Sermon
Two Quiet Josephs
March 31, 2024 • William A. Evertsberg • Matthew 27:57–61, Matthew 28:1–10
When you come to the end of all four Gospels, no matter what Gospel you’re reading, you’re going to see an obscure, minor actor with a walk-on part who appears out of nowhere, disappears just as quickly, and is never heard from again. His name is Joseph of Arimathea, and he is the guy who talked Pilate into handing over Jesus’ bruised, beaten, battered, bloodied body from the cross and then loaned him his own personal grave so that Jesus could have a proper burial. I say ‘loaned’ rather than ‘gave’ because as it turns out, Jesus wouldn’t need his borrowed grave for long. Now who is this Joseph of Arimathea and what makes him more important in all four Gospels than the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Magi, the Shepherds, and Zacchaeus? Joseph appears quadruple the number of times as those other events. Who is he and where did he come from? Where is Arimathea? But that’s just the point—no one knows. There are some educated guesses, but no one’s sure. This cryptic character comes out of nowhere and is never heard from again.
God's Odd Benedictions VI: The Unalloyed
March 17, 2024 • William A. Evertsberg • Matthew 5:1–8
The word for ‘pure’ that Jesus uses here in the sixth beatitude means in Greek just what it means in English, as when we say, “Her heart was pure gold.” We mean that her essence is unalloyed, not contaminated with traces of zinc, iron, lead, or whatever it is that makes gold less than 24-karat. Her heart is unadulterated, free from any hint of other color or substance, untarnished by any fleck of stain. There is only one thing in there, and nothing else, nothing else at all. No alloys, additives, preservatives, contaminants; nothing shameful, nothing false, nothing unclean. She is like Dany Targaryen’s troops: The Unsullied.
God's Odd Benedictions V: The Merciful
March 10, 2024 • Katie Lancaster • Matthew 5:1–7
In late 2015, Pope Francis designated a year of mercy. He called it a Jubilee of Mercy. I love this. 1.3 billion people energized, motivated, galvanized, ignited in the direction of mercy. A time for all to go out and offer mercy, to live out the mercy that God has for us. Pope Francis says that “The name of God is mercy”, that the very name of God is mercy, and he says “Jesus of Nazareth by his words, actions, and entire person reveals the mercy of God.”#_ftn1 Jesus of Nazareth is the living face of our God of mercy. The very character of God, the very nucleus of God, the core identity of God is mercy. #_ftnref1Pope Francis. "Misericordiae Vultus." Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, Vatican City, 11 April 2015.
God's Odd Benedictions, IV: The Hungry
March 3, 2024 • William A. Evertsberg • Matthew 5:1–6
This is the most sensible and least odd of "God’s Odd Benedictions". We get this one. Of course Jesus would love the righteous. Of course God would bless them. But that’s not exactly what Jesus says. He doesn’t say, “Blessed are the righteous.” He says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. It’s not enough to be righteous. You have to be desperate for it. You have to ache for it. Without righteousness, these kinds of folk have a visceral and existential, almost carnal, emptiness in the pit of their stomach.
God's Odd Benedictions, III: The Meek
February 25, 2024 • William A. Evertsberg • Matthew 5:1–5
The poor says Jesus, will receive the kingdom. The sad will be consoled. And the meek—what do they get? They get everything. The meek will inherit the earth. Eugene Peterson translates this beatitude like this: “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.”#_ftn1 Everything that can’t be bought. Is Jesus right about that? #_ftnref1Eugene Peterson in his Bible translation The Message.
God's Odd Benedictions, II: The Sad
February 18, 2024 • William A. Evertsberg • Matthew 5:1–4
Said one Jewish scholar, “It is frustration and sorrow that are our passports to fellowship and sympathy. Life teaches us at every turn how insufferable are those who have never suffered.”#_ftn1 Yes? Have you experienced the insufferability of the unsuffering: the frozen face, the unmoved affect, the narcotic numbness of the unsuffering? When Katie Lancaster and Melanie Flynn train our Stephen Ministers, they know that one of the greatest obstacles they have to overcome is a stubborn lack of self-confidence. “I can’t do this,” they think. “I didn’t go to seminary. I don’t have the skills.” #_ftnref1Slightly adapted from Robert Gordis, Book of God and Man (University of Chicago Press, 1978), p. 114.
God's Odd Benedictions, I: The Poor
February 14, 2024 • Christine V. Hides • Matthew 5:3–12
Ash Wednesday The third graders will also tell you that the secret to learning the unpatterned and unpredictable blessings of Jesus is to use these triangle memory cards which have a blessing on one side, the promise on the other, and when put in order become a mountain. When I asked them to tell me what it means to be “poor in spirit” here’s what the 3rd graders told me: ● It means being in humble ● It means you don’t have a lot of fancy stuff ● It is what you feel when something is really hard or sad They also told me that being blessed means that you can still feel happy and content if you are poor in spirit because the kingdom of God is here, still growing like a tiny seed that will one day be big enough for all the birds of the air to find shelter in its branches, and all creatures to find shade under its canopy. We should be proud of these young people who condensed 2,000 years’ worth of Christian interpretation of this Beatitude into 150 words! Well done!
Jesus' Grandmothers, V: Mary
February 11, 2024 • Katie Lancaster • Luke 2:41–52
A sermon series on Jesus’ grandmothers, and yet Mary is no grandmother. No. She is Theotokos. Bearer of God. Hagia Maria. Saint Mary. Panagia. Most Holy. Purissima. Most Pure. Our Lady of Tenderness. She Who Shows the Way. Throne of Wisdom. Mater Dolorosa, Mother of Sorrows. Her’s is a much more direct lineage to Jesus, the only one whose DNA courses through his veins. From that long pregnant walk to Bethlehem to her place at the foot of the cross, she is a woman of deepest joy and most weighty sorrow. She is not a grandmother to Jesus, but Mary propels us back toward the grandmothers of Jesus all the while allowing their stories to speak into his family tree, showing us again Mary’s place in this most holy pedigree.