LK 13: 1-9 

Laterally Luke…Lent 2…Revised 2019

Today, Jesus is at His most enigmatic! (Oxford: riddle, obscure speech.) Might this be a good starting point for exploring the passage as a whole? Both sections of the text are equally enigmatic. Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations’ may help those who enjoy music. Those who prefer thrillers may respond more to the Enigma Code & its cracking that helped end WW2! 

Perhaps the Greatest Enigma of all is that God can be Divine & Human at the same time in the Person of Jesus on earth, & now, by Holy Spirit living out Jesus in us! Christians of various stripes believe in & worship a God who is such an Enigma.

Does Jesus intend His references to Pilate massacring innocent Galileans, & then, telling of those killed by a falling tower in Siloam to be understood as portents of His own death as an Innocent? Does He want us to ponder the enigma that He’s soon going to become the most wholly innocent of all innocents? On our behalf? 

The question of innocence won’t go away for those who know about Pilate killing the Galileans. Everyone in this first case is someone’s husband, father, son, or grandson (on the assumption it was a massacre of males). Herod’s massacre of the young male innocents at Bethlehem comes into the picture here, too. Nor will this pondering the death of innocents go away for those who know about that tower in Siloam collapsing & killing 18 people. In the case of the tower, it’s more likely women, men, & why not children, too, are caught up. Each of them has a name & a face; known to those in their family & community. Just as you & I & all those in our congregations know people we regard as innocents in some way. More, we are all known to God as His children, whoever else we happen to be!

There's not a congregation to whom we preach, that won’t have within it somebody who's been hurt when something bad's happened to them, or happened to someone close to them. We may not have identified them, but it’s important to preach that God has! I suggest it’s also important to preach that it’s OK to lament the ‘injustice’ of all these wrongs on the way to ‘growing in God’. ‘Injustice’, though, comes with the territory of being human. It’s no good blaming God, though, even for ‘allowing bad things to happen to good people’. We’ll find nothing to prop up our humanity, or God, in that direction!

             

Brian

Afterthought: Threatening people with 'the axe' doesn't translate well into Gospel, does it? But investing more of ourself in each other, nurturing more intensely, does. It fits exactly with Jesus' other imageries of shepherding, sowing, viticulture, etc. And, I suspect, helps us on the way to resolving the enigmas above.

LUKE 4:1-15

Laterally Luke…Lent 1…2019

For years now I’ve been a keen follower of U.S.A. Lutheran Preacher / Teacher David Lose. First on his ‘Working Preacher’ site, &, more recently, on his ‘In the Meantime’. Three years ago, when this same passage arose, David posted, with what I consider to be extraordinary insight, ‘This passage is really about identity theft’. That’s what I’d like to explore now, & commend you to consider, too. I can’t imagine a congregation not responding to such a today issue. You may just find connecting it, as David does, with our Lord’s testing in the wilderness different but irresistible!  

In these last years ‘identity theft’ has exploded all over the world, not least here in OZ. People have had their identities stolen through online scams, telephone, bank cards, passport, credit card thefts & numerous other ways. Not long ago a home-owner in Western Australia found their house sold over their heads by someone who had stolen their identity & scammed a real-estate agent. A bit scary? As Jesus finds out there in that desert place as He battles to prevent Himself stealing an identity - Son of God & Messiah - He may not be entitled to! His resistance to the ‘devil’, though, proves He is exactly who He thinks He is! If this seems too odd a twist on our usual approaches to preaching this passage, ponder it discerningly! The risk may be rewarding!

How does the ‘devil’ - however we may understand that term - attempting to steal Jesus’ true identity from Him out there in that wilderness apply to today situations? In particular, to our own identity as disciples? 

I’m not big on devil-centred stuff. For me the devil has long been that dark side of myself which is always trying to steal my true identity as a child of God & pervert it to whatever identity I find convenient to myself at the time. Tempting me away from true discipleship to ‘turning stones into bread’, ‘ruling my world’ by any means at my disposal or, ‘pulling off stunts’ to attract followers of my own. 

Can our congregation identify with any of these present-day goings-on? In their own lives, or, maybe in ours?! It may be a testing experience in itself, for those of us who preach, to present today’s Gospel in new & living ways more relevant to our people than just repeating old ideas, or, dare I say, old sermons, about Jesus’ testings in their oft-repeated ancient context! Jesus’ answers to the devil out there remain the pattern for the responses we need to make in our own testings & temptations.

Brian 

Afterthought: I heard of a parish where sermons always seemed ‘old hat’. One day the priest left his notes in the pulpit. Some suspected he was preaching his priest-father’s old sermons. No such thing; they turned out to be his priest-grandfather’s! Jesus unashamedly preached sermons from His Father, but they were always as new as God is!

LUKE 9: 28-36

Laterally Luke…The Transfiguration…New in 2019

May I begin with a plea that we don’t try to explain the inexplicable or explain away the unbelievable? The Celt in me comes to the fore in not drawing too firm a line between heaven & earth, the seen & the unseen. Keep that line ‘thin’.

I can’t think of a more appropriate or effective way to preach the Transfiguration than to approach it as + Rowan does in his great little book, ‘The Dwelling of the Light’¹ where he explores a Russian Icon of the Transfiguration from the 15th C.

Rather than look at Our Lord’s Transfiguration as kind of tableau - as I suspect we often do - why not explore the ‘sheer energy of the portrayal’ as + Rowan puts it.

Whereas Christmas tableaux & Palm Sunday processions can become pretty much ‘ho hum’ if we’re not careful, the only energy being when someone fluffs their lines in the former, or waves their palm too exuberantly in the latter.

What’s going on up there is that all God’s energy of Light & Life & Love are being revealed & brought to bear on & in Jesus. He’s so ‘filled with God’ that He connects His people’s past with their present & their future. Not just back on that mountain top but now, too. Pin it all down to ‘back then’ & we’re missing all the possibilities of Now. God is always God of our now, built out of our pasts in every sense. 

Traditionally we link Moses with the Law, & Elijah with the Prophets, & why not? But up there Jesus is being revealed as the summation of both, & everything else God provides for our present & our futures. The Apostles up there with Jesus don’t so much grasp this as are grasped by it. The icon + Rowan brings to life for us shows them, as he puts it, ‘sprawling helplessly; they face a tidal wave’. I’d put it as facing the upheaval of life as it’s been, & a sweeping into new & uncharted waters of life as Jesus’ successors. Peter has yet to grasp that the only way to prolong this experience of life, as it is in Jesus, is to submit ourselves - today - to the tide of Divine Light & Life & Love the Spirit ‘unleashes’ up on that mountain & everywhere else God calls us to be.

Brian

Afterthought: There’s a lot of talk today about what needs to happen to the Church to give it a future. Might the answer lie in us allowing God’s Spirit to energise us on the depression we’re living in, as Jesus & His Apostles are energised on that mountain? Not to grasp that energy, but allow ourselves to be grasped by it so we find ourselves over- whelmed by, swept along by God’s Light & Life & Love. 

¹ John Garratt, Mulgrave, Australia, 2003

Luke 6: 27-38

Laterally Luke…Epiphany 7…New in 2019

What a treasure trove! Action packed! As last week, LK has Jesus emphasising the personal impacts more than generalising them. We need to encourage each other to do the same if we’re to be true disciples. The sermon I’ve just heard today (Epiphany6) on the passage immediately before this one, highlighted Jesus as proclaiming a ‘counter-culture’. A good point, it seems to me, to ponder as we move on.

Rather, though, than giving Hebrew names to those we imagine listening to Jesus & considering where they come into what He’s saying back then, let’s give them ‘today’ names & ask ourselves where we come into the picture today.

As we look from our pulpit or lectern, are our eyes drawn to Tom glaring towards his enemy Jim. We’re not sure what lies behind this, but let’s be alert to it as we listen to Jesus. Why does Betty hate Jane? We’ve heard rumours that Betty suspects Jane is too close for comfort to her own husband Paul. Whether or not that’s true, it doesn’t exempt either of them from what Jesus is proclaiming here. Someone told us the other day they’d heard Bob cursing Phillip over the state he’d returned his lawn-mower in! How busily is our flock, those mentioned above, & everyone else, praying for each other as well as other concerns that interest or involve us?  

Do we love our enemies enough to be actually praying for those we do think of as enemies? What are we praying for them? Where does it fit into what Jesus says here? 

How well are we treating those who hate us? Are we blessing them / blessing God for them - despite the feelings that flow between us? Are we praying for those who are insulting us? What are we blessing God for them / praying for them?

It’s really demanding of Jesus to tell us: ‘Offer the other cheek to someone who physically attacks us…’ There’s so much violence in our community these days! ‘Let them take your shirt as well as your coat…’ Do we really need to be bothered & upset that Frank hasn’t returned that coat he borrowed a month ago. Why not consider it his if he needs it? ‘Give to those who beg…’ How do we feel inside us when someone actually begs from us in the street? Do we toss them a coin or two, pretend not to see them, or do something more constructive if we’re able?  ‘When someone steals from you don’t ask for it back….’ These days, this often a police matter. Does it have to be in every case? Let’s be honest & ask ourselves whether Jesus’ counter-culture is in the ‘too hard basket’?  

Brian

Afterthought: In vv. 32-35 the words used for thanks or ‘not thanks’ is the word used elsewhere for ‘grace’. Do we need to rediscover the connection between Grace, the all-embracing gift of God, & how it applies to what Jesus is teaching us here?

LK 6: 17-26 

Laterally Luke…Epiphany 6… Revised 2019 

We’re long past times when we could assume church people & many others could say the ‘Lord’s prayer’ & recite the ‘Beatitudes’ (in MT’s version). A warning against making assumptions as we prepare to preach LK’s version! Was it William Barclay who said we should think of  ‘beatitudes’ as ‘congratulations on a present state of blessedness, not hopefulness of some future blessing’? I’m all for enjoying my blessedness now, rather than having to wait for later! LK though, has Jesus going on to teach being hated, ostracised, denounced, & scorned for His sake as another kind of blessedness. What to make of this? 

Being a disciple doesn’t remove us from ‘the world’, but beds us more firmly in the world, though not of it. I suggest it’s worth exploring whether LK is really transform -ing Jesus’ ‘Blesseds’ as they appear in MT from generalisations, to being a matter of personal experience. Not just ‘the poor in spirit’ but you & I when we’re poor now! Not simply ‘the hungry’ but when you & I are hungry now! Not simply ‘those who weep’ but you & I when we’re weeping now! When we’re hated now. Excluded now. Reviled now. Defamed now! Mind you, any / all of this ‘on account of the Son of Humanity’! “For my sake!”

What can it mean that Jesus says, “Rejoice, Jump for joy!”? Are there depths in how LK reports what Jesus says here that need to be sounded before we can discern what it means? How to explore these depths without explaining Jesus away in the process?     

How can we best explore what it might mean to discern the depths of ‘un-comfort-able words’? Not the ‘comfortable’ ones we might prefer, & that once graced our liturgies. 

 To preach this passage in the Spirit in which Jesus does, we need people to be un-comfortably on the very edge of their pews rather than relaxing back into any cushioning they may be fortunate to have! Jesus preaches words comfortable only in the best biblical sense - which involves discerning their uncomfortable edges in real life & in real time as LK, not to mention Jesus Himself, proclaims them.

Of course people need comforting now. The poor need to get a life; the hungry need bread (at least); the sad need hope for a future without a loved one. If God is Alpha & Omega, it's logical God is also the God of the in-between time, the God of Now. When & where you & I minister. What's going on in our congregation, our district, our nation that we need to explore in relation to Jesus' hard sayings rather than His nicer & easier ones? 

Brian

Afterthought: Can any of what LK reports Jesus as saying become true; any of us be blessed, congratulated, right now, rather than in some later life? Except when the rest of us, Christ's Body here on earth, make it happen in His Name & by His Spirit; tough going as it will inevitably be. And no excuses will be found acceptable! 

LK 5: 1-11 

Laterally Luke…Epiphany 5…Revised 2019

I can’t approach this passage without remembering the day when, long ago, & in a new parish, I wandered at random into a Sunday School class. Only to hear the teacher explaining that when Jesus tells Simon to 'put out a little from the land’, He means they need to break off some more land into the water because fish needed more room to swim in! A warning to me & to us all: don’t assume everyone ‘gets’ even what we believe are seemingly obvious bits of Scripture. (Needless to say, we instituted training soon after for S.S. teachers & would-be teachers!)

LK tells us the crowd ‘presses upon Jesus’ to hear the word of God. How can we encourage people to ‘press upon Jesus’ in our endeavour to discern the Truth in Him Who Is the Word of God? (The God I've come to recognize during life's journey doesn't fit the One some preachers peddle to keep their particular hobby-horse galloping!)

That I am acceptable to God, through Jesus Christ, is evidence that what Jesus teaches when we 'press upon him' in the right Spirit may be hard going, but it's always lovingly & acceptingly inclusive. (Remember Nazareth from the last two Sundays!)  

The scene by the lake is idyllic, but when Jesus teaches, someone is always going to be disturbed. Our apple cart - or fishing boat - may well be over-turned. Rather than being comforted (except in IS’s sense in Ch.40) & sustaining the status quo, Jesus’ Gospel is always challenging, re-shaping, re-directing. What we must discern here is that Jesus’ teaching & call will inevitably begin to bite into lives. It's easy enough for Simon to humour Jesus by 'putting out a little from the land’, in itself not all that  demanding an exercise. Are we, though, too easily settling for undemanding forms of discipleship’? If so, isn’t it time to fall down on our knees & move on like Simon? 

Whatever Jesus tells us when He teaches, it’s sure to invite us outside our comfort zone. Once He starts telling people who know all about fishing where the fish are shoaling, He's moving the goal posts.Yet it's Simon & his fellow fishers who’re out of their depth, not Jesus! Must we admit we’re out of our depth, too, before we can progress our discipleship? Simon's falling down at Jesus' knees is not only a first step but also a sign of what lies ahead for those who will follow Him.

Brian

Afterthought: Simon's admission that he has 'missed the mark' (Gk.) is a good first step for any of us to take. But, what to do next? Instead of digging out more land for fishes, let’s try, instead, launching out into the deep-ness of YHWH God.

LUKE 4: 21-30

Laterally Luke…Epiphany 4…Revised 2019

Jesus’ exposition of IS that enrages those in the synagogue centres on pointing out  one of Israel’s failures. Exclusiveness. The Sidonian woman & Syrian man He draws attention to each represent different ends of the human scale. The woman - give her a name & let’s call her, say, ‘Sida’, is poor, foreign, & a widow. The man, Naaman - note how he’s given a name - is powerful, foreign, a General, a ‘leper’, & therefore outcast & untouchable! Add to all this that one is a woman, the other a man! Why does Jesus hold up these two, different as chalk from cheese as they are, to His hearers attention?

Because these two from Elijah’s, & Elisha’s times are lessons for us all - not just for that audience in that synagogue at Nazareth! (1) Both then &, now, all genders are equal in YHWH’s eyes; (2) The poor & down at heel count as much as the rich & powerful in YHWH’s eyes; (3) That there is no such person as an outcast, anyone untouchable in YHWH’s eyes; (4) Being other than home-grown Jewish is also OK with YHWH. What are the implications of His teaching here & now for us in our churches?

Jesus is preaching a lesson in God’s inclusiveness. His hearers, I’m sure, get these points only too well! And don’t like them! Or Jesus, anymore! They don’t want these kinds of attitudes taking hold, coming true today - or any other day. It's all right as long as Jesus sticks to the text, but once He starts applying it, & wanting them to do the same, out he goes! Is it still the case in congregations today? In ours?

Are we preaching - & practising - as inclusive a God as Jesus is preaching YHWH?  Is inclusiveness as much on our agenda as it is on God’s? It’s inevitable there will be differences of opinion in Faith & politics & other spheres of life, but how are we to handle those ‘intersections’? Are we seeking to discern our way through the issues involved, under the guidance of Holy Spirit, Jesus’ Spirit? One way we may be helped discern God’s ‘mind’ on such relationships may be to invite the congregation to reflect on how their families & friends are responding to people who are ‘different’ in our midst.

Brian 

Afterthought: One thing that appeals to me about Jesus’ approach to people is that He doesn’t see, or teach, that God's loving purpose is a closed shop! No-one can put a stopper on God’s love. YHWH’s loving purpose is still unfolding, & always will be. Our calling is to find out where we - & others, even those as different from us as Sida & Naaman & what they represent - fit into God’s purpose. Isn’t that a top priority in any preacher's task?