feb-19-epiphany-7.md

Church

Sun, Feb 19, 2017 St. Peter’s

Lectionary

Lev. Reads something like what I would have associated with what a “gentleman” does. My word is my troth. (faithfulness, fidelity, or loyalty: by my troth.)

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (Paul)

like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. (Paul)

love your neighbor, hate enemy? no, rather … (be perfect) cf. Lev. Be holy, because the LORD is holy

The Holy

When was the last time you encountered holiness? Of course I don’t just mean, "When was the last time you sang the sanctus in church. That’s how it goes (in Latin), “Holy, holy, holy.” We first encounter that song in Isaiah 6:3. As if to frame the Bible itself we meet it again in Rev. 4:8.

Did you really get a full blast of holy when you woke up this morning? I got a bit of it yesterday when I saw two ends of a partial rainbow. (in Hawai’i I understood them to be a message of blessing from God and would generally make the sign of the cross)

But the Bible this morning invites us to think of holy as in God is holy. God said to Moses, “This is what I want you to tell all the people, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’”

And that’s just the beginning. We go on to hear Paul talk about his life’s work as being but the flourish that he is able to put on the actual building that God had laid the foundation for.

And then Jesus talking to us in just crazy and impossible language.

The key today is to wrap our minds, our bodies, our being around this amazing, awesome holiness of the Lord. Isaiah the prophet was transported in a vision to the throne of God with Seraphim surrounding the throne and crying out the song. The writer of the “Apocalypse of John” has just as extraordinary a vision of thrones, and precious stones, flashes of lightning, torches of fire, and 7 spirits of God – all surrounding the throne of God – and 4 “living creatures” who sang this song.

Holy. Mysterium Tremendens it was named by one author. A holiness that is so awesome that we must tremble before it in awesome and majesty.

Epiphany

Epiphany, the season for Jesus to be revealing himself, to those closest, then to those further away, and to the whole world. Revealing who he really is.

Epiphany beginning with a voice from heaven saying that this Jesus is beloved by God. Epiphany ending next week with a voice from heaven (on the mountain) saying that this Jesus is God’s beloved Son.

Epiphany is a season of amazing and awesome sights and sounds. It is in the context of that that we receive these readings today.

Readings

Behavior: Upright as in Lev

Community and collegiality: Imua as in Paul

Jesus continuing the Sermon on the Mount with directions on how to behave, how to act as disciples of the Kingdom. And the words are so beyond comparison with anything we expect that we tend to just tune them out.

Jesus is going above and beyond

award for going above and beyond the call of duty

above and beyond
More than is required. This somewhat redundant expression— above and beyond here both denote excess—often precedes the call of duty , which means exceeding what a particular job requires. Thus Putting in overtime without pay is above and beyond the call of duty .

“above and beyond”. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Houghton Mifflin Company. 18 Feb. 2017. <Dictionary.com http://www.dictionary.com/browse/above-and-beyond>.

This expression comes from the military, where it was used to talk about soldiers who died while fighting for their country.

Now, the phrase is often used to talk about teachers, social workers, nurses, and other people who work hard to help people. It can also be used to talk about customer service: http://www.phrasemix.com/phrases/go-above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty

He tells us to forget about justice (an eye for an eye) but instead turn the other cheek if someone strikes you. He says give your cloak also if someone demands your coat. He says to give something to every beggar you meet. He says never refuse to loan money to anyone who asks. He says to love your enemies and pray for everybody who persecutes you.

Because, afterall, he is saying, God is holy and we are to be nothing less.

All quite breathtaking.

Sermon on the Mount: Profiles in Courage,

When I was a young teenager I read JFK’s Profiles in Courage. The book was clearly written for personal and political gain. He clearly had help with writing it. But that book as much as anything I can remember motivated me to want to be someone who was willing to go above and beyond the call of the ordinary.

Profiles in Courage is a 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning volume of short biographies describing acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States Senators throughout the Senate’s history. The book profiles senators who defied the opinions of their party and constituents to do what they felt was right and suffered severe criticism and losses in popularity because of their actions. It begins with a quote from Edmund Burke on the courage of the English Statesman, Charles James Fox, in his 1783 attack upon the tyranny of the East India Company in the House of Commons.[1]
The book focuses intensely on mid-19th century antebellum America and the efforts of Senators to delay the Civil War. (Wikipedia)

What stands out for me is that I wanted to be like what he described. I wanted to live my life with integrity and courage, willing to act outside the expectations of everyone else who was important, focused on the “right thing to do.”

I took from that book a dedication, not just to “doing the right thing” but to stepping beyond, going beyond the expectations of everyone else, going above and beyond the call of duty.

Take heart, be of good courage, put our faith in God and not in the winds of opinion

Only later did I discover that Jesus was saying something similar but going above and beyond Profiles in Courage. He was saying, “So you honor the virtue of justice? What I tell you is let justice play second fiddle to mercy.” He was saying, "So you think that everyone should carry their fair share, pay their proper amount? What I say to you is, “Carry you neighbor when he can’t go himself. Your immigrant friend who doesn’t know what is home or whether she’s welcome here, you must give her a bed in your house.”

What an honest person would do. Not so easy in today’s world. But to go over and above, beyond what could be expected? To risk it all for the most hopeless on death row – well that’s the task of a citizen of the kingdom. Sr. Helen Prejean showed us how.

Love one’s enemy. When asked to give a little – give a lot. Love our neighbors? Yes, but love our enemies even more. Pray for them. To stand up for these things is to go against the tide of opinion and requires courage and integrity.

I sometimes think that the world we now live in has gone crazy. But I find reassurance that Jesus’ words are the craziest of all.

Jesus is telling us we don’t win by being king of the mountain. We get to live with the king when we walk hand in hand with the least, when we respond with insane generosity to those who would take advantage of us.

It turns out that the craziest thing of all is the gospel imperative to be holy as God is holy, to love with extravagance, and to walk humbly with our God.