Epiphany 4A

Happy are the Shalom Makers
for they will be called
Children of the Father.
Matthew 5:9

Matthew 5:1-12

¹When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ²Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

³"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ⁶"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. ⁸"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ⁹"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. ¹⁰"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Matthew's gospel…

…includes Jesus as the New Moses with an emphasis on the righteousness and justice of God we find throughout the Hebrew Bible. In Matthew's gospel, Jesus provides formal instruction in the Sermon on the Mount and offers parables about the reign of heaven.

Chapter 5 opens Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Its five sections parallel the five books of Moses (not written by Moses, but with Moses as a central actor) in the Torah or Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Jesus brings us words of life in the Sermon on the Mount, with a different style from the ten words or commandments God gave us through Moses, yet like the ten words/decalogue, Jesus is all about our flourishing together in safe, healthy, productive community. Jesus' entire ministry shows us how to live and love together in service, how to be church together.

It's interesting that Matthew is the only gospel that uses the word church or ecclesia. This called out assembly (us) is similar to the Roman City Council, the Los Angeles City Council, the New England Town Meeting that gathers together, deliberates together, and in our case, prays and worships together.


Matthew and Luke…

…both include this talk that describes characteristics or attributes of disciples or people who follow Jesus. Matthew and Luke tell about the same event; each evangelist makes a particular theological point. Like almost any teacher or preacher, Jesus would have taught the same lesson to different people at different times, with both planned and organic variations to customize the message to his current audience. For Matthew, Jesus is the ultimate teacher who wants his followers to be the best learners ever.

Jesus on the mountain or hill parallels Moses receiving the ten commandments on Mount Sinai. In Luke, Jesus teaches similar content from a level place [Luke 6:20-26] and reflects Mary's Magnificat/Hannah's song [Luke 1:46-55; 1 Samuel 2:1-10] that promise God will raise up the lowly and bring down the mighty to create a world – a lifestyle – of distributive justice, where no one has too much, no one has too little. The sermon on the plain also fulfills Jesus' announcement of jubilee justice during his first act of public ministry in the synagogue service [Luke 4:16-21]. Besides a list of blessings, Luke's Jesus includes woes.


Blessed, Happy

This is not the deep well of joy we sometimes experience as Christians in spite of less than ideal circumstances. Blessed is participation in the reign of heaven on earth and being well-regarded by God. Blessed, happy is not consumer happiness as in "if I buy this tablet or take this trip I'll be happier"; "If I buy that tablet, take this trip, and attend that concert series I'll be the happiest." I thought carefully about my list because those items are valuable and life-enhancing, and though a new tablet, phone, or laptop is a material object, it's mostly a means of communication and can be used in ways that develop an individual's creative abilities and community connections. Travel almost anywhere enhances our perspective and expands our horizons. Music is the food of love, the soundtrack of life!

Backtracking to Luke, Pastor Gene Peterson in The Message translates woe as "trouble," but this wouldn't be the good trouble God calls us to so we can help change the status quo. Sorrow, sadness, grief, and similar better convey Jesus' concept of woe.


Peacemakers

My illustrating "Blessed are the Peacemakers" as Blessed are the Shalom Makers takes some liberty. The biblical shalom is peace that's more than absence of conflict, but the Greek here is the root of our word irenic. Irenic peace is basic cease-fire, lack of overt conflict, a conciliatory attitude. When the Lord's Prayer or Our Father prays, begs, and pleads for the reign or rule of heaven on earth, it asks for the fulness of shalom.

The important beginning of irenic peace eliminates obvious disagreements, but shalom goes beyond that. Shalom is enough of everything we need to live healthy lives. As Martin Luther explains in his Small Catechism, asking for actual daily bread or food (water, shelter, good government, etc.) is only part of what we need. Shalom is integrity and honesty with each other inside our work, home, church, and other communities. Shalom is the Good News of the gospel fully lived out every day, everywhere we go. Shalom is the kingdom of heaven, the reign of life on earth.

Epiphany 3A

Zebulun and Naphtali from Jerusalem Windows by Marc Chagall

Zebulun shall settle at the shore of the sea;
he shall be a haven for ships,
and his border shall adjoin Sidon.
Genesis 49:13

Naphtali is a doe let loose
that bears beautiful fawns.
Genesis 49:21

• About Marc Chagall's Jerusalem Windows

Isaiah 9:1-2

¹ But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

² The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.


Matthew 4:12-22

¹² Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. ¹³ He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴ so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

¹⁵ "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the gentiles—

¹⁶ the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned."

¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

¹⁸ As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishers. ¹⁹ And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people." ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

²¹ As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus in the World

• Overview of Matthew's Gospel

Epiphany celebrates Jesus as light, as revelation to everyone everywhere, and reminds us YHWH always has been God of all, God for all, not exclusively Israel's.

We've experienced 2023's retelling of Jesus' baptism (found in all four gospels). Slightly out of order for our logic, every year (in the three synoptic gospels) on the first Sunday in Lent we hear about Jesus' Spirit-filled, post-baptismal temptations in the remote wilderness. All four canonical gospels have a different event for Jesus' first act of public ministry; most likely they all happened around the same time and clearly only one could have been the actual first, but each choice says something about the gospel writer's overall focus.

• Mark 1:16-26: Jesus calls the brothers Zebedee and immediately exorcises a demon in the synagogue
• Luke 4:16-21: Jesus announces the Jubilee year in synagogue
• John 2:1-11: Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding at Cana—a party!

• Today we have Jesus' Initial Public Offering according to Matthew: Jesus, the ultimate rabbi/teacher calls disciples. Teachable followers!


Geography

You can't separate geography, climate, and culture. Jesus making a home in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali in Capernaum-By-The-Sea, along the Way-Of-The-Sea that connected Egypt to Mesopotamia, is a bittersweet reminder that God owns the world and everything it. When Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us [Matthew 1:23] goes there, light dawns on the people's deadly darkness.

As 1st Isaiah describes it and Matthew quotes, Galilee of the nations-gentiles meant not-Israelites, and Isaiah almost definitely referred to occupation by imperial Assyria. In Jesus' – and later Matthew's – context, non-Israelite, gentile imperial Rome controlled land, sea, and everything related to them: employment, production, processing, distribution, taxation, etc.—the totality of everyone's lives and livelihoods.

Matthew emphasizes Jesus' connections with the whole people of God. Tribal descendants of Jacob's sons, Zebulun (Joshua 19:10-16) and Naphtali (Joshua 19:32-39) were part of territorial allotments first promised to Abraham and Sarah. Land is God's gift of covenanted place and space, yet the land of promise God called the people to steward into agricultural bounty and interdependent community is now under Roman control. Land is not alienable, not a "property" we can sell:

The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; you are but aliens and sojourners with me. Leviticus 25:23

Jesus' Geography / Locations

1. birth in Bethlehem
2. to Egypt for refuge from Herod's decrees
3. moving to childhood home in Nazareth
4. now he's in Capernaum


Jesus Calls Disciples

For Isaiah, Assyrian occupation equaled darkness and hopelessness, as did Rome's for first century Judea. Since Advent we've been in an extended season of light. Unlike John, Matthew doesn't name Jesus as "light of the world," yet after Matthew narrates the people have seen a great light, Jesus repeats John the Baptist's "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near," although Jesus actually embodies the reign of heaven. It is here, it is now, and it is the polar opposite of Rome's life-extinguishing darkness.

As Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother … he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. … James son of Zebedee and his brother John … left the boat and their father and followed him.

Matthew tells us light has dawned and Jesus calls us to repent so the light will blaze brightly. Follow Jesus? As Matthew's gospel progresses, Jesus provides formal instruction in the Sermon on the Mount and offers parables about the reign of heaven. We see Jesus healing human diseases and confronting economic, religious, and governmental powers that be.


Church in the World / Light of the World

And Jesus said, "Follow me…" Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Today let's stay with the season of Epiphany and the gospel according to St. Matthew. Light dawns in Jesus. What does Jesus' presence do in the darkness and death of Roman imperial rule?

We receive a lighted candle at baptism. What does our presence as Jesus' followers feel like, look like, act like in today's uncertain world?

Matthew's Jesus is the ultimate teacher who wants his followers to be the best learners ever.

• "You are the salt of the earth." Matthew 5:13

• "You are the light of the world. Let your light shine!" Matthew 5:14

• "The reign of heaven is like yeast." Matthew 13:33

We can do this! We can be salt, light, and yeast! Amen? Amen!

Epiphany 2A

label scar on vacated Macy's store

Isaiah 49:1, 5-7

¹Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he named me.

⁵And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— ⁶he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

⁷Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, "Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

The Epiphany Season Continues…

…with its theme of God as redeemer for all the world, Jesus as light of the world.

• Last week: Baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3:13-17

• This week: Baptism of Jesus in John 1:29-42

• All 4 gospels include John baptizing Jesus!

Jesus' baptism or mikvah was not the same as our trinitarian baptism into Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, but more of a signal of newness for the nation. At Jesus' baptism we experience a trinitarian theophany with Father, Son, Holy Spirit all in attendance at the event. We hear God the Father naming, claiming, calling, and inspiring Jesus. At our baptism, God names, claims, calls, and literally inspires us with the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah is an excellent choice during Epiphany because all of the long book of Isaiah brings us broad, inclusive universalism. Israel's God YHWH is God of all, God for all nations, people, creation. God seeks and desires wholeness, integrity, shalom, interconnectedness, a free future not bound by the past—for all.


Servant Songs

Today our first reading is one of Second Isaiah's four Servant Songs found at:

• Isaiah 42:1-9

• Isaiah 49:1-6

• Isaiah 50:4-9

• Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12

All of 2nd Isaiah brings us a servant attitude. The church hears these texts during the Holy Week of Jesus' passion that leads to his death. The church long has identified the Servant as Jesus Christ, but the Servant could be God's whole people Israel, Israel of the Babylonian – or any other – diaspora. The servant could be the person who recorded the words of Second Isaiah. How about us as the Suffering Servant?

Today's reading helps us reflect on:

• God's baptismal claim on us as individuals and as a community
• the presence of the HS
• God's baptismal call to be Jesus' presence everywhere


In last week's blog for Baptism of Jesus I wrote:

Jesus conception and birth are the start of the new creation? Yes! But Jesus' baptism opens an ongoing visible, public, manifestation or showing-forth of God's new action in recreating the world. … Did this echo the first creation as it emerged from surging disarray into boundaries, purpose, and intent? Did it replicate Israel showing up wet on the other side after crossing the Jordan into the promised land of covenanted community, agricultural bounty, and grace?

How about us? Our baptism initiates our public ministry. Jesus' ministry shows and clarifies God's love and purpose for creation. Jesus invites us to follow him into the waters, into the world…

After a retail or other tenant vacates a commercial building, they tear off that company's sign or banner and you almost always can see a scar where the sign had been. In baptism God marks us with the sign of the cross forever—it's an indelible "label scar." Can people see it or feel it? Does our baptism demonstrate and reveal God's merciful love and eternal purpose for the world? Think about it!

Baptism of Jesus A

Matthew 3:13-17

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.

¹⁶ And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

A New Creation

With a Book of Beginnings, Book of Origins = biblios geneseos, Matthew presents a new Genesis, a New Creation with Jesus of Nazareth's birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. When Matthew's gospel concludes, Jesus charges us to go into all the world, make disciples, baptize and teach them.

• For Matthew's lectionary year I blogged a short overview.


The Season of Epiphany

In the wake of the Day of Epiphany, this season of varying lengths ends with Transfiguration (in Western protestant churches). "Different lengths" because Lent comes after Epiphany, and the date of Ash Wednesday depends on the date of Easter.

During Epiphany that reveals, manifests, and makes apparent the presence of the Divine, we learn about Jesus' early ministry. In all four gospels we find Jesus' cousin John baptizing Jesus. Although it was not our trinitarian baptism but more of a fresh start for the entire people, baptism initiated Jesus' public ministry, just as it does ours. Jesus' ministry shows and clarifies God's love and purpose for creation; Jesus invites us to follow him to be God's presence in the world.


Jesus' Baptism

We find John baptizing Jesus in all four gospels, so listen up! Next week in John's gospel [1:29] we'll hear John the Baptist identifying Jesus as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world."

Jesus' baptism often is identified as a trinitarian theophany, a revelation of all three persons of the Trinity.

Somewhat related to John the Baptist wondering why Jesus would need baptism brings at least one aspect of our Christian baptismal theology into this text. First, John's baptism was a new beginning for the nation of Israel more than it was for the individual being dunked, although an individual always belongs to a greater whole. Also, when Matthew's community assembled their account, questions of Jesus' full divinity weren't yet a thing; those concerns unfolded two or three centuries later. In terms of formal doctrine, the Definition of Chalcedon that describes Jesus Christ as fully human, completely divine, dates from 451. Yet again, all four gospels refer to Jesus as divine, son of God, God with us, pre-existent Word/speech/action of God, one with the Father.

Jesus himself answered John's objections by explaining he needed to be baptized in order "to fulfill all righteousness." In scriptural terms, to be righteous means to be aligned with God, in literal right relationship, to act with justice. "Thy kingdom come" is a righteous prayer; a righteous desire sidesteps human whims for the deeper, broader connectional fulfillment that helps lead to heaven on earth.


Our Baptism

This Jesus-Savior, Emmanuel-God-with-us would save the people from their sins. Jesus' cousin John identifies him as Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. In that culture debt and sin were close to synonymous, thus all the biblical calls for and actions toward distributive justice, yet sin also was about shortcomings the Westminster Catechism describes as "lack of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God." Because in some ways John's baptism of Jesus was closer to the repeatable ritual bath or mikvah than to our Trinitarian baptism into Jesus' death and resurrection, comparisons can get tricky, but let's go for it, anyway.

Jesus came up from the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove … And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved."

Jesus sends his followers into the world to baptize and teach; somehow most people reading this blog have been baptized, taught, and agreed to follow Jesus.


A New Creation

Comparing Jesus' baptism to ours can put us into a precarious position; interpreting Jesus as Isaiah's suffering servant may not be historically warranted—although Holy Week scriptures do exactly that. But notice the insight of the lectionary committee in appointing this Second Isaiah [chapters 40-55] passage with God's announcement of Jesus' divine sonship alongside the waters of new birth:

Isaiah 42:1,9

¹ Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.

⁹ See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.

Jesus conception and birth are the start of the new creation? Yes! But Jesus' baptism opens an ongoing visible, public, manifestation or showing-forth of God's new action in recreating the world. As Jesus came up from the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit. Did this echo the first creation as it emerged from surging disarray into boundaries, purpose, and intent? Did it replicate Israel showing up wet on the other side after crossing the Jordan into the promised land of covenanted community, agricultural bounty, and grace?

How about us? Our baptism initiates our public ministry. Jesus' ministry shows and clarifies God's love and purpose for creation. Jesus invites us to follow him into the waters, into the world…