Proper 6
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III
The Sunday celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - with the promise of his ultimate return - remains the basic theological clue of the church year. The Gospel for the Day (and the Year, for that matter) is set in that particular context throughout the long Pentecost cycle/season. The Roman Catholic Church is absolutely correct in calling Pentecost "Ordinary Time;" it is just that. But the reality of the resurrection, which is remembered and observed every single Sunday of the year, transforms ordinary time into extraordinary time. Jesus Christ lives and he speaks to his church through his Gospel - in this case, through the Gospel of St. Mark. Mark - and faithful preachers - are the "Mouthpiece" (Luther's term and also Thomas Keir's in The Word in Worship) of and for God in the world, announcing the Good News to all who are willing to listen.
The Prayer of the Day
The contemporary collect for Proper 6, in the Book of Common Prayer, offers a sound, evangelical prayer for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, which applies the Gospel for the Day to the faithful:
Keep, O Lord, your household the church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 92, or 92:1-4, 11-14 (E); 92:1-5 (6-10), 11-14 (L) - This psalm complements last Sunday's first reading in the Common lectionary in that verse 3 speaks of praising God "on the lyre." The first part of the psalm might be used for various occasions, but the second (in which the psalmist speaks of God's planting a cedar tree) accommodates the first reading quite well: "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, and shall spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon." Again, he says, "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God."
The Psalm Prayer (LBW)
Lord, take your shame away and make us rejoice in your saving acts, that all who have been redeemed by your Son may always abound in works offaith, hope, and love in your service, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The readings:
Ezekiel 17:22-24 (R, L)
The prophet repeats what the Lord God has told him about his redeeming activities. He will plant a "sprig from the lofty top of the cedar" on the summit of a mountain where all the world will be able to see it when it grows to its proper size. It will "bring forth boughs and bear fruit," and it will be a refuge for all sorts of animals and provide shade for every kind of bird. Everyone and everything will know that this is a work of the Lord. Early Christians, who were quite familiar with the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, naturally interpreted this to be a prophesy about the coming of Jesus Christ into the world as the "tree" God has planted to redeem the world. This lovely little parable might not mean as much to people today as it did to believers then, but it clearly has an evangelical, grace-centered thrust to it.
Ezekiel 31:1-6, 10-14 (E)
Once more Ezekiel speaks of the cedars of Lebanon, but this time he speaks to Pharaoh and likens him to this unique cedar tree. But his words are a warning to Pharaoh, who is vain and proud, and who will be cut down and dashed to the ground, where beasts and birds will prevent him from growing tall and strong again. The fallen tree will contaminate the land and the water, preventing other trees from growing, and giving them over - like mortals - to death.
2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 (C)
The long period of involvement and intrigue that followed last Sunday's reading is passed by with the selection of this text. Saul is now dead by his own sword and Jonathan, too, has been slain by the Philistines. David laments the death of Saul and Jonathan, ordering that the story should not be told where the Philistines might hear and gloat over the death of Saul and his sons. David declares that Saul and Jonathan were no longer divided, but were together in death - brave men, who were "swifter than eagles" and "stronger than lions." The "daughters of Israel" should weep over Saul, and remember for all that he had done for them, for the prosperity that he had brought to the people. David's heart is torn open over the death of Jonathan, as that lovely speech reveals: "I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women." At the end of the lament, he repeats a verse spoken earlier: "How are the mighty fallen," adding, "and the weapons of war perished!" Oh, that it might be so.
2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (E, L); 5:6-10 (R); 5:6-10, 14-17 (C)
The Roman Catholic Ordo second reading for this Sunday was lengthened by both the Episcopal and Lutheran lectionaries after their trial usage of the Ordo. The original reading was 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, in which Paul writes of being of "good courage" despite the fact that those who are still living are "away from the Lord." He declares that he and others of the faithful would rather be "away from the body" - dead, that is - so that they might be at home with the Lord. In the meantime, he informs the Corinthian congregation that living Christians must "make it our aim to please him" by serving him in love, because there is one stumbling block in the road to eternal life: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body." The first part of the text speaks of the "building from God" that the faithful have received, a building that is eternal in the heavens. That is why Paul could say that "we ... long to put on our heavenly dwelling" - eternal life. Eternal life was very real to him, possibly because he knew that his days on earth were numbered. At the same time, he was speaking a word of comfort and hope to people who, too, might be threatened with persecution, even death. It is a long way from the contemporary cry of "You only go around once" so get the most out of life that you can. The Common lectionary addition of verses 14-17 gets to the heart of the kerygma, Jesus' death for all, asserting that he and the faithful are controlled by the love of Christ. Love "programs" their lives, because they and all others "in Christ" are a "new creation." The "old" is gone because the "new" has come.
Mark 4:26-34
Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God in these two rather compact parables, just as he did in the parable of the Sower and the Four Kinds of Soil (4:1-20), which has been omitted from Cycle B of the lectionary. The first is not so much about growth as it is that harvest time is at hand, much as he spoke to the disciples before he sent them out into the world to preach the Good News. The centuries of growth in the faith of Israel - first the seed, "then the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear" - have reached maturity in the advent of Jesus Christ into the world. The harvest is about to begin. In the second small parable, Jesus spoke of that little mustard seed, which is so tiny when it is planted, but grows into a large bush (almost a tree) in which the birds of the air may find shade and shelter. He likens that to the spread of the kingdom, which made such a small beginning but is destined to spread over all the world. He explained his teachings to the disciples when they were in private.
A Sermon on the Gospel, Mark 4:26-34 - "The Herald and the Harvest."
1. The announcement enclosed in the parable, God's harvest of souls for the kingdom, has begun. Jesus, therefore, is doing the work of the herald, his own herald. He has come to save the world - to harvest it - for the Father.
2. God has been planting seeds and supervising the growth of his "crop" ever since the beginning of time. He has nurtured his people, keeping his side of the covenant, while they have failed to live up to their obligations to God. What is there to harvest now?
(Note: Those who are dismayed that the parable of the Sower and the Four Kinds of Soil has been omitted from the lectionary may want to incorporate it at this point of the sermon. The seed is good, but what of the soil? What sort of soil am I, are you? The preacher has the opportunity to develop a law/gospel sermon as a "mirror of existence," rather than a "hammer ofjudgment." [See Herman G. Stuempfle's Preaching Law and Gospel, Fortress.]
3. It is, and will be, an abundant harvest. The seed/Word spreads like wild-fire all over the earth. It really is like the mustard seed in the parable. Nothing can stop its growth for very long.
Illustrations abound in stories from China, which not only tell about the survival of the Christian faith during the years of persecution, but of its spread as well. The seed germinates and bears fruit even today. For example, I saw how the Word affected two government tour guides, who were assigned to a three-week tour of China. One was a young woman on her first assignment; the other woman was experienced and, obviously, was "breaking in" the new woman. On the second day, they went to a church service in Shanghai and both were exposed to the Gospel for the first time in their lives. It made an impact on them - obviously on the younger woman right away, but also on the other woman, as became evident during the rest of the trip. The older woman changed, asking questions of the former missionary, who was also the American tour leader, and growing more open in her relationship with the people on the tour. She finally requested that the pastor help her grow in the faith by sending her a Bible and literature, and by assisting her in making contact with a Chinese congregation. That's how the Good Seed spreads - slowly, sometimes, but continuously to the end of the era. Jesus said it would be that way, didn't he?
4. It is a continuous harvest - not a one-time harvest. The harvest will only be completed at the end of time, when he returns to judge and rule the people of the world. That's what Jesus - the herald-turned-prophet - tells us in his Gospel. In the meantime, Matthias Claudius could be describing our role in all of this:
We plough the fields and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand.
That's how it is with God's seed/Word; he makes the harvest happen!
A Sermon on the First Lesson, Ezekiel 17:22-24 (R, L) - "God the Forester."
There were two photographs in one of my grade school geography books which I remember vividly: one picture was of a McCormick reaper harvesting a field in one of the Great Plains states; the other was a picture of a giant Redwood tree, with a hole tunnelled through its base and an automobile of that era about to be driven through the tree itself. The Cedars of Lebanon were nothing compared with the Redwoods and Sequoias of California. (It is noteworthy that attempts are being made at protecting them and preserving them as long as possible.) Those trees might have been God's planting in the Western hemisphere. They testify to the very majesty of the Creator of the world - God himself had to have engineered that kind of growth! But it isn't the Cedars of Lebanon nor the great trees of the western United States which concern scientists today; it is the trees in the rain forests near the equator, which are being burned and destroyed in other ways at an alarming rate. If they are reduced much more, the climate of the earth will be affected within a few years. Given time, life will be difficult, if not impossible.
1. The great trees of the Creation are symbols of God's concern for the welfare of his people. God is a forester who meets the needs of his people. God is in charge of what happens; he "makes it happen."
2. God planted those great trees that are essential to our very existence, but he has put us in charge of tending them and the whole earth. If we fail to "care for the earth," life itself will be threatened. (See Joseph Sittler's The Care of the Earth and Other Sermons, published almost forty years ago by Fortress [then the Muhlenberg] Press.) The world needs Johnny Appleseed right now!
3. God planted another tree, not on a mountain as Ezekiel's prophesy mentions, but on a little hill outside Jerusalem. That tree reminds us of how precious life is, and of how much we mean to the God who created us. That tree makes foresters of us all. People who plant the tree of the cross throughout the world also plant the living tree, which will continue to nurture and support life here on the earth.
Ezekiel 31:1-6, 10-14 (E) - "The Fall of the High and Mighty."
(Note: The preacher might wish to re-read Reinhold Niebuhr's theological analysis of pride in The Nature and Destiny of Man. He characterizes pride as the source of sin, identifying three types of pride: intellectual pride, the pride in power, and spiritual pride.)
This reading from Ezekiel 31 focuses upon spiritual pride. Pharaoh apparently thought he was better than other people, that he was more god-like than others - "high and mighty" - and Ezekiel shows that pride went before his fall and pulled down the whole country with him.
1. Pride does go before the fall of the people who think they are "high and mighty." It makes some people believe that they are better than others - and that God loves them more than he loves other people. That's enough to bring condemnation from God.
2. But pride kills in other ways, too. It cuts people off from genuine humility, the quality that makes love for others a possibility and that goes into action on behalf of others, no matter what the cost may be to the truly humble person.
3. There was no spiritual pride in Jesus. "He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." God just had to glorify and "highly exalt" him, so that all the world might see in him not only the Savior of the world, but a model of true humility and the godly life of self-sacrifice and service.
4. Pride put down Pharaoh and it puts us down, too. But real humility that puts Christ and others first - a quality that has been declared out of date in this age - is a gift of God's grace to those who hear the Word, love Jesus Christ, and do his work in the world. It allows Jesus to lift up such people with himself.
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (E, L); 5:6-10 (R); 5:6-10, 14-17 (C)
- "No Bowl of Cherries."
1. Christians of every age, with Paul, live in the hope that the promise of God in Jesus - eternal life -will be fulfilled at the end of their earthly existence.
2. That fact does not eliminate the problems of life; it takes courage to live as a Christian in any age, not merely in the early centuries of Christendom when the church was the victim of terrible persecution. Life is not "a bowl of cherries!"
3. Christians are accountable for the way of life they live, for the quality of their response to the Gospel of the Lord. This is one of the complications of contemporary life that calls for a full measure of courage in Jesus Christ. Paul declares that all of us at the end must appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
4. The Gospel - the love of Christ - controls us, enabling us to love God and his people and to live a life that, through God's grace, is worthy of Jesus Christ. There is no "bowl of cherries" at the end, but there will be a great feast in the presence of Jesus and his Father.
The Prayer of the Day
The contemporary collect for Proper 6, in the Book of Common Prayer, offers a sound, evangelical prayer for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, which applies the Gospel for the Day to the faithful:
Keep, O Lord, your household the church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 92, or 92:1-4, 11-14 (E); 92:1-5 (6-10), 11-14 (L) - This psalm complements last Sunday's first reading in the Common lectionary in that verse 3 speaks of praising God "on the lyre." The first part of the psalm might be used for various occasions, but the second (in which the psalmist speaks of God's planting a cedar tree) accommodates the first reading quite well: "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, and shall spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon." Again, he says, "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God."
The Psalm Prayer (LBW)
Lord, take your shame away and make us rejoice in your saving acts, that all who have been redeemed by your Son may always abound in works offaith, hope, and love in your service, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The readings:
Ezekiel 17:22-24 (R, L)
The prophet repeats what the Lord God has told him about his redeeming activities. He will plant a "sprig from the lofty top of the cedar" on the summit of a mountain where all the world will be able to see it when it grows to its proper size. It will "bring forth boughs and bear fruit," and it will be a refuge for all sorts of animals and provide shade for every kind of bird. Everyone and everything will know that this is a work of the Lord. Early Christians, who were quite familiar with the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, naturally interpreted this to be a prophesy about the coming of Jesus Christ into the world as the "tree" God has planted to redeem the world. This lovely little parable might not mean as much to people today as it did to believers then, but it clearly has an evangelical, grace-centered thrust to it.
Ezekiel 31:1-6, 10-14 (E)
Once more Ezekiel speaks of the cedars of Lebanon, but this time he speaks to Pharaoh and likens him to this unique cedar tree. But his words are a warning to Pharaoh, who is vain and proud, and who will be cut down and dashed to the ground, where beasts and birds will prevent him from growing tall and strong again. The fallen tree will contaminate the land and the water, preventing other trees from growing, and giving them over - like mortals - to death.
2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 (C)
The long period of involvement and intrigue that followed last Sunday's reading is passed by with the selection of this text. Saul is now dead by his own sword and Jonathan, too, has been slain by the Philistines. David laments the death of Saul and Jonathan, ordering that the story should not be told where the Philistines might hear and gloat over the death of Saul and his sons. David declares that Saul and Jonathan were no longer divided, but were together in death - brave men, who were "swifter than eagles" and "stronger than lions." The "daughters of Israel" should weep over Saul, and remember for all that he had done for them, for the prosperity that he had brought to the people. David's heart is torn open over the death of Jonathan, as that lovely speech reveals: "I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women." At the end of the lament, he repeats a verse spoken earlier: "How are the mighty fallen," adding, "and the weapons of war perished!" Oh, that it might be so.
2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (E, L); 5:6-10 (R); 5:6-10, 14-17 (C)
The Roman Catholic Ordo second reading for this Sunday was lengthened by both the Episcopal and Lutheran lectionaries after their trial usage of the Ordo. The original reading was 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, in which Paul writes of being of "good courage" despite the fact that those who are still living are "away from the Lord." He declares that he and others of the faithful would rather be "away from the body" - dead, that is - so that they might be at home with the Lord. In the meantime, he informs the Corinthian congregation that living Christians must "make it our aim to please him" by serving him in love, because there is one stumbling block in the road to eternal life: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body." The first part of the text speaks of the "building from God" that the faithful have received, a building that is eternal in the heavens. That is why Paul could say that "we ... long to put on our heavenly dwelling" - eternal life. Eternal life was very real to him, possibly because he knew that his days on earth were numbered. At the same time, he was speaking a word of comfort and hope to people who, too, might be threatened with persecution, even death. It is a long way from the contemporary cry of "You only go around once" so get the most out of life that you can. The Common lectionary addition of verses 14-17 gets to the heart of the kerygma, Jesus' death for all, asserting that he and the faithful are controlled by the love of Christ. Love "programs" their lives, because they and all others "in Christ" are a "new creation." The "old" is gone because the "new" has come.
Mark 4:26-34
Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God in these two rather compact parables, just as he did in the parable of the Sower and the Four Kinds of Soil (4:1-20), which has been omitted from Cycle B of the lectionary. The first is not so much about growth as it is that harvest time is at hand, much as he spoke to the disciples before he sent them out into the world to preach the Good News. The centuries of growth in the faith of Israel - first the seed, "then the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear" - have reached maturity in the advent of Jesus Christ into the world. The harvest is about to begin. In the second small parable, Jesus spoke of that little mustard seed, which is so tiny when it is planted, but grows into a large bush (almost a tree) in which the birds of the air may find shade and shelter. He likens that to the spread of the kingdom, which made such a small beginning but is destined to spread over all the world. He explained his teachings to the disciples when they were in private.
A Sermon on the Gospel, Mark 4:26-34 - "The Herald and the Harvest."
1. The announcement enclosed in the parable, God's harvest of souls for the kingdom, has begun. Jesus, therefore, is doing the work of the herald, his own herald. He has come to save the world - to harvest it - for the Father.
2. God has been planting seeds and supervising the growth of his "crop" ever since the beginning of time. He has nurtured his people, keeping his side of the covenant, while they have failed to live up to their obligations to God. What is there to harvest now?
(Note: Those who are dismayed that the parable of the Sower and the Four Kinds of Soil has been omitted from the lectionary may want to incorporate it at this point of the sermon. The seed is good, but what of the soil? What sort of soil am I, are you? The preacher has the opportunity to develop a law/gospel sermon as a "mirror of existence," rather than a "hammer ofjudgment." [See Herman G. Stuempfle's Preaching Law and Gospel, Fortress.]
3. It is, and will be, an abundant harvest. The seed/Word spreads like wild-fire all over the earth. It really is like the mustard seed in the parable. Nothing can stop its growth for very long.
Illustrations abound in stories from China, which not only tell about the survival of the Christian faith during the years of persecution, but of its spread as well. The seed germinates and bears fruit even today. For example, I saw how the Word affected two government tour guides, who were assigned to a three-week tour of China. One was a young woman on her first assignment; the other woman was experienced and, obviously, was "breaking in" the new woman. On the second day, they went to a church service in Shanghai and both were exposed to the Gospel for the first time in their lives. It made an impact on them - obviously on the younger woman right away, but also on the other woman, as became evident during the rest of the trip. The older woman changed, asking questions of the former missionary, who was also the American tour leader, and growing more open in her relationship with the people on the tour. She finally requested that the pastor help her grow in the faith by sending her a Bible and literature, and by assisting her in making contact with a Chinese congregation. That's how the Good Seed spreads - slowly, sometimes, but continuously to the end of the era. Jesus said it would be that way, didn't he?
4. It is a continuous harvest - not a one-time harvest. The harvest will only be completed at the end of time, when he returns to judge and rule the people of the world. That's what Jesus - the herald-turned-prophet - tells us in his Gospel. In the meantime, Matthias Claudius could be describing our role in all of this:
We plough the fields and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand.
That's how it is with God's seed/Word; he makes the harvest happen!
A Sermon on the First Lesson, Ezekiel 17:22-24 (R, L) - "God the Forester."
There were two photographs in one of my grade school geography books which I remember vividly: one picture was of a McCormick reaper harvesting a field in one of the Great Plains states; the other was a picture of a giant Redwood tree, with a hole tunnelled through its base and an automobile of that era about to be driven through the tree itself. The Cedars of Lebanon were nothing compared with the Redwoods and Sequoias of California. (It is noteworthy that attempts are being made at protecting them and preserving them as long as possible.) Those trees might have been God's planting in the Western hemisphere. They testify to the very majesty of the Creator of the world - God himself had to have engineered that kind of growth! But it isn't the Cedars of Lebanon nor the great trees of the western United States which concern scientists today; it is the trees in the rain forests near the equator, which are being burned and destroyed in other ways at an alarming rate. If they are reduced much more, the climate of the earth will be affected within a few years. Given time, life will be difficult, if not impossible.
1. The great trees of the Creation are symbols of God's concern for the welfare of his people. God is a forester who meets the needs of his people. God is in charge of what happens; he "makes it happen."
2. God planted those great trees that are essential to our very existence, but he has put us in charge of tending them and the whole earth. If we fail to "care for the earth," life itself will be threatened. (See Joseph Sittler's The Care of the Earth and Other Sermons, published almost forty years ago by Fortress [then the Muhlenberg] Press.) The world needs Johnny Appleseed right now!
3. God planted another tree, not on a mountain as Ezekiel's prophesy mentions, but on a little hill outside Jerusalem. That tree reminds us of how precious life is, and of how much we mean to the God who created us. That tree makes foresters of us all. People who plant the tree of the cross throughout the world also plant the living tree, which will continue to nurture and support life here on the earth.
Ezekiel 31:1-6, 10-14 (E) - "The Fall of the High and Mighty."
(Note: The preacher might wish to re-read Reinhold Niebuhr's theological analysis of pride in The Nature and Destiny of Man. He characterizes pride as the source of sin, identifying three types of pride: intellectual pride, the pride in power, and spiritual pride.)
This reading from Ezekiel 31 focuses upon spiritual pride. Pharaoh apparently thought he was better than other people, that he was more god-like than others - "high and mighty" - and Ezekiel shows that pride went before his fall and pulled down the whole country with him.
1. Pride does go before the fall of the people who think they are "high and mighty." It makes some people believe that they are better than others - and that God loves them more than he loves other people. That's enough to bring condemnation from God.
2. But pride kills in other ways, too. It cuts people off from genuine humility, the quality that makes love for others a possibility and that goes into action on behalf of others, no matter what the cost may be to the truly humble person.
3. There was no spiritual pride in Jesus. "He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." God just had to glorify and "highly exalt" him, so that all the world might see in him not only the Savior of the world, but a model of true humility and the godly life of self-sacrifice and service.
4. Pride put down Pharaoh and it puts us down, too. But real humility that puts Christ and others first - a quality that has been declared out of date in this age - is a gift of God's grace to those who hear the Word, love Jesus Christ, and do his work in the world. It allows Jesus to lift up such people with himself.
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (E, L); 5:6-10 (R); 5:6-10, 14-17 (C)
- "No Bowl of Cherries."
1. Christians of every age, with Paul, live in the hope that the promise of God in Jesus - eternal life -will be fulfilled at the end of their earthly existence.
2. That fact does not eliminate the problems of life; it takes courage to live as a Christian in any age, not merely in the early centuries of Christendom when the church was the victim of terrible persecution. Life is not "a bowl of cherries!"
3. Christians are accountable for the way of life they live, for the quality of their response to the Gospel of the Lord. This is one of the complications of contemporary life that calls for a full measure of courage in Jesus Christ. Paul declares that all of us at the end must appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
4. The Gospel - the love of Christ - controls us, enabling us to love God and his people and to live a life that, through God's grace, is worthy of Jesus Christ. There is no "bowl of cherries" at the end, but there will be a great feast in the presence of Jesus and his Father.
