Epiphany 3C

I preached this sermon in the Spanish service; the English translation is below.

Nehemías 8:1-3,5-6, 8-10

Oremos…

Que las palabras de mi boca y las meditaciones de nuestro corazón sean aceptables ante ti, Señor, fortaleza nuestra y redentor nuestro. Amén.

Los libros de Esdras y Nehemías nos cuentan la historia de la reconstrucción de Israel después de que terminó el exilio a Babilonia y el pueblo judío regresó a Jerusalén. Esdras era un escriba que ayudó a establecer las prácticas judías en Jerusalén, donde Nehemías era gobernador. Creemos que los libros fueron escritos en algún momento del siglo cuarto antes de la era común, hace unos dos mil quinientos años.

Pero si bien su historia es una de restauración y la primacía del Torá, la Palabra de Dios para el pueblo de Dios, esta es la única vez en los tres años de nuestro ciclo leccionario que escuchamos al profeta Nehemías. Creemos que esta historia está incluida en nuestro leccionario porque refleja nuestro texto del Evangelio, cuando Jesús va a la sinagoga y lee el pergamino que se le presenta.

Sin duda, este texto nos ayuda a recordar que lo que estamos haciendo aquí hoy en el año dos mil veinticinco tiene su fundamento en prácticas antiguas de hace más de dos mil años. Estamos unidos a través de la historia con nuestros antepasados de la fe, antes, durante y desde el tiempo del ministerio terrenal de Jesús. Como pueblo de Dios, nos reunimos para escuchar la lectura de las Escrituras, para escuchar las historias de nuestros antepasados. Escribimos las palabras en nuestros corazones y compartimos las Buenas Nuevas de la fidelidad de Dios con nuestros hijos y los hijos de nuestros hijos.

Pero eso no es todo lo que nos dice esta historia. Nehemías enfatiza que cuando el escriba Esdras sacó el Torá para leerle al pueblo, su audiencia incluía “hombres y mujeres”; y, en caso de que no lo hayamos notado la primera vez, el texto dice una segunda vez que las mujeres fueron contadas en la audiencia en este día.

Es bastante inusual escuchar que se nombre específicamente a las mujeres en las Escrituras, pero Nehemías dice que la audiencia también incluía a “aquellos que podían entender”. Quizás se trataba de niños, antes de su bar mitzvah o mayoría de edad. Quizás incluso incluía eunucos, sirvientes reales y militares que habían sido castrados. No tenemos forma de saber exactamente a quién estaba describiendo, pero claramente era un grupo claramente inclusivo.

Nehemías nos dice que la multitud escuchó mientras Esdras leía desde temprano en la mañana hasta el mediodía. No solo por unos minutos, sino por horas. Dejando a un lado cualquier otra distracción o preocupación que tuvieran ese día, vinieron a escuchar las Buenas Nuevas. Escucharon lo que se leía y la interpretación, buscando comprensión.

Nehemías dice que el pueblo lloró cuando escuchó la Ley. En la tradición luterana, distinguimos entre ley y el evangelio.

Es importante entender tanto que el evangelio no reemplaza la ley -podemos encontrar ambos en un solo pasaje- y que la ley tiene diferentes usos.

La ley de Dios primero nos enseña cómo vivir en relación con Dios y con los demás. Pero también nos condena, porque no podemos satisfacer la Ley por nuestros propios méritos o esfuerzos. Dependemos de la acción de Dios por nosotros -su misericordia y su perdón - para ellos. Y así, al igual que nuestros antepasados en la fe, nos desesperamos cuando escuchamos por primera vez la ley y reconocemos lo mucho que nos falta para cumplirla.

Pero Dios nunca nos deja allí sintiéndonos desamparados y sin esperanza. Como Nehemías, Esdras y los sacerdotes le dijeron al pueblo: “No se lamenten ni lloren”. Dios nos rescata y es nuestra fortaleza.

Como cristianos, nos regocijamos por la acción de Dios por nosotros: Dios nos mostró su amor por nosotros en la persona de Jesús; celebramos nuestro bautismo, donde nos unimos a Cristo en la vida como hijos de Dios, y recibimos la Comunión, con la promesa del perdón de Dios. Al igual que las historias de fe de nuestros antepasados que compartimos cuando escuchamos las Escrituras, la Comunión es la misma comida que Jesús compartió con sus discípulos y que nuestros antepasados de la fe han compartido a lo largo de los siglos.

Este vínculo común es un regalo de nuestra fe. Nehemías nos recuerda que la adoración no es simplemente otra manera de pasar parte de nuestro domingo, sino una manera central de reconectarnos con el pueblo de Dios, pasado y presente, y de celebrar el amplio y misericordioso amor que Dios tiene por nosotros.

Oremos…

Dios bueno y misericordioso,

Gracias por la fe que nos has dado,

Y por el amor que nos has mostrado en Tu Hijo Jesús.

Únenos por tu Espíritu Santo y ayúdanos a regocijarnos juntos por la amplitud de tu amor y misericordia para todos los que escuchan las Buenas Nuevas.

Oramos en el nombre de Jesús.

Amén.

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah give us the story of Israel rebuilding after the exile to Babylon has ended and the Jewish people return to Jerusalem. Ezra was a scribe who helped establish Jewish practices in Jerusalem, where Nehemiah was governor. We believe the books were written sometime in the fourth century BCE, about 2,500 years ago.

But while their story is one of restoration and the primacy of the Torah, God’s Word for God’s people, this is the only time in the three years of our lectionary cycle that we hear from the prophet Nehemiah. We think this story is included in our lectionary because it mirrors our Gospel text, when Jesus goes to the synagogue and reads from the scroll that is presented to him.  

Certainly, this text helps us to remember that what we are doing here today in 2025 has its foundation in ancient practices from more than two thousand years ago. We are bound together through history with our ancestors of faith, before, during and since the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry. As the people of God, we gather to hear the reading of the Scripture, to listen to the stories of our ancestors. We write the words upon our hearts and share the Good News of God’s faithfulness with our children and our children’s children.

But that’s not all this story tells us. Nehemiah emphasizes that when the scribe Ezra brought out the Torah to read to the people, his audience included “men and women”; and, in case we miss it the first time, the text says a second time that women were counted in the audience on this day.

It is unusual enough to hear women specifically named in Scripture, but Nehemiah says the audience also included “those who could understand.” Perhaps that was children, prior to their bar mitzvah or coming of age. Perhaps it even included eunuchs, royal and military servants who had been castrated. We have no way of knowing exactly who he was describing, but clearly it was a broadly inclusive group.

Nehemiah tells us the crowd of people listened while Ezra read from early morning to midday. Not just for a few minutes, but for hours. Setting aside whatever other distractions or worries they had that day, they came to hear the Good News. They listened to what was read and to the interpretation, seeking understanding.

Nehemiah says that the people wept when they heard the Law. In Lutheran tradition, we distinguish between law and gospel.  

It’s important to understand both that gospel doesn’t replace the law - we can find both in a single passage - and that the law has different uses.

God’s law first teaches us how to live in relationship with God and with one another. But it also convicts us, because we cannot satisfy the Law by our own merits or efforts. We depend on God’s action for us – God’s mercy and forgiveness – to do that.

And so, like our ancient ancestors in faith, we despair when we first hear the law and recognize how far we fall short of it.

But God never leaves us there feeling helpless and hopeless. As Nehemiah, Ezra and the priests told the people, “Do not mourn and weep”. God rescues us and is our strength.

As Christians, we rejoice because of God’s action for us – God showed us God’s love for us in the person of Jesus; we celebrate our baptism where we are joined with Christ in life as children of God, and we receive the Lord’s Supper, with God’s promise of forgiveness. Like the stories of faith of our ancestors that we share when we listen to Scripture, the Lord’s Supper is the same meal Jesus shared with his disciples and that our ancestors of faith have shared across centuries.

This common bond is a gift of our faith. Nehemiah reminds us that worship is not merely another way to spend part of our Sunday but a central way to reconnect with God’s people, past and present, and to celebrate the broad and merciful love God has for us.

Let us pray…

Good and gracious God,

Thank you for the faith you have given us,

And for the love shown us in Your Son Jesus.

Unite us by your Holy Spirit and help us rejoice together at the wideness of your love and mercy for all who hear the Good News.
We pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Epiphany 2C

John 2:1-11

Epiphanies are about revelations, and throughout these Sundays that follow the feast of the Epiphany we are hearing stories that reveal something about who God is, what God’s kingdom is like, and in turn, how we are to live as God’s people.

Today we heard the story of the wedding in Cana. Signs always point to what God is doing in the world, and the sign Jesus performs here is the first of seven that we will hear about in John’s gospel. At the end of his gospel, the Evangelist tells us,

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)

This time when I read the story though, the sign, or miracle, itself wasn’t what drew my attention. The wedding is in the background. We don’t even know who is being married; only that Jesus’ mother, he and his disciples are all guests. But John focuses on the conversation between Jesus and his mother after she noticed that the wine had run out.

It’s difficult for us to know what the tone of the conversation was, but Jesus doesn’t appear too interested when he answers her, “…what concern is that to you and to me?” We can’t see how his mother reacts, but John says she addresses the servants and tells them, “Do whatever he tells you.”

And those are the words that caught my attention.

Many of you will remember when “What Would Jesus Do” or “WWJD” had a surge of popularity in the 1990s. The phrase actually became known in the early 1900s following a book by a congregationalist preacher and was revived by a youth worker who was engaging teenagers in conversations about faith and life. The question sparks conversation, and sometimes disagreements. There’s a lot we don’t know about Jesus’ daily life. And, while we do want to imitate Christ, that’s not all we are called to do as disciples and followers of Jesus. We also are called to follow his mother’s instructions, and “do whatever he tells us.”

And when we look at the imperatives or commands of Jesus, we see how listening to Him and following Him leads to greater works of God.

Just in John’s gospel we watch as Jesus calls his disciples in John 1, telling Philip, “Follow me” (1:43) Philip obeys and calls to others as they go along their way.

In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the servants, “Fill the water pots” (2:7) before he transforms the water into wine.

As news of his power travels, he tells the royal official who comes to him to plead for his sick son, “Go your way; your son lives.” (4:50) and when he meets the man at the pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, and heals him, Jesus says to the man, “Pick up your mat and walk.” (5:8)

Listening to Jesus and doing what he says transforms the lives of his audience. And it continues when Jesus meets a blind man and tells him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” (9:7) and again when he arrives at the tomb, and shouts, “Lazarus, come forth.” (11:43) But his commands don’t merely heal the physical brokenness of bodies, the impacts of diseases or even death, but restore the recipients of his mercy to life and relationship.

The raising of Lazarus is the last of the seven signs we are specifically told about in John’s gospel, but it isn’t the last time we hear Jesus’ commands. The ones that follow are given to his disciples; they are given to us.

In the chapters that we call “the last discourse” in Jesus’ last week, we hear him tell the disciple, “Love one another.” (13:34) And then as he predicts how he will be betrayed and handed over, he tells his followers, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (14:1, 27) and commands them, “Abide in me.” (15:4)

The commands we have from Jesus, like the commandments in the law from Moses, help us live well in relationship with God and with one another.

Mary’s words “Do whatever he tells you” center God and what God is doing in our world and invite us to listen and study what Jesus says so that we follow Jesus every day, and not only in the miraculous moments and mountain top experiences. Her words are a reminder that we have a Savior and Shepherd who leads us and expects us to follow in obedience. And it is in listening to Jesus that we know Him and knowing Jesus - which is how John defines belief – is how we are given life, and life abundant. (John 10:10)

Let us pray…

Good and gracious God,

Thank you for the abundant life we experience through your love and mercy. Thank you for giving us signs of your power and grace in Scripture and in our lives. Help us to listen well and obey the commands we have from your Son Jesus, that we would do whatever he tells us. We pray in His name. Amen.