Fourth Sunday of Epiphany: Teaching

 Jesus went about teaching. (Matthew 4:23)

Epiphany celebrates the appearance of God among us in Jesus Christ. What happened when he made his appearance? Matthew sums up Jesus’ earthly ministry, prior to the events of Holy Week, like this (Mt 4:23-25, repeated in chp 9):

Jesus went about Galilee,

     -teaching in their synagogues and

    -preaching the gospel of the kingdom and        

    -healing all kinds of diseases among the people.

So his fame spread…, and they brought to him the afflicted… and he healed them. And great crowds followed him…

Jesus won’t always be so popular. In the end, the crowd turns on him. But for starters, when he went about teaching, preaching, and healing; Jesus drew crowds. That day, when he taught on the mount overlooking the Sea of Galilee, “the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Mt 7:28-29).

During Epiphany, we seek to listen again to the teachings of Jesus. That’s what makes us disciples—learners/students of Jesus. We have lots of teachers in our family, but there is for us only one upper case “T” Teacher!

 

Epiphany #12: healing

Jesus healed the afflicted. (Matthew 4:24)

You will recognize the New Testament word for healing: therapeuō. There was something miraculously therapeutic about Jesus. It came out of his compassion: “Jesus had compassion for them and healed their sick” (Mt 14:14). He brings therapeutic care to our “various diseases and torments” (Mt 4:24).

People who came to our home to help me recover from back surgery where called “therapist”—one a physical therapist and another an occupational therapist. My healing required therapy. I wonder if some of Jesus’ healing was like that. To heal the pain and get me back on my feet required welcoming these therapist into my home and allowing them to touch my life—my tormented body. It required acceptance and cooperation on my part. Maybe that’s how Jesus’ therapy works. We have to open our life to him, and allow him to touch what hurts and help us get back on our feet.

Epiphany #11: Mary Magdalene

Do you see

   this woman? (Luke 7:44)

Last night, Linda and I watched Man of La Mancha. We were watching because my professor of Spanish Linguistics friend asked me to comment on the relationship between Don Quixote and his faithful squire Sancho. I had to owe up that it is another one of those books I was supposed to read, but never did. So, I settled for the movie.  Although, as my granddaughter has written across her t-shirt, “The Book is Better;” nevertheless, we found the musical a surprising delight—Linda cried; me too, a little.

Don Quixote, on his quest, arrives at a wayfarer’s inn where the maid and prostitute sings, “Do not talk to me of love, just put your money in my hand… I am Aldonza and I do not like the life I live.” But, the virtuous knight, Don Quixote, sees her as a noble maiden calling her by another name: “Dulcinea.”

That is what woke me up too early this morning. I thought of Aldonza and the Gospel story about Jesus and the woman who “washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair” (Lk 7:38). It caused a scene at Simon the Pharisees house where Jesus had been invited for dinner. At such meals, men lay on their sides with their heads towards a low dinner table with their feet sticking out like spokes in a wheel. You should try it. That’s how the uninvited woman found herself at the feet of Jesus:

A woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that Jesus was eating in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.

        Now when the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and sort of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner." Jesus spoke up and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you."  "Teacher," he replied, "speak."

Jesus said to Simon, “Do you see this woman?” Of course he saw her. Everyone saw the woman. They just didn’t see her as Jesus saw her. Simon and his guests saw the woman as men saw Aldonza. Jesus saw the woman as Don Quixote saw “Dulcinea.” Simon makes a negative judgement about Jesus, because he figures Jesus should know “what sort of woman is touching him.” Pharisees—religious types, sort people out into categories of righteous and unrighteous. That is their expertize. Jesus sees her different: “Her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she loves much.” To see others as Jesus sees, is to see others within the sphere of God’s love—as a child of God redeemed by grace.

The story concludes: “Afterwards …the twelve were with Jesus, as well as some women …Mary from Magdala…” (Lk 8:1-2). Tradition has it that the town where Simon threw the dinner party was Magdala; and, the woman who “loved much” was Mary Magdalene.

Inauguration:

 Couple of Post-Inauguration thoughts:

 Ritual: Pageantry with its deep and rich traditions is good. It keeps before us something bigger than ourselves, and worthy of our gratitude and honor.

2.      Unity: In the mouths of the powerful, “unity” can become a scary and oppressive word. Unity in any sphere—church life, family, school, work, etc. is a byproduct of something else. When we demand unity in church life, for example, it will allude us. When we are faithful to our task of administering the Gospel in word and deed, unity comes as a gift.

3.      Politics: Mr. Walker reminded me that our founding documents: Declaration and Constitution, were written by politicians. Like any profession, pastors and theologians for example, there are good and bad and anywhere along the continuum. Mr. Walker also reminded me that we are all politicians—we seek to persuade and win people over for the purpose of making our nation and world, city and marketplace, home and church, school and neighborhood, better.

 

Epiphany #10: Inauguration.

 Jesus came into Galilee preaching…

 “The kingdom of God is at hand…” (Mark 1:14-15)

During Epiphany we celebrate the inauguration of Christ’s kingly rule in our hearts and lives. Yesterday, Linda and I watched another inauguration—the Inauguration of our 46^th President. Lady Gaga and Garth Brooks were the best part of the ceremony.

As Jesus tells us, his “kingdom is not of this world” (Jn 18:36). When we try to force Christ’s eternal kingdom into one of our earthly kingdoms, we mess things up. The kingdom of God does not disqualify the kingdoms of this world. However, Christ’s kingdom does boundary our earthly kingdoms as earthly, provisional, holding the world open and free for the coming of its one true King.

Yesterday’s Inauguration Ceremony centered on the President’s Oath of Office: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” To which, at the first Inauguration, George Washington added his own “so help me God” which has stuck to this day.

The eternal kingdom shapes and boundaries our earthly kingdom.  Our constitution, aware of human vanity, establishes three equal branches of government: legislative, executive and judicial; to protect us from ourselves—from any one person or branch of government garnishing all the power. Take away the boundaries of the Kingdom of God and tyranny has its way.

Epiphany #9: Preaching

 Jesus came preaching. (Mark 1:14)

 Reading up on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.; caused me to think of my own life. That’s what biographies do—especial at this point in my life. I was taken, even moved, by what we have in common. Let me list a few: 1) We are both PKs—preacher’s kids raised in the sanctuary with the sound of our father’s voice. 2) We both found ourselves preachers, like our dads. 3) We both respected our preaching fathers, but sought a different voice—a different way of preaching. 4) We both got educated—introduced to a different world than the world of our fathers’ church. 5) Yet, we both had more of our preaching fathers in us than we suspected.

That big thing we both carried from our fathers is the memory of preaching as a uniquely church event. Somewhere, down deep in our bones, lies that Sunday morning memory of how people, with names and faces, gather, greet, love, hug, talk, pray, make announcements, sing, worship; and then, listen to the sermon. Apart from the congregation—the “Beloved Community,” preaching is not preaching. We learned that from our fathers and the church community they pastored.

 

Epiphany #8: Martin Luther King Day.

 Jesus came preaching

   the gospel of God--

the good news that the

   kingdom of God is near. (Mark 1:14)

Sunday, April 7, 1968; Linda and I worshiped at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. We were there because the Thursday before, April 4^th, Martin Luther King, jr. had been assassinated. We knew at Grace Cathedral, King would be honored. After the service we joined in a Civil Rights march around Nob Hill to honor MLK.

The first line of the New York Times editorial page that morning read: “Martin Luther King was a preacher…” That’s how MLK described himself: “I am fundamentally a Baptist preacher.” That is how it all started thirteen years before in 1955, when the young new preacher in town was asked to say a few words at a Sunday evening rally of the African American churches gathered to protest the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to vacate her seat and move to the rear of a Montgomery city bus, to make way for a white passenger.

After singing the hymn, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” MLK peached:

Mrs. Rosa Parks is a fine person. (Well, well said) … Nobody can doubt the height of her character, nobody can doubt the depth of her Christian commitment and devotion to the teachings of Jesus. (All right) She sat in the front of the bus because she was tired. …And just because she refused to get up, she was arrested. And you know, my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression. [thundering applause] There comes a time, my friends, when people get tired of being plunged across the abyss of humiliation, where they experience the bleakness of nagging despair. (Keep talking) There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November. (That’s right) [applause] There comes a time. (Yes sir, Teach) [applause continues] We are here, we are here this evening because we’re tired now.

From that sermon, that Sunday evening, in a poor big barn of a church, the “kingdom of God came near,” and the kingdom of this world would never be the same.

Second Sunday of Epiphany

The beginning of

   the Gospel… (Mark 1:1)

The word “Gospel” is an old English word so precious to English readers that they can’t give it up. Even when we try with translations like “good news”—it just doesn’t work. “Gospel” is better. It has to do with the New Testament word euaggelion (it’s the word agglia “message” with the preface eu meaning “good” or “beautiful”); translated in the old King James Version as “gospel” meaning the “good spell” or the “good story.” It’s the story that breaks bad spells and puts a good spell on you. 

Mark lets us know from his very first words that he is writing “Gospel” and that this Gospel is “about Jesus Christ, God’s Son” (Mk 1:1). The first Christians turned it into a five letter acronym “i-ch-th-y-s,” the New Testament word for “fish.” The five Greek letters for “fish” form the first letter of “Jesus” “Christ” “God’s” “Son” and the fifth letter. “Savior.” Mark follows the first four letters and leaves the fifth for us to work out. Is “Jesus Christ, God’s Son,” our Savior?

Epiphany is our “Yes” to “the Gospel about Jesus Christ God’s Son” our “Savior.”

Epiphany #6: Faith

 Jesus’ disciples,

   put their faith in him. (John 2:11)

The word “proof” never appears in John’s Gospel; or, for that matter, in any Gospel. Jesus’ miracles are signs, not proofs, that he really is the One—Emmanuel, “God with us!” One can heed the sign; or, misread the sign; or, in other ways dismiss the sign. John will provide us with a few more signs; as he concludes his Gospel: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn 20:30-31). We never know the whole story. I suppose throughout eternity we never get the whole of Him. There is always more. But we know enough. One day, at a wedding festival at Cana of Galilee, Jesus turned water into wine. For those who “put their faith in him,” it was an epiphany.

 

Epiphany #5: There is more.

 You kept the good wine

   until now. (John 2:10)

The chief steward of the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee, can’t get over the fine quality of the wine the Bridegroom pours during the closing days of the celebration. The servants, in the kitchen, know that there is plenty more from where that came from: 180 gallons more; or, 900 bottles of wine more. It is not only the finest, but there is more than enough for everyone.

The abundance of the finest wine is how the prophets spoke of the Messianic Age: “The mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it” (Amos 9:13). The miracle at Cana is a “sign” pointing back to the longing of the Prophets; and, forward to the great wedding banquet that awaits us in Glory when The Bridegroom welcomes His Church—His Bride (Rv 19:9). Between now and then, every Christian wedding festival has something of Cana in it. Jesus is there.

Epiphany #4: Human and Devine

 The steward did not know

   where the wine came from. (John 2:9)

The “miraculous sign” does not turn Jesus into someone other than “the man Christ Jesus” (1Tm 2:6). He never losses his humanity. It’s not as if, when he does a miracle, he’s all God. And otherwise, he’s just a man. He is always and already Jesus/Emmanuel. As the creed puts it: “In one Person… truly God and truly man …without confusion, without change, without division and without separation” (Chalcedon, 451).

In this “first of his miraculous signs”—turning water into wine; notice how Jesus remains “Jesus.” There’s no showing off, or strutting around. Jesus doesn’t say, “Watch this!” He just quietly helps the wedding festivities along. And, maybe preserves his mother’s honor. The miraculous act is such a human act, isn’t it? At Cana, Jesus reveals not only his divinity; but, his humanity. In his Devine humanity, Christ salvages our humanity.

Epiphany #3: Water into Wine.

 When the wine gave out,

   Mary said to Jesus,

  “They have no wine.” (John 2:3)

Somehow, Mary gets wind of it. Maybe there were whispers about all those fishermen she brought with her. She knows something about who Jesus is; and, figures maybe he can do something to save the wedding festivities. Jesus doesn’t want to get involved. This is not the time, he figures. But his mother precedes as if his “no” were a “yes;” telling the servants to do whatever Jesus says.  Somewhere back in the kitchen Jesus speaks to the servants. At Mary’s bequest, the servants do as Jesus says and pour water into six large stone ceremonial water jars, each holding up to thirty gallons of water. “They filled them to the brim.”

By surprise, the chief steward of the festivities discovers that they have more than enough wine for everyone. He lavishes his praise on the bridegroom: “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now" (Jn 2:10). Jesus lets it be. He doesn’t let on. However, back in the kitchen, the servants know where the wine came from; so does Mary; and so too the disciples: “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (Jn 2:10).

 

Epiphany #2: The Wedding Invitation

Jesus’ mother was there,

   along with Jesus,

   and his disciples. (John 2:1-2)

Nothing is said about who is getting married; or, why Mary and Jesus are invited… a relative perhaps? Such wedding festivals would be held at one of the best homes in the village—the home of a relative or friend. Maybe Jesus and Joseph had done some remodeling work there? However it happened, Mary and Jesus are invited, and the just-called disciples are welcomed as well; which may account for why Mary felt responsible for the wine giving out.

Such wedding festivals would last for days with wedding songs like Solomon’s Love Songs, and word games like Sampson’s “sweeter than honey” riddle told at his wedding festival, and food with wine to encourage merrymaking. The ceremony and the honeymooned were one event. The honeymoon was the ceremony. A tent would pitched in the backyard like Sarah’s tent where “Rebekah comforted Isaac” (Gn 24:67). The wedding celebrants/witnesses would hang around for days just to see “the bridegroom come out of his wedding tent, like a champion rejoicing to run his course” (Ps 19:5). Such a human event. And, Jesus was there.

First Sunday of Epiphany

 In Cana of Galilee,

   Jesus manifested His glory. (John 2:11)

 “Epiphany” means “manifestation” or “appearance”. During Epiphany Season, the church celebrates the appearance or manifestation of God among us “beginning with Jesus’ baptism …and how he went about doing good” (Ac 10:37-38). It was something to behold: “We have seen his glory” (Jn 1:14).

The Gospel of John will refer to such “manifestations” as “signs”: “This was the first of his miraculous signs Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (Jn 2:11). This first sign happened just three days after Jesus called his first disciples: the fishermen Andrew and his brother Peter, James and his brother John; and then Philip who the next day brings his buddy Nathanael. The next day they follow Jesus to a wedding festival about ten miles up the road at Cana of Galilee. It was there, at the wedding festival, that Jesus first “manifested his glory, and the disciples believed in him.”

Andrew and Peter, James and John, don’t say, “Show us a few miraculous signs, and then we will follow you.” Rather, they hear his voice: “Come, and you will see” (Jn 1:39). They follow his call, and in their following, they behold his glory.

 

Political thoughts...

 Respect everyone…

Worship God.

Honor government. (First Peter 2:17)

Jesus has something to say about how we behave in our political world. For example, there’s that obscure miracle that frees Peter and Jesus to pay their poll tax (Mt 17). And, the more famous teaching of our Lord: “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God's" (Mt 22:21). The Apostle Paul himself, to everyone’s surprise, was a proud Roman citizen: “Yes, I am a citizen of Rome” (Ac 22).

Maybe Peter sums it up best: “Treat everyone with respect. Love the family of believers. Worship God. Honor the emperor” (1Pt 2:17). That’s our Apostolic instruction. It has always been tricky to worship God alone while honoring government. Caesar feels threatened when we worship Another, and not him. But, that’s our path: To respect all, to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, to worship God and to honor our government. We do not ask government to be our savior; but, simply to protect us and let us be. We honor that.

Despite the mayhem at our nation’s capital this last week; our constitutional democracy holds firm. For that we should be grateful. As nations go; ours is one of the best—bigger than any one personality. My rule of thumb for any president is to hold up Abraham Lincoln’s second Inaugural Address and see how the two match up. The closer any president’s speech comes to Lincoln’s, the better.

Christmastide: Twelfth Day Reflection.

Think of us in this way,

   as servants of Christ

and stewards of the mysteries

   of God. (First Corinthians 4:1)

The “us” is the Apostles and those of us, like Apollos, who proclaim the gospel that the Apostles’ proclaimed. In the Corinthian church, the congregation quarreled over who was the best preacher: “One of you says ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Peter’” (1Cor 1:12). The congregation rallied around its favorite personalities rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is still a problem today; especially in the Evangelical Church which centers on the personality of the pastor.

Paul bows out of the competition and reminds the congregation that their various leaders are “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries.” When we are faithful to our calling, “then you will not take pride in one man over against another” (1Cor 4:1&6). It caused me to reflect on my own vocation. There is a certain sinful competitive pride. I want our church to be the biggest church in town. That’s why I honor the Christian Calendar. Following the Calendar gives the congregation something bigger and more real than my own ideas and personality.

What has God called pastors to do? Well, to be “stewards of the mysteries of God.”  To oversee the “mysteries of God” is to guard the mystery and wonder of Christmas. I have not been called to explain the mystery of Christmas; but rather, to guard and protect the mystery of how “the Holy Spirit comes upon [the virgin Mary], and the power of the Most High overshadows [her]” (Lk 1:35). The mystery I guard remains a mystery. To demystify Christmas would ruin everything.

Christmastide: Teenagers.

 The Child grew

   and became strong… (Luke 1:40)

I’m still reeling from the Christmas visit of our six teenage grandchildren (as for the other two: the youngest not yet and the oldest already). How did that happen? How can they be driving around in their own cars? How did they get such minds of their own? How did they become so bright and beautiful and way above average?

I look on them with a mix of trepidation and wonder. Even Job, God’s favorite mortal, objected when his friends brought up the sins of his youth (Jb 13:26). And the Psalmist has the whole congregation singing (Ps 25:7):

Remember not the sins of my youth

    and my rebellious ways;

according to your steadfast love remember me,

   for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!

During Christmastide, we recalled that Jesus was a teenager. And, “during these days of his flesh, Jesus… learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hb 5:7-8). And even though Jesus was “tempted as we are,” he was different in that “he was without sin.” It was his Devine difference that brings us redemption; and, his human sameness that causes him to “sympathies with our weaknesses” (Hb 4:15).

Because of Jesus, my wonder outweighs my trepidation. I pray that our teenage grandchildren will not only “grow strong” like Jesus; but, also, like Jesus, “grow in wisdom and stature, and favor with God and others” (Lk 2:52).

 

Second Sunday of Christmastide

 Christ reconciled us

   in his fleshly body. (Colossians 1:22) 

When did the Eternal Word become temporal flesh and dwell among us? And, how did it happen that God the Son became a man?  It’s easier to believe it happened when Jesus began his ministry of “teaching …and healing those who suffered” (Mt 4:23-24). That’s Emmanuel. That’s the Epiphany. But the church, affirming Matthew’s and Luke’s stories about the virgin Mary and her baby in a manger, set Christmas as the “when” and the “how” of the incarnation. That’s when the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us …full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14-15).

One of those fourth century church fathers, Gregory the Theologian, said it best: “That which Christ has not assumed he has not healed, but whatever is united with his divinity has been saved.” It is the church’s way of saying that the Eternal Son of God has taken on the whole of Jesus’ humanity from the wooden manger to the wooden cross, from the womb to ascension. Which means for us, 1) that we look at every baby—even every woman with child, with wonder; and 2) that we look on the whole of our own fleshly body as redeemed by the “fleshly body of Christ.”  That’s why the creeds affirm our bodily resurrection—the whole of us salvaged for eternity.

In a few days we enter the Season of Epiphany when we celebrate how Jesus “went about doing good” (Ac 10:38). But for now, let us depart Christmastide with a benediction from Romans 9 verse 5:

To the people of Israel belong the patriarchs,

                and from them, according to the flesh,

comes the Messiah, who is over all,

                God blessed forever. Amen.

It is best we leave the mystery and wonder of our Christmas celebrations with an “Amen!”