back to Babylon, where they lived as slaves and could not worship as they had before. Now they've been released (which is another long story) and many returned to Israel, and they're rebuilding. And since these folks have never had access to their Scriptures before (though tradition was passed down as well as they could manage without it) they go and hear Ezra, the priest, read "the law" (probably the first five books at least of the Hebrew Scriptures, also called the Torah or the Pentateuch) in the square.
It's shown elsewhere that the people are stunned by how much they've forgotten while they were in exile, and that's why they began to weep. And so the leaders reminded them that this was the Sabbath, God's day, and they could rejoice at what they had found again, and worship God, and give thanks (by eating and drinking good things and giving to the poor).
So here we see why we read the Bible during a worship service- to remind ourselves of what it says, so we don't forget. To worship, to rejoice and give thanks. And let's not forget that last bit about giving to those who have not- that is also a way to give thanks and rejoice and even to worship, and Jesus repeats that constantly as well.
Psalm 19
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat.
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Comments:
The word "firmament" isn't one we use a lot anymore, sadly- it just means "sky". It comes from a Latin word that meant "to prop up" which is why the "firm-" part is in there. The idea of the ancient world was that the sky propped up the heavens, which kept the earth and the heavens separate. Here we read that the heavens and the sky speak without words of the glory of God, so we do not "hear" their "speech", but we understand the point anyway. God has planned out even the way the sun moves across the sky, and if that's the case then the laws God has given must be equally carefully planned and wise. Can't the laws give us even more understanding of God than the heavens and sky and sun, which can't use words? So we try to follow them.
The last verse, on another note, is often used as a prayer all on it's own. Very common among pastors before a worship service, for example, or as a morning prayer. It's also easily rewritten if you want something in more ordinary language.
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts.
Comments:
Ever notice that the Gospel and Old Testament readings seem to match up okay, in terms of a theme, but sometimes the New Testament reading comes out of left field a bit? The lectionary we use is called the Revised Common Lectionary- common because it's shared among several denominations (including Roman Catholics, with a few minor changes here and there), and revised because this is the second one. The first one, the CL rather than the RCL, didn't have a New Testament reading, and when they were added in, the decision was made to organize them so that week after week we get continuous readings from a book, rather than by theme (except on some special Sundays where a theme is stuck to). So sometimes they match the week's theme, but sometimes they're a separate thing.
This week we have a passage that comes right after the passage from last week, which also talked about spiritual gifts. Last week the big point was that there are many kinds of spiritual gifts, and none of us have them all, but we can figure out which gifts we have and use them to worship God and to help others. This week, the focus is much more on how we treat each other than how we feel about ourselves.
When we are in worship, and when we are being truly Christian with one another, we treat each other as perfect equals in the eyes of God. The eyes of society- what we're wearing, how much money we have, what we did last week- don't matter. In the eyes of God we are God's beloved baptized children, blessed by the same Holy Spirit, sprinkled with (or immersed in!) the same water for the same purpose. And we continue to work with our gifts and seek out new ones, for the good of the church and the glory of God.
Luke 4:14-21
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Comments:
And here, Jesus goes home for the first time since the start of his ministry, and is invited to read the Scripture for the day and interpret it, and makes quite a splash. (If you want to know what happens afterwards, look it up and keep reading! Sometimes I think the people who set up the lectionary left cliffhangers for just that reason.)
So, go ahead and read that bit quoted from Isaiah again, I'll wait. Release of the captives, freedom to the oppressed, does that sound familiar? Ring any bells from the Nehemiah reading a minute ago? The Babylonian Exile and the return from it were such huge events in the history of the Jewish people that there are references to them all over the Bible, and this is another one- Isaiah talks about it quite a bit, actually. Even the sight to the blind part reminds me a little of the reading of the Scriptures to the people who'd never heard it read out before.
And all of these things are things which Jesus will continue to do during his ministry- certainly healing and proclaiming the Lord, but, while we don't have any stories of him getting people released in prison (though he certainly reminded us to care for prisoners and visit them) he did proclaim our freedom from the law.
To explain that a little more- you've probably heard preachers on TV or the radio talk about God's laws and that you have to follow them in order for God to love you. Well, Lutherans are different from a lot of Christians in a variety of ways, and this is one of them. We believe that Jesus' death and resurrection freed us from that need to earn God's love by following laws. God has declared that God loves us anyways, despite the fact that we are not perfect. We try to follow the laws that God has laid out, yes, but because of our gratitude and thankfulness to God, rather than fear, and because those laws are good for our communities and our lives and relationships. I have a whole list of "Lutheran Look" post ideas for Fridays, and a few of them talk about this sort of thing, so you'll be reading more about that eventually. (I hope!)
Go in peace, serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Blessed Lord God, you have caused the holy scriptures to be written for the nourishment of your people. Grant that we may hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that, comforted by your promises, we may embrace and forever hold fast to the hope of eternal life, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The theme this week is the Word of God as Scripture, particularly when read in worship services. There's also an underlying theme of God's laws for us and Jesus' fulfillment of the law. The New Testament reading this week continues from last week, and talks about spiritual gifts and Christian communities and relationships. Last week, we saw Jesus' first miracle at the wedding at Cana, this week we see him return home for the first time since the beginning of his ministry (and we also return from John to the gospel of Luke).
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
...all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Comments:
In case you're worried about verses four and seven, they're gigantic lists of names that don't add much to the story, so for lectionary purposes, they've been skipped to make the readers' lives easier. If you're really worried about them, just know Ezra was standing on a wooden platform at the start and the people in the lists helped the other folks understand the law. Or you could look it up.
There were a couple periods of time where the Jewish people did not have access to their scriptures, during the time covered by the Bible. In this case, they have just returned from what we call the Babylonian Exile. Generations before, armies from the nation of Babylon came and destroyed Israel, and took thousands of captives back to Babylon, where they lived as slaves and could not worship as they had before. Now they've been released (which is another long story) and many returned to Israel, and they're rebuilding. And since these folks have never had access to their Scriptures before (though tradition was passed down as well as they could manage without it) they go and hear Ezra, the priest, read "the law" (probably the first five books at least of the Hebrew Scriptures, also called the Torah or the Pentateuch) in the square.
It's shown elsewhere that the people are stunned by how much they've forgotten while they were in exile, and that's why they began to weep. And so the leaders reminded them that this was the Sabbath, God's day, and they could rejoice at what they had found again, and worship God, and give thanks (by eating and drinking good things and giving to the poor).
So here we see why we read the Bible during a worship service- to remind ourselves of what it says, so we don't forget. To worship, to rejoice and give thanks. And let's not forget that last bit about giving to those who have not- that is also a way to give thanks and rejoice and even to worship, and Jesus repeats that constantly as well.
Psalm 19
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat.
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Comments:
The word "firmament" isn't one we use a lot anymore, sadly- it just means "sky". It comes from a Latin word that meant "to prop up" which is why the "firm-" part is in there. The idea of the ancient world was that the sky propped up the heavens, which kept the earth and the heavens separate. Here we read that the heavens and the sky speak without words of the glory of God, so we do not "hear" their "speech", but we understand the point anyway. God has planned out even the way the sun moves across the sky, and if that's the case then the laws God has given must be equally carefully planned and wise. Can't the laws give us even more understanding of God than the heavens and sky and sun, which can't use words? So we try to follow them.
The last verse, on another note, is often used as a prayer all on it's own. Very common among pastors before a worship service, for example, or as a morning prayer. It's also easily rewritten if you want something in more ordinary language.
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts.
Comments:
Ever notice that the Gospel and Old Testament readings seem to match up okay, in terms of a theme, but sometimes the New Testament reading comes out of left field a bit? The lectionary we use is called the Revised Common Lectionary- common because it's shared among several denominations (including Roman Catholics, with a few minor changes here and there), and revised because this is the second one. The first one, the CL rather than the RCL, didn't have a New Testament reading, and when they were added in, the decision was made to organize them so that week after week we get continuous readings from a book, rather than by theme (except on some special Sundays where a theme is stuck to). So sometimes they match the week's theme, but sometimes they're a separate thing.
This week we have a passage that comes right after the passage from last week, which also talked about spiritual gifts. Last week the big point was that there are many kinds of spiritual gifts, and none of us have them all, but we can figure out which gifts we have and use them to worship God and to help others. This week, the focus is much more on how we treat each other than how we feel about ourselves.
When we are in worship, and when we are being truly Christian with one another, we treat each other as perfect equals in the eyes of God. The eyes of society- what we're wearing, how much money we have, what we did last week- don't matter. In the eyes of God we are God's beloved baptized children, blessed by the same Holy Spirit, sprinkled with (or immersed in!) the same water for the same purpose. And we continue to work with our gifts and seek out new ones, for the good of the church and the glory of God.
Luke 4:14-21
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Comments:
And here, Jesus goes home for the first time since the start of his ministry, and is invited to read the Scripture for the day and interpret it, and makes quite a splash. (If you want to know what happens afterwards, look it up and keep reading! Sometimes I think the people who set up the lectionary left cliffhangers for just that reason.)
So, go ahead and read that bit quoted from Isaiah again, I'll wait. Release of the captives, freedom to the oppressed, does that sound familiar? Ring any bells from the Nehemiah reading a minute ago? The Babylonian Exile and the return from it were such huge events in the history of the Jewish people that there are references to them all over the Bible, and this is another one- Isaiah talks about it quite a bit, actually. Even the sight to the blind part reminds me a little of the reading of the Scriptures to the people who'd never heard it read out before.
And all of these things are things which Jesus will continue to do during his ministry- certainly healing and proclaiming the Lord, but, while we don't have any stories of him getting people released in prison (though he certainly reminded us to care for prisoners and visit them) he did proclaim our freedom from the law.
To explain that a little more- you've probably heard preachers on TV or the radio talk about God's laws and that you have to follow them in order for God to love you. Well, Lutherans are different from a lot of Christians in a variety of ways, and this is one of them. We believe that Jesus' death and resurrection freed us from that need to earn God's love by following laws. God has declared that God loves us anyways, despite the fact that we are not perfect. We try to follow the laws that God has laid out, yes, but because of our gratitude and thankfulness to God, rather than fear, and because those laws are good for our communities and our lives and relationships. I have a whole list of "Lutheran Look" post ideas for Fridays, and a few of them talk about this sort of thing, so you'll be reading more about that eventually. (I hope!)
Go in peace, serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Lectionary: 1/20/2013- 2nd Sunday of Epiphany (C)
Prayer of the Day
Lord God, source of every blessing, you showed forth your glory and led many to faith by the works of your Son, who brought gladness and salvation to his people. Transform us by the Spirit of his love, that we may find our life together in him, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
The overarching theme this week is the love of God for God's people. The main way this is illustrated is by characterizing this love as the love which a bridegroom has for his bride- which, I admit, as a happy newlywed, strikes me as a little odd, but I'm going to try to take it in the manner in which (I pray) it was intended. A secondary theme is that of God's love shown to the people of God by spiritual gifts and a miracle. Last week we heard of Jesus' baptism, this week we see his first miracle- performed at a wedding, as a favor to his mother. This is also the last time we see his mother really get him to do something, so while she appears often later, this week's Gospel reading is a bit of a transition into adulthood for Jesus.
Isaiah 62:1-5
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch. The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
Comments:
Zion is another name for Jerusalem, which is very commonly used in the Bible. Jerusalem is the name of the city officially speaking, but using the name Zion also implies its special status in the Hebrew Scriptures as the city which has been chosen by God for the Temple, and references the promises for the future that God has made regarding it. Speaking of names, Hepzibah means My Delight Is In Her, and Beulah means Married.
And here we read some of those promises. The Jewish people had already been through a lot of pain and persecution by the point that this part of Isaiah was written, and that's why the Hebrew Scriptures speak so strongly of God being with them despite their trials and tragedies. Israel hopes for vindication before the nations that have assaulted and occupied her, and salvation from her enemies which have persecuted her for a long time, and that is what God promises here.
As I mentioned earlier, the comparison of God's love for the children of God (and, later on in the New Testament, for the church) to a marriage strikes me as a little odd. But let's take a moment to remember that in those days when this was written, marriages were not contracted very often because two people fell in love. They were more often business contracts between families, or even nations, and tools to build a strong community. For a bride and groom in those times, marriage was a sign of adulthood, a status of honor (because someone else's family found you good enough to ally with), and almost always a promise of future security and comfort. All of those line up nicely with God's promises to Zion, don't they?
Psalm 36:5-10
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
O continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your salvation to the upright of heart!
Comments:
When the congregation recites the Psalm together this week, we affirm God's love and faithfulness with images of what God has created around us. The sky, clouds, mountains, seas, animals and our fellow humanity are all reminders of God's power and love for us. We could not live without the atmosphere that gives us the sky, or the water that forms and falls from the clouds. The mountains and seas give the world variety and beauty. Our community comes from our fellow humans and, for those of us who have pets, animals. God's house is all of Creation, and from that fountain springs life.
In fact, if I remember anything from what I was taught about how our eyes work and optics and the like in science classes, "in your light we see light" is even scientifically true, given that God created light. What a wonderful reminder of the care God took in the way the universe is ordered!
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Comments:
Here Paul is writing to the Gentile Christians of the city of Corinth- the word "Gentile" means not Jewish, so they were not Jewish before they were Christian. Because of that, they have not learned about the spiritual gifts that God gives before (and a whole bunch of other stuff), and when Paul says they were pagans (that is, they worshiped other gods), it's a reference to that.
Here he educates the Corinthians that the many gifts people have come from the same God, and that our many activities with those gifts are inspired by God. He lists some of the gifts. Some people speak wise words, and other people speak with knowledge- perhaps they overlap, perhaps they don't, but those are two different gifts, aren't they? Some people have gifts of faith, or healing, or working miracles (like Jesus, and several other people in the Bible). Some people can prophesy- and in the Bible that has two meanings, sometimes it means "to tell the future" like we often use it today, but it also means "to speak the will or words of God".
The discernment of spirits, and speaking and interpretation of tongues, aren't really gifts we talk about a lot as Lutherans. It's possible that the "tongues" are just another way to talk about languages, in which case, I certainly know people who are gifted in both speaking and interpreting many languages, but I'm not really one of them. But it's also possible that the "spirits" and "tongues" talked about here are a way of talking about possession/exorcism and "speaking in tongues", which are popular activities related to worship in some Christian communities. From what I understand, the Lutherans don't really go in for them more because we're concerned that they can be and have been faked so easily. There may be occasional genuine cases, certainly, but that's very hard to judge and faked cases can hurt people and a community very badly.
John 2:1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Comments:
The Lutheran church runs on a three year lectionary- that is, arrangement of verses for Sunday and special services- of which, we are in year C (thus the (C) in the post title). Year C focuses on readings from Luke for the gospel readings, years A and B focus on Mark and Matthew, and readings from John are scattered through all three years. So that's why we occasionally hear from John, like this morning.
The "third day" bit at the beginning is a reference to the verse before, it just means that this is the third day after the previous verse (that we don't see.) We find that Jesus, the disciples (who don't really play much of a role here), and his mother (Mary, of course, but her name isn't mentioned once in this passage- happens to a lot of people in the Bible, but most often to women) are at a wedding. And, a wedding then being quite a bit like a wedding now (even if the marriages often started out for very different reasons than they would today) they were having some wine, and ran out.
Keep in mind that the steward, who we'll meet in a moment and was the head of the servants, was likely responsible for the wine running out. Anyway, Jesus has to be talked into performing a miracle by his mother (I kind of wonder if that bit was included to explain why Jesus, who otherwise mostly did miracles that healed people and the like, would have done a miracle like this) and sends some servants to fill some giant water barrels.
These water barrels were already empty, you'll notice. That's because the water in them wasn't drinking water, it was for the Jewish rites of purification, which had already happened. (There are several Jewish purification rites, but this water was probably for washing hands before a meal. Since the wine had run out, probably everybody had already eaten, therefore they'd washed their hands before that and the barrels were empty.) Isn't it interesting that Jesus, who came to forgive us our sins and "fulfill the law", as it's phrased in other passages in the Bible, takes the water used for a religious ritual of the law and turns it into a celebratory drink? Very suitable for a first miracle, wouldn't you say? And of course this wine was better than the ordinary wine, just as the celebration that Jesus will bring (that is, Easter) is the best of celebrations.
Go in peace, serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Lord God, source of every blessing, you showed forth your glory and led many to faith by the works of your Son, who brought gladness and salvation to his people. Transform us by the Spirit of his love, that we may find our life together in him, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
The overarching theme this week is the love of God for God's people. The main way this is illustrated is by characterizing this love as the love which a bridegroom has for his bride- which, I admit, as a happy newlywed, strikes me as a little odd, but I'm going to try to take it in the manner in which (I pray) it was intended. A secondary theme is that of God's love shown to the people of God by spiritual gifts and a miracle. Last week we heard of Jesus' baptism, this week we see his first miracle- performed at a wedding, as a favor to his mother. This is also the last time we see his mother really get him to do something, so while she appears often later, this week's Gospel reading is a bit of a transition into adulthood for Jesus.
Isaiah 62:1-5
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch. The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
Comments:
Zion is another name for Jerusalem, which is very commonly used in the Bible. Jerusalem is the name of the city officially speaking, but using the name Zion also implies its special status in the Hebrew Scriptures as the city which has been chosen by God for the Temple, and references the promises for the future that God has made regarding it. Speaking of names, Hepzibah means My Delight Is In Her, and Beulah means Married.
And here we read some of those promises. The Jewish people had already been through a lot of pain and persecution by the point that this part of Isaiah was written, and that's why the Hebrew Scriptures speak so strongly of God being with them despite their trials and tragedies. Israel hopes for vindication before the nations that have assaulted and occupied her, and salvation from her enemies which have persecuted her for a long time, and that is what God promises here.
As I mentioned earlier, the comparison of God's love for the children of God (and, later on in the New Testament, for the church) to a marriage strikes me as a little odd. But let's take a moment to remember that in those days when this was written, marriages were not contracted very often because two people fell in love. They were more often business contracts between families, or even nations, and tools to build a strong community. For a bride and groom in those times, marriage was a sign of adulthood, a status of honor (because someone else's family found you good enough to ally with), and almost always a promise of future security and comfort. All of those line up nicely with God's promises to Zion, don't they?
Psalm 36:5-10
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
O continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your salvation to the upright of heart!
Comments:
When the congregation recites the Psalm together this week, we affirm God's love and faithfulness with images of what God has created around us. The sky, clouds, mountains, seas, animals and our fellow humanity are all reminders of God's power and love for us. We could not live without the atmosphere that gives us the sky, or the water that forms and falls from the clouds. The mountains and seas give the world variety and beauty. Our community comes from our fellow humans and, for those of us who have pets, animals. God's house is all of Creation, and from that fountain springs life.
In fact, if I remember anything from what I was taught about how our eyes work and optics and the like in science classes, "in your light we see light" is even scientifically true, given that God created light. What a wonderful reminder of the care God took in the way the universe is ordered!
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Comments:
Here Paul is writing to the Gentile Christians of the city of Corinth- the word "Gentile" means not Jewish, so they were not Jewish before they were Christian. Because of that, they have not learned about the spiritual gifts that God gives before (and a whole bunch of other stuff), and when Paul says they were pagans (that is, they worshiped other gods), it's a reference to that.
Here he educates the Corinthians that the many gifts people have come from the same God, and that our many activities with those gifts are inspired by God. He lists some of the gifts. Some people speak wise words, and other people speak with knowledge- perhaps they overlap, perhaps they don't, but those are two different gifts, aren't they? Some people have gifts of faith, or healing, or working miracles (like Jesus, and several other people in the Bible). Some people can prophesy- and in the Bible that has two meanings, sometimes it means "to tell the future" like we often use it today, but it also means "to speak the will or words of God".
The discernment of spirits, and speaking and interpretation of tongues, aren't really gifts we talk about a lot as Lutherans. It's possible that the "tongues" are just another way to talk about languages, in which case, I certainly know people who are gifted in both speaking and interpreting many languages, but I'm not really one of them. But it's also possible that the "spirits" and "tongues" talked about here are a way of talking about possession/exorcism and "speaking in tongues", which are popular activities related to worship in some Christian communities. From what I understand, the Lutherans don't really go in for them more because we're concerned that they can be and have been faked so easily. There may be occasional genuine cases, certainly, but that's very hard to judge and faked cases can hurt people and a community very badly.
John 2:1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Comments:
The Lutheran church runs on a three year lectionary- that is, arrangement of verses for Sunday and special services- of which, we are in year C (thus the (C) in the post title). Year C focuses on readings from Luke for the gospel readings, years A and B focus on Mark and Matthew, and readings from John are scattered through all three years. So that's why we occasionally hear from John, like this morning.
The "third day" bit at the beginning is a reference to the verse before, it just means that this is the third day after the previous verse (that we don't see.) We find that Jesus, the disciples (who don't really play much of a role here), and his mother (Mary, of course, but her name isn't mentioned once in this passage- happens to a lot of people in the Bible, but most often to women) are at a wedding. And, a wedding then being quite a bit like a wedding now (even if the marriages often started out for very different reasons than they would today) they were having some wine, and ran out.
Keep in mind that the steward, who we'll meet in a moment and was the head of the servants, was likely responsible for the wine running out. Anyway, Jesus has to be talked into performing a miracle by his mother (I kind of wonder if that bit was included to explain why Jesus, who otherwise mostly did miracles that healed people and the like, would have done a miracle like this) and sends some servants to fill some giant water barrels.
These water barrels were already empty, you'll notice. That's because the water in them wasn't drinking water, it was for the Jewish rites of purification, which had already happened. (There are several Jewish purification rites, but this water was probably for washing hands before a meal. Since the wine had run out, probably everybody had already eaten, therefore they'd washed their hands before that and the barrels were empty.) Isn't it interesting that Jesus, who came to forgive us our sins and "fulfill the law", as it's phrased in other passages in the Bible, takes the water used for a religious ritual of the law and turns it into a celebratory drink? Very suitable for a first miracle, wouldn't you say? And of course this wine was better than the ordinary wine, just as the celebration that Jesus will bring (that is, Easter) is the best of celebrations.
Go in peace, serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
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