Easter 4C

Revelation 7:9-17

⁹After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" ¹¹And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹²singing, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."

¹³Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?" ¹⁴I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows." Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out [who are (still) coming out] of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. ¹⁶They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; ¹⁷for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Good Shepherd Sunday

Easter 4 always is Good Shepherd Sunday. In this second reading from Revelation the Lamb is the Shepherd; the Shepherd is the Lamb.

Revelation is the last book in the entire canon of the bible. Revelation brings us the new creation. The city of God – the new Jerusalem. Tree of life. River of life. The one who reigns from the throne of God — who reigns from the cross.

Genesis 1 and 2 are the first books in the biblical canon. We get the original creation, a garden – not a city. Tree of life. River of life.

Revelation is not chronologically the latest book of the bible; Genesis 1 and 2 are not chronologically the earliest.

Author:

The as yet unidentified and unknown John the Revelator. Possibly written on the Roman prison island of Patmos in present-day Turkey. Author is not John the Evangelist, whose community (along with a few other resources) brought us the 4th gospel. To help discern authorship we look at internal evidence such as grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary, references to people, places, events.

We're previously discussed apocalyptic; it means uncovering, unveiling, revealing—thus the book of Revelation, that the author begins by telling us it's an apocalypse.

Revelation is:

Recorded some time between 90 and 100, during the reign of Roman Caesar Domitian. Revelation shows us how empires operate; Rome was one in a long series that continues until this year 2016 with the current USA empire. Revelation is a liturgical, political, counter-imperial text, a guidebook and a map for living out our baptism into Jesus' death and resurrection as an alternative to imperial violence and death in the midst of empire. Any empire.

Revelation is not:

An indecipherable collection of strange sayings or predictions of events future to when John the Revelator recorded it. Just as with a lot of literature and with a lot of our human conversations, it includes many symbols, code words, and figures of speech.


"After this" at this start of today's text beginning at verse 9 refers to verses 4-8 and their description of the 144,000+++ tribes of Israel along with people, ethnicities, nations, languages, cultures, etc. that fulfill God's promise to Abram of faithful descendants greater in number than stars in the sky, more than grains of sand. Some of those faithful descendants include us, the church! All people are God's people with Jesus Christ as ultimate authority under the cross of Calvary. Please note these people still stand solidly on earth and have not been raptured.

Revelation is a liturgical and political text. We get "This is the Feast," the hymn of praise we sing in the liturgy today (Sarah referred us to pages 4 and 5 of the printed bulletin) and during festival seasons from Revelation 7:12. It brings us seven (the number of completion and perfection) words of praise to God and to the Lamb:

1. Blessing

2. glory

3. wisdom

4. thanksgiving

5. honor

6. power

7. might

These words make anti-imperial claims that only God is Lord. Not caesar. Not anything else or anyone else.

7:14 Those who have come out of the mega ordeal—in the Greek still are coming out. The church lives out its baptismal call and identity in Jesus' death and resurrection alongside the pain and suffering in the world. God in the Spirit calls and enables us to be a counter-force to the deadly violence of empire. Pastor Peg told us about Barbara Rossing referring to "Lamb Power."

7:15 the one seated on the throne will shelter (make a dwelling, booth, tent, tabernacle) us. Same word as in John 1:14 that tells us the pre-existent word became flesh and lived in our midst, literally "pitched a tent," a portable structure (¿¡ramada?!) that would go with us wherever we journeyed. Ark of the Covenant; Festival of Booths / Succoth.

Every week during the eucharistic liturgy we pray the counter imperial: "Our Father, who art in heaven… for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever." Authority, power, and glory belong to God not to Caesar not to the USA government not to Monsanto… [when I blogged this, Monsanto still was a thing because Bayer hadn't yet claimed it)

Easter 3C

For Easter 3C we read and discussed the gospel text appointed for Easter 3A in the RCL

Luke 24:13-35

¹³Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, ¹⁶but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” ¹⁹He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. ²¹But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. ²²Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, ²³and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. ²⁴Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” ²⁵Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! ²⁶Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” ²⁷Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

²⁸As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. ³²They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” ³³That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. ³⁴They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Backtracking

Easter is 50 Days—a week of weeks, 7 x 7. Today is the 3rd Sunday of Easter; the 15th day of Easter.

Last Sunday on Easter 2, we heard the account of Easter evening from John's gospel, where Jesus bestows the Holy Spirit. This week Luke brings us another Easter evening experience.

The Word on the Street

"Word on the street." Current buzz talk or information or simply circulating rumors.

Wall Street. Sesame Street. Santa Monica Blvd. Where you live, where I live, the freeway, any street we frequently or occasionally walk or drive. The Word on the sidewalk—almost anywhere but inside the house, shopping center, retail outlet, apartment, church building.

This is Luke's lectionary year. A while ago we lined out some characteristics of Luke's gospel that include... HS, women, the marginalized, history, prayer, table fellowship.

This story begins while they were on the way from one place to another place.

• Me: the people and groups that gave us scripture wrote theology as much as they wrote history.
• Pastor Peg: they wrote theology more than they wrote history!

For this week, Easter 3, Luke brings his version of Easter evening.

They had hoped. Evidently were disappointed, yet they recounted the entire resurrection morning story. In Spanish hope and expect are one and the same word, espero. So if you hope for something, you actively expect it to happen.

I put together a
Word Cloud

•that same [resurrection] day •Jerusalem •death •we had hoped
•tomb •alive
•interpreted scripture [beginning with Moses]
•took bread •blessed •broke •gave
•recognized [from previous experiences] •Jerusalem •road
•known in [action of] breaking bread
Where else in scripture do we find "taken, blessed, broken, given"?

We've had a version of He Qi's Emmaus Road painting over the fireplace in the parish house living room. The side closest to us is open: a place for everyone of us at the Table God sets. It wasn't there this morning because it temporally had migrated to the chancel.

The earliest account comes from the apostle Paul

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, 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." 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." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Three accounts from Luke's gospel

And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.Luke 9:16

Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Luke 22:19

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Luke 24:30

In Luke's second volume, the Acts of the Apostles

Acts 27:35 After he [Paul] had said this, he took bread; and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat. Acts 27:35

Where in our own lives do we experience "take, blessed, broken, given"? This is what we do in the liturgy: scripture read/re-cited, scripture interpreted, the word made visible in the sacrament.

They know the words, but recognize Jesus in the action. The action reveals Jesus' identity. Besides, they remembered other times Jesus had done the same actions took, blessed, broken, gave. So their memories were critical in recognizing Jesus. In this Emmaus Road pericope about Easter evening, Luke brings us a re-citing, remembering of scripture, followed by the "visible" Eucharistic word. We can see the bread and cup; we also can hear it, smell it, taste it, touch it.

Easter 2C

John 20:19-31

¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” ³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Creation – Resurrection – Forgiveness – New Creation: Work of the HS

Some numerology:

easter is 50 days, 7x7, a weeks of weeks; "7" is the number of perfection in Hebrew numerology. The day of Pentecost is the 50th day of Easter. pentagram, pentagon, etc.

Day of Resurrection is:

• 1st day of the week, day after the Sabbath, therefore, the 1st day of creation.

• 3rd day after Friday—a day or part of a day is considered an entire day; also, Semitic languages have no word for some, a few, several, so they use the expedient 3.

• 8th day of the week = 1st day of a new week; therefore, the day of a new creation

Bright Week, the week after Easter Sunday just ended. The church celebrates Bright Week as the 8th day of creation.

Many baptismal fonts have 8 sides (octagon) and demonstrate our baptism into the new creation, our baptism as a new creation In Jesus' death and resurrection.

The new creation is not pristine: it carries scars from our old lives. Today's text from John shows us Jesus' scars.

The order of the new creation subverts the order of the old:

• God calls, names, A-dam
• Jesus calls names, Mary

Spirit and Word: Creation essentials—texts from the Easter Vigil

Genesis 1:1-3

¹In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ²the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Ezekiel 37:1-14

⁴Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: "O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.'" ⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones: "I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live." ¹⁴"I will put my spirit within you and you shall live"

prophesy – word – dabar
breath, spirit, wind = same root

Today's Gospel Reading: John 20:19-31 really is two pericopes or passages.

Greek is the same word where English translations read shut, or locked
Locked: gates, minds, hearts, churches

Thomas: disbelief in the scandal of the crucifixion! not disbelief in resurrection from the dead (John brings us Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead for the last story prior to Jesus' trial and execution). Gnostic trends and influences that denied the reality of the body were making rounds at the time of this text.

Peace: 3 times in 12 verses. Forgiveness, new beginnings.

John 20:22 Jesus breathed on them, "Receive the HS." The only other place in the Greek bible that uses that word for breath is Genesis 2:7.

"God formed A-dam out of dust and breathed into him the breath of life." Humans carry the breath, spirit, wind [words have the same root] of the Divine within them.

Barbara: why do we have this account of the HS and also the account of the day of Pentecost in the Book of Acts?

Me: John brings us a different worldview from the synoptics Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It's interesting that Luke wrote both a gospel and the book of Acts, the HS is prominent through Luke's gospel, yet he brings us a detailed account of the coming of the HS in Acts.

John 20:21 As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

Second calling of the Apostles – literally "sent people" – three days after Friday. Moses, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Apostles, Jesus...

God sends us—where? In the power of the HS, clothed with power from on high.

Lent 6: Palm / Passion Sunday

Philippians 2:5-11

²If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, ²make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. ⁴Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. ⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Four weeks ago on Lent 2 we talked about Philippians as the Epistle of Joy. Today is Palm/Passion Sunday! We're getting ready for Easter—last Sunday and today we're seriously getting into some theology of the cross. Theology of the Cross was at the heart of Martin Luther's theology, and if we read both the OT and NT carefully, we find it's at the heart of God's self-revelation.

Recapping last week:

• Theology of the cross is about God's own self-revelation, especially in Christ crucified. Theology of the cross is about God's often hidden, sacramental, paradoxical (try to define paradoxical?) presence in the commonest things, people, and situations. All of us have experiences of being able to look back onto a tough, hard, unpleasant situation and in retrospect recognize God was there all the time at that time.

• Theology of glory is about human ideas and imaginings of how a powerful, all-knowing, sovereign God might act. Maybe how humans wish God would behave?

Luther reminds us to see the fullness of God's power and sovereignty, look to the Bethlehem manger; look to the Calvary cross.

Martin Luther, "The God who became small for us in Christ" ... small enough to die.

Philippi was a Roman colony, so just like the apostle Paul himself, technically the people Paul wrote to were Roman citizens yet still colonials. They received a fair amount of freedom and privilege; they had a lot of civic and cultural pride; they were not financially impoverished, either. Anyone in that culture would have considered humility completely countercultural. Our essential baptismal identity in Christ is citizenship /membership without boundaries, borders, or barriers.

Almost forever people have imagined the Apostle Paul quoted a hymn from another source here, but Gordon Fee, professor emeritus at Regent College, Vancouver, Canada says:

If it was originally a hymn of some kind, it contains nothing at all of the nature of Greek hymnody or poetry. Therefore, it must be Semitic in origin. But the alleged Semitic parallelism of this piece is quite unlike any known example of Hebrew psalmody. It lacks the rhythm and parallelism one might expect of material that is to be sung. And in any case, it fits very poorly with the clearly hymnic material in the Psalter or in Luke 1:46-55, 68-79, or in 1 Timothy 3:16b, to name but a few clear NT examples of hymns.

In any case, it's probably not an original by Paul but probably had been circulating around town. It now has become an "early Christian song."

Though this passage does not use words like imitate, obey, type, or model, it still calls us to pattern our behaviors after Jesus' obedience. Pastor Peg pointed out "mind of Christ" is more than just brain: it's our whole way of being. The word most English translations render as "slave" also is slave (not servant) in Greek. Discussion of emotional impact of words; changes in historical meaning, too.

Kenosis: theology word for today—emptying something that's full, complete, etc.

Jesus freely and obediently chose the journey to passion, death, and resurrection that involved emptying himself of power and status (kenosis). He made the choice from a position of power. Pastor Peg mentioned what a hot-button word "slave" is in this country, and in the ethnically very diverse church she recently served as interim the concern was finding ways to fill (especially) the teenagers and young adults with enough self-worth you then could encourage them empty themselves in lives of service.

How do we measure our status? Social media popularity, hits, post likes! Does social media define us these days! Creating and crafting our own self image. Maybe we don't struggle much with civic or ethnic pride, maybe we don't even need much of a dose of humility, but how about other struggles?

Lent 5C

Philippians 3:4-14

⁴even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. ⁷Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.

⁸More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. ¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. ¹²Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Three weeks ago on Lent 2 we talked about Philippians as the Epistle of Joy! This week on Lent 5 and next week for Lent 6 (Palm/Passion) Sunday, the second reading again will be from Philippians. Philippians is one of Paul's captivity letters written from one of the times he was incarcerated (by humans) in Ephesus or Rome. The readings for today and next Sunday reveal Paul captured by and captive to Jesus Christ as a no holds barred prisoner of his Lord!

We're moving into the conclusion of Lent and getting ready for Easter. That means we're seriously getting into some theology of the cross. Theology of the Cross was at the heart of Martin Luther's theology, and if we read both the OT and NT carefully, we discover it's at the heart of God's self-revelation.

In very short:

• Theology of the cross is about God's own self-revelation, especially in Christ crucified. Theology of the cross is about God's often hidden, sacramental, paradoxical (try to define paradoxical?) presence in the comment things, people, and situations. All of us have experiences of being able to look back onto a tough, hard, unpleasant situation and in retrospect recognize God was there all the time at that time.

• Theology of glory is about human ideas and imaginings of how a powerful, all-knowing, sovereign God might act. How humans wish God would behave?

This section of Philippians starts out with the Apostle Paul's / St. Paul's / Saul of Tarsus' résumé, CV, biography. I mentioned but again need to emphasize that 98% of the time for Paul "law" means the sacrificial and dietary laws and circumcision. He does not mean the Ten Commandments or Jesus' Great Commandment capsule summary.

4:9 different translations read either "faith in Christ" or "faith of Christ," but faith of Christ that's about Jesus infinite faithfulness probably is more accurate.

He goes on to describe how he wants to become like Jesus Christ. We need to remember Paul does not use the words disciple or follower or similar; for him it's always about being "in Christ," the organic incorporation into Jesus' death and resurrection that God accomplishes in each of us together at our baptism. Pastor Peg told us how she loves [3:10] the "power of his resurrection" and I commented power is the dynamite word and that for Paul, the gospel is Death and Resurrection.

Not surprising discussion about ways to live with the past and the future. We absolutely need to learn from the past, dream of the future, but we actually have only this very moment, the here and now.

Lent 4C

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. ¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Intro

This past Thursday was the mid-point of Lent. Although all six Sundays are in but not of Lent, the fourth Sunday especially is a time of respite and refreshment before the final penitential push to Maundy Thursday when Lent ends and the three day Triduum begins. Each of the Sundays in Lent have a unique name based on the first word of the traditional Latin introit; this fourth Sunday is Laetare, "rejoice." Rather than penitential purple, the liturgical color for vestments and paraments is lighter, brighter rose that we can use on Advent 3.

Texts for the Laetare introit come from Isaiah 66:10-11 and Psalm 122:1

Isaiah 66:¹⁰ "Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her,
all you who mourn over her.
¹¹ For you will nurse and be satisfied
at her comforting breasts;
you will drink deeply
and delight in her overflowing abundance."

Psalm 122:¹ I rejoiced when they said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD."

reflections and discussion

The gospel for today includes Luke 15:11-32, the waiting father, prodigal younger son, resentful older brother parable. In the canonical gospels, we find this story only in Luke.

Let's look at the second reading from 2 Corinthians that's also about reconciliation, forgiveness, new beginnings, restorations. I love the idea of our being baptized into Christ and becoming a new creation!

The apostle Paul tells us way back when (maybe before Paul got into his high Christology?) people considered Jesus only from a human perspective, "according to the flesh," which isn't bad at all, but it's very low-level basic, first rung of the ladder. We know Jesus Christ as fully human and fully divine. Paul parallels looking at Jesus in a more comprehensive way and considering each other more completely. Paul does not use the word disciple or apostle or follower of Christ; he says we are "in Christ," which is about our organic incorporation into Christ that begins with our baptism. Well, it actually began 2,000 years ago. Because we all are "in Christ," we are more than just human, too!

5:18, 19, 20

The word Paul uses for reconcile, reconciliation is not so much about making everything even and equal as in settling $$$ or other accounts; it's closer to a new beginning on common ground, making a commonwealth, with common cause. Pastor Peg pointed out this text does mention forgiveness.

The Greek for world here – cosmos – means more than simply this planet earth we live on; it refers to everyone and everything. All people, plants, animals, revise, oceans, deserts—everyone! everything! all creation!

An ambassador, [envoy, representative] gets sent out of their own country to represent it in a foreign country. God calls us out and sends us out to do the same ministry of reconciliation that Jesus did!

Several people mentioned South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission that according to wikipedia "was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid in the 1990s." It formed a model for a similar entity, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda.

Pastor Peg said it's always possible to forgive, but for various reasons, reconciliation sometimes is not possible. The person or entity may not available, or it might not be healthy to reconcile with the party involved.

Regarding the concept of reconciliation, I mentioned reconciling financial books.

Lent 3C

Isaiah 55:1-9

¹Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ²Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

³Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. ⁴See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. ⁵See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

⁶Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; ⁷let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. ⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. ⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

This is from the final chapter in the second main section of the book of Isaiah that's sometimes referred to as 2nd Isaiah, who mostly wrote during the Babylonian exile. This section begins with the famous "Comfort, Ye" that opens Handel's Messiah.

Discussion of music with texts from Isaiah. Handel's Messiah, of course, and I mentioned Randall Thompson's Peaceable Kingdom with its text a collage of passages from all three sections of Isaiah.

This still is 2nd Isaiah, still writing to the exiles―btw, everyone did not get exiled into Babylon, and of those who did, some actually stayed and remained there to create at least a fairly vibrant life for themselves, others went back to Jerusalem and Judah. Brief discussion of the state and condition of being sort of an exile almost anywhere a person is these days. A sojourner, an immigrant here in southern California―and not necessarily from a different country. From the midwest? From the south? New England? Southwest Arizona, Utah, or NM? However, for the most part we have enough food and drink, in contrast to the people these words first addressed who were hungry and thirsty. Not well fed.

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

Yes. Both. And.

This pericope opens with a series of commandments, summons, invitations(?), from God:

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

Through Isaiah God asks why we spend money on fake food? Nutrition has become commodified. Even a basic necessity like water has become a commodity.

The spiritual soul food and the bodily soul food God offers in Isaiah 55 isn't even available for the kinds of money we use for economic exchanges. God has picked up the tab because we could never have paid for it anyway.

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

Barbara liked that God's thoughts are different from hers. I pointed out "thoughts" in the Hebrew is closer to our word designs in English, rather than to cerebral brain processes.

Our thoughts? We live in a world of economic exchanges where we expect to pay something (legal tender, labor, in-kind) for everything we receive. We don't believe in free lunches; God does believe in free lunches and provides them, too! Time is money? Sometimes – but as Richard explained – sometimes not.

"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?"

God asks via Isaiah why spend money for fake food instead of real food? Why work hard spending energy and hours to buy stuff (food household items, entertainment, etc.) that does not satisfy anyone on any level?

Discussion of the annual United Nations World Water Day on Tuesday, 22 March. Pastor Peg told us about a synod event we can attend. I mentioned I blog every year for World Water Day, might attend the synod event, take some pics, talk to some people, and blog the results. Water is life! Water and literacy are the best gifts missionaries and humanitarian workers can bring.

North American Affluenza is the widespread disease of acquiring too much of everything you really don't need, sometimes in response to keeping up with or envying our neighbors.

Remember Tony Campolo and Curing Affluenza? Did anyone watch that series at the end of the last century? Wednesday mornings the church I attended offered BCP Holy Communion Rite 1, breakfast and discussion. For several weeks we watched the video series during the discussion portion.

PS Looking through these notes and recalling my end of the Sunday morning discussion, I kept emphasizing fake food rather vs real food. I also suggested we buy local and grow local for many many reasons.

Lent 2C

Philippians 3:17-4:1

3:¹⁷Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. ¹⁸For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. ¹⁹Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

4:¹Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

Philippians is The Epistle of Joy! The words for grace and joy in Greek come from the same root, so you could say to have joy means to recognize and embody grace.

χάρις = grace

χαράς = joy

Captivity (imprisonment) letter written from Ephesus circa 54-56 or from Rome, circa 61.

Other prisoners whose writing helped change lives: Martin Luther; Dietrich Bonhoeffer; MLK, Jr., Nelson Mandela. Examples of more regular people prisoners whose lives have changed or helped change others during incarceration?

Philippi was a Roman colony on the main east-west road between Byzantium and Rome, so just like the apostle Paul himself, technically the people Paul addressed in this letter also were Roman citizens yet still colonials. They received a lot of freedom and privilege in return for their loyalty to the empire. As Pastor Peg pointed out, Paul gave up the perks and privileges of Roman citizenship because of Christ.

vocabulary notes

3:17 is an example of paranesis, a type of exhortation that's not quite teaching or instruction. "Join in imitating" literally is coming together, "sym"-mimesis in a joint effort. Think of sympathy, feeling together.

3:17 those who live according to the example (example = a pattern or a type = a strike that leaves an imprint. Typography. Typewriter. Jesus is the archetype that made an imprint on Paul's life, therefore Paul feels justified asking us to imitate him. "you have in us" = Paul and his followers.

3:17, 18 – "live" is walk, go about, as in peripatetic

3:20 citizenship – politeuma, note the "poli" root, as in politics, or polity: a thing about the people.

3:21 all things subject to himself. That's absolutely everything: people, planets, plants, politics, structures, institutions, etc.

empire / baptism

Paul tells them the assembly at Philippi their real citizenship is in the earthbound reality of God's Kingdom of Heaven here on this planet. Think about the process for US citizenship. What is the process for heavenly citizenship? It starts with baptism! We enjoy the benefits and perks and responsibilities of Jesus' lordship, of our heavenly citizenship.

we never got to this question:

What does it mean to be a colonial? Roman? Spanish? British Empire? Basic US history? Empire?

We barely mentioned "How about us and empire? Nestle? US government?"

As Sara pointed out, our baptismal identity supersedes our citizenship in the USA or any other country.

We'll hear from Philippians two more times before Easter:

• Paul's autobiography in 3:4-14 on Lent 5;

• the early christian hymn, "did not count himself equal to God, but humbled himself, taking the form of a servant…" in 2:5-11 on Lent 6 /Passion Sunday.

Transfiguration C

Exodus 34:29-35

²⁹Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. ³⁰When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. ³¹But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them.

³²Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. ³³When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; ³⁴but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, ³⁵the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

This account of the second giving of the law happens after the Golden Calf idolatry event. But it also happens after Exodus 34:6-7, when God passes in front of Moses and declares himself compassionate, forgiving, full of lovingkindness, abounding love. "Chesed" in the Hebrew OT is a kind of codeword roughly equivalent to the NT prevalence of the word "grace." God wants to make clear to Moses despite what had just happened, chesed, lovingkindness, grace always sets the tone of the divine heart.

Luke 9:28-36, 37-43

²⁸Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. ³¹They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³²Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.

³³Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"―not knowing what he said. ³⁴While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. ³⁵Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" ³⁶When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

³⁷On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. ³⁸Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. ³⁹Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. ⁴⁰I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." ⁴¹Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." ⁴²While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

Welcome to the Protestant Western Churches' celebration of the Transfiguration!

Transfiguration has been a long-standing major feast day; most Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and some Anglican churches celebrate Transfiguration on August 06. Some churches celebrate it twice!

The Incarnation of Our Lord and the Transfiguration of Our Lord bookend this first major portion of the church year. In Christmas or the Incarnation, the divine enters the human condition. In the Transfiguration, the humans (Jesus, James, John, Peter) share in divine glory.

Today, Transfiguration, is the last Sunday after the Feast of the Epiphany. Wednesday is Ash Wednesday; next Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent.

Church Year Outline:

• Advent through Transfiguration;

• 6 weeks of Lent: Ash Wednesday through Wednesday in Holy Week;

• The Three Days or Triduum: Maundy Thursday; Good Friday; Easter Vigil/Day;

• 50 Great Days of Easter ending with Pentecost—the 50th day of Easter;

• The long Green – and growing – Season of Ordinary Time through Reign of Christ/Christ the King.


For Transfiguration we experience another Trinitarian theophany. Remember the Baptism of Jesus? Remember words that include "phan"? Epiphany, Tiffany, Fantasy... other?

In scripture mountains are places of special revelation. Both Moses [Exodus 20:1-17] and Elijah [1 Kings 19:12] received revelation on mountains.

v.28: "About eight days" could refer to approximately one week, or it could refer to the 8^th day of the New Creation. 40 days in scripture is about one month; 40 years is a month of years. In their parallel passages, Mark and Matthew tell us 6 days, which also is about one week.

v.29: As often happens in Luke's gospel, Jesus was praying when this revelation happened. Compare Jesus' baptism.

v.31: in Greek, Jesus' exodus, departure.

They were celebrating the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles or Tents when people remembered and celebrated God's protection during their wilderness wanderings (Leviticus 23:39-43).

Peter, James, and John, the sons of Zebedee are on the mountain with Jesus.

Moses and Elijah visit. Why Moses and Elijah? What do we already know about them? Moses – Sinai Covenant/Ten Commandments, "Law"; Exodus. Elijah – Prophets.

Like Jesus, or a contrast with Jesus?

They talked about Jesus' departure: "Exodus" in the Greek. They are not discussing details regarding the Law and the Prophets. How did the disciples recognize Moses and Elijah?

Jesus' exodus? Freedom, redemption, liberation?

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

Listen to jesus, not to Moses or to Elijah, who didn't quite get everything right all the time.

This imperative "listen to Jesus" and not to any other (cultural, economic, consumerist, even ecclesiastical) voices evokes the Barmen Declaration [1934] from the Confessing Church in Germany in the wake of the idolatry of nazi national socialism

Barmen Declaration 8:11: "Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death."

How about us?

Epiphany 4C

backtracking

We're a little over two months into the church's year of grace. Every year, Advent opens with a splash of apocalyptic – uncovering and revealing things previously hidden, concealed – signaling the end of the world as we've known it.

so far: the lectionary has taken us into Advent as OT prophets and John the baptist help us prepare for God in our midst. Then to the feast of the nativity, where Luke and shepherds show us God's favor for the marginalized, those who aren't exactly movers and shakers. Matthew brings us three magi from afar, demonstrating God's cultural, religious, and ethnic inclusiveness. We move from Jesus' baptism/mikvah (remember, not the same as our trinitarian baptism) to gospel writers John's and Luke's accounts of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.

We find hints and foretastes of Jesus' fulfillment of the OT: a new creation without violence (no day of vengeance for God; Satan, the prosecuting attorney falling from heaven like lightning); a new exodus where we pass through the waters of baptism and feast on a new passover meal; a peaceable, non-violent, inclusive kingdom.

The lectionary compilers shuffle things around a bit, since on Lent 1 (no Sunday church that day because of the marathon) we'll have Jesus' temptation in the wilderness that actually happened before the start of his public ministry.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

⁴Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ⁵"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." ⁶Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." 7But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, ⁸Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." ⁹Then the Lord put out his hand and touched [strike, jolt, shock: not gentle] my mouth; and the Lord said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. ¹⁰See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

Jeremiah's call echoes Moses' call in Exodus 3. God's call to Jeremiah also goes along with Luke's version of the first event of Jesus' public ministry in his hometown Nazareth, and also has parallels later in the book of Jeremiah—the townspeople wanting to kill Jesus that we read about in today's gospel account.

"to pull up and pull down; to destroy and overthrow; to build and to plant"

Organic, natural images of uprooting, demolishing, destroying, overthrowing; planting and building, too. We can apply this in many different areas, large and small, local and global.

How about us? How about me? How about you?

Luke 4:21-30

²¹Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph’s son?" ^23He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum." 24And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. ²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." ²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. ³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Last week: Jesus proclaims God's call to him to ministry beyond the borders of the hometown; salvation available to all! The whole entire world, maybe especially the least of these, most vulnerable and marginalized. Today on Epiphany 4 and the account continues, Jesus refers to the prophet Elijah who helped a Sidonian woman, a non-Israelite foreigner of another religion; the prophet Elisha helping a Syrian man ― another outsider of another religion.

What? Jesus says God loves "those people – Sidonians and Syrians" – just as much as us, the historically and confidently chosen ones?! In last week's gospel reading Jesus announced good news of physical healing and economic justice to the working-class / underclass in his home town, to people Roman occupation had exploited in every imaginable way. Is this good news universal, for all people, rather than exclusive to members of our religion and ethnicity only?

Remember from the book of Acts how the gospel started in Jerusalem, then expanded to the "entire known world," a world that now has expanded beyond those boundaries.

Moses, Jeremiah, Jesus, us: calling / vocation—same word from different origins. How does God call us?

Epiphany 3C

Sunday morning we spent most of the time discussing the gospel reading from Luke 4:14-21, but this text about recovering Torah is so astonishing, exciting, and amazing – and so central – I'm blogging most of it.

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

¹All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. ²Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month.

³He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. ... ⁸So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

⁹And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. ¹⁰Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Torah

Torah is (the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew bible) as well as the entire remembered, spoken written history, narratives, poetry, lore, songs, liturgies, sagas, that God used to call and claim a people, to form and shape a common life, that God used to redeem and save God's people to the fullest extent possible before Jesus Christ. It includes the ten words or commandments of the Sinai Covenant—Exodus 20:2-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21.

Today's post-exilic Hebrew text from the book of Nehemiah reads Torah for every instance of the English translation "law."

Torah is a huge deal!

reminder: a few weeks ago we discussed that for the apostle Paul, "law" never means the commandments or the entire remembered, spoken, written Torah. For Paul, law means (for example) circumcision, keeping kosher, sacrificial law, ceremonial law, none of which is redemptive or salvific. On the other hand, keeping the commandments does help save us. Jesus: "to be saved, keep the commandments." Keep covenant with all creation!


Psalm 19 Listen carefully to Psalm 19 that celebrates God's law, decrees, ordinances, precepts, commandments.

Luke 4:14-21

¹⁴Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. ¹⁶When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Last week: John's version of Jesus' public ministry debut, his IPO, was a party!

Today we have Luke's version of Jesus public ministerial debut. Just as for John, it's also in his Galileean hometown, a place that was very working class, full of reprobates, thieves, robbers, liars, and gentiles! This text is full of Luke's themes of HS, the marginalized, the underprivileged.

This is Jesus' hometown, his home synagogue. The neighbors all know him as Joseph's son. We need to remember he was 30 years old and had been attending synagogue there for a very long time.

Jesus combines Isaiah 61:1-2a: "The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor." And Isaiah 58:6: "[Is not this the fast that I choose:] to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?" Jesus leaves out the words about vengeance.

Although Jesus' way is comprehensive (body, mind, spirit, social, psychological) Luke's perspective is very physical, economic, and material. Jesus and Luke address the fallout and offer words and actions to redeem the new class of impoverished, debtors, prisoners (mostly folks who couldn't pay up) Roman occupation had created.

In contract, Matthew often is more spiritual. Barbara: interesting that Matthew the tax collector is less concerned about finances than Luke!

Striking in this text that Jesus tells his listeners right now, today, this Isaiah text has been fulfilled. Jesus even mentions the year of the Lord's favor, the Jubilee 50^th year – 7 years times 7 – from Leviticus 25: cancellation of debts, release of captives, prisoners. (Jubilee never actually happened). We know the rest of the story, about Jesus' ministry in word and action. But we know all of this blind seeing, deaf hearing, etc. have not been totally fulfilled.

How about us? How does God call and claim us in this text?

In both Luke and Matthew, John the Baptist send his followers to ask Jesus if Jesus was the promised one, "or do we need to look for another?" Today's gospel reading from Luke includes Jesus: "Go and tell John what you see and hear! The blind see; the deaf hear; the lame walk; poor have good news preached to them; the dead are raised!" (note passive voice here)

How about us? How does this gospel text call and claim us?

Epiphany 2C

the Gospel According to John

The latest of the 4 canonical gospels, compiled between 90 and 110.

John gives us a different worldview from the synoptics Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

This John most likely is John the son of Zebedee, brother of Peter and James, the "beloved disciple," the youngest guy in Leonardo's Last Supper painting. More accurately, this gospel comes out of John's community, the people who surrounded John.

In the beginning was the Word, the logos, a Greek concept that connotes both origins (where this came from) and immanence (what this might become).

John brings us the most explicit new creation

• John 1:1 "In the beginning" echoes Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God"

• John 19:30 "it is finished" echoes Genesis 2:2 – "And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done"

• John 19:41-42 Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

• John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.

• The first day of the week is the eighth day of creation, the first day of the New Creation.

• The garden of resurrection becomes the new garden of Eden.


John brings us seven signs and seven "I am" statements. Seven is the number of perfection in Hebrew numerology.

seven signs

1. Changing water into wine – 2:1-11

2. Healing the official's son in Capernaum – 4:46-54

3. Healing the paralytic at the Bethesda pool – 5:1-18

4. Feeding 5,000 – 6:5-14

5. Jesus' walking on water – 6:16-24

6. Healing the man born blind – 9:1-7

7. Raising of Lazarus – 11:1-45

In Matthew and Luke we hear about John the Baptist in jail telling his followers to go back and ask Jesus "are you the one who is to come, or do we need to look for someone else?" Jesus responds, "Go and tell John what you see and hear: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them." Luke 7:22; Matthew 11:5

John's seven signs show us these events.

seven I am declarations

1. The Bread Of Life – 6:35

2. The Light Of The World – 8:12

3. The Gate – 10:9

4. The Good Shepherd – 10:11

5. The Resurrection And The Life – 11:25-26

6. The Way, The Truth, And The Life – 14:6

7. The Vine – 15:5

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sign and symbol

A sign, symbol directs or points to a place, event, person, or idea, but is not that location or event itself. Street signs. As a designer, what I de-sign interprets and points the viewer to something else—a product, an event, an idea. I sometimes design a logo.

The word for "sign" in John 2:11 is where we get "semiotic" = signs, symbols, meaning-making

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John 2:1-11

¹On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ²Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." ⁴And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." ⁵His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." ⁶Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it. ⁹When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom ¹⁰and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now." ¹¹Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.


In the words of Tony Campolo: "The Kingdom of God is a party!"

For John, this wedding party opens Jesus' public ministry.

Cana is in Galilee, gentile territory, and a disreputable location known for thieves, rebels, and reprobates. Galilee became Jesus' home town. This wedding with Jesus' first sign (synoptic gospels would call it a miracle, but John wants everything to point to Jesus) happens among regular people, working class, possibly vintners who grew and harvested some of the grapes for this wine. This Jesus images a God who is not distant, but right at hand, who parties along with us, celebrates with us, shares in the fun. This is God's glory on earth!

Lots of discussion of Jesus and his mother; mother-son relationships in general. Jesus shows us how human and humanizing God is.

Tony Campolo: "The Kingdom of God is a party!"


After choir people left we mentioned the symbol of Zion in the first reading from Isaiah 62:1-5. At this time, the Jerusalem temple and the Davidic King were the primary symbols/signs of Zion. Later on Zion became the anywhere location of God's people; the American Puritans thought they'd establish Zion in New England; Latter-day Saints imagined Zion in the Utah wilderness. Other varied Zion (not necessary Zionist) movements, too. Pastor Richard's explanation about this text in his sermon. Also, what Pr. Richards told us about the Third Day – Tuesday – being especially for weddings.

Baptism of Jesus C Luke

About Luke's Gospel

Luke is the only Gentile, non-Jewish writer in the entire New Testament. Luke was highly educated, a physician, but think "bronze age" in terms of sophistication. Luke wrote a two-volume account, a gospel and the book of the Acts of the Apostles. We often refer to Luke-Acts as one word.

Luke's particular perspective includes an emphasis on:

• world history and Jewish history

• the Spirit – The HS has been prominent throughout the Bible's witness, but Luke-Acts brings a fulfillment of God's reign in the Spirit

• prayer

• women

• marginalized people of every class and type

• table fellowship.

Luke also uniquely includes three psalm-like songs or canticles based on Old Testament sources:

• Mary's Magnificat, "My soul magnifies the Lord; he has put down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly..." – Luke 1:46-55

• Zechariah's Benedictus, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; he has visited his people." – Luke 1:67-79

• Simeon's Nunc Dimittis: "Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace; mine eyes have seen they salvation, which thou hast prepared..." – Luke 2:29-32

In Luke we find:

• Sermon on the Plain – Luke 6:17-49, which emphasizes the physical re-distributive justice and material well-being. Matthew's parallel Sermon on the Mount is more about spiritual well-being.

• Good Samaritan – Luke 10:25-37

• Stones cry out Luke – 19:37-40

• Emmaus Road in Luke's post-resurrection account takes us back to the Maundy Thursday Upper Room and to Luke's many accounts of Jesus' table fellowship with all comers. – Luke 24:13-35

backtracking:

in Luke's version of Jesus' baptism, before we reach the baptism account, in a passage we read during Advent John tells the people to prepare for God's arrival in their midst by redistributing the material possessions you have too much of. In any case, God's presence in our midst would be quite an alleluia moment, but we can help make it that way. In the model of God the ultimate giver of gifts, John asks us to give gifts! John asks for economic redistribution. We find what you could call "social gospel" throughout Luke, starting out with John the Baptist down by the riverside.

Invariably and inevitably we read a lot backwards when we interpret scripture. We've been living a lot of the rest of the story, so that's only natural. We interpret scripture in ways similar to looking back and interpreting a lot of past events we experience, as the pieces finally start to fit together. Jesus's baptism by John was not the same as our trinitarian baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and HS. Jesus' baptism continued the Jewish practice of the bath, washing, mikvah that began at Mount Sinai during the Exodus from Egypt, before Moses went up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments . – Exodus 19:10-14

God's affirming Jesus as beloved son is mostly about Jesus' call and purpose rather than about Jesus' nature. Jesus did not begin his public ministry until his baptism, God's call and claim on him. God's claim on each of us as beloved daughters and son is about God's call and purpose for us.

Immediately after Jesus' baptism and God's identifying Jesus as the beloved son, Luke brings us Jesus' genealogy that ends with son of adam, son of God. Luke's human Jesus and divine Christ both minister to each one's body and spirit.

For Epiphany we discussed the phan root that means appearance, manifestation. We find it in the words Epiphany, Tiffany, Fantasy, and today in Theophany, an appearance of manifestation of God. In this scripture portion we a theophany of Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

Luke describes the Spirit's bodily presence in Jesus, just as the Spirit fills us, we embody God's HS at our baptism, and as the assembled body of Christ, the Church. For Luke-Acts, Jesus is the model for the apostles who are the models for the church. The apostles and the church do everything Jesus does because they have the same Spirit.

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

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

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

Epiphany 2016

Isaiah 60:1-6 | Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14 | Ephesians 3:1-12

Matthew 2:1-12

¹In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ²asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." ³When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ⁶'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”

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

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

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Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. January 6th was "Christ's Birthday" until the 4th century, when Constantine moved it to just after the solstice to correlate with the Feast of the Unvanquished Sun. At that time January 6th became the day to celebrate the baptism of Jesus, as it still is in Eastern expressions of Christianity. Next Sunday we'll celebrate Baptism of Jesus.

Epiphany

"epi," upon / epistructure, epilogue, episode, epicure

"phany" appearance, visibility / Fantasy, Tiffany,

With the Baptism of Jesus, next week we'll talk about a theophany, an appearance or manifestation of God.

This is Luke's lectionary year C. In each lectionary year, we get some passages from John's gospel interspersed; today, for Epiphany (which actually is January 6th) the gospel reading is from Matthew. Matthew wrote to what audience?

Matthew is the only gospel writer who brings us the visiting Magi and the flight into Egypt. Because Matthew wrote to a mostly Jewish audience, he demonstrated Jesus' fulfilling predictions and typology we find in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Matthew 2:13-23 and the flight into Egypt = a type of Moses, also delivered from a cruel tyrant. Moses and Jesus, the New Moses, both called out of Egypt, who both liberated people from slavery into freedom. Jesus as the New Israel who remains faithful in the wilderness despite temptations. Jesus as the new King David and the new Human David.

In Luke's Christmas accounts we read about Jesus revealed to the shepherds, and now in Matthew, Jesus revealed to the "nations," to non-Jews.

• Revealed? But how? Signs/stars in the heavens!

• Revealed? But how? Scripture, MIcah 5:2 and its reference to Bethlehem!

• Revealed? But how? Dreams!

People who recorded and passed along the words and concepts in the scriptures were doing theology just as much as they wrote history, created poetry or composed prose.

We'll be singing "We Three Kings," but there are only two kings in this narrative, King Herod. King Jesus.

Herod's big public works project? The Jerusalem Temple! Jesus is the new Temple (John's gospel reports, "destroy this temple and in three days...") and now we live as the Temple not build of stones.

The Magi probably were Zoroastrians who studied the stars and placed high currency on sky signs. Most likely from Persia!

The Western Church says there were three; the Eastern Church says twelve. Scripture doesn't tell us, but tradition names them Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar. Matthew list three gifts, so that's where we got three bringers of gifts. Barbara explained the meaning behind each gift: Myrrh = embalming a body after death; gold = kingship, royalty; frankincense = temple rituals, Jesus' priesthood. But it's also about all the gifts God gives us!

First reading from Isaiah 60: "arise, shine, for your light has come!" Our light has come! It take so little light to blaze through a dark space. How about us?

Stars all over the place in the Matthew passage. East, east, star, star (and please notice, magi in the room, not in the stable). East, anatolia, the rising, as in the rising of the sun. Light imagery: salvation. "East" is huge here. "from the east" is anatolia, the rising of the sun. Not Bruce Springsteen's The Rising! Oriens, orient, latin word with same meaning as the Greek anatolia. Birth and death of great people featured a star in the heavens. Stars as a messianic sign in Numbers 24:17.

"Paid him homage, worship." Worship only God, but this is the infant, the human person, in whom God fully dwells, God is fully present, therefore Jesus is worth worshiping! Charlene reminded us worship is "worth-ship" worthiness!

Among other emphases, Epiphany is basic evangelism, but beyond the ways we've "always done it." Especially during this interim time, God revealing Jesus in different ways with a star, a scripture passage, and a dream, forms a model for our imaginations and our outreach.

God does whatever it takes to reach out to and embrace all people. A star for people who knew the skies and the stars and trusted sky signs; a scripture passage for people who were biblically literate and trusted those texts; dreams for those who relied on less conscious, rational, cerebral information. Skies and scriptures and dreams all point to the very same Bethlehem Baby!

Epiphany is a time to consider how we can do whatever it takes in our outreach as the church, to embrace all people. How can we be a truly welcoming, inclusive congregation. Truly welching people wherever we are, wherever we go (not only inside and on the environs of the church campus). How about us? inviting people to church (of course), to food events, but how else do we relate to the experiences of others? Barbara mentioned being as sensitive as possible to everyone's needs, desires, and experiences.