6 Epiphany Year C – Feb 13, 2022

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.

This is one of those Sundays, that I wish I were one of those artists that could stand up in front of you, and paint a beautiful picture as the scriptures are being read…A couple of years back we did have an artist, a Lutheran Pastor, Paul Oman, at the diocesan convention who did just that…and a couple of years ago, I shared a lent series with you of his short sermons being narrated by him, and as we watched him paint a beautiful picture that brought the scriptures alive for us in a new way…and at the conclusion of the readings and the short message, he presented a finished piece of artwork that captured the scriptures and the story of the day in a such a beautiful way…Added to this story behind his beautiful work each time, was the fact that he painted the whole picture upside down as he was doing it…and when the story was ended, he turned it right-side up to reveal the masterpiece…And even though we were hearing some of the more difficult lessons associated with Lent, leading up to the cross of Good Friday…the paintings captured the good news being proclaimed right in the midst of the difficult teachings.

If we stop and think about it for a minute…we might see how it’s not only in Lent we are hearers of some difficult teachings…but it’s really almost every time Jesus opens his mouth to teach his disciples and all who were being drawn to him to hear what he had to say, and to be healed by him.

Today’s gospel reading is clearly a mix of beautiful and lovely images, all mixed up with some of Jesus’ difficult teachings. But, if we can step back from zeroing in just one or the other, we might be able to envision the finished painting that Jesus was trying to present…we might be able to get a wide-view, panoramic glimpse of what God’s dream for his people and for all of creation was really meant to look like…here on earth…here and now…as will be in heaven…

In the few verses leading up to the setting of today’s gospel reading, Jesus and his disciples had been accused by the Pharisees of doing unlawful things on the Sabbath…Jesus was walking through the grainfields, the disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands and then ate them…On another sabbath, Jesus was in the synagogue, teaching, when a man with a withered hand was healed by Jesus on the sabbath.

The pharisees and the scribes were furious with Jesus and discussed what they might do to Jesus…that’s when Jesus went up to the mountain to pray all night…And when morning came, he called for his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he named as his apostles…

Now it was time to go back down the mountain…now it was time for Jesus to continue with some more teaching for his newly appointed apostles, for the great crowd of disciples and for the great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon that were now gathered where Jesus stood among them on a level place….

All of them, we are told, had come to hear Jesus, and to be healed of their diseases; those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

But, what comes next, in Jesus’ teaching about the blessings and the woes…most likely, as Jesus’ teachings always did…cause a few people to feel hopeful and warm and loved inside, and yet at the same time, there were others scratching their heads, pacing back and forth, maybe even a little angry…and wondering…what on earth are you talking about Jesus?

Jesus never minced words about what this dream of God was supposed to look like and be like and what it would take from each of us to bring about this beloved community that God so desired for all of creation…. From the beginning…Jesus was turning things upside down and inside out…in order to help us get a glimpse of the “right-side up” kingdom of God, the dream of God, the family of God…here and now…

He lays out the vision of blessings and woes living side by side in the dream of God…he lays out the places of challenge and opportunities for each one of us to envision how we really could build a world, together…that looks more like the dream of God, than of the nightmarish picture it sometimes looks like…

He lays out a vision of how the kingdom of God, the family of God includes everyone, where no-one need ever be hungry for food or for love; where all will experience the joy and laughter that comes after a night of weeping….

He lays out the vision that takes every one of us… to strive to love another, forgive one another, share our resources and gifts with one another: with all that we have, and all that we are…so that this dream of God, would someday come to fruition …here on earth, as in heaven…

It can be so difficult at times…to really envision this dream of God for our time…it can seem so unrealistic and “other-worldly”…. I imagine those who heard Jesus teach over 2000 years ago, had similar thoughts…as we do…

Yet…even in the midst of such uncertainty and not fully understanding what Jesus is striving to teach us…even when we can’t see the whole finished masterpiece yet, we can always begin again and again and again, in each moment of prayer, in each moment of stillness, in each moment of praise and song… wherever we find ourselves…we can begin again with trusting Jesus…trusting Jesus with all our heart, soul, strength and mind…

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.

And now, let us pray, with a paraphrase of one of the most beautiful and well-known psalms that speaks about this trust…and creates a beautiful image of trusting in the Lord…our God…

Rev Julie Platson

St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church

Sitka, AK

Hymn/prayer after sermon (H) 663

The Lord my God my shepherd is

Sung by Ali Hosford

The Lord my God my shepherd is;

how could I want or need?

In pastures green, by streams serene,

he safely doth me lead.

To wholeness he restores my soul

and doth in mercy bless,

and helps me take for his Name’s sake

the paths of righteousness.

Yea, even when I must pass through

the valley of death’s shade,

I will not fear, for thou art here,

to comfort and to aid.

Thou hast in grace my table spread

secure in all alarms,

and filled my cup, and borne me up

in everlasting arms.

Then surely I can trust thy love

for all the days to come,

that I may tell thy praise, and dwell

for ever in thy home.