Preachrblog

Epiphany 4 – January 29, 2012 Deuteronomy 18:15-20 What Would Moses Do? Moses says, in his farewell address: “The Lord will raise up a prophet like me from among you”. Well first there's the history. The 40 years of wandering in the desert was coming to an end. God would lead his people across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land. Moses had been their leader, well, their human leader, all this time. From the Exodus and the Passover, through the parting of the Red Sea to Mt. Sinai and the giving of the 10 commandments, the establishment of the Tabernacle and the whole sacrificial system. Moses was the guy. And now as he approached 120 years old, it was time for the people to enter Canaan. And Moses wouldn't be going with them. It was time for a new leader. Moses died just across the border. Mount Nebo. He never set foot on the earthly promised land (at least until he met Jesus at the mount of Transfiguration). Instead, it was Joshua, son ...

Epiphany 2 – January 15, 2012 John 1:43-53 You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet There is much to learn about Jesus from the calling of Nathanael. “ Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael starts his interaction with Jesus with a mild insult. Really. I mean. Phillip, you're telling me that the Messiah is from that back-water town? They're a suburb of nowhere. But Phillip tells Nathanael to come and see, and for some reason, he does. Skeptical, probably frumping along to humor his friend. Nathanael was expecting another crackpot, some false Messiah like so many that had come before. “ Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Well, the answer to that, theologically, is “no.” Nothing good can come from Nazareth, or from Jerusalem, or Rome. Nothing good can come from New York, or Chicago, or Green Bay, or Racine. Nothing good can come from anywhere, especially from anyone in this sinful, broken, messed up world. And that means nothin...

While leading Bible Study at church today I was amazed, as I often am, by the theological acumen of some of our attendees.  We were discussing the readings for the Baptism of Our Lord (Mark 1 in particular), and the idea that in his baptism, Jesus "takes our sins" upon himself.  Almost a sort of "Reverse-Baptism". One comment from the class, was that it was as if all the people who were baptized there by John had washed their sins into the water, and Jesus comes in, like a sponge, and takes them all to himself.  This, of course, culminates in the cross, where "it is finished".  But you could argue that it begins, in a public way, when he takes our sins upon himself in the Jordan. Another comment, in a similar vein, was from someone who traveled to Israel with me in 2007.  Of course we saw there the Sea of Galilee, the large freshwater lake that was for many in the land over the years, a very important source of life.  The Jordan river flows from ther...

Christmas 1 – January 1 st 2012 Luke 2:22-40 The Firstborn Redeemer For the world, Christmas is over. For the Church, it's only just begun. We are one week in to our Christmas season, which will follow with Epiphany, and several Sundays after. While the world is on to Valentine's Day, we continue to dwell on Christ, our newborn King. Today a reading from Luke which tells an episode from Jesus' infancy. 40 days after birth, observant Jews performed the redemption of the firstborn, according to Exodus 13, our Old Testament reading. For every firstborn male a sacrifice was made – to redeem him, to buy him back. This itself was a sign pointing to Christ, the firstborn of Mary and the only-begotten Son of God. The New Adam who came to redeem the Old Adam in all of us. So Jesus is brought to his, yes, his temple. Like his circumcision and his baptism, Jesus participates in all these rituals – though he has no need to be redeemed from sin himself. Ye...