Posts Tagged ‘Matthew 13:54-58’
Faith and Works in the Face of Poverty – Br. Curtis Almquist
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Br. Curtis Almquist
Prophets were held in honor so long as they were talking about distant people, about “them.” But when prophets were in their hometown, among their own people, talking about “you,” the prophets were abhorred, and sometimes stoned to death. Jesus spoke and acted as a prophet, and that was trouble. We can distill the hometown people’s disdain of Jesus just by looking at what is now happening in our own country and elsewhere around the world.
Jesus aligned himself with the poor. Among the destitute beggars were the sick and disabled, none of whom had anything similar to Medicaid. Unskilled day laborers, migrant workers, and slaves were also among the poor. If there was a famine or a war, they starved, like the people of Gaza just now. Another social factor was hugely important for rich and poor alike: being regarded with dignity. Several days ago I visited a food pantry, and those waiting in line would not make eye contact with me.
Jesus also aligned himself with sinners. Sinners were people who could not pay the temple tax with their “tainted” money, or make a sacrificial offering, or observe the sabbath, or practice ritual cleanliness. They were held with contempt. People labeled as unclean were prostitutes, tax collectors, those charged or convicted of crimes, prisoners, and herdsmen. The uneducated or the resident aliens who did not speak Hebrew or Aramaic were caught in the trap of not being able to understand or negotiate the law. We need only look at what is now happening in our own country to people who are not proficient in English, those whose skin color is not white, those who do not have just access to sound legal representation. There is certainly no “prosperity Gospel” evidenced in anything that Jesus taught or did. He aligned himself with the misaligned.
In one of the confessions of sin we use in this Chapel, we confess our own sins and those sins done on our behalf. Quite. We must pray for the amendment of our own lives, and the same for our governmental and corporate leadership. And we must act. We must act in some way to redress the egregious poverty that surrounds us in many forms. As we heard read in The Epistle of James: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? … Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”
Family Photographs – Br. Lain Wilson
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Today’s Gospel lesson isn’t about Jesus.
Rather, it’s not about the Jesus we have come to know, to accompany in his ministry with the disciples. Instead, it’s about another Jesus, one of memory, of presumption, and of misplaced expectation.
In the Rule of our Society, we understand as part of the practice of silence the honoring of “the mystery present in the hearts of our brothers and sisters, strangers and enemies,” a letting go of “curiosity, presumption, and condemnation which pretends to penetrate the mystery of their hearts.”[1]
We can see in our Gospel reading today what this looks like in practice. It is significant, I think, that the only references to Jesus’s “hidden years”—those years of growth and formation between infancy and baptism—in Matthew’s gospel (and Mark’s) is this brief encounter between Jesus and those from his hometown. It’s a relic of a silent period, a family photograph held in the hands of these people, who glance uncomprehendingly between it and the living Jesus standing before them. Read More
Make Your Gifts Your Prayer – Br. Lain Wilson
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Leviticus 23:1-11, 26-38
Matthew 13:54-58
A juggler enters a monastery. He soon discovers that, unlike the other monks, he’s not good at typical monkish things: he can’t cook, he can’t sing, he has terrible handwriting. The only thing he can do is juggle, and what use is that? In despair, he goes one night to a statue of the Virgin Mary . . . and juggles—offering to her, as his prayer, the only thing he has.
The medieval French tale of the “Juggler of Our Lady” imparts a familiar lesson: God gives us gifts that God wants us to use and to offer back in prayer and worship. Our reading from Leviticus this morning gets at something similar: “When you enter the land I am giving to you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest” (Lev 23:10). This section of the reading is from the oldest layer of this passage, and significantly is directed not at the collective, or to priests, but to the individual farmer. “I have given you, as a gift, this land—you shall give me, as a gift, the fruits of that land.” Read More
Gift of Community – Br. Luke Ditewig
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Romans 12:1-21
Matthew 13:54-58
Tonight we conclude our Epiphany preaching series on following God’s call, reflecting on the Gift of Community. We are created for relationship, reflecting God’s nature. “Our human vocation to live in communion and mutuality is rooted in our creation in God’s image and likeness. The very being of God is community; the Father, Son and Spirit are One in reciprocal self-giving and love.”[i]
We are created to love mutually, to walk together, share, listen, teach, and encourage. In our brokenness, much can make us feel alienated, disconnected, and cut off. Choosing to turn toward each other to connect, welcome, and share heals and transforms. Life is about transformation, continual progression, ongoing conversion. God continually calls us onward into more together.
Yet we are often stuck in the past. Placed in memories, given labels and expectations. Memories of who we once jostling up against who we are now. Patterns of prior years are powerfully present though the players have changed. Read More
Earth Shattering Decisions – Br. James Koester
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Feast of Saint James of Jerusalem, Brother of Our Lord, and Martyr, c 62
Acts 15: 12 – 22a
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 15: 1 – 11
Matthew 13: 54 – 58
If you have ever been to Jerusalem, you have perhaps found two of my favourite places. The first is quite easy to find, the Armenian Cathedral of St. James’, just near Jaffa Gate. The problem with the Cathedral is that it is only open when there are services on, and the best time to go is late afternoon for Vespers. It is sung by the cathedral clergy and students who attend the seminary across from the Cathedral. Once Vespers is over you have about 15 minutes to look around before being ushered out. I love the Cathedral, for obvious reasons. Who couldn’t love a cathedral dedicated not to one St. James but two!
The first St. James, the more familiar, is St. James the Apostle, brother of St. John and son of Zebedee. It is he, whose shrine at Compostela in Spain is at the end of the Camino, the pilgrim way that has become so popular in recent years. This St. James was beheaded by order of Herod Antipas and in a side chapel of the Cathedral, near the door, is his shrine. Spain has his body, but the Armenians in Jerusalem have his head. Read More
Sermon for St. James of Jerusalem – Br. David Allen
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Acts 15:12-22a
1 Cor. 15:1-11
Mt. 13:54-58
Today we commemorate James of Jerusalem and the First Council of the Church.
The Gospel Reading for today identifies James as a brother of Jesus (v.55). The First reading, from the Book of Acts tells us of the decision reached by James as the Spokesperson of the First Council of Jerusalem (vv. 19-21). The reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians gives us evidence of Jesus’ appearance to James following his Resurrection (v.7). From this the inclusion of James as an apostle and his leadership of the Council are implied.
That Council, and the decision made by James, are of tremendous importance for the identity of the Church. Freed from bondage to the Law of Moses it would no longer be considered as a sect of Judaism. While not denying roots in the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament, never the less, those coming to believe in Jesus Christ and his promises could begin to be a Body of Faithful believers, showing Jesus Christ to the World. Read More
Saint James of Jerusalem – Br. Curtis Almquist
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Matthew 13:54-58
We remember today a follower of Christ, a certain James of Jerusalem, but our memory fails us. We are not completely sure who this James is. In the Gospel according to Matthew, we hear that James is called Jesus’ brother. The same is true in Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: James being named as Jesus’ brother.i Read More