Lent 3C

The Third Sunday in Lent: Oculi

Introit

My eyes are forever turned towards the Lord,
for he shall release my feet from the snare;
look upon me and have mercy on me,
for I am abandoned and destitute.
Unto you, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul;
O my God, I trust in you,
let me not be put to shame.
Psalm 25:15-16, 1-2

Isaiah 55:1-9

¹ 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. ² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

³ 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. ⁴ See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. ⁵ 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.

⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; ⁷ 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. ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The Third Sunday in Lent

For the third Sunday in this slower, reflective season of Lent when many people cut down on food consumption we hear about abundant water and plentiful food. This comes from the final chapter in the second main section of Isaiah that's often called 2nd Isaiah. Although Second Isaiah mostly wrote during the Babylonian exile, scholars don't know if the prophet(s) wrote this poetry in the later section to people still in Babylon or to those who already had returned from exile to Jerusalem.

Exile in Babylon was devastating political, religious, cultural – and culinary – displacement. The people these promises and questions first addressed were hungry, thirsty, and poor.

Many urban dwellers in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and other cities reside in food deserts where the only food they easily can buy is overpriced and ultra processed. If Federal food programs get cut, the nutrition situation will become even worse. In addition, with armed conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere, food has become scarce for civilians and for the military.


Material and Spiritual

Isaiah 55 opens with a series of commandments, summons, invitations:

come – buy – eat – listen – eat – delight – incline – come – listen – seek – let

Don't waste what has value.
Don't settle for what doesn't fill you up and nourish you.
Take only what is good and enjoy it.

It's sometimes hard to know just where God's offer of necessary material goods ends and where God's offer of the spiritual substance of salvation begins. Does this passage refer to physical provision or spiritual provision? Yes. Both. And.

The Lord's Supper reminds us the food and drink God offers us is both spiritual and material. Eating and drinking can be a means of grace—not exclusively in Holy Communion. Think about it!


God's Thoughts; God's Ways

In 55:8-9 the Hebrew thoughts is closer to our word designs in English than it is to cerebral brain processes.

Our designs, ideas, and thoughts? Because we necessarily live in a world of economic exchanges, we expect to pay for absolutely everything, whether in legal tender, our labor, or in-kind. We don't really believe in free lunches. Nutrition has become commodified, or more accurately, calories people buy and ingest have. Even water, a basic life necessity, has become a commodity with a price attached.

Via Isaiah God asks us, "Why work hard spending energy and hours to buy stuff – food, entertainment, household items, apparel, junk – that doesn't satisfy on any level?" Why do we spend money on fake food instead of real food?


Free Food: God's Thing

If you're thirsty, come to the waters and drink your fill. If you're hungry, come on over and "buy" food that won't cost you anything. The people who first heard these words of promise were hungry and thirsty and very poor.

You remember in the exodus desert God gifted the thirsty and hungry people with water from the rock, food from the sky. In an environment where they couldn't plant or grow anything, Israel learned to trust food – and life – as a gift.

We don't believe in free lunches; God does! God created us in the Divine Image – Imago Dei – and through the Holy Spirit calls and enables us to be God's presence, and provision wherever we find ourselves. Have you noticed how those locations sometimes feel both accidental and providential? Amidst wars, inner city deprivation, even extreme rural poverty, individuals in every kind of setting, organizations of every type, and entire countries provide free lunches, breakfasts, and dinners.

Eating and drinking can be a means of grace—not exclusively in Holy Communion.

Come to the waters. Water is life! Come to the banquet! Come "buy, purchase" without money.


Affluenza

When we discussed this reading during Lent 2016 I mentioned the Curing Affluenza video series Tony Campolo (RIP, 19 November 2024) and Shane Claiborne made in the late 1990s and United Methodist Communications produced. North American Affluenza is the widespread disease of acquiring too much of everything you really don't need, sometimes in response to keeping up with or envying our neighbors.

On Wednesday mornings the East Coast Episcopal church I attended offered Book of Common Prayer Holy Communion Rite 1, breakfast, and discussion. For several weeks we watched the video series during the discussion portion. This page from the Franconia Mennonite Conference's Peace and Justice Committee is the best summary I could find.

Lent 2C

The Second Sunday in Lent: Reminiscere

Introit

Remember, O Lord, thy compassions and thy mercies,
which are from the beginning,
lest at any time our enemies rule over us:
deliver us, O God of Israel, from all our tribulations.
To thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul:
in thee, O God, I put my trust; let me not be ashamed.
Psalm 25:6, 3, 22, 1-2

Luke 13:31-35

³¹ At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." ³² He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, "Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. ³³ Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem."

³⁴ 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!
³⁵ See, your house is left to you desolate. 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.'"

• Overview of Luke's gospel


The Second Sunday in Lent

As we prepare for Easter during the forty day long season of Lent, many of us slow down, become more intentional about study and service, possibly take on a meaningful project or activity and often relinquish a sensual favorite such as chocolate, wine, or desserts.

Today's gospel reading happens after Luke reports Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem—the cross and the empty grave. Does that information help your Lenten considerations?


At That Very Hour

In Luke's gospel, the journey to Jerusalem and to the cross is particularly focused and incessant. Jesus first "set his face toward Jerusalem" in Luke 9:51.

Immediately before this, Jesus told a series of parables, and he went teaching from town to town. The narrow gate or door as entrance to the reign of heaven was among those teachings, followed by what's sometimes called "the great reversal" when those typically first will be last, the last surprisingly first. "People will come from the east and the west, the north and the south, and recline at table at the banquet of kingdom of God."

Commentaries are divided on the pharisees' warning Jesus about Herod being out to get him. Although we tend to put pharisees and sadducees into a single category, sadducees were the bad guys in collusion with the Roman empire, while the pharisees were serious about being ultra-observant and faithful; Jesus and pharisees dine together at several places in Luke. I'd call it a friendly warning that Jesus is well aware of.

As Luke records this pair of incidents, Jesus still is in Galilee, not yet in Jerusalem. Matthew doesn't include the exchange between Jesus and the pharisees, but he does quote Jesus' lament over Jerusalem: Matthew 23:37-39.

Similar to Jesus giving almost identical talks at many places, he would have grieved over Jerusalem at several – if not many – junctures along the way. In fact, as soon as he reaches and observes the Holy City in Luke 19:41-42, he again weeps and laments, "if only they'd known the things that made for peace."


The Jerusalem Temple

The Temple was the center of the world, a home for the God who filled heaven and earth. I know, a strange perspective because Israel well knew the peripatetic divinity who journeyed with them and always remained alongside them. But with other Ancient Near Eastern divinities being attached to a particular location, wouldn't Israel's God desire similar or even better? In any case, aside a place for God, the temple was the destination for the three pilgrimage festivals—particularly for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement that reordered and realigned creation. So it was central to the worldview of any observant Jew, and because the temple was essential, so was Jerusalem, the city where the temple resided.

Jesus took his identity and his calling seriously; from conversation and scripture he would have known many of Israel's prophets didn't fare well. Although saying prophets get killed only in Jerusalem isn't factual, Luke may have been making a broader observation about justice and the nature of raw imperial violence. Martin Buber points out the prophet rather than the priest had religious primacy for Israel, but the Jerusalem temple would have been the center of Jesus' world as an observant Jew, so prophets and priests both belonged to his tradition.


Where We Live

Weeping, hoping, and dreaming over cities. Peering anxiously or with confidence into the future. Weeping, hoping and dreaming over the people that live in the city, that ideally make a city of, by, and for the people, and not for the billionaire elites. Sorrow about broken and compromised infrastructure, because no individual or community can function without streets, roads, stock exchanges, air traffic controllers, and internet. Grief over what used to be, what could have been right now.

Jesus took his identity as Son of God and his calling to model and help create a just, compassionate society seriously. As people preparing for baptism or to renew our baptismal promises on Easter, we take our callings and identities seriously, too. God placed the first humans in a garden and charged them to care for it; God promised Abraham a land where people could settle and thrive as they nurtured the agricultural bounty surrounding them.

Jesus wept over cosmopolitan Jerusalem that was the religious, cultural, economic, and political center of his world. We live in a world that has become almost unimaginably flat. For example, very few non-Ukrainian people are not sorrowful, concerned, and prayerful about Russia's invasion and undeclared war on the smaller country. We grieve for places because we celebrate places. We celebrate places and locations because we need them.

Are tears, prayers, and actions for the cities we love, the world we cherish, and the hopes we hold especially appropriate during Lent as we anticipate Easter and the possibility of a new creation?

Lent 1C

The First Sunday in Lent: Invocabit

Introit

He shall call upon me, and I will hear him; I will deliver him,
and glorify him; I will fill him with length of days.
Psalm 90:15-16

He that dwelleth in the shelter of the most high
shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven.
Psalm 90:1

Luke 4:1-13

¹ Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, ² 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.

³ The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." ⁴ Jesus answered him, "It is written, "One does not live by bread alone.'" [Deuteronomy 8:3]

⁵ Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶ 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. ⁷ If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." ⁸ Jesus answered him, "It is written, "Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" [Deuteronomy 6:13]

⁹ 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, ¹⁰ for it is written, "He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' ¹¹ and "On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" ¹² Jesus answered him, "It is said, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" [Deuteronomy 6:16]

¹³ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

• Overview of Luke's gospel


Lent

The Church's year of grace has moved from the season of Epiphany into the 40-day long season of Lent. "Lent" is an old word for springtime that refers to lengthening days and more daylight (clocks spring forward this Sunday). The music tempo lento is a leisurely slowing-down pace. Lent is one of the church's oldest observances that probably began not long after Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension. Throughout the centuries Lent has had different lengths ranging from a few days to our current practice of forty days minus Sundays—Ash Wednesday through Wednesday in Holy Week. Sundays are In Lent but not of Lent, because every Sunday is a festival of resurrection.

Like seven, forty is a famous biblical number. Moses spent 40 days of Mount Sinai; Elijah spent 40 days on Mount Carmel. Israel trekked through the exodus desert for 40 years. Jesus spent 40 days of being tempted or tested in the wilderness.

With purple and lavender, lenten practices and observances emphasize repentance and baptism. Just as with baptism, the turning around, repentance aspect of Lent is about living bathed in grace. Lent is a time of preparation for baptism at the Easter Vigil; it's also a time for those of us already baptized to remember how in grace God claims us and names us.


Lent 1

Every lectionary year (A, B, and C) for the first Sunday in Lent the gospel reading is Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. Synoptic gospels Mark, Matthew, and Luke all include an account of Jesus' testing by the devil – ha Satan – traditionally the prosecuting attorney in Judaism. Mark provides no details; Matthew and Luke reverse the order of the second and third temptation or test.

Luke places this passage about Jesus, son of God immediately after his version of Jesus' genealogy that ends with "Adam, son of God."


Today's Gospel Reading

Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness immediately follow his baptism with the announcement of his identity and calling as Son of God. The Holy Spirit filled Jesus, and then the same Spirit of Life led him into a place more extreme than the wilds alongside the Jordan River.

The late Henri Nouwen points out the devil accosted Jesus with three of the world's greatest temptations; in his rebuttals, Jesus asserted his baptismal identity. Here are Nouwen's ideas followed by my comments on each one:

• To be relevant: Turn these stones into bread? Luke 4:3

But Jesus himself is the bread of life, he is far more than basic survival food, Jesus is The Stuff of ultimate revival, a.k.a. Living Bread, nutritious grain that won't rot or mold or decay!

• To be powerful: Have authority over all the kingdoms of the world? Luke 4:6-7

Jesus is Lord over and against the insufficiency of temple sacrifice, the dehumanization and violence of Roman or Russian or Washington, D.C., or any other imperial rule. In Christ Jesus all the world possesses the cross of Calvary, the power of life over the death-dealing, life-negating pretenses of too many ecclesiastical, institutional, and earthly governments.

• To be spectacular: Throw yourself down from the temple spire? Luke 4:9

But Jesus himself is the temple; Jesus is more than the temple. In fact, each of us is a temple of the Holy Spirit, so no further need for a brick and mortar structure because we have and we are living temples.

Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy, with words that point to the neighbor, the other, and not to himself. Jesus had spent a lifetime attending synagogue and being instructed in Torah, so he embodied the substance and meaning of scripture. We've mentioned Mary praying the Magnificat recorded in Luke 1:46-55 – "My soul magnifies the Lord, and spirit rejoices in God my savior" – that's roughly based on Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Being raised an observant Jew meant learning and knowing scripture.


Where We Live: Baptismal Identity

Lent is a time of preparation for baptism during the Easter Vigil and an opportunity for those of us already baptized to remember how in grace God claims us, names us Christian, calls us to live out our baptismal identity in witness and service, and in the power of the Spirit sends us filled with the Spirit into the world to be the gospel, to live as good news to everyone everywhere.

In today's passage, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy with words that point to the neighbor, the other, and not to himself. Jesus carried the words of scripture in his heart.

How about us? What about us? Martin Luther reminds us God has redeemed us from the "unholy trinity" of sin, death, and the devil. What scriptures, prayers, hymns, do you rely on to reclaim your baptismal identity when the going gets rough and tough? Maybe especially over the past half-dozen years?

When you're confused or uncertain about that next move? What scriptures do you recall when life is glorious and you want to thank and acknowledge God?

Transfiguration C

This is my Son, my chosen. Listen to Him!
Luke 9:35

Luke 9:28-36

²⁸ Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹ And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³⁰ Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. ³¹ They appeared in glory and were speaking of his exodus, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

³² 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. ³³ 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.

³⁴ While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"

³⁶ 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.

• Overview of Luke's Gospel


So Far in Luke 9

• Jesus calls the 12 together and gives them authority to heal and cast out demons.
• Sends them out to proclaim the gospel and heal; charges them to find and stay at houses of peace/shalom, with the famous exhortation to shake the dust of any place off their feet if it isn't one of peace.
• Charges the 12 to feed the crowd—"you give them something to eat." 5 loaves, 2 fish.
• Peter confesses Jesus as Messiah, the Christ of God.
• Jesus' passion prediction—suffer, die, be buried, raised.
• Jesus calls us to bear his cross, to lose our lives in order to save our lives.
• And now, Jesus transfigured on the mountain top!

Backtracking: read Exodus 34:29-35

Jesus' appearance became transformed not simply because he experienced God's glory ass Moses did, but because Jesus is the source of divine glory.


Listen to Jesus!

Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"

Listen to Jesus! not "look at him," despite all the resplendent shiny glory and bling that surrounds him.

Martin Luther: "The eyes are hard of hearing."

Listen to Jesus, not to Moses or to Elijah, who didn't quite get everything right all the time. Listen to Jesus and not to any other cultural, economic, consumer, or ecclesiastical voices evokes the Barmen Declaration [1934] from the Confessing Church in Germany in the wake of the idolatry of National Socialism – Nazism. The declaration is fairly short and extremely clear. In the current global political climate we need to claim and take its content to heart and to the streets.


Theological Declaration of Barmen

• Barmen Declaration background

• Barmen Declaration text

Please notice the German Churches call themselves "evangelical" or "good news," which is the usual terminology for German protestant churches and the designation Martin Luther chose.

Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in holy scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the church could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God's revelation.

and further:

We reject the false doctrine, as though the church were permitted to abandon the form of its message and order to its own pleasure or to changes in prevailing ideological and political convictions.

Mountains and Revelation

Mountains and other natural expressions are special venues of divine revelation and signs of God's presence in Judaism. You remember Moses receiving the commandments on Mount Sinai–Exodus 20:1-17? Elijah on Mount Carmel—1 Kings 19:12? Jesus' Sermon on the Mount—Matthew 5, 6… Jesus of Nazareth's death on Mount Calvary as God's ultimate revelation—Mark 15:37-39?

In addition, in Hebrew cosmology, the cloud of the shekinah is a frequent feminine image of God's Spirit. Check out the revelatory cloud in Luke 9:34-35 .

We know all creation is holy, sacred, set apart, though in events like today's we experience a special meeting of heaven and earth. How about God's presence in the sacraments?


Epiphany into Lent

The Baptism of Jesus and the Feast of the Transfiguration form Trinitarian bookends, with both qualifying as theophanies, or particular revelations of God. Transfiguration concludes the Epiphany season and – depending on how you count and measure – finishes the first major segment of the church's year of grace that began with the first Sunday of Advent.

Today we looked at Jesus' transfiguration. A quote from Nelson Mandela: "We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us." So… how about us?

Epiphany 7C

Genesis 45:1-15

¹ Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, "Send everyone away from me." So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

³ Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come closer to me." And they came closer. He said, "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
⁵ And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. ⁷ God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. ⁸ So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

⁹ Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. ¹⁰ You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. ¹¹ I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.'"

¹² "And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. ¹³ You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here." ¹⁴ Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck.

¹⁵ And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

Epiphany 7

This long Epiphany season will conclude next week with Transfiguration. And then? Ash Wednesday followed by six Sundays in (but not of) Lent.

This week I'll refer you to the exceptional commentary on the Joseph narrative by James Howell on his lectionary blog. I read Pastor Howell's blog most weeks, and I often find helpful ideas, but this one is extraordinary.


Joseph Forgiveness God Redemption Resurrection

The story of Jacob's son Joseph spans Genesis 37 through 50. You'll notice some backtracking and repetition because Genesis was compiled from different separate sources.

Joseph's brothers had intended serious harm (as in killing him) to Joseph, but Joseph was wise enough to recognize the action of God's Spirit in redeeming an incredibly bad situation. Joseph had enough insight, compassion, and life experience to forgive his brothers. In today's reading, and at the end of Genesis, chapter 50, Joseph credits God.

In spite of us, in spite of other people, in spite of circumstances, God heals, mends, renews, resurrects. God even redeems (literally takes back, buys back) death into new life!


Living in Empire

Among other perspectives, the story of Joseph and his brothers is about living well and fruitfully under empire—in this case Egypt.

It's impossible to escape the influence of empires, whether they're national governments (Babylon, Persia, Rome, Spain, Great Britain) or multinational corporations (Berkshire Hathaway, Eli Lilly, Walmart, Nestlé…). We need to find ways to live and sometimes thrive whether by resistance or even a degree of cooperation.

With famine all around, Jacob's family had no choice but to go to a place where crops would grow so they could be fed. At the time, Egypt was the breadbasket of the world. Until a couple of weeks ago, the USA often was called the breadbasket of the world. Ukraine has been known as the breadbasket of Europe. What does that terminology mean to you?

We may not need to leave our current city or place of residence, but political, commercial – and cultural! – empires still pursue us. What prayerful actions can we take to help change the status quo and even influence what looks like an (almost) inevitable future?

Through Christ God reconciled us to himself
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:18

Epiphany 6C

They are like trees
planted along the riverbank,
bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never fade or dry up,
and they prosper in all they do.
Psalm 1:3

Unidentified river between mountains image with CC0 license via px here.

• Gospel According to Saint Luke Overview

Luke 6:12-26

¹² Now during those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. ¹³ And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, ¹⁵ and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷ Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸ They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹ And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

²⁰ Then Jesus looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ²¹ Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. ²² Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. ²³ Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

²⁴ "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. ²⁵ Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. ²⁶ Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets."

Beatitudes

Comparing Matthew's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12) and Luke's Sermon on the Plain or a Level Place (pasture, meadow, savannah, farmland) is a classic move. Jesus' Blessed list often is called The Beatitudes. The Greek almost always translated as "Blessed" approximately means happy, well-off, content, fortunate, but not quite, because there's no exact English equivalent.

After Matthew's Jesus goes (trudges?) up the mountain, he proclaims a series of prophetic if/then possibilities. Matthew brings us Jesus of Nazareth as a new Moses. Moses went up Mount Sinai (or Horeb, same place, different name) to receive the Ten Words or Commandments.

Luke's Jesus and his disciples come down the mountain before Jesus gives this talk. That's also like Moses who came down Mount Sinai or Horeb to deliver the Ten Words/Decalogue he'd received from God.

In Matthew, these blessings are strongly spiritual. Luke's Jesus reports more earthbound benefits.


According to Luke

Consistent with Luke's focus on distributive (who gets what, when, where, how, and even "why") justice, common-wealth, and our neighbors' well-being, in Luke's gospel Jesus gives this talk from the same level or elevation as the listening people.

Earlier in Luke we've seen social and economic leveling in Mary's Magnificat as she celebrates news of God's arrival in our midst: Luke 1:39-55. In his first act of public ministry when he reads Torah in synagogue on the Sabbath recorded in Luke 4:14-24, Jesus picks up Mary's theme; he reads from Isaiah and promises jubilee good news (gospel) to the poor, liberty to imprisoned and oppressed, economic and social justice.

Luke parallels four blessings with four "woe" statements. Woes disrupt and disturb comfortable complacency, tell us to pay attention, to listen up, because if you have the information you can avoid the negative consequences of those dangers. These woes aren't about misery, pain, sorrow, or distress. Luke's Jesus doesn't line out blessings versus curses. These aren't Divine favor versus God's judgment. They're not realm of heaven versus depths of hell.


Which Version?

Over the years Jesus would have given many different versions of this homily in many different places, so there's no need to ask which is more accurate. The gospel writers recorded particular events from Jesus' ministry because news of significant actions and encounters constantly made rounds because they were such "gospeled" great news.

I especially love that Luke records the time Jesus offered these promises after he'd been praying with his disciples (taught people) and from a larger group chose twelve apostles (sent people). Notice that he spoke to many persons all told; just like us, each would have understood to a different degree and grasped a different perspective.


Where We Live

You may have heard "upside-down kingdom," though nothing about God's way of mercy, justice, and inclusion has people with privilege becoming financially impoverished and socially marginalized. Because of this, it's important not to interpret today's and other biblical passages as suggesting those who are well-off from a human perspective will become the opposite. Jesus' "woe" pronouncements caution people not to be apathetic and unobserving of others from their relatively high positions; the woes nudge them to divest of some cash and material belongings to help bring everyone to the same level. Level is an important concept in this scripture, throughout Luke's gospel, and in Luke's Volume II Acts of the Apostles. God desires everyone to have enough, not for anyone to have too much or too little.

Early on, Acts describes the nascent church:

Acts 2

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³ Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All who believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵ they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Where we Live: Blessings and Woes

No doubt Jesus' Beatitudes were very different from ways most political and religious leaders usually behaved; they subverted the status quo most regular people routinely experienced, too. What blessings and woes can we announce?

Blessed are those who realize every facet of existence intertwines. All of us need nutritious locally grown food and clean water. Everyone needs to know how to read, to write, to learn how government works for them and against them, to interpret signs of the times. We all need social opportunities. Each individual and every family needs shelter.

Woe to those who don't and won't acknowledge any social and/or economic move impacts a few hundred in its path.

What Blessings and Woes do you declare?

The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof
The world and those that dwell therein.
Psalm 24:1

Epiphany 5C

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) :: The Prophet isaiah
Public Domain Image via Wikimedia Commons

Isaiah 6:1-8

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. ² Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³ And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." ⁴ The foundations of the thresholds trembled at the sound of their voices, and the house filled with smoke.

⁵ And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" ⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷ The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out."

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

Epiphany

The Epiphany season continues with its focus on revelation, light, and Jesus (Light of the World!) for all people and all creation. God self-reveals in countless ways: scripture, circumstances; dreams we have when we sleep; dreams and visions when we're awake; memories, hopes, creation, conversations, sacraments… Epiphany is about God's people in turn revealing God's ways of inclusive grace to the world, which makes stories of God calling people so appropriate to the season.

During Epiphany we hear the opening acts of Jesus' public ministry in versions from the gospels of Luke on Epiphany 3—blog from 2019 and from John on Epiphany 2; those are call stores, too, with Jesus announcing God's call and claim on him.


Today's Readings

This week brings us two more call stories: the call of the prophet Isaiah and Jesus' calling his first disciples, who worked in the fishing profession in Luke 5:1-11.

Isaiah is 66 chapters long; it spans at least two centuries with writings from at least three different people. Today's passage is early in First Isaiah or Isaiah of Jerusalem, who was a temple priest in the lineage of Moses' brother Aaron.

All three sections of Isaiah particularly affirm God's lordship and sovereignty. Today's reading opens with the historical circumstance of the death of King Uzziah. Probably as he was offering a sacrifice of incense in the holy of holies, Isaiah receives a vision of the God he knew as the real king, the true ruler of all creation. Commentaries all say the dating here is accurate.

Although this is one of the texts for Trinity Sunday every year, and relates to that favorite Trinitarian hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy," Holy, holy, holy in this passage is not a trinitarian proclamation. It's an artifact of Hebrew, Aramaic and other semitic languages that don't have comparative and superlative adjectives, so you repeat the word once or twice. Instead of good, better, best, you'd say good, good, good. In this first reading for today, God is holy-holy-holy or the holiest.


Call—and Response

In addition to Jesus' call to ministry, besides Jesus calling disciples or followers that all three lectionary years include in their gospel readings, scriptures for recent Sundays include Jeremiah's call on Epiphany 4—blog from 2022 that echoes Moses' call from Exodus 3 and models God's many callings to each of us.

For discussion, journaling, or other considerations, think of your own major life calling/vocation or series thereof. At least since latish in the twentieth century most people have had four or five or six separate careers, or sometimes engage in two or three different ones at the same time. Most of us have many smaller circumstantial callings we receive literally all the time. What are some you've discerned and responded to?


Where We Live

Epiphany reveals Jesus as light of the world, Jesus as savior of all.

All of these scriptural call stories are mostly about God's gracious action. Our own call stories are primarily about God acting in grace. Epiphany reveals Jesus as light of the world. Epiphany is about us in turn revealing God's inclusive grace to the world. For us as holy people of a holy-holy-holy God, holiness means being baptized, set apart, and called; holiness means forgiven and set free; holiness means responding with loving, merciful, justice-seeking lives.

Presentation :: Candlemas

Vanderbilt Divinity Library requested we include this information
about the art and the artist:
Father George Saget, Presentation in the Temple, 1963,
Abbaye de Keur Moussa, Senegal

Luke 2:21-35; 39-40

²¹ And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

²² And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be called holy to the Lord"), ²⁴ and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord [Leviticus 12:6-8], "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. ²⁷ Inspired by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law,
²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and blessed God, saying,

²⁹ "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
³⁰ for my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹ which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."

³³ And the child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against ³⁵ that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too."

³⁹ When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

February 2nd

February 2nd famously is Groundhog Day in the USA.

In addition, February 2nd is Saint Brigid's Day, and Imbolc falls around February 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Imbolc is one of the cross-quarter festivals in Celtic spirituality and in the nature practices of some pagans. Cross-quarter refers to the mid-point between seasons, and conveys a sense of special things happening in creation during those mid-points.

Another February 2nd celebration is the Feast of Presentation of Jesus and the Purification of Mary in the Jerusalem Temple, sometimes styled as Candlemas, from Simeon's words "seen – light – revelation – glory." Candlemas is a word similar to Christmas, but rather than Christ's Mass it's Candle's Mass.


Candlemas

The early Church often celebrated Candlemas on February 14, (the biblical number of) 40 days after Christmas to mark the end of the Christmas season. In that case, just as you can wish everyone "Happy Easter" for fifty days, "Merry Christmas" is appropriate for forty days.

However, for most of us in the West, the church's year of grace still is in the season of Epiphany when we celebrate Jesus as light, redeemer, savior for all people everywhere.

Candlemas was observed in Jerusalem from about the year 350. In the West, it appears in both the Gelasian (7th century) and Gregorian (8th century) Sacramentaries. The Syriac Pope Sergius (in office from 687-701) introduced a procession with lighted candles that gave the day the name of Candlemas. We carry lighted candles at the beginning of the liturgy and light them again to listen to the gospel. (Thanks to the University of Dayton, Ohio for these details.)


Today's Gospel

Because it's also appointed for the First Sunday of Christmas in Luke's lectionary year C, you may have heard it a few times. Today's gospel brings us a very Jewish Jesus with his parents fulfilling the requirements of the ceremonial (sacrificial, ritual) religious law that Luke refers to as "Law of Moses." Please take note that in this passage law doesn't refer to the Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant.

Although all of the gospels and everything else about Jesus is about Jesus as savior, redeemer, light of all the world, unlike Mark, Matthew, and John, Luke doesn't get specific about that kind of universalism until his volume 2, Acts of the Apostles. People sometimes cite Acts 10:10-15 when Peter learns no food is off limits, but Acts in general expands into universal salvation as the narrative unfolds. However, here close to the outset of Luke, we hear Simeon announcing "…salvation… in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."


Canticles

Luke uniquely brings us three canticles or New Testament psalms; each has a particular place in the Liturgy of the Hours / Divine Office / Canonical Hours.

• Luke 1:46-55 Magnificat—Mary's song in response to the angel's announcement she will become the mother of Jesus. This canticle belongs in Evening Prayer or Vespers, typically sung at nightfall.

• Luke 1:67-79 Benedictus—John the Baptist's father Zechariah's song in response to the news of his son's upcoming birth. We sing or chant this canticle at Morning Prayer, a variable format that generally combines elements of Lauds and Matins.

• Luke 2:29-32 Nunc Dimittis—Simeon's song in response to recognizing the Savior of the world in his presence. Nunc Dimittis is the canticle for Compline or night prayer, and we sometimes sing or pray this canticle as we conclude the Eucharist. Martin Luther and John Calvin both include the Nunc Dimittis in their Eucharistic liturgies.

Presentation in the Temple from Gospel Light

Epiphany 3C

Nehemiah 8:1-12

¹ 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. ² 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.

³ Ezra 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.

⁴ The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand.

⁵ 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. ⁶ 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.

⁷ Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places.
⁸ So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. The interpreters gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ 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."

¹¹ So the Levite priests stilled all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved." ¹² And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine,
for this day is holy to our Lord.
The joy of the Lord is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10
Homecoming

Although some had settled and made homes for themselves in Babylon, many of God's people returned to Jerusalem after being exiled in Babylon. Without a doubt, Babylon had meant cultural, geographic, religious, political, and culinary displacement. By the time of the New Moon event we read about in Nehemiah 8, they'd rebuilt the city walls (safety) and and the temple walls (identity), yet found themselves subjects of yet another empire, Persia.


Torah

Torah is the Pentateuch or first five books of the Old Testament. These are spoken, written, remembered, recited, re-enacted words God used to call and to claim a people. To form and to shape a common life. To redeem and to sanctify. The words are history, poetry, songs, liturgies, sagas and include the decalogue or the Ten Words of the Sinai Covenant in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21.


Scripture

Today's scripture passage from Nehemiah reads "Torah" for every English instance of "law."

Remember that for the apostle Paul, "law" almost never means the commandments or the entire Torah. For Paul, "law" almost always means ceremonial, sacrificial practices that are not redemptive or salvific.

At this time of resettling into Jerusalem, orally transmitted texts were starting to be written down by people from many religious traditions. The words gained added authority by being edited, codified, and gathered into a canon or collection that had passed certain criteria to ascertain origins and authorship. Much of our current Old Testament came into being during those years.

This is the only instance of Nehemiah in the Revised Common Lectionary's three year cycle! The Anglican Communion that occasionally differs reads Nehemiah 9:6-15 during Eastertide and Nehemiah 9:16-20 during the Ordinary Time season of Pentecost


History

You know the story! Both the nomadic desert lifestyle and the Ten Words of the Sinai Covenant formed a people after God's heart. In addition, you probably remember several water features along the way from Egypt to Canaan.

Babylon had meant cultural, geographic, religious, political, and culinary displacement from the familiar and expected. People in exile had little or no access to scripture. We humans easily forget, especially when another culture or religion or concern surrounds or engulfs us. Many had forgotten Torah because exile in Babylon also meant exile from the identity-forming narrative of the Exodus along with the Sinai Covenant.

Actors in today's narrative include Ezra and Nehemiah. Although the books that bear their names are separate in our bibles, originally there were a single volume. The occupying Persian empire even had hired them to help the people acclimate to their post-exilic homecoming and to provide spiritual (Ezra) and political (Nehemiah) leadership. Ezra descended from Moses' brother, Aaron the priest. Ezra 7 tells us he was a scholar of the commandments who had a heart to study and teach. As priest and scribe, Ezra would have been one of the maybe 3% who could read and write.

Everyone gathered at the Water Gate. Was it near Gihon Spring? On the way to the Pool at Siloam?

Most who asked Ezra to bring "the book of the law" and read Torah probably had some knowledge of scripture and possibly a degree of devotion and curiosity, too. But very few could read or write.

Nehemiah 8:7-8 Understand. Interpret. This could have been translation from the Hebrew most had forgotten or never known into the Aramaic most spoke. It could have been exegesis, explanations, and cross references.


Response

Whenever I've read and loved this passage, I've imagined tears of joy, yet most commentaries said they probably were tears of grief and repentance from being convicted of breaking the law.

Though we know the commandments as gifts of grace, we sometimes talk about the bitterness of the law and the sweetness of the gospel. Could it have been mixed emotion tears of both sorrow and joy?

In wisdom Ezra counseled the people, do not weep. This is a time for joy. Glory in a feast of rich food and extravagant drink, and be sure to provide festive food for everyone who may not have any.


Where We Live

This interactive communal experience of reading, hearing, interpreting, understanding, and living the words of scripture was like what we in the church do in preaching, teaching, and individual study.

We become a People of the Book who interpret scripture for our own context. As Walter Brueggemann says, we become "fully texted" people who know and live scripture.


Keep On Reading!

• Nehemiah 8:14-18

After a full day of hearing and learning Torah, they immediately celebrated Sukkoth, the Feast of Booths, a festival of double thanksgiving—for the Exodus and for the Commandments. Scholars consider both the nomadic desert lifestyle of the exodus and the gifts of the Ten Words or Commandments constitutive for the people of God, similar to the way a constitution creates a nation or country.

Sukkoth reenacts the Exodus in tents that offer some shelter yet remain somewhat open to weather and natural elements. At this Sukkoth, former exiles who'd probably forgotten a (whole) lot claimed trust in and obedience to the God of the Exodus, God of the commandments.They became People of the Book! Read, heard, interpreted, lived.


Where We Live: Keep On Reading!

As I observed, this interactive experience is what we do preaching, teaching, reading, studying, interpreting, living scripture.

Gathered at the Water Gate, some people probably heard God's good news for the first time; others probably remembered what they'd forgotten.

Too many self-improvement specialists counsel people to forget the past and concentrate only on the future. Scripture advises us remember, remember, remember.

Recall and recollect by telling the stories of liberation and resurrection. The stories of slavery and death. Re-enact the stories and the histories. In a context that usually was more playful than it was serious, that's what Israel did. That's what we do in the liturgy. Bring the stories to life!

Fully texted People of the Book. Read, heard, interpreted, known, and lived.

God called and claimed Ezra's listeners by the Water Gate.

God called and claimed Israel amidst seas, springs, streams, and rivers

God calls and claims us…?

In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body
and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13

Epiphany 2C

Intro

Tony Campolo, "The kingdom of God is a party." Not like a party, not some semblance of a celebration, but the reign of heaven on earth is the real thing.

This is MLK weekend. The USA and many other countries have been impacted with frightening political, social, and economic uncertainties. Unprecedented wildfires have leveled Los Angeles area neighborhoods. Wars and other armed conflicts simmer and explode across the globe.

John 2:1-11

¹ On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." ⁴ And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." ⁵ His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

⁶ Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it.

⁹ 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 ¹⁰ 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 best wine until now."

¹¹ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Background

So far in this year of grace and season of revelation we've waited for God in our midst, we've been awed at the nativity of the infant Savior, we've met visitors from the East bearing gifts, we've joined a crowd alongside the Jordan.

After his riverside baptism by his cousin John the Baptist that all four gospels include, each gospel brings us a different version of Jesus' first act of public ministry. How can that be? Most likely they all happened around the same time, but each writer chose a particular one because it fit their perspective better.

The community surrounding John the beloved disciple writes about Jesus' signs rather than miracles. A miracle implies suspension of natural laws (which sometimes is the case, and sometimes there is a logical explanation), but a sign points beyond itself to a place, event, person, or idea—in this case, to Jesus. The Greek here is like our word semiotic that relates to signs, symbols, meanings. This gospel includes seven signs and seven "I Am" statements from Jesus. In Hebrew numerology, seven is the number of perfection or completion.


New Creation

In Matthew and Luke, after incarcerated John the Baptist wonders about Jesus being "the one who is to come," Jesus replies "go tell John what you see and hear: blind see; lame walk; diseased become clean; dead are raised! poor receive good news."

• Luke 7:20-22

• Matthew 11:2-5

These events fulfill John's signs.

John's gospel brings us the most explicit new creation.

• In the beginning … God –Genesis 1:1
• In the beginning … was the word –John 1:1

logos, word connotes both origin (where this came from) and immanence (what this might become). Does that sound theological?

On the seventh day God finished the work. –Genesis 2:2
"It is finished!" –John 19:30

• And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden… –Genesis 2:8

The garden of Jesus' burial and resurrection becomes the new garden of Eden

• Now there was a garden in the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one ever had been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. _John 9:41-42

The first day of the week is the eighth day of creation, the first day of the new creation.

• Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. –John 20:1
• Supposing him [Jesus] to be the gardener… –John 20:15b

Of the four canonical gospels, John brings us the most fully realized eschatology (protology is the word about first things, about origins; eschatology is the word about last things, about conclusions)—the clearest right here and right now of the reign of heaven on earth. A wedding party perfectly fits that worldview!


Today's Good News

This reading begins, "On the third day." In that place and time, the third day – Tuesday – was considered the best day for a wedding. But as Easter people, we also recognize the third day as the day of resurrection that initiates the new creation. And back then and there, an extravagant wedding party where everyone gets more than the dayenu or "it would have been enough" of the Passover song would be a primary indicator of the messianic age.

Cana in Galilee was disreputable gentile territory known for thieves and petty criminals. This wedding was not at an elite venue or an aspirational destination. Jesus performed this sign among regular, ordinary, working class people. Most of the guests and reception attendants probably lived nearby; some may have worked in the vineyard.

A wedding is an occasion to party; a wedding brings families together and gathers a community in one place for a single purpose. Whatever is happening elsewhere in the world, a wedding hopes for and promises a future. The couple getting married trusts that a future will arrive.

This isn't the old band Canned Heat Going Up the Country singing about "where the water tastes like wine." This is water that has become wine, and "you have kept the best wine until now!" –John 2:10


Where We Live

At the start of his public ministry Jesus attends a party and makes the party even better, in a preview of the rest of his time on earth. But two thousand years after Jesus' death and resurrection, we still experience death, disease, destruction, deadly fires, nations at war, a threat of government that is not by the people, of the people, or for the people.

Evidently a recent article in The Atlantic informed readers we need to party more. It was behind a paywall and no one provided a summary, but I agree.

After the 911 attack on the World Trade Center, although we didn't exactly rejoice with a block party, two days later on Thursday evening several churches in our neighborhood gathered to celebrate Eucharist, a meal with the risen Christ. Here's one of my reflections about it:

• 911 :: 22 years later

Literally in spite of everything we glanced into all creation healed and whole. We briefly lived in that future moment God dreams of and calls us to help create. Did you know the chasuble the person presiding at Eucharist vests in is the wedding garment of the messianic feast?

To paraphrase Cornel West, "We are people of hope. Why do we party on Friday night? Why do we go to church on Sunday?"

Because the Kingdom of God, the Reign of Heaven is a party!

Baptism of Jesus C

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are mine."
Isaiah 43:1-7

• Overview of Luke's Gospel

Luke 3:15-17; 21-22

¹⁵ As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶ John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

²¹ Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Season of Epiphany

After the Great Fifty Days of Easter, we experienced a half-year of green and growing Ordinary Time that lasted until Reign of Christ-Christ the King concluded that year of grace. Ordinary time is more organized and structured than it is commonplace and conventional.

Sundays between the Day of Epiphany and Transfiguration that protestant churches celebrate three days before Ash Wednesday form a shorter segment of ordinary time. With the date of Ash Wednesday being variable because the date of Easter Sunday varies, the length of the Epiphany season is shorter or longer, maxing out at nine Sundays when the day of resurrection is late.

Note: Roman and Eastern rite catholics as well as Anglicans celebrate Transfiguration on August 6th.

The baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration create trinitarian bookends to the season of Epiphany. The word trinity isn't in the bible but the concept is, and because we know a lot of the rest of the story, we often interpret scripture backwards. In 325 the Council of Nicaea formally defined the Trinity.


Intro

Very few events in Jesus' life are in all four gospels; all the gospels don't even have a birth story or a resurrection narrative. But we find John baptizing Jesus in all four—sit up and take notice!

• Mark 1:9-11
• Matthew 3:13-17
• Luke 3:21-22
• John 1:29-34


Jesus' Baptism

Jesus's baptism by John was not the same as our trinitarian baptism into Jesus' death and resurrection. John's baptism signaled a new political, religious, and economic beginning. Jesus' baptism also continued the Jewish practice of the bath, washing, or mikvah that may have begun at Mount Sinai during the Exodus, before Moses went up the mountain to receive the Ten Words or Commandments. Contemporary Jews continue the tradition of the cleansing mikvah.

• Exodus 19:10-14

Immediately after Jesus' baptism and God's identifying Jesus as beloved son, Luke brings us Jesus' genealogy that ends with son of Adam, son of God. Although scripture implies Jesus Christ as fully human and completely divine, the Council of Chalcedon in 451 first formally described the two natures of Jesus Christ.


Water and Identity Formation

For God's people Israel, the Jordan River was border and boundary between their old existence as slaves in imperial Egypt, followed by decades of wilderness wandering, and their new lives of grace, obedience, and freedom in covenanted community in the land of promise.

For Jesus, the Jordan River was border and boundary between his earlier, more private life and a public life of grace, obedience, and keeping righteous covenant. Notice how Jesus praying and an icon (dove) of the Holy Spirit appear in this account. Prayer and the Holy Spirit are prominent throughout Luke's gospel.

For us, living waters form a border and boundary between our more private lives (think first and second spaces-places) and our public lives of grace, obedience, keeping covenant with creation, and advocating for justice in third spaces-places as well as our presence and testimonies in the fourth space of the internet.

Every baptized person is a public theologian!

Notice that only in Luke does John announce Jesus will baptize with Spirit and with fire (3:1). What does that mean to you?

My header art from the first reading, Isaiah 43:1-7, describes God's people as created, formed, redeemed, called, named, and claimed. Particularly related to your own baptism, how does that comfort, challenge, and inspire you?

"You are my son the beloved
With you I am well pleased."
Luke 3:22

Epiphany 2025

Matthew 2:1-12

¹ In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ² asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising [in the east], and have come to pay him homage."

³ When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴ and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

⁵ They told Herod, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

⁶ "And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a governor who is to shepherd my people Israel.' "

⁷ Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸ Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."

⁹ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising [in the east], until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹ On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Days after Christmas

Days after Christmas offer several possibilities. When January 6th doesn't fall on a Sunday, many churches celebrate Epiphany on the nearest Sunday. During 2020 I wrote about Jesus' Presentation in the Temple; the Circumcision and Name of Jesus on January 1st would be good for the first Sunday of any new year. January 6th was Christ's birthday until the 4th century, when Emperor Constantine moved it to a few days after the solstice to correlate with the Feast of the Unvanquished Sun, a celebration people already knew about. And then January 6th became the baptism of Jesus, as it still is in Eastern expressions of Christianity. Some Western churches that follow the lectionary are observing Jesus' baptism today.


Epiphany Day and Season

Epiphany means revelation, revealing, uncovering. We sometimes tell people we've "had an epiphany." The "epi" prefix means upon; "phan" is revelation.

Despite the song about the Twelve Days of Christmas, January 6th, the day of Epiphany is the thirteenth day of Christmas. Although we're in Luke's lectionary year, the gospel reading today is from Matthew because only Matthew includes this story.

On the day of Epiphany and during the Season of Epiphany we celebrate Jesus as light of the world; we affirm the God of the bible as God with and for all religions, ethnicities, abilities, social statuses, etc. We rejoice in the God who breaks barriers, the God who shatters boundaries and expectations. Epiphany is a season of evangelism, of reaching out to and inviting in people of all cultures, nationalities, orientations, professions, etc. And we celebrate the light of Christ reflected in us! In the global North, Epiphany arrives shortly after the winter solstice, making its symbolism of light especially full of meaning. Stars are the epiphany symbol.

The day of Epiphany initiates the variable length (because the date of Easter varies) season of Epiphany that extends until Ash Wednesday. Or Shrove Tuesday. Western protestant churches celebrate Transfiguration on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, making the theophanies of Jesus' baptism and his transfiguration bookends.

We'll number Sundays after Epiphany until Lent. Next week we'll revisit Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River by his cousin John the Baptist and we're experience a trinitarian theophany, or revealing of God as Father, Son, and Spirit.


Today's Gospel

These visitors from a country east of Judea (along with their retinues) most likely were religious leaders, probably Zoroastrian priests who were astrologers. Zoroastrianism was a middle-eastern way of life that preceded Islam. Astrologers studied and interpreted stars in the sky for signs and meanings; they may have been astronomers in our sense of people with expertise about the heavenly bodies. In any case, they were of a different culture, religion, and ethnicity then the Jews (Israelites, Hebrews) the bible identifies as the distinctive people of God. These wise persons based their decision to set out for Bethlehem on

(1) studying signs in the skies, on
(2) reading their own scriptures or holy book, on
(3) heeding messages they received in a dream.

Our text doesn't say how many there were, and it doesn't say they were kings or royals, but they brought three gifts, so tradition sings about and talks about three kings. In the Ancient Near East (ANE) a star in the sky often signaled the birth or death of a great individual. Numbers 24:17 names stars as a Messianic sign. Did the visitors recognize Jesus as royal or as divine?

Matthew writes about the star at "the rising" of the sun in the east, at daybreak, at dawning. Stars are scattered all over the Matthew passage with east, east, star, star (and magi in the house where the star stopped, not back in the stable). "From the east" is anatolia—the rising of the sun. (Not Bruce Springsteen's The Rising!) Latin words oriens and orient mean the same as the Greek anatolia—the other side of the world from ours?

Because this story of persons from The East, from The Rising – the direction where the sun rises to start a new day – opens up questions of inclusion, of boundaries, of people who are like us and different from us, the season of Epiphany emphasizes evangelism beyond how we've "always done it." Revealing Jesus with a star, a scripture passage, and a dream, enlighten our imaginations and our outreach.


Traditions :: Star Words + Chalk House Blessings

There's very little information in scripture or anywhere regarding Jesus' early life, but many traditions have grown up around Christmas and Epiphany. Traditions such as naming three kings Melchior, Kaspar, and Balthazar, traditions like decorated evergreen trees, carols and songs, and giving gifts rooted in creation are ways we make Jesus' life real to ourselves and our neighbors. Traditions are ways of incarnating, enfleshing, embodying the Nativity or birth account. You've likely noticed our Christmas Story combines narratives from Luke's gospel and from Matthew's.

Stars are the epiphany symbol! As an alternate or in addition to New Year's resolutions, there's a recent practice of choosing a star word early in the new year as a guide for the upcoming year. You can ask someone else to suggest one, or in the Spirit claim a word to light your path the way a star led the magi.

Blessing your dwelling (house, apartment, office, workshop, studio, retail space, etc.) with chalk is an historical practice for New Year's Day, Epiphany, or any time. An internet search will provide resources to make the blessing short and simple or long and elaborate. The inscription for this year is 20+C+M+B+25—the calendar year with CMB sandwiched in the middle.

CMB can stand for traditional magi names Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, or it can be initials for Christus Mansionem Benedicat / May Christ Bless this House. Although Latin "house" is similar to English mansion for a huge dwelling (or manse for the pastor's house that's not usually very big), it doesn't imply large. It's a home, a way station, a stayover place. You can bless the entraway and/or separate rooms.

The First Sunday of Christmas

Here's a talk I gave on the first Sunday of Christmas 2021. I promised myself no edits or additions except for obvious errors, but I've added new illustrations. Because I used notes and not a script, this is approximately what I said. What would i say about Christmas music and food today, three years later? What would you say?

Intro

The pastor asked three of us to share our testimony of Christmas for the proclamation on the Sunday after Christmas: where do we find Jesus, the Christ child?

During this time of the year the northern hemisphere experiences more night than it does day, we first observe the advent season of waiting for, hoping for, and expecting the birth of Jesus, light of the world. We don't know the actual month or day of Jesus' birth, but the early church wisely calendared it at the winter solstice that also coincided with the Mithric Feast of the Unvanquished Sun. Jesus, Son of Righteousness spelled with an "o" also is the Sun of Righteousness spelled with a "u" who is Light of our Lives. After Advent and Nativity, the day and then the season of Epiphany continue with Jesus as light to all.

Martin Luther particularly loved the New Testament book of Titus. The anonymous author tells us, "The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all." [Titus 2:11a] Jesus is that light-filled grace, our grace-filled light.

Nativity Prayer

Root of Jesse, Son of Heaven, Mary's Child.
Cradle of Joy, Word in the Manger, Astonishing Gift.
Lord of Creation, Abundant Promise, Dayspring of Peace.
Be with us here in this place;
make us shepherds of your grace.
May our lives season the world with salt;
Nurture our neighbors with leaven;
Light a path to show your way.
In your name we pray—
Amen!

Valley Winter Song – excerpt

You know the summer's coming soon
Though the interstate chokes under salt and dirty sand
And it seems the sun is hiding from the moon
And late December can drag a person down

[While] the snow is falling down
In our New England town
What else is new?
What could I do?

I wrote a Valley Winter Song
To play for you.

by Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger

Christmas in this Valley 1

So sang Fountains of Wayne in a song LL Bean gave lots of airplay to in a commercial during 2008. In these days of endless pandemic in a different valley on the other coast, besides Jesus light of the world and the created lights of sun, moon, and stars, what brightens our days better than music?

Music in church and on the street is a huge part of December's identity and festivities. Even people with no experience of clinical depression typically have a lower mood during the winter months. Have you ever heard a song or a symphony that instantly gave you hope? Today I'll mention two major pieces of music and a recurring event that always bring the grace and hope of Jesus into my world.

Along with a few million others across the centuries, Handel's oratorio The Messiah is a December perennial for me. Especially the opening solo for tenor from Isaiah 40 with its announcement, "Comfort Ye, My People – Every Valley Shall be Exalted." Our God. God's people. My second concert-type composition that takes a trained university or professional choir is the Christmas Cantata by Daniel Pinkham, a Boston area composer and church musician who lived during the mid-twentieth century.

My recurring event is [Scripture] Lessons and Carols that can take many forms. We had a participatory Lessons and Carols here on Christmas Eve; this morning on the first Sunday of Christmas it's Lessons, Testimony, and Carols. When I lived on the east coast, as an undergrad at Boston University I sprung for the free tickets people needed to enjoy Lessons and Carols at Harvard's Memorial Church. I believe they presented it three times each year back then, but it was so popular you still needed a ticket.

Later on when I was a seminarian across the river from Boston University, at Lessons and Carols I often ran into classmates or friends I hadn't seen in a long time due to our schedules and because days and months pass so fast. That became a time we'd resolve to get together first of the new year, which always happened.

Christmas in this Valley 2

Besides music, as we celebrate the nativity with God born in Bethlehem as a baby formed out of created stuff from the earth, what is Christmas without all that special yummy food? What you enjoy depends somewhat on your current place on the planet along with traditional winter holiday foods of your home country or home region, or maybe what your grandparents and great grands considered necessary for Christmas feasts with friends and families.

Food also has got to be the best ever Christmas present because in itself it's a gift of creation. From my perspective, giftable foods ideally are things like home baked cookies or quick breads or homemade jam, preserves, or pickles. Maybe home brew, if there's a brewer in your household. These days supermarkets, specialty shops, and farmer's markets offer a whole lot of tasty food. They're a live option if you won't or don't bake or can or brew.

Outro

What else can we do but sing and play valley winter songs to brighten lives and remind us of Jesus in our midst? We can create and enjoy culinary gifts of creation. Grace has come to the entire world in Jesus; many of us know grace and glory and joy through music and because of edible gifts from the earth.

• What's your favorite Christmas music?

• What Christmas food is an absolute necessity?