Epiphany 4
Micah 6:1-8
Matthew 5:1-12
(prayer)
As you may know, I like the discipline of planning Sunday worship services around a cycle of weekly scripture readings called a lectionary. It keeps me from limiting my sermons to passages I am already familiar with; and it invites the sermon to come from the text, rather than search for texts that match the sermon (a nasty style called proof-texting). Using a lectionary is not required in the United Church but I like the discipline.
The lectionary I use is called the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) - it is either mandatory or optional in several different Christian denominations - my guess is that people across the parking lot at Peace Lutheran and on 50th street at St. Paul’s
Anglican have read the same passages we read this morning.
Anglican have read the same passages we read this morning.
The RCL is a three year cycle of readings which offer four passages for each Sunday - an reading from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), a Psalm, a reading from one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) and a reading from somewhere else in the New
Testament (usually from one of the letters/epistles). There are a few exceptions to that pattern during the year, but for the most part, it's... Old Testament, Psalm, New Testament, Gospel.
Testament (usually from one of the letters/epistles). There are a few exceptions to that pattern during the year, but for the most part, it's... Old Testament, Psalm, New Testament, Gospel.
I tend to follow the advice of my New Testament professor from Seminary that ministers should not just read scripture in church, without offering some reflection on what is says, so I
tend to limit myself to two of the four readings (or so) that I plan to touch on during the sermon or children’s story.
tend to limit myself to two of the four readings (or so) that I plan to touch on during the sermon or children’s story.
I must admit that I look forward to the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany in Year A of the RCL, because it contains some of my favorite passages of scripture. For me, Micah chapter 6 and Matthew chapter 5 offer a window into the heart and mind of God: What does God require of you - ritual or action? and You are blessed, even if ____ (fill in the blank).
||: At the heart of the divine is the promise of holy presence as we live out our faith. :||
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Some of you probably know that I appreciate humour - that’s something that came natural to me even before I had a brother-in-law who is a stand up comedian.
One of my favorite forms of humour is sarcasm. I like to stay up past midnight weeknights to watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart because it mixes two of my favorite pastimes: politics and stinging humour. Ah, a little political sarcasm before bed.
Okay, about half the time I have to catch The Daily Show online the next morning - I don’t have the 'late night capacity' I once had. (January 29th Daily Show)
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I love how sarcastic Micah is with his rhetorical questions in today’s first reading.
He sets up his message by creating the context of a legal proceeding - God is taking the people to court to get some answers: “What have I done to weary you?” The prophet is challenging the people to consider where is God on their lives’ priority list? What are they prepared to do for God?
Then the sarcastic questioning starts...
What does God require? Oh, the harvest offerings to the temple: year old calves, grain, oil from you olives, burnt offerings and the like. That’s what God requires? So, I assume more would be better, eh? How about instead of one calf, you brought a thousand rams? Or, instead of one flask of olive oil, what if you brought ten thousand rivers of oil? Oh, I got it -
how about you pull the old Abraham classic - I bet it would sure please God if you offered your first born in sacrifice to God. That kind of generous giving would have to gain you God’s favour, right?
how about you pull the old Abraham classic - I bet it would sure please God if you offered your first born in sacrifice to God. That kind of generous giving would have to gain you God’s favour, right?
Then the prophet answers his sarcastic, rhetorical questions: Does God require this
excessive ritual?
excessive ritual?
Of course not ,
Micah says, I was only being sarcastic - God doesn’t require faith lived out in ritual, God wants faith lived out in action.
Micah says, I was only being sarcastic - God doesn’t require faith lived out in ritual, God wants faith lived out in action.
DO justice;
LOVE with kindness;
BE humble in your walk with God!
Notice the action words: do, love, be.
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What does God require of you?
Faith in action!
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Don’t you think that message is as relevant in the early 21st century CE as it was in the late 8th century BCE?
And I'm not anti-ritual.
At their heart, rituals are valuable spiritual disciplines that can enhance a person’s connection to God; I believe in the intrinsic value of engaging in spiritual disciplines that focus the heart and mind on all that is holy. But taking part in the act of a ritual is not the same as taking part in an act of faith - and it is certainly not what we mean when we say putting our faith into action.
If it stops with the ritual, we are selling the potential of our faith short.
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Today we will engage in the old Christian ritual of communion - which is based on the even older ritual of the Passover seder meal. Communion is a symbolic act that reminds us that Christ is with us - that we are fed by the community of which we are a part - but it is not intended to be nourishment for inactivity - it is food and drink for the journey. When Moses and the other Hebrew slaves in Egypt ate the unleaven bread, they did so with the hope and promise that the end of their captivity was at hand. They rushed the bread making, so that the could be ready sooner to leave.
When Jesus and his disciples at bread and drank wine in remembrance of Moses and the Exodus, they followed up the meal with a walk to a prayerful garden, where Jesus bared his human soul to God - seeking guidance for the next steps of his life’s journey.
For James, Peter and John, Jesus’ expectation was for a minimal amount of action on their part at that point “please stay awake with me as I go deeper into the garden to pray”.
It is one of Jesus’ most vulnerable moments - friends, you have been with me from those first days on the shores of Lake Galilee. I don’t want to feel alone here, will you stay awake with me?
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The actions of faith can be dramatic, we can build shelter for the homeless, we can feed the hungry; we can hold massive conventions (a la Billy Graham Crusades) to share the gospel. But the actions of faith can be known in more subtle ways - with your presence, show someone that they are not alone.
Later in the gospel of Matthew, when Jesus lists a number of ways people can judge the faithfulness of their actions, it includes, feeding the hungry and clothing the cold, but it also includes the ministry of presence: visiting the sick, the imprisoned. The passage in Matthew 25 is addressed to people who are limiting their activities to things that serve
Jesus directly (for the readers of Matthew in the early 70s, that would be
largely ritualistic), but Jesus says the when you do these things to the least of your sisters and brothers, you do it to me.
Jesus directly (for the readers of Matthew in the early 70s, that would be
largely ritualistic), but Jesus says the when you do these things to the least of your sisters and brothers, you do it to me.
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Some of Jesus most powerful actions, didn’t require a lot of physical movement, but they shifted attitudes:
· No, don’t shoo them away; let the little children come to me.
· I am know people see you as a dishonest traitor because you collect the Empire’s
taxes, but I want to have supper with you tonight, Zacchaeus.
taxes, but I want to have supper with you tonight, Zacchaeus.
· Look, I don’t care if you see this woman as a sinner, Simon. You can think less of me if you want, but she has chosen to sooth my weary feet and I am most grateful for that.
· Wait a second, who touched me? (Don’t talk to that woman Jesus, she is unclean, has
been for 12 years; come on, it is Jarius’ daughter who needs your help - you know he is the biggest giver to our synogogue). Yes, I know and we will visit his house soon, but this daughter of God here needs my help too. Woman, you have a
gutsy faith. That serves you well. Go now and be freed from your suffering.
been for 12 years; come on, it is Jarius’ daughter who needs your help - you know he is the biggest giver to our synogogue). Yes, I know and we will visit his house soon, but this daughter of God here needs my help too. Woman, you have a
gutsy faith. That serves you well. Go now and be freed from your suffering.
· I know it is the Sabbath day and our laws require us not to work, but this man’s hand is shrivelled up. I can help him stretch it out and he can be healed. If that’s work and against the Torah, so be it.
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So, when we move away from this table today, let us be grateful for having our bodies and spirits fed - but let’s not stop there, let us be inspired for the next steps of our
journeys. Let us go and help people know that they are not alone in this world.
journeys. Let us go and help people know that they are not alone in this world.
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That’s the basic message of the beatitudes. People are "blessed" by the experience of not being alone, not being a part from The Holy, even in times of grief and persecution.
Matthew’s version is the most familiar, but a shorter version of thd beatitudes is found in Luke, chapter six. It follows the old testament style of contrasting blessings and related but opposite woes.
Luke 6:20…‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. 24‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25‘Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. ‘Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 26‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
Many Biblical scholars speculate that the Luken version might be closer to the basic teaching that Jesus directly shared: simplier, focusing on practical day-to-day issues, less metaphorical.
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Matthew and Luke were written in the early 70s of the first century CE. The Hebrew Temple had been laid ruin by the occupying Roman authorities in response to a Jewish revolt. These blessings (shared by the authors of Luke and Matthew) were written to people who were living in the shadow of religious disaster. They were scattered and unsure where their authority authority would come from. In the battle between the authority of Jesus’ own religion and the Empire - the Empire had won.
So where was the new authority in the post-Temple, post-ritual era?
In that blessing/woe teaching of Jesus, they found a new path paved by the authority of faithful living.
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It's now ~20 centuries later - What does our God require of us? How can we know and share the blessings of God for ourselves, for each other in the church and to God's world at large?
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Some time over the course of the next few days, each one of us will have an obvious
opportunity to be a practical holy blessing in someone's life. It may be ministry of care, of support, of social action, or perhaps the simple ministry of presence. Let the light of the Spirit shine through you!
opportunity to be a practical holy blessing in someone's life. It may be ministry of care, of support, of social action, or perhaps the simple ministry of presence. Let the light of the Spirit shine through you!
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from Seasons of the Spirit
“[Today’s] passages invite us us to see God’s love in a new light, bend our understanding of the world around us, and take more seriously our responds to God’s loving welcome and
liberation.”
liberation.”
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May it be so with us and the church.
Let us pray:
Holy God, we live in your presence and that is a blessing. Give us
the courage we need to live beyond the rituals and do justice, love kindness
and always walk humbly with you, loving God. Amen.
the courage we need to live beyond the rituals and do justice, love kindness
and always walk humbly with you, loving God. Amen.
***offering***
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