Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III, Cycle C
The Church Year Theological Clue
The numbering of the Sundays of Epiphany warns the liturgically-initiated that the climax of the season of manifestation and ministry is approaching, and that with it comes the beginning of Lent. Christmas and the Epiphany of our Lord have diminished in the thought and worship of the churches by this point in Epiphany. Theological clues continue to surface in the name - Epiphany - of the season that the Episcopal and Lutheran churches use for these Sundays. "Ordinary Time 6" and "Proper 6" cannot remind preachers and people that they are still in Epiphanytide, let alone give them any theological clues. One of the reasons that the Roman Church dropped "epiphany" for these Sundays is undoubtedly because the last Sundays of this period have replaced the "gesima" Sundays with their popular association with Lent. In some parts of the Roman Catholic church the "gesima" Sundays had all the liturgical "earmarks" of Lent, virtually turned Lent into a nine and one-half week retreat, instead of a six and one-half week season. "Sundays in Ordinary Time" emphasizes that none of the Sundays after the Epiphany has anything to do with Lent, but the first "ordinary Sundays" do belong in the Epiphany of our Lord, his manifestation of him-self as "God with us" for the entire Epiphany season. Worship and preaching, theologically, should continue to reflect this emphasis until the Last Sunday of Epiphany. (Interestingly, Gerard Sloyan, a Roman Catholic New Testament scholar, liturgical authority and homiletician, uses "Sundays after Epiphany" parenthetically for the Sundays in "Ordinary Time" [or the Sundays of the year] in his A Commentary On The New Lectionary."
The Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 1 (E, L); 1:1-4, 6 (RC) - The "trees planted by streams of water" image is common to Jeremiah's poem (17:8) as well as to the psalm; it is one of the graphic biblical images of human hope in God's goodness and mercy. The psalm was chosen because it picks up this theme from Jeremiah. One significant difference between Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17 is that the psalm mentions that the righteous people "meditate" on God's Law, which is not included in Jeremiah's poem. Some scholars will argue that this means that the psalm was written later than this section of the book of Jeremiah, and probably was produced for the worship of people who have returned from the exile. The ORDO omits verse 5 of the psalm, which is heavy on law and completely without any gospel hope in it for sinners. Those who "delight in the law of the Lord" have, according to the psalmist, nothing to fear; they are the ones who "are like trees planted by streams of water."
Psalm prayer (1 - LBW) - "Lord God, in your loving wisdom you have set us beside the fountain of life, like a tree planted by running streams. Grant that the cross of your Son may become our tree of life in the paradise of your saints, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Readings
Jeremiah 17:5-8 (RC, L); 17:5-10 (E, C) - Scholars disagree on the authorship of this poem in Jeremiah 17, some asserting that it could be his, while others insist that it is totally out of character with his prophecies. It doesn't really matter about the authorship of this, because its affinity with the Gospel for the Day is the reason it was selected as the first reading. The passage presents two radically contrasting pictures of human beings; those who trust in themselves, in people, are like a shrub growing in the desert, which is at the mercy of the elements and always threatened with destruction. But the persons who trust in God are like a "tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream." The stream sustains it, regardless of the vicissitudes of climate and weather. These two images are introduced with contrasting "cursed is the man who trusts in man" and "blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord;" the Gospel for the Day reverses the order of the "cursed" and "blessed" and develops them according to Luke's own sources and understanding.
1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20 (RC, L); 15:12-20 (E, C) - The greatest theological problem in the Corinthian community - faith in the resurrection of the dead - is addressed by Paul in the climactic portion of this First Letter to the Corinthians. Many of them believe that resurrection is simply a present experience; Jesus raises us to a new level of life in the present, and that's all there is to it; there is no resurrection of the body after death. To Paul, this implies that Jesus did not really rise from the grave and, therefore, the mighty action of God in forgiving the sins of all people in Jesus' death is incomplete and unfinished. Jesus' interpretation and announcement of his own death and resurrection would be utterly wrong, and he would simply be another well-meaning, but totally misinformed, religious leader. The cross, as atonement for the sins of humanity, loses its ultimate meaning and its salvific content without the resurrection - and people remain unforgiven sinners; "resurrection-less faith" is futile and tragic. So Paul argues for Christ's resurrection and the resurrection of the dead of those whose sin has been forgiven in the death and resurrection of Christ and in their baptism, declaring: "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." This means that those who believe that Jesus is the risen and reigning Lord are forgiven sinners who have hope of being raised from the grave and living in the eternal kingdom of the Lord forever.
Luke 6:17-26 (E, L, C); 6:17, 20-26 (RC) - This is Luke's version of the "great sermon" that Jesus preached to his disciples in the presence of a large crowd of people; Luke locates the sermon on a "level place," a plain, in contrast to Matthew's situating the sermon on a mountainside (which was more of a typological pulpit - a new Mount Sinai - rather than a natural podium/seat from which to preach and teach). Luke reduces the number of beatitudes from the nine of St. Matthew to four, four blessings and four woes, to be exact, which contrast with each other, the poor and the rich, the hungry and the "full," those who weep with those who laugh, and those who are hated and reviled on Jesus' account, with those who are well spoken of because they are false prophets. Such will be the fate of those who "follow Jesus" as his disciples, going about proclaiming the good news of the Lord. Had they really understood what Jesus was saying, it would have been very difficult for them to "rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, (knowing that their) reward is great in heaven...." Two things should be remembered, as one interprets this gospel within the framework of the church year: 1. This Gospel for the Day is only read in those years when Easter falls late in March or in April, allowing a more-than-five-week Epiphany season; and, 2. Matthew's version of this sermon is appointed for use on All Saints' Day in most of the lectionaries, a day when the church remembers those who "live in the Lord" after death and know eternal life. The use of Luke 6 during Epiphany and over against the second reading from 1 Corinthians 15 suggests the "turn" in the Epiphany season toward the cross where Jesus will be made manifest to the entire world and "draw all people to himself." Luke 6 is a kind of "Jesus and All Saints' Day," from this perspective, warning the disciples of what is to come to them, as well as what God has in store for saints, martyrs, and all faithful believers.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
Luke 6:17-26 (E, L, C); 6:17, 20-26 (RC) - "A Sermon Worth Listening To." - Recently, my wife and I had a visit from a young, and brilliant, graduate of a prestigious medical school, who is now completing a residency and has already been offered a fellowship for further study to prepare him for a teaching career in medicine. He lived on our street for his teen-age years, and we got to know him quite well. I had to write a letter to recommend him for the National Honor Society in our high school. He asked me to speak on the occasion when he was elevated to the rank of Eagle Scout. I also had to take him to the emergency room of a health center when his younger brother almost blew his head off in a shotgun accident. I can't help thinking of him in conjunction with this verse - and over against what so often happens when firearms are not locked up in a home; his career could have been over before it actually began, despite the fact that their father had warned the two young boys about playing with his guns. His "you can be killed" fell on deaf ears and almost cost one son his life, almost deprived society of a person who should contribute much to the well being of the human race.
1. I wonder if it wasn't like that when Jesus preached this sermon to the disciples, if Jesus' words didn't reach the ears and brains of people who didn't hear, that is, who didn't understand what he was talking about. It is costly to be a Christian; in a way, it costs people everything, their whole lives, literally, as well as figuratively, as long as they live.
2. In time, the disciples did understand and they willingly became poor, hungry, "joyless," and hated as disciples of the risen Christ, eagerly doing all that was necessary to align themselves on the side of the Lord to preach and minister to people. They learned that ministry has this nature from the Lord himself!
3. To be rich is to be living with God, trusting him to sustain us and "fill" us with his word, the real "bread of life," to be able to face and endure suffering for the sake of Christ and the gospel, and to rejoice in that which is yet to come, the fullness of life in the eternal kingdom of God.
4. All of this is not simply a prelude to All Saints' Day in the Epiphany season; it is a call to remember that true riches are in Jesus Christ, in being able to deny oneself and enter fully into the ministry and life of the risen Savior, Jesus Christ, who was "rich" and became devastatingly poor for our sakes. (I hope our young physician friend will know and believe all of this, and live the way that all Christians should.)
(Note: In one of his sermons, "Did Jesus Disapprove of Wealth?" [included in When The Lamp Flickers], the late, great, British preacher, Leslie Weatherhead, warns about "the danger of getting our sense of values wrong." He illustrates this with several stories, one of which goes like this: There's a lovely legend about the pipe on which Moses played when he was a shepherd. It is said that the pipe was handed down and handed down, and became a very precious thing indeed. At length the pipe was thought to be too valuable to be left in its crude form, so they covered it with gold, but then it could not be played. Its commercial value was enhanced, but its real value was gone. It could no longer do what it was fashioned to do. God can do that for us (and to us).
He follows this with another classic illustration, as a warning to the church, as well as individual Christians which states that two clergymen watched a great ecclesiastical procession pass, with silver incense lamps and priests wearing cloth of gold. As a great golden crucifix passed them, one said to the other, "The church cannot say now, as Peter said, 'Silver and gold have I none.' " Instantly the other replied, "No, and neither can the church say what Peter said, 'In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.' "
Jeremiah 17:5-8 (RC, L); 17:5-10 (E, C) - "The Choice."
1. Human beings have a choice to make in life; they may trust in human beings, in themselves, or they may put their trust in God. Their fate, present and future, hangs in the balance.
2. Trusting only in humanity will ultimately and finally lead to despair and death; that's the way it always is, because these persons have no hope. They are like the "shrub" that is growing in the desert, always in danger of drying up and being blown away.
3. But those who put their trust in God, hear and receive and live by his word, are like the tree that has been planted by a never-ending source of water. God sustains such people in every situation.
4. Choose now in whom you will place your trust. (Choose God and live; choose humanity and dry up and blow away with the dust.)
1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (E, C); 15:12, 16-20 (RC, L) - "Jesus' Resurrection And True Faith."
1. The resurrection of our Lord is the foundation of the gospel and the Christian faith. That event assures us that our sins are forgiven and that we are his forever, even in the life of the age to come.
2. For numerous people, as it was for some of the people in the congregation at Corinth, the resurrection of Jesus, and of the dead, is a stumbling block. We can believe just about anything about Jesus, but that he rose from the dead, which makes us worse off than non-believers; we have rejected half of the heart of the gospel.
3. That means that we really have no faith, no forgiveness, whatsoever, according to the gospel and Paul. Without a risen savior, we have only a crucified Jesus and no assurance of the forgiveness of our sins, no hope of eternal life, because God's action at the cross without a risen Savior is incomplete. Our predicament is that we know we are sinners, but we have no way to gain forgiveness.
4. Faith in the risen Lord is the only certitude we have; it gives us the one conviction we need, that we are forgiven sinners, reconciled to God in Jesus' death, and guaranteed new and everlasting life through his resurrection.
The numbering of the Sundays of Epiphany warns the liturgically-initiated that the climax of the season of manifestation and ministry is approaching, and that with it comes the beginning of Lent. Christmas and the Epiphany of our Lord have diminished in the thought and worship of the churches by this point in Epiphany. Theological clues continue to surface in the name - Epiphany - of the season that the Episcopal and Lutheran churches use for these Sundays. "Ordinary Time 6" and "Proper 6" cannot remind preachers and people that they are still in Epiphanytide, let alone give them any theological clues. One of the reasons that the Roman Church dropped "epiphany" for these Sundays is undoubtedly because the last Sundays of this period have replaced the "gesima" Sundays with their popular association with Lent. In some parts of the Roman Catholic church the "gesima" Sundays had all the liturgical "earmarks" of Lent, virtually turned Lent into a nine and one-half week retreat, instead of a six and one-half week season. "Sundays in Ordinary Time" emphasizes that none of the Sundays after the Epiphany has anything to do with Lent, but the first "ordinary Sundays" do belong in the Epiphany of our Lord, his manifestation of him-self as "God with us" for the entire Epiphany season. Worship and preaching, theologically, should continue to reflect this emphasis until the Last Sunday of Epiphany. (Interestingly, Gerard Sloyan, a Roman Catholic New Testament scholar, liturgical authority and homiletician, uses "Sundays after Epiphany" parenthetically for the Sundays in "Ordinary Time" [or the Sundays of the year] in his A Commentary On The New Lectionary."
The Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 1 (E, L); 1:1-4, 6 (RC) - The "trees planted by streams of water" image is common to Jeremiah's poem (17:8) as well as to the psalm; it is one of the graphic biblical images of human hope in God's goodness and mercy. The psalm was chosen because it picks up this theme from Jeremiah. One significant difference between Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17 is that the psalm mentions that the righteous people "meditate" on God's Law, which is not included in Jeremiah's poem. Some scholars will argue that this means that the psalm was written later than this section of the book of Jeremiah, and probably was produced for the worship of people who have returned from the exile. The ORDO omits verse 5 of the psalm, which is heavy on law and completely without any gospel hope in it for sinners. Those who "delight in the law of the Lord" have, according to the psalmist, nothing to fear; they are the ones who "are like trees planted by streams of water."
Psalm prayer (1 - LBW) - "Lord God, in your loving wisdom you have set us beside the fountain of life, like a tree planted by running streams. Grant that the cross of your Son may become our tree of life in the paradise of your saints, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Readings
Jeremiah 17:5-8 (RC, L); 17:5-10 (E, C) - Scholars disagree on the authorship of this poem in Jeremiah 17, some asserting that it could be his, while others insist that it is totally out of character with his prophecies. It doesn't really matter about the authorship of this, because its affinity with the Gospel for the Day is the reason it was selected as the first reading. The passage presents two radically contrasting pictures of human beings; those who trust in themselves, in people, are like a shrub growing in the desert, which is at the mercy of the elements and always threatened with destruction. But the persons who trust in God are like a "tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream." The stream sustains it, regardless of the vicissitudes of climate and weather. These two images are introduced with contrasting "cursed is the man who trusts in man" and "blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord;" the Gospel for the Day reverses the order of the "cursed" and "blessed" and develops them according to Luke's own sources and understanding.
1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20 (RC, L); 15:12-20 (E, C) - The greatest theological problem in the Corinthian community - faith in the resurrection of the dead - is addressed by Paul in the climactic portion of this First Letter to the Corinthians. Many of them believe that resurrection is simply a present experience; Jesus raises us to a new level of life in the present, and that's all there is to it; there is no resurrection of the body after death. To Paul, this implies that Jesus did not really rise from the grave and, therefore, the mighty action of God in forgiving the sins of all people in Jesus' death is incomplete and unfinished. Jesus' interpretation and announcement of his own death and resurrection would be utterly wrong, and he would simply be another well-meaning, but totally misinformed, religious leader. The cross, as atonement for the sins of humanity, loses its ultimate meaning and its salvific content without the resurrection - and people remain unforgiven sinners; "resurrection-less faith" is futile and tragic. So Paul argues for Christ's resurrection and the resurrection of the dead of those whose sin has been forgiven in the death and resurrection of Christ and in their baptism, declaring: "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." This means that those who believe that Jesus is the risen and reigning Lord are forgiven sinners who have hope of being raised from the grave and living in the eternal kingdom of the Lord forever.
Luke 6:17-26 (E, L, C); 6:17, 20-26 (RC) - This is Luke's version of the "great sermon" that Jesus preached to his disciples in the presence of a large crowd of people; Luke locates the sermon on a "level place," a plain, in contrast to Matthew's situating the sermon on a mountainside (which was more of a typological pulpit - a new Mount Sinai - rather than a natural podium/seat from which to preach and teach). Luke reduces the number of beatitudes from the nine of St. Matthew to four, four blessings and four woes, to be exact, which contrast with each other, the poor and the rich, the hungry and the "full," those who weep with those who laugh, and those who are hated and reviled on Jesus' account, with those who are well spoken of because they are false prophets. Such will be the fate of those who "follow Jesus" as his disciples, going about proclaiming the good news of the Lord. Had they really understood what Jesus was saying, it would have been very difficult for them to "rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, (knowing that their) reward is great in heaven...." Two things should be remembered, as one interprets this gospel within the framework of the church year: 1. This Gospel for the Day is only read in those years when Easter falls late in March or in April, allowing a more-than-five-week Epiphany season; and, 2. Matthew's version of this sermon is appointed for use on All Saints' Day in most of the lectionaries, a day when the church remembers those who "live in the Lord" after death and know eternal life. The use of Luke 6 during Epiphany and over against the second reading from 1 Corinthians 15 suggests the "turn" in the Epiphany season toward the cross where Jesus will be made manifest to the entire world and "draw all people to himself." Luke 6 is a kind of "Jesus and All Saints' Day," from this perspective, warning the disciples of what is to come to them, as well as what God has in store for saints, martyrs, and all faithful believers.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
Luke 6:17-26 (E, L, C); 6:17, 20-26 (RC) - "A Sermon Worth Listening To." - Recently, my wife and I had a visit from a young, and brilliant, graduate of a prestigious medical school, who is now completing a residency and has already been offered a fellowship for further study to prepare him for a teaching career in medicine. He lived on our street for his teen-age years, and we got to know him quite well. I had to write a letter to recommend him for the National Honor Society in our high school. He asked me to speak on the occasion when he was elevated to the rank of Eagle Scout. I also had to take him to the emergency room of a health center when his younger brother almost blew his head off in a shotgun accident. I can't help thinking of him in conjunction with this verse - and over against what so often happens when firearms are not locked up in a home; his career could have been over before it actually began, despite the fact that their father had warned the two young boys about playing with his guns. His "you can be killed" fell on deaf ears and almost cost one son his life, almost deprived society of a person who should contribute much to the well being of the human race.
1. I wonder if it wasn't like that when Jesus preached this sermon to the disciples, if Jesus' words didn't reach the ears and brains of people who didn't hear, that is, who didn't understand what he was talking about. It is costly to be a Christian; in a way, it costs people everything, their whole lives, literally, as well as figuratively, as long as they live.
2. In time, the disciples did understand and they willingly became poor, hungry, "joyless," and hated as disciples of the risen Christ, eagerly doing all that was necessary to align themselves on the side of the Lord to preach and minister to people. They learned that ministry has this nature from the Lord himself!
3. To be rich is to be living with God, trusting him to sustain us and "fill" us with his word, the real "bread of life," to be able to face and endure suffering for the sake of Christ and the gospel, and to rejoice in that which is yet to come, the fullness of life in the eternal kingdom of God.
4. All of this is not simply a prelude to All Saints' Day in the Epiphany season; it is a call to remember that true riches are in Jesus Christ, in being able to deny oneself and enter fully into the ministry and life of the risen Savior, Jesus Christ, who was "rich" and became devastatingly poor for our sakes. (I hope our young physician friend will know and believe all of this, and live the way that all Christians should.)
(Note: In one of his sermons, "Did Jesus Disapprove of Wealth?" [included in When The Lamp Flickers], the late, great, British preacher, Leslie Weatherhead, warns about "the danger of getting our sense of values wrong." He illustrates this with several stories, one of which goes like this: There's a lovely legend about the pipe on which Moses played when he was a shepherd. It is said that the pipe was handed down and handed down, and became a very precious thing indeed. At length the pipe was thought to be too valuable to be left in its crude form, so they covered it with gold, but then it could not be played. Its commercial value was enhanced, but its real value was gone. It could no longer do what it was fashioned to do. God can do that for us (and to us).
He follows this with another classic illustration, as a warning to the church, as well as individual Christians which states that two clergymen watched a great ecclesiastical procession pass, with silver incense lamps and priests wearing cloth of gold. As a great golden crucifix passed them, one said to the other, "The church cannot say now, as Peter said, 'Silver and gold have I none.' " Instantly the other replied, "No, and neither can the church say what Peter said, 'In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.' "
Jeremiah 17:5-8 (RC, L); 17:5-10 (E, C) - "The Choice."
1. Human beings have a choice to make in life; they may trust in human beings, in themselves, or they may put their trust in God. Their fate, present and future, hangs in the balance.
2. Trusting only in humanity will ultimately and finally lead to despair and death; that's the way it always is, because these persons have no hope. They are like the "shrub" that is growing in the desert, always in danger of drying up and being blown away.
3. But those who put their trust in God, hear and receive and live by his word, are like the tree that has been planted by a never-ending source of water. God sustains such people in every situation.
4. Choose now in whom you will place your trust. (Choose God and live; choose humanity and dry up and blow away with the dust.)
1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (E, C); 15:12, 16-20 (RC, L) - "Jesus' Resurrection And True Faith."
1. The resurrection of our Lord is the foundation of the gospel and the Christian faith. That event assures us that our sins are forgiven and that we are his forever, even in the life of the age to come.
2. For numerous people, as it was for some of the people in the congregation at Corinth, the resurrection of Jesus, and of the dead, is a stumbling block. We can believe just about anything about Jesus, but that he rose from the dead, which makes us worse off than non-believers; we have rejected half of the heart of the gospel.
3. That means that we really have no faith, no forgiveness, whatsoever, according to the gospel and Paul. Without a risen savior, we have only a crucified Jesus and no assurance of the forgiveness of our sins, no hope of eternal life, because God's action at the cross without a risen Savior is incomplete. Our predicament is that we know we are sinners, but we have no way to gain forgiveness.
4. Faith in the risen Lord is the only certitude we have; it gives us the one conviction we need, that we are forgiven sinners, reconciled to God in Jesus' death, and guaranteed new and everlasting life through his resurrection.
