Month: August 2009

Text: Mark 7:14-23
Date: Pentecost XIII (Proper 17) + 8/30/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

St. Mark, in his Gospel, has been telling us of the initial criticisms of the Jewish leaders against Jesus by blaming Him for not training His followers correctly, that they are guilty of breaking the religious rules regarding ritual cleanliness and purity. As Mark tells it we discover that the real problem with Jesus’ enemies was their own hypocrisy, that is, relying only on the outward appearance of following God’s Word, as He quoted to them the Bible passage, Isaiah 29:13, “this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Is. 29:13). Today’s Gospel tells of Jesus’ final words to them here, before moving on, revealing the heart of the matter, namely, sin. When it comes to God’s Laws of ritual purity, it is not, as they were thinking, what you eat or what enters your body from the outside that makes you unclean, but rather what proceeds from the inside, “from the heart.” It is the same with any sin or evil a person does. It is not, ultimately, the fault of the environment or of poor training or upbringing. “The devil made me do it” is not an acceptable excuse. By “the heart” the Bible means, of course, the center of a person’s personality, where the ego, the self and its will and its thoughts dwell. Like the physical organ called the heart, it is that center also of your personal and spiritual being. Continue reading “The Heart of the Matter”

Text: Mark 7:1-13
Date: Pentecost XII (Proper 16) + 8/23/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

From the beloved and award-winning musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” the song, “Tradition!”—

Who, day and night, must scramble for a living,
Feed a wife and children, say his daily prayers?
And who has the right, as master of the house,
To have the final word at home? The Papa! Tradition!

Who must know the way to make a proper home,
A quiet home, a kosher home?
Who must raise the family and run the home,
So Papa’s free to read the holy books? The Mama! Tradition!

At three, I started Hebrew school. At ten, I learned a trade.
I hear they’ve picked a bride for me. I hope she’s pretty.
And who does Mama teach to mend and tend and fix,
Preparing me to marry whoever Papa picks? The daughter! Tradition!

The Papa, The Mama, The Son, The Daughter! Tradition!

That could be the theme song of today’s Gospel where the word “tradition” is repeated no less than six times! “For the Pharisees and all the Jews…hold to the tradition of the elders.” “There are many other traditions that they observe.” They ask Jesus, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders?” Jesus calls them hypocrites and answers, saying, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” And He points to the Fourth Commandment and accuses them of “making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.” Continue reading “Tradition”

Text: John 6:50-69
Date: Pentecost XI + 8/16/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

In our once-every-three-years summer vacation visit with St. John in the sixth chapter of his Gospel, we have been faithful in asking the question, “Is John chapter 6 about the Sacrament of the Altar or not?” and answering by saying, “No.” For one thing, in the sacrament Jesus says “this is my body” not as here speaking of his “flesh.” For another thing, for Jesus to speak about the sacrament (1) before its institution on the night when He was betrayed and (2) to people who would clearly have no idea what He’s talking about doesn’t make any sense. For another thing, John 6 does not talk about worthy or unworthy reception of the sacrament but about the eating or the refusal to eat the living bread. No, John 6 is not primarily about the sacrament of the altar. Continue reading “Eating and Drinking in the Kingdom”

by Seminarian David Herald.

Pentecost 10 (Proper 14), August 9, 2009

Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word

Text: John 6:22-35
Date: Pentecost IX (Proper 13) + 8/2/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

In the middle of the long, green season of Sundays after Pentecost, in the second year of the three-year lectionary (Series B), Saint Mark’s short Gospel takes a little, three-week summer vacation and Saint John makes a visit with readings from the sixth chapter of his Gospel, Jesus’ “Bread of Life” discourse. Especially because John does not include the institution of the Lord’s Supper in his Gospel, and because of the words of Jesus here, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood” (v.53), the question is often asked whether this is John’s way of addressing the Sacrament of the Altar. Is John 6 about the sacrament or not? We believe, on the basis of the text, that it is not. Rather, the chapter is about faith. Nevertheless, it is obviously impossible for a Christian to read John 6 without thinking of the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood. Continue reading “Strange Bread”