Epiphany 4, Year C (2022)

I Corinthians 13: 1–13 / Psalm 71: 1–6 / Luke 4: 21–30

This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, PA, by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, January 30, 2022.

 

“TODAY? YOU?”

(Homily text: Luke 4:21 – 30)

As Jesus had finished reading from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, and had applied Isaiah’s words (“The Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor….”) to Himself, saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”, it’d be easy to summarize the response of those in the synagogue that day with two words: Today?  You? And then maybe the response might have been, “No, we don’t think so”.

What happens when God’s wonderful acts and mighty words are brought forward into the present day and time? What happens when, suddenly, God says He will act “today”?

A clear picture of the spiritual condition of God’s people in the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry emerges from the pages of the four Gospel accounts: It was a time when God seemed to be removed and absent. It was a time to remember God’s mighty acts in saving His people in a time long gone. But it wasn’t a time in which one could expect God to be acting in that time, in that place, and among those chosen people.

Instead, it was a time to “hunker down”, to play it safe, to value and uphold the identity the people had as Abraham’s descendants. It was a time to honor the traditions inherited from generations long gone, in order to preserve one’s identity. After all, the overarching reality was one of Roman occupation, a time when it was challenging to preserve one’s identity in the face of oppressive, foreign domination.

But Jesus’ pronouncement, that God had anointed Him to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the captive, and so forth, and that God had commissioned Him to do all these things “today” meant that Jesus was doing anything but playing it safe. (We all know how Jesus’ risk-taking turned out: It led to a clash with the governing authorities in Jerusalem, and then to an appearance before the Roman governor, Pilate, and from there, to the cross.)

Jesus did anything but play it safe as His ministry unfolded: He hung out with the outcasts of society, saying that it was to them that God had specifically sent Him to redeem and restore. He clashed with the Pharisees, the scribes and the priestly caste, exposing their hypocritical, self-serving ways, and their poor leadership of the people. He demonstrated God’s power working in Him in the miraculous healings that gained more and more attention.

Jesus’ bold acts and brash words are meant to provoke. They are meant to provoke in us a response. They are meant to shake up our comfortableness with our own, self-satisfied selves, our sense that God isn’t calling us to share in the Lord’s bold, earth-changing ministry.

“Today”, God says to us through the Gospel we’re hearing this morning.

“The Lord has anointed us,” is the call to action. “Today” is the timeframe.

By virtue of our baptisms, we have been redeemed as those outcasts were in the time of our Lord’s visitation. We are anointed, we are commissioned to proclaim good news to those who have no expectation of ever hearing any good news. We are called to proclaim liberty to those who are in bondage to their own life circumstances, who despair of things ever getting better.

Today!

AMEN. 

Epiphany 3, Year C (2022)

I Corinthians 12:12 – 31a / Psalm 19 / Luke 4:14 – 21

This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, January 23, 2022.

 

“TODAY”

(Homily text: Luke 4:14 – 21)

Perhaps most of all of us have used the phrase, “I can’t wait until….”. And then when “until” comes, it’s often an event we’ve been waiting for with anxious anticipation, perhaps something we really like doing.

But another way to look at an event in our lives is to see something coming that we don’t really want to see or experience. A homework deadline when we are doing school work, for example, might fit the bill.

Still another significant experience is the one that takes place right in front of our eyes, but one that we either didn’t expect, or didn’t appreciate for the impact that that event later had on our eyes.

These sorts of events are markers, events that separate what came before the event from what came after.

In our Gospel reading this morning, Jesus says, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Today.

The Lord’s pronouncement is, it seems to me, of the third sort mentioned above. That is to say, it is an event that took place before the eyes of those who were in the synagogue in Nazareth that Sabbath day, but who didn’t see the event coming, and didn’t appreciate fully just what the statement that began with “Today” meant.

Taken on its face, Jesus’ statement is an audacious one, for He begins by reading from the prophet Isaiah, saying, “The Lord has appointed me….”. At the conclusion, after handing the scroll to the attendant, Jesus says, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Isaiah’s ancient prophecy is propelled into the here-and-now, today. That old prediction had taken life “today”.

(At the risk of getting ahead of ourselves, let’s set aside the reaction which those who were present in the synagogue had to Jesus’ comment, for that will be the subject of next Sunday’s reading.)

For now, let’s look at the business of anointing.

To be anointed is to be set aside and empowered by God for a ministry or mission. Anointing is a commissioning for a specific purpose. Kings in ancient Israel were anointed with oil, signifying God’s favor on them. (Kings and queens in England are still anointed in much the same way, although we’ve not had such a ceremony since 1953, when Queen Elizabeth was crowned.)

In baptism, the person baptized is anointed with holy oil in an action called crismation. At ordination, a person who is being ordained as a priest often has their hands anointed.

Indeed, the titles that are applied to Jesus stem from the idea of anointing: Messiah is the term which comes to us from the Hebrew, meaning “anointed”, while Christ is the same term, meaning the same thing, coming from the Greek. So when we refer to Jesus as the Messiah, or as the Christ, what we are saying is that He is God’s “Anointed One”.

Anointing is an action that can be done with oil, as we’ve noted. But it can also signify a person’s call to a ministry or mission, whether or not oil is involved. The same can be said for a parish church:  It, too, can be anointed with significant, special gifts which are to be used for God’s purposes and for the good of all who will receive the ministries and the mission of the parish.

What sorts of the anointing of Jesus does St. John’s possess?

To begin to answer that question, we might look at the specific sorts of mission and ministry that Jesus referred to in His comment that “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”. There, we see a list of specific things that Isaiah had in mind when those words were written so many centuries beforehand.

We see that the anointing Jesus referred to had to do with: 1. Proclaiming good news to the poor; 2. Proclaiming liberty to the captive; 3. The recovering of sight to the blind; 4. The setting at liberty those who are oppressed; and 5. Proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor.[1]

I submit to you that this list has to do with the everyday, basic stuff of life. Each of these things are practical steps that the Lord took to make people’s lives better and more meaningful. (Recall with me that, for many in that day and time, life was uncertain, it was often short, it was difficult, and it was lived under the threat of Roman occupation.)

The Lord’s ministry then, takes on a sacramental[2] aspect, for it uses outward and visible signs to assure people of God’s continuing presence and power. Outward and visible signs are the markers of God’s power, working through Jesus’ ministry, as He heals, comforts, and breaks down walls that separate one person from another; and as He welcomes in the outcasts of His day (the tax collectors, sinners, and prostitutes, e.g.).

This parish church, St. John’s, is called to be an anointed place. A place which, by its words and work, proclaims the release of those who are oppressed, of relief to the poor, of welcome to the outcast, of the assurance of God’s love and continuing presence and power. All of these things are sacramental acts, pointing beyond the acts and actions themselves to the reality of God’s presence and power, working through us.

We are now in a time of discernment, as we are looking to the future of this place through a diocesan program called “Shaped by Faith”. We’re beginning to consider just what it is that St. John’s has to offer in terms of living out its own, unique anointing in the Huntingdon community and beyond. I believe that this parish church has gifts to offer that no other church in the area has in quite the ways we have. We’re called, I believe, to an assessment of those gifts, that we might better live into our own anointing as a community, for God’s glory and the welfare of those around us.

AMEN.

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[1]   Some biblical scholars think this last reference has to do with the ancient practice of the Jubilee Year, which took place every fiftieth year, at which time slaves were freed and debts were cancelled.

[2]   A Sacrament is defined as being “an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace”.

Epiphany 2, Year C (2022)

I Corinthians 12:1 – 11 / Psalm 36:5 – 10 / John 2:1 – 11  

This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, January 16, 2022.

 “GOD THINGS”

(Homily text: I Corinthians 12:1 – 11)

Let’s talk about “God Things” this morning.

We’re gathered together here this morning to celebrate the baptism of a wonderful, three-month old boy, a baby who is, by all accounts, a true gift from God. So, we could say that this birth and this new life is truly a “God Thing”.

In fact, all new life is a “God Thing”, God showing us His continuing care for and love of the world and the people in the world. What a wonderful “God Thing” it is to know that we are not alone on this earth, but that God continues to show His presence among us with the gift of new life and the renewal of the creation He loves.

Baptism is a “God Thing”, to be sure. For in baptism, we realize that God is reaching out to claim that person who enters the waters of baptism as God’s very own, special and deeply loved individual. And, in baptism, we reach out to God, asking God to claim this child for Himself. That, too, is a “God Thing”, to be able, through the power and the agency of the Holy Spirit’s enlightening work, to be able to be aware of God and the things of God, and to have God’s help in bringing that person into a mature faith.

As life unfolds, and this baby becomes a toddler and then a child, the parents and godparents will all have a role in ensuring that this wonderful person comes to know God personally and deeply. To be entrusted with that responsibility is, perhaps, one of the most important things we can be about. To be able to carry out that enormous work is going to require God’s help, and that, too, is a “God Thing”.

This parish church is a “God Thing”, for our main reason for being is to introduce people to God and God to people, and to nourish that relationship. There is no other work that we might do that is more important than that.

Life always has its joys, and also its challenges, difficulties and even losses. Yet, in the midst of good times and in not-so-good times, we can be reminded of God’s presence in our lives. That, for sure, is a wonderful “God Thing”.

It’s a “God Thing” when we realize that God has created each of us to have talents, abilities and gifts that we can share with others. What this means is that none of us will ever be in a situation where we will have all the answers, or all of the gifts and talents necessary to meet the things that will come our way. St. Paul makes this interdependent manner of our being together clear in his first letter to the early church in Corinth.

God gives us reminders, as we make our way through life, of His presence and His power. In Holy Communion (also known, in various traditions, as the Mass, Holy Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper), for example, we are reminded of our Lord Jesus Christ’s death and victory over death by His rising to new life again on Easter Sunday morning. That, for sure, is a “God Thing”, for the Lord’s coming to new life again assures us that, we, too, will rise with Him to a new life in God’s good time.

Thanks be to God for all the wonderful “God Things” that make up our lives.

AMEN.       

         

Epiphany 1, Year C (2022)

Isaiah 43:1 – 7 / Psalm 29 / Luke 3:15 – 17, 21 – 22

This is the homily prepared to be given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, January 9, 2022.

“ENTERING THE STUFF OF LIFE”
(Homily text: Luke 3:15 – 17, 21 – 22)

If we think about it, we’re surrounded by lots and lots of “stuff” in life. All sorts and kinds of “stuff”, good stuff, useless stuff, bad stuff, entertaining stuff, etc.

It seems to me that “stuff” is an unavoidable facet of human life. We all have to deal with “stuff”, whether it be the challenges of the bad kind of “stuff”, or the joys of the good kind, or the everyday, ho-hum “stuff” of daily living, just to name a few of the different kinds of “stuff” that is bound to come our way sooner or later.

Our Lord’s coming among us tells us that “stuff” is an important aspect of life. Our Lord came and dove right into the “stuff” of life, yes, even that hard-to-face kind of stuff like suffering, rejection, and death.

In our Lord’s baptism, an event we recall on the First Sunday after the Epiphany each year, we witness our Lord’s dealing with the all-important “stuff” of ensuring a right relationship with His (and our) heavenly Father. After all, in Matthew’s account[1] of the Lord’s baptism, Jesus tells John the Baptist that it is to “fulfill all righteousness” that He has come to be baptized.

Baptism means the passing through the water (remember how the early Church did baptism: The candidates were totally immersed in the water three times, one time for each member of the Holy Trinity). We know well that water can destroy life, and yet, it is indispensable for all life to continue and to flourish. In that sense, water is the perfect outward-and-visible sign of the inner and spiritual grace[2] which is conferred in baptism, for in baptism, we die to our old selves, and we rise to a new life in relationship to God.[3]

The Lord immerses Himself in the “stuff” of life, sharing with us every conceivable emotion, hardship, temptation, experience and joy that human life is composed of. In so doing, He says to us, “I’ve shared with you everything you will experience, and in so doing, I offer you a new, richer and fuller life.”

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

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[1]   See Matthew 3:13 – 17.

[2]   The classic definition of a Sacrament is that it is an “outward and visible sign of an inner and invisible grace”.

[3]   See Romans 6:3 – 9.

Christmas 2, Year C (2022)

Jeremiah 31:7 – 14 / Psalm 84:1 – 8 / Luke 2:41 – 52

This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, January 2, 2022.

 

“THE (HUMAN) NATURE OF THE LORD’S FIRST COMING”

(Homily text: Luke 2:41 – 52)

(Introductory note:  It isn’t every liturgical year that we are able to observe a Second Sunday after Christmas Day. This is due to the day of the week that Christmas falls on in any given year. This year, then, is a bit unusual in that respect. But, in addition, there are three options for the Gospel text that may be used on this Sunday. This year, I’ve chosen to make use of Luke’s account of the boy Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem at age twelve. This is material that Luke, alone, makes available to us.)

What if God, when God decided to intervene in human affairs by sending His only Son to take on our humanity in the person of Jesus, were to decide to send Him in His first coming among us with power, great glory, and with signs and wonders in the heavens? In other words, what if the Christ, God’s Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity, were to come in such a way that there would be no mistaking His identity and His purpose in coming? I guess what I’m proposing for our consideration is some sort of a cosmic arrival.

If we think about it, that sort of cosmic, with signs in the heavens sort of a coming, is the stuff of one of the themes of the season of Advent. For in the season of Advent, we hold in mind the reality that God will, in God’s own good time and in the manner of God’s own choosing, send Jesus Christ again with power and great glory, with unmistakable signs of His arrival and His identity.  This coming again is generally known as the Second Coming.

But in Advent, we also prepare ourselves for our Lord’s First Coming, that coming that began in humble circumstances, in the birth of a Jewish boy born to poor parents in an out-of-the-way place in a small part of the Roman Empire, in Judea. That first coming began quietly, noticed by only a few. The coming of God’s only Son began in humility, in vulnerability.

In Luke’s wonderful account of the boy Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem, we get a glimpse, a rare glimpse of the time between Jesus’ birth, His early childhood in Egypt (drawing on Matthew’s account), and the beginning of His earthly ministry, which began (Luke tells us) when He was about thirty years old.[1]

What are we to make of this account? What does the interchange between Jesus, as a twelve-year old boy, and his teachers in the Temple, tell us about Him?

We see a boy who is well-schooled in the Torah, the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus had, apparently, been well-tutored during His growing-up years.

We see a natural aptitude for the things of God, a highly intelligent boy.

We see a boy who, when His earthly parents finally found Him in the Temple, submitted Himself to their parental authority.

We see a boy who grew up, one who didn’t come among us with all the godly attributes that His divine origin would indicate, but one who grew, matured and developed as any other child would.

In other words, we see God’s Son coming among us, marked with all the normal attributes and characteristics of a human being. God’s only Son had come and had assumed our human nature completely and fully.

Isn’t it comforting to know that this world, and the people of this world, are important enough to God for God to honor our human condition and our place in this world, that God would dive into all of our humanity and our place in the created order? Put another way, the world that God created, that world which God continues to sustain, and the people whom God has deliberately created, matter greatly to God. All of this matters.

Sometimes, it strikes me that we lose sight of the importance of this world and the people in it. We get wound up in our problems and in our challenges. (Make no mistake, the age in which we live is composed of more than enough of problems and challenges.) But if we can cast our gaze on the boy Jesus and hold in mind the fact that God sent this human being to take up our humanity in the person of Jesus, then we might also be able to lift our eyes heavenward to realize that this Jesus is God’s direct gift of Himself to this world and to those in the world.

God often moves quietly, unnoticed, perhaps, except for those few whose eyes are looking for signs of God’s movement, God’s purpose, and God’s love for the world. May we, through the power of the Holy Spirit, be looking for God’s movement in the world about us, and in the people who live in this world.

AMEN.

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[1]   See Luke 4:23.