4 Epiphany, Year C

“USE IT – OR LOSE IT!”
Given at Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, IL on Sunday, January 28th, 2007

“Use it – or lose it!”

“Use it or lose it” was a favorite expression during my Army days … it applied to all sorts of things, from budgets (if you didn’t spend what you asked for in the previous year, you ran the risk of not getting it in the following year (no wonder it’s so hard to cut government budgets!)), to semi-annual physical fitness tests (if you didn’t keep in shape in between times, it became increasingly harder and harder to “tough it out” and pass).

“Use it or lose it” is the bottom line of Jesus’ encounter with the people in His hometown of Nazareth, who had gathered in the synagogue one Sabbath day….

We’ll come back to this theme, “use it or lose it” in a moment. First, we need to remind ourselves of the setting for today’s Gospel reading.

Today’s reading follows immediately on last week’s reading … Remember that Jesus has gone to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stands to read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah (chapter 61, verses one and two). The text says, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then, Luke tells, us, He sat down, saying, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

But a dramatic shift occurs in today’s reading … We begin by noticing that Luke tells us that everyone “spoke well of him”, and were “amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips” (verse 22). Only six verses later, however, (verse 28), Luke says that the crowd took Jesus out to the brow of the hill on which Nazareth is built, intending to thrown him over the cliff.

Why this sudden and dramatic change of heart?

The key is found in Jesus’ citation of two Old Testament stories, one from I Kings 17: 1 – 16 concerning the widow of Zarephath, a Gentile from the region of Sidon, and the other concerns the healing of Naaman, a leper from Syria (II Kings 5: 1 – 14). Jesus’ hearers would have known each story intimately, and it apparently didn’t take them very long to figure out that Jesus was confronting them with a story in which outsiders (Gentiles – one from the region of Southern Lebanon and the other from Syria) found favor with God, at a time when God’s chosen people, the Israelites, did not.

Let’s review the stories of the widow of Zarephath and Naaman briefly … the two stories have some common threads:

The widow was asked by Elijah, the prophet, to bring him a drink of water and some bread. In response, the widow tells him that she and her son have only enough food for one meal, after which she and her son will die. Elijah tells her again to bring him a piece of bread, and she does so. Thereupon, the supply of meal did not lapse until the famine was over.

The story of Naaman is somewhat similar: Naaman is told by a captured servant girl from Israel about the prophet Elisha’s power to heal. (Now, Naaman was commander of the army that was at war with Israel at the time, but he suffered from leprosy.) Eventually, Naaman seeks Elisha out, and he is told to go bathe in the Jordan River seven times. Initially, Naaman balks at this suggestion, saying “aren’t the rivers of Damascus better than the rivers of Israel? Can’t I bathe in them and be healed?” So, Naaman stalks off in a rage. But Naaman’s servants kept after him, eventually convincing him to go and follow Elisha’s commands. When he does so, he is healed of his leprosy.

The two stories have the following in common: Each person:

• Is oppressed: the widow by starvation, Naaman by leprosy
• Balks at the suggestions given them initially
• Has their faith tested
• Follows the instructions given
• Are blessed as a result of their faithfulness

No wonder that Jesus’ recounting these two stories had such an effect….I can
just imagine what they might have been thinking:

“How dare you challenge our special status as God’s chosen people, descendants of Abraham and followers of the Law of Moses”, they might have said. That sentiment might describe their reactions, judging from the interchanges Jesus frequently had in the four Gospel accounts with the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Chief Priests and leaders of the people.

“We’ve got an inheritance we can’t lose, and which nobody can take away from us,” they might have thought….

But, as Luke will point out, lose their inheritance, they did … Jesus’ proclamation that Isaiah’s words have been fulfilled with the beginning of His ministry will unfold in the pages that Luke will write…The poor and the oppressed find favor with God, the sick and the lame are healed, and in the process, the high and the mighty are thrown down from their seats of pride and of power….

And, as Luke writes the Book of Acts, he will record Jesus’ words “you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1: 8).

Along the way, those who rejected Jesus as Son of Man, as the fulfillment of the prophetic line stretching back into Old Testament times, would lose their spiritual inheritance, to be replaced by others who would respond, both Jew and non-Jew alike.

Now, let’s “fast forward” into our own lives … How does Jesus’ message apply to us today?

Where do we find ourselves? Are we like Jesus’ townspeople from Nazareth: full of pride in our heritage?

How might we find ourselves in their shoes today?

Do we claim special status as a result of our:

• Spiritual ancestry (I am a member of ___________ (fill in name of church, denomination, etc, here), e.g.)
• Past spiritual practices (We could be like the Pharisee in the “Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican” – “I do this, I do that, I am thankful I am not like that other guy” (my paraphrase)

Or, are we like the widow of Zarephath or like Naaman, oppressed and in need of deliverance?

If we are like the widow or like Naaman, are we able to overcome our reservations, to “zero out” our pride and claims in order to follow God’s commands?

For the widow and Naaman eventually both came to understand that they were in total need of God’s grace … they couldn’t claim any status or abilities of their own to deliver themselves. Moreover, their faith in God’s ability to deliver them was tested. Only by asking them to give up what little they still had left, were they able to receive God’s grace. In so doing, they reversed the saying we began with today: they lost everything they had, in order to gain the use of God’s gifts in return.

May God’s Holy Spirit enable us to do the same.

AMEN.

3 Epiphany, Year C

"Time and Place"

Given on January 21, 2007 at St. Mark’s Church, West Frankfort, IL; and at St James’ Memorial Church, Marion, IL


“Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Most Fairy Tales begin something like this…..”Once upon a time, in a country, far, far away….”

It’s interesting to think about Fairy Tales….they evoke another world, a make-believe world, even though they can often carry an important moral lesson (one thinks of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” as an example).

Still, even though the moral they might convey is important to living our lives, they are outside our everyday lives….As I think about Fairy Tales, my mind goes to a world that’s far, far away (as the opening lines often say).

I think that’s the world that Jesus was addressing in today’s Gospel reading, from Luke, chapter four, a world that, for His listeners, was “once upon a time, in a country far, far away”….For Jesus had gone to the synagogue in Nazareth, and had been given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah to read.

No doubt most of those who heard his voice that day knew the passage from chapter 61 quite well….no doubt, they’d heard it time and again as faithful Jews gathered in their local synagogues to hear the Torah read, to hear readings from the Prophets, to recite the 18 benedictions, and to engage in teachings and discussions.

“Catapult” is the word that comes to my mind as I think about the impact of Jesus’ words “today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”, for Jesus’ words destroy the make-believe world of his Jewish audience, catapulting them into the “here and now”.

“Today” Jesus says….

“What do you mean, today?” they might have asked….Maybe their line of thinking went like this: “oh, yes, we know that God was active with Abraham, with Moses, and with the prophets of old.” “We know that He led them out of Egypt with the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, leading them through the wilderness for 40 years into the land He had promised to them.” “Yes, we know that God’s prophets had been inspired to speak on God’s behalf.”

“But all of those things happened a long, long time ago, and today, what we have left”, they might have said, “is His Torah, His law, which we keep as part of our tradition.”

“God can be found in the Temple in Jerusalem, in His Holy of Holies, and to be in God’s presence, we make our annual pilgrimages”, they probably thought.

“What do you mean, ‘today’?”…maybe that thought rolled through their minds….after all, God isn’t active today, is He? Isn’t all of God’s activity confined to a world of “once upon a time, in a country far, far away?

Their question is our question: “Is God active today, and if He is, then two questions arise: 1. How is He active, and 2. where is He active.”

Their outlook on God is probably our outlook on God.

But Jesus says, “Today”….

How can God be active in Jesus today? That’s a central question for us, so that we know what to look for, to see Christ active among us today. Four answers come to mind:

1. Holy Baptism: In our Prayer Book (page 308) we say to the person being baptized “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism, and marked as Christ’s own forever.” In Baptism, we are claimed as Christ’s own, and are filled with God’s Holy Spirit. A new and personal relationship is established as Christ lives in our hearts. As time goes along, the person begins to understand more and more what it means to have Christ living within us. Eventually, the Church teaches, the person should confirm that relationship for themselves in the rite of Confirmation.
   
   
2. Study of Holy Scripture: As we regularly read and study the Bible, Jesus’ works and the truth of His ability to save come alive through the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ life, ministry, and saving power are created anew in our hearts.
   
   
3. Holy Communion: Communion is far more than a memorial meal, for, we believe, that in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus is actually present. Exactly how that happens is unknown to us (that’s the reason we call it “The Holy Mystery”), but, as we eat His flesh and drink His blood, He becomes one with us in a unique and powerful way.
   
   
4. In persons around us: I am convinced that one reason the Church exists is to provide the place where we see Christ at work….and oftentimes, Christ is at work in the lives of those we worship with….As we see Christ transforming people’s lives, we can see Christ living in them.

And now, let’s turn to the other question: “where is God active today?”….

Luke’s account of Jesus’ reading from Isaiah provides the answer, for there’s been no change in the areas in which Jesus ministers over the years: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

There we have it….the area that Jesus is concerned with is everyday human beings and everyday concerns……That remains true today….Jesus is deeply concerned with our everyday challenges, disappointments and failures. He is concerned with the ways in which we are blind to His working, to the ways in which sin enslaves us, to the ways in which we need release from sin, death and disease.

“Today”, Jesus says…..

Lord, help us to see Jesus Christ at work in our lives today.

AMEN.

2 Epiphany, Year C

"Looking for a Sign"
Given on January 14, 2007 at Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, IL (Read by Mrs. Deborah Tucker, Licensed Lay Worship Leader); and at St. Stephen’s Church, Harrisburg, IL (Read by Mr. Martin Rowe, Licensed Lay Worship Leader).

Back when I was a boy, I remember vividly watching for my mother to come home after it was dark….The house we lived in had a large picture window that faced south, and if you positioned yourself just right, you could watch the major street that ran north and south, as the cars’ headlights came down the street.

Now way back then, in the old days, the cars all had just two big headlights (I’m dating myself here)….they didn’t have parking lights, or driving lights, or four or more headlights, like they do nowadays. No, just two big headlights.

So it was a challenge, watching the headlights moving north along the street, to see if the headlights we were watching matched the shape of our old car. (Sometimes, the shape of the headlights and the chrome grill made identification a little easier, because the headlights would reflect off the grill.) And, of course, once we thought we had a good match for the appearance of our car, we’d also watch to see if the car turned off onto our street.

So, we were looking for a sign: first, the sign of any car moving north, and then for a car whose headlights matched our car’s, and finally, for a car that would turn onto our street.

Why did we watch so closely? What was the significance of the sign we were looking for? First of all, the headlights meant there was a sign of life on those cold, wintry Nebraska nights….Moving headlights meant there was some sign of activity out in all that cold and darkness. Then, of course, headlights that matched the appearance of our car meant that someone important would be coming home. And, most importantly, once mom was home, the entire house seemed so much more bright and lively. So, we looked eagerly, my sisters and I, peering out the big picture window, looking for the lights that meant good things to us.

Our Gospel reading for today, from John, chapter two, fits very well into the scene I’ve just described from my childhood….for, in the season of Christmas, we’ve greeted the light of Christ as the divine light of God came into the world in Jesus’ birth. And, with the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6th), we have focused on the light of Christ shining out into the world, being made manifest (for that’s what Epiphany essentially means, an appearance, a manifestation), especially to the Gentiles. Jesus’ coming is the light we have eagerly looked for, for our anticipation of His coming is like the Wise Men from the East, who followed the light of the star that announced Jesus’ birth.[1]

As we begin now to move through the Epiphany season, each week we will focus on one aspect of Jesus’ manifestation in the world….Today’s Gospel reading deals with Jesus’ first miracle, in which He turned water into wine at a wedding in the town of Cana.

Today’s reading picks up some themes from the first chapter of John, specifically in verses one through 18….among the themes in today’s reading are the following:

• The creative power of God as we see it in Jesus Christ
• Peoples’ responses to Jesus Christ
• God’s glory, seen by those who witnessed the miracle.

Before we look closely at the passage for today, we would do well to remind ourselves of the importance in John’s writing of the signs that Jesus did, which testify to Jesus’ identity as the only begotten Son of the Father, sent by the Father into the world….Some Bible scholars today nickname the first 60% of John’s gospel account the “Book of Signs”, for in chapters two through 12, we see Jesus performing miracle after miracle, as testimony to Jesus’ power, Jesus’ divine power over creation, disease and death.

So, we begin by looking at the creative power of God, seen in Jesus’ acts…..In John 1: 3, we read that the Word (which is Jesus, John will tell us in chapter one, verse 17) created all that is….John’s words are “through Him all things were made, without him nothing was made that was made.” The implication is that the world and all that is in it was created by “The Word”, which is how Genesis 1: 3 (for example) relates the creation of the world: “and God said, let there be light, and there was light”. By speaking a word, creation came to be.

And so, it is entirely fitting that Jesus’ first miracle involved a demonstration of His power over the created order…by His changing of the water into wine, Jesus is able to change a substance (water) into a new substance (wine). We return to chapter one, and remind ourselves that Jesus is called “The Word” by John. Now, here in chapter two, we see Jesus creating the wine by the power of His word (“do whatever He tells you”, Mary said….John doesn’t actually articulate the words Jesus spoke, but hints at them by relating Mary’s instructions to the attendants).

Secondly, the responses of those who were present at the wedding are critical to John’s purposes in relating this event to us (for John is the only Gospel writer to include this first miracle at Cana in his Gospel account)….We begin with Mary’s actions….though she’s been rebuffed by her son, she knows that Jesus can provide for the needs that are at hand. “Do whatever He tells you”, she says……Notice, too, that the attendants do as Jesus instructs them: they fill the six stone jars with water, and then, they take a sample to the steward of the feast. Their faithfulness in believing Jesus can be seen in their willingness to take a sample of the water to the steward, for filling the jars with water would have been a routine task, required for the events of the wedding, and though we don’t know exactly when the water changed to wine, it wouldn’t have been a routine thing to take a sample of the water to the steward. So, the attendants were faithful and believing…...And, after the miracle has taken place, Jesus’ disciples, who had also been invited to the feast, believed in Him once they had seen His glory, revealed in this first miracle.

The first chapter of John tells us that some would reject Jesus, but others would believe in Him. John narrates the rejection this way: “He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God…” (John 1: 10 – 12)

Here now, in Cana of Galilee, we see people believing in Jesus’ power, and already, the pattern John establishes in chapter one is coming to pass.

The third aspect of today’s Gospel reading is to show the glory of God in the person and acts of Jesus Christ. John relates to us that the purpose Jesus’ first miracle is to show forth His glory (John 2: 11). As a result, Jesus disciples put their faith in Him.

Let’s return to chapter one, as we read the following words: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1: 14)

Now, Jesus begins to demonstrate the glory He received from the Father, in order that the world might believe in Him.

What lessons might we take away from our reading today? What does John want us “to get” from this event in Cana?

As I consider those questions, I think we might consider the following:

• The Lord we worship and follow still has power over the created order: Wow! We tend to forget just who Jesus is….We tend to think, many times, that He was just a “great teacher”, or a “nice guy”. We try to “domesticate” Jesus, trying to fit Him into a mold of our own making. But John’s Gospel, above all else, stands as witness to Jesus’ identity as the “Word made flesh”, who reveals the Father’s glory. John reminds us of Jesus Christ’s eternal-ness (if I can coin a phrase). John reminds us that the Christ is the one through whom “all things were made” (as the Nicene Creed puts it).
  
• Our response is critical: What if Jesus’ mother had dropped the matter of there being no wine? What if the attendants had not taken a sample to the steward of the feast? What if the disciples, having seen the glory of the Father, shown in Jesus’ action, had simply shrugged it off? Where would we be today? Most assuredly, we would not be Christians, believers in Christ, would we? No, their faithfulness has a direct link to our faith. So, too, is our response critical, not only to our own ability to become “children of God”, but to those who will follow us in the walk of faith.
  
• Seeing God’s glory in Jesus Christ: “Making the connections” is what reading Scripture is all about…By reading and coming to an understanding of God’s work in these holy pages, we are asked to come to the place of understanding just what God is doing in Jesus Christ….Near the end of John’s Gospel account, we read (20: 30 – 31) these words: “Jesus did many other miraculous 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 Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name.”

Sometimes, I think life is a lot like a cold, wintry night…we eagerly peer through
the window, looking for some sign of light, coming closer to us. For when we see that light and its approach, we know there’s life and hope in a cold and forbidding world. And, as we see the light coming closer to us, and we begin to recognize just who it is who is coming, we begin to understand the importance of that person to us, who is the source of life and light.

Jesus Christ is the Light of the World (John 8: 12), and those who believe in Him, and who follow Him, will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

So, Lord, enable us to see the identity and the glory of your only – begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that by believing in Him, we might have life everlasting.

AMEN.

[1] Matthew 2: 1 – 12 recounts the Wise Men’s search for Jesus.

1 Epiphany, Year C

"God's Christmas Club"
Given on Sunday, January 7, 2007 at St. Stephen’s Church, Harrisburg, Illinois; and at St James’ Memorial Church, Marion, Illinois (by Mr. Les Boyer, Licensed Lay Worship Leader)

I had occasion to be in a local bank a couple of months ago, and saw a sign that announced the ending of the “Christmas Club” for 2006….

At first, I couldn’t believe it…in this age of credit cards (how many offers per week do you get?), and of “buy-now-and-worry-later”, it struck me very oddly that a bank would continue to offer a Christmas Club to its customers, so they could open a plan, deposit money into the fund weekly, and then withdraw the entire amount as Christmastime approaches, so as to buy gifts for others.

What a “blast from the past” (as we used to say)…a Christmas Club, alive and well in 2006….

A Christmas Club is an anachronism: a throwback to an age in which very, very few things were purchased on credit (if your family was anything like mine). The old attitude was that sacrifice and saving was necessary in order to have the things that one needed, or, in the case of Christmas Clubs, to buy gifts to give away to others….one reserved money and showed the discipline that was needed to keep up with the regular deposits of money throughout the year.

I suspect that most Christmas Clubs have given way to the power and the appeal of Mastercard and Visa…..we live, after all, in an age of instant gratification, of commercials that bombard us, telling us we have to “have it all, and have it now!”

But our Gospel reading for today, recounting Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan, strikes me as an installment in “God’s Christmas Club”….God, by sending Jesus Christ to be born of the Virgin Mary, something we have just finished celebrating, has opened His own “Christmas Club”…In Jesus Christ, God invests heavily in this world, creating an account into which He will pour heavenly treasure in Jesus Christ.

Today’s retelling of Jesus’ baptism is another major deposit into this treasury, and we are beneficiaries of God’s graciousness and generosity.

God will continue to make contributions to this deposit of faith in Jesus’ teaching, His passion, death, resurrection and ascension. Slowly, the deposit of faith grows until it reaches maturity in Jesus’ resurrection, and in the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church at Pentecost.

But we are getting ahead of our story for today, Jesus’ baptism….

As we begin, we should remind ourselves that John’s baptism was a “baptism of repentance” for sin. Luke tells us that the crowds wondered if John might be the “Christ”, God’s anointed one (for that’s what the title “Christ” means). John, in reply, points beyond himself to the “one who is more powerful than I”, who is coming to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

But Luke omits the conversation between John and Jesus (which Matthew records for us – chapter three, verses 13 and 14), as John says to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” By this conversation, John acknowledges Jesus’ righteousness. John knew that Jesus had no sin for which to repent in the waters of baptism. John’s realization of Jesus’ sinlessness should deepen our appreciation for the self-sacrifice that Jesus makes.

Then, as Jesus was praying, Luke tells us that the heavens were opened up, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice from heaven was heard, saying, “You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.”

In Jesus’ baptism, with the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Him, and the voice of God the Father sounding from heaven, we confirm the full presence of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, fully present at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

In essence, to return to our image of the Christmas Club, God has made a major contribution to the gift fund that will one day be ours in Christ….

Jesus’ baptism at the hands of John the Baptist, a baptism of the sinless one, is the free gift of God to us.

Jesus’ birth, by which He entered our humanity fully, began the process, opening the account from which all the benefits of God’s grace will someday flow.

Jesus’ baptism, freely undertaken to set the example for us, mirrors Jesus’ coming death, freely undertaken to set us free from the bondage of sin and death.

Jesus’ resurrection, by which He conquered the powers of evil and death, is the maturation of God’s gift-giving plan.

The coming of the Holy Spirit, given to the Church at Pentecost, is God’s withdrawal of the riches that He has been accumulating in Jesus Christ, given to us as His free gift, to enable us to pass along the riches we have received through Christ.

What implications might Jesus’ baptism have for us?........

As I think about an answer to that question, my mind returns to the image of the Christmas Club, versus the “age of plastic money” in which we live…

God surely has the power to save the world, to conquer sin, and to remove all the powers of evil simply by the speaking of a word…after all, that’s the way the world was created (remember Genesis, chapter one, in which God speaks a word and things come to be), by the simple speaking of a word.

But God chose not to redeem the world in that way….Neither did God, when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, order 12 legions of angels to defend Jesus from those who came to seize him. Surely, God could have done it that way…God, instead, chose to enter human affairs, and to establish a mechanism whereby His divine grace could be poured out, step-by-step, in the life and work of Jesus Christ. Like a Christmas Club, God works patiently, investing more and more of Himself in our world, in order to redeem our world.

In response, we must “take up our cross” to follow Jesus, learning to become more and more like Him as we follow Him into the waters of baptism….Like establishing an account into which God can pour His grace, our own baptism and coming to faith in Jesus Christ takes shape as we receive God’s grace, and by receiving God’s grace, are changed and made into a more worthy receptacle for further grace.

None of this, virtually, happens overnight…None of it can happen with the swiping of a divine credit card.

Instead, the process is slow, methodical, patient. The process guarantees results that cannot be fully appreciated if the process is full of shortcuts and cheap imitations of a deep and personal relationship with God in Christ.

So, as we begin a New Year, and still have our New Year’s resolutions firmly in mind, perhaps it would be good for us to take stock of where we have been in our walk with the Lord….

• We should begin by asking if we have established an account with the Lord…that happens in baptism, and in the establishment of a personal relationship with Christ (after all, God can’t work with us if we haven’t agreed to be the receiver of His grace).
  
  
• The next question has to do with our openness to receiving God’s gifts: do we expect them to be a part of our lives, or do we shut ourselves off from the possibility that God can do great things for us and through us?
  
  
• Finally, is there any visible proof in our lives that God’s grace has been poured into our hearts?

AMEN.