Welcome to Lectionary Help for the first Sunday of Lent, February 22, 2026, the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. The celebration of Easter/Resurrection of the Lord is on April 5 this year.
I’ll just pull a relevant quote from the sermon linked above, as I think it’s succinct enough to give you the sense of the words used for “temptation” and “testing.”
Word Study (from the sermon linked above)
Tempt, test (πειράζω peirazō)
Temptation, testing (πειρασμός peirasmos)
So why do three of the versions I mentioned use “test” instead of “temptation” for the same Greek or Hebrew word? Well, as I tell my students when they ask me questions like that, the answer is “context, context, context.” If you follow the use of the words in their respective story settings, you find that “testing” has to do with the relationship between God and humans. The general thrust of the verses in question goes one of three ways: either God is testing his people to see how they respond, or the people are testing God by NOT doing what he’s commanded them to do, or one person is testing another’s character. And consistent with the concept of testing, sometimes there’s a judgment or “grade” on how we responded to the test.
“Temptation” is a subset of testing. That is, all temptations are tests, but not all tests are temptations. The word “temptation” is used by these English translation committees to indicate a situation in which some personified evil power or influence is at work.
Application
In the message above, I offer three ways after the example of Jesus to fight against temptation and weaken their influence in your life:
Pray! (Hebrews 4:15–16)
Live in the will of God; Live “in Christ” (1 John 2:15–17)
Memorize and proclaim God’s word (Psalm 119:11)
Epistles passage (Romans 5:12–19)
If you’re looking for a different angle to approach the theme, consider using Romans 5:12–19 as your starting point. I’ve had Romans on the brain for the past couple months because I gave the kickoff message to our 2026 first semester church-wide small group study in Romans (Romans 1 & 2: Jesus Our Righteous and Faithful Savior (StoneBridge small group kickoff) | Sunday Morning Greek Blog). I side with the subjective genitive approach to Romans when it comes to talking about both righteousness and faithfulness, so Jesus is “the righteous one who lives by [his] faithfulness” and we’re saved through the faithfulness of Jesus, the Righteous One.
Having established my foundation for my understanding of Romans, I’ll give some quick hits here.
The “sin entered the world through one man” concept is countered by Jesus, the Righteousness of God, the “one man” through whom all are made righteous by being “in Christ.” Jesus’s faithfulness secures that for us.
Verse 19 makes the connection to the stated theme of Romans (leading the Gentiles to the “obedience of faithfulness”; 1:5 & 16:26): “Through the obedience [of faithfulness] of the one man the many will be made righteous.” This is the set-up for Paul’s discussion of baptism in chapter 6: If we’re baptized into Christ, we’re baptized into his death. That “death” is how we’re freed from the law (Romans 7), and our subsequent emersion (coming out of the baptismal waters) results in life “in Christ.” Our righteousness is not something separate imparted to us; it’s something we walk in when we walk “in Christ.”
Blessings this week as you enter into the Lenten season. If you’re in a tradition that gives up something for Lent, try giving up those things that keep you from drawing closer to your Savior. I’ve preached the above sermon twice in the last four years, so time for me write something afresh.
This Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent, a time when Christians worldwide anticipate the remembrance of Christ’s death on the cross and the celebration of his resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday. I can’t help but think there must be a small bit of irony that we celebrate the birth of Jesus and his resurrection, the beginning and ending of his life on earth, only about three or four months apart. Jesus is that special to us that we choose to recognize both those events as holidays in our culture and in Christendom more broadly. Most people who have holidays today only get them for their birthdays, like President’s Day tomorrow, or Martin Luther King Day last month.
We don’t have a holiday that I’m aware of where recognize the death of an individual. We do have Memorial Day, Veterans’ Day, and Pearl Harbor Day to recognize the sacrifices of our loved ones and heroes who’ve served and in many cases given their all for this country for our freedom. Of course, as the old hymn goes, “Jesus gave it all” for each of us as well, but for our spiritual freedom and eternal life with him in Heaven.
Jesus knows what his end goal is: the cross. But he also doesn’t want his disciples to be taken by surprise by that event either. In Matthew 16, Jesus begins to warn his disciples that he must be handed over by the Jewish leaders who hated his disruption of their power over the people to the Romans for the death penalty. The first time Jesus says this, Peter is indignant: Most English translations have Peter saying something like “Never!” or “God Forbid!” The one word that Peter utters is the word for “Mercy!”
It was a dire prediction after all, and I’m sure the disciples weren’t ready for that just yet. That’s when Jesus responds to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” Keep in mind that just a few verses earlier Jesus said he was going to build his church on Peter, or at least on the truth of his confession that Jesus is the Christ.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there. In all three gospel accounts of this first prediction, Jesus goes on to say something about each of them having to take up their own cross to follow Jesus. In other words, they need to “die” too. But for those who would come to Christ later, that experience of “dying,” that is, “taking up the cross,” will look very different. That has got to be pretty earth shaking for a young group of disciples who thought that Jesus was going to lead them in breaking away from Roman rule. This background is important to emphasize here for what is about to happen.
About six days later, according to Matthew’s account, it’s at this point that the story from our gospel reading this morning kicks in. Jesus chooses what is apparently his “inner circle”—Peter, James, and John—to go up onto a high mountain, and he wastes no time getting to the reason he came: He transfigures himself before them to reveal his heavenly glory. Matthew says Jesus’s face “shone like the sun” and his clothes were “bright white.” Luke is much less dramatic: he just says Jesus’s appearance was “different.” In fact, Luke doesn’t even use the word for “transfiguration” in his account. That word is one that should be familiar to you: it’s the Greek word from which we get the English word “metamorphosis” (μεταμορφόομαι metamorphoomai, μεταμορφόω metamorphoō).
Mark is the only other gospel writer to use that word in his account. It simply means to change form. I don’t think anything “physical” happened to Jesus in this event. I think the divine nature of Jesus overpowers the physical nature and manifests its form on top of Jesus’s human form. For added excitement, Moses and Elijah show up in their heavenly forms to chat with Jesus.
But why Moses and Elijah? Luke tells us this: “They spoke about his departure, q which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.”[1] Elijah is not the first prophet in the Old Testament, but he is the most famous, and he never died. Maybe Elijah is sharing his experience of having his human form whisked off to heaven and what Jesus should expect at his resurrection. Elijah also represents John the Baptist, the last of the prophets under the old covenant, as Jesus would go on to explain in Matthew 17:12.
Moses’s presence is easy to explain. Moses was the one who was initially given the Law by God that he passed on to the Israelites, so it makes sense that he would be present to see the one in whom all that law is fulfilled. What did Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount? “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”[2] The apostle Paul would say some 25 years later, “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”[3] Both Moses and Elijah together represent the full experience of how God revealed himself in the Old Testament, and both of them get to see the fulfillment of their respective roles in that revelation firsthand.
The transfiguration event doesn’t seem to take very long, maybe a few minutes at the most, but then again, the disciples seem to be in a bit of daze at the whole event. It’s not long after they come down from that mountain-top experience that Jesus again repeats his prediction of dying. This puts a closing bracket on the transfiguration story and provides a final clue as to what we can take away from that story.
Jesus reveals his divine nature to his inner circle in the transfiguration event so that they can have assurance that Jesus’s death will not be the end of the story. The disciples see that Moses and Elijah are still alive, so there is proof of life after death. For the disciples to both see the glory of God in Jesus and hear his voice also puts them in the same unique class as Moses and Elijah, men who have seen the glory of God, have heard his voice, and have lived to tell about it.
There are at least three takeaways for us in this story, then.
Heaven is real and the patriarchs are alive and well in that realm;
Jesus himself will be resurrected when the time comes; and
Jesus has the fulness of divinity in him, i.e., he’s the Son of God.[4]
It’s possible this event may also be a sort of looking forward to what will happen on the Day of Pentecost. The tongues of fire I’m sure looked a bit different than what Peter saw in the transfiguration, but there would have been no doubt in his mind that this was God at work. In fact, Peter mentions this event in his second letter:
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” i18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.[5]
Now I’ve been calling this event the “Transfiguration” because that’s the fancy, $20 religious term that’s in the Lectionary and that has been used for hundreds of years in English translations. I do believe it deserves that special designation, because it’s not something you see every day. But in everyday usage, this word simply means “transform,” and we find it in two other passages that have significance in our own faith walk. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul is writing about the “greater glory of the new covenant” (NIV heading) and how we are being “transformed” into the image of Christ as we follow him and live in him:
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”[6]
In other words, our transformation, our heavenly visage when we finally meet our Savior in glory, will be glorious in and of itself. We really will have a “glow” to us, so it seems. I’m looking forward to that day, and I pray you are too.
The other passage where we find this word is Romans 12:1–2:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.[7]
The “therefore” in this passage is important, because it follows on the heels of Paul’s 11-chapter treatise on righteousness and faithfulness. At the center of that argument is the event that triggers our transformation from being world-focused to being God-focused: baptism. Paul says that those “who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.”[8]
This is what it means to be the “living sacrifice” Paul speaks of in Romans 12. Not only are we “buried with Christ,” but we’re raised up to live a new life. When we’re in Christ, he can begin and continue the work of transforming us into his image through the working of Holy Spirit. This is how much Christ loved us and continues to love us. He will never leave us nor forsake. Even if we blow it sometimes, he’s still faithful to continue loving and guiding us into his way.
As we transition from Epiphany to Lent this week, let us consider how we can improve our focus on Christ and living for him in service of others. May God bless you and yours this week. Amen.
My, how time flies! Next Sunday, February 15, 2026, is “Transfiguration Sunday,” the last Sunday before the Lenten season begins. Thank you for reading my new Lectionary Help series. Last week’s post was the most popular post on my blog for the week, almost twice what it was the week before. If you’re sharing these with your congregation or colleagues, a double dose of thanks for that! Now, let’s look at Matthew 17:1–9.
Word Study
We can’t talk about “transfiguration” without talking about the Greek word Matthew uses to describe the event, and it should be a familiar one to you: μεταμορφόομαι (metamorphoomai), μεταμορφόω (metamorphoō).[1] Those of you who studied Greek may recognize that this verb occurs in deponent form (usually implies no direct object or perhaps middle voice, suggesting the action of the verb is focused on the speaker themselves) and active voice, at least in the lexical entry.
New Testament authors only use the verb four times.[2] In addition to today’s passage, we find it in Mark’s account of the event (9:2). Luke does not use this word in his account (9:28–36) but only mentions that Jesus’s “appearance” changed (“The form [εἶδος eidos] of his face [was] different”).
Paul uses the word in Romans 12:2 (“be transformed by the renewing of your minds”) and 2 Corinthians 3:18 (“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”[3]). In both instances, the passive would seem to be appropriate since it refers to changes you and I undergo because of what Christ is doing in the lives of the faithful. Although Paul was not yet a follower at the time of the Transfiguration event, it seems clear in the 2 Corinthians passage that he’s alluding to that.
In all four occurrences, the morphologies I checked[4] all identified the forms as passive voice. However, I would argue that the two occurrences in the gospels should be identified as middle voice, because Jesus has the power within himself to control the event. I don’t know that this is a huge thing theologically, whether God was doing it or Jesus was doing it, but as I’ll discuss below, I think the events leading up to this suggest Jesus initiates this for his inner circle.
The other NT reading for the Lectionary is 2 Peter 1:16–21. Peter references his participation in the Transfiguration event, which he is now free to do since Christ has risen. It’s in the opening chapter of his first epistle, so I wonder how long he was holding on to that little tidbit waiting for the opportunity to publish it! It’s not a boast, though. He’s merely establishing his credibility as an eyewitness to the event, so we can, I think, safely say that the Transfiguration is a genuine event and not resort to some psychological, metaphysical, or naturalistic explanation for the event.
Context
In the synoptic gospels, all three authors have the Transfiguration story closely tied to Jesus’s first and second predictions of his death. Matthew and Luke have it immediately after that prediction, while Mark inserts the pericope about taking up the cross after the prediction. All three follow the Transfiguration pericope with a pericope of Jesus healing a demon-possessed boy followed by Jesus’s second prediction of dying. Luke adds after the second prediction that “Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem,”[5] which establishes the historical setting for the rest of Luke’s gospel. I don’t think it’s too much of a leap of faith to say that Jesus is using the Transfiguration event to assure his disciples that:
Heaven is real and the patriarchs are alive and well in that realm;
Jesus himself will be resurrected when the time comes; and
Jesus has the fulness of divinity in him, i.e., he’s the Son of God.[6]
Those are the highlights I noticed as I begin my own preparation for preparing a message for next Sunday. As always, feel free to comment here in the blog or on my Facebook page for the blog. Also watch for the Reel as I’m going to dive into creating some video content for these Lectionary Help posts as well.
If you want to see past Lectionary Help articles on the blog, just search “Lectionary” from the blog search feature, usually on the right side of your computer screen. Peace to you all!
An analysis of the gospel passage for the Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany (Year A), February 8, 2026. Please feel free to comment and give feedback below or use the comment section as a place to exchange ideas for communicating the message of this passage.
It’s been a busy couple weeks for me as I’ve been hard at work wrapping up my message on Romans 1 & 2 for our small group kickoff at my home church on February 4. It will be the longest message I’ve ever preached to the largest crowd I’ve ever been in front of. But I’m ready for the challenge, and I know a lot of people in the audience, so I’m not nervous at all.
The gospel passage for the Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany is Matthew 5:13–20, part of the Sermon on the Mount, and I’m sure very familiar to most preachers. Verses 13–16 about being salt and light are almost second nature for those who share the gospel, but I’ll still offer a few comments. However, in light of my just finishing up (at least for now) an intense study of Romans, I did want to focus on the last half of the passage in which Jesus discusses his and our relationship to the Law and the Prophets.
Salt had many uses in the ancient world that most of us are familiar with. But Jesus here focuses particularly on salt’s ability to add flavor to something (“If the salt has lost its saltiness”), so we should consider that aspect of it as Jesus’s primary intended meaning by referencing it. What are the ways in which believers can “add flavor” to a conversation or to life in general? I think most of you can answer that question based on your own experience and the demographic you minister to.
The use of the term “salty” to mean, essentially, “cussing like a sailor” or just using crude or unfiltered language generally did not arise until the late 19th century, so we should be careful to avoid reading that meaning back into a first-century text!
Jerusalem was built on a hill, so the image of light here may have a dual meaning. Borrowing from themes we’ve seen in previous weeks of the Epiphany season (e.g., Isaiah 9:2, 42:6, 49:6), we can see why Jewish tradition considered Jerusalem to be the light of the world. The Law held that distinction as well: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105; see also v. 130).
With this in mind, it seems to be a natural transition from talking about “salt and light” into talking about the Law. Jesus says his mission is to “fulfill” (Greek πληρόω plēroō) the Law and Prophets. Not only, then, is Jesus the promised Messiah in prophets like Isaiah and the Psalms (Psalms 22 and 110 come to mind), but he also claims he has fulfilled the Law of God, something no one before him had ever dared to claim.
Since I mentioned I’d been working in Romans, some of you might know where I’m going with this last section of the gospel passage. Leviticus 18:5 says “5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.”[1] Paul cites this passage in Romans 10:5. But Romans 1:17 says “The righteous one will live by faithfulness.” So what’s the connection?
In Romans 10:4 (NIV), Paul says “4 Christ is the culmination (Greek τέλος telos) of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”[2]The Common English Bible (CEB; a version you may see me quote more from since I discovered it this week) translates it this way: “4 Christ is the goal of the Law, which leads to righteousness for all who have faith in God.”[3]That’s essentially what Jesus means when he says he is fulfilling the law. Christ was faithful to the whole law of God such that he is declared “righteous” in the sight of the law, which allows him to qualify to be faithful to death on the cross for our salvation (Philippians 2:8).
This adds another layer of meaning, then, to “the righteousness of God [that] is being revealed” in the first part of Romans 1:17. Righteousness is not a “what” (or not just a “what”) but a “who.” Jesus Christ is the Righteousness of God! If we are “in Christ,” as Paul regularly says, especially in Ephesians 1, then we are walking under the umbrella of his righteousness. It’s not something “imparted” to us (at least not while we live), but something that we actively live in. Verse 20 then makes a lot more sense. How can our righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law? Only by being in Christ, the righteous one who perfectly fulfilled the whole law.
Thank you for reading! Share this with your pastor friends. I encourage you also to leave comments below and use those comments as a way to share and exchange ideas about how to communicate the truths of this passage. Your feedback is always welcome as well.
Peace to you as we approach the end of the Epiphany season on February 15 with “Transfiguration Sunday.”
I presented this message on January 25, 2026, at Mount View Presbyterian Church, Omaha, NE. On the liturgical calendar, it was the third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A.
Good morning! The Lord be with you!
Much of today’s gospel passage from Matthew is very similar to the events and themes we covered in last week’s Gospel passage from John. As such, I’m not going to spend much time in that passage today and instead want to look at our Old Testament reading, Psalm 27.
However, I will say a just a few words about the Matthew passage because there is a story in Matthew 4 that appears at first blush to disagree with John’s account about a similar encounter. Last week you may remember that Andrew was the first one of the disciples to want to follow Jesus, and he had meet Jesus at the place John the Baptist was baptizing in the Jordan River. He in turn went and got his brother, Simon Peter, to share the news that he had found the Messiah. After Peter met Jesus, John says they went and spent the day with Jesus.
Matthew’s account, as you heard, also has to do with the calling of Andrew and Peter, along with James and John, the sons of Zebedee as they’re fishing in the Sea of Galilee. However, in Matthew’s story, this comes immediately after Jesus spends 40 days fasting, praying, and being tempted in the wilderness. It seems clear then, that one of the things Jesus was praying about was who, among all the people he had met and interacted with during John’s “baptism revival,” would make the best choice for his band of 12 disciples. After all, Jesus had been in the wilderness 40 days, so it’s possible Andrew and Peter may have wondered what happened to him by that point. I’m guessing the four of them were pleasantly surprised to get the call from him, even if they didn’t yet understand the kind of commitment they were making.
The important takeaway for us in the choosing of Matthew is that Jesus wasn’t apparently looking for the well-educated scribes and well-respected, Pharisees, and Sadducees to be his followers. They surely would have argued with him the whole time given what we learn about them in the gospels and Jesus wouldn’t have gotten anything done. Although Jesus did come to preach repentance and a proper understanding of what our relationship to the Law and eventually Grace would look like, he was even more concerned about bringing people eternal hope, love, and joy in the midst of a religious structure that had grown increasingly legalistic and impersonal. The religious leadership of the Jews seemed to have a stranglehold on what the Jewish faith should look like, with hundreds of extra rules in place to keep you from even coming close to breaking the law.
This is where Psalm 27, a psalm of David, comes in. David’s leadership helped establish the nation of Israel as a regional powerhouse after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and a few hundred years of rule by regional judges. It was during the period of Joshua and Judges where they conquered and in some cases wiped out nations that had “earned” the wrath of God for their wicked practices and animosity toward God’s chosen and beloved people.
Psalm 27 is filled with confident assertions and positive desires from David that he and perhaps the rest of Israel are in a right relationship with God. The Israelites were still adjusting to being a unified “kingdom,” not just scattered tribes ruled by local judges. But the attitude and the joy expressed by David in Psalm 27 seems to reflect a different mind set in his day than what comes across in the gospels. After all, you don’t see any of the Herods writing these kinds of psalms of praise! On the contrary, we get the impression that the Herodian Dynasty, which had descended from the Maccabees who had overthrown Greek rule almost 200 years prior to Jesus’s ministry, had become corrupt and heartless toward their own people in trying to appease their Roman overlords.
Our reading this morning left out a few verses from Psalm 27 this morning, so I would like to read through the whole Psalm a few verses at a time to talk about what it has to say to us this morning. We’ll start with vv. 1–3:
David didn’t have Pharisees and Sadducees telling him how to interpret God’s word and who added a “hedge” around the law. The “hedge” was a set of rules that rabbis had established much later in Israel’s history, probably sometime around 200 B.C. They were not strictly biblical commands, but they were guidelines intended to keep you out of situations that might increase the temptation to sin. It’s sort of like how some denominations today don’t want their members to dance because it might lead to “other things.” One such example from the Bible is when Jesus criticized the Pharisees because they tithed their mint, dill, and cumin—the smallest spices they knew about—but did nothing about justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23).
David knew where his power and protection came from in Psalm 27: it came straight from God. He is emphatic that he has no need to fear. He knows his enemies will stumble and fall regardless of who comes after him. That is true faith, true confidence in God’s sovereignty. It’s no wonder he was called a man after God’s own heart.
4 One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.
6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
These three verses are interesting in that David speaks of God’s dwelling, his temple. Yet at this time, the first Temple had not been built yet. But twice, David references God’s “sacred tent.” This is a reference to the Tabernacle that the Jews had carried around in the wilderness for 40 years and was in use by David and the priests right up to the time Solomon built the Temple (1 Chronicles 6:32; 2 Chronicles 1:5)[3].
David understood the importance of a leader being present at worship regularly as an example to the people. David had brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, so had been in the visible presence of God at least one time in his life. That is how he knows how awesome it is to gaze on the beauty of the Lord.
How does that apply to us today? We know when Christ died that the veil was torn in two, from top to bottom, so God’s presence no longer “hid” behind a thick curtain. God’s new way of working in his people after the death and resurrection of Jesus was to give each of us the Holy Spirit. So we most likely will not see a manifestation of the presence of God inside our four walls here, but we can see how the Holy Spirit is working in each of us as we fellowship, worship, and serve together in his name and for his glory.
David also realized in times of trouble that being in God’s presence allows him to call upon the Lord for mercy, protection, and strength. He asks God to “hear my voice” and for God not to “hid your face from me.” He desires to be taught continually so he is better able to serve God and lead his people away from and protect them from the dangers of the surrounding nations. He knows that people are out to get him. He knows God is the only one who can protect him from those aggressors.
We do this as well on Sunday mornings here, and throughout the week, by praying together for those things that are on our hearts. As a fellowship we can seek support from one another to receive comfort and strength. In all my years as a minister, I’ve lost track of how many people have told me they don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. Technically, that may be true, but it sure makes the Christian walk much easier when you have others around you who share the struggles and joys of human existence.
This is David’s concluding benediction, which seems to serve the same purpose in worship as something like our “Gloria Patri” or the Doxology choruses. David reaffirms the confidence he had in vs. 3. He calls on all the worshipers to “Wait for the Lord.” The most common translation for the Hebrew word translated “wait” [קָוָה qāwā(h)] is “hope.” David is waiting, hoping with confidence that the Lord himself will act to keep him and his people safe in the land of the living. David also calls the worshipers to “be strong and take heart,” something both Joshua and Jesus said in their respective ministries.
Early in Joshua’s account of taking the Promised Land, he writes to his fellow Israelites:
6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
……….
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”[6]
Jesus said in his final instructions to his disciples just before his prayer at the end of the Last Supper:
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”[7]
So I leave you with those words of encouragement this morning. May the peace of God reign in your hearts as you go from this place. Amen.
[3] In 1 Chronicle 23:26, David relieved the Levites of their responsibility to carry the Tabernacle since Israel was permanently settled in Jerusalem.
Thank you so much for reading “Lectionary Help.” This installment is for the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany, Year A, February 1, 2026.
The following is an excerpt of my message on the passage from three years ago, along with a link to a one-minute video clip where Eugene Peterson tells the story I reference. The link for my full message is at the end of today’s article.
“Blessed”
Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, a contemporary paraphrase of the Bible, tells the story of how he wanted to translate this passage. He mentioned that after preaching one Sunday, a woman came up to him afterwards and mentioned how “lucky” she felt to have found his congregation.
Peterson ruminated on that a bit, as he was in the process of writing the paraphrase at the time, and thought “lucky” might be a more contemporary word that could be used in place “blessed.” However, when he floated that idea with his publishers, they shot it down pretty quickly because there’s a large segment of Christianity that associates the word “luck” with “Lucifer.” That might be a buzz kill for someone wanting to publish a Bible translation.[1]
Whether that connection [between “luck” and “Lucifer”] is true is not relevant to understanding the word μακάριος (makarios), however. The word “blessed” implies that something is coming from someone who has the power to give you something special or grant you a special permission in his kingdom. “Luck” has nothing to do with that. Peterson eventually accepted the word “blessed” here, because he recognized the word best represented the meaning of the text.
Respecting the Form of the Text
My textbook for Preaching class in seminary was Fred Craddock’s Preaching. Our seminary had a vast cassette tape library (yeah, that dates me, I know) of sermons from a variety of preachers, but I always loved to check out Craddock’s messages and consume them on my weekly drive to and from Lincoln, IL. One chapter in Craddock’s book was on the “form” of the sermon. He made the point that at no time in Christian history has there ever been a “standardized” form for the message given on Sunday morning (or whenever the saints gathered). But I do remember him talking about how it might be a good idea for the sermon to reflect the form of the passage it’s based on in certain instances.
When I preached on this passage three years ago, I had a choice, then, it seemed. I could robotically work my way through each of the individual Beatitudes and share the results of the appropriate word study for the key word in each, or I could shape the message more poetically as it seemed Matthew (or at least Matthew’s record of Jesus) had done. Most of the key words in the Beatitudes seemed to begin with one of three consonant sounds, so there was at least some hint of alliteration in the passage. I wound up crafting my own “amplified” version of the Beatitudes to capture some of the nuances of the various key words. It all came together rather quickly, as I recall, maybe two hours tops.
Here is the amplified form of the first Beatitude as I wrote it for my message that day. The entire message (including audio file) is found at the link at the end of this post.
When doubt creeps in
Because you see so much sin:
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
When your vision gets blurred
And you can’t see God’s word:
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
When life drains you
But God’s hope sustains you
And His people maintain you:
Blessed are the poor in Spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Meek”
Just a quick note on the Greek word for “meek” [πραΰς praus] in vs. 5. The word is used three other times in the NT (Matthew 11:29; 21:5; 1 Peter 3:4), all of which are translated “gentle” in the NIV. But if you look at the context of each of these verses, you’ll see that it has nothing to do with passivity. Psalm 37:8–11 is a good OT passage that parallels (and is perhaps the source for) Matthew 5:5.
Lectionary Helps for the Third Sunday After Epiphany, Year A, January 25, 2026.
[NOTE: As a bonus, the following addresses The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible’s (SAB) contention that the presumed discrepancy described herein and seeks to harmonize the two accounts. Reference ≠337 in SAB.]
If you read last week’s Lectionary Help post (Lectionary Helps for John 1:29–42 | Sunday Morning Greek Blog), you’ll remember that I mentioned the time sequence in John 1:29ff (repeated use of “the next day”). I believe this is important to help sort out what appears to be a discrepancy in John’s story of Andrew and Peter meeting Jesus on the same day they’re introduced to him (John 1:40) versus Matthew’s account of calling Andrew and Peter to follow him as they’re fishing in the Sea of Galilee in this week’s passage (4:12–23).
Matthew’s account comes after Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness for 40 days, and it indicates that after the temptation, Jesus went into Galilee in fulfillment of Isaiah 9, which is also one of this week’s lectionary passages. A careful comparison of the language between John’s and Matthew’s accounts should clear this up. In John’s gospel, Andrew and Peter are introduced to Jesus, but they were not “following” in the sense of having committed themselves to be his disciple. They simply wanted to know where he was staying and did happen to spend at least part of the day with Jesus.
On “the next day,” John says Jesus went to Galilee, where he called Philip and Nathaniel to follow him. Note that Jesus had NOT explicitly asked Andrew and Peter to follow him on the previous day, so Philip and Nathaniel are the first ones to get asked directly in John’s account. Perhaps it is in this time frame (“a few days”) that Jesus also makes his formal call to Andrew, Peter, James, and John, as described in Matthew’s account.
So how do we reconcile this? John, like Matthew, seems to have Isaiah 9 in mind as he writes the opening chapters of his gospel, especially with several references to Jesus as the “light.” In one sense, especially in John 1:1–5, this “light” is a reference to the first day of creation. But as Jesus moves into Galilee, “light” takes on the added significance of the prophetic declaration in Isaiah 9:2:
John 2:12 is where the time references start to get vague. We have the story of Jesus clearing the Temple, which in other Gospel accounts happens near the end of Jesus’s earthly ministry.[2] I believe John may be dropping that story in here to fit another theme from Isaiah 9, especially vv. 4 and 7d: “You have shattered the yoke that burdens them.” Regardless, the text does say he returned to Jerusalem. When Jesus cleared the Temple will have to be the subject of another post.
It seems reasonable to assume that John 3 is still in sequence with the chronology of the first two chapters. John uses the Greek particle δε to introduce the chapter, which suggests a continuity of the narrative.[3] The “verdict” in vs. 19: “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil,”[4] because it seems to be some sort of climactic statement or hinge verse, ties into Isaiah 9:2, so its inclusion here is both thematic and chronological. In 3:22, we have a reference to Jesus and his disciples spending some time in the Judean countryside “before John was put in prison” (3:24). What’s interesting here, and this is key, is that Matthew 4 doesn’t actually use the Greek noun for “prison,” φυλακή (phylakē), that John uses in 3:24. Matthew uses the verb παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), which is more like an arrest or a detainment. It isn’t until Matthew 14 that he says Herod threw John in φυλακή.
In John 4, then, we are still contemporaneous with the first three chapters, because John says that Jesus “went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria.” John introduces chapter 4 with οὖν (oun), which implies the events of chapter 3 have prompted him to return to Galilee. This again raises the connection between Isaiah 9 and these early chapters of John’s gospel. It is in John 4 where Jesus first declares that he is the Messiah in John’s gospel. This is how he honors “Galilee of the Nations” (Isaiah 9:1b). (See my post from 2011 Honoring Galilee | Sunday Morning Greek Blog.)
We do not have any record of John the Baptist’s death or actual imprisonment or arrest in John’s gospel, so it is difficult to harmonize that aspect of Matthew’s account. The closest he hints at it is in John 5:35, where he speaks of John the Baptist in the past tense. But the fact that Matthew uses a different term to indicate John’s legal status does NOT conflict, then, with John 3:24. John may be detained or under “house arrest” (remember, Herod used to like to listen to John preach), but he’s not technically “in prison” in John’s account or in Matthew’s account in chapter 4. Once he’s in prison, it would seem, his fate is sealed.
The evidence presented here is sufficient, then, to resolve the apparent discrepancy and debunk SAB‘s contention that this represents an irreconcilable contradiction.
Wow, this one got a lot more involved than I expected once I started diving into it. I’m already halfway done, it seems, with next week’s sermon prep and I still haven’t finished tomorrow’s message! I do hope you find these Lectionary Help articles useful. I got what I considered to be a decent response to the first one last week, so I’m motivated to keep going. Peace to all of you, and if you’re in the Midwest, stay warm!
Pastor Scott Stocking, M.Div.
My views and interpretations are my own unless otherwise attributed.
As always, your comments and feedback are welcome.
[2] See, for example, Blomberg, Craig L. 2001. The Historical Reliability of John’s Gospel. England: Apollos, p. 87, where he notes the passage is “somewhat unconnected to its immediate context.”
[3] δε. BAG-D: “3. Resuming a discourse that has been interrupted.”
As you know, today is the third Sunday of Advent, where we focus on the Joy for what Christ brings to our lives. I’m sure most of you know that there’s a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness comes from the things that happen around us. The word comes to us through the Middle English word hap, which in that time meant luck, fortune, fate, or one’s lot in life. The word had either a positive sense (“good fortune”) or a negative sense (“hard times” or a “hard lot” in life) depending on context. In modern English, of course, it’s been entirely infused with the positive meaning “happy as a lark.” It may be more of a surface feeling as well. It’s a feeling that can come and go depending on life’s circumstances.
Joy, on the other hand, is happiness on steroids if you will, at least according to Merriam-Webster. Their dictionary defines it as “a feeling of great happiness or pleasure; delight”; “a state of great happiness”; and “a source or cause of delight.” It comes from a Latin word that means “rejoice.” No surprise there. It does imply something much deeper than happiness, as the definitions suggest, something intangible, something you can’t quite put your finger on.
I experienced this feeling of joy recently, and I’d like to share it with you. Jill’s daughter Rebecca moved in with us almost three years ago when she was struggling trying to find her way in the COVID mess. Within about a year, she managed to land a job working for the Hilton Hotel downtown scheduling reservations for large events at the hotel or downtown. As it turned out, she found her niche. This past year, one of her biggest projects was working with teams and large fan groups coming for the College World Series. She was feeling the success.
In the meantime, she also rekindled her love for singing and performing by auditioning for and joining the River City Mixed Chorus, the largest chorus of its kind in the Omaha area. Last Saturday they had their annual Christmas/Holiday concert at the Holland. After the concert I paid attention to how family and friends of the chorus were excited about the evening. That really touched me to witness that. The evening was extra special in that Rebecca found out just before the concert that her bid on a house was accepted. That was the icing on the cake for the evening.
As you might imagine, when Jill and I first got together 12 years ago, it was a bit of a rough go for me and for her two teenage girls at the time. But as a man of God, I was determined to prove my mettle and stay the course by showing them just how much I loved their mom and how willing I was to support her girls in their various pursuits. Today, I have a great relationship with her grown-up and fully employed daughters. I told Rebecca last Saturday night how proud I was of her success, and I got choked up trying to get the words out of my mouth. To me, that was true joy. I felt in my heart, and I could see it in Rebecca as well. For me, that was a real moment of joy.
In our gospel passage this morning, Jesus’s cousin John the Baptizer was looking for a “sign” or a reason to be joyful in the midst of his struggles in prison. He already knew Jesus was the Messiah but he still, apparently, didn’t understand what that would look like. He sent his own messengers to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah, and Jesus’s answer did not disappoint. John may have had the same expectation others had about the Messiah when he came, that he would overthrow Roman rule and restore the theocracy.
But when Jesus offers up the “evidence” that he wants John’s disciples to take back to John, none of it has to do with political power. It has to do with restoring joy and hope to oppressed people or those gravely impacted by life’s circumstances. Think about the emotional reaction of the people who benefited from Jesus’s ministry.
The blind receive their sight: Imagine not being able to see anything, then all of the sudden one day, Jesus shows up in your town and gives you back your sight. This would be more than just a “happy” moment: you would be filled with joy to discover all that you’ve been missing: the blue sky; the beauty of the human form; the colors of flowers and birds; and so forth. You would be leaping for joy! Our neighbor when we lived in Aksarben had a color-blind son. A company called Pilestone developed a series of lenses that allow color-blind people to better distinguish colors, and he happened to get the glasses. His mom posted a video of him experiencing the vividness of color for the first time wearing these glasses. That was truly a joyful moment for that young man and his family.
How about the lame walking? A few chapters earlier in Matthew, we see Jesus tell a lame man that his sins are forgiven, and to prove that he has the power to forgive sins, Jesus also heals the man and tells him to pick up his bed and walk away free of his disability. Not only was the man overjoyed, but the text in Matthew 9 indicates “the crowd was filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.” We see this early in the book of Acts as well, when the apostles effectuate God’s healing: Peter speaks healing to a lame beggar in Acts 3, and the man “jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.”[1]
Jesus had healed 10 people with leprosy at one point. The Bible commanded that people healed of leprosy show themselves to the priest to be declared clean. The 10 did that, but for whatever reason, only one was joyful enough to return to Jesus and give him thanks. This story is certainly relevant today: how many of us miss out on joy by failing to realize or acknowledge that God himself is the source of that joy. Even joy, though it tends to affect us deeper in our souls and lasts longer, can fade if we don’t recognize the everlasting joy we can have from our heavenly father.
The deaf hear. Just like the blind man; being able to experience any of your senses for the first time as an adult. Imagine being able to hear and understand words you’ve only experienced by sight on a page. Think about that for a minute: if you were completely deaf and suddenly could hear someone speaking for the first time, how would know what sounds go with each letter? If you can read lips, that might help you make the connection. That challenge would pale, I think, when compared next to the joy of hearing again.
The dead are raised. Lazarus wasn’t the only dead person Jesus brought back to life. He also raised Jairus’s daughter. I’ve come close to experiencing that several times in the past few years. My friend Jim contracted hepatitis at a family Thanksgiving meal a few years ago and his liver began to fail. He had gotten to the point where he was asking me to do his funeral. But something divine happened to him to change his mind about getting a liver transplant, and he’s still with us today. My sister Lindee recovered from her complicated liver issues after a liver transplant as well this year. She still has a couple challenges left to navigate, but she’s well on the road to full recovery. Another Jim who’s a good friend was at death’s door in the first year of COVID. His wife had talked to me about funeral arrangements. But he’s recovered now and still leads our men’s group study today. I and the families of these friends are glad to still have them around. Each in their own way represents what joy is all about.
The final thing Jesus mentions to John’s disciples is that the good news, the gospel, is preached to the poor. All these things are a direct reference to the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 35:4–6:
John the Baptist understood why Jesus responded the way he did. The passage from Isaiah is the precursor to the messianic sections of Isaiah that speak of a suffering servant. John was beginning to understand what Jesus certainly already did: Jesus would ultimately die for the sins of the whole human race. Jesus didn’t come to break the power of Rome. He came to break the power of a corrupted religion that enslaved people to a legalistic, punitive view of God. The power of religious leadership was in holding this threat of the judgment of God over the heads of the people.
But Jesus turned that on its head. John realized that Jesus came so people could have their sins forgiven, not to be judged for them. The “vengeance” Isaiah speaks of is not against all mankind generally, but against those who had corrupted the message of the Bible. God loves us. That was Jesus’s message as well. But not only that God loves us, but that God wants us to spend eternity with him in a glorified state. He wants us to experience true healing and true joy for all eternity.
In the last part of our gospel passage this morning, Jesus asks the crowd about John the Baptist: why did you come out to see him? What did you expect? The answer was straightforward. John the Baptist wasn’t a sharp-dressed man who gave pep talks. He was the one who preceded Jesus to prepare the way for him. He was the first prophet in 400 years, except instead of prophesying to and about the kings of Judah and Israel, he was prophesying about the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The people flocked to him because John had the courage to stand up to them and tell them what many Jews to that time had been harboring in their hearts: “Your ways, O Pharisees, sap our strength and rob us of hope. Someone is coming who has a much better way than yours.”
Let me flip this question around and ask it in the context of our world today, December 14, 2025. Many people come to church at Christmas (and Easter) that don’t come to church regularly. What are they looking for when they come to church? Being with family may be part of that, but are they perhaps coming because they want to hear that message of hope and joy for themselves? Are they coming because they think Jesus as a baby and the whole manger scene is cute and not in the least bit threatening? Or are they coming because they want to experience awesome, transformative power of forgiveness from a risen Savior who has conquered death? Are they coming out of a sense of obligation, or are they coming because they want to experience a vibrant and encouraging fellowship with other Christ-followers? The Christmas season isn’t the only time of the year where we consider why and how Jesus came to dwell among us. Many Christians look for that weekly and practice that weekly year-round. Why? Because they find a continuous source of joy, help, hope, and strength in their church communities.
This Christmas season, reach out to those who need to know and experience the fellowship of the body of Christ. Let us go forth from here and be beacons of hope and light. May God richly bless you this Christmas season, and merry Christmas to all! Amen.
What will the resurrection be like? A similar question that some may have is, “What will Heaven be like?”
Our passage this morning opens the gates of pearl for us just a bit to give us a glimpse into life in our eternal home. We will also look at the epistle reading today a little later from 2 Thessalonians and other relevant passages to get a wider perspective of what the Bible says about life beyond the grave.
Before we get there, however, let’s take a look at our reading from Luke.
The first verse of our passage sets the context for us. The Sadducees are questioning Jesus about the resurrection, trying to trick him into some logical trap. But of course, Jesus knows what they’re up to. The Sadducees were different from the Pharisees in several ways, but the biggest difference is that the Sadducees strictly adhered to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the OT, so ALL of their theological beliefs derived from the Pentateuch. Anything that happened in the OT after that was judged in the light of the Pentateuch.
The Pentateuch, however, never explicitly mentions resurrection or anyone rising from the dead, so the Sadducees rejected the concept of the resurrection outright. Not only that, they by default rejected any concept of eternal punishment or eternal reward. If there’s no resurrection, who would be around to get punished or rewarded? They also rejected the concept of angels or any kind of spiritual realm other than that which God inhabited. This made for a very legalistic and moralistic interpretation of Scripture, because only in this life could you be rewarded for believing in God and following Torah. So, as the line we often teach to children, this is why they were sad, you see.
One interesting historical note here: the Sadducees were not a very large group. Josephus tells us that the Sadducees disappeared after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. It seems like some sort of divine providence had a hand in the Sadducees rising up at the precise time in history when Jesus appeared so we’d have a record of the antiresurrection group and some examples of how to defend resurrection theology from the Old Testament.
The Sadducees try to trip Jesus up with a question about Levirate marriage, that is, the concept of the responsibility of a younger brother to provide an heir if their oldest brother failed to do so through the elder brother’s wife. That seems like a strange concept to us in the 21st Century, but in those days, it was necessary to preserve family history and property. The Sadducees go through the progression of all the brothers and the wife dying and ask Jesus whose wife she will be.
Jesus’s response is not what they expected. He basically says that marriage is strictly an earthly institution and will not be a factor in heaven. I imagine it is hard for us to grasp that concept. Jesus does seem to imply that we will recognize people we knew on earth by making the point about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but he also says we will be like the angels as well. So it seems reasonable we would be reunited with loved ones.
At the end of Jesus’s explanation, some of the teachers of the law (not the Sadducees) praised Jesus for his answer. Very likely that was because the burning bush reference was from the Pentateuch, the only part of the Bible the Sadducees used for doctrine. In other words, Jesus essentially embarrassed the Sadducees by showing them they don’t understand a basic principle from the Pentateuch they revere so much.
Now when Jesus says those in Heaven will be “like the angels” needs some special consideration here. Paul uses a single word, an adjective, here that means “angel-like” (ἰσάγγελος isangelos). It’s the only time this word is used in the Bible. The implication here is not necessarily that they are of the same make-up of the angels, otherwise he would have used the regular word for angel. They are “angel-like” because they will never die. I still think we retain basic human form, but our bodies will be transformed into immortal material. Here’s how Paul words it in 1 Corinthians 15:
38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.[1]
…
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.[2]
So we humans will have our own unique spiritual bodies in eternity distinct from the type of bodies angels have. I can’t prove what I’m about to say, but I’ve given considerable thought to what Paul means by comparing our bodies to a “seed.” Did you know that human DNA can survive long after the body is gone through the natural decomposition process? I have to wonder if that scientific fact about DNA has any relationship to our resurrection bodies. In other words, does our DNA contain a “divine code” that is activated at the final resurrection to reconstitute our bodies into their eternal, spiritual form? We often wonder if we will recognize others in Heaven. Wouldn’t DNA accomplish that? Now again, I’m just speculating here; I have no proof of this. God could just as easily use some other method to distinguish our appearance. But I think it is an interesting proposition worth dwelling on. My “Bones” article on my blog addresses this subject, and it’s been the second-most popular post this year, so there seems to be quite a bit of interest in the topic.
Paul addresses how we arrive at that day of resurrection. In 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5, we have these words from Paul:
13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.[3]
…
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.[4]
In 2 Thessalonians, the epistle reading from today’s Lectionary, Paul assures his readers that certain things must happen before the Lord returns for us:
2 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.[5]
This “man of lawlessness,” also known as the Antichrist, must be revealed at some point before the end comes. People have postulated that many historical and current figures have been the Antichrist. You can do a Google search and find out who those folks are; I won’t get into that here. But the call is not for us to be able to identify who this Antichrist is. The call is for us to be ready for that day.
Matthew 24:42–44 puts it this way:
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.[6]
In the very next chapter we have the parable of the sheep and the goats at the judgment seat. Most of us are familiar with that story. Hebrews 9:27–28 says we all must face judgment, but if we are living our lives in and for Christ we have an absolute guarantee of salvation:
27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.[7]
The judgment scene from Matthew 25 confirms this: those who are ministering to the poor and needy and who are sharing the good news of Christ not just in word but in deed as well will enter into that resurrection reward. I’m confident that you here at Mount View are all running a good race and will cross over into glory on that final day. I pray that you will have the strength to continue to do so and reap a great harvest for the kingdom of God.
God is good. God is faithful. And whether he returns before or after our final day on earth, we can know that our final destination is the place he’s prepared for us in eternity. May the peace of God go with you all today. Amen!
I preached this message May 18, 2025, at Mount View Presbyterian Church, Omaha, NE. Fifth Sunday after Easter, Year C.
I find it interesting that in the weeks after Easter, the gospel passages in the Lectionary are revisiting Jesus’s Holy Week events. That probably shouldn’t surprise us with John’s gospel, though, as the last half of his gospel deals with the events of Holy Week. One explanation for this, I think, is that Jesus taught his disciples so much in that last week, and much of it occurred, apparently, immediately after the “Last Supper.” Given what happened in the 24 hours that followed that last supper, I think it’s safe to say that the apostles probably didn’t remember too much of that teaching. It’s a good thing John wrote it down, then! This gives them the opportunity to revisit those precious final moments with Jesus and to review his teachings to see what they missed about his death and resurrection.
Since we’re going back to Holy Week, and especially since today’s passage comes after John’s unique account of the Last Supper, I think it’s worth it to take a look at his account, especially, and add in the details that Matthew, Mark, and Luke provide. At the beginning of John 13, we see that the meal is already in progress, but we don’t get the “ritual” language we’ve become accustomed to from the other three gospels.
There’s no “This is my body” or “This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins” in John’s gospel. That’s not to say there’s a contradiction here in the storyline: John focuses on a more radical form of demonstrating the forgiveness that would come from the shed blood of the Messiah. He tells us that the Messiah himself washes the feet of ALL the disciples. When Jesus gets to Peter, we find out a little more about Jesus’s motivation for doing this: “Unless I wash you, you have not part with me.” Jesus turns this act of service into a living, “practical” memorial that his disciples would not soon forget. Not only has he said his blood would bring forgiveness; he touches each one of the disciples, even Judas, who he knows will sell him and out, and Peter the denier, to give them “muscle memory” of forgiveness.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all say something about the bread and the cup. Matthew and Mark both say simply: “This is my body,” while Luke adds two extra phrases: “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). Notice that none of the gospel writers ever say, “This is my body broken for you,” although the piece of unleavened bread in this part of the ceremony was the only one formally broken. The church through history almost naturally added in that bit about “broken for you” to parallel what happens to the bread. Note also the references to the cup in the three synoptic Gospel accounts have Jesus saying that the wine is “the new covenant in my blood” or “the blood of my covenant.” Matthew is the only one who connects the blood with the forgiveness of sins.
One thing that Jesus says in all three gospel accounts may get overlooked: “I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”[1] Jesus here is looking far beyond his own time with this statement: he’s looking ahead to his second coming where we will share in the glorious feast of the Lamb with him in heaven. It’s also worth noting here that Jesus still considers what he’s drinking is “the fruit of the vine” and NOT blood at all.
But this also begs the question: what does Jesus mean when he says, “This IS my body” and “This IS the new covenant in my blood”? I think as Presbyterians we can agree there is not some mystical transubstantiation of the wine into Jesus’s blood. Nor is there a mystical transubstantiation of the bread into the flesh of Christ. But I also don’t think the cup and the bread are merely “symbols” either. I prefer to use the word “signify” to describe the elements because they do have significance for my faith.
In this way, communion is akin to baptism. What does Paul say about baptism in Romans 6:3? “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”[2] Baptism signifies (there’s that word again) that we have come in contact with blood of Christ, which Matthew affirms is for the forgiveness of sins. That is our “initiation” rite, a marker or monument, if you will, that God has done something special in our lives and that we are set apart for something special. The water doesn’t become the blood of Christ when we’re baptized. But in a way that only God knows, the waters of baptism are infused with the power of spiritual cleansing and renewal.
Communion, then, is our regular connection with our baptism, because in communion, as we’ve said, we also encounter the blood of Christ, or what it signifies, in the cup at the communion table. The bread reminds us of the physical suffering Christ endured on the cross. But it also reminds us that we are all part of the body of Christ as well—that’s why we take it together, whether it’s monthly, weekly, or whenever we gather in his name. Out of all the different denominations out there, communion reminds us what we have in common: faith in Christ.
I’ve been studying what the Bible says about communion for quite a long time. It was the topic of one of my early blog posts. In my home church, we take it every Sunday, because that seems to be the practice of the early church in Acts. But my church also typically qualifies it when giving the communion meditation: “If you’re a believer in Christ, we invite you to participate.” There’s no official check for membership or a communicant’s card. Just a simple question to be answered on your honor. Some denominations or branches of mainline denominations require you to be a member of the church. Others may even suggest you’re committing heresy or blasphemy if you take communion in a church where you’re not a member.
The variety in how communion or the eucharist is handled in the modern church concerns me. Communion should be about what Jesus accomplished on the cross, not about your personal affiliation with a particular church. In that early blog article, A Truly Open Communion?, I asked the question this way:
If Jesus calls sinners to himself and eats with them; if Jesus broke bread at the Last Supper with a table full of betrayers and deserters; if Jesus can feed 5,000 men in addition to the women and children with just a few loaves of bread and some fish; why do many churches officially prohibit the Lord’s Table (communion, Eucharist) from those who are not professed Christ-followers, or worse, from those professed Christ-followers who are struggling with sin or divorce or other problems?
Should we really be denying or discouraging those who come to church looking for forgiveness and a connection to the body of Christ the very elements that Jesus uses to signify those things—the bread and the cup? Author John Mark Hicks says this in talking about communion as a “missional table”:
The table is a place where Jesus receives sinners and confronts the righteous; a place where Jesus extends grace to seekers but condemns the self-righteous. Jesus is willing to eat with sinners in order to invite them into the kingdom, but he points out the discontinuity between humanity’s tables…and the table in the kingdom of God.[3]
The implication here is that Jesus is in our midst in a special way, I think, not just because “two or three are gathered in his name,” but because we are doing this “in remembrance” of Jesus. The Old Testament concept of “remembering” is what is key here. In the Old Testament, when the writer says something like, “Then God remembered his promise to Abraham” or “Then God remembered his covenant with Israel,” this not God just calling a set of facts to mind. When God remembers like this, he also acts, and usually in a mighty way.
So when we remember, I believe it is also a call to action on our part, to be empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit in that moment to make a commitment to action for the days that follow. It’s similar to what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:23–24): “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”[4] By his blood we are forgiven and cleansed to start afresh. By remembering Christ, we are empowered to go out and serve.
As we come to today’s gospel passage again, we find ourselves at the end of the dining part of the Last Supper gathering. Jesus wants this time to be memorable for his disciples, because he tells them this is the last time they’re going to have any meaningful contact with him, at least in his earthly form. John makes a point of saying “When [Judas] was gone,” Jesus began delivering his final instructions, his “action plan” if you will, to give them assurance that they will have the guidance of the Holy Spirit after his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. All of the elements leading up to his crucifixion have been set in motion, and there’s no turning back now.
That is why Jesus can say, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him.” He knows what is about to happen. Although Jesus will experience many strong emotions, including betrayal, abandonment, and those associated with excruciating pain, he knows the end result will benefit all mankind for eternity. It’s the day he prepared for but perhaps had hoped would never come, or at least had hoped he would not have to endure alone. He knows the days ahead will be difficult, so he gives them a new command.
“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).
That word “as” carries a huge load with it. It’s not the regular word for “as” in Greek, which is also a two-letter word. The word John uses is a compound word that has the sense of its root words: “love one another according to the way I loved you.” The theme of this new command is found in a few other verses in this part of John, as well as in Luke 6:31: “Treat others according to the way you want to be treated.” “Love” is less about a feeling and more about action. Earlier in John 13, Jesus says, “I have set you an example that you should act toward others according to the way I have acted toward you.” In 15:9, he says, “I have loved you according to the way the Father has loved me,” and then repeats the command from John 13 a few verses later.
Showing this radical, sacrificial, agape kind of love that expects nothing in return is how we show the world we are Jesus followers. It calls us in some cases to reach out beyond our comfort zones and to be hospitable and welcoming to strangers. The author of Hebrews exhorts us in this way in 13:1: “Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”[5] We could all use an angel in our lives from time to time, right? The first chapter of Hebrews (1:14) mentions the function of angels: “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”[6] God uses angels, in conjunction with the Holy Spirit, to empower and enable us to show love to others. But I digress just a bit.
God demonstrated his great love for us in Jesus through his life among us, his crucifixion, and his resurrection. I want to bring in the last couple verses of our reading from Psalm 148 this morning, because it is one of the foundational prophecies that show us what the Israelites expected of the Messiah, and Jesus proved faithful to that promise:
Jesus is our horn, the strength that we need to endure each day. Let us continue to hold fast to our Savior so that the world will know him, his salvation, and the power and love of God Almighty. Amen!
[3] Hicks, John Mark. “The Lord’s Supper as Eschatological Table” in Evangelicalism and the Stone-Campbell Movement, Volume 2: Engaging Basic Christian Doctrine. William R. Baker, ed. Abilene: ACU Press, 2006.
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