Reformation Sunday

Jeremiah 31: 31–34 / Psalm 46 / Romans 3: 19–28 / John 8: 31–36

 

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on October 25, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor. 

 

“THE CHURCH’S OUTWARD APPEARANCE & ITS INNER REALITY”

(Homily text: John 8: 31-36)

 

On the Eve of All Saints’ Day, October 31st, in the year 1517, a German monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed a series of talking points to the door of the castle church in the city of Wittenburg. We might think that Luther’s posting of these “95 Theses” was an unusual event. It was not. It was customary, among the college in that city and among its teachers in the seminary, to post such things. The posting was, essentially, an invitation to a discussion of various topics of interest.

Luther had a lot on his mind. He had a lot he wanted to talk about …. ninety-five topics, in fact.

His was a troubled spirit, for he was burdened by a growing reality that the Church he was a part of was failing to accurately mirror the teachings of the Lord it proclaimed (at least, publicly) it claimed to be following.

Before we look at the specifics of the burdens that were growing in Luther’s heart, we would do well to remind ourselves of the tenor of the times in which Luther lived.

The Church in the West was governed and led by the Bishop of Rome, better known as the Pope.

To Rome, vast amounts of wealth went. (One estimate was that, in England, the Church was siphoning off close to one-quarter to one-third of the nation’s annual economic output. Much of this fundraising was done through the selling of Indulgences by which, the Church claimed, it could pardon time spent in Purgatory.)

In Europe generally, the spirit of the Renaissance was flourishing. This movement lifted up the human spirit and the human person. The old attitudes and ways of the medieval period were fading away. It was a time of growing national awareness. In Germany, this took the form of the growing power of the various German princes. In Luther’s case, that powerful prince was the Elector of Saxony. In England, it was King Henry VIII. Furthermore, another German, Gutenberg, had invented the process of printing with moveable type. Printing this way meant that pamphlets, newspapers, and yes, the Bible itself, could be printed in large quantities. (The invention of printing in this way is similar in impact to the development of the internet in our own time.)

Now then, what were Luther’s main concerns? Perhaps these:

·         A growing chasm between the Church’s visible and outward appearance, and its inner spiritual reality. Church offices (such as Bishops and Archbishops) were sold (for money) to high-ranking persons, without regard to their spiritual qualifications for such offices.

The Church either tolerated wars between various areas under its control, or it actively took part in them.

The Church was in love with money, worldly power and prestige. (When I was in seminary, I heard a phrase that describes this well: “Whenever the Church gets in bed with the State, it’s always a bad thing”.)

Many of the Church’s clergy lived sinful lives.

·         The Church was failing to meet the spiritual and physical needs of the people in its care.

Its worship services were in Latin, a language, that – even then – few people understood.

The common people received the Sacrament of Holy Communion (the Mass) only very infrequently.

In many of the larger churches and cathedrals, a wall separated the area where the common people were from the clergy, who sat in the area close to the altar. Consequently, the common people – many of them – had never witnessed a celebration of Holy Communion.

This situation weighed on Luther heavily. In particular, he felt no sense of forgiveness for his own shortcomings and sins. All of the Church’s rites failed to meet with a sense in his mind and heart that God was looking with favor and forgiveness upon his spiritual condition. (It didn’t help that the Church’s emphasis was on a person’s unworthiness and sinfulness, a useful took for selling Indulgences, by the way…there was little or no sense of celebrating God’s goodness and God’s mercy.)

Yes, as he began to read the Holy Scriptures, and – in particular – St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, he realized that the Church had it all wrong. St. Paul affirms the central truth that all of us – each and every one of us – has fallen short of God’s high standard of morality and unblemished living. Yet, Paul says, God’s mercy can overcome all of those conditions, and God’s mercy is received through Faith, it is God’s free gift (Grace) which provides the basis for God’s forgiveness, and this divine Grace is received by those who come in Faith to receive it.

Eventually, we’ve come to understand that there are three phrases which sum up Luther’s position: Scripture alone – Grace alone – Faith alone. (Or, in Latin: Sola Scriptura – Sola Grazia – Sola Fide.)

With the posting of the “95 Theses”, what we now know as the Protestant Reformation was underway. Their posting on October 31, 1517 generally marks the beginning of the Reformation.

Luther’s intent was not to abolish the Western Church and replace it with something else. Instead, Luther wanted the Church to amend is wayward ways.

But the Church would have little interest in such changes, not in the sixteenth century. Moreover, in that day and time, the Church could find some very persuasive means to convince those who would “buck the system” in the way that Luther was doing to change their minds. Bluntly put, Luther’s life was in danger. Enter the Prince Elector of Saxony, who became Luther’s protector.

For the next twenty-nine years, Luther worked to change the Church’s ways. He didn’t want the movement he had started to result in a separation in the Church. (Luther, by the way, did not want the Church that eventually emerged from the Reformation to carry his name…he preferred that it would be called the “Evangelical Church”.) He translated the Bible into the German language (and, in the process, did a lot to bring about that language’s development).

We would do well to remind ourselves of some of the Reformation’s core values:

·         Holy Scripture as the source of God’s will and God’s intentions, both for the Church and for the people in it, and for the people in the world. The Bible is, therefore, the Church’s anchor.

·         Worship services are to be in a language that people can understand.

·         Lay persons should have a much more active role in the Church. They should be able to read the Bible for themselves in a language they understand, and they should receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion regularly.

In the wake of the Reformation, much has changed, and much of that change has been for the good. Consider, for example, that the part of the Church that is headed by the Pope (now appropriately known as the Roman Catholic Church) conducts its services in languages that its people can understand. Also, the Roman Church now encourages its people to read the Bible in their own language. And, it encourages its lay people to be more active in the Church’s worship life and in its governance.

Going forward, perhaps we might pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to encourage the various pasts of God’s Church to be more unified in common witness to our Lord Jesus Christ, and also that the Church will remain true to its founding principles, as they are found in Holy Scripture.

AMEN. 

Pentecost 21, Year A (2026)

Isaiah 45: 1–7 / Psalm 96: 1–13 / I Thessalonians 1: 1–10 / Matthew 22: 15–22

 

This is the written version of the homily written to be given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, October 18, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

 

“LOOK BOTH WAYS”

(Homily text: Matthew 22: 15-22)

 

One of the critical skills we teach our children and our young people is to “look both ways” before crossing a road, or before pulling the car out into the cross street.

Many of you will know that I do a lot of track work for area tourist railroads. One of the safety measures we instill in those who come to work with us is to always “expect rail traffic on the track from either direction, and at any time”. This is another way of saying “look both ways”.

In this morning’s Gospel reading, Jesus admonishes the Pharisees and the Herodians who had come to entrap Him by asking about paying taxes to the occupying Romans, telling them to look to their obligations not only to the Romans, but also to God. In other words, Jesus’ inquisitors were told to look both ways to understand their obligations to both.

Before we look at the implications of what the Lord said, let’s take a moment to refresh our memories about the setting of the incident we hear about this morning.

The Pharisees and the Herodians approached Jesus in the Temple courts in Jerusalem. The incident took place during Holy Week, after Jesus triumphal entry into the city on Palm Sunday, but before His arrest, suffering and death. Throughout this week, Matthew provides us with the various altercations and interchanges between the Lord and the chief priests, the Pharisees and the scribes. The tension between the Lord and these various groups is building as Holy Week unfolds.

The Pharisees and the Herodians weren’t natural allies. In fact, the two groups had differing outlooks and values. The Pharisees were keen to observe and preserve Jewish identity in a time of difficulty, as the Roman occupation threatened to undermine or even to erase Jewish identity. The Pharisees therefore emphasized a rigorous observance of the requirements of the Law of Moses (Torah).

On the other hand, the Herodians were advocates of the puppet kings that the Romans had established, beginning with Herod the Great, who ruled from 37 – 4 BC.

The relationship between the two groups, in the instance of their encounter with Jesus, was one which we might characterize as an alliance of convenience, born out of their mutual dislike for Jesus and for His growing influence and popularity.

Now then, let’s explore what Jesus said about giving to God the things that are God’s and giving to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.

When Jesus is asked about paying Roman taxes, He asks to see the coin that was used to pay the tax. When it is produced, He asks whose image and whose title is on the coin. The answer is “Caesar’s”.

So then, the Lord says, pay taxes to Caesar.

Paying taxes is one of the tasks and requirements of living in the time and place where such things are a reality of life.

Another way of saying this is that we live in the world, and are expected to uphold the responsibilities that come with living life, day in and day out.

For us Christians, that also means that we are charged to be a light to the world. For the world which God created, and which is filled with people whom God also created and whom God loves, has been entrusted to our care.

So then, we care about the environment, caring for it just as Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it.

We also care for people, working to meet their needs, and especially so in cases where people cannot meet their basic needs themselves. So it is, for example, that Flohr’s Church maintains a Blessing Box, where people can come and get food at any time they are in need. It is also the reason we undertake various outreach ministries.

The plain truth here is that we are not yet in heaven, seeing God face-to-face. We are still in this life and in this world, a reality which brings with it the requirement to put our faith into action.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the matter of paying attention to the things of God.

Faith, and growing the faith, is – like everything in life – something that doesn’t grow itself. To be sure, the assistance and guidance and empowering work of the Holy Spirit is an essential and indispensable part of coming to faith, and in growing the faith. Growing into the full stature of Christ means that we will have work to do to bring the maturity of faith that Holy Scripture lays before us.

We study the Bible, we maintain an active prayer life, thanking God for His blessings, and laying before the throne of grace our own needs and the needs of others. We are faithful in attending worship, partaking of the Sacraments regularly, and spending time with God’s people.

If we think about it, we are placed in the middle, between God and God’s will on the one hand, and the requirements and the needs of the world and its people, on the other.

We are called, therefore, to be God’s emissaries, God’s ambassadors (as St. Paul puts it), charged to be a light to the world, to be those who, instead or cursing the darkness, choose to light a candle instead.

Come then, Holy Spirit, and assist us to be about the work of God in the world.

AMEN. 

Pentecost 20, Year A (2026)

Isaiah 25: 1–9 / Psalm 23 / Philippians 4: 1–9 / Matthew 22: 1–14

 

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday October 22, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“THERE’S A DOWNSIDE TO BEING CREATED IN THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD”

(Homily texts:  Isaiah 35: 1–9, and Matthew 22: 1–14)

 

“Old Noah knew a thing or two. Because he knew a thing or two, he thought he knew it all!”

Those lyrics are from a 1906 Broadway musical, “Marrying Mary”. We used to sing an arrangement of that song during my time in the U.S. Army Chorus.

I’ve mentioned before a weekly gathering of pastors in a community in Illinois where I served for seven years. Each Tuesday morning, this remarkably congenial and widely varied ecumenical group of pastors would gather in one of our churches for a time if sharing, mutual support, and common witness to our Lord Jesus Christ.

One Tuesday morning, it was my turn to host the meeting, Part of the task of hosting a meeting also involved offering a devotional. On that particular occasion, I started my devotional by saying, “You know, there’s a downside to being created in the image and likeness of God”. Some of those gathered offered expressions that indicated they were puzzled by what I said. So I added this: “God has gifted the human race with memory, reason and skill. But those gifts can easily lead us to think that, because we know a thing or two, we think we know it all”. (Of course, I was quoting the song from Marrying Mary.)

Like any gift that God gives us, the gifts of memory, reason and skill can be misused. Down through history, God’s people have misused those gifts. The chief priests and the Pharisees[1] who heard this morning’s parable, the Parable of the Heavenly Banquet, were misusing God’s gifts. (More about that in a moment.)

Let’s look back into history to see some other occasions when God’s people misused their gifts.

We could begin with the incident of the golden calf. Moses had been on the mountain, receiving from God the Ten Commandments, and when he came down from the mountain, he heard a raucous gathering going on. Approaching the activities, he sees a golden calf. He approaches his brother, Aaron (who had been left in charge), and asks what’s going on. Aaron offers what must surely be one of the lamest excuses in the Bible, saying to Moses that he simply threw the gold into the fire, and out came the golden calf. The misuse of God’s gift on that occasion amounted to being able to imagine an idol, to craft such an idol, and then to worship it, saying, “These are the gods that brought us out of Egypt.” If we think about it, it’s kind of amazing that God’s people who had seen what God had done in bringing them out of slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the wilderness, could turn away from the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to the worship of a golden calf.

On numerous other occasions during the Old Testament period, we find the prophets warning God’s people not to fall prey to the worship of idols. In some cases, idol worship existed right alongside the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There’s a term for this: Syncretism.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the setting of today’s encounter between Jesus and the chief priests and the Pharisees.

For some time now, in Holy Week, Jesus has been countering the wayward ways of the chief priests (who ran the Temple in Jerusalem), the scribes (the lawyers of the day) and the Pharisees (a lay group who were dedicated to maintaining the identity of God’s people).

These leaders of the people acted as though they had a relationship with God. But in truth, theirs was an outward display, for their hearts were far from God. They cherished their positions of prominence in the society of the day. They claimed to be leading the people in the ways of God.  They claimed to be following God’s law, but their observance was an outward show. In time, as Holy Week unfolded, these very same people would scheme to kill Jesus.

At this juncture, it’s important to say that, perhaps the worst sort of misuse of God’s gifts to humanity, those gifts that permit us to imagine and to created, often come from people who claim to be in relationship with God. “Because we know a thing or two, we think we know it all!”

Since parables place something we can identify with and can grasp alongside a deeper truth, how does today’s parable place the commonly-known situation of the king who offered a banquet alongside other, deeper truths?

The answer, I think, is that the king equates to God. The invitation to come to the banquet echoes God’s call to be in relationship and fellowship with Him.  This morning’s Old Testament reading outlines the prophet Isaiah’s description of God’s rich banquet, prepared for His people. (Recall that, in biblical times, eating with someone denoted being in relationship with them.) Since those who were in relationship with the king (God) spurned the invitation (as God’s people had, time and again, in Old Testament times), the invitation had been revised to include those who were formerly not in relationship with the king (God). This new group equates to the Gentiles, who were folded into the Church.

This is the classic interpretation of the parable, and I think it makes good sense.

Now then, as the Church grew and spread out into the world, there have been times when God’s people in the Church have strayed from God’s revealed will.

Consider, for example, the time in the early fourth century when the Church came out of the shadows of society once the Roman emperor Constantine had made Christianity legal, Suddenly, large groups of people came into the Church. But their behavior, in many cases, didn’t change from their former ways. The clergy, as well, began to strut around in their robes (much like the Pharisees did in Jesus’ day). It seems that the change brought about good things, but it also created a situation in which there was an outward form of religion, but the inner reality of the people in the Church was, in many cases, far from God’s will and God’s heart. In response, the monastic movement got started, as an attempt to preserve the essential character of the Church.

Fast forward to the time of the Reformation in the sixteenth century. (We will consider this in depth in two weeks as we honor Reformation Sunday.) Here, too, the Church had an outward appearance of religion, but its spiritual character was devoid of God’s ways and God’s truths.

Since the parables, and – for that matter – all of the Bible’s accounts, have a forward-looking aspect to them, what are the lessons for us to grasp today?

Perhaps these things are important for us today, just as they have been important down through time:

1.   We should beware of the dangers that our own abilities to imagine and to create can create. We can imagine all sorts of things, but in many cases, what we dream up are of human, not divine, origin. Indeed, we can say that “because we know a thing or two, chances are we think we know it all”.

2.   The Church must be constantly vigilant to ensure that we “keep the main thing, the main thing”. The Church can get off into pursuing all sorts of things, some of which have merit and worth, but which aren’t the essential purpose for the Church’s existence. We can easily become religious busy-bodies, out doing “good stuff”.

So then, we pray for the Holy Spirit’s guiding and refining presence, that we may mirror God’s revealed will for His people, that we may be a bright and shining light of God in the world.

AMEN.

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[1]   We have to back up to the previous chapter to find out that those to whom Jesus was speaking were the chief priests and the Pharisees. See Matthew 21:45. 

Pentecost 19, Year A (2026)

Isaiah 5: 1–7 / Psalm 80: 7–15 / Philippians 3: 4b–14 / Matthew 21: 33–46

 

This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, October 4, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.

 

“THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE”

(Homily texts:  Isaiah 5 :1–7, Philippians 3: 4b–14, and Matthew 21: 33-46)

As I get older, I find myself reflecting more and more on the human condition, and on the progression of life as it goes on.

“Why is it”, I ask myself, “that so-and-so exists?” That’d be one of the questions I ask myself. (Maybe you have the same sorts of questions…feel free to fill in the blank with your own version of this question.)

Here’s another one: Why is it that God allows us human beings to have freedom?

Consider, for example, some of the freedoms that God gives us: We have the freedom to choose to do good to others, or to do things that harm them; we have the freedom to exploit God’s creation, instead of caring for it and nurturing it (as Adam and Eve were charged to do in the Garden of Eden); we have the freedom to seek after the heart of God, or to reject God and “do our own thing”; and – finally – we have the freedom to go through the outward motions of religion, all the while distancing ourselves from the truths of God and the revealed will of God for us.

With this introduction in mind, let’s look at all three of our appointed readings for this morning, for – I think – we’ll see a pattern of those who chose to exercise their freedoms, some for good, and some for not-so-good. Then, since today is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, let’s consider his life and example in the light of the times in which he lived from the perspective of his use of the freedoms he chose to exercise.

We will begin with the Old Testament prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah lived in the eight-century BC. His ministry spanned the time of the conquest of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. His lifetime and ministry unfolded during a turbulent and troubled time for God’s people.

It was also a time when God’s people seemed to be forsaking God for some one or more of the pagan idols that were the legacy of the Canaanite peoples who had lived in the Holy Land prior to the return of God’s people under Joshua’s leadership many centuries before.

But the people in Isaiah’s time were far from the heart of God. They chose to exercise their freedoms to do harm to others, and to do harm to their relationship with God. That’s Isaiah’s chief concern.

Isaiah describes their situation, reminding them that God has been good to His people. He has provided for them and has protected them. But now, God’s people have chosen to transgress God’s will and God’s commandments.

Therefore, Isaiah warns, God will remove His mantle of protection from His people for their ill-chosen freedom.

In a remarkably similar vein, Jesus tells His audience a parable about God’s people and the vineyard that God had entrusted to His people. (Perhaps the Lord had Isaiah’s description in mind when He crafted His parable.)

Just as in Isaiah’s example, so, too, does the Lord castigate the chief priests, the scribes and the others who were leaders of God’s people in the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry, for they fail to produce fruit that is acceptable and pleasing to God.

So then, we have two examples in our appointed readings of poor choices made by God’s people of the freedoms that were theirs to either do good and to produce good fruit, or to choose to ignore God’s will and do otherwise.

Now, let’s turn our attention to two examples of those who chose to seek God’s face and God’s heart.

The first is St. Paul.

Writing in what is, perhaps, is last letter (and his most positive one), his letter to the early Christians in the town of Philippi, he describes his desire to seek the heart of God. He says that he “presses on toward the goal, toward the goal of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus”.

Another example, from a later time, is St. Francis of Assisi.

Born in the year 1182 (he died in 1226), Francis was the son of a prosperous merchant in the town of Assisi, located northeast (if I can remember correctly) of Rome in Italy.

Francis encountered many poor people in his travels. The sight of these afflicted people pricked his conscience, and he vowed to renounce the life plan that lay before him as the successor in his father’s business. Instead, he chose a life of poverty, or service to the least and the lost, and to the care for God’s creation.

In a time when the Church as a whole was devoting itself to other values, values like earthly power, wealth and prestige, Francis’ example stood in direct opposition. (Notice the parallels in the behaviors and attitudes of the Church in Francis’ time and the behaviors and attitudes of the leaders of God’s people in Jesus’ time…both are examples of people who outwardly said they were following God’s will and God’s ways.)

Francis’ example was a challenge to the established ideals of the Church in his time. His was a shining light in an otherwise very dark time.

So then, here are two examples of those who close to exercise their freedoms for good and godly values.

We have before us this morning a warning, a warning to the Church as a whole, not to fall into the trap of claiming to follow God’s will and God’s ways, all the while choosing to create and follow idols of our own making. (an idol defined as anything that displaces God from his central place).

AMEN.