Scripture: Acts 9:36-43
 
In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 

About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 
Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room.

All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed.

Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” 

She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.  He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet.
Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 

This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.  Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

     Mathetria... that is the feminine form of the Greek word for “disciple.” Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, was a disciple in a place called Joppa. We know she’s a disciple because, well, for one, it’s stated explicitly in the text, but also she does disciple stuff, namely doing good and helping the poor. In commentary on the book of Acts, Gail O’Day points out that while we know that women were among the people who became disciples of Christ after the first twelve, only Tabitha is singled out and referred to with the specific feminine translation of the word.

     Mitzi Smith, in a commentary she has on Tabitha, points out that we don’t know a lot of specifics about her life, like how she came to have the money she uses to help people or if she is from the area or moved there to do ministry or what her family looks like. We do know that she is special, and that she is loved. In fact, she is so beloved in the Christian community in Joppa that when she dies, her disciple friends send two men to find Peter the apostle in the next town over. Peter had just healed a man named Aeneas. Maybe they hoped he could do something for Tabitha. Maybe they just wanted him to know that a beloved disciple had died.

     Resurrections are not everyday occurrences, even the Gospels. Jennifer T. Kaalund notes in her commentary on this text, in the Gospel of Luke and its sequel Acts, there are three resurrections before this story and one of them is Jesus’. Kaalund goes on to describes miracles as “demonstrations of the power of God” and “guideposts, leading people to God.” She also writes of miracles as “fuel for our faith” which can help people come to believe. Because so many of Jesus’ miracles and the miracles done through the power he provided his disciples are healings, I also think we should follow the work of Wil Gafney who says that each miracle is an epiphany, revealing something to us about the nature of Christ. What is revealed to us in this miracle, once again, is that healing is central to Christ’s mission, whether he or a disciple is the one doing it. And, we see that you don’t have to be the Messiah to be worthy of a restored life. Three resurrections happen before Tabitha, and two of them are regular people (the son of the widow of Nain and the daughter of a man named Jairus). Sometimes, when you restore one person’s life, you restore a whole community.

     The women who Tabitha helped bore witness to her legacy after she died, as they waited for Peter. What we know about her good works largely comes from them. The widows take Peter up to the upper room when Tabitha’s body is being tended to, and they show him the clothes that she had made either with or for them. Mitzi Smith notes that verb here could indicate that Tabitha created and provided the clothes to the women, or that she made the clothes with them. It is possible that, like Lydia, who we’ll learn about in the next couple weeks, Tabitha had worked in the textile business and used those professional connections to provide for widows who needed extra support. However Tabitha helped the women, whether she made the clothes or provided the materials to make them, it is a testimony to her good work that they had them and used the clothes to show Peter just how much she had meant to them. May each of us be so blessed to have others be able to demonstrate our legacy of care this clearly.

     If you are familiar with some other resurrection stories, I imagine aspects of this story might be familiar. For one, it takes place in the upper room, which is an upstairs part of the house. In her commentary, Mitzi Smith notes that throughout scripture, important things take place in upper rooms. Jesus and his disciples regularly met in upper rooms in people’s homes (Mark 14:15, Luke 22:12, Acts 1:13). In addition to a place of prayer and teaching/preaching (Acts 20:8) in Christian scriptures, in Hebrew scriptures, healing takes place in upper rooms. Elijah and Elisha perform healings in upper rooms (1 Kings 17:19, 2 Kings 4:8-37). And, it appears to be a place where you might prepare the body of one who has died, or spend time mourning the death of a loved one (2 Sam. 18:33). Given that Tabitha was wealthy enough to financially support other people, it may even be in her own home that people gather to tend to her body and mourn her death. How poignant is it to gather in her home, in a place set aside for mourning, healing, fellowship, and teaching, and then restore her to the people who loved her most?

     The tending of her remains by a group of women evokes the women who went to Jesus’ tomb. Like the women who found the tomb empty and testified to the resurrection, these women testified to Tabitha’s generosity. Smith argues that Tabitha’s good deeds are intended to be reminiscent of Jesus’. While we know that Peter has been empowered to do good deeds following Jesus’ model, these widows make clear that Tabitha, too, cares for those whom Christ loved. They are the ones who would share news of Tabitha’s resurrection, as Jesus’ women friends did his. The people who came to believe in Joppa likely did so because of the widow’s testimony.

     Peter’s actions mirror closely Jesus’ actions in two other Gospels: Lazarus’ resurrection in John and the little girl’s resurrection in Mark 5:35-43. Both Gafney and Smith note that the words Peter says to Tabitha “Tabitha qumi” - Tabitha, get up- are very close to the words Jesus says to the small girl he raised “Tali-that qumi”- little lamb, arise. In the Lazarus story, people come to get Jesus to bring him to Lazarus, like the two disciples came to Peter, and he was definitely dead, as Tabitha was. While the person who wrote Acts was not the same person who wrote John or Mark, given that all the stories about Jesus existed before they were written down, since multiple Gospel writers tell a version of a story where someone is restored to life in this way, it probably means that multiple early followers of Jesus were inspired by these kinds of stories, and they thought we can find guidance in them, too.

     What does discipleship to Christ mean? Tending to the vulnerable. Offering healing. Making space for mourning. Showing up when people ask for help. Testifying to the legacy of our friends. Using our resources to restore life to those who need it. The core of discipleship is healing and serving. Our reading today offers us two fine examples of it, Peter and Tabitha. May we be like Peter and show up in the places where death has come to call. And, may we be like Tabitha, devoted disciple and lover of God and neighbor. Let us relieve suffering where we can and share the stories of new life when we see it. This is what Christ empowers Tabitha and Peter to do. We can do it, too.
​
Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Jennifer T. Kaaland: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-easter-3/commentary-on-acts-936-43-6
Mitzi Smith:

• https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-easter-3/commentary-on-acts-936-43-3
• "The Many Faces of Tabitha," I Found God in Me: A Womanist Hermeneutics Reader (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2015)

Gail R. O'Day, "Acts," Women's Bible Commentary, expanded Edition with Apocrypha, Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, eds. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998).
Wil Gafney, "Epiphany VII," Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W (New York: Church Publishing Incorporated, 2022)

Acts 9:1-20 The Conversion of Saul (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 

Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 

He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 

Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul.

At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” 

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 

So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

     Can you finish this sentence: May the Force.... be with you! What movie universe is that line from? Yes! Star Wars. That is one of the most well-known lines in the first three set of Star Wars movies that came out starting in 1977. Did you know that people loved those three movies so much that they ended up creating not just a bunch more movies, but also tv shows, video games, and tons of books. Some are written by the original writer, George Lucas. But many aren’t! He said once “[t]hese were not stories that I was destined to tell. Instead, they would spring from the imagination of other writers, inspired by the glimpse of a galaxy that Star Wars provided.” I imagine that it must feel pretty good to write a story that so many people love that they want to keep writing, reading, and watching more about the world you created. And, they come to know the world so well that they work to create more of it with you.

     Now, I’ve seen a lot of Star Wars movies and tv shows. I also married someone who really loves Star Wars. Here’s some lessons I’ve learned from Star Wars:

1. Just because someone is cute and cuddly looking, it doesn’t mean that they can’t eat you. (see Ewok: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ewok)
2. Just because someone speaks in a way that is different than lots of people around them, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t wise. In fact, they can be a very good teacher. (see Yoda: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Yoda)
3. Sometimes people who have done many good things can also make big mistakes with consequences that harm people. It is important for them to take accountability for those actions. (See Luke Skywalker especially in The Rise of Skywalker: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Luke_Skywalker and Sol from The Acolyte: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sol)
4. Good leaders are willing to make sacrifices, even really big ones, to save the people they care about. (See Admiral Holdo: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Amilyn_Holdo)
5. Just because you are taught to hurt people from the time you are little, that doesn’t mean you have to keep hurting people. You can listen to that small voice in your heart telling you to stop. (See Finn: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Finn)
6. It is better to be inspired by love than hate. The world you build will be stronger for it. (See Rose Tico: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Rose_Tico)

     The fans of Star Wars get pretty creative, too. They hold conventions where some of them dress up in home-made, elaborate costumes that they spend hours and hours crafting. They write stories that they share among each other and make their own art inspired by the whole Star Wars universe. They even decided that May the 4th, because it sounds like “may the force” could be a good day for fans everywhere to celebrate this world that they love. Since I know some preachers who planned to bring in a little Star Wars into their services, I decided to try to, too.

     So many of the fans are inspired by what they love. But, a lot of them also get really angry about choices that the writers and directors in more recent Star Wars movies and shows have made. And, a lot of them get mad about how other fans respond to Star Wars. They go online and say mean and cruel things about writers, directors, actors, and other fans. I am most disturbed by how frequently the critiques come from fans who don’t like that there are more women characters and characters played by people of color in the newer movies and shows. Some actors who have played characters in Star Wars movies and shows have shared that their own health has been impacted by the racist and sexist bullying they’ve received from angry fans. Oftentimes, their bosses don’t even stand up for them to try and stop the harassment. Other actors who have been harassed will, and sometimes actors who haven’t been targeted will, too. But, it can make it really hard to enjoy your job when thousands of people are being so cruel to you, and working together to make your life harder.

     When on-line discussions of Star Wars get really cruel, fans target other fans, too. They can intentionally try to hurt them because they have the gall to like something that the meanest fans don’t believe belongs in Star Wars.  Women, LGBTQ people, and people of color in fan spaces are often targets organized campaigns of cruelty. I myself don’t participate in some fan stuff that should be fun because I’ve seen people who claim to love this story about an underdog rebellion fighting an evil empire turn around and act just like the villains in the movie. It feels a lot to me like churches that say they want to follow Jesus and, then go be cruel to poor people, immigrants, and women, and celebrate people being imprisoned. Of course, some people might not trust Christians if the loudest ones they hear are awful. Of course, some people are wary of Star Wars fans when they’ve seen some of them behave so badly.

     Today’s scripture is a story about someone who cares deeply about his faith. He’s passionate in a way that is familiar, isn’t it? He is sure he understands something the right way and is prepared to go after people who understand it the wrong way. And, he will use everything he has, which includes the privileges of Roman citizenship and his intense education in his religious traditions, to help punish people whom he is sure believe the wrong thing. Amy Ogden, in her commentary on Saul’s conversion, points out that he’s not just a persecutor for persecution’s sake. He is targeting people who believe fundamentally misunderstand their shared traditions. The choices to interpret the sacred stories differently than he does feel like a threat to him. So, he feels justified in harassing them. As Ogden says, Saul is “someone trying to do the right thing in order to strengthen the people of God.” The problem is that he is driven more by his hatred of what he deems bad interpretations than his love of neighbor as required by God.

     Thank goodness the risen Jesus shows up like the ghost of a Jedi to tell him that this is not the way. Jesus instructs him to give up this violent quest for purity, and instead recommit to their shared religious values of love of God and neighbor. The Spirit Jesus makes clear that Jesus’ particular interpretation of the faith isn’t a threat to Saul’s beliefs. Instead, Jesus offers a new way to live out the most foundational parts of the faith. Saul, who is devout in a way that makes it hard for him to try something different, has to be convinced to change in a dramatic scene involving a flash of light and temporary blindness. It sure seems like science fiction. But, as we know, some of the most powerful stories are ones with elements we can’t fully explain. Nevertheless, they show us something true. I can’t explain what exactly happened to Saul on that road any more than I can explain what a midchlorian is, but I can understand that Saul needed to change, and when he had the right lesson, he chose to.

     One lesson I hope we carry with us on this May the Fourth is that we can be passionate about the things we love without harming people that love them differently. Sometimes, when we think we’re being “defenders of faith,” we just might be bullies. May we never be inspired by our ideas and interpretations in ways that make us hateful. Instead, let us live in a spirit of generosity and grace befitting the Christ we claim to love, and build the reign of God on this kind of hope. Saul changed his name to Paul when he realized this was the way. Let us follow Paul in this way, building in hope and acting in love.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
I am grateful for the work of these two pastors in developing liturgy and resources incorporating Star Wars into a typical Sunday Service:

• Jeremy Smith:
  • https://hackingchristianity.net/2025/04/star-wars-liturgy-for-may-the-fourth.html
  • https://hackingchristianity.net/2014/04/order-of-worship-for-starwars-sunday-may-the-fourth-be-with-you.html
• Mitchell Young: https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/may-4-2025-third-sunday-of-easter-year-c/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJ95hNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFsRk12MTZzcTBiekVyNzZaAR49DxzqcaK2WYve83ygvl8R132dtbADQjgt_M74ECg2mHdFn4blfHQ0rOdAZQ_aem_iBSdn3D0M9vAq-1X-PkWZQ

​Amy Ogden: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-of-easter-3/commentary-on-acts-91-6-7-20-4

​Some general Star Wars stuff that was useful:

• This list of quotes: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527336/quotes/
• This background on what used to be called the Extended Universe (this is article with the Lucas quote): https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Legends
• Wanna make your own Star Wars intro-style crawl? https://starwarsintrogenerator.com/

An article about the racist bullying of cast: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/08/30/past-star-wars-actors-support-amandla-stenberg-after-the-acolyte-cancellation/

​Luke 24:1-12 The Resurrection of Jesus

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. 

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’
 
Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 

​But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

     Garbage. Hooey. Nonsense. Hogwash. Gibberish. Malarkey. That’s what the first people to hear testimony of the Resurrection thought: Baloney. Those women are telling an idle tale. I am not totally surprised that the men disciples wouldn’t believe women disciples about what they saw. I have been a woman for a long time now and am fully aware of how our testimonies even about our own bodies are often dismissed. Did you know that it can take seven and half years to get diagnosed with endometriosis? That’s from the moment a person tells their doctor about what has likely been chronic pain since they were a teenager to the time when they finally are diagnosed appropriately. Cisgender women can share the truth, with evidence! And, it can take a long time for people to listen to them.

     I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call, as Katherine Shaner does in her commentary, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women who went to Jesus’ tomb the first preachers in our tradition. The core work of the Christian preacher is to speak of Resurrection, and that is what these women did! They went to their friends and told them about the tomb that no longer held Christ and the two men in dazzling white, and they reminded them that Jesus said that the Son of Man would rise again on the third day. The eleven men, their friends, called their words “an idle tale,” which is apparently a polite translation of the original Greek, which calls their story garbage. As Craig Coester says in his commentary, the disciples knew that the dead nearly always stayed dead. Any story that stated otherwise was nonsense.

     The last several days had been difficult on so many levels. The disciples had watched as Jesus, betrayed by Judas, was arrested. They waited as he was questioned by the Sanhedrin and Pilate and Herod. Then, as they watched a ways off in the distance from their friend, they saw Romans kill him. There was one man from the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea. He made sure Jesus’ body was wrapped in linen and placed in a tomb, a small measure of grace on a mournful day. He assured that Jesus’ remains would have a measure of respect in burial. And, then, the women disciples would make sure that his body was tended to, a job that Katherine Shaner points out usually fell to the women. In doing the thing expected of them, they would be empowered to do the unexpected.

     What is it about Peter that lets him believe that checking out the tomb is worth it after the women testify? You might remember that Peter’s behavior after Jesus’ arrest was quite suspect. Jesus knew that Peter would betray him. But, Jesus also seemed to know that Peter would try to do better, too. Cheryl Lindsay, in her commentary, wonders if that’s why Peter is more willing to listen to the women than the other men are. She says, “...[f]or Peter, this revelation must have reached him like answered prayer offering him an opportunity for personal redemption and restoration.” Peter, who had never believed that he would betray Jesus, knew something impossible was happening. Maybe this impossible thing would be redemption rather than betrayal. When he got to the tomb and saw that all that is left is Jesus' burial clothes, Luke tells us that he is amazed. 

     The preaching professor Anna Carter Florence once said that is story of the Resurrection from Luke might be here to show us that just because our hopeful testimony is incredible, it doesn’t mean that people will believe us when we share it. This is a wild and radical story, and she thinks if you’re preaching it in a way people don’t hear as an idle tale, you might be taming Jesus too much. We need to preach about new life in a way that will amaze even Peter, the one who really messed up when he needed to be brave. It is a wild and impossible resurrection that will help him return to the mission that Christ called him to in the first place.

     Cheryl Lindsay speaks about the resurrection as a transition point in Jesus’ story. She says, “Resurrection is both ending and beginning.” She points out that Jesus does not appear at the tomb in Luke. He will appear to two of the disciples who are walking to Emmaus, but, he’s not at the tomb. There it is just angelic messengers and devoted disciples: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women, and eventually Peter. Lindsay argues that this shows us that the author of Luke understands the Resurrection to be the point where the followers of Jesus shift into leadership of the earliest Jesus movement. They are the ones who will carry his message forward. We know that they have grown into the Spirit-led power that Jesus gave them when new people hear them testify and choose to become part of the ministry.

     Peter becomes the test case for the power of sharing a good word about the resurrection. He is the first to hear and become curious. He is the first to consider that this radical tale of new life is worth exploring. When he runs to the tomb, he runs back to his commitment to Christ. The women pick up the mantle first. Then, Peter. Eventually, we, too, follow them to witness for ourselves what resurrection might look like.

     One thing it probably won’t look like is an easy path. As Lindsay notes in her commentary, the new leaders of the Jesus movement will find plenty of obstacles in their path, especially from powerful people who are challenged by early Christian commitments to share money in a common purse, care for the marginalized, and build relationship across ethnic and class differences. Jesus’ followers themselves will be tempted by the power that comes with allegiance to the state, too often abandoning care for the marginalized in exchange for power to coerce people into following our demands. It is wise for us to return to the testimony of the first preachers, the women who were not believed, and remember just how wild this faith calls us to be. May we be willing to speak to the power of Renewed Life, even when our audience refuses to listen. And, when we hear a word of shocking resurrection, may we have the curiosity of Peter that allows us to find our way back to the mission where Christ calls us. Let us not miss our second chance to love as bravely as Christ did.

Each new hour holds new chances
For a new beginning.
Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out and upon me, the
Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.
No less to Midas than the mendicant.
No less to you now than the mastodon then.
Here, on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes, and into
Your brother’s face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope--
Good morning.
— Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning” excerpt https://poets.org/poem/pulse-morning

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
An article about endometriosis: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicebroster/2020/08/27/why-it-takes-so-long-to-be-diagnosed-with-endometriosis-according-to-a-expert/
Katherine Shaner: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/resurrection-3/commentary-on-luke-241-12-11
Craig R. Koester: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=558
Cheryl Lindsay: https://www.ucc.org/sermon-seeds/sermon-seeds-at-early-dawn/
Anna Carter Florence

• http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=2249
• http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4016

​

​Luke 19:28–40 Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.” 

So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.
 
As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!’

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’

     It’s been clear that Jerusalem was going to be important from all the way back in the temptations in the wilderness. In today’s story, Jesus finally arrives in a makeshift parade with a borrowed donkey. There’s even talk of shouting rocks. This story is much like some ancient prophecies while also being very different than what people expected. Because of that, it will teach us something important about how Jesus will be a Messiah.

     Jesus going into the city on a donkey happens in all of the Gospels. But they tell the story differently. In Luke, there are no palms. The people simply lay down their cloaks. Also, nobody yells hosanna (even though we’re gonna yell Hosanna in worship). In Luke, the people gathered aren’t just random people, they are Jesus’ closest disciples who knew him the best. Also, there’s only one donkey in Luke. There are two donkeys in Matthew. This version still takes place during Passover, like the others. The city would have been tense with all the preparations for the festival and with increased military presence.

     Who here has heard of Passover before? Scholars remind us that Passover was a commemoration of God's liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian rule. Jewish people continue to celebrate Passover. In fact, they started celebrations last night. In the time that Jesus was alive and teaching, the scholar Michael Joseph Brown reminds us that Jewish people were living under a different terrible ruling empire. So, liberation from bad rulers would have been on their minds. The bad rulers knew it, too. So, they’d send extra soldiers to the city to try to scare people who might be thinking about revolution. Leaders like Pontius Pilate might even enter into the city in a parade, riding a big warhorse, surrounded by their soldiers, trying to look scary enough to keep people in line.

     In some ways, Jesus’ little parade will be about showing his power, too. But, it’s not power like a soldier is powerful. In Luke, Jesus’ entry into the city looks just like a prophecy about the Messiah from Zechariah 9:9: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion, shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey.” Even though Jesus is on a donkey, which aren’t fancy at all, he’s supposed to remind us of that king from Zechariah. This is who is supposed to lead their people, not the Roman guy on the fancy horse.

    I read something a while ago from a teacher named Elisabeth Johnson. In a commentary about this text, she pointed out that the people gathered, in this case, the disciples of Jesus who knew him well, shouted, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” This is almost a direct quote from Psalm 118, but with one important change. The Psalm says, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” The disciples, or the author of Luke, added “king.” The people who are celebrating Jesus’ entry into the city are making in clear that they understand him to be more than just a teacher. They believe he will stand up as an alternative to the cruel power of the Roman Emperor.

     It matters that the people at the parade in Luke are actually a small group of his disciples. Kathryn Matthews, in her commentary on this text, points out that these are the people who know him best and have been following him for the longest. They cheer for him because they have been healed by his love, have seen his miracles, and heard his wise teaching. There will be a time later in the story when people turn on Jesus. That is not these people at the parade. At this very moment, they get something right: They celebrate Jesus as Jesus has been telling them that God celebrates them. They celebrate Jesus' entry into Jerusalem because they know his peace is so very different than the so-called peace of the empire.

     Remember a couple weeks ago, when some Pharisees try to warn Jesus that Herod was going to come after him? I think they are trying to warn him again in this story. They tell him to get his disciples to quieten down. It seems reasonable to think that they are once again trying to save him, this time from Pilate. Remember, you would be in danger if Rome thought you were trying to get people to rebel against them. Pilate might get mad if he hears people call Jesus “king.” Elizabeth John notes in her commentary, the Pharisees knew their scripture well. They would have understood all the ways that Jesus’ entry into the city was like the entry of a king in Zechariah and that the Psalm had been changed to make it celebrating a king. Pilate, if he thought any one Jewish person could get people to rebel, might end up targeting all the people. Powerful people could come after them. In a few days, powerful people... The Sanhedrin, Herod, and Pilate... will all come after Jesus.

     Jesus knew, though, that the people needed to celebrate and tell the truth about what they were seeing. That's what he meant when he said if that the people were silent, “even the stones would shout out.” The celebration must happen, even if it leads to unwanted attention. Teresa Lockhart Stricklen notes that in the book of Habbakkuk, in chapter 2, verse 10-11, it says that the stones will cry out demanding justice from the divine when wicked people have shamed themselves by being cruel to many people. Jesus, who loved the poor and outcast and knew that God does, too, must have remembered this text. He must have been clear that all of creation, even the rocks, know of Holy Love that is the foundation of divine justice and true peace. When you see something so good, you have to say something about it! Even if you’re a rock!

     A lot of big and sometimes scary things will happen in the next parts of the story. Jesus will share that he is sad for his people. He’ll also drive manipulative people from the temple. He will be betrayed and sent to trial. If you look closely, all of these bad things and more are on the horizon. It is good, then, for there to be celebration to bolster him as he enters the city. It is good that he is surrounded by people who knew him and were confident in his mission. May we never forget that love and celebration are vital to the mission that Christ has given us. May we forever be like the rocks who cannot help but shout about God’s love and justice. Hard times are just around the corner. The joy we cultivate together will help us get through it.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Elizabeth Johnson: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4022
Michael Joseph Brown: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2801
Karoline Lewis: http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=5311
Teresa Lockhart Stricklen, "Sixth Sunday in Lent (Liturgy of the Palms)," Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year C Featuring 22 New Holy Days for Justice, Dale P. Andres, Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm, and Ronald J. Allen, editors (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012).
​Kathryn Matthews: http://www.ucc.org/worship_samuel_sermon_seeds_march_20_2016
​

​John 12:1–8 Mary Anoints Jesus

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

 few days ago, I learned that Mass General Brigham in Boston is laying off six full-time chaplains. Most have already been laid off. One, who trains student clergy in the Mass General part of the system, will be laid in August when the current class of students finishes their program. This kind of program, called Clinical Pastoral Education, is a part of the training that many religious leaders receive before they can be ordained. That program is being closed completely. The program in the Brigham side of the system has been reduced from two trainers down to one. What this means is that the whole system is not only losing the six full-time professional chaplains, they are losing chaplain interns and residents as well.

Counting the student chaplains with the professional chaplains, this is a lot more than 6 front-line patient and staff support positions being cut. And, that doesn’t even take into account the staff from other departments that have been laid off, like the director of domestic violence programs at Brigham and Women’s. That person is gone, too. I’ve watched similar patterns to this happen across lots of healthcare systems during my professional life. When money is tight, even when they are doing their jobs well and provided the standard of care in their discipline, spiritual care staff is often among the first staff to be cut. When crisis is looming, attention to matters of the Spirit can go by the wayside.

This story came to mind while I was reading today’s scripture because I think you can make the argument that what Mary is doing for Jesus is spiritual care. And, at least one person in the story thought it to be unnecessary and wasteful in the moment. This was the day before Jesus would finally enter Jerusalem for the last time in his earthly life. People are already talking about ways to get rid of Jesus, some even planning his demise. I can’t image that the tension would have escaped the disciples. It certainly didn’t Jesus.

A version of this story is shared in Mark, Matthew, and John. Emerson Powery, in his commentary on this text, points out that John is the only one who describes the woman anointing Jesus as being Mary, one of Jesus’ close friends (not Mary his mom). This is Mary, the sister of Lazarus who Jesus raised from the dead just a few chapters earlier in John, and Mary, devoted disciple who sat at Jesus’ feet to learn in Luke. Mary and Lazarus’ sister Martha is present, too, and her actions are described as “serving.” The Greek word for the verb “serve” is the root-word for our modern word “deacon.” It would be fair, I think, to consider Martha an early deacon. The siblings’ household was a deeply faithful one, likely celebrating Jesus’ miraculous return of their brother.

Lindsey Jodrey, in their commentary on this text, notes that anointings like the ones described in today’s reading usually happened for two reasons: coronations and burials. We who know the rest of this story might understand this moment to be a bit of both. Brave and devoted Mary is preparing Jesus for whatever comes next. The perfume she’s using nard, or spikenard, is expensive, especially in the amount she uses... she spent a year’s worth of a day laborer’s salary. And, the anointing itself was quite a production, with her using her own hair as a towel. It is not small thing to offer love and care so publicly and so lavishly.

In his commentary on this text, Eliseo Pérez-Álvarez also points out that, with coronations in particular, powerful men usually did the anointings. Mary was from the countryside, a common woman with an uncommon faith who had saved enough money to offer vital care to a friend who was in a precarious spot. Gail R. O’Day, in her commentary on John in the Women’s Bible Commentary, compares Mary’s actions to the men’s actions that follow.   In washing Jesus’ feet, she foretells of Jesus’ own action of washing his disciples’ feet as an act of service and invitation to mission. Jesus will also tell his followers, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” This anointing is a sign of the power of Mary’s love and a model of how to love without limit. And, finally, after his death, the men who will anoint his body will do so in secret because they are afraid to announce their faith. Mary anoints Jesus in the daylight, for all to see. O’Day argued in her commentary that Mary, here, is the model disciple. I’m inclined to agree.

So, what do we do about Judas? Is he making a valid point about the money? Couldn’t they have used the money for other things, like helping the poor, which is one of the lynchpins of Jesus’ ministry. The author of John seems to think we should disregard Judas because Judas was not making this point in good faith. Generally, disregarding critiques that aren’t made in good faith is a pretty good idea. Interestingly, Jesus does respond. He defends Mary’s actions. Maybe Jesus knew he needed some care that day. Also, this is John. Jesus loves signs that make greater points about his identity in John. Mary anointing him as though for a coronation or for a burial is a pretty complex sign of what is to come. Either way, she needed to do this, and Jesus needed it done.

The last line of the reading, though, can be tricky. Some use to justify cutting aid to the poor or ignoring impoverished people altogether. Lindsey Jodrey points out in their commentary that sentence could just as easily be translated from the Greek as “have the poor with you always” or “Keep the poor with you always.” If that is a better translation, then Jesus is saying “it’s not either love the poor or love me... it is love the poor AND love me.”  I think it’s an interesting point, though I’m not sure that makes more sense in context than the translation we heard read today.

Jodrey also notes that Jesus could be offering a paraphrase of Deuteronomy 15:11: “there will never cease to be some in need on the earth…. I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’” Pérez-Álvarez’ references that Deuteronomy passage in his commentary, too. Whether or not Jesus was referencing Deuteronomy, I think it would be a poor reading of the Gospel as a whole to read this one line as a dismissal of care for the poor. Instead, I’m inclined to read with Pérez-Álvarez: this is a kind of farewell. This is Jesus making sure his friends know that he may not be with them much longer. He is recognizing the confrontation that is on the horizon and accepting the care that will help him face it. He’s accepting help offered him in a hard time. I hope it lifted his Spirit.

As someone who is dealing with lay-offs in a different hospital system that are affecting my medical care, I hope the administrators of Mass General Brigham assure that their patients get the holistic spiritual care they need. In challenging times, like hospitalizations and scary diagnoses, spiritual care is an important tool for healing. Even Jesus needed his spirit tended to sometimes.  May we not forget the value to tending to the Spirit in the midst of a crisis. May we not fall into the trap of thinking we have to choose between loving Jesus and loving the people Jesus loved. The road into Jerusalem will be dangerous. Tending to our Spirit will prepare us for the road ahead.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
The article about the staff cuts: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/02/business/mass-general-brigham-layoffs-patients-chaplains-counselor-abuse-smoking-specialist/ 
Gail R. O'Day, "John," The Women's Bible Commentary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998)
Emerson Powery: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-john-121-8-5
Lee H. Butler, "Fifth Sunday in Lent," Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year C Featuring 22 New Holy Days for Justice, Dale P. Andres, Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm, and Ronald J. Allen, editors (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012).
Lindsey Jodrey: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-john-121-8-4 
​Eliseo Pérez-Álvarez: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-john-121-8-3 

     Rev. Dr. Fred Craddock calls this story “The Parable of the Loving Father.” It’s most often called “The Parable of the Prodigal Son,” with an emphasis on the return of the foolish son.  In his commentary on Luke, Craddock points out that the story doesn’t start with the son. It starts with the father: “There was a man who had two sons.” I noticed when reading it to prepare this sermon that the father has the last words in the parable, too: “But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.” This probably means we need to pay attention to what he does first. What he does is love fiercely and joyfully.

     Today’s reading is the third in a series of parables about joyful recovering of that which is lost. Jesus tells these parables to a crowd that has come to hear him teach. The beginning of chapter 15 tells us that tax collectors and sinners and Pharisees and scribes were all a part of the crowd. This means that people who were understood to on the opposite ends of righteousness and respectability scales were all listening to Jesus at the same time and in the same place, along with everyone else in-between. Jesus decided to tell all of them about the joys of recovery of the lost.

     A quick note about who the tax collectors and sinners were. The tax collectors were hated because they were understood to be collaborators with Rome against their own nation and also people who used their power to steal extra money for their own gain. As to the term “sinners,”   Craddock argues that sinners is a specific term for people who are known in the community to not be following Jewish religious laws. According to Craddock, these folks’ flouting of the law was so widely known that they would not be welcome in the synagogue. It is not surprising that the Pharisees and scribes, people understood to be respectable community leaders, would be suspicious of Jesus hanging around with these kinds of people. Part of me wonders who needed to hear the parables of joyful return more: the people who knew they were living outside of the covenant with God or the people who weren’t sure that there was a path of return for them.

     The first two parables are about a shepherd who sought out his one lost sheep and a woman who turned her house upside down to find an important coin. In both of those stories, the response of the seeker is to celebrate finding the lost. The third parable, today’s reading, has a party for the lost, too. In this story, there’s a father who loves his son who makes bad choices and there’s the son who realizes he made a mistake and wants to come home. There’s a third figure in the third parable: another son, a good son, a pharisee and scribe kind of son. And, his feelings about his brother’s return need to be addressed, too. What gift does their father give him?

     A very smart colleague of mine, the Rev. Dr. EC Heath, once preached a sermon on this scripture that is one of my favorite sermons about this story. In their sermon, Dr. Heath noted that so many times when they’ve heard this sermon preached, it’s not been a sermon about the prodigal who comes back but about the annoyed son who had stayed and been responsible. Dr. Heath wondered in their sermon if this response says more about the kind of churches that they have found themselves in than it does the actual scripture.

     Those churches have been filled with responsible, stable people... people who try hard, and often succeed, in living up to the best values of their faith. They are Pharisees and scribes in the best possible sense... they are people invested in living lives that reflect their commitments to God and to their families. And, they’ve been trying hard for a long time. They feel like part of their call is to be responsible. And, when you try to be responsible, to not disappoint your family or you church or your God, when you’ve mostly tried to do the right thing, it can really hurt when someone who has not tried so hard gets celebrated or gets centered in a story. Jesus knew that. But, he also knew that his ministry is not just to the responsible and the upright. His ministry, and God’s love, is for the lost and the cast out.

     We know that different people hear different things in Jesus’ stories. I think the message for the respectable people who are grumbling about the presence of sinners is probably one about helping people find a way back. The respectable people of Jesus’ time, and our time, too, need to tend to our resentments and our suspicions if we’re really going to engage with Jesus’ ministry. If you are someone who has generally been understood to be right and righteous, it matters that you know Jesus makes space for those who have been called wrong.

     Dr. Craddock points out something in his commentary that is worth remembering. Notice that the father in this story crosses his threshold twice. Twice, he goes to a son and reiterates his love and care for that son. Most of the time, we just talk about the way he rushes forward and embraces his younger, desperate, and often foolish son, the son who has come home hoping for little more than the station of a slave. We talk, in wonder and befuddlement, about his great grace in welcoming this son home. Because this son was lost. In the same way that the shepherd celebrates finding the lost sheep and the woman the lost coin celebrates find it, the father must go to lost son and throw a party to welcome him home. But, he doesn’t stop there. He crosses again, to the second, to help him learn something about joy.

     The father doesn’t let him stay outside, fuming, while the party goes on without him. Just as the first part of the, the generous father leaves his home and goes to his child. He pleads for him to come inside. He takes the brunt of the responsible one’s anger, listening when he shares his frustration at how he had always worked, even comparing himself to a slave who never feels appreciated for his steadfastness. We don’t know if the father never really expressed gratitude or if the responsible son was super entitled. What we do know is that there is a rupture now, in this moment. And, the generous father wants to repair. He’s showing this son a way back, too.

     He goes to his son and says, “you are always with me,” a statement that says as much about the depth of their bond as it does about the elder son’s individual choice to stay, and then he says, “all that is mine is yours,” affirming that he will honor his responsibility to his eldest while also noting that what he has would be impossible without his son’s work. In this lovely bit of mending, the father tells his responsible son that he sees him and appreciates him. This moment isn’t just about the elder son. It’s about the elder and the younger. Their father can love them both.

     In her commentary on this text, Amanda Brobst-Renaud states, the father cannot imagine a celebration without both his sons. On a night that was about celebrating restoration, both the elder and the younger needed to be present. Celebration is not just for the ones who have never strayed. It is for the ones who have come home. This celebration could have never happened had the elder son not worked so hard to help his father flourish in the younger son’s absence. The celebration literally could not have happened without him. He should be there to enjoy it and reconnect with his brother. Because the elder son lost something when the younger left, too.

     The celebrations in all three parables seem extravagant, maybe even foolish, particularly the celebration in the third. Why have a party for a man who hasn’t proven that he’s going to change? Why would Jesus, who was living in a time of increasing tension, take time out to preach a good word to both the sinners and the righteous? I think especially in times when danger is ramping up and when powerful people benefit from keeping everyone else isolated from each other, Jesus knew that he needed to make time to teach about grace, restoration and celebration. Craddock points out that this parable continues to challenge listeners 2000 years later, in part, because we’ve been taught that “there must be losers if there are winners.” If the younger son is celebrated, it must mean that the elder has been forgotten.

     There’s been a quote going around for a while that says: “Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It’s not pie.” That might be the fundamental message of this parable. Christ’s love for the sinners doesn’t mean less love for the scribes. It’s not pie. It is the task, then, of our current body of Christ to love so boldly as he did, not hoarding away our welcome and care for those whom it is easy to love. May we not hesitate to celebrate restoration. May we work to mend broken relationships. May we never forget that Christ has offered us a way back. May we welcome all manner of people to walk alongside us on it.

Resources:
​Amanda Renaud-Brobst: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3992
EC Heath: https://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2016-03/enough-about-other-brother?fbclid=IwAR1kwvrh_qNk3iQMHqxrCSf4rlmNQ3glnHpSajFeqrbMZzSyR6NMTAGgpqs
​Fred Craddock, Luke (Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press: 1990)

     ​Who is to blame? That is often the question when something goes wrong. Who is to blame? What did they do to deserve whatever bad thing happened to them? We begin our reading today with a politically motivated disaster and some people wondering if the people who suffered and died due to the disaster were at fault. If only they had planned better... if only they had deferred to Rome more... if only they’d annoyed God less. Who is to blame for what happened to them? Did they bring it upon themselves?

     Today’s reading backtracks a little from last week’s hens and foxes. Remember, Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem.  The journey to Jerusalem takes from chapter 9 to almost the end of chapter 19 in Luke. Along the way, he’s doing a lot of teaching and he’s also trying to give people warnings. This part of the Gospel shows the rise in tension around Jesus’ work. It is clear that Jesus knows that equipping the saints isn’t just about teaching them how to do stuff or how to follow him. It is also about preparing them for challenging times ahead. Jesus doesn’t want them to be surprised if and when something bad happens. They need to be prepared. If they are going to keep doing the work, they can’t be stopped by a surprise disaster. But, they have kept the disaster in perspective. Not everything that happens to them is something they deserve. But, they still have the responsibility to create good conditions for growth, even in the midst of threats and danger.

     In the first part of our reading, we and the original hearers are invited to interpret the meanings of two disasters, one political and one infrastructural. Debra Mumford points out in her commentary on this text that we aren’t given many details about the political disaster that befell some group of Galileans. Scholars have been trying to figure out what Pilate did to these Galileans since at least the time of the historian Josephus, who lived between 37 CE and 100 CE. That being said, Mumford notes that while scholars differ on what precisely happened, they generally agree that some group of Galileans was killed by the Roman government, likely because they were involved in some kind of revolutionary activity against Roman oppression. People stood up to a repressive empire and were punished for it.

     We don’t know exactly how people who were not targeted are talking about this political disaster. I bet we can imagine some things that people might say. They were fools to go against Roman, who was so powerful. Or, that this was obviously not the right time to try to fight back. Or, maybe someone would say they planned poorly. Maybe some would even say that they shouldn’t have tried to fight Rome at all. Remember, in plenty of parts of the Bible, losing a battle was interpreted as God making you lose. If you were crushed by a more powerful force, God must have wanted you to lose. Mumford points out that Pilates’ action of mixing the blood of the dead Galileans with the blood of animals sacrificed for religious reasons would have just compounded the spiritual pain of this battle. Not only did Pilate kill people, he made a mockery of their religious rituals with their own remains. How angry must the Galileans have made God for that to happen?

     Jesus quickly says that any interpretation of that battle that concludes that God ordained the Galileans’ death as punishment for their sins was a bad one. He did not blame Rome’s victims for Rome’s violence and blasphemy. We would do well to learn this skill from Jesus. He points to a second disaster, this one an apparent accident, to make is point further. Eighteen people died when a tower fell on them in a place called Siloam. Those people were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were not particularly sinful and therefore deserving of punishment at that time.

     It’s not that Jesus doesn’t want to talk about sin. He’s talked a lot about sin, which is separation from God, in this reading. He firmly believed it’s a thing that all people did and do! But, in this moment, as Mumford notes in her commentary, Jesus says that a person or people’s suffering is not a sign that they are sinful. We do not have to believe that either the harm intentionally done to us by the powerful or that accidentally happens to us through a tragedy is a chastisement from God. That doesn’t mean we won’t be held accountable for our actions and for the ways we disconnected ourselves from our promises to God. It just means that we can stand on the outside of someone else’s suffering and assume that they did something to deserve it. And, we shouldn’t assume that our own suffering is retribution from God.

     With that in mind, how then should we think about our actions and responsibilities as Christians? Jesus understood human action to have consequences and taught his followers that certain behavior was expected of them. And, when they/we fall short of those expectations, Jesus expects his followers to repent, that is, reorient themselves back towards God’s covenant of love and justice. But, Jesus knows that you have to build up the conditions to make repentance possible. You have to tend the soil, as it were, to let repentance and renewed life flourish. He told a story about a man and a tree to make his point.

     There is a man who is wealthy enough to own a vineyard, where he plants a tree. After three years and multiple checks-ins, the man grows angry that the tree has not produced a fig. He is so angry, he is ready to chop it down because it is wasting space. He is the one who sees destruction as a necessary response to unmet expectations. And, he is in the wrong in this story. His employee, a gardener, knows that you must do more than plant a tree if you hope to have a harvest. He asks for a measure of grace in the form of time... time to tend the soil, to make the conditions for growth more favorable. As Quinn Caldwell notes his entry on this text in the Into the Deep devotional, fruit production is about more than just the tree. It’s about all the things the tree needs to thrive: water, light, pollinators, and good soil.

     As Jesus’ followers felt the mounting tension around him, it is interesting that Jesus is telling them that, despite the risk of danger, despite their shortcomings, despite the fact that they still have more to learn from him, there is still time to tend to their growth so that they can produce good fruit. Fred Craddock calls this “God’s mercy” still being “in serious conversation with God’s judgement.” I like to think of it as an encouragement to work on what is pulling you away from that which Christ is calling you. It is clear what can happen to an untended tree: no fruit. Jesus says, you have the power to tend to this tree and grow in love and justice. You have the power to live and grow differently if you want.

     In her commentary on this text, Cheryl Lindsay points out that fig trees are pretty robust trees. They can withstand a lot of harsh treatment and are pretty hardy, growing in places where other fruits might not flourish. They can even survive fire, coming back lively and prolific from something that would destroy many trees. They need fewer nutrients and water than many other species as well.  And, importantly, they can be heavily pruned and still produce fruit. In comparing them to a fig tree, it sure seems like Jesus actually had a lot of faith in his followers. Jesus understands them to be capable of producing a harvest of love and justice, even in harsh conditions. How much more could they do with all the soil, water, bugs, and light that they need!

     In this time of uncertainty and looming destruction, let us remember these resilient fig trees. May we find the nutrients we need to grow in love. May the light of God’s justice help us thrive. And, may we convert the sustenance we receive into fruit that benefits those around us. The conditions may not be ripe for flourishing. Suffering is all around. Let us tend this soil. May we bear fruit for the good of the world. Or, barring that, open up space for those who can.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

Cheryl Lindsay: https://www.ucc.org/sermon-seeds/sermon-seeds-cut-down/

Debra Mumford: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-luke-131-9-6

Quinn Caldwell's devotional entry called "Soil" in the Into the Deep devotional from Pilgrim Press: https://thepilgrimpress.com/products/into-the-deep-2025-lent-devotional
​
Fred. B. Craddock, Luke (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009)

Luke 13:31-35 The Lament over Jerusalem
​At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’ He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’

     A fox got our last two hens to years ago on the Sunday after Easter when I was taking the day off. She was a little thing and pretty skinny. It was kit season, so she may have had hungry babies to feed. She was pretty practiced in her craft and brazen, taking the birds from just outside the living room window in the early morning sun. You all were probably starting worship when she got the first one. I thought I heard normal chicken squabbling. It turned out to be something else. She watched and waited for the other hen to slip out to the safety of her enclosure and took her, too, though I ran out when I heard the squabbling this time. I wasn’t fast enough to save her though. When I last preached on this scripture, in 2019, I talked about being worried that a fox or other predator might one day decide they were too easy to go after. I was right to worry.

     Agricultural images are all over the Gospels. Jesus lived among farmers and people who fished for a living. Foxes and hens weren’t distant metaphors for him or for the people who listened to him preach. While I can afford a measure of grace for a hungry little fox, largely because I wasn’t relying on my birds as my primary food source or source of income, Jesus’ first audience probably treated them a little differently. If you are a sustenance farmer, the stakes are much higher when predators come around. Because his first audience understood the high stakes of raising food while also protecting it from predators, they probably understood just what Jesus was saying when he called Herod a fox and when he said he himself wished he could offer care and protection like that of a hen.

     It’s worthwhile to take a moment to recognize that it’s the Pharisees who warn Jesus that Herod want to kill him. In some parts of scripture, the Pharisees are Jesus’ greatest antagonists. Centuries of Christian antagonism towards Judaism is rooted in seeing the Pharisees as a force always out to do Jesus harm. The scholar Fred Craddock has a useful commentary on Luke. In that commentary, he points out other places where the Pharisees who are open to Jesus in chapters 7, 11, and 14. He also notes that in the book of Acts, the sequel to Luke, Pharisees were both willing to listen to members of the early church and do actually join early churches. It is clear that even the ones who argued regularly with Jesus did not all want him dead. It makes sense that they would warn him of danger. Interestingly, Jesus is not afraid of foxes, or at least unafraid of kings who acted like predators.

     Craddock also points out that in the Hebrew Bible, foxes are usually a force for destruction. In Greek literature, they are clever. Both of those meanings would have come to mind for the Pharisees when Jesus said, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.’” Even as Jesus admits that Herod is both destructive and clever, Jesus makes it clear that he is not afraid of him. Jesus is not about to let this threat stop him from his work.

     Last week, when I talked about the temptations in the wilderness, I noted that Jesus’ ultimate priority is not his own safety. His priority is following God’s direction, even if it meant going towards danger. The scholar David Jacobsen puts it this way, “God is setting the travel agenda.” Jesus is driven by a force greater than Herod. And, Herod is not destructive enough or wily enough to outwit God.

     It is always interesting to me that Jesus compares his ministry to that of a very vulnerable mother, a mother hen. While I’ve met some pretty spunky chickens before, they aren’t the most strong and powerful animals in the world. In a commentary on this text, the scholar David Lose points out that, in the Hebrew Bible, God is portrayed as a fierce and powerful mother a couple different times. In Deuteronomy, God is a mother eagle. In Hosea, a mother bear. In Isaiah, a human mother who has given birth and is nursing her child. So, the mothering image seems to be following that pattern. But, isn’t it interesting that, instead of one of the more imposing animals or even a human, Jesus picked a hen to describe his mission?

     Craddock points out that there is one place where God is compared to a mother hen, a book in the Apocrypha called II Esdras. Most Protestants are not familiar with this book. In II Esdras, God says to Israel, “I was to you as a father to sons, as a mother to daughters, as a hen gathering her brood under her wings.” It seems like Jesus was quoting this scripture in his lament over the city of Jerusalem. I wonder if he was drawn to the this vulnerable but still deeply devoted image of a nurturing mother because he was well aware of the danger around him. He knew the power of God to direct him. He also knew his own very human limits and understood that, while he was not afraid of Herod, Herod could still do him harm. And, in a city that often disregarded prophets, he knew that his task of gathering in the ones he was called to protect would be challenging. Like baby chicks, the people whom Jesus served could get themselves in all manner of trouble. And yet, he will keep trying to gather them in.

     We are in an era when chickens are on lots of people’s minds. Not only are farmers worried about foxes, they are also worried about bird flu, which has infected literally millions of chickens in this country alone. That’s not even counting other kinds of wild and domestic birds, cattle, and cats that have been harmed. As governmental agencies tasked with caring for these birds and the humans that steward them are being hamstrung by political maneuvering and corporate greed hiding behind anti-vaccine misinformation, I’m worried about a different kind of fox being in the henhouse. And, yet, a real-life story about chickens and foxes might offer us some guidance.

     This happened this literal week before the last time I preached on this passage in 2019. It is a story worth repeating.  In northwestern France, a fox went into a chicken pen at an agricultural school. The pen was big enough to hold 6,000 chickens. And, had a door that closed each night and was supposed to be secure enough to keep out critters that weren’t supposed to be there. But, foxes had gotten in before, picking off many hens in one fell swoop. In 2019, a fox got in the pen. That fox did not, however, make it out of the pen.
​
      There doesn’t seem to have been video footage of what happened. But, it was clear from the remains of the fox that the chickens banded together. I don’t want to fool with one mean chicken. I can’t imagine taking on 6,000 of them. I even feel a little bad for the fox. But, I feel more proud of the chickens than sad for the fox. I think it is good to be reminded that those who are vulnerable when fighting alone can become extraordinarily powerful when fighting together. The destructive and sneaky don’t have to win just because they have sharper teeth. May we, like Christ, be inspired by the hens that use every bit of power they have to protect themselves and the ones they care about.  The foxes don’t have to win. Let us gather under Christ’s wing and by his side. This is where we will find the strength to survive.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

David Schnasa Jacobsen: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3990

Fred. B. Craddock, Luke (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009)
​
David Lose: http://www.davidlose.net/2016/02/lent-2-c-courage-and-vulnerability/
Story about the fox and chickens in France: https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/13/europe/france-fox-killed-chickens-intl-scli/index.html
​

Luke 9:28-36 The TransfigurationNow about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

     Today is a special Sunday called Transfiguration Sunday. It is the last Sunday before the season of Lent and kind of a final hurrah for a season of epiphanies that follow Christmas. Can anyone remind me what an “epiphany” is?... That’s right! All good answers! Epiphanies are sudden realizations. They can feel like you see something clearly for the first time or, after a long of time of trying, you finally figure something out. From January 6th, which is a church celebration called Epiphany, until today, which is called Transfiguration Sunday, we read stories that helped us learn something about Jesus or allow us to watch the people in the story learn something new about Jesus. Revelation is another good word for what is happening in these stories. The stories reveal something to us and to the people in the stories. As we go into the season of Lent, if we’re gonna follow Jesus, we better know something about who he is.

     These last several weeks have revealed to us a vision of Jesus who loves people, who receives support to understand his mission and to accomplish it, who helps the vulnerable, who tells people who have more than they need to share it, and who is not afraid to tell powerful people that they are doing something wrong. That is that kind of Epiphanies I need to want to go to someone for help if I was sick or to follow them into dangerous and important work. And, these are the kinds of Epiphanies Peter, James, and John had gotten that made it easy for them to say yes when Jesus asked them to go up a mountain and pray. They are going to have another epiphany up on the mountain. They just don’t know it yet.

     I have a list of words I want to show you. Can you tell me what these words have in common:  Transmit, transfer, transpose, transcontinental, translate, transatlantic, transform. Yes. They all have the pre-fix “trans” in them. Sometimes, when we say “trans,” we’re using it as a shortened form of a longer word. Sometimes people who are transgender will say “I’m trans.” When “trans” is a part of another word, it is there to tell us something about that word. Trans, when it is a prefix can tell us that a word has something to do with going across, going over, or going beyond. One definition I read said that when we see the pre-fix trans, we can understand that the word we’re looking at has something to do with movement or change. If something is transcontinental, it goes across a content, like the transcontinental railroad. If a song is transposed, that means that a musician has changed the notation of a song so that they might sound higher or lower than the original version. This makes the music easier for different instruments to play and for people with different voices to sing. 

     Today is Transfiguration Sunday. What do you think the word “transfigure” means? ... Yeah! To change shape or change form! Today’s reading is about Jesus’ body and clothes changing form. Does anyone remember how Jesus looked different when he changed? It sounds like he glowed! His clothes got all shiny and so did his face! That’s why I shared so many shiny, glowy, and sparkly things with you today, so you can remember this story of Jesus on the mountain, glowing and confusing his friends.

     He wasn’t just glowing all by himself though. Peter, John, and James saw him glowing and talking to two other people. Does anyone remember who? Moses and Elijah. Who was Moses? Yes! God helped him and his brother lead their people out of slavery in Egypt. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments to share with the people.  Do you remember that his body changed in his story, too? His face shone like the sun when he talked with God. People got kind of scared of it though, and he ended up covering his face so they would be less afraid. Sometimes people are afraid of changes, even if they represent something very important in your life.

     Elijah was a prophet. God sent him to tell two different kings that they had to change how they were being kings and how they were worshiping God. He got in a big fight with a bunch of other prophets and won. He also argued with a queen named Jezebel and helped three more prophets begin their work returning the nation to right worship. He wasn’t afraid to tell the truth to powerful people and he worked hard to teach people how to follow God. It makes sense that Jesus would want to talk to him and Moses has continued in his mission. It is good to ask people who have done things before you have for advice.

     James, John, and Peter were so amazed at what they saw, but also confused. Who here would be confused if you saw your friend and teacher glowing and talking to people who might ghosts. They are excited, though, and want to do the right thing. They offer to build a special little house that would serve as a memorial to the important thing that they were seeing in the moment. But, this wasn’t the time for building monuments. The story shares that a big cloud settled over them. That happened a lot in Moses’ story, too. Then, a God’s voice says, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When else have we heard something like that? That’s right! Jesus’ baptism. It was the beginning of the first part of his mission. And, now, we have a story that begins the next part. It is clear that in everything that comes next, it will be important to make sure to do one thing first. What is that? Listen to Jesus.

     As we shift into Lent, I hope you’ll keep this instruction from God in mind: Listen to Jesus. How do we treat our neighbors? Listen to Jesus. Who is our neighbor? Listen to Jesus. What do we do with our wealth? Listen to Jesus. Who deserves healing? Listen to Jesus. How shall I treat my enemies? Listen to Jesus. What happens if I make a mistake? Listen to Jesus. There are many voices competing for our attention today. And, we may not be totally sure of the next best step. But, we know that we can start with this one: Listen to Jesus. May we follow him up the mountain, into the cloud, and towards the crowds of people who need him most.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

Carolyn C. Brown: https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/01/year-c-transfiguration-of-lord-february.html?m=1
​
A whole long list of words with the prefix "trans": https://word-lists.com/word-lists/list-of-words-with-the-prefix-trans/