Sunday, February 24, 2019

The 7^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (7^th Sunday after Epiphany)

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:

First Reading: Genesis 45:3-11, 15, Psalm: 37:1-11, 39-40
Second Reading: I Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Gospel Reading: Luke 6:27-38

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

It is a great scene.  There is Joseph standing before his brothers.  These are the very ones who years earlier disposed of him in a well and sold him off into slavery.  Broken relationships—they had cornered the market on that.

Now Joseph can seek out his revenge on them.  But does he do that?  No.  He does not seek revenge.  Instead he takes a series of actions:  He invites the brothers who have done him harm to come close.  He discloses to them who he is.  He frames their situation in terms of a relationship with God.  He calls for reconciliation.  He makes the first gestures towards that reconciliation. “And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them, and after that his brothers talked with him.”

The whole Joseph story is a story about relationships.

Relationship loom large in the Gospel Lesson for the day.  Luke 6:27-38 picks up where last week’s lesson left off and is a continuation of the Sermon on the Plain.  The imperative to “Love your enemies” is central to the lesson and pulls us back to a consideration of how we are doing with our relationships.

It is all about relationships.  These passages invite us to do some of the most difficult work in life.  They invite us to act on our relationships in such a way that we actively seek out reconciliation and be Joseph in the story.  We are to be the ones who will make the first gesture.

The difficulty is not embracing this in theory.  We have heard these wonderful words of Jesus many times and our hearts and minds say, “Yes, yes.”  The challenge is living them with those with whom we have had disagreements, struggles, and division.  The action that is called for flies in the face of our culture of disposable relationships.

The lessons for this Sunday calls us to an accountability for our relationships and reconciliation.  It is all about relationships!

As a Presbytery, we have laid claim to three principles of Vibrant Christ Centered Communities.  The first of those principles is this: “A Vibrant Christ-Centered Community builds relationships.  It understands relationships as the key to church growth and the avenue for listening to the need in the community.”  As a Presbytery, we have also said that reconciliation is one of the marks of ecclesial health: “Reconciliation: In seeking reconciliation, the prophetic community works for justice, responds in compassion, speaks truth to power, confronts difficult issues, and boldly proclaims the mandate of the Gospel.”