Proper 15
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III
Since every Sunday of the church year is a "Little Easter," and since John 6 is being read as the Gospel for the Day for five Sundays in a row in most of the churches that have a lectionary, and since this is the third of those five Sundays, and since the eucharist is the dominant theme in the Gospel for the Day - this Sunday virtually demands the celebration of the eucharist on this occasion. The worship of the church affirms that Jesus is risen indeed, announcing to the world that Jesus had to die to save the people of God, and that the risen Lord feeds his people on himself, on his flesh and blood, in the holy supper. Paul's interpretation of the meal at the Lord's table reminds us of what happened - and, also, of what will happen at the end of time: "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." Could it be that the best way, by far, to celebrate the "Little Easter" is in the eucharist, which calls for the reading and preaching of the word and the meal of the Son of God, who sacrificed himself for us, so as to feed us on himself?
The Prayer of the Day
The classic collect for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost) desperately needed to be revised or replaced, particularly the address to God. ("Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service.") Generally, it has been replaced, as in the Book ofCommon Prayer, which contains another classic collect in modernized form:
Almighty God, you have given your own Son to befor us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son or Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 34:1-2, 9-14 (R); 34:9-14 (L, E) - The liturgical churches all continue to read Psalm 34 this week, taking up (with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church, which reads verses 1-2 again; and the Episcopal Church, which appoints Psalm 147 as the responsory and Psalm 34 as an alternate) where last Sunday's reading terminated. As a wisdom psalm, it complements the first reading - in those churches that have selected Proverbs 9 for that lection - quite well. Verse 8 might profitably be inserted as an antiphon for the psalmody: "Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are they who trust in him!" This part of the psalm emphasizes the "fear" of the Lord" coupled with repentance and obedience, which verse 14 underlines quite appropriately: "Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it."
Psalm 147 (E) - The Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches appointed this psalm as a responsory to the first reading on the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, while the Book of Common Prayer assigned it to the First Sunday after Christmas in Year B. It was also used on the feast of Corpus Christi, Year A. The comments in these previous uses of the psalm apply to its "responsory-function" today.
The readings:
Proverbs 9:1-6 (R, E, L)
This reading has found its way into the lectionaries of the liturgical churches primarily, in the opinion of various scholars, because it speaks of a heavenly/eschatological banquet that "wisdom" has prepared for those who accept the invitation to the table. That the foreshadowing of the eucharist is included in verse 5 ("Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed") cannot be denied, but this selection was also chosen for its connection to the sacrificial death of Jesus, who feeds people on his flesh. Verse 2 reads: "She has slaughtered her beasts." This much is manifestly clear; the meal is ready, and those who are wise in the word and the Holy Spirit will accept the gracious invitation that is offered - not simply by "wisdom," but by Jesus Christ.
2 Samuel 18:24-33 (E)
After the battle between his forces and those of Israel, David sat near the gate to the city, waiting for news of the engagement. The sentry saw a man running toward the city and told David, who knew he came with news. Then a second runner appeared and, David knew, that he, too, was a messenger. David was convinced that possibly because the two men were running - they were bringing him good news about the battle and would be able to confirm that his intentions toward Absalom had been fulfilled. ("Deal gently with the young man.") David must have known Absalom's fate when the first man, Ahimaaz, ducked the question, "Is it well with the young man Absalom?", which came in his response to his greeting. But the second man, who said, "Good tidings for my lord the King!" and also reported the news of the victory, responded forthrightly, and in effect told the king that Absalom was dead. This sent the king into spontaneous mourning, with those famous words: "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!" And this reminds us that the whole world went dark for awhile when Jesus, the Son of God, died on Calvary. God the Father might have repeated David's words for all of the heavenly host to hear.
Ephesians 5:15-20
In this portion of Ephesians 5, "Paul" picks up the wisdom theme of Proverbs 9 ("Look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of the time ..."). The Ephesians live in evil times - "Paul" believes in the "last times" - and God is defeating evil in the world and will bring all things to the culmination he has planned. The Ephesians, as new creatures in Jesus Christ, must understand what is happening, and dare not be foolish, losing themselves in drinking and debauchery. They are to comprehend what the will of the Lord is - and do it, filled with the Holy Spirit, not wine, praising and blessing God with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. So they will be, with God, engaged in the redeeming of the time in which they lived.
John 6:51-58 (R, L, C); 6:53-59 (E)
Again, the several lectionaries not only agree on the Gospel for the Day, but they concur on its beginning, as well as its ending. In the spirit of serials and serial readings, this Gospel begins with the repetition of the last verse of last Sunday's Gospel of the Day: "Jesus said, 'I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.' " Again, one of Jesus' "crazy claims" seems to have offended - or puzzled, at least - the "Jews," who asked, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Rather than an explanation of how he can do this, Jesus gives them what might be called "the imperative of the sacrament of the Lord's supper," when he says, "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." On the other hand, he promises, again, that those who do eat and drink his body and blood will be raised up "at the last day." The Supper of the Lord is no mere "memory meal" or "love feast;" it is connected to the cross of Jesus Christ, because Christ had to die to feed the world on himself. That's what makes it eucharistic in nature.
A Sermon on the Gospel, John 6:51-58 (R, L, C); 6:53-59 (E) - "The Flesh and the Feast."
In the television mini-series, "Tender is the Night," Dr. David Dyer (a psychiatrist, who returns from World War I and decides to study and work in a clinic in Switzerland) discovers that a woman he has known for years is a patient there; she is suffering from schizophrenia. Theirs is a delayed love story, which finally culminates in their marriage. She is wealthy, which enables Dick to devote his life to her health, welfare, and possible cure. He and a friend open their own clinic and, gradually, his wife's mental health improves. But as it does, they begin to grow apart and he tells her, "When you don't need me any more, you will be cured." Each engages in a love affair as they become more and more disillusioned with each other. He begins to drink - more and more heavily - and it becomes apparent that they are exchanging places. At last, she and her lover confront Dick and he agrees to a divorce. On the day he goes away, she is on the beach with her sister, who tells her that Dick is still standing looking at her - and to ignore him. But she asks why she should; "He was a good husband to me," she says, and tells her sister that he helped cure her and sacrificed himself in the process. She stands, starts to move toward him, then stops and smiles at him. Dick sees that she is coming no farther, smiles back at her and makes the sign of the cross, turns away and is gone - and the story ends.
The basic premise of this story is close to the Gospel itself; Jesus had to give up his life in order to save the world. Dick's wife "fed" on him, in a way; he had to diminish and "die" in order to save her, which is what Jesus had to do. The faithful "feed" on the Lord's flesh and blood - bread and wine - and that gives them life.
1. The central feast of the Christian church is a blood-flesh feast, not simply a love-feast. Jesus had to die a bloody death on a cross to complete his mission here on earth. The feast commemorates his death - "As often as you eat this bread (flesh) and drink this cup (blood), you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes (again)."
2. Many Christians believe that Jesus' birth, his incarnation, is the central event of the Gospel and that the celebration of Jesus' birth - even with the eucharist - is a kind of bloodless love-feast. It is the loveliness of Christmas that appeals to most people, forgetting Herod's blood-letting on the innocent baby boys in and around Bethlehem after Jesus was born. That was a foretaste of the fate in store for Jesus, wasn't it? Another time, another Herod....
3. Without the cross of Jesus, there would be no feast (Christmas is the Christ Mass, after all, the time when the church celebrates the beginning of God's gift in life in Jesus Christ.), no real salvation, because we would still be in our sin - and there would be no way out. The cross wedges open the tomb - not only Jesus' but the graves of all who believe he is the Lord, and who are strengthened in faith through the Word and the meal in which he gives us himself again.
Last year during Lent, I preached a series of sermons in a contemporary church building which had the usual free-standing table for an altar. The striking appointment of that church is in the chancel, which is dominated by a cross some twenty-five feet high. It pierces the top of the table, symbolizing the relationship of the death of the Lord on the cross to his living presence as host at the feast of his body and his blood. It is an appropriate symbol for this Sunday, because it expresses the central truth of this Gospel.
4. "This is the bread which came down from heaven" - prepared by the love of the Father but not ready for consumption until Jesus died and rose again on the third day. Truly, we know and believe that those "who eat this bread will live forever," because only those who believe and have been baptized will know what the feast is all about and come to the table to eat and drink - for that is how we participate in Jesus' death on the cross and are assured of eternal life by God.
A Sermon on the First Lesson, Proverbs 9:1-6 (R, E, L) - "The Table is Set."
1. The table - not merely "wisdom's" but God's - is set. It was set in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The foolish sinners who have no hope of saving themselves - and who may not know it - are invited to the table. It has been prepared for such sinners - and they are the only ones who will come to it.
3. Not wisdom, but life is the gift that foolish sinners receive at the table of the Lord. As they turn away from their old ways and turn to the living Lord, they too will live in him.
4. Foolish sinners attain genuine wisdom when they accept Christ's invitation, come to his table, eat and drink what he gives them - and find new and eternal life.
2 Samuel 18:24-33 (C) - "No News Is Good News."
1. David might have thought something like that as he sat near the gate of the city waiting to hear the outcome of the battle between his army and Absalom's, as well as the fate of Absalom himself.
2. He began to lose hope, no doubt, when the first messenger, Ahimaaz, didn't answer his question, "Is it well with the young man Absalom?" He probably wasn't surprised when the second messenger, known as the Cushite, told him, indirectly, that Absalom was dead. Joab disobeyed the king and killed his son, instead of sparing him. That has the ring of the cross-event in it, doesn't it? Rebellious human beings set out to - and did - kill the very Son of God.
3. All David could do was suffer and mourn the death of Absalom. God surely suffered similarly on Good Friday. (We talk so much about the love, mercy, and grace of God toward us, yet we think and say so little about the suffering of God!) But he could do something about it - and he did. He raised his son and gave him life, new life, once again.
4. That's why we stand by the cross, instead of sitting by the city gate - or elsewhere - waiting to hear Good News. For the cross points to the empty tomb and the angelic messengers who declare, "He is not here, but is risen." That's Good News for all who wonder about their fate, about sin and death, for it assures us of life eternal.
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, Ephesians 5:15-20 - "Spirit-filled, or Filled with Spirits."
1. "Paul's" temperance movement: abstain from excessive use of "spirits" and get "high" on the Holy Spirit.
2. Those who get their wisdom from Christ will take this advice and allow the Holy Spirit to fill their hearts and lives with faith and hope.
3. The foolish, on the other hand, will continue to be filled with spirits - not only those in a bottle, but those spirits in this world that separate people from their Lord.
4. The spirit-filled people will follow their Lord through this world, witnessing and serving in his name, and living in the hope he has promised of eternal life.
The Prayer of the Day
The classic collect for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost) desperately needed to be revised or replaced, particularly the address to God. ("Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service.") Generally, it has been replaced, as in the Book ofCommon Prayer, which contains another classic collect in modernized form:
Almighty God, you have given your own Son to befor us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son or Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 34:1-2, 9-14 (R); 34:9-14 (L, E) - The liturgical churches all continue to read Psalm 34 this week, taking up (with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church, which reads verses 1-2 again; and the Episcopal Church, which appoints Psalm 147 as the responsory and Psalm 34 as an alternate) where last Sunday's reading terminated. As a wisdom psalm, it complements the first reading - in those churches that have selected Proverbs 9 for that lection - quite well. Verse 8 might profitably be inserted as an antiphon for the psalmody: "Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are they who trust in him!" This part of the psalm emphasizes the "fear" of the Lord" coupled with repentance and obedience, which verse 14 underlines quite appropriately: "Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it."
Psalm 147 (E) - The Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches appointed this psalm as a responsory to the first reading on the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, while the Book of Common Prayer assigned it to the First Sunday after Christmas in Year B. It was also used on the feast of Corpus Christi, Year A. The comments in these previous uses of the psalm apply to its "responsory-function" today.
The readings:
Proverbs 9:1-6 (R, E, L)
This reading has found its way into the lectionaries of the liturgical churches primarily, in the opinion of various scholars, because it speaks of a heavenly/eschatological banquet that "wisdom" has prepared for those who accept the invitation to the table. That the foreshadowing of the eucharist is included in verse 5 ("Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed") cannot be denied, but this selection was also chosen for its connection to the sacrificial death of Jesus, who feeds people on his flesh. Verse 2 reads: "She has slaughtered her beasts." This much is manifestly clear; the meal is ready, and those who are wise in the word and the Holy Spirit will accept the gracious invitation that is offered - not simply by "wisdom," but by Jesus Christ.
2 Samuel 18:24-33 (E)
After the battle between his forces and those of Israel, David sat near the gate to the city, waiting for news of the engagement. The sentry saw a man running toward the city and told David, who knew he came with news. Then a second runner appeared and, David knew, that he, too, was a messenger. David was convinced that possibly because the two men were running - they were bringing him good news about the battle and would be able to confirm that his intentions toward Absalom had been fulfilled. ("Deal gently with the young man.") David must have known Absalom's fate when the first man, Ahimaaz, ducked the question, "Is it well with the young man Absalom?", which came in his response to his greeting. But the second man, who said, "Good tidings for my lord the King!" and also reported the news of the victory, responded forthrightly, and in effect told the king that Absalom was dead. This sent the king into spontaneous mourning, with those famous words: "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!" And this reminds us that the whole world went dark for awhile when Jesus, the Son of God, died on Calvary. God the Father might have repeated David's words for all of the heavenly host to hear.
Ephesians 5:15-20
In this portion of Ephesians 5, "Paul" picks up the wisdom theme of Proverbs 9 ("Look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of the time ..."). The Ephesians live in evil times - "Paul" believes in the "last times" - and God is defeating evil in the world and will bring all things to the culmination he has planned. The Ephesians, as new creatures in Jesus Christ, must understand what is happening, and dare not be foolish, losing themselves in drinking and debauchery. They are to comprehend what the will of the Lord is - and do it, filled with the Holy Spirit, not wine, praising and blessing God with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. So they will be, with God, engaged in the redeeming of the time in which they lived.
John 6:51-58 (R, L, C); 6:53-59 (E)
Again, the several lectionaries not only agree on the Gospel for the Day, but they concur on its beginning, as well as its ending. In the spirit of serials and serial readings, this Gospel begins with the repetition of the last verse of last Sunday's Gospel of the Day: "Jesus said, 'I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.' " Again, one of Jesus' "crazy claims" seems to have offended - or puzzled, at least - the "Jews," who asked, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Rather than an explanation of how he can do this, Jesus gives them what might be called "the imperative of the sacrament of the Lord's supper," when he says, "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." On the other hand, he promises, again, that those who do eat and drink his body and blood will be raised up "at the last day." The Supper of the Lord is no mere "memory meal" or "love feast;" it is connected to the cross of Jesus Christ, because Christ had to die to feed the world on himself. That's what makes it eucharistic in nature.
A Sermon on the Gospel, John 6:51-58 (R, L, C); 6:53-59 (E) - "The Flesh and the Feast."
In the television mini-series, "Tender is the Night," Dr. David Dyer (a psychiatrist, who returns from World War I and decides to study and work in a clinic in Switzerland) discovers that a woman he has known for years is a patient there; she is suffering from schizophrenia. Theirs is a delayed love story, which finally culminates in their marriage. She is wealthy, which enables Dick to devote his life to her health, welfare, and possible cure. He and a friend open their own clinic and, gradually, his wife's mental health improves. But as it does, they begin to grow apart and he tells her, "When you don't need me any more, you will be cured." Each engages in a love affair as they become more and more disillusioned with each other. He begins to drink - more and more heavily - and it becomes apparent that they are exchanging places. At last, she and her lover confront Dick and he agrees to a divorce. On the day he goes away, she is on the beach with her sister, who tells her that Dick is still standing looking at her - and to ignore him. But she asks why she should; "He was a good husband to me," she says, and tells her sister that he helped cure her and sacrificed himself in the process. She stands, starts to move toward him, then stops and smiles at him. Dick sees that she is coming no farther, smiles back at her and makes the sign of the cross, turns away and is gone - and the story ends.
The basic premise of this story is close to the Gospel itself; Jesus had to give up his life in order to save the world. Dick's wife "fed" on him, in a way; he had to diminish and "die" in order to save her, which is what Jesus had to do. The faithful "feed" on the Lord's flesh and blood - bread and wine - and that gives them life.
1. The central feast of the Christian church is a blood-flesh feast, not simply a love-feast. Jesus had to die a bloody death on a cross to complete his mission here on earth. The feast commemorates his death - "As often as you eat this bread (flesh) and drink this cup (blood), you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes (again)."
2. Many Christians believe that Jesus' birth, his incarnation, is the central event of the Gospel and that the celebration of Jesus' birth - even with the eucharist - is a kind of bloodless love-feast. It is the loveliness of Christmas that appeals to most people, forgetting Herod's blood-letting on the innocent baby boys in and around Bethlehem after Jesus was born. That was a foretaste of the fate in store for Jesus, wasn't it? Another time, another Herod....
3. Without the cross of Jesus, there would be no feast (Christmas is the Christ Mass, after all, the time when the church celebrates the beginning of God's gift in life in Jesus Christ.), no real salvation, because we would still be in our sin - and there would be no way out. The cross wedges open the tomb - not only Jesus' but the graves of all who believe he is the Lord, and who are strengthened in faith through the Word and the meal in which he gives us himself again.
Last year during Lent, I preached a series of sermons in a contemporary church building which had the usual free-standing table for an altar. The striking appointment of that church is in the chancel, which is dominated by a cross some twenty-five feet high. It pierces the top of the table, symbolizing the relationship of the death of the Lord on the cross to his living presence as host at the feast of his body and his blood. It is an appropriate symbol for this Sunday, because it expresses the central truth of this Gospel.
4. "This is the bread which came down from heaven" - prepared by the love of the Father but not ready for consumption until Jesus died and rose again on the third day. Truly, we know and believe that those "who eat this bread will live forever," because only those who believe and have been baptized will know what the feast is all about and come to the table to eat and drink - for that is how we participate in Jesus' death on the cross and are assured of eternal life by God.
A Sermon on the First Lesson, Proverbs 9:1-6 (R, E, L) - "The Table is Set."
1. The table - not merely "wisdom's" but God's - is set. It was set in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The foolish sinners who have no hope of saving themselves - and who may not know it - are invited to the table. It has been prepared for such sinners - and they are the only ones who will come to it.
3. Not wisdom, but life is the gift that foolish sinners receive at the table of the Lord. As they turn away from their old ways and turn to the living Lord, they too will live in him.
4. Foolish sinners attain genuine wisdom when they accept Christ's invitation, come to his table, eat and drink what he gives them - and find new and eternal life.
2 Samuel 18:24-33 (C) - "No News Is Good News."
1. David might have thought something like that as he sat near the gate of the city waiting to hear the outcome of the battle between his army and Absalom's, as well as the fate of Absalom himself.
2. He began to lose hope, no doubt, when the first messenger, Ahimaaz, didn't answer his question, "Is it well with the young man Absalom?" He probably wasn't surprised when the second messenger, known as the Cushite, told him, indirectly, that Absalom was dead. Joab disobeyed the king and killed his son, instead of sparing him. That has the ring of the cross-event in it, doesn't it? Rebellious human beings set out to - and did - kill the very Son of God.
3. All David could do was suffer and mourn the death of Absalom. God surely suffered similarly on Good Friday. (We talk so much about the love, mercy, and grace of God toward us, yet we think and say so little about the suffering of God!) But he could do something about it - and he did. He raised his son and gave him life, new life, once again.
4. That's why we stand by the cross, instead of sitting by the city gate - or elsewhere - waiting to hear Good News. For the cross points to the empty tomb and the angelic messengers who declare, "He is not here, but is risen." That's Good News for all who wonder about their fate, about sin and death, for it assures us of life eternal.
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, Ephesians 5:15-20 - "Spirit-filled, or Filled with Spirits."
1. "Paul's" temperance movement: abstain from excessive use of "spirits" and get "high" on the Holy Spirit.
2. Those who get their wisdom from Christ will take this advice and allow the Holy Spirit to fill their hearts and lives with faith and hope.
3. The foolish, on the other hand, will continue to be filled with spirits - not only those in a bottle, but those spirits in this world that separate people from their Lord.
4. The spirit-filled people will follow their Lord through this world, witnessing and serving in his name, and living in the hope he has promised of eternal life.
