Pentecost 10B

They ate and had some left over,
according to the word of the Lord.
2 Kings 4:44

2 Kings 4:42-44

⁴² A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, "Give it to the people and let them eat." ⁴³ But his servant said, "How can I set this before a hundred people?" So Elisha repeated, "Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat and have some left.'" ⁴⁴ He set it before them, they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.


John 6:1-15

¹ After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. ² A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³ Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.

⁵ When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" ⁶ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. ⁷ Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." ⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, ⁹ "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?" ¹⁰ Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."

Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost."

¹³ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. ¹⁴ When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world."

¹⁵ When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

2 Kings 4:42-44

The lectionary pairs this story with Jesus' feeding a huge mob of…5,000 men plus women and children. Do the math!

For an undisclosed reason someone from a land of the Baals, the Canaanite fertility gods, a person almost definitely not an Israelite, brought bounty from the first fruits of Shavuot, the Jewish Pentecost or festival of weeks we talked about on the Christian Day of Pentecost. The first fruits marked the harvest end; Leviticus 23:20 states, "The bread of the first fruits … shall be holy to the Lord."

At first it looked like a lot of food, but when they discovered the crowd was 100 people (was that only men, as was typical then?) they knew it couldn't be enough.

The servant (whose servant? it doesn't say) from afar had anxiety about the amount of food, but Elisha assured him it would be more than enough according to God's promise—as in having leftovers. The hungry people, the human gathering, shared God's holy food of the first fruits.


Bread-Tide

Because Mark is the shortest gospel, this year we hear more from John's gospel than we do during Matthew's or Luke's year. For five weeks beginning today through Pentecost 14, we'll read John 6:1-69—most of the chapter. On twitter, Dr Jo Kershaw from Wakefield, UK, called these five Sundays Bread-Tide.

All four gospels include today's loaves and fishes story:

• Matthew 14:13-21

• Mark 6:32-44

• Luke 9:10-17


Interpreting Scripture

To the extent we can figure it out, the historical setting and original meaning of a passage always is our first question. Every mention of water doesn't refer to baptism; every mention of bread and/or fruit of the vine doesn't correlate to the Lord's Supper, yet they still remind us water is life and food is essential.

At this opening section, try to go back to before Maundy Thursday, before Resurrection evening.

Jesus' disciples would not have heard or seen Jesus in terms of the Last Supper/Lord's Supper; they could not have related this event to a post-resurrection Eucharistic meal with the risen Christ. Although Jesus' original long discourse would have been more scattered and piecemeal than what John gives us, John was very theologically intentional about the order of Jesus' words, and today's reading doesn't yet have Jesus' proclaim I Am the Bread of Life where Jesus not only gives the food, Jesus is the food, so let's also wait on that.

Some scholars believe this is John's stand-in for the Maundy Thursday Lord's Supper founding meal. That's only speculation, even though Jesus takes the loaves, gives thanks, and Jesus himself – not the disciples – feeds the people. Did you notice there's no mention of fruit of the vine, or wine…?


Bread and Fish notes

This chapter happens during Passover. Just as at the first Passover, there's been a sea crossing, followed by bread in the wilderness. John 6:9 "Five barley loaves and two fish." Barley was one of the seven agricultural gifts of the promised land; barley was the coarser, less expensive poorer person's grain; the barley harvest had the advantage of being ready before the wheat! Some people in that culture considered fish a food of the gods.

Just as in the OT reading, there were bountiful leftovers. In Greek, leftovers and baskets full are the same word. But what happened to those leftovers? Maybe they fed people who weren't there for whatever reason; possibly the extras fed birds or wild animals?

We only can guess and hope what happened to the leftovers, but we know God's abundance, generosity, grace, supply—you can't out-give God!

I love how the first reading ends with Elisha repeating, "Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat and have some left.' He set it before them, they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord."

You've probably heard, There's enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed?

Five Loaves and Two Fish
John 6:9

Pentecost 9B

In Christ ye also are builded together
for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:22

2 Samuel 7:6-8

⁶ I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. ⁷ Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ ⁸ Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel.


Ephesians 2:13-22

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For Christ is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.
¹⁵ He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.

¹⁷ So Christ came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; ¹⁸ for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, ²⁰ built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; ²² in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

Background

The letter to the church at Ephesus brings us language of the household, the more private, intimate sphere that traditionally included biological family and servants, and that's still mostly about biological family and others we interact with daily outside of school or workplace. Social scientists sometimes refer to these are first spaces or places.

The broad sweep of Ephesians includes third spaces and places—the more commercial, more political public areas where we venture as citizens. Work and school typically are considered second spaces or places.
.
The author of Ephesians says "law" in the same way the Apostle Paul does. Here, law (ordinances, etc.) isn't the Ten Words or Commandments. As it is for Paul most of the time, this is ceremonial law, sacrificial law, circumcision, keeping kosher—ritual practices that divided Jews from gentiles or non-Jews.


Vocabulary

This passage is full of gloriously evocative and reassuring language, particularly related to the Holy Spirit. Baptism changes us from being isolated, solitary, atomized individuals as it (literally) incorporates us into the organic, interconnected, interrelated One Body of Christ—not as an undifferentiated blob, but with unique gifts, talents, perspectives, experiences, and contributions. Although the Holy Spirit always has had free reign, we now possess the indwelling Spirit that enables us to live and act as the presence of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ as we restore the fullness of heaven on earth.

The Message riffs to make this wonderfully clear:

Ephesians 2

¹⁶ Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. ¹⁷ Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. ¹⁸ Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.

¹⁹ That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone.

God is building a home. God's using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. ²⁰ God used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now God's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. ²¹ We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, ²² all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

For the Day of Pentecost I quoted the first stanza of a hymn by Paul Gerhardt:

O enter, Lord, thy temple,
Be Thou my spirit's guest,
Who gavest me, the earth-born,
A second birth more blest.
Thou in the Godhead, Lord,
Though here to dwell Thou deignest,
For ever equal reignest,
Art equally adored.

Paul Gerhardt, 1653; translated by Catherine Winkworth
Tune: Zeuch ein zu deinen Toren
Scripture: Acts 2:17

I have not dwelt in any house
since the time I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt,
but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.
In all the places wherein I have walked,
spake I a word saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar?
2 Samuel 7:6-7

Pentecost 8B

Faithfulness will spring up
from the ground,
And righteousness look down
from the sky.
Psalm 85:11

Psalm 85:8-13

⁸ Let me hear what God the Lord will say;
For God will speak peace to his people, to the godly ones;
To those who turn heavenward in their hearts.
⁹ Surely salvation is near to those who reverence God,
That glory may dwell in our land.
¹⁰ Mercy and truth are met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
¹¹ Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
And righteousness look down from the sky.
¹² Indeed, the Lord will give what is good,
And our land will yield its increase.
¹³ Righteousness will go before him
And will make a path for his steps.

Psalm 85

Psalm 85 comes along in the lectionary during Advent and at other times. Besides, I fitfully use the PCUSA Daily Prayer App that features Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer, it cycles through the psalter every few weeks. Every time I hear verses 10 and 11, I vividly remember singing Ralph Vaughan Williams' cantata, Dona Nobis Pacem when I was an undergrad.

In 1936, three years before the outbreak of World War II as fascism threatened Europe, Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote Dona Nobis Pacem–Give Us Peace.

The first reading for this Sunday is Amos' oracle of a plumbline in the midst of the city: Amos 7:7-15

Are the leaders, the institutions, the "regular people," and the outcomes of their words and actions, straight, just, and true? If they are, mercy and truth, justice and shalom will become the reality of our lives together. Glory will dwell in our land!

• Thanks to Naxos recordings, here's the complete text: Dona Nobis Pacem

• Recordings on Amazon

Pentecost 7B

My grace is sufficient for you
for my power is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9

Mark 6:1-13

¹ Jesus left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. ² On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! ³ Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.

⁴ Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." ⁵ And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. ⁶ And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. ⁷ He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ⁸ He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; ⁹ but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. ¹⁰ He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. ¹¹ If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them."

¹² So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. ¹³ They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

So far in Mark

We've heard the opening announcement of Good News – "Gospel" – followed by Jesus' preparation for public ministry by receiving John's baptism of repentance, his retreat into deeper wilderness for a time of solitary prayer and temptation, then ministries of healing, exorcism (casting out demons, evil spirits, and what we might consider mental or psychological illnesses), calling followers or disciples, demonstrating the inclusive reign of God by eating with all comers, teaching theology with parables or comparisons, demonstrating his authority over the created order by taming a storm, *even* restoring life to a young girl who was "at the point of death."


Today's Gospel Reading

Jesus returns to his hometown and his disciples follow him. He's on his own turf, with his own people—both family and friends. His teaching on the Sabbath in his home synagogue causes friends and family (not religious experts this time) to wonder about the source of his authority; after all, this Jesus is a regular person like everyone else.

To paraphrase Pastor Eugene Peterson's version, "All of us know who Jesus is, but who on earth does Jesus think he is?"

Jesus and his siblings would have grown up learning scripture, probably memorizing long passages. Any Jew in that time and place would have been scripturally and theologically literate. In addition, it wasn't unusual for a regular person like Jesus to read and teach in the Sabbath assembly; as in synagogues today, they had a custom of inviting congregants to read Torah on Sabbath.


Models for Ministry

Jesus' friends and relatives didn't get who he was; we can commiserate from knowing about how it feels when people don't understand us, the pain of being rejected or not welcome. Those can be important discussions in light of scripture. But for today, we hear about Jesus sending disciples to do the same ministry he has done. Jesus doesn't wait until their understanding and actions all are perfect; Jesus trusts and sends them as they are. They go out as sent people (apostles) because Jesus has authorized them.

At this particular time, Jesus sends his disciples out in pairs of two. He tells them to go with only bare basics: sandals to protect their feet, a walking stick to help trudging over rough terrain—maybe to chase away snakes and vermin. He tells them not to take food or money! This is far from the only biblical model for reaching-out, invitational evangelism, yet many still follow the two by two, minimal supplies, relying on people we encounter example.


Guests and Hosts: Where We Live

6:10: Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place (locale).

Preaching, teaching, and healing are important aspects of twenty-first century Christian ministry for individuals and for entities like congregations, schools, and hospitals. Besides, we love to host people. Every city has dozens of church-related food ministries of different types and several housing/shelter services for various populations.

Related to hosting, typically we think of food and shelter, but why not count ministries of music, visual arts, and dance in the ways we host others, whether they're in the audience or we're instructing them? We're still the hosts-givers; they're our guests-recipients.

But here Jesus tells us let other people host you! Enjoy their hospitality; let them give to you. Make yourselves at home among strangers.

We need to contextualize what we do in order to relate well to others' cultures and experience. We want them to feel welcomed and definitely puzzled or offended. How can we learn to host in ways they relate to… maybe by letting them host us?!

We can learn about our neighbors' food by eating it, watching or helping them prepare it, along with table manners that may be different from ours. After all, western European food etiquette departs from our usual North American habits. Engage newcomers to learn about their music, traditions, geography, and other features in their countries of origin. Countries of origin? How about families and individuals from other sections of the USA? We can learn basic words and phrases in others' languages. If they're native speakers of English, pick up some of their colloquial phrases and use them properly.

If because of space, too remote a location, or other concerns activities can't happen in someone's home, we can invite them to a meal or other activity in a park, rec or community center, maybe in our church building. I'll add in here it's absolutely okay to offer financial support to help offset the cost of food or other supplies. Ministries and outreach can't occur without bodies, minds, and spirits, but don't underestimate how essential funding is.

6:11 "If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." Move right on! What about that advice? How long do we wait? I always say, "people are going to say and do whatever they're doing to say and do. Don't let them wag you." My own advice often has worked well for me, but how do we discern it's time to move on?

Pentecost 6B

Though hast turned for me
my mourning into dancing.
Psalm 30:11

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

⁷ Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. ⁸ I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. ⁹ For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

¹⁰ And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something— ¹¹ now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means.

¹² For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has—not according to what one does not have. ¹³ I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between ¹⁴ your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. ¹⁵ As it is written, "The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little."

Epistles

An epistle is written communication – basically a letter – addressed to a person or group, although these days some blogs qualify as epistolary. Examples? Lead article in the church or organization newsletter. You may get some substack letters; I get a bunch (too much), but Boston College history professor Heather Cox Richardson's daily Letters from an American is the must-read.

In addition to seven letters the Apostle Paul wrote to various churches, the New Testament contains other epistles attributed to him, as well as letters that cite Peter, John, and James as author. Back then when they didn't have necessary copyright laws, attributing your writing to a well-known person was commonplace and not considered dishonest.

New Testament epistles received edits and annotations as they circulated to different churches, so every word and phrase might not be from the original writer. Paul's letters were earlier than any of the gospels—predating even Mark's Gospel.


Corinth

Today's second reading from 2 Corinthians addresses the Church at Corinth that famously was full of vanity, competition, and divisions that reflected the opulent, cosmopolitan style of the city. Particularly as it relates to money and finances, this passage is a default for stewardship campaigns. However, Paul doesn't focus on balancing the budget of the Corinthian Church; instead, he's concerned about connections and relationships between local churches.

In this section of the letter he wants the mostly gentile Corinthian congregation to provide financial assistance to the mostly Jewish Jerusalem church. Twenty-plus centuries later, different denominations have different polities or governance structures, but whether highly centralized like today's Church at Rome or almost autonomous local churches like free-standing Baptists, we're all interrelated and interdependent in Jesus Christ.


Grace and Economics

All of 2 Corinthians 8 says a great deal about grace; Greek for "generous undertaking" in verse 7 is gracious endeavor and charges the Corinthians to excel or abound in grace because of Jesus Christ's "generous act" that's simply grace in verse 9 – "though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor" – and echoes Paul's earlier Philippians 2:6-7.

In Greek, economics literally is the household law. Although verse 14 reads, "…so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance…" Christian economics is both material and spiritual and it's never zero-sum with one party depleted if they give to another. Not surprisingly Paul relates the meaning and impact of gifts of cash in the light (and in the shadow) of Jesus' death and resurrection.

This reading easily expands to spiritual and material gifts of service, prayer, compassion, food, presence, clothing, facilities maintenance, knowledge, and other specialties. Stewardship and giving need to encompass (1) cash ("legal tender") to exchange for stuff we need but can't produce ourselves; (2) time we need to get things done; (3) talents we apply (spend – you may remember a talent was a chunk of money in Jesus' day) toward ongoing or one-time only ministries. And, of course, stewardship of God's gracious gifts incorporates intelligence, prayer, scripture study, and – to all outward appearances – doing nothing as we wait to discern and learn what's next for us.


Where We Live

You probably remember reading about the nascent church in Acts 2:

⁴³ Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through 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.

Many many groups since then have tried living communally; monasteries usually function in ways to be sure everything has enough. Some monasteries and other religious groups freely provide for the surrounding community; others sell their produce, handicrafts, and other specialties to support themselves and those they reach out to.

In the world of Western liberal democracies, governments on all levels attempt a type of "fair balance" distributive justice. You probably can share your own experiences of sometimes giving, at other times receiving, of studying the issues and possibly acting by signing petitions or serving on advisory boards.

Darkness may endure for a night
Joy cometh in the morning.
Psalm 30:5

Pentecost 5B

O give thanks to the Lord!
Psalm 107:1

Mark 4:35-41

³⁵ On that same day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." ³⁶ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.

³⁷ A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸ But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

³⁹ Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" ⁴¹ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

Where We Are

Mark's gospel was written down around the time of the destruction of the second Jerusalem Temple, which served as a cultural, social, economic, and religious landmark for everyone; the J-Temple was THE reference point for every Jew. No more temple meant the end of the world as they'd known it.

This account approaches a cosmic scope that encompasses memories and hopes of the Temple and other establishments. We can parallel environmental devastation, cyberhacking, racism, democracies struggling against totalitarian governments, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a once in a century worldwide pandemic, a foreign entity invading the USA on 9112001 (you can add to this list) as the end of worlds we had known and expected to continue.


Today's Good News

This event happens "on the same day" as last week's agricultural scattered seeds and mustard seed parables. Today's gospel reading brings us water and the word. And yes, that provides more than a hint of baptism's power to drown old established systems and summon the new creation. This same story's also in Matthew 8:23-27 and Luke 8:22-25; Mark, Matthew, and John include a related narrative of Jesus walking on water.

The body of water here is freshwater Lake of Galilee, but Mark always refers to it as the Sea of Galilee. In the Old Testament a sea or ocean often is a symbol or sign of chaos and disorder. Untamed waters in Genesis 1 and in Psalm 104 are the womb of creation. You remember the sea of the Exodus. Noah's flood. Jonah's ocean, and quite a few rivers besides the iconic Jordan. Check out today's reading from Job 38:1-11.

Jesus tells everyone they're going "across to the other side." That other side was where non-Jews lived. Genesis tells us Abraham was an ivri – Hebrew – one from "the other side." Including everyone by bringing outsiders into the inside is a particular hallmark of Mark's Jesus. To what extent can we do the same?

This meteorological event is a great storm surrounded by great (mega in Greek) fear, with Jesus' word leading to great – mega – calm. "Fear" here really is frightened, terrified, scared, and not "awe" fear of Luther's Small Catechism and some Psalms. In today's gospel reading, Jesus' word that subdues the water is the same word he used to exorcise the demon.

• Mark 1:25 Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit
• Mark 4:39 Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind


• A related reflection for Storm Sunday 2010

Pentecost 2B

We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord
and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake.
2 Corinthians 4:5

Deuteronomy 5:12-15

¹² Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁴ But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work — you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.

¹⁵ Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

Mark 2:23—3:6

²³ One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?" ²⁵ And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? ²⁶ He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions." ²⁷ Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; ²⁸ so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."

¹ Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. ² They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. ³ And he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Come forward."

⁴ Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent. ⁵ He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Ordinary Time

Last week we celebrated the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity; now the church's year of grace moves into six months of Ordinary Time, the Green and Growing Time Season of the Spirit, Time of the Church, when the church comes into her own as we continue following the Crucified and Risen Jesus Christ as his presence in the world, everywhere we go. We'll be counting or numbering Sundays after the Day of Pentecost. Today is Pentecost 2.

Ordinary time refers to structure and organization, not to common and mundane, though it does have a sense of "commonality" because everyone shares in it.


Shabbat

The first reading from the Hebrew scriptures and the gospel account relate to the commandment to observe Sabbath rest. We find the The Words or Commandments in both Exodus and Deuteronomy. Today we read from Deuteronomy, when through Moses God says everyone needs Sabbath or intentional rest (not laziness!) because God freed us, liberated us, from the burden of working under the usually unreasonable demands of empires and bosses of all kinds.

With a different focus, the Sabbath commandment in Exodus explains we need Sabbath rest in imitation of God because as we labor faithfully to claim that imago dei [divine image], some of our work imitates divine creativity; almost all of everyone's work contributes to the realization of God's new creation. Sometimes sabbath/rest needs to be at times other than the historical biblical Sabbath day of Saturday or the Lord's Day Sunday many Christians set apart as a day of worship and rest.

In this passage, Jesus heals on the Sabbath in order to free the man with the withered hand to do the work he needed to do to be a contributing member of society and probably provide for his family.


Deuteronomy and Mark

In the sparse environment of the exodus desert, Israel had to trust life and sustenance as a gift. They'd left slavery in Egypt, where everything was about production quotas, counting, keeping up. To what avail? To keep their jobs so they and their families could get by.

Out from Egypt, with water from the rock, manna from the sky, a cloud to lead them during the day and fire at night, Israel experienced God's supply and trustworthiness before God asked for their trust. They knew life as gift before entering the land of promise where they'd again need to work to produce agricultural and practical goods essential for everyday survival and for a more abundant life. But there would be a difference. It wouldn't be non-stop, and everyone would have a measured time of rest, of grace. Everyone: animals; servants; guests; non-Israelite strangers; the land.

The actual Sabbath never changed from Saturday, though Sunday, day of resurrection became the day of worship and rest for most Christians. People in some occupations must work on the Sabbath; for overall health, they're wise to take a dedicated day or two of rest and re-creation each week. As Jesus reminds us, The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath/ Shabbos is for all creation, not the other way around.

Trinity Sunday 2024

John 3:1-17

¹ Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." ³ Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."

⁴ Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" ⁵ Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, "You must be born from above.' ⁸ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

⁹ Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ¹⁷ "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Trinity Sunday

Today in the Church's Year of Grace we celebrate a doctrine, a teaching, rather than an event. Scripture strongly implies God as triune or three-in-one, but scripture never uses the word trinity. In the year 325 the Council of Nicaea articulated the doctrine of the Trinity. We often recite the Nicene Creed during worship as a testimony. Orthodox Christians in mainline denominations like the ELCA, PC(USA), United Methodist, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox churches are formally and officially Trinitarian. Some others–Disciples of Christ, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints confess Jesus as Lord and speak of the godhead (a term we also use), but don't claim to be Trinitarian.

Rather than attempting an analogy that never approaches the essence of the godhead, Early Church Fathers and Mothers frequently talked about the perichoresis of the Trinity. "Peri" refers to in the vicinity of, around, nearby. "Choresis" has the same root as choreography. Father, Son, Holy Spirit interact with each other, interpenetrate, share similar functions. The Trinity models our interactive and cooperative lifestyles and ministries. You probably know Irish Christians made the shamrock plant with its three equal leaves into a famous trinitarian symbol!


Today's Gospel…

… is from the community gathered around John the beloved disciple. We meet the religious leader Nicodemus coming to Jesus, the light of the world, in the dark of night. John's gospel brings us Jesus' seven "I am" sayings; although it's not one of those, in this passage Jesus essentially announces "I am the Snake" that heals, saves, redeems, brings us eternal life. [Check out Moses in Numbers 21:9.] With his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, in a sense Jesus' "lifting up" is triune. Today's gospel reading includes John 3:16.

John 3:3, 5, 11 – the Greek original brings us John's famous double amens! Jesus says, "Amen, amen," that the Douay-Rheims retains, yet that dramatic phrase otherwise gets translated "truly, truly," "verily, verily," "most assuredly," or other less evocative words.

John 3:3 is the only time the fourth gospel mentions kingdom/reign of God. Matthew, Mark, and Luke say Reign of Heaven/Kingdom of God literally all the time, but John doesn't. This wonderful scripture passage contains other riches including verse 16, "God so loved the world," possibly the only verse some people have memorized; many claim John 3:!6 as their life scripture.

If Nicodemus sounds doubly familiar, he's the same Nicodemus we read about in John 19:38-42, when along with Joseph of Arimathea, he anoints Jesus' body for burial and lays it in the tomb Joseph has donated.


Holy, Holy, Holy

"Holy, Holy, Holy" without a doubt is the most famous and best loved Trinitarian hymn. It acclaims a "Holy" for each person of the Trinity.

"Jesus answered, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.'" John 3:5-6

We baptize using water and the trinitarian formula, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the Holy, Holy, Holy triune God. Matthew 28:19 is the only scriptural occurrence of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit baptismal formula; it was a later addition to the text. The early church probably baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, Jesus the Savior, or with similar words. However, the early church would not have imagined that baptism into the redeemer and savior Jesus would not also encompass baptism into the Holy Spirit of life Jesus bestows on us.

Day of Pentecost 2024

Acts 2:1-8

¹ When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵ Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶ And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.

⁷ Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?

Spirit - Wind - Fire

Starting with creation, the witness of scripture reveals innumerable ways the Holy Spirit always has been present. God always has been triune—this gift and reign of the Holy Spirit of life is nothing new! But… the Holy Spirit constantly is doing something new. As theologian Jürgen Moltmann explains, "…the Holy Spirit is…the creative and life-giving, redeeming and saving God… present in a special way."

Every year we revisit images of visible fire and audible wind as evidence of the HS's presence among us and within us. The wind of pentecost cleans, refreshes, clears, renews. The fire of pentecost sears, burns, purifies. A year after a wildfire, new seedlings cover the forest floor. Some seeds need to be singed by fire in order to open. The forest service regularly engages in controlled burns.


The Day of Pentecost

As with many events we read about in scripture, no one knows the exact location of this gathering, but strong tradition claims it was in the same upper room as Jesus' last supper / founding meal we remember on Maundy Thursday.

Everyone from everywhere was in Jerusalem for the Jewish Pentecost to celebrate the Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant and the wheat harvest. Parallel to Easter and Pentecost, Shavuot refers to seven weeks – "a week of weeks" – after Passover. The day of Pentecost is one of the three most major Christian festivals; the Jewish Pentecost was one of three mandated festivals.

Pentecost sometimes is called the Birthday of the Church. Just as for God's people Israel, the Ten Words bind us to each other and to our God. As for Israel and for all people everywhere, an adequate, quality grain harvest is a life-sustaining essential.


Where We Live

Before Jesus' Ascension, his disciples ask if now he'd finally "restore the kingdom to Israel," and Jesus told them the question was wrong, because "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." [Acts 1:8] In other words, they would help "restore the kingdom."

Remember the Golden Calf Event in Exodus 32? God said, "Moses, your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt." Moses replied, "God, your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt." Which is it? Moses' people or God's people? It's both/and.

• Luke 4:18-19 begins Jesus' public ministry with the HS;
• Luke's book of Acts begins our public ministry with the Holy Spirit.


Filled with the Holy Spirit

"The holiness that cannot be contained in the [Jerusalem] Temple dwells in us." Matthew Skinner, Luther Seminary Baccalaureate, Saturday 25 May 2024

O enter, Lord, thy temple,
Be Thou my spirit's guest,
Who gavest me, the earth-born,
A second birth more blest.
Thou in the Godhead, Lord,
Though here to dwell Thou deignest,
For ever equal reignest,
Art equally adored.

Paul Gerhardt, 1653; translated by Catherine Winkworth
Tune: Zeuch ein zu deinen Toren
Scripture: Acts 2:17

Ascension /Easter 7B

God has made Christ the head over all things.
Ephesians 1:22

Ephesians 1:15-23

¹⁵ I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love] toward all the saints, and for this reason ¹⁶ I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers, ¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, ¹⁸ so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.

²⁰ God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. ²² And God has put all things under Christ's feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Ascension Thursday

To paraphrase the Heidelberg Catechism, we move from Christmas-Incarnation with the mystery of Spirit in Flesh, to Ascension, with the mystery of Flesh in Spirit.

Although the Solemnity of the Ascension is on the fortieth day of Easter, a Thursday, since most people don't attend worship on weekdays, churches usually observe Ascension three days later, on the seventh Sunday of Easter.

Ascension or ascendancy declares Jesus Christ's authority, rule, reign, stewardship, lordship, and sovereignty. You may have noticed "authority" is a big deal in Mark's gospel? As Ephesians 1:20 does, we sometimes express that reality by saying Jesus is "seated at God's right hand." Unlike human governments and different from aspects of life any of us have a bit of authority over, with Jesus there are no checks and balances. His authority, his ascendancy is absolute.

As we revisit and relive salvation history, the Savior's ascension means we're really getting ready to celebrate the indwelling Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the Fiftieth day of Easter. That renewed awareness helps us prepare for the half year long Time of the Church, Season of the Spirit when we act as Jesus' representatives everywhere—and we count Sundays after Pentecost.


Where We Live

Ephesians 1:20 explains, "God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places." This power, this immeasurable greatness (v.19) is the Spirit of Resurrection from the dead!

What does it mean for us that Jesus has ascended? Jesus' lordship and authority means we possess the forgiveness and new life God offers us in and through Christ. Jesus' reign or ascendancy means we're able to live in the fully human way Jesus showed us, caring for our human neighbors, stewarding creation, respecting ourselves as image-bearers of the Divine, all in ways Jesus has taught us. Because of Jesus' ascension, we share Jesus' own authority as the Holy Spirit guides us.

Jesus Christ's ascension means hope for the future and abundant blessings for all creation. Because of the Savior's ascendancy, the power of the Holy Spirit of life is ours.

Heidelberg Catechism again:

• Why is the Son of God called Jesus, meaning Savior…?

• Why is the Son of God called Christ, meaning Anointed…?

• But why are you called a Christian?

Because by faith I share in Christ's anointing, and I am anointed to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity.

May the crucified, risen, and ascended Jesus Christ reign in all of our lives!

Easter 6B

Let the sea thunder and roar with all its creatures
the world and all that dwell in it! Psalm 98:7

John 15:9-17

⁹ As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. ¹² This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.

¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

¹⁶ You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

The Sixth Sunday of Easter

I really really really like my blog on this scripture from three years ago when Covid felt more threatening and we still were being extra careful to consider our neighbors. I couldn't do as well today; please check it out for:

• A poem by Jeff Shrowder

• Observations about client-patron expectations vs the intimacy of friendship

• Love etymology with some C.S. Lewis

• Obedience, freedom, and community

• A quote about freedom from MLK

• Reflections on the overall Covid-pandemic situation

Easter 5B

John 15:1-8

¹ "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³ You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

The Four Gospels

Despite each having some unique content and a particular perspective, synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke all bring us law and gospel—God's holy demands and God's merciful, loving grace. We roughly can place the synoptics in the Torah/Pentateuch and Prophets traditions of the Old Testament.

John is very much about the here and now of the Reign of Heaven on Earth. In John, Jesus first act of public ministry is a wedding feast, a party! With a focus on God's ongoing presence and on the commandments, especially encapsulated in the charge to love, John's community offers ways to live faithfully and fruitfully with speech and action, rather than the articulation of law and gospel we find in the synoptics. To continue the OT parallel, we can locate the Gospel according to John in the tradition of the Wisdom literature.


I Am the Vine

The fifth Sunday of Easter is the 29^the day of Easter, so we still can wish people "Happy Easter," yet as the church's year of grace eases into the Season of Pentecost, Time of the Church, today's I Am the Vine – You are the Branches passage comes from Jesus' farewell discourse on Maundy Thursday, after he washed the disciples' feet, before his death and resurrection. But we are hearing it during the Great Fifty Days of Easter, after we've experienced Jesus death and resurrection.

This is the seventh and last of Jesus' I Am declarations where Jesus places himself within YHWH/God's Old Testament identity I Am—pure being. unmediated presence. Scholars identify two sources used by John's community: Signs and I Am (and suggest there may have been a third).

Jesus lived and served in a somewhat agrarian setting, so he often used farm images and parallels. Today? Grapevines! Most Californians get the importance of soil, sunshine, shade, and pruning in vineyards-grapes-harvest. We understand how critical time, temperature, cask, and added ingredients are to wine production. Methods of wine transport and storage, too! In addition, grape vines are one of the seven agricultural gifts of the promised land, and we find God's people as branches of the vine in the Old Testament scriptures.

In this trinitarian passage, God the Father is vine planter and grower, Jesus the Son is the vine itself, the people of God in the power of the Holy Spirit are branches of the vine—Jesus tells us to abide in him in order to bear fruit. How do we abide? By obeying, especially by loving God, neighbor, and self. Although we primarily abide in Jesus the vine, we remain interconnected with all the other branches.


Where we Live: Vine and Branches

Do we always abide in Jesus, or do we sometimes settle deeply into family, social, cultural, and church traditions, customs, and habits? As people of history and people with histories, we need to stay connected with our pasts, with the identity-forming histories and practices of communities and groups we belong to. We also need to contextualize the gospel so newcomers will relate Jesus to their own geography and history.

But what do we make most important? For starters, Jesus commanded us to take, bless, break, and give bread, to bless and share the cup of the fruit of the vine(!), to baptize. But do we insist on a particular type of bread, brand of wine or grape juice? Does the baptismal venue need to be the same every time?

Does Strawberry Festival always need to be on the Second Sunday in June? Do we even need an annual Strawberry Festival?

Our own knowledge of grape-growing and wine-making gives excellent counsel regarding Jesus' reminder on this Fifth Sunday of Easter to stay connected to him and to each other.

Easter 4B

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence before God.
1 John 3:21
1 John 3:16-24

¹⁶ We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

¹⁸ Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. ¹⁹ And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him ²⁰ whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God, ²² and we receive from God whatever we ask, because we obey the commandments and do what pleases God.

²³ And this is God's commandment, that we should believe in the name of God's Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. ²⁴ All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

If anyone has the world's goods
and sees his brother in need,
yet closes his heart against him,
how does God's love abide in him?
1 John 3:17

Easter 3B

They gave him a piece of broiled fish. Luke 24:42

Luke 24:36b-48

³⁶ While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." ³⁷ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸ He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." ⁴⁰ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

⁴¹ While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" ⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish, [and of a honeycomb] ⁴³ and he took it and ate in their presence.

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶ and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things.

Easter

• As the day after the Sabbath, the Day of Resurrection is both the eighth day of the old week and the first day of a new week. As the first day of a new week, Easter is the beginning of a new creation. The third Sunday of Easter is the fifteenth day of the fifty days of Easter.

• The new creation contains evidence of old, deadly pasts. Today Jesus proves his humanity by displaying his hands and feet. On this side of Easter we often find ourselves in the "Yes, already!" of resurrection and the "No, not yet!" of Holy Saturday, that apparently motionless time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday

Though we often refer to Jesus' post-resurrection appearances, he wasn't a ghost, an apparition, a stained glass likeness, or a digital rendering. Just as when he lived on land from infancy through childhood into adulthood and onto his death and burial, after being raised to new life Jesus had a substantial body. People who met Jesus after the resurrection touched flesh and blood and bone; in the Creed we confess, "I believe in the resurrection of the body."


Bread, Fish, Fellowship

Throughout Jesus' ministry we meet Jesus eating with friends, strangers, and outcasts; his first act of public ministry in John's gospel is turning plain water into finest wine at a wedding party. In the upper room of Maundy Thursday Jesus says the cup is his life blood, the bread is his body.

The meal in Emmaus is about the presence of the risen Lord in word and sacrament; it sometimes is considered the first Eucharist because unlike the Lord's Supper founding meal of Maundy Thursday, Eucharist is a meal with the Risen Christ in the midst of a fully redeemed creation.

In this broiled fish incident and before this on Emmaus Road, Jesus twice identifying Moses, prophets, and psalms with his own life recalls the Exodus story of the God who sees the suffering of enslaved people and calls Moses to liberate them, along with later prophets who called people back to faithful obedience.

Like Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, we read both Hebrew Bible /Old Testament and New Covenant /New Testament scriptures through the lens of Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension.


Where We Live

So… Jesus again shares a meal with friends, in a culturally congruent way, of course:

"While in their joy they disbelieved and still wondered, Jesus said to them, 'Have you anything here to eat?' They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence." vv. 41-43

Most English bibles translate verse 43 to say Jesus took the fish and ate it in their presence, but more recent scholarship says they all ate the fish together.

Jesus' first followers fished for a living! Fish was a more abundant and therefore less expensive protein source than sheep or goats. They may not have had stationary BBQ pits as we do on beaches and other places, but I love to imagine there were dedicated areas in their meeting spaces where people cooked food they brought to share.

This also is about Christ with us whenever we welcome strangers to our table as Jesus did. Welcoming others often opens our eyes so we recognize Jesus—sometimes in retrospect, like the travelers on the Emmaus Road. As in Emmaus, at times we will find ourselves hosted and made comfortable by people we imagined were our guests.

The Christ of God and Christianity always are incarnate (embodied, enfleshed) and contextualized into right here and right now. With the current plethora of spoken languages, cultures, and cuisines (these days isn't almost everything almost everywhere some kind of culinary fusion?), contextualizing all aspects of our service to others can be a fun creative challenge.

Easter 2B

Lo, how wonderful it is, how pleasant,
for God's people to live together in harmony.
Psalm 133:1

Acts 4:32-35

³² Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. ³³ With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. ³⁴ There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. ³⁵ They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

The second Sunday of Easter concludes Bright Week, the first day of the New Creation—celebrated as a single day. For a long time the church has commemorated especially important festivals in octaves of eight days.

Easter is 50 Days – 7 x 7, a week of weeks. The Day of Pentecost is the 50th day of Easter.

Every year on Easter 2, we hear the account of Jesus bestowing the Holy Spirit on Easter evening from John 20:19-31.

This conversation is about our calling:

Acts 1

⁶ When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
⁷ And Jesus said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
⁸ But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

During these Sundays of Easter our first readings from the Acts of the Apostles show the style and substance of the post-resurrection, post-pentecost church. The approximately forty days between Jesus' resurrection and his ascension are especially important for us because Jesus calls and in the power of the Holy Spirit enables us to be his crucified and risen presence in the world after his ascension. Jesus doesn't ask us to do anything he hasn't already done!

Maundy Thursday 2024

Lent into Easter

How was your Lent?

Did you participate in weekday or weeknight services and/or soup suppers? Did you grow from a special devotional or scripture study on your own or as a family? Did you extend any extra service to nearby neighbors or within your extended community?

What do you especially hope for during the Great Fifty Days of Easter and beyond?


Passover / Easter

The Council of Nicaea (325) that gave us the Nicene Creed calendared Easter for the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.This year Easter is early, Passover is late. These great festivals of freedom and liberation focus on remembering God's acts of deliverance from death. Seder participants recount the Exodus narrative of Israel's wayfaring from slavery into the gift of the promised land with symbolic fresh food that no longer depends upon empire—they sometimes call it "eating history." After Lent ends, Christians retell and re-enact their experience of death and resurrection with the Triduum or Three Days: One Liturgy in Three Acts.


Triduum – Three Days

• Maundy – Mandate or Command – Thursday

The Three Days is a single liturgy in three acts. It begins with Maundy Thursday worship that concludes without a benediction; Maundy Thursday worship often ends with the worship space stripped and in darkness as everyone leaves quietly. Historical Lenten practice waits until Maundy Thursday to pronounce absolution or forgiveness to the gathered assembly that confessed their sins on Ash Wednesday.


• Good Friday

Good Friday, the day of Jesus' death, is Act II. Although the Revised Common Lectionary specifies scripture readings for Friday, many churches' traditions include other scriptures such as noon through 3 pm with Jesus' seven last words or statements, reading or singing one of the full scriptural passion narratives in the evening, or something else.


• Holy Saturday

The day nothing apparently happens is the day everything actually happens. Theology of the cross especially lifts up this day before Easter when we almost hang suspended in time anticipating gifts of rebirth, of spring, of new life.


• Easter / Resurrection

Easter is fifty days, a week of weeks! The Day of Pentecost is the fiftieth day of Easter. The Three Days/Triduum liturgy concludes by celebrating Jesus' resurrection. Very late Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, or extremely early Sunday morning the Vigil of Easter revisits the meta-narratives of creation and of deliverance from death to life in the Exodus and Passion/Easter stories. Many churches and communities offer a Sunrise Service; the regularly scheduled worship at the usual time frequently features brass, often percussion, and a glorious choir. In this Covid-influenced time of smaller gatherings and reduced musical and other resources, congregational singing usually is the best of the entire year.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

²⁵ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

In words, in actions, and with food, God's people Israel remembered their passage from slavery into freedom; when the church obeys Jesus by breaking bread and pouring out wine, part of the liturgical action includes retelling the story of God's people from creation through redemption in order to make it part of our own history.

So it's not only about our Savior for each of us, for everyone gathered in person or virtually; remembering becomes about all of us throughout the history of the cosmos. We recollect how God has been with us and led us, how even those hard days didn't last forever…For the apostle Paul, the gospel is death and resurrection, though notice the founding narrative from Corinthians mentions only Jesus' death.

Today is Thursday; tomorrow's Friday—Sunday's coming!

Psalm 116:12-13; 17-19

What shall I render to the Lord
For all his benefits toward me?
I will take the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the Lord.
I will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord
Now in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the Lord's house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

Lent 6B Palm Sunday

Mark 11:1-11

¹ When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples ² and said to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find tied there a [donkey] colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' just say this: 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.'"

⁴ They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, ⁵ some of the bystanders said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" ⁶ They told them what Jesus had said, and they allowed them to take it.

⁷ Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.

⁹ Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

"Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
¹⁰ Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

¹¹ Then Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple, and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Palm Sunday

You will find Palm Sunday in:

• Luke 19:28-40

• Matthew 21:1-11

• John 12:12-15

The gospels record Jesus' genealogy, birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension; they also present carefully crafted theology. Events of the days before Easter that we call Holy Week or Passion Week occupy a large portion of Mark's gospel with its focus on Jesus' identity and purpose.

Many churches observe both Palm Sunday and Jesus' Passion on the sixth Sunday in Lent. For churches that celebrate the Triduum-Three Day liturgy of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter, Lent concludes Wednesday of Holy Week at sundown or at midnight.

In Mark, Jesus' journey to Jerusalem and the cross is relentless. Every year on the Sixth Sunday in Lent we re-enact his entrance into the city riding a young donkey and surrounded by excited onlookers waving leafy (palm?) branches. (Luke doesn't mention palms or hosannas.)


Context

Jerusalem was the center of religion, commerce, and politics. Jerusalem was the center of Roman imperial rule. Jerusalem was the destination of the Savior's trial, conviction, death, and resurrection.

Many of Jesus' actions were upside down versions of those of conventional political, religious, and economic leaders—"The Establishment." Jesus rides into the geographical center of power on a donkey.

Jesus riding a donkey echoes Zechariah 9:9 that some scholars consider a messianic prediction. Matthew 21:5 and John 12:15 quote Zechariah; Mark and Luke probably knew the Zechariah text.

Does riding a small equine subvert the image of a conquering military general on an armored steed? Possibly. But there was a tradition of a military victor riding a donkey in order to present himself as a servant of the common people.


Illustration

In a recent video on his Liturgy website, Bosco Peters outlines the probable historical Palm Sunday scenario of Roman armies entering Jerusalem from the west in order to control colossal crowds of Passover visitors. He describes Jesus coming in from the opposite direction – the east – on a donkey as a political cartoon, as a mocking parody of Pontius Pilate's military actions. The sarcasm of a kid's tricycle (against Vladimir Putin's armies, maybe?) would be our cultural donkey equivalent.

Bosco reminds us "Jesus is a holy fool," and asks if we'll join Pontius Pilate's procession of Power, Might, and Fear? Or Jesus' procession of Fun, Laughter, and Caring?

Jerusalem was the center of Roman imperial rule. Jerusalem was the destination of the Savior's trial, conviction, crucifixion, death—and resurrection.

Lent 5B

I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

I will put my law within them,
and I will write it on their hearts;
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.

No longer shall they teach each other,
or say to each other,
"Know the Lord," for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord;

for I will forgive their iniquity,
and remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31:31,33,34

John 12:20-33

This was during what we call Passion Week or Holy Week:
• after Mary anointed Jesus at Lazarus' home. [12:1-8]
• after "the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death, as well." [12:10-11]
• after Jesus' final entry into Jerusalem surrounded by hosannas and palm fronds [12:12-15]

²⁰ Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." ²² Philip went and told Andrew, then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³ Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit."

²⁵ Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

²⁷ "Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."

²⁹ The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." ³⁰ Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. ³¹ Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." ³³ He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

First and Second Readings

The readings from Jeremiah and Hebrews compliment each other and the passage from John's gospel, so you may want to study them separately.

• Jeremiah 31:31-34

• Hebrews 5:5-10


The Fifth Sunday in Lent

On the Fifth Sunday in but not of Lent, we continue to follow Jesus to the cross. Early in Holy Week-Passion Week; the Savior and his retinue have reached Jerusalem; next week on the sixth Sunday in Lent, the church begins Holy Week, often halfway through the liturgy.

This scripture describes Jesus dying on the scandal of a tree. Jesus promises to draw all to himself: the tree of death – the cross – paradoxically becomes the new tree of life. In the Garden of Eden, "Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Genesis 2:9

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. John 12:32

In a reference to the healing snake lifted up in the Exodus wilderness from Numbers 21:8-9, we hear about Jesus lifted up—on the cross, lifted up from the empty tomb, lifted up in the Ascension. Earlier in this gospel:

• And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14-15

• So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he…" John 8:28a

"I Am the snake" could be Jesus' eighth "I Am" statement!

They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." John 12:21

We see the Glory of God as we "see Jesus," the Human One, lifted up on the cross. We see the fulness of the glory of God's presence in the weakness, vulnerability and defenselessness of Jesus dying on the cross.

The Apostle Paul determined to preach only Christ crucified, lifted up in glory on the cross: 1 Corinthians 2:2

Restore unto me
the joy of thy salvation;
and uphold me
with thy free spirit.
Psalm 51:12