While this is almost always a good thing, it can, on occasion, cause a Sunday like this morning where there are no really "easy Good News" texts except for Psalm 23. And, to my pastor's credit, there are almost no good ways to tackle the passage from Matthew that was proclaimed as the "Gospel" for this Sunday.
In case you missed church this morning or perhaps were at a church that (probably considers themselves to be lucky because it) doesn't use the Revised Common Lectionary, the text is Matthew 22:1-14. Go on, read it for yourselves really quickly. I'll wait.
In case you missed church this morning or perhaps were at a church that (probably considers themselves to be lucky because it) doesn't use the Revised Common Lectionary, the text is Matthew 22:1-14. Go on, read it for yourselves really quickly. I'll wait.
No seriously, go read it.
Ok? Read it? Not exactly a text that screams "Here is the Good News of the Word of God!"
Not that the passage from Isaiah or Philippians are much easier. And of course the 23rd Psalm is kind of easy to preach. So, I'm sure that your pastor did what mine did this morning and decided to tackle this Matthew text head on. And to my nameless pastor's credit, he did a pretty good job with it. (Much better than some of the other pastors I heard about this morning, anyhow.) However, that was not the sermon I needed to hear.
All of this is a precursor to the fact that I think I really needed to hear a sermon on this Philippians text this morning. And because I didn't get one, I decided to write through what I did need. Deal with it.
The Philippians text (in case you missed it) is 4:1-9. And it follows.
Just a little academic stuff to note before we dive into why I think this was the text that I needed to hear preached this morning.
Ok. That's out of the way. Good.
Now I'm sure you're thinking, "Jared, that's a lot of cool stuff. And none of that is what you needed to hear? Then what was it that you needed this morning from Philippians?"
I'm glad you asked.
This morning (and the past couple of days while I was helping my roommate ponder his sermon for this morning) I kept coming back to a few key words that Paul repeats. Prayer (with thanksgiving). Peace.
Prayer.
Peace.
What?!
In all things be in pray with thanksgiving. In all things you will have peace.
To be fair, I did just finish up an incredibly stressful week at school but I can promise you in those things there were not prayers of thanksgiving and there certainly was not peace.
It's enough to say, "What the hell Paul?"
And it's not like Paul hasn't had his share of stressful weeks. He's been imprisoned, stoned, put on trial, defended his dissertation on including Gentiles into the Kingdom of God, gone to a church council meeting, written several letters, travelled, oh, and he's been building tents throughout all of this. Paul knows what it's like to be stressed and he still is writing to pray with thanksgiving and to know that the peace of Christ will be present.
I think we need to rethink some of these pieces in order to understand this. And by we, I mean me (with your help).
And to think all of those preachers this morning thought the Matthew text was the hard one to read.
Which also means that in the coming week, I'll be continuing to let Paul's ideas of prayer and peace percolate (on top of preparing another sermon and working on a group project, but no big deal) and will be posting a sermon in parts.
If you did preach on this text or heard a good sermon on it, please feel free to share that message in the comments (bonus points if you can do it in 140 characters or less).
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Just a little academic stuff to note before we dive into why I think this was the text that I needed to hear preached this morning.
- How cool is it that Paul is talks about Euodia and Syntyche by name in this passage? Yes, he's telling them to get along and for the community to help them with that, but still. Women leaders in the ancient church? Kind of a big deal. You could probably have a sermon all about that in and of itself, but that's not what I needed to hear. Sorry. Maybe in another 3 years we can revisit this conversation.
- This is the conclusion to one of Paul's great letters. Yes, this is probably actually Paul. No, that doesn't actually matter cause it made it into the canon. But this is basically Paul's opportunity to sum up everything that he's said in the previous four chapters. You know, to make sure they actually got it.
- There are other notable things that Christian A. Eberhart wrote about in his Working Preacher article for this text, but you can read that for yourself here. Really, you can, it's pretty approachable language. But I'd rather you read the rest of my thoughts first. Cause even though he says some profound stuff, that's not what I (or perhaps many people) needed to hear this morning.
Ok. That's out of the way. Good.
Now I'm sure you're thinking, "Jared, that's a lot of cool stuff. And none of that is what you needed to hear? Then what was it that you needed this morning from Philippians?"
I'm glad you asked.
This morning (and the past couple of days while I was helping my roommate ponder his sermon for this morning) I kept coming back to a few key words that Paul repeats. Prayer (with thanksgiving). Peace.
Prayer.
Peace.
What?!
In all things be in pray with thanksgiving. In all things you will have peace.
To be fair, I did just finish up an incredibly stressful week at school but I can promise you in those things there were not prayers of thanksgiving and there certainly was not peace.
It's enough to say, "What the hell Paul?"
And it's not like Paul hasn't had his share of stressful weeks. He's been imprisoned, stoned, put on trial, defended his dissertation on including Gentiles into the Kingdom of God, gone to a church council meeting, written several letters, travelled, oh, and he's been building tents throughout all of this. Paul knows what it's like to be stressed and he still is writing to pray with thanksgiving and to know that the peace of Christ will be present.
I think we need to rethink some of these pieces in order to understand this. And by we, I mean me (with your help).
And to think all of those preachers this morning thought the Matthew text was the hard one to read.
Which also means that in the coming week, I'll be continuing to let Paul's ideas of prayer and peace percolate (on top of preparing another sermon and working on a group project, but no big deal) and will be posting a sermon in parts.
If you did preach on this text or heard a good sermon on it, please feel free to share that message in the comments (bonus points if you can do it in 140 characters or less).
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