5 Lent, Year B

“BURIED WITH CHRIST, RAISED TO FRUITFULNESS LIKE HIS”
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, March 29, 2009
Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34; Psalm 51: 11 – 16; Hebrews 5: 1 – 10; John 12: 20 – 33

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

These words, spoken by Gentiles, Greeks, who were not followers of Jewish ways,[1]express a desire to become a disciple of Jesus.

In this sermon, then, let’s look at the matter of discipleship. For our Lord sets a very high mark for His followers as they seek to become disciples….hear His words, “If anyone serves me, He must follow me.”

What does it mean to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ?

What can we learn about discipleship from Jesus’ actions and words, as He models discipleship for us?

These are two questions we will attempt to wrestle with in this sermon.

But first, we begin with a reminder about the context of today’s text (as we often do):

In chapter eleven of John’s gospel account, Jesus has raised His friend, Lazarus, from the dead. In the Fourth Gospel, this miracle is the direct cause of Jesus’ death, for the Chief Priests, the Pharisees, and their allies, set about making plans to kill Jesus.[2] (Lazarus’ raising also presages Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead, we ought to note here.)

Now, with the beginning of chapter twelve, we read of Lazarus’ sister, Mary’s anointing of Jesus.[3] Next, we read that the ruling elite of Jesus’ day[4] determine that Lazarus, also, must be killed.

And then, beginning with verse twelve, Jesus makes His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week.

With Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the stage is now set for Jesus’ pronouncement about His coming death, and about the matter of discipleship.

Let’s turn, then, to the matter of Jesus’ death…..

We note immediately that Jesus is using another agricultural image to depict the meaning of His coming death, that of the matter of a grain of wheat that falls into the ground, where it gives up its own life in order for new life to spring forth.

Jesus’ image is mysterious, as mysterious as is His death.

For a grain of wheat disappears into the earth, and then ceases to exist once it has germinated, creating a new shoot which arises from the ground, and which forms a stalk that will support a cluster, a head, of many grains of wheat.

Just so, Jesus’ death (described here, as in many places in John, as “lifted up from the earth”) and burial (in the ground), leads to His disappearance from us, but then to the “new shoot” of His resurrected life, which will give way to the new stalk of the Church, and its cluster of new disciples.

Once it is ripened, these grains (both the literal grains of wheat and the figurative grains of Jesus’ disciples) then serve two purposes:

• To be grain for new shoots, new stalks, new clusters of grain, and,
  
  
• To serve as the basic ingredient for the bread which will feed the world.

You see, to become a disciple of Jesus Christ entails the loss of our own life, our own falling into the ground, by which we imitate Christ’s death. But then, we are raised to new life with Him, and are called into a mature discipleship whereby we produce much fruit (grain), in order that new life may be created, and in order that we might become the raw material by which the world is fed.

In all of these things, we imitate the Lord.

In all of these things, we see connections throughout John’s gospel account to other sayings and teachings of Jesus.

Let’s make some of those connections:

• New life: “You must be born again/anew/born from above,” Jesus told Nicodemus.[5] As part of His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus goes on to say that a person who experiences this new life “Must be born of water and the spirit.”[6] A clear reference to baptism (during which a person descends into the waters to be “buried with Christ in a death like His,”[7]), Jesus instructs us that we must experience a new birth, which leads to a new life - eternal life – with Him.
  
  
• Lifted/raised up to create new life: Like our Lord, we are raised to new life, in order that we might produce “much fruit” (John 15: 5), remaining connected to Jesus Christ, who is the “true vine”.[8]
  
  
• A never-ending supply of bread: Just as Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves of bread and the fish (Chapter six, read last Sunday) indicates/foreshadows His never ending ability to feed His people, so, too, our offering of ourselves assists the Lord in the multiplication of His miraculous ability to continue to feed the world. (More on this in a minute.)
  
  
• This generation of disciples, like a grain of wheat, generates the next generation of disciples: In chapter seventeen, we read what has become known as “Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer”. It is that time, just before His arrest, passion and death, in which Jesus prays not only for Himself, but for His original disciples, and then for those who will become disciples as a result of the work of those original twelve (who become Apostles as they are sent out to “make disciples of all nations”.[9]) In this way, each generation of disciples makes possible the creation of new life, new disciples.

Now, how might we serve as the seed for new life to spring forth in Jesus Christ? How might we be the raw material by which the world is nourished?

Some practical suggestions – intended to spur your own reflection and consideration - come to mind, such as these:

• To serve as seed for sowing the Good News of Jesus Christ, we must remain connected to Him: Regular attendance at worship, regular study of God’s Holy Word (the Bible), regular devotions and a lively prayer life, all of these are intended to keep us close to God, in order that we might resemble Him in all that we do and say and think. We cannot bear fruit for the Kingdom of God if we ourselves do not carry the seed of new life that comes only from God.
  
  
• Feeding the flock and the world: Another reason for regular gatherings of God’s people, in worship, in working together, and in fellowship, is that we might feed one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, and share one another’s burdens. I made the comment the other day that we – especially in the United States – often lack the sense of community, of mutual sharing of burdens, that Christ’s vision for the Church entails. We tend to “go it alone”, thinking that no one else could possibly be interested in hearing about our problems and burdens. But just the opposite should be true: When we read in the Book of Acts (2: 44 – 47) that the early Church “held all things in common”, we tend to think only of the material goods that those early believers sold in order that the proceeds from the sale might be given to the Church. But the entire passage makes clear that the early Church gathered for quite a number of other reasons, reasons which indicate that they “held all things in common” in other ways as well. Some of those ways, this same passage indicates, were: being together; spending time together; breaking bread together; and praising God. No doubt, the sharing of burdens and problems was part of that “holding all things in common.” By maintaining the close knit nature of the Church that Jesus “High Priestly Prayer” calls for, the early Church grew, in spite of persecutions, martyrdoms, and troubles. The modern day Church will grow, too, if it is marked as a place where the love of Christ is to be found, experienced, and shared in (see I John 3: 11 – 24).

So, in summary, these two questions come before us, arising out of today’s gospel reading:

• Do we faithfully bear Jesus Christ’s likeness, being rooted firmly in Him?
  
  
• Do we bear fruit for the Kingdom of God, serving as seed for a new generation of believers and as the raw material by which the world is fed?

Both are worthy questions that we should ask ourselves during this holy season of Lent.

AMEN.




[1] Those Greeks who were followers of the Law of Moses (Torah) were often called “Hellenists”.
[2] See John 11: 45 – 57.
[3] John 12: 1 - 8
[4] Those to whom John is referring whenever we read the phrase “the Jews”
[5] John 3: 3
[6] John 3: 5
[7] St. Paul’s description as we read it in Romans 6: 3 – 11.
[8] John 15: 1
[9] Matthew 28: 19

4 Lent, Year B

“WHAT WE EAT, WE BECOME”
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, March 22, 2009
II Chronicles 36: 14 – 23, Psalm 122, Ephesians 2: 4 – 10, John 6: 4 – 15

“We are what we eat.”

No doubt, you’ve heard that phrase somewhere.

(I will admit, for me and my Army buddies, if the saying holds true, we would be in real trouble, for our “five basic food groups” philosophy of eating was filled with all kinds of junk: things like salt, sugar, fat, chocolate, etc.)

Today’s gospel text is all about eating.

For today, we hear John’s account of the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, a miracle that’s recorded in all four gospel accounts.[1] (Biblical scholars are quick to point out that this is the only miracle that all four gospel writers record.)

The facts of the feeding are clear enough. It’s interesting that John appends the comment that the crowd who’d been fed by Jesus wanted to “take him and make him king by force.”[2] No doubt, the recipients of this great miracle “knew a good thing when they saw it.” Perhaps they figured that Jesus, as king, could supply all of their wants. “Life would be a whole lot easier,” maybe they thought, “if we didn’t have to work so hard.”

But I digress.

The crafters of the Sunday Eucharistic Lectionary don’t make the task at all easy for the preacher on this, the Fourth Sunday in Lent. For, you see, they give us the actual miracle account itself as our reading, but they don’t include the conversation between Jesus and the crowd, which follows. Nor do they allow us to hear Jesus’ discourse on the entire matter of eating/bread that comes from heaven/manna in the wilderness/Jesus as the living bread/eternal life for those who eat Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood.

So, we ought to trace the pattern of chapter six as we have it in John’s gospel account, remembering that – in John – we often have a pattern which looks like this:

• Event – or miracle
  
  
• Conversation between Jesus and others (disciples, crowd, Pharisees and Scribes, e.g.)
  
  
• Discourse by Jesus, which reflects/instructs about the event or miracle.
  
  

Chapter six follows this pattern generally.

Now, we are ready to begin to trace the overall shape of chapter six. It is:

• vv. 1 – 4: Jesus goes to the other side of the Sea of Tiberius (Galilee), at Passover time,
  
  
• vv. 5 – 15: Jesus multiplies the five loaves and two fish, feeding 5,000 (men),
  
  
• vv. 16 – 21: Jesus walks on water, crossing the Sea of Tiberius,
  
  
• vv. 22 – 24: The crowd which had been fed follow Jesus around the sea, finding him at Capernahum,
  
  
• vv. 25 – 34: Discussion between the crowd and Jesus, centering on “Manna in the wilderness” and “working for food that does not perish”,
  
  
• vv. 35 – 40: Jesus’ discourse on “I am the bread of life”,
  
  
• vv. 41 – 59: Discussion between the crowd and Jesus, centering on “Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, who have no life in you,”
  
  
• vv. 60 – 65: Discussion between Jesus and his disciples, centering on “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”

I commend to your further reading and study the entire event: miracle, discussion and discourse.

Jesus’ teaching, especially that part in which He says, “Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you will have no life in you,” is as close as we get in the Fourth Gospel to a description of Holy Communion.

Not that we actually get a description of the Last Supper, that time in which the Sacrament of the Eucharist was instituted by our Lord Jesus. (We have the description of the Last Supper itself in the three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. The Last Supper in John fails to record the institution of the Eucharist, though it informs us about the foot washing that Jesus did on that occasion.)

No, here in John, we learn about the effects of the Eucharist, and specifically, its life-giving properties.

This is typical of Johannine theology and John’s approach to our Lord’s work, teaching, and ministry. Oftentimes, the actual events themselves are not described, but the theological truth that is contained in them, is described.

Notice, then, that Jesus seems to be telling us, in His teaching, that we “are what we eat (and drink).”

Hear his words again: “Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink of His blood, you have no life in you.”

In other words, the clear Eucharistic implication is that receiving the elements of bread and wine are a source of life.

If so, then the Eucharist must not merely be memorial meal. No, it must be the means by which we feed on Christ’s body and blood. Notice again the directness of the language: “Unless you eat of the flesh, and drink of the blood.” John’s words are quite similar in their intent to those of the Synoptic Gospel writers, who tell us that Jesus said, “Take, eat, this is my body.”[3] [4]

Drawing from our life experience, we know that eating is necessary to life. So, Jesus must be drawing on that common experience to inform us about the nature of the life-giving sustenance that Holy Communion offers us.

But, go on with me to some further reflections – again from our life experience – about the nature of eating and drinking: what we eat and drink directly affects our physical welfare. Truly (as the dieticians and doctors will tell us) we “are what we eat (and drink).” So, receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist directly determines our spiritual strength, health and wellbeing.

If we, as Anglicans, share with other Christian believers the conviction that our Lord Jesus Christ is present in a real sense in the elements of bread and wine as they are offered and set aside (consecrated) in the celebration of the Eucharist, then we actually receive the Body and Blood of our Lord in the Sacrament.

What an awesome thought!

(I admit, I still struggle with the mystery of the Lord’s presence in the Sacrament. But, as my wife wisely said once-upon-a-time, a “mystery is something that we know that it works, we just don’t know exactly how.”)

So, in receiving the Holy Communion, we are changed, transformed into Christ’s likeness, strengthened to do His work in the world, and we are offered life itself.

If all of this is true, then we are called to receive this holy meal often. Again, we can see from our physical lives, if we do not eat regularly, we quickly become weak, we become easy prey for all sorts of maladies and diseases, and we will eventually lose our lives, if we go without food and drink long enough.

The same holds true of the heavenly banquet with is set before us on the Holy Table of the Altar Sunday by Sunday.

It is no wonder that the Christian believing community recognizes the centrality of the Eucharist, for regular celebrations of the Holy Communion, and regular receiving of it, is vital to our spiritual wellbeing.

Welcome to the feast!

AMEN.

[1] See Matthew 14: 13 – 21, Mark 6: 30 – 44; Luke 9: 10 – 17 for the other accounts.
[2] Verse 15
[3] Matthew 26: 26
[4] Our Eucharistic liturgy’s Words of Institution are more directly based on St. Paul’s description of the Holy Eucharist, as it is found in I Corinthians 11: 23 – 26.

3 Lent, Year B

"SPRING CLEANING'
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, Given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, March 15, 2009
Exodus 20: 1 – 17; Psalm 19: 7 - 14; Romans 7: 13 – 25; John 2: 13 – 22

If Lent must be that time when we confess our sins, may I confess one of mine to you this morning: I am a procrastinator! Sometimes, I can be absolutely stubborn to a fault in putting off something I ought to get done. Usually, this put-off task is a very simple one, a task that could be taken care of in a matter of minutes. But, for some reason or another, I’d much rather think about tackling that chore time and again, rather than to spend a whole lot less time actually doing it.

People are funny that way, aren’t they? (Can you relate to this state of affairs?)

With me, the task that gets shoved further and further back on my “do list” often involves taking care of a stack of papers that tend to accumulate, sitting on my desk, or on a file cabinet, reaching higher and higher into the room.

But, suddenly, I manage to find some motivation, and I will dive into that pile of accumulated documents. In the process, I get some “spring cleaning” done, putting things away so that they can be found later on, and often – in the process – throwing some things into the recycling pile. As I chuck things into the recycling bin, I sometimes wonder two things:

• Why did I save some of these things, for they clearly no longer serve any purpose?
  
  
• Why is it that that pile of paperwork takes on a life of its own, often crowding out more important things that I could be doing (if I didn’t put off taking care of my “spring cleaning” chores)?

Today’s gospel reading, John’s account of the Cleansing of the Temple, involves some “spring cleaning.” [1]

Here, we see Jesus “cleaning house” in His Father’s house, the Temple in Jerusalem.

Before we take a closer look at this passage and event, it’s especially important that we notice the context of this event as it is placed in John’s gospel account:

Notice, to begin with, that John places the Cleansing of the Temple at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Only the miracle at the wedding in Cana precedes this event. Jesus, John tells us, has made His way to Jerusalem to take part in the great feast of Passover. [2]

Jesus’ actions in cleaning out the impure aspects of Temple life and activity – the selling of animals which would be used in Temple sacrifices – set the stage for a confrontation with the Jewish establishment[3] that would culminate in that same establishment’s decision to get rid of Jesus.[4]

I think it’s safe to say that John wants us to understand some things by his deliberate placing within his gospel account of this event:[5]

• Jesus works within the religious system of His day (He was, after all, an observant Jew). That is His purpose in attending each of the three Passovers that John records. Moreover, Jesus refers to the Temple as “my Father’s house”, thereby confirming His appreciation of it as a proper place for worship.
  
  
• Jesus comes to purify the people of God (the Jews),
  
  
• Jesus also comes to establish a new relationship with God, one that is not dependent on worship at a particular place.

The momentum begun with the raising of the whip of cords that Jesus’ holds extends throughout the Fourth Gospel. In chapter four, Jesus will sit with the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s Well. In the course of their conversation, the woman asks Jesus about a burning question, which has become the source of deep contention between the Jews and the Samaritans, saying, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,[6] but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”[7]

In response, Jesus begins to establish a new way of relating to God. He says to the woman, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem…..a time is coming, and has now come, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”[8]

And so, Jesus drives to the heart of the matter of worship:

• The Temple (and the holy mountain associated with it) is absolutely unimportant when it comes to worshipping God.
  
  
• Jesus affirms that purity of heart is the key to proper worship of the Father.

But what about that magnificent Temple in Jerusalem, which was – at the time that Jesus upset the tables of the money changers – still unfinished[9] ? What about that center of worship and Jewish identity?

Apparently, it had taken on an importance of its own.

It had become an end in itself.
Like the piles of papers in my opening illustration, papers which had taken on a focus that wasn’t properly there to be the center of my attention, the Temple’s magnificence, and its deep connection with Jewish national identity and pride, had become an end in itself, a focal point by itself.

Regarded properly, the Temple should have pointed beyond itself to God.

But, apparently it didn’t.

The Temple had become a place of business, in which the coinage of the Roman Empire was changed into acceptable local currency so that the images on the coins would not enter the holiest portions of the Temple grounds (in violation of the second commandment[10] of the Ten Commandments). In the process, the Temple priests’ families made a good living off the business transactions that took place as Roman coins were collected and exchanged for Temple currency.

In truth, we have to admit that human beings don’t change much down through the centuries. (The unchanging realities of human nature form the basis upon which Holy Scripture has authority to speak to us, for we face the same challenges as the peoples of ancient days did.)

For, just as the Jews of Jesus’ day focused on the Temple’s magnificence, and on its position as a “rallying point” for Jewish national identity and hope, so can we focus on any number of things that are associated with the Church, to the exclusion of a proper focus on God. Let me cite some examples to illustrate the point:

• Church buildings: Can become the definition of what the Church is. Often, when people say the word “church”, they are thinking of the buildings that are used by a local congregation.
  
  
• Liturgy: Can become the focal point of Sunday morning worship, and especially proper liturgical form,[11] etc.

But the purpose of our church buildings, and especially with the beauty of them, is meant to point beyond themselves to God, who is the hidden reality behind the unique architecture of a church building and the distinctive character of its furnishings.

The purpose of our liturgical worship is to point beyond the beauty and style of our wonderful Anglican worship to the God who is properly to be the focus of that worship.

Perhaps some “spring cleaning” is in order!

Maybe we should use today’s gospel reading to prompt our own reflection into our attitudes toward the tools which are meant to be used to appreciate and worship God.

For the “true worshippers must worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”

AMEN.

___________________________________________________

[1] Quite literally, for Jesus’ Cleansing of the Temple took place during the Feast of Passover, which occurs annually in March – April.
[2] John narrates three Passover events that took Jesus to Jerusalem. It is from these three Passovers, as they are found in John’s gospel, that cause scholars to believe that Jesus’ ministry was three years’ long. Put together with Luke’s comment that Jesus’ public ministry began when He was about 30 years old, scholars then have come to the conclusion that Jesus was about 33 years old when He was crucified and resurrected.
[3] We must be clear that, when John uses the term “The Jews” in his gospel account, he is referring to the leadership of the Jewish people, and not to the people themselves.
[4] See John, chapters 18 – 19.
[5] The three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) place the Cleansing in Holy Week, and they assign a connection between this event and the decision – made by the ruling elite – to get rid of Jesus. John’s cause for Jesus’ death (see Chapter 11) is the raising of Lazarus from the dead. It is not impossible to think that Jesus may have driven the money changers and the animals out of the Temple on more than one occasion, though the Gospels to not shed any light on such an idea. If He did take such drastic action more than once, no doubt the Temple authorities would have been on the watch for Him. (This last is pure speculation on my part.)
[6] Mount Gerizim, located southwest of the city of Sychar, where this conversation took place.
[7] John 4: 20
[8] John 4: 21, 23
[9] The Temple was not completed for another 20 or so years after Jesus’ resurrection.
[10] The prohibition against “graven images”
[11] For example: Things that might capture our focus and interest could be: 1. Is the priest doing the proper movements during worship; 2. Do people observe the rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer; 3. What version of the Prayer Book is being used, or what Rite is being used; 4. What music is being used to support the worship, e.g.

2 Lent, Year B

“SEPARATION, LOSS AND GAIN”
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, March 8, 2009
Genesis 22: 1 – 14; Psalm 16: 5 – 11; Romans 8: 31 – 39; Mark 8: 31 – 38

“Jesus began to teach his disciples that the Son of Man must suffer many things….”

So begins Jesus’ open teaching (Mark tells us that Jesus “said this plainly”) about His forthcoming passion, death and resurrection.

To Jesus’ original disciples, these words meant one thing: separation and loss!

No wonder that Mark tells us that Peter takes Jesus and begins to rebuke Him. (Matthew tells us more of Peter’s actual words, as we read, “Lord, this shall never happen to you!”[1])

Our Old Testament reading from Genesis 22, and our Gospel for today, both involve separation and loss.

For Abraham, the separation comes in the form of the loss of his only son, Isaac, as Isaac is sacrificed on the altar. With the loss of his only son, the heir God had promised Abraham, comes also the loss of the descendents God had promised Abraham, descendents would be as numerous as the stars of the heavens.[2]

So, too, Jesus’ words about His coming passion and death represent separation for the disciples, and the loss of everything they hoped would come from Jesus’ work, prominence, and growing popularity.

But in the face of separation and loss, there is gain!

Because of his faithfulness, Abraham regains his son, a substitutionary sacrifice is provided in the form of the ram, and in the process, Abraham regains the descendents God had promised.

Out of prospective separation and loss comes great gain!

So, too, Jesus’ complete statement about His suffering and death also includes not only the first (of three) predictions about those events, but also the prediction of His rising to new life again.

Out of prospective separation and loss comes great gain!

For, you see, by the prospect of separation and loss, and only through the separation that the cross represents, and the loss that the cross represents, can come the great gain of eternal life, union with God, and – like Abraham – spiritual descendents as numerous as the stars in the heavens.

No wonder that St. Paul can say, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (our Epistle reading for today).

Now, as we turn to the separations and the losses we have either faced, or face today, we must admit it’s a whole lot easier to talk about separation and loss than it is to live out such separation and loss.

Separation and loss are both painful realities of life.

Yet, it is only through separation and loss that we are reborn into eternal life in Christ, which is the greatest gain any human person can hope for.

We enact such separation by entering the waters of baptism. By descending into the waters with the Lord, we separate ourselves physically from our former life, and we intentionally “lose” the life we lived beforehand.

Lent calls us to relive that baptismal experience, to recall the power of the baptismal waters to form the boundary line of separation and loss that it represents, to live that separation and loss out, all over again.

Lent calls us to connect our baptismal experience with the painful lessons of separation and loss than sin represents, and to connect baptism’s power to wash us clean from all our iniquity, and to kill off all those things in our lives that draw us away from the love of God.

Lent offers us the gain of a closer relationship with God, through the example and merits of Jesus Christ.

Lent leads us to Easter Sunday morning, with all of the gain that Jesus’ resurrection makes possible for those who come to faith in Him.

For just as the evil one could not separate Jesus from the love of God the Father on Good Friday, neither can any separation or loss we will ever experience in the Good Fridays of our lives remove us from the love of God the Father than comes through God the Son.

Thanks be to God, for the separation and loss are Christ’s, and ours.

So, too is the gain Christ’s, and ours.

AMEN.


[1] Matthew 16: 22
[2] See Genesis 15: 4 – 5.

1 Lent, Year B

“WATER, PASSAGES, COVENANTS”
A sermon by: The Rev. Gene Tucker given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL on Sunday, March 1, 2009
Genesis 9: 8 – 17; Psalm 25: 3 – 9; I Peter 3: 18 – 22; Mark 1: 9 – 13

As I looked at our three lectionary readings for today, the first thought that came into my mind was, “Water, water, everywhere!” True enough, all three readings, from Genesis, from First Peter, and from the Gospel according to Mark, all have to do with water: Noah’s passage through the Great Flood (Genesis), a look backward at the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection and its connection to our baptisms (First Peter), and the account of Jesus’ baptism (Mark).

But, lest I get ahead of myself, let’s be sure we have three principals in mind as we reflect on all of these readings this morning. The three principles, shared by all of today’s readings, are:

• Water passages, which serve as boundary markers,
  
  
• The covenant aspect of the passage through the waters,
  
  
• God’s acting and our response in faith.

Now, let’s look briefly at each of these aspects of the readings that are before us this morning:

Water passages: Water crossings are a key and recurring theme in Holy Scripture. Consider (in addition to the accounts of Noah and the Flood, and Jesus’ baptism) the crossing of the Red Sea as God’s people left Egypt on their way to the Promised Land and the crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land, for example.

In all cases, crossing over/through water forms a boundary, in which something is lost, but something greater is gained.

Moreover, with the water crossing, a new life begins as God enters into a new covenant with His people.

Now, with today’s reading from Genesis, we hear about the workings of God in saving Noah and his family as the waters of the Great Flood subsided. Two points are to be made with respect to the Flood (and to all water crossings): 1. God’s provision, made in advance of each passage, allowed a safe passage over/through the waters; and 2. A response in faith to God’s provision was necessary to allow a covenant to be established after the passage of the waters was complete.

In the case of Noah, we can see these two principles at work: God’s provision, made in advance, came in the form of God’s instructions to Noah that he was to build the ark. Recall with me that God’s instructions were complete down to the measurements of the ark and the method of construction. Then, Noah responds in faith, setting to work to create this enormous vessel which would be the means of God’s saving a remnant of people, for we read that Noah “found favor with God.” [1]

Likewise, God makes provision in advance for a safe passage through the waters in the baptism of Jesus Christ. Where Jesus has already led the way, we are able to follow. As surely as Jesus’ death leads to His resurrection, we are able to boldly and safely enter the waters of baptism. St. Peter, writing late in his life, reflects back on Jesus’ death and resurrection, and makes the same connection that St. Paul does in Romans, chapter six: entering the waters of baptism is to be “buried with Christ in His death,” [2]

Establishing a new covenant: God establishes a new covenant with Noah, and with us, once the passage through the waters is complete.

Notice that God establishes this new covenant with Noah, sealing it with the sign in the heavens, the rainbow, saying, “Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Likewise, Jesus’ entry into the waters of the Jordan River mark the beginning of His ministry among us, transforming Jesus from the carpenter He had been in the first 3o years of His life into the Messiah, the “Holy One of God.” [3] It is by this transformation that Jesus is able to establish a new covenant with us, and with everyone who enters the waters of baptism.

God’s acting, and our response in faith: Notice where the initiative and the power come from: from God!

It is God who takes action, telling Noah to build the ark, because the flood is coming.

It is God who takes action, sending Jesus to live among us as one of us, [4] living out by example an obedience to God the Father in His baptism, in His temptation, in His teachings, passion, death and resurrection.

But then we respond in faith: Noah set about building the ark, probably a highly unusual task, not to mention a monumental one. [5] Jesus entered the waters to be baptized by John, even though he had no sin for which to repent and be baptized. We, too, respond to God’s acting, entering boldly by faith the waters of baptism, sure that God will raise us up on the other side, just as He secured Noah’s passage, just as He ensured Jesus’ resurrection.

On final point is worth making: The possibility of going back to the former way of living was always there, for Noah, for Jesus, and for us.

Think about it: Noah could have re-established the same sort of wicked world that existed before the Flood. Jesus could have returned to working with wood in Nazareth. We can regress into our former lives before our baptisms.

But the water boundary, when combined with God’s prior action and our response in faith, mandates that we honor God’s acting, God’s plan, the evidence of God’s power to save, and our covenant relationship with Him, by not returning to the way things were.

Lent offers us a yearly passage, wherein we are offered a chance to renew our Baptismal Covenant. [6] Lent offers us the opportunity to recall God’s prior actions in our own lives, preserving us as we cross difficult and choppy seas that are part of this life. Lent offers us the opportunity to remember that there’s no returning to our former life, where we were separated in part - or in whole - from God.

For God has redeemed us by His own acting in the life, work, teaching, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, his Son.

There is no going back.

We have only to realize that we will lose some more of our previous identity as we cross this threshold of Lent again and again, year after year, only to gain the great good blessings that God has in store as our covenant with Him is renewed.

“Water, water, everywhere!”

Thanks be to God, the God who comes before us, the God who provides the means of safe passage, the God who establishes and renews His covenant with His people, that we may lose that which He directs, in order that we may gain that which He desires: a holy people, created for relationship with Him.

AMEN.

[1] Genesis 6: 8.
[2] Romans 6: 3
[3] Mark 1: 27
[4] This point cannot be lost: Jesus’ coming among humankind as one of us is the great mystery of the Incarnation, and it is this understanding that marks Christianity off from all other systems of belief. Simply put, we could characterize the Incarnation thusly: “God cared enough to send the very best, Himself. Moreover, He came to take up our humanity in every respect, fully immersing Himself in our human experience.”
[5] The ark was about 450 feet long, for example.
[6] See the Book of Common Prayer, 1979, pages 304 – 305.