Proper 26
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III
The very numbering of the Sundays reminds every pastor that the end of the Pentecost cycle/season is approaching. In addition, this Sunday will almost always occur in November, which signals the beginning of Advent normally on the last Sunday of November. Under some systems (that which used to exist in the Service Book and Hymnal and currently is extant in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod worship book), there would be no Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost. In the newer lectionaries, there is only the gradual move-ment of the church year toward Christ the King Sunday, with its weekly rhythm of the "Little Easter" within the larger eschatological framework of the year. Entrance into the last four weeks of Pentecost, nevertheless, emphasizes the eschatological tone of this latter part of Pentecost, informing the people that the time is approaching when God will fulfill his intentions for all people and complete the work of Christ at the end of time. In the meantime, it is the business of the church to thank and praise the Lord for his grace and to live out the faith in committed discipleship. Worship and preaching of the Word occur within this framework. A classic prayer (which has been made contemporary in the Book of Common Prayer; the Lutheran Book of Worship version differs slightly) for the church's morning prayer reflects the theological response of the church to the grace of God and is particularly appropriate for this time of the church year.
Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Prayer of the Day
The combination of the prayers appointed for this day in the Lutheran Book of Worship and the Book of Common Prayer reflects the eschatological theology of this Sunday. The LBW picks up the theme of the "last times:"
Lord, when the day of wrath comes we have no hope except in your grace. Make us so to watch for the last days that the consummation of our hope may be the joy of the marriage feast of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The BCP adds the dimension of obedient response and discipleship:
Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 18:1-3, 46, 50 (R) - David might have actually composed this psalm, which is known as one of the royal psalms, after a victory in battle which God has made possible. The psalmist has called upon God in the heat of the fray, and God answered him by enabling him to win the victory over his enemies. Verses 46 and 47 emphasize the part that God played in this battle: "He is the God who gave me victory and cast down the peoples beneath me. You rescued me from the fury of my enemies; you exalted me above those who rose against me; you saved me from my deadly foe." The apparent reason that this psalm was selected as a response to the first reading comes in the first verse: "I love you, O Lord my strength, O Lord my stronghold, my crag, and my haven." The "battle theme," unless it is taken figuratively in conjunction with the constant battle against Satan and sin, has little to do with any of the readings.
Psalm 119:1-16 (E, L); 119:1-8 (E) - The first two sections of the longest psalm in the Bible comprise this responsory in the Book of Common Prayer and the Lutheran Book of Worship. The first section begins with what might be called two "beatitudes:" "Happy are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Happy are they who observe his decrees and seek him with all their hearts!" And later on the psalmist declares, "I will thank you with an unfeigned heart, when I have learned your righteous judgments" (verse 7), suggesting a proper response to the Shemah that is articulated in the first reading in conjunction with the giving of the Law. The second part of this psalm picks up the heart-love theme once more: "With my whole heart I seek you; let me not stray from your commandments.... I will meditate on your commandments and give attention to your ways." This combination of sections from the psalm builds a thematic bridge from the first reading to the Gospel for the Day.
The readings:
Deuteronomy 6:2-6 (R); 6:1-9 (E, L, C)
The context of this reading is that the Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land. First, they are reminded that they must keep the commandments that God has given them and, in the process, fulfill the covenant that God has made with them. God adds a promise, declaring that they will be blessed, if they keep his covenant in the land he promised to them. In the second part of the lection, the people of God are given a prayer that they are to pray every day, the Shemah. They are, before anything else, to love God with their whole beings - heart, mind, soul, and strength - at all times and in all places. Their obedience will be an automatic response when they learn to love God for all he has done for them and to trust him as they make a move into their own future. The daily prayer of contemporary churches (See the church year theological clue) has a hint of the exodus/Promised Land theme in it ("You have brought us safely to the beginning of this new day."), but the "love God with all your heart" motif is clearly missing. The Gospel for the Day suggests what needs to be added to the daily prayers of the faithful in order to elevate them to the necessary theological level.
Hebrews 7:23-28
The "High Priest" theme is expanded again in this reading to show how Jesus Christ is superior to all of the high priests who have gone before him. There had to be many of them because they were only temporary and had to be replaced regularly. There is only one high priest, who never has to be succeeded, because he is eternal having overcome death by his resurrection; he cannot die in office, since he is alive "forever and ever." The high priests - all of them before Christ - were sinners, and had to offer sacrifices for themselves as well as for the sins of the people; Jesus was sinless and did not have to make a sacrifice for himself, yet he gave himself for the sins of all people. The sacrifices of the high priests had to be repeated; Jesus' sacrifice - on the cross - had a "once-and-for-all-time" character to it. The high priests of Israel were appointed according to the law of God; Jesus was made High Priest by the very word of God and was, in every way, superior to the laworiented high priests and the law, because he fulfilled it completely in life and death.
Mark 12:28-34 (R, E, C); 12:28-34 (35-37) (L)
One dispute with the Jewish authorities usually led to another one for Jesus, but this incident is different. It would appear from the tone of the man's question to Jesus, that this man had something bothering him - a personal and spiritual problem that he could not solve by himself; he was in need of counseling or teaching. And so, he asked Jesus about the law, "Which commandment is the first of all?" - and immediately got an answer from Jesus, which combined the Shemah about loving God, in the first reading, with a passage from Leviticus 19, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The two sayings did not originate with Jesus - not even the combination of the two, which can be found in writings like the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs - but Jesus gave them a new interpretation, teaching that one's love for God is imperfect unless it generates love for one's neighbor. Those who recognize and receive God's love for themselves must, of necessity, go into similar loving action toward others. On the other hand, those who love and do good to their neighbors without loving God are engaged in efforts that may be motivated by nothing more than "I get so much satisfaction out of doing good to others," which is really a way of loving oneself more than one loves either neighbors or God. Love for God, based upon his goodness, mercy, and grace, is the motivation for loving and serving other human beings. It is the source of true and lasting discipleship.
A Sermon on the Gospel, Mark 12:28-34 (R, E, C); 12:28-34 (35-37) (L) - "The Greatest Commandment."
I usually sit directly in front of the pulpit when I attend the church to which I belong. It is interesting in itself, because it is a graceful colonial-type pulpit, with carvings in each of the panels facing the sides of the church and the people. Most people are too far away to see what has been carved there; about all they can see is the baptismal banner, which hangs on the side toward the center of the church, and when it hangs there, it is the signal to some that the service will be longer today than normal. Two of the five panels are toward the chapel of the building, which is attached to the nave much as a "north" transept might be located in a cruciform church. Only one of those panels can be seen from pews that are directly in front of the pulpit, and on it is a shield with ten Roman numerals arranged in two columns of three and seven with a multi-tipped whip over them. The symbolism - on a Lutheran pulpit - portrays the law as a slave-master, who cannot be satisfied, and suggests by its location on a pulpit where the gospel is proclaimed that the law drives people to their knees in penitence and confession, suggesting that the law is fulfilled in that Gospel of the loving God toward his people.
1. God is adorable and loveable, when people really know him and comprehend what he has done for them. Most of us think of Christmas as a time of adoration - "O come let us adore him.... Christ the Lord" - but we adore a baby who has not done anything, as yet, except give us pleasure in his birth and natural beauty. God is to be adored all of the time. That is, he is to be loved and worshiped for who he is and what he has done. The cross always tells us how much he has loved us - and silently suggests that we must love him, too.
2. Neighbors, on the other hand, are not always loveable - seldom are adorable. They do strange things which may annoy and irritate us - even cause us to dislike them so that we have little or nothing to do with them. I have a neighbor who bought the home next door to me a couple of years ago; he wondered where the corners of our lots were and, not satisfied by my explanation, had the property surveyed. It turned out that the northeast corner of my lot was not where he thought it ought to be, so he simply removed the marker that the surveyors had put in the lawn in the hope that I would always forget where the boundary actually was. He's always doing things that might easily irritate me. What is a person supposed to do when he/she has neighbors like that man?
3. Jesus tells us that it is not enough to love God with all of our being. Love is multi-directional in his teachings. It orients a person toward God - and with good reason. After all, God has made us - and that was an act of love. He has revealed how much he loves his people by the ways he has cared for them - as in the exodus - and those are acts of love. He did not completely destroy sinful people in the flood and he promised never again to send such a deluge to the earth - and that was an act of love. He sent prophets to warn his people, as well as to tell them of a Messiah - and that was an act of love. All of this he topped off when he sent his only begotten Son into the world to die on a cross - and that is the supreme act of love. Jesus tells us that we must love that God with all of our being - and also we must love our neighbor as we love ourselves. That is not so easy to do. As an unknown poet once wrote:
That love for one,
From which there doth not spring
Wide love for all,
Is but a worthless thing.
4. The scribe who asked Jesus, "Which commandment is the first of all?", apparently knew the truth in Jesus' answer. But he was like so many of us. He knew, but did he really love God and his fellow human beings? Did he love in two dimensions? Love for God is always expressed in worship and adoration. But it will exist actively in the other dimension as well - in our relationships and loving actions toward other people - if it is genuine. Those who know this are not far from the kingdom of heaven, and those who actually love God and their neighbors - really belong - through the grace of God who instilled the love of Christ in their hearts and lives - in his everlasting kingdom.
A Sermon on the Ffrst Lesson, Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (E, L, C); 6:2-6 (R) - "Words to Live By."
1. The Shemah offers the people of God words to pray by - words to be recited every day by every person who believes in the Lord - words which testify that there is only one God, who is to be worshipped and glorified by people.
2. These are words to communicate to one's family and friends for they are the key to the God-life, which is the only good life there is. God and his love should be a main topic of conversation in the home, as well as in the church.
3. These are words to speak to the world. For God is alive and loving and merciful - and every person in the world needs to hear about this gracious God. The way one lives will either glorify God or deny that he really exists for you.
4. These are words to hope by. For this God is always loveable, because he is kind and merciful - and will go to any lengths he has to be a blessing to his people - even to the extreme of sending his son to a horrible death.
5. Hear, O (Israel in Jesus Christ): "The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord with God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." Jesus adds: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." These are words to live by. Help us, Lord, to love as you have loved us.
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, Hebrews 7:23-28 - "The Last High Priest."
1. The people of God needed high priests to lead the worship of God in the temple and to offer sacrifices for their sins. And God gave them such priests "after the order of Melchizadek" - and laws to legislate their appointment to the priesthood.
2. But all of humanity, not just the Jews, needed a High Priest, for all people have sinned against God and need to have their sins forgiven and be reconciled to their God and heavenly Father. This High Priest had to come from God - unique and sinless - only the Son of God would do, for his sacrifice also had to surpass all the others.
3. High priests offered sacrifices of animals and birds, which they thought were all they had to offer to God in retribution for their sins - and they had to offer sacrifices again and again and again. Jesus offered himself, the sinless Son of God, the Lamb without spot - a sacrifice that would cover the sins of all people and endure forever.
4. Thank God we have a great High Priest in Jesus the Christ. Thank God that he has given himself as a sacrifice for our sins. Thank God that we can call him our Lord and Savior, knowing that he has reconciled God to us and opened up the gate of heaven to all believers.
Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Prayer of the Day
The combination of the prayers appointed for this day in the Lutheran Book of Worship and the Book of Common Prayer reflects the eschatological theology of this Sunday. The LBW picks up the theme of the "last times:"
Lord, when the day of wrath comes we have no hope except in your grace. Make us so to watch for the last days that the consummation of our hope may be the joy of the marriage feast of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The BCP adds the dimension of obedient response and discipleship:
Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
The Psalm of the Day
Psalm 18:1-3, 46, 50 (R) - David might have actually composed this psalm, which is known as one of the royal psalms, after a victory in battle which God has made possible. The psalmist has called upon God in the heat of the fray, and God answered him by enabling him to win the victory over his enemies. Verses 46 and 47 emphasize the part that God played in this battle: "He is the God who gave me victory and cast down the peoples beneath me. You rescued me from the fury of my enemies; you exalted me above those who rose against me; you saved me from my deadly foe." The apparent reason that this psalm was selected as a response to the first reading comes in the first verse: "I love you, O Lord my strength, O Lord my stronghold, my crag, and my haven." The "battle theme," unless it is taken figuratively in conjunction with the constant battle against Satan and sin, has little to do with any of the readings.
Psalm 119:1-16 (E, L); 119:1-8 (E) - The first two sections of the longest psalm in the Bible comprise this responsory in the Book of Common Prayer and the Lutheran Book of Worship. The first section begins with what might be called two "beatitudes:" "Happy are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Happy are they who observe his decrees and seek him with all their hearts!" And later on the psalmist declares, "I will thank you with an unfeigned heart, when I have learned your righteous judgments" (verse 7), suggesting a proper response to the Shemah that is articulated in the first reading in conjunction with the giving of the Law. The second part of this psalm picks up the heart-love theme once more: "With my whole heart I seek you; let me not stray from your commandments.... I will meditate on your commandments and give attention to your ways." This combination of sections from the psalm builds a thematic bridge from the first reading to the Gospel for the Day.
The readings:
Deuteronomy 6:2-6 (R); 6:1-9 (E, L, C)
The context of this reading is that the Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land. First, they are reminded that they must keep the commandments that God has given them and, in the process, fulfill the covenant that God has made with them. God adds a promise, declaring that they will be blessed, if they keep his covenant in the land he promised to them. In the second part of the lection, the people of God are given a prayer that they are to pray every day, the Shemah. They are, before anything else, to love God with their whole beings - heart, mind, soul, and strength - at all times and in all places. Their obedience will be an automatic response when they learn to love God for all he has done for them and to trust him as they make a move into their own future. The daily prayer of contemporary churches (See the church year theological clue) has a hint of the exodus/Promised Land theme in it ("You have brought us safely to the beginning of this new day."), but the "love God with all your heart" motif is clearly missing. The Gospel for the Day suggests what needs to be added to the daily prayers of the faithful in order to elevate them to the necessary theological level.
Hebrews 7:23-28
The "High Priest" theme is expanded again in this reading to show how Jesus Christ is superior to all of the high priests who have gone before him. There had to be many of them because they were only temporary and had to be replaced regularly. There is only one high priest, who never has to be succeeded, because he is eternal having overcome death by his resurrection; he cannot die in office, since he is alive "forever and ever." The high priests - all of them before Christ - were sinners, and had to offer sacrifices for themselves as well as for the sins of the people; Jesus was sinless and did not have to make a sacrifice for himself, yet he gave himself for the sins of all people. The sacrifices of the high priests had to be repeated; Jesus' sacrifice - on the cross - had a "once-and-for-all-time" character to it. The high priests of Israel were appointed according to the law of God; Jesus was made High Priest by the very word of God and was, in every way, superior to the laworiented high priests and the law, because he fulfilled it completely in life and death.
Mark 12:28-34 (R, E, C); 12:28-34 (35-37) (L)
One dispute with the Jewish authorities usually led to another one for Jesus, but this incident is different. It would appear from the tone of the man's question to Jesus, that this man had something bothering him - a personal and spiritual problem that he could not solve by himself; he was in need of counseling or teaching. And so, he asked Jesus about the law, "Which commandment is the first of all?" - and immediately got an answer from Jesus, which combined the Shemah about loving God, in the first reading, with a passage from Leviticus 19, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The two sayings did not originate with Jesus - not even the combination of the two, which can be found in writings like the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs - but Jesus gave them a new interpretation, teaching that one's love for God is imperfect unless it generates love for one's neighbor. Those who recognize and receive God's love for themselves must, of necessity, go into similar loving action toward others. On the other hand, those who love and do good to their neighbors without loving God are engaged in efforts that may be motivated by nothing more than "I get so much satisfaction out of doing good to others," which is really a way of loving oneself more than one loves either neighbors or God. Love for God, based upon his goodness, mercy, and grace, is the motivation for loving and serving other human beings. It is the source of true and lasting discipleship.
A Sermon on the Gospel, Mark 12:28-34 (R, E, C); 12:28-34 (35-37) (L) - "The Greatest Commandment."
I usually sit directly in front of the pulpit when I attend the church to which I belong. It is interesting in itself, because it is a graceful colonial-type pulpit, with carvings in each of the panels facing the sides of the church and the people. Most people are too far away to see what has been carved there; about all they can see is the baptismal banner, which hangs on the side toward the center of the church, and when it hangs there, it is the signal to some that the service will be longer today than normal. Two of the five panels are toward the chapel of the building, which is attached to the nave much as a "north" transept might be located in a cruciform church. Only one of those panels can be seen from pews that are directly in front of the pulpit, and on it is a shield with ten Roman numerals arranged in two columns of three and seven with a multi-tipped whip over them. The symbolism - on a Lutheran pulpit - portrays the law as a slave-master, who cannot be satisfied, and suggests by its location on a pulpit where the gospel is proclaimed that the law drives people to their knees in penitence and confession, suggesting that the law is fulfilled in that Gospel of the loving God toward his people.
1. God is adorable and loveable, when people really know him and comprehend what he has done for them. Most of us think of Christmas as a time of adoration - "O come let us adore him.... Christ the Lord" - but we adore a baby who has not done anything, as yet, except give us pleasure in his birth and natural beauty. God is to be adored all of the time. That is, he is to be loved and worshiped for who he is and what he has done. The cross always tells us how much he has loved us - and silently suggests that we must love him, too.
2. Neighbors, on the other hand, are not always loveable - seldom are adorable. They do strange things which may annoy and irritate us - even cause us to dislike them so that we have little or nothing to do with them. I have a neighbor who bought the home next door to me a couple of years ago; he wondered where the corners of our lots were and, not satisfied by my explanation, had the property surveyed. It turned out that the northeast corner of my lot was not where he thought it ought to be, so he simply removed the marker that the surveyors had put in the lawn in the hope that I would always forget where the boundary actually was. He's always doing things that might easily irritate me. What is a person supposed to do when he/she has neighbors like that man?
3. Jesus tells us that it is not enough to love God with all of our being. Love is multi-directional in his teachings. It orients a person toward God - and with good reason. After all, God has made us - and that was an act of love. He has revealed how much he loves his people by the ways he has cared for them - as in the exodus - and those are acts of love. He did not completely destroy sinful people in the flood and he promised never again to send such a deluge to the earth - and that was an act of love. He sent prophets to warn his people, as well as to tell them of a Messiah - and that was an act of love. All of this he topped off when he sent his only begotten Son into the world to die on a cross - and that is the supreme act of love. Jesus tells us that we must love that God with all of our being - and also we must love our neighbor as we love ourselves. That is not so easy to do. As an unknown poet once wrote:
That love for one,
From which there doth not spring
Wide love for all,
Is but a worthless thing.
4. The scribe who asked Jesus, "Which commandment is the first of all?", apparently knew the truth in Jesus' answer. But he was like so many of us. He knew, but did he really love God and his fellow human beings? Did he love in two dimensions? Love for God is always expressed in worship and adoration. But it will exist actively in the other dimension as well - in our relationships and loving actions toward other people - if it is genuine. Those who know this are not far from the kingdom of heaven, and those who actually love God and their neighbors - really belong - through the grace of God who instilled the love of Christ in their hearts and lives - in his everlasting kingdom.
A Sermon on the Ffrst Lesson, Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (E, L, C); 6:2-6 (R) - "Words to Live By."
1. The Shemah offers the people of God words to pray by - words to be recited every day by every person who believes in the Lord - words which testify that there is only one God, who is to be worshipped and glorified by people.
2. These are words to communicate to one's family and friends for they are the key to the God-life, which is the only good life there is. God and his love should be a main topic of conversation in the home, as well as in the church.
3. These are words to speak to the world. For God is alive and loving and merciful - and every person in the world needs to hear about this gracious God. The way one lives will either glorify God or deny that he really exists for you.
4. These are words to hope by. For this God is always loveable, because he is kind and merciful - and will go to any lengths he has to be a blessing to his people - even to the extreme of sending his son to a horrible death.
5. Hear, O (Israel in Jesus Christ): "The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord with God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." Jesus adds: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." These are words to live by. Help us, Lord, to love as you have loved us.
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, Hebrews 7:23-28 - "The Last High Priest."
1. The people of God needed high priests to lead the worship of God in the temple and to offer sacrifices for their sins. And God gave them such priests "after the order of Melchizadek" - and laws to legislate their appointment to the priesthood.
2. But all of humanity, not just the Jews, needed a High Priest, for all people have sinned against God and need to have their sins forgiven and be reconciled to their God and heavenly Father. This High Priest had to come from God - unique and sinless - only the Son of God would do, for his sacrifice also had to surpass all the others.
3. High priests offered sacrifices of animals and birds, which they thought were all they had to offer to God in retribution for their sins - and they had to offer sacrifices again and again and again. Jesus offered himself, the sinless Son of God, the Lamb without spot - a sacrifice that would cover the sins of all people and endure forever.
4. Thank God we have a great High Priest in Jesus the Christ. Thank God that he has given himself as a sacrifice for our sins. Thank God that we can call him our Lord and Savior, knowing that he has reconciled God to us and opened up the gate of heaven to all believers.
