Epiphany 7C

Lucas 6:17-38

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

Oremos…

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

Nuestro Evangelio de esta semana es parte del Sermón en la Llanura de Lucas, un texto que es paralelo al Sermón del Montede Mateo. En ambos evangelios, Jesús está enseñando a una multitud, incluidos sus discípulos.

El Sermón del Monte de Mateo incluye un conjunto de bienaventuranzas, pero en Lucas, las palabras de Jesús son un poco diferentes. Las bienaventuranzas comenzaron en el evangelio de la semana pasada con las conocidas palabras: “Bienaventurados los”. Pero Jesús no se detuvo cuando nombró a los bienaventurados: los pobres, los hambrientos, los que lloran y los que son odiados; Jesús continuó enseñando y dijo: “¡Ay de aquellos que son ricos” que están bien alimentados, los que ríen y de los que se habla bien de ellos.

No estaba amenazando ni maldiciendo a nadie. Pero Jesús estaba advirtiendo a la gente que nosotros elegimos dónde depositar nuestra confianza y cómo medir nuestro valor, y Dios es firme donde las cosas de este mundo pueden fallar o incluso traicionarnos. [i]

Y ese tema de elegir cómo vivir en el mundo continúa esta semana. El mundo nos diría que seamos defensivos, que estemos listos para “dar como recibimos” y que contraataquemos a quienes nos atacan.

Pero Jesús nos dice que elijamos de manera diferente.

Dos veces en esta lectura del evangelio nos dice: “Amen a sus enemigos”. Es una enseñanza difícil.

Primero, mientras que más adelante en el evangelio de Lucas, un experto religioso le pregunta a Jesús: “¿Quién es mi prójimo?” (10:29), nunca escuchamos la pregunta: “¿Quién es mi enemigo?”.

Nuestra teología luterana que nos enseña que somos tanto santos como pecadores no hace que esta pregunta sea más fácil. Debido a que somos pecadores por naturaleza y recibimos justicia de Dios, ¿quiénes somos nosotros para señalar a otra persona, creada y amada por Dios, y decir que son malvados y no puede ser redimidos? El mal es un poder en el mundo que infecta a los humanos y nos aleja de Dios, pero cada persona sigue siendo de Dios.

Tal vez, en el antiguo Israel, donde las ciudades se construían con murallas para rechazar a los invasores y los soldados romanos ocupaban las mismas calles que los pordioseros, era más obvio quién era el enemigo.

Y tal vez, viviendo aquí en los Estados Unidos, donde hemos estado más aislados de la guerra y la violencia, y donde hemos podido confiar en la democracia para mantener el buen orden, no es tan claro.

Cuando pienso en quiénes son mis enemigos, no creo que haya grupos o individuos que quieran hacerme daño o matarme personalmente.

Hay personas y grupos que están enojados con nuestro país y nuestro gobierno y otros que no estarían de acuerdo con que yo soy pastora porque soy mujer. Y ciertamente hay amenazas y fuerzas que debilitarían o dañarían e incluso derribarían o destruirían no solo ideas, sino personas, que son importantes para mí.

Y puedo imaginar un momento en el que, como una mamá osa que protege a su cachorro, los vería como enemigos.

Pero incluso si puedo nombrar quién es mi enemigo, entonces debo escuchar a Jesús, no una sino dos veces, exhortarme: “Ama a tu enemigo”. Y mientras habla sobre cómo se ve este amor y lo difícil que será, dice:

“Sean misericordiosos como su Padre es misericordioso.

El tema a lo largo del Sermón de la Llanura es el de revelar quién es Dios para que el pueblo de Dios pueda saber quiénes somos nosotros. Encontramos nuestra identidad en Dios, quien es misericordioso, generoso y amoroso. Y depositamos nuestra confianza en el mismo Dios.

Es una enseñanza difícil, en parte, porque tenemos que ceder el control. No podemos arrebatarle el juicio a Dios. Recordamos a Jonás, que no quería ir a Nínive porque sabía que Dios sería misericordioso con la gente de allí. Amar a nuestros enemigos requiere que creamos que el amor de Dios puede cambiar corazones y mentes.

Amar a nuestros enemigos requiere confiar en que Dios es más fuerte y más poderoso que el mal, incluso en ausencia de evidencia.

No somos nosotros los que ocupamos el tribunal, sino Dios. Amar a nuestros enemigos requiere que admitamos que no podemos saber cuál será el juicio de Dios, y que creamos que Dios, que ama la misericordia y la justicia y defiende a las viudas, los huérfanos y los extranjeros, actuará conforme a la propia Palabra de Dios y cumplirá las promesas que nos hizo.

Amar a nuestros enemigos requiere que creamos que Dios es Dios y que nosotros no lo somos.

Y es nuestro propio pecado el que nos dice lo contrario y nos insta a estar dispuestos a “dar lo que recibimos”.

Las instrucciones de Jesús no son un llamado a aceptar pasivamente el abuso o ignorar las malas acciones, sino un llamado a confiar en Dios y a encontrar dirección y guía en el carácter de Dios, confiando en que Dios está con nosotros tanto en las cimas de las montañas como en las llanuras de la vida.

Oremos…

Dios bueno y bondadoso,

Gracias por tu misericordia para todos nosotros, pecadores.

Que siempre te busquemos,

confiando en ti para nuestra seguridad y salvación.

Que tu Espíritu nos fortalezca y nos haga misericordiosos como Tú eres misericordioso.

Oramos en el nombre de Jesús.

Amén.

---

[i] Mary Hinkle Shore. Working Preacher Commentary on Luke 6:17-26. Luther Seminary. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/sixth-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-luke-617-26-3

Luke 6:17-38

Our Gospel this week is part of Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, a text that parallels Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. In both gospels, Jesus is teaching to a crowd, including his disciples.

Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount includes one set of beatitudes, but in Luke, Jesus’ words are slightly different. The beatitudes began in last week’s gospel with the familiar words, “Blessed are those”. But Jesus didn’t stop when he named those who are blessed – the poor, the hungry, those who weep and those who are hated; Jesus continued teaching and said, “Woe to those” who are rich, well-fed, those who laugh and those who are spoken well of.

He wasn’t threatening or cursing anyone. But he was warning people that we choose where to place our trust and how to measure our worth, and God is steadfast where things of this world may fail or even betray us.[i]

And that theme of choosing how to live in the world continues this week. The world would tell us to be defensive, to be ready to “give as good as we get”, and to strike back against those who strike us.

But Jesus tells us to choose differently.

Twice in this gospel reading he tells us, “Love your enemies”. It’s difficult teaching.

First, while later in Luke’s gospel, a religious expert asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” (10:29) we never hear the question, “Who is my enemy?”

Our Lutheran theology that teaches us we are both saint and sinner doesn’t make this question any easier. Because we are both sinful by nature and receive righteousness from God, who are we to point to another person, created and loved by God, and say they are evil and cannot be redeemed? Evil is a power in the world that infects humans and draws us away from God, but each person is still God’s.

Perhaps, in ancient Israel, where cities were built with walls to repel invaders, and Roman soldiers occupied the same streets as beggars, it was more obvious who the enemy was.

And perhaps, living here in the United States, where we have been more insulated from war and violence, and where we have been able to rely on democracy to maintain good order, it is not as clear.

When I consider who my enemies are, I don’t think there are groups or individuals who want to hurt or kill me personally. There are people and groups who are angry with our country and government and others who would not agree with me being a pastor because I am a woman. And there are certainly threats and forces that would weaken or harm and even tear down or destroy not only ideas, but people, that are important to me.

And I can imagine a point when, like a mama bear protecting her cub, I would see them as enemies.

But even if I can name who my enemy is, then I must hear Jesus, not once but twice, urge me, “Love your enemy.” And as he talks about what this love looks like, and how difficult it will be, he says,

“Be merciful even as your Father is merciful. (6:36)

The theme throughout the Sermon on the Plain is one of revealing who God is so that God’s people can know who we are. We find our identity in God, who is merciful, generous and loving. And we place our trust in the same God.

It’s difficult teaching, in part, because we have to cede control. We cannot wrest the judgment back from God. We remember Jonah who did not want to go to Nineveh because he knew God would be merciful to the people there. Loving our enemies requires us to believe that God’s love can change hearts and minds.

Loving our enemies requires trusting that God is stronger and more powerful than evil, even in the absence of evidence. We do not occupy the judgment seat; God does. Loving our enemies requires us to admit that we cannot know what God’s judgment will be, and to believe that God, who loves mercy and justice and defends the widows, orphans and strangers, will act according to God’s own Word and fulfill God’s own promises to us. Loving our enemies requires us to believe that God is God, and we are not.

And it is our own sin that argues otherwise and urges us to be ready to “give as good as we get.”

Jesus’ instructions aren’t a call to passively take abuse or ignore wrongdoing, but they are a call to trust God and find direction and guidance in the character of God, trusting that God is with us on both the mountaintops and on the plains of life.

Let us pray…

Good and gracious God,

Thank you for your mercy for all of us sinners.

May we always seek you,

trusting in you for our security and salvation.

May your Spirit strengthen us and make us merciful as You are merciful.

We pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

---

[i] Mary Hinkle Shore. Working Preacher Commentary on Luke 6:17-26. Luther Seminary. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/sixth-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-luke-617-26-3

Epiphany 6C

Jeremiah 17:5-10

Jeremiah, whose words we heard in our first reading, was a priest of the tribe of Benjamin, from a walled town a few miles northeast of Jerusalem.

After the fall of the northern Kingdom of Israel to Assyria in 721,

Judah, the southern Kingdom, was squeezed between Egypt to the south and Assyria to the north. They were afraid, assaulted by enemies closing in all around them.

As a prophet, Jeremiah was active from the 13th year of King Josiah of Judah around 626 BCE, through the rule of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah.

King Josiah has been called Judah’s last pious King.

During his reign, Judah stopped paying homage to Assyria,

and sought to reestablish the empire of David and Solomon that had crumbled centuries earlier,

launching religious reforms that reaffirmed the covenant of Moses

and centralized worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem.

But those reforms died with King Josiah in 609 BCE.

When we hear Jeremiah’s words here, rebellions against Babylon by the subsequent kings have failed and the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, are advancing on Jerusalem.

Jeremiah continues to urge Israelites to return to faithful obedience to the covenant they have with God, and in these verses, we hear the prophet’s description of what disobedience will look like and the contrasting vision of what obedience will look like.

As we hear elsewhere in Proverbs and in today’s psalm, Jeremiah presents a clear choice to be made by humans,

a fork in the road,

where we can choose to draw near to God

or turn away from God.

Importantly, the choice does not change how God responds.

God refuses to turn away from us and continues to offer God’s people new opportunities to choose to live in relationship with the One who created and loves us.

But there are consequences for turning away from what God offers, and we hear those described here. Jeremiah describes those who trust in mortals, instead of God, as parched shrubs in the arid desert, and the psalmist describes them as chaff that is blown away in the wind.

In contrast, Jeremiah describes those who trust in the Lord as trees planted by water, fortified against heat and drought, flourishing and bearing fruit, an image that echoes the psalm.

The descriptions of trees planted by streams of water, full of green leaves and fruit, recall the first garden - Eden - in Genesis and invite us to remember that in the beginning, God gave life to creation, and God continues to nurture us for life in community.

Of course, then, as now, humans choose to turn away from God.

While I expect most of us easily hear the Law in Jeremiah’s words where there is a clear choice between trusting in ourselves or others or trusting in the Lord, I hope we also hear the Gospel. While the Law convicts us of our sin and shows us where we fall short of God’s commands, the Gospel is what tells us about God’s actions for us.

There is a promise here that even in the desert, relief will come, and life, although it may be difficult, will continue in the places that appear forsaken.  

And before anyone thinks that Jeremiah is promising a carefree life for those who trust God, he tells us that even when we draw near to God,

there will be times of scorching heat and drought –

times of challenge and even disaster.

The point isn’t that faithful people will be worry-free. The point is that God will be faithful. As one writer put it,

We as Christians are like trees, watered at baptism and not branches broken off from the main trunk, which is the cross of Christ.[i]

As both the psalm and this passage in Jeremiah continue, we are reminded that judgment is not ours but God’s (Psalm 1:6 and Jeremiah 17:9-10). The Lord will search the minds and hearts of God’s people, and the Lord knows the difference between the righteous and the wicked.

That’s important for all of us who get distracted by the human sinfulness we witness around us, who experience the temptation to look first at others, and not ourselves. “If I believe that God loves me [so much that I am forgiven and saved by grace through faith], then I have to believe that God loves everyone else like that [too].”[ii]

It's God’s promises, known in God’s Word and actions for us, that sustain us each and every day.

Let us pray…

Holy God,

You created the world and all that live in it.
You called us to trust you, and to put down our roots
alongside the life-giving stream of your Word. 
Help us follow Your Son Jesus faithfully,
and share the fruit of Your abundant mercy and love in the world.
We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

---

[i] Sundays and Seasons, Day Resources

[ii] The Rev. Dr. Justin Nickel, Advanced Lay Ministry Intensive

Epiphany 5C

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

Lucas 5:1-11

Oremos ...

Que las palabras de mi boca y las meditaciones de nuestros corazones sean aceptables a tu vista, Señor, nuestra fuerza y nuestro Redentor. Amén.

Tal vez es porque el fin de semana pasado me senté con estudiantes que aprenden teología luterana;

O tal vez es porque he estado enseñando sobre los salmos y las preguntas sobre la "teología de la cruz" de Lutero, la abundancia de la misericordia de Dios y nuestra respuesta han estado en mi mente,

Pero esta vez cuando leo nuestro texto del evangelio,

La confesión de Simón fue lo que me llamó la atención.

¡Apártate de mí, Señor, porque soy hombre pecador!” (v. 8)

Esta no fue la primera vez que Simón conoció a Jesús. Anteriormente, Jesús había estado en su casa y sanó a su suegra. (Lucas 4). Pero este encuentro es diferente.

Jesús se une a Simón en su barco y enseña a las multitudes que permanecen en la orilla del lago, pero luego se dirige directamente a Simón. Él le dice que baje sus redes.

Escuchamos el cansancio y la resistencia en la respuesta del pescador. Ha estado pescando toda la noche sin éxito. Pero Simón conoce a Jesús, lo llama "Maestro" y confía en él, por lo que sigue sus instrucciones.

Y rápidamente sus redes están casi llenas hasta el punto de romperse, por lo que Simón llama a Santiago y Juan, sus compañeros, para que lo ayuden, y ambos barcos comienzan a hundirse por el peso de la captura.

Y Simón reacciona de inmediato, con miedo y asombro.

Con adoración.

Y con confesión.

¿Por qué Simón reacciona ahora?

Creo que a veces podemos presenciar algo y reconocer su importancia de inmediato.

Pero, a veces, nos lleva un poco más tiempo. Y, a menudo, necesitamos escuchar o ver algo varias veces de varias maneras antes de entenderlo por completo.

Simón ha sido testigo del poder de Jesús antes, pero aquí no es algo que le pasa a otra persona. Aquí Jesús está transformando la propia vida de Simón.

El asombro se apodera de los pescadores. Anteriormente en Lucas, escuchamos a los espectadores que vieron a Jesús realizar milagros preguntarse: "¿Qué tipo de palabra es esta, que con autoridad y poder ordena a los espíritus inmundos, y salen?" (4:36) Y luego preguntarán: "¿Quién es este, que él ordena incluso los vientos y el agua, y le obedecen?" (8:25) Seguramente aquí se preguntaban: "¿Qué clase de Señor es este que puede ordenar a los peces del mar y a las criaturas de las profundidades?"

Y luego, Lucas dice que Simón se arrodillo. Arrodillarse o postrarse ante Dios tiene raíces antiguas. Cuando nos arrodillamos, honramos a quien esta delante de nosotros. Es una postura de humildad y sumisión, y, en la adoración, de confesión y arrepentimiento.

Y luego escuchamos las palabras de Simón: su confesión de pecaminosidad:

¡Apártate de mí, Señor, porque soy hombre pecador!” (v. 8)

No sabemos qué respuesta esperaba, pero probablemente no fue la que Jesús ofreció.

Jesús no condena a Simón. No lo manda lejos de su presencia. Y Jesús no se va.

Tal como Simón conoce a Jesús,

Jesús conoce a Simón.

Nada le ha escondido. Y él responde al hombre pecaminoso, diciendo:

"No temas; desde ahora serás pescador de hombres.” (5:10)

Jesús conoce la pecaminosidad y las imperfecciones de Simón, y él lo quiere con él de todos modos. Nada que Simón ha hecho o dicho lo separará de la presencia de Dios, la misericordia de Dios o la misión de Dios en el mundo.

Como sabemos, Simón llega a ser llamado Cefas o Pedro (Juan 1:42), la roca en la que se construye la iglesia de Jesús. (Mateo 16:18) Y, aun así, niega a Jesús tres veces cuando Jesús es arrestado antes de su crucifixión. Pero a pesar de sus fallas y defectos, es amado por Dios  y tiene un lugar en la realización del reino de Dios.

Y esa es una buena noticia para todos nosotros:

Dios tiene un lugar para nosotros, un papel que desempeñar, un trabajo que solo nosotros podemos hacer, para avanzar el reino de Dios y compartir el amor de Dios con los que conocemos. 

Oremos.

Dios misericordioso,

Gracias por tu hijo Jesús que nos ve completamente

humanos pecaminosos, amados y perdonados;

Asegurarnos a cada uno de nosotros que pertenecemos al reino de Dios,

y ayudarnos a seguir a Jesús y lanzar la red del amor de Dios.

Oramos en el nombre de Jesús. Amén.

Luke 5:1-11

Let us pray…

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Maybe it’s because last weekend I sat with students learning Lutheran theology;

Or maybe it’s because I’ve been teaching about the psalms and questions about Luther’s “theology of the cross”, the abundance of God’s mercy and our response have been on my mind,

but this time when I read our gospel text,

Simon’s confession was what caught my attention.

“Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (v. 8)

This wasn’t the first time Simon had met Jesus. Earlier, Jesus had been to his house and healed his mother-in-law. (Luke 4). But this encounter is different.

Jesus joins Simon on his boat and teaches the crowds who remain on the lakeshore, but then he addresses Simon directly. He tells him to let down his nets.

We hear the weariness and the reluctance in the fisherman’s response. He has been fishing all night without success. But Simon knows Jesus, calls him “Master” and trusts him, so he follows his instructions.

And quickly his nets are nearly full to breaking, so Simon calls to James and John, his partners, to help, and both boats begin to sink under the weight of the catch.

And Simon reacts immediately, with fear and awe.

With worship.

And with confession.

Why does Simon react now?

 

I think sometimes we can witness something and recognize its importance immediately. But, sometimes, it takes us a little longer. And, often, we need to hear or see something multiple times in various ways before we understand it fully.

Simon has witnessed Jesus’ power before, but here it isn’t something happening to someone else. Here Jesus is transforming Simon’s own life.

Amazement seizes the fishermen. Earlier in Luke, we heard bystanders who saw Jesus perform miracles ask, “What kind of word is this, that with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out?” (4:36) and later they’ll ask, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?” (8:25) Surely here they wondered, “What kind of Lord is this who can command the fish of the sea and the creatures of the deep?”

And then, Luke says that Simon fell to his knees. Kneeling or prostration before God has ancient roots. When we kneel, we honor the one standing before us. It is a posture of humility and submission, and, in worship, of confession and repentance.

And then we hear Simon’s words - his confession of sinfulness:

“Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (v. 8)

We don’t know what response he expected, but it probably wasn’t the one Jesus offered.

Jesus doesn’t condemn Simon. He doesn’t cast him away from His presence. And Jesus doesn’t go away.

Just as Simon knows Jesus,

Jesus knows Simon.

Nothing has been hidden from Him. And He responds to the sinful man, saying,

“Do not be afraid; from now on you will catching people.” (5:10)

Jesu knows Simon’s sinfulness and imperfections, and He wants him with Him anyway. Nothing Simon has done or said will separate him from God’s presence, God’s mercy or God’s mission in the world.

As we know, Simon goes on to be called Cephas or Peter (John 1:42), the Rock on which Jesus’ church is built. (Matthew 16:18) And, even so, he goes on to deny Jesus three times when Jesus is arrested before his crucifixion. But despite his faults and shortcomings, he is loved by God and has a place in bringing about the Kingdom of God.

And that is Good News for us all:

God has a place for us, a role for us to play, work that only we can do, to further God’s kingdom and share God’s love with those we meet.

Let us pray:

Merciful God,

Thank you for your Son Jesus who sees us wholly,

sinful humans, loved and forgiven;

assure each of us of that we belong in God’s kingdom,

and help us to follow Jesus and cast wide the net of God’s love.

We pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

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.

Epiphany 5B

Mark 1:29-39

Today’s gospel picks up immediately where we left off last week, with the disciples and Jesus leaving the synagogue in Galilee and traveling to the house of Simon and Andrew.

And here we witness another healing. In the synagogue Jesus had ordered the unclean spirit out of a man, and here, he meets Simon’s mother-in-law, who has been in bed with a fever.

To our hearing, it may sound dramatic to say that the woman was at the brink of death, but two thousand years ago there were no antibiotics or medicines available to bring down fever. There was really no understanding of what caused illnesses. So, we can appreciate how worrisome her illness was, with an unknown cause and no way to bring relief. We can imagine the joy that her family and friends experienced when they saw Jesus take her by the hand and lift her up and the fever left her. And we can understand the gratitude she herself felt at being restored to wholeness.

The healings show us how God is with us in our suffering, and they demonstrate the power of God to set things right. But there is more to this story than the physical healing that takes place.

When she is healed, the woman begins to serve those around her. (1:31) The word here is the same word that we hear earlier in this chapter, when Jesus is in the wilderness and Mark says, “the angels waited on him.” (1:13) Although some traditions have used this story to “put women in their place”, διακονέω (dee-ah-koh-nay-oh) is the beginning of the diaconate, the ministry of service to which we ordain mean and women as deacons today.

Her healing allowed this woman – who like so many women in Scripture is unnamed apart from her relationship to Simon – to fully be herself, to use her gifts in service to God. It happens that her gifts were those of welcome and hospitality, in caring for the needs of her guests. But she just as easily could have been like Lydia who financially supported the disciples’ gospel ministry in Acts 16 (Acts 16:14) or like the prophet Anna who worshiped at the temple in Jerusalem with fasting and prayer night and day and whom we hear about when Jesus is presented at the temple as a boy in Luke 2. (Luke 2:37)

If you have ever been at the brink, at your wits’ end, at the edge of despair, or uncertainty, you share this woman’s story. It is the story of God breaking into our lives to call us to being fully who God created us to be.

These Epiphany stories remind us again and again that all things are under God’s authority, and we can be confident that God is with us in the messiness of our lives and the world we live in.

And we can be just as certain that God has created us and calls us to be witnesses of the love and grace shown us in Christ Jesus in this place.

I share this woman’s story. When I had been working in nonprofit fundraising for almost ten years, I was working with a founding executive director who wanted me to follow in his footsteps. I went to a workshop and as we talked about the stories that were most important to us, I realized that as much as I appreciated the work we were doing, that was not the most important story to me, and it wasn’t the story I wanted to spend the next twenty-five years telling. That realization sent me into a tailspin. I didn’t know what to do next. But I began talking with my husband Jamie, and with my pastor, and later that year, after many more conversations, I entered the candidacy process in the North Carolina Synod to become an ordained pastor.

It was one step toward becoming the person God created me to be.

Growing up, we often think that our progression through life is a straight line, right? Childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood. Primary school, middle school, high school, and then maybe college, or maybe not. But I think we have enough experience in this room to know that far more often, life resembles a roller coaster with more than one ‘loop de loop’ along the way.

And when we are hanging on for dear life, faith helps us know we are not alone, and the journey is not in vain. God is there, with us, helping us become fully who God created us to be.

When we catch our breath or regain our balance, we can ask, “Who is God calling me to be?” and “What is God calling me to do?” and listen for God’s answers.

Faith gives us the freedom to respond to God with our whole selves and serve with the gifts we’ve been given.

Let us pray…

Good and gracious God,

We give you thanks for Your love and grace shown us through Jesus all through this Epiphany season.

Thank you for saving us and healing us that we may be your witnesses in the world.

Help us respond to your presence in our lives and fully become the person that you created us to be, so that others may know You.

We pray in the name of your Son Jesus.

Amen.

Epiphany 4B (El cuarto domingo después de Epifanía)

Marcos 1:21-28

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

Oremos…

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

Me da gusto estar de regreso en la adoración con todos ustedes. Ha pasado un mes desde Navidad, pero debido a mi ausencia, me he perdido mucho de esta temporada de Epifania. Mientras me preparaba para la adoración de esta semana, me ayudó recordar que esta es una temporada de revelación, que nos muestra quién es Jesús.

Comenzamos con el bautismo de Jesús por su primo Juan cuando escuchamos por primera vez la voz del cielo proclamar: “Tú eres mi Hijo amado; En ti tengo complacencia”(Marcos 1:11)

Luego fuimos testigos de cómo Jesús llamó a los primeros discípulos y les mostró cómo usar sus dones para el Reino de Dios.

Pescar con red para la cena era importante, pero Jesús también les mostró dónde encontrar alimento espiritual.

Y hoy Marcos nos cuenta cómo enseñaba Jesús. Nunca supimos qué dijo, si estaba enseñando sobre el Torá o sobre los profetas o algo más. Pero lo que sí escuchamos es que enseñaba “como quien tiene autoridad” y que su forma de enseñar lo diferenciaba. Era “diferente de los escribas” que eran expertos en la ley. Si bien pudo haber sido su estilo de enseñanza, creo que la diferencia fue más sustancial que eso. La palabra autoridad también puede traducirse como poder. Otros lo han interpretado en el sentido de que Jesús era auténtico o enseñaba desde el corazón.

Cuando el hombre con un espíritu inmundo se encuentra con Jesús, grita:

“¿Qué tienes que ver con nosotros, Jesús de Nazaret? ¿Has venido a destruirnos? Sé quién eres, el Santo de Dios”. (Marcos 1:24-25)
En respuesta, Jesús reprende al espíritu y le ordena que calle y salga del hombre, y, con mucho revuelo, lo hace. Y la gente nuevamente queda asombrada y comenta la autoridad con la que Jesús enseña y actúa.

Lo primero que noto es que este hombre con el espíritu inmundo está en la sinagoga. A veces Jesús sana a personas marginadas de la sociedad o a quienes viven en las zonas fronterizas. Forasteros. Pero este hombre estaba en la sinagoga. No podemos saber qué era el espíritu inmundo; lo que sabemos es que estaba causando sufrimiento. Tal vez podría enmascarar su comportamiento para que nadie viera nada inusual. Tal vez había estado afligido durante tanto tiempo que nadie notó nada diferente.

Lo segundo que noto es que si bien las personas que escuchaban a Jesús podían ver que Jesús enseñaba con autoridad y que era diferente, no son ellos los que se arrodillan ante la presencia de Jesús.

El que identifica a Jesús como “el Santo de Dios” es el espíritu inmundo. Es el que está causando confusión o infligiendo dolor el que sabe que Jesús no permitirá que las cosas continúen como hasta ahora. En Jesús, todas las cosas están bajo la autoridad de Dios y los poderes y principados que desafían a Dios son derrotados.

Al reflexionar sobre este texto, Karoline Lewis, una de mis profesoras de predicación en el seminario, nos pide que nos preguntemos:

“¿Dónde está Dios en todo lo que me posee?”

El diablo, el pecado y esas fuerzas que desafían a Dios son los que me separan de Dios.

Son las cosas que se apoderan de mis pensamientos y acciones y me alejan de Dios, que me llevan a vivir de maneras que no son santas ni amables.

Cuando me encuentro “en los lugares y espacios donde parece que Dios nunca podría estar”, Marcos nos dice que ni siquiera esos lugares son rivales para Dios y el amor que nos muestra en Jesús. En Jesús, todas las cosas están bajo la autoridad de Dios y los poderes y principados que desafían a Dios son derrotados.

Sé que es difícil de creer. Recibo un correo electrónico semanal llamado “Noticias mundiales esta semana en oración” y nos incita a orar por muchos lugares diferentes en el mundo donde hay guerras, enfermedades u otros tipos de sufrimiento. Puede resultar abrumador darnos cuenta de lo destrozado que está el mundo y de la frecuencia con la que no logramos vivir el reino de Dios aquí en la tierra. Clamamos por justicia ahorita y queremos que la respuesta de Dios llegue cuando nosotros queremos.

Pero este evangelio es una de las razones por las que seguimos orando. Nuestra fe nos dice que Dios está presente y activo.

Dios está rompiendo barreras y límites y yendo a lugares donde nadie espera que Dios aparezca.

¿Has oído a los ingleses decir: “Allí, si no fuera por la gracia de Dios, iré”?

Al parecer, el reformador del siglo dieciséis, John Bradford, dijo esas palabras mientras observaba cómo conducían a un grupo de prisioneros a la ejecución. Como muchos otros, recordaba esas palabras cada vez que presenciaba tragedias. Pero hace una docena de años estaba trabajando como voluntaria en un refugio de dia  para nuestros vecinos que no tienen casas, y entonces se me ocurrió, mientras escuchaba sus historias, que la gracia de Dios estaba con ellos.

Eso no fue lo que hizo que nuestras circunstancias fueran diferentes. Lo que marcó la diferencia fue que tenía abuelos que pagaron mi educación universitaria, y cuando tuve cáncer cuando era joven, ellos pagaron mis gastos médicos; tenía un trabajo con un seguro médico para poder recibir medicamentos para mi depresión crónica.

Dios está presente en el desorden de todas nuestras vidas, y tal vez sea la gracia de Dios la que nos ayuda a conectarnos con otros que escucharán nuestras historias y nos darán la bienvenida a la comunidad a pesar de nuestras faltas.

Esta Escritura de la temporada de Epifanía revela quién es Jesús y hoy recordamos que él es quien demuestra que todas las cosas están bajo la autoridad de Dios y no permitirá que nada nos separe de Dios.

Demos gracias a Dios.

Mark 1:21-28

Let us pray…        

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

It is good to be back in worship with you all. It’s been a month since Christmas but because of my absence, I’ve missed a lot of this Epiphany season. It helped me as I prepared for worship this week to remember that this is a season of revelation, showing us who Jesus is.

We began with Jesus’ own baptism by his cousin John when we first heard the voice from heaven proclaim, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)

Then we witnessed Jesus calling the first disciples, showing them how to use their gifts for the Kingdom of God. Netting fish for dinner was important, but Jesus showed them where to find spiritual nourishment too.

And today Mark tells us how Jesus taught. We never find out what he said, whether he was teaching from the Torah or about the prophets or something else. But what we do hear is that he taught “as one having authority” and that his way of teaching set him apart. He was “different from the scribes” who were the experts in the law. While it may have been his teaching style, I think the difference was more substantial than that. The word authority can also be translated as power. Others have interpreted it to mean that Jesus was authentic or taught from the heart.

When the man with an unclean spirit encounters Jesus, he cries out,

“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” (Mk. 1:24-25)

In response, Jesus rebukes the spirit and orders him to be silent and come out of the man, and, with a lot of commotion, it does. And the people again are amazed and remark on the authority with which Jesus teaches and acts.

The first thing I notice is that this man with the unclean spirit is in the synagogue. Sometimes Jesus heals people on the margins of society or those who live in the borderlands. Outsiders. But this man was in the synagogue. We cannot know what the unclean spirit was; what we know is that it was causing suffering. Maybe he could mask his behavior so that nobody saw anything unusual. Maybe he had been afflicted for so long, nobody noticed anything different. 

The second thing I notice is that while the people listening to Jesus could see that Jesus taught with authority and that he was different, they aren’t the ones who are brought to their knees by Jesus’ presence. The one who identifies Jesus as “the Holy one of God” is the unclean spirit. It is the one who is causing turmoil or who is inflicting pain that knows Jesus isn’t going to let things continue as they have been. In Jesus, all things are under God’s authority and the powers and principalities that defy God are defeated.

Reflecting on this text, Karoline Lewis, one of my preaching professors from seminary asks us to wonder, “Where is God in all that possesses me?”[i]

The devil, sin and those forces that defy God are what separate me from God. They are the things that seize possession of my thoughts and actions and turn me away from God, that lead me to live in ways that are not holy and not lovable. When I find myself “in the places and spaces where it seems God could never be”, Mark tells us that even those places are no match for God and the love shown us in Jesus.[ii] In Jesus, all things are under God’s authority and the powers and principalities that defy God are defeated.

I know that is hard to believe. I receive a weekly email called “World News This Week in Prayer” and it prompts us to pray for many, different places in the world where there is war, illness or other kinds of suffering. It can be overwhelming to realize how broken the world is and how often we fail to live out God’s kingdom here on earth. We cry out for justice now and we want God’s response to be on our timeline. But this gospel is one reason we keep praying. Our faith tells us that God is present and active. God is breaking barriers and boundaries and going places where no one expects God to show up.

Have you heard the English saying, “There but for the grace of God go I”?

Apparently the sixteenth century reformer John Bradford said those words as he watched a group of prisoners being led to execution.[iii] Like many others, I recalled those words whenever I witnessed tragedies. But a dozen years ago I was volunteering at a day shelter for our neighbors who are unhoused, and it occurred to me then, as I listened to their stories, that God’s grace was with them. That wasn’t what made our circumstances different. What made the difference was I had grandparents who paid for my college education, and when I had cancer as a young woman, they paid my medical bills; I had a job with health insurance so I could get medication for my chronic depression. God is present in the messiness of all our lives, and perhaps it is God’s grace that helps us connect with others who will listen to our stories and welcome us into community despite our faults.

This Epiphany season Scripture reveals who Jesus is and today we remember that he is the one who demonstrates that all things are under God’s authority and will not let anything separate us from God.

Thanks be to God.

---

[i] Karoline Lewis. “Exorcisms for our Day.” workingpreacher.org

[ii] ibid

[iii] Wiktionary.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/there_but_for_the_grace_of_God_go_I#:~:text=It%20has%20also%20been%20attributed,prisoners%20being%20led%20to%20execution , accessed 1/26/24.