Epiphany 6c – 2025
2/16/2025
In each of today’s scripture readings from our lectionary we are presented with a duality: “This” or “that” is true.
The Prophet Jeremiah shares God’s Word: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals, blessed are those who trust in the Lord.
Our Psalm, Psalm 1, the first verse of all the Psalms begins with: Happy are those… who delight in the law of the Lord. It continues, Cursed are those… who walk in the counsel of the wicked.
In 1 Corinthians, either Jesus has been raised from the dead, or we are all dead in our sins.
In the Gospel text, Jesus mirrors the blessings and curses to one another as he says, Blessed are you who are poor, who hunger, who weep, and are poorly regarded… But woe to you who are rich, full, happy, and are well-spoken of.
Many of us find dualities hard to swallow. I tend to, I think. Sometimes I’m prone to either/or thinking, but more often I get mired down in the greyness of life. There are always an exception, or questions about what-if’s that pop up that make such hard and fast yes/no situations difficult to adjudicate.
And so we may tend to embrace some “both/and” thinking, or desire to, rather than getting stuck in “either/or.” We don’t want to be boxed in, and we very much don’t want to be judgmental. It wouldn’t be Episcopalian of us to do so!
Our resistance to such dualities has roots deep in our Anglican spirituality. Our institutional DNA was formed by the Elizabethan Settlement back in 1559 that sought a via media, or middle way, between Rome and Geneva, between Roman Catholics and Calvinist Reformers. Episcopalians are known for continuing to embrace ambiguity as part of a life of faith. We are cautious about rigid “black and white” thinking, more comfortable than many of our fellow Christians with the metaphorical “grey.”
Thanks be to God that there is room in the Anglican tradition for people to be open and honest about their doubts! That was one of the most appealing parts of the Episcopal faith for me when I first found St. John’s in Farmington, NM. The ability to ask questions, to have my doubts, and to find encouragement in my journey from black and white, either/or thinking from my earlier years in Christian churches was a breath of fresh air.
And so, amid our embrace of the ambiguity and greyness of our lived experience of this life, our Scriptures present us with these dualities before us today.
The blessings are easy enough to accept. Blessed are those whose trust is in God. Blessed are those who have hope in the resurrection. Blessed are those whom God approves of and has come to their aid in this life.
The curses, those can be harder to accept. Does God, or will God, bring harm upon those who don’t live up to such a standard? Will God curse and punish those who do not hold the “correct” beliefs about God and what God is like?
That’s at the core of what we will be discussing at Pizza Theology this week. What does God want for us to know about God, and to believe about God, and what, if any, are the consequences for getting it wrong? And then what do we do with the creeds, such as the one that we recite together each week, if they do not line up with our own personal understanding of God?
Is life as much a binary as the Scriptures sometimes present?
Remember, now, that we are still in the season of Epiphany. The Feast of Epiphany that kicks off this season between Christmas and Lent is symbolized in the star that guided the wise men from the East to the infant Jesus. So light becomes a metaphor for the truth brought by Jesus into the world. The baby Jesus is proclaimed the light of the world. Jesus is the light that shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. And this light continues to illuminate our hearts and our world so that all may see and know God. The light is the truth of God coming into the world.
Remember also that epiphany means “manifestation” or “revelation.” It is the revealing, or the unveiling, of Jesus to the world. That the world is learning about Jesus, discovering who he is. He hasn’t changed, but he was unknown until he appeared at the Jordan to be baptized, until he changed water to wine at Cana, until he preached his message of God’s favor for the poor, the blind, the imprisoned, the sick, and the oppressed. He existed, but he wasn’t known.
And God is like that. God exists, but we struggle to know what God is like, and what we know is certainly incomplete, lacking, and likely to be wildly off, if God is truly the almighty, the infinite, the unknowable, the ineffible.
Perhaps the Via Media in all this is not that God’s favor expressed toward us isn’t an in/out, yes/no situation, but that our lived experience tends toward the blessings and the curses based upon how we are living in light of the revelation that has been given to us, of the light that we have received.
Another Episcopal priest connected these readings to a proverb by Hatiian Christians: “The full stomach has no need of God.” Applied to the context of Luke’s Gospel, and the blessings given are to those who know and understand their need for God’s grace; the woes are directed to those whose self-sufficiency and contentedness shield them from recognizing their need of divine grace in their lives.
For a long time, I’ve believed that the point of this life is to do the best that we can with what has been given to us.
Sometimes we are sitting amidst abundance. Sometimes we are sitting amidst our poverty and lack. And that applies not only to wealth, but to life in general.
Do the best that we can with what has been given to us.
If it is in revelation about what God is like, to receive that with acceptance and to respond in faith as we move forward from that light that we have received. And if we are lacking in understanding, to do our best with what we have seen and understood about the Holy one and to live faithfully with what we know and believe.
If it is in our possessions and in our wealth, that we are generous with the abundance that we have been given from God. And if we see someone who is lacking in their daily needs, to open our hearts to them and to share our abundance freely so that their needs will be met. If we are lacking ourselves, to find peace in contentment and to allow ourselves to ask for help when we need it.
If it is in our relationships, to learn from our experiences, to be forgiving and patient, and to help others to grow as well. And if we have been harmed and our souls broken by others, to learn how to trust those who are safe and to protect ourselves against those who would harm us.
And now where does that put us in relation to our readings today?
Well, it’s still Epiphany, so what do we learn about God and about Jesus in what we heard read today?
That God wants us to listen, to learn that which is good and to discern how to distinguish it from that which is evil, to promote the good, and to not become complacent, to take it for granted, or to isolate ourselves from others who are in need or suffering in this life. That there is a point to our lives, that there are things that God desires from us and of us, and that there are blessings and joy to be found in these things. And if we don’t, that there are blessings that we will miss out on, because walking in the way of Jesus is the best possible way to live.
So may you, my friends in Christ, trust in the Lord that you may experience God’s blessings upon your life. May you delight in the revelation of God to you, that you may seek and find the goodness of God as you are freed from the power of sin and death. And may your hunger, your poverty, your mourning be turned to joy and abundance in all the blessings of our Lord Christ Jesus.