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To Love Bravely
We avoid the truth to protect each other. What we’re actually protecting is dishonesty and the enemies of love. Jesus defies our fear to share the truthEpiphany 4C | Luke 4:21-30, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 That’s quite a sermon Jesus preached, if all the people in the synagogue are looking to throw the preacher off a cliff. I mean…yeesh! Seriously! And now I’m starting to wonder what it would…
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"Doctor, cure yourself!"
“Doctor, cure yourself!”
Jesus’s return home goes exactly as he expects. Which is to say, the people’s reactionary response is quite predictable. For SundayThe Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany Collect Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns…
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The Trouble With Jubilee - Epiphany 4C
Notes for Epiphany 4C | Luke 4:21-30 [Note: For part 1, see Epiphany 3C]
The story continues from last week, when Jesus has left his wilderness temptation alone and begun his ministry by first heading home and going to the Synagogue to preach. Let’s begin by saying that is a pretty audacious thing to do. But then it gets way, way more so.
[bctt tweet=”The less we do to make the Jubilee happen,…
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Epiphany 4C - Psalm 71:1-12
The lectionary advises verses 1-6 or 1-11, I think 1-12 would be okay...or the whole thing (1-24).
This pericope reminds me of The Lord of the Rings, particularly of the Battle of Helms Deep.
Theoden, King of Rohan, and hidden his people behind the fortress walls. 10,000 urukhai are descending upon Rohan. In the film’s depiction, there are only 300 soldiers defending the walls for Rohan. Most have ridden north with Eomer, Theoden’s nephew, who was banished while Theoden was possessed and not in his right mind.
The 300 soldiers find another 100 or so peasants to supplement their ranks, but they are well aware of the odds against them, even inside their refuge, their fortress. A few elves show up and the odds are barely better. The defenders are still outnumbered more than 10 to 1.
The battle ensues. There’s lots of death. Theoden is ready to give up, but he rides out in one last dire charge for death and glory.
But he doesn’t die.
Theoden’s nephew Eomer shows up, along with the wizard Gandalf, and they sweep away the enemy.
A sermon on this text, utilizing The Lord of the Rings as an illustration, would focus on Theoden, looking at the text as his own prayer. Theoden is looking for refuge. He is praying to be delivered, rescued, saved. The wicked, unjust, and cruel are descending upon him. Like the Psalmist, Theoden begins to lose hope, to worry life is over. The Psalmist writes: “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.”
Theoden delivers this line: “So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate?”
Theoden can resonate with the Psalmist whose enemies are gloating with these words: “God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him.”
Who will deliver Theoden? When hope is all but lost and Theoden has resigned himself to death and defeat, Eomer and Gandalf appear. They are an answer to prayer. They deliver, rescue, and save Theoden so that he is not forsaken.
In our lives, we cry out with the Psalmist and Theoden, looking for a deliverer, a savior. The world is filled with reckless hate. What can we do?
We are called primarily to trust in the one who is our refuge, our rock, our fortress. That’s Jesus. Everything Theoden is looking for is found in Jesus. Jesus is our rock, refuge, and redeemer. He does not cast us off in time of old age. He does not forsake us. He promises He will never leave us or forsake us. He promises to be with us. Always. Jesus even goes so far as to be forsaken by God Himself for us, crying out from the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
While Jesus is forsaken, we are forgiven. While Jesus is destroyed, we are delivered. While Jesus endures the world’s reckless hate, we are shown an everlasting, reckless love.
