Epiphany 6
Preaching
Preaching Luke's Gospel
A Narrative Approach
A considerable portion of Luke's narrative is omitted as we move from the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany to the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany. The material in Luke 5:12„6:16 is not ap-pointed for any Sunday in Cycle C. The first segment omitted is 5:12-16 which is the story of Jesus' healing of a leper. "I do choose," Jesus says in this narrative. "Be made clean." Jesus is seen in this pericope to be carrying out his mission (Luke 4:18-19). He carries out his mission in this instance through the in-strumentality of his powerful word!
The next section omitted is a block of material from 5:17„6:11 which contains a number of controversy stories. We see in these stories reactions to Jesus on the part of the scribes and Phar-isees. Tannehill suggests that Luke presents Jesus' relation to the scribes and Pharisees through four recurrent "type-scenes": (1) Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners; (2) Jesus heals on the Sabbath; (3) Jesus eats in the house of a Pharisee; (4) a Jewish leader asks Jesus a question about eternal life.1
In this material Jesus enters a time of testing of his mission. Objections are raised to what he says and does. The questions come fast and furious: "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (5:21). "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" (5:30). "Why don't your disciples fast like our disciples and the disciples of John?" (5:33). "Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" (6:2). As Luke presents the material Jesus answers the questions satisfactorily. Jesus' theme answer may be his word that new wine cannot be poured into old wineskins (5:37). His questioners are not impressed: "... they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus" (6:11). This One may be the Messiah upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rests, but his ministry will be met with much rejection! Luke apprises us of this reality early on.
The material in 6:12-16 has to do with Jesus' appointment of the Twelve whom he called apostles. We have dealt with the call of Peter and mentioned the call of Levi (Luke 5:27-32). According to 6:13 many disciples have been called. The Sermon on the Plain (6:20-49) begins Jesus' instruction of his disciples. David Tiede calls the Sermon on the Plain, "... a major policy statement of the kingdom."2 As Jesus and his disciples come down to the plain a great multitude of people gathers around them. Jesus preaches and heals. The power of his touch healed them all! The mission announced in 4:18-19 is engaged. This is what Jesus has announced that he will do as he brings God's kingdom.
Jesus then looks upon his disciples and blessed them. "Blessed are you who are poor," Jesus begins. This is a departure from Matthew's version of this beatitude. In Matthew, Jesus blesses those who are poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3). In Luke, Jesus blesses real poverty, the poverty of his disciples. The disciples, we remem-ber, left everything to follow Jesus (5:11, 28; 18:28). They are the poor! In their missionary work they must count on the hospitality of others (9:4-5; 10:8-11).
Jesus' announced mission was that he was to bring good news to the poor. This theme of favor upon the poor was present already in Mary's Magnificat. "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" (1:52-53). Mary's song for her Son is a vision of radical social reversal. Jesus' word to his disciples in the Sermon on the Plain is a precise echo of this reversal. The poor are blessed and the hungry filled. On the other hand, the rich will receive woe and find themselves hungry.
Indeed, the woes in 6:24-25 use some of the same vocab-ulary as 1:53 in announcing the same reversal ... The disciples are the vanguard of a larger group who will experience the upheaval announced in 1:51-53. They are the poor who know about the good news because Jesus has proclaimed it to them, and they have responded with initial acceptance.3
Homiletical Directions
It is difficult to escape the theme of the blessing of the poor and the word of woe to the rich in this week's text. This might be one of the weeks in the Lukan year to tackle this challenging theme. Jesus' Sermon on the Plain with its words of blessing and woe to the disciples needs to be set in its Lukan context. An introduction might refer both to the Magnificat (1:53) and Jesus' adoption of Isaiah's words for his mission (4:18-19, "preach good news to the poor") as background to this address to his disciples. We need also to remind our hearers that the disciples are poor! They have left everything to follow Jesus.
This theme of the rich and the poor occurs several times in Luke. When we discussed 1:53 from the Magnificat we noted the following Lukan passages which also deal with the theme of rich and poor: 12:13-14 (Proper 13); 16:19-31 (Proper 21); 18:18-30, and 19:1-10 (Proper 26). It is suggested that you tell two or more of these stories along with the story of the text for this week's sermon.
Story One in a sermon on this rich/poor theme would begin with setting the context followed by a simple proclamation of Jesus' word to his disciples. Memorize the blessings and the woes. An-nounce them! Our suggestion is that you avoid explanation in dealing with these blessings and woes and with the stories you weave together with them. Announce the blessings. Announce the woes.
Proceed to Story Two. Use any of the stories listed in the above paragraph. Just tell them as they are. Some of them do occur in the lectionary cycle, but your use of them at this point would simply be in the telling. Tell the story of the rich man who built ever bigger barns, for example. Now he could eat, drink, and be merry. But, no! He is a fool. He is not rich toward God. Follow the tell-ing of this story by a repetition of the blessings and the woes from 6:20-26. Again, don't explain the story. Just tell it. Follow it with the blessings and woes.
Story Three can repeat this same process with another of the Lukan stories that deal with this theme as listed above. Just tell the story. No explanation. Follow it with a repetition of the blessings and woes.
Tell as many of the Lukan stories as you have time for. Follow them with the blessings and woes. After your final Lukan story and your final word of blessing and woe, say Amen. Your sermon is over. You have let Jesus say a hard word about riches and poverty. It is better that Jesus say these thorny words than that you say them. Let the stories do their own work on the imagination of your hearers. A closing prayer and/or a hymn following your story telling and blessing/woe pronouncing would provide time for your congregation to meditate on what these words and stories of Jesus mean for their life of discipleship in America today.
____________
1.aRobert C. Tannehill, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts, Volume 1 (Phila-delphia: Fortress Press, 1986), pp. 169-176, has a general discussion of the material in 5:17„6:11.
2.aDavid Tiede, Luke: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minne-apolis: Augsburg, 1988), p. 13.
3.aTannehill, op. cit., p. 208.
The next section omitted is a block of material from 5:17„6:11 which contains a number of controversy stories. We see in these stories reactions to Jesus on the part of the scribes and Phar-isees. Tannehill suggests that Luke presents Jesus' relation to the scribes and Pharisees through four recurrent "type-scenes": (1) Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners; (2) Jesus heals on the Sabbath; (3) Jesus eats in the house of a Pharisee; (4) a Jewish leader asks Jesus a question about eternal life.1
In this material Jesus enters a time of testing of his mission. Objections are raised to what he says and does. The questions come fast and furious: "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (5:21). "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" (5:30). "Why don't your disciples fast like our disciples and the disciples of John?" (5:33). "Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" (6:2). As Luke presents the material Jesus answers the questions satisfactorily. Jesus' theme answer may be his word that new wine cannot be poured into old wineskins (5:37). His questioners are not impressed: "... they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus" (6:11). This One may be the Messiah upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rests, but his ministry will be met with much rejection! Luke apprises us of this reality early on.
The material in 6:12-16 has to do with Jesus' appointment of the Twelve whom he called apostles. We have dealt with the call of Peter and mentioned the call of Levi (Luke 5:27-32). According to 6:13 many disciples have been called. The Sermon on the Plain (6:20-49) begins Jesus' instruction of his disciples. David Tiede calls the Sermon on the Plain, "... a major policy statement of the kingdom."2 As Jesus and his disciples come down to the plain a great multitude of people gathers around them. Jesus preaches and heals. The power of his touch healed them all! The mission announced in 4:18-19 is engaged. This is what Jesus has announced that he will do as he brings God's kingdom.
Jesus then looks upon his disciples and blessed them. "Blessed are you who are poor," Jesus begins. This is a departure from Matthew's version of this beatitude. In Matthew, Jesus blesses those who are poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3). In Luke, Jesus blesses real poverty, the poverty of his disciples. The disciples, we remem-ber, left everything to follow Jesus (5:11, 28; 18:28). They are the poor! In their missionary work they must count on the hospitality of others (9:4-5; 10:8-11).
Jesus' announced mission was that he was to bring good news to the poor. This theme of favor upon the poor was present already in Mary's Magnificat. "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" (1:52-53). Mary's song for her Son is a vision of radical social reversal. Jesus' word to his disciples in the Sermon on the Plain is a precise echo of this reversal. The poor are blessed and the hungry filled. On the other hand, the rich will receive woe and find themselves hungry.
Indeed, the woes in 6:24-25 use some of the same vocab-ulary as 1:53 in announcing the same reversal ... The disciples are the vanguard of a larger group who will experience the upheaval announced in 1:51-53. They are the poor who know about the good news because Jesus has proclaimed it to them, and they have responded with initial acceptance.3
Homiletical Directions
It is difficult to escape the theme of the blessing of the poor and the word of woe to the rich in this week's text. This might be one of the weeks in the Lukan year to tackle this challenging theme. Jesus' Sermon on the Plain with its words of blessing and woe to the disciples needs to be set in its Lukan context. An introduction might refer both to the Magnificat (1:53) and Jesus' adoption of Isaiah's words for his mission (4:18-19, "preach good news to the poor") as background to this address to his disciples. We need also to remind our hearers that the disciples are poor! They have left everything to follow Jesus.
This theme of the rich and the poor occurs several times in Luke. When we discussed 1:53 from the Magnificat we noted the following Lukan passages which also deal with the theme of rich and poor: 12:13-14 (Proper 13); 16:19-31 (Proper 21); 18:18-30, and 19:1-10 (Proper 26). It is suggested that you tell two or more of these stories along with the story of the text for this week's sermon.
Story One in a sermon on this rich/poor theme would begin with setting the context followed by a simple proclamation of Jesus' word to his disciples. Memorize the blessings and the woes. An-nounce them! Our suggestion is that you avoid explanation in dealing with these blessings and woes and with the stories you weave together with them. Announce the blessings. Announce the woes.
Proceed to Story Two. Use any of the stories listed in the above paragraph. Just tell them as they are. Some of them do occur in the lectionary cycle, but your use of them at this point would simply be in the telling. Tell the story of the rich man who built ever bigger barns, for example. Now he could eat, drink, and be merry. But, no! He is a fool. He is not rich toward God. Follow the tell-ing of this story by a repetition of the blessings and the woes from 6:20-26. Again, don't explain the story. Just tell it. Follow it with the blessings and woes.
Story Three can repeat this same process with another of the Lukan stories that deal with this theme as listed above. Just tell the story. No explanation. Follow it with a repetition of the blessings and woes.
Tell as many of the Lukan stories as you have time for. Follow them with the blessings and woes. After your final Lukan story and your final word of blessing and woe, say Amen. Your sermon is over. You have let Jesus say a hard word about riches and poverty. It is better that Jesus say these thorny words than that you say them. Let the stories do their own work on the imagination of your hearers. A closing prayer and/or a hymn following your story telling and blessing/woe pronouncing would provide time for your congregation to meditate on what these words and stories of Jesus mean for their life of discipleship in America today.
____________
1.aRobert C. Tannehill, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts, Volume 1 (Phila-delphia: Fortress Press, 1986), pp. 169-176, has a general discussion of the material in 5:17„6:11.
2.aDavid Tiede, Luke: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minne-apolis: Augsburg, 1988), p. 13.
3.aTannehill, op. cit., p. 208.
