Lent 1C, Sunday March 9, 2025

Prayer

Through all their desert wanderings, O Lord our God, you led our ancestors from toil and oppression to a land of milk and honey.  Through forty days in the wilderness, the Spirit led your Son from the devil’s testing to victory as your servant.  Lead us through these forty days of Lent and make that victory of Christ’s our own, till at the font of living water the elect find new birth, the penitent find pardon, and all rejoice to serve you alone. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 4:1-3

"I don’t think that a sermon on temptation needs to be either titillating or boring to be helpful. Rather, I think it needs to be both honest and realistic. In fact, I think that kind of sermon on temptation might be just the thing a lot of our people need and want to hear."

"Trust and Temptation," David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2013.

"Wilderness was the wild place, the waiting place, the place of preparation. It also connected then, as it does now, to very basic spirituality: a place to grapple with God, a place to learn dependence on nature and its provisions, a place of extremes or contrasts, of wild beasts and desert. It is the Lenten space par excellence."

"First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Lent 1, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

First Sunday in Lent: Led by the Spirit into the Desert
The inaugural Sunday of Lent marks our return to the biblical passages earlier in Luke's account. The Holy Spirit prompts Jesus to wander into the wilderness immediately following his baptism. The lectionary pattern enables us to view our Lenten walk through the lens of Jesus' desert journey which sometimes seems to disrupt the narrative flow.

Luke is clear: From his baptism onward until the culmination of his ministry, the Holy Spirit guided Jesus. Luke Timothy Johnson points out that according to Luke chapter 72, Jesus' divine sonship operates through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit actively pushes Jesus forward into his time of testing. He follows a purposeful path into the desert, where the Spirit leads him to confront the Adversary.

The Counter-Kingdom of the Tempter
Luke's Gospel depicts Satan's testing of Jesus with variations from the other biblical narratives. This adversary, who appears as if we were reading Job, is a tester who presents an alternative rule and regime instead of just opposing Jesus. The devil's temptations extend beyond the individual level to structural systems that promote a world governed by scarcity and domination while serving selfish interests.

For generations, people have considered the wilderness a location for trials. Many ancient people believed that demons occupied these wild areas. This area represents a deficiency in which people experience actual hunger while food availability remains unpredictable. The devil wants to transform the wilderness into his personal kingdom instead of taking Jesus away from it. The devil offers Jesus salvation and governance in this place - a metaphor for the world of men.

Jesus’ forty days recall Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34: Jesus' forty days in the wilderness reflect Moses' experience on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28), Elijah's trip to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8), and Jonah's proclamation to Nineveh (Jonah 3:4). The biblical narrative uses this period to demonstrate profound preparation while marking significant transformation and covenant renewal. The period of forty days transcends mere chronology as it represents the formation of a community.

Jesus' forty-day wilderness experience provides a powerful model for discipleship. Our existence unfolds within the temptations and promises of an alternative kingdom. Every day, we encounter shortages that extend beyond food to include justice and truth as well as love. By moving beyond God’s dominion, we experience hunger in its sharpest form. Our longing for profound meaning persists, but we frequently accept the hollow assurances of power, self-reliance, and a comfortable existence.

Temptations of the Counter-Kingdom
Jesus’ initial test involves transforming stones into bread by exercising his divine power to maintain his survival during his time in the wilderness. The words of John the Baptist echo: From these stones, God can produce children of Abraham. (Luke 3:8). In biblical imagination, stones possess an active nature that enables them to testify, produce water, and transform into something greater.

But Jesus refuses. The notion that surviving in the counter-kingdom represents an ultimate purpose for Jesus (and our own life) fails to gain his acceptance. He returns to Deuteronomy 8: The principle that bread alone cannot sustain life guides our understanding. Lent shows how the teachings about dependence have roots that reach beyond this time since Abraham, Moses, and the prophets trod this same path. People naturally believe that their lives would improve with certain things in their possession. The voices of the counter-kingdom tell us that hunger demonstrates God’s absence. Jesus teaches that God’s abundant presence becomes most evident during times of scarcity. This is the kingdom vision.

The second temptation is power. The devil exposes the entire world as his kingdom. The one condition is that Jesus must be worshiped to receive them. This is a move from God's mission kingdom to the kingdom of humanity. Within Luke’s account, this goes beyond simple respect because it signifies loyalty and support for the world's opposing order. This, Jesus will not have. 

My mind recalls the daily false promises of effortless riches and technological utopias alongside the prosperity gospel, which just demands more and more. The devil presents his proposal as an appealing path because it provides quick access to justice while establishing power. Jesus refuses. He recalls the Sh’ma: The Lord your God deserves your worship and exclusive service, according to Deuteronomy 6:13. True worship goes beyond physical gestures to reflect the entity or principle that commands our total allegiance in life to God and God's kingdom, not the counter-kingdom.

The last temptation brings Jesus to Jerusalem’s Temple. The devil starts to cite Scripture to convince him to throw himself down and see if God will save him. But Jesus refuses to manipulate the relationship. He refuses to use faith as a manipulative instrument. He reveals that the temptation represents a quest for surety alongside a rejection of trust in the counter-kingdom - certainty over faith.

The tester steps back from his role but keeps his leave temporary. The struggle continues beyond this moment. Luke demonstrates that the counter-kingdom resists complete defeat because these forces will return through systems and betrayals to use power structures against Jesus, leading to his death. The adversary is not absent—only waiting.

Driven into Lent
Lent represents a period dedicated to personal devotion and fasting, along with introspection - confession, and forgiveness. But this passage invites us to see it differently: This liturgical season offers opportunities for self-reflection and active participation in God's kingdom. This is a season of good works as well.

Lent transforms into a Spirit-guided expedition that brings both testing and revelation. Jesus purposefully enters the desert according to divine guidance. He is led there with a purpose. Entering this season should be about seeking God's closeness and welcoming the refinement of our faith through testing. What if we used Lent as an opportunity to embrace both fasting and a courageous advancement into our mission?

The fundamental question becomes not merely what you will deny yourself during this period? but what will you discover? Are we willing to let the Holy Spirit move us into a wilderness where our dependence will be revealed and our worship will be redirected so we can prepare for the journey to Jerusalem?

Lent is not just a season. It is a confrontation with the counter-kingdom - a time to see its posessive power in our lives. Through the Spirit, we advance further into God's dominion.

Some Thoughts on Romans 10:8-13

"Few congregations today face the precise questions that challenged Paul's churches. Even so, there remain significant issues that divide believers from one another." Commentary, Romans 10:5-15, Audrey West, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2016.                                                                                       

"Resurrection itself is an overcoming of shame -- the shame of crucifixion in particular, but also overcoming the more general shame that God did not act to save God's faithful servant from death."
Commentary, Romans 10:5-15, J.R. Daniel Kirtk, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.

"God's salvation is available to all. This is a bold statement. We err if we hear it as anthropology, as a claim that all people are about the same, or as a maxim that "a person's a person, no matter how small" (that's not Paul, but Horton Hears a Who!). Rather, Paul makes a statement about God: God has made salvation near to all."
Commentary, Romans 10:5-15, Matt Skinner, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Paul

In this lesson, Paul substitutes the word for Torah with the word Christ.  Therefore what we are presented with is the transformation of living the law transformed into the Gospel of living out the Christ like heart.

We have a unique proclamation of Good News about Salvation and of Christ and his resurrection.  We cannot underestimate the reality that Paul's view that God's grace, mercy, and salvation preceded virtue was a radical notion.  The reversal of the economic nature of faith was powerful to the first century ears.  Today, most of us still live within a predominately exchange based faith practice; though a more subtle one.  We trade on "right belief" today or "right worship."  Paul's message is very important for us to hear.

Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is working God's purpose out in the world.  God as Holy Spirit is a spirit of love and grace which is breathing life into people.  They are receiving grace and this grace brings with it a deliverance from the old ways.  Shame is not God's way, though it was the way of the law.  We are freed now into a new life which makes all things and all people new.

This God is a generous God, and Christ sees no distinction in the human family when he looks upon us with the eyes of grace.  Paul says it is no longer about marking the boxes and checking off your list of achievements.  Instead, God has saved us.   Paul writes:

For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

This is good news indeed and having heard it, we proclaim it, and we choose to live and be differently. We choose then to live out of our freedom and liberty a grace filled and virtuous life.  This is the new economy of faith, traded on grace and forgiveness from God to us and to all others.  Moreover, an opportunity to live life empowered by the Holy Spirit to give thanks for this salvation and to offer it to others; all the wile attempting a virtuous life of love.

Some Thoughts on Deuteronomy 26:1-11

"The book of Deuteronomy records the orations Moses declared to the Israelites on the last day of his

Offering of the First Fruits (בִּכּוּרִים, bikkurim)
(illustration from a Bible card published
between 1896 and 1913 by the
Providence Lithograph Company)
Thanks Wiki!

life."

Commentary, Deuteronomy 26:1-11, William Yarchin, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2016.

"It is the will of God, that we should be chearful not only in our attendance upon his holy ordinances, but in our enjoyment of the gifts of his providence. Whatever good thing God gives us, we should make the most comfortable use of it we can, still tracing the streams to the fountain of all consolation."
From John Wesley's Notes.

"Signifying that God does not give us goods for ourselves only, but to be used also by those who are committed to our charge."
From the John Calvin's Geneva Notes.

Clearly, not all identities are the same. Characteristic of Jewish identities and others inspired by the Hebrew Bible are what Dan McAdams calls “the redemptive self.” (Yuval Harari, 1 Lessons for the 21st Century (London, Jonathan Cape, 2018) People with this kind of identity, he says, “shape their lives into a narrative about how a gifted hero encounters the suffering of others as a child, develops strong moral convictions as an adolescent, and moves steadily upward and onward in the adult years, confident that negative experiences will ultimately be redeemed.” More than other kinds of life story, the redemptive self embodies the “belief that bad things can be overcome and affirms the narrator’s commitment to building a better world.”

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks from The Story We Tell (Ki Tavo 5778) 

Oremus Online NRSV Text

We are at the edge of the promised land. Here in this book we have God's teaching about what it will mean to be a people who dwell with God.

God has provided Moses, the greatest of prophets, with words of instruction on the liturgies, life, and community that is to be formed in the new land in which they are to dwell.

The passage is about first fruits. We most likely have an actual liturgy presented in the text. The prayers may be some of the oldest in the whole of the testament. And, it is a description of a national festival. Both the people of Israel and their pagan neighbors are to do this as a thanksgiving. The liturgy follows:

1. You take first fruits as an offering to God
2. put it in a basket
3. Go to the sacred place where God dwells
4. go to the priest who is serving at the time
5. say the following opening words, “Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.”
6. Then the priest will take the basket from you and set it at the altar
7. Then you will say, “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. 6When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.”
8. Then you will "set down" and "bow" before God

This is an amazing piece of scripture. It actually is a passage that gives us liturgy - words and actions. It tells us of an actual thing that happened....people who lived in proximity to Jerusalem would bring fresh fruit...others dried fruit. This was a great ingathering for Jerusalem. Rabbi Sacks tells us:

Those who lived near Jerusalem would bring fresh figs and grapes. Those who lived far away would bring dried figs and raisins. An ox would walk ahead of them, its horns plated with gold and its head decorated with an olive wreath. Someone would play a flute. When they came close to Jerusalem they would send a messenger ahead to announce their arrival and they would start to adorn their first-fruits. Governors and officials of the city would come out to greet them and the artisans would stop their work and call out, “Our brothers from such-and-such a place: come in peace!” 

The flute would continue playing until the procession reached the Temple Mount. There, they would each place their basket of fruit on their shoulder – the Mishnah says that even King Agrippa would do so – and carry it to the Temple forecourt. There the Levites would sing (Psalm 30:2), “I will praise you, God, for you have raised me up and not let my enemies rejoice over me.” 

The scene, as groups converged on the Temple from all parts of Israel, must have been vivid and unforgettable. However, the most important part of the ceremony lay in what happened next. With the baskets still on their shoulders the arrivals would say, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” Each would then hold their basket by the rim, the Cohen would place his hand under it and ceremoniously wave it, and the bringer of the fruit would say the following passage, whose text is set out in our parsha... Rabbi Jonathan Sacks from The Story We Tell (Ki Tavo 5778)

The passage talks about liturgy, stewardship, and the nature of the relationship between God and God's people. It was Murray Newman's, my Old Testament professor, favorite text.

I imagine that many people will jump the gun and talk about stewardship if they preach on this text. And, it is about that. It is truly about giving thanks to God who is provider and a deliverer. However, I believe there is more here than that.

But I think the foundation of the passage may not be in the liturgy and stewardship of the narrative. Instead, the deep meaning of the passage is actually found in the words of the prayer that is to be said at the time of the offering - the parsha. (Deut. 26:5-10) That is, "“A wandering Aramean was my ancestor....etc, etc. Here I turn to Rabbi Sacks to help us to pull from the text 5 essential themes.

First, the people of Israel are the first to experience and tell the  story of God. In particular that this God is a God beyond and in the midst of history - and in particularly in the midst of a particular people. Moreover, the people of Israel in their experience, and through the text, reveal to us that the story of history is an overarching theme of God's making. In particular this theme is one of redemption: beginning with suffering; freedom of the people by God's delivering hand; the drama of a people trying to live with god; and finally a homecoming. This story is to be one that moves in this very passage from an account to internal memory. It is to be internalized. He writes, "Those who stood in the Temple saying those words were declaring: this is my story. In bringing these fruits from this land, I and my family are part of it." (Ibid.)

Finally, this is all about identity. More than history, more than narrative, and memory...this is ultimately about being and becoming. Sacks suggests, "History is an answer to the question, “What happened?” Memory is an answer to the question, “Who am I?” (Ibid.)

He gives this example, "In Alzheimer’s Disease, when you lose your memory, you lose your identity. The same is true of a nation as a whole. (David Andress, Cultural Dementia, subtitled How the West Has Lost its History and Risks Losing Everything Else (London, Head of Zeus, 2018) When we tell the story of our people’s past, we renew our identity. We have a context in which we can understand who we are in the present and what we must do to hand on our identity to the future." (Sacks, Ibid.)

As we bring all of this forward into our Christian context we understand then that what we do liturgically, like this prayer, reminds us of God in Christ' Jesus work of redemption. And, that this was the high water mark of what God has done all along. We understand that we are not participating in something that we are disconnected from. We are not merely receiving something. What we do in the liturgy is something more. We are actually claiming ourselves as a particular people, with a particular God, in whose particular narrative we participate. We are internalizing God's story.

What we do each week (not unlike what the people are instructed to do and have done for millennia) is of "immense consequence". We are telling a "collective story" of who God is and how we participate in God's story. It in fact rejects all forms of principalities and powers...it rejects all the "normal bases of identity: political power, shared territory or a shared language of everyday speech." (Ibid.)

All characteristics, all identities, all nations are not the same thing. The American narrative is as Dan McAdams explains it above in the quotation section. Christianity moves beyond the hero and demigod's triumph over evil or circumstance. We instead understand that God has acted and is acting in the midst of our lives today. God in Christ Jesus is not simply a symbolic hero of such triumphs as the wandering Aramean and God. Christ is the God, the alpha and omega of history, who makes us God's people and redeems us (not merely from the authorities and powers of this world) from the sibling rivalry that infects all human relationships - the sin of the world. The Gospel is rooted here in this story of the first fruits for it is a historic memory of God's action that is raised to a greater enterprise in Jesus. For through God in Christ all of creation is redeemed, not just a people. In God in Christ Jesus we become the first fruits of God's salvific act upon the cross. Christ is the one who offers the sacrifice and raises us to God making all of us an offering to the most high God. This is our story, this is our God, and we are the people of his hand - the sheep of his fold.

Ash Wednesday, Year ABC

Prayer

At this, the acceptable time, O God so rich in mercy, we gather in solemn assembly to receive the announcement of the Lenten spring, and the ashes of mortality and repentance. Let the elect, exulting, to the waters of salvation; guide the penitent, rejoicing, to the healing river; carry us all to the streams of renewal. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Matthew 6:1-21

"In Jesus' prayer we are connected and bonded with each other. We find our health, our integrity, and our righteousness; that is true piety."

"Preaching on the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:1-8)," Irving J. Arnquist and Louis R. Flessner, Word & World: Theology for Christian Ministry, Luther Northwestern Theological School, 1990.

"What are we praying for when we pray for God's kingdom to come?"

"Thy Kingdom Come: Living the Lord's Prayer," N.T. Wright, The Christian Century, 1997.

"That piety should be a private matter is a radical not to say revolutionary idea. It goes totally against the cultural grain. For traditional piety is something performed for others to see. In Roman culture, pietas referred to the public veneration of the gods. Without such a display from prominent citizens, what would happen to the traditional values that were associated with the gods? Pietas was the cultural glue, holding all things in place. How could there be law and order without it?"

"The Call to Secret Service (Matthew 6:1-18)," John C. Purdy. Chapter 4 inReturning God's Call: The Challenge of Christian Living. At Religion Online.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

If we were reading along in the scripture and we arrived at our passage for this Ash Wednesday we would see the continued conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day. The religious hierarchy have set themselves above the faith and have become, if you will, arbiters of piety. They are the intermediaries between God and God's people.

Jesus has been expanding and expounding on the nature of the law revealed by the messiah and now he turns to talk a little about how Christians should live with one another. What we have in our passage are the characteristics of a Christian community according to Jesus; and they are contrasted with the practices of these other religious leaders. Of course we are doomed to exhibit the same tendencies at our very worst but we have here some outlined behaviors that should at least set our trajectory.

Don't get in other people's faces about how you are better than them when it comes to prayer, believing, and the rest of it. After all, living a Christian life benefits God and others. Here are a couple of examples of what not to do...

Example One: Just be a good steward and don't brag about it.
Example Two: Don't be verbose in your praying. It is a real turn off to God an others.
Example Three: Please pray privately and sincerely.
Example Four: God knows what you need so you don't have to always be telling God out loud.
Example Five: Don't look dismal and sad. Look happy and enjoy your relationship with God.
Example Six: Remember that what matters is the love of God, the love of neighbor - these are the treasures worth having.

All of this is because good works are done for God and on behalf of others. This service is purely for the reward of doing what is good and well in the eyes of God and not for a community's lauds or glory.

What we have in our reading today is very good and it is the parenthesis between Matthew's teaching on the Lord's prayers.

I say this because in my mind it helps to frame what Jesus is teaching about prayer. The reality is that Jesus' prayer is very powerful when seen through the eyes of the overall passage and its meaning is much greater than the by rote version we say without thought most Sundays. So, here is a meditation on Jesus' Prayer with an eye to Matthew's Gospel and to the passage for Ash Wednesday.

Jesus’ Prayer
In the Episcopal Church, the Lord’s Prayer--the prayer Jesus taught his disciples--is central to our common life of prayer. It is present in all of our private and corporate services of worship, and is often the first prayer children learn. With the simplest of words, Jesus teaches those who follow him all they need to know about prayer, as they say:

“Our Father”: Our Father, because we are to seek as intimate a relationship with God as Jesus did. We are can develop this intimate love with God, recognizing we are children of God and members of the family of God.

“Who art in heaven”: We are reminded of our created nature as a gift from heaven. Life is given to us from God, who is quite beyond us. We recognize in this short phrase that we are not God. Rather, the God we proclaim is a God who makes all things and breathes life into all things.

“Hallowed be thy name”: In response to the grace of being welcomed into God’s community, bowing humbly and acknowledging our created nature, we recognize the holiness of God. We proclaim that God’s name is hallowed.

“Thy kingdom come”: We ask and seek God’s kingdom. The words of Jesus remind us that, like the disciples’ own desires to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus, this is not our kingdom. The reign of God is not what you and I have in mind. We beg, “God, by your power bring your kingdom into this world. Help us to beat our swords into ploughshares that we might feed the world. Give us strength to commit as your partners in the restoration of creation, not how we imagine it, but in the way you imagine it.”

“Thy will be done”: We bend our wills to God’s, following the living example of Jesus Christ. We ask for grace to constantly set aside our desires and take on the love of God’s reign. We pray, “Let our hands and hearts build not powers and principalities but the rule of love and care for all sorts and conditions of humanity. Let us have a measure of wisdom to tear down our self-imposed walls and embrace one another, as the lion and the lamb lay down together in the kingdom of God.”

“On earth as it is in heaven”: We ask God to give us eyes to see this kingdom vision, and then we ask for courage and power to make heaven a reality in this world. We pray to God, “Create in us a will to be helping hands and loving hearts for those who are weary and need to rest in you. May our homes, our churches, and our communities be a sanctuary for the hurting world to find shelter, to find some small experience of heaven.”

“Give us this day our daily bread”: In prayer we come to understand that we are consumers. We need, desire, and just want many things. In Christ, we are reminded that all we need is our daily bread. So we pray, “O God, help us to be mindful that you provide for the lilies of the field and you provide for us. As we surrender our desires, help us to provide daily bread for those who have none today.”

“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”: Sanity and restoration are possible only because God forgives us. Because of that sacrificial forgiveness--made real in the life and death of Jesus--we can see and then share mercy and forgiveness. Then we can pray, “God, may I understand your call to me personally to offer sacrificial forgiveness to all those I feel have wronged me. I want to know and see my own fault in those broken relationships. May I be the sacrament of your grace and forgiveness to others.”

“Lead us not into temptation”: As Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge and replaced God with their own understanding of reality, we need help turning away from our own earthly and political desires and turning toward the wisdom of God in Christ Jesus. So we ask, “We are so tempted to go the easy way, to believe our desires are God’s desires. We have the audacity to assume we can know God’s mind. Show us your way and help us to trust it.”

“And deliver us from evil”: Only God can deliver us from evil. There is darkness in the world around us. We know this darkness feeds on our deepest desire: to be God ourselves. That deceptive voice affirms everything we do and justifies our actions, even when they compromise other people’s dignity. It whispers and tells us we possess God’s truth and no one else does. We must pray, “God, deliver us from the evil that inhabits this world, the weakness of our hearts, and the darkness of our lives, that we might walk in the light of your Son.”

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen”: Without God, we are powerless. So we devote our lives to God, resting in the power of God’s deliverance. We humbly ask, “Help us to see your glory and beauty in the world, this day and every day. Amen.”

Using prayers like this one, Jesus modeled a life of prayer as work, and work as prayer. The apostles and all those who have since followed him have sought a life of prayer. They have engaged in prayer that discerns Jesus’ teachings and then molded their lives into the shape of his life. We can take up the same vocation and become people whose lives are characterized by daily and fervent prayer. Indeed we reflect and acknowledge the centrality of prayer and work in our own commitment to God when we say, “I will, with God’s help, continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.” [This is an excerpt from Unabashedly Episcopalian.]

Some Thoughts on 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:20

"First, what does Paul mean about reconciliation in this passage? How does the church today demonstrate in various ways the practice of reconciliation -- including liturgically, ethically, practically and theologically?"

Commentary, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-16:10, Susan Hedahl, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"When we receive the cross on our forehead on Ash Wednesday, we are invited to remember that it is in Christ (5:17, 19) and through Christ (5:18) that reconciliation is possible. Yet, we are also invited to remember that as we leave the church with the seal of the cross of Christ, we are Christ's ambassadors of reconciliation."

Commentary, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-16:10, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text 

One of the things that has happened to us in our culture is that we think not about whom we represent.  Yet, we represent (as Christians) Jesus Christ to the world.  This lack of mindfulness is complex; yet for the world in many respects God in Christ Jesus is not the problem for Christianity but rather it is his followers that create the stumbling block.  This passage is about the life of Grace which transforms the Christian first.

We are ambassadors for Christ.  In Paul's setting this would have meant that we are the oldest and wisest of Christ's children.  We represent Christ but not in the worst way but on behalf of him in the very best of manners.  This is difficult to do if we are always at war with ourselves.  It is hard to be Christ's representative if we can't represent Christ to one another; which means forgiving one another and offering Grace.  We are the great law givers rather than the donors of grace.  So what do we do?  How do we get there? How do we make room for the other?

We like Christ must give grace, make room for grace, and offer grace.  However, before we can do this we must receive Grace.  This is easier said than done.  We must really and truly receive the saving Grace of Christ; this means allowing God to love and save us in our mess and not waiting for perfection.  We are truly saved and perfected through the grace we receive. We are made a new creation by God if we will but let him.  Instead of performing for God or hoping that God will deliver us out of our "labors and sleepless nights" we are invited instead to live under the umbrella of God's Grace; within the saving embrace of God.  When we do this Paul believes the other things will fall into place.

We don't become the new creation and then we get grace.  Instead we allow ourselves to receive God's Grace and we become new.  We don't live and so we don't die.  We die to our desire to be perfect and so we live in the Grace of God who takes us just as we are.  It is this reversal of the world's economy of salvation that enables us to be alive, joyful, satisfied, and content.

When life is lived with the mantle of God's Grace upon our shoulders then we are beautiful and resplendent ambassadors of Christ to the world.  When we live in Grace we give grace freely, we share life freely, we embrace the other freely, we see there is enough and offer plenty of good things freely.  This is the life lived as a new creation, this is the life of Grace. This is the life of ambassadorship.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 58:1-12

"We've been hearing about incarnation and God-with-us throughout Advent and Epiphany. Lectionary passages during Epiphany tell us something about this God who has been revealed in Jesus Christ."

Commentary, Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12), Amy Oden, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

"Given that the Gospel Lesson for this Fifth Sunday after Epiphany reminds us that Jesus did not come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets, we might consider one of these ancient, Hebrew Scriptures for our ...."

Commentary, Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12), Tyler Mayfield, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2017.

Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text 

Remember, that we have this passage from Epiphany 5A. Here are my reflections on the passage, now adapted for Ash Wednesday:

This passage is written while the Israelites are divided, most in exile in Babylon and a few in the homeland. The prophet invites, and God invites the people to remain faithful. God is faithful and God will move on behalf of God’s people.

While the people see faithfulness as turning inward and to God by fasting, God and Isaiah offer these words:

“[God desires a fast that] looses the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” God offers a mirror to the people an is clear – when you do none of these things you are most unlike your God and the people you are meant to be.

Remembering Jeremiah and other prophets over the past months, we know that God see righteousness not as simple religious faithfulness but as acts of bounty where people take care of the oppressed, loosen the yoke of another, help with food for the hungry, roofs for the homeless, and clothing for the naked. Here Isaiah prophesies that these are the kinds of true fasting and sacrifices that God declares as righteousness.

When this happens Isaiah tells the people: “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.”

God desires that people, “remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.” Light is the light of God’s actions through his people. Light comes by means of work of the faithful for the other.

When nations forget their most vulnerable they shall lie in ashes and sackcloth. When the vulnerable are cared for light, life, and the rebuilding of community are the results. Foundations of generosity will lead to generations of strength among the people.

The Luke writes in his Gospel that this release of people who suffer is key to the very nature of God and especially to the person and mission of Christ Jesus. When in chapter 4, Jesus opens the scroll to read in the temple it is Isaiah 61 with the addition of this passage. What is made clear in Luke’s analysis and use in the narrative is that God has been about the work and care of the poor, oppressed, homeless, helpless, and most vulnerable. God in Christ Jesus continues this mission of righteousness (the caring of others). The jubilee promised to the slaves in Egypt, and the jubilee promised to the people in Babylon is the same jubilee promised for all people under the yoke of Christ. (Richard B Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 224ff)

Release is not only for prisoners (Isaiah 61) but release for all people who are broken and burdened (Isaiah 58). This is a freedom bought on the cross and given through the Holy Spirit to all people. As we smudge ashes upon our foreheads it is to remember deeply the gift of the Holy Cross and the gift we are to be for others in bringing release. The promise to Abraham and the of Moses and Isaiah now is to be fulfilled in ministry of Jesus and the inclusion of the whole world. Moreover, that the disciples in the wake of Jesus’ ministry are to continue the work of release – this same faithfulness and righteousness will be the hallmark of the every continuing body of Christ in the world.

Some Thoughts on Joel 2:1-8

"Judah has been crippled by an agricultural drought sent by God through locusts. So, they need literal rain. However, they and we need spiritual rain much more. This is the greatest gift that we can receive in spite of all of our other perceived needs."

Commentary, Joel 2:12-17, Martha Simmons, The African American Lectionary, 2010.

" We, like Israel in the time of Joel, are in need of repentance, for their lives and ours are far from the paths that God has established for us.

Locusts and Lent, Reflections on Ash Wednesday from Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, John C. Holbert, Patheos, 2011.

"Joel has confidence that ritual repentance can change the course of the history of God's people because he believes the old confessional formula: [God] is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, And relents from punishing. (2:13)."

Commentary, Joel 2:1-12, 12-17, Rolf Jacobson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.

Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text 

Some of you may chose to go a different route and preach on Joel this Ash Wednesday. Let us remember that Joel, while not mentioned any where else, is a prophet and is one focused on the centrality of the Temple. There is a lot of conversation about when he wrote among scholars, but most think it was after the Babylonian captivity and during the rebuilding of the culture of Israel.

In our passage today Joel introduces himself, then immediately calls the people into a time of repentance - priests and all.  The end is near, he says, sound the alarm, and repent. Joel reminds his hearers that god is gracious and merciful but if their evil ways continue God will not hold back the end that is coming. Signs, plagues, locusts...these should be a warning that God is not happy with what has become of his people.

There is a real sense here that when the world is good to a few, God will judge against them. The history of Israel is one that has repeatedly reminded the chosen that God requires of them mercy and to do good works. The society, the community, is to take care of the least and lost. When it does not do this it will bring its own destruction down upon them. This is an underlying theme here in this passage. The judgement of the reign of God will not fall kindly upon those who have had theirs in this life.

This is a good lesson if you intend to really bring down the fire and brimstone upon the heads of the congregation. And, yet there is a piece here we don't want to forget.

Joel's warnings often get the highlight. Read again God's invitation, God's desire, God's want for his people to be in relationship with him. Hear again, how God wants amendment of life so that the community will be well and within God's embrace.

Joel prophesies:

Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.

While Joel's invitation on God's behalf to repent takes up a lot of space in this passage. I also find these words, nestled amongst the plagues, weeping, and fasting) some of the most beautiful and touching words of scripture. Words worth memorizing in fact. Words to be heard and whispered in the good times and in the bad. Words, themselves which might very well bring us to our knees in gratitude for the mighty things God has done.

The Work of the People

Please follow the link here at TWOTP to resources for Ash Wednesday and Lent.

Previous Sermons For Ash Wednesday

You Know, I Know, God Knows: Ash Wednesday Sermon St. Thomas College Station, 2016


Welcome to Humanity: Ash Wednesday sermon preached at Episcopal High School Houston, and Christ Church Cathedral 12:05 Service

Dust, Ashes, Dry Bones, and God's Whisper: Sermon preached at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Tx on Ash Wednesday 2014

Learning to Pray with Jesus: Ash Wednesday Sermon, Christ Church Cathedral, 2013

Proper 28, Year B, November 17, 2024

Prayer
You keep vigil, O God, over the fortunes of your people, guiding their destiny in safety as the history of the world unfolds.  Increase our faith that those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise again and give us your Spirit to bring forth in our lives the fruit of charity, so that we may look forward every day to the glorious manifestation of your Son, who will come to gather the us into your kingdom.  We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Mark 13:1-8

"Apocalyptic eschatology is essentially about God working on behalf of humanity, and that is what is introduced in the beginning of this discourse. It leaves God alarmingly free and open to the future."
Commentary, Mark 13:1-8, Micah D. Kiel, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.


"Despite the global disasters that surround us -- some instigated by First World policies -- we'd rather think about a messianic figure who has already arrived and called on us to be kind to our neighbors. But, occasionally, it may be an important reminder to hear an ancient prophet cry out about the fragile nature of the world."
Commentary, Mark 13:1-8, Emerson Powery, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"In the end, 'what larges stones' is itself a statement of faith and it's a statement of faith that Jesus asks us to reconsider."
"Storied Stones," Karoline Lewis, Dear Working Preacher, 2015.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

God makes me nervous. Can I just be honest about that for a moment. When I sit quietly and think about the nature of God, God's unfolding work, my human place within his cosmos, I am aware that I am very nervous about God and how "alarmingly free" the God I believe in actually is.

In our passage today we begin a series of teachings by Jesus which make clear that God's purpose is both great and forever.  At the center of the events unfolding is Jesus in relationship to the Temple.

Not unlike the prophets who offered a vision of Jerusalem's future, or the future of the kingdoms, Jesus offers in our passage today a clarity about nature of the Temple and the downfall which is part of the cosmic plan. 

For our comfort we might easily want to remove the power of these words from taking hold of our hearts by locating the passage historically within the writing of the Markan Gospel following the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 a.d.  Though I agree with this scholastic and critical view, we must always caution ourselves to keep from removing the prophetic voice from our own ears by making this passage simply about the past. Jesus has spoken but the living word also offers us a challenging word today.

The purpose here in Mark is to clearly not speak about the Temple. That is not the point of the text at all! The point of the text is to reveal that the old world is passing away.  Not unlike the passage from Revelation we read last week where in it is clear that a new heaven is already rooting itself in the world and upon taking root is forcing out the world of man.  The point of Jesus' words and the prophecy is to show the reality that this is the new age of God and this is an age that is to be marked by faithfulness and following the living God and Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells us: be careful though because humans will always build new temples and new religions and new teachings.  People will come and they will be false prophets and false leaders. They will tell you a truth that you will want to hear - the church is ruined.  They will seek to lead you - follow me for I know the truth. They will offer a vision that the things of the past are not fading away in the midst of a new future.  What is rooted in Jesus' warnings is not so much that there will be these false teachers but humans out of their desire to be comfortable will seek after them hoping to extinguish the discomfort of God's unfolding destruction of the age of man. 

When human beings get uncomfortable we follow instead of disciple.  When we are feeling the very foundations turn into ashes below us we want a new stronger foundation; and we rarely look forward but look to those who will comfort us with the past. We look for false teachers who offer us a shelter from the storm, the safety of a castle keep, and the island home.  We look for teachers and prophets who will lie to us and tell us that God is safe and predictable and not free.

I am reminded of the Grand Inquisitor in Doestoevsky's Brothers Karamazov as he questions the Messiah upon his return. The Inquisitor is a cardinal and promises that the world the church is creating is better than the world Jesus promises.  He says to the Lord, "So we have done. We have corrected Thy work and have founded it upon miracle, mystery and authority.  And men rejoiced that they were again led like sheep, and that the terrible gift that had brought them such suffering, [your gift of freedom] was, at last, lifted form their hearts.  Were we right teaching them this? Speak!  Did we not love mankind, so meekly acknowledging their feebleness, lovingly lightening their burden, and permitting their weak nature even sin with our sanction? " The temple is passing away even as we speak and it shall be rebuilt as the new heave takes root in our midst.

Nostalgia is after all the idea that we look back at a time that never really existed and make it into a reality which can be compared to the reality we experience in the here and now. It is a way of looking back to a time and place that keeps us from facing the time and place we inhabit today.

Christians have always lived in between the earth which is falling away and the heaven which is not yet fully revealed.  We live in a time which calls not for seeking shelter in the storm but rather for being the shelter in the storm for the world's fearful.  We are the ones, like Jesus, to see the times and the seasons, to know that the what we cling to as humans is passing, that heaven is coming and that safety is not guaranteed but adventure is promised.  This God we worship is free and alarmingly so. This God we worship has a plan and the plans of men are falling in the wake of its eternal progression.

We are as a Christian people invited to cling to Jesus and his love and to counteract the seasons of change.  We are invited to counteract the seasons of change, not by clinging to the temple which is crumbling, or by following every fad that promises a return to a golden age - but rather to counteract the world with love.  So let us endure the birth pangs for the kingdom that is to come requires disciples and apostles to midwife its labors through a mission and proclamation of love.

Some Thoughts on Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18), 19-25

"What is new about the New Covenant, therefore, is not the idea that God loves the world enough to bleed for it, but the claim that here he is actually putting his money where his mouth is."

"Covenant," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

"As the author grounds his goal for church participation in the eschatology of Christ's session, he grounds the guarantee of Christ's session in the character of God. They can hold their confession without wavering, because the one who promised is faithful."

Commentary, Hebrews 10:11-14 [15-18] (Pentecost 25B), Amy L.B. Peeler, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"An intimate and frank relationship with God, openness with one another, and bold public witness that perseveres in the fact of opposition these are the characteristics of the confident community portrayed in today's lesson."

Commentary, Hebrews 10:11-14 [15-18] (Pentecost 24B), Susan Eastman, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

So it is that we come to the end of our readings in Hebrews. We understand now clearly from the author all that is meant by Jesus as our great high priest. We understand that he has transformed the ritual sacrifice of other religions of the day by making a one time offer.

And, we are given a revelation of Christ as king of heaven. That he is seated at the heavenly throne. He has completed his work.  He has completed his faithful work. 

Here the author then turns to make it clear that this image he offers is none other than the suffering servant image of the old testament. The author is doing a quite remarkable job of weaving the story together. We get a sense here then not simply of the continuation of ancient ritual and sacrifice but a greater theme of a creative trajectory. 

The author then invites us to respond to the eternal movement of God and the high priestly sacrifice. We are invited to respond with a clarity of purpose and livelihood crafted as a gift in response to God's work. We are also invited to hold fast to our faith. We are marked as Christ's own forever in baptism and our reciprocity is to express this faith through love and good deeds. We are no longer to be bound by other sacrifices, but instead a response to God's mercy and love with mercy and love. 

And, in case you were wondering if the author of Hebrews was an Episcopalian...you are correct. This work is always to be yoked to a worshiping community! 

Some Thoughts on 1 Samuel 1:4-20 or and 1 Samuel 2:1-10

"As political theologians we may be peculiarly vulnerable to the error of neglecting ”or even denying”the significance of the obscure and personal struggles and victories of the faithful that do not assert themselves onto the grand public stage of society."
"The Politics of Hannah's Opened Womb," Alastair Roberts, Political Theology Today, 2015.

"Our heart is looking to increase our abundance, to decrease our suffering, to set free our unique giftedness. When this happens not only do we experience relief, our energy becomes a place of grace for others around us."
"Hannah's Story: When Good Enough is Just Not Enough," Anna Shirey, The Labyrinth Way, 2015.

"God does not operate within a closed system. God is the God of hope, not the God of despair! In God's system, the world operates based on promises that point toward a future with hope and life. The Christian faith is at heart the hope that God already doing that through Jesus Christ and the Spirit of Life poured out on all creation."
"Future," Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer, 2015.

"This is a song of revolution where the bows of the mighty are broken and the poor are raised from the dust. Hannah's song penetrates the surface, pointing to the pillars of injustice that must be pulled down. Some of those pillars may be the very ones that put her in such a desperate situation in the first place."
Commentary, 1 Samuel 1:4-20, Karla Suomaia, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

You probably know the story...Hannah cannot bear a child and Elkanah her husband loves her. She is sad, though they have a good family of size and Elkanah's other wife has provided for them. But Hannah wants her own children. This is seen as an outgrowth of her love for Elkanah and her faithfullness. So, Hannah goes to God and prays:

“O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”

She does this in the temple where Eli is the priest. Eli, in an almost Jesus like moment, confronts her and they have a bit of a misunderstanding. Eli thinks she is drunk. Then, when he realizes her trouble he says, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.”

Now, in time, Hannah bears a son and names him Samuel. Of course this is the young Samuel who will grow up into the great prophet.

The story is important because it is the birth story of Samuel who is given over to Eli by Hannah, as promised. It is easy to have Hannah play only a bit supporting role in this story. I think there is more here though for the preacher.

Hannah is herself a prophet. She is the one who, in the very next chapter, gives voice to the poor. She calls out of her own pain, and she gives voice to the pain of the people. She sings, she prays to God:

“My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory. “There is no Holy One like the Lord, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world. “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might does one prevail. The Lord! His adversaries shall be shattered; the Most High will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king, and exalt the power of his anointed.”

I don't think you can preach on the first option for this weeks Old Testament without preaching on the second. Yes, Hannah gives birth to Samuel. Samuel will prophetically take on the work that Hannah invites God to undertake.

But here is the great connection. Hannah's song is the song that Mary remembers and brings forward when she hears the news of the birth of the messiah. Hannah is not simply giving voice to the people who struggle in her time. She is giving voice for people in every era who seek deliverance and call out to God from their anguish. Samuel is but the first answer by God to this invitation to intercede - to hear the cry of the people. No. It is the Messiah, God in Christ Jesus, who is the revelation and main actor on behalf of the people.

These are the words to be sung out in Psalm 113 at the Passover meal. These are the words echoed in Luke's account and in Paul's letters. These are the words that are unique to the people of Hannah but to every person persecuted by enemies, oppressed by the mighty, overthrown by armies, who prostitute themselves for bread and food for their children, who sit on the ash heap of life, who sit by the bedside of the dying. This is a song that gives voice to God's promise to care for the weak and the destitute. This is a song that calls out through the voices of Hannah, Mary, around the table at passover in the homes of Jews today and during the Holocaust. This is a song that gives voice to the people of Israel in their imprisonment in Egypt and Babylon. And, and, it is the song of those oppressed, suffering, lost, and selling their souls for bread in our day. This is the song of the street corner and the back alley. This is the song for the people living life in Sheol who are in desperate need of God's mighty hand to reach out and free them.

This is indeed a revolutionary song of the poor. Hannah prophesies not only Mary and the birth of the Messiah. Hannah prophesies the truth about the God we worship - this God cares for the poor, the oppressed, and the imprisoned. This God raised Jesus from the dead, after first raising the people out of Egypt. This God raises people out of their tomb and delivers them.

Hannah, herself and in her own right, is a prophet of the Most High God. Make some space, and giver her some room to speak.

Sermons Preached

Proper 25, Year B, October27, 2024

Prayer
God our Savior, from the ends of the earth you gather the weak and the lowly.  You make them a great and glad multitude, refreshed and renewed at your hand.  Throwing off the burden of sin, they run to the Teacher for healing.  Let the faith Christ bestows restore to the church this vision of the gathering that embraces the weary and wounded of this world.  We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Mark 10:46-52

"...what would you do if failure didn't matter? What would you endeavor, dare, or try? What mission would you attempt, what venture would you risk, what great deed would you undertake?"

"Bartimaeus, Luther, and the Failed Reformation," David Lose, Working Preacher, 2012.


"How do we retell the story without sidelining blind people today? That is easier said than done. If we play up the miraculous we heighten the pain where healing is not happening and may be impossible. Piety can easily race by in the euphoria of symbolism and the only abiding message is; we are irrelevant and you are irrelevant."

"First Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost 22, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

"If your prayer isn't answered, this may tell you more about you and your prayer than it does about God. If God doesn't seem to be giving you what you ask, maybe he's giving you something else."

"Bartimaeus," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

Jesus has been teaching that the society of the kingdom of God is one marked by servanthood rather than rank or power.  He has prophesied that his own life will end as the suffering servant and that he will be raised.  He has offered a vision of a new world; a recreated world. 

Jesus has also offered an understanding of discipleship which is one in which the follower leaves the comfort of life in order to help the lives of those who are comfortless.

So it is that we come to the roadside outside Jericho.  This passage is filled with drama and symbolism. 

Jesus makes his way in the business of a crowd towards Jerusalem; always with his face set like a flint to the cross.  And from the margins, from the edge of this mission, comes the cry of the blind man.  He is at first hushed by those around Jesus.  This is a reminder of how easy it is while trying to be faithful to be deaf to those on the edge who faith is intended to help.   How blind the crowd of Jesus followers is to the cries from the edge.  And, I imagine them hushing him again, and saying, "We are too busy following Jesus."  So it is the blindness of the followers of Jesus that is revealed as Bartimaeus' sight ever sharpens.

Bartimaeus knows all that is happening and in the story and he cries out.  Sometimes I think in the midst of life we are unaware of just how aware those on the margin are - prophetically aware. This hit me squarely as I read through Joel Marcus' textual exegesis and he offered this from a boot entitle Memory; about the holocaust: 

The uncanny effect of this sort of blind sight is evoked by Douglas' description of a Holocaust survivor who wore dark glasses during her testimony at Adolf Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem:  "She appeared, then, to be blind (though she was not), an impression made all the more striking as the dramatic force of her testimony found focus in the words 'I saw everything.'" (Joel Marcus, Mark, vol 2, 763)

As the passing diorama makes its way, Bartimaeus shouts ever louder.  Jesus stops, invites his petition, and then heals him.  The response to this event is the throwing off of his clothes, the clarity of sight about the world around him, and then Bartimaeus follows.

Joel Marcus and others remind us that the passage is very much linked to early baptismal rites.  For example this one from Marcus' commentary.

Baptizand: "Have mercy on me!"
Deacon, in the role of Jesus to the congregation: "Call him."
Congregation: "Be brave, get up, he's calling you."
Baptizand removes his clothes and approaches the deacon.
Deacon to Baptizand: "What do you want me to do?"
Baptizand: "I want to be illuminated."
Deacon, baptizing him: "Your faith has saved you."
(Mark, vol 2, 765)

So in our passage today we are given wonderful new ways of seeing ourselves and our following.  We are able to see the world of servanthood to the comfortless.  We are to interpret our own faith journey in light of being given sight to see and to follow.  We are given an encouraging word to cast off our clothes, to move from the edge into the center of the stage, and to participate in the new ways of this strange emerging kingdom of God.

We should be careful first not to punish our own crowd that will sit before us as preachers this weekend.  We should remember they too are there like Bartimaeus, on the fringe of society, doing something most people will not do this week's end - go to church. They are there calling out for a bit of grace and mercy and kindness. They are calling out for love. 

The preacher has a dual-task this week's end, both to stop as Jesus did, and remind the blind of his love for them. To stop and pause for a moment so that their sight might be restored and so they can follow along the way.  That they might cast off their clothes that bind them, so that they may enter the crowd of life and along the way help others to see as well. 

The passage reminds me that the Christian Church is not a society of the wealthy who redistribute their wealth for the sake of the poor, but a community of blind people seeking clarity of sight so that we might in turn help our brothers and sisters see.

Epistle Hebrews 7:23-28

"While of major interest in the first century, most Christians today do not think much about the nature of the priesthood. Amidst this comparison, however, the author makes some very important statements about how Jesus accomplished human salvation."

Commentary, Hebrews 7:23-28, Scott Shauf, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"He died once; he intercedes perpetually."

From Wesley's Notes.

"One reason that Jesus the High Priest can offer this eternal salvation is that he can focus his priestly work on intercession because he has already taken care of the problem of sin. Other priests are daily occupied with sin removal (Hebrews 7:27)."

Commentary, Hebrews 7:23-28, Amy L B. Peeler, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

Jesus is the new high priest and the author here reiterates this work in case the reader/hearer did not understand the first time.  So it is that we are told (as if from a different vantage point) that Jesus is able to provide this once for all intercession on our behalf. The cross of Christ is a one-time victory for all sin and not a rehearsal each time there is sin. Christ is not continually offering Christ's self for humanity but instead, this one-time defeat and victory over sin and death is a "sufficient sacrifice once offered" as our prayer book liturgy reminds us.

This one-time offering is therefore also a better offering than human priesthood and a new and better covenant than the many old ones. For here in this new covenant, we are redeemed forever and marked as Christ's own.

Furthermore, this offering is perfect(ed) in that it is God's offering instead of our own human offering. It is God's offering and of such a quality that it is everlasting. 

Sometimes, I think our faith is tested not by our belief that God reached across the cosmos to embrace us and has forever mended the gulf between us but that such an occurrence and work of Jesus is forever. I think we sometimes lack the belief that Christ is victorious. So we might say that we know that Christ is our intermediary, our great high priest, but we should get to work saving ourselves just in case.

In this lack of faith in Christ's sufficient work on our behalf, we return to an old law. In this old law we are the priest who is completely imprisoned by our sin, brokenness, and fallen-shortness of the kingdom. Here we must continually offer new sacrifices trying to live into some ideal. Here we attempt to acquire a list of qualities that we might repeatedly purify ourselves. Each of our sacrifices, like the sacrifices of the religious priesthood of Jesus' own day, were made over and over again for the sake of salvation. 

The high priesthood of Christ is once and for all, there is no more sinful economic exchange required on our part.

Some Thoughts on Job 42:1-17

"What can Job possibly say to God after hearing God finally speak?"
Commentary, Job 42:1-6, 10-17, Karla Suomala, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"The only hope for a truly 'happy ending' for us all is that we truly do serve a God of all grace who is rich in mercy and compassion and kindness."
The Center for Excellence in Preaching commentary and sermon illustrations, Scott Hoezee, 2015.


"The resolution to the crisis of injustice in our world is found neither in giving up on God nor in the simplistic presumption that God won't let bad things happen to good people It is found in continuing to believe that God will never abandon you or me or anyone in this world, especially in the midst of suffering."
"Where Is Justice?" Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer, 2015.

"This epilogue to the book of Job is, for many readers, hard to accept."Commentary, Job 42:1-6, 10-17, Kathryn Schifferdecker, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"In one sense I find the epilogue disappointing because it appears to support the idea that the righteous come out alright in the end and the wicked are punished. Job is rewarded for being faithful. Some scholars try to put an interpretation which says it was a free gift of God and not a reward. This is a bit difficult to sustain in light of the context."
Job 42:1-17, Pentecost 21, Commentary, Background, Insights from Literary Structure, Theological Message, Ways to Present the Text. Anna Grant-Henderson, Uniting Church in Australia.

"I've always appreciated how the Lutherans of the Reformation made this point. They distinguished between earthly "security" (securitas), a presumption that no one should expect as an entitlement or reward for faith, and "certitude" (certitudo), the unfailing promise of God's presence whatever comes your way."

"The Story of Job: Personal Disaster Reveals Genuine Faith," The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself, Daniel B. Clendenin, Journey with Jesus Foundation, 2009. 2006 reflection.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

Like many folks the ending of The Book of Job is disappointing. Like a poorly crafted "happy ending," the book falls short of bringing the complexity of the book into a good theological finish. The end is a kind of, almost sickly sweet, hands in the air, kind of "oh well" to the whole affair. Good faithful people who have had to deal with terror in their lives will find that the passage has very few life-giving words to take with them after the sermon is said and done.

Therefore, I want to make the case that the redactionist poor theology who crafted the passage (on one of their better days) must not have the last word.

While the God we worship, who comes near in Jesus, is the God of the Whirlwind, this God cannot make humanity do God's will without taking away free will. [The paragraphs that follow are based upon Girard's work. An Excerpt from René Girard's Job: The Victim of His People (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987), pages 154-168.]

Not only would the God of the Whirlwind be without the freedom to love but this God would become the God of the persecutors! To force human goodness would require God of the victims to become God who victimizes. There are plenty who claim a persecuting God and such a God is often promoted by those who know best and themselves would be the persecuting God.

Job himself has well made the case that this is true. The book itself highlights how his frenemies are exactly the persecutors who worship the persecuting God. God reminds us in this last passage that they have this quite wrong. Job's friends suggest that Job is attacking God. Job's friends are present with us today and would suggest that a God who does not persecute leads to atheism (Ibid.) René Girard writes:

When Job proves that justice does not hold sway in the world, when he says that the sort of retribution Eliphaz implies does not exist for most men, he thinks he is attacking the very concept of God. But in the Gospels, Jesus very explicitly claims as his own all Job's criticisms of retribution. 

Remember Jesus deals with this in Luke 13:1-5. And, Jesus says:

"Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did."

There are plenty of Christians who wish to contradict Jesus and Job and take up the case and view promulgated by Eliphaz and Job's friends. (Ibid.)

Violence, persecution, scapegoating, cancer, sickness, starvation, accidents, and all the other terrible parts of human life are very real. The persecuting lesser gods and their followers are quick to show how the blessings and the curses are God's.  They forget not only Jesus' teaching from Luke 13, but Jesus' teaching in John 9:2-3: "Neither he nor his parents sinned . . . he was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him". (Ibid.)

Girard writes:

All the parables have much the same meaning. God always plays the role of the absent master, the owner who has gone on a long journey. He leaves the field free for his servants, who prove themselves either faithful or unfaithful, efficient or timid. He does not allow the wheat to be separated from the tares, even to encourage the growth of good grain, whereas Aeschylus does the reverse. God makes his sun shine and his rain fall on the just as well as on the unjust. He does not arbitrate the quarrels of brothers. He knows what human justice is. (Ibid.)

The persecuting demigods and their followers may quickly point out that this all seems to be a lazy God. This God of the victims is a God who simply lets the people suffer. (Ibid.) But we should quickly say, as a Gospel people, this God is the God who gives his very self for the life of the world. This is the God who gives all that humanity may have life and have it abundantly. This is the God who becomes a true victim in order to share victimhood and redeem it. This true God does not let persecution, violence and death have the last word.

His very life in this world reveals as Girard points out, that "they are dedicating themselves to the scandal by their desires that are crisscrossed and thwarted by imitation." (Ibid.)

It would be easy to take the last words of Job and make them about abundance in this world and wealth. But I think a bit of Gospel redaction enables us to preach that what God gives the Job-like victim is companionship in suffering and in victimhood. God gives mercy and forgiveness plenty. And, God gives life everlasting. These truly are gifts greater than what Job started with at the beginning!

Some Thoughts on Jeremiah 31:27-34

"Lent is a time for honesty that may disrupt the illusion of well-being that is fostered by the advocates of indulgent privilege and strident exceptionalism that disregards the facts on the ground. Against such ideological self-sufficiency, the prophetic tradition speaks of the brokenness of the covenant that makes healthy life possible."

"Ferguson and Forgiveness," Walter Bruegemann, ON Scripture, Odyssey Networks, 2015. Video: Race in America.

"Hope for the future in Jeremiah involves the same divine message known from Sinai, 'I will be their God and they will be my people' (verse 33); but this time, that covenant relationship will be the defining mark of each person rather than something that must be learned."

Commentary, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Amy Erickson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

Oremus Online NRSV Text 

We just had this passage this last summer - so if you didn't preach on it you get a second chance. It will appear again this coming year.

Jeremiah continues his prophecy saying that God will bring about a bounteous future. God has not stayed the hand of those who have undone the power of Israel as a civilization rooted in the authority of this world. Remember it was Israel's political and religious machinations that brought it down. Yet, God will in the days to come bring about a resurrection from the death they brought on themselves. God will bring about life from their rubble. 

While the people have suffered and have been deported this will not be the final word. Out of lostness, leastness, and death, God brings about life. From the children whose teeth are set on edge to those who at sour fruit, God will bring about a bounteous feast and plenty for the children. Jeremiah prophesies:

"The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge. The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 

God promises a new covenant - a new relationship. Christians understand this prophecy to be about the promise of God to deliver all people. The temple's politics intermixed with the state, the civil war between tribes (between the northern and southern kingdoms) has undone the original covenant that was made with God. They forgot who delivered them out of Egypt and so they thought they were responsible for delivering themselves. They forgot who fed them in the wilderness and thought that it was by their own hands that they had wealth. They forgot that God brought water from the rock and thought instead that their future and the future of their kingdoms would flow from their own power.

God speaks through Jeremiah and he writes:

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Walter Brueggeman calls this part of the prophetic book of Jeremiah "the book of comfort." God is watching and planting and build the new community of hope. While we may well remember the proverb that the parent's sins are visited upon the children (even Jesus quotes this), we see in the passage that the people have an opportunity to begin again. The proverb is "null and void" says Brueggeman. All exiles have the possibility of the new. (Brueggeman, Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming, 504)

The covenant intends that people not work against one another but rather that they see one another face to face and see God face to face. Again a radical message says that God will forget all their sin.

For Christians, this is the very mission of God in Christ Jesus. That God in Christ comes and is incarnate such that they meet God face to face, and can no longer look at each other without seeing the face of God looking back. That God in Christ will be the very law himself. We are to understand that the highest law shall be the writing of commandments and actions by Jesus himself. Humanity will know, both by sight and by relationship and by story/witness God. The living word shall come and be part of the community and with him he shall bring forgiveness of every iniquity.


While we may wonder why Jeremiah remains in the scripture because of his obvious entanglement with the Babylonian court, what we see is that his words prophesy a new faith. The first Christians, without a New Testament, understood their work as community and the person of Jesus Christ as revealed in the prophecy of Jeremiah.

Sermons Preached on these Passages