Pentecost 14, Year C (2025)

Exodus 32: 7– 14 / Psalm 51: 1–10 / I Timothy 1: 12–17 / Luke 15: 1–10

This is the written version of the homily given on September 14, 2025 at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“DOES GOD RATION HIS GOODNESS, LOVE & MERCY?”

(Homily text: Luke 15: 1-10)

We begin this morning with a question: “Does God ration (withhold) His goodness, love and mercy to certain persons?” Or, to reverse the question, we could ask, “Is God so generous that He showers His goodness, love and mercy upon all persons, seeking to be in relationship with each and every human being?”

The answer ought to be obvious.

But to the Pharisees and the scribes we read about in this morning’s Gospel text, the answer was – most certainly – that the first question is the one that pertains, and the answer to that question – in their minds – would he that God, does, indeed, withhold His goodness, love and mercy from certain persons, and especially those notorious tax collectors and other really bad sinners that Jesus had a habit of hanging around with.

The picture that the Gospels present to us of the commonly-held attitudes among the Pharisees and the scribes is one that was governed by two major ideas: The first one is that God requires holiness of life and cleanliness in all things. The other guiding principle was that if a person was doing all the “right” things (like keeping the many rules and regulations in the Law of Moses), then God would bless that individual. Conversely, if a person was poor, or sickly, or was in some other terrible situation in life, then their predicament must surely stem from some grievous sin (perhaps known only to God, but, nonetheless, still there).

As the Pharisees put these two guiding principles into action, they, themselves, stayed away from “unclean” persons, persons like tax collectors, those who were sick, and so forth. For to associate with such persons as that was to risk becoming “unclean” themselves.

No wonder they grumbled when they saw the Lord hanging around with all those “bad” people. (I love the fact that Luke used that word, “grumble” to describe how they reacted to what Jesus was doing...perhaps Luke is telling us that they objected to Jesus’ ways somewhat quietly…if so, Jesus heard or sensed their reaction.)

To correct the erroneous views of His opponents, Jesus offers two short parables. He makes the point that God’s way of seeing things is radically different from the ways that we often see things.

The other thing we might notice is that God’s “economy” (used in this sense to describe God’s set of values) is also radically different from ours. For whatever reason – but, quite likely, because God’s nature is one of love and generosity – God seems to value each and every human being. Moreover, God seeks to be in relationship with each individual.

What a radical idea!

Jesus’ teaching, in these two parables, must have prompted those who heard them to scratch their heads. Maybe they thought to themselves, “Nobody risks a flock of ninety-nine sheep to go rescue one lost one…that doesn’t make sense”. They may have added that common sense dictates that if you lose one, you cut your losses and protect what you still have left.

But God’s “economy”, that is to say, what He values, is quite a bit different that what we think is important or valuable. God doesn’t want to see or experience any losses, not where human beings are concerned.

The challenge for us – as Christian believers – is to see things the way God sees them.

Our challenge, as Christian believers – is to prepare the soil of our hearts and – thereby – the field that is our churches so that all who come our way will experience the radical welcome that Jesus extended to the outcasts in the time of His earthly visitation.

No wonder the early Church experiences such growth in the early centuries of its existence. The Church said to any and all who came their way that God loves them, God values them, and God seeks to be n relationship with them. Put another way, we could say that the Church said, “Come one, come all. No matter where you are in life, God loves you, seeks to be in relationship with you, and offers you a different way to be”.

Just as Jesus’ care for and interaction with the notorious sinners of 2,000 years ago changed lives forever, so, too, must we be about the business of changing lives with God’s message of love, radical welcome and invitation to a changed and better way of being.

AMEN. 

Pentecost 13, Year C (2025)

Deuteronomy 30: 15–20 / Psalm 1 / Philemon 1 – 21 / Luke 14: 25–33  

This is the homily written for Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, McKnightstown, Pennsylvania, for September 7, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor. On this day, however, the sermon was in written form only – the sermon time was instead used for “Stump the Pastor” – a time of questions, answers and discussion about the lectionary readings or other subjects.

 

“THE COST OF FOLLOWING THE LORD: HYPERBOLE -OR- REALITY?”

(Homily texts: Deuteronomy 30: 15-20 & Luke 14: 25–33)

 

Our lectionary cycle of readings places before us some of the harshest sayings our Lord ever put before those who would be His followers: “If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

Some of the things that Jesus said qualify as being “hard sayings”. This, surely, is one of the most difficult to hear and to consider.

A question then arises: When the Lord says these things, is He speaking in deliberately exaggerated terms (in hyperbole, which is defined as “exaggerated speech which greatly exaggerates the truth”), or is He describing a reality that those who become His disciples will experience?

The answer surely must be: Both.

The Lord is shocking any and all who would consider being a disciple, a follower of the Lord, putting before them the stark reality that such a decision will mean. For to make such a decision, and then to follow through with it, means a total and complete change of focus and direction in one’s life. That much is true. It was true for those who first heard the Lord say these things, it was true for God’s people in the time of Moses, as we hear in today’s reading from Deuteronomy, it was true for the early Christians in the first centuries of the Church’s existence, and it remains true for us today.

But it is also true that for many early Christians, who came to faith in the Greco-Roman world, becoming a Christian meant the distinct possibility of being persecuted, or even being martyred. (That reality still exists in many places around the world today.) So, by the time that Luke was writing his Gospel account, both realities had come true: Many Christians who had placed their faith in the Lord, put their discipleship ahead of relationships like family and friends. Following Jesus also meant the real possibility of suffering and death.

Reality, yes!

Hyperbole, yes!

Both possibilities come with challenges.

For those who would face physical hardship, suffering or even death, the prospect that that path of discipleship is a great challenge. (It’s worth saying that – even in the face of such awful prospects – many in the days of the Roman Empire chose to follow the Lord, even to the point of giving up their lives to do so.)

But, fortunately, that path isn’t one that most of us – living as Americans in this wonderful country – are likely to face.

And yet, even if the Lord’s challenge to becoming a follower is of the easier path described in the Lord’s exaggerated terms, it is still a challenge to decide to put one’s priorities in order, with the Lord and our following of Him first in our lives.

Why?

Perhaps it is still a challenge because, living in the society we are privileged to live in, becoming a Christian doesn’t mean a radical change of lifestyle. One can be a Christian in today’s culture, pretty much adopting the behaviors of the surrounding culture. This is the easier path, by far.

And yet, as the culture beckons to us, asking us to take up all of their various attitudes and behaviors, we – as Christians – are called to bear witness to a different and better way of living and being, saying “no” to some of the offerings that are placed before us.

To do so, it seems to me, is to discover life in its fullest, most complete, and most fulfilling meanings. Nothing that the culture can offer us will ever surpass knowing the Lord personally, and following Him, day by day.

We are, then, in need of the Holy Spirit’s help, that we will keep ever before our eyes and in our consciousness, the richness that following the Lord Jesus Christ offers.

AMEN.

  

Pentecost 12, Year C (2025)

Proverbs 25: 6–7a / Psalm 112 / Hebrews 13: 1–8, 15–16 / Luke 14: 1, 7–14

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, August 31, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“LAGACIES RECEIVED, LEGACIES CREATED (PART II)”

(Homily text:  Proverbs 25: 6–7a & Luke 14: 1, 7–14

Last Sunday, we spoke about the legacies that come down to us, passed along by those who’ve gone before us, or – perhaps – by those who’ve been a part of our lives today. To review, we are using the meaning of the word “legacy” in this way: 1. Money or property left behind in a will; and 2. Something resulting from and left behind by an action, event or person.

God’s chosen people, the children of Abraham, in the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, were the inheritors and the beneficiaries of a wonderful legacy. That legacy consisted of the Law of Moses, and the wisdom of the Old Testament prophets, to cite but two examples.

Part of that legacy consisted of a concern for cleanliness, cleanliness in everyday living, and cleanliness before God.

A legacy can be regarded, and can be used, to our benefit. But it can also be misused.

The misuse of the legacy that that had been given to the people among whom Jesus ministered and taught was often misused. They were squandering their wonderful inheritance, and their misuse is on full display in the event that our Gospel text for this morning relates to us.

Mark tells us of a banquet, to whom Jesus had been invited, and which was given by a local Pharisee.

As the banquet was getting underway, Jesus noticed that the guests vied for the most prominent places to be. (Perhaps the most prestigious places were those that were closest to the host. We don’t know that for sure, and Mark doesn’t tell us.)

(At this point, I can’t resist employing an old bit of Army wisdom, which says, “It’s kinda hard to soar like an eagle if one hangs around with turkeys”.)

The guests at the banquet were making good use of that bit of wisdom, as they determined – for themselves – where they stood in the estimation of the host and the other guests.

But our Lord, as He watches this little game of one-ups-man-ship unfold, turns the conventional wisdom of the guests at the banquet on its head. He says that when a person is invited to a feast, they shouldn’t put themselves forward as being more prominent in their own estimation than they really are. Instead, they should wait for the host to make that determination. (Notice that the Lord seems to be making use of the wisdom of our reading from Proverbs, heard this morning.)

But then the Lord goes further, telling the host of the event that, when they decide to have such an event, they shouldn’t invite their own friends or relatives or rich neighbors. Instead, He says, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.

We should pause for a moment here.

The poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind weren’t the “eagles” of the society of the day (making use of the Army adage, provided above). Instead, these persons were regarded as being unclean. Moreover, they were regarded by many as being in the conditions that they were because God was punishing them for some egregious moral failure.

They were (to quote the Army adage again) the “turkeys” of society.

It will be useful for us, as we read the accounts of our Lord’s work in the Gospels, to hold in mind how prominent was the belief that if a person was rich or was wealthy, the root cause of their condition was due to their own efforts to behave like an “eagle”. Conversely, the opposite was also regarded as being true. Such an attitude seems to have permeated the society of the day, widely.

Luke’s Gospel account is filled with examples that – by the conventional wisdom of the time of Jesus’ ministry, and in our own day – upset and turn over our usual ways of thinking. (I’d like to think that Luke took delight in passing along those accounts that challenge us to review our attitudes and expectations.)

If we apply Jesus’ wisdom to the list of those who should sit at table with the host of the feast, we might say that He is telling us that we shouldn’t choose to soar like an eagle because we’ve chosen to hang around with other eagles, but that we will soar like an eagle if we choose to hang around with those whom society regards as being something radically different from eagles.

The legacy that the children of Abraham had inherited instructed them to seek to live holy, righteous and upright lives. But that same legacy also instructed them to care for the poor, the sick, the disadvantaged and the hungry.

Somehow, part of their rich inheritance was forgotten or was overlooked, that second part.

Our own legacy, as followers of Jesus, instructs us to seek to live holy righteous and upright lives. But our legacy – our inheritance as Christians – also instructs us to care for those for whom there is little comfort, little hope, and little evidence that God loves and values them, for they are – regardless of their station in life – beloved creations of God, valuable beyond measure in God’s sight.

We pray then that God will assist us mightily, that we might reach out to the downtrodden of our own world today, in order to lift them up, even as God has opened His arms of love and mercy to us in the waters of baptism, elevating us into the status of children of God. For God has bequeathed to us a rich legacy, and we, in turn, are called to create a legacy with which to bless others.

AMEN.

  

Pentecost 11, Year C (2025)

Isaiah 58: 9b-14 / Psalm 103: 1-8 / Hebrews 12: 18-29 / Luke 13: 10–17

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, August 25, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“LEGACIES RECEIVED, LEGACIES CREATED”

(Homily text: Luke 13: 10–17)

 

The dictionary defines the word “legacy” in this way: 1. Money or property left behind in a will; and 2. Something resulting from and left behind by an action, event or person.

So, using the second definition given above, we, as Americans, have inherited a legacy, stemming from our nation’s founding (250 years ago, next year). We, as members of Flohr’s Church, also share a legacy, coming to us from our parish’s 240-year history this year. Our families, or the schools, or places we’ve worked, all provide us with a legacy.

This morning’s Gospel reading has a lot to do with legacy. Or, to be more specific, a legacy that had been forgotten or overlooked, and a legacy that was being created which history would judge.

If we think about it, the process of living is one of receiving a legacy of some sort, and then, a process of living into that legacy in some way (as I think about it, it might entail living into the good aspects of a legacy, or it might entail overcoming negative aspects of it). And, as we do so, we are creating a legacy of our own, something that we will pass along to those who know us, those we’ve worked with, those we’ve gone to school with, or perhaps those in our communities or families.

With this background in mind, let’s turn our attention to today’s Gospel.

Luke tells us that Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. It was the Sabbath day. A woman was present who had been bent over for eighteen years. (Today, we might say that she was suffering from a severe case of osteoporosis, or some similar condition. But Jesus uses the language that the people of the day could understand to describe why she had suffered as she had, saying that Satan had bound her.) Jesus then heals her of her condition, and immediately, she stood up straight. But the ruler of the synagogue confronts Jesus, and says, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, but not on the Sabbath day.”

The bottom line in the comment about doing good things on the Sabbath day is that the rules seemed to be far more important than the welfare of people. In the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry, that was a common attitude.

The problem is that proper observance of the Sabbath day (which is, of course, one of the Ten Commandments) is a good thing to be doing. In observing the Sabbath day, God is telling us that setting aside a time to slow down, to rest, to be about the things of God, are all good things to be doing. (And, we might add, an important lesson for our society today, which seems to be always on the go.)

But what happens when the rule about keeping the Sabbath becomes, not a beneficial thing, but something that is far more important than the welfare of human beings?

It is to this aspect of what the ruler of the synagogue said that Jesus responds, saying, “You hypocrites! Don’t each of you untie your animals and lead them to water on the Sabbath day?” The obvious answer is, yes, they do, all of them.

The Lord’s response makes use of a rhetorical device known as “lesser-to-greater”. Jesus says that each one of His hearers would lead their animals to water on the Sabbath day, so how much more important is a human being’s welfare, even if caring for that welfare takes place on the Sabbath day.

There is a recognition that certain things will have to be taken care of on the Sabbath day. That’s Jesus’ point. Likewise, the rabbis in Jesus’ time realized that people would have to walk a certain distance on the Sabbath day, so they came up with an acceptable distance a person could walk on that day. It was about three-quarters of a mile.

What part of the legacy of being children of Abraham, part of God’s chosen people, had these people forgotten? It surely seems as though they’d lost sight of some part of the legacy that God had given them, for the strict observance of the Sabbath day had taken first place in their concept of what are the right things to be doing.

It might be that the thing they’d lost sight of is that the rules that God had given them are important, but the people whom God had created are also important. Sometimes, people are faced with having to make decisions between what seem to be competing requirements. Like the woman who had the condition in the synagogue: healing her was a good thing to be doing, even if it took place on the Sabbath.

The observance of the Sabbath day had taken on an importance of its own, one that was connected to being children of Abraham, being observers of the Law of Moses. Observance of the Sabbath became an identifying marker of their ethnic and racial identity in the face of the harsh and pagan Roman occupation.

We said a moment ago that each one of us has inherited some sort of a legacy. We also said that we, each one of us, is creating some sort of a legacy that we share with others, and which we will leave to others once our relationship has ended in some way.

The stuff of legacy figures into our celebration of life for a person whose earthly journey has come to an end. In a funeral, for example, we often give thanks for the gifts that a person was given, and the use that person made of those gifts, given and shared with others. Those things comprise their legacy, left to us.

Perhaps we might reflect on our own life’s journey this morning. Could we ask ourselves, “Is there evidence in my life that God is active in my life in some way or another?” Another question we might ask ourselves is this one: “What sort of a legacy am I creating in my day-in-and-day-out interaction with others? Is the manner of my life such that someone can see evidence of God’s presence in my heart and mind?”

Might we pray that the Holy Spirit will open our minds to see clearly the legacy we are weaving as we make our way through life? After all, that’s the most important and central thing we can be about.

AMEN.

  

Pentecost 10, Year C (2025)

Jeremiah 23: 23–29 / Psalm 82 / Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2 / Luke 12: 49–56

This is the homily written for the benefit of Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania for August 17, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor. (On this day, in place of a regular, delivered homily, it was a time for the monthly “Stump the Pastor” – when members of the congregation ask their random questions on spiritual or theological matters, and the pastor responds.)

 

“WE ARE ALWAYS WALKING IN GOD’S SIGHT”

(Homily text: Luke 12: 49–56)

 

Ever say to yourself, “I can’t stand it anymore! That thing needs to be fixed, and now!?”

Into each of our lives, there are times when the urgency to do something, to fix something, to counteract something, or to correct something, becomes intolerable.

That might be a way to understand Jesus’ comment, heard in our Gospel reading for this morning, when He says, “I have come to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.” Following up, He seems to be referring to His own coming suffering, death and resurrection, saying, “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint I am under until it is completed.” (Recall that baptism is representative of death and resurrection.)

So much for any understanding of Jesus as “Meek and Mild”!

Today’s Gospel conveys to us one of Jesus’ “difficult sayings”, those things that remind us that He – like all of us – can reach the point of exasperation, the point when disgust with the way things are, versus the way things ought to be, becomes overwhelming.

In the time of His earthly ministry, there was much in society and in the religious practice of the day, and of the poor leadership provided to the people by the religious elites, that required radical change.

Consider, for example, the leadership of God’s people. The chief priests, the Scribes, and the Pharisees, were much more interested in their own privileges and perks, than they were in the overall welfare of the people in their care. They emphasized rigorous observance of the Law of Moses, even to the point when the importance of the Law outweighed people’s own welfare.

Then, there was the common belief that if a person was wealthy or enjoyed good health, their seeming success or good health was because that person had done all the “right stuff”, earning God’s favor in the process.

Conversely, if a person was poor or suffered some sort of illness, the common belief was that God was punishing that person for some heinous sin.

The society of that time was divided into the have’s and the have-nots, into the clean and the unclean. A “good” person stayed away from the outcasts. The “good” person shunned the “unclean” ones. The common belief seemed to be that the “unclean” ones were so “unclean” that God had no soap strong enough to clean them up...those “unclean” ones were so “unclean” that they were forever be beyond any hope of a relationship with God. Such attitudes extended to caring for unhealthy or sickly people, even to the point of tending to their wounds.

Our Lord’s response to all of these attitudes and practices was often one of confrontation.

He hung around with the “bad” people, telling His critics that the healthy people aren’t the ones who need a doctor, but the sick ones. He healed on the Sabbath, incurring the wrath of the Pharisees and their allies, saying that the Sabbath was made for the people, not the other way around. He touched the leper, becoming “unclean” Himself in the process.

You see the pattern.

To see the world and the people in the world from Jesus’ perspective, a perspective that differs from the commonly-held outlooks of the unbelieving world, inevitably means division. Our Lord refers to this, saying that He had not come to bring peace to the earth, but rather, division. He says that the division will run right through families, even. In time, as Luke was writing his Gospel account, such divisions had begun to take place, as some in a family had come to faith in the Lord, while others rejected.

Sometimes, that division is deep, abiding and radical. It means a firm rejection of the ways in which the world thinks and behaves.

At other times, it means showing by the way we live and by the things we say that our values are different, that we are members of a godly army of believers who look to our Lord Jesus Christ for our values and our marching orders.

Whether our response is a radical one, or a less-noticeable (but clear) one, the bottom line is clear: We must make a choice about the values we will honor and live by. We will need to make a choice about our response, deciding whether or not the challenge posed to the values of the Gospel are severe enough to warrant a radical response. Many of our Saints down through time are honored because of their radical response to the challenges they faced in their time and place.

Assist by your grace, dear Lord, to know the signs of the times, to know what you would have us do, and to empower us to respond.

AMEN. 

Pentecost 9, Year C (2025)

Genesis 15: 1–6 / Psalm 33: 12–22 / Hebrews 11: 1–3, 8–16 / Luke 12: 32–40

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, August 10, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“WE ARE ALWAYS WALKING IN GOD’S SIGHT”

(Homily text: Luke 12: 32–40)

Some years ago, there was a wonderful comedy show on public television called “Red Green”. The setting for the show was that it took place in a men’s clubhouse. Each episode had the usual assortment of stock, male characters, like the guy who was working on an old, beat-up pickup truck, or the nerdy guy who was doing “nerdy” things, or the guy who was inventing some Rube Goldberg device.

Each episode began with the men filing into the clubhouse, where they would sit on benches. Then, the leader would come in, ask everyone to stand, and to recite the Men’s Prayer, which went something like this:

“I’m a man, and I can change, if I have to, I guess”.

Let’s alter this prayer just a bit and say, “I’m a human being, and I can change, if I have to, I guess”. (OK - and just because I can’t resist - do we really think that’s it’s only one part of the human race that needs to change?)

A further alteration changes the focus a bit: “We are members of Flohr’s faith community. We can change, and God is inviting us to change, of that, we are sure.”

Our Gospel reading this morning, is a command to change, to be aware that all we do is being done in God’s sight.

Notice our Lord’s choice of words: “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour who do not expect”.

To some Christians, those words are applied only to the Lord’s eventual return in glory. (This is a truth that we affirm, week-by-week, in the words of the Creeds.) To these Christians, the only thing that really matters is that time when the Lord will return in power and great glory. That time when the trumpet will sound, and the Lord will descend from the clouds. To be ready for that event, they emphasize that each person must be prepared by inviting the Lord into the heart, so that a personal relationship with the Lord can be established. To some who maintain this focus, the problems and the challenges of living life in this world don’t matter. Sad to say, to some of those who have this outlook, doing anything to better the everyday circumstances of anyone’s life doesn’t get much thought and attention.

Being able to see God’s great, big picture ensures that we, as Christian believers, have a mature and well-balanced understanding of God’s intent and God’s mission, given to us as followers of Jesus.

Well-balanced.

What makes up a well-balanced understanding of God’s will?

Perhaps it means keeping our eyes on the final events in God’s plan, that time when God’s will, God’s power, and God’s reign over all things is complete…these are the final things of God. That’s one part of the balance we are called to maintain. But the other part is also important, and it’s possible that the Lord is telling us that being light in a dark world[1], day-by-day, is also important. Going about our day-in-and-day-out challenges and tasks is equally important to the understanding that we are also called to keep our eyes on the skies, to be ready to see God’s hand at work in the everyday of life, but also in the final plans that will unfold at some point in the future.

Our Lord’s earthly ministry informs us, providing for us a pattern for us to emulate and follow.

Notice how often Jesus reaches out to the marginalized, those on the edges of society. Notice how often He takes time to heal people and to deliver them from whatever is diminishing their life’s journey. Notice how He feeds people.

His work is also our work: Everyday, common actions that lift people up, give them hope, let them know that they have value and are precious in God’s sight.

But, the Lord is also keeping God’s great, big plan in front of our eyes, as well.

It can be quite a challenge to keep our focus on the everyday, the here-and-the-now, but also on God’s intent for future things. We often tend to slide toward one part of this two-fold focus or the other.

Perhaps our prayer might be: “We are your followers, Lord. We need to change, to remember that all we do is done in your sight. We know you tell us to widen our outlook, to see your hand at work in the world around us.”

AMEN.

---

[1]   Notice the Lord’s comment about keeping our lamps burning in verse 35. This is an echo of the Lord’s parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids. See Matthew, chapter 25.

Pentecost 8, Year C (2025)

Ecclesiastes 1: 2, 12 – 14, 2: 18–23 / Psalm 49: 1–12 / Colossians 3: 1–12 / Luke 12: 13–21

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, August 3, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“THINGS WE WILL LOSE, THINGS WE WILL LEAVE BEHIND, THINGS WE WILL TAKE WITH US”

(Homily text: Luke 12: 13–21)

If we think about life, and our walk through that life, it’s probably a valid observation to make to say that three things will be realities for each of us: 1.  There are things we will lose as we make our way through life; 2. There are things we will leave behind us, once this life is done; and 3. There are things that we can take with us once this life is done and we face God.

With this perspective in view, let’s remind ourselves that Luke is fond of filling his Gospel narrative of things that Jesus said and did that completely turn our normal expectations of the way things ought to be (or, usually are) upside down.

That is certainly the case with the parable we hear today, as Jesus tells us about a rich man who, having decided to retire, tells himself that his retirement portfolio is quite healthy…”Soul, you have many goods laid up for yourself; relax, eat, drink and be merry”.

Applying the three principles we outlined above to the Lord’s parable, we can come to some valid conclusions (it seems to me):

1.  The rich man will leave all that he has accumulated to someone else. The Lord’s warning is stark: “This night, your soul is being demanded of you”, He says about the rich man, adding, “then, whose will those things (that you have accumulated) be?”

2. The rich man will leave behind a legacy, but it won’t be one of being aware (and even thankful) for the work of the laborers in his fields who made the abundant harvests that he has come to enjoy possible. Nor will there be a legacy of care and concern for those who lack food and other necessities of life.

3. The rich man will take nothing of value out of this world and into eternity, for he did not cultivate a relationship with God while he had the opportunity.

Jesus’ original hearers may have scratched their heads when they heard this teaching. The reason is that, in that place and time, the common belief was that if a person was wealthy or healthy (or both), their blessings must be directly due to their own diligent observance of the Law of Moses. Put another way, they were where they were because they had done all the “right things”.

This parable exhorts us to step back and encompass a wider perspective, one that stretches our awareness beyond the here-and-the-now. and into the things of God.

Returning to the three principles with which we began, as we contemplate eternity, we come to the realization that the only thing we will take into that life beyond this one is our relationship with God. The nurture we’ve applied to our walk with the Lord in this life will shape the nature and the character of our life with God in that time where there no end to the ages. As God’s boundless love reaches down to us, claims us as His own, and anoints us with the ability to know God and to grow into the full stature of Christ, God shapes us to know Him, so that when we come face-to-face with Him in heaven, we will know Him, even as we are fully known.

May we then pray for the intervention of the Holy Spirit, that by the enlightening power of the Spirit, we may come to know and value things heavenly, even as we are passing through things that will pass away.

AMEN.

  

Pentecost 7, Year C (2025)

Genesis 18: 20–32 / Psalm 138 / Colossians 2: 6–19 / Luke 11: 1-13

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 27, 2025, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“THIS IS A TEST OF OUR PRAYER LIFE AND PRACTICES”

(Homily texts: Genesis 18: 20–32 & Luke 11: 1–13)

“This is a test. This is really a test, a test of our relationship with God and our relating to Him in prayer.”

Today’s Old Testament reading, from Genesis, chapter eighteen, and our Gospel reading, from Luke, chapter eleven, each have to do with persistence in prayer. These texts challenge us to take a close look at our own relationship with the Lord, and the ways in which we come to Him in prayer.

Before we explore these ideas, let’s look briefly at Luke’s offering of the Lord’s Prayer.

Notice that it follows, generally, the same pattern as the version given in Matthew’s Gospel account. (This is the version we use in our liturgy.) But there are differences.

The question naturally arises: “Why is this version different from Matthew’s?”

Two possibilities present themselves: 1. It’s possible that Luke’s sources remembered what the Lord said differently than Matthew’s record indicates. Recall that, at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel account, he tells us that he had diligently checked his sources in order to compile his account of the Lord’s life, work, death and resurrection. (Remember that Luke was not an eyewitness of the Lord’s ministry. He was a Gentile and a later convert to the Christian faith.). 2.  It’s possible that the Lord was asked on more than one occasion how to pray, and the Lord offered different versions of the prayer. We often overlook this possibility; it seems to me. It’s natural to think that the Lord offered His prayer only once, but that may not have been the case. (The same thing could also be true of other events in the Lord’s ministry.)

Now, let’s turn our attention to the back-and-forth between Abraham and God, as we find it in Genesis. Then, let’s take away some lessons from our Lord’s parable of the man who asks for a loaf of bread at midnight.

In our Genesis reading, Abraham’s haggling with God is almost comical. Can’t we imagine the back-and-forth? “What if you find fifty righteous in Sodom, will you destroy it?”, Abraham asks. God responds, “No, not for fifty.” The Abraham works the number of righteous downward, and downward again, and again, until he gets to ten righteous persons in the city. Turns out there aren’t even ten righteous ones in Sodom…it’s a really wicked place, maybe one like the tent cities that followed the westward advance of the building of the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s. Those tent cities, which were freewheeling places, became known as “Hell on Wheels” towns. Sodom must’ve been something like that.

In the process of working the number of righteous souls downward and downward, it is Abraham who is changed, not God. God already knows all about the conditions and the wicked nature of Sodom. But as the back-and-forth unfolds, it is Abraham who realizes the reality of conditions in Sodom. As the story unfolds, that wickedness becomes a reality, as Abraham’s nephew Lot and a small number of his family are the only ones to escape. Turns out, there aren’t even ten righteous ones in Sodom: Only Lot, his wife and his two daughters are the only ones to escape.

Now, let’s turn to our Gospel reading.

There, the Lord spins out a tale about a man who goes to his neighbor at midnight, seeking some bread with which to feed a guest who’s just arrived.

The Lord’s story continues, as He says that the man who’s been asked to open up the door and provide the bread, at first refuses to do so. But when the persistence of the man doing the asking continues, the man gets up and fulfills the request.

Notice the language that Jesus uses: “How much more will the Lord give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

The Lord uses a rhetorical device known as “lesser-to-greater”, marked by the words “how much more” to describe God’s goodness. Jesus says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more….”

Note also that the Lord is using hyperbole (exaggerated speech, meant to surprise or shock) in describing His listeners as being “evil”.

Now, both readings offer us some insights about our relating to God in prayer.

First of all, a fruitful prayer life rests on the foundation of relationship. Abraham is only able to haggle over the fate of Sodom because Abraham is in relationship with God. By the same vein, the man asking for bread is able to do so only because he is in relationship with his neighbor.

We cannot expect our prayer life to be effective if we do not do what we must do to maintain a relationship with the Lord. We cannot treat God like we do an ATM machine, inserting our special prayer card, entering our authorization code, expecting to receive exactly what we want when we want it, and then to go on with life. Prayer doesn’t work that way.

Secondly, when we bring our needs and our requests to God, we should expect that our perspectives will change. God already knows the needs, and the situation, far better than we do. That was certainly the case with Abraham.

Finally, being persistent is OK. Holy Scripture seems to endorse the idea that we should be persistent in our prayer life, bringing before God’s throne of grace our own needs, shortcomings and failures, and bringing to God the needs and the challenges of others. God seems to appreciate such a focus.

One final thought might be worth adding: Prayer works. It always works. How it works is, at times, a mystery. Sometimes, God’s answer is “Yes”. Sometimes, it is “No”, and sometimes, it’s “Not now”.

One more possible answer needs acknowledgement: God can say to us, “Your request is outside of my will”. In such cases, my own life is testament to the reality that what God had in mind was far better than what I had in mind.

AMEN.

 

 

  

Pentecost 6, Year C (2025)

Genesis 18: 1–10a / Psalm 15 / Colossians 1: 15–28 / Luke 10: 38–42

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 20, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“LIFE IS SHORT…”

(Homily text: Colossians 1: 15–28)

 

“Life is short, it pays to go first-class.” This saying might be a common one, though I heard it when I was in the Army.

In that vein, then, let’s consider some of the ways we put the wisdom of this saying into practice:

We are, for example, using an adjustable wrench to tighten a bolt. We discover, however, that the main thing the wrench we’re using is capable of doing is to loosen and then to round off the corners of the bolt. Turns out that adjustable wrench isn’t anywhere close to being a first-class tool. It’s quite something else.

Or, we are in the store, looking to buy a garment. We look closely at the quality of the fabric, and also at the seams. We want to be sure that what we’re planning to buy and wear will give good service. We don’t want something whose fabric will develop holes or tears, and we don’t want something whose seams will fall apart. We want to go first-class with our purchase.

Or, we find ourselves in a car dealership. We’ve done our homework to see what the frequency-of-repairs are for the vehicle we’re considering buying. We might pop the hood and look at the machinery inside. We might look at the ground or the floor to see if there are puddles of some sort gathering there. Given the expensive nature of vehicles today, we want to be sure we’ve purchased a well-designed, well-maintained product. In short, what we’re doing is to try to go first-class.

Whether or not we’re aware of it, we do this with just about everything we do or consider in daily life. We don’t want to be cheated. We don’t want to put up with shoddy work or with poorly-designed “stuff”. We don’t want to buy something that will constantly break down or require continual attention and repairs to keep it going.

“Life is short, it pays to go first class!”

In essence, that’s what St. Paul is telling the early Christians in the church at Colossae. He is reminding them of the true nature of the Lord that they have come to know through the ministry of Epaphras. (Some biblical scholars think that the church in Colossae was founded by Epaphras during the time that Paul spent in nearby Ephesus. This theory suggests that Epaphras heard the Good News (Gospel) from Paul during that time, and then went to Colossae and assisted in the founding the church there.)

Paul’s message to the Colossians is essentially this: You have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ through the witness and the work of those who, themselves, have come to faith in Christ. The Colossian Christians had never seen the Lord themselves. Furthermore, they probably didn’t know much about the Old Testament foundations of the faith that had resulted in the sending of Jesus Christ to take up our humanity. What they did know they had come to understand through the work of faithful witnesses to Christ.

What a daunting task! To introduce these future believers to the Lord, even though they had been living a pagan life (with all its empty values and wayward ways) in the Greco-Roman world of the first-century.

Paul reminds these early believers about Christ Jesus’ true nature. “He is the image of the invisible God”, Paul says. “...by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…”…in him all things hold together.”[1]

Paul’s point is that this Christ Jesus is no mere human being, no superhuman, charismatic figure whose luster and memory will fade as the years go by.

On the other hand, Paul says, you have come into an intimate relationship with Christ Jesus, who is one with God Himself. Yours, you Colossian Christians, is a first-class relationship and the first-class gift of God to all who come to faith.

Paul contrasts this new, first-class way of being and living with the former, pagan life of these early believers. Theirs was a second-class existence prior to coming to know the Lord.

Paul’s language captures the truth of Christ’s nature, one that the Church will, in time, affirm in the decree of the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD)…there, the Church affirms that Jesus Christ has two natures, a divine one and a human one. The Council’s decree affirms that neither nature can be separated from the other, but that the two are present in Christ Jesus. The two natures come together to form one person.[2]

These early Christians are blessed, Paul says, to be living in a time following the revelation of God’s nature in the person and work of Christ Jesus. God’s gift makes possible first-class living.

The gift given to the Colossians is the same gift given to us: We are blessed to live in the wake of Christ Jesus’ coming. We are blessed to be the beneficiaries of centuries of the Church’s reflection on God’s work, made known in Christ.

God be praised!

AMEN.

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[1]   Theologians use the term “High Christology” to describe the focus on Christ’s divine nature. Such a focus is seen in Paul’s description of Christ, read this morning. By contrast, the focus on Jesus’ human nature is known as “Low Christology”.

[2]   This is a simplified summary of the Council’s decree.