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Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Matthew 5:13-20

Salt mounds in Salarde Uyuni Bolivia CC by Luca Galuzzi-SA 2.5
Matthew 5:13-20

The Gospel assigned by the Revised Common Lectionary for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany is Matthew 5:13-20. As often happens when one takes a chunk of the Sermon on the Mount, it is not really one text.

There are three distinct units here. The first two (on being salt and being light) go together thematically. It is tempting to read the third one (on the law) as if it pointed backward to the stuff about salt and light, but it clearly points forward to what follows in the next portion of chapter 5 where specific commandments are the topic.

Salt

Verse 13 is a unit:

You are the salt of the earth;

but if salt has lost its taste,

how can its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer good for anything,

but is thrown out and trampled under foot.” (Matthew 5:13 NRSV)

This would be a great verse on which to practice classic lectio divina.

The process starts with study. Figuring out what “salt” is all about is definitely worth some exploration.

Salt was long used, especially prior to refrigeration, to preserve meat and fish. No salt, and your net full fo fish or the big game you brought down will quickly turn rancid. Pack it in salt and you can keep it for a very long time, a resource to sustain you when fresh food is scarce.
Salt, I’m told, has been a very precious commodity, traded almost like money. You need to work hard to be “worth your salt.”
Salt has an important role in your body’s processes like hydration and blood pressure. You need enough salt in your diet to keep everything working properly.
And salt is crucial in cooking, bringing out flavors, as well as affecting whether the textures and colors of food are appealing. That dark chocolate with crunchy sea salt crystals is awesome.
Salt, however, can have a terrible effect in excess. Salt the ground and you can’t grow crops. Too much salt in your diet and you risk high blood pressure. Over-salt your food and you can hardly swallow it.

The second step of classic lectio divina is a time of meditation on the text, repeating it over and over like a cow chewing her cud.

As you repeat and repeat a text, you almost can’t help thinking of ways it relates to your life.

If followers of Christ are salt, how is it that our presence helps preserve the world?
If we are salt, how is it that we are of value, a precious commodity?
If we are salt, how is it that we affect the health of the larger Body?
If we are salt, how is it that we bring out the flavor, improve texture and color wherever we are found?
(And if we Christians are salt, is it possible that in too concentrated a form we are sometimes a bit obnoxious?)

It’s all worth considering in our meditation.

The next steps of classical lectio divina are to pray about the connections between the text and our lives, and finally to enter into contemplation, waiting for God’s faithful answer. (I’ll leave those parts to you.)

Light

Jesus’ message about light has two parts. The first is the emphatic message that the light cannot, and ought not, be hidden.

You are the light of the world.

A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket,

but on the lampstand,

and it gives light to all in the house.” (Matthew 5:14-15 NRSV)

The whole point of light is to shine, all through the house, or all through the land.

Usefulness is crucial. Setting light on a lampstand makes it high and central. That’s what makes a lamp helpful. Only when it shines into the dark places does it benefit people. And that benefit is the point:

… it gives light to all in the house.

And this leads to Jesus’ second point. We, as light of the world are to shine in a very particular way. Here’s the key verse:

In the same way,

let your light shine before others,

so that

they may see your good works

and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 NRSV)

The “so that” is the key. We have to shine in a particular way: so that people give praise and thanks to God — and therefore, not to us.

We make a grave error, or we succumb to a grave temptation, when we do something in the name of Christ thinking about how it makes us look.

We are on target only if we think instead about the good effect it has.

Does the lamp of our actions help us see better in the mirror? Or does it cause people to look at us and say “Hey, what a fantastic lamp that is!” Well then we’re doing it wrong.
Does the lamp of our actions give light to help others in the house? Then it’s doing what a lamp is supposed to do.

Thus this part of Jesus’ words about being light make sense: We are to shine, meaning we do “good works,” but not so people think we’re noble, or cool, or kind. We aren’t supposed to get people thinking much about us at all.

We are to shine as light,

so that

they may see your good works

and give glory to your Father in heaven.

That probably takes some careful planning. How can I make sure that when I do something good, people see it and say “Wow! Thank God! Isn’t God generous!”

It’s kind of like Jesus’ advice about charitable giving:

…when you give alms,

do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

so that your alms may be done in secret…” (Matthew 6:3-4 NRSV)

I’m not a big fan of trying to verbally deflect every word of thanks or praise, telling people to give glory to God instead.

I think Jesus is actually suggesting that we set it up so that people don’t put their attention on us. We need them to actually see our Good works, but spontaneously give glory to God.

And that takes some strategy.

(And yes, my fellow Reformation Protestants, Jesus does come out in favor of “good works.” He’s not saying we earn our way to heaven by good deeds or virtue. But he does want us to act for genuine good in the world. You know: show some love for those who are different and those who are rejected, show some generosity in feeding and healing those in need, welcome the foreigners — these kinds of things that Christ did would certainly count as good works.)

The Law

I’ve gone on long enough for one day. Jesus’ statements that he came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it, and that his support goes to those who do and teach “these commandments” refer to the discussion that follows about several particular commandments. Some of that material will be in the lectionary in coming weeks, so I’ll discuss it there.

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If you want a tool to practice the steps of classic lectio divina on the Gospel of Matthew check out my new book, the Illuminate-Your-Own Gospel of Matthew. It gives you one passage for each two-page spread, with tons of blank space to study, question, draw, or pray. Pick up a copy today on Amazon!

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A Children’s Sermon: Matthew 5:1-12

cc by Fowosire Damilola-SA 4.0

Doing a children’s sermon on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) is challenging because Jesus makes so many different points — nine of them! I think one good way around the problem is to take just two of the beatitudes and talk about them in ways that they relate to a child’s world.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, and your suggestions for improving it!

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Matthew 5:1-12: The Beatitudes

One day, Jesus looked around and saw that a huge crowd of people were coming to be with him. He decided that the best thing to do would be to go up on a hillside and teach his friends about the kingdom of heaven. He taught them a lot of things really. But the first thing he taught them about was where real happiness comes from.

You and I probably both have our own ideas about where happiness comes from. Sometimes it seems like we’d be really happy if it snowed a lot and school got cancelled. Maybe it seems like you’d be really happy if people would be kind to you instead of being mean. When you’re sick it can seem like we’d be happy forever if we were only healthy again.

Jesus talked about nine different things he thought real happiness comes from. He called it being “blessed.” Being blessed is like getting a special scoop of happiness that comes directly from God.

I’ll tell you the truth: Some of Jesus’ nine ideas about what it means to be blessed are pretty hard to understand.

Let me just tell you about two of them.

Blessed are the Merciful

One is that Jesus said we are really blessed, truly happy, if we are “merciful.” Showing mercy means being kind and generous. Being merciful means helping people with what they need, just because they need it.

I love it when people are merciful to me. When someone helps me do something hard, it makes my life better and I feel totally thankful.

Jesus had a special reason that we are blessed or happy if we are merciful. He said if we are merciful to other people, other people will be merciful to us.

Blessed are the Peacemakers

A second way Jesus said we are truly blessed, really happy, is if we are “peacemakers.” Being a peacemaker means helping other people get along. If people are having an argument, and you help them get past it, that’s being a peacemaker.

Sometimes one of the people having the argument is you. When you are having an argument, you are usually feeling really mad.

I don’t think Jesus was telling us to pretend we aren’t mad.

I don’t think Jesus was telling us that we could just make our mad feelings go away.

I think Jesus was telling us that when we feel mad, we have to make a choice about what we do with our feelings.

If we are mad, and we choose not to hit people, that’s one way to be a peacemaker.

When we are mad, and we choose not to say mean things to people, that’s one way to be a peacemaker.

If we can put our mad feelings into words, and work together to solve the problem that made us so mad, then we are doing a lot to make peace.

And you know what Jesus said? He said, that if we are peacemakers, we’ll be called God’s own children.

The Kingdom of Heaven

These things that Jesus said about true happiness — they are actually all about the Kingdom of Heaven. These things he talked about are all really about what God is like.

God is always merciful — so we are blessed if we are merciful too.

God is always working to bring peace — so we are blessed if we are peacemakers too.

Real true happiness comes when we learn to do the kinds of things that come straight from God’s heart. That’s what life’s about in the Kingdom of Heaven.

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Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Matthew 5:1-12

The Sermon on the Mount
Carl Bloch, 1890 (public domain)

Last week’s lectionary Gospel showed us Jesus calling his first disciples. This week we jump ahead a few verses to the Sermon on the Mount.

What did we skip over? A quick summary of Jesus’ ministry in and around Galilee: he did a lot of healing and he became enormously popular. No surprise at the popularity: in Matthew’s account Jesus embodied a sort of universal health plan.

Matthew 5:1-12

The verses framing the Sermon on the Mount make it a little ambiguous who Jesus is talking to. Here’s the setup for Matthew 5:1-12:

When Jesus saw the crowds,

he went up the mountain;

and after he sat down,

his disciples came to him.” (Matthew 5:1 NRSV)

It sounds like Jesus left the crowd behind to give his disciples some concentrated private teaching. Only Peter, Andrew, James, and John have been named as followers, so I imagine a small group sitting close and listening.

Then come all the familiar and challenging teachings of chapters 5-7.

When he finished up, check out what Matthew says happened:

Now when Jesus had finished saying these things,

the crowds were astounded at his teaching,

for he taught them as one having authority,

and not as their scribes.” (Matthew 7:28-29 NRSV)

So… apparently either the crowd was listening in while Jesus addressed the disciples, or Matthew considers the whole crowd to be disciples.

But today’s text is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount — those lovely and rather inscrutable sayings we call “the beatitudes.”

The Beatitudes

They really are entrancingly beautiful, these meditations on what it means to be “blessed.” We love them, right? In some churches (I’m thinking of Orthodox Church of America parishes I’ve visited) they are sung movingly at every Sunday service.

But like so many things in Scripture, once you start looking closely they become more and more mysterious — not to say “confusing,” or “contradictory.”

This becomes all the more the case if you use a translation that instead of “blessed” says in each verse “happy.” (For examples see JB Philips New Testament, the Living Bible, or the Good News translation.)

Then what ordinarily seems like paradox sounds more like contradiction, especially when verse 4 says

happy are those who mourn.

That sounds a lot like “happy are the unhappy,” which on the face of it makes no actual sense.

The Blessed Life

It might be useful to think through this question of being “blessed” or “happy” with a bit of help from St. Augustine (d. 430). Indirect help that is — I’m going by memory rather than looking him up.

Augustine is always a worthy thinking companion. He’s the single most influential thinker in the history of Western Christianity. If you don’t like his answer to some big faith question, you can still bet that his views are worth wrestling with — thoughtful, biblical, and deep. You can also bet that either his question or his answer to it have been influential.

One of Augustine’s insights I’ve always loved is his sense that the two great commands (to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as ourselves) are more than imperatives by which we are judged. They are descriptions of how God designed our lives to be lived.

If we were able to really live our lives according to these commands, we would be living “the blessed life.” Which is to say, we would be happy the way a fully-inflated well-balanced tire is happy rotating its axel.

It is the deep rightness of living in the groove.

Note that I didn’t say rightEOUSNESS, but rightNESS. This sense of the blessed life is more about living as intended, as designed, in ways that are true to who God is and who we are. Rightness.

(Of course “righteousness” is correct too, but it is a loaded term. It seems to always be heard as “SELF-righteousness.” Which, if one is actually living according to the great commandments, shouldn’t be possible. Loving God with all, and neighbor as self, embodies humility. But I digress.)

So maybe the kind of “blessed” or “happy” life Jesus was talking about is something like what Augustine was thinking of. It’s worth considering. You can be “in the groove,” and in a sense happy, like a well-balanced wheel spinning along effortlessly, even in life’s rougher seasons.

Actually I’m not entirely sure that Augustine’s insight helps us with the mysteries of the beatitudes. But I still wanted to mention it as it has been grist for the mill as I meditated on this text.

The best I can do, I think, is group them in categories.

Character

Some of the beatitudes are affirmations of character qualities, or the behavior that flows from a right character:

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7 NRSV)

In this case the blessedness is a future where one receives the same good one gives — which sounds almost like a Christian version of karma.

And honestly, couldn’t our world do with more mercy? Generous giving of what is needed, instead of what is deserved, is in ever shorter supply in our culture.

Another character quality:

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9 NRSV)

Here the blessedness is not karma, but a particular relation to God — adopted into God’s family. The blessedness is now, but being God’s children seems to happen in the future.

I like this one too. Blessing comes to the helpful people, those who bring peace in a world full of conflict.

A third blessing for character:

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8 NRSV)

This one is not about behavior, but is directly about an inner quality. Purity of heart is to be considered blessed now because of a future gift in relation to God — the vision of God which is said to be fatal for mere mortals.

Or perhaps we are to keep in mind Matthew 25 where we learn that, if we only knew it, all our kindnesses to people in need have been done directly to Jesus. If we had pure enough hearts we would actually see Jesus in those around us.

I think the blessing on those who long for righteousness is also in the category of character qualities.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6 NRSV)

The desire to live as God intends us to live is a life orientation. Or perhaps we should say it describes people who know their own failings and have drawn close enough to Jesus to know what is possible by grace.

One last beatitude that may be in this category of character is

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5 NRSV)

Meekness, as a character quality, is not highly prized in our culture.

(I think of the Sermon on the Mount scene in Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” where one bitter onlooker grumbles, “What Jesus plainly fails to appreciate is it’s the meek who are the problem!”)

One must do some mental stretching to see why it would be so rewarded.

Meekness, however, is not something Jesus is the first to praise. He’s actually quoting Scripture.

But the meek shall inherit the land,

and delight in abundant prosperity.” (Psalm 37:11 NRSV)

Circumstances

Other beatitudes are less about character and more about circumstances.

In fact, the beatitude I just mentioned may be more about circumstances than character. Isaiah equates meekness with poverty (see Isaiah 11:4, 29:19), and promises the meek/poor relief through God’s justice. And in Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, “the poor,” not the “poor in spirit,” are called blessed (see Luke 6:20). So perhaps we should place verse 5 under this heading as a reference to the poor.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5 NRSV)

As in Isaiah, these poor are promised a different circumstance in the future. They have nothing now, but will have abundance eventually.

The case of the promise to those in mourning is similar:

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 NRSV)

It’s a challenge for those mourning to consider themselves blessed right now, in the midst of mourning, when the promise is about the future being different. Perhaps we are to insert an implication:

Blessed (if you keep the long-term picture in mind) are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

The opening beatitude is also of this kind.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3 NRSV)

Matthew’s version emphasizes the spiritual, or perhaps emotional, circumstance of these people — unlike Luke’s which is simply about the state of poverty (Luke 6:20). But in both Gospels, Jesus makes the most lavish promise: the kingdom of heaven itself it to be their new and better future state.

The same promise is made to those who suffer in the world for living as God intends:

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10 NRSV)

Same promise, different condition.

Why? I suspect it is because the kingdom of heaven is the ultimate promise of all the beatitudes — the true state of blessedness or happiness Jesus offers. Everything in his work is about the kingdom of heaven, really. His message is the the kingdom of heaven has drawn near. His parables are about what the kingdom of heaven is like.

True happiness, the lasting state of being a well balanced wheel spinning smoothly on its intended axis, is about being a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. The whole of the Gospel, in all its mysterious ways, is trying to get that point across.

Test Case

The final, and most lengthy, beatitude is perhaps a test case. It falls in the category of circumstances — the state of being persecuted specifically for following Jesus:

Blessed are you

when people revile you

and persecute you

and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely

on my account.

Rejoice and be glad,

for your reward is great in heaven,

for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12 NRSV)

He is describing the sufferings of the martyrs which would happen in the coming centuries.

And if you read the accounts of the tortures and deaths of the martyrs, particularly those accounts rooted in eyewitness testimony, you see that they experienced that blessedness.

They did rejoice, and they were glad, even as they suffered, looking toward being with Jesus in heaven.

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The post Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Matthew 5:1-12 appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.

A Children’s Sermon: Matthew 4:12-23

Kids Fishing, cc by vastateparkstaff 2.0

This children’s sermon is my retelling of Matthew 4:12-23, the calling of the first disciples. Stories in the Bible are often bare outlines of things that happened, leaving many details to our imaginations. One knows there must have been more conversation than made it onto the pages of the Gospels. What were the bits that were left on the apostle’s editing room floor?

Telling these stories always prompts me to imagine what those missing details were. That’s why there is dialogue and detail here that goes beyond what is mentioned in the Bible. My goal is to flesh the story out in ways that highlight its message.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this, as well as your suggestions! 

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Andrew and Simon Peter

One day, just after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, he went for a walk on the seashore. 

As he walked along, he saw a boat a little way out from shore. Jesus saw that there were two men in the boat. They were fishing.

They didn’t fish with poles the way you and I might. They had a big net, and together they threw it into the water. Then they pulled it back to the boat to see whether the net had scooped up any fish.

Jesus called out across the water to the two men. He said something like, “Hey you guys! What are your names?”

They were pretty busy with their nets, but one of them shouted “I’m Andrew. And this is my brother Simon — people call him ‘Peter.’”

“Those are nice names,” said Jesus. “It looks like you are working hard. I’m curious: What kind of people are you?”

That was a kind of odd question — but Jesus always wants to know about people. Now, like I said, Andrew and Peter were working hard. They didn’t have much time for conversation. But Peter stood up and stretched his sore back and said, “We’re people who fish.”

Jesus smiled and said “Well, my name is Jesus. If you come and follow me, I’ll teach you to fish for people.”

When they didn’t say anything, Jesus said,

“Get it? People who fish — fish for people?”

“We get it!” shouted Peter. “It’s just kind of a busy time. We need to pull these nets in and all.”

Jesus said, “It’s always a busy time. And it’s always a good time to come on an adventure. Follow me!”

Peter and Andrew finished pulling in the net. They looked at each other for a minute. Then they took the oars and pulled for shore. They got out of the boat right then and there, and they started following Jesus.

James and John

As the three of them walked down the beach, they came to another boat. This boat was pulled up on shore, and three men sat nearby, working on their fishing nets.

“Hello there!” said Jesus. “I’m Jesus, and this is Andrew and Peter. What are your names?”

“I’m John,” said one of the younger men. “This is my brother James, and that is my father Zebedee.”

“I like those names,” said Jesus. “We’re going on an adventure. Why don’t you come along? Follow me.”

“Sorry, Jesus,” said Zebedee. “Our nets are in bad shape. They’re all torn up. We need to mend the rips so we can get back to work.”

“That sounds hard,” said Jesus. “There are always things that need fixing, though — torn nets, cuts and bruises, broken hearts. Sometimes the best way to heal things is to go on a new adventure. Come on! You can follow me.”

James looked up, kind of curious. “What kind of adventure are you talking about?” he asked.

“Come along. You can watch me heal sick people. You can help me feed people who are hungry. It’s all because God’s kingdom has come near.”

James and John looked at each other for a minute. Then they got up and walked over to Jesus.

Zebedee stayed with the nets. “Hey where do you think you’re going, you two?”

“I’m sorry dad,” said John. “We need to follow Jesus. We’re going to learn about God’s kingdom.”

And off Jesus went with his first four disciples.

Wondering about Matthew 4:12-23

I wonder what the four disciples were feeling as they started their new adventure with Jesus?

I wonder what Zebedee was feeling as he saw his sons leave him and their boat behind?

I wonder what happened to all the fish Andrew and Peter had caught that day?

I wonder what Peter, Andrew, James, and John learned by watching and listening to Jesus?

I wonder what kinds of adventures Jesus wants to have with you?

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Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Matthew 4:12-23

Postcard: Lake of Galilee at Capernaum (public domain)

Last week’s lectionary Gospel (John 1:29-42) included John’s version of the calling of the first disciples. This week we are back in Matthew (the main Gospel for Year A) for a very different telling of the same story.

Matthew 4:12-23

Like last week’s text, Matthew 4:12-23 includes more that just the calling of the first disciples. It leads up to those events by having Jesus move to a seaside town and afterward it continues with a summary what the disciples followed Jesus into.

Moving to Capernaum

Jesus moved his home from Nazareth to Capernaum — where, according to Matthew, he needed to live to fulfill a prophecy.

This is a big theme in Matthew: Jesus’ life was guided, moment by moment, to fulfill the details of the expected Messiah prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Up to this point in Matthew, a whole bunch of events have already been cited as intended to fulfill prophetic words:

The virginal conception of Jesus (Matthew 1:22-23)
The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:4-6)
The flight of the holy family to Egypt (Matthew 2:14-15)
The massacre of the innocents (Matthew 2:17-18)
The holy family’s move to Nazareth (Matthew 2:23)
The preaching of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:3)

So here, Jesus moves

…to Galilee.

… in Capernaum by the sea,

in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali…” (Matthew 4:12-13 NRSV)

Every bit of this is important. It is, Matthew tells us, to fulfill the words of Isaiah 9:1-2, which according to Matthew starts out,

Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,

on the road by the sea, across the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles—” (Matthew 2:15 NRSV)

I suspect that it is also significant that it Galilee is described as “of the Gentiles.” Moving there is a hint of his mission to the larger world.

One thing is not clear in Matthew: Who intended to fulfill all these things? When he was a baby, it seemed like God’s providential hand in history. Here it could easily be Jesus’ own careful planning.

But really, that is exactly the same thing.

When Jesus was an infant, the hand of heaven guided things from offstage. Now, as an adult, and God incarnate, Jesus can actively choose a house in Capernaum — not only for its charming view of the Sea of Galilee but because it serves admirably as a fulfillment of prophecy.

Calling the First Disciples

Think back to last week, and how John portrayed the calling of the first disciples. Andrew was already a disciple of John the Baptist. John the Baptist pointed Andrew and another disciple toward Jesus and off they went to follow him.

Simon Peter, too, was  a genuine seeker in John — Andrew just had to tell him that they’d found the Messiah, and off he went to follow Jesus too.

The theme in John was that the people went seeking Jesus. Jesus was going about his own business. He welcomed followers, but he didn’t go looking for them.

It’s all different in Matthew. This week, it’s Andrew and Simon Peter who are going about their business. They are hard at work casting their nets in the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus seems to have gone looking for them.

Matthew tells us Jesus had started preaching, calling people to turn around their thinking in light of the Kingdom coming near. And the first example of that message in action is when he calls across the waters to Simon Peter and Andrew.

It is worth pausing to notice that these two stories show the initiative coming from absolutely the opposite direction. And though that makes the stories seem to conflict, in terms of Christian experience I’d say it is absolutely the ordinary course of events.

On the one hand, we look back on how we came to follow Jesus and it looks like John’s gospel: it seems like we first spent a lifetime seeking and questioning, finally stumbling on Jesus and wrestling our hearts into order to become his followers.

On the other hand, we look back on that same journey toward following Jesus, and it seems like Matthew’s version: we were busy, we were lost, we were running the opposite direction, and Jesus sought us out. He persistently tapped us on the shoulder or knocked us on the head to get our attention.

I haven’t the slightest idea how to reconcile the two stories historically, but when it comes to discipleship both are true. It’s all about which side of the tapestry you look at.

God is always taking the initiative, weaving the circumstances to bring us home to faith.

And we always have questions, and are always searching, and always have to make a decision to follow.

The Details
Fishers of People

So as I said, Jesus is walking along, and he sees Simon Peter and Andrew. They are, as the Greek text says, “ἁλιεῖς” or “fishers.” Some translations put “men” on the back of “fishers” making the more idiomatic, if gender-specific, English term “fishermen.” The old KJV is more strictly precise with “fishers.”

Whatever: they catch fish for a living.

Andrew and Simon Peter are busy doing their job,

casting a net into the sea” (Matthew 4:18 NRSV).

Matthew doesn’t say or imply that Jesus had ever met these guys before. They aren’t associated with John the Baptist or seeking the Messiah. They are just fishers, out fishing.

Jesus seems to be in a jovial mood. He puts his call to these fishers in the form of a little pun.

Follow me,

and I will make you fish for people.” (Matthew 4:19 NRSV)

If you’ve been around this text a while you probably expected this in more familiar, and perhaps more poetical, language:

I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19 KJV)

The Greek word translated “of men” is “ἀνθρώπων”, which often has a meaning more generic than “male humans.” It does get used in contexts where it can only mean males, but it is the word used when the broader English term “people” would be better.

The NRSV misses a bit of the poetic parallel in the “ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων” by changing “fishers” to “fish for” here, as well by nudging “of people” into “for people”. I’d prefer

I will make you fishers of people.

Though honestly, I think that’s a bit clunky too.

But let’s avoid getting our togas in a twist about the language, and think about the scene:

For some reason Jesus wants to call these fishers to be his disciples. Why? I suppose the real question is “Why not?”

Maybe it tells us that Jesus is always walking around, always looking for new disciples. Maybe he calls out to all of us to follow. That’s the meaning of his message, which Matthew summarizes as

Repent,

for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4:17, NRSV)

Perhaps Jesus sees his own life’s work mirrored in the work of Andrew and Simon Peter. Fishing with a net is an imprecise business — or was, before sonar. You cast it out and you see what it drags in.

Follow Me

There is an odd little detail in the language of following here. Jesus asks the brothers to “come after me” (Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου). But when they leave their boats they “followed him” (ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ). English translations sometimes masks the difference, reading both as “follow”.

The difference may be trivial, but it is worth pondering. “Coming after” is a particular kind of following.

It could be taken to mean that we rank lower than him. That’s an aid to humility.
It could prompt us to remember that wherever we go, he got their first. That’s an aid to humility too, and a sense of participation in his mission.
It also points to the physical positioning of our discipleship: we bow to him, and let him go first.

If we are to “come after,” We consciously don’t go through the doorway without holding the door for him. We don’t take a step down the road without looking to see that he is going first.

(I find myself reminded of what he will say in Matthew 25 about what we do to the least we do to him. Maybe we could remind ourselves that he goes first and we come after by taking conscious note that those we serve, feed, house, and welcome are Jesus, in his own estimation.)

Mending Nets

It is also worth pondering the difference between Andrew and Simon Peter, who were casting their nets, and James and John who were, with their father, mending their nets. So…

Jesus comes and calls us when we are casting our nets, actively working in the world.
Jesus also comes and calls us when we are mending our nets, quietly repairing the damage done to us when we were out there working last time.

You can’t fish forever without stopping to mend your nets.

You can’t live forever without stopping to tend your life.

But whether you find yourself striving or recovering, it is still time to start following.

The Mission

Before Jesus called these four followers, he was out on his preaching tour. His message:

Repent,

for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4:17 NRSV)

When Peter, Andrew, James, and John followed along, Jesus just continued on the same trajectory:

Jesus went throughout Galilee,

teaching in their synagogues

and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom

and curing every disease

and every sickness among the people.” (Matthew 2:23 NRSV)

Matthew 2:23 is really the first verse of the section that follows, but it gives us a rich picture of what they learned when they followed him.

He taught them a new way of thinking, renewing their minds — which is repentance.
He told people of the God’s kingdom which with his arrival was now upon them — which is the substance of that repentant life.
And he cared, generously, indiscriminately, and abundantly for all, healing “ every disease” and “ every sickness” — which is the picture of what we should be doing if we are citizens of that kingdom.

Zebedee

It’s poor old Zebedee I worry about. He was left behind on the seashore with two boats, half-mended nets, and a day’s catch.

How do you suppose it affected him to have his sons and business partners quite literally abandon ship?

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A Children’s Sermon on John 1:29-42

Last week I included a little children’s sermon as part of my Monday Meditation. One reader suggested I do more of these, and maybe post them separately. So here you go with one for this Sunday on John 1:29-42! If people like the idea I’ll do more, so let me know.

A Children’s Sermon on John 1:29-42

One day, Just after Jesus had been baptized, but before he had any disciples, Jesus was out for a walk.

John the Baptist was standing there, with two of his followers. One was named Andrew, and we don’t know what the other one was called. Maybe that disciple had the same name as you do.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus walking by, he said

Hey look! It’s the Lamb of God!”

John the Baptist had already told his followers that someone very great was coming, and that this someone was much more important than John was himself. So now Andrew and his friend said goodbye to John the Baptist, and went off to meet Jesus.

When Andrew and his friend got close to Jesus, Jesus turned around and asked them a question:

What are you looking for?” Jesus said.

You know, I think that when you and I come close to Jesus he asks us the same question.

What are you looking for?” he asks us.

Everyone is looking for something.

Some of us are looking for a friend.
Some of us are looking for more time to play video games.
Some of us are looking for a way to be better at our schoolwork or at sports.
Some of us are looking for a safe place where people will be kind to us.

It could be anything. But Jesus looks at us and wants to know exactly who we are right now. He wants to know what makes us happy and what makes us sad. He wants to know what we are grateful for and what we are longing for.

Once he knows who we are right now, Jesus wants to help us become all that God created us to be.

When Jesus asked Andrew and his friend that question, they said they were looking to find out where he was going. They wanted to spend time with him.

So Jesus gave them an invitation:

Come and see!” he said.

And you know what? I think that is what Jesus says to you and me as well. Whatever we are looking for right now, he invites us to come along with him.

Come and See!” he says to us.

Jesus invites us to look and see what he is doing in the world.

When Andrew and his friend went with Jesus they saw so many amazing things.

They saw how Jesus cared for and healed sick people.
They saw how Jesus cared for and fed hungry people.
They saw how Jesus cared for and made friends with lonely people.
They saw how Jesus cared for and enjoyed little children.

In everything he did and said, they saw how Jesus cared for and taught people all about God and life in God’s kingdom.

I think the best thing for Andrew and his friend was that coming close to Jesus they found out how very much he loved them.

And if you and I stay close to Jesus we’ll see and learn all those things too.

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Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Second Sunday after the Epiphany, John 1:29-42

Tommaso Salini, Saint John the Baptist with the Lamb of God

On the Sunday after we celebrated “The Baptism of the Lord,” the lectionary gives us… the baptism of the Lord. Sort of.

More precisely, we have John the Baptist recognizing Jesus as “the Lamb of God.”

Plus other stuff. It’s all cool, and very different from the same material in the other Gospels.

John 1:29-42

The events of John 1:29-42 take place over at least two different days. (Cf. verses 29 and 35, “The next day…”) As well as the baptism, we have the calling of Jesus’ first three disciples.

The versions of Matthew, Mark, and Luke look at these and so many stories through the same eyes — thus they are called the “Synoptics.” And their versions are often the most familiar. We can gloss right past the ways John’s version of things is different.

Day 1

All the Synoptic Gospels tell the story in similar ways:

John is out baptizing.
Jesus comes and is baptized.
The Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove.
The voice of the Father from heaven declares Jesus to be his Son.

John 1:29-42 clearly has the same event in mind.

John is out baptizing.
Jesus comes near.
John the baptist tells us that he saw the Spirit descending as a dove (verse 32).
John the baptist tell us that he heard a voice saying the one on whom the Spirit/dove rested would baptize with the Spirit (verse 33).

The one really odd thing? John’s Gospel neglects to mention the act of Jesus’ baptism.

And here it is John the Baptist, not the voice of the Father, that proclaims that Jesus is God’s Son.

And I myself

have seen

and have testified

that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:34 NRSV)

Result? The revelation of the Trinity is softened in John’s version, as is Jesus’ identification with ordinary people in baptism, and his attempt to “fulfill all righteousness.”

And strangely, here John the Baptist emphatically does not previously know Jesus (verses 31 and 33). Remember how in Luke they are relatives, and John actually recognized Jesus in utero?

Significance of these differences? Hard to say.

John’s Gospel emphasizes John the Baptist more strongly, and the Baptist’s identification of Jesus not only as “Son of God” but as “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

The phrase “Lamb of God” sounds very “Old Testament,” but it doesn’t actually occur there. The closest parallel is in one of the “Servant Songs” of Isaiah:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7 NRSV)

Day 2

The differences between John and the Synoptics are greater in the scenes that follow. It is the story of the calling of Jesus’ first three disciples.

The  Synoptic version  is familiar.

In Matthew’s version, Jesus goes walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and meets a group of fishermen at work. They are two sets of brothers. First Jesus calls Peter and Andrew to follow him, then he calls James and John, the Sons of Zebedee. They abandon nets, boats, and poor old Zebedee, and take off with Jesus. (See Matthew 4:18-22.)

Luke’s version is more dramatic: Jesus was preaching to a crowd by the lakes, and borrowed Simon’s boat to be able to speak from a few feet away from the shore. Then, as a fabulous parting gift, he gave the four, who are explicitly business partners, a miraculous catch of fish. While they are full of wonder, he asks them to come and follow. (See Luke 5:1-11.)

All of that has a way of sticking in our minds.

But John tells a very very different story.

Andrew, in John, is already a seeker — he’s a disciple of John the Baptist (verse 40).

He and another disciple are with John the Baptist when Jesus — having been baptized the previous day? — passes by again, and a second time John the Baptist identifies him as “the Lamb of God” (verse 36).

Andrew and his friend leave John the Baptist behind, and begin to follow Jesus instead.

It sounds as abrupt as ditching Zebedee in the boat, but I suspect this is exactly what John the Baptist was trying to bring about. After all, he said the previous day that Jesus “ranks ahead of me” and rather than “baptizing with water”, Jesus “baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” In fact, John’s own ministry, he said, was all to reveal Jesus. (Verses 30-33.)

The timeline is a bit unclear, but it seems that Andrew’s first act after connecting with Jesus was to go get his brother Simon (whom Jesus renames Cephas, or Peter).

Peter is no unenlightened fisherman here. Like Andrew, Peter seems to be a seeker. He may not have been a disciple of John the Baptist, but he was eager for the coming of the Messiah. So eager, in fact, that as soon as Andrew said Jesus was The One, Peter dropped everything and came along. (Verses 41-42)

There is, however, no mention of nets, boats, or even fishing — not till after the resurrection (cf. John 21:3).

One could go through some contortions to harmonize these things, but the differences are not on matters of theological substance. That is, no doctrine hangs on them one way or the other. They are only a bother if you expect the New Testament to have been written by modern historians with a penchant for precise and documentable chronology. (Hint: it wasn’t.)

Day 2.5

The thing to meditate on here, however, is the conversation between Andrew and Jesus. In a way it’s pretty ordinary. But I wonder if Jesus was doing his usual thing of always meaning something slightly deeper than what was obvious.

Jesus, true to form I’d say, starts with a question. Andrew and his friend, Mr. A. Nonymous, come up and Jesus asks,

What are you looking for?” (John 1:38 NRSV)

An obvious question. But counter to expectation.

Remember in the Synoptics, Jesus goes looking for the disciples, and asked them to follow? That fits with the idea that Jesus seeks and saves the lost, loves us first, calls us out of darkness etc.

Here, however, Jesus was going about his own business, and these two would-be disciples came to seek him.

There’s comfort there for those who grow up in the faith and were never very lost, and for those who find their way to Jesus through their own arduous searching.

Our conversion narratives aren’t wrong. They are just more like Andrew’s than Paul’s.

Maybe, whether we are deep in bad choices or on the road to find Jesus, when we get near him he starts with a searching question:

What are you looking for?

Are you looking for peace in your heart? A mission to commit to? Riches and fame? Love? A shattering encounter with the living God?

He asks us to look at our hearts and our minds and figure out just where we are and just where we are going.

We need to tell the truth about what we are seeking — in life, or in Jesus, or whatever.

Start out with an honest answer to what we are looking for, and maybe he can begin to work with us. He does tend to take us just as we are — then he takes up the holy process of remaking us into who we are supposed to be.

But these two guys take a pragmatic approach.

Rabbi…where are you staying?” (John 1:38 NRSV)

We just want to hang out with you, Jesus. John said you are the Lamb of God or something. We need to get to know you. Where you headed?

And again true to form, Jesus doesn’t quiet answer.

I mean, he could have said

Capernaum. That’s where I live.

Instead he invites them to become witnesses:

Come and see.” (John 1:39 NRSV)

He doesn’t yet ask them to bear witness. That will be the call when he leaves them after the resurrection. He calls them to witness something — to see for themselves.

Once they follow to see where he’s staying, they will see what he is doing, and they will see how he changes their lives, and they will see how he changes others’ lives.

Once they do it, once they

Come and see,

they will have some first-hand knowledge. They will be able to be his witnesses

in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

That’s his call, always, of course.

We are called to follow him, of course. But why? To imitate him? Only partially.

More important we are to come and see — to witness Christ in action so that we can be changed and bear witness.

Come close enough, and hang out long enough, that you actually know about Jesus first hand. Then you tell what you know — as an eyewitness. That’s his simple plan for evangelism.

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The post Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Second Sunday after the Epiphany, John 1:29-42 appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.

Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Baptism of the Lord, Matthew 3:13-17

The Baptism of Christ, Joachim Patinir (public domain)

On the Sunday after Epiphany the Western Church celebrates the Baptism of the Lord. For the Eastern Church, Epiphany itself, January 6, is focused on this same event. And as I’ve noted before, in the East this celebration is a very big deal — along with Christmas and Easter it is a the top of the heap.

And it must be a greater event than most of us Protestant types give it credit for, since it is one of the few stories that occur in one form or another in all four Gospels. All versions have the elements that define Orthodoxy’s main focus for Epiphany, or “Theophany” as they prefer to call it, though the Gospels vary on who sees and hears what:

The Son is baptized.
The Spirit appears as a dove.
The voice of the Father is heard.

Thus, as I emphasized last year, the Orthodox hymn proclaims, here “the worship of the Trinity was made manifest.” In one scene, for the first time all three Persons of the Trinity are perceived by human senses. What was hinted at throughout the Old Testament is now clear.

That’s the revelation, the theophany, the epiphany.

Matthew 3:13-17

But Matthew, whose version we see in “Year A” of the lectionary, emphasizes one detail more clearly than the other Gospels do. It’s the interaction between the cousins, Jesus and John, when Jesus came to be baptized:

John would have prevented him, saying,

‘I need to be baptized by you,

and do you come to me?’

But Jesus answered him,

‘Let it be so now;

for it is proper for us in this way

to fulfill all righteousness.’

Then he consented.” (Matthew 3:14-15 NRSV)

There are two interesting things going on here. 1: John hesitates to baptize Jesus. 2: Jesus says that getting baptized by John will “fulfill all righteousness.”

“John would have prevented him…”

In the other Gospels, John tells the crowd that someone is coming later (we know it’s Jesus) who is so great that John isn’t worthy to tie his shoes.

Only in Matthew does this issue come up in a personal conversation with Jesus. John doesn’t want to baptize Jesus. John suggests that instead Jesus should baptize him.

Scripture doesn’t say much more, but it is evocative. What did John see in Jesus that made him feel so unworthy?

The question gets explored in another Orthodox hymn, sung during the morning prayer or “Orthros” service on Epiphany. Here it is from the Ages “Digital Chant Stand”:

God the Logos has appeared in the flesh to the human race.

As He stood in the Jordan waiting to be baptized,

the Forerunner said to Him,

‘How can I reach out with my hand

and touch the head that controls the universe?

Though as an infant You came from Mary,

Yet I know You to be the pre-eternal God.

You walk on earth,

You who are extolled by the Seraphim.

And I do not know how a servant ought to baptize his Master.

Incomprehensible Lord, glory to You.’

The writer of this hymn is doing a couple of the things that I so enjoy about Orthodox hymnody. Like many others, this hymn is a tiny little meditation on a biblical passage. If you read all the hymns of a particular day you end up considering that day’s biblical text from many different angles.

Notice that it meditates on the text in light of a major theme of biblical theology: Matthew doesn’t identify Christ as Logos, or incarnate Word, but John 1 makes that point powerfully. The hymn reads Matthew’s plain narrative in light of John’s rich theology.

And notice that this meditation imagines what the characters are thinking. It’s a technique to help us step deeply into the text. Yes, the hymn writer puts non-biblical words into the mouth of John — as many preachers do. The hymn writer’s imagination invites us to use our imaginations, pondering the text prayerfully, to help us make deeper sense of the text.

And notice the reveling in biblical paradox: the human child of Mary is also the pre-eternal God. It is simply unthinkable for a mere human like John to touch God, his own creator and the providential guide of all creation. And yet John must baptize Jesus.

John’s hesitation is not a vague sense that Jesus is superior or more holy. Matthew’s simple narrative is read imaginatively in light of a great theological theme to show exactly why John hesitates to baptize Jesus.

“…to fulfill all righteousness.”

I think Jesus’ response is the more difficult, enigmatic part of the conversation.

On the night of Epiphany I told my kids the story of the Baptism of Jesus at bedtime. It went something like this.

Jesus’ cousin John washed people to help them start a new life turned toward God. In the waters of the Jordan River they washed off all the dirt of their old life turned away from God. Then they came up out of the water to try to live turned toward God.

Jesus came to John and asked John to wash him too.

John said “Jesus, you are ALREADY turned toward God. You ARE God! Why should I wash you? You should wash me instead.”

But Jesus said, “I want to start at the very beginning to show people what a life turned toward God looks like. Wash me today, and everyone will see that I’m with them, as we turn our lives toward God. Then they can follow me all the way toward God.”

I don’t know if that quite makes sense of Jesus’ desire “to fulfill all righteousness,” but that’s what came out when I needed to put it at a kid’s level.

May your celebration of the Baptism of Jesus help you and those around you live toward God.

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My new book, the Illuminate-Your-Own Gospel of Matthew is out! I’m finding it is a fun way to engage with the Gospel texts each week.  If you want a way to dive in with this year’s Gospel texts drawing, doodling, making notes, asking questions, or writing out your thoughts and prayers, check it out on Amazon through this affiliate link:

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Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Advent 4, Matthew 1:18-25

St Joseph as Carpenter, detail of Annunciation, workshop of Robert Campin, public domain

On the Fourth Sunday of Advent we finally seem to find what we thought the season was for: We are anticipating the birth of Jesus. This is the week of his first “advent,” or “arrival,” among us.

The lectionary Gospel readings brought us here through a hurky-jerky journey. It is  “Year A,” when the texts come from Matthew.

On Advent 1 we looked to the second coming of Jesus at the end of the age.
On Advent 2 we awaited Jesus’ public ministry with John the Baptist, who is preaching repentance and waiting to baptize his cousin.
On Advent 3 we were with Jesus, hearing John’s doubting questions from prison, waiting for clarity about whether Jesus is the promised messiah.

Matthew 1:18-25

This week, with Matthew 1:18-25 it looks like we are ready to hear the cozy story of the birth of Jesus:

Now the birth of Jesus

the Messiah

took place in this way.” (Matthew 1:18 NRSV)

Cue the journey to Bethlehem, the inn, the barn or cave, with manger ready to welcome the Christ child. Cue the angels announcement to the shepherds watching over their flocks by night.

But no. That’s all in Luke.

On Advent 4 in Year A we get Matthew’s version of the birth of Jesus.

And for Matthew, Mary is basically off camera. This is Joseph’s story.

Joseph’s Story

Part of me winces at this — Mary did all the hard work bringing Jesus into the world. What’s with yet another case of patriarchal neglect?

But there’s another side. Joseph is a key player in the story too. He deserves his day, even if Mary has the bigger role in salvation history, bearing God incarnate as her son.

Protestants hardly give Joseph a thought.

Joseph? He was a carpenter. Right?

That’s what gets mentioned in Scripture (Matthew 13:55) so we lock that in. If not much else gets mentioned, we just leave Joseph at that.

Not so the rest of Christianity. The Catholic and Orthodox Christians remember more details about Joseph that have passed down from generation to generation apart from biblical texts. They don’t think documentary proof of the historical assertions is so important.

So in the Church’s lore, Joseph was an older man, a widower and the father of at least another son, James.

Just that little bit of detail gives a new viewpoint into our text.

Here’s Joseph, a lonely widower, trying to keep up the family business while raising a son — or maybe a whole bunch of children, since Mark says Jesus’ hometown neighbors asked of him

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:3 NRSV)

He’s working hard to keep it together. Maybe he’s lifelong friends with Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna — also well-known to the non-Protestant Christian world from longstanding tradition.

Well, dear old Joachim and Anna have a young daughter. The whole neighborhood could see it coming:

Wouldn’t they make a great couple? Mary’s so kind and hard working. And Joseph! He needs her help. Isn’t it wonderful how God provides?

Cue the soundtrack to Fiddler on the Roof.

The match was made.

What was Joseph waiting for in Advent? A wife. A mother for his children. A new life.

The Bad News

Then Mary said those horrible words:

Joseph — we need to talk.

(That isn’t in the Bible or in Church lore. I just imagine it had to happen.)

He was reeling when he stormed out of Mary’s house.

Pregnant? How could she do this to me?

She’d tried to tell him some story about an angel, that she hadn’t been with a man. But Joseph had cut her off.

That’s in LUKE! I known NOTHING about that!

A man with children knows how these things work.

Well, that was it. He hardly had to think about it. The marriage was off. The only thing to decide was how to make the break.

He was brokenhearted. To tell the truth, he was angry. But he was still the same man, with the kind heart and love for God that had prompted Mary to agree to marry him despite his age.

He wouldn’t put her to public shame. He would just — end it. Quietly.

What was Joseph waiting for in Advent? Healing from a broken heart. Someday, if he was really blessed, hope.

The Dream

Joseph had a hard time getting to sleep that night. Tossing and turning, he went back and forth from his grief over losing Mary and the grim thought of more years as a single parent.

Finally he slept.

Then came the dream: An angel, so alive and bursting with light that Joseph thought he was awake. God’s messenger said to go ahead and marry Mary. The child was from God — a miracle. Name him “Jesus.”

The angel was gone, and Josep was sitting up in his dark room, eyes wide with holy fear.

There was no decision to make.

Advent
Guido Reni, Saint Joseph and the Christ Child, public domain

So Joseph thought he was waiting for a wife, new hope for his family — and he got it. But that wasn’t what was really coming, that first Advent.

That first Advent, Joseph actually had no idea what was coming. The promised Messiah was coming at last — right into Joseph’s new family.

And really what Joseph was waiting for, though he had no idea it was coming, was his own new vocation. Joseph had a new calling.

He would be raising Mary’s son, God’s own Son. He would have to protect this Jesus and his mother Mary. He would have to provide for them. He would have to raise God’s Son, discipline him, guide him so he would grow up capable and competent, good and kind.

What a responsibility.

As we come to the last Sunday of Advent, we think we know what we’re waiting for.

Spiritually? Jesus of course, the Son of God.
Practically? Family and friends and feasting.

But maybe we’re actually in a position like Joseph. Maybe the coming of Jesus is going to upset our personal plans and preferences. Maybe the coming of Jesus is bringing with it a new calling we never sought or wanted.

If you’ve ever welcomed a new child into the world you’ve found yourself with an unimaginable new responsibility.

Jesus is coming, God’s own child, and he lands in swaddling clothes in our arms. What will we do with him? In our lives, our hearts, he is tinier than a baby. How will we let him grow to full maturity, to be for us and in us the King of kings and Lord of lords?

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My new book, the Illuminate-Your-Own Gospel of Matthew is out, just in time for Year A! And as I write this, Amazon still says it will arrive by Christmas. If you want a way to engage with this year’s Gospel texts drawing, doodling, making notes, asking questions, or writing out your thoughts and prayers, check it out on Amazon through this affiliate link:

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Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Advent 3, Matthew 11:2-11

The word “advent” means “arrival.” It is a season for waiting. Throughout the four weeks we are waiting in different ways for Jesus, whose first arrival is celebrated at Christmas. While we wait, we have questions. So does our text.

On Advent 1 the lectionary Gospel had us in the present, waiting for Christ’s 2nd coming. On Advent 2 we were standing in the Jordan with John the Baptist, waiting for the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Those weeks the nature of the waiting was kind of obvious.

Matthew 11:2-11

Now on Advent 3 we find ourselves in the midst of Jesus’ ministry.

Well, what are we waiting for?

All through Matthew 11:2-11 there are questions in the air. We wait for answers. What we want and don’t have on the third Sunday of Advent is clarity.

John’s Question

Our story begins with John the Baptist in prison. He didn’t know what his end would be but he knew he wasn’t the Messiah. He had evidence that Jesus was the Messiah. In Luke when both Jesus and John were in their mothers’ wombs, John leapt in recognition of his Lord (Luke 1:39-45).

And here in Matthew, John almost refused to baptize Jesus asserting Jesus’ superiority. Then when he did baptize Jesus, the Spirit descended and the Father claimed Jesus as his Son (Matthew 3:10-17).

But by Matthew 11, John’s life is looking pretty grim.

He’d been at the center of the action, told from his birth that he was a key figure in God’s Big Plan of Salvation. Now he’s been in a moldy cell since chapter 4. He’s gone from famous preacher to forgotten prisoner.

I suspect John was in a bad place emotionally. When people get ground down by circumstances, even the things that once were clear seem kind of muddled.

Maybe he’d just been fooling himself.

Maybe this wasn’t the moment for the Messiah.

How could he know? He couldn’t even see the action for himself. He had to wait for visitors to bring him the news.

He kept hearing stories about his cousin. Jesus was supposedly doing amazing things. Maybe he was the one promised in the prophets after all.

So John sent some of his own disciples to find out:

Are you the one who is to come,

or are we to wait for another?” (Matthew 11:3 NRSV)

Just tell us clearly, John asks. Jesus, really, are you the Messiah?

John wouldn’t be the last to ask about this. The question followed Jesus all the way to the cross. And some of us keep asking it today in our heart of hearts: Are you really the one I’ve been told you are? Should I go about my business or turn and follow you?

Jesus was just as inscrutable with John — and just as clear — as he would be with Pilate:

Go and tell John what you hear and see” (Matthew 11:4 NRSV)

Jesus’ actions will have to serve as his answer.

That is, Jesus’ actions as mediated by faithful witnesses. John’s disciples were told to bear witness to a particular set of Jesus’ actions:

the blind receive their sight,

the lame walk,

the lepers are cleansed,

the deaf hear,

the dead are raised,

and the poor have good news brought to them.” (Matthew 11:5 NRSV)

What is interesting about this response is that Jesus doesn’t point out that these actions fulfilled the role of the promised Messiah.

Over in Luke, at the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus preached on the relevant passage of Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19 NRSV, cf. Isaiah 61:1-2a)

Luke summarized Jesus’ sermon on the text as

Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21 NRSV)

One of Matthew’s favorite things to do is to point out where Jesus’ life and teaching fulfills what had been promised of the Messiah in the biblical Prophets. So why does Matthew put Jesus’ list of his accomplishments out there without referring us to Isaiah 61?

I suspect that it was because Jesus himself wanted the report of his actions to be enough for John. The Baptist was supposed to make the inference and come to clear faith.

Likewise Jesus wants the report o this actions to be enough for us. We too are supposed to make the inference and come to clear faith.

(And we, like John the Baptist’s disciples, are supposed to give testimony to what we see and hear of Jesus’ actions in the world.)

The Crowd’s Question

So John’s disciples went back to tell what they’d seen and heard, and Jesus was left with the crowd. He seems to have intuited that they were asking a question themselves:

Who is John the Baptist, really? Does he have a big place in God’s salvation story?

Jesus gets up a good head of steam and answers that one directly:

This is the one about whom it is written,

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way before you.’

Truly I tell you,

among those born of women

no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist;

yet the least in the kingdom of heaven

is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:10-11 NRSV)

So John is the messenger promised in Malachi 3:1, and the greatest person ever born. Clear enough.

But John is also less than the least in the kingdom of heaven. Back to enigmas.

Jesus’ Questions

Jesus’ ramp-up to answering the crowd’s unstated question was a barrage of questions of his own:

What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?

A reed shaken by the wind?

What then did you go out to see?

Someone dressed in soft robes?

…

What then did you go out to see?

A prophet?” (Matthew 11:7-9 NRSV)

These six questions that Jesus asked the crowd are, I think, very much the point for us on the third Sunday of Advent.

Last Sunday we went out to the Jordan to see John the Baptist. He called us to repent and be baptized and we came forward to commit. This week, Jesus asks us whether we meant it.

What did we go out to see?

Just a reed shaken by the wind? Was our commitment to turn from the wrong way and pursue the life God intended just a matter of entertainment? Just watching the grasses blow in the wind on the banks of the Jordan?

Someone dressed in soft robes? Were we secretly hoping that by accepting John’s call to change our minds and our lives we would find ourselves happier and richer? As if John, in his camel’s hair coat were really dressed for style and comfort?

A prophet? If we were on the right track we were maybe hoping John was a prophet, someone speaking the very words of God to us and our time. Jesus says yes — that and more.

So Jesus asks us in the third week of Advent: Did we actually do the work of the second week of Advent?

Hear and heed the prophet’s words. Change your mind, your way of thinking about life, and the world, and yourself, and God. Let the change go deep until it changes who you are and how you live in the world.

Because the prophet John wasn’t just speaking the words of God for a moment. He was preparing the way of the Word incarnate.

The Word is coming. We have to be ready.

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The post Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Advent 3, Matthew 11:2-11 appeared first on Gary Neal Hansen.