Today in the Spirit: Epiphany 6C
The NT reveals the light of the Son of God coming into the world both by Jesus’ works and his words. So it is that not only our Lord’s miracles but his teaching comes into focus in Epiphany, particularly the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew over five weeks in Year A and from the Sermon on the Plain in Luke over three weeks in Year C.
The assigned Gospel reading for Epiphany 6C is the version of the Beatitudes we find in Luke 6:17-26. Following the ancient Hebrew form of two-way wisdom literature, this teaching of Jesus contains blessings and woes set in parallel form. So, we hear, “‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied’” (21) at the start of the first part, and “‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation’” (24) at the start of the second.
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The assigned OT reading from Jeremiah 17:5-10 is an example of two-way wisdom beginning with the strong negative, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord” (5), followed by an image of “a shrub in the desert” (6) representing spiritual desolation. Then comes the contrasting line of strong positive, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord” (7), followed by an image of a “tree planted by the water,” representing spiritual fruitfulness.
The appointed Psalm 1 contains language so similar to the Jeremiah prophecy that the reader suspects that one composer has borrowed from the other, though who came first we do not know. The psalm starts with the testimony to the “blessed” person who is, again, “like a tree planted by the waterside” (3, BCP, New Coverdale) and continues to describe “the ungodly” who are “like the chaff, which the wind scatters away from the face of the earth” (5, BCP, New Coverdale).
The assigned NT reading from 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 takes us to the main point in this last section of the letter we have been following in Year C. Apparently, some in Corinth are arguing that “there is no resurrection of the dead” (12), and that, accordingly, not even Christ was resurrected. Paul will turn the logic of that argument on its head and say, but our faith “received” (15:1) is that “in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead” (20), and so all arguments for the possibility that there is no resurrection from the dead must be rendered null and void.
The appointed Collect is another general prayer in the BCP that, by God’s mercy and goodness, the people of God would be “governed and preserved evermore.” Notice that phrasing might suggest a clear continuing identity and activity of the Church under Christ’s governance beyond the present era.
The Collect
Almighty God, look mercifully upon your people, that by your great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
I the LORD Search the Heart (Jeremiah 17:5-10)
5 Thus says the Lord:
Jeremiah 17:5-20
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
8 He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
One key feature of this particular sample of two-way wisdom in the Bible is the parallel construction of “Cursed is the man who trusts in man” (5) and “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD” (7). Trust in man and trust in God are juxtaposed in the text like standard bearers outside two enemy castles, marking the very characters of the inhabitants inside each. The consequences of following one way or the other could hardly be more distinct: the one “like a shrub in the desert” (6), the other “like a tree planted by water” (8). The Hebrew word for “trusts” is the same in each part and means “relies on” and “depends on.”
Devotionally, we find here, as in many places in Scripture, that our following God is, first and foremost, a matter of the heart. Just so, after the comparison is made, we hear the statement of God, “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind (10a).” The order is important: the devotion of the heart will train the mind’s thinking according to its orientation. Hence, the Lord searches the heart for devotion to him (trust in him), then shapes, forms, and “tests” the mind to produce godly thinking and, by extension, right action (“the fruit of his deeds”, 10b). The state of one’s heart is the key. We need the Holy Spirit to control the heart with devotion to Jesus.
Today, in the Spirit, hearing the plain two-way language in Jeremiah about trust in God and trust in man, I render myself, with your help, open to the Lord’s searching of my heart for devotion to him, to see what will come of it.
How Blessed (Psalm 1)
1 Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, *
Psalm 1, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
nor stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, *
and on his law will he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the waterside, *
that will bring forth his fruit in due season.
4 His leaf also shall not wither; *
and look, whatever he does, it shall prosper.
5 As for the ungodly, it is not so with them; *
but they are like the chaff, which the wind scatters away from the face of the earth.
6 Therefore the ungodly shall not be able to stand in the judgment, *
neither the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
7 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Or, “For this reason, the wicked cannot withstand judgment” (NET, 6). It is unlikely the ancient Hebrew psalmist would have imagined anything like a New Testament final judgment event, but more of an earthly calamity like that, which the Israelites often experienced as God’s severe chastening of his people. If that is the case, the circumstance of this psalm is that of a godly person who has observed the behavior of people in the world and determined that “the ungodly,” those who do not live by the law, do not withstand hard times of testing, while “the righteous” do–and “How “blessed” (1, NET) is the sight of their enduring.
A devotional application may be for us to ask ourselves, Do we present a “blessed” sight to others as we pass through times of adversity? Whether or not we are always smiling and looking neat and trim in our Christian suits is beside the point. Appearances are not what impresses this psalmist but rather prosperity and fruitfulness that seem to defy the hardness of hard times everyone else is experiencing. It is not that “the righteous” person never suffers, but he or she can withstand the difficulty and come through it, even prosper under the work of the pruning hand of God while others wicked perish.
In the age of Christ who has come, it is by grace that we come to want to avoid the counsel of the wicked, to meditate on the word of God and to withstand calamity. Today, in the Spirit, we hear the wisdom of this psalm as a clarion call to abide in the Lord Jesus and let him see to the building up of our character.
In Vain (1 Corinthians 15:12-20)
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
The mainly Gentile church members in Corinth in Paul’s day are culturally and philosophically pre-conditioned to believe that nothing good can be expected of the human body after death. Paul will engage their skepticism, not with intellectual arguments on their terms, but with a point of logic: “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised” (13). And, if Christ has not been raised, then two things: 1) Christian preaching and Christian faith are “in vain” (14), and 2) your faith is “futile” (17). These are two different Greek words in those verses, which are similar but not identical. Kenos (14, twice) means “empty” or “vain” in the sense of comprehension. Mataios (17) means “empty” or “useless” for producing any good result. To say you are a Christian and not believe in the resurrection of the body neither makes sense nor leads to any productive end.
To us who have less difficulty believing in the resurrection of “the dead” (Nicene Creed) or “the body” (Apostle’s Creed), this is encouraging reinforcement of a sure hope for eternal life. But even in this life, the fact that “Christ has been raised” serves as encouragement for our bodies. It means with confidence that, as Paul writes in Romans, “by the mercies of God, [we] present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Rom. 12:2) here and now. We can, in faith, take risks with our bodies, accepting stress on our physical health to the measure God calls us to do so.
Amy Carmichael was a missionary in southern India for most of her life. She spent over twenty years at the end of her life in service, all but bedridden after a fall. She writes in her personal diary:
“Not relief from pain, not relief from the weariness that follows, not anything of that sort at all, is my chief need. Thou, O Lord my God art my need—Thy courage, Thy patience, Thy fortitude. And very much I need a quickened gratitude for the countless helps given every day.”
Today, in the Spirit, I hear Paul’s argument to the church in Corinth coming against my own misconceptions of how to understand my body in service to you.
Blessed Are You…Woe to You (Luke 6:17-26)
17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. 20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:
Luke 6:17-26
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!
23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.
“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
Is there anything more puzzling than trying to understand the meaning of the Beatitudes? Are they directives or descriptions? Do they set goals for us to meet in this world, or are they statements of fact that we must accept? It is undoubtedly significant that in both Matthew and Luke, the narrative preceding the first lines of Jesus’ preaching specifies that he is speaking to “his disciples.” (20). To them, he looks as he speaks as if it is only they who can hear his words and derive benefit from them. In trying to understand the Beatitudes, perhaps we must begin with the presupposition that it is into the experience of his followers—into their despairing and longings and and sacrifices and failures—that he speaks blessings and woes.
Lord, into the realization of my utter poverty of anything of value to offer for the establishment of your kingdom, I hear your “blessed are you” and “yours is the kingdom of God.” Lord, as a response to my hunger for that something more of your life I cannot have now and to my weeping over the sorrowful state of the world and my own shortcomings having helped to make it that way, I hear your “blessed are you” and your promises of satisfaction and laughter. Lord, into my fears of being disliked and the wounds of being hurt in the ministry of the gospel, I hear your “blessed are you” and rejoice in anticipation of my reward to come.
Lord, in the face of my temptation every day to pack it all in and run after the riches of the world instead of you, I hear the warning of your “woe.” Lord, in response to the many times I have forsaken opportunities to serve you in favor of gorging myself and laughing to overwhelm the call of your voice, I feel the sting of your “woe” and plea with you to preserve me from judgment. And Lord, in response to the countless times I have shamelessly chosen to save face and to seek the approval of others over everything else. I hear your pronouncement “woe to you” for my acting as shamefully as any infidel who has ever denied you.
Today, Holy Spirit, let me hear once again the declaration of your blessings and woes speaking to me as your disciple.
Today in the Spirit
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