Pentecost 23, Year C (2025)

Malachi 4: 1–2a / Psalm 98 / II Thessalonians 3: 6–13 / Luke 21: 7–19

 

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA), McKnightstown, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, November 16, 2025, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“THE CHRISTIANS’ TASK: BE GOOD AT MULTI-TASKING”

(Homily texts: II Thessalonians 3: 6-13 and Luke 21: 7-19)

In the busy hustle and bustle of the world in which we live today, people often say that they have to be good at multi-tasking. Some say they can do it, and do it well. Others say it doesn’t work for them, or that they simply can’t manage to do or handle more than one thing at once. Still others, often those who are observers of the human condition, maintain that it isn’t at all good for us human beings to be trying to multi-task at all.

As we look at this morning’s appointed readings, we might come to the conclusion that we Christian believers are called to hone our skills, so that we can be good and proficient multi-taskers.

Our task is to focus on the here-and-the-now of life, but also on God’s great, big and final plans for us and for the world. Both foci are required of all believers.

A look at our epistle reading, taken from St. Paul’s second letter to the church in Thessalonica, makes clear that the everyday work of life is important, while our reading from the Gospel according to St. Luke turns our eyes toward the great and final things of God. (Surely, we must be getting close to the season of Advent with readings such as this! Indeed, that is so, for as each liturgical year comes to an end, our attention is turned to the double focus of the season of Advent, as we prepare for our Lord Jesus Christ’s first coming as a babe, born in Bethlehem, but also to the final and second coming of our Lord at some point in future times.)

The Thessalonian church had its share of problems and challenges. (Many of the churches that Paul either founded or had oversight over had one or more problems to deal with.) Apparently, the Thessalonians were very concerned with the Lord’s second coming. Some maintained that the Lord had already come (leading some to wonder why they had been left out of the Lord’s plans), while others wanted to know the details of that coming: When, how, etc. Still others – as our reading this morning tells us – were sitting around, gazing at the skies (apparently) and doing little or nothing.

The focus, then, of our epistle reading has to do with everyday life, and the importance of everyday tasks, work and events.

On the other hand, our Gospel reading turns our attention to future events, and specifically, to the turmoil and destruction of the city of Jerusalem. This is a deeply troubling reading. But the Lord’s predictions are meant to not only to inform, and also to provide comfort. Notice that He says that, despite the troubling description of what is to come, those who are people of faith will overcome all of those terrible things, and will gain their souls.

What are we to make of the Lord’s predictions about Jerusalem’s fate, and about coming hard and perilous times for those who claim the name of Christ?

Some Christians maintain that the events described in this morning’s Gospel refer to Jerusalem’s destruction during the Jewish-Roman War (which lasted from 66 – 71 AD). Others say it refers to some still-in-the-future event, while others maintain that the Lord’s descriptions contain traditional biblical language which describes God’s anger (the mentions of signs in the heavens and great portents qualify for this understanding).

Perhaps a mature Christian approach to the Lord’s instruction would be to say that He was describing Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 AD, but His words might also apply to some future event. And, we should acknowledge, some of the imagery used can be found elsewhere in Scripture, where it does seem to describe God’s anger and judgment.

All three approaches are possible. The exact meaning and applicability of the Lord’s words are wrapped up in the mystery of God and God’s plans and timetable.

What, then, are we to do, in order to faithfully live in this life, even as we look forward to the life of the world to come?

Multi-tasking is the answer, I think.

Paul’s admonitions to the Thessalonians makes clear that the day-in-and-day-out work of life is important. (It might be worthwhile mentioning, at this point, that an early Christian heresy, known as Gnosticism, maintained that this life was nothing more than a mirage, and wasn’t important. What was important, the Gnostics said, was the spiritual life. The Church responded forcefully to this severely imbalanced view of life in God. Rejecting it.)

We Christians are not to be sitting around, ignoring caring for and improving our own welfare, and also the welfare of others, looking at the clouds and hoping to see some sign of the Lord’s appearing. Alas, some Christians today continue to do pretty much the same sort of thing.

But a focus on this current life, without an awareness that God has a plan, and that all who come to faith in Christ are part of that plan, is to practice an imbalance of another sort. That focus, too, is important.

We live in the in-between times, that time between the Lord’s first coming as a baby, born in Bethlehem, and His second coming at some future time in history. As we live in this in-between time, we are called to work to prepare the soil of this world for the breaking-in of the Lord’s kingdom in all its fulness, when the Lord returns.

Enable us then, Holy Spirit, to multi-task, that we may be mature disciples of Jesus Christ.

AMEN. 

Pentecost 22, Year C (2025)

Job 19: 23–27a / Psalm 17: 1–9 / II Thessalonians 2: 1–5, 13–17 / Luke 20: 27–38

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, November 9, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“WE ALL WANT TO KNOW: WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?”

(Homily texts: Job 19: 23–27a; II Thessalonians 2: 1–5, 13–17; and Luke 20: 27–38)

Perhaps it’s because we human beings have a need for safety and security (after all, having those needs helps to keep us alive!), we want to know as much as we can about what will happen tomorrow, the next week, the next month, the next year, or – for that matter – in eternity once this life is done.

Countless numbers of writers and prognosticators in the media rely on this deep-seated need, telling us what trends they see, what the likely outcome is likely to be, and – in many cases – whipping up needless concern and even hysteria in the process. The newspapers are filled with the output of these seers of the future, as is the internet, and television news programs.

Not to be left out, religious leaders of various sorts also tell us about future events, managing – in the process – to whip up hysteria over future events which (they say) will prove to be catastrophic. Perhaps, in an attempt to calm the hysteria that leaders who are prophets of doom and judgment have produced, another writer, quite recently, has published a book telling us great detail what heaven is going to be like.

The concerns that are deeply implanted in our hearts aren’t new to us. They have been among the concerns of human beings for a very long time. People of faith harbor those sorts of concerns as well, as our reading from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the early Christians in Thessalonica makes clear. Paul has to remind them that the Lord Jesus’ second coming (His return to reign in glory) hasn’t yet happened, and – no – they haven’t missed it, and – no – they haven’t been left behind.

And yet, on this side of eternity, we want to know what it will look like once this life is ended and we enter into whatever lies beyond death. For, as St. Paul makes clear, death is that great and final enemy, that great mystery. Writing to the early Christians in Corinth, he has to remind them that death isn’t the harbinger of fear and loss that we might imagine it to be. Not at all. In I Corinthians 15, he says that death has lost its sting. Its seeming victory isn’t a victory at all. He puts this truth eloquently: “Death is swallowed up in victory, O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”[1]

How can Paul say such a thing? Is he delusional? Is he denying reality?

No, not at all. Paul can be confident about the transition from this life into eternity because of the reality of our Lord Jesus Christ’s own resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. That event transformed the original band of the Lord’s disciples from wayward, unreliable followers into champions of the truth of God’s power to create, and – in the case of our Lord’s resurrection – to recreate. Yes, this is a power even over life and death itself.

In the Old Testament, this is Job’s hope, as he confidently says that he knows that his redeemer lives, and that he will – in his flesh – see God. (I am reminded of the wonderful aria from Handel’s “Messiah” which makes use of this text.)

We would do well to look at today’s Gospel text.

There, Jesus is confronted by a group of Sadducees[2], who put a wildly unlikely tale before the Lord. They put forth a situation in which a woman was married, but whose husband died without producing any children. Then, these priests tell the Lord that the woman passed from brother to brother, each one marrying the woman, but there are no children from any of these subsequent marriages (all six!), either.[3]

Jesus cuts through their argument. Marriage in that day and time had as its primary goal the begetting of children. (Recall that child mortality was very high in those days.) Children were, in that society, ones “retirement plan” once life became too difficult to allow a person to work.

But Jesus tells these Sadducees that, once people have entered into eternity and into the resurrected life, they will never die (so there is no need for offspring).

In the fulness of time, Jesus will affirm the reality of life after death, in a resurrected state, in God’s presence.[4] His own coming to life again affirms God’s power over all things, including death.

So, if we are to live after death, this time in God’s presence directly, what does heaven really look like?

Is it like the new book we referred to at the beginning of this sermon, with detailed descriptions of heaven’s appearance and so forth?

Well, maybe.

But, perhaps the more prudent course for us to take is not to obsess over the details of what heaven will be like, for surely, Holy Scripture’s descriptions could well be figurative, and not literal, ones.

So, perhaps we can rest securely in two great realities: 1.  We become inheritors of God’s eternal love when we come to faith in God the Father through God the Son, Jesus Christ. By whatever means we come to that relationship (and, I think it’s important to say that the New Testament describes a number of different paths of coming to faith), it is the receiving of God’s great and good gift of God’s love and God’s eternal embrace that guarantees our future with God once this life is over; and 2. God’s got a plan, and that plan will be glorious, perhaps much more wonderful than we can imagine this side of heaven.

So then, the details of the future take a back seat to the essential truth of God’s ability to keep us in His love and embrace, both now and into eternity.

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

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[1]   See I Corinthians 15: 54b, 55.

[2]   The Sadducees we a priestly caste. Notice that Luke reminds us that the Sadducees denied the reality of the resurrection.

[3]   This is a process that is outlined in the Law of Moses (Torah), called Levirite Marriage, because the name (levirate) refers to “brother-in-Law”. See Deuteronomy 25: 5–10.

[4]   May I encourage you to read the entire fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians? It will lift your spirits. 

All Saints, Year C (2025)

Daniel 7: 1–3, 15–18 / Psalm 149 / Ephesians 1: 11–23 / Luke 6: 20–31

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, November 2, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“SAINTS: BEACONS OF GOD’S LIGHT IN THE WORLD”

(Homily text: Luke 6: 20–31)

(Liturgical note:  This Sunday, we observe the Feast of All Saints, whose actual day in the Church Year falls on November 1st. However, in the Lutheran tradition, as well as in many other liturgical traditions, this festival can be moved to the following Sunday.)

In recent times, the observance of All Saints has taken on a more specific meaning: It commemorates those saints who have entered into God’s rest during the year past. Now resting from their earthly labors, we say that they now make up the Church Triumphant, that host of heaven which is gathered around God’s throne. For those of us who are still in our earthly journey, we say that we constitute the Church Militant. (I realize that these are terms which aren’t heard very often these days.) However, historically among the churches which maintain a liturgical heritage, All Saints Day, falling on November 1st, was followed by All Souls Day[1], commemorated on November 2nd. (This day does not appear in our current Lutheran liturgical calendar[2].) So, our observances of these days conflate both All Saints and All Souls Days.

I think it’d be good for us to celebrate and honor not only those saints who now rest from their labors, but also those saints who are present among us, day in and day out, those holy ones with whom we rub elbows. That is the focus of the sermon for this day.)

We begin our consideration of saints and sainthood with some questions:

1.           What is a saint, and how might we recognize one if we encountered one?

2.           Can we name someone we know who is a saint?

3.           Do we aspire to be a saint in our daily living and believing?

In the first chapter of John’s Gospel account, we read that Jesus Christ is the light that has come into the world. We also read that that divine light overcame the darkness of the world. (See John 1: 4-5)

So, perhaps, as we think about saints and sainthood, it might be a good approach to think of God’s holy ones as those who have received the light of Christ, and who shine that same light into the darkness of the world around us.

A good illustration – it seems to me – might be the kerosene lantern.

A lantern consists of a body, which also contains a reservoir for the oil which sits at the bottom of the lantern. It also has a wick, which draws the oil up into the body of the lantern. As the wick burns, it draws more oil upward. The lantern also has a globe, made of glass, which allows the resulting light to shine into the darkness.

Now then, when God deliberately creates a human being, He outfits that person with all the essential requirements for being a beacon of light in the world. We human beings are created with a body, a mind, and a spirit. We can discern and relate to God, for we are created in God’s image and likeness (as we read in Genesis). It is as if we are created with a reservoir with which to receive the oil of God’s grace and mercy when we are formed and created. (Our illustration breaks down a bit at this point, for God has given each one of us the freedom to allow God to work in our lives, or to refuse to live a godly life.)

Then, at baptism, God fills our reservoir with the gift and the light of the Holy Spirit. It is that Spirit which makes possible our orientation toward God, and which guides us through life’s twists and turns. The Spirit’s work is like the match which ignites the oil of God’s grace, creating light as a result.

As the light of God begins to shine, others around us see that light, and recognize it as being something unique, for it is: It is divine light, something that is different from other things.

Now then, let’s draw some conclusions from our illustration.

First of all, it is God’s creative and loving impulses that make it possible for us human beings to be beacons of God’s light in the world. Saints aren’t self-made creations; they do not generate light without God’s oil and the match of the Holy Spirit to create the light. It should be clear from this illustration that God has a role to play in the business of creating saints and sainthood, but people also have a role to play, for we are called to allow God to make use of the raw materials (the oil reservoir, the wick and the globe in our illustration) we have been given at birth in order to cooperate with God as light-bearers to the world.

We said a moment ago that saints aren’t self-made. It should be clear that saints are those who do more than simply “being good”. There is something unique that results from the openness to God’s will, to being willing to have the Holy Spirit strike the match that lights the fire of God, a fire which can shine throughout our earthly journey.

Finally, the business of being a saint and sainthood is sacramental in nature. Recall that the definition of a sacrament is something that contains an outward and visible sign, which points to an inner and spiritual grace. Returning to our illustration of the lantern, we might liken saints to the lantern, whose oil reservoir, wick and globe all support the business of allowing the lantern to be a light generator. The light which we see is made possible by all the other parts of the lantern which support the process. So, too, with saints: They exhibit God’s light, showing by their words and by their actions that the light of Christ dwells in their hearts and minds.

So, we close with the questions with which we began:

1.           What is a saint, and how might we recognize one if we encountered one?

2.           Can we name someone we know who is a saint?

3.           Do we aspire to be a saint in our daily living and believing?

AMEN.

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[1]   All Souls Day is often known, these days, as the “Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed”.

[2]   Neither the 1958 Service Book and Hymnal, nor the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship, contain a commemoration of All Souls Day.