Being Reformed for Love – 29 October 2017 – 21st Sunday after Pentecost/ Lectionary 30

Many churches, Protestants and ecumenical gatherings, as well, may be celebrating on this day a special worship service that commemorates this year as the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. It is that celebration that Pastor Kolderup refers to in the following:

While not every preacher will choose to connect the Sunday readings to the coming week's anniversary of the protest of Martin Luther, 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 in which 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

In these readings, the preacher can find many connections between the faith of the Hebrew people and the followers of Christ Jesus as the Messiah. One of the writers for Homily Service in 2008 offers this question to ponder:

It would not be Reformation Sunday without saying, “Thanks be to God for new life in Christ,” and asking, “What is the Holy Spirit reforming in us today?” –– Robin K. Brown

Matthew 22:34-46

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 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

In Leviticus 19. . . [the] central theme is holiness, regarded as the end of law. Israel becomes holy (1:1) as it meets the norms God set in the law and participates in divine intent. To emphasize this point, each exhortation to obey God's commands is followed by the declaration, “I am the Lord.” This emphasis on holiness and its ethical import serves as a midrash upon the first line of the Shema, quoted by Jesus as the first commandment. The selection from this chapter concludes with the verse Jesus quoted for his second commandment (Lev. 19:18). –– Fritz West

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

[This passage] recounts that Paul and his companions when proclaiming the Gospel persevered despite difficulties (2:1–2), distinguished themselves from contemporary philosophers (2:3–6), and nurtured the Thessalonian Christians as one would a child (vv 7b–8). –– Fritz West

Robin K. Brown, a Lutheran pastor, is the Associate Director, ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal at the ELCA headquarters in Chicago.

Stephen C. Kolderup, a PCUSA pastor, recently served as temporary pastor to Frenchtown Presbyterian Church, Frenchtown, New Jersey.

Fritz West, a liturgical author and retired pastor of the United Church of Christ living in Minnesota, serves as the Presiding Member of the Association for Reformed & Liturgical Worship Steering Committee.

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

Our Paradoxical King – 20 November 2016 – The Reign of Christ Sunday/ Proper 29

Of all the festivals of the church, has not this one come the latest and borne the most diametric images—among them the royalty of a king/the humiliation of a cross, the brutal mockery/the truth of the “King of the Jews” sign, the reverence due an earthly king/the torture of this divine king, the power of an earthly king/the submission of this divine king, an earthly king ruling people/the divine king giving his life for them? Do these contradictory images not personify the kingdom of God? Even if our culture did understand the concept of kingship, would not this one turn everything on its head? – Robin K. Brown

Luke 23:33-43

As we contemporary Christians clamor for more political control, celebrate our increased economic successes, and master the skills of big business, one wonders whether we are still able to see what the condemned criminal on Golgotha could see: the kingship of Jesus, the crucified one. Has our vision been blurred by our intoxication with worldly forms of power? Which kingdom finally claims our allegiance?. . . .

Luke's beatitudes promise the kingdom to the poor, the hungry, those who weep, those who are hated, reviled and defamed. In what ways do we resemble these blessed of God? How do our power struggles in both church and culture reflect the cruciform values of the kingdom of Christ?

The church urgently needs to recover a vision of the kingdom of God that can be only clearly seen from the angle of the cross. From this place alone will we be able to hear Jesus say to us, as he did to that dying criminal, “you will be with me in Paradise.”  – Michael A. Van Horn

Jeremiah 23:1-6

When the president of the United States enters the House chamber to deliver [the]  State of the Union address, all present, regardless of their party, stand and applaud. Though many will disagree with some or all of the president's statements, this initial applause is a recognition of the office of president that goes beyond the current incumbent in the office.

In modern times, the church has been blessed to have popes who were holy and moral men. Yet in ages past, even when the . . . bishop of Rome was a far less worthy man, Catholics would still address him as “Your Holiness.” Again this is a recognition of the office of the papacy, not a statement that the individual pope was in fact holy. . . .  – Joseph McHugh

Colossians 1:11-20

Jeremiah . . . [turns] our attention to the awaited messianic king. The gospel reading shows us the crucified Jesus ushering in the climax of salvation history, the reconciliation of all men and women in him.

This hymn of praise acknowledges all that Christ the King has done to establish the kingdom of God, of which, by the shedding of his blood, we are privileged to be part. Jesus is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation. All things find their fulfillment in him. By our baptism we have been incorporated into Christ the King; we have become a holy nation and a royal people. – Joseph McHugh

Robin K. Brown, a Lutheran pastor, is the Associate Director, ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal at the ELCA headquarters in Chicago.

Joseph McHugh is a freelance writer from New Jersey, and a former weekly newspaper columnist writing on lectionary readings whose writing includes a revision of Rev. Melvin L Farrell’s Getting to Know the Bible (ACTA Publications, 2003).

Michael A. Van Horn, an Evangelical Covenant pastor, served Trinity Church of Livonia, Michigan, for ten years and is now a missionary with the Rock of Ages Ministries, Cleveland, Tennessee.

Homily Service 40, no. 12 (2007): 58-68.

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.