May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Epiphany 4
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 31,1999
TEXT: Matthew 5:1-12 - The Beatitudes
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
ISSUE: The Beatitudes that Jesus taught were in many respects startling in his time. Jesus challenges his time by saying what true honor is in the sight of God. People normally seek honor in the community. Jesus teaches what is honorable to God. The passage follows Jesus' call of disciples to fish for people. Now he teaches those disciples in this somewhat private setting what it means to be in God's Kingdom where the simple people, the poor, lame, disenranchised, and dispossessed are worthy of God's redeeming love.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The story of Jesus' manifestation to the world continues according to Matthew's account. Last week Jesus began his selection of disciples, mostly fishermen who obediently chose to follow him. They were to repent, that is, change, and fish for people. Their lives were to be dramatically changed in their new calling. They joined Jesus in the preparation and calling of people into the Kingdom of God.
In today's continuation of the story, Jesus climbs a mountain or hillside. He sits down which was the appropriate posture for rabbinic teaching, and his disciples join him there. Once again, Matthew tries to associate Jesus with one of the big guys, out of the Old Testament scriptures. (Incidentally, Luke's account of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount takes place on a plain, but Matthew is insistent on associating Jesus with the great leaders of the past.) Moses took to a mountain to receive and return to his people with The Ten Commandments. Jesus in this case resides with his disciples to reveal his teachings. In this case this morning, they hear from him The Sermon on the Mount, specifically, The Beatitudes. (In next week's Gospel reading the teachings of the famous Sermon on the Mount continues.) In a passage from Deuteronomy, Moses gives a beatitude (Dt. 33:29): Happy (Blessed or Honorable) are you O Israel . . . In Yahwaeh is the shield that protects you and the marching sword leading to your triumph."
Jesus begins with Beatitudes. The Beatitudes or the way of Blessedness is best translated "Honorable: " better still how "Very honorable," or "How greatly esteemed are the poor in spirit or those who mourn, etc. Jesus culture was a time when the most significant value in a person's life was their honor.
Some of you may have seen a TV news magazine a few weeks ago about how some Jordanian men were murdering their sisters or wives for abandoning them, or seeking another life style. These women were perceived as dishonoring their families because of their actions, and their murder by other family members was seen as an appropriate way of handling this kind of family situation. This cultural way of life is quitre similar to the cultural way of life in Jesus' time, the 1st century Mediterranean culture. Remember women caught in adultery were sometimes stoned, but another form of murder, because they dishonored their fathers and brothers. So in Jesus' time your honor or blessedness was extremely important.
Remember too, that Jesus at this point is following the ministry of John the Baptist; he calls all to repentance, i.e. significant change. So Jesus begins to teach his disciples what it will mean to be truly honorable in his shared ministry. He begins to teach them what true honor (or blessedness) is in the sight of God. He begins to teach them that they must change significantly their way of thinking. Jesus obviously picks up on Isaiah's Old Testament teaching: "My thoughts,"says the Lord, "are noty like yours, and my ways are different from yours." (Isa. 55:8) In the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus is talking to Peter about the possibility of his death on the cross, Peter rebukes Jesus for such talk. But Jesus in turn rebukes Peter: "Your thoughts don't come from God, but from man." (Mark 8:33) Thus, Jesus' teaching on blessedness and honor is a teaching that is a significant and startling change from the normal cultural teaching.
When Jesus says to the disciples, "How highly esteemed are the poor in spirit." He is dramatically challenging the cultural perception of the poor. Keep in mind that the poor were not poor because they didn't have any money. Economically the large majority of people in Jesus' time did not have money. Most people were economically poor by our standards, and theirs too for that matter. But the poor were the people who were without power or standing. Widows who had no sons were the poor. They had no power or place in community. The lame, the blind, the deaf, the lepers, the maimed, the diseased, the orphaned: these were the poor, who had no standing or power. These were the outcasts, like the poor beggar Lazarus with his sores outside the rich man's house. They had no clout, no ability to fight back or take a stand in regard to the injustices that surrounded them. And Jesus comes saying that these very people who had no justice or play are the very ones that are held in highest esteem by God. This thinking and teaching of Jesus was diametrically opposed to the thinking and teaching of the time. Honor was seen to be given by the community. Jesus says true honor comes from God. St. Paul picks this up and expresses it in his first letter to the Corinthians (1Cor. 1:18-31), "He (God) chose what the world looks down on and despises and thinks is nothing, in order to destroy what the world thinks is important." (28)
You have here in the Beatitudes a dramatic change (repentance) in thinking. Those who mourn the orphan and widow, the sick and dying are those whom God honors. They are not the doomed and cursed as was so often believed. The meek and pure, the compassionate are seen as God's own inheriting the Kingdom the earth of God. These are the honorable. This is the teaching of Jesus to his disciples. It is their charge to claim the love of God, the esteem of God to the broken and fallen.
The idea that the peace makers are the honored, the blessed, the highly esteemed of God, is in sharp contrast to the belief that one should take revenge for any insult or offense. The eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth was a common means of preserving your honor in these days.
The idea of hungering and thirsting, or searching for righteousness in a world that honored there being no change was another startling concept for Jesus' disciples. People struggled for honor in community, but dared not move beyond a certain status or position in life. The idea that Jesus himself leaves family behind to strike out on a mission of daring to call for justice and love for the disenfranchised was held as greatly suspect. Jesus was thought to be mad at times. He broke with established tradition by becoming a wandering prophet. He was thought to be himself demon possessed by some of the honor establishment.
Jesus teaches his disciples: How honorable to be among reviled and the persecuted. Persecution in this world was to be expected. Persecution was significant. The Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans to crush a people of God who resisted their oppression. John the Baptist who had been a prophet in the wilderness was murdered by Herod Antipas. Jesus is crucified on a cross. Fishermen who left the establishment to become fishers of people were likely to be reviled by the establishment and their own families and communities as deviant. But God honors and holds in high esteem those who are faithful.
The world today is different. We do not live in the kind of honor shame society of the 1st century. What was once viewed as dishonorable behavior is often written off now as merely everybody does it, so what's the big deal. But as we listen to and hear what it is God honors and holds in highest esteem, we might make some attempt to face our time and how we as the church today embrace and hold close to us the teachings of our Lord, the one whom we claim to hold in high esteem. There is still with us a kind of disenfranchisement of supposedly less fortunate persons than ourselves.
The poor today are often viewed with disrespect. They are seen as people who don't work hard enough. They are written-off by the established gentry as those to be least respected. In the church's relationship with the poor, our own needs are often placed as first before the needs of the one's God honors. At the end of the year, it is interesting that after all of our other bills are paid, we then see if we have enough left over for our commitments to the Helping Hands Food Pantry and The Ark, a pre-school for homeless children. Benevolences are often the left-overs of our resources. We determine that this year we are going "to try" to fit outreach to those in need into our budget.
Compassion and mercy do not always come easy for some of us. We live and grew-up, and matured into a society where being tough and on top, powerful is valued above being sensitive to the week and the infirm. We believe in and embrace the survival of the fittest. Our way is often seen as the only way. We are still many of inclined to hold our grudges and contine in subtle ways the age old doctrine of an eye for an eye. In more subtle ways we are what they term as passively aggressive. We try to act pleasant enough, but we still carry the proverbial big stick behind our backs. We quietly nurse our angers and grudges without seeking resolutions and true peace. We embrace being lovers of peace as opposed to being peace makers, a truly big difference. To be truly compassionate and merciful is to be self-giving, and like little children we often see giving as losing rather than community building.
In our own time we have more aggressively attacked the prophets than taking the role of prophets ourselves. We see keeping things the way they are as our highest goal, as opposed to being ourselves prophetic in establishing what is right for the handicapped, the poor, and the disenfranchised of our own time. It is not easy to put ourselves on the front lines of change for all of God's people.
In so much of our modern day education we have taught individualistic competition and gain rather than co-operative planning and working together for the good of all people in community. I got mine, now you get yours.
Jesus gathered his disciples on a hill side and began to teach a daring way of life. It was a radical way of life that was unlike the world's way. It is the way of life in the Kingdom of God that Jesus was diligently proclaiming. It was a whole new understanding of what it was that God truly held in high esteem and honored. He was calling this motley group of fishermen into a new order of God. It had to be startling for them, and indeed, it has startled every generation since. Jesus was calling them into a new and wonderful relationship with God. They were being claimed like himself as the sons and the daughters of God. And as they embraced that relationship with God, they entered into a new relationship among themselves and with God's people in the world. They were called into a relationship of love for God and with God, among themselves, and with God's people. They were called into a humble earthy love and respect of God's creation as they inherited the earth, or inherited the Kingdom of God.
What does the Lord require: To love justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. It is primarily in walking humbly with God and stepping into God's Kingdom with Christ as his disciples that we come to know more acutely what real justice and love is.
Sunday, January 31, 1999
Sunday, January 24, 1999
Epiphany 3
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Epiphany 3
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 24, 1999
TEXT: Matthew 4:12-25 - And he (Jesus) said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. . . . . Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
It is suggest that the passage be extended from 4:12-23 to 4:12-25 to heighten the dawning of the new age of hope as a result of Jesus' growing dynamic ministry.)
ISSUE: Matthew tells how Jesus picks up on the ministry that is cut short by John Baptist's emprisonment and execution. Matthew tells, as usual, how what Jesus begins to do is a fulfillment of scripture quoting Isaiah 9:1f. He is the dawning of the new age slowly but assuredly selecting followers to help him usher in the Kingdom of God with a mission to catch, or to reach, people for God, and incorporate them into his love. The church today is also the continuing extention of that community of believers who immediately (obediently) in response as a caring community reach for the lost and broken in the world. Hopefully we see what we do and believe as a partnership in the dawning of God's age.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We are now well into the season of Epiphany. Havi8ng left behind the cherished nativity stories, Jesus now is seen in the Gospel account of Matthew as beginning his ministry. The savior of the world is being made manifest to the world which the word "epiphany" means. I am reminded again of Howard Thurman's poem;
When the Song of the angel is stilled
When the star in the sky is gone
When the kings and princes are home
When the shepherds are back with their flock
The work of christmas begins:
to find the lost . . . tho heal the broken
To feed the hungry . . . to release the prisoner
To rebuild the nations. . . to bring peace among brothers
To make music in the heart.
Matthew relates in today's passage how Jesus begins his ministry. As always, Matthew cannot also relates how the beginning of Jesus' ministry is related to the Old Testament. It is as if he is pulling out a scroll and saying, "See here in Isaiah 9:1 f - "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordon, Galilee of the Gentiles, - the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." Jesus has moved now from his hometown of Nazareth to the seaside town of Capernaum, a significantly larger town and his ministry of enlightenment and hope begins.
This ministry begins, according to Matthew, when Jesus hears that John the Baptist has been put in prison by Herod Antipas. Jesus, who many scholars believe had probably been a disciple of John the Baptist now begins to strike out on his own. In the beginning, Jesus' ministry sounds a lot like John's. Jesus proclaims like John: "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven has come." Jesus begins to collect to himself a following of disciples. In these days very little could be accomplished on your own. You needed a support community. To leave behind you own family without the development of some kind of support system your life and your mission was doomed. Jesus calls to himself first a group of fishermen, beginning with Simon Peter and Andrew, who were casting their nets on the sea. Jesus says to them: "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." (Incidentally the real translation means fish for men and women, or people, not just men.) We are told they follow him immediately.
Jesus then moves on to the sons of Zebedee, James and John, and calls them to fish for people. They follow him immediately. It is believed that these men who followed him werer not scatter brained men who simply drop nets and follow blindly. These are likely men who had heard Jesus speak in their synagogues and in the community. While fishing was not terribly lucrative because of heavy taxation, it was nontheless a big industry in which the Peter, Andrew, James, and John would have had a lot invested along with the rest of their families and partners. Yet to follow Jesus in their new venture was the result of real commitment, and a new partnership in something they themselves must have felt to be genuinely needed and important. They followed him immediately may mean more literally that they were obedient to Jesus as their leader.
Jesus and the new disciples begin the process of teaching in the local synagogues, which incidentally met throughout the week. They were like community centers. They were not open on the Sabbath for worship, because the Jewish law would have considered that as work. The sabbath was for rest not worship. It is only after the Christians began to worship on the Sabbath that it then became a custom to worship on the sabbath in the synagogues. But you have the Jesus, the disciples calling for change in people's lives, i.e. repentance, and teaching them, and healing and curing them of many of their diseases and infirmities. The fame of the movement began to grow significantly and with apparently great fervor, so far as Matthew is concerned. Their fame spreads throughout Galilee of all places, and on to Syria for both Jews and Gentiles. Epileptics, demoniacs, paralytics are all being brought to him, and in this time very limited technology and medicine there were significant amounts of dis-eased people. The follow is growing significantly.
What Matthew seems to be stressing is that as this small community embraced Jesus, and remained obedient to him, you have a dawning. It is as if the sun is coming up on a whole new day. This is the dawning of the new age of hope, of a new age of appreciation of the presence of God being with his people. It is the new age of healing and hope. God's kingdom is coming upon his people. This message is the message of Matthew for the people of this time. The passage is also followed by the Jesus's Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, where poor people learn that they are the honored and blessed of God. This is the beginning of people learning that they are the salt of the earth, and the light for the world. This is when people learn to let go of the eye for and eye and tooth for a tooth mentality, and to turn the cheek, walk the extra mile, to loan and to give. Its a new age of proclamation when even simple fishermen are empowered to reach out to people with the love, forgiveness, and convey the hope and love of God.
For the early church, this hope that God had come for those who trusted and were loyal to Jesus was seen the coming of the Kingdom of God, or Kingdom of Heaven. It was like the sun coming up in the morning, and rays of hope for a new day abounded. People who were the outcasts, the sick, diseased, and broken were being touched and acknowledged. God through Christ, through Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John and a growing host of others was reaching out to people with new hope, caring, with a message that God had not abandoned his world. That God is with his people in their misery, and in the oppression that had been brought down on them by evil foreign powers. Heavily tax burdened fishermen were ready to obediently join the movement. The early church must really have been such an enthusiastic community of hope.
The early church must have been something like what often happens with children. Do you remember when you were a child, and somebody would come up with an idea as to what to play on summer afternoon. On our block, when I was a child, someone would say let's play circus. Alberta Fleischman would run and get her baby carriage to be a circus wagon. Billy Moran would get his dog to be the lion and volunteer to be the lion-tamer. Patsy Hand would get trash can lids for musical instruments. Bobby Booth hooked his tricycle to his wagon and became the circus train. There would be an ethusiastic excitement to be a community of kids pulling together to carry out a plan and an afternoon of fun that could occupy us for hours. We'd often end up with a block full of neighborhood kids all participating in the activity.
From a different point of view I've had people remark here at the church how special some of our holiday services are when the larger community is gathered at Christmas Eve, singing and participating with a spirited energy in the worship. Others have remarked as to how special our baptismal services are when you have gathered together a larger group, a gathering of the greater community to witness and participate in the renewal of faith and the welcoming of new children and families into the community. There is the emerging of more vitality and spiritedness on these occasion that have a way of proclaming our faith and witness to the importance of God in our lives. A community, a significant gathereing of the faithful raises the human spirit and gives us a sense of purpose and meaning.
Our world today is plagued with vicious wars. Terrorism. There are severe problems of addictions mostly to alcohol, probably much more than hard illegaldrugs. There is brokeness in families, and considerable abusiveness among adults and among and with children. There are people who are elderly, lonely, people who are depressed. Alone we may feel helpless to do much about the problems of the world. We may ourselves feel sometimes very alone with our own problems. Of course as American we are very individualistic. We think of ourselves as self-made and able to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. (Just try doing that sometime; it doesn't work.) We find it often hard to participate in groups, in community with one another. We feel we have to meet our own needs first. We have to respond first to the busyness of our own personal lives before we and immediately, spontaneously, obediently let go with Jesus Christ. Yet it is in Christian community that we are more likely to be inspired, touched, welcomed, liberated, and nurtured to join with Christ and to be assimilated into his body of fellowship.
The early church was a group of people strongly related to and obedient to the ways and teaching of Jesus. Some were profoundly repentant in terms of the changes they made in lives leaving old work behind, taking on a whole new attitude, and following Christ into a dawning future of hope. They saw themselves as essential parts of the movement, a community bound together in Christ. May God's Spirit direct us to continue to receive Christ, to dutifully follow and embrace our membership in the fellowship and work together in compassion for one another and aim for a unified mission in the brokeness of our world. May God's Spirit direct us to step into his Kingdom and his mission that the world may know its healing and hope.
SEASON: Epiphany 3
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 24, 1999
TEXT: Matthew 4:12-25 - And he (Jesus) said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. . . . . Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
It is suggest that the passage be extended from 4:12-23 to 4:12-25 to heighten the dawning of the new age of hope as a result of Jesus' growing dynamic ministry.)
ISSUE: Matthew tells how Jesus picks up on the ministry that is cut short by John Baptist's emprisonment and execution. Matthew tells, as usual, how what Jesus begins to do is a fulfillment of scripture quoting Isaiah 9:1f. He is the dawning of the new age slowly but assuredly selecting followers to help him usher in the Kingdom of God with a mission to catch, or to reach, people for God, and incorporate them into his love. The church today is also the continuing extention of that community of believers who immediately (obediently) in response as a caring community reach for the lost and broken in the world. Hopefully we see what we do and believe as a partnership in the dawning of God's age.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We are now well into the season of Epiphany. Havi8ng left behind the cherished nativity stories, Jesus now is seen in the Gospel account of Matthew as beginning his ministry. The savior of the world is being made manifest to the world which the word "epiphany" means. I am reminded again of Howard Thurman's poem;
When the Song of the angel is stilled
When the star in the sky is gone
When the kings and princes are home
When the shepherds are back with their flock
The work of christmas begins:
to find the lost . . . tho heal the broken
To feed the hungry . . . to release the prisoner
To rebuild the nations. . . to bring peace among brothers
To make music in the heart.
Matthew relates in today's passage how Jesus begins his ministry. As always, Matthew cannot also relates how the beginning of Jesus' ministry is related to the Old Testament. It is as if he is pulling out a scroll and saying, "See here in Isaiah 9:1 f - "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordon, Galilee of the Gentiles, - the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." Jesus has moved now from his hometown of Nazareth to the seaside town of Capernaum, a significantly larger town and his ministry of enlightenment and hope begins.
This ministry begins, according to Matthew, when Jesus hears that John the Baptist has been put in prison by Herod Antipas. Jesus, who many scholars believe had probably been a disciple of John the Baptist now begins to strike out on his own. In the beginning, Jesus' ministry sounds a lot like John's. Jesus proclaims like John: "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven has come." Jesus begins to collect to himself a following of disciples. In these days very little could be accomplished on your own. You needed a support community. To leave behind you own family without the development of some kind of support system your life and your mission was doomed. Jesus calls to himself first a group of fishermen, beginning with Simon Peter and Andrew, who were casting their nets on the sea. Jesus says to them: "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." (Incidentally the real translation means fish for men and women, or people, not just men.) We are told they follow him immediately.
Jesus then moves on to the sons of Zebedee, James and John, and calls them to fish for people. They follow him immediately. It is believed that these men who followed him werer not scatter brained men who simply drop nets and follow blindly. These are likely men who had heard Jesus speak in their synagogues and in the community. While fishing was not terribly lucrative because of heavy taxation, it was nontheless a big industry in which the Peter, Andrew, James, and John would have had a lot invested along with the rest of their families and partners. Yet to follow Jesus in their new venture was the result of real commitment, and a new partnership in something they themselves must have felt to be genuinely needed and important. They followed him immediately may mean more literally that they were obedient to Jesus as their leader.
Jesus and the new disciples begin the process of teaching in the local synagogues, which incidentally met throughout the week. They were like community centers. They were not open on the Sabbath for worship, because the Jewish law would have considered that as work. The sabbath was for rest not worship. It is only after the Christians began to worship on the Sabbath that it then became a custom to worship on the sabbath in the synagogues. But you have the Jesus, the disciples calling for change in people's lives, i.e. repentance, and teaching them, and healing and curing them of many of their diseases and infirmities. The fame of the movement began to grow significantly and with apparently great fervor, so far as Matthew is concerned. Their fame spreads throughout Galilee of all places, and on to Syria for both Jews and Gentiles. Epileptics, demoniacs, paralytics are all being brought to him, and in this time very limited technology and medicine there were significant amounts of dis-eased people. The follow is growing significantly.
What Matthew seems to be stressing is that as this small community embraced Jesus, and remained obedient to him, you have a dawning. It is as if the sun is coming up on a whole new day. This is the dawning of the new age of hope, of a new age of appreciation of the presence of God being with his people. It is the new age of healing and hope. God's kingdom is coming upon his people. This message is the message of Matthew for the people of this time. The passage is also followed by the Jesus's Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, where poor people learn that they are the honored and blessed of God. This is the beginning of people learning that they are the salt of the earth, and the light for the world. This is when people learn to let go of the eye for and eye and tooth for a tooth mentality, and to turn the cheek, walk the extra mile, to loan and to give. Its a new age of proclamation when even simple fishermen are empowered to reach out to people with the love, forgiveness, and convey the hope and love of God.
For the early church, this hope that God had come for those who trusted and were loyal to Jesus was seen the coming of the Kingdom of God, or Kingdom of Heaven. It was like the sun coming up in the morning, and rays of hope for a new day abounded. People who were the outcasts, the sick, diseased, and broken were being touched and acknowledged. God through Christ, through Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John and a growing host of others was reaching out to people with new hope, caring, with a message that God had not abandoned his world. That God is with his people in their misery, and in the oppression that had been brought down on them by evil foreign powers. Heavily tax burdened fishermen were ready to obediently join the movement. The early church must really have been such an enthusiastic community of hope.
The early church must have been something like what often happens with children. Do you remember when you were a child, and somebody would come up with an idea as to what to play on summer afternoon. On our block, when I was a child, someone would say let's play circus. Alberta Fleischman would run and get her baby carriage to be a circus wagon. Billy Moran would get his dog to be the lion and volunteer to be the lion-tamer. Patsy Hand would get trash can lids for musical instruments. Bobby Booth hooked his tricycle to his wagon and became the circus train. There would be an ethusiastic excitement to be a community of kids pulling together to carry out a plan and an afternoon of fun that could occupy us for hours. We'd often end up with a block full of neighborhood kids all participating in the activity.
From a different point of view I've had people remark here at the church how special some of our holiday services are when the larger community is gathered at Christmas Eve, singing and participating with a spirited energy in the worship. Others have remarked as to how special our baptismal services are when you have gathered together a larger group, a gathering of the greater community to witness and participate in the renewal of faith and the welcoming of new children and families into the community. There is the emerging of more vitality and spiritedness on these occasion that have a way of proclaming our faith and witness to the importance of God in our lives. A community, a significant gathereing of the faithful raises the human spirit and gives us a sense of purpose and meaning.
Our world today is plagued with vicious wars. Terrorism. There are severe problems of addictions mostly to alcohol, probably much more than hard illegaldrugs. There is brokeness in families, and considerable abusiveness among adults and among and with children. There are people who are elderly, lonely, people who are depressed. Alone we may feel helpless to do much about the problems of the world. We may ourselves feel sometimes very alone with our own problems. Of course as American we are very individualistic. We think of ourselves as self-made and able to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. (Just try doing that sometime; it doesn't work.) We find it often hard to participate in groups, in community with one another. We feel we have to meet our own needs first. We have to respond first to the busyness of our own personal lives before we and immediately, spontaneously, obediently let go with Jesus Christ. Yet it is in Christian community that we are more likely to be inspired, touched, welcomed, liberated, and nurtured to join with Christ and to be assimilated into his body of fellowship.
The early church was a group of people strongly related to and obedient to the ways and teaching of Jesus. Some were profoundly repentant in terms of the changes they made in lives leaving old work behind, taking on a whole new attitude, and following Christ into a dawning future of hope. They saw themselves as essential parts of the movement, a community bound together in Christ. May God's Spirit direct us to continue to receive Christ, to dutifully follow and embrace our membership in the fellowship and work together in compassion for one another and aim for a unified mission in the brokeness of our world. May God's Spirit direct us to step into his Kingdom and his mission that the world may know its healing and hope.
Sunday, January 17, 1999
Martin Luther King, Jr.
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Martin Luther King, Jr.
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 17,1999
TEXT: Luke 6:27-36 - But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who treat you spitefully. . . . . . Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
ISSUE: This passage from Luke is probably directed to a more affluent group. Luke stresses the unique teachings of Jesus. They call for a new understanding of treating strangers and neighbors as family. They are to make an all out effort to give and love without expecting return. They are to avoid stereotyping. All of this is a matter of seeing one another as the people of God, brothers and sisters in Christ. This passage is a Christian demand for all of us to be more accepting and understanding of those who are stange or different from ourselve. It is an all out call to end prejudice, hatred, and suspicion. Jesus, and Martin Luther King, Jr. following his lead called for non-violent change and the need for a new justice.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It is hard for some of us who are now gray-haired to believe that there are many of you gathered here this morning who do not remember the non-violent work of Martin Luther King in his attempt to bring racial justice to this country. The older part of this congregation, like myself, have vivid memories of what were extremely difficult times. Just prior to my coming to St. John's in late1969, Martin Luther King had been leading many marches in a non-violent effort to end racial injustice. Some of us remember well that there were separate bathrooms, water fountains, dressing rooms in department stores, and clearly defined black and white neighborhoods. African Americans, called Negros at the time, often had to ride in the back of busses. I remember the signs on the busses well in the town of Annapolis. After preaching in our National Cathedral in Washington D.C., King went to Memphis, Tenn. in support of garbage men who were on strike, and there he was assassinated. Shortly thereafter riots broke out in cities all around the country. I remember my car being pelted with rocks near Johns Hopkins Hospital. The city was then put under a curfew until things calmed down, and the streets were guarded by armed state militia. These were very painful and difficult times. Some congregational members in my church were outraged at the black community.
I came to St. John's in November of 1969. At the time the church was struggling to bring about healing between the races. The national church was trying to support various black programs. The Black Panther organization along with others were receiving financial support from the National Episcopal Church. Some church members were outraged and cancelled their financial commitments to the church. At the same time we were deeply invested in Prayer Book change and liturgical renewal, all of which were also contributing to get consternation in the church. Not only had some people stopped financial support, but withdrew completely from the church. At the same time the Vietnam War was raging, and there was great opposition to it. Although another group of people considered any opposition to the War to be un-American. These were indeed very difficult days.
Yet by the grace of God, and by the considerable faithfulness of a core of committed people, the church carried on its work of healing, and attempted to bring about deeper understanding of the predicament of Black people, many of whom in those days were the victims of white oppression, power, and lived in poverty. Both the country and the church have come a long way in changing and assisting in bringing an end to violence and oppression. There is still a long way to go. Poverty and ignorance continues, as does lack of understanding and compassion. Even now, I still hear racial slurs and unkind comments about the Black Community from our own. We cannot change a difficult situation until our hearts are changed and we grasp and claim the meaning of our Lord's Gospel. Changing the human heart does not come easy, when many of us learned and were steeped in the prejudices and thinking of our ancestors.
One of the aspects of the Gospel of the Lord is that it was extraordinarily challenging to the people of our Lord's time. It still challenges our own way of thinking today. The passage this morning from Luke talks about loving our enemies and treating others as we would expect to be treated. It is about being compassionate as God is compassionate.
In our Lord's time, it was expected that families would take care of their own. You took care of your children without expecting anything in return. Within the family there was not an expectation of reciprocity. However, beyond the immediate family the situation was quite different. If someone loaned you something, you were expected to make good on the loan, and were at the same time obligated to return the favor if needed. If you were invited to dinner, you were expected to return the favor with a dinner.
On the other hand, if you were insulted, or injured, you were expected, if you were to keep your honor, to pay that person back with an insult. Thus, if slapped on the face, you returned the slap. This was the code of an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
The situation with strangers was quite different. You might do your best to take advantage of strangers. To travel and to be a stranger in a land was to face tremendous risks. Note how the strangers are treated in Genesis 19:5. when the men of Sodom try to humiliate the two strangers (actually disguised angels. Lot rescues them with his code of hospitality. Out of this terror a code of hospitality developed in which traveling strangers were taken in for protection and given hospitality. These too were difficult times.
In Jesus' time there was also considerable stereotyping. Nothing good was expected to come out of Nazareth. Jesus is only a carpenter's son. According to the Book of Titus, "Cretans are always liars, wicked beasts, and lazy gluttons." John's gospel tells of the prejudices between Samaritans and Judeans, "Jews will not use the same cups and bowls (for drinking) that Samaritans use." (John 4:9)
When Jesus begins teaching and calling for people to dturn the other cheek, so give away their coats, to loan without expecting return, he was calling for a change in the very fabric of the culture itself. How could anything ever change, if this kind of reciprocity continued to be such law of the land. There needed to be a breaking out of the vicious cycle of retribution. What was especially significant was the fact that Jesus was calling for the people of his time to treat everyone as if they were family. For Jesus, all human beings were a part of the family of God.
We still live in a time when in our personal lives, and in the life of the church we are very cozy, if not cliquish, among our own selves. We believe in taking care of our own. We are also comfortable in relationships with other people who are similar to ourselves. We will help those of our own kind, who we know will pay us back or be reciprocal in their relationship with us, because they think like we do. But there are still those who are different, strange, and those who suffer from stereotyping. For example, all blacks are lazy, or poor, or untrustworthy. All Scots are tight. All Jews are money hungry. These kinds of prejudices persist even today. Many people today see people who are different as the enemy. But the Gospel still prevails for us, and calls us to be changed and different, to love our enemies, and to breakdown the barriers that separate us from one another. The gospel demands that we be aware of and alert to the suffering and the oppression of others.
One of the most significant of leaders know to us was Moses in the Old Testament. He was called by God, inspite of his own short comings to participate as an agent in the liberation of people in slavery to the Egyptians. One of the great men of our history was, of course, Abraham Lincoln, who led this country in the midst of great opposition to the freeing of the slaves. A black baptist preacher, Martin Luther King, Jr. continued the effort to bring greater justice to his people who were kept depraved by the powerful white establishment. The demand for justice continues and it is basic to the Gospel of Jesus Christ: "Blessed are the poor; the kingdom of God is yours." Luke 6:20. And "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be satisfied. Blessed are those who are meceiful to others; God will be merciful to them." (Matt 5:6) God continues through the teaching of our Lord to call each of us to respecting the dignity of every human being. It is as we welcome the stranger and develop friendships and work at deeper understanding of different cultures and the backgrounds of those different from us that we come to greater understanding and appreciation of people.
We, of course, have a very emotional understanding of love today. We associate love with all kinds of warm cozy intimate feelings. In the New Testament, love was not so emotional. It was basically a matter of attachment, of bonding, of willing the good of the one loved. Loving your enemies is a matter of willing the best of what God can give to them, respecting their human dignity, as you respect your own. The world is getting smaller all the time. It is an age of great hostility and suspicion. As we have faced the difficulties in the past, may we remain faithful in our affection for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and continue to work for justice and an end to oppression in the world today.
SEASON: Martin Luther King, Jr.
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 17,1999
TEXT: Luke 6:27-36 - But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who treat you spitefully. . . . . . Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
ISSUE: This passage from Luke is probably directed to a more affluent group. Luke stresses the unique teachings of Jesus. They call for a new understanding of treating strangers and neighbors as family. They are to make an all out effort to give and love without expecting return. They are to avoid stereotyping. All of this is a matter of seeing one another as the people of God, brothers and sisters in Christ. This passage is a Christian demand for all of us to be more accepting and understanding of those who are stange or different from ourselve. It is an all out call to end prejudice, hatred, and suspicion. Jesus, and Martin Luther King, Jr. following his lead called for non-violent change and the need for a new justice.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It is hard for some of us who are now gray-haired to believe that there are many of you gathered here this morning who do not remember the non-violent work of Martin Luther King in his attempt to bring racial justice to this country. The older part of this congregation, like myself, have vivid memories of what were extremely difficult times. Just prior to my coming to St. John's in late1969, Martin Luther King had been leading many marches in a non-violent effort to end racial injustice. Some of us remember well that there were separate bathrooms, water fountains, dressing rooms in department stores, and clearly defined black and white neighborhoods. African Americans, called Negros at the time, often had to ride in the back of busses. I remember the signs on the busses well in the town of Annapolis. After preaching in our National Cathedral in Washington D.C., King went to Memphis, Tenn. in support of garbage men who were on strike, and there he was assassinated. Shortly thereafter riots broke out in cities all around the country. I remember my car being pelted with rocks near Johns Hopkins Hospital. The city was then put under a curfew until things calmed down, and the streets were guarded by armed state militia. These were very painful and difficult times. Some congregational members in my church were outraged at the black community.
I came to St. John's in November of 1969. At the time the church was struggling to bring about healing between the races. The national church was trying to support various black programs. The Black Panther organization along with others were receiving financial support from the National Episcopal Church. Some church members were outraged and cancelled their financial commitments to the church. At the same time we were deeply invested in Prayer Book change and liturgical renewal, all of which were also contributing to get consternation in the church. Not only had some people stopped financial support, but withdrew completely from the church. At the same time the Vietnam War was raging, and there was great opposition to it. Although another group of people considered any opposition to the War to be un-American. These were indeed very difficult days.
Yet by the grace of God, and by the considerable faithfulness of a core of committed people, the church carried on its work of healing, and attempted to bring about deeper understanding of the predicament of Black people, many of whom in those days were the victims of white oppression, power, and lived in poverty. Both the country and the church have come a long way in changing and assisting in bringing an end to violence and oppression. There is still a long way to go. Poverty and ignorance continues, as does lack of understanding and compassion. Even now, I still hear racial slurs and unkind comments about the Black Community from our own. We cannot change a difficult situation until our hearts are changed and we grasp and claim the meaning of our Lord's Gospel. Changing the human heart does not come easy, when many of us learned and were steeped in the prejudices and thinking of our ancestors.
One of the aspects of the Gospel of the Lord is that it was extraordinarily challenging to the people of our Lord's time. It still challenges our own way of thinking today. The passage this morning from Luke talks about loving our enemies and treating others as we would expect to be treated. It is about being compassionate as God is compassionate.
In our Lord's time, it was expected that families would take care of their own. You took care of your children without expecting anything in return. Within the family there was not an expectation of reciprocity. However, beyond the immediate family the situation was quite different. If someone loaned you something, you were expected to make good on the loan, and were at the same time obligated to return the favor if needed. If you were invited to dinner, you were expected to return the favor with a dinner.
On the other hand, if you were insulted, or injured, you were expected, if you were to keep your honor, to pay that person back with an insult. Thus, if slapped on the face, you returned the slap. This was the code of an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
The situation with strangers was quite different. You might do your best to take advantage of strangers. To travel and to be a stranger in a land was to face tremendous risks. Note how the strangers are treated in Genesis 19:5. when the men of Sodom try to humiliate the two strangers (actually disguised angels. Lot rescues them with his code of hospitality. Out of this terror a code of hospitality developed in which traveling strangers were taken in for protection and given hospitality. These too were difficult times.
In Jesus' time there was also considerable stereotyping. Nothing good was expected to come out of Nazareth. Jesus is only a carpenter's son. According to the Book of Titus, "Cretans are always liars, wicked beasts, and lazy gluttons." John's gospel tells of the prejudices between Samaritans and Judeans, "Jews will not use the same cups and bowls (for drinking) that Samaritans use." (John 4:9)
When Jesus begins teaching and calling for people to dturn the other cheek, so give away their coats, to loan without expecting return, he was calling for a change in the very fabric of the culture itself. How could anything ever change, if this kind of reciprocity continued to be such law of the land. There needed to be a breaking out of the vicious cycle of retribution. What was especially significant was the fact that Jesus was calling for the people of his time to treat everyone as if they were family. For Jesus, all human beings were a part of the family of God.
We still live in a time when in our personal lives, and in the life of the church we are very cozy, if not cliquish, among our own selves. We believe in taking care of our own. We are also comfortable in relationships with other people who are similar to ourselves. We will help those of our own kind, who we know will pay us back or be reciprocal in their relationship with us, because they think like we do. But there are still those who are different, strange, and those who suffer from stereotyping. For example, all blacks are lazy, or poor, or untrustworthy. All Scots are tight. All Jews are money hungry. These kinds of prejudices persist even today. Many people today see people who are different as the enemy. But the Gospel still prevails for us, and calls us to be changed and different, to love our enemies, and to breakdown the barriers that separate us from one another. The gospel demands that we be aware of and alert to the suffering and the oppression of others.
One of the most significant of leaders know to us was Moses in the Old Testament. He was called by God, inspite of his own short comings to participate as an agent in the liberation of people in slavery to the Egyptians. One of the great men of our history was, of course, Abraham Lincoln, who led this country in the midst of great opposition to the freeing of the slaves. A black baptist preacher, Martin Luther King, Jr. continued the effort to bring greater justice to his people who were kept depraved by the powerful white establishment. The demand for justice continues and it is basic to the Gospel of Jesus Christ: "Blessed are the poor; the kingdom of God is yours." Luke 6:20. And "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be satisfied. Blessed are those who are meceiful to others; God will be merciful to them." (Matt 5:6) God continues through the teaching of our Lord to call each of us to respecting the dignity of every human being. It is as we welcome the stranger and develop friendships and work at deeper understanding of different cultures and the backgrounds of those different from us that we come to greater understanding and appreciation of people.
We, of course, have a very emotional understanding of love today. We associate love with all kinds of warm cozy intimate feelings. In the New Testament, love was not so emotional. It was basically a matter of attachment, of bonding, of willing the good of the one loved. Loving your enemies is a matter of willing the best of what God can give to them, respecting their human dignity, as you respect your own. The world is getting smaller all the time. It is an age of great hostility and suspicion. As we have faced the difficulties in the past, may we remain faithful in our affection for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and continue to work for justice and an end to oppression in the world today.
Sunday, January 10, 1999
1 Epiphany
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: 1 Epiphany
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 10,1999
TEXT: Matthew 3:13-17 - The Baptism of Jesus -
And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heavce said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
ISSUE: The baptismal experience of Jesus is common to all Gospel accounts. It is his birth for all account. He is the new Moses, lifted up out of the water. He is the Beloved, the one with whom God is well pleased. His paternity is revealed; he is the son of God. Out of this birthing and conversion experience, Jesus carries on the ministry of the son-servant of God. In each of our own baptisms we are claimed as the children (people) of God, and are called to faithful ministry. It is important for us to be aware of this fact for ourselves and for our children. We are the people of God in God's world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In recent weeks we have studied the birth narratives of Jesus. Luke told us of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem along with shepherds and angels in attendance. Luke is concerned that the poor and the outcasts know that the savior has come to them. Matthew tells us of the radiant star and the kings (wisemen) that came and how Jesus and the Holy Family had to escape from the evil ruler Herod into Egypt. Matthew was eager to associate Jesus as being the new Moses for God's people. He wants the Jewish community to accept Jesus as Lord, and eagerly attempts to relate Jesus to many Old Testament texts and prophecies. John had told how Jesus was the Word of God revealed to the world. Jesus is what God has to say to us in the Gospel of John. Mark, however, has no account of Jesus' birth. However, what all four gospel accounts share in common - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - is that Jesus was baptized in the River Jordon by John the Baptist. This event was for all concerned in the early church a momentous one which marked something extraordinary and important about the ministry of Jesus. He was truly touched by God. In this momentous event he comes into his own as Son of God, the Messiah, but more than Messiah, the Anointed One of God.
The baptism of Jesus as it is told in the Gospels would have had great significance for the early Christians, especially the early Jewish Christians. Jesus coming up out of the water was a birthing experience. Jesus is for all intents and purposes the new Adam. In Genesis, in the beginning, God had scooped up the clay out of the water and molded Adam. That Adam had failed to be faithful, like so many people of the world. Jesus is the new Adam, scooped up out of the water and named as God's new son, his Beloved, with whom God is pleased. He is no longer just Mary and Joseph's son: He is Son of God the Father.
What's more, Jesus' baptism was reminiscent of Moses who had been a great leader that led his people out of oppression and slavery to the Promised Land. Moses had been found in water in the River Nile by Pharaoh's daughter and she raised him up and he became one of Israel's greatest leaders and one of God's greatest servants. He led God's people through the Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds) to their salvation from the evil that pursued them. The story of Moses is such a wonderful and profound story of leadership, of redemption, and hope for an oppressed people. What hope and joy it proclaimed.Now Jesus for the early church is the new Moses who coming up out of the Jordon River will lead his people away from oppression, sinfulness,and for all who follow him they will enter into the Kingdom of God, the new Promised Land of hope.
What seems clear in the accounts of the Baptism of Jesus is his searching out John, a religious prophet that called people to change repentance and renewal of their lives. He called them to be washed from their sins and become a new creatures. It was a call to a conversion. Jesus who is in search of his own destiny, and what it is he is to be, what he is to make of his life comes to John for baptism. He allows himself to be immersed in the human condition of sin. He is converted from carpenter to a new ministry of servanthood in the service of God. He is the witness to new birth, new beginnings, new hope, and a vital ministry in the world as he brings people to, and reveals to them the magnificent love and forgiveness of God. He calls all to fulfill their destinies as the people of God, children of God. He heals them in order that they may serve God more fully. He teaches them that they may appreciate the truth about God. He lives and dies for them that they may see the fulness of God's love and commitment to the establishment of a new world. Jesus himself is born again that all may see his uniqueness as a child and Son of God, servant of God. The voice from heaven declares: "This is is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." For the people first hearing this passage, they were reminded that these were also words from their ancient and beloved prophet Isaiah (42:1) "Here is my servant, who I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my sprit upon him; he will bring froth justice to the nations." It is the passage from the O.T. that we read today which described a humble and gentle servant of God who would bring hope to his people. Jesus is that hope for the world.
In recent years the church has made an all out effort to restore the meaning and the of Holy Baptism. In the Episcopal Church, Baptism is not that thing we do to children on Sunday afternoon after everyone has gone home. We perform this sacramental rite at the main Sunday Service usually and normally so that all of us together can be refreshed in its importance, its meaning, and be reminded of our calling to be fellow and joint heirs with Jesus Christ in baptism. Baptism is our occasion of being born again. As we gather to all renew our baptismal vows and to share again in the Baptismal Covenant, we are all reminded of the fact that we too are the Sons and the Daughters of God in and through Jesus Christ. God who brought us into this world has called us to be his children and seeks to bestow his Spirit upon us. We are the Children and people of God in whom God is well pleased when we accept our call faithfully. We along with Christ and in the Spirit of God carry on the ministry of healing, caring, and sharing the love and forgiveness that has been so freely bestowed upon us.
Today we are bringing three infant children into the church for Holy Baptism. It is a momentous event in their lives and the lives of their families. They are being born again, and intiated into a fellowship we call the Church of God. All of us who are renewing our vows and commitments are recalling our new birth and our responsibility as children or people of God. It might well be argued that since the children are so small and perhaps to some degree unaware of what's really happening to them, what is the effect on them? We are here to witness. Their parents and their sponsors, or God-parents are here to help raise them in the tradition and faith of the church. They are to be their constant reminder as they grow up that they are children of God, and beloved sons of God. In order for parents and God-parents to do that well, they themselves must be close to and aware of their calling as baptized Christians. We all must keep close to the church, to the teachings, reach out for God, be prayerful in seeking God's presence and guidance. We all need to be converted and renewed in being Go's people and his servants. Jesus was a witness to the world of all that God wanted to say to the world and how God loved, redeemed, forgave the world. Jesus emphatically revealed God through his ministry, life, teaching, and was faithful to that calling and to that destiny.
Dear parents . . . . dear God-parents . . . . gathered here today: What is the destiny of the children you bring? Will they live out their lives as children of God. The example, the model, you give them, and the acceptance that they receive in this congregation will have a significant effect on their lives and their growing up. But before you can lead them, you yourselves may need renewal, conversion, being born again too. You must seek to know and to love God. You must embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord. You must have a mission, a purpose. Let these children see your concern for the sick, the poor, the dying, the oppressed. Let them see your faithful commitment to all the good and just and holy. In so doing you will lead these children to feel what real love and forgivness is. They will come to know that they are indeed God's beloved, and that they too have a calling, a ministry, a purpose as servants of God. Let them see that we are all about the business of joining Jesus Christ in bringing the world into God's Kingdom.
There is no question but that Jesus went through a profound religious experience at his baptism. It was a moment of conversion, a unique and powerful experience. May God help each and everyone of us to be touched by his Spirit. May we embrace his wonderful calling to reach out to the world with the love that God has given to each of us, that with Jesus Christ as our Lord, we may bring hope and love to the world. Pray that these children too may be his faithful children and servants. May they always know themselves as the Beloved of God with Christ, and carry on with him in the ministry of love and hope for the world.
SEASON: 1 Epiphany
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 10,1999
TEXT: Matthew 3:13-17 - The Baptism of Jesus -
And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heavce said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
ISSUE: The baptismal experience of Jesus is common to all Gospel accounts. It is his birth for all account. He is the new Moses, lifted up out of the water. He is the Beloved, the one with whom God is well pleased. His paternity is revealed; he is the son of God. Out of this birthing and conversion experience, Jesus carries on the ministry of the son-servant of God. In each of our own baptisms we are claimed as the children (people) of God, and are called to faithful ministry. It is important for us to be aware of this fact for ourselves and for our children. We are the people of God in God's world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In recent weeks we have studied the birth narratives of Jesus. Luke told us of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem along with shepherds and angels in attendance. Luke is concerned that the poor and the outcasts know that the savior has come to them. Matthew tells us of the radiant star and the kings (wisemen) that came and how Jesus and the Holy Family had to escape from the evil ruler Herod into Egypt. Matthew was eager to associate Jesus as being the new Moses for God's people. He wants the Jewish community to accept Jesus as Lord, and eagerly attempts to relate Jesus to many Old Testament texts and prophecies. John had told how Jesus was the Word of God revealed to the world. Jesus is what God has to say to us in the Gospel of John. Mark, however, has no account of Jesus' birth. However, what all four gospel accounts share in common - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - is that Jesus was baptized in the River Jordon by John the Baptist. This event was for all concerned in the early church a momentous one which marked something extraordinary and important about the ministry of Jesus. He was truly touched by God. In this momentous event he comes into his own as Son of God, the Messiah, but more than Messiah, the Anointed One of God.
The baptism of Jesus as it is told in the Gospels would have had great significance for the early Christians, especially the early Jewish Christians. Jesus coming up out of the water was a birthing experience. Jesus is for all intents and purposes the new Adam. In Genesis, in the beginning, God had scooped up the clay out of the water and molded Adam. That Adam had failed to be faithful, like so many people of the world. Jesus is the new Adam, scooped up out of the water and named as God's new son, his Beloved, with whom God is pleased. He is no longer just Mary and Joseph's son: He is Son of God the Father.
What's more, Jesus' baptism was reminiscent of Moses who had been a great leader that led his people out of oppression and slavery to the Promised Land. Moses had been found in water in the River Nile by Pharaoh's daughter and she raised him up and he became one of Israel's greatest leaders and one of God's greatest servants. He led God's people through the Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds) to their salvation from the evil that pursued them. The story of Moses is such a wonderful and profound story of leadership, of redemption, and hope for an oppressed people. What hope and joy it proclaimed.Now Jesus for the early church is the new Moses who coming up out of the Jordon River will lead his people away from oppression, sinfulness,and for all who follow him they will enter into the Kingdom of God, the new Promised Land of hope.
What seems clear in the accounts of the Baptism of Jesus is his searching out John, a religious prophet that called people to change repentance and renewal of their lives. He called them to be washed from their sins and become a new creatures. It was a call to a conversion. Jesus who is in search of his own destiny, and what it is he is to be, what he is to make of his life comes to John for baptism. He allows himself to be immersed in the human condition of sin. He is converted from carpenter to a new ministry of servanthood in the service of God. He is the witness to new birth, new beginnings, new hope, and a vital ministry in the world as he brings people to, and reveals to them the magnificent love and forgiveness of God. He calls all to fulfill their destinies as the people of God, children of God. He heals them in order that they may serve God more fully. He teaches them that they may appreciate the truth about God. He lives and dies for them that they may see the fulness of God's love and commitment to the establishment of a new world. Jesus himself is born again that all may see his uniqueness as a child and Son of God, servant of God. The voice from heaven declares: "This is is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." For the people first hearing this passage, they were reminded that these were also words from their ancient and beloved prophet Isaiah (42:1) "Here is my servant, who I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my sprit upon him; he will bring froth justice to the nations." It is the passage from the O.T. that we read today which described a humble and gentle servant of God who would bring hope to his people. Jesus is that hope for the world.
In recent years the church has made an all out effort to restore the meaning and the of Holy Baptism. In the Episcopal Church, Baptism is not that thing we do to children on Sunday afternoon after everyone has gone home. We perform this sacramental rite at the main Sunday Service usually and normally so that all of us together can be refreshed in its importance, its meaning, and be reminded of our calling to be fellow and joint heirs with Jesus Christ in baptism. Baptism is our occasion of being born again. As we gather to all renew our baptismal vows and to share again in the Baptismal Covenant, we are all reminded of the fact that we too are the Sons and the Daughters of God in and through Jesus Christ. God who brought us into this world has called us to be his children and seeks to bestow his Spirit upon us. We are the Children and people of God in whom God is well pleased when we accept our call faithfully. We along with Christ and in the Spirit of God carry on the ministry of healing, caring, and sharing the love and forgiveness that has been so freely bestowed upon us.
Today we are bringing three infant children into the church for Holy Baptism. It is a momentous event in their lives and the lives of their families. They are being born again, and intiated into a fellowship we call the Church of God. All of us who are renewing our vows and commitments are recalling our new birth and our responsibility as children or people of God. It might well be argued that since the children are so small and perhaps to some degree unaware of what's really happening to them, what is the effect on them? We are here to witness. Their parents and their sponsors, or God-parents are here to help raise them in the tradition and faith of the church. They are to be their constant reminder as they grow up that they are children of God, and beloved sons of God. In order for parents and God-parents to do that well, they themselves must be close to and aware of their calling as baptized Christians. We all must keep close to the church, to the teachings, reach out for God, be prayerful in seeking God's presence and guidance. We all need to be converted and renewed in being Go's people and his servants. Jesus was a witness to the world of all that God wanted to say to the world and how God loved, redeemed, forgave the world. Jesus emphatically revealed God through his ministry, life, teaching, and was faithful to that calling and to that destiny.
Dear parents . . . . dear God-parents . . . . gathered here today: What is the destiny of the children you bring? Will they live out their lives as children of God. The example, the model, you give them, and the acceptance that they receive in this congregation will have a significant effect on their lives and their growing up. But before you can lead them, you yourselves may need renewal, conversion, being born again too. You must seek to know and to love God. You must embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord. You must have a mission, a purpose. Let these children see your concern for the sick, the poor, the dying, the oppressed. Let them see your faithful commitment to all the good and just and holy. In so doing you will lead these children to feel what real love and forgivness is. They will come to know that they are indeed God's beloved, and that they too have a calling, a ministry, a purpose as servants of God. Let them see that we are all about the business of joining Jesus Christ in bringing the world into God's Kingdom.
There is no question but that Jesus went through a profound religious experience at his baptism. It was a moment of conversion, a unique and powerful experience. May God help each and everyone of us to be touched by his Spirit. May we embrace his wonderful calling to reach out to the world with the love that God has given to each of us, that with Jesus Christ as our Lord, we may bring hope and love to the world. Pray that these children too may be his faithful children and servants. May they always know themselves as the Beloved of God with Christ, and carry on with him in the ministry of love and hope for the world.
Sunday, January 3, 1999
Christmas 2
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Christmas 2
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 3, 1999
TEXT: Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 - Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod.
ISSUE: Matthew carries on his emphasis as to how Joseph and Jesus are like many of the figures in the Old Testament. Their greatness is realized in their faithful obedience to follow the direction of God. In extreme difficulty, Joseph heroically continues to protect the child in order that his destiny might be fulfilled. The passage calls all of us today to a faithful obedience to God against the world, and to careful protection of our own children that they may fulfill their destiny as the children of God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This morning's Gospel reading is a continuation of Matthew's telling of the birth of Jesus. It is quite different from the more pastoral scene of Luke which includes shepherds and singing angels. Matthew's account is certainly more traumatic. Early on in the story, according to Matthew, Jesus and his family are faced with significant hardship and dangers. But as Joseph follows the direction of God, the child is protected to the point that he will fulfill his destiny as the anointed of God. It is also clear that Matthew continues to associate Jesus with his Jewish background, fulfilling scriptures and associating him with some of the great leaders of the Old Testament.
Once again, Joseph the father of Jesus, is portrayed to much like the Joseph of the Old Testament story. Joseph of the Old Testament had endured significant hardship and persecution. He had be sold into slavery by his brothers. He had been emprisoned for something he had not done. But inspite of all he remained faithful and listened for God's help in this dreams. Through his dreams and his ability to interpret them, Joseph became as leader of Egypt the facilitator of the plan of God. In Matthew's account of Jesus' birth, Joseph the father figure who listens for the voice of God in his dreams becomes the great facilitator of God in protecting the child who shall become the realization of God's plan for the redemption and salavation of the world.
When Jesus was born Herod was the king. Herod was as evil and wicked at they come. There was a saying that it was safer to be Herod's pig than to be one of his own sons. Anyone who threatened his power, including his own children were routinely slaughtered. Matthew indicates that Jesus is a threat to the powers of the world. Thus, Herod is portrayed as jealous of the child and eager to murder the child. Supposedly, Herod ordered the slaughtering of male children in Bethlehem. Joseph in a dream is directed to take the child Jesus and go to Egypt out of Herod's jurisdiction. He is to remain there until, Herod dies. Then his return will be fulfillment of the prophecy of Hosea 11:1, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and called him out of Egypt as my son." (The passage has little or nothing to do with Jesus returning to Nazareth, but Matthew is not concerned about that. Matthew wants Jesus to be seen as part of God still acting in the history of his people.) The whole idea of Herod's persecution of Jesus is reminiscent of male Jewish children being slaughtered by Pharaoh. Moses the child is saved by the Pharoah's daughter and fulfills his destiny of leading the Jews into the promised land out of slavery. Matthew wants his readers and hearers to see Jesus every bit as grand a Moses ever was.
Once the evil Herod dies, Joseph has another dream and God directs him to take the child back the Holy Land. However, Herod's territories were divided up by this three surviving sons. Archelaus receives the Judean territory, and Archelaus was about as wicked as his father, so Joseph does not return to Bethlehem, but goes to Nazareth in the Galilean territory where the son of Herod, Herod Antipas rules, and where it is safer to live. The reason for this says Matthew is to fulfill a Scripture that says, "He (Jesus) will be called the Nazorean." Repeatedly Matthew associates Jesus with Old Testament events and prophecies. However, there is no specific O.T. passage which says exactly that the messiah would be a Nazarean. It could be a play on words, taken from Isaiah 11:1, "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." The Hebrew word for branch is nezer. Jesus is then the branch which comes from King David, son of Jesse. Another thought is that the meaning is that he shall be called a Nazarite, associating Jesus with the strength of Sampson. Whatever, Jesus is being depicted with Israel's great men: Moses, King David, Sampson, etc. Matthew unquestionably directs his gospel account to convey that God is still acting in history and Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One of God deeply rooted in Israel's history and propetic hopes. A nation that has had many difficult times, will know the salvation of God through faithful obedience.
Now as we grapple with this passage in our time, it comes across to us as gentile Christians as interesting that Matthew wants to associate Jesus with his Hebraic roots. Matthew we believe was addressing by and large a community of early Jewish Christians. But there is more to the passage than just its message to these early Christians. It is about faithfulness and obedience. While Luke emphasizes the poor and the place of women in the New Testament Scriptures, Matthew stresses the place of men. Joseph is the real hero of the birth story. He listens to God. He has dreams that he interprets as God speaking to him and directing him. Joseph's faithfulness and obedience in keeping Mary as his wife, and following the direction to move from Bethlehem to Egypt and return to Nazareth are all obedient actions that lead to the protection of the Child who is to become the redeemer of the world. God's plan is revealed not only through Jesus, but through Joseph in a harsh and violent world.
In our world today there are many wicked and evil things that can destroy our children and our future generations. Drug pushers and dealers are more insidious today, than Herod ever was in his day. There are those persons in the world today that in the interest of making money think nothing of wiping out any generation of children. There are destructive elements in our society that threaten and terrorize the youth of today. There are distractions, cults, fads. and schemes that lead children and adults as well into beliefs and ways that are not in keeping with the ways and teachings of the God of forgiveness and love. Wise parents, parents who themselves are steeped in the knowledge of God will stay close themselves to the ways and teachings of Jesus and his church, and will encourage their children to do the same. We are all quick to believe that a good self-esteem, a good education, a good job, and an abundance of money, being a power figure in the community is important, and being self-made persons who can take care of themselves are the great values of our time. We like to think of ourselves as tough, rugged, macho, pwerful. These are the great American values. But the values of God are different indeed. They are the values of service, servanthood, caring about others, concern for the of the community, and being loving and forgiving human beings. Values of God say that we put our trust and faith in God, not in ourselves or the great American dream. Being truly human and in the way of God is what we are all about. Joseph is seen as the great protector of the child who will reveal the way of God.
Our concern today for all of us might well be what is the destiny of our children in terms of their being aware and knowledgeable of God. Some may say well my children are all grown up, or I don't have any children or grandchildren. We have to consider who raised Jesus? Naturally we would say that it was Mary and Joseph. Actually that is only partly true. In the time of Jesus families were extended more than today. Small children were raised by their cousins and aunts. In their later years the boys were trained and taught by their fathers, and uncles. It was an extended family responsibility, in which the whole family played role in raising children. Quite often in our culture it is only mothers that play a significant role in raising children and giving them their religious training and values. Fathers in our culture seem to have relinquished their roles of raising children in the pursuit of making a living and seeing that as their only major role. To some degree the whole American Family that sees both mother and father working so hard that religious values are increasingly neglected among our children. This issue is one that maybe all of us in our time have to consider if we are concerned about the destiny of our children and what place they will have in the future of God's world.
As mothers and fathers, as aunt, uncles, as friends of people with children we might consider and re-evaluate our place as a people who are obedient and aware of what it is God is calling us to do and be so far as we relate to the children around us. We may well consider what kind of witness we are making as mature adults, what moments and time do we give to allowing our selves to be addressed through visions and dreams, and meditations that allow God to speak to us. Are we in fact convey the ways of God to our children, or just American pop-culture? Joseph was faithful and obedient to what he believed God was calling him to be and to do. He had in his hands the destiny of the child in a really harsh and violent world. Yet faithful and obedient he was the protector of the child that touch the world like no other in the profound expression of God' caring love for his world.
SEASON: Christmas 2
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 3, 1999
TEXT: Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 - Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod.
ISSUE: Matthew carries on his emphasis as to how Joseph and Jesus are like many of the figures in the Old Testament. Their greatness is realized in their faithful obedience to follow the direction of God. In extreme difficulty, Joseph heroically continues to protect the child in order that his destiny might be fulfilled. The passage calls all of us today to a faithful obedience to God against the world, and to careful protection of our own children that they may fulfill their destiny as the children of God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This morning's Gospel reading is a continuation of Matthew's telling of the birth of Jesus. It is quite different from the more pastoral scene of Luke which includes shepherds and singing angels. Matthew's account is certainly more traumatic. Early on in the story, according to Matthew, Jesus and his family are faced with significant hardship and dangers. But as Joseph follows the direction of God, the child is protected to the point that he will fulfill his destiny as the anointed of God. It is also clear that Matthew continues to associate Jesus with his Jewish background, fulfilling scriptures and associating him with some of the great leaders of the Old Testament.
Once again, Joseph the father of Jesus, is portrayed to much like the Joseph of the Old Testament story. Joseph of the Old Testament had endured significant hardship and persecution. He had be sold into slavery by his brothers. He had been emprisoned for something he had not done. But inspite of all he remained faithful and listened for God's help in this dreams. Through his dreams and his ability to interpret them, Joseph became as leader of Egypt the facilitator of the plan of God. In Matthew's account of Jesus' birth, Joseph the father figure who listens for the voice of God in his dreams becomes the great facilitator of God in protecting the child who shall become the realization of God's plan for the redemption and salavation of the world.
When Jesus was born Herod was the king. Herod was as evil and wicked at they come. There was a saying that it was safer to be Herod's pig than to be one of his own sons. Anyone who threatened his power, including his own children were routinely slaughtered. Matthew indicates that Jesus is a threat to the powers of the world. Thus, Herod is portrayed as jealous of the child and eager to murder the child. Supposedly, Herod ordered the slaughtering of male children in Bethlehem. Joseph in a dream is directed to take the child Jesus and go to Egypt out of Herod's jurisdiction. He is to remain there until, Herod dies. Then his return will be fulfillment of the prophecy of Hosea 11:1, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and called him out of Egypt as my son." (The passage has little or nothing to do with Jesus returning to Nazareth, but Matthew is not concerned about that. Matthew wants Jesus to be seen as part of God still acting in the history of his people.) The whole idea of Herod's persecution of Jesus is reminiscent of male Jewish children being slaughtered by Pharaoh. Moses the child is saved by the Pharoah's daughter and fulfills his destiny of leading the Jews into the promised land out of slavery. Matthew wants his readers and hearers to see Jesus every bit as grand a Moses ever was.
Once the evil Herod dies, Joseph has another dream and God directs him to take the child back the Holy Land. However, Herod's territories were divided up by this three surviving sons. Archelaus receives the Judean territory, and Archelaus was about as wicked as his father, so Joseph does not return to Bethlehem, but goes to Nazareth in the Galilean territory where the son of Herod, Herod Antipas rules, and where it is safer to live. The reason for this says Matthew is to fulfill a Scripture that says, "He (Jesus) will be called the Nazorean." Repeatedly Matthew associates Jesus with Old Testament events and prophecies. However, there is no specific O.T. passage which says exactly that the messiah would be a Nazarean. It could be a play on words, taken from Isaiah 11:1, "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." The Hebrew word for branch is nezer. Jesus is then the branch which comes from King David, son of Jesse. Another thought is that the meaning is that he shall be called a Nazarite, associating Jesus with the strength of Sampson. Whatever, Jesus is being depicted with Israel's great men: Moses, King David, Sampson, etc. Matthew unquestionably directs his gospel account to convey that God is still acting in history and Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One of God deeply rooted in Israel's history and propetic hopes. A nation that has had many difficult times, will know the salvation of God through faithful obedience.
Now as we grapple with this passage in our time, it comes across to us as gentile Christians as interesting that Matthew wants to associate Jesus with his Hebraic roots. Matthew we believe was addressing by and large a community of early Jewish Christians. But there is more to the passage than just its message to these early Christians. It is about faithfulness and obedience. While Luke emphasizes the poor and the place of women in the New Testament Scriptures, Matthew stresses the place of men. Joseph is the real hero of the birth story. He listens to God. He has dreams that he interprets as God speaking to him and directing him. Joseph's faithfulness and obedience in keeping Mary as his wife, and following the direction to move from Bethlehem to Egypt and return to Nazareth are all obedient actions that lead to the protection of the Child who is to become the redeemer of the world. God's plan is revealed not only through Jesus, but through Joseph in a harsh and violent world.
In our world today there are many wicked and evil things that can destroy our children and our future generations. Drug pushers and dealers are more insidious today, than Herod ever was in his day. There are those persons in the world today that in the interest of making money think nothing of wiping out any generation of children. There are destructive elements in our society that threaten and terrorize the youth of today. There are distractions, cults, fads. and schemes that lead children and adults as well into beliefs and ways that are not in keeping with the ways and teachings of the God of forgiveness and love. Wise parents, parents who themselves are steeped in the knowledge of God will stay close themselves to the ways and teachings of Jesus and his church, and will encourage their children to do the same. We are all quick to believe that a good self-esteem, a good education, a good job, and an abundance of money, being a power figure in the community is important, and being self-made persons who can take care of themselves are the great values of our time. We like to think of ourselves as tough, rugged, macho, pwerful. These are the great American values. But the values of God are different indeed. They are the values of service, servanthood, caring about others, concern for the of the community, and being loving and forgiving human beings. Values of God say that we put our trust and faith in God, not in ourselves or the great American dream. Being truly human and in the way of God is what we are all about. Joseph is seen as the great protector of the child who will reveal the way of God.
Our concern today for all of us might well be what is the destiny of our children in terms of their being aware and knowledgeable of God. Some may say well my children are all grown up, or I don't have any children or grandchildren. We have to consider who raised Jesus? Naturally we would say that it was Mary and Joseph. Actually that is only partly true. In the time of Jesus families were extended more than today. Small children were raised by their cousins and aunts. In their later years the boys were trained and taught by their fathers, and uncles. It was an extended family responsibility, in which the whole family played role in raising children. Quite often in our culture it is only mothers that play a significant role in raising children and giving them their religious training and values. Fathers in our culture seem to have relinquished their roles of raising children in the pursuit of making a living and seeing that as their only major role. To some degree the whole American Family that sees both mother and father working so hard that religious values are increasingly neglected among our children. This issue is one that maybe all of us in our time have to consider if we are concerned about the destiny of our children and what place they will have in the future of God's world.
As mothers and fathers, as aunt, uncles, as friends of people with children we might consider and re-evaluate our place as a people who are obedient and aware of what it is God is calling us to do and be so far as we relate to the children around us. We may well consider what kind of witness we are making as mature adults, what moments and time do we give to allowing our selves to be addressed through visions and dreams, and meditations that allow God to speak to us. Are we in fact convey the ways of God to our children, or just American pop-culture? Joseph was faithful and obedient to what he believed God was calling him to be and to do. He had in his hands the destiny of the child in a really harsh and violent world. Yet faithful and obedient he was the protector of the child that touch the world like no other in the profound expression of God' caring love for his world.
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