Epiphany 7, Year C (2025)

Genesis 45: 3–11, 15 / Psalm 37: 1–11, 39–40 / I Corinthians 15: 35-38, 42–50 / Luke 6: 27–38

This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday February 23, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker.

 

“TOPPING THE HIGH BAR”

(Homily text: Luke 6: 27 – 38)

Back in my high school days, I was part of my school’s track team. I always marveled at those who did the high jump and the pole vault. For one thing, those two events were ones that I had absolutely no skill to try. For another, it was quite a sight to watch people jump and contour their bodies so as to just manage to get over the bar. And – in the case of the pole vault – to watch the participants make use of their upper body strength to use the pole to get high enough to clear the bar.

In today’s Gospel reading, our Lord sets a high bar for us to attain to.

He says to His first hearers, as He delivered His “Sermon on the Plain”, that their conduct must surpass that of those in the secular world. Notice how He says, “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” Other such comparisons follow.

It’s worthwhile looking at the structure of this part of the Lord’s sermon.

Notice that we encounter a command, such as the command to love one’s enemies (verse 27). But then, the love command is expanded upon, comparing the behavior of those who’ve come to know the Lord to those who don’t (sinners) (verse 32). In succession, the command to offer the other check when being struck is repeated in verse 33. Likewise, the command to begging (verse 30) is repeated in verse 34.

In the middle is the “Golden Rule”:  “…as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” (verse 31).

(The structure of this week’s reading is similar to last week’s, when we heard Luke’s version of the Beatitudes.)

Why does the Lord set such a high bar of expectation for those who’ve come into relationship with him?

Perhaps one reason might be that, without specific goals, we won’t have something to aim for. (It seems to me that even the struggle – with the Lord’s help – is worth engaging in, even if we fail to fully attain to the high standard.)

Another reason might be that the Lord expects His followers to show by their outward and observable behavior and actions that a profound change has happened in their hearts of these disciples, It’s worth saying that conformation to the image of Christ is often a process that takes over time.

Having mentioned the inner renewal that is expected of all who love the Lord, and which is reflected in the outward actions of the believer, we come to the matter of sacramental living. Recall that the definition of a sacrament is that it is an “outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace”.

Sacramental living means that our outsides must reflect our insides.

We know this truth from the everyday world…when someone comes to interview for a position or to apply for school, a job, or whatever, we want to know how well that person has done in other venues and with other responsibilities. In other words, we want to know how proficient a person is, judged on the basis of how well they handled responsibilities up to that point. Their observable achievements and work habits reflect the level of training and maturity they’ve attained.

St. Paul makes similar requirements on those early Christian believers in the pagan, Greco-Roman world. Summarizing what he says, the general idea, stated in many of his letters, is that – now that these new Christians have come to the Lord – they can no longer do the things that they used to do. Life has changed, and consequently, their outward behavior must mirror that new reality. Doing so gives glory to God, and bears witness to the fulness of life that Christ alone can provide,

The image of the pole vaulter comes back in view…a pole vaulter won’t make it over the bar without the aid of the pole, which allows the jumper to achieve a height that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

In like manner, we will need the help of the Holy Spirit to assist us in our quest to top the high bar of expectation that the Lord sets before us this day.

One final thought might be worth mentioning: In the Creeds, we say that we believe in “one, holy catholic and apostolic Church”. The idea of holiness in the Church doesn’t mean that the people in the Church are completely and totally holy. On the contrary, it means that the Church maintains a focus on the holiness that our Lord Jesus Christ requires. Without such a continued focus on those high standards, we’re unlikely to know what the goal is, how high the bar is, and how worthwhile the struggle is.

AMEN.

  

Epiphany 6, Year C (2025)

Jeremiah 17: 5–10 / Psalm 1 / I Corinthians 15: 12–20 / Luke 6: 17–26

This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, February 16, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker.

 

“WIDENING OUR PERSPECTIVES AND EXPANDING OUR VISION”

(Homily text: Luke 6:17 – 26)

One of the purposes of Holy Scripture – and perhaps the main one – is that it opens to us the mind of God. Put another way, Holy Scripture is the repository of what God wants us to know about His nature, His design of the world, and His desire for those who dwell therein.

Whenever we human beings encounter God, we are challenged to change our thinking, to look with wider perspectives, and – above all – to be changed.

Our Lord Jesus Christ seems intent on challenging those who heard Him offer the Beatitudes (Luke’s version), our Gospel reading for this morning. The Lord seems to be challenging, directly, the conventional thinking of the time in the way in which He presented the four “blessings”, and then the four “woes” that form Luke’s recounting of this teaching.

Let’s begin by looking at this version of the Beatitudes.

Luke’s transmission of this teaching is quite a bit different from the more familiar version that we find in Matthew’s Gospel account (see Matthew 5: 2–12). Matthew begins the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount with this teaching.

(We might ask ourselves: “Why is Luke’s version different from Matthew’s?” One answer might be in Luke’s sources. Luke tells us that he consulted a number of people as he determined to write his own Gospel account. Here is how Luke tells us about the process: “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, have delivered them to us…” (Luke 1: 1–2) It’s possible that those eyewitnesses and ministers remembered this teaching differently than Matthew’s sources did. Another reason might be that Jesus delivered another version of the same teaching on another occasion. After all, Luke tells us that the version he preserves for us was delivered when the Lord was on a plain, and not on a mount, as Matthew relates. It is quite normal for someone to change the essential message on different occasions, and we would do well to realize that the Lord probably did the same thing. I’ll let you live with this question and the mystery attached to it.)

In Luke’s version, the Lord divides the Beatitudes into four “blessings” and four “woes”.

Looking at the four, each “blessing” and each “woe” is mirrored in the other. For example, the first “blessing” says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Now, notice the first “woe”, which says, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation”.

Each of the succeeding blessings and woes are similarly linked in meaning.

Taking into account the prevailing attitudes among God’s people in the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry, we see that Jesus is directly challenging one aspect of those attitudes. Remember that, in that time, people commonly believed that if a person was healthy and well-to-do, those blessings were directly linked to their behavior, for it’s clear that such people were doing all the right things. They were faithfully living out the requirements of the Law of Moses (Torah). Conversely, if a person was poor or was sickly, those conditions, too, were reflective of a sinful and wayward life.

But the thrust of Jesus’ teaching seems to be, “Look at life with a wider lens. See that things could be much different, different for those who have blessings, and for those who don’t”. Furthermore, the Lord seems to be saying, “Your condition in life isn’t linked to how ‘good’ you are.”

Perhaps there is comfort for the poor, the hungry, and for those who mourn. The Lord assures them that there is a better way, and that God’s concern for them (often worked out by those who claim the Name of Christ, by the way) will result in a change in their life circumstances.

But there is a warning to the well-off and to those who think that things are going well because of their own efforts. The Lord warns them not to think that their own efforts have resulted in their situation. “Things could change”, seems to be what He is saying.

What is evident here is that the roles of those who are blessed and those who are not are reversed. This is a common theme which runs through Luke’s account.

Another excellent example of the role reversals we find in Luke’s account is in Mary’s Song (the Magnificat), which says this, “He (the Lord) has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.” (Luke 1: 52–53)

There are challenges for us as we read, consider and hear the Lord’s teaching.

It would be easy for us to think that because we’ve worked so hard, or because we are so talented or are so gifted, that we’ve brought about our own success and standing. Indeed, St. Augustine of Hippo’s warning is appropriate here: He said that we human beings are so easily fooled. The mature understanding and the comprehensive view of our life’s situation demands that we realize that God is the ultimate giver of every good and perfect gift. Moreover, others in our lives have also assisted us in our life’s journey. No one of us is self-made. Moreover, we are not to hoard those things we have. We are commanded to be generous in our use of such things. (Oddly enough, one of the great mysteries of our walk with God is that it is impossible to outgive God. Not only that, but the more generous we are with those things that we have, the more space is created for God to fill that space up again.)

Another way that the Lord challenges us is to consider the poor, the hungry, and those who mourn. In the time of our Lord’s visitation, the common attitude was to avoid such persons, for fear that you, yourself, would fall into the same difficult circumstances by being in touch with someone who was obviously living an evil life. Somehow, the Law of Moses’ requirements to care for the poor, the stranger, the widow and the orphan, had fallen out of view among God’s people. Instead of averting our eyes from those in such straits, we are commanded to care for them, to feed them, to console them, to show them that, just as God’s love has been poured into our hearts and lives, so we share that same blessing with others, and particularly, with those in dire need. The Law of Moses requires such an outlook and action.

We began by saying that Holy Scripture challenges us to see God’s will and God’s heart. Today’s teaching challenges us to see things differently, to see that God’s action is present in the blessings we enjoy. God’s heart turns toward the poor, the hungry, the distressed, commanding us to address those concerns and those needs.

AMEN. 

Epiphany 5, Year C (2025)

This is the homily that was written to be given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, February 9, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker.

“ENCOUNTERING AND SENDING”

(Homily texts:  Isaiah 6: 1 – 13 & Luke 5: 1 - 11)

As we make our way through life, the path of life can take many different turns. One way to appreciate the blessings and the successes of life is to engage in an exercise whereby we try to imagine what life would be like without those blessings and successes.

So we might begin with an exercise of our own this morning, trying to imagine (as a starting point) some of the very ordinary things that – without them – life might be a whole lot different.

We will begin with two of my favorite things: Coffee and chocolate.

Try to imagine (if you are a devotee of coffee as I am) life without it. Try to imagine “blending into your day” (to borrow an Army buddy of mine’s phrase) without the blessing of a hot cup of coffee in the morning. Frankly, I can’t imagine beginning my day that way.

Or, how about chocolate? Personally speaking, having even a little bit of chocolate makes everything seem better after the encounter.

The point here is to say that life, absent these two things, would be different without them.

Now, to be a bit more serious, how about some of the things we have available to us today that people in times past didn’t have.

Consider, for example, how different life would be without indoor plumbing (I lived that reality in my growing up years until the age of seven or so). Or how about no air conditioning (I lived that reality until age ten). How about no vehicles – cars and trucks – to get us around to where we needed to go?

Life would be a whole lot different without these three things, and many others. Chances are, we’d be much more uncomfortable without these things, and we’d probably be spending a lot more of our time simply doing the basic tasks that life demands that we must accomplish.

OK, now try to imagine a life without God. How much different such a life would be! God, that One who loves us, and who gave us the gift of His Son, creates the framework upon which we can weave a life that is pleasing to Him and which is honors Him and which is a blessing to others.

One more step in our imaginings is in order, I think:

Imagine what would happen if God had granted us an encounter with Him? I’m talking about an encounter that is unmistakable, one of the sort that the Old Testament prophet Isaiah had, one like Simon Peter had with Jesus that day on the Sea of Galilee.

This last imagining brings us to our Old Testament reading, and to our appointed Gospel for this morning.

Isaiah finds himself in the Temple in Jerusalem. The year is 740 BC. We know that because he tells us that the event he describes took place in the year that King Uzziah died. There, he witnesses a vision of the Lord, whose train filled the Temple. Seraphim fly above the Lord, and the place is filled with smoke. The Lord’s presence makes the whole place shake.

Then, the Lord purifies Isaiah, fitting him out for the prophetic ministry that God will appoint him to, by touching Isaiah’s lips with hot coals from the altar.

Then, the Lord says, “Who will go for us, whom shall I send?” Isaiah replies, “Here am I, send me.”

The Lord grants Isaiah a glimpse of His glory, majesty and holiness. Then, Isaiah is commissioned to go and take the Lord’s message to God’s people. Isaiah’s life takes a turn in a new and completely different direction.

Now, let’s fast-forward almost 800 years, where we find ourselves in Capernaum, by the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Luke (4: 38 – 39) tells us that Jesus entered Simon’s[1] house, where Simon’s mother-in-law was very ill. Jesus comes and relieves her of her illness. (Set this incident aside for the moment, we’ll come back to it in a moment.)

Now, Luke tells us that Jesus met Simon again as he and his partners were fishing. Jesus asks him to put his boat out into the water a bit. Jesus sits in the boat and addresses the crowd on the shoreline. (A note is worth making here: The surface of the water is an excellent carrier of sound, so Jesus’ position in the boat made it possible for a large crowd to hear Him.)

Then, Jesus tells Simon to put out the boat into the deeper water and to put their fishing nets out for a catch. At this point, Simon says to Jesus, “We’ve been fishing all night, and haven’t caught anything”. The point seems to be, “We’re the professionals here, we’ve done what we know how to do, and it hasn’t turned out well.”

Despite Simon’s protestations, he agrees to follow Jesus’ suggestion. The large catch of fish almost winds up sinking the boats.

Perhaps Simon’s openness to knowing Jesus’ identity was assisted by witnessing his mother-in-law’s immediate healing, for he says admits to Jesus’ holiness, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”.

Simon Peter has an encounter with God, whose presence is mediated by Jesus. The evidence is that Jesus knows where the fish are to be found, a knowledge that God alone would know.

Jesus then tells Simon Peter, along with his partners James and John, that from then on, their lives would change: They would be fishing for people.

What would happen to us if we had some sort of an unmistakable encounter with the holiness of God? Such an encounter might happen through the intervention of the Holy Spirit in our lives, or in the lives of others we know Such an encounter might happen when we witness an act of divine healing, one which defies medical science’s ability to explain. (I know of more than one such incident.) Or, such an encounter when we or someone we know is delivered from some sort of an addiction. (I know of such an incident in my own family.) Or, such an encounter might happen when the Holy Spirit uses some passage from Holy Scripture with which to convict us of something, or to make a call on our lives in some way. (Many who are in ordained ministry describe God’s call to ministry in such terms.)

Perhaps we might take away from today’s readings the necessity of looking for God’s work and God’s activity in our lives, and in the lives of others. We might pray for the Holy Spirit’s enabling and enlightening power to see God’s hand at work in our own time and in our own lives, realizing that such a call will result in a changed life, and a new direction in life.

AMEN.

---

[1]   Jesus will soon give Simon a nickname, “Peter”, which is how we know him more frequently. 

Epiphany 4, Year C (The Presentation and Candlemas) (2025)

Malachi 3: 1 – 4 / Psalm 84 / Hebrews 2: 14 – 18 / Luke 2: 22 – 40

This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, February 2, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker

 

“REDEMPTION AND PRESENTATION”

(Homily text: Luke 2:22 – 40)

This morning, three threads come together as we observe the Feast of the Presentation. They are:

Candlemas:  This observance has been, historically, the time when candles that will be used in worship during the year are blessed. The idea is to celebrate the light of Christ (symbolized by candles) coming into the world, and especially, that divine light which has come to the Gentiles. This is a key theme for the season of Epiphany. (The name “Candlemas” is a contraction of “candles” + “Mass”.)

The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary:  In the Law of Moses, the regulations for the purification of a mother after having given birth are laid out in Leviticus 12:1 – 8.  There, we read that, if the new child is a boy, the mother is to present herself to the priest forty days after having given birth. There, she is to offer two items, one as a burnt offering, and the other, a sin offering. The stipulations in Leviticus are that a lamb, one year old, is to be offered as the burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove is to be offered as a sin offering. If the mother is poor, the Law permits the mother to offer two turtledoves or two pigeons. (This seems to have been the case with Mary and Joseph, indicating that they were not people who had the means to offer the more expensive offering.) The timing that Leviticus spells out governs the timing of our liturgical observance of this feast, coming forty days after Christmas.

The Presentation:  In Exodus 13:11 – 16, we read that all first-born males, including animals, are to be dedicated to the Lord. In the case of male children, they are to be presented to the Lord as holy to the Lord. But then, Exodus states that these boys are to be “redeemed”, that is, they are to be “ransomed” by the sacrifice of a lamb. The Exodus text makes clear that this observance is to be a reminder of the events of the original Passover.

(Luke seems to indicate that Mary’s purification and Jesus’ presentation in the Temple both occurred at the same time.)

This homily will deal with the last of these three threads, the Lord’s presentation.

We would do well, I think, to follow these themes as we consider our Lord’s presentation:  1. Holiness to God; 2. Giving God the first fruits (of the land, and of life); 3.  The Passover event (and our Lord’s death and resurrection) and 4.  Redemption.

The provisions of the Law of Moses made clear that God’s people were to be mindful of God’s presence, God’s holiness, and God’s ability to create and to preserve in almost every aspect of life. Daily living, and the tasks associated with that living, were infused with reminders. So, for example, the Law had a lot to say about what was “clean” and what was “unclean”. (One of the concerns about ritual uncleanness – being able to enter God’s presence in the tabernacle or in the Temple - had to do with contact with blood. This was the essential reasoning behind the requirement for a mother to be cleansed after having given birth.) The point seems to be that, just as God is holy, so are God’s chosen people to be holy, abstaining from everything that is unclean.

Next, we should be reminded that God’s people were to make available not only the first fruits of the land (the harvest), but also themselves. So, for example, only the best, most perfect animals were to be accepted as sacrifices to the Lord. Various offerings under the Law of Moses stipulated that the first fruits were to be offered to the Lord. The point here seems to be that it is the Lord’s doing that the land produces the things that are needful in life. Similarly, the gift of children is also the Lord’s doing. It is God who creates, and who brings forth life.

God’s action to redeem His people in the Passover event in Exodus was the culmination of a series of ten plagues that God visited on the ancient Egyptians, in order to convince Pharoah to let God’s people leave and return to the Promised Land. The last plague had to do with the deaths of the first-born of Egypt, both animal and human. God’s people had been instructed to slaughter a lamb and to spread some of its blood on the doorposts and the lintel of the door. That way, by their obedience to this instruction, the first-born among God’s people were spared. The presentation of the first-born son (in Exodus 13, a specific connection is made to the presentation of first-born sons to this event. Presenting first-born sons was to be an ongoing reminder of God’s saving act at the time of Passover.)

By presenting their first-born sons, mothers and fathers redeemed their sons. Put another way, they were willing to give up their son to the Lord’s purposes and calling, but then to receive those sons back again by way of paying the price of the ransom (the sacrifice of a lamb).

We now live under a new covenant, one which Simeon refers to in his comments as he beheld the baby Jesus. Simeon, through the guidance and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, foresaw a new way of relating to God.

But just as this new covenant has ushered in a new way of worshipping, doing away with the ritual requirements of the Law of Moses, so does this new covenant also preserve the essential elements of the relationship between God and God’s people.

We are called to be God’s holy people. We are called to be reminded that all that we have, all that we require for the living of life, ultimately comes from God. We are called to present ourselves as a holy people, a people who are dedicated to God’s calling and God’s purposes. And finally, we are called to be reminded that each of us, as we pass through the waters of Holy Baptism, have been redeemed, ransomed from the power of sin and death, by the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which took place at the time of the Passover.

AMEN.