3 Lent, Year A

“SOMETIMES A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE….”
Exodus 17: 1 – 7; Psalm 95: 6 – 11; Romans 5: 1 – 11; John 4: 5 – 42
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, February 24th, 2008

“Sometimes, having a little knowledge is a wonderful thing.”

“Sometimes, having a little knowledge is an awful thing.”

Today’s Gospel reading,[1] the very familiar account of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, is all about “a little knowledge”, it seems to me.

For “a little knowledge” can work two ways: either it will enable a person to see more and more, or it will limit their ability to see, sometimes not at all.

The two perspectives can be seen in: 1. the Samaritan woman, who had “a little knowledge” (actually, enough knowledge), which Jesus was able to use to get her to see more and more of God’s work and will; and 2. Jesus’ disciples, who lacked even “a little knowledge” of what Jesus was doing in His encounter with this woman by the well in the village of Sychar.

So, I’d like to trace the Samaritan woman’s journey of faith, focusing in on her responses to/talking about Jesus. There are five references, five verses that trace her journey in coming to know who Jesus is.

But before we launch into the woman’s faith development, let’s take a moment to outline briefly the history of relations between the Jews and the Samaritans. For in doing so, we can understand more fully the gaps that Jesus bridged in reaching out to the Samaritan woman, and then, through the woman’s witness, to the townspeople she lived among.

The Jews and the Samaritans had a long history, and it was not a good history:

Way back in 721 B. C., the Assyrians swept in from the north and the east and conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which was comprised of the 10 tribes in the northern part of the Holy Land. As they conquered the kingdom, they deported much of the population (as was common in those days), and then repopulated the area with other people who were imported from elsewhere. The resulting intermarriage of peoples created an ethnically mixed people, known as the Samaritans. Naturally, the peoples of the Southern Kingdom, Judea, regarded these people, these Samaritans of varied backgrounds, as “half-breeds”. They were inferior in every way, from their point-of-view.

Gradually, the disdain between the two groups grew into genuine hatred, and in the year 128 B. C., Jewish troops stormed into Samaria and destroyed the temple which was located on Mt. Gerizim.[2] The hatred and separation between the two groups flared into full scale enmity from that point onward.

By Jesus’ time, Jews would avoid going through Samaria if at all possible, taking the eastern route through the Jordan River valley, or perhaps along the seacoast to the west. Jesus’ route through Samaria was unique, and the language John uses to describe the necessity of this more direct route seems to indicate a divine purpose to Jesus’ choice of this way right through foreign and hostile territory.[3]

The level of separation between Jew and Samaritan is indicated by the literal meaning of verse nine: “Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans”, John tells us. Literally, this might mean: if a Samaritan used an object, a Jew would not touch it or use it.

So, Jesus had quite a number of obstacles to overcome in dealing with the Samaritan woman, including:

• Men did not converse with an unknown woman in public,
  
  
• Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans,
  
  
• Samaritans had a different set of Scriptures than the Jews, and hence, a different understanding of God.[4]

So now, let’s turn to Jesus’ methodology in breaking down the obstacles which lay between Him and the Samaritan woman….we turn to the five forms of address/references to Jesus the woman uses:

1. “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (verse nine): In response to Jesus’ request for a drink, we hear this sharp response. In her reply, the woman immediately hits on the two main gaps that exist between her and Jesus: gender and ethnicity. Can you hear the bluntness of her response? “How is it that you….” No modifier to cushion the impact of her statement, such as “excuse me”, no form of address such as “sir”….The first words out of her mouth are right to-the-point: “How is it that you, a Jew, as a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?”
   
   But Jesus is undeterred (don’t you love that about Him?....He just doesn’t take “No!” for an answer!). He responds, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and He would have given you living water.”
   
   The key words here are: “if you knew” and “who it is”…..Knowing is a key word throughout John’s Gospel account….Remember Nicodemus’ words from last Sunday’s reading?[5] “We know” Nicodemus says….But, it turns out, Nicodemus didn’t know, much less understand.
   
   Jesus’ steering of this conversation will be all about getting the woman “to know” “who it is” who is talking to her.
   
   But there’s another point we need to make before we move on: the term living water has a double meaning:[6] It can mean flowing water,[7]or it can mean the life-giving revelation of God, a usage that stretches back into Old Testament usage.[8] Furthermore, Jesus’ reference to “living water” recalls His words to Nicodemus (John 3: 5) about being “born of water and the spirit”. (Jesus will flesh out the meaning of “living water” later on in verse 14.)
   
   Like Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman takes Jesus’ words literally: she seems to think that perhaps He will point out an otherwise-unknown stream near her house, or perhaps will make available another source of water which isn’t so difficult to use. Maybe the woman thought that Jesus’ offer of “running” water would make life a bit easier and more convenient. (If the encounter happened today, we might be tempted to say that the Samaritan woman wondered if Jesus wasn’t a plumber, who had come to install plumbing in her house.)
   
   Jesus pushes on in His attempt to broaden her understanding, using the term “living water”….
   
   
2. Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that ‘living water’?” (verse 11): Notice now that the woman uses the polite form of address “sir”. Maybe she is beginning to soften up a little. Maybe she is intrigued by this mysterious Jewish man who approaches her at the hottest part of the day to ask for a drink of water.
   
   Jesus attempts to enlighten her understanding of “living water”, to which she responds, “Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
   
   Even now, her responses seem to indicate little more than a literal, everyday understanding of Jesus’ intent and message.
   
   So Jesus tries another approach, which results in this response from the Samaritan woman:
   
   
3. Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet!” (verse 19): Notice that she uses the polite form of address, “Sir”, again.
   
   The entrée into this response from the woman is Jesus’ request that she bring her husband to Him. She responds, “I have no husband”. Jesus says, “You are right in saying ‘I have no husband’, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.”
   
   We need to pause here for a moment….Jesus’ foreknowledge of the woman’s marital status has elicited volumes of reflection on the woman’s past life…..Some have said that she had been married five times to different men, and was now living with yet another man. Others have said she was the victim of an ancient practice called “Levirate marriage”,[9] in which the brother of a husband who died had an obligation to take the widow as his wife, in order to raise up children for the deceased brother, and that, in turn, she had been married under this practice to five different brothers, but that the sixth brother had refused to marry her.
   
   Whatever the case, the central point seems to be that Jesus foreknew the details of her private life, which the woman confirms when she says to the townspeople, “Come and see a man who told me all that I ever did.” (Verse 29)
   
   All other analyses of the woman’s marital situation may be interesting, but quite possibly go beyond what the text itself will support.
   
   And it is this foreknowledge that elicits the woman’s response, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”
   
   The Samaritans had a concept of Messiah. Theirs consisted of a figure they called Ta’heb who would come, and who would make all things known to them. Hence, Jesus’ comment about her personal life is the key indication to the Samaritan woman that Jesus might fill the qualities of Ta’heb… “Perhaps, if this Jewish man is so all-knowing and wise, he might be able to clarify some other matters, as well,” she may have thought to herself.
   
   Jesus attempts to enlarge her knowledge base some more, explaining that the age-old rivalry between Jew and Samaritan over the proper place for worship (Jerusalem or Mt. Gerizim) will soon mean nothing, for God will seek persons to worship Him “in spirit and in truth.”[10]
   
   Picking up on the Samaritan expectation of Ta’heb as the one who will make all things known, the woman then says:
   
   
4. I know that Messiah is coming; when he does, he will show us all things (verse 25): The woman’s response is grounded in the Samaritan messianic expectations, clearly.
   
   But note that she says, “Messiah” –or- more clearly “a Messiah”.
   
   To which Jesus responds, “I AM is speaking to you.”[11] [12]
   
   Jesus’ response allows the woman to come to a deeper knowledge of who Jesus is….following the interlude in which the disciples return (more on their knowledge and understanding of the situation in a minute), we read the woman’s testimony to the townspeople of Sychar:
   
   
5. “Come and see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (verse 29): Now, we hear clear (though still questioning) identification of Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ.
   
   The woman has come to a fuller knowledge of Jesus’ identity, although her knowledge is still framed in the form of a question.
   
   Nonetheless, she is willing to testify to her neighbors, and they come to Jesus.

Now, to recap the woman’s progression of knowledge, we have:

• “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me...” (verse eight) – a blunt and to the point response.
  
  
• “Sir, you have nothing to draw with….where do you get that ‘living water’?” (verse 11) – An initial use of the polite form of address, “Sir”.
  
  
• “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet” (verse 19) – Again, she uses “Sir”, and begins to understand Jesus’ identity.
  
  
• “I know that Messiah is coming…He will show us all things” (verse 24) – Jesus might be a Messiah…the woman’s conviction about Jesus’ identity is closely tied to the Samaritan understandings of Ta’heb.
  
  
• “Can this be the Messiah?” (verse 29) – Jesus’ identification is now centered on being the Messiah, even though questions still remain in the woman’s mind.

But we must now turn our attention to the disciples, who have returned from the village, where they have bought some food….Notice, first of all, that they wonder among themselves at why Jesus was talking with this woman[13]….their concerns mirror the woman’s concerns: both seem to be saying, in essence, “Why are you breaking social custom by talking in public with her?”

But their knowledge of the situation is also quite limited in the instance of Jesus’ reference to food….For they wonder, “Has anyone brought Him food?”[14]

Just as Jesus had done with the Samaritan woman in expanding her knowledge of Him and His work, He now does so with the disciples. He says, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to accomplish His work.”[15]

As we reflect on the circumstances of the Samaritan woman and the disciples, we can see that each had “a little knowledge”.

In the case of the Samaritan woman, it seems that she was looking – or at least was aware – of the possibility of the one who would come to “show us all things.” Her knowledge of Jesus’ identity and work grew as He continued to bridge one obstacle of connection and understanding after another.

On the other hand, the disciples’ limited knowledge prevented their seeing the truth of the situation. Jesus had to point (perhaps literally) to the townspeople who constituted the “harvest” for which He labored, but which the disciples would do the reaping.

As we think about it, the Samaritan woman ought to have been the one who failed to “get it”, and the disciples – those who ate, walked, listened and watched Him do the miraculous signs that He did, signs that pointed to His identiy, origin and purpose – should have been the ones who “got it”.

But just the reverse is true: the one with the most obstacles between her and Jesus, and the one with the most limited knowledge, was the one who understood.

Sometimes, what we think we “know” can blind us to what we have yet to learn.

And so it is with the life of the Spirit, who, like the wind, blows when and where it will. We can perceive the movement of it, but cannot identify its origin or its destination.[16]

This Lent, what about us? What do we think we “know” about Jesus, but have yet to learn?

May the Holy Spirit enable us to come to a fuller and clearer knowledge of Him.

AMEN.

[1] This sermon will attempt to consider only a small portion of the riches of this passage. As is usual with John’s writing, the account of Jesus’ encounter at Sychar operates on quite a number of different levels. This is only one of those levels.
[2] The Samaritans maintained a worship center on the mountain, which is southwest of the town of Sychar. It is this site that the woman refers to in her comments which we read in verse 19.
[3] John tells us (verse four) that Jesus “had to go through Samaria”, using a verb (had to) that he often uses to denote divine will.
[4] The Samaritans possessed their own version of the five books of Moses, the Torah or Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), but did not regard as Scripture any other books. In addition, their version of the Pentateuch had a different emphasis from the Jewish version. Chief among the differences in the Samaritan version is God’s command to Moses took place on Mt. Gerizim (not Mt. Sinai, as Exodus 20: 17 states in the Jewish version), and a similar change with regard to Mt. Ebal in Deuteronomy 27: 4. The Samaritan version of the Pentateuch is still available today.
[5] John 3: 1 - 17
[6] Jesus tells Nicodemus that, in order to see the Kingdom of God, he must be “born again and from above”. The Greek word for “born again/from above” is anothen.
[7] Like in a stream or fountain, as opposed to water from a well or cistern.
[8] See the treatment of this sense of the term “living water” in Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of John, Moloney, Francis J., (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1998), p., 117.
[9] See Deuteronomy 25: 5 – 10 for the provisions pertaining to Levirate marriage. The term “levirate” derives from the Latin word (levir) for “husband’s brother”.
[10] Verse 24
[11] Verse 26
[12] These “I AM” sayings are important in John, and they convey the divine identity as we hear it at the burning bush (Exodus 3: 14), the God who revealed Himself to Moses.
[13] Verse 27
[14] Verse 31
[15] Verse 34
[16] A paraphrase of Jesus’ teaching to Nicodemus, John 3: 8

2 Lent, Year A

“FIRST BORN/SECOND BORN” [1]
Genesis 12: 1 – 18; Psalm 33: 12 – 22; Romans 4: 1 – 17; John 3: 1 – 17
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, February 17th, 2008

“Have you been born anothen?”

Now I know, when you see (or hear) this word anothen, you’re probably wondering, “Father, are you speaking Greek to us?” And the answer would be, “Yes!”

So, let me ask you the question in English:

“Have you been born again”

-or- put another way:

“Have you been born from above?”

Actually, asking this question with the word “or” in it is a bit misleading….for, just as I would be entirely unable to answer the question “Would you like chocolate chips or salted Spanish peanuts on your hot fudge sundae?” (for I would have to answer, “Yes – I want them both! I want chocolate chips and salted Spanish peanuts.”), the question has to be asked this way:

“Have you been born again and from above?”

For this is what Jesus tells Nicodemus in today’s Gospel reading, from John, chapter three…..He says, “Amen, amen, I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he has been born again/from above.”

The Greek word anothen conveys both meanings…it is one of those words that is very difficult to translate….And, in fact, most translations favor one or the other meanings (born again –or- from above), offering the other meaning as a footnote….

But Jesus’ intent is very clear: in order to see the Kingdom of God, one must be born again and from above.[2] To underscore the message, Jesus repeats it again in verse seven, using the same word (anothen).

So, let’s unpack the implications of being “born again” and being “born from above”.

Born again: This meaning seems to convey a new beginning, something that we might have some control over, a process we take an active part in…that would be “born again”. For we can make a conscious decision to recognize God’s saving action in sending Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior…..Indeed, many Christians can identify a specific date and time, a specific place, and a specific set of circumstances, where they recognized this great mystery – God’s loving and saving us – as a reality in their own hearts. As a result of this recognition, they have come to believe that God did, indeed, love the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that those who believe might not perish, but have eternal life. (Can you see that I am paraphrasing Jesus’ words in the discourse that follows Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, in John 3: 16?)

Born from above: Being born “from above” implies something quite different….Note that Jesus takes care to make clear that God’s role in this new birth is “from above”. Look again at the text….We see that Jesus attempts to get Nicodemus out of his literal, what-I-can-see-is-what-I-believe approach to matters of faith, in responding to Nicodemus’ question, “Can a person enter their mother’s womb a second time and be born?”[3] He says, “Amen, amen, I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit.”[4] And, as if to underscore God’s role, Jesus continues, “Flesh can only give birth to flesh, it is spirit that gives birth to spirit….”[5]

Then, Jesus goes on to use an illustration that Nicodemus can understand: “The wind blows were it wills, you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born from the Spirit.” Jesus uses a word that, both in Hebrew and in Greek, carries another double meaning: the word ru’ach in Hebrew and pneuma in Greek mean both “wind” and “spirit”.

Jesus’ point is that the power of God is beyond human control and human understanding….the Spirit moves when and where it will. We can discern its power, though we cannot fully understand (on this side of heaven, that is) its workings, just like the wind.

Nicodemus’ what-I-can-see-is what-I-believe approach is nothing new to people everywhere…..This spiritual disease seems to have been rampant in first century Judaism…Notice time and again that the religious establishment of Jesus’ day tries to nail down the specifics of God’s will and God’s law. They apply the mystery of God’s will and power to concrete, everyday life and experience….What one does on the Sabbath, whom one eats with or associates with, all these are observable, controllable (by human beings) actions. These things are under our control.

But people in our own day do the same thing: religious fundamentalists boil the reality and the mystery of God down to literal convictions that are under human control. And it seems that they do so because such a reduced conception of the faith is within our finite minds’ ability to understand. On the other hand, many in today’s secular world cannot come to faith in God because they cannot test by observable means God’s working in the world and in people’s lives….their attitude seems to be, “If I can see it, test it, or manage it, I will believe.” Indeed (as one of my seminary professors wisely said), we are all “children of the Enlightenment”, that 17th and 18th century movement that maintained that human intelligence and reason could master any subject it tackled. We want to be able to scientifically test and measure all realities. Without such concrete proof, we cannot believe.

That’s where Nicodemus was.

But the mysterious workings of God can be observed, if only indirectly….Like the wind, we can see the power of the Spirit to create new life, a rebirth.

We have only to look at Nicodemus to see some proof of that, I believe….Nicodemus makes two more appearance in John’s Gospel account: In John 7:50, he defends Jesus before the ruling authorities, saying, “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” And later on, in John 19:39, we see Nicodemus coming with Joseph of Arimathea to anoint Jesus’ body for burial. Though John does not specifically say so, apparently Nicodemus might well have come to faith in Christ, for he takes this bold step of anointing Jesus after His death. In both mentions, John reminds us of Nicodemus’ visit to Jesus that we read today in chapter three.

Nicodemus’ faith journey does not have a definitive beginning….John does not record any “moment of decision” for Nicodemus. Nor does it have any definitive ending….We do not know if Nicodemus came with Joseph of Arimathea to anoint the dead Christ out of sympathy, out of a desire to “right a wrong”, or out of faith and devotion. We can safely say this, I think: Nicodemus’ action in defending Jesus before the ruling council, and his anointing Jesus were both courageous acts that put him in a distinctly lonely and perilous position. He seemed willing to take both risks. Perhaps he acted out of faith.

So, in conclusion, what can we make of this business of being born again/from above? I think we can safely conclude the following:

Born again: John’s recording of Jesus’ words, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, one cannot see the Kingdom of God”, is about as close as we ever come in John’s Gospel account to a description of the Sacrament of Baptism.[6] And yet, Holy Baptism is a rite that initiates us into the Kingdom of God. It is an action that we human beings can control, for we can decide to undergo baptism (or make the decision to have our children baptized).

In addition, much has been made in our times of the need to be “born again”. Often, such stress on being “born again” is accompanied by the need for a definite, conscious decision to accept Christ as “our personal Savior”. Why this emphasis? I think, in part, it is attributable to the Authorized Version (also known as the King James Version), and its translation of the word anothen, for it chooses the word “again”. The Authorized Version was in widespread use for so long that this part of the meaning of anothen became the focus of the rebirthing process into the life of faith.

Those who can point to a specific time, place, date and circumstance are those who are “second born”, or “born again” (a term one of my theology professors in seminary used.)[7]

Born from above: If we are honest about it, we have to admit that God’s workings are often mysterious and beyond our comprehension….we surely can’t understand His movements entirely. Like the wind, God’s power comes and goes without our understanding.

But, we can understand God’s power….God’s power to save. We see it in the miraculous turnarounds that mark people’s lives: people who seemed hardened in their attitudes and behaviors make a complete about-face, and new life begins. That would be just one example of God’s power.

Like Nicodemus, the evidence for a coming-to-faith may be hard to see in such persons, difficult to calculate, and impossible to pin-point with any specific beginning time/place/date. Such persons seem to be like Nicodemus, whose faith journey remains a bit of a mystery. These persons might be called “first born” Christians.[8] Often, they are people who have been raised in a Christian home, and who have never known a time when they didn’t believe. Or, they may be persons whose faith has reached that definitive conviction that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world (which is the goal of all of our believing – “first born” or “second born”) by a gradual process, perhaps even a life-long process.

But the other aspect of being born “from above” is this: John’s account makes it clear that Jesus Christ is the one who makes the power available to us. Read with me verses 13 and 14, “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Jesus descended from heaven, sent by the Father, to bring salvation to us.

John’s entire Gospel account points to this reality. So does the New Testament….For Jesus Christ descended from heaven to bring the power of God to redeem us and to offer us a rebirth.

The central conviction of the Christian faith may be summarized best in the very familiar words of John 3: 16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Have you been “born again” and “from above”? That is the question Jesus asks each of us.

AMEN.


[1] For the overall concept of this sermon, I am indebted to the commentator Gail R. O’Day’s reflections on John chapter three as they are found in the New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume IX (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995).
[2] Verse three
[3] Verse four
[4] Verse five
[5] Verse six
[6] John is similarly circumspect in describing the other “dominical” (that is, ordained by the Lord) Sacrament, Holy Eucharist, in 6: 45 – 59.
[7] The Rev. Dr. Walter Eversley
[8] Again, Dr. Eversley’s term

1 Lent, Year A

“TUG-O-WAR”
Genesis 2: 4b - 9, 15 – 17, 25 – 3: 7; Psalm 51; Romans 5: 12 – 21; Matthew 4: 1 – 11
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker given atTrinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, February 10th, 2008

Ever take part in a tug-o-war? I guess just about all of us when we were in school or at summer camp can remember such an episode in our lives.

One summer, I attended a Bible Camp, and a tug-o-war was on the agenda for the afternoon’s activities….So, we campers were divided up into two teams, and we all went down to the shore of the pond to do the tug-o-war.

We had a little time before beginning, and so one team quickly discovered that their part of the shoreline was loose sand….No sooner had they discovered that than they were down on their hands and knees, digging holes in this loose sand about a foot deep. Into these holes, their strongest guys firmly planted their feet.

On the other side – my side – the sand was packed and hard….there would be no digging in this hard stuff with our hands. We all knew who the winning team would be.

No sooner had the whistle blown, the cloth that was tied to the middle of the rope began to move, slowly at first, toward the dug-in side. Tried as we might to gain a foothold against this firmly fixed (and powerful) team, our feet simply slid along the surface of the hard sand as we tried to counter the forces arrayed against us.

Now as I read through the lectionary readings for today, this first Sunday in Lent, that old contest immediately came to mind…

For we are engaged in a tug-o-war, a battle between sin and redemption. And, we are in the position of that piece of cloth….for we are caught between two opposing forces throughout our lives: the forces of good and the forces of evil.

If we’re being realistic about our lives, we have to admit that we are all “fully trained sinners”, capable of doing wrong, even when we know the right we ought to do, but cannot/will not do.

St. Paul puts it this way, in Romans 7: 21b – 24: “When I want to do right, only wrong is within my reach. In my inmost self I delight in the law of God, but I perceive in my outward actions a different law, fighting against the law that my mind approves, and making me a prisoner under the law of sin which controls my conduct. Wretched creature that I am, who is there to rescue me from this state of death?”[1]

The Bible is quite realistic about human nature, and the human capacity to sin.

Moreover, the Holy Scriptures are quite blunt in describing the ways in which sin makes its entry into our lives….

For an analysis of the ways sin makes its lodging in our hearts, we turn now to our Genesis reading for today:

“Did God say?”: The serpent’s first appeal to Eve is a questioning of the limits that God had put on her and on Adam as a condition of their continued presence on the Garden of Eden. The serpent’s effort centers on undermining the clear will of God, sowing seeds of doubt, suggesting, “You will not die.”

An appeal to the acquisition of knowledge and power: Secondly, notice that the serpent appeals to a part of Eve’s makeup that has to do with gaining knowledge and power. We read (verse five), “For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

An appeal to the senses: As Eve falls for the serpent’s line, we see that her physical senses are the avenue by which sin makes its entry into human existence. Verse six reads, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate….”

Dividing one person from another: Many may be tempted to think that Eve was the responsible party for sin’s taking up residence in human affairs. Not so! Notice that Adam was right next to her throughout the entire interchange with the serpent…. Proceeding on a little further in verse six, we read, “And she also gave some of the fruit to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.” What a chump Adam was! He was entirely silent throughout the conversation and the ensuing violation of God’s explicit command. (A side note is in order here: some biblical scholars think that Adam was more culpable than Eve, since he did not come to his wife’s rescue when she was confronted by the serpent.) Notice that the serpent approached Eve alone, thereby dividing the two human beings from one another in order to make easier prey of the one.

And so, from the pattern of Adam and Eve’s experience, we, their children, seem as doomed as my tug-o-war team was in being able to resist the powerful appeals that the forces of evil make to us each and every day.

But which is the more powerful, firmly grounded and unmovable force, the powers of evil, or the power of God?

The Bible’s answer is: the power of God!

We return to St. Paul’s analysis of the struggle between the two opposing forces, in Romans, chapter seven…. We pick up where left off, at verse 24, “Wretched creature that I am, who is there to rescue me from this state of death?” Paul then adds (verse 25), “Who but God? Thanks be to him through Jesus Christ our Lord! To sum up then: left to myself I serve God’s law with my mind, but with my unspiritual nature I serve the law of sin.” [2] Paul was bluntly honest about his own helplessness to counter the force of sin in his own life, even when he (like Eve) knew what God’s will was.

But what does our Lord’s own temptation in the wilderness, those 40 days[3] which preceded His public ministry, have to tell us about God’s power to conquer the forces of evil….Looking at Matthew’s account of the temptation, we see the following:
Very similar appeals are made to Jesus, as were made to Eve: The appeals that Jesus receives are quite similar to the ones that Eve succumbed to:

1. Using God’s word for nefarious ends: as part of the second appeal (to personal safety), Satan quotes Scripture, saying, “For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”
   
   
2. An appeal to the senses: As part of the first temptation, Jesus is tempted with food.
   
   
3. An appeal to power: With knowledge comes power. That was the bottom line in the serpent’s appeal to Eve, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Likewise, Satan appeals to the human appetite for power and control, offering the kingdoms of this world in exchange for the overthrowing of God’s sovereignty and power.

But we know, either from our past hearings of the temptation account, or by our rehearing of it today, that Jesus wins!

And how does He win? By quoting Holy Scripture…… In each case, Jesus refutes the tempter’s suggestions by a quotation of Scripture.

In closing, what lessons might we draw from Our Lord’s temptation, as He enters our humanity to the full?

We are not alone: Hebrews 4: 15 reads, “For we do not have a high priest (Jesus Christ) who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” Satan’s power to divide us from one another, and from God, has been broken for ever. Our Lord Jesus Christ is with us in every temptation, enabling us to conquer the suggestiveness of the forces of evil.[4]

We need to recognize the “modus operandi” of Satan: Appeals to our senses, to a need for safety, or for power and control – all good and necessary aspects of being able to lead a full and satisfying human life – are the avenues of approach that are often used against us as a means of gaining entry (and thereby, control) of our lives.

Sowing the seeds of doubt: The role of Scripture in our faith lives is also a tug-o-war…. For the evil one will try, time and again, to sow seeds of doubt about the truth of God’s word written, the Bible, and about the clarity/trustworthiness of that word. If we allow those suggestions to grow into doubt, and then, disbelief, we become easy prey for the wiles of the evil one. We cannot place ourselves on an even par with Scripture, nor can we place ourselves above it! Scripture’s authority is supreme, standing as God’s word in written form.

So, we are called to beware of the wiles of the evil one….I Peter 5:8 – 9a reads like this, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary, the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith….”

Relying on God’s power, His unmovable and steadfast power to conquer the powers of evil, we will soon feel the pull of God’s strength as the forces of evil fail to get a grip on our lives.

Thanks be to God, through whom we have victory over sin through the power of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

AMEN.





[1] Revised English Bible (REB)
[2] REB
[3] Our Lord’s temptation is the model for the Church’s Lenten season, which is 40 days’ long (minus the Sundays in Lent, which are always celebrations of Our Lord’s resurrection).
[4] See I Corinthians 10:13, which reads, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the testing, he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

Ash Wednesday, Year A

“PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE”
Joel 2: 1 – 2, 12 – 17; Psalm 103; II Corinthians 5: 20b – 6: 10; Matthew 6: 1 – 6, 16 – 21
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008.

Some years ago, my younger daughter called me on my cell phone to say that her car had broken down about on her way to a day we had planned to be together working at the tourist railroad I was involved in back east.

After checking with her via cell phone again, it turned out she had had to call a tow truck to get the car towed to a garage, so our planned time together never materialized.

Once the garage had had time to look at the car, they told her that it turned out that the oil was so old that it had lost its ability to lubricate the engine, and so the engine was ruined. No wonder it wouldn’t run!

When I heard this report, I simply had to ask this child of mine, “Didn’t you know that you have to change the oil in your car every once in awhile?” She said, “Well, I added a quart whenever it got low,” to which I responded, “Now how did you, my daughter, live around me all these years, and not learn that you have to change the oil in your car? If you don’t, you wind up with five dirty quarts of oil every time you add a quart.”

Well, I think she’s learned her lesson, and has never had problems of that sort since.

The point of my sharing this story with you is to say that everything in life needs maintenance. The car that doesn’t need care and upkeep (or maybe major repairs or even an overhaul) hasn’t been invented yet, and maybe never will be.

Our physical lives are no different: we know what happens when we neglect to get exercise, or when our eating habits get out of balance in some way.

Our spiritual lives are no different: we need regular care and maintenance to keep our relationship with God in good form, allowing us to hear and sense His presence in our lives, attuning ourselves to His will for our lives.

That’s what Lent is all about: preventive maintenance.

And so, the Church, in her infinite wisdom, invites all of us to the observance of a Holy Lent. Traditionally, the call to such an observance has centered around giving something up, something that might have gotten out of balance in our lives, something that needs rebalancing, something that will allow us to see God more and other things less. More recently, the call to this holy season is marked with invitations to take something additional on in our lives for these 40 holy days.

And so, here is a short list of suggestions to get us thinking about ways we might undertake to do some preventive maintenance….Maybe other ideas will come to mind as we consider what God might want us to do in this time of preparation for Holy Week and Easter.

GIVING SOMETHING UP (the traditional approach):

Bad habits: Eating/lack of rest/watching too much TV/watching movies that are not spiritually edifying, etc.

Fasting: A very traditional undertaking, commended in Holy Scripture and by the Church. Can be a partial (certain foods) or total (liquids only) fast, often one day/week.

TAKING SOMETHING ON (a more modern approach):

Change our spiritual disciplines: Incorporate regular Bible reading into our day (use the Daily Office lectionary, BCP 1979, pp. 951ff as a guide)/pray the Daily Office (Morning or Evening Prayer in the BCP) every day/use a devotional such as Forward Day by Day or Prisoner to Prisoner/attend Sunday morning Bible Study and Sunday School at 9:30 AM more regularly.

Reach out to others in need: Visit some of our Trinity members who cannot be in church on a regular basis/volunteer at a soup kitchen or food pantry/tutor a local child for school.

Attend our Lenten Series: Thursday evenings, 6:00 – 7:00 PM in the Parish Hall, February 21st & 28th, March 6th & 13th.

Resolve to be more regular in church attendance.

Take better care of ourselves: Physically (better/more rest, better eating, more –or- regular exercise), mentally (improving what we “eat” in our viewing/reading habits), and spiritually (prayer/devotional life, Bible study, spiritual routines)

Confess besetting sins: The Church offers the Sacrament of Reconciliation (BCP 1979, pp. 447 – 452) in cases where serious sin weighs down the mind, sickens the heart, and besieges the body. Contact Fr. Tucker to discuss this option, and, if desired, to aurally confess any sins that endanger our critical relationship with God.

Perhaps God will lead us in considering these –or- other ways to draw closer to Him as we make our way toward Holy Week and Easter.

May God’s surest guidance be ours in abundance during these 40 days.

AMEN.

The Last Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A

"GET THE PICTURE?"
Exodus 24: 12 – 18; Psalm 99; Philippians 3: 7 – 14; Matthew 17: 1 – 9
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, Given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, February 3rd, 2008

We’ve probably all had the experience of going through a box of old family photos.

Remember picking through those, only to find that there were some that you couldn’t recognize, because the frame of reference had been lost entirely? The faces in the photos weren’t recognizable, the circumstances or the physical setting weren’t all that clear, and so the result is that the meaning of the photo to those who were looking at them years later was lost to history, to the mists of time.

Today’s Gospel account, from Matthew, chapter 17, has a lot to do with the frame of reference the original disciples (and we, as modern-day disciples) have as it relates to Jesus’ identity. As Jesus’ identity is disclosed more and more to His disciples, their recognition of Him grows in its focus and understanding.

Far from forgetting the circumstances and setting of this event, which has come to be called The Transfiguration, those original three who witnessed it, Peter, James and John, remembered it. After Our Lord’s Resurrection, they shared it with the others. We, in turn, remember it today as a direct result of the witness of those early disciples, who became the Apostles.

I imagine that the Transfiguration was a memorable milestone in understanding who Jesus is for the original disciples who witnessed it. It is a major marking point for us as well.

So, let’s turn to the account itself. We must begin by establishing the frame of reference for the events that took place on the mountaintop that day:

Jesus Himself establishes the frame of reference: Turning back one chapter, to Matthew 16: 13 – 20, we remember that Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” In reply, they offer the various answers they’ve heard in their travels with Jesus, “Some say John the Baptist, and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus asks, “But what about you, who do you say that I am?” And Peter (as usual) is the first to respond, saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”

And Jesus confirms Peter’s answer, saying, “Blessed are you, Simon Peter, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”

So, the frame of reference has been established by the Lord Himself: It is the identity of the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God.

This reference point allows us to move into the account of the Transfiguration, for the Lord is about to begin filling in the picture, now that its frame has been established.

As we look at today’s account, we note the following:

Similarities to Moses’ ascent to Mount Sinai: Matthew records the passage of six days’ time since the previous events (Matthew 17: 1), which is analogous to the passage of six days in Exodus 24: 16, many scholars note. In addition, we see the presence of the cloud which envelopes the mountain (see Exodus 34: 29 – 35). Finally, Jesus’ face shines with the glory of God (the Hebrew word for this divine glory is shekinah).

Moses and Elijah: Moses is the mediator of the Old Covenant, the Torah, given by God on Mount Sinai (another similarity to the Transfiguration), and Elijah is the one whose return will mark the coming of God’s anointed, [1] the Messiah. [2]

“This is my Son, the Beloved, with Him I am well pleased; listen to Him”: The voice from heaven that was heard at Jesus’ baptism [3] is heard again, and the same words are heard again, except that the words, “Listen to Him” are added.

What might we understand from these key features of this event?

I think the following stand out:

God’s glory and Jesus’ identity are made known: God’s voice is heard, and Jesus’ face glows with the divine glory of His Father. In essence, we see the “big picture” of Jesus’ divinity, and God’s great, long-term plan, in sending Jesus as the “Anointed One”, the Messiah.

Continuity with the past: Jesus becomes the fulfillment of the Law of Moses, the Torah. He says as much in His Sermon on the Mount, when we read, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill.” [4] As Moses recedes from view, Jesus is left alone to be the giver of the New Covenant, which is sealed with His blood, as we hear Him say at the Last Supper, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” [5]

But Jesus also becomes the fulfillment of the Malachi’s words, for Elijah’s presence and subsequent disappearance signal the arrival of the Messiah. [6]

The Transfiguration is not a monument to the past, but a herald of the future: Notice Peter’s response, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” [7] Peter’s suggestion is ignored by the Lord, however…..Peter’s lack of understanding in chapter 16 (when he objects to Jesus’ description of His coming suffering and death in Jerusalem) shows up again here. Jesus’ point seems to be: We cannot build a monument to this event to remember it as an event in the past, for it looks ahead to prefigure the coming Resurrection, when Jesus’ divine glory will be seen in His resurrected body.

Remember a time when you “got the picture”? Suddenly, you understood the meaning of a significant event in your life, maybe because you understood not only the actual event itself, but the context – the frame of reference – into which the event itself fit.

I think that’s how the Transfiguration worked for the disciples….as time went along after the Resurrection, most likely, they remembered this event as being the first time they really began to understand that Jesus is the Son of the living God, the full disclosure of God’s glory and power. Maybe they remembered that His Resurrection resembled in a lot of ways His Transfiguration. Undoubtedly, they remembered that, with God, “all things are possible”, [8] and that the power of death – our ultimate enemy – has been conquered in Christ Jesus’ death and Resurrection, once and for all time.

For us – modern day disciples – we are called to continue to learn Jesus’ true identity. Far more that the fulfillment of the Law or a great teacher, Jesus is the “Son of the living God”, bringing with Him the fullness of God’s glory and power. We are called to continue to see a more and more complete picture of His identity, in order that we might understand who we are, and whose we are.

AMEN.


[1] A common first century understanding in Judaism, based on Malachi 4: 5 – 6
[2] Messiah is the Hebrew word for “anointed”. Christ is derived from the Greek equivalent.
[3] See Matthew 3: 17.
[4] Matthew 5: 17
[5] Matthew 26: 28
[6] Reading on into chapter 17, verses 10 – 13, Jesus makes it clear that John the Baptist was the Elijah who was to come. Essentially, it seems that we are to understand that the Messiah’s arrival is near.
[7] Verse 4
[8] Matthew 19: 26