Pentecost 16, Year C (2025)

Amos 6: 1a, 4–7 / Psalm 146 / I Timothy 6: 6-19 / Luke 16: 19–31

This is the homily written for Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania for September 28, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“THE ESSENTIAL AND BASIC REALITY OF EACH AND EVERY HUMAN BEING IS…”

(Homily text: Luke 16: 19-31)

Today’s Gospel reading puts before us Jesus’ wonderful Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. (This parable is one of those treasures that Luke, alone among the Gospel writers, passes along to us.)

As is common to much of Luke’s legacy, this parable, too, features an overturning of the commonly-held beliefs of God’s people in the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry. For in that day and time, the common belief was that if a person was wealthy, or healthy, or both, then their state in life must surely be due to their upright and blameless life, following all the precepts and requirements of the Law of Moses.

(Among Christians today, a version of such a belief continues to exist: It is known as the “Prosperity Gospel”, the belief that if we do good stuff, God will bless us richly. Needless to say, the “Prosperity Gospel” is heresy, pure and simple. For God does not promise us health or wealth. Instead, God promises that – whatever life’s journey brings our way - He will always be present in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. Not only that, God also promises to love us, no matter what.)

Jesus unfolds a tale of a very rich man[1], a man who is so rich that he can dress in purple clothing.[2] Jesus tells us that the man feasted sumptuously every day.

At the rich man’s gate, lay Lazarus, who is sickly and whose only comfort is the neighborhood dogs, who come up to lick his sores. He would very much like to have what was wasted at the rich man’s table as it fell away.

Now, in typical fashion which Luke seems to admire, the tables are now turned.

Lazarus, Jesus tells us, is carried by the angels to Abraham’s Bosom (a Jewish way of saying that he had been carried into God’s presence, and into a pleasant circumstance of comfort). The rich man, however, is simply buried. (Notice the contrast.)

Following each man’s death, they find themselves in totally different and unexpected circumstances. In contrast to Lazarus, who is now enjoying the comfort of love and care that he never had in his earthly life, the rich man now finds himself (perhaps for the very first time) in want, and in pain.

It might be prudent for us not to focus too closely on the aspect of the parable that deals with the nature of the afterlife. Jesus point in this part of the parable might not necessarily be to portray the process that unfolds following the end of this life’s journey. Perhaps it is enough for us to see that Jesus’ description of the state of both men after their deaths is to describe the value that God places on each and every human being.

It turns out that Lazarus, who, by the commonly-held beliefs of the time, was of little value, and was regarded, quite likely, as being disposable, was highly valued by God. By contrast, the rich man, who the world would most likely thought was of considerable value, was of little help and value to anyone but himself.

We might remind ourselves that each encounter we have with Holy Scripture is meant to change us in some way. Scripture exists to remind us of the mind of God, and of God’s intent for the world that we human beings have the ability to create, or to destroy.

“Choose life!” we say.

That surely must be one reason Jesus spun out this tale of a selfish, self-centered man, and the poor and sickly man who lay just outside the gate of his compound. For the rich man did absolutely nothing to improve Lazarus’ life. He surely had the means. He lacked a focus on anyone other than himself. He also lacked a focus on God’s will and command where the care we are to provide to those in need is concerned.

Choose life! Choose to do good to others, choose to do all we can to improve others’ lives and their walk with God. Choose to realize that all that we have and all that we enjoy as blessings in this life are to be used for the betterment not only of ourselves, but for the betterment of others.

This parable conveys a basic truth about human life and human beings: Each and every human being is God’s deliberate and wonderful creation. Each and every human being is made in the image and likeness of God (as Genesis reminds us). Each and every human being has worth, and so, is to be valued.

As God’s people, we may have to look beyond the outward circumstance of a person’s life to see the intrinsic value of a person who has been created in the image and likeness of God. But God’s will for us as His disciples is to be about the sometimes-difficult business of looking not only at the things we can see about someone, but beyond that into their value in God’s sight.

Since this is so, let us – as God’s people in the world – be about the business of showing by our actions that God’s love dwells within our hearts and minds.

This is, by all accounts, sacramental living, whereby our outward actions mirror the inner reality that we have come to know God’s love and God’s estimation of our value, and of the value and worth of others.

AMEN.

---

[1]   The rich man has acquired a nickname down through the years: Dives, which is derived from the Latin word for “rich”.

[2]   In ancient times, only the very wealthy, or noble people, could afford purple clothing, since it was made from the harvesting of small sea snails to dye the cloth. 

Pentecost 15, Year C (2025)

Proverbs 10: 10–24 / Galatians 5: 16–24 / Luke 17: 11–19

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on September 21, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“NECESSARY, BASIC SKILLS FOR LIVING, AND FOR BELIEVING”

(Homily text: Luke 17: 11–19)

(An introductory note: The readings for this Sunday were taken from one of the historic liturgical resources of the Lutheran Church, the 1958 Service Book and Hymnal. On this Sunday, Flohr’s Church celebrates the 240th anniversary of its founding, so the use of an historic liturgy seemed appropriate. The readings in this liturgical resource are different from the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) now in widespread use. Note, for example, that there is no Psalm. Also, note that this resource contains only one annual cycle of readings, instead of the three-year cycle of the RCL.)

As I add years to the numbers of birthdays I’ve celebrated, I’ve come to believe that each and every human being must make use of – and master the use of – four basic life skills. They come in the form of things we say to one another:

·         Please.

·         Thank you.

·         I’m sorry.

·         Can you help me?

Use of each of these helps to lubricate the interactions and the ways in which we human beings rub against one another.

For us as Christian believers, there’s another important skill to have:

·         Faith in God’s wisdom, God’s goodness, and the superiority of God’s will.

Many of the points made above are present in our Gospel reading for this morning, Jesus’ healing of the ten lepers.

With these thoughts in mind, let’s look at the text.

We ought to begin by noting that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, but instead of taking the circuitous route down the Jordan valley, or making His way along the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, He passes through the region between Galilee and Samaria. Normally, a devout Jew would avoid anything having to do with Samaria. But we know from Jesus’ other behaviors that He was quite comfortable with breaking the normal taboos and behaviors of the day.

As we dig into the text, we ought to notice, first of all, that Jesus is met by ten lepers, who stand afar off. The requirement to stay away from healthy people, if one had a skin condition[1], was a requirement of the Law of Moses.[2]

The ten cry out to Jesus, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”

Essentially, this takes note of two of the life skills we outlined above: They are asking, using (implied) “Please”, and “Can you help me?”.

Now, the Lord tells them to go and show themselves to the local priest. This, too, is a requirement of the Law of Moses, for the local priest would have to determine that they had been cleansed, and were, therefore, able to rejoin the community and also to be able to go to the Temple in Jerusalem.

It would be easy to miss an important aspect to what Jesus told them to do. Notice that He didn’t say, “You are healed, go and show yourselves to the priest.’ Instead, He simply says, “Go, show yourselves to the priest.” Luke tells us that, as they went on their way, they were healed.

The ten began their journey as unclean, un-healed individuals. There was no reason to believe that they would be acceptable to the priest in the condition in which they departed. Their healing takes place after they had begun their journey. That step of faith (quite literally) is theirs to take.

The fact that the ten left the Lord and went to the priest signifies that they had faith that the Lord could heal them.

Now, one of the ten – and a Samaritan at that – is the only one who makes use of another of those important life skills. He is the only one who returns and thanks the Lord for his new lease on life.

Each and every episode recorded in Holy Scripture is meant to tell us something about God, God’s nature, God’s power and God’s care for each and every one of us. The pages of Holy Scripture also tell us a lot about human nature, about human attitudes and behaviors, and about the ways in which human beings in ages past got their relationship with God right, and the ways in which they didn’t. Scripture records the successes and the failures, both.

Perhaps the lesson for us as Christian believers today might be that we are to make frequent use of all four of the basic life skills enumerated above. We will need them all at one time or another. We should begin with “Thanks!”, and seek to learn from the behaviors of the nine healed lepers who couldn’t be bothered to come back to Jesus to offer their thanks. Giving thanks is, oftentimes, the most neglected aspect of our prayer life and our relating to God.

Then, we should remember, I think, to make use of the other three life skills.

And finally, we should do all we can to ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to assist us to build up our faith, which – as is so common in Jesus’ ministry – the key to receiving God’s healing, goodness and love.

AMEN.

---

[1]   In the Gospels, leprosy referred to any number of skin conditions, not just to the condition we know as leprosy today, the medical term for which is Hansen’s Disease.

[2]   See Leviticus 13:46. 

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.