Epiphany 3, Year C

Nehemiah 8:1–3, 5–6, 8–10; Psalm 19; I Corinthians 12:12–31; Luke 4:14–21

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, January 27, 2013.

“MUTUALLY SUPPORTIVE GIFTS”

(Homily text:  I Corinthians 12: 12 – 31)

Let’s engage in an exercise together this morning…..
 

Think of three people you know.  Can you identify at least one gift that they have?  It might be a special talent or ability.  It could be a useful skill that’s especially suited to spectacular or noticeable tasks, or it might be a skill that’s best seen in everyday circumstances.

Now, think of three people who have a skill, gift or talent that you don’t have.  (These three people might be the same three as in the first part of our exercise, or they might be one, two or even three different people.)  As part of this part of the exercise, try to imagine yourself trying to duplicate those other people’s skill or gift or talent.  Does that prospect cause just a little bit of discomfort?

For example, it gives me shudders to think of trying to be a chef in a restaurant.  I can certainly enjoy well-prepared food, but my culinary skills stop somewhere just beyond being able to open a can.

Obviously, the point of this exercise is to:

1.      Get us to notice and appreciate the gifts, skills and talents that others have;
2.      To allow us to see that others have gifts that we don’t have;  and
3.      To demonstrate that we need each other’s gifts, talents and abilities.  (This is especially true for the Church, which is the body of Christ.)

These three points bring us to a consideration of St. Paul’s First Letter to the Church in Corinth, and especially to chapter twelve, which is before us today.

If ever there was a “problem Church” for Paul, Corinth would qualify as the number one candidate….

Located in a free-wheeling city which was on a major trade route between two seaports, Corinth was awash in travelers who were coming and going from all parts of the Roman Empire.  Consequently, it was a place where people of all sorts of cultures and backgrounds mingled with one another.  Ideas and customs stemming from these various cultures and backgrounds also mingled one with another.

Various types of immorality abounded.  Scholars estimate that no less than a thousand cult prostitutes (male and female) served the pagan temples in the city.  Meat which was offered to the idols in these places was also available in the markets afterward. This was a matter of concern for the Corinthian Christians, whether or not to buy and eat such meat.

But the culture had invaded the Corinthian congregation…..

 -  The sexual immorality of the Corinthian community had shown itself in the Christian congregation….in chapter five of his letter, Paul upbraids the congregation for thinking that a man who was sleeping with his mother-in-law is doing nothing wrong by his actions.  Paul reminds this lax group of Christians that even the pagans don’t countenance such behavior as they seem willing to do.        

-  A “me-first” mindset had invaded the congregation, and had threatened its unity (and therefore, its witness to the outside world).  A clear indication of this may be seen in:

1. The devolution of the Corinthian Eucharistic celebrations:  wealthier families came, got drunk, and stuffed themselves with the food they’d brought to the occasion, while poorer members of the Church sat with nothing to eat or drink.  Paul chastises them for this behavior and for their attitudes, and reminds them of the solemn nature of receiving the Lord’s Body and Blood (see chapter eleven).
2. A “party spirit”, as various members claimed allegiances to various leaders in the Church:  Paul, Apollos, Peter (Cephas), and Christ.  (See chapter one.)
3. Church members were taking each other to civil court to settle disputes.  (See chapter six.)
4. Some claimed a spiritual superiority, based on their ability to speak in tongues.  (Paul has to engage in a “put-down” of these persons, reminding them that he speaks in tongues more than all of them do, and that the gift of tongues is but one of many gifts of the Spirit.)  (See chapter 12: 1 – 11, read last week.)

So the Corinthian Church was a very troubled community.  Paul certainly had his hands full in trying to correct the misconceptions, rampant egotism and party-spirit that had inflected the body of Christ in that place.

Why did Paul spend so much time and energy trying to get the Corinthian Church on track (after all, scholars think that Paul may have written as many as perhaps four letter to Corinth, of which we have only two)?

If I may venture and answer, I think it would be this:  The unity of the Church and the love shown by each of its members for the Lord and for others in the Church guarantees that its witness to the outside world will be a clear, bright and shining light to the darkened world in which it finds itself.

Paul is deeply concerned for the internal health and wellbeing of the Church.  Notice how he enumerates the various gifts that God has ordained, and in the order of importance, for the care, feeding and nurturing of Christians within the body.  Here is his list:

First:  Apostles. Their function is to carry forth the deposit of faith that has been received from the Lord.  (Today, we would assign that responsibility to our Bishops, who are the successors to the original Apostles.)

Second:  Prophets.  They are the ones will speak the truth of God (which is the basic meaning of the word “prophecy”).

Third:  Teachers.  These members of the body of Christ explain and clarify what has been received from the Lord and what has been transmitted through the Apostles.  They will also give meaning to the words spoken by the prophets.

Fourth:  Workers of miracles.  Following in the Lord’s footsteps, these gifted members of the community will make use of God’s power to create and recreate.

Fifth:  Healers.  Very much in the same category as the workers of miracles, those who make use of the Holy Spirit’s gift of healing not only serve to heal the sick, but to show by concrete actions that God is truly present within the community of faith.

Sixth:  Helpers.  Here, we reach a category that serves those within the community, and those who are outside of it.

Seventh:  Administrators.  Doing things well and in order is the task of those who administrate.  A well-run Church is testimony to the care and concern that the body of Christ ought to have for everything that God has enabled it to have in order to carry out its ministries and mission.

Eighth:  Speakers in tongues.  Notice that Paul assigns this gift last place,  Perhaps he is trying to get the Corinthians to see just what part in terms of importance this gift plays in building up the Church…perhaps Paul is trying to tell the Corinthians that speaking in tongues isn’t very important, in comparison to the other gifts of the Spirit, after all.

We remarked a moment ago that Paul seems to be concerned with the internal welfare of the Church.  I think that conclusion is inescapable, given the gifts that he enumerates.  Paul’s concern seems to be grounded in the idea that a unified Church,  whose members owe allegiance to Christ above all (in contrast to the party-spirit we noticed earlier), cannot help but show the love that Christ has shown us in their relationships and interactions with one another.  As a result, the outside world will notice, and will be attracted to this divine love in its human expression.

And, of course, that’s exactly what happened as time went along, and as Christians increasingly became a persecuted minority within the Roman Empire.  More and more pagans noticed God’s love made known among these early Christians and said, “See how these Christians love one another.”

Then as now, the world was and is a very cold and unloving place.  It was and is a place of darkness, of cruelty, of loss, deprivation and hardship.  It was and is a place without a moral anchor, a place whose motto seemed/seems to be “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow is uncertain.”

But the Good News of Jesus Christ counters all of these values and claims on human affections.

It is the gift which has been entrusted to the Church to proclaim that:

• God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ (John 3: 16),
• This divine love completely changes everyone who comes to faith, allowing them to exercise the gifts God has given them, and to appreciate the differing gifts God has given to others,
• This relationship between God and those He has redeemed enables true value, worth and purpose in life.  It provides the anchor human beings need to be truly alive.

Unity with God through Christ enables us to see God’s gifts, distributed among the faithful, for the glory of God and for the welfare of His Church, that the world may see and know that the God we worship and serve is truly a God of love.

AMEN.

 

 

Epiphany 2, Year C

Isaiah 62:1–5; Psalm 36:5–10; I Corinthians 12:1–11; John 2:1–11

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, January 20, 2013.

“THE CHURCH:  REFLECTING THE LIGHT OF GOD”

The theme of light is prominent in this season of Epiphany, which is also carries the subtitle “The Manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.”  Indeed, the theme of light which carries over into this season of the liturgical year actually began with the Feast of the Incarnation, more generally known as Christmas….there, we celebrated the coming of Jesus Christ, He who is the Light of the world.   

The theme of light also figures prominently in today’s Collect, for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany.  It reads:

“Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world:  Grant that thy people, illumined by thy Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshiped and obeyed to the ends of the earth;  through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.”

Picking up on this theme of light, a book I read recently by a wonderful English priest named John Fitch, entitled “Anglican Eirenicon”,[1]  puts the relationship of the Light of Christ with the Church into proper perspective.  In the book, Fitch makes the following comment (which I am able to only paraphrase):

“The Church has no light of its own, but only the light of Christ, to share with the world, in the same way that the moon has no light of its own, but only the reflected light of the sun.”

So, putting together the themes of Christmastide, Epiphanytide, our Collect for today, and Fitch’s perspective, we can safely come to the conclusion that the Church’s mission is to:

• Become enlightened about Jesus Christ,
• Share the results of that enlightenment with the world.

As we look at our Gospel text for today, we might ask – in view of what we have just said about becoming enlightened – what does Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana [2] of Galilee have to do with becoming an enlightened believer?  What does this miracle have to teach us about Jesus Christ’s identity?  What impact does this miraculous act have on our lives today?

Let’s explore these issues a bit.

Looking at the text, we can draw the following conclusions from it:

• Jesus expands the limits of normal life:  Water doesn’t change into wine in the normal course of things.  So Jesus’ power to create is on display here, His power over the universe and its normal manner of functioning. 
• Jesus’ connection to the Father is demonstrated:  It is God’s creative power that is at work here.  This is the same God who – through the Word spoken at creation [3] - brought the world into being as its creator.  The very point of Jesus’ miracles is to show that He is one with the Father (John 10:30).
• What was created is very good:  In Genesis, we read that God said that the things He had created was “good”.  Finally, God determined that everything He had made was “very good”.  Here, in John, in the act of creating wine out of water, the steward in charge of the wedding feast determines that the really good wine has been reserved for the last part of the feast.

The light of God shines into the world, forever changing our normal expectations.  The limits of our normal, everyday life experience are expanded and forever changed.  No circumstance, no reality of our lives lies outside of the Lord’s creative power to address, to change, or to create anew.  Addictions, intractable situations and problems, all are subject to the Lord’s authority.

Let’s look now at the role that faith plays in all of this.

Looking at John’s account, we seem to see that the Lord’s mother has supreme faith in His ability to address the problem of having no more wine to serve to the wedding guests.  Telling the servants that they should “Do whatever He (Jesus) tells you,” she demonstrates her conviction that her son is able to solve the problem.

Likewise, John appends this comment to the end of his account of that first miracle, saying, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”  (John 2:11)

The disciples come to faith as a result of Jesus’ creative act.

 We noted above that the Church has no light of its own, but only the light that it receives from the Son.  John Fitch’s excellent illustration serves to make a central point about the role of faith in being able to receive and reflect the light of Christ:  We must be willing – like the disciples and like Jesus’ mother – to believe in Him.  Only then can we serve as a receiver and a reflector of the divine light that shines in the words and the deeds of Jesus Christ, He who is the light of the world.

AMEN.

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[1]   Fitch’s book has to do with promoting Church unity within the Anglican Communion.

[2]   By the way, I can’t resist telling you that, if you go to the Holy Land and visit the town of Cana today, you will see lots of references to Jesus’ changing of water into wine.  (I can’t remember if they are trying to sell high quality wines in honor of His creative act or not.)  But don’t be fooled into thinking that the contemporary town of Cana is located on the site of the biblical town where Jesus performed His first miracle.  The biblical Cana is about six miles away, a little further north of the modern community.
[3]   See Genesis, chapter one.

Epiphany 1, Year C

Isaiah 43:1–7; Psalm 29; Acts 8:14–17; Luke 3:15–17, 21–22

This sermont was given by Fr. Gene R. Tucker at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, January 13, 2013.

“DO AS I SAY, AND DO AS I DO”

(Homily text: Luke 3: 15 – 17, 21 – 22)

Every year, as the old year draws to a close, some group or another comes out with a list of words or phrases that ought to be off-limits.  One phrase that got the boot at the end of last year was “kick the can down the road”.  (There were many others, which I can’t recall at the moment.)

I’ve come up with my own list of words or phrases that either ought to be banned completely, or which have come to be so misused that they conjure up nothing but suspicion.  These words and phrases come from watching cable television, and from logging onto my email account.

Taking those words and phrases that appear when logging onto an email account, here is my list, all of which I’ve seen in the past week:

• “Shocking discovery”
• “Shocking results”
• “New rule in __________ allows residents to get half price insurance.”
• “Men are finding unlikely testosterone boost.”
• “One weird loophole…”
• “Date women in ____________....”

Some comments are in order: 

1. Notice the use of the words “shocking” and “weird”.  I might add that “easy” is also often used; 
2. That “new rule in ______” can also be found in other places, depending on where you log on…for example, when we were back east visiting family, I found that they, too, had access to this “new rule”; 
3. The same can be said about dating all those women whose photos appeared on that internet ad…funny that these very same women live in my area, and back east, too….maybe the photos of these women are all of identical twins.

But when I watch the morning news on cable television, as I pedal my stationary bike, I find the following offensive, overused words and phrases in the ads there:

• "Historic price”
• “Amazing products”
• “Not sold in stores”
• “Only $19.95, plus shipping and handling”
• “But wait, there’s more….”
• “If you order today, we’ll double the order….”

Now, reviewing the list of these overused, newly-offensive words and phrases, what do they all have in common?....the answer is that they arouse suspicion in the viewer’s mind…..

They prompt us to say, “This is too good to be true.” 

They prompt us to remember P. T. Barnum’s famous statement, “A fool and his money are soon parted.” 

They prompt us to say that what’s being offered lacks integrity.

We live in a world that lacks integrity.  We live in a world, a postmodern world, where people are very suspicious of nearly everything that’s outside their own private sphere of knowledge and authority…Consequently, people in our society have become very suspicious of government, of corporations, of institutions, of leaders.

And where does this suspicious attitude place us when we consider Jesus Christ?

Many outside the faith think that Jesus Christ was merely a charismatic teacher and leader, whose teaching and work spawned a movement of devoted followers.  (Sadly, many who call themselves Christians also believe this about Jesus Christ, but that’s all they believe about Him.)

What basis do we have to be sure that Jesus Christ has integrity?

After all, what we’re asking is this:  “Is Jesus Christ trustworthy?  Is He worth following, worth making the Lord of my life?”

What evidence would there be to assure us that Jesus Christ is integrity personified?

In a search for answer to this question, let’s turn our attention to the gospel text before us today.  The first three gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) all recount Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.  For early Christian believers, this event must have been very, very important, perhaps even central to their ability to trust Jesus and to follow Him completely.  Moreover, John tells us that Jesus’ disciples were baptizing people, as well (see John 4: 1 – 2).

Now let’s recall that John the Baptist’s baptism was a baptism for the repentance of sins.

But Jesus was without sin (see Hebrews 4: 15).  John seems to have sensed Jesus’ sinless character as he said when Jesus came and asked John to baptize Him, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matthew 3: 14)

So, if Jesus is without sin, why then did He ask John to baptize Him?

I think the answer is that the Lord Jesus Christ always leads by example.  As we look at His sinless life, we see evidence of this integration of His words and His actions throughout His earthly ministry. 

Of course, this integration begins with His coming among us as one of us, fully human and yet fully divine.  This is His incarnation, His “taking on of our humanity”.  In so doing, Jesus Christ sets aside – to some extent - the rights and the powers of His oneness with God the Father, the rights and dignity that belong to Him because He is God, one with the Father.

Now, we see evidence of His oneness with the Father and the Holy Spirit in His baptism as the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and the voice is heard that says, “You are my beloved Son….with you I am well pleased.”  Here is the fullness of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, true integrity of the Godhead.

As the Lord’s life unfolds, His integrity is seen most clearly in His suffering and death.  Here, He allows Himself to be subjected the deepest depths of human suffering, even to the point of death on a cross.  His inseparable bond with all human suffering is complete.

Returning to the opening images we began with, we are reminded that what the words and phrases that we experience in the ads we encounter on television, the internet and elsewhere all carry the potential for a lack of integrity, and therefore, a lack of trustworthiness.

Put another way, the words that are used can’t be trusted to match up to the reality of whatever it is that’s being offered for sale.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, by contrast, is the personification of the unity, the integrity, of words and deeds. 

As people come to trust Him in faith, lives are changed and are marked with an indelible character that Jesus Christ alone is able to supply.

His invitation to all who come to faith is:  “Follow me, do as I say, and do as I do.”

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

                                               

The Feast of the Epiphany, Year C

Isaiah 60:1–6; Psalm 72:1–7,10–14; Ephesians 3:1–12; Matthew 2:1–12

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday January 6, 2013

 

OLD KINGS VS. THE NEW KING

(Homily text:  Matthew 2: 1 – 12)

A group of passengers disembark from an airliner at Heathrow Airport outside of London, England.  As they pass through customs, one of them asks the agent who is processing their passports, “Where can we find the new king of England?...Do you suppose that the Home Office of the British government could tell us?”

As the group leaves, the agent picks up the phone and calls Buckingham Palace, saying, “There was a group of passengers who passed through my station at the Customs Office at Heathrow just a while ago, and they were asking ‘Where can we find the new king of England?’  I thought you ought to know.”

Perhaps the news of the visit of the mysterious wise men from the east, who came, asking, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” spread just about as fast as our mythical scenario of the passengers who were passing through Heathrow.

After all, King Herod the Great jealously guarded his puppet throne, even to the extent of killing his own immediate family members if he thought they posed any sort of a threat at all to his power and position.[1]

As a result of his willingness to eliminate any and all potential challengers to his throne, Herod the Great reigned for a long time, 33 years in total, from 37 – 4 BC.  Even today, Herod’s architectural legacy can be seen all over the Holy Land…Herod was determined to make a name for himself, leaving behind all sorts of major building projects…the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is, of course, the largest and most visible, but Herod’s list of building projects also includes the mountain fortress of Masada and one of his retreat homes, the Herodian, which is located southwest of Bethlehem.

The Jews themselves seem to have had a love-hate relationship with Herod.  He was, after all, only half-Jewish.  To devout Jews of his day, this was a mark against him.  Furthermore, he was a puppet king, for he collaborated with the Roman occupiers, another strike against him….he owed his throne to the permissive policies of the Romans.  But, on the positive side, he was building that great and glorious Temple in Jerusalem.  It seem as though the Jews were willing to overlook Herod’s shortcomings in view of his largesse toward the Jewish religious establishment.

Having traced some of Herod’s background and the manner in which he operated, we ought to return now to the text before us.

Matthew tells us that, having heard the news about the inquiry of the Wise Men, Herod himself gathers the religious authorities to ask where such a new king might be born.  They cite a passage from Micah 5: 2, telling him that the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem.

Then, feigning interest in this newborn king, he tells the Wise Men to go, find this new king, and then return and tell him, so that he can worship as well.

The account of what happens next is familiar to you:  The Wise Men leave, and being guided by the star that had led them to the Holy Land in the first place, they make their way to Bethlehem, where they find the child Jesus.  Upon finding Him, they worship and offer gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Then, the events which follow today’s gospel passage are also familiar:  Matthew tells us that the Wise Men have been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, so they leave, going home by another way.  Discovering that he has been tricked by the Wise Men, Herod decides to eliminate this potential rival to his throne by ordering the slaughter of all the baby boys in Bethlehem who are two years old and under.[2]  (This is an event we remember on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, December 28^th.)  But Matthew also tells us that God has been protecting and guiding the process of bringing this new king into the world.  In the case of the slaughter of the baby boys, Matthew tells us that Joseph is warned in a dream to leave Bethlehem to escape Herod’s wrath.  The Holy Family leaves by night for Egypt, there to remain until Herod is dead.  (See Matthew 2: 13 – 15.)

Sometimes, I think that people in the Bible tend to lose their humanity…they become somewhat two-dimensional as we read about them and about God’s working in their lives.  But the people in the Bible were real human beings, who had similar hopes, dreams, concerns and challenges to ours.

 In order to bring a fresh perspective into the accounts before us today, let’s return to our opening scenario, that of the passengers who come through Heathrow Airport, asking the customs agent where the new king of England might be found.

As we think about these incoming passengers and their question to the customs agent, out first assessment of their question is to think that it is an extremely naïve question.  After all, nearly everyone in England knows that the monarch in Queen Elizabeth II, and that, in the line of succession, stand Prince Charles, Prince William, and then the unborn child of William and Kate, who is the Duchess of Cambridge.  (I think I have the order of succession right.)

No one would/could imagine that there would be another pretender to the throne.  Our Heathrow passengers would cause quite a stir if they asked where the new king of England could be found.

The same might be true of the Wise Men as they asked where the newborn king of the Jews could be found.  Their question seems to fall into two possible categories:

• They are extremely naïve, or are unaware of the line of succession which follows Herod the Great;
• They are sounding a warning to King Herod (and to his way of being a king).

Although the Wise Men might have been uninformed of the political realities of the Herodian dynasty, the more likely impact of their question is that it served as a warning that the old ways of being a king are coming to an end.

Consider the role of the star which guided the Wise Men from their homes in the east (perhaps they had come from Persia)….the meaning of the guiding star is that God is the guide.  It is God who is bringing about all the aspects of the coming of this new king, who will be Immanuel, God with us.  The star and its specific guidance, even to the very place where the child Jesus was, is of divine origin.

 It is God who delivers His Son from the rage of Herod.  It is God who tells Joseph to flee from Herod’s wrath by going into exile in Egypt.  It is God who tells the Holy Family that it is now safe to return home.

God is guiding the Wise Men, first to ask about the whereabouts of the newborn king, then into Herod’s presence, then into Jesus’ presence, and from there, home by another way.

The chief priests and the scribes affirm the reality of this new king:  He is to be born in Bethlehem, and He will be a ruler who shall govern my people Israel.

Herod took the message seriously enough to act…Although he couldn’t see it at the time, the reality is that this new king would surpass and then abolish his sort of kingship.

We can see the coming of this new kingdom and its new king as we contrast Herod’s ways with Jesus’ ways:

HEROD, a king who:

• Rules by force
• Uses fear and intimidation to rule
• Is power-hungry

JESUS, a king who:

• Rules by the rule of love
• Uses love and issues an open invitation to become a citizen of His kingdom
• Lays aside his power (seen most clearly in the cross)

In time, all kings, all rulers, all authorities will become subject to this new king, Jesus.  In time, everyone will acknowledge Him as King of kings and Lord of lords.  In time, His kingdom will be complete and everyone will see this new king for the kind, gentle and loving savior and lord that He is.

In the meantime, we can be sure that this newborn king is bringing in His new kingdom. We see some evidence of its inbreaking already, even as we wait for it to come in all its fullness.

Our task is to model what it means to be a citizen of this new way of being.  We do this by the way we talk, the way we act, and especially by the way we love the Lord, and by the way we love one another and by the way we love those around us.  Step by step then, the king brings in His new kingdom, one person, one soul, one heart at a time.

AMEN.

 

           

 

           

 

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[1]   The first century Jewish historian Josephus provides us with much of the detail of Herod’s character and  his ways of ruling over the Jews.

[2]   See Matthew 2: 16 – 18.