Called to bring light to the world

Isaiah 9:1-4; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23

We’re finally reading Matthew, the Gospel for the year, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He has settled in Capernaum, possibly in the home of Simon Peter.

That Jesus lives in Capernaum is important. It’s not Jerusalem, the seat of Jewish power. Galilee is thought of as a backwards, rural region, full of thieves, where people speak Aramaic with an accent and know little Greek. Think: country hicks. But it has history…

After 722 BCE Assyria occupied Zebulun and Naphtali (in the region now called Galilee) and took the leadership into exile. Matthew links the Assyrian imperial aggression to the aggression of Rome in the present day. The darkness of the days of foreign control is over when God’s glory shines light into the situation. The kin-dom/reign Jesus announces is the beginning of a new time of lightness and justice.

…

 To help in his ministry, Jesus recruits people as disciples. We don’t learn about the occupations of many of the disciples, but these first four, we do get to know. They are fishermen, two sets of brothers, and they will provide the mode of transportation to get Jesus around the sea.

When Jesus recruits followers, he invites them to use their skills and gifts to help in his ministry. So, he tells fishermen they will fish for people. I imagine he tells Levi/Matthew the tax collector that he will manage the finances. If there are cooks/bakers in the group, they will take care of feeding the disciples, and cook up some recipes with new followers. Some singers and musicians will form a band, and add to the music as they can. And so forth. We’ll come back to this idea shortly.

… Paul writes the letter we know as 1 Corinthians in response to a letter or letters we don’t have. It’s clear Paul is reacting to a previous correspondence about divisions in the church. He writes in the mid-50s, so merely 25 years since the resurrection. Already, people are taking sides, bragging about their baptism pedigree as if it mattered who did the baptizing. Paul basically says, Stop this! What’s important is that you are all baptized, and called to continue Jesus’ work of sharing the good news of God’s grace and light for all people. You are supposed to be evangelists.

Most of the time, if pastors say we are supposed to be evangelists, people groan and declare in no uncertain terms that they are not going to knock on doors or stand on street corners asking if people have been saved. People think of evangelism as a program to do.

But, there’s a different way of thinking about evangelism. The Greek word is euangelion. The eu means good, and angelion is news or message. Do you see the word angel there? Angel is the word we use for God’s messengers, who appear throughout the Gospels. So, if we are good-news-spreaders, we are doing the mission and ministry of angels telling others about

God’s good news. We are called to be evangelists, Good-news-angels!

… Now, back to the idea of Jesus calling disciples to use what they know to draw people to him. Jesus called fishermen to fish for people. And I’m sure he called others with the same method. I have long imagined the core of disciples as front-men and front-women, heading into town to talk to people like themselves.

Maybe the men went to the mill or the smithy or the wine cellar, and the women went to the well or the bakery or the wool vendor. In my imagination, they split up and talked with women and men who did jobs they each were familiar with. Then they  talked about how Jesus was bringing in a new reign of God, filled with goodness and light, and invited them to come and see Jesus.

Today, we can do the same thing. We can start by talking about something familiar, or something we are curious about. Then after developing some trust and some familiarity with each other, we can introduce the topic of what Jesus means to us, how his presence brought light into our lives. We can each use our skills and gifts to be good-new-angels for people. We can all tell others about the light and grace Jesus has brought to us.

… And … let’s add a warning from Paul. He was writing to urge the folks to be united in the effort of being good-news-angels. Especially, he was writing to urge the folks to set aside their differences. For us, in this time of deep political divisions, we too are urged to set aside our differences. It doesn’t need to matter what political party we belong to, or the name of our favorite president or university or sports team. These divisions darken the light brought by Jesus, making it hard for others to see.

What matters is our calling at Gloria Dei to feed hungry people. I haven’t heard about anyone checking if the people asking for food are from one group or another; it only matters that they need food, and we are happy to give it to them, and at the same time shine a little light into their darkness.

… Today after worship, we will elect some folks to serve on the congregation council along with those whose terms continue. They all have different gifts and skills, and they will together guide the congregation into the future God is calling us into. God gave us all those gifts and skills – so we could use them for God’s purpose of shining divine light into the darkness caused by evil and division and pain.

I hope that today, this week, you will pray and consider how to use the skills and gifts God gave you to use here at Gloria Dei, as well as being good-new-angels with those you encounter who need some of the good news and light we have to share. Amen

The Lamb of God brings justice and mercy

1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42

Our text from John gives us two stories about Jesus. The first story is about John the Baptist’s witness to Jesus. As John the Gospel writer tells the story of Jesus, John the Baptizer witnesses the Holy Spirit dove land on Jesus, but we don’t read that John did the actual baptizing. John’s testimony about what happened next is more important than the baptism itself. “I saw the Spirit descending like a dove onto Jesus and remain with him.”

Back in the day, John the Baptizer was well-known, drawing crowds of regular folks, and some leaders who were keeping a close eye on him. As a well-known person, his testimony bears some weight, speaks the truth. He could be called John the Testifier.

Then, in the second story, John’s testimony continues the next day as stands with two disciples and points to Jesus and calls him the Lamb of God. The disciples are Andrew and an unnamed person, and they run to introduce themselves to Jesus. After a short conversation, Andrew is convinced John the Testifier is right, and he hurries to get his brother Simon, saying, “We have just found the messiah!”  

When Jesus and Simon meet, Jesus gives him a new name, Peter, which could be interpreted as Rock, or Rocky. It’s surprising to us that this renaming happens at the beginning of the Gospel, since in Matthew, it happens in Chapter 16—well along in the story with the explanation that Jesus will build the church on this Rock named Simon Peter.

Jesus is identified by several terms in these 13 verses. According to John the Testifier, Jesus is Lamb of God; Holy Spirit-bearer; Holy-Spirit Baptizer; Chosen One. According to the disciples, Jesus is Rabbi and Messiah.

While the other Gospel-writers let the story develop and slowly reveal who Jesus, John starts off the story by stating that Jesus is the Son of God, filled with God’s Holy Spirit and expressing Holy Spirit power. The rest of the Gospel demonstrates this belief.

The descriptions related to the Holy Spirit would have been understandable for the disciples. The Jewish scriptures are filled with stories of spirit-led leaders, anointed leaders and prophets. There are many stories illustrating Jesus with Holy Spirit power – healing, feeding, stilling the storm, and so forth.

The description of Jesus as the Lamb of God may have surprised the disciples. They would have expected shepherd, not lamb. They would have expected a leader, not a sacrificial lamb.

The way John uses this term here at the beginning of the gospel and at the end, carries the sense that from the beginning of his ministry, Jesus knew he would die. Indeed, it was his intention to do so, and he orchestrates his life and the events around him to make sure it happens just as he plans it.

We know, because we have read the story so often, that in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus dies on Friday, just before the Passover celebrations begin. But in John, Jesus dies on Thursday, at the same time as the lambs for the meal are being slaughtered. Jesus wants all to see the connection: Jesus is the Lamb of God, sacrificed for our benefit. Sacrificed to show us how much God loves us.

… In this letter to the church at Corinth, Paul wants the folks to understand that the result of believing in Jesus is to know that they are loved, beloved, and filled with God’s grace and power.

The Corinthians have the grace and power to testify to the good news of Jesus’ resurrection and his forgiveness and mercy for all people. They have the God-given strength to withstand the challenges of testifying to Jesus in the Greco-Roman culture which insists they also worship the Emperor, the Caesar.  

The version of 1 Corinthians on this slide helps us understand what Paul is saying. God … who has called us into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord … is faithful. Let’s take this in smaller pieces.

God has called us … God has put a claim on us, and we respond by believing what God says and does. We belong to God, and trust God’s promises.

God has called us into relationship with Jesus. … We have a relationship with God through the familiarity of God’s Son Jesus. Jesus lived and died to show us God’s heart, God’s love and forgiveness, God’s mercy for God’s people. Paul calls this grace, the free offering of forgiveness by God.

God is faithful … what we need, we can rely on God to provide. Of course, God isn’t going to get us a new car, or magically drop food into our kitchens. But when we need strength and companionship to get through hard times, God is there in the presence of God’s Holy Spirit. Family and friends show up with a hug, with a reminder that we are not alone.

… Sometimes, we are called to act in ways we never thought we would. Sometimes we have to rely on God and God’s called people to be there for us. I shared about one of those hard times last week. Sister Carolyn reports that the entire Venezuelan family arrested by ICE has chosen voluntary deportment, despite the fact that their asylum paperwork was perfectly in order and there were no arrest documents with their names on them.

I highlight this story again this week because news has reached us that the hotels in central Florida are currently filled with ICE agents. There is concern that they will try to enter the church or interfere with the hungry folks coming to the food pantry. There is also concern that ICE agents often target anyone with brown skin, so Evelyn and her family and other legal residents of Leesburg could be at risk.

This is a time to remember that Jesus, the Lamb of God, showed us the way to trust God. This is a time to remember that we are called by God for God’s mission. This is a time to testify about God’s grace and mercy. This is a time to rely on the God-given strength needed to get through tough times.

And this is a time to remember God’s mercy extends to all people. This week, I hope you will keep all who are hungry and thirsty and in need of justice and mercy in your prayers. Amen

 

Same water, same mission

Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 3:13-17

Today, we find Jesus and John the Baptizer at the Jordan River. The location is significant. The water is even more significant. Jacob wrestled with an angel at the edge of the Jabbok River. Moses led the Israelites across the Sea of Reeds where they crossed to safety. Eventually, they crossed the Jordan River, where Joshua would lead them across into Canaan. General Naaman, who had a skin disease, was healed after immersing himself seven times in the Jordan River.

The world’s water constantly moves around the globe, from water to ice to vapor and back to water in a cycle. So, the water we drink, bathe in, swim in, observe as rain and so forth today could easily have been touched by Jesus 2,000 years ago, and by Moses 3,500 years ago, and created by the breath of God in the beginning.

That same water touched each of us when we were baptized, wherever and whenever that happened. The same water flows today in the same Jordan River, and in Harris Lake, and in the font at the door of this sanctuary. And in the drops that fell on you at the beginning of worship.

… Our Christian faith has been heavenly influenced by Paul, who was in turn influenced by his Greco-Roman culture. This led him to focus on individual sin, and the benefit of baptism for the forgiveness of one’s own sins.

At the same time that Paul was developing this theological belief system, the Egyptian Christians were focused on sin as systemic. A people, a group, sins; this belief is expressed over and over again in Jewish writings. God says, “If my people will pray, and take care of the poor and the widows and the foreigners, then I, God, will show mercy.”

The servant song in Isaiah is directed at one person, the servant who will carry the message, or, it is directed to the whole people of Israel. God says to the servant: I call you to take my message to the people: I desire mercy to be available for all people. This will fulfill all righteousness.

So, in the Egyptian theological view of Christianity, baptism is not about the forgiveness of sins, but much more about signing up to continue Jesus’ mission of bringing the reign of God to all.

… When we are baptized as infants, others make promises on our behalf. As we grow, we begin to take on the fulfillment of the promises for ourselves. We agree to:

‍live among God’s faithful people;
‍hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper;
‍proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed;
‍serve all people following the example of Jesus; and
‍strive for justice and peace in all the earth?”

Did you notice there’s nothing in there about receiving forgiveness of sins, but a whole lot about the mission we are called to, once we are baptized? Let’s look more closely at these promises.

It's pretty easy for us to live among God’s faithful people, hear the word and share in the Supper. Many of us find it easy to serve people following Jesus’ example. But, our reticence to speak about Jesus because someone might be offended means we don’t do a good job of proclaiming the good news to anyone.

And especially in the polarized world we live in right now, we can suffer serious consequences for striving for justice and peace. Sure, we pray, but it’s not polite to take a stand. People say, “Don’t bring politics into worship.” But Jesus was political, in his stance for justice and mercy for all people. I try hard to not bring partisanship – Republican or Democrat or Independent – issues into worship.

But as a baptized child of God, my heart cries out for justice this week. I need to share these stories with you, two stories among thousands we could tell together.

… First, this week Bishop Pedro Suarez, who is from Venezuela, posted a message. He urges us all to pray for the people of Venezuela, and not make assumptions about what is right or wrong, because everything is so multi-layered. Listen, he says, and do not judge! 

[if you wish to watch it, here is the link. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16jXD6mpwg/ ] 

… Second, two stories about ICE actions and the impact it has on families. These stories are shared by my Franciscan siblings, so I know they are true.

Sister Carolyn is a civic nurse, caring for people in her community and raising attention to those activities and processes that harm her people. She writes: Some of you may recall that I was connected to a Venezuelan migrant family in Denver in November 2023 through the ELCA AMMPARO [Migrant Accompaniment] program. Some of you offered tangible assistance as I coordinated accompaniment and the family applied for asylum and settled in Denver.

 Well, early this week agents raided the family's rental home, ransacked it (including busting out the windows), allegedly looking for weapons (and found none), and now the dad, older son, and girlfriend of the son are detained at the for-profit GEO ICE detention center in Aurora. One agent said they failed to appear for an immigration hearing which is not true. The youngest child just turned 1 year old on December 21. Your prayers as we try to mobilize new support for the family are greatly appreciated.

… And Brother Paul is in Minneapolis. He shares this: Things  are not good here in MPLS.  My daughter said ICE targeted her school, and were harassing students getting on buses, and dragged a school employee out of the school cafeteria.  She was in lockdown with her first-grade class all day.  Schools across the metro were similarly targeted.  She said it was a dark day that she will never forget.   Schools are closed today, and people are fearful.  My wife said one of her co-workers’ husband is undocumented, and she is paralyzed with fear of what might happen to their family.  … I am thankful that things appear to have stayed peaceful in the cities last night.   Please keep MN in your prayers. 

… We are individually broken, sinful people. Collectively, our systems are broken, sinful, when they fail to respect individuals as God’s beloved children. The people of Venezuela, the immigrants from anywhere, and those who grieve the loss of loved ones, all wash in the same water that washed Jesus, and all our Jewish and Christian ancestors. The soldiers and ICE agents who follow orders also wash in the same water that washed Jesus.

Did you notice that in these stories, there are both the request for prayers and calls for justice? I think Jesus is weeping with the family of the woman who was killed, with the innocent people who have been rounded up and imprisoned, with the innocent who are afraid for their friends and family members, and Jesus is calling us all to take a stand for truth and justice.  

Many of the people ICE agents are looking for are refugees from violence, just as Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were, 2000 years ago. In the Scriptures we call holy, God constantly urges God's people to welcome and care for the refugees and foreigners in their midst. I haven't heard that God's message to us has changed. 

And here’s a caveat, and a challenge to us all: those who commit crimes are also God’s beloved children, part of God’s creation. Don't you imagine that God weeps over them, too? 

These days, it can seem there is nothing we as individuals can do. But we can all pray, on our own, and we can gather to express our desire for justice for our neighbors and friends who are suffering injustice. It is for this that we were baptized. It is for this that we remember today that there are promises attached to our baptism.

The water in our font is the same water that was in the Jordan River that day when Jesus was baptized. And as baptized believers in Jesus, his mission of mercy and justice is ours as well.

God says to us all, “You are my beloved child.” But it doesn’t stop there. To fulfill all righteousness, we respond by living out the promises to be with God’s people, to taste and enjoy and share the feast, proclaim the good news of God’s love for all, to serve all people as any have need, and to seek justice where there is no justice.

As you leave worship today, dip your fingers in the waters of the font and remember that this same water touched Jesus. What will you and Jesus do together this week to seek justice, and fulfill all righteousness?  Amen

 

By another road

 Matthew 2:1-12

I recently discovered a podcast called Literature and History. Doug Metzger has a PhD in literature, and has a bit of an attitude which makes his storytelling fun to listen to. In the podcast, he begins with cuneiform writings in 3100 BCE, and by the 8^th episode I have a growing sense of the creation and melding of stories in the region over the centuries.

So far, Metzger has demonstrated parallels in the literature itself, and the political and cultural events and “atmosphere” of the Middle East and how it impacts the writings themselves. And sometimes, how these ancient stories are reflected in the Biblical writings we know today.  

This is a map of the greater middle east at Jesus’ time. We often think about Jesus in relation to the tiny strip of land along the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, but ancient peoples, and indeed modern peoples, never limit themselves to such a small area, any more than we consider the US as just Washington DC. When the author of Matthew tells us that the Magi came from the East, they could have come from a number of places: Nineveh, Babylon, Arabia, and India are only a few possibilities.

According to the Oxford Dictionary on Google, the term “magi” refers to “a member of a priestly caste in ancient Persia”. So, that narrows it down a bit for us, leading to the probability that the Magi who visit Jesus were from Persia, the then-current name for Babylon. There is speculation that the Magi knew about Daniel, who had lived in Babylon during the exile 400 years earlier.

They may have been Zoroastrian, a 3,000-year-old monotheistic religion that has some affinity with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Some say that the magi were astrologers and astronomers, so they were aware of changes in the sky. And some say they were interpreters of dreams. Which sort of fits with astrology and the interpretation of signs in the stars.

But there is no true documentation of just who they were, or exactly where they came from, so anything we say about them is speculation, other than that Matthew says they showed up and gave pricey gifts. … Assuming the star arose at the time of the birth, and it took time to organize a journey, and then travel 1,000 miles or more, then by the time they arrived, Jesus was a child, a toddler, not a baby in a manger.

While there are three gifts listed, and there has long been an assumption that there were 3 magi, there likely was a caravan of magi, maybe spouses, staff and servants, carrying multiple bags and boxes and jars of precious gifts worthy of giving to a king. Not to mention the women’s gifts of some of the daily necessities for raising a child, some clothes, some bedding, some food, some handy kitchen utensils.

It does appear that the Magi were leaders in their country, whatever that country to the East was. They brought wealthy and ritually important gifts to the newly born king. Their intent was to greet and honor the child, an act of hospitality and good diplomatic relations. Did they know that this child was special, other than a baby king? Matthew doesn’t say. I think it’s more likely that their religion taught them to welcome all, including those who believed in the Jewish God.

… The magi started at the palace, where they supposed the child is. But they were wrong; the Star-GPS guided them to the wrong house. And worse, they underestimated the current king’s desire for power and control. Herod the Great knew his position as client-king depended on not calling attention to himself except in ways that honored Caesar Augustus. So, he did everything he could to maintain his hold, including murder.

In this case, he used his allies the priests to determine where and when such a king might have been born. When the priests reported that Bethlehem was indicated by the Prophet Micah, Herod made plans to ensure the child never grew to adulthood, never became a threat to him. If we had not had the Service of Lessons and Carols last week, this story of the murder of the innocents would have been the text for Pr Nancy to preach about.

Fortunately, the magi had a dream, warning them that they should not return to Herod, and they returned to the East by another road. Thanks to the expanse of the Roman Empire, there were many roads they could take without going back to Jerusalem.

… Sometimes, the road to a location is easy. It’s 2 miles, just 4 turns, to my local Publix. But, last summer, I took a saved portion of my brother Dave’s ashes to sprinkle on the graves of our grandparents in Michigan. For some reason, even with the voice of Ms GPS, I missed a turn, or turned too early several times, and ended up going around the back of the cemetery, a mile north, a mile west, a mile south, half a mile east, and finally found the entrance. As I was driving through the familiar-feeling southwest Michigan countryside, with corn and vineyards and orchards all around me, I finally figured out it was Dave, wanting just one more ride in the car, and sending me by another road to his final resting place.

… There are many roads we can take to be with God, or to let God find us. Some of us have followed them all our lives, maybe with detours down another road, but we found our way back to God.
 That’s probably why we are all here in church this morning.

But, many take another road to the holy. Last week, Mike and I watched a 4-part story of Alan Cummings on the Royal Scotland trains, touring his home country. The last episode included a tour of the isle of Iona, which has been a holy place for many people for at least 2,000 years. As he was preparing to leave, Alan commented something like this: “I am an atheist, and I don’t believe in any kind of god. But I can feel there might be a spirit of something holy here.”

This week, I hope you will consider how many roads you have taken so far to be with God. And that you will be open to the ways God will lead you in the future, maybe down roads you never thought you would travel.

And remember, whenever you encounter a fork on the road, God travels with you down any path or highway you choose. Amen