Last Pentecost (Christ the King) - Year C

Proper 29 -- Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 46; Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, November 24, 2013.

“DIVINE MATH:  ONE PLUS ONE EQUALS ONE”

(Homily text:  Colossians 1:11-20)

On this, the last Sunday after Pentecost, better known as Christ the King Sunday, we have before us the vision of Christ, the one who is co-eternal with God the Father, the one, as St. Paul says in today’s epistle reading, the one through whom all things were made, the one who holds all things together.

This is the vision of the cosmic Christ.  It is the vision of God’s great, big picture as the Father sends the Son to show us the depth of God’s love.

On this day, we celebrate Christ’s divine nature.

Of course, we also celebrate Jesus, the one who is fully human, completely like us in every respect (except for sin).

And since we have the human Jesus and the divine Christ in one Lord Jesus Christ, we can say that divine math uses the equation:

One Christ plus one Jesus equals one Jesus Christ.

We spend a good part of the Church Year hearing the accounts of the human Jesus’ teachings.  We hear the accounts of His love for those who followed Him.

But it is a good and very necessary thing to remember that He is also “God with us”, that is, Emmanuel.

That’s what Christ the King Sunday is all about, reminding us that the Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, set aside his status as being co-equal with the Father to take on our humanity, even to the depths of a death on the cross, as St. Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5–11.

Because this second person of the Holy Trinity was willing to be totally obedient, to show us the depths of God’s love by His agony on the cross, the Father has highly exalted Him, and has given Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth (again, citing Philippians 2:5–11)

So the old Church Year that ends today prepares us for the season of Advent, which is just one week away.

For in the season of Advent, we will prepare ourselves for the birth of the human Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem, an event we commemorate on Christmas day.  But during Advent, we also remind ourselves that this cosmic Christ will return again someday with power and great glory, establishing His rule as King over all.

Keeping the big picture in mind allows us to live faithful Christian lives in the days which lie before us, as our daily lives unfold.  We are reminded that this life isn’t all that there is, that there is another reality which awaits us once this life is over.  Everyday problems and challenges then take on a different hue, if we hold God’s great, big plan in our range of vision.

One final thought is in order here:   This great and wonderful God, that same God who sent His only-begotten Son to love us and to redeem us, cares enough for absolutely everyone of us to send Jesus Christ to seek each one of us out, individually. So this wonderful and loving God wraps us up into the big picture of His plans for the future, one person at a time as we enter the waters of baptism.

My, we must be awfully important to a God like that.  Indeed, we are just that immeasurably important.

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

Pentecost 26, Year C (2013)

Proper 28 -- Isaiah 65:17–25; For the Psalm:  Canticle 9; II Thessalonians 3:6–13; Luke 21:5–19

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, November 17, 2013.

“A CHANGE IN THE SYSTEM”

(Homily text:  Luke 21: 5 – 19)

            In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus and His disciples are walking through the Temple in Jerusalem.  His disciples make remarks about the beauty of that magnificent structure, and about how impressive it is.  Jesus’ response, however, foretells the day when none of what they were seeing that day would remain.[1]  He says, “the days will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

            Jesus’ response must have been startling to those disciples.  After all, the Temple, which had been under construction since the year 20 BC or so, seemed to be so permanent, so soundly built.

            Yet the truth of the matter is that the Temple’s destruction brought about many changes for Jews and for Christians.

            Since the Temple is the subject of our gospel this morning, let’s take some time to reflect on its importance and significance, for the loss of the Temple brought changes to Jew and Christian alike.

            What follows in this homily, then, is a reflection on those changes, and the impact of those changes on you and me as we live our lives as Christians in the 21^st century.

            We should begin by reminding ourselves of the place that the Temple occupied in the estimation of the ancient Jews…..The Temple was the place where the sacrifices that the Law of Moses required were offered.  They were the only place where such sacrifices took place.  Moreover, the Temple and its setting in Jerusalem was a place of pilgrimage.  Devout Jews were expected to make journeys to Jerusalem to be present at major festivals.

            By contrast, the local synagogue was a place of worship where the sacred writings were read, and where reflection on those writings took place.  We know very little about synagogue worship, but catch glimpses of it in such passages as Luke 4: 16 – 30, where Jesus is invited to read from the prophet Isaiah, and in Acts 13: 13 - 15, where St. Paul is asked to offer a word of encouragement to those who had gathered for synagogue worship in the city of Antioch of Pisidia on the Sabbath day.  We know from this passage in the Book of Acts that readings from the Mosaic writings, as well as the prophetic writings, took place.  We also know that reflection on the scriptures and discussion took place. 

            In addition to these aspects of synagogue life, another reality existed:  Synagogues were found throughout the Roman Empire, wherever Jews lived.  So the synagogue, with its worship practices, constituted the daily reality in the lives of these ancient Jews.

            The Temple and the synagogue also represented the focal points of the early Christians, as we’ve noted above.  The Book of Acts contains references to the apostles being in the Temple, and also in the local synagogues, as we’ve noted above.  The break between Judaism and Christianity did not take place until very late in the first century.[2]

            Now that we’ve noted the differences between the Temple and the local synagogue, let’s reflect on the loss of the Temple and the sacrificial system that was centered there.  For both Jew and Christian alike, the loss of Jerusalem as the focal point of religious attention brought about many changes.

            For the ancient Jews, the loss of the Temple meant that the priestly class which administered the sacrifices in Jerusalem was also lost.  While many of the local Levitical priests who lived outside of Jerusalem survived the Jewish-Roman War, the Temple priests did not.  No longer could the sacrifices that the Mosaic law required take place.  What was left to these ancient people of God, then?  The synagogues, with their focus on the Word of God written, along with the rabbinical system of teachers of the Law and the prophets, survived.  Moreover, the synagogues were everywhere, so the faith of these ancient Jews centered around the sacred writings and the local application of them as it took place in the synagogues.  The focus of Judaism turned outward, away from Jerusalem, to a large extent.

            A similar movement outward from Jerusalem also takes place for Christians.

            Jesus signals the end of the idea that people need a sacred place as the focal point of devotion, as He converses with the woman who met Him at the well in Samaria.  In response to her question about which holy mountain is the place where people ought to worship, Jesus tells her that the time will come when people won’t worship on the mountain that the Samaritans thought was sacred, nor on the mountain in Jerusalem that Jews regarded as being holy, either.  Instead, He says that the Father will seek people to worship Him who worship in spirit and in truth.  Such worship, He implies, can take place anywhere.

            Jesus’ prediction comes to pass after His death and resurrection….Early in the Book of Acts, Jesus tells His followers that they are going to be His witnesses in “Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”.  (Acts 1: 8).  And so the apostles do exactly that, taking the Good News of God in Christ with them in every imaginable direction, away from Jerusalem.

            And as they left Jerusalem, they remembered that, at the time of Jesus’ death on the cross on Good Friday, the veil of the Temple was torn in two, from the top to the bottom.  The significance of this event, and its coincidental occurrence with Jesus’ death, is not lost on the disciples…they understand that, with Jesus’ death, the veil which separated God’s people from God’s presence has been removed.  (Remember that the veil of the Temple separated its most holy section from everyone except the priest whose duty it was to enter that sacred space.  Thus, God’s presence was veiled and separated from the people.)

            Now, every believer will have direct access to God, through Jesus Christ. 

            The veil has been removed by His sacrifice on the cross.  Jesus has become not only the sacrificial victim, but He is also the priest who makes the sacrifice possible.  That is the major theme of the Letter to the Hebrews in a nutshell.

            Now, Christian believers gather in house churches, wherever they live.  They hear the holy scriptures read.  They hear reflections on those sacred writings in homilies, sermons and discussions.  In these ways, the lives of these very early Christians is quite similar to those of Jews of the same timeframe.

            But one thing is different:  Christians also take with them the sacrifice of Christ wherever they go….that sacrifice is commemorated in the Holy Communion as these early Christians break the bread and hear the words, “This is my body,” and when they share the cup of wine and hear the words, “This is my blood”.

            Down through the ages, Christians have been nourished by the Word of God and by the sacrifice of Jesus.

            Our worship continues to reflect these two sources that sustain us in our walk with God, as we celebrate the Service of the Word in the first part of our liturgy, and as we partake of the Lord’s body and Blood in the Service of the Table.

            So we commune with the mind of God in His word written, the Bible, and we become one with Christ as we receive Him in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

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[1]   When the Roman army destroyed the Temple in 70 AD, they destroyed all the structures on the top of the Temple Mount, which is the large, rectangular raised platform that continues to exist in Jerusalem today.  The most famous part of the wall of the Temple Mount is the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall.

[2]   Scholars date the separation between Judaism and Christianity to the year 90 AD, which is the date when a Jewish council took place in the town of Jamnia.

Pentecost 25, Year C

Proper 27 -- Haggai 1:15b – 2:9; Psalm 98; II Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17; Luke 20:27–38

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, November 10, 2013.

“FIRST THINGS FIRST”

(Homily text:  II Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17)

            The Church Year is winding down.  We have (after this Sunday) just two more Sundays left before the beginning of the new year on the First Sunday of Advent, which is December 1st.

            The last Sunday of each ecclesiastical year is Christ the King Sunday.  On this Sunday, we celebrate Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the One who will come at the end of all things, whose reign will never end, and whose power and glory will be acknowledged by all.

            The theme of Christ the King Sunday has to do with the “big picture” of God’s plan and God’s rule.  The theme prompts us to catch a glimpse of eternity, and of the time when we will reign with Christ for ever and ever.

            Our readings in these final Sundays of the year begin to prepare us for that vision and that celebration.  Our Collect for the Day today also captures this sense as it says, “Grant that, having this hope (of being made children of God and heirs of eternal life), we may purify ourselves as he is pure, that when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom….” (Italics mine, of course)

            In today’s readings, St. Paul admonishes the Thessalonian Christians not to think that God’s reign has already come in all its fullness.  Perhaps we could summarize Paul’s argument by saying that he is encouraging the Thessalonian Christians to put “first things first”.

            Let’s look a little closer at the situation in Thessalonica….

            In St. Paul’s first letter to these early Christians, we find evidence that these early Christians were anxiously looking for the Lord’s return.  (All Christians should be constantly aware that, in God’s time, the Lord will return again in power and great glory.  This is a reality that we affirm each week as we recite the Nicene Creed.)  But the Thessalonians, apparently, were paying such an overwhelming amount of attention to it that many of them had ceased to work.   They seemed to be looking into the heavens, expecting Jesus to return at any moment.   In chapter five of his first letter, Paul has to admonish them not to be idle, not to forget that they have lives to lead and a Christian witness to offer to the world around them in the time that precedes the Lord’s return.

            Now, in his second letter, Paul has to remind them not to accept reports from anyone, even a report which purports to be from him, that the Lord’s return has already taken place.  Paul’s wording makes use of the term “the Day of the Lord”, a phrase we also hear in the Old Testament prophet Joel,[1] a phrase he also uses in his first letter to the Thessalonians to describe that eventuality.  And again, as he had done in his first letter, he tells the Thessalonians (in chapter three of his second letter) not to be idle as they wait for the great day to arrive.

            So, we can surmise that Paul’s concern is for a balanced understanding which holds the “big picture” of God’s plans in tension with the necessity of living the Christian life in this world.  We are called and reminded to put “first things first” by doing the Lord’s work in this world as a witness to God’s power to change lives, and to change the world, in turn.

            Such a balanced understanding of God’s ultimate plans, lived out day-by-day in acts of loving kindness and service, acts which demonstrated the presence of Christ within, allowed the Church to overcome the power of the Roman Empire.  In time, the Empire itself would become Christian, won over to the cause of Christ not by armed might or conquest, but by faithful Christians who reminded the pagan world of their day that this world isn’t the ultimate or final reality, and that God loved this world so much that He gave His only-begotten Son to show God’s love in tangible ways.

            These early Christians put “first things first”, living life faithfully, walking with God daily in communion with Christ and with His body, the Church. 

            We said a moment ago that we hold the reality of the life in the world which is to come as an ever-present reality.  Each Sunday, we affirm the truths of the Christian faith as they are contained in the Nicene Creed.  Among the phrases we repeat, Sunday-by-Sunday, are the following statements relating to the final things of God:

·         Jesus’ return:  “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.”

·         The resurrection of the dead:  “We look for the resurrection of the dead.”

·         The life of the world to come:  “And the life of the world to come.”

            Having this vision ever in view give us hope for the future, and an assurance that God’s plans for the world will, in time, come to be.  As baptized Christians, we share in this hope.

            However, the lesson that Paul applied to the Thessalonians also applies to us:  We have a life to live, work to do, and a witness to offer to the world in the time that remains between now and the fulfillment of God’s purposes for the world.

            These two realities are held together in tension.  Our task is to hold both of them in view at all times, allowing the eventual return of the Lord to color and inform everything we do in the everyday world in which we live, for the awareness that we are part of God’s great plan makes holy those things that we do, day-by-day. 

            Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus, as we labor, and watch, and pray, putting “first things first”.

AMEN.

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[1]   Joel’s sense of the phrase “the Day of the Lord” carries  with it the sense that the arrival of that day will be the time of God’s judgment.

All Saints Sunday, Year C

All Saints Sunday -- Daniel 7:1–3, 15-18; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:11-23; Luke 6:20-31

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, November 3, 2013.

“GOD’S LAYAWAY PLAN”

(Homily text:  Ephesians 1:11-23)

            Before you read this homily, may I encourage you to get your Bible and read the passage appointed for All Saints Sunday from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians?  In fact, since the writing is dense, and since it contains so many very important facts about our lives in Christ, may I encourage you to read and then reread it several times over?  (As you do, new details will emerge with each reading, things that may have been missed on the first pass through this passage.)

            That said, the phrase that strikes me the most (I could choose many to focus on, by the way…this passage is so chock-full of wonderful statements!) is this one:

            “Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe….”[1]

            It seems like Paul is trying to widen the Ephesians’ scope of vision, to get them to see the bigger picture of God’s purposes.

            Paul uses the word “inheritance”. 

            I think it’s worthwhile to apply our human understanding of what an inheritance involves to the ways in which that concept informs our understanding of our place in God’s scheme of things.

            We are familiar, I suspect, with the ways in which inheritances work.  Suppose, for example, that we have an elderly relative who’s gone about the business of drafting a will (an excellent thing to be doing, for all of us, by the way!).  In the will, the relative bequeaths some possession(s) to us, stating that part of the inheritance is to be given while the relative is still living, and the remainder of it is to be transferred once the relative has passed into eternity.

            So, in reality, all of the inheritance is ours to possess, to use, to enjoy.  But we have actual possession of only part of it.

            Perhaps we could say that this is a little like the layaway plans that were very common in a time gone by, before credit cards made it possible to buy something and pay for it later.  (In fairness, it must be said that some stores still maintain layaway plans.)  There is a difference from the traditional layaway plans that stores use in Paul’s description, however….Paul maintains that, though we possess all the fullness of God’s inheritance, given to us, we have already taken possession of part of it in the here-and-now.

            Scholars have come up with a term to describe this reality:  “Realized eschatology”

            At first glance, this word might cause some confusion and might prompt some mystifying reactions.  So it would be good for us to unpack it a little:

• Realized:  something that is a reality in the present time and place,

• Eschatology:  That word (coming to us from the Greek) which pertains to the “last things”[2] of God’s eternal purposes.

            So “realized eschatology” means that we already have as a reality in this life what we will possess in all its fullness once this life is over.

            That hope is central to our life as Christian believers….that God has chosen us, has destined us to receive all the riches of His grace, mercy and peace.

            We have been invited by God to come into the very inner life of God.  We are folded into the very inner relationship of love that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

            Wow!

            What awesome stuff is this, to know that we matter so much to God that He took the initiative to reach out to us in the person, the work, the teachings, the miracles, the suffering, the death, the resurrection and the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

            It is God who has done all these things.  Our part consists of responding to God’s overture of love.

            That’s how we become saints, by recognizing God’s love in Christ, by accepting it, and by realizing that we have been named in  God’s will, having been given God’s possession of love as a down payment on the fullness of God’s love and presence that we will know when we see Him face-to-face once this life is over.

            As a result of this new reality, everything in life has changed.

            Our problems should been seen in a different light, now that God has come to take control of our present and our future.  As St. Teresa of Avila once said,  “All things shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well”.

            Our relationships with others should reflect the reality of God’s love and mercy, made known in our lives, as we share that love and mercy with others….This, of course, is the second part of the Lord’s summary of the Law, that we should “love our neighbors as ourselves”.

            Our relationships with those things we own should also change, as we recognize that all that we have is a gift from God, given into our hands for careful tending and wise use.

            To say these things is to realize that, as saints, we live according to a different set of standards than the secular world around us does, for we are God’s possession, His prized possession.  We are beneficiaries of God’s love, mercy, grace and peace. 

            And that changes everything!

           

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[1]   The italics are mine, of course.

[2]   Its literal meaning in Greek