February 3, 2017

Genesis 12:1-4

This text is used for the Lectionary Year A on March 12th, 2017.

These words in verse 4, So Abram left, as the LORD had told him, are essential to preaching the Genesis 12:1-4a text assigned to the second Sunday in the 2017 Lenten season. They are grounded in themes of surprise, obedience, faith, courage, grace, and a new beginning – if not a new birth – blessings, and perhaps intrigue in the context of God’s protection and provision. They are exposed on a God-directed journey being traveled by Abram.

It is a pericope that is pregnant with much preaching opportunity for the preacher, as she focuses on these themes. The preacher would be wise to consider this text from the perspective of the hearer being on a life-journey under God’s guidance. After all, in a sense, the Lenten season is a certain kind of release, freedom or letting go of oldness or that which is comfortable or familiar for newness that God offers. While Lenten is one season of the year, God’s offering of newness is presented daily to his people throughout their lives, even if it seems they are being asked to make a personal sacrifice leaving what they know.

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February 3, 2016

Luke 4:1-13

This text is used for the Lectionary Year C on February 14, 2016.

Jesus’ journey into the wilderness serves as an annual launching pad for our own 40 day journey into the Lenten wilderness. Occurring with variation in each synoptic, the preacher may be tempted to choose another lection this year. Before doing so, the preacher should consider whether they have sufficiently mined Luke’s depiction of Jesus’ testing, for it is rich with biblical allusion and spiritual guidance.

The first few verses alone are packed with dots that need to be connected. The 40 day journey immediately reminds us of other biblical heroes who have undergone a similar experience. Moses’ 40 day fast (Exodus 24:28; Deuteronomy 9:9) and Elijah’s 40 day flight to the mount of God (1 Kings 19:4-8) come to mind, offering a subtle connection here between Jesus, the great law giver and the great prophet. Then there’s the not-so-subtle connection between Jesus and Israel. Jesus passed through the waters of the Jordan (Luke 3:21-22) just moments before being led into the wilderness by the Spirit. His first temptation: To make bread (think: manna). The connections between Jesus’ 40 days and Israel’s 40 years are not coincidental. Look closely. Jesus answers each test with a quote from Deuteronomy, the book that begins “these are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan…” (Deuteronomy 1:1). Two of those quotes (Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 6:16) come right after the prayer faithful Jews were to pray twice daily, the Shema, and the third comes within 2 chapters (Deuteronomy 8:3). In this story Luke identifies Jesus as both Israel and the model Jew, and the biblical allusions don’t stop there. Instead, Luke continues to draw a line from Jesus’ present experience all the way back to the beginning.

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