Sermon: Following Christ in the Ordinary

Lectionary: Proper 5(A)

Text: Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

Woman with the Flow of Blood (detail)
Wesley, Frank, 1923-2002

What does it look like to live as a Christ-follower? We have left behind the first half of the Christian year, filled with high days and holidays. We move past the pillars of Christian calendar and enter Ordinary Time. We descend from the mountaintops of the Christian liturgical calendar to spend the next six months walking the ordinary paths with Christ. To live as a Christ-follower is to learn how Jesus lived among the ordinary lives around him.

We need to set up the scene for today’s gospel reading. The Sermon on the Mount has been delivered. Jesus goes to Capernaum. Along the way he performs healings. In Capernaum, he heals a centurion’s servant. Jesus goes to Peter’s house where he heals Peter’s mother-in-law. Large crowds come to Peter’s house, where Jesus is staying, to be healed.

Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee, where a storm rises. Jesus calms the storm. Upon reaching the other shore Jesus is confronted by two men possessed by demons. Jesus cures them by sending the demons into pigs which result in their destruction. The people of the town beg Jesus to leave. He does and returns to where he came from.

The text in Matthew reads, “And came to his own town.” This could mean Nazareth, but it is more likely to be Capernaum, the home of Peter and the other fishermen disciples. This is where the rest of the story in Matthew 9 takes place.

First, a group of people carry a paralyzed man on a stretcher. Jesus forgives the man’s sins, giving credit to the faith of the entire group as the catalyst for forgiveness. Some of the religious leaders are alarmed by Jesus’ claim to offer forgiveness. In response, to show that he does have authority to forgive, he heals the man’s physical ailment.

It is in this immediate aftermath (at least in the way the writer of Matthew has arranged the text), Jesus comes across Matthew, the tax collector.

Here I pause to make note that the call of Matthew and the two healings that are part of today’s gospel reading are found in both Mark and Luke. The sequence is the same in all three, but details are different and even contradictory in a couple places. I note this to remind us that the gospel writers were not writing factually accurate historical texts. They were writing theological interpretations of Jesus’ life and adjusted details to fit their purposes.

Matthew, the tax collector, is named Levi in the other gospels. He is called by Jesus to follow, and he does. Next there is a banquet held. In Mark, the location is ambiguous. It could be Matthew’s house, or it could be at Jesus’. Luke identifies the location as Levi’s house. Matthew, the writer, use “the house” to identify it. The last house mentioned that fits the grammar is Peter’s house. Using this last reading, at least when reading Matthew’s text, we can conclude that it is Jesus who is hosting the banquet. This interpretation also fits well with the theme of the Messianic banquet found later in Matthew’s text.

In hosting the banquet and inviting “tax collectors and sinners” (as some of Jesus’ antagonists put it), Jesus acts and shows what restoration and wholeness of community looks like.

Some of the religious leaders observe Jesus’ association and question the boundary breaking Jesus is allowing himself and his disciples. It is interesting that the question is directed not to Jesus, but to his disciples. It is almost as if they are attempting to sow seeds of doubt into Jesus’ disciples…

But Jesus hears the question and answers.

But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13 NRSVue)

The first saying is an adaptation of similar proverbs in circulation around that time. One commentary states,

Plutarch quotes a similar saying of the Spartan king Pausanias when he was criticized for neglecting his own people: “It is not the custom of doctors to spend time among people who are healthy, but where people are ill.” The philosopher Diogenes is quoted as saying that as a doctor must go among the sick so a wise man must mix with fools. The point is obvious: any effective “healer” must expect to get his hands dirty.[1]

Jesus then says, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” The word learn is μανθάνω (manthanō) which forms the root for the word disciple, μαθητής (mathētēs). Here we begin to understand that becoming a disciple means learning. What are disciples to learn? We are to learn the way of God’s mercy.

God’s mercy has already been demonstrated in the Jesus’ works of healing, of casting out demons, and offering forgiveness. Mercy was demonstrated in calling Matthew, someone many would have considered a traitor to the nation. Mercy was demonstrated in Jesus seeking out those that would normally not be invited to dine at a rabbi’s table.

Too often, Jesus’ response has been used to place grace and mercy in opposition with religion, ritual, and law. It has been used to negatively portray Jews and Judaism as self-righteous, legalistic and lacking in grace and mercy. We need to unlearn such misconceptions and harmful stereotypes.

Sacrifice, religion, and rituals are not problems. Neither is righteousness. But when they become boundary markers to define insiders and outsiders, when they become tools to harm and exclude, then their uses become problematic.

In the next two vignettes, Jesus continues to demonstrate his way of mercy.

In the middle of the banquet he is hosting, a community leader enters and entreats Jesus to come now. He is a desperate father and assumes a posture of petitioning, but this scene could be interpreted as showing this leader’s privilege in interrupting a banquet and assuming Jesus would comply.

Jesus sets aside his own banquet to follow the community leader. In this we learn that following Christ might mean following petitions of need, regardless of whomever is making the request. It might mean diverting from our current activities and plans.

While on the way, a woman experiencing hemorrhaging for twelve years quietly comes to Jesus and touches the fringe of his outer garment. In doing so, she is healed and noticed. A woman is restored to physical and social health.

History is replete with Christian sermons that expound on the idea of uncleanness and ritual purity that is supposedly found here. The text is silent on the matter. Even if the concept of ritual purity might have been in the background, the foreground is about the mercy that Jesus shows and the healing and restoration to wholeness that is his work.

When ritual purity becomes the focus of these texts, it too often becomes a boundary marker and a point of judgment by Christians against Jews and Judaism. It ends up reinforcing something these very stories are meant to abolish.

Jesus continues to the leader’s house where funeral practices have already begun. He is laughed at when he says that the girl is only sleeping. Ignoring their ridicule, he commands them out. He resurrects the girl by merely touching. And in so doing, he restores life, family, and community.

On this first Sunday of Ordinary Time, a lesson on following Christ is to learn the way of mercy. God extends the same mercy to all, the mercy that brings healing and wholeness, mercy that begins reconciliations and restorations, mercy that invites all to come. We are agents of God’s mercy and invitation to join at God’s banquet table.

How can we be more inclusive and accepting? How can we be more welcoming? How can we erase boundaries that world’s systems and structures say are needed? What harmful ideas must we unlearn that society, culture, and religion have transmitted to us? This is our work during Ordinary Time, the time of quiet growth and transformation.

In the name of God who Creates,

In the name of God who Invites,

And in the name of God who Cultivates, Amen.

Bibliography

France, R. T. (2007). New International Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Grace, S. (2026, June 2). An Inconvenient Gospel. Retrieved from Companions on the Way: https://www.companionsontheway.com/post/an-inconvenient-gospel

Jarvis, C. A., & Johnson, E. E. (2013). Feasting on the Gospels--Matthew, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

Levine, A.-J. (2007). Matthew and Anti-Judaism. Currents in Theology and Mission, 34-6, 409-416.

Levine, A.-J. (2009). The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

Mathis, T. M. (2026, June 7). Learning Tenderness, Proper 5 (A) – June 7, 2026. Retrieved from Sermons that Work: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/sermon/learning-tenderness-proper-5-a-june-7-2026/

Van De Laar, J. (2026, May 29). Lectionary Reflection for Proper 5A on Matthew 9:9–13, 18–26. Retrieved from Sacredise Your Life!: https://sacredise.substack.com/p/lectionary-reflection-for-proper-853

Wassen, C. (2008). Jesus And The Hemorrhaging Woman In Mark 5:24–34: Insights From Purity Laws From The Dead Sea Scrolls. Scripture in Transition, 647-666.

William B. Eerdmans. (2003). Eerdman's Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.

Wilson, W. T. (2022). Eerdmans Critical Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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[1] (France, 2007)

Sermon: What Is Glory?

Lectionary: Easter 7(A)

Texts: Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11; John17:1-11

Assumption - Christ, Mary, Saints, and Angels in Glory
Antonio Allegri da Correggio, ca. 1526-1530

What is the greatest threat to the community of the followers of Jesus Christ? We might easily be led to think it is the external threat from demonic persecution as the reading from 1 Peter 4 and 5 seems to imply. And in response, reading that we are to be more “steadfast in faith” (1 Pet. 5:9) we might think that we this means better definition and policing of our faith boundaries. We might want to keep a closer eye on who and what are inside and outside our boundaries.

The reading from Psalm 68 seems to support the idea of those who are God’s people and those who are not. The psalm calls for the warrior God to fly out against the enemies of God’s people and destroy them. The psalm reminds God of God’s dealings against Pharaoh and the Egyptians during the Exodus, and God’s provision for God’s people in the wilderness as examples of why God needs to act now.

But are external threats the most dangerous to the community raised up by Jesus? Immediately prior to his arrest and crucifixion, what was foremost on Jesus’ mind about his community?

Foremost on Jesus’ mind and concern is the unity of his community. He prays, “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” (John 17:11b) Further on, past where today’s reading ended, Jesus continues his prayer, “I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21)

Internal strife, conflict, and divisions are the most significant threat Jesus sees that will threaten his community. Two thousand years later, we can see that Jesus’ fears were well founded. We have become experts at defining and policing boundaries, both between those who profess belief in Christ and between those who do and those who do not. Wars have been waged in efforts to prove that might is right. Christians have not only been persecutors of those outside the faith, but those within, who believed different things.

Christians, at our best, reflect to some degree the glory of Christ. At our worst, we become devils devouring our own. We need no external threat to destroy ourselves. Rather, the truth is that Christians have often been at their best during times of collective hardship.

The author of Ephesians gives us examples of devilish powers. “… Our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

The portion of 1 Peter read this morning is written to leaders of Christian communities that are experiencing hardship and some kind of persecution. Between the two portions that were read, the writer directs the leaders to be examples of service to those under their charge. True leaders of the community of Jesus Christ are marked by their humility, service, and care for those that they have been entrusted; they reject prideful ambition, power, and material gain.

What is glory? The word is commonly used to describe things such as triumph, honor, fame, renown, brilliance, and splendor. When Christians use “glory” in association with God and Christ, it often follows our common usage. God’s glory and Christ’s glory is frequently associated with the manner of Christ’s second Advent, pictured as a conquering king, destroying his enemies and bringing justice to his followers by vindicating them. This image lines up well with the first part of today’s Psalm reading.

But Jesus, who frequently redefined and reimagined traditional readings and interpretations of scripture, does the same with the concept of God’s glory. In the gospel of John, Jesus consistently speaks of God’s glory as being revealed in Jesus’ life and his crucifixion as the culmination of God’s glory. This is the furthest thing from traditional understandings of glory as victory, triumph, and honor. What then, is God’s glory?

Although the words of Psalm 68 are found clothed in tribal and nationalistic language, within we find hints of God’s glory. And it has nothing to do with God conquering and destroying other nations and peoples.

Rather it is found in the portions that read, “Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity… Rain in abundance, O God, you showered abroad; you restored your heritage when it languished; your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.” (Psalms 68:5-6a, 9-10)

God’s glory is God’s desire to be one with humanity – to reconcile with God’s enemies. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:10) This is the gospel of Christ – to be reconciled to God.

But if we are divided amongst ourselves, if we keep dividing, if we keep creating boundaries, if we keep defining and policing who is in and who is out – if we cannot reconcile amongst ourselves, our witness to the world is diluted at best and destroyed in many cases.

How can we recover, restore, and resurrect unity of Christ’s community?

The first is to believe and live the truth that God desires to reconcile with all. There is no one outside God’s grace. No matter how despicable and evil a person’s thoughts and actions are, God still desires to awaken them to their true heritage as a child of God. We cannot treat as enemies those who God does not.

Secondly, we must understand who our true enemy is. Our enemy is not fellow human beings. As the author of Ephesians tells us, our enemies are not “blood and flesh.” They are, rather, the power structures and systems that feed on fear. Fear leads to the need to define insiders and outsiders, to create scapegoats, to power struggles, conflicts, violence, and wars.

Finally, the only way out of the cycle of violence and death is to understand and live the resurrection life. The resurrection life is one where we put to death all the things motivated by fear and instead live by trusting in God’s abundant provisions. When we are freed from fear, we are freed from the need to protect ourselves. We are free to serve and give of ourselves, even to those that may seek to harm us, just as Jesus served and prayed for those that crucified him.

Jesus prayed,

“As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world… The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one... I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.” (John 17:18, 22, 26)

When this takes place, the concluding verses of Psalm 68 will be fulfilled as all people come for reconciliation to God,

32 Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord, Selah

33 O rider in the heavens, the ancient heavens; listen, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.

34 Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel and whose power is in the skies.

35 Awesome is God in his sanctuary, the God of Israel; he gives power and strength to his people.

Blessed be God! (Psalm 68:32-35)

References

Bartlett, D. L., & Brown Taylor, B. (2010). Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

Van De Laar, J. (2026, May 7). An Invitation to Erotic Aliveness: A Reflection on John 17:1-11 for Easter 7A. Retrieved from Sacredise Your Life!: https://sacredise.substack.com/p/an-invitation-to-erotic-aliveness

Van De Laar, J. (2026, May 11). Lectionary Reflection for Easter 7A on Psalm 68:1–10, 32–35. Retrieved from Sacredise Your Life!: https://sacredise.substack.com/p/lectionary-reflection-for-easter-765

William B. Eerdmans. (2003). Eerdman's Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.

Sermon: Natures of Power

Lectionary: Palm/Passion Sunday Year A

Texts: Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 21:1-11

A Choice
Lauren Wright Pittman, 2018

Jesus directs a couple of his disciples to fetch a donkey and a colt and bring it back to him. This isn’t some random request or an impromptu activity. This is prearranged. What Jesus is about to perform is a deliberate demonstration – a parody of a Roman imperial procession. Through this parody, Jesus contrasts two different kinds of power and rule, two differing ways of defining kingship.

This procession instigated by Jesus, on the Sunday prior to his crucifixion, is often referred to as the triumphal entry, but that is a misnomer. It is a triumphal entry only in its parody of the Roman version. Those following Jesus likely would have expected him to use the opportunity to seize power, and at least for a few days it seems like Jesus continues to increase his power and influence. But the week finishes in dishonor, shame, and defeat… at least when judged by human standards of triumph and victory.

There are a couple of small, but important, textual details in the Palm Sunday narrative. The first to point out is that the text describes two different crowds: one is mostly Galileans who followed Jesus and sang his praises; the other is the Judean crowds of Jerusalem who ask, “Who is this?” These are two distinct crowds. When later in the week the crowd turns against Jesus, it is the Jerusalem crowd.

The second point to note is that the procession ends before Jesus enters Jerusalem proper. The procession and acclamations are finished in Matthew 21:9. Jesus enters Jerusalem in verse 10. This sequence rendered more precisely in Mark 11.

When the processional crowd shouts “Hosanna”, they are praising Jesus as the son of David who they expect will bring salvation to them. But how that salvation is inaugurated is utterly unexpected and despicable.

Christianity has sanitized the symbol of the cross. Many wear it as a sign of honor and respect. Some may wear it with pride. And there are some who wear it shamelessly even when their actions contradict the values of Jesus. But hardly anyone feels shame to be associated with it.

For the early followers of Christ, it held mixed messages. On one hand, it was a symbol of the worst kind of suffering and shame that the imperial powers could inflict on who they considered worthless and utterly disposable. On the other hand, because Jesus had accepted his lot with the worthless and disposable and died in shame and dishonor, Christians could be assured of their worth in the sight of God.

In deliberately presenting himself before Jerusalem as its messianic king, Jesus has chosen an OT model which subverts any popular militaristic idea of kingship. The meek, peaceful donkey-rider of Zech 9:9 is not a potential leader of an anti-Roman insurrection. In [Matthew] 20:25–28 Jesus has spoken of a type of leadership which is completely opposed to the world’s notions of kingship and authority, and now he models it in the “meekness” of his royal procession to the city. (France, 2007)

Our text from Philippians is what many scholars believe is one of the earliest Christian hymns about Christ. Paul is probably not its author, but he included it because it spoke to what he was trying to convey. To understand why, we need to back up in the letter to chapter 1, verse 27, and begin reading from there.

Here it is from The Message translation:

^27-30 Meanwhile, live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of Christ. Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come or not. Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see things for myself or hear of it from a distance. Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people’s trust in the Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition. Your courage and unity will show them what they’re up against: defeat for them, victory for you—and both because of God. There’s far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There’s also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting. You’re involved in the same kind of struggle you saw me go through, on which you are now getting an updated report in this letter.

2 ^1-4 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

^5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

^9-11 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, The Message)

John Van De Laar writes this about the city of Philippi:

The city of Philippi “prided itself on its loyalty to the Roman Empire and its ‘Lord,’ Caesar”. As a Roman colony, it held a privileged place in the Empire; its citizens enjoyed the same status as those who lived in Rome itself, and the population included many veteran Roman soldiers. In this society, honour, status, and power held great value, and it seems that this culture had infiltrated the church. Paul’s letter reveals that there was competition, rivalry, and dissension in the community. And so Paul wrote to the believers and pleaded with them to “adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus” (2:5). (Van De Laar, 2026)

Paul is trying to get across to his audience that the glory and honor of Christ Jesus is not like that of the Roman Emperor. The Roman Emperor is considered godlike because “he rules mercilessly over the violently conquered territories.” (Van De Laar, 2026) This is the default view of gods through human history. Even today, Christians have a difficult time abandoning this view of God. Many Christians seek to walk the halls and chambers of power, to amass material wealth, recognition, and honor, and justify the use of violence and war in the name of God. “When we cling to an image of God that is defined by power and domination, we have to ignore most of Jesus’ life and message.” (Van De Laar, 2026)

On Palm Sunday, Jesus began the demonstration of the stark difference in what he valued vs. what the world values. The demonstration will continue through the week and end at the cross, when the world crucified Jesus to silence the voice that announced an alternate kingdom, a kingdom where no one held power over another, a kingdom that threatened all other kingdoms based on holding on to power over.

On Palm Sunday, Jesus comically showed what it looks like to renounce “power-by-dominance and join the dance of true freedom.” (Van De Laar, 2026) Jesus showed that what looks like mundane or even failure to the world is where the power of divinity can be found.

By becoming human, and remaining one, Jesus raised humanity along with himself. We do not have to become something else to have worth and value. Honor and glory are not found by pursuing it. Rather, to mutually give to and serve one another in humility and love is how we join the work of Christ in building his kingdom and share in Christ’s honor and glory.

In the name of God who Creates,

In the name of God who Loves,

In the name of God who exposes our desire for illicit power, Amen.

References

Bartlett, D. L., & Brown Taylor, B. (2010). Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

Cousar, C. B. (2013). Reading Galatians, Philippians, and 1 Thessalonians: A Literary and Theological Commentary. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Inc.

Craddock, F. B. (1985). Philippians: Interpretation - A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.

France, R. T. (2007). New International Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Van De Laar, J. (2026, March 23). Lectionary Reflection for Palm-Passion Sunday A on Philippians 2:5-11. Retrieved from Sacredise Your Life!: https://sacredise.substack.com/p/lectionary-reflection-for-palm-passion

William B. Eerdmans. (2003). Eerdman's Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.

 

 

Sermon: Breathing Hope

Lectionary: Lent 5(A)

Texts: Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45

You Shall Live
Cranach, Lucas, 1472-1553

In case you haven’t guessed already, today’s message comes from our Ezekiel reading.[1] It is a dialogue between God and Ezekiel, set in a valley of dry bones. It is a curious passage where God commands Ezekiel to prophesy, to speak words that God has given Ezekiel, to the bones. Once the words are spoken, God does something. But the return of life is not instantaneous; it is completed after two phases and required Ezekiel’s involvement.

What could this vision of Ezekiel mean? One interpretation that is dismissed by nearly all is where this vision is interpreted as evidence of a future resurrection of individuals. A key reason for this is that the idea of resurrection of people developed in the post-exilic period. As we will see, Ezekiel was written close to the beginning of the Babylonian exile.

First, who was Ezekiel?

Ezekiel the son of Buzi (1:3) was an Israelite priest in the deportee Israelite community in Babylonia. Dates in the book imply that he was born in Judah in 622 BC, just before Josiah’s reform, and thus lived through much of Jeremiah’s ministry there. He was married (24:18), was thirty years old when he began his ministry in 592 BC (1:1), and continued his ministry until at least 571 BC (29:17).[2]

As for the book bearing his name, scholarly views range from Ezekiel being its sole author to Ezekiel having written none of it. There are reasons to dismiss the sole authorship hypothesis, and it is impossible to determine how much of the text can be traced back to the prophet in Babylon. Therefore, it is perhaps best to conclude that the text of the book has some undeterminable relationship to Ezekiel and his time in Babylon.

The portion of text that was read comes from the fourth and final division in the book where the prophet writes about the restoration of Judah and a return to their land. The key point of the prophecy of the dry bones is found in verses 11 to 14.

¹¹ Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ And you shall know that I am the LORD when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴ I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act, says the LORD.”[3]

The bones represent an entire group of people as a single entity. There is no hint that the bones are about individuals. The message presented is not about a resurrection, but a return and restoration of the group entity to their ancestral lands. The message is for a people who have lost hope, “who have lost heart, who are suffering a death of the spirit, a living death in exile in a foreign land.”[4]

Is hope and the lack of it really a determinant of life and death?

You may have heard of a book by the title, Man’s Search for Meaning. It was authored by Viktor Frankl, a Jewish Austrian who survived the Nazi concentration camps and wrote about his experiences and observations while imprisoned. In it he writes how those who looked for meaning and purpose, however minute, in their lives tended to survive better than those who lost hope.

Another example comes from the city of Sarajevo and a cellist by the name of Vedran Smailovic. An explosive shell had killed 22 and wounded more than 100. To honor those who had died, Vedran played Albinoni’s Adagio for 22 days. In this war-torn city, where many civilians had died and had been wounded, Vedran, even if for just a few minutes, brought a sense of normalcy and hope that peace would return.

A third example comes from our own state, Alaska. In 2014 Craig Johnson fell through ice while riding a snowmobile 80 miles to visit his family for the holidays. A rescue chopper flew overhead without seeing him and he was stalked by a wolverine. He was ready to give up, but his hope of being reunited with his boys and family kept him going and alive.

Finally, from the world of fiction we might look at the Lord of the Rings where Frodo is the unwilling ring-bearer. He is accompanied every step of the way by his loyal friend, Sam. Toward the end of the journey, Frodo, burdened by the ring and the responsibility of carrying it, poisoned by the curse of a Nazgul, he struggles and is on the verge of giving up. But Sam is there by Frodo’s side, carrying him when necessary, and keeping hope alive for both.

Several years ago, I was involved in several suicide prevention and intervention courses. Among the many ways to intervene when someone is considering suicide, here are a couple of them. The first is to remind the individual that things won’t always seem so dark or hopeless – that there are better days to look forward to. A second is to talk with them to find at least one reason to keep living, even if for just one day.

For the Jews who ended up in Babylon, the dry bones represent a total collapse and loss of hope. God asks Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” When Ezekiel answers that he doesn’t know, God tells him to prophesy to the bones, “I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

Ezekiel becomes the agent of hope that is carried to the hopeless. He sees the bones come together, and sinews and flesh formed on the bones. But there is yet no life. Ezekiel must persist by prophesying breath into the physical forms. Only then do the bones, sinews, and flesh recover life and stand as a multitude.

The African American spirituals, of which we sang one earlier and we will be closing with another, were words of hope in what seemed to the ones singing places of hopelessness and death. They looked toward a time and place when they would be free, away from forced labor, and where families would not be torn apart for the monetization and profit for the slaveowners.

The world we inhabit today is not all that different from nations and empires of the past. The poor are still exploited by the rich. War and violence still mostly victimize the poor and weak. The powerless continue to be the victims of the whims and privilege of the powerful. Outsiders are still blamed without cause for the problems created by those on the inside. The powerful still lord power over the less powerful.

All of us, in one way or another, participate in the games of power and position. We try to hang on to what we have, lest we end up falling down the ladder of this game called life. We are scared. We are fearful. And sometimes we feel hopeless. We look at our nation and world and oftentimes it can be difficult to see any kind of hopeful future.

Maybe hope isn’t looking for something big to change. In fact, it doesn’t seem to be about waiting for something to change. Rather, it is finding something, however small it might be, to be an agent and spark of hope in someone else’s life.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is the agent of hope who brings life back to Lazarus. It is a sign that even death and the grave is powerless in the presence of Jesus, the Life and Light of the world.

We are agents of hope and life in the world as well. We may not physically resurrect dead people back to life, but we can carry the hope of a just world, the kingdom of God, to those who are suffering under the pressures of this present one. We can be agents of hope by offering encouraging words and through our work to help bear the burdens that others are suffering under.

The Season of Lent is not just about introspection. It is also about looking forward to the kingdom of heaven fully realized and acting today to do what we can to bring pieces of it to be tasted by the communities in which we live and serve. Each of us are called, as Ezekiel was, to prophesy hope and life to the world around us.

In closing I read from Romans 8:6-11.

⁶ To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (NRSVue)

Let us live as resurrected people, alive with the Spirit of Christ.

References

ABC News. (2014, December 28). Alaska Man Survives Three Days Lost in Sub-Zero Temps, Fights Off Wolverine. Retrieved from ABC News: https://abcnews.com/US/alaska-man-survives-days-lost-temps-fights-off/story?id=27860053

Alter, R. (2019). The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Bartlett, D. L., & Brown Taylor, B. (2010). Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

Burns, J. F. (1992, June 8). The Death of a City: Elegy for Sarajevo -- A special report.; A People Under Artillery Fire Manage to Retain Humanity. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/08/world/death-city-elegy-for-sarajevo-special-report-people-under-artillery-fire-manage.html

Tolkien, J. R. (n.d.). The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy).

Van De Laar, J. (2026, March 12). The Other Side of Suffering: Evolving Consciously in Lent (Part 5): A Reflection on Ezekiel 37:1-14. Retrieved from Sacredise Your Life!: https://sacredise.substack.com/p/the-other-side-of-suffering

Wikipedia. (2026, March 21). Viktor Frankl. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl

William B. Eerdmans. (2003). Eerdman's Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.

 

 

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[1] One of the hymns was Dry Bones.

[2] (William B. Eerdmans, 2003)

[3] Ezekiel 37:11-14, NRSVue.

[4] (Bartlett & Brown Taylor, 2010)

Sermon: A Fall, or Failure to Mature?

Lectionary: Lent 1(A)

Texts: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7; Matthew 4:1-11

From Paradise to Chaos
Herrel, Edie Mae; 1975

A mother bakes a cake for her child’s – let’s call him Greg – birthday party. She tells Greg to leave the cake alone, and not pinch pieces away and eat them. Why? Is it because she doesn’t want him to have the cake? No, it’s for him, after all. But the time is not right. When the party takes place, that is the right time. But Greg is still quite young – let’s say he is 3 years old – and the wait is too much. He doesn’t yet comprehend the value of delayed gratification. His immaturity gets better of him; he tears a piece off the cake and eats it.

The story of The Fall as it is commonly known, at least within Christianity, can be interpreted in many ways. The most common and I would argue, the least interesting goes like this:

Adam and Eve are fresh-off the assembly-line, shiny, new, perfect, first human beings—sort of super humans. God tested these flawless creatures with this command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, just to see if they meant business and would obey God. But they failed the test, rebelled against God, and lost not only their own perfection but that of every other human being since.[1]

This is how most of Western Christianity has read and interpreted the text since at least Augustine (CE 354-430). If you’ve heard of the Doctrine of Original Sin, this is where it originates (pun sort of intended), even though the word sin never occurs in these texts.

Now recall that I said, “Western Christianity.” This is because the other large group of Christians, the Eastern Church, reads it differently.

Another angle, one often taken by Christians in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, is to read the Adam story as being not about a fall down from perfection, but a failure to grow up to godly wisdom and maturity.

Think of Adam and Eve not as perfect super humans but as young, naïve children, who were meant to grow into obedience, but were tricked into following a different path.[2]

Some of the earliest Christians read it quite differently from even these first two that I discussed. Just prior to Augustine, Ambrose taught that eating the “forbidden fruit” was “fortunate guilt.” It was because of this “blessed fault” that Christ was able to enter the world.[3] Now, when this interpretation is analyzed, it doesn’t take long to realize it is based on several pieces of faulty logic.

For the early Jews, the story is not about human disobedience.

The early Jewish focus is rather on the garden itself, the gaining of sexual knowledge (“and they knew they were naked”[4]) and the concurrent loss of immortality, and the regaining of the garden in the future.[5]

For the early Jews, the loss of immortality of a single individual was replaced by immortality of the community through reproduction and descendants.

For the later rabbis, contemporary with the early Christian period,

The idea of an edenic fall is a minority opinion. More popular are countervailing claims suggesting the everything, including death, was part of the divine plan.[6]

Why do I bring up these many interpretive variants? Some not Christian? Because interpretation and development of doctrine don’t happen in a vacuum. Development happens in conversation with the past and with contemporaries who hold divergent views. Sometimes it agrees and at other times it is a reaction against.  Understanding and knowing about them (hopefully) allows us to be better interpreters and more open to listening to other viewpoints, even when we ultimately disagree.

In addition to different theological interpretations, there are also different views about the historicity of these texts in Genesis. One view posits that the stories of the creation, fall, and exile are literal and historical facts. Another view is that while not everything should be viewed literally, it is still a factual accounting of history.

A third view sees these stories as myth. Now “myth” does not mean lies or falsehood. It does mean fiction. But as any good literature professor will tell you, oftentimes, good fiction can communicate truths better than bland facts.

I started in the “literally true” end of the spectrum. But now I read these early chapters of Genesis as mythology. These are texts that preserved early Hebrew traditions where they attempted to make sense out of their world. They were in conversation with other cultures and mythologies around them. They used familiar motifs and archetypes to create their own mythology of how the world began and how it ended up so fractured in so many ways.

The text of Genesis as we have them today wasn’t finalized until well after the return from Babylonian exile. This is important because Genesis 2 and 3, in addition to a mythological tale of Hebrew origins, it is also an allegory of the historical journey that Israel has taken. The creation of man from dust can be seen as paralleling the creation of Israel out of slavery. The first humans were placed into a paradise garden; the Israelites were led to a paradise-like land, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” The first humans were given a command to follow; the Israelites were given commandments to follow. Life and perpetual habitation of the land given to them would follow obedience. Conversely, disobedience led to death and exile for both parties of the allegory. God gives warnings to both the first humans and to Israel the consequences of disobedience.[7] The mythology of Genesis is written by returnees from the Babylonian exile, looking back at their history and diagnosing what went so wrong.

Lending more strength to the argument that Genesis 2 and 3 are stories about Israel is the different word for God used in chapter 1. In Genesis 1, the word for God is Elohim, a general, cosmic deity. But when we get to Genesis 2:8, the words used are Yahweh Elohim, naming a deity who is specific to the Israelites.[8]

This is where we revisit the theological interpretation of naïve children who are faced with a choice to obey God or do their own thing. Did God want them to remain naïve? I don’t think so. Proverbs chapter 1 begins with the following words on the purpose of this collection:

To know wisdom and reproof, to understand discerning maxims.

To accept the reproof of insight, righteousness, justice, and uprightness.

To give shrewdness to the simple, to a lad, knowledge and cunning.

Let the wise man hear and gain learning, and the discerning acquire designs.

To understand proverbs and adages, the words of the wise and their riddles.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Wisdom and reproof dolts despise.[9]

During the Babylonian exile, the prophet Ezekiel wrote about returning to obedience, not because of commands written in stone, but because they would be internalized. One such text reads:

²⁶ A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put my spirit within you and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. ²⁸ Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. [10]

The writer of Hebrews writes about maturing in faith:

You need milk, not solid food, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.[11]

There is no shortcut to maturity. There is no shortcut to genuine knowledge and wisdom. The problem with Adam and Eve in the garden was not that they desired these things, but they took a supposed shortcut that was offered to them.

And here is where Jesus’ wilderness temptation (our gospel reading) becomes relevant. Jesus too, was offered shortcuts to achieve what he was destined to do. But to take the shortcut would have prevented him from reaching his goals. The journey itself – the learning that happens, the struggles that must be overcome – are just as important, and perhaps even more than the destination. The writer of Hebrews wrote, “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested,”[12] and “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”[13] The writer also (in chapter 4) describes how Israel failed to grow and mature because of their disobedience.

Shortcuts appeal to our own vanity, comfort, and power. These are the things to avoid and give up (in the spirit of Lent).

Rather, we should not shy away from the hard work necessary to gain Christ’s wisdom and knowledge. Paul writes in Philippians what this means:

³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. ⁵ Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

⁶ who, though he existed in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped,
⁷ but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
assuming human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a human,
⁸ he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
⁹ Therefore God exalted him even more highly
and gave him the name
that is above every other name,
¹⁰ so that at the name given to Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.[14]

Amen.

References

Alter, R. (2019). The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Bartlett, D. L., & Brown Taylor, B. (2010). Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

Enns, P., & Byas, J. (2019). Genesis for Normal People: A Guide to the Most Controversial, Misunderstood, and Abused Book of the Bible. The Bible for Normal People.

Hamilton, V. P. (1990). New International Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis 1-17. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Levine, A.-J., & Brettler, M. Z. (2020). The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Van de Laar, J. (2026, February 12). Falling Down, or Growing Up? Retrieved from Sacredise Your LIfe!: https://sacredise.substack.com/p/revolutionary-blessedness

William B. Eerdmans. (2003). Eerdman's Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.

 

 

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[1] Around page 37, Kindle edition. (Enns & Byas, 2019)

[2] Ibid.

[3] Around page 128, Kindle edition. (Levine & Brettler, 2020)

[4] Around page 113. Ibid.

[5] Around page 123. Ibid.

[6] Around page 129, Ibid.

[7] Around page 36, Kindle edition. (Enns & Byas, 2019)

[8] Genesis 1:1-2:7 and Genesis 2:8ff are two separate creation accounts. The first one, the more cosmic one, and the later one, could be read as Jewish reaction to Babylonian creation mythology. The second is based on older Hebrew traditions, still probably influenced by surrounding societies, but more distinctly Israelite.

[9] Proverbs 1:2-7. (Alter, 2019)

[10] Ezekiel 36:26-28. (NRSVue)

[11] Hebrews 5:12b-14. (NRSVue)

[12] Hebrews 2:18. (NRSVue)

[13] Hebrews 5:8. (NRSVue)

[14] Philippians 2:3-11. (NRSVue)