February 13, 2022 – Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

I wanted to try something different this week and summarize the readings for you in just a few sentences for each reading:

Jeremiah: Those who trust in human strength and turn away from God are cursed. They live without hope in barrenness. But those who trust in God are like trees planted near a river. They have green leaves and bear much fruit. Because the human heart is deceitful and wicked, God searches all hearts and motives, rewarding people based upon their actions.

Psalm 1: Those who do not follow the ways of the wicked are blessed. They delight in God’s law and are like trees along a riverbank bearing fruit and prospering in all they do. The wicked are worthless and will be judged. God watches over and protects the righteous, but the wicked will be destroyed.

1 Corinthians: Some of the members of the church in Corinth say there is no resurrection. Paul points out that this means that not even Christ has been resurrected, which means their faith is useless, and the believers should be pitied most. But Christ HAS been raised and is the first of a great harvest.

Luke: Jesus preaches to the crowds on the level plain, in Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. Those who are poor or hungry, those who weep, and those who are persecuted are blessed; those who are rich, prosperous, laughing, or praised by the crowds face great sorrow ahead.

The central theme of the readings this week is the contrast between those who follow God’s ways and those who don’t. 

Jeremiah speaks of how those who turn away from God and trust in their own strength are cursed, but those who trust in God and God’s providence are like trees planted near a river; they are filled with life, they have green leaves, and bear much fruit. The same metaphor is used in Psalm 1, where those who trust in God’s law and follow it are like healthy, living trees, while the wicked are cursed. 

In Luke, Jesus speaks of how those who are poor, hungry, and weeping are blessed by God, while those who are rich, prosperous, and laughing will experience woe. It is significant that Jesus’ definition of blessing and curses, and what brings out those conditions, is very different from the way we think about the Old Testament.

Finally, Paul compares those who believe in resurrection with those who don’t, declaring that followers of Jesus who do not believe in a resurrection, or whose faith only has value for his life, are to be pitied; but those for whom resurrection is a reality, know that faith reaches beyond our current life.

Ultimately, all of these readings call us to a choice between trusting our own strength, our own wisdom, our own ways of being and embracing the way of Jesus.

Jesus preached that God’s way is about what happens in this world now… caring for the least, the lost, and the lonely, and siding with the poor, the outcast, and the marginalized. But Jesus also called us to a deep spirituality that trusts in God’s Spirit (not just our own capacity) and believes that what we do now has eternal impact and consequence. That can’t just be getting us to heaven, or we are selfish, so it must also have to do with participating with God in the ongoing work of resurrection, co-creating and bringing the entire world into the fullness of God’s life. God’s call to us, then, is for us to be BOTH mystics who are deeply connected to the reality of God’s presence and purpose, AND activists who are deeply connected to the world in which we live, to the daily realities of injustices and evils, and who seek to participate in the immediate saving work of God within our world. If we can do this right (and not ignore God’s call completely), then we and all those with whom we work and live will know the benefit of a more just and compassionate way of life, while also celebrating the future hope of being one with Christ.

How we choose to live has consequences. In the Scriptures and example of Christ, we have been given a picture of the kind of life that brings about greater wholeness and joy for those who live it. And we’ve also been given a picture of the pain that results when we reject God’s ways. 

Do we follow a Jesus who was simply a good man who worked for the good of his society, and so when we follow Jesus, does that make us good people? OR do we follow Jesus because he removes any guilt or responsibility from us and guarantees us a place in a future heaven? OR do we follow Jesus who connects us to God who is the source of life, beauty, truth and goodness in the world, who offers us a future hope of a resurrection life that fills the world, AND who also calls us to engage daily in the tough work of living with kindness, compassion, justice, peace, generosity, and love? 

Are blessings and curses God’s actions, coming from outside of our human reality, imposed upon us? Or are they consequences of how we live now with one another? Do we honestly trust and believe that God’s way really is the best way to move the entire universe a little closer each day to experiencing the fullness of resurrection life?

May our journey this week lead us deeper into the way of Jesus in practical, world-changing ways.