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12 June 2016
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 6C (RCL)
1 Kings 21:1-21a
Psalm 5:1-8
Galatians 2:15-21
Luke 7:36 – 8:3
The problem of wealth rising to the top of the pyramid is apparently a perennial problem. Those at the top think themselves entitled, and both the religion of YHWH and of Jesus have something to say about that.
The story of Ahab and Naboth’s vineyard is the second in a pair of stories of Ahab’s failure to understand the covenant. Continue reading “Privilege”
5 June 2016
Third Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 5C (RCL)
1 Kings 17:8-24
Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17
Luke clearly intended to have his readers make the connection with the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. This connection helps to provide an interpretive frame, but the story is unique in its own right. First, the son of the women is called monogenes houis, meaning “only born son” or “only begotten son.” It is the word John uses for Jesus in the prologue. So, our attention is called immediately to this son. Secondly, the narrator (Luke) says, “When he saw her, the Lord had compassion on her” (or was “gut-wrenched”). This is the first time Luke uses this title for Jesus — characters in the story have called him “sir,” but this is the first time in the narration. Now we are really paying attention. Continue reading “Raising the son”
29 May 2016
Second Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 4C (RCL)
1 Kings 18:20-39
Psalm 96
Galatians 1:1-12
Luke 7:1-10
This passage from Luke is full of words connoting worth and value, and calls into question many of our assumptions about the world. The passage begins with an interesting choice of vocabulary. The NRSV has, “After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.” A better translation might be, “When Jesus had fulfilled all his words in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.” This is exactly the same vocabulary Luke uses when Jesus rolls up the scroll in the synagogue at Nazareth, and says, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” After that sermon, Jesus went on to say that in the days of Elijah the prophet, Elijah was sent only to the widow of Zarephath (a gentile), and Elisha healed only Naaman the Syrian. Continue reading “Who is worthy?”
22 May 2016
Trinity Sunday
Year C
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
The doctrine of the Trinity developed over the course of a couple centuries (or longer) of reflection on what happened in the events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The Christians of those first centuries came to be convinced that what had transpired in the Jesus event was nothing less than the reconstitution of the human being and indeed of the whole created order; it could only have been accomplished by the same God who had created the world in the first place. They developed an entire theological vocabulary (ousia, hypstasis among the more technical terms) to express the idea that God was at work in Jesus the Christ, and yet maintain the unity of the Godhead. Continue reading “Practicing Trinity”
8 May 2016
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Easter 7C (RCL)
Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26
The reading from Acts presents a wonderful set of allusions to other scriptural stories and a set of contrasts between Roman religion and the religion Paul is teaching. The Revelation passage invites all to come and share in the vision of the goal of history. And John presents us with an insight into participation in the divine life. Continue reading “Practicing unity”
1 May 2016
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Easter 6C (RCL)
Acts 16:9-15
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10, 22 – 22:5
John 14:23-29
A very rich set of readings. John’s vision of the new Jerusalem is one of the most sparkling in biblical literature, and bears allusions to much of the rest of the biblical story. One almost wonders if the author knew he were writing what would become the closing chapters of the bible. The bible opens in a garden, from which humanity is expelled, and prevented from eating of the fruit of the tree of life. Here in this last vision, the tree of life grows freely in the new city, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. With this at the end of the bible, the point is being made that salvation is not a simple return to the innocence of the garden, but that human cultural endeavor participates in God’s economy of salvation. Continue reading “City of peace”
24 April 2016
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Easter 5C (RCL)
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35
Throughout John’s Gospel, we have encountered the themes of glorification, seeking, remaining, love and commandment. We have arrived a point in the Gospel where these themes come together and begin to receive their explication. Immediately prior to this passage, Jesus has washed his disciples’ feet and told them that what has been done for them, they are to do for others. He set aside his garments (the same vocabulary he used for “laying down” his life in the Good Shepherd discourse), and then put them back on (the same vocabulary as for taking up his life again). He has just demonstrated what is meant by laying down one’s life and taking it up again. Judas has now left the room, and Jesus says, “Now the son of man has been glorified.” The act of glorification takes in both the foot-washing and Judas’ betrayal. Continue reading “All things new”
17 April 2016
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Easter 4C (RCL)
Acts 9:36-43
Psalm 23
Revelation 7:9-17
John 10:22-30
There is a delicious bit of irony in the Gospel reading for this Sunday. Jesus is walking in the stoa of Solomon (the Greek word for walking is peripatein, which is what the peripatetic philosophers did). This is exactly the part of the Temple from which Jesus would have driven the animal merchants and money changers back in the second chapter of the Gospel. When asked by what authority he performed that act, he replied, “Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days.” Now, he is teaching in the stoa of Solomon on the feast of the re-dedication, celebrating the Maccabean reconquest of the Temple and Jerusalem. Continue reading “Fear no evil”
10 April 2016
Third Sunday of Easter
Easter 3C (RCL)
Acts 9:1-20
Psalm 130
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19
Propers like this Sunday’s present an embarrassment of riches. There is too much to preach on in one sermon.
The Gospel reading is an intriguing story, and has fascinated commentators through the ages. It appears to be appended to John’s Gospel. John 20:30-31 seem to provide a logical conclusion to the Gospel: these things have been written that you may come to believe and believing may have life. And then this story pops up. It’s not the first time John’s Gospel has done this. John 14:31b (Rise, let us go hence) seems to provide a perfectly logical conclusion for the last supper discourse, which then goes on for two more chapters!
If this reading is an appendix, it must have been added to address some situation that arose for the Johannine community after the Gospel had been finished. Continue reading “Dive right in”
3 April 2016
Second Sunday of Easter
Easter 2C (RCL)
Acts 5:27-32
Psalm 150
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31
It’s almost too bad that these lessons have been assigned traditionally to the Second Sunday of Easter, often called “low Sunday.” These lessons are some of the richest to preach on, and so many miss the chance to hear them. A local ELCA congregation has the name St. Thomas/Holy Spirit, and they celebrate this day as their feast day.
Thomas is an interesting character in early Christianity. His Gospel is often taken to be the kind of sayings source that would have had currency in gnostic circles. John seems to be using him as the spokesman against a kind of docetic Christianity in this story. It would have horrified gnostic/docetic Christians to touch the wounds of Jesus. Could anything be more fleshy? Continue reading “Resurrected wounds.”