Matthew 4:12-23
Location, location, location!
For nearly a century those three words have been the basis for successful real estate ventures. The idea, of course, is that the most important thing about a property is its location. We cannot underestimate its importance or its influence.
We don’t know who the four gospel authors were. At one time, it was believed that this gospel was written by the disciple Matthew who was a tax collector, but maybe, just maybe, the author was a realtor. Because in his gospel, place matters. Hes not just providing a travelogue when he references Nazareth and Capernaum, Zebulun and Naphtali and describes “the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.” The places he names have meaning and are connected back through Jewish history to the prophecies about the Messiah.
We know that John was in Judea in the southern part of Israel when he was arrested, and Matthew tells us that Jesus then withdrew to Galilee, the region north of Samaria where “he made his home in Capernaum.”
He didn’t go to Jerusalem which was “the religious, political, cultural, and economic center of power.”[i]
He didn’t go home to his family’s village of Nazareth in southern Galilee where he might have found safety and security.
And he didn’t go to Sepphoris or Tiberias, the larger, wealthier cities sometimes called “the jewels of Galilee” where he could have met powerful or wealthy merchants.
Instead, Jesus went to Capernaum, a small fishing village on the northwestern edge of the Sea of Galilee in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali.
And for Matthew’s predominantly Jewish audience that choice matters. Zebulun and Naphtali were two Northern tribes of Israel that had fallen to the Assyrians more than seven hundred years before the time of Jesus.
“Whenever anyone invaded, they were the first and last to bear the brunt of it. When the Assyrians overran Israel, they annexed these two tribes. [Zebulun and Naphtali] were cut off from the rest of Israel, separated from their country and family.”[ii]
As preacher Karoline Lewis said, “[Their names] have not been on the lips of God’s people for a very, very long time….just a mention of these two names and Matthew’s audience knows that in Jesus, God is up to what God does best – making good on God’s promises to God’s people.”[iii]
And it is in that place and among those people that Jesus begins to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (v. 17) He repeats the exact same message that John had been proclaiming in the wilderness in Chapter 3 and it is the same message he will send the twelve out with in Chapter 10. “Although the place [changes], the message is the same.”[iv]
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Christians often talk about why Jesus died but this is why Jesus lived: to announce the kingdom of God here on earth, and in his person to show us God enfleshed, who cares enough for God’s people to live among us.
This morning’s gospel reminds us that “God speaks in places [and in ways] that surprise us.” [v] Jesus defies all expectations about what a Jewish Messiah should look like, and he ushers in a kingdom that doesn’t have any of the trappings – the regalia, the money or the pageantry – of any kingdom that has been known. And he announces it, not to the priests in the temple or to the governors who served the Roman empire, but to fishermen and folks who live in the sticks.
So, perhaps we can believe that the kingdom of heaven is here in our corner of the world, too:
The kingdom of heaven is on the court square where a couple of weeks ago Eastside Baptist wrapped scarves on tree branches with tags that told people who needed them to take them.
The kingdom of heaven is in a house over here off Buffalo Street where a family has been living without electricity or running water even when the temperatures drop to 13˚ like they did this week. The Totally Free Clothes Store gave them some good heavy winter coats and we helped them get some food and kerosene.
The kingdom of heaven is at Pleasant City Church who is hosting a dental bus for neighbors in need of free dental care next Saturday. The bus, sponsored by the North Carolina Baptists on Mission, has been visiting communities for thirty years reaching uninsured people.
Jesus shows up in all of these places, and we meet him there, just as the disciples met Jesus in Capernaum and followed him.
Meeting Jesus, we cannot ignore his call to repentance.
Sometimes we want to skip over that part. It sounds hard. It makes us feel guilty. We know how often we fall short of God’s commandments for how we are to live with God and with each other.
But understanding repentance only as a moral choice between what is good and what is bad, or wrong or sinful, isn’t especially helpful, or accurate. Metanoia, the word translated as “repentance”, actually means “turning around”, so when we repent, we are changing direction, literally turning around and following God.
And of course, when we refuse to repent, we are actually choosing to continue to go in the direction we have already taken, away from God. We are choosing to separate ourselves from God in favor of our own desires and plans.
Repentance, especially in our Lutheran tradition of confessing our sins and receiving absolution or forgiveness, means drawing near to God. Martin Luther taught that the Law brings us to the cross where we receive forgiveness. Repentance means living in the light of God’s grace where we know God’s love for us. And when we know God’s love for us, we can share that love with others, just as we are commanded. (Matthew 22:39)
Place matters. Some forty years ago our congregation decided to stay inside the city and not sell this property. We decided we were going to be a visible sign of God’s presence in this neighborhood and community. Today’s gospel reminds us the Good News that the kingdom of heaven has come near to the corner of Lafayette and Marietta Streets, and Jesus is calling us to follow him.
Amen.
[i] Cynthia A. Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson. Feasting on the Gospels--Matthew, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
[ii] Cynthia A. Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson. Feasting on the Gospels--Matthew, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary . Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
[iii] Karoline Lewis. “Mapping God’s Promises.” Luther Seminary. https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=4796, accessed 1/25/2020.
[iv] Cynthia A. Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson. Feasting on the Gospels--Matthew, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
[v] Cynthia A. Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson. Feasting on the Gospels--Matthew, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Second Sunday after Epiphany
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
So this weekend, our congregation council and I were on retreat at Lutheridge with a half-dozen other congregation councils from the Carolinas, to focus on congregation vitality. And as Pastor Mike Ward was facilitating the retreat and talking about how we inspire others to participate in our shared ministry he played a clip from the Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger movie “Jerry Maguire” where Jerry has stayed up all night in his hotel room pouring his heart and his passion into a twenty-five page mission statement. You’ll be happy to hear that was an example of what not to do.
But I also remember another scene from that movie, where Jerry’s wife stops him in the middle of a speech, and says,
“You had me at hello.”
Well, today begins the first of five weeks in the revised common lectionary, the three-year cycle of readings that we follow in worship, when we are reading through the epistle, or letter, written by Paul to the church in Corinth.
Now, Paul can be verbose or wordy - he doesn’t get right to the point - so perhaps it isn’t a complete surprise that this letter is divided into sixteen chapters in the Bible. This year, the lectionary only takes us through the first three.
Today we begin at the very beginning, with the salutation, or where, essentially, Paul says, “Hello.”
We believe Paul began the church in Corinth around 50 CE, almost twenty years after the crucifixion. And now he’s writing from Ephesus, responding to letters he has received. It becomes clear in later parts of this epistle that there have been divisions within the Corinthian church and Paul wants to address those schisms.
But he doesn’t begin there. He first reminds the people in Corinth who they are:
They are the “church of God” (v.2);
They are “sanctified (or made holy) in Christ Jesus”;
and they are called to be saints. And here it becomes clear that saints are not just those who have died. (v.2)
Instead Paul reminds this church that they are called “with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 2)
This week in the Church, really beginning yesterday on the 18th, is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Remembering we are called with all who call on Jesus helps us recognize that
Paul uses this same greeting in many of his epistles and sometimes we reachers will echo him at the beginning of our sermons. But these words aren’t just a churchy way to say “hello.” These words help us remember everything we Christians need to know:
Jesus has come into this world,
Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed One, and
Jesus has come to offer grace and peace to you, and you, and you and everyone. [i]
And then Paul ends with thanksgiving, naming all the ways God is present for the church in Corinth. He writes:
The grace of God has been given to you, or as Eugene Peterson wrote in his paraphrase The Message: “you have free and open access to God.”
Your lives bear witness to Christ’s presence – you show forth Jesus.
And you are not lacking in any spiritual gift.
I have to stop there and wonder if people could hear Paul’s words…really hear them and believe them for themselves.
I think there were probably some skeptics who doubted. Maybe they snickered and said, “Huh, he must not have been talking about me!” or “he wouldn’t say that if he knew me!”
But here’s the thing. He did know them and he was talking about them. And perhaps even more importantly, Paul knew first-hand what it is to be a sinner who encounters Christ and how Jesus changes our lives.
These same Christ-followers were trying to be church together in their corner of the world probably share more in common with our congregation today than we might guess.
But Paul looks at the church and sees abundance. Abundance of grace. Abundance of love. Abundance of giftedness.
And if doubts or fears linger, Paul’s last words are ones of promise and assurance that our faithful God will strengthen the church, not just for one day or one trial, but to the end. God has called us to be church and God gives us the gifts we need to respond to the holy calling on our lives.
Let us pray….
Good and gracious God,
We give you thanks for the saints before us like Paul and the saints around us who call on your name in neighboring churches and worshiping communities.
Thank you for the grace you have given all who call on you, that nothing separates us from You.
Teach us how to show your mercy and love in our words and actions that others may see Jesus through our lives.
Alert us to the gifts you have given us and give us courage to use them for ministry.
We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
[i] Anna Madsen. “Know Your Home: If Necessary, Go Another Way to Get There.” OMG: Center for Theological Conversation. http://omgcenter.com/2020/01/06/know-your-home-if-necessary-go-another-way-to-get-there/, accessed 1/18/2020.
So this weekend, our congregation council and I were on retreat at Lutheridge with a half-dozen other congregation councils from the Carolinas, to focus on congregation vitality. And as Pastor Mike Ward was facilitating the retreat and talking about how we inspire others to participate in our shared ministry he played a clip from the Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger movie “Jerry Maguire” where Jerry has stayed up all night in his hotel room pouring his heart and his passion into a twenty-five page mission statement. You’ll be happy to hear that was an example of what not to do.
But I also remember another scene from that movie, where Jerry’s wife stops him in the middle of a speech, and says,
“You had me at hello.”
Well, today begins the first of five weeks in the revised common lectionary, the three-year cycle of readings that we follow in worship, when we are reading through the epistle, or letter, written by Paul to the church in Corinth.
Now, Paul can be verbose or wordy - he doesn’t get right to the point - so perhaps it isn’t a complete surprise that this letter is divided into sixteen chapters in the Bible. This year, the lectionary only takes us through the first three.
Today we begin at the very beginning, with the salutation, or where, essentially, Paul says, “Hello.”
We believe Paul began the church in Corinth around 50 CE, almost twenty years after the crucifixion. And now he’s writing from Ephesus, responding to letters he has received. It becomes clear in later parts of this epistle that there have been divisions within the Corinthian church and Paul wants to address those schisms.
But he doesn’t begin there. He first reminds the people in Corinth who they are:
They are the “church of God” (v.2);
They are “sanctified (or made holy) in Christ Jesus”;
and they are called to be saints. And here it becomes clear that saints are not just those who have died. (v.2)
Instead Paul reminds this church that they are called “with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 2)
This week in the Church, really beginning yesterday on the 18th, is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Remembering we are called with all who call on Jesus helps us recognize that
- The Church is not ours at all, but Christ’s; and
- Christ’s Church isn't Lutheran or Episcopal, Baptist or Methodist, or whatever other tradition or denomination you may encounter. I converted to Lutheran theology and I treasure it, so I want to say both that the differences in our theology and our practices are meaningful and that what matters most is that we are following Christ.
Paul uses this same greeting in many of his epistles and sometimes we reachers will echo him at the beginning of our sermons. But these words aren’t just a churchy way to say “hello.” These words help us remember everything we Christians need to know:
Jesus has come into this world,
Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed One, and
Jesus has come to offer grace and peace to you, and you, and you and everyone. [i]
And then Paul ends with thanksgiving, naming all the ways God is present for the church in Corinth. He writes:
The grace of God has been given to you, or as Eugene Peterson wrote in his paraphrase The Message: “you have free and open access to God.”
Your lives bear witness to Christ’s presence – you show forth Jesus.
And you are not lacking in any spiritual gift.
I have to stop there and wonder if people could hear Paul’s words…really hear them and believe them for themselves.
I think there were probably some skeptics who doubted. Maybe they snickered and said, “Huh, he must not have been talking about me!” or “he wouldn’t say that if he knew me!”
But here’s the thing. He did know them and he was talking about them. And perhaps even more importantly, Paul knew first-hand what it is to be a sinner who encounters Christ and how Jesus changes our lives.
These same Christ-followers were trying to be church together in their corner of the world probably share more in common with our congregation today than we might guess.
But Paul looks at the church and sees abundance. Abundance of grace. Abundance of love. Abundance of giftedness.
And if doubts or fears linger, Paul’s last words are ones of promise and assurance that our faithful God will strengthen the church, not just for one day or one trial, but to the end. God has called us to be church and God gives us the gifts we need to respond to the holy calling on our lives.
Let us pray….
Good and gracious God,
We give you thanks for the saints before us like Paul and the saints around us who call on your name in neighboring churches and worshiping communities.
Thank you for the grace you have given all who call on you, that nothing separates us from You.
Teach us how to show your mercy and love in our words and actions that others may see Jesus through our lives.
Alert us to the gifts you have given us and give us courage to use them for ministry.
We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
[i] Anna Madsen. “Know Your Home: If Necessary, Go Another Way to Get There.” OMG: Center for Theological Conversation. http://omgcenter.com/2020/01/06/know-your-home-if-necessary-go-another-way-to-get-there/, accessed 1/18/2020.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Baptism of our Lord
Matthew 3:13-17
Like many stories in the Bible, this morning’s gospel leaves us with a few questions and maybe the biggest one is, “Why?” Why is Jesus being baptized? We already know he’s the Son of God, the Messiah who has fulfilled the ancient prophecy and we’ve already called him Emmanuel, God with us. So, what is going on here?
Many of us have heard about believer’s baptism – an affirmation or acceptance of what God has done in a person’s life. We often think of it as a practice in Baptist traditions, but even within Lutheranism, if a person comes to know God’s love and hasn’t already been baptized, he or she is invited to come to the font, and the youth who were baptized in our congregations as infants or early in childhood often affirm their baptisms at confirmation.
But what Matthew describes isn’t a believer’s baptism.
In our Lutheran understanding, baptism is a sacrament where the earthly element of water is joined with the Word of God where the resurrected Jesus commands us to “go therefore and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28). And in baptism, our sins and evil desires are drowned and we are raised to new life as children of God.
But what Matthew describes isn’t a Christian baptism for the forgiveness of sins either.
Instead, what we witness in Matthew’s account is the Jewish Jesus humbling himself to be baptized “in order to fulfill all righteousness.” (v. 15) Jesus is
being obedient to God,
bringing to completion the will of God, and
upholding God’s own faithfulness to Israel.[i]
In one of his sermons on this text, Martin Luther says Jesus does not have to submit to baptism, but he does anyway. He does more than what is required. The gospel frees us from the law, but it always invites us to do more than what is required, not less.[ii]
Today during worship, together we will affirm our baptisms, renouncing the forces that draw us away from God and recalling that baptism is our inauguration into a new life in Christ. We are called to the same obedience and faithfulness that Jesus demonstrated, as we follow Him in our lives.
Living as God’s beloved sons and daughters, we respond to God’s activity in our lives, and we are called to share the good news of God’s love with the people we meet.
You may remember that since October I have been participating in clinical pastoral education at the hospital. Part of that work includes visiting patients as one of the hospital chaplains, and one of my chaplain colleagues recently shared the story of a young woman who was admitted. She wasn’t especially supported by family or friends, but during her stay, the nurses on her floor befriended her, and two of the other chaplains visited regularly also, and as this young woman experienced the unconditional love of these nurses and chaplains, she made a discovery. She discovered she was loved by God, too. And before she left the hospital she asked to be baptized.
“Everyone needs to hear that they are God’s beloved child, loved unconditionally, precious.”[iii] That is the work we are baptized into, and freed by the gospel to do.
Thankfully, we don’t do this work alone. It is always with God’s help, and it is always in community. So it makes sense that this morning, after our affirmation of baptism, we’ll also promise to pray for the leaders in our congregation who are beginning a new year as our congregation council. These six folks have agreed to serve on the council, but the work of the Church belongs to all of us.
Another way to understand Jesus’ baptism is to see it as God christening his public ministry in the world. In the same way, as we begin this new year, we too are christening the ministry that is ahead of us:
the very work where we will meet people who have never heard or believed that they are beloved by God;
the very work where we will give out of what we have first been given to meet the needs of the neighbor, the widow, the orphan and the stranger;
the very work where we will tend the sick, give rest to the weary, and comfort the afflicted.
And it is in this work where our faith is most active and alive, where we most clearly see the God who calls us beloved.
Let us pray….
Good and gracious God,
We give You thanks for Your Son Jesus who humbled himself to live among us.
We give you thanks for the promises of forgiveness and new life that You make to every one of us.
Most of all we give You thanks for the merciful love You give us, making us Your own children.
Show us how to use the gifts You have given us and encourage us to share Your abundant love with others that they, too, will know they are loved.
Help us hear Your voice in our lives and teach us to follow Your Son.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus.
Amen.
[i] Donald Senior. Matthew. 55.
[ii] Martin Luther. “This is My Son, the Beloved”: Sermon on the Baptism of Jesus. The Epiphany of Our Lord (January 6, 1534) Word & World, Luther Seminary, St.Paul, MN. https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/content/pdfs/16-1_Edges_of_Life/16-1_Luther_Sermon.pdf, accessed 1/11/2020
[iii] Bishop Michael Rinehart. https://www.bishopmike.com
Like many stories in the Bible, this morning’s gospel leaves us with a few questions and maybe the biggest one is, “Why?” Why is Jesus being baptized? We already know he’s the Son of God, the Messiah who has fulfilled the ancient prophecy and we’ve already called him Emmanuel, God with us. So, what is going on here?
Many of us have heard about believer’s baptism – an affirmation or acceptance of what God has done in a person’s life. We often think of it as a practice in Baptist traditions, but even within Lutheranism, if a person comes to know God’s love and hasn’t already been baptized, he or she is invited to come to the font, and the youth who were baptized in our congregations as infants or early in childhood often affirm their baptisms at confirmation.
But what Matthew describes isn’t a believer’s baptism.
In our Lutheran understanding, baptism is a sacrament where the earthly element of water is joined with the Word of God where the resurrected Jesus commands us to “go therefore and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28). And in baptism, our sins and evil desires are drowned and we are raised to new life as children of God.
But what Matthew describes isn’t a Christian baptism for the forgiveness of sins either.
Instead, what we witness in Matthew’s account is the Jewish Jesus humbling himself to be baptized “in order to fulfill all righteousness.” (v. 15) Jesus is
being obedient to God,
bringing to completion the will of God, and
upholding God’s own faithfulness to Israel.[i]
In one of his sermons on this text, Martin Luther says Jesus does not have to submit to baptism, but he does anyway. He does more than what is required. The gospel frees us from the law, but it always invites us to do more than what is required, not less.[ii]
Today during worship, together we will affirm our baptisms, renouncing the forces that draw us away from God and recalling that baptism is our inauguration into a new life in Christ. We are called to the same obedience and faithfulness that Jesus demonstrated, as we follow Him in our lives.
Living as God’s beloved sons and daughters, we respond to God’s activity in our lives, and we are called to share the good news of God’s love with the people we meet.
You may remember that since October I have been participating in clinical pastoral education at the hospital. Part of that work includes visiting patients as one of the hospital chaplains, and one of my chaplain colleagues recently shared the story of a young woman who was admitted. She wasn’t especially supported by family or friends, but during her stay, the nurses on her floor befriended her, and two of the other chaplains visited regularly also, and as this young woman experienced the unconditional love of these nurses and chaplains, she made a discovery. She discovered she was loved by God, too. And before she left the hospital she asked to be baptized.
“Everyone needs to hear that they are God’s beloved child, loved unconditionally, precious.”[iii] That is the work we are baptized into, and freed by the gospel to do.
Thankfully, we don’t do this work alone. It is always with God’s help, and it is always in community. So it makes sense that this morning, after our affirmation of baptism, we’ll also promise to pray for the leaders in our congregation who are beginning a new year as our congregation council. These six folks have agreed to serve on the council, but the work of the Church belongs to all of us.
Another way to understand Jesus’ baptism is to see it as God christening his public ministry in the world. In the same way, as we begin this new year, we too are christening the ministry that is ahead of us:
the very work where we will meet people who have never heard or believed that they are beloved by God;
the very work where we will give out of what we have first been given to meet the needs of the neighbor, the widow, the orphan and the stranger;
the very work where we will tend the sick, give rest to the weary, and comfort the afflicted.
And it is in this work where our faith is most active and alive, where we most clearly see the God who calls us beloved.
Let us pray….
Good and gracious God,
We give You thanks for Your Son Jesus who humbled himself to live among us.
We give you thanks for the promises of forgiveness and new life that You make to every one of us.
Most of all we give You thanks for the merciful love You give us, making us Your own children.
Show us how to use the gifts You have given us and encourage us to share Your abundant love with others that they, too, will know they are loved.
Help us hear Your voice in our lives and teach us to follow Your Son.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus.
Amen.
[i] Donald Senior. Matthew. 55.
[ii] Martin Luther. “This is My Son, the Beloved”: Sermon on the Baptism of Jesus. The Epiphany of Our Lord (January 6, 1534) Word & World, Luther Seminary, St.Paul, MN. https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/content/pdfs/16-1_Edges_of_Life/16-1_Luther_Sermon.pdf, accessed 1/11/2020
[iii] Bishop Michael Rinehart. https://www.bishopmike.com
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Second Sunday of Christmas
John 1:1-18
We don’t often hear this part of John’s gospel in our worship. The Revised Common Lectionary assigns the text to Christmas Day and to the Second Sunday of Christmas but, often by the second Sunday after Christmas, we have already entered Epiphany and moved on from the Christmas story.
This year the calendar fell differently and while at home, the Christmas lights and ornaments may be packed away, the presents opened and the feasts eaten, it is still Christmas in the Church. Tomorrow we will move on to the Feast of the Epiphany, but today, the Evangelist who wrote the fourth gospel has given us another Christmas story, one that comes without angels or shepherds, innkeepers or mangers. Instead, John tells us the story of how the Son of God came into the world this way:
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…”[ii]
Hearing the same words that we hear in the first book of the Torah and our Old Testament, we know that the Evangelist is not writing about something new, but about something very, very old.
In his Sermons on the Gospel of St. John (1537-40), Martin Luther wrote that this Word dwells in God’s divine heart from eternity and it was through Him that God resolved to create heaven and earth.[iii]
The wonder of the Word made flesh and the mystery of the incarnation is the foundation of our very creation: there is no life outside God.
As we begin this new year, can we resolve to live out this basic truth, and see where God indeed is with us?
Here in the Church we especially remember Christ is present with us in the sacraments. In these places the promise and command found in the Word are joined with an earthly element and we encounter Christ anew.
At the Font, we are given new life in Christ in the waters of baptism and receive the promises we are given, that we are made new and all the old has passed away. And Jesus tells us in Matthew 28, “… remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[iv]
At the Table, Christ is present with us in bread and wine as he gives his body and blood for us, taking on all our sin and giving us all that is his, an inheritance that gives us the power to become children of God. St. Paul reminds us “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”[v]
This same Word enfleshed in Christ is with us in prayer, not only here in the sanctuary but also in our homes and workplaces, when we say, “Lord, teach us to pray.”[vi]
We say our prayers, trusting that God wipes away our tears when we cry out under the weight of sorrows and burdens that we carry,
rejoices with us when we praise God for the joys we have witnessed,
and accompanies us into the unknown when we name the mysteries that escape our understanding.
In First Peter, we hear, “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies…”[vii] The Word appears in our lives when we meet Jesus in the people around us: in those who teach and share their own experiences of God’s love with us; in those who pick up the phone, write a card or send a text to tell us we are remembered; in those who share a meal and fellowship with us.
And finally the Word is present to us in the stranger. Jesus tells his disciples, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[viii] We are called to love. The outcast, in the prisoner, in the refugee. The person who doesn’t look like us, speak our language or share our political bent. And even our enemy.
And as we begin this new year, “the Word with us” is very good news. The headlines are full of bad news: wildfires and evacuations in Australia, new deployments of soldiers to the Middle East, and attacks on both Christian and Jewish communities here in the U.S., but even, and maybe especially, against the shadows that those stories cast the Word comes to us assuring us that:
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
[i] John 1:1-3
[ii] Genesis 1:1
[iii] Sermons on the Gospel of St. John (1537-40), LW 22, 7-9.
[iv] Matthew 28:20
[v] 1 Corinthians 10:17
[vi] Luke 11:1
[vii] 1 Peter 4:10-11
[viii] Matthew 22:37-39
We don’t often hear this part of John’s gospel in our worship. The Revised Common Lectionary assigns the text to Christmas Day and to the Second Sunday of Christmas but, often by the second Sunday after Christmas, we have already entered Epiphany and moved on from the Christmas story.
This year the calendar fell differently and while at home, the Christmas lights and ornaments may be packed away, the presents opened and the feasts eaten, it is still Christmas in the Church. Tomorrow we will move on to the Feast of the Epiphany, but today, the Evangelist who wrote the fourth gospel has given us another Christmas story, one that comes without angels or shepherds, innkeepers or mangers. Instead, John tells us the story of how the Son of God came into the world this way:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. [i]Written some sixty or more years after Jesus’ ministry, John’s gospel begins with “In the beginning” and everyone who is listening hears the first words of Genesis echoing through time:
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…”[ii]
Hearing the same words that we hear in the first book of the Torah and our Old Testament, we know that the Evangelist is not writing about something new, but about something very, very old.
In his Sermons on the Gospel of St. John (1537-40), Martin Luther wrote that this Word dwells in God’s divine heart from eternity and it was through Him that God resolved to create heaven and earth.[iii]
The wonder of the Word made flesh and the mystery of the incarnation is the foundation of our very creation: there is no life outside God.
As we begin this new year, can we resolve to live out this basic truth, and see where God indeed is with us?
Here in the Church we especially remember Christ is present with us in the sacraments. In these places the promise and command found in the Word are joined with an earthly element and we encounter Christ anew.
At the Font, we are given new life in Christ in the waters of baptism and receive the promises we are given, that we are made new and all the old has passed away. And Jesus tells us in Matthew 28, “… remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[iv]
At the Table, Christ is present with us in bread and wine as he gives his body and blood for us, taking on all our sin and giving us all that is his, an inheritance that gives us the power to become children of God. St. Paul reminds us “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”[v]
This same Word enfleshed in Christ is with us in prayer, not only here in the sanctuary but also in our homes and workplaces, when we say, “Lord, teach us to pray.”[vi]
We say our prayers, trusting that God wipes away our tears when we cry out under the weight of sorrows and burdens that we carry,
rejoices with us when we praise God for the joys we have witnessed,
and accompanies us into the unknown when we name the mysteries that escape our understanding.
In First Peter, we hear, “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies…”[vii] The Word appears in our lives when we meet Jesus in the people around us: in those who teach and share their own experiences of God’s love with us; in those who pick up the phone, write a card or send a text to tell us we are remembered; in those who share a meal and fellowship with us.
And finally the Word is present to us in the stranger. Jesus tells his disciples, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[viii] We are called to love. The outcast, in the prisoner, in the refugee. The person who doesn’t look like us, speak our language or share our political bent. And even our enemy.
And as we begin this new year, “the Word with us” is very good news. The headlines are full of bad news: wildfires and evacuations in Australia, new deployments of soldiers to the Middle East, and attacks on both Christian and Jewish communities here in the U.S., but even, and maybe especially, against the shadows that those stories cast the Word comes to us assuring us that:
All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.There is no place and no one outside of God’s reach, beyond God’s love.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
[i] John 1:1-3
[ii] Genesis 1:1
[iii] Sermons on the Gospel of St. John (1537-40), LW 22, 7-9.
[iv] Matthew 28:20
[v] 1 Corinthians 10:17
[vi] Luke 11:1
[vii] 1 Peter 4:10-11
[viii] Matthew 22:37-39
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