Easter 2A

Easter is 50 days

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. The prefix "pent" means 50: pentagram, pentagon, etc.

Day of Resurrection is:

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

• 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.

Revised Common Lectionary – RCL

A couple of people have asked about the lectionary, so here's a very short rundown. We get our scripture readings from the revised common lectionary, "common" because most denominations use it—in common. That includes protestant mainline churches like the ELCA, UMC, PCUSA, Roman Catholic, some eastern and other Orthodox, some free churches such as baptists. Because the scripture selections are readings, hopefully they also are hearings.

The three-year cycle brings us a year that features each of the synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke. "Synoptic" means seen with a single eye, since their perspective is somewhat similar. The fourth gospel from John's community brings us a very different worldview. Each week the lectionary suggests four scripture passages:

1. usually from the Hebrew Bible, but during the fifty day season of Easter we hear from the Acts of the Apostles.

2. the psalm technically is not a reading, but our response to God's grace and good news. Sometimes referred to as "responsive psalm." Maybe you notice the choir and a cantor lead the psalm, and we always participate by singing the refrain?

3. from one of the epistles in the new testament

4. always from one of the four gospels.

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." ³⁰ Now 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.

Every year on the second Sunday of Easter we hear John 20:19-31! These are accounts of two separate events. The first story happens on the evening of the day of Jesus' resurrection; the second a week later. Thomas sometimes gets called "doubting," but unbelieving or not-believing is closer to the perspective of John's community that recorded the gospel.

John is the gospel of abiding love! It starts with "in the beginning…" and tells us God "dwelt among us," pitched a tent, a tabernacle, a portable dwelling so God could travel around and be with us wherever we went. Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17 describes Jesus' relationship with the Father, Jesus' desire to remain with us.

In John's gospel, sin is not so much transgression of or lack of conformity to the law of God as the Westminster Catechism describes sin, but a lack of abiding, a lack of trusting relationship with Jesus. And it's not only relationship and abiding with Jesus, but also with one another. The undisputed epistles of Paul have a similar sense of our being "in Christ," as he expresses it. For John's community and for Paul we move from being solitary isolated individuals to belonging within the body of Christ, not in an undifferentiated blob, but each of us bring unique gifts, make unique contributions.

Closed door, locked doors: Greek word is the same and basically means it's hard to get in. Fear again! "Fear of the Jews?" Those who killed Jesus, because after all, Jesus' disciples were Jewish. We find fear and related words hundreds of times in both testaments! Pastor Peg guessed maybe about 600 times! Just as Jesus went to find the apostles, Jesus seeks us out and finds us where we are.

Jesus bestows peace on his followers; this peace is not simply absence of conflict, but shalom, well-being, connectedness, integrity, etc.. We enjoyed a long discussion of passing of the peace during the liturgy, before we approach the Lord's table. Also how we need to extend that peace to stranger, newcomers, to everyone! "Neighborology" as we discussed last fall with Luke, Jeremiah, et al.

Transfiguration 2017 year A

Matthew 17:1-9

¹Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. ²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. ⁴Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

⁵While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" ⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. ⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid."⁸And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

Protestant Western Churches celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration on the last Sunday of the Epiphany season; most Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and some Anglican churches celebrate Transfiguration on August 06. Some celebrate it twice! This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday; next Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent. Transfiguration concludes what we can consider the first major portion of the church's year of grace that begins on Advent 1, continues with Christmas/Nativity, then to Name/Circumcision of Jesus; the Feast of the Epiphany; Baptism of Jesus… all these days concentrate on light, revelation, and on God as God of everyone, God for everyone.

For T-Fig we experience another Trinitarian theophany! Remember Baptism of Jesus? Remember words that include "phan"? Epiphany, Tiffany, Fantasy. Last week we talked about the many many "Holy Ordinary" events, places, and circumstances in scripture and in our own lives. With its location and the unusual happenings that swirl around it, this mountaintop Transfiguration is what we'd think of as a more typical, characteristic, not surprising (almost expected) manifestation of the divine. A class regular mentioned she didn't see HS/HG in the Matthew reading; I explained the cloud of the shekinah (a feminine noun in Hebrew) is a common OT sign of God's Spirit.

We did the classic explanation of mountains as places of revelation: Moses represents the Sinai Covenant / Law he received on Mount Sinai [Exodus 20:1-17]; Elijah received divine revelation on Mount Carmel [1 Kings 19:12] and represents the Prophets. We receive God's fullest, most overwhelming self-revelation at Jesus' crucifixion on Mount Calvary. In his Great Commission from a mountain at the end of Matthew's gospel, Jesus promises to be with us forever and charges us to teach and baptize all nations.

Six days later may reference the Exodus 24:16 from today's first reading/hearing; Luke 9:28 tells us "now about eight days after these sayings…" that can be approximately one week, or the 8^th day / 1^st day of the New Creation.

Transfiguration leans strongly into Lent. Interesting that Jesus tells his disciples to tell no one until after the resurrection [17:9]—that's a feature of Mark's gospel we call the "messianic secret." In his Transfiguration account, in Luke, Jesus – Moses and Elijah! – discuss Jesus' exodus or departure that he would accomplish in Jerusalem [19:31].

Epiphany 7A

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

⁹When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God. ¹¹You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. ¹²And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord. ¹³You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. ¹⁴You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord. ¹⁵You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. ¹⁶You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord. ¹⁷You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. ¹⁸You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Last week's first reading came from the Pentateuch book of Deuteronomy; again this week God speaks through Moses, this time with words recorded in the book of Leviticus that's also in the Pentateuch – or Torah – the first five books of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. These texts were part of the oral tradition before they got written down; the written words were a long time coming and happened probably during the Babylonian exile, or possibly while resettling Jerusalem after the exile. We need to remember the oral tradition is not the same as written-down words spoken aloud, but has a dynamic life of its own. This is the only reading from Leviticus in all three lectionary year! Probably no surprise, since most of the book rings true to its stereotype of mostly containing instructions for the sacrificial system and purity codes. Levites were the priests of the Jerusalem Temple.

This passage opens with God's command and God's promise: "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." God gave these instructions for covenantal life together to Israel while they still were transversing the desert wilderness, before they crossed the River Jordan into the Promised Land.

Discussion: What does "holy" mean to you?

Over the past few weeks in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel we've heard Jesus' telling his followers they are blessed, how to be blessed. Jesus has been saying, and now these words from Leviticus back up Jesus as they describe how to be holy in the same way God is holy. Instructions in the passage are clear and self-evident, but almost everyone mentioned that many grocery stores and other retailers are leaving "gleanings" of food for food pantries and other distribution centers so food doesn't go to waste and more people have enough to eat. This pericope is about our behaviors and actions in covenantal community, in our lives together.

I mentioned perfect in Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect," is from telos the same Greek word that gives us teleological, goal-oriented, be the whole, integral, complete person God created you to be, and is far from post-enlightenment Western ideas of perfection.

Epiphany 6A

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

¹⁵See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. ¹⁶If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

¹⁷But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Taking a diversion and excursion away from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew to listen to God speaking through Moses in the book of Deuteronomy from the Pentateuch, one of the Five Books of Moses. We've discussed Matthew's community's emphasis on Jesus' Jewishness, on Jesus as the New Moses, New King David. Last fall we had several readings from Deuteronomy that's in the covenantal tradition of the prophet Jeremiah who also was part of autumn's readings.

We haven't talked nearly enough about covenant; briefly, derived from co-venire (come together), covenant is about two or more parties coming together in agreement, with obligations on both sides—mutual dependence and mutual vulnerability. Scripture brings us a long list of covenants between God and humanity, from Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to David. Jeremiah tells us about the New Covenant of grace God will bring in Jesus Christ. God covenants with us in baptism!

We often refer to the ten commandments God gave the people through Moses as the "Sinai Covenant." Deuteronomy is one long covenantal book! Deuteronomy mostly comes from the next to latest written Pentateuch source either from time of Babylonian exile or from post-exilic resettlement of Jerusalem—around when Huldah and Josiah rediscovered Torah? Or from both eras. In any case, the content long had been part of the oral tradition that we've discussed as not being the same as written-down words spoken out loud, but a way of transmitting words and ideas that has a dynamic life of its own.

We can consider Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew (Sermon on the Plain in Luke) an interpretation, spelling-out, exposition of the Ten Commandments, just as Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension demonstrates the meaning of the Commandments. During Lent we'll study Luther's Small Catechism that starts out with the Commandments. We really only need the First Commandment:

I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage (so therefore!), you shall have no other gods before me.

The other nine commandments (as well as Jesus' birth, life, etc.) and the great commandment to love God, self, and neighbor clarify the first. The commandments are working papers that lay out boundaries and limits of attitudes, words, and actions of our life together in community, of our lives vis-à-vis the world out there when we physically leave the covenantal community of the church.

Last fall in Luke's lectionary year, immediately after Jesus pronounces the Great Commandment to love God, self, and neighbor, his disciples ask, "And who is my neighbor?" Then follows Good Sam about the guy who gets beaten up and left by the roadside to die on his way "down to Jericho." Amongst Luke, Jeremiah, and Deuteronomy, we talked some about neighborology, "the word about the neighbor."

When Jesus starts his Sermon on the Mount, he lines out blessings of grace we receive and in turn use to bless others. Being blessed, happy, prosperous, shalom-filled isn't quite the same as the deep-welling joy we experiences as Christians, nor is it abundant money, success, and (real estate!) property as the world and as "prosperity gospel" people consider prospering. In today's Deuteronomy passage, Moses also speaks about being blessed.

LCM does well welcoming everyone, including immigrants, refugees, and LGBTQ& persons; in some ways they don't need these words, yet as our guest preacher observed during our SS discussion, seemingly innocuous desirable goods and everyday behaviors carried to extremes can become gods, so we all need to be careful and observe our own behaviors and compulsions.

I commented on the Persian Patio that's a ring of yard chairs under an umbrella our office administrator arranges in the yard on Sundays so our Persian People (who have Farsi-language bibles we gave them) can have a gathering place to speak their own language and talk about their own concerns. Last week in SS I mentioned the late environmental theologian Sittler, who also was part of the devotions offered at Friday's Green Faith Team Meeting Interim Pastor and I serve on. I mentioned the dad of one of my former housemates/landlords was first president ever of LSTC, and Dr. Sittler frequently visited their home. Pulling this together, they chose Stewart Herman as seminary president because of his experiences and work with refugees in the World Council of Churches and for Lutheran World Relief. In other words, he'd help students and others learn about being a welcoming, diverse church without borders or boundaries.

Epiphany 5A

Matthew 5:13-20

¹³"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

¹⁴"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

¹⁷"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. ¹⁸For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

So far in Matthew's gospel: genealogy – birth – magi – Egypt – baptism by cousin John the Baptist – wilderness desert solitude and temptations – calls four disciples – beatitudes, "blessed" Sermon on the Mount as the New Moses

This week continues Jesus' sermon, homily, talk, discourse that describes righteous attributes or characteristics of his disciples. These qualities are gifts of grace, yet having them makes demands for our response: what we do because of who we are — God's Work / Our Hands

Everyone knows today's gospel reading well! It's about our being salt of the earth and light of the world; this is what and how people in the kingdom of heaven, reign of God, lifestyle of God, culture of heaven are and how they live.

Kari Jobe, We Are

"Every secret, every shame
Every fear, every pain
Lives inside the dark
But that's not who we are
We are children of the day

So wake up sleeper
Lift your head
We were meant for more than this
Fight the shadows, conquer death
Make the most of time we've left.

We are the light of the world
We are the city on the hill
We are the light of the world
We gotta let the light shine.
Let the light shine
Let the light shine."

As Wendell Berry reminds us, "practice resurrection!"

Discussion about how a little salt goes a long way; how the flame of light from a small candle can fill a dark room. Mix it all up and add seasoning to life everywhere we go! The world needs us to help it be tasty and lit up!

Matthew 5:20 "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees..."

Typically we give Pharisees a bad rap as self-righteous, legalistic, sanctimonious hypocrites overly concerned with irrelevant details that mattered not. In this context consider the pharisees as good citizen leaders who strove for justice in the community, who kept the commandments to the letter, did everything possible to make the world around them a better place.

Epiphany 4A

Matthew 5:1-12

¹When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ²Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: ³"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ⁶"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ⁷"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. ⁸"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ⁹"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. ¹⁰"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Some features of Matthew's gospel include Jesus as the New Moses; Jesus as the new King David; an emphasis on the righteousness and justice of God that we find throughout the Hebrew Bible.

Today we'll look at the famous sermon (discourse, talk, homily) Jesus gave after he called his first four disciples.


Backtrack:

• All four gospels include an account of Jesus' baptism by his cousin John the Baptist; Jesus' baptism was a public event that prepared him for public ministry.

• Our baptism in the context of worship is public and prepares us for the public witness to Jesus' death and resurrection.


Jesus' IPOs – Initial Public Offerings after his baptism:

• Matthew: calling four disciples and then preaching Sermon on the Mount as an example of Jesus as the new Moses

• Mark: casting out a demon /incubus

• Luke: reading Isaiah in synagogue and announcing he is the fulfillment of the Year of Jubilee; the people reject him, and almost throw him over a cliff

• John: Changing water into wine at the Wedding Ceremony at Cana, "grace upon grace upon grace"


Matthew and Luke both bring us this talk that includes characteristics or attributes of disciples or people who follow him. Matthew and Luke definitely tell about the same event that was passed along in the oral tradition with differing details, and recorded by each to make their own theological point.

We studied a printed handout of The Message version of this passage in Matthew, who brings us Jesus on the mountain or hill as a parallel to Moses receiving the ten commandments on Mount Sinai, and in Luke, who places Jesus on a level place, reflecting Mary's Magnificat/Hannah's song that promises God will raise up the lowly and bring down the mighty to create a world, or "lifestyle" of distributive justice, where no one has too much, no one has too little.


"Blessed, Happy" is not the deep well of joy we often reference and sometimes experience as Christians; blessed is a state of participation in the reign of heaven, lifestyle of God, of being fortunate, well-regarded by God. Blessed, happy is not consumer happiness as in "if I buy this tablet or take this trip I'll be happier;" "If I buy that tablet, take this trip, and buy those new dishes I'll be the happiest."

Luke's "trouble" in The Message, "woe" in some translations is the opposite of blessed / happy: sorrow, sadness, grief, oy veh.

Epiphany 3A

Matthew 4:12-23

¹²Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. ¹³He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ¹⁵"Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— ¹⁶the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."

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

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

²¹As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. ²³Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

So far in Matthew:

Genealogy / Jesus' birth / magi – astrologers – royalty from different religion, different part of the world show us Jesus and the gospel is for everyone everywhere / Joseph's dream that Herod plans to kill all baby boys under the age of 2 / Joseph, Mary, Jesus go to Egypt and live as refugees until Herod's death / Joseph, Mary, Jesus return to their own country and settle in Nazareth / John the Baptist baptizes Jesus in the Jordan River that for Israel formed the boundary and border between their old life of slavery and wandering in the desert and their new life of obedience in covenanted community in the promised land.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all bring us Jesus' temptations in the wilderness after his baptism. We read and hear those scriptures at the beginning of the season of Lent that's a time of reflection for us.

Now we have Jesus' first act of public ministry according to Matthew.

Matthew emphasizes Jesus' connections with Moses, with David, with the whole people of God we meet in the Hebrew scriptures. Matthew 4:12-16 closely connects with today's first reading, Isaiah 9:1-4. Zebulun and Naphtali designate land God promised Abraham (Genesis 15:18-21), Isaac (Genesis 26:3), and Jacob (Genesis 28:13), showed to Moses (Deuteronomy 34:1-4), land Joshua assigned (Zebulun – 19:10-16; Naphtali –19:32-39). The ascriptions for the tribes of Israel in Genesis 49 tell us Zebulun dwelt by the sea and would be a haven for ships (49:13); Naphtali was a doe bearing lovely young fawns—a feminine image (49:21). These names frame land as God's gift on loan to humanity, as covenanted place and space. God tells us land is not alienable, not a "property" we can sell. Matthew's community recorded this gospel account after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, yet by the time Jesus got there, imperial Rome already occupied Capernaum. Rome controlled land and sea; Rome controlled every aspect of the local economy, of everyone's lives and livelihoods. For First Isaiah, Galilee of the gentiles referred to the area's ethnic diversity; by the time of Matthew's writing, "Galilee of the gentiles" also includes another Herod, Rome's puppet governor Herod Antipas.

Jesus has journeyed 80 miles from the site of his baptism! Capernaum was a backwater, working-class town, not a standard metropolitan statistical area.

We've met Jesus' cousin John the Baptist with his message "Repent! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" Now Jesus repeats John's words, but Jesus is the embodiment of the Kingdom of Heaven—"the Reign of Heaven is here and now!"

Matthew says Kingdom of Heaven rather than Kingdom of God because of the Jewish proscription against speaking G-d's name. Kingdom can be reign, rule, sovereignty. We can speak about the empire of heaven! I like the concepts culture of heaven, lifestyle of heaven: during Jesus' time and during our time, a very different way of being and of acting than the typical usual mainstream amidst the imperial reign of the Roman Empire, in the midst of the imperial reign of trans-national corporations, controlled behind the scenes financial markets that favor the rich who will become "filthy rich," even amid the sometimes compelling imperial reign of consumerism. As happens with many colonials subjected, Jesus uses similar words and vocabulary to the dominant imperial cultures but gives them a new, subversive meaning.

Was this Jesus' very first encounter ever with the two pairs of brothers? Probably! Jesus' presence was so compelling and charismatic... and offered them an alternative, a different way of being and of living.

After calling both pairs of brothers as his first act of public ministry, "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people." Jesus announced the reign of heaven; he told them and he showed them. As in most marginal economies, food was scarce under imperial Rome. People didn't always have safe, clean water. In a workforce dominated by physical labor, illness prevented people from working, further impoverishing them (well, of course!).

Both Matthew and Luke report John the Baptist in prison asking his followers to ask his cousin Jesus, "are you the one who is to come, or do we need to look for someone else?" Jesus replies, "Go and tell John what you see and here: blind see; lame walk; deaf hear; lepers get clean skin; dead get raised to new life; the poor have the good news of the gospel reached to them (that hopefully they can hear a lot better with their restored hearing).

Backtracking earlier in today's gospel text, Matthew picks up Isaiah's "the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." We currently are in the season of epiphany within the church's year of grace. This section or installment of ordinary (ordered, structured) time emphasizes Jesus as light, as revelation to everyone everywhere, that reminds us Israel's God YHWH was God of all, God for all, not exclusively Israel's.

Discussion of sources and uses of light. You don't need much to see a lot! Even the glow of a single small candle can fill a very dark place. First light signals the start of a new day that will progressively become brighter. Us as light? We receive a lighted candle at baptism.

Epiphany 2A

Isaiah 49:1-7

¹Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he named me. ²He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. ³And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." ⁴But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God."

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

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

Last week: Bap-J in Matthew
This week: Bap-J in John
All 4 gospel accounts include John baptizing Jesus!

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

Revised Common Lectionary years A, B and C all feature a lot of Isaiah
Mostly pre-exilic First Isaiah, 1-39; Mostly exilic Second Isaiah, 40-55; Most post-exilic Third Isaiah, 56-66...
each has writing mostly by the same author with others interspersed. "Exilic" refers to Babylonian diaspora

All of the long Hebrew bible book of Isaiah brings us broad, inclusive universalism. Israel's God YHWH is God of all, God for all nations, people, creation. God seeks and desire salvation – wholeness, integrity, shalom, interconnectedness, a free future not bound by the past – for all.

Today our first reading is one of 2^nd Isaiah's four Servant Songs found at:

• Isaiah 42:1-9

• Isaiah 49:1-6;

• Isaiah 50:4-9;

• Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12

All of 2^nd Isaiah brings us a servant attitude. Isaiah 49-66 never again mentions King of Persia Cyrus; Isaiah 50-55 makes no more mention of Jacob as shorthand, as a cipher for all God's people.

The church long has identified the Servant as Jesus Christ, but at different times the Servant could be God's whole people Israel, Israel of the Babylonian (or any other) diaspora; the person who recorded the words of Second Isaiah. How about us as the Suffering Servant? The church reads and hears these texts during Holy Week of Jesus' passion leading to his death.

Jeremiah 1:5 // Isaiah 49:1 God called both prophets in the womb, before their earthly birth!

Today's passage helps us reflect on...

• God's baptismal claim on us as individuals and as a community;
• the presence of the HS;
• God's Work / Our Hands;
• how we sometimes get discouraged.

Example: after a retail or other tenant vacates a commercial building, they tear off that company's sign or banner and you almost always can see what we call a "label scar" where the sign had been. In baptism God marks us with the sign of the cross forever—it's an indelible "label scar." Can people see it or feel it?

Does the New Creation begin at Jesus' baptism or at his resurrection?

Baptism of Jesus A

Matthew 3:13-17

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" ¹⁵But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

1. Today we begin the liturgical season of Epiphany, a short segment of the green and growing Ordinary (ordered, structured) Time. Every year during the time after the Great 50 Days of Easter we have a long segment of Ordinary Time when we count Sundays after the Day of Pentecost (that's the 50th day of Easter. The Epiphany season begins and ends with a trinitarian theophany—a showing-forth, manifestation, of the triune God. Today we celebrate the first theophany with the Baptism of Jesus; three days before Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, we'll experience Jesus' Transfiguration.

2. We're now in Matthew's Revised Common Lectionary year A. Matthew's community replicates and parallels the history of God's people Israel in its narrative about Jesus Christ. Matthew very much views Jesus as the new Moses, as the new King David.

3. Matthew's gospel, the bible in general, and especially the Hebrew scriptures emphasize the concept of righteousness or justice. This is what we'd refer to as distributive, compensatory, or restorative justice that seeks to give everyone enough to live on, a place in the social order. It is far from the retributive justice of the criminal "justice" system. God's righteousness or justice is part of the "upside-down kingdom."

4. Jesus so far in Matthew's gospel: from Bethlehem to Egypt to Nazareth in Galilee to the River Jordan.

Although in many ways Matthew's gospel is more "spiritual" thank the gospel of Luke (who constantly brings us the presence and activity of the HS), Matthew brings us the very first instance of Jesus subverting empire, when the holy family Joseph, Mary, and Jesus travel to Egypt to escape the decree of the imperial ruler Herod to kill all baby boys under the age of 2. Pastor Peg has a wonderful kids' book about the Holy Family in Egypt that tells us they needed to rely on "the kindness of strangers." How about us? Are we kind strangers? Especially USA, UK, and Germany are receiving many many political and religious refugees seeking basic shelter and the kindness of strangers.

5. Doing history:

historicism = reading the past through the present—how can that be? To some extent that's what we do when we read and interpret scripture, engage in theology.

presentism = reading the present through the past as cause and effect, actions and events leading to more or less reasonable responses, "cause and effect."

6. We find John baptizing Jesus in all four gospels! For his cousin Jesus, John the Baptist is very much Elijah the forerunner of the Messiah, end of the time of promise, start of the time of fulfillment. Next week in St. John's gospel we'll hear John the Baptist identifying Jesus as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world."

Lots of "spilled ink" asking why Jesus, the perfectly sinless Son of God would need baptism. First of all, John's baptism was more of a new beginning for the nation, for the whole people of Israel than it was for individuals. Israel stepped into the Jordan River that formed a border and boundary between slavery in Egypt, exodus desert wanderings and their new promise landed life of obedience, repentance, and grace in covenanted community. Remember, they'd received the commandments on Mount Sinai during the course of their wilderness trek.

7. Secondly, when Matthew's community assembled this gospel account, questions of Jesus' full divinity hadn't yet started circulating; those concerns belong to a century or two later, so Matthew's community would not have asked why the sinless Son of Heaven needed to be baptized. The Definition of Chalcedon that describes Jesus Christ as fully human, completely divine, dates from 451.

Furthermore, our trinitarian baptism is into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

8. Jesus stepped into the Jordan River that was border and boundary between his earlier, more private life and his public life of obedience, grace and keeping righteous covenant. God the Father names, claims, and calls Jesus in this event.

This passage from Matthew brings us a Trinitarian Theophany as the heavens open! Father, Son, Holy Spirit are the three Persons of the trinity; theophany is showing forth, manifesting, displaying divinity.

9. In our baptism, God the Father names, claims, and calls us. The heavens open at our baptism and fill us with the HS, equipping us to serve others, sometimes to subvert empire. As part of the baptismal promises we or our sponsors renounce sin, death and the devil. Luke reports Jesus announcing, "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven." Living baptized means no longer giving credence or credibility or acknowledgment to the empty, shallow, fruitless, sometimes spectacular displays of the devil.

10. In his small catechism, Martin Luther asks, "How can water do such great things?" It is not only water, but water combined with the Word of God...

Advent 4A

Isaiah 7:10-16

¹⁰Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. ¹²But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. ¹³Then Isaiah said: "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. ¹⁵He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted."

Let's talk about signs, symbols, and situations. A sign points or directs us to something other than itself. Street sign. Product packaging. Warning labels in many places. A symbol is somewhat related. The scriptures and the sacraments are the symbols of the Church: although they carry and convey profound realities in themselves, they also point beyond themselves to God's gracious redemptive actions in Jesus Christ. In churches of Reformation heritage, we sometimes include the Confessions (Creeds, Catechisms) as symbols. For all varieties of Lutheran that would be the Book of Concord; for the Presbyterian Church (USA), their Book of Confessions. Other Reformed church bodies affirm the Canons of Dordt as reliable expositions of scripture. God often communicates with us via life situations we're in. Examples?

This week for Advent 4 we have another text from the first part of the book of Isaiah, probably from Isaiah of Jerusalem. Similar to Martin Luther, Matthew's community that produced the featured gospel readings for RCL year A had a habit of discovering and uncovering Jesus Christ in every passage of the Old Testament. No, I have that backwards: similar to Matthew's community, the Reformer Martin Luther loved to discern and explain the presence of Jesus in almost every phrase of the OT. This passage has become one of the most famous predictions of Jesus of Nazareth's birth, yet its origins are anything but. In these very very political verses, King Ahaz of the southern kingdom Judah is very very concerned about the military and political threats from Samaria [Ephraim] in the northern kingdom of Israel, from Damascus in Syria.

Discussion: in the world of Jesus' day, it was commonplace for you to be conversing with or find yourself in the marketplace beside someone who was the offspring of a god and of a mortal, thus half human and half divine. In Jesus the Christ we have a savior, a redeemer, a messiah who is fully human and fully divine. Writing to mostly Jews, Matthew drew upon this passage from 1^st Isaiah in his gospel-long affirmation of Jesus as the New Moses, the Son of David, the New King David, the Messiah of Israel. Mary named her son Jesus / Joshua / Savior, yet his presence in first century Palestine and 21^st century Christianity everywhere is Immanuel, God-With-Us.

I reminded the group the Hebrew scriptures distinguish between the prophet or nabi, one who speaks truth to power, lines out if-then alternatives regarding the future (as in this situation with Isaiah and King Ahaz), and the roeh or seer, someone who predicts future events and happenings.

We'll have a 2-week break from Sunday School, and that back to Matthew. I plan to discuss Bap-J and also at least mention the Magi and the Flight into Egypt, both unique to Matthew's gospel.

Advent 3A

Isaiah 35:1-10

¹The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus ²it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.

³Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. ⁴Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you."

⁵Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; ⁶then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; ⁷the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

⁸A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God's people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray. ⁹No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.

¹⁰And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

• Third Sunday of Advent! Two Sundays ago linear time and scripture opened a new year of grace to the church; we are the church, so that's a brand-new year for all of us. Gospel readings in this 12-month stretch mostly will be from Matthew. The liturgical year in general, Advent in particular are seasons of mercy and grace; Advent also brings a hint of judgment and self-examination.

• Remember for the Apostle Paul, the gospel, the good news is death and resurrection! A couple months ago we discussed how Christianity is not about immortality, about never ever dying. Scripture and our lives witness to death, destruction, desolation, loss, and then being resurrected to brand new life.

• Similar to last week, today's first reading, chapter 35 of 1st Isaiah, follows chapter 34 about horrendous environmental devastation.

• Throughout scripture – and all three sections of the Hebrew Bible book of Isaiah make it super-clear – the natural creation is not an incidental backdrop to the action, is not simply a stage, but lives and breathes as an integral part of God's story on earth. Scripture as a whole witnesses to the redemption, ransom, integrity, wholeness, restoration and resurrection of the natural world—not only human creatures. However, but the emphasis we often make on humanity may be valid, since for the most part creation needs redemption because of human sin, greed, and guilt.

• This whole passage is Messianic and eschatological! Check out Isaiah 35:5-6 – blind will see, deaf will hear, lame will walk, the dumb won't only speak, they will sing! Luke 7:18-23 and Matthew bring us:

Matthew 11

²When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples 3and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" ⁴Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. ⁶And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."

• Two weeks ago on Advent 1, our Isaiah reading refers to God's people as "Jacob," a common scriptural convention. Do you remember Jacob's dream and God's promises to Jacob?

• Fertility of both land and descendants
• Homecoming on this earth
• God's constant, unmediated presence with Jacob wherever he traveled

• We discussed our call to be God's hands, feet, voice, and simply to be God's presence in the Spirit to everyone we meet, everywhere we go.

• Last week I asked about fave Advent and Christmas Songs. Julie mentioned White Christmas; Pastor Peg loves a certain musical setting of O Little Town of Bethlehem; Do you Hear What I Hear? is one of my special faves. All of those, along with songs people mentioned today – Good King Wenceslaus and We Three Kings, The First Noel, Angels we Have Hear on High – reveal Jesus' birth in history, in quantifiable time and space, in geographical longitude and latitude.

• In Isaiah 35 the desert itself rejoices with joy and singing! Psalms 96, 98, and 148 appointed for Christmas also are about trees and plants and oceans and rivers participating in the general all around joy and excitement of Jesus' Nativity!

• The water we import from out of state and from northern California makes it easy for us to forget we live in a coastal desert. Have you ever visited the desert (Anza-Borrego, maybe?) in spring bloom? Water makes the difference; water restores life! Water is life!

• Most likely all of us in the room and in the church make a point regularly to Save The Drop LA.

• Due to our lively discussion of Christmas music and Lessons & Carols that would be our main worship service this week, we didn't get to my notes about the desert throughout scripture (esp the exodus desert) or to further consideration of water as the womb of creation and re-creation.

Advent 2A

Isaiah 11:1-10

¹A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. ²The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

³His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; ⁴but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. ⁵Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

⁶The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. ⁷The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

⁸The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den. ⁹They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. ¹⁰On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Last Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, linear time and the scriptures opened to the world a new Year of Grace.

Chapter 11 of Isaiah comes right after… chapter 10, that tells about a clearcut forest, so we start out today with a tree stump (branch, scepter, rod). Jesse was the father of King David. The carol anthem "Lo, How a Rose" sings about Jesus' descent "Of Jesse's lineage." For this year's lectionary year A, Matthew's gospel emphasizes Jesus as the new King David. A lot!

[11:2] Fruits of the Holy Spirit.

[11:3-4] This offspring of Jesses does not go by hear say or hear see, but assesses people and situations objectively. Later on in Isaiah 28:17 we read, "I will make justice the measuring line, righteousness the plumb line." [11:5] Clothed, dressed, arrayed in righteousness. In baptism the righteousness of Jesus Christ clothes us, helps us stand upright! [11:4] Also includes the creative, redemptive, Word that re-orders and reconciles.

For today's first reading, 1^st Isaiah brings us an amazing vision sometimes called the Peaceable Kingdom [11:6-7]. American artist Edward Hicks painted at least 50 different versions of wild and tame animal – lion, leopard, bear, wolf, sheep, cow, goat; many of his Peaceable Kingdom paintings include a toddler-age child. if you've sung in choirs or listened to much choral music, you may know the Peaceable Kingdom American composer Randall Thompson wrote for double mixed choir. [11:8] Part of the reign, that kingdom, is the end of human/serpent enmity we know from Genesis 3:15.

The end of today's passage tells us [11:10a] "On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples…" A sign, standard, signal, icon, ensign: the cross of Jesus Christ.

The reality of new life coming our of the death, the end of the old. For the Apostle Paul, the gospel, the good news is death and resurrection. God redeems and recreates our failures, our disappointments, losses, illnesses, etc. Particularly here in southern California, the reality of new verdant growth from the ashes of a wildfire amazes me every time—but probably shouldn't, since death is God's best and most fave way of brining resurrection.

I mentioned the new creation is not pristine, but builds on the ruins of the old. Los Angeles River, Clark Fork in Idaho. Both inspired human projects to restore riparian habitat that had been devastated unto death.

We've all experienced death by drowning in baptism. We all live daily in our second birth.

Advent 1A

Isaiah 2:1-5

¹The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

²In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. ³Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. ⁴He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. ⁵O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

All three advent lectionary year begin with a splash of apocalyptic, signaling the end of the world as we've known it. Revealing, uncovering, signs and wonders in creation, in the natural world. Today's apocalypse is a strangely interesting parable from Matthew 24.

We concluded the year of grace that ended last week with Reign of Christ / Christ the King with part of Melchior's song from Gian-Carlo Menotti's Ahmal and the Night Visitors:

The child we seek holds the seas and the winds on his palm.
The child we seek has the moon and the stars at his feet.
Before him, the eagle is gentle the lion is meek.

On love, on love alone will he build his kingdom...
His might will not be built on your toil.
Swifter than lightning he will soon walk among us.
He will bring us new life and receive our death.
And the keys to his city belong to the poor.

The first Sunday of advent opens wide a new year of grace. This new year does not begin with scriptural creation accounts! We hear Genesis 1 at the Easter Vigil during all three lectionary years and also onTrinity Sunday Year A, Baptism of Jesus Year B; the Day of Pentecost A, B, and C feature the creation account from Psalm 104.

The first advent, ad-venire, coming, or arrival of Jesus of Nazareth happened in Roman occupied territory after 700 years of enemies—Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Syria, Rome.

During this Advent 2016 we anticipate the infant Jesus' arrival into occupied territory: consumerism? military? wall street? social media? religion of excessive sports?

Blue, the color of hope, is the liturgical color for advent. Advent is a season of hope, and a time of repentance in the face of God's mercy-filled judgment.

During Matthew's RCL year A, the first readings for all four Sundays of Advent are from 1st Isaiah, Isaiah of Jerusalem, "the pre-exilic Isaiah," though the entirety of chapters 1 through 39 are not from the same author.

8th century contemporaries Isaiah of Jerusalem (2:2-4) and Micah 4:1-3 both include this passage.

Isaiah 1: violence, travesty, bribery, injustice, empty religious festivals, sacrifices, extravagances. Via Isaiah 1:17 God charges the people "Learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend, the orphan, plead for the widow."

All three Isaiah prophets bring us a wide world view with universalism that insists Yahweh is God of all, God for all. No more us and them!

Paradox is Zion was not the highest mountain, "the nations" were not caravanning to Jerusalem and Mount Zion. Also, God's people were not unique in considering their capital city the center of the world.

Isaiah 2:1"The word Isaiah ... saw." A visible word! Hebrew here is dabar that denotes both speech and action. Visible words? How about us? Sacraments, visions, dreams, paintings... advertising art!

Isaiah 2:3 "God of Jacob" – Genesis 28:13-15, Jacob's dream, Jacob's ladder: land, offspring, God's constant, abiding presence, homecoming.

Psalm 122 for today: ¹I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord!" ²Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.

Matthew: RCL A Intro

On the first Sunday of Advent the church begins a new year of grace; gospel scriptures for the year are mostly passages from Matthew.

Date

circa 80 - 90

Author

No indication of "Matthew" until the second century, but for discussion purposes we can assume followers of the apostle and tax collector Matthew similar to the way we consider the gospel according to John authored by the community that surrounded John the beloved disciple.

Sources

Matthew contains 90% of the verses in Mark, the earliest canonical gospel. (Luke contains about 50% of Mark.) Matthew and Luke both contain parallel, sometimes identical passages not found in Mark. Scholars still speculate there might have been a no longer extant written collection of Jesus' sayings, sometimes referred to as "Q", from the first word of the German Quelle—river or source. Matthew's community may have had a third written "M" source.

Language

Semitic Greek, or possibly Aramaic, the vernacular Hebrew Jesus spoke. Not really certain.

Setting

Greek-speaking Jewish Christians in Antioch in Syria, where they first called Jesus' followers Christian – Acts 11:28. That Antioch's now part of present-day Turkey.

World View, Content

Kingdom of Heaven rather than Kingdom of God

Concerned about fulfilling Hebrew Bible prophecies and predictions

Jesus as new Moses, new David, "son of David"

Matthew's genealogy goes back to Abraham, father of the Jewish nation

Visit of the Magi at Epiphany – God for the world. Scripture doe not say how many kings there were, but tradition has it at three.

Flight into Egypt – New Exodus

The only gospel that uses the word "ecclesia," and brings us some ecclesiology related to church order and structure. Ecclesia is the Roman city council, New England town meeting.

Before Jesus' resurrection Matthew calls God's people "Israelites"; after the resurrection he calls them Jews.

Great Commission – Gospel for the world

Five discourses, possibly to reflect structure of the Pentateuch, possibly presenting Jesus as a new Moses, the gospel as a new Torah.

(1) chapters 5–7
(2) chapter 10
(3) chapter 13
(4) chapter 18
(5) chapters 24–25

Parables unique to Matthew

• weeds among the tares of wheat
• the treasure
• the pearl
• the net
• the unforgiving servant
• the laborers in the vineyard
• the two sons
• the ten virgins