Sermons on “Luke”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: Part 2: “Letter from Birmingham Jail: February 3, 2019
Today’s Gospel story is a continuation of last week’s where Jesus opens the book of the prophet Isaiah and finds the place where it is written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. …” Jesus then closes the book and gives it back to the attendant, and sits down. As everyone is watching him and he says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
With Isaiah’s words still echoing in the synagogue, Jesus turns his listeners’ expectations upside down. By saying these words from Isaiah and giving examples of the widow of Zarephath and the leper Naaman Jesus scandalizes his hearers by stating that the only successes the prophets Elijah and Elisha had at healing were with pagan foreigners. Jeremiah the young prophet and Paul the apostle also speak from a prophetic position that is not welcome, at least not at first.
Third Sunday After the Epiphany: Jesus Reads in the Synagogue at Nazareth, January 27th 2019
This is the full service we held on Sunday, January 27, 2019 in the church office as the heat was inoperative in the rest of the church. National Grid was able to restore our heat Sunday afternoon.
View SermonThe Baptism of the Lord: Remember Your Baptism January 13th, 2019
On this First Sunday after the Feast of the Epiphany we always celebrate the baptism of Jesus by John in the River Jordan. Since we are in Year C, it’s Luke’s version that we read. As the evangelist most preoccupied with the formation of the church, Luke emphasizes the importance of the bestowal of the Holy Spirit in both his gospel and the history book of the New Testament (also written by Luke), the Book of Acts.
Sometimes, but not always, it is helpful to describe things by what they are not. Let’s try this with our baptisms.
1. Baptisms are not “christenings,” even though the word “Christ” is in its name. We christen boats; we baptize people.
2. Baptisms did not begin with Jesus or John the Baptist. Baptisms were an ancient custom in Judaism for purification of the body Baptism, next to circumcision and sacrifice, was an absolutely necessary condition to be fulfilled by a proselyte, or newcomer, to Judaism.
3. Purification from sins was also not a new idea with John. Baptism was practiced in ancient (Ḥasidic or Essene) Judaism.
4. Baptisms are not about dunking someone in water, though some traditions, ie.,American Baptists, practice full immersion, but usually not Episcopalians- though we can. The water is critical to baptisms, however. Interesting to note that in ancient Judaism, full immersion 3 times in water was a part of baptism.
In addition to naming the Holy Spirit and fire, beginning in the baptisms John performed, the church has used this joining, this “initiation rite, ” to name the child or adult about to be baptized. This too is different from its ancient roots.Names are the first means by which we are set apart.
