Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
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Planted. What does it mean to be planted? Have you ever backpacked at relatively high altitudes? Have you ever seen that one tree that just seems to be scraggly and almost dead, hanging on cliff except for the fact that it probably has been there since Lincoln was president.
How does that work? What sustains such an organism?
Our readings point us toward this idea of a standing tree. More than that they point us to the idea of a body that, like a tree, is now standing in defiance of death, and anything that death may throw at it.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
On this little sentence hangs all our hopes and dreams. If on the last day we don’t rise- what is the point? This is where our sermon ended last week. The empty tomb serves as a trophy for God and the church. All the stuff we believe, teach and confess is anchored in the resurrection of Christ. The prophet Jeremiah says as much:
Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.
If our trust in Christ were in a mere mortal then we are fools. We have no reason to expect any good to come. We are like shrubs in a desert. If our hope were just in the things of this life, then we will constantly settle for less that what God has in store for Himself.
In Luke 6 Jesus speaks of the sort of rooted life that is available whether our circumstances have been dictated by our actions or not.
There is a whole multitude of people surrounding Jesus on this great plain and they have come to hear Him and be healed of their diseases. Then there is another course of people with unclean spirits, and another course of people who just want to be in proximity to this great power.
When He finally speaks in the midst of this sort of Holiness Woodstock His words do not conform to anything we would imagine. He picks the most destitute groups and pronounces blessing.
Poor, Hungry, Weeping, and Hated. Each of these groups have a bookend placed around their present estate. First they are blessed on the front end and then their fortune is reversed.
It’s honestly easier to explain the reversal of fortune on the back half of these beatitudes than it is the blessing on the front. Let’s look at an example:
“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
If you’re hungry it does not preclude the possibility of eating. If you’re sad it doesn’t mean that there won’t be a future moment of respite. St. Paul in his reflections on the reversal of fortune in this life says it isn’t a good thing.
We don’t just hope for a delicious ham sandwich .
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
We are here because God became one of us, died and rose.
It’s like that tree hanging on a cliff. You see it and think, man one bad season and this thing is wiped out- how can it be described as flourishing? Little do we know that, the little tree hanging on the cliff has dropped its cones into the canyon and populated a forest. We don’t see that - it’s out of our view because of our present context but with Jesus we see the future.
Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!
We are blessed because of an event in History. The resurrection.
Paul goes on to say that the little wind beaten tree is impossibly fruitful:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Luke is recounting how Jesus redefines the world as we know it. What this means is that to be fully human is to stand firm through all of human experience.
Jesus had no discernable wealth, in fact He was sold for silver.
Jesus drank sour wine on the cross
Jesus wept upon the death of His friend.
Jesus was mocked by the soldiers
Jesus lived even after death.
It is Jesus who has secured a place in heaven, more than that it is Jesus who will return to bring heaven to earth.
Jesus goes on to offer up four warnings- four different woes. He warns us against being wealthy, always full, mirth, and in search of acclamation before men.
He warns of a shallow existence one without depth.
As a church we try to invoke this breadth of experience, we humbly grieve over our sins in confession, we laugh with our children and hunger for the righteousness of the sacrament. We purposely give away our income to prove we are not reliant on our hands. Even our calendar is meant to plant us near Christ .
How powerful is it that every year we rehearse our own mortality on Ash Wednesday and some 40 days later we laugh at death in the power of resurrection?
A tree is planted, capable of standing not because of its own power or might but because of what it is rooted in.
I can remember a time when the motto for burger king was “have it your way” and the idea was that they would change their sandwiches to meet your preferences, however and whenever they change. Now however, with the advent of genetics the advertising has changed. No longer are things tailored to your preferences; they are tailored to your body type, genotype or some sort of immutable characteristic about you. Let me be plain, in either case we are told the answer to any problem in your world, whether it be food allergies, ill fitting shirts or anxiety, the answer lies within you because you are you.
This idea is simply untrue. One cannot look at a tree, uproot it and say GROW! You and I are meant to be planted and fed, nourished from outside. As St. Paul says ‘faith comes by hearing’.
Blessed is the one who meditates not on the self but on the word of God. The Lord has planted the seed of Faith in you and He intends to grow you by His gifts of Word and sacrament into His precious creature, capable of withstanding anything that this fallen world may throw at you. Week in and week out we feed on these promises.
We don’t skip the hard stuff.
I remember talking to a friend, who is kind of a pantheist, whose kid had been to a vacation bible school and she called me asking what to tell her daughter about death. See they had just covered the crucifixion but not the resurrection. I said- well what did they say at this VBS… ‘well they said that death was sad, and bad, and now she is sad. I don’t want her to be sad.’ Knowing the church wouldn’t possibly leave it at the cross I said, maybe let your kiddo be sad about death? Then tomorrow when they talk about real hope it’ll be… you know… real hope.
Friends, Christians call a thing what it is. Pain and suffering is bad but that doesn’t mean we avoid it. No, we as Christians stand firm in the face of trial because we know that even pure evil, not even my sin kept our Lord in the grave.
We stand because we are washed in the waters of baptism, we have tasted the cup of salvation.
We are rooted in Christ because a past event has blessed us far into the future.
May you stand firm in this eternal truth.
Amen.