Proper 19
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III
In those congregations where the contemporary hymn of praise, "This is the feast of victory for our God ... For the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign. Alleluia!", is sung, there is a constant reminder of Sunday's character as a "Little Easter." "This is the Feast of Victory" - or a similar hymn of praise - ought to be sung on Sundays during the so-called "green" season, despite the rubric in the Lutheran Book of Worship ("On Sundays for which the color is green, it is appropriate to omit either the Kyrie or the Hymn of Praise"). When the "Easter content" of Sunday is taken into consideration, this becomes a very inappropriate rubric, inasmuch as people - and not a few pastors, too - tend to be unaware of the kerygmatic uniqueness of Sunday. The Pentecost season continues to affirm the death and resurrection of Christ - and the hope of his coming again - Sunday after Sunday. The Lutheran Book of Worship contains a canticle that ought to be learned by every congregation: "Keep in mind that Jesus Christ has died for us and is risen from the dead. He is our saving Lord; he is joy for all ages." (Canticle 13) The very heart of the Gospel is "laid bare" in those congregations which focus their worship during Pentecost on the salvific death and resurrection of the Lord, and so the people are built up in the Lord, edified and sanctified through the Word and the Spirit. Worship and preaching are centered on this theological phenomenon, which will culminate someday in the parousia. The Gospel of Mark, in particular, supports this thesis and celebration by its eschatological thrust.
The Prayer of the Day
The Book of Common Prayer collect for this day speaks to the part of the Gospel in which Jesus declares, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." It reads:
O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 116 (E); 116:1-8 (L, E); 116:1-9 (R) - The Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches use another section of this psalm on Maundy Thursday, probably because it refers - as Christians read it - to the Holy Communion: "I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord." (Other portions of the psalm are appointed for the Second Sunday in Lent, Cycle B, and Corpus Christi, in the Roman Catholic liturgy.) This and the refrain that follows in verses 12 and 16 ("I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.") make the singing of the entire psalm appropriate, because it brings together the passion of the Lord and the response of the people of God that is articulated in the Gospel of the Day. The portion of this psalm that has been selected by the three liturgical churches (verses 1-8, 9) reflects the "death prediction" of Christ and his deliverance from death and the tomb in verses 2 ("The cords of death entangled me; the grip of the grave took hold of me; I came to grief and sorrow.") and 7-8 ("For you have rescued my life from death.... I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living."). Hence, the psalm makes an excellent response to the first reading and a fitting reference to the Gospel for the Day.
The Psalm Prayer (LPW)
God of power and mercy, through the Passion and resurrection of your Son you have freed us from the bonds of death and the anguish of separation from you. Be with us on our pilgrimage, and help us offer you a sacrifice of praise, fulfill our vows, and glorify you in the presence of all your people; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The readings:
Isaiah 50:4-9 (E); 50:4-10 (L); 50:5-9a (R)
"The third servant song" is the title that has been given to this portion of Deutero-Isaiah, of which the Roman Catholic Ordo uses the first seven verses on the Sunday of the Passion. The psalm is appointed for this Sunday because there is a parallel between Isaiah's continuing prophecies that the Lord will deliver his people from exile, which the Israelites really seem to have forgotten, and Jesus' teachings and prophecies, which the people really reject and which cost him his life. Jesus' experience was very similar to Isaiah's, which makes it quite natural for the early church to connect this reading to the Gospel of the Lord. The reading speaks, especially, to Jesus' confidence that God will deliver him, even from death, which God did, as Jesus predicted, on the third day.
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9 (C)
This selection comes from that portion of the Book of Proverbs that originated as far back as Solomon's time; it could be a proverb of Solomon. It emphasizes character - "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favour is better than silver or gold" - and, in the last two verses, suggests that the "good name" comes from dealing justly out of concern with other people, especially with the poor and needy. There is also a warning to those who "sow injustice" (verse 8), so that the first reading leads quite positively to the second reading from Jamds 2. The people who deal justly and generously with their poor neighbors, meeting their needs as they are willing and able to share their food with them, will be blessed by the Lord God. The proverb intends to give people a proper perspective on what is really valuable in life, and what really counts in the godly, especially the Christian, life.
James 2:1-5, 8-10, 14-18 (E, L, C); 2:14-18 (R)
The second readings of the three liturgical churches - for last Sunday and today - converge on each other, because the Episcopal and Lutheran churches combine James 2:1-5 with verses 14-18, the Roman Catholic lection. (Comments on 2:1-5 are in last week's materials.) The Lutherans and Episcopalians also add three verses (8-10) between last week's reading and today's; they point to the "royal law," which Jesus termed a "new commandment:" "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The "partiality" theme surfaces once more (v. 9) and is condemned as sin that is really the breaking of God's law - all of it - by this or any other violation of the commandments. The latter part (verses 14-18) contains Jesus' well-known saying, "So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." James does not see faith as a good work which earns salvation for believers; rather, he sees works as the other side of faith - and he believes that faith and works are indivisible. You can't have faith without works - real faith, he means, which is active and responsible in people's attitudes and actions. The good works that people do testify to the reality of their faith, and as a way of witnessing for Christ in the world.
Mark 8:27-35 (R, L); 8:27-38 (E, C)
One is given the impression, on this second Sunday of the resumption of the semi-continuous reading of Mark's Gospel, that after a five week side-trip into John 6, the church is not in a hurry to get through the rest of Mark and, therefore, skips verses 1-26 of Mark 8. The fact is that it was deemed essential to get to the heart of this chapter, which is Jesus' prediction of his suffering and death - and resurrection - and Jesus' teaching about true discipleship. Matthew took over this pericope and altered it, as the commentary for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, revealed. This earlier version surprises any first-time reader, because after Peter identifies Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, in that splendid confession, and Jesus' predicts his fate, which elicits a very human reaction in Peter - Peter "began to rebuke him." Jesus calls him Satan, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men." The reason for that shocking statement is simply that Jesus has revealed that he is not to be a political Messiah, which people expected, but a suffering servant; Peter aligned himself with Satan when he attempted to dissuade Jesus from going to Jerusalem, to suffer and die. He and the other disciples did not yet really comprehend who Jesus was and what he was about, despite the fact that he had said all of this rather plainly. Satan would have loved to see Jesus give in to Peter and become a Messiah-King; He would have had his own way with Christ and with the Father, if that would have hap-pened. Jesus wouldn't let it. He silenced Peter - and the disciples - until they would finally understand, after the resurrection.
The second part of the pericope belongs to the first because, according to scholars, Jesus was attempting to show people the nature of the discipleship. It would not be spectacular, like the works of the wandering magicians of the Mediterranean area, but the disciples of Christ are to understand that they have been called to the same type of ministry that he engaged in, one of suffering and self-denial, in which one may actually lay down one's life for the sake of others and Jesus Christ. Therefore, in the combination of these two incidents, the relationship of the confession of faith and the nature of discipleship are made manifestly clear - and both are marked with the sign of the cross of Jesus.
Mark 9:14-29 (E)
This reading furnishes an option for those who might wish to fill in the gap between the end of this chapter and verse 30 of chapter nine, where next week's Gospel begins. However, it by-passes the scene of the transfiguration (verses 1-13) and proceeds to tell what happened after Jesus and the three disciples came down from the mountain. In what must have seemed like a mob scene to Jesus and the disciples, Jesus asked a man who "ran up to him," "What are you discussing with them?" Then the story of the man whose son had convulsions, and whom the disciples had attempted to cure, only to fail, was told to Jesus. Unwittingly, the man, who really didn't know Jesus as anything more than a magician and a healer, said to him, "if you can do anything, have pity on us, and help us!" To Jesus' statement that all things are possible to those who believe, the man made the reply of the person who knows that faith is a gift of God's goodness and grace, says, "I believe; help my unbelief!" And Jesus healed the boy - immediately. He then proceeded to tell the disciples that they had failed because they attempted to use means other than prayer to drive out the demon; Jesus showed them how healing takes place.
A Sermon on the Gospel, Mark 8:27-35 (R, L); 8:27-38 (E, C) - "Peter and Premature Death."
Death is the common enemy of everything and everyone that lives. Sooner or later, it claims all of us and takes away life. Most of us expect to live - barring unforeseen accident, illness, or infirmity - a fairly long life, at least the biblical three score years or so. Those who calculate life expectancy have told us so. But death may cut us down in the prime of life, even before we have a chance to live. It has abbreviated many a promising career. A young colleague, who had recently earned his Ph.D. and had demonstrated his promise, died of a brain tumor; a thirty-six-year-old pastor, whose pastoral skills and leadership had built up a struggling parish and were making it effective, died of cancer; a twenty-eight-year-old mother, who had so much to contribute to people, was cut down by cancer (and a few months later her four-year-old son was killed by a careless driver); a twelve-year-old boy in a confirmation class died of a malignant tumor - such true stories could be told in detail and compounded by every living person. Premature deaths are all too common and are, we believe, to be avoided at any cost.
Small wonder, then, that Peter was upset when, after his confession, "You are the Christ," he heard Jesus say that he was going to suffer and die. Jesus was too young to die - and that certainly is a fact that could have been Peter's concern. He didn't want to see Jesus, whom he loved and admired so much, die prematurely - or to suffer unnecessarily. But that was only part of the story. The real problem lay deeper than his confession and his rebuke of Jesus; Peter had his own idea - the conception of the Messiah that the people held in common - about the Messiah. He wanted a Messiah who would set God's people free - a mighty Messiah-King, not a suffering servant like Isaiah had described. That's the real reason that Jesus said to him, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men."
1. People, both before and since Aaron and the people of Israel made the golden calf, have wanted a God made to their own specifications. A humanly-designed God would make everything right in the world, taking away pain, hunger, poverty, sickness, suffering, and anything else that would make life unbearable - and ultimately would make the transition from this existence to eternal life easy and automatic. He would really make a new world, a kind of utopia for the blessing and benefit of all. To put it another way, we want God on our own terms, our kind of God.
2. But we get God as he is - and Jesus as the suffering servant, who came to earth destined to die for the salvation of all people. He is no wonder-worker, whose main business is to do great miracles in our lives, nor is he politically-directed toward one nation or another. Jesus is the Lord, the blessed Son of God and the Savior of the world who takes away sin, reconciles people to God, and blesses believers with the hope of eternal life. That's the Messiah that God has given to the world, and when people attempt to make him into something he is not, he still says, "Get behind me, Satan! You are not on the side of God, but of men."
3. By the same token, we human beings cannot shape our life in Christ according to our own specifications; he has determined that discipleship is marked with his cross, his suffering, and his service. Most of us would like a Christ who would be a constant source of physical and even material blessings to us, rather than a Savior who says, "Take up your cross and follow me." Christian living means participating in an adventure that the Lord has planned for us in life, not simply being "couch potatoes" who would like to sit back in security and comfort while singing an off-key version of "Come, let us sing to the Lord; let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.... Come, let us bow down and bend the knee, and kneel before the Lord our maker.... for he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand."
4. The Christ of the cross and the empty tomb is the Messiah that God has given to us. He is the one who is the Lord - and those who believe really are his people. So we allow him to take us and shape us and our lives and our ministry in his name - lost in wonder that he would die for us. Praise that God lifted him up with joy and thanksgiving that he has opened the gates of heaven for us. We may even hope to hear him say, "Well done, good and faithful servants."
A Sermon on the First Lesson, Isaiah 50:5-9a (R); 50:4-9 (E); 50:4-10 (L) - "Destined to Suffer."
1. That's the sort of Savior Isaiah predicted that God would send into the world - a suffering servant, who would face death and die to accomplish his mission.
2. That's the sort of Savior that the Gospels tell us about - but one who not only died but who also rose again on the third day and ascended to God's right hand.
3. That's the sort of Savior to whom we say, "You are the Christ - my Lord and God."
4. That's the sort of Savior who says to us, (as in the Gospel for the Day), "Take up your cross and follow me."
5. And we do, don't we?
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9 (C) - "God's Case for Charity."
1. The good people of the earth are the ones who are really rich in the eyes of God. They have chosen righteousness and justice over the pursuit of wealth and the things money can buy.
2. They have learned "the mind of Christ" - and they really care for other people and do all they can for those who need help regardless of what it costs them. God depends upon them to do his caring work in the world. If they don't do it, it probably will not get done.
3. God blesses them because they love the Lord and have proved their love and also be-cause they have proved themselves to be indispensable to him and his plans. Those who "share their bread with the poor" live as Christ lived - and that is all that God asks of us.
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, James 2:1-5, 8-10, 14-18 (E, L, C); 2:14-18 (R) - "No Good Works, No Real Faith."
1. Faith alone that comes through the grace of God saves people from sin and death. Good works have never saved anyone and never will, because Jesus has done that in the name of the Father.
2. Faith without works is dead because real faith responds in kind to the love of God in Christ Jesus. It extends the love of God to others through works of mercy and kindness. If there are no good works, one's faith is suspect. Good works are not optional for Christians; they are required of those who claim Christ as Lord.
3. Good works are living proof that one's confession of faith is valid and true, that the believer has staked his/her life on the cross of Jesus Christ. They testify to the world that Jesus is alive and that the faith of Christ's servants is genuine. But apart from Christ, good works can save no one; faith and works are linked together in Christians.
4. Where there is faith there will be good works as the response of the faithful to the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Mark 9:14-29 (E) - "Heal Me, If You Can."
1. The disciples couldn't heal the boy of his convulsions. His father challenged Jesus, "If you can do anything for us, have pity on us and help us." Humanity's cry to God: "Help us, heal us, if you can!"
2. Jesus declared that God can do all things - that "all things are possible to him who believes." The human dilemma is "I believe; help my unbelief."
3. Jesus could - and did - respond to the man's request. He answered the man by his action; he healed his son right then and there - and, at the same time, made that father whole and complete in his faith.
4. Jesus always heals, one way or another, those who call upon him in faith. He sustains his own. We can bank on that even in the face of suffering and certain death. "If he can?" Indeed he can and he will.
The Prayer of the Day
The Book of Common Prayer collect for this day speaks to the part of the Gospel in which Jesus declares, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." It reads:
O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 116 (E); 116:1-8 (L, E); 116:1-9 (R) - The Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches use another section of this psalm on Maundy Thursday, probably because it refers - as Christians read it - to the Holy Communion: "I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord." (Other portions of the psalm are appointed for the Second Sunday in Lent, Cycle B, and Corpus Christi, in the Roman Catholic liturgy.) This and the refrain that follows in verses 12 and 16 ("I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.") make the singing of the entire psalm appropriate, because it brings together the passion of the Lord and the response of the people of God that is articulated in the Gospel of the Day. The portion of this psalm that has been selected by the three liturgical churches (verses 1-8, 9) reflects the "death prediction" of Christ and his deliverance from death and the tomb in verses 2 ("The cords of death entangled me; the grip of the grave took hold of me; I came to grief and sorrow.") and 7-8 ("For you have rescued my life from death.... I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living."). Hence, the psalm makes an excellent response to the first reading and a fitting reference to the Gospel for the Day.
The Psalm Prayer (LPW)
God of power and mercy, through the Passion and resurrection of your Son you have freed us from the bonds of death and the anguish of separation from you. Be with us on our pilgrimage, and help us offer you a sacrifice of praise, fulfill our vows, and glorify you in the presence of all your people; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The readings:
Isaiah 50:4-9 (E); 50:4-10 (L); 50:5-9a (R)
"The third servant song" is the title that has been given to this portion of Deutero-Isaiah, of which the Roman Catholic Ordo uses the first seven verses on the Sunday of the Passion. The psalm is appointed for this Sunday because there is a parallel between Isaiah's continuing prophecies that the Lord will deliver his people from exile, which the Israelites really seem to have forgotten, and Jesus' teachings and prophecies, which the people really reject and which cost him his life. Jesus' experience was very similar to Isaiah's, which makes it quite natural for the early church to connect this reading to the Gospel of the Lord. The reading speaks, especially, to Jesus' confidence that God will deliver him, even from death, which God did, as Jesus predicted, on the third day.
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9 (C)
This selection comes from that portion of the Book of Proverbs that originated as far back as Solomon's time; it could be a proverb of Solomon. It emphasizes character - "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favour is better than silver or gold" - and, in the last two verses, suggests that the "good name" comes from dealing justly out of concern with other people, especially with the poor and needy. There is also a warning to those who "sow injustice" (verse 8), so that the first reading leads quite positively to the second reading from Jamds 2. The people who deal justly and generously with their poor neighbors, meeting their needs as they are willing and able to share their food with them, will be blessed by the Lord God. The proverb intends to give people a proper perspective on what is really valuable in life, and what really counts in the godly, especially the Christian, life.
James 2:1-5, 8-10, 14-18 (E, L, C); 2:14-18 (R)
The second readings of the three liturgical churches - for last Sunday and today - converge on each other, because the Episcopal and Lutheran churches combine James 2:1-5 with verses 14-18, the Roman Catholic lection. (Comments on 2:1-5 are in last week's materials.) The Lutherans and Episcopalians also add three verses (8-10) between last week's reading and today's; they point to the "royal law," which Jesus termed a "new commandment:" "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The "partiality" theme surfaces once more (v. 9) and is condemned as sin that is really the breaking of God's law - all of it - by this or any other violation of the commandments. The latter part (verses 14-18) contains Jesus' well-known saying, "So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." James does not see faith as a good work which earns salvation for believers; rather, he sees works as the other side of faith - and he believes that faith and works are indivisible. You can't have faith without works - real faith, he means, which is active and responsible in people's attitudes and actions. The good works that people do testify to the reality of their faith, and as a way of witnessing for Christ in the world.
Mark 8:27-35 (R, L); 8:27-38 (E, C)
One is given the impression, on this second Sunday of the resumption of the semi-continuous reading of Mark's Gospel, that after a five week side-trip into John 6, the church is not in a hurry to get through the rest of Mark and, therefore, skips verses 1-26 of Mark 8. The fact is that it was deemed essential to get to the heart of this chapter, which is Jesus' prediction of his suffering and death - and resurrection - and Jesus' teaching about true discipleship. Matthew took over this pericope and altered it, as the commentary for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, revealed. This earlier version surprises any first-time reader, because after Peter identifies Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, in that splendid confession, and Jesus' predicts his fate, which elicits a very human reaction in Peter - Peter "began to rebuke him." Jesus calls him Satan, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men." The reason for that shocking statement is simply that Jesus has revealed that he is not to be a political Messiah, which people expected, but a suffering servant; Peter aligned himself with Satan when he attempted to dissuade Jesus from going to Jerusalem, to suffer and die. He and the other disciples did not yet really comprehend who Jesus was and what he was about, despite the fact that he had said all of this rather plainly. Satan would have loved to see Jesus give in to Peter and become a Messiah-King; He would have had his own way with Christ and with the Father, if that would have hap-pened. Jesus wouldn't let it. He silenced Peter - and the disciples - until they would finally understand, after the resurrection.
The second part of the pericope belongs to the first because, according to scholars, Jesus was attempting to show people the nature of the discipleship. It would not be spectacular, like the works of the wandering magicians of the Mediterranean area, but the disciples of Christ are to understand that they have been called to the same type of ministry that he engaged in, one of suffering and self-denial, in which one may actually lay down one's life for the sake of others and Jesus Christ. Therefore, in the combination of these two incidents, the relationship of the confession of faith and the nature of discipleship are made manifestly clear - and both are marked with the sign of the cross of Jesus.
Mark 9:14-29 (E)
This reading furnishes an option for those who might wish to fill in the gap between the end of this chapter and verse 30 of chapter nine, where next week's Gospel begins. However, it by-passes the scene of the transfiguration (verses 1-13) and proceeds to tell what happened after Jesus and the three disciples came down from the mountain. In what must have seemed like a mob scene to Jesus and the disciples, Jesus asked a man who "ran up to him," "What are you discussing with them?" Then the story of the man whose son had convulsions, and whom the disciples had attempted to cure, only to fail, was told to Jesus. Unwittingly, the man, who really didn't know Jesus as anything more than a magician and a healer, said to him, "if you can do anything, have pity on us, and help us!" To Jesus' statement that all things are possible to those who believe, the man made the reply of the person who knows that faith is a gift of God's goodness and grace, says, "I believe; help my unbelief!" And Jesus healed the boy - immediately. He then proceeded to tell the disciples that they had failed because they attempted to use means other than prayer to drive out the demon; Jesus showed them how healing takes place.
A Sermon on the Gospel, Mark 8:27-35 (R, L); 8:27-38 (E, C) - "Peter and Premature Death."
Death is the common enemy of everything and everyone that lives. Sooner or later, it claims all of us and takes away life. Most of us expect to live - barring unforeseen accident, illness, or infirmity - a fairly long life, at least the biblical three score years or so. Those who calculate life expectancy have told us so. But death may cut us down in the prime of life, even before we have a chance to live. It has abbreviated many a promising career. A young colleague, who had recently earned his Ph.D. and had demonstrated his promise, died of a brain tumor; a thirty-six-year-old pastor, whose pastoral skills and leadership had built up a struggling parish and were making it effective, died of cancer; a twenty-eight-year-old mother, who had so much to contribute to people, was cut down by cancer (and a few months later her four-year-old son was killed by a careless driver); a twelve-year-old boy in a confirmation class died of a malignant tumor - such true stories could be told in detail and compounded by every living person. Premature deaths are all too common and are, we believe, to be avoided at any cost.
Small wonder, then, that Peter was upset when, after his confession, "You are the Christ," he heard Jesus say that he was going to suffer and die. Jesus was too young to die - and that certainly is a fact that could have been Peter's concern. He didn't want to see Jesus, whom he loved and admired so much, die prematurely - or to suffer unnecessarily. But that was only part of the story. The real problem lay deeper than his confession and his rebuke of Jesus; Peter had his own idea - the conception of the Messiah that the people held in common - about the Messiah. He wanted a Messiah who would set God's people free - a mighty Messiah-King, not a suffering servant like Isaiah had described. That's the real reason that Jesus said to him, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men."
1. People, both before and since Aaron and the people of Israel made the golden calf, have wanted a God made to their own specifications. A humanly-designed God would make everything right in the world, taking away pain, hunger, poverty, sickness, suffering, and anything else that would make life unbearable - and ultimately would make the transition from this existence to eternal life easy and automatic. He would really make a new world, a kind of utopia for the blessing and benefit of all. To put it another way, we want God on our own terms, our kind of God.
2. But we get God as he is - and Jesus as the suffering servant, who came to earth destined to die for the salvation of all people. He is no wonder-worker, whose main business is to do great miracles in our lives, nor is he politically-directed toward one nation or another. Jesus is the Lord, the blessed Son of God and the Savior of the world who takes away sin, reconciles people to God, and blesses believers with the hope of eternal life. That's the Messiah that God has given to the world, and when people attempt to make him into something he is not, he still says, "Get behind me, Satan! You are not on the side of God, but of men."
3. By the same token, we human beings cannot shape our life in Christ according to our own specifications; he has determined that discipleship is marked with his cross, his suffering, and his service. Most of us would like a Christ who would be a constant source of physical and even material blessings to us, rather than a Savior who says, "Take up your cross and follow me." Christian living means participating in an adventure that the Lord has planned for us in life, not simply being "couch potatoes" who would like to sit back in security and comfort while singing an off-key version of "Come, let us sing to the Lord; let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.... Come, let us bow down and bend the knee, and kneel before the Lord our maker.... for he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand."
4. The Christ of the cross and the empty tomb is the Messiah that God has given to us. He is the one who is the Lord - and those who believe really are his people. So we allow him to take us and shape us and our lives and our ministry in his name - lost in wonder that he would die for us. Praise that God lifted him up with joy and thanksgiving that he has opened the gates of heaven for us. We may even hope to hear him say, "Well done, good and faithful servants."
A Sermon on the First Lesson, Isaiah 50:5-9a (R); 50:4-9 (E); 50:4-10 (L) - "Destined to Suffer."
1. That's the sort of Savior Isaiah predicted that God would send into the world - a suffering servant, who would face death and die to accomplish his mission.
2. That's the sort of Savior that the Gospels tell us about - but one who not only died but who also rose again on the third day and ascended to God's right hand.
3. That's the sort of Savior to whom we say, "You are the Christ - my Lord and God."
4. That's the sort of Savior who says to us, (as in the Gospel for the Day), "Take up your cross and follow me."
5. And we do, don't we?
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9 (C) - "God's Case for Charity."
1. The good people of the earth are the ones who are really rich in the eyes of God. They have chosen righteousness and justice over the pursuit of wealth and the things money can buy.
2. They have learned "the mind of Christ" - and they really care for other people and do all they can for those who need help regardless of what it costs them. God depends upon them to do his caring work in the world. If they don't do it, it probably will not get done.
3. God blesses them because they love the Lord and have proved their love and also be-cause they have proved themselves to be indispensable to him and his plans. Those who "share their bread with the poor" live as Christ lived - and that is all that God asks of us.
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, James 2:1-5, 8-10, 14-18 (E, L, C); 2:14-18 (R) - "No Good Works, No Real Faith."
1. Faith alone that comes through the grace of God saves people from sin and death. Good works have never saved anyone and never will, because Jesus has done that in the name of the Father.
2. Faith without works is dead because real faith responds in kind to the love of God in Christ Jesus. It extends the love of God to others through works of mercy and kindness. If there are no good works, one's faith is suspect. Good works are not optional for Christians; they are required of those who claim Christ as Lord.
3. Good works are living proof that one's confession of faith is valid and true, that the believer has staked his/her life on the cross of Jesus Christ. They testify to the world that Jesus is alive and that the faith of Christ's servants is genuine. But apart from Christ, good works can save no one; faith and works are linked together in Christians.
4. Where there is faith there will be good works as the response of the faithful to the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Mark 9:14-29 (E) - "Heal Me, If You Can."
1. The disciples couldn't heal the boy of his convulsions. His father challenged Jesus, "If you can do anything for us, have pity on us and help us." Humanity's cry to God: "Help us, heal us, if you can!"
2. Jesus declared that God can do all things - that "all things are possible to him who believes." The human dilemma is "I believe; help my unbelief."
3. Jesus could - and did - respond to the man's request. He answered the man by his action; he healed his son right then and there - and, at the same time, made that father whole and complete in his faith.
4. Jesus always heals, one way or another, those who call upon him in faith. He sustains his own. We can bank on that even in the face of suffering and certain death. "If he can?" Indeed he can and he will.
