July 2, 2023
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost – Year A – Byron Tindall
We, the citizens of these United States, have been blessed by God with one of the best countries ever to have been formed on the face of the earth. Yes, we have had and still have some massive problems. We will have our difficulties in the future as well. We are, after all, humans.
In 2019, I was asked to read the Declaration of Independence at a July Fourth celebration here in Jasper. I read a “Readers Digest” version at that time, omitting some of the specific grievances listed by the framers of the document.
I got to thinking a short time after reading it, that was the first time I’d either heard it read or read it myself since a civics class when I was in high school. I graduated in 1959. How long has it been since you either heard it or read it?
I think it’s very fitting to hear it on occasion. It’s a major and very important part of our heritage. So here goes.
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
June 25, 2023
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – Year A – Byron Tindall
My goodness: there are some pretty harsh words in the Gospel lesson this morning from the Gospel According to St. Matthew.
The lesson this week picks up where the optional portion from last week left off.
The first portion of today’s lesson doesn’t cause me any problem. But the further we get into this portion of Matthew’s gospel, the more troubling it becomes at first reading.
No, the student doesn’t have to become smarter or better than the teacher. Occasionally, a student will surpass the master or teacher, but that isn’t necessary for success.
It’s obvious to me that we are not to keep what we’ve learned about the Kingdom of God to ourselves, but rather we’re to spread the Good News by what we say and through the way we live wherever we find ourselves.
I have no argument with God knowing about everything that happens.
Then suddenly the questions start flowing when we reach the second half of today’s lesson.
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Wait a minute. Is this the same person we call “The Prince of Peace?” Is this the same Jesus who preached in the sermon on the mount, found recorded in Matthew 5 and 6 and said, among other things,
June 18, 2023
Third Sunday after Pentecost – year A – Byron Tindall
Happy Fathers’ Day. Fathers’ Day in 1979 was June 17. On that day, The Rt. Rev. Ned Cole ordained me to the priesthood in Trinity Episcopal Church in Boonville, New York. That was 44 years ago for those who can’t do the math in their heads.
This Gospel lesson for today from the Gospel According to St. Matthew comes about midway in Jesus’s ministry, as evidenced by chapter 10, verses 5 through 7.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”
Similar commands to the 12 closest followers of Jesus are recorded at Mark 1:15, when Jesus sent them forth telling them what to do, “and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’” Luke 9:2 records Jesus’s actions, “and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal….”
Who were “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”? Upon close reading of the synoptic gospels, it is evident that Jesus did a lot of work among these lost sheep. Apparently, Jesus cared deeply for them.
Writing in Volume Seven of The Interpreters’ Bible,
June 11, 2023
Second Sunday after Pentecost A – Bill Harkins
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
9:9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. 9:10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 9:12 But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 9:13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” 9:18 While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 9:19 And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. 9:20 Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak,
9:21 for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.”
9:22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.”