Year B
Jeremiah 11:18-20
Psalm 54
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
Mark 9:30-37<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus told the disciples\u2026 that there were schemes being devised against him\u2026 that he would be betrayed into human hands\u2026 and be killed\u2026 and would rise on the third day\u2026 but they didn’t understand\u2026 and were afraid to ask\u2026 because on the way\u2026 they had argued with one another\u2026 about who was the greatest\u2026 not which of them could be the most successful servant of all\u2026 not who could be the least among them\u2026 as children were\u2026 but who could be the greatest\u2026 and they were afraid to ask\u2026 because their teacher had just told them\u2026 that he would not inherit\u2026 what the world valued\u2026 that his name would not be put up in lights\u2026 or on buildings\u2026 that he would not promote himself by seeking the wealth and power and authority that the world valued\u2026 that all of that would not become his\u2026 because he would die…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were afraid to ask\u2026 because what they had set their hearts and minds on\u2026 was in complete opposition to who Jesus was\u2026 and what he was all about\u2026 ] and while they did not\u2026 could not\u2026 understand how Jesus could meet this kind of end\u2026 on some level\u2026 they must have realized\u2026 they must have known\u2026 that what they were arguing about\u2026 what they desired\u2026 was not what Jesus desired\u2026 that the values that Jesus embodied\u2026 the values that Jesus held dear\u2026 were\u2026 and are\u2026 at odds with the values that the world holds dear\u2026 otherwise\u2026 they would have gladly and eagerly told him what they were arguing about\u2026 and Jesus would have encouraged it…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Jeremiah\u2026 the prophet Jeremiah\u2026 did not know that schemes were being devised against him\u2026 but God made them known to him\u2026 the people of Anathoth\u2026 Jeremiah\u2019s hometown\u2026 wanted to kill him because of his prophetic messages… because of their idolatry and disobedience\u2026 Jeremiah had been delivering harsh warnings of God\u2019s impending judgment against them\u2026 and against Judah\u2026 ] and those prophecies\u2026 particularly against Anathoth\u2026 made him\u2026 to say the least\u2026 unpopular\u2026 and a target\u2026 for those who didn’t want to hear or believe his message\u2026 because they told of disaster\u2026 including the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile\u2026 and because they called for repentance\u2026 and this is the first of Jeremiah’s seven laments\u2026 in which he complains to God about his own suffering\u2026 suffering caused by others\u2026 who spoke falsehoods\u2026 and who didn’t want to listen to the truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up until pretty recently\u2026 my daughter and son-in-law lived in Springfield, Ohio\u2026 it seems to me they got out just in time\u2026 because since early September\u2026 Springfield has received more than 35 threats of violence\u2026 including bomb threats\u2026 which according to the mayor\u2026 have prompted evacuations of elementary schools and supermarkets\u2026 lockdowns of hospitals\u2026 and a transition to remote learning at several local colleges\u2026 including Wittenberg University\u2026 a university with Lutheran roots\u2026 all because unsubstantiated claims have been made\u2026 that Haitian immigrants\u2026 who live and work there\u2026 were stealing pets\u2026 and eating them\u2026 even though city manager Bryan Heck has repeatedly said that there’s no credible evidence to show that any of this was true\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we did not know\u2026 that it was against us\u2026 O Lord\u2026 that they devised schemes<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The letter of James affirms that Wisdom from above is first pure\u2026 then peaceable\u2026 gentle\u2026 willing to yield\u2026 and full of mercy and good fruits… without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy\u2026 and he warns against envy and self-ambition\u2026 though in our time\u2026 we live in a culture\u2026 that in some ways\u2026 depends on it… <\/p>\n\n\n\n And as you know\u2026 we’re approaching an election\u2026 an election which will remain tense\u2026 and be of unprecedented consequence\u2026 and just as Martin Luther King, Jr. claimed that budgets are moral documents\u2026 because they reveal what we value\u2026 our ability to vote\u2026 the right and responsibility we have to vote\u2026 carries with it deep moral and theological implications\u2026 because as in every election\u2026 we are given opportunities to learn about the candidates\u2026 and to discern\u2026 pray\u2026 and express our values\u2026 by choosing those which we believe in our heart of hearts\u2026 most closely reflect the values about which Jesus spoke\u2026 and those for which he was killed\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Episcopal Priest Barbara Brown Taylor writes that James is unimpressed by the kind of wisdom and understanding that people use to pound one another\u2026 or twist the truth to their own advantage\u2026 as every election campaign may sometimes do\u2026 but the only Wisdom that interests James\u2026 is Wisdom from above\u2026 it has nothing to do with simply having good ideas\u2026 and everything to do\u2026 with living good lives\u2026 ] so when we think we experience the kind of envy and self-ambition that James describes\u2026 how do we respond to it\u2026 and when we think we experience the kind of peace and justice he describes\u2026 how do we discern its source and promote it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we look at today’s Gospel\u2026 we may feel a bit embarrassed for the disciples who argued\u2026 argued about who was the greatest\u2026 because we can relate\u2026 ] because we sometimes engage in this kind of arguing ourselves\u2026 because we live in a culture that focuses on who\u2026 or what\u2026 is the greatest\u2026 the strongest\u2026 the winningest\u2026 the richest\u2026 the most powerful\u2026 and the fastest\u2026 ] and fortunes are made and lost on these values\u2026 and too many of us endure baseless hyperbole that plays on our weaknesses\u2026 our fears\u2026 and our sense of envy\u2026 or injustice\u2026 or ambition\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s why I don’t believe that the Kingdom of Heaven is compatible with how we understand the American Dream\u2026 how some have to lose so others can win\u2026 ] how a theology of self-emptying\u2026 is at odds with a theology of acquisition\u2026 a theology of servanthood\u2026 . is at odds with a theology of self-promotion\u2026 a theology of vulnerability\u2026 is at odds with a theology of intimidation\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n In both Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13\u2026 Jesus says you cannot serve both God\u2026 and wealth\u2026 ] now let’s be clear\u2026 this doesn’t mean that money\u2026 when used to promote the values that Jesus wants us to live out\u2026 is evil\u2026 ] what it means\u2026 according to the first of Ten Commandments\u2026 is that you shall have no gods\u2026 before YHWH\u2026 and it takes a certain kind of Wisdom\u2026 to embody this and live it out\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember when the crowd wanted to take Jesus and make him King\u2026 give him the greatest social status of all\u2026 and he slipped away… ] because God-in-Jesus is beyond social status\u2026 and when we welcome children\u2026 and the marginalized\u2026 and immigrants\u2026 and any others who are the least of these… and serve them\u2026 we express the consciousness of a God who is beyond social status\u2026 when we welcome them… we welcome Jesus… and the One who sent him\u2026 our identity becomes re-aligned with the One who is greatest\u2026 by our willingness to be among the last\u2026 ] in serving those whom the world holds least\u2026 we become first in our identity in Christ\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Good News is that Jesus showed us the Way\u2026 showed us the way of transformation and connection\u2026 showed us that the world doesn’t have to be the way it is\u2026 but that it can be the way the Word is\u2026 ] that sometimes\u2026 the bread and wine we consume at Eucharist may seem like just bread and wine\u2026 but through them we are connected to each other\u2026 and the separation we experience\u2026 can be flattened into a kind of seamless unity\u2026 so that as we are formed\u2026 and when we’re dismissed from our worship\u2026 our service to all of our neighbors\u2026 may bear good fruit\u2026 holy God\u2026 please make it so\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year B Jeremiah 11:18-20 Psalm 54 James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a Mark 9:30-37 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 Jesus told the disciples\u2026 that there were schemes being devised against him\u2026 that he would be betrayed into human hands\u2026 and be killed\u2026 and would rise on the third day\u2026 but they didn’t understand\u2026 and were afraid to ask\u2026 because on the way\u2026 they had argued with one another\u2026 about who was the greatest\u2026 not which of them could be the most successful servant of all\u2026 not who could be the least among them\u2026 as children were\u2026 but who could be the greatest\u2026 and they were afraid to ask\u2026 because their teacher had just told them\u2026 that he would not inherit\u2026 what the world valued\u2026 that his name would not be put up in lights\u2026 or on buildings\u2026 that he would not promote himself by seeking the wealth and power and authority that the world valued\u2026 that all of that would not become his\u2026 because he would die… They were afraid to ask\u2026 because what they had set their hearts and minds on\u2026 was in complete opposition to who Jesus was\u2026 and what he was all about\u2026 ] and while they did not\u2026 could not\u2026 understand how Jesus could meet this kind of end\u2026 on some level\u2026 they must have realized\u2026 they must have known\u2026 that what they were arguing about\u2026 what they desired\u2026 was not what Jesus desired\u2026 that the values that Jesus embodied\u2026 the values that Jesus held dear\u2026 were\u2026 and are\u2026 at odds with the values that the world holds dear\u2026 otherwise\u2026 they would have gladly and eagerly told him what they were arguing about\u2026 and Jesus would have encouraged it… And Jeremiah\u2026 the prophet Jeremiah\u2026 did not know that schemes were being devised against him\u2026 but God made them known to him\u2026 the people of Anathoth\u2026 Jeremiah\u2019s hometown\u2026 wanted to kill him because of his prophetic messages… because of their idolatry and disobedience\u2026 Jeremiah had been delivering harsh warnings of God\u2019s impending judgment against them\u2026 and against Judah\u2026 ] and those prophecies\u2026 particularly against Anathoth\u2026 made him\u2026 to say the least\u2026 unpopular\u2026 and a target\u2026 for those who didn’t want to hear or believe his message\u2026 because they told of disaster\u2026 including the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile\u2026 and because they called for repentance\u2026 and this is the first of Jeremiah’s seven laments\u2026 in which he complains to God about his own suffering\u2026 suffering caused by others\u2026 who spoke falsehoods\u2026 and who didn’t want to listen to the truth\u2026 Up until pretty recently\u2026 my daughter and son-in-law lived in Springfield, Ohio\u2026 it seems to me they got out just in time\u2026 because since early September\u2026 Springfield has received more than 35 threats of violence\u2026 including bomb threats\u2026 which according to the mayor\u2026 have prompted evacuations of elementary schools and supermarkets\u2026 lockdowns of hospitals\u2026 and a transition to remote learning at several local colleges\u2026 including Wittenberg University\u2026 a university with Lutheran roots\u2026 all because unsubstantiated claims have been made\u2026 that Haitian immigrants\u2026 who live and work there\u2026 were stealing pets\u2026 and eating them\u2026 even though city manager Bryan Heck has repeatedly said that there’s no credible evidence to show that any of this was true\u2026 And we did not know\u2026 that it was against us\u2026 O Lord\u2026 that they devised schemes\u2026 The letter of James affirms that Wisdom from above is first pure\u2026 then peaceable\u2026 gentle\u2026 willing to yield\u2026 and full of mercy and good fruits… without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy\u2026 and he warns against envy and self-ambition\u2026 though in our time\u2026 we live in a culture\u2026 that in some ways\u2026 depends on it… And as you know\u2026 we’re approaching an election\u2026 an election which will remain tense\u2026 and be of unprecedented consequence\u2026 and just as Martin Luther King, Jr. claimed that budgets are moral documents\u2026 because they reveal what we value\u2026 our ability to vote\u2026 the right and responsibility we have to vote\u2026 carries with it deep moral and theological implications\u2026 because as in every election\u2026 we are given opportunities to learn about the candidates\u2026 and to discern\u2026 pray\u2026 and express our values\u2026 by choosing those which we believe in our heart of hearts\u2026 most closely reflect the values about which Jesus spoke\u2026 and those for which he was killed\u2026 Episcopal Priest Barbara Brown Taylor writes that James is unimpressed by the kind of wisdom and understanding that people use to pound one another\u2026 or twist the truth to their own advantage\u2026 as every election campaign may sometimes do\u2026 but the only Wisdom that interests James\u2026 is Wisdom from above\u2026 it has nothing to do with simply having good ideas\u2026 and everything to do\u2026 with living good lives\u2026 ] so when we think we experience the kind of envy and self-ambition that James describes\u2026 how do we respond to it\u2026 and when we think we experience the kind of peace and justice he describes\u2026 how do we discern its source and promote it\u2026 When we look at today’s Gospel\u2026 we may feel a bit embarrassed for the disciples who argued\u2026 argued about who was the greatest\u2026 because we can relate\u2026 ] because we sometimes engage in this kind of arguing ourselves\u2026 because we live in a culture that focuses on who\u2026 or what\u2026 is the greatest\u2026 the strongest\u2026 the winningest\u2026 the richest\u2026 the most powerful\u2026 and the fastest\u2026 ] and fortunes are made and lost on these values\u2026 and too many of us endure baseless hyperbole that plays on our weaknesses\u2026 our fears\u2026 and our sense of envy\u2026 or injustice\u2026 or ambition\u2026 That’s why I don’t believe that the Kingdom of Heaven is compatible with how we understand the American Dream\u2026 how some have to lose so others can win\u2026 ] how a theology of self-emptying\u2026 is at odds with a theology of acquisition\u2026 a theology of servanthood\u2026 . is at odds with a theology of self-promotion\u2026 a theology of vulnerability\u2026 is at odds with a theology of intimidation\u2026 In both Matthew 6:24 and 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