Light in the Darkness –– 4th Sunday in Lent, Year A –– 26 March 2017

Today we hear of Jesus healing a man born blind and Samuel choosing a king from an unlikely source. Both stories confront conventional belief. A blind man must be at fault for his disability and a king cannot come from a lowly position.

John 9:1-41

Biblical scholars see this situation. . . as a radical outrage to religious authorities. The claim that Jesus heals is deeply offensive. Why? What is the real problem here? Was it the Sabbath? No, not when only three verses mention this. Is it Jesus' status as outsider, whose origin and credentials are unknown? Maybe. Is it in the argument, shared by both sides, that “God does not listen to sinners” (v 31)? Therefore, “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (v 33) So, a miraculous healing proves Jesus' credentials. Since the opponents accept this argument, they have no recourse but to attack the facts of the healing and the credibility of the witness.

To the best of my knowledge, the church down through the ages accepted this logic, as do most Christians today. Heretics can't do genuine miracles, the orthodox can. False or deceptive miracles are fakes by definition, because the people who are behind them are “sinners” to whom God does not listen. I have read this argument in stories from the eighth century, and have heard it in the church in the twenty-first. . . .

One response to this is to discount and shun miracles altogether, and insist that the real power of the Gospel is entirely independent of these. Unfortunately, this snobbish disdain for what was indeed a real part of Jesus' ministry leads to a diminished and rationalized moral/ethical reduction of his person and his message. A better alternative is to say that miracles are not proof, but signs. –– Lucy Bregman

1 Samuel 16:1-13

God's choice is unexpected because there were so many other possibilities, but it's not all that unexpected based on God's track record. God always picks unlikely or unworthy heroes: second-born Jacob rather than first-born Esau; the slaves of Egypt rather than the mighty Pharaoh and his powerful kingdom; a dresser of sycamore trees rather than a priest of the temple establishment. I could go on for pages, including of course, the illegitimate son of an unwed teenager whose life showed to the entire world God's plan for salvation. All of this is part of God's pattern of calling the world's ratings systems into question.–– Jennifer Copeland

Ephesians 5:8-14

This passage contrasts existence prior to acceptance of Christ and present Christian existence. It identifies the past as darkness and the present as light in the Lord. It calls Christians to live as children of light so that their behavior would be characterized as good, righteous, true and pleasing to God. It calls Christians to take no part in fruitless works of darkness, but to expose them, and it claims that shameful deeds done in secret should not even be mentioned. However, this passage follows a vice list that emphasized fornication and impurity, which would indicate that what the Pauline author suggests should not be mentioned consists of sexual deviance. The selection seeks to foster mature discernment that recognizes what is to be condemned as sinfulness. The passage concludes with a verse considered an early Christian baptismal hymn. (See Rom. 6:4–13.) –– Regina Boisclair

  

Regina Boisclair, a Roman Catholic biblical scholar, teaches at Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, Alaska.

Lucy Bregman, professor of religion at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, is the author of several books including Beyond Silence and Denial: Death and Dying Reconsidered (WJK, 1999) and Preaching Death (Baylor Univ., 2011).

Jennifer Copeland, a United Methodist ordained minister, served for 16 years as chaplain at Duke University and as director of the Duke Wesley Fellowship. She is currently executive director at North Carolina Council of Churches in Raleigh-Durham.

Homily Service 41, no. 2 (2007): 42-53.

Love God, Love Neighbor – 26 October 2014 – Lectionary 30

We are constantly discerning in our private and public lives what it is that God requires of us. With so many demands on our time and attention, we can get lost in the options, incapacitated. Or we might find the quandaries to be a fine excuse for complacency.

Jesus’ clarity cuts through our stagnant directions, and Stephen Kolderup’s assessment of the readings for this day steer us toward what we might call the plumb line, or the Ground Zero, of Jesus’ way as we consider our tasks at this annual time of Reformation celebration.

“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). Jesus' answer about the law is foundational to any attempt to reform the church. The movement around the sixteenth century was primarily a clearing of debris that obscured the love of God and love of neighbor. One of the watchwords in training for the LOGOS after-school program was “keeping the main thing the main thing.” We can build up such a complicated structure of programs and customs and procedures, some of which do little to follow the will of God. Once I saw an agenda planner for church meetings that asked, “How will what we decide here affect the poor?”

Keeping Kolderup’s admonitions and slogans in mind, these readings can help clear our own debris out of the way as we seek to preach the two great commandments Jesus’ lived.

Matthew 22:34-46

The religious leaders hope to catch Jesus off-guard and put him down. Instead, Jesus clarifies what the commandments demand and catches the leaders in a puzzle by setting the Messiah beyond all understanding. 

The interchange between Jesus and the religious leaders ends with his question to them about the Messiah. We may not appreciate the scriptural ploy that Jesus used to trap the Pharisees in their answer about David. Many of us grew up being suspicious of so-called proof texting and this at first feels like Jesus out-dueling the players at their own game. However, Jesus was just as serious in his discussion of scripture as were the Pharisees. For all of them it was worth delving into the word of God and discussing the matter at hand in light of the study. Classic Jewish writings are full of lively discussion aimed at being faithful from day to day.

Sometimes these discussions reopened matters thought to be decided and closed. One such topic was the Messiah's identity as the son of David. While this could be accepted as true, Jesus was proposing that there was more truth about the Messiah. Jesus' use of Psalm 110:1 [in vs. 44] invites his debaters to step outside that box and consider the Messiah to be even greater. That greatness would not be an extension of David's military and political achievements.

As Jesus would demonstrate, the Messiah would be revealed in rejection, suffering, and death. On many days, we stand with the Pharisees, stuck inside the box of Messianic expectations that avoid the cross. The last question is still waiting for an answer—from us.

– Stephen C. Kolderup

Leviticus 19:1-2,15-18

 While not every preacher will choose to connect the Sunday readings to the coming week's anniversary of the protest of Martin Luther [the Reformation], we have a reading that closes out the remarkable life of Moses and gives us opportunity to review his leadership in the life of God's people. He is the first of the great prophets in Israel's tradition and Matthew's Gospel evokes the memory of Moses in its structure and in his teaching.

If this is indeed going to be a Sunday where other leaders in the faith are celebrated, Moses is an excellent starting place. If the Reformation was about leaders who sought to focus on what is central in God's salvation, Moses can be honored as one who most intimately lived the covenant relationship between God and Israel. Their returning to the center of the faith was tied to his continuing instruction and intercession.

– Stephen C. Kolderup is a pastor serving South Jacksonville Presbyterian Church in Florida.

We may want to preach today about the difference between law and gospel. The religious leaders hope Jesus will trip up over the law. Instead, he speaks to them of love. Reform should move us as people of faith toward greater love – for God and neighbor.

Augustine taught that the goal of any sermon ought to be to increase the hearer’s love of God and love of neighbor.

Homily Service 41, no. 4 (21 July 2008): 90-99.