Life and Death –– Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany –– 12 February 2017

Jesus’ call to his followers to be visible signs of righteousness continues in this week’s portion of the Sermon on the Mount. This righteousness is to be lived in a community that seeks to fulfill the law and the prophets because Jesus himself fulfills them in his incarnation and makes our embodiment of them possible.

Matthew 5:21-37

After Jesus proclaims that he has not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them (5:17), he begins a series of teachings which contrast what his followers have heard about a commandment combined with his own intensification of it: “you have heard it said/but I say to you.” 

So the commandment not to murder becomes a teaching that anger, insult, and failure to reconcile are just as damaging to communal relationships as murder itself. The commandment not to commit adultery becomes a teaching that lust in itself is a violation of faithfulness that erodes trust in marital relationships. The commandment regarding divorce becomes a teaching that while divorce may be legal, the men initiating it must heed the economic and social consequences for the women who are abandoned. And the commandment against swearing falsely becomes a teaching about the way that oaths often presume lies when, instead, our “yes and no” should suffice as commitments of trust and fidelity.

The point is not that the commandments themselves are not sufficient, but that we are not only called to avoid certain acts and behaviors, but more deeply to embody the commandments.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Before the entry into the land of Israel, Moses reminds the people that the commandments are a social contract meant to shape a community that is just, compassionate, and righteous. Following the commandments is a choice between life and death, prosperity and adversity. 

We should not think of adversity as sent specifically by God, as much as it is the outcome of a way of life lived outside of covenant with God and one another. The commandments are the ways of life which lead to human flourishing and the good of all creation.

I Corinthians 3:1-9

The Apostle Paul addresses a Corinthian congregation struggling with the demands of living in community. In short, Paul asserts that their jealousy, quarreling, and factions are signs that they still have growing to do—they are not yet spiritual people, but infants in Christ. 

A sign of a maturing congregation is the ability to work together as God’s servants, without concern for who has planted or who has watered, but only for “God who gives the growth” (3:7).

Stephanie Perdew VanSlyke, Ph.D., is President of The Liturgical Conference, Senior Pastor of First Congregational Church UCC, Wilmette, Illinois, and affiliate faculty in Christian History at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois.

Salt and Light – Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany – 5 February 2017

The scripture readings for Epiphany 5 Year A coalesce around several themes: righteousness, light, and visibility.

Matthew 5:13-20

In this week’s second installment of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus announces that he has not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. Our fulfillment of the law and the prophets is as salt and light.

Salt preserves. It tenderizes, it seasons, and diluted with water, the ancients used it to cleanse and treat wounds.

Light illumines, guides, and exposes what is formerly hidden or concealed.

Jesus insists that this discipleship be visible and tangible: not hidden under a bushel, not grown flat and stale. Yet the visibility of our discipleship as salt and light is not for its own sake. It is not meant to call attention to our acts of righteousness, but to allow the world to locate the “city on a hill” in the community of those who follow Jesus.

Isaiah 58: 1-12

Since Jesus comes not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them, we take seriously the words of the prophet. The people complain, and God answers. The content of their complaint is that God does not see their visible acts of righteousness, in this case, their fasting. God replies that the people have failed at fasting and humility, while really serving their own interests and oppressing their workers. Instead, God would have other actions constitute their visible righteousness: their fast should be to “share their bread with the hungry,” shelter the poor, and clothe the naked (58: 7). From these acts, “light shall break forth like the dawn” (58:8).

1 Corinthians 2: 1-16

Tthe Apostle Paul proposes the lens through which we perceive God’s work and which clarifies our own: Christ crucified. Christ crucified is the visible, incarnate out-pouring of God’s kenotic, loving, righteous mission to renew us. Looking through this lens, we see the powers of the world and the wisdom of the age for what they are, and for what they are not. Looking through the lens of Christ crucified also enables our spiritual discernment, our perception of “what is truly God’s” (2: 11).

Stephanie Perdew VanSlyke, Ph.D., is President of The Liturgical Conference, Senior Pastor of First Congregational Church UCC, Wilmette, Illinois, and affiliate faculty in Christian History at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois.

Blessed are You – 29 January 2017 – Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

According to Matthew the sermon on the mount opens the public teaching career of Rabbi Jesus. It is an upbeat message of mercy and divine love to the crowds of Galilean peasants who were, in fact, quite poor and rightly saw themselves as unjust victims of an oppressive political and economic system. . .   

For such a crowd Jesus’ words [were] not only difficult, but . . . politically reactionary, for Jesus praises the very qualities that were no doubt seen as weakness and a source of shame by the political messiahs.

Matthew 5:1-12

The beatitudes describe . . . the citizens of the new kingdom. Compared to worldly standards and expectations, the redeemed people are a contrasting community to the world community.

In the first four beatitudes, we hear of a people who live expectantly trusting in God, their anchor and source of hope. The next four portray a people whose lives are directed in the difficult present and who manifest an alternate attitude. . . motivated by the redemption they have experienced.

“Blessed”. . . is an eschatological term, portraying current existence in the light of future expectations. It affirms the reign of God’s new reality. It is present in the people’s lives and it attests to the special happiness that comes from all who share the grace God bestows on those who live in accord with divine sovereignty.

The location of the sermon “on a mountain” in contrast to Luke’s location of the sermon “on the plain” makes it clear that when Jesus teaches and heals the crowds from the mountain he is revealing himself as Israel’s Messiah. . .

Micah 6:1-8

The threefold infinitives “to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God” are the expected activities of the citizens of God’s kingdom. Not only is this passage important as the key to Micah’s entire message, but it contains the whole theology of God’s grace, of sin and of righteousness.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Paul’s hymn to the foolishness of the cross and the power of God’s weakness may leave us puzzled. What does this celebration mean for those who are not poor or fragile? We in the United States have massive privileges not available to other people in many parts of the world.

Matthew addressed his version of the sermon on the mount to Christians who were already suffering persecution. . . Those who have no future to anticipate on earth are given a splendid future to come. Those who are overwhelmed by forces totally out of their control, who can do nothing but endure the agony, are given the assurance of a wondrous life by someone who can do something. . . .

Those who have everything . . . are in the same boat as those who have nothing. Those who have a future have as little future as those who have none—they all shall die, after all. . . As prophets like Micah. . . remind the Israelites: Apart from the Lord and giver, the gifts evaporate. . .

We all stand on the brink of chaotic despair and meaninglessness. . . empty-handed before the throne of the only one who can bless us with a future. . . the kingdom of heaven and earth.

Blair Gilmer Meeks, was at the time of this writing, a pastoral minister, writer of worship-related resources, and leader of workshops on worship. Her four books include Standing in the Circle of Grief: Prayers and Liturgies for Death and Dying (Nashville: Abingdon, 2002).

Homily Service 38, no. 2 (2005): 43-50.