@EUCC Sermons

Today’s text describes a mountaintop experience known as “the Transfiguration.” This was the occasion when Jesus and his closest disciples slipped away from the City of Jerusalem for a short retreat. They needed a break. But make no mistake, this was no cushy weekend get-away. Opposition to Jesus’ ministry was growing. Things were getting a lot harder for Jesus and his people. 

Imagine the scene: a high mountain outside of Jerusalem, where three Hebrew prophets (Moses, Elijah, and Jesus) appear together. Peter, one of the disciples, was awed by the experience and offered to make three booths: one for Jesus, one for Moses, and another for Elijah. 

Peter made this proposal because booth making was a way that good Jews celebrated a special blessing that they had received, and thanked God for it. 

As they were talking, Matthew explained, a cloud overshadowed the group, and a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 

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Today’s scripture is taken from a section of Matthew’s gospel known as the Sermon on the Mount. The Matthean community was primarily comprised of Jewish-Christians and Gentiles who were familiar with the Jewish religion, so Matthew explained who Jesus was and what his ministry was about, in reference to Judaism and the Hebrew scriptures. 

Jesus was, in the eyes of Matthew, “the New Moses.” Like Moses who received and delivered the Ten Commandments to the Jews, Jesus received and delivered the eight Beatitudes to the disciples.   

At the time when Jesus walked the earth, Israel had been under foreign occupation for almost 600 years. Imagine trying to figure out what it meant to be a Jew in your homeland when it had been ruled by foreign occupiers for almost 600 years. How does one show up faithfully in that context? 

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I wonder, what is one foolish thing you’ve ever done? I promise not to come down the stairs and ask anyone directly to share their answer--at least not while we are livestreaming the service today. But humor me for a moment by pondering these questions: 

What is one foolish thing you’ve ever done? 

Did you have a co-conspirator? 

Did your actions involve a libation or two?

Was your stunt part of an initiation rite for a fraternity, sorority, or club? 

What would the neighbors think about what you did? 

Moreover, what would they think about you if they knew?  

If some examples of your foolishness come to mind, they may surface some feelings of discomfort or embarrassment--or both. If you are feeling uncomfortable or embarrassed, you may be able to empathize with the Corinthian Christians who were uncomfortable with how they were perceived by people outside of their church community. 

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The sign on Johnson’s hardware store back in the summer of 1968 read: “Gone fishing.” Mr. Johnson did not indicate where he had gone fishing or when he would be back. 

My father was not happy when he saw the sign, because we had just driven seven miles into town to buy shingling nails, so that he could finish reroofing our front porch before the rain forecasted for the next day started coming down. 

Time was wasting. There was no use standing around grumbling. So Dad loaded my sister and me back in his 1956 Chevy pickup. Dad retraced our tracks back to the farm, drove another 10 miles to Storm Lake, bought a sack of nails from someone he didn’t know, and then turned around and went back home to finish the roof. 

Fishing notices like the one I remember seeing on the front door of the local hardware store were rare in my childhood, so l was more than a little curious as to the whereabouts of Mr. Johnson.

My dad learned the following Sunday during Men’s Bible Study that Mr. Johnson had been lured out of town by a friend who had invited him to go fishing on Lake Superior. 

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We’ve had some epic weather events across the United States in the past three days. Amen? For those who have been too busy preparing for Christmas to check the weather reports, I offer this recap in two phrases: “bomb cyclone” and “atmospheric river.”

I don’t recall reference being made to a “bomb cyclone” or an “atmospheric river,” prior to this winter. Maybe that’s your experience too, so I’ll share the definitions that I have recently learned:

A bomb cyclone, according to the Weather Channel, is the term used by meteorologists to describe a rapidly strengthening storm resulting from a significant drop in the barometric pressure within a 24 hour period.

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“Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.” So said St. Francis of Assisi, the 12th century Italian Catholic mystic, patron saint of animals, and founder of the Roman Catholic Franciscan Friars and the Order of St. Clare. 

 Implicit in this dictum is the understanding that the most powerful sermons are unspoken. 

 Even though I am not an Italian, a Catholic, nor Medieval religious, and even though my doctor of ministry degree is in homiletics — the preparation for and practice of preaching — my soul resonates with St. Francis’ teaching: “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.” 

II

 I think that this teaching resonates with me because I was raised in a monoculture. 

 The term “monoculture,” originated from the field of agriculture. According to Merriam-Webster, “Monoculture [has to do with] the cultivation or growth of a single crop or organism especially on agricultural or forest land.” 

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In the early centuries of the Common Era, Israel was under foreign occupation. The Emperor of Rome, Caesar Augustus, ruled the known world. Caesar appointed Quirinius as governor of Syria, and gave him authority to rule over Israel. Quirinius’ main job was to keep the peace and maintain order, so that Rome’s international business affairs ran smoothly.

Under Quirinius, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The wealthy one percent lived in urban areas and leased out their farmland and pastureland to tenant farmers who raised cash crops that largely benefited the land owners.

The tenant farmers who raised the rich people’s crops and livestock barely had anything to eat. Slaves sometimes fared better than tenant farmers, because their owners fed and housed them. Tenant farmers, by contrast, were on their own. If their crops failed and their livestock died, they starved unless others took pity and shared resources with them.

In addition to the harsh economic oppression that most peasants endured, the vast majority were also considered spiritually difficient compared with the Sadducees and Pharisees.

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This past week was a rough one for those whom the 6th Century BCE Prophet Jeremiah would have called “Bad Shepherds.” The national headlines are resplendent with bad actors--Bad Shepherds--this past week. Consider the following:

• The so-called “red wave” did not, as it turns out, materialize in the midterm elections. NPR’s political analysts attribute this November surprise to the fact that voters are angry about the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade and they “remembered in November,” and turned out Pennsylvania and Arizona to elect moderate rather than extreme candidates. Meanwhile, voters in highly contested races such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Michigan rejected election-denying candidates up and down the ballot.

• As a result of these red losses in purple places, he-who-will-not-be-named did not get the whole-hearted support of his party, or the momentum that he and most pollsters and political parties had anticipated when he announced the launch of his 2024 campaign for President of the United States of America.

• Interestingly, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the the leading contender for the Republican nominee for President, watched a federal judge partially block a law that he had championed which was designed to limit the discussion of critical race theory in Florida schools and workplace training. (Critical race theory describes the evidence and effects of racism and privilege in our culture.)

• In addition, Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, a Silicon Valley startup, was sentenced, on Friday, to more than 11 years in prison for felony fraud. According to an article in Friday’s “Mercury News,” Holmes was found guilty in January of defrauding investors out of more than $144M—with total losses estimated at more than $800M.

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So much emphasis is placed on Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes that the uninitiated may not realize that there are two versions of the Beatitudes in the gospels. The other is found in Luke. And, though most New Testament scholars agree that they were developed from the same literary source commonly referred to as “Q,” the two renderings are somewhat different.

Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes, for example, lists eight blessings, while Luke’s version only lists four; and, Luke’s version couples each blessing with a curse. Note that Matthew 5:4 and Luke 6:25 both use the term “mourning” and describe circumstances that are juxtaposed. In Matthew, Jesus says: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” while in Luke, Jesus says that those who are laughing now will be mourning tomorrow.

Do you hear the contrast between the emotions in each gospel? In Matthew, Jesus juxtaposes mourning and comfort, while in Luke, he juxtaposes mourning and laughing.

Those who have never suffered a major loss, or the death of a loved one, might miss the irony that Jesus presents in the Beatitudes. But those of us who are familiar with suffering get it, because we have had our moments when it was very hard to imagine that there would ever be a day when we would experience comfort again, laugh again, or even just stop hurting so much as we were then, or even right now.

Similarly, if we, like Jesus’ first disciples who he addressed in Luke 6, have ever experienced the true cost of living our convictions, we may find it difficult to believe that God’s going to flip the script that’s unfolding in our lives, much less turn the world upside down, and right the wrongs like Mary sang about in Luke’s magnificat. Amen?

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This story about Zacchaeus is one of my favorites. It’s one of the first Bible stories that I remember hearing and studying. Perhaps you, like I, learned the children’s song and hand gestures that go with the song about this unlikely disciple.

Zaccheus was a wee, little man,

And a wee, little man was he.

He climbed up in a sycamore tree,

For the Lord he wanted to see.

And as the Savior past that way,

He looked up in the tree,

Spoken: And he said,"Zaccheus, you come down from there,"

Sung: for I’m going to your house today!

The call of Zacchaeus is among my favorite Bible stories because it is so scandalous that card carrying Christians--true believers--struggle with it. They--we--struggle because we have a hard time accepting God’s grace, especially when we deem it undeserved.

Ironically, in today’s passage and several others in the gospels, those who--on the surface--seem to need God’s grace and mercy the most are more able to readily embrace it than those who have always walked the so-called “straight and narrow.”

Notice, for example, how Luke explains in chapter 19 verse 7 that everyone in “the peanut gallery” heard Jesus tell Zacchaeus to come down from the sycamore tree, because he was going to his house that day. Rather than celebrating Jesus’ decision to visit with Zacchaeus, Jesus’ followers grumble and criticize him saying, "Jesus has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner."

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The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector addresses the question of personal righteousness. Since the term “righteousness” scares most of us and it’s not one that many use in daily conversation, I’ll explain that when people talk about righteousness in church, we are usually talking about the degree to which a person is right with God. And, whether we are right with God depends on what standard is applied.

Three different standards for righteousness are applied in today’s parable. The first is illustrated by the Pharisee. The second is exemplified by the Tax Collector. And the third is expressed in Jesus’ instructions to the disciples. I’ll explain each, and then suggest what these various approaches may imply for us.

The Pharisee was a good Jew. The benchmark for righteousness for Jews was the Hebrew Law, and the degree to which one adhered to the Law. According to Luke, the Pharisee in today’s parable exceeded the Law’s requirements, and he knew it. Consequently the Pharisee believed that he was morally superior to his peers, which inspired him to recite the rabbinic prayer, “I thank thee, O God, that I am not like the others...”

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