Living with Purpose: March 23

 Year C, Lent 3                                 Luke 13:1-9                                                                                                          One of my least favorite things about living near the coast of Virginia was the 3 month period when we were on alert for hurricanes.  Fortunately, in the 18 years that I lived there, we never had a devastating storm.  We had some bad ones, but none that caused severe damage or loss of life.  I was living in Norfolk, which is right next to Virginia Beach.  Virginia Beach was the home of the Christian Broadcasting Network and Regent University, both founded by Pat Robertson.  The joke was that we didn’t have to worry about hurricanes because either Pat Robertson would pray the storm away, or it just wouldn’t affect us because of the moral leadership of Pat Robertson. 

We just got a small piece of the storm.

Robertson often linked disasters to the morality of the people in the places these  disasters affected. When an earthquake killed hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti, he said it was because they made a pact with the devil. When a hurricane threatened coastal Virginia, Robertson claimed that he prayed it away and God would never want to damage his Christian campus and ministry.  Instead, the hurricane hit North and South Carolina, killing 17 people there.

            Robertson is not the only Christian leader to make these kinds of connections.  However, before his death just a few years ago, he was one of the few who had his own television network and university to amplify his views.  There is a part of many of us that connects bad things that happen to what we have or have not done. Whether we admit it or not, we often connect good things with good people and bad things with bad people.  It drives us crazy when bad things happen to really good people. How many times have you said or heard someone say, “They didn’t deserve that.”  Consider the stories of people who give credit to God when they missed their flight on a plane that crashed. The implication is that God wanted that individual to live while letting the others die.  If you look at our Gospel reading today, you will hear Jesus addressing this question of why things happen to certain people and not others.  Unfortunately, he didn’t provide a very clear answer.

            It starts off clear. The people in his midst (probably a mix of disciples and onlookers) mentioned 2 recent incidents, one which was the deaths of a group of people at the hands of Pilate.   We know of Pilate as he was involved in Jesus’ death, but he was well known as being brutal with the Jewish people, quick to subdue any potential insurrection with violence.  When the people mentioned this incident, Jesus guessed that they were bringing this up because they wanted an explanation. Perhaps it was coming from a place of fear.  Were they next? Perhaps just curiosity. Have you ever noticed when something horrible happens, we are all desperate to find an explanation, partly to prevent other bad things happening, but also because we are wondering—how can we avoid this terrible thing from happening to us?  What can we tell ourselves to make us feel better?

            Jesus answered their non-question with a question: “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you…” This answer probably made them feel a mix of relief and fear. If they thought they were more sinful then most, it was relief.  If they felt they were actually good people, they probably didn’t like this answer, because this meant they could do nothing to avoid horrible things happening to them.  So far, I like this answer by Jesus.  If I concluded that everything bad that has happened to me was connected to my sins and God’s anger about my sins—I would have a difficult time worshipping that kind of God and it would be a miserable way to live. 

Then Jesus goes on… and here is where things get murky.  “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”  This is a good example of why we can’t read the Bible literally. Obviously, not everyone who refused to repent was going to be killed by Pilate.  Pilate just didn’t have that kind of time.  However, it appears that he was saying that there will be consequences when we don’t repent.  That sounds a little scary. We have to be really careful not to make this into some kind of formula. Like, if you don’t repent, bad things happen.  It’s not that simple. We have all seen people who have gotten through life without there being any obvious consequences for their bad behavior.  But just because we don’t see the consequences doesn’t mean there aren’t any.

I believe what Jesus is doing here is shifting the perspective of the crowd.  They wanted this conversation to be about the sins of other people. It’s so much easier to judge other people then look at ourselves.  I think we all know that when we sin, there are consequences, sometimes to other people, sometimes to our planet, but most often to ourselves. When Jesus says, “unless you repent” it looks like a judgment or an ultimatum.  Yet what if we perceive repentance as an opportunity for us to examine our lives and ask for forgiveness?  So many people move through life carrying guilt and shame.  This is Jesus saying, you don’t have to carry that forever. You can repent and wipe the slate clean.  It’s not easy, but you can do it, with God’s help. 

A lot of people think that if we emphasize the God of love and compassion, then we can’t possibly talk about a God who judges or holds us accountable.  If you have a child or remember being a child, you know that life without consequences doesn’t help the child.  When a parent says no to their child or reprimands them, that doesn’t mean they don’t love their child. We are God’s children and God loves us so very much, but God wants us to be better, do better.

That is what the parable at the end of our Gospel is about as well. A fig tree is planted in a garden and after the appropriate amount of time, the owner of the fig tree sees that it’s not bearing fruit and decides to cut it down.  The gardener says, let’s give it some help (manure) and some more time and then we will cut it down if it doesn’t bear fruit.  There are consequences, but there is also grace.  When we find that our sin are building up and stop us from being the people that God want us to be, we can ask God for help and God is going to give us the help and the time we need.  But that doesn’t mean that God has no expectations on us or our behavior. 

There is urgency in this text because as we all know, life is far too fragile.  It’s so easy to put our relationship with God on the back burner because there are always more pressing demands on our time and energy.  What Jesus is doing here is encouraging a faith that is action oriented, a faith that bears fruit.   The fig tree had a purpose, to grow figs. Each one of us has a purpose as well.  It’s probably not always as clear as it is with a fruit tree, but we all have a purpose, one that contributes not just to our own life, but this world that we live in.

 If you are thinking, I don’t know what my purpose is. Loving God, loving your neighbor, sharing the love of God— that is a good place to start.  Having a purpose doesn’t mean we have a life plan that is all figured out. It means that we live with intention and hope. One thing I love about our faith is that Jesus tells us no matter who we are, what we do, how far along we are in our journey of faith, we have a reason for being.  We might not know our plan, but there is a plan. The closer we are to God, the closer we are to our purpose.

Politics and Church: March 16 2025

 Year C, Lent 2                              Luke 13:31-35                                                              

                 When I interviewed for my first ministry job almost 20 years ago, the rector asked me if I could avoid talking about politics from the pulpit.  This was a time when the Episcopal Church was really wrestling with the reality of gay marriage and ordained LGBTQ+ people. It was obvious to me that he wasn’t asking if I was going to preach about politics, he was asking if I was going to talk about controversial things that would upset people.  At the time, I probably had 10 sermons under my belt and I found it relatively easy to agree that I would not preach anything controversial.

Ever since then, I have been struggling with what that means…what it means when people talk about politics in the church.  The word political can mean a lot of things. It can mean something very general, like anything related to the government.  It can mean “the art of science of government.” For many people in means talking about our political leaders. Often when people use that word when talking about sermons, what they really mean is, “Are you going to say something that will upset me?”

For almost every interview for any church job, I have gotten some version of the question about how I handle politics in my preaching.  My answer goes something like this: “I preach the Biblical text. I am open to where the text and the Holy Spirit take me. Some people will perceive that as too political and some people will perceive it as not political enough.”

          The debate over politics from the pulpit is connected to the debate as to whether Jesus was political or not.  To me, that is who we should always return to when having these conversations. Unfortunately, we probably can’t agree on the answer to that question either. I bet we can all agree that Jesus shares whatever allegiance we associate with.  Are any of you voting with a political party you think Jesus would oppose? I didn’t think so.  I am pretty sure that no matter what congregation I asked that question to, no matter what their political affiliation would be, they would all be convinced they were voting with Jesus.

          Was Jesus political? It comes down to how you define politics.  If you are asking whether Jesus was critical of government officials or the actions of the government, the answer would be yes, he was political. We see that in our text today.  Herod was a leader appointed by the Roman government.  He was not popular with the Jewish people.

When the Pharisees told Jesus that he needed to leave the area because Herod was trying to kill him, Jesus said, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.”  Calling someone a fox was not a compliment.  In the Hebrew scriptures, foxes were described as destructive.  This was a critical statement of a political leader.  However, he didn’t say, “And here is a letter where I map about my recommendations about how to lead the government with more compassion.”  He wasn’t afraid to speak the truth, but he also didn’t seem overly concerned with Herod or what he was doing.  He basically said, I have more important things to do. I am casting out demons and curing people and no one will stop me from doing that.

          One of the things that we have to consider when we debate how political Jesus was or wasn’t is the kind of government they had in Israel at the time.  It was not a democracy.  They were being occupied by a foreign power, the Romans.  They couldn’t organize and get better people in leadership. No grass roots campaign was going to change the government. Their only option was a violent revolt which would have cost countless lives and have been unsuccessful.  We know this is true because 30 years after Jesus died and ten years before the Gospel of Luke was written, the Jews tried to overthrow the Romans and failed.  It was catastrophic for the Jewish people. The temple was destroyed, countless lives were lost and the Roman occupation became even more oppressive. 

Many people like to emphasize that Jesus was a revolutionary and that he was killed by the Roman government because they feared him. He was revolutionary when it came to many things, but there is no evidence that he supported overthrowing the Romans. The Romans were afraid of him because they didn’t understand him. They thought that anyone with the following and power he seemed to have would inevitably seek military power.  That was not who Jesus was.  He wasn’t a fierce animal. He wasn’t even a fox. He described himself as a mother hen longing to gather the children of God under his wings so he could protect them.  That is the kind of leader Jesus was.

The other thing we have to consider about this question is what was going on when the Gospel of Luke was written, because it was written about 40 years after Jesus died.  The Christian church was brand new.  At this point, it wasn’t being persecuted by the Romans and many people wanted to keep it that way.  It’s possible that Jesus was much more outspoken then what we read in the Gospels.  However, the author of Luke might have been trying to keep peace with the Romans and therefore didn’t focus on the negative things Jesus might have said. 

We have no way of knowing because the Gospels only contain a fraction of what Jesus said.  We could spend time hypothesizing on what a man like Jesus might have said about an oppressive Roman regime, or we could focus on what is recorded in the New Testament.

One thing that we can say for sure is that Jesus didn’t fear those in leadership.  He knew that he would die and he knew when it would happen. He wasn’t going to be threatened by people like Herod, even though Herod had killed his cousin for speaking against him.  (If you want a political preacher, look at John the Baptist.)

After Jesus left the desert where he was tempted by the devil, his very first public act was to go to the temple and read this verse from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach 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.” He then added: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words, I am that person who will make these things happen.  He said a few more things alluding to the fact that gentiles would also be recipients of the good news and as a result the people listening tried to run him off a cliff.  That was this kind of thing that made Jesus revolutionary. It was his preaching and actions that showed God’s love and grace was for everyone, that everyone was worthy of God’s love.  That was one of the things that made people really angry.  Could we interpret this politically? I think we could and sometimes, we should.

If you are thinking, wait a minute, she didn’t actually answer the question, then you are kind of right.  What I am hoping is that we can all see the various sides of the argument, not so we can win the argument, but so we can understand one another. Because that is what we are missing in our political discourse today, understanding those who are different.  I am not even sure we are trying to understand. 

If Jesus was here now and was involved in politics, he would absolutely be talking to people who disagreed with him, he would even be loving them. The other thing he would be doing--he would be doing God’s work without any regard for what the current administration is doing.  The work might change a little depending on who is in charge---it might change a lot, but God’s work on earth can and will continue as long as we can endure.  And God’s people can endure. We have to endure.

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he says, “But our citizenship is in heaven.”  That doesn’t mean that we stop worrying about what is happening on earth.  However, it does mean that we belong to something far greater than the United States of America.  We belong to the Kingdom of God, the one that we work to bring to earth and the one that awaits us in the next life.  Again, that doesn’t mean we stop working for justice on earth. It just means we have more reasons to hope, more reasons to endure and more reasons to love God and our neighbor.

Is it a Test or Temptation: March 9 2025

 Year C, Lent 1                                          Luke 4:1-13                                                         

            My son was in a Christian school for a few years and he would come home and tell me about the Bible stories that he really loved.  The school often used a show called Suberbook to reinforce the Bible teachings.   One day he came home and told me that his new favorite Bible story was Job.  This surprised me because Job is 42 chapters of suffering and people arguing about why God is allowing the suffering. 

Fortunately we were able to find the show on a streaming service and I realized why he liked it so much.  The Book of Job (the real one and the TV version) begins with a conversation between God and the Accuser. Many Bibles translate the Hebrew word to satan or the devil. The interesting thing about the cartoon is that they actually used the most accurate translation which is the Accuser. However, they took some artistic license when it came to the description of the Accuser. In the Bible, there is no physical description of the Accuser.  Since this is a children’s show, you can imagine how the Accuser is depicted---he’s a large winged creature with horns and fire coming out of his head and he can fly.  It definitely adds some drama to the story. 

This same winged creature returns in many different stories and the next place I saw it (we began to watch many of the shows) was the story we heard today, the story of Jesus in desert.  For many years we have spoken of the temptation in the desert and even the text that we read today used the word temptation.  However, many scholars today are saying that the better word is test.  Jesus wasn’t being tempted as much as he was being tested. The difference is subtle, but it’s important.

            Right before Jesus was led into the desert, he was baptized by John.  A voice came out of heaven and said, “You are my son, the beloved…”  Right after that, there is a little digression and the chapter ends with the genealogy of Jesus. The genealogy starts with Joseph and includes, King David, Abraham and ends with Adam…the first human.   What was the point of this digression?  Well there are several reasons for it, but the one that I find most relevant for today is that it showed that Jesus was not only the son of God, he was the son of man. He was both human and divine.

            A lot of people look at this story of Jesus in the wilderness and conclude that it provides some sort of model for how we are to avoid temptations, perhaps by quoting scripture as Jesus did. While it’s true that Jesus is meant to be an example for Christians, I am not sure that is the best takeaway from this story.  Consider the first test.  The devil asked that Jesus command rocks to become bread.   Here is a good example of why temptation is not the right word. If the devil was tempting Jesus, he would have handed him a loaf of warm bread and encouraged him to eat it.  But that’s not what the devil did, he asked him to perform a magic trick in order to satiate his hunger. Jesus refused and told the devil that life is more than your temporal needs. It also teaches us that Jesus would never perform a miracle just to prove a point or satisfy his own needs.

            The next test was an offer to give Jesus power and glory over all the kingdoms of the earth if only he worship the devil.  This one is a real head scratcher because Jesus is God and already has more power than anyone else, so this seems like a easy test.  Of course he wouldn’t worship anyone other than God. The 3^rd test is a little more complicated.  It takes place on the pinnacle of the temple, which is an important place in the Gospel of Luke.  The temple is the center of religious life, it’s where God is most present. The devil asks Jesus to throw himself down from the temple because the angels will save him.  Being the Son of God, means that God will protect him.  Not even a stubbed toe. 

This one is the most obvious test (as opposed to temptation). Jesus is being asked to prove that he in invulnerable. Nothing can hurt him because God won’t allow it.  As the reader (even though I know the end of the story) this is the test that I most desperately want to chime in on.  Jesus could prove his power, in front of not only the symbol of all evil, but every person near the temple.  This would have guaranteed that people would have gotten on board with his divinity. This would have been the most effective marketing campaign to prove Jesus was the son of God. Once again, he refused to take the easy way out. 

These tests weren’t really tests of Jesus’ power.  They were tests of his identity.  What kind of Messiah would he be? Would he win people over with displays of power and might from on high? Would he make deals with the devil? Would he take the easy way out? No. Again and again, he said no. Not only was he the Son of God, he was the Son of Man and he would prove that over and over again.  In doing so, he identified himself with humanity.  Humans don’t have infinite power.  We can’t create bread when we are hungry. When we fall, we get hurt.  He accepted the very same vulnerability that we all share.  He proved what kind of Messiah he would be.

The last line of our Gospel text is a little anticlimactic. It says, “When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.”  Now, if I got to choose how this ended, it would have ended something like this: “Jesus passed all the tests and the devil left him never to return again. Evil was conquered.” Alas, no one has asked me for my edits on the Bible because I have a few.  What Luke is telling us is that the test wasn’t over for Jesus, or for his disciples. He continued to be tested for the rest of his earthly life.  He was continually tested on what kind of Messiah he would be.  He always chose the path of the messiah who identified with the vulnerable and the weak. He chose humanity every time.

As Christians, we are continually tested as well. The test we face daily is how we will live our identity as followers of Jesus Christ. Do we take the path of least resistance and easy answers? Do we align ourselves with the powerful and mighty or with the vulnerable and scared?

Because here’s the thing, evil hasn’t given up.  Evil is all too present and when it goes unchallenged, it grows and we confuse it with success or might…sometimes even faith.  That’s why it helps to affirm our identity as followers of Christ every day.  You don’t have to say it out loud, but make sure you hold on to that affirmation as tightly as possible. That’s where we find courage. That is where we find power. That is where we find mercy and grace.

 

 

Naming the Evil: February 23, 2025

 Year C, Epiphany 6                                    Genesis 45:3-11,15                                                                                                          

          I have three older brothers. The oldest is 13 years older than me, the youngest is 8 years older. We were on very different levels when I was young. They were always doing something interesting and I was talking to my dolls or trying to get someone to play with me.  Once when I was pretty young, they were trying to create booby traps in a wooded area near our house.  They dug a large hole and covered it with branches. I was looking for them and fell right into the hole.  They thought this was hilarious.  But when they were done laughing they pulled me out.  I wasn’t hurt, but it was mildly traumatic.

However, this can’t compare to what Joseph’s brothers did to him.  Joseph was one of the youngest in the family, a family of 12 boys. His father Jacob was not shy in showing that Joseph was the favorite, which caused resentment with his older brothers. To make things worse, Joseph was a little obnoxious.  He liked to tell his brothers about his dreams, dreams where they were bowing before him.  So they decided to get rid of him, which I think we can agree was a bit of an extreme way to handle an annoying younger sibling.

When they were very far from home, they decided to throw him in a deep pit and leave him there, with no water or food. This way no one could say that they actually killed him, because he could have possibly escaped.  While Joseph sat at the bottom of the pit, they took a break and had lunch.  Some traders came by on their way to Egypt and the brothers thought, hey we might as well make some money on this whole thing and sold their brother to the traders.  They went home and told their father that Joseph was killed by a wild animal. Now, I think we can all agree that these brothers were horrible and Joseph would have some good reasons to carry a grudge.

          There are a lot of things that happened to Joseph when he got to Egypt, but eventually he was given the opportunity to interpret the dreams of the pharaoh and he predicted a 7 year drought and famine that would be preceded by 7 years of plenty.  The pharaoh was so impressed by this prediction he put Joseph in charge of the land so that they would be prepared for the famine.  Joseph did a great job preparing for the famine and when we come to our reading for today, they were 2 years into the famine. 

People from all around were coming to Egypt to beg Joseph for food because Egypt had prepared (thanks to Joseph). That’s how Joseph’s brothers ended up appealing to Joseph.  At this point, it had been about 20 years since he had seen his brothers, which is at least one of the reasons why they didn’t recognize him until he told them who he was. 

          In our reading for today, we see this beautiful encounter between Joseph and his brothers.  While the word “forgiveness” is not used in this part of the story, Joseph’s words and actions demonstrated radical forgiveness to people who considered murdering him and then compromised by selling him into slavery. In our reading for today, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” He then promised to provide for them and their families for the next 5 years of the famine. 

          It seems astounding, even divine. From what we can see his brothers have not apologized or given him any reason to provide for them after what they did. This seems to align with our Gospel reading where Jesus said, “Forgive and you will be forgiven.”  Jesus also told us to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. Is this what that looks like? Did Joseph just provide forgiveness without asking anything from his brothers?

Remember there are 7 chapters before this dramatic moment.  This is a long story arc for the Bible.  The brothers first showed up 3 chapters before.  Joseph gave them food but not before he accused them of being spies. Then while they were not looking, he instructed his servants to put the money they used to buy the food back in their bags so he could accuse them of stealing.  He didn’t, but when they found the money upon their return home, you can imagine it made them a little anxious. 

The next time they came to Egypt, Joseph planted a silver cup in the youngest brother’s bag and then sent people after them to accuse them of stealing the cup.  He said that the youngest brother, Benjamin would have to be detained in Egypt.  The brothers knew this would kill their father, who had already lost one son. And Benjamin was the one brother who had not been part of the plot to kill Joseph. He was the only innocent one.  So an older brother, Judah, offered to stay and be a slave in place of him.  It was only then…when Joseph saw that they were willing to sacrifice themselves for the one innocent one, when he finally admitted who he was.

And notice how he introduces himself.  He doesn’t say, “It’s Joseph---your long lost brother.” He said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.”   He reminded them of what they had done.  He named the evil that they had perpetrated and then added that God had allowed good to come out of it.  He named the evil and also the redemption that God had made possible.  It was only then when they could start the process of reconciliation. And it was a process.  It wasn’t until their father Jacob had died that the brothers finally asked for Joseph’s forgiveness.

I think sometimes when we consider our faith, we think it should be easy.  We say, well Jesus told us to love our enemies, but that is totally unrealistic. We don’t need to even try.  Joseph gives us a model for loving those who hurt us…and he shows us it can be painful, gut wrenching. I don’t have definitive proof of this, but I am pretty sure that no one weeps as much as Joseph does, in the entire Bible.  Over the course of the story, he broke down weeping 7 times…and that was after seeing his brothers.  The author of Genesis doesn’t even mention him weeping when he was sold into slavery…only after being reunited with his family.  That was when the really hard work began.  Both sides had to do the work.  When Joseph’s father died, the brothers were terrified that Joseph would now punish them. They were incredibly aware of what they had done wrong, how it affected their father, and of course Joseph.  Love and reconciliation is hard work, for everyone.

Another thing I love about this story is that not only does it show what forgiveness can look like, it shows us what leadership and the proper use of power looks like.  Joseph saved a nation from starving by being a good steward. When people came to him begging for food, he didn’t make them grovel. He didn’t take more from them then he needed. He helped them. 

In a later chapter, there is a story of people having to sell their animals and their land to Joseph so they could have food. That meant that when the famine was over, they would have no way to provide for themselves.  Joseph bought the land, but told them that when the famine was over, they could keep 4/5 of the yield and share 1/5 with the pharaoh. 

Joseph did this because he knew that he had all this because of what God had given him, so of course he wasn’t going to hoard it all for the pharaoh.  We have all seen examples of how power and money can corrupt people, but this story shows us that it doesn’t have to be that way. There is always room for mercy and forgiveness. It might make things a little more difficult, but it’s worth it. It’s always worth it.

Woh!: February 16 2025

Year C, Epiphany 6                                           Luke 6:17-26                                                         

            Two weeks ago I preached about what it is to be blessed.  I was preaching on the Song of Simeon when Simeon blessed the baby Jesus and then proclaimed him to be a sign that would be opposed. It seems that with Jesus, blessing and opposition often go together. What it is to be blessed has become something that I am fairly passionate about because I feel the word and idea has been abused.  Part of the abuse and misrepresentation comes from social media, but some comes from a branch of Christianity that preaches the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel teaches that if you believe in God and are blessed, good things will come—God wants us to be prosperous.  Some of these preachers are very popular and very rich.  At their best, I find them to be more like self help gurus than Christian pastors.  At their worst, they are misleading people and sometimes taking their money. 

However, as I was working on this sermon, I realized that I had never actually listened to an entire prosperity gospel sermon.  I found one called, “You are blessed.”  Since I am so very open minded, I assumed I would be highly offended. But I have to admit, I didn’t dislike it as much as I thought I would.  His overall point was that no matter how bad things are, you are still blessed by God. You carry the blessing and that is not determined by outside events.  I was with him for the first 25 minutes and then he moved to his conclusion and promised that things would get better if you were blessed by God, you would get the promotion, your body would heal, your circumstances would change.

That is not what Jesus says in our Gospel for today.  Jesus never said that things would get better because you carry God’s blessing.  Jesus never said we would prosper because we had God’s blessings. I am sure we can all think of people who are devout Christians (some would call them blessed) whose life didn’t improve. Their illness got worse.  They never found a better job. They remained addicted to drugs or alcohol and never entered recovery.  How can that be if they were blessed? Does that mean that they weren’t actually blessed? Did it mean that God didn’t love them as much as the person who was doing great?

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke is referred to as the Sermon on the Plain, which just doesn’t have the same ring to it as the Sermon on the Mount which you find in the Gospel of Matthew.  In Matthew, Jesus delivers similar words about blessing from a high point.  High points were often associated with God.  That is why we have the phrase “mountain top experience.” 

The first line in our Gospel reading for today was Jesus coming down from the high point to be with the people.  He was not above them…he was with the people.  This is a really important theme in the Gospel of Luke—that Jesus wanted to be present with the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, those who were often ignored.

In Matthew, there is just a long list of blessings.  In Luke, there are four blessing verses and four woe verses. The first and last blessings are based not on future rewards or blessing, but on what is happening now. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” It doesn’t say, you will one day be in the kingdom of God and things will be much better then.  It says yours is the kingdom of God right now. 

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven.”  Jesus says rejoice on that day, that day that you are reviled and hated.  It doesn’t say that you have to wait until heaven for your reward.  No, the fact that you are being defamed or insulted on account of the Son of Man is the blessing. That’s a hard one for me.  Does that mean we have to be ok with being insulted? Does this mean we have to be doormats? The key is---Jesus says on my account.  There have been a few times I have been insulted and excluded because of my faith, but it’s usually much more ordinary reasons.  What I have found is that when the exclusion or insult is because of my faith, it’s a lot easier to handle, because that is an area where I feel confidence.

Just this week our president issued an executive order to eradicate anti-Christian bias.  I have to admit, there was a part of me that felt a tiny bit good about that.  I am sick of churches being mocked, ignored or denigrated. But then I thought about this blessing that Jesus gave us. I think Jesus would say that if we are practicing our faith the way he wanted, there would always be a bias against us, especially from the elite and the powerful.  Remember, with blessing, comes opposition.

That becomes really clear when we read the woes.

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

‘Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.

‘Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”

 The Gospel of Matthew doesn’t include the woes.  We don’t know why, but it’s probably because he was speaking to a different audience.  Or maybe he just conveniently missed that bit.  We don’t know.  Some people interpret the “woe” as “curse you” or “damn you.” They interpret it that way not because that is the right translation, but because that is what they consider the opposite of blessing.  Remember, being blessed doesn’t mean you are favored or even happy.  It’s being loved by God, being in relationship with God.

 The Gospels were written in Greek and the translation of woe should actually be “woh!” or “yikes.” It’s a word that was meant to say, “pay attention.”  If you are rich, or satiated, or carefree or beloved by all people, you need to be careful. Because when you have those things, it’s easy to assume that you got them because you deserve them.  We have all heard people say that they got where they are because they worked for it. I get it. I worked hard too. But I was also born in this country, to highly educated parents who loved me and supported me.  Some of it was hard work, much of it was just luck. 

When we think we deserve what we have, that we don’t need to rely on anyone but ourselves, then we forget how desperately we need God.  That is a dangerous place to be…much more dangerous than being criticized because we are preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  If we reframe how we perceive blessing---instead of being prosperous of favored, it’s being in right relationship with God—which means depending on God, showing gratitude for all God has given us.  If we can frame it that way, then the opposite would be when we put our faith in ourselves, or behave as though we have control or should have control. The prophet Jeremiah put it more starkly, “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord.”

That is what kind of bugs me about these prosperity Gospel preachers, the focus is on you being better and how God ass blessed you. It’s the individual and not the whole. And the more we focus on ourselves and bettering our circumstances, the easier it is to ignore the needs of the people around us. That is a woeful place to be. Blessed are those who weep---that is not saying that God wants us to be sad all the time, it’s a blessing for those who are weeping on behalf of the state of our world. If you are scared, anxious or depressed right now because of things that are happening, then you are blessed, because it means you still care.

There are times when we all need to be reminded that we are blessed by God, that we are beloved by God.  But there are also times when we have to be reminded to pay attention when we become too comfortable or too self satisfied.  Sometimes I need both those reminders at once. I hope that we can all remember that the Jesus who came down from his high place to be with his people is the same Jesus that we worship and the same Jesus that we try to emulate.

Blessed isn't always happy: Feb 2 2025

 Year C, The Presentation                                Luke 2:22-40                                                                        

                The summer after my senior year of college, I interned in a tiny town outside of Harrisburg.  The youth in this town were bored and one of the churches decided to bring in someone who would work with those youth just for the summer.  It was a good opportunity for someone like me, someone who was not sure if I wanted to work in the church or not.  However this was before cell phones were common and I didn’t know anyone in the town except the people who hired me and the youth I was working with. It was a lonely time in my life and I was depressed.  I was still Roman Catholic and so I went to a Bible study at the Catholic Church.  The priest was talking about the sermon on the mount, also called the Beatitudes. He said that being blessed is not the same as being happy.  At the time, that was a revelation to me.

          One need look no further than the version of the Beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke to prove this. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now for you will be filled.

‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.” Every time I see some social media post with a #blessed next to a picture of a beautiful family or an update on a major accomplishment or goal achieved, I want to post these words from Luke’s Gospel.  For Luke, being blessed had a lot more to do with being in relationship with God and finding hope in that relationship  than just having good things happen that you can brag about on social media.

          The Gospel reading for today tells the story of the Feast of the Presentation.  Jesus’ parents (Mary and Joseph) were observant Jews.   Thus, they followed the customs and laws of the Jewish faith.  One of those laws was presenting the child at the temple 40 days after the birth.  In that act, they were dedicating their son to God.  Of course, this was no average child. This was the Son of God.  Mary and Joseph knew that, but they still followed the laws of their faith. 

          When they entered the temple, they encountered a devout Jew by the name of Simeon.  We do not know much about Simeon, except that he was devout and righteous and led by the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit is mentioned three times in relation to Simeon.  He had been told that he would not die until he saw the Messiah.  He immediately recognized this infant as the Messiah. He was so moved, he made this beautiful speech which is known as the Song of Simeon or the Nunc Dimmittis. He essentially said that he could die now, because he had seen salvation. 

          You might think, well this should not have come as a shock to Mary and Joseph. They had heard all this before.  But according to this Gospel, Mary had heard very little. This is only chapter 2 of Luke.  At this point, Mary had been told by the Angel Gabriel that she would bear a son who would be the Son of God.  Mary’s conversation with Gabriel had been affirmed by her cousin Elizabeth when she met her.  Upon seeing Mary pregnant, Elizabeth greeted her as the Mother of the Lord.  Mary and Joseph also received additional news about their son from the shepherds who visited them right after she gave birth.  The shepherds told them that angels had appeared to them and told them this child would be the Messiah, the Lord. 

This was all Mary and Joseph had, a few short conversations that probably left them a little confused.  Then out of the blue comes this man who was a complete stranger but was able to shed more light on this tiny baby they held in their arms.  The text says that they were amazed by what Simeon said.  Then Simeon blessed the child and they probably thought that was the end of that interaction. 

Simeon had more to say: “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Can you imagine how the atmosphere must have changed with that one comment?  They received a beautiful blessing from this devout and inspired man and then he told them that their sweet little baby will be opposed and a sword would pierce their soul. Sometimes when I read that, I feel that sword.

          I want you all to try to picture something.  Think of the most wonderful thing that has happened or something you hope will happen. Maybe you just got some wonderful news—a baby was born, someone recovered from a horrible illness, the Eagles win the Superbowl.  Just think of something incredible…and then you hear that someone who you love will suffer, will suffer so much that you will feel like your soul is being pierced.  Try to wrap your mind around that. It would crushing.

          I just can’t get past the fact that Simeon would hold this child in his arms, bless him and then provide that very traumatic prediction.  If this was a normal couple, they could have walked away and said, “Well that guy was crazy.” But they knew that it all fit.  Nothing about their lives had been easy thus far.  Why would it be now?  For Mary and Joseph, the blessing came with opposition and heartache.

          Jesus would affirm this strange blessing decades later when he said, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.”  I think many of us already know, that even the most blessed life can be full of opposition, pain, fear and death.  Hashtag blessings belong on social media, but not in our Christian faith. 

          A part of me says this with some trepidation because I think, why would anybody sign up for this?  Why be a Christian when it’s so damn hard?  Because of hope.  You see the other person in this story was named Anna.  She was 84 years old and had been living in that temple for most of her life.  She also recognized Jesus for who he was.  But the funny thing is, it doesn’t say that the Holy Spirit guided her like it did Simeon. It says, “At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” As soon as Simeon said that a sword would pierce the soul, Anna started praising God and reminded Mary and Joseph that this child would bring redemption. 

Hope always has the last word in our faith.  Hope swings in after the blow that brings us to our knees and says, “Redemption is near.”  Not only is redemption near, but Mary and Joseph held the child that would bring redemption. Salvation was that close to them.

Today we Christians also hold that blessing, the blessing that feels like a burden at times, but also brings redemption and salvation to world that is sick of empty promises and superficial blessings.  Will our message bring opposition? Yes it will and if it doesn’t, we might not be proclaiming the right message.  But the good news is this---hope always has the last word.  Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

We can all be miracle workers: January 19

 Year C, Epiphany 2                                                John 2:1-11 & 1 Corinthians 12:1-11                            

          One of the most well-known miracles in the Bible is when Jesus turned water into wine.  There are a couple of reasons for this popularity. To many, it feels like a more relatable miracle, than say Jesus exorcising demons out of a person. In this story, Jesus is celebrating along with his family and his disciples. People find it refreshing to imagine Jesus just hanging out and enjoying life.  Because let’s face it, much of the Gospels are about Jesus preparing for his death.  There are not many stories of him just hanging out with his friends—not preaching, not healing…just hanging out.  It’s also popular because there are also a lot of people who like wine and the idea that Jesus would provide wine for a party …that’s an appealing image of Jesus.

          This miracle is the 1^st miracle in the Gospel of John. It’s not just Jesus’ first miracle, it’s his first public act.  He had just called his disciples and one of the first things they do is go to a wedding together. In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus’ first miracle is a healing.  In Mark, it’s an exorcism.  Those are classic Jesus miracles.  John is the only Gospel that tells the story of Jesus turning water into wine.  The Gospel of John is unique in many ways.  The Gospel writer doesn’t refer to miracles as miracles, they are signs and revelations. They are opportunities for Jesus’ divinity to be revealed. They are also opportunities for God’s children to participate in the miracle. 

          Let’s look at this first miracle.  One thing that usually catches people’s attention is the interaction between Jesus and his mother.  She is the one who alerts him to the issue.   Normally, people running out of wine would not be an emergency, but wedding celebrations were a really big deal at this time.  They still are today, but normally (at least in the circles I travel in) running out of wine on the 3^rd day of festivities would not bring shame to the family.  At this time, wine wasn’t just a beverage, it was also a symbol of life and blessings. (Remember, John loves signs and symbols.) Running out of wine indicated a lack of blessings, which was not good for a wedding. 

Perhaps Mary knew the family…perhaps she was just more sensitive to potential social shaming.  We don’t know why she got involved, but it’s clear she wanted Jesus to help and she knew that he could.  Jesus’ response to her is a little surprising.  He tells her that his time has not yet come.  He knew that once he started performing miracles or signs, there was no turning back.  Even though this miracle was not in front of a large crowd, the servants were aware and word was bound to get out. Everything would change after this miracle.

          In most miracles, we tend to focus on the miracle itself and Jesus’ part in it, but what I found interesting when I read it this time was the role that the servants played.  Jesus told them to take 6 stone water jars that each held 20 to 30 gallons and fill them to the brim. I have had a few experiences of having to haul buckets of water, but they have always been plastic and a few gallons, not 20-30 gallons.  Stone water jugs that large with that amount of water would have weighed at least 200 pounds.  And it’s not like they just had to find the nearest hose, they had to get to a well.  It was very labor intensive.[1]  It was only then, after the servants had done that work, when Jesus turned the water into wine. One might wonder why he didn’t just skip the middle man and fill the empty jars with wine.  It would have been a lot easier.

          We often associate miracles with things that just come to us.  We ask for it, God gives it---that’s a miracle.  But what Jesus showed in this miracle was not merely a fondness for good wine, but the fact that sometimes miracles require the effort and help of others. It’s a community effort. If you look at all the miracles in the Gospel of John, almost all of them include the effort of humans. When Jesus fed the 5000, it started with a boy bringing him 5 loaves and 2 fish. Once Jesus multiplied this offering, the disciples had to hand out that food to 5000 people.  Then, they had to gather all the leftovers. That is a fair amount of effort on the part of the disciples. 

          Our reading from Corinthians is another familiar one.  It’s often lifted up as an example of the Christian community and how the community is made up of a variety of gifts.  That’s a fair reading.  But Paul’s emphasis here was the origin of the gifts.  All these gifts came from the same Spirit. He repeats the phrase “same Spirit” several times. 

If you read the chapters before this one, you will see that Paul was frustrated with the people of Corinth because they were getting a little competitive with their gifts. They were showing off and lifting up certain gifts over the gifts of others. The gift that they often revered was that of speaking in tongues.  Paul includes that in his list of gifts, but it’s the very last one.  Paul says that “all these gifts are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.”  When we talk about spiritual gifts in churches today, we often talk about it from the perspective of what we are good at.  I don’t think that is what Paul meant. It’s not necessarily about how we choose to serve God, it’s about what the Spirit chooses.

          Notice in the Gospel what Mary says to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”  This was an opportunity for these servants to participate in a miracle, but first, they had to listen to Jesus.  That is true with all of us.  Yes our Christian community depends on the gifts of all of you.  I have witnessed so many beautiful gifts in this parish.  I have seen you giving of yourselves for the common good again and again.  But we cannot overlook the necessity of listening to God, allowing God’s wisdom to infuse us.  Listening is the only way we can determine what the common good is.  According to Paul, all these gifts contribute to the common good of the community.   Listening to God also enables us to participate in miracles. 

I expect that we have all had times when we prayed for miracles and those prayers were not answered in the way that we desired. I don’t want you to walk away from this sermon thinking that I am telling you miracles depend on our effort and if we just tried harder, than these miracles would happen.  I wish that miracles worked like that.  It seems like that would be a lot fairer.  Perhaps we need to change the way we think and talk about miracles.  Remember, John never referred to anything as a miracle. They were signs that helped people see God more clearly.  What if that is part of our calling as Christians---helping people see God more clearly?

That is one of the things that Martin Luther King Jr. did.  At the time, many white people thought that only white people were created in God’s image and that really messed up people’s perception of God.  Because if white people were made in God’s image, then God was obviously white. Martin Luther King showed people that all people, no matter their color or race were created in God’s image.  God was and is so much bigger than our narrow perceptions.  Even today, with all our open minded thinking, God is still bigger than we will ever know.

I would like us to redefine miracles—so they are not just something that happened long ago or to a small portion of the population.  What if they could be any opportunity to experience God’s grace and love, or any opportunity to share God’s grace and love with the people around us?  If that is true, then opportunities for miracles are far more numerous than we could possibly imagine. Not only that, it means that we are all miracle workers.

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[1] Lectionary column for January 20, Second Sunday after the Epiphany | The Christian Century