EPIPHANY 4 Lessons & Meditation

EPIPHANY 4   01-31-2021

FIRST READING:  Deuteronomy 18:15-20

The long journey from slavery in Egypt to new life in the Promised Land was just about over. It had been lengthened to 40 years not because of the geographical distance but because the people weren’t ready, weren’t faithful and obedient enough… so God had taken them a long and slow way. But now the people of Israel were poised at the edge and soon to cross the River Jordan and about to begin entering the Promised Land. By the way, apparently, only two of the many who left Egypt would actually be allowed to enter the Promised Land… and not even Moses would be allowed to enter.

So, at the end of a long journey and at the edge of a new home, Moses offers a series of sermons or speeches to the people of Israel. The Book of Deuteronomy depicts Moses exhorting, instructing, and inviting Israel to do and hear and live. They had been on the road, desert-bred, for many years… but now they were going into a new land. How would they react? Would they keep their covenant with God or reject it for other religions, other cultures, material wealth, all sorts of pleasures and enticements?

Today’s reading is part of Moses’ second sermon or speech (Chapters 4-26) and recalls the occasion many years ago when God had thundered out of the heavens (see verse 16). Such direct revelation had been too devastating, and “no more” the frightened people had begged. Moses had then served as a mediator, as God’s spokesperson. But now – as his own days on earth are drawing to a close – Moses offers God’s promise that God will continue to guide the people through called prophets who will proclaim the divine word.

What is the responsibility of the true prophet of God? What is the responsibility of the people?

Who do you think are God’s prophets today? Is there a sense in which all of God’s people are called and equipped to fulfill this promise? To whom might you mediate or explain God’s word? Does it frighten or enliven you to think of yourself as having the role of a prophet?

Has anyone ever begun a conversation with you with “The Lord told me to tell you…”? How did you react – did it seem like a real “word from the Lord”, or was it more of a disguised criticism or complaint?

As Christians, we understand Jesus as the culmination of this line of prophets through time – he not only speaks the word but is God’s Word. The “Word made flesh” is a true word from God, well worth our hearing and our doing!

 

SECOND READING:  1 Corinthians 8:1-13

The Corinthian Christians had a number of issues that they wanted to raise before Paul. One such issue, here in Chapter 8, has to do with eating meat that was left over after ritual sacrifices had been made to pagan idols. This food was often available to others in dining areas attached to the temples. Even those who didn’t frequent the temple would dine there.

Paul worries that some Corinthian Christians are dining at the temple restaurants. He agrees that the sacrificial food has no power of itself… eating the meat will not affect you adversely, it will not transform you into a zombie worshiper of that idol, nor will it punch your ticket to go directly to hell after you die.

But Paul worries that “weaker” Christians – perhaps those who are brand new to this relatively new Christian religion… or who might have some deeply embedded past experience or beliefs related to the worship of idols – will feel guilty, will suffer pangs of conscience, and will undergo a crisis of faith.

So Paul wants “strong” Christians to be mindful of “weak” Christians – those labels, by the way, are not Paul’s own labels but those of the Corinthians who are contributing to divisions in their church – and he doesn’t want the concept of “freedom by God’s grace” to be expressed in behaviors that might mislead or disgrace others, that might divide the Christian community.

Christians have a responsibility to each other that their behavior does not cause another to sin. Labels divide, but love builds up. God calls us to value Christian community – one another! – above our own desires and actions. 

Some Christians like to live on the edge, free and loose, daring to go just a little beyond what seems to be the standard for Christian behavior. They tell themselves and tell you that it won’t affect their Christian walk. But what might it do to other people? How might it affect your faith or someone else’s faith if, for example, your pastor was frequently seen drinking heavily in the bar down the street… or cursed all the time around Christian and non-Christian people… or wore certain styles of clothing… or talked about his or her collection of X-rated movies… or listened to blaring music that was obviously “far beyond”… or was involved in certain political causes? When does one person’s “liberty” become another person’s “stumbling block” in the church, in our society? What might St. Paul have to say in these continued COVID-19 pandemic days about wearing a mask and maintaining social distance?

How we love and support one another helps us live well and leads others to God.  

 

GOSPEL READING:  Mark 1:21-28

In this reading we join Simon and Andrew, James and John – those fishermen – and follow JESUS this Sabbath morning into the synagogue at Capernaum. There he astounds the gathered believers with the authority of his teaching. And there he heals a man with an unclean spirit.

We all have our troubling diseases and little demons… each of us sometime is broken in body, mind, or spirit… and the testimony of the Bible and the Church is that there is healing power in the love of Jesus Christ. How blessed we are to have Jesus – the Son of God, the Authority, the Destroyer of demons, the Healer of the hurt, the Power of love – to side with us, to fight the battles that rage against us and within us! In a world of false truths and oppressive authorities, you can place your complete trust in only one saving truth and one empowering authority – Jesus Christ. 

Please remember that, in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus didn’t kick the “evil MAN” out of the synagogue; he kicked the “evil SPIRIT” out of the MAN and then welcomed the MAN into the community of faith. So there were TWO healings that day. One was of the demon-possessed man. The other was of the gathered community of faith. They were saved from being a closed community, a judgmental bunch of people, an organization that protected only what was familiar and rejected what was unknown. They were delivered from being a faith community that was not “in sync” with God’s heart and God’s will.  This may have been some of that “new teaching – with authority” that the synagogue community of faith noticed in Jesus and marveled at. And maybe WE and other Christians are being challenged to stop creating all these barriers between “THEM” and “US”, determining that “THEY” are mentally ill, totally crazy or completely evil, the rejected ones, the despised ones, the sinful ones, the ones to be condemned, locked up, kicked out, avoided, mocked, or hated… while “WE” are the sane ones, the right ones, the healthy ones, the “OK” people, the righteous ones, the holy ones, the saved ones. Maybe in our communities of faith WE and other Christians ought to grasp the truth that we are not exclusively a “showcase for saints” but a “sanctuary for sinners”… that, as St. Paul once wrote, WE ALL have sinned, WE ALL fall short of the glory of God. Knowing and accepting this truth would help Christian people like us to continue to offer help, strength, encouragement, affirmation, support, forgiveness, guidance, and love to others, especially when they are troubled in body, mind, or spirit.

Consider your own life. What sorts of “demons” would you like to be free of? How can this happen?