Sixth Sunday After Epiphany
Pastor Mark's sermon
There wasn't church last Sunday because of the bad weather. The sermons were backing up in my head and they had to come out somehow. I know, I thought, I will preach two sermons. What is better than one sermon? Two sermons. But then I remembered that we are having the congregational meeting right after the service so I could preach another sermon there.
Let's recapitulate all that has happened. Two Sunday's ago we heard how Jesus was kicked out of the Synagogue because the Galileans did not like the message they heard. Jesus' ministry got off to a bad start. Then from the Gospel from last Sunday as we heard in the children's sermon,
Jesus' ministry had a good second start with the great catch of fish. The fish represent people, all kinds of people, all who are in the reign of darkness or death are caught and brought into the kingdom of light.
Now Jesus is preaching a sermon similar to the sermon on the mount, but he is not on a mountain, but a level place. He preaches about blessings/honors and woe/shame.
Blessings and Woes
Then he looked up at his disciples and said:‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. ‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. ‘Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.‘Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
There are many references to money, riches and food. Is there a theme here? If we are counting on material possessions for identity then that is all we will be. Money will comfort us. The poor have nothing else but God to rely on for comfort and hope--God is all you have if you are poor.
I have heard something called the Gospel of wealth. It is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When Jesus arrives the lies give away, the lies of materialistic wealth and power--mammon. The lies of being possessed by possessions of being unable to share what the gifts God has given them.
1 Corinthians 15
Then comes the end,when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.
The word destroyed seems very harsh to us. We think of cities being leveled with bombs and weapons. Another way to translate this is canceled out or deposed. The authorities of this world are canceled/deposed when Christ's authority moves in. The Roman emperor was the Son of god, Jesus is the true Son of God. The state becomes the god in this world. Look at the preamble to the Constitution, it seems that the state is to serve. The real reason Paul was a threat to the Roman Empire is that he was preaching that the true Son of God was not the son of god, the emperor. The real Son of God is who the Empire crucified, the Roman Emperor is the impostor.
The Emperor thinks he is God. He brings death and destruction with his power. When a state believes it is God there will be destruction in the name of the State/God. The real God gives life in the presence of death and includes all those who are excluded. We have to be able to identify when the State has become a god.
When I was in Chicago I went to a Chiropractor and she was able to see what was wrong with a person just by the way he or she walked or how much energy he or she had. She knew just were to press the persons back to correct the problem. We too should be able to see through the Gospel's eyes what is wrong with the world--where the lies are.
Jesus is Lord! This demands that we become aware of the all the false gods and we will be alert to where the real God is. We will be able to see the real God.
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