Baptism of Our Lord (Year C)
Luke
St. John’s, West Seneca
January 12, 2025
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Amen.
Last Monday was Epiphany, a day set aside to celebrate the arrival of the Magi. Our Orthodox brothers and sisters celebrate this day as Christmas. The first Sunday after is Epiphany; it is what we are celebrating today: The Baptism of Our Lord. This season can vary greatly in length, and this year, we are blessed with eight Sundays, the last being the Transfiguration.
We have just come from Bethlehem. We jump years into the future and meet Jesus again as an adult, except for one text on February 2. He is baptized today by John and declared as God’s beloved son. Now week after week, what God is up to in Jesus, how God is with us and for us, with each week revealing more of who Jesus is and what He has come to do.
This season has its own character. We are not preparing for the birth of Jesus, as in Advent, or His birth, which we just celebrated. We are not walking with Jesus to Jerusalem, as in Lent. We are not yet filled with Easter joy or fear, nor have we just experienced the fire of the Holy Spirit.
This season is unique. It is not just a set of weeks to mark time between Christmas and Lent, but a time to discover what God is doing in Jesus, and to place yourself within these texts not only to see, but especially to hear the words that are being spoken, to experience the times when God does … whatever.
This will be a time of new understanding, an unveiling, each week bringing into focus those Bible stories that may have been forgotten. By hearing them again, we can experience them, understanding again that when the waters rise, God is with us and for us with His son Jesus.
- We begin today with Jesus’s baptism, but not before John speaks of his greatness. In Isaiah, we see a God who accompanies us through thick and thin.
- The next stop is a wedding, in Cana, where the wine is running low, never a good thing at a wedding.
- Ezra will read from the Law, and the people will weep upon hearing it. Jesus will read from the Torah, and many will be amazed at this man from Nazareth.
- We will see an Advent text from Malachi. And hear the story of Simeon on the day we call the Presentation of Our Lord.
- There will be the great and awesome calling of Isaiah, with the thresholds trembling, and a live coal brought to Isaiah’s lips. “Here I am, Lord…” In a simpler setting, Jesus will call his disciples to fish for people.
- And, on the plain, Jesus speaks not only of God’s blessings, but also ”woes.” So different from Matthew’s version.
- We will learn of forgiveness, going back to the beginning, when Joseph forgives his brothers. Jesus tells us to love our enemies.
- Moses returns from the mountain a changed man. And then, Jesus will be transfigured on a mountain, changed before his disciples, and Moses will be there as well, along with Elijah.
These are the Biblical stories that change lives. And so, on that note, let me ask this: How many of us make New Year’s resolutions? Most of us. Here’s a new idea.
This past week I shared a Facebook post: THIS YEAR I WANT TO BE MORE LIKE JESUS.
There are six ways to do this.
- Hang out with sinners.
That’s not difficult. We are all sinners, if we take just a minute to think on that. Each of us falls short of the glory of God. Confront it daily. I like the Confession from the LBW: ”we confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves… See, hanging out with sinners is pretty easy. Oh, as Luther said: “Simul iustus et peccator,” "simultaneously justified and sinful".
Upset religious people
That’s not difficult either. All you have to do is remind them of the Beatitudes, or the Great Commandment to love God first; then love one another as you have been loved. Too often, we get caught up in the minutae, finding errors everywhere, and forgetting that there is more to being a Christian than being “religious.” As Garrison Keillor once said: You can stand in your garage all day and say you’re a car. Doesn’t make you one.
Tell stories that make people think.
Jesus was the true master of this. He used familiar images and settings so that his listeners could understand. The Gospel writers took those stories down.
So, this year, listen with new, fresh ears and pass those stories on. No need to lecture, just share.
Choose unpopular friends
Jesus’s friends were not the most educated, the most wealthy, the most worldly. They were men with average jobs, like Peter and Andrew, James and John, who were fisherman. Matthew was a tax collector. His women friends may have had unsavory reputations.
Who are your friends? I imagine some of mine might surprise you: I have friends of African ancestry, friends who are Asian, some are Jewish, Catholic friends, Protestants friends of all stripes, a few agnostics, some wealthy, some poor. I have gay friends, married friends, single friends, divorced friends. No doubt some of mine might upset you. I’m just following Jesus’s example.
Be kind, loving and merciful
How does the old song go? They will know we are Christians by our love. And it has always been so. The first Christians modeled that. As for mercy, we are to try and emulate that.
For example, making the rounds on Facebook is: "grace is receiving something you don't deserve, while mercy is not receiving something you do deserve." That is certainly true of Jesus. And remember, “Grace is proactive: It's an act of kindness given freely, even when not earned. Mercy is reactive: It's the choice to withhold punishment or show compassion "To extend grace to someone is to show them compassion even when they have wronged you." "God's grace is abundant, and His mercy is everlasting."
Take naps on boats.
That’s easier said than done. But, Jesus could relax anywhere, and he was unafraid to take time for himself, frequently going off to pray alone.
They say most resolutions are forgotten and/or abandoned by the end of January. So many times, these resolutions are often not practical and we want instant success. By making the resolution to be more like Jesus, everyone wins. You win by acting out your faith, and those you meet, friends and strangers, will see what following Jesus is all about.
I have read that now, more people identify as “nones,” meaning no religion, than ever before. I see that weekly. Only we can change that. And we begin by being more like Jesus. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
4 Advent (Year C)
Luke 1
St. John’s, West Seneca
December 22, 2024
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Amen.
At a seminary in Bangalore, a nun said: "Mother Teresa, you are spoiling the poor people by giving them things free. They are losing their human dignity."
To which Mother Theresa replied:" No one spoils as much as God himself. See the wonderful gifts he has given us freely. All of you here have no glasses, yet you all can see. If God were to take money for your sight, what would happen? Continually we are breathing and living on oxygen that we do not pay for. What would happen if God were to say, 'If you work four hours, you will get sunshine for two hours?' How many of us would survive then?"
And then she added: "There are many congregations that spoil the rich; it is good to have one congregation in the name of the poor, to spoil the poor."
There was profound silence; nobody said a word after that.
Today Mary will say that the poor are about to be spoiled. There she is, an ordinary young girl, chosen by God. God could have chosen anyone else, someone wealthy, of a higher place in society. But God chooses Mary to bring His son into the world, to usher in an upside-down order that lifts up the poor, saying they are “favored.”
You see, God’s idea of “favor” and our own are radically different. When we hear the word “favor” today, our minds leap to others things. Favor in finding the job we want, or the perfect house.
“Favor” here refers to God’s choice. The Greek word is a variation of the word for grace — and what about God’s grace has anything to do with what we do?
We are spoiled by God. This week we will celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, who came among us. He lived with us, taught us, healed us, and when we messed up, He forgave and continues to forgive. And then, he died for us so that we might have new life and have it abundantly. God spoils us with his continuous grace.
And how do we respond? Too often, by holding on to material things, to rationalizing why we have what we have, to making excuses.
This is not what you want to hear a few days before Christmas. But hear it we must because something new is coming into this world. The light, the Son of God.
There was a video YouTube, I think, that shows a man waking up and realizing all he has. He runs through his house, turning on a switch and yelling: "I have light." He turns on a faucet; "I have water." He looks out his window: "I have a car." And turning to his family: "I have a family!”
We forget what we have and how spoiled we are. Bishop Miller reminded us at Synod Assembly that living in the Great Lakes basin, water is an afterthought. One of the statistics about Lake Superior is that if it were to be drained, that water could cover all of North America and South America with one foot of water. No wonder we take it for granted. Not so for people in much of Africa, where they walk with pots to get water.
My dad used to say: We are a spoiled people. We have the benefit and good fortune to be born in a wealthy country at the right time in history. We have what we need. And it all comes from God.
The promise of Advent is found is the Magnificat, that He is merciful from generation to generation; that He does scatter the proud and lifts up the lowly; He fills us with good things…
The promise of Advent is that we are waiting for a birth that does change the world, that light replaces the darkness.
So, our task is simple. Be grateful. Be generous with what you have. Be cognizant of what you have and how you can take your blessing and be a blessing for the world.
I found this story many years ago and I review it each Christmas because it reminds me of how to give.
There was a boy named Tony who was born blind. “However, when he was about seven years old, his doctor read in the New England Journal of Medicine of a new surgical procedure that showed some promise for correcting his particular eye problem. A young surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston had developed it and so the local doctor and the surgeon began communicating. The boy’s full medical record was sent and, in time, a decision was made to try the surgery.
Tony, the boy, had a favorite teddy bear which he kept with him at all times. This teddy bear had begun to show signs of wear. One eye was missing; one ear was chewed off; and the stuffing was oozing out through several holes. Tony’s mother had offered to buy him a new bear, but he didn’t want a new one. So, the old one went with him to Boston and remained close through all the x-rays, tests and consultations. In fact, the boy and his teddy bear were not separated until the anesthesia was applied for the surgery itself.
When the surgery was completed, Tony was heavily bandaged and had to remain still for a number of days. But each day the surgeon was in and out of the room to encourage him.
Finally the day came for removing the bandages. For the first time in seven years Tony could see. Though his vision was blurred at first, it gradually clarified and for the first time Tony could look into the faces of his parents.
Before long it was time for Tony to be discharged and to go home. On that final morning, the surgeon signed the necessary discharge papers and he gave Tony a big hug and said, ‘Listen, I own stock in you. I expect to get letters from you regularly. Do you understand?’
Then Tony did something totally unexpected. He said to his surgeon friend, ‘I want you to have this,’ and he handed him his teddy bear. The surgeon’s first impulse was to say, 'Oh no, I can’t take that.' But something stopped him. With a flash of sensitive genius, the surgeon understood what Tony was trying to do. He wanted to give his dear surgeon-friend the most precious gift at his disposal, so full was his heart with love. The wise surgeon accepted the teddy bear with a hug and a thank you, assuring Tony that he would take mighty good care of his friend.
For over 10 years that teddy bear sat in a glass case on the 10th floor of Massachusetts General Hospital — one eye missing, one ear half chewed off, and stuffing oozing out of several holes. In front of the teddy bear was the surgeon’s card and just beneath his name he had written this caption: ‘This is the highest fee I have ever received for professional services rendered.’ A little boy had given the most precious item he had, out of a love-filled heart.
This is a parable of Christmas, which arrives in a few short days. “Two thousand years ago our gracious God, with a heart filled with love, looked out upon a sin-marred, tear-stained world. Had you and I been in charge we might have destroyed the whole mess and started over. But God’s great heart was too full of love to allow that. So he gave us the most precious gift at his disposal; he gave himself.” That is what we are to remember, that God spoils us with his love and grace. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
3 Advent (Year C)
Luke
St. John’s, West Seneca
December 15, 2024
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Amen.
In Advent, one thing is assured. No matter how we view this season, with our concentration on Sunday School programs, dinner plans, gift giving, there is one person who stands in the midst of all our plans and demands an accounting. And that is John the Baptist: who is not exactly a soft and gentle presence in these weeks before Christmas.
But there he is, and his presence and his voice have authority. In today’s Gospel, he has only just begun his calling and he jumps right in. John is not a man who wastes time. He gets to the heart of the matter, calling out those who need a change of life. And he’s not above name calling either…
The two groups of “vipers” were tax collectors and soldiers. Here, these two approach John asking for specifics on how to straighten out their lives and bear fruit. The answers both groups receive are economic in nature — to collect only what is owed (no bonus for the tax collector) and to resist the temptation to add to a military wage by shaking down the populace. Again, there is nothing particularly surprising or self-sacrificing about what John recommends.
At the heart of this, John stands preaching at the Jordan reminding us to give, that God can do anything and that he is himself a lowly servant, pointing the way to the One.
It is all about giving. For the religious, faithful law keepers of his time, giving up entitlement, no more simply claiming Abraham as a descendant. For others, give generously. For still others, be fair. But how to do it?
“In verse 10, the crowds wonder how they should respond to John’s prophetic condemnations. He tells them to love their neighbors. Give them your coat, your food.
"He calls them to ordinary acts of grace.
"In verse 12, “even” the deplored tax collectors come and ask the same question. What should we do? We might expect John to instruct these servants of Roman power to get new jobs helping those in need, to stop serving their imperial masters and instead love the neighbors they previously had taken advantage of. No, instead, John calls them to be good tax collectors, to collect only that which is required of them.
"He calls them to ordinary acts of grace.
"In verse 14, soldiers ask the same question. What should we do? We might expect John to instruct these soldiers to lay aside their instruments of violence and embrace a way of peace. Instead, John tells them not to use their position of power to steal life or livelihood from anyone. Be good soldiers, he demands of them.
"He calls them to ordinary acts of grace. …” It is the same for us.
What should we do?
What should we do when there are refugees who come from a war zone?
What should we do when we have lost confidence in those who are supposed to be trustworthy?
What should we do about guns?
What should we do about poverty?
What should we do?
And the questions just go on.
This is why we need John the Baptist right now. Yes, his words are powerful, even threatening. But it gets our attention, doesn’t it? After all, he is pointing to Jesus, who has the winnowing fork is in his hand.
Advent is a time to get ready for the birth of Jesus and to prepare for his coming again. John would probably have some harsh words for us, but then he, John, would turn and call us to ordinary acts of grace. “He might call us to give what we have. He might call us to stay at our jobs and do them well. He might call us to the radical idea that seemingly ordinary lives can be imbued with the extraordinary spirit of God to transform the world. …
"We should seek that ordinary transformation that no one else may notice but will change us and the world more than we can imagine.”
I have often thought of Advent as a time to “wake up.” Wake up, because John the Baptist has a simple message for us. "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Wake up, because these words are good words, and so they are what we need. Can we wake up and become a hope-filled people ready to do ordinary acts of grace? proclaim Jesus as Savior? Can we wake up and see a different world, a world where all have what they need, where wars are fewer? Can we wake up and see something that needs tweaking in ourselves?
We can wake up because God is about to do something that is the great mystery. Because Jesus entered into human life as a baby, lived a human life as a human, and died a sacrificial death on the cross as our Lord and Savior, we can be awakened from our doldrums and embrace a message of salvation that has been accomplished. What we can wake up to is new life, new hope, a new love.
That's why Advent is a season of preparation, the season of waking up. Christmas is not just the celebration of the birth of a child; it is the beginning of a chain of events that transforms the creation. Christmas is not just recognizing God's gift of the Incarnation -- it is also our acknowledgment of what this Incarnation means for every one of us. Wake up.
”Max Lucado tells the story of a man who had been a closet slob most of his life. He just couldn't comprehend the logic of neatness. Why make up a bed if you're going to sleep in it again tonight? Why put the lid on the toothpaste tube if you're going to take it off again in the morning? The man admitted to being compulsive about being messy.
"Then he got married. His wife was patient. She said she didn't mind his habits ... if he didn't mind sleeping on the couch. Since he did mind, he began to change. He said he enrolled in a 12-step program for slobs. A physical therapist helped him rediscover the muscles used for hanging up shirts and placing toilet paper on the holder. His nose was reintroduced to the smell of Pine Sol. By the time his in-laws arrived for a visit, he was a new man.
"But then came the moment of truth. His wife went out of town for a week. At first he reverted to the old man. He figured he could be a slob for six days and clean on the seventh. But something strange happened. He could no longer relax with dirty dishes in the sink or towels flung around the bathroom or clothes on the floor or sheets piled up like a mountain on the bed.
"What happened? Simple. He had been exposed to a higher standard of living. That's what Jesus does.”
These weeks and shopping days before Christmas are not easy, and most of us would rather ignore John the Baptist. After all, he is a bit rough. But we must wake up. Because if we want to get to the joy of Bethlehem and be in God’s presence, we must get past John the Baptist in the desert.’” Because this is the good news, and a new day and life are coming. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
2 Advent (Year C)
Luke
St. John’s, West Seneca
December 8, 2024
Grace to you and Peace from God Our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
As you know, we have entered a new liturgical year, and so, our Gospel readings will be taken from Luke. As I am a teacher at heart, I have developed a pattern as we begin Advent, taking the first Sunday, maybe the second Sunday, to introduce you to the Gospel for that year. I began this about 15 years ago, and no matter how many times I turn to Matthew, Mark, or Luke, I find something that I had not noticed before.
So, who is this Luke? Tradition tells us that Luke was a companion of Paul, a physician and likely someone with a good knowledge of the Hellenistic culture: both literary and cultural. Hellenistic refers to the Greek and Roman world after the death of Alexander the Great. In our day, it would be easy to assume that someone who was a doctor was rich, but scholars have argued that Luke might have been born a slave. It was not uncommon for families to educate slaves in medicine so that they would have a resident family physician. As for Luke’s profession, not only do we have Paul's word, but Eusebius, Saint Jerome, Saint Irenaeus and Caius, a second-century writer, who all refer to Luke as a physician.
Whether that is true or not, we are not sure. But what we can gather from Luke – and Acts – is that the author knew scripture and was aware of various forms of writing. And, yes, Luke is the author of Acts, which is the early history of the church and how it expanded through the world.
As for the date of Luke’s gospel, most probably 80 AD or later. Most scholars believe he was writing in a thoroughly Hellenistic city. Some believe this to be Antioch, or in Asia Minor, like Ephesus or Smyrna.
Now, in contrast to either Mark or Matthew, Luke's gospel is written more for a Gentile audience, which would make sense. It is only in his gospel that we hear the parable of the Good Samaritan, that we hear Jesus praising the faith of Gentiles such as the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian, and that we hear the story of that one grateful leper who is a Samaritan. All foreigners. And since Luke is thought of as one of Paul's traveling companions, it would make sense that he was from one of those Greek cities that Paul visited.
Of the four evangelists, Luke wrote the best Greek, and unlike the other three, was probably a Greek-speaking Gentile. Luke’s gospel was written for a Gentile audience, and he translates Jewish names and explains Jewish customs whenever he thought it necessary. Filled with historical details, names and places, Luke is writing for those who may not be acquainted with Jewish customs, history or geography. You will have noticed that in the Gospel reading.
Luke's audience seems to have been a more cultured, more literate audience. We can say that because Luke's Greek is of the highest quality; it is the best. Luke reads like a novel in the Greek tradition. So, if you lived in Luke’s time, reading his gospel, or hearing it, would have been easy because Luke has control of the language.
Now the concerns of Luke's gospel are a little different; therefore, there are political as well as social concerns that we see as Luke writes his story, and it seems to be that his audience may have been more educated, perhaps a bit more cultured.
In his introduction to the Gospel, Luke is straightforward: "Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you…"
We have come from Mark’s Gospel, which is short and to the point. Mark viewed Jesus as a charismatic preacher and healer. Luke has his own spin. Luke sees Jesus almost as a prophet. When he goes to his hometown synagogue, he quotes Isaiah and it is the section that speaks of freeing those who are oppressed, allowing the blind to see. He is a liberator, a miracle worker and a teacher interested in the virtues of compassion and forgiveness and how those play out in society. And he is a giver, dispensing the great gifts of God. So Jesus is probably at his most powerful in the gospel of Luke, from a variety of perspectives, as prophet, as healer, as savior, as benefactor.
Luke's unique perspective on Jesus can also be seen in the miracles and parables that are featured in his gospel. And get used to hearing this. Luke is the gospel of the poor and of social justice. He is the one who tells the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man who ignored him. Luke is the one who uses "Blessed are the poor" instead of "Blessed are the poor in spirit" in the Beatitudes. Luke is concerned about the place wealth has in our lives. Only in Luke's gospel do we hear Mary's Magnificat where she proclaims that God "has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty."
In a nutshell, that is Luke.
As we are in Advent, let’s consider Malachi and his refining fire. Advent is that time to prepare for the birth of Jesus and for the calling as a Christian. And to do that, we must be refined.
A women's Bible-study group was once discussing Malachi 3:3, about how God "will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." Resolving to find out more about the passage, the leader decided to go visit a silversmith and ask about the refining process. "Why don't you watch me at work?" he offered.
She observed how the silversmith held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that, in refining silver, it's essential to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames are hottest, so as to burn away all impurities.
She asked the silversmith if it were true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered yes. Not only did he have to sit there holding the silver, he also had to keep his eye on it the entire time. If the silver was left in the flames just a moment too long, it could be damaged beyond repair.
She realized, then, the attention needed to be a refiner and purifier of silver, and what good news that is for those going through various trials in life. God’s attention is always on us.
Thanking the silversmith for his time, the woman made to leave, but he called her back.
"There's one thing you didn't ask," he said. "You didn't ask how I know the process of purifying is complete. I know it is finished when I can see my own image reflected in the silver."
This Advent, we have our work cut out for us. This refining may sound painful, but we must remember that with the “refiner’s fire,” we are made ready to take on whatever comes. It is not punishment, which only looks to the past. Refining is for the future.
And it is a work that continues. We are always being refined. Advent is the time when it is emphasized. So, when Jesus sees his own image reflected in his people, he knows the work of purifying is done. And that is a day we all wait for, eagerly. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
Christ the King (Year B)
John 18: 33-37
St. John’s, West Seneca
November 24, 2024
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Amen.
“In 1925, Pope Pius XI instituted the feast day of the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. To understand why he did this, we should consider what was happening in the world at the time. That year, Adolf Hitler had just published the first volume of Mein Kampf, which detailed his descent into antisemitism and his sinister designs for world domination. The signing of the Locarno Treaties that year was met with disdain by German extremists, who viewed them as a betrayal of Germany and a weakening of its power and influence in the world. A year later, more than 40,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan marched on Washington to demand, among other things, immigration restrictions based on race and nationality. With membership of over 5 million at the time, the Klan was the largest fraternal organization in the United States.”
The world was still in the grips of what was called the “Great War,” and there was this growing nationalist feeling around the world. So the Pope wanted to counter all this by focusing on the one thing that all Christians share: that Christ is King. Our first allegiance is to Christ, no matter what country you call home. We are called to be guided by the values that we own as followers of Jesus. This is over all else. And as my mother would say: No ifs, ands, or buts!
But how did we get here, to this day, the end of the church year? Yes, Christ the King marks the end. Next Sunday is the First Sunday in Advent, and we begin this cycle once again, only this time, the gospel for most Sundays will be taken from Luke. So, what’s it all about, this church year? It is the time of year to be thankful, so let’s consider this calendar we call the “church year.”
In our daily lives we keep track of our activities and special events with a calendar. The church does the same thing. Throughout the centuries the church has also “kept track” of days and seasons and commemorating special occasions with a calendar. Just as our Jewish friends structure their year around God’s saving works, so do we. We focus on what God has done for us in his Son, Jesus Christ.
We begin with Advent. These are the four Sundays preceding Christmas. It is more of a penitential season, and was once six weeks, like Lent. This is a time to prepare for the birth of Jesus at Christmas, and is also a time to prepare for the second coming of Christ. The Gospels will introduce us to John the Baptist and Elizabeth and Mary.
The color for the season is blue, for hope. Each week we will light an Advent Candle in anticipation of Christ’s birth.
As for the music, it is all about anticipation. O COME, O COME, EMMANUEL should come to mind. And no, technically, there is no singing of Christmas Carols.
Then comes Christmas, the third most important day – after Easter and Pentecost.
We celebrate the birth of Jesus as the sun goes down on December 24. We celebrate God becoming human; Emmanuel, God with Us. It is a time of the light breaking through the darkness, illuminating our way. The season itself is but 12 days, ending on January 5th.
The color for the season is white or gold. The music is…joyful.
The next season is Epiphany on January 6th, and this celebrates the coming of the Wise Men, those sages who saw something extraordinary in the sky and followed. The Wise Men are traditionally held to be diverse, coming from Asia, Africa, and Europe. The season itself has Jesus showing us who he is. The season itself varies in length from four Sundays to eight, depending on the date of Easter.
While the color of the day is white, the season’s color is green.
Then comes Lent. There are forty days to Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday. There will be six Sundays, the last of those being Palm Sunday or the Sunday of the Passion. This is a penitential season, when we are called to walk with Jesus to the cross. In the early church, as more and more people became Christians, this was the final intense preparation for baptism, which occurred on the Great Vigil of Easter. As the Roman Empire became Christian, the church fathers kept these weeks as a penitential time for all of us.
And then Easter. That’s why we are all here.
Easter is a moveable feast, meaning that it is not on the same day each year. Easter is calculated as the first Sunday after the first full moon, after the spring equinox. By ecclesiastical rules set centuries ago, there are 35 dates on which Easter can take place. The earliest possible date for Easter is March 22 and the latest possible date is April 25.
The color for the day and season: white or gold, or both.
Pentecost comes fifty days after Easter and celebrates the birthday of the Church, when the Holy Spirit came in tongues of fire, allowing the disciples to speak to all who had gathered. This is the season of spiritual growth. Red is the color of the day, for the fire of the Holy Spirit, but the season’s color is green, for growth. It can last up to 28 Sundays, again depending on the date of Easter. It’s the long, green season we complete today.
That is what the church year does, setting out season by season – in progression -- the works of God that cause us to wonder and to engage and to grow more fully in our walk with God and in our relationships with others. From expectation and longing to birth and death, miracles and signs, we are treated to this great mystery, the God who “so loved the world that He gave His only Son…”
So as we come to this last Sunday of the church year, it’s time to take stock. Have you grown in your faith? Where have you seen God at work?
To know God is to understand that Christ is King and no earthly ruler can measure up. To know God is to place God first in our lives. To know God we must choose to live God, to practice his presence. With that, we do come closer in our relationship and our faith continues to grow. For faith to continue we must live it. To do that we have to understand what it is we do believe.
When we love our neighbor as ourselves, when we do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God, and when we care for the afflicted and stand up for the oppressed, that is when we abide in the truth that Jesus speaks of and that Pilate does not understand.
So we choose Christ. That is our truth. In simplest terms, it means putting faith into action, avoiding hypocrisy, loving our enemies, stressing integrity and quality, being truthful and honest, sustaining ourselves with Scripture and worship, so that we know whose we are.
The church year has a rhythm and a progression, and just as holidays recognize our need to feast and celebrate and honor, so does the church year. Our daily calendars remind us what routine tasks must be done today or next week, or the one after that. The church calendar reminds us that there is something far greater, far more mysterious, far more holy, than our routine tasks, and if we can enter into it fully, our lives will no longer be routine.
So take stock of where you have been this past year, and look forward to who you want to become in the seasons ahead. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
26 Pentecost (Year B)
Mark 13:1-8
St. John’s, West Seneca
November 17, 2024
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Amen.
We have come to the last weeks of the church year, and now we find ourselves immersed in the “end times” texts, those readings that speak of the persecutions to come.
Today’s gospel reading has images of destruction, such as the destruction of the temple and the inevitability of wars, earthquakes, and famine; the destruction of the temple. And at first glance, there seems to be little good news to celebrate. But it is there. The good news is the “beginning of the birth pangs.” This is good news, birth pangs – for a woman - means the arrival of a child. And for us, birth pangs, in this case, is the promise of new life and new beginnings.
Jesus begins today’s text: “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
By all accounts of the day, that temple was an awe-inspiring piece of architecture. At the time of Jesus, it had been under construction for almost 50 years and was nearing completion. Josephus, the Jewish historian, noted, "The exterior of the building wanted nothing that could astound either mind or eye. For, being covered on all sides with massive plates of gold, the sun was no sooner up than it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes, as from the solar rays. To approaching strangers it appeared from a distance like a snow-clad mountain; for all that was not overlaid with gold was of purest white."
It is said that the largest stones were 40 feet long, 12 feet high, 18 feet wide and bright white in their appearance. This was more than a temple in which to worship God; it was an incredible accomplishment of man.
And yet, Jesus made a startling claim, that there would come a day when even this amazing work of King Herod's hands, and all it represented, would come tumbling down. Toppled, not by earthquakes or armies but ultimately by God, who is immutable and everlasting. That is why we must remember that one definition of the church is “the gathered ones,” not a building. That is why we do not hook our wagons only to what is tangible. Our faith, our peace, the work of our hands, our efforts and treasures should not be focused only on what we can build. Those things all too often crumble, and we do not want our hope to go with it.
Jesus is cautioning us, reminding us that we are not to let our pride get the best of us, no matter how large the stones or the buildings. We have work to do, you and I. It is in our nature to be proud, but pride goes before the fall. The question comes down to doing what is right, without letting our accomplishments become all about us.
The question: how can we not be amazed at what we can do? Most of us have seen great buildings, whether a skyscraper or a cathedral. Moreover, we do have to work. We need to design and build, earn a living, sow and reap, put a roof over our heads, build roads, schools, hospitals and so on. Humans seem to have an innate desire to improve on what we have, and to aspire to greatness, create, design and develop, to always make things better.
Yes, we need to work; Jesus is not saying that we should not, nor does God deny our efforts. We are – after all – created in the image of God. And God is the master craftsman. We follow His example, but work is to glorify God, not ourselves.
As we come to the end of Mark, Jesus knows that His end is near. The time belongs to his disciples…and us. As we come to the end of the church year, we too need to consider what Jesus is telling us so that we may have that peace that He promises. If we are to walk with Him, we need to walk the whole way to the cross, and learn from it.
So the warning to “beware,” in Mark, comes down to focus, and focus on what is truly important and life-giving. It all comes down to the difference between “doing” and “being.” And Jesus knew very well that there is a difference between those who were great at doing, but not so great at being.
We are doers by nature, keeping busy, always thinking. In all of our doing, we tend to become enamored of our own efforts and forget God. When we put our trust in the work of our hands, we set ourselves up for trouble. There is no doubt that we are a blessed and gifted people. But if, in the end, rather than simply enjoying the work of our hands and the "blessings" in our lives, we make such things the center of our lives, then we are in danger. When we become distracted – forgetting God and placing our hope in temporary things – then we risk it all.
We all know of those who take great pride in how busy they are, in how many hours they put in, in the number of meetings attended. In doing that, we lose our focus, and that leaves us vulnerable, not just because we are ignoring God and the commandment to put God first, but also because when we are vulnerable, other voices can sound like a better deal. Other voices can offer excuses and rationalizations that seem right, and before we know it, we are led astray.
Matthew’s gospel echoes the same thing: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
We are always to keep God at the center of our life. Jesus's point is this: How you handle your life, your job, your possessions, your time, depends on where you believe your hope to be. Where are you placing the stones of your life? How strong is your foundation?
This is not a light nor easy gospel lesson. It comes down to who we are each and every day, and looking in the mirror is rarely easy.
I was reminded this past week of St. Julian of Norwich, whose words you may know. “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
Julian was born in the mid-14th century. It is thought that she lived through two bouts of the bubonic plague, and saw the death of many of her family and friends. In her encounters with the divine, she saw the very love of God, that all-encompassing love that never lets us go.
“If there be anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe from falling, I know nothing of it -- for it was not shown me. But this was shown -- that in falling and rising again we are always kept in the same precious love.”
That is what Jesus means by being. Rather than seeing this text as doom and gloom, or fearful, we are to hear the good news and celebrate it: God is working in the world with his love; his kingdom is moving forward, even if we find less than ideal circumstances.
Buildings do fall; there are natural disasters of all kinds and always have been; wars, rumors of wars. There are those who try to lead us astray. But God is above all that. In Julian’s time, there was great despair, with about one-third of Europe was wiped out. Those were terrible times. But in the years after, came the Renaissance, fittingly, a new birth.
Jesus reminds us to keep our foundation strong and not be led astray. And when we do this, it will be as Julian writes: “And all shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be exceeding well.” Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
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