Merely to Remind Myself John 3:1-17

After I lost my sight for the first time, my mom bought me a number of record albums of musicals. You might remember albums, they were those 12 inch diameter vinyl discs. You put them on a thing called a record player, and then you had to take the needle arm and place it on the record album. I know, it was primitive, but that was the way we did things in those days.

One of the albums was the Hans Christian Andersen musical with Danny Kaye, and one of the songs I liked the best was a song that Hans Christian Andersen sings while he is walking down the road one day. Here are the words as I remember them:

“I write myself a note each day, and I put it in my hat./ The wind comes by, the hat blows high, but that’s not the end of that./ For ‘round and ‘round the world it goes./ It lands here right behind myself./ I pick it up, and I read the note/ which is merely to remind myself/ I’m Hans Christian Anderson.”

There are times in our lives when we need to be reminded of who and whose we are. Today’s text is one of those reminders. In the midst of the darkness of our world, as we long to see the light of truth, as we wander through the testings of our lives, we need to know who and whose we are and what value we have.

In the searching, we discover that who we are has little to do with what we do, but everything to do with whose we are and what God is doing for us each and every day. We need to be reminded that it is not what we do, it is what God has done and is doing today.

How many times have we seen the signs at sporting events that say 3:16? The first time I saw one of those signs, I thought, “Wow! What a great testimony.” And then I saw it more and more. I even heard it announced on the radio stations that broadcasted the games.

In an interview after one of the games, one reporter asked a sign bearer what it meant to them? The woman’s response made me cringe. She said something like, “It means so much to me that God loves the world this much and unless people believe in God’s love, they will all be damned.” This woman had found the perfect way to makes God’s amazing gift of love and caring into a club to beat people with. This is because we have all learned this verse and carry it with us in so many ways, but we have forgotten the verse that goes along with it: “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” Not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

In these few words, we are reminded that we are not the ones who save people. It is Jesus who saves—Jesus, the only son of God, in the communion of the Holy Spirit. We can assure one another of the forgiveness of our sins, but it is God who does the forgiving. On Sunday mornings, when we confess our sins and I make the declaration of forgiveness, it is not me that is forgiving you. It is God who forgives you; I am only the vehicle of transmission.

Yes, we claim that we have sinned in thought, word and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have declared before God and one another that, by ourselves, we are hopeless sinners, and so we turn to God, justified by Christ’s death and resurrection, for that forgiveness and hope that we need for the future. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we receive what we need.

Now any Christian can hear the confession of another Christian and assure them of God’s love and forgiveness absolving them of their sins, but, in our public worship, it is the privilege of the pastor to give that public assurance. So it is that I can say, “In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake, God forgives our sins. As a called and ordained minister of the Church of Christ and by Christ’s authority—by Christ’s authority—, I declare to you the forgiveness of all of your sins.” And when that declaration is made, I seal you in God’s love, not in my name, but in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

It isn’t me, it is the continuing work of Christ in the Holy Spirit that continues to forgive and hold us in that right relationship with God and one another. Indeed, “God so loves the world that God gave his only son, that whoever believes in him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

This everlasting life is something that is given to us in Baptism. In those waters, with God’s Word, through the work of the Holy Spirit, we die and are raised up into new life. We hear those words that Jesus commanded his disciples to do at the end of Matthew, “Go into all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Baptize them into that new relationship of love and caring.

So it is that we come today to witness Nicodemus coming to Jesus in the night, in the darkness of his world, in that most creative time of God--the night—remembering that in the darkness God creates the light; in the darkness of night God speaks all of the cosmos into being, that in the darkness of the world, even we were brought into being and invited to share in the benefits of creation; and, in the darkness of the night and our world, Christ’s light of hope continues to shine. This light shines in a way that does not condemn the world but lights the way forward in hope and forgiveness in and through the work of Christ.

I write myself a note each day, and I put it in my hat. The wind of the Spirit comes by, the hat blows high, but that is not the end of that. For ‘round and ‘round and ‘round and ‘round the world, the Spirit blows, and it drops my hat behind myself. I pick it up, and I read the note, which is merely to remind myself that I am Peter Todd Heide, a child of God, baptized in the waters of Baptism, and claimed by God.

As the serpent is lifted up in the wilderness so the Son of Man will be lifted up that all the world will see and know of God’s desire for the healing wholeness that only comes from Godself.

May you always walk in the assurance of God’s love for you.

In the Shade of a Tree

In the Shade of a Tree

Peter T. Heide, 2014

 

In the shade of a tree,
Where others will come,
I sit with my brothers

To beg coin for home.

With the shame of the blind,

By law, marked as sin,

One asks whose the fault is—

“Is his or his kin?”

Then a voice from another

Sighs, “Neither the case.

God’s glory’s in each child

Created in Grace.”

I next heard one spitting.

I braced for the spray,

Got mud on my eyelids;

And then, sent away

To wash in Siloam,

Erased the disgrace.

I washed in those waters

And new life embraced—

A life of new vision,

Creation to see:

Great things they called buildings

And things they called trees.

But then rumors started.

“It’s all been a scam.

If he’s the blind beggar,

His life is a sham.”

But others there stated,

Amid all the din,

“It’s not the blind beggar,

It’s one of his kin.”

I tried to assure them.

“’Though now that I see,

I am the same person.

In Christ, it is me!”

Some came with suspicion.

Oh, how can this be?

The one who was born blind

Is able to see?

I told them of Jesus,

His spit and the mud,

The waters of sending

And vision of good.

They said, “This is nonsense!”

“You sinner!” they cried

“Your teachings are foolish!

Be gone! Go outside!”

In the shade of a tree

Where others will come,

I pray for belonging,

A place to call home;

And then one approaches

With faith to receive

A world of belonging.

O Lord, I believe.

In you there is vision

With new ways to live,

Embracing each other

With gifts that you give.

From the waters, we’re sent;

And so, we now come,

Your vision proclaiming

Of new life and home;

A home where all people

Are welcomed in love,

All sharing the gifts that

We have from above.

No matter our natures

Received at our birth,

We’re sent from the waters

Of death and new birth.

New Program from Nick at Night?

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET           

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

 

New Program from Nick at Night?

Dateline: Jerusalem, March 12, 03:01:17

by Jack D. Sypal

Surrogate Pharisee party representative and Sanhedrin judge, Nicky diMaosi was seen speaking with Kingdom of Dodd fashion house owner and NU Food magnate, Josh Kristy, in an undercover, late-night meeting in a local “bath house and spa” yesterday. A transcript of their conversation was leaked to this reporter early this morning

DiMaosi, often identified as “Nicky D”, in certain circles, continues to represent the Pharisee party, but he sought to curry favor from Kristy eliciting promises of quid pro quo for continuing his moderating voice within the Pharisees.

In negotiations concerning watering down bar beverages at the spa and their network outlets, diMaosi said, “Since we can generate more water with the spirits, there can be greater profits for the Kingdom of Dodd.”

Other comments centered around some questionable sexist remarks that are beyond the scope of this article and speculative genetic manipulation testing. After one of Kristy’s comments, diMaosi queried, “Is it possible for an old man to re-enter the womb?”

Little is known yet about what outcomes may result from this covert operation, but Kristy, when asked whether he had other undisclosed contacts with Nicky diMaosi before last night responded, “My purpose in life is to make the world a better place. I still believe that the world, even in the midst of crisis, can be saved.”

Future events will tell the story.

Wilderness Testing Matthew 4:1-11

We’ve been telling this story about Jesus in the wilderness for roughly two thousand years. Yet, in the last ten to twenty years, scholars have been looking at this story anew. They have concluded that as God’s word continues to be a living thing among God’s people, as it continues to draw us into thinking about God’s words in today’s context, and as we continue to diligently unpack the original language and sharpen our translating skills, fresh and maybe even better ways of telling the story of Jesus’ time in the wilderness emerge. It is not that we have been wrong, but that there are nuances in this story that are waiting to be highlighted that help us appreciate this testing ground story more fully.

One of our recent observations is that when we preach this story, as preachers we need to make the stronger connection of this story to the baptism of Jesus and disconnect it from the Mountain of Transfiguration. As the season of Epiphany started with Jesus’ baptism, so now Lent begins with the end of that baptism story.

For many years we have been so preoccupied with the forty days and the forty nights in the wilderness and connecting the symbolism of the forty days to the forty days of Lent, to the forty days and nights of Moses on Mount Sinai and the giving of the Ten Commandments, to the forty days and forty nights of Noah’s flood time and the restoration of the world through him and his family, to the Israelites’ forty years in the wilderness after leaving Egypt, that we have forgotten that this story is part of the greater account of Jesus’ baptism.

In our preaching, the Church has forgotten to strengthen the understanding that God, with the Holy Spirit, does not send people out into wilderness time to create believers, but that God, with the Holy Spirit, sends us out into the wilderness because we are believers. God sends Jesus into the wilderness with the confidence of a Father who knows his son is equipped to engage the wilderness.

So it is that we witness Jesus coming up out of the waters of baptism and the Spirit coming down from heaven and alighting on him. With Jesus, we hear God’s words, “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased,” and then we witness the Holy Spirit leading Jesus into the wilderness. This is not a time to discover if Jesus is the Son of God, but a time of witnessing who Jesus is as the Son of God.

Recent scholars who have noticed this shift in translating the story prefer to record this dialogue between the devil and Jesus in statements rather than questions. The devil is not confused about who Jesus is, and so he says, “Since you are the son of God, do this or that. Since you are the son of God, then you were there when the world was spoken into existence, so speak these stones into bread.”

It is like those questions we ask when we are children. Since God is all powerful, can God create a stone that is greater than what God can lift? Or, since angels have no substance, how many can stand on the head of a pin? Since Jesus rose from the dead, why isn’t our world better than it is? Since Jesus has the power to heal, why doesn’t he heal everybody?”

So, I bring this question to you today. What is the difference between testing and tempting? I ask this question because I believe this story is more about testing than it is about tempting. It is more about standing up for who we are than discovering who we are. It is more about determining what authority is rather than discovering whether Jesus has authority. This authority is more complicated than performing a few magic acts like speaking stones into bread or jumping over tall buildings in a single bound and has much more to do with bowing down before the powers that defy God in the world. It is much more about not being distracted and seduced by the splendor of power but living in a right relationship with God.

We probably all know the proverb, “If you give a hungry person a fish, you feed that person for a day, but if you teach hungry people to fish, you can feed them for a lifetime.” The challenge we witness today is, “Since you are the Son of God, solve the problem of world hunger. Speak these stones into bread.” But the real issue is not only about whether people are being fed, it is whether people know how to be fed and how to feed themselves.

Our challenge today is not about whether the Son of God can throw himself from the pinnacle and not be destroyed, but it is about our faith in God which does not depend on spectacular magic acts of entertainment for belief; an understanding that God’s power in our midst goes beyond the spectacular to the strength of a saving, grace-filled relationship with us. It is not about the glory and the splendor of the kingdoms and the power and authority that we might have within them, but it is all about God’s grace, that is God’s undeserved love, and our ability to live with one another. It is not always pretty; it is not the Hollywood romance; rather, it is part of what happens in our everyday lives, in the kind word, the loving touch, or the blessings we give and receive.

There is a difference here between test and temptation. In the middle of a test we are sometimes tempted to take short cuts, to make quick fixes without considering the systemic problems causing the need in the first place. A few years ago, Dr.  Craig Nessan wrote a book called, “Give Us This Day.” In it he shows that the problem with world hunger is not that we don’t have enough food in the world to feed all the people of the world; the problem is being able to distribute the food we have to the people who need it. He discusses what some of the problems we have in organizing that distribution. The problems seem so big that one is daunted in even considering whether or not to try to overcome the problem. Yet, in part, because of Dr. Nessan’s book and a deep concern and commitment from our Lutheran brothers and sisters, through organizations like Lutheran World Relief and the Lutheran World Hunger Appeal, in part because of you supporting our synod and our churchwide organization, and your faithful presence in the world, policies are being changed, work is being done, and we are finding ways of getting that indispensable food from one place to another.

I know I told you the story last year, but I am going to tell you again. While working with some young people studying this passage, I asked them why it was important for Jesus to not change the stones into bread. Those young people argued about it for a while, and then one of the young women said, “It’s sort of like when my parents have a dinner party. When the people first arrive, they may stand around and talk with a drink, and they may take some food from the hors d’oeuvre table, but no one takes plates and plates of food then.”

When I asked her how that helped us understand Jesus changing stones into bread, she said, “They don’t take a lot of food then because they know that the dinner is coming.”

When I pushed her on that she looked at me and said, “Well, duh! Jesus didn’t come to be an hors d’oeuvre for us, he came to be the whole meal.”

In the systems of how we live with one another, at the systemic level of what we need to live, there is more than food. So Jesus says, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” In order to live healthy lives, in healthy relationships, we need bread and God’s words of forgiveness, God’s assurance of grace, that is God’s undeserved love. We need the whole body of Christ, not just an hors d’oeuvre, to walk in the knowledge of God’s presence with us each and every day.

The Gospel story is an account of that assurance. It tells us that Jesus is the Son of God; even the devil recognizes this. The test is to see whether Jesus will go for the quick fix, immediate gratification, or whether Christ’s authority includes a longer plan that will address the systematic problems of our world.

So we begin our Lenten season this year, remembering that we too are being tested (not to discover whether we believe, but because we do believe) because together we are the Body of Christ. I know that you have heard the test come in various words, but the test is often worded something like this. “Since you are the body of Christ in the world, solve the world problems. Make all of the relationships of the world beautiful and pleasing. Make peace happen.”

If we just work at the surface level without considering the systemic problems like racism, classism, sexism, and ableism, we don’t get to the core of the problem. The symptoms may go away for a while, but the problems will continue to arise. It would be so nice if we could just pray everything away, but our life involvement in Christ is required. We, with Christ, must stand against the forces that draw us away from God and stand up for who and whose we are.

In this Lenten season, we will continue to walk together with the assurance of Christ’s presence. We will journey to the cross, and we will explore the many relationships we have in Christ’s resurrection world. We will be with Nicodemus in the night. We will be with the Syrophoenician woman at the well. We will be with the blind man who receives sight, and we will witness Lazarus rising from the dead. Each of these meetings have complicated systemic problems that are raised for us to consider as we live into God’s word and God’s world with God’s people. May you know God’s blessings in this Lenten time.

A LONG AND WINDING ROAD

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET           

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts  

A LONG AND WINDING ROAD

Dateline: Deadwood SD, March 5, 04:01:11

by Matt Hughes

Today Biblical Archeology Digest (BAD) archeologist O. Toby Norske was again in the news when he revealed the most recent set of runic records found near Jordan Creek, in Harmony, Minnesota. According to these records, Jesus left a life in Harmony and traveled into the western wilderness.  He may have been the first to follow the advice, “Go West, young man.”

Norske’s work is important because it moves research from the Jordan Creek area in southern Minnesota into the greater North American setting. Norske said, “We started looking for places where Jesus might have gone, based on Biblical accounts of course, and other ancient sources. New findings in the ghost town, Deadwood, SD, suggest that the wilderness west journey could have ended there. At an average 15.7 miles per day (a very reasonable walk in those days), Jesus could have ended his forty-day journey in the wilderness crossing most of Minnesota and South Dakota.”

Ayne Shent (St. Olive, ‘02), one of BAD’s Norwegian antiquity scholars, helped with the research and was present when some preliminary diggings were initiated. The whole team was shocked when they found a stone with identical markings as the Jordan Creek find. This tends to confirm Norske’s hypothesis.

The writings on this stone purport that Jesus traveled into the western wilderness and was tested. Jesus rejected spells as ways to solve the world hunger issue, but Shent notes that this part of the nation has been known as the “great bread basket” for many years.

The stone further claims that Jesus was taken to the pinnacle of what we now know as the Corn Palace where he refused to leap without an appropriate bungee harness and line. Lastly, he was taken to the highest point in the Black Hills, where he surveyed the wonders of the western lands, and he again declared them good.

After the mountain-top experience, Jesus found himself where angels ministered to him. Norske now believes that the end of the testing time concluded in Cactus Flat (a popular stop today to visit a prairie dog village) because, he explains, “From the rune stone, we now understand that the word we usually think of as ‘angels’ really means ‘prairie dogs’. This would suggest that Jesus was transubstantiated or teleported in some way from place to place. Otherwise, he wandered all the way to the Black Hills and then returned part way, and then proceeded to Deadwood, another five- or six-day journey by foot.“

The terminal location of Deadwood is suggested by the cross event itself. The dead wood is the signature name of the cross and has been made famous because of it. Norske said, “What comes out of these new writings is how maniacally focused the inquisitor is and how casual Jesus is in the midst of it.”

As scholars continue to process this new information, Shent shared that some wonder whether this narrative suggests a first uprising of aboriginal first-nation people against the misunderstood intentions of an early Viking expedition or whether the leadership of that fated expedition was in fact Jesus and that he was a Viking rejected by an unknown adversary.

Maybe Jesus is Norwegian after all.

The Grand Old Duke of York, Matthew 17:1-9

The old song goes, “The grand old Duke of York,/ He had ten thousand men./ He marched them up the hill/ And he marched them down again./ Now, when you’re up, you’re up/ and when you’re down, you’re down,/ And when you’re only half way up,/ You’re neither up nor down.”

Welcome to Transfiguration Sunday. Today we are poised on the threshold between the end of Epiphany and the beginning of Lent. We have just come from the mountain on which Jesus preaches his first sermon in Matthew, and now we are standing on another mountain. As we look forward a few weeks, the followers of Jesus will climb the hill at Golgotha and then climb the mountain in Galilee where Jesus promises to meet the disciples after the resurrection. So many mountains, so little time.

In our readings today we also read about Moses and his great trip up the mountain. Lastly, we are reminded in Scripture of the six days of creation and how God did not end creation there but gave us the seventh day for rest, to join God in celebrating the goodness of creation.

So here we are. But you may ask, “Where is here?” I know that Joyce Carol Oates has written a book with that title, but that is not where I am going today. Still I think that it is a good question though. Where is here?

One of the places where scholars believe that Jesus and his disciples may have been standing that day was Mt. Hermon which is the site of the source of the Jordan River. On it is carved the oldest known depiction of Pan. Elsewhere on the mountain are niches that have been carved out for other gods. Is it possible that this is where Peter, James and John stood looking up at the appearance of Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus? Could they have thought that the world would want to remember the moment with three more grottos or niches among so many?

Even if this is the place where the transfiguration took place, I suggest that the problem of the day was that Peter and the disciples did not know where here was. They did not appreciate that the ministry of Jesus was about to change. They did not realize that their place in the mission and ministry with Jesus was about to change. They did not realize that in just a few chapters—days, weeks, months—Jesus would be crucified, he would die, and he would rise again from the dead to lead them from another mountain into a ministry of hope into the world and for the sake of the world. They could not comprehend that there, because they were not able to know where this here is. In many ways they were only half way up the hill even though they had been led up to the top.

So, in the midst of this Transfiguration Sunday, in the midst of seeing Jesus’ face shine like the sun, in the midst of Jesus’ clothes appearing dazzling white, in the midst of the appearance of Moses and Elijah, with the disciples hearing the voice from the bright cloud saying, “This is my son, my beloved, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him.”, do we know where here is? Are we so awed by the vision that we cannot respond appropriately? Are we wanting to lie down in fear of what we are called  to do and be in the world?

Because if we don’t know where here is, then we will never know if we ever get there. As a matter of fact, we may not even know that there is a there to get to.

Are we going to say, with Buffalo Springfield, “something’s happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.”? Will we then walk away not speaking of what we have seen and heard until sometime in the future? Or, is it possible for us to orient ourselves and claim our place in the world, to declare our here to a world that is struggling with where here is.

Yes, this is Transfiguration Sunday, and the one thing we learn from this passage is that building may not be the right answer or response. We also learn that falling down in fear is not the right response either. Even the majestic image of Jesus with Moses and Elijah may be set aside. What matters most for the disciples and for us today is that when we look at the world we live in, it is not about the distractions of what is going on around us, but, when we awake to the reality of our situations, if we can see only Jesus, that will be enough. God’s voice from the cloud announces, “This is my beloved son. With him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” Maybe we should, for whether we are at the top of the mountain or at the bottom, Jesus continues to lead us in ministry to the world.

 “The only son of God,/ He saves us, women and men./ He marches us up the hill/ And he marches us down again./ Now, when we’re up, we’re up/ and when we’re down, we’re down,/ and when we’re only half way up,/ we’re neither up nor down.”

May we know the here of this Transfiguration Sunday so that we might fully know the there to which we are going.

HICKORY DICKORY DOCK or 3 BLIND MICE

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET           

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

 

HICKORY DICKORY DOCK or 3 BLIND MICE

In a startling report, Josh Kristy disciples are revealed to be blind.

Dateline: Galilee, February 26, 17:01:09

by Matt Hughes

Following is a transcript of last evening’s broadcast courtesy of our news affiliate ATTV: “If it’s news, it’s where we’re AT.”
Earlier today, Josh Kristy took with him Peter, James, and his brother John, who most think are his closest disciples, and led them up an undisclosed mountain. This reporter was able to follow at a distance and report these happenings to you through enhanced long-range digital camera and sound equipment.

It appears Kristy took these three disciples with him because, unbeknownst before now, they are blind, thus limiting their ability to attest to the strange occurrences that transpired at the ad hoc summit meeting where Moses and Elijah were also ostensibly in attendance.

As the film begins, you can clearly see that Kristy’s appearance is dramatically different from that at his recent gatherings. His face is glowing brightly, and his clothes are sparkling white. The level of brilliance is high enough to distort the image, yet the disciples seem to be unaware. They stand together apparently preoccupied with their own conversation.

In this next clip, two apparitions, most likely Moses and Elijah, join Kristy in what appears to be a serious communication of import and still the disciples seem unaware. They continue to be preoccupied by their own concerns.

And here, you will notice one of the disciples, most likely Peter, tugging on Kristy’s sleeve, still apparently unaware of the spectacle before them, but excited about something.

In this last clip, a cloud, unlike anything our meteorologists can describe or explain, appears, and, when isolated lightning and thunder were seen and heard, the disciples fell flat on their faces as they tried in vain to seek shelter.

And now we see Kristy helping Peter, James, and his brother John, up onto their feet and hiking back down the mountain.

We asked our local specialist on paranormal occurrences, Dr. Yule Ceboetter for his opinion of Kristy’s disciples’ reaction. “Well, it is possible that the intensity of the brightness was such that their retinal sensors were overloaded and ceased to function, but, I believe, that, if you look at your earlier shots, they indicate that they were climbing, using walking sticks and holding on to one another on the way up the incline. The film is not clear, but they certainly could be white canes suggesting that they were blind before this unusual meeting took place.

Ceboetter continued, “Clearly, blindness is the only explanation for their nonchalance at the beginning of this paranormal event. Any normal person would have been overcome by such extranormal events and would have exhibited physical reactions such as cringing or at least shading their eyes. Here you see none of this. In fact, at the end of the second clip, we see Peter tugging on Kristy’s sleeve without any show of noticing the circumstances around him. Yes, in my considered opinion, they all must be blind.”

Ceboetter further opined, “But not deaf. You will notice in the third clip that they all fell down as soon as there was thunder. This would indicate that the lightning did not impress them, but the thunder certainly did. This would confirm, I think, that they are all blind, but not deaf. I am just so delighted that we have this permanent record of what really went on there.”

Ceboetter’s opinion was further substantiated when I caught up with Kristy and his disciples. When asked about the appearances at the summit events, John replied, “What appearances?” Before I could follow up, he rushed off, saying, “I’m sorry, Josh is about to speak, and I want to listen to him.”

This reporter had not considered the importance of blind faith before this. I had always thought it was a figure of speech.

PERFECT, Matthew 5:38-48

As we come to the end of the fifth chapter of Matthew, roughly 1/3 of the way through the Sermon on the Mount, we encounter some of the most difficult language thus far. “Do not resist evil doers.” Really? I am just going to say that this is a less-than-helpful translation from the Greek. The people who heard these words first had a great advantage.

1. They knew the times they lived in; therefore, they did not need to have the context of the times explained to them.
2. They understood Jesus’ words and didn’t have to have them translated.
3. They knew that just these eleven verses were not the whole sermon. They knew more was coming that would more fully explain what it meant to live in the kingdom of heaven, and
4. They didn’t have someone standing in front of them trying to explain what Jesus meant without the context of the whole sermon.

So, as we come to the end of our reading of Jesus’ words for us in Epiphany, understand that we will be coming back to other parts of his sermon throughout the year. Indeed, part of the sermon is assigned for Ash Wednesday, just a week and a half away. These words will continue to challenge us as we wrestle with what it means to be the body of Christ for the sake of the world.

Before talking more about Jesus, let me tell you a story. Emma stood in the middle of the room screaming with tears running down her face. Her mother came into the room and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Johnny hit me,” Emma shrieked.

“She hit me first!” Johnny retorted.

“That’s enough.” Mom said. “Say you’re sorry to one another and give each other a hug.”

Emma and Johnny looked at each other for a long time, and then each of them mumbled, “I’m sorry.” Then they hugged. As they hugged, Johnny whispered, “Tattle-tail,” and then he began to squeeze as hard as he could. Emma held her breath and started to get a little red in the face, but stubbornly refused to say anything. Finally, Johnny released her. Emma stepped back and kicked Johnny in the ankle as she appeared to lose her balance from the hug.

Mom said, “That’s better. Now play nice. Lunch will be ready soon.”

As she left the room, Johnny picked up a block and threw it at Emma. She ducked the block, and, putting her head down, she butted Johnny in the stomach. Suddenly, a hand grasped each of them, and Mom’s voice, no longer conciliatory, said, “That’s it. Go to your rooms and don’t come out until you can be friends again.”

Be honest. Don’t you wish that the problems of Syria could be solved this way? Or, don’t you wish the issues surrounding our last election could be solved like this?

Now I could tell you that the whole argument got started because Johnny broke Emma’s favorite crayon, or I could tell you that Emma wouldn’t answer Johnny when he asked her what she was doing, but little of that will change the fact that Emma and Johnny are living in an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth (plus a little interest) world. It is this tit-for-tat world that Jesus wants to address.

“Stop escalating the violence!” Jesus says. Understand that Rome is in power and returning punch for punch with Roman power will only get you crushed. Power does not rest in muscular strength, power rests in endurance and peace. Therefore, when the Roman soldier tells you to carry his load for a mile, smile and carry it two miles. If you show that you are willing to carry the load, you take away the soldier’s power over you.

“Yes,” Jesus says, “there is evil in the world, but if you are my follower, then you do not need to respond to evil with evil’s methods. Instead of responding to evil with evil, respond in a way that recognizes the person in front of you as a person. Treat that person as you would like to be treated, because, if what you see before you is an enemy and that person is stronger than you, then you are always going to be crushed.”

This is the beginning of what Gandhi understood. This is what Martin Luther King, Jr. understood. If Gandhi had organized an army to fight the British, we would be living in a very different world today, but instead, Gandhi chose to turn the imperial power of the British against itself.

Martin Luther King, Jr. did not organize people around him with great speeches of strategy, planning the overthrow of white privilege and power. He spoke to the nation with words of hope and vision. He did not speak of strategy but of dreams. How differently we would have heard “I have a strategy…” rather than “I have a dream…”.

It is sometimes hard to imagine what a world of de-escalation might look like, and so I wish to share this story with you. In the early days of the Massachusetts Bay colony, John Winthrop noticed that his wood pile was diminishing much faster than he thought it should. Suspecting someone of stealing wood from his wood pile, he was enraged. So, he decided to wait in the shadows one night to see who was taking his prized wood. Around midnight, one of the men from the colony who had fallen on hard times, showed up and started to load up some of the wood. Stepping out of the shadows, John Winthrop said, “Friend, I see thou hast need of wood, and I have plenty. Help thyself to what you need.” John Winthrop wrote, “In this way, I ended the thievery.”

God has given us so much—enough to share. I know that there are times when that sharing makes us feel uncomfortable, but, when we remember that God’s abundance is for all of creation, not just those who believe, or not just for those who believe like us, we begin to have a glimpse of God’s amazing love for all of God’s people and the privilege we have been given to share the news of God’s love—a love that reaches beyond the category of enemy to person; a love that goes beyond our differences and embraces our common needs; a love that does not objectify those around us with labels of black and white, male and female, old and young, gay and straight, abled and disabled, Republicans and Democrats, residents and foreigners, English-speaking and some other language, Lutheran and pick your denomination, but as children of God’s loving creation. Christ died once for all. And we build on that foundation waiting to be tested.

The Lord told Moses to tell the people, “You shall be holy for I, the Lord, am holy.” Indeed, we are separate from the world because God is separate from the world. We are “In the world but not of it,” as Luther has said. And we are perfect as God is perfect—not perfect in the sense of being without sin, but perfect in the sense that we are complete, whole, what God has created us to be. We are one in Christ.

As we have heard in the Sermon on the Mount these last few weeks we are blessed, not by our own work, but in Christ’s love; we have been assured that our saltiness is restored in Christ, and our light shines out in Christ; our righteousness is fulfilled in Christ; and we have learned the ways of Christ; so now we find that our wholeness, our holiness, our perfection, is not from us, but from Christ himself.

As we are gathered in worship today, hear these words of Christ for you.

“You are blessed, that is, you are assured of God’s presence in your life. Christ is with you.”

“You are the salt of the earth and light to the nations.” That is, you are essential qualities needed for the body of Christ to continue in health and to thrive.

“Your righteousness will exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees.” That is, through Christ, all things are possible and our ability to raise people up from the valley of the shadow of death’s darkness into the resurrection of Christ’s light is our mission and ministry by grace, through faith, in Christ alone.

And having learned what it means to be followers of Christ, “Do not escalate the level of violence in the world. Be wholly perfect as your Father in heaven is wholly perfect.”

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut, Matthew 5:21-37

The old commercial used to say, “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t.” Today I say, “Sometimes you have to take the Bible literally, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you have to take the Bible metaphorically, sometimes you don’t. And sometimes, you have to take the Bible metaphorically and literally at the same time. Welcome to the Sermon on the Mount.”


For the past couple of weeks, we have been talking about this new community that Jesus is creating and forming. It is a new world vision that includes all of God’s people. So once again, let’s review the people who are gathered on the mountainside. They are the people who have come from all of Syria, Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea, and the land beyond the Jordan. These people are the diseased and infirm, those who have mental illness, the epileptics, and the paralytics. These people have come with their care takers and followed Jesus up the mountain.


Here, on this mount, as we witness a new community being formed, we are reminded of Moses in the wilderness—how Moses went up the mountain and came back down with the Ten Commandments. When the people, like Moses, come down from this mountain, they too, will have a new understanding of what it means to be God’s people in the world and to be a follower of Jesus. These words will give identity to the people and shape the attitudes and conversations engaging the world. These words will also shape the mission and ministry of the nascent church while developing an ethic and vocabulary for considering our place in the world.


Jesus is speaking to the people gathered before him on the mountain, and, at the same time, he is speaking to us in his distant future. He is using extreme language, setting the bar low enough so that we will attempt to live by them, but high enough so we know that it is only by God’s grace that we will be able to claim these words as our own.


Sue got her degree in economics, and though the subject of economics continues to confuse me in all kinds of ways, she helped me understand at least part of the economic conversation by telling me that there are two major conversations of economics that are always going on; sometimes they even talk with one another. There is the conversation of macroeconomics which is about the financial concerns of the nation and the world economy and there is microeconomics which deals with household spending.


I use this image of macro and micro as a way of suggesting how Jesus is speaking to us, giving these commands as both a macro- and as a micro- ethic. It is not just for the people who are there, but for those that we will come to know as the followers of Jesus. We will call them Christians. Just as Moses gave the Ten Commandments as guides and mandates for the greater community of faith, not for individual piety and self-righteousness, but for the entire nation of Israel, we will claim these words of Jesus as guiding words for ourselves today.


The Ten Commandments were given as an identifying signature symbol to the world stating why these particular Hebrew people were different. They were for all of God’s people who had come out of Egypt and also for the generations of people who would follow them. These commandments were given to help the people live together in peace with a common set of rules among the families and tribes, and guidelines for being in relationship with the nations/peoples around them. These commandments were at the same time, macro- and micro-.


In this sermon, Jesus does not mention all of the commandments, nor does he address the commandments in the order that we received them from Moses. Jesus also references some of the great number of the laws given in Torah as he talks about these new ways of understanding them.


Jesus begins “Don’t murder.” On a micro-, personal level, this commandment seems pretty straight forward. On a macro-, national level, this command becomes much more difficult. Yet Jesus does not stop with that complication, he makes it even more difficult. If you are going to be my follower, if you are going to be the people who will exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, then I say, “More than do not murder, don’t be angry with one another. Don’t get trapped in the pettiness of insulting one another. Don’t declare that others are fools.”


I need just a moment to talk about why, when Jesus says, “but I say,” it was so controversial for the people hearing this in Jesus’ time. A rabbi didn’t speak by his own authority but by the authority of other rabbis, past and present, who had influenced his thought, and with the authority of Torah itself. Many of the sayings and thoughts cited were from Moses. A rabbi borrowed the authority of Moses by reiterating Moses’ words, saying, “With Moses, I say …” or, “I will teach you as it is written in Torah (the first five books of the First Testament, sometimes referred to as the law)”. The rabbi also included the opinions of other rabbis who were in agreement with the history of the faith and in agreement with him. Thus, rabbis spoke with the authority of those who had gone before them.


A rabbi traveled around the country seeking out the brightest and the best of the young boys who might be worthy of becoming his disciple. While rabbis were teaching their own students, they offered up their own ideas derived from the arguments and teaching of others. When their students brought those teachings forward, they did so with the authority of their teacher. These students then taught saying, “As Rabbi so-and-so used to say, ‘this is what we should be thinking and doing.’” A rabbi, unlike Jesus’ statements, never really spoke with his own authority, but with that of a consortium of others.


It was understood that the only one who could speak with his own authority and without the voices of other people was Godself. Therefore, now understanding a bit about rabbinical authority, we can understand what authority Jesus claimed when he said, “You have heard it said in ancient times, don’t murder, but I say to you….”. Jesus’ words are so powerful because he is claiming the authority only allowed to the Son of God.


The people, both then and now, having heard these words, must determine whether Jesus was some sort of flim-flammer con artist, or whether he has the authority of God, indeed is God. If Jesus was a flim-flammer, then they, and we, don’t have to pay any attention to him. Today, we could just go home, go eat breakfast or brunch, prepare to take a nap. We could do any number of things that might fill our time in oh so many ways. We might even go to the mall to pick up a few things that we think we can’t live without.


But, today we are gathered proclaiming that the one speaking, one Jesus of Nazareth, is the Son of God, the Word of God incarnate. We are now accountable to living our lives differently: when issues arise that might divide us, we will try to remain friends instead of becoming adversaries. We will seek ways to be reconciled to one another, that is, we will make concessions for the sake of the other.


Just in case you think that this process of being reconciled to your neighbor is only for personal relationships, the micro-ethic, Jesus intends this is how national and local communities should interact with neighbors as well, the macro-ethic. In all relationships, Jesus urges do not be angry or vengeful, do not insult a neighbor, not even pointing out foolish behavior. Rather, Jesus demands reconciliation so that the value of the neighbor is not diminished, weakening the whole body of Christ.


This reconciliation is not “You need to change”. It is “We are willing to change in order for you to be part of us” reconciliation. This language suggests that “being reconciled to” means that we will make accommodations for the needs of our neighbors in order to walk together in Christ.


We know the early Christian worshipping community was divided over different ways of becoming Christian. In First Corinthians, we hear that some claim Apollos, others claim Paul. We know that some thought that it was necessary for a person to convert to Judaism first, and then, after they had become Jewish, they could begin Catechism to become Christian. We also know that the Gospel of Matthew was probably written in Antioch, Syria, and that the Christian community had gathered there to escape the Roman army in Jerusalem. So, as Matthew is recounting Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he is reporting it to a highly polarized, divided faith community. They are people who want to distance themselves from one another in self-righteous fervor trying to say that one faction is better than the other. They are more concerned about their faith positions than they are about what Christ has done for all of them. So, Matthew includes this divided community with all the other outcasts of the world when he speaks about Jesus’ concerns about divorce and adultery.


When Jesus talks about divorce, his words seem to be talking about the breakdown of a personal relationship (like with the person we are married to), but adultery and divorce, in the scriptures we call the Old Testament, have more to do with our communal relationship with God than they do with marital conditions. They are more macro= than micro-. In Jeremiah 31:31-34, God says that, although we have not been faithful to God, God will not divorce us. We may divorce ourselves from God, but God will not divorce us. Instead, God will write God’s laws on our hearts, and God will remember our sins no more. So, when Jesus speaks about adultery and divorce, Jesus cautions us against turning away from God and chasing after other gods for false gratification and salvation and moving outside that relationship that God desires to have with us.


These words are for Christ’s body, that is, the people gathered in worship, and address the divisions that come within that community of faith, with the many gifts of Christ’s body, his hands and his feet, his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, who are gathered together for the sake of the world, seeking wholeness. So, Matthew reports that Jesus has said that when the eye or the right hand has caused the body to sin, remove it. This is not for the personal body, although there are times when surgery demonstrates the value of removing diseased appendixes, cancerous or severely infected organs like gall bladders and more, these words are written for the good order and the overall health of the body of Christ and caution us concerning outside philosophies and faiths.


It is better amid irreconcilable differences that one part of the faithful separate from the other until future discernment can find wholeness again. In this light, the Reformation, started by Luther’s actions 500 years ago, was a better way to go than to continue to fight within the Roman Catholic Church. Although we have not found wholeness together yet, we are now able to understand each other better than we have for many years.


So, at Jesus’ feet on the side of the mountain, seated with the first people gathered there, and with the divided community of Antioch, and within the midst of our own polarized and divided world, let us hear these words again that encourage us to be the new community of faith with new understandings of who this Jesus is. This understanding affects the way we live individually, but, more than that, it calls us as one of many communities of faith to honor those around us in ways that we have not in the past.


This is not a time for warfare and separation. It is not a time of hurling insults at the people who disagree with our communal beliefs. It is certainly not a time to call those who differ from us fools thereby increasing the chasm of distrust that separates us. It is not a time of chasing after easy solutions that dishonor the value of our neighbors. These words of Jesus pledge us to the commitment of seriously engaging the problems of the community we live in, embracing those problems in a way that says, “These are the concessions that we are willing and able to make to accommodate the needs of our neighbors. These are our theological non-negotiables concerning who Jesus is and whose we are, and, if we can’t agree on these things, it might be better for us to go our separate ways for the sake of the health and welfare of the body of Christ.”


Continuing in this community God has given us, as we sit and hear these words with those who heard it first, let us come down from the mountain, to live in the ways Jesus has proposed, not only with the words of “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not swear falsely using God’s name wrongly,” but with those added admonitions that help us live in healthy ways and loving relationships with one another.


In the relationships of faith which we have with one another, let us not swear in ways that dishonor God and God’s children: not by heaven, for that is God’s; not by the earth, for that is God’s; not by the city of Jerusalem, for that belongs to the government; not even by your head because you did not create it. Instead, when we engage with one another in honest debate concerning honest differences, let us openly say, “Yes, we can do this,” or, “No, we can’t.” In this way, we will be able to walk together in new ways. We will walk together in the way of forgiveness that is needed for our own spiritual health and ability to embrace life, not to change the behavior of the other person or group. We will walk together in the new way of making concessions to accommodate our neighbor, not because it will make our neighbor more acceptable to us, but because it will strengthen our community of faith and the body of Christ. We will walk together in these new ways, being honest in our relationship with God and one another, celebrating the gifts we have been given; not divorcing ourselves from God or one another; and not chasing after the new latest thing or idea that draws us away from those relationships.


In a divided world, in this time when the world continues to want to swear by flags and constitutions, by guns and walls that will only divide us, and by the wealth and lifestyle we have, let us remember and recognize God’s authority to create and forgive, and let us remember our calling to be the new welcoming community of God’s people and our willingness to serve in Christ, simply saying yes and no in faith.

GETTING MARRIED IN THE MOURNING

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET            POLITICS

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

GETTING MARRIED IN THE MOURNING

Dateline: Galilee, February 19, 05:38:48

by Matt Hughes

Josh Kristy continues to challenges today’s morality and our legal systems, surprised many by instructing his followers not to resist evil doers but to let them run rampant. He even suggested that his followers overpay plea bargain settlements by 100%. Further, after suggesting that young men enucleate eyes and amputate hands, Kristy presented extreme pacifist ideas counselling against fighting back when attacked. Kristy went so far as to say we should give our hard-earned money away to anyone who asks for it.

Ernest Workman said, “Soon our young men will be half blind, disabled, toothless, black eyed, impoverished, and likely homeless. If we give everything away to those who ask for it, who are we going to ask for money when the time comes?”

New insights into modern marriage practices among Kristy followers and an explanation of the rising divorce rate came when Kristy told his followers to love their enemies. Kristy said, “Anyone can love people who love them. The trick is to get your enemies embroiled in loving relationships, and then prey on them.”

When interviewed, Don T. Ghethitcht explained, “This makes it so much easier to be with the one you love. I used to think that I needed to look for the perfect woman, but now I just put my arms around whoever happens to be there. I’m bound to experience some antagonism from her, and then I figure that’s the one to love. I was so confused until I heard that I was to prey on them. It really simplified the whole dating thing.”

Mary Annie Thyme was heard to say, “This changes my whole attitude toward war. I mean, I never thought about the other side as being a whole new market for wedding bliss. I just wonder who my bridesmaids should be?”

Bar Association spokesperson, Sue M. Dailey opined, “This could change how we think about divorce. It used to be that people fell in love with one another, and then, over time, they became enemies or, worse than that, indifferent to their partner. It now seems that hatred and thoughtlessness is grounds for getting married. If they fall in love with one another, will that be grounds for divorce? I’m sure that there is a new legal precedent waiting to be proved in court. This should keep lawyers busy for years to come.”