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6th SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17 clearly were meant for each other on this Sunday-both speak
overtly of two paths and logical consequences of our choices in life. Luke too reflects a
similar trajectory of groups and choices and lifestyles in his version of the beatitudes.
1 Corinthians 15 provides a glimpse into an early Christian controversy that swirls around
the impact of Christ’s victory over death vis-à-vis Christ-followers. Great choices
and themes from great texts.
PSALM 1-TWO WAYS FROM WHICH TO CHOOSE
Psalm 1 is one of those multi-purpose, all-utility passages for worship-it provides an
excellent invitation to worship, offers moral instruction as homily, and finds a home in
many a choir loft. The theme of the poem is memorable: a path forks into two paths, each
representing a fundamental perspective of life. If life is an accumulation of choices that
we make on our journey through life, then the psalmist suggests our basic options: the
path that leads to life or the one that leads down the rocky road to destruction. The
movements of this psalm are clean: A description of the blessed/happy person by way of
contrast, followed by a description of the "way of the wicked," with the entire
"moral of the story" summed up in verse six.
JEREMIAH 17:5-10-A PROPHET’S PERSPECTIVE OF THE TWO WAYS
This passage is extracted from a larger section in Jeremiah that is filled with
judgment and renewal (16:14-17:13). Strong jeremiads stand next to promises of
restoration. The passage begins with a strong indictment, then a warning, and a promising
piece reflective of Psalm 1 "They shall be like a tree planted by water . . . the
leaves shall stay green" (7-8), followed by a description of God who searches the
human heart. The basic structure here resembles the structure of Psalm 1 but in reverse:
Cursed are those (5-6) . . . Blessed are those . . ." (7-8).
1 CORINTHIANS 15:12-20-CHRIST’S AND EACH CHRISTIAN’S RESURRECTION
We’re in the middle of an argument over the nature and impact that Christ’s
resurrection has on Christians. Apparently, a variant view had surfaced in the church at
Corinth that placed Christ’s resurrection as a non-replicable event. Christ may
certainly have risen from the dead. But so what? What does that mean to us? In this
passage, Paul argues that that Christ rose from death to new life was not contested by
this variant view, but that Christ’s resurrection had no impact whatever on
Christ-believers. Paul meets this variant view with his own fiat of faith based on his
earlier list of witnesses: "But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the
dead" (v. 20, NLT).
LUKE 6:17-26 - MAKARIOS AND OH MY
Matthew’s we know. But Luke’s? In this lesson, the traditional blessings
(Blessed are the . . . for they shall be . . . ) so characteristic of Matthew’s
version, are in Luke juxtaposed with a series of "Oh me’s and oh my’s"
(the "woes). For preaching purposes, the teaching falls into three stages-the
makarios, the disciple who is blessed; the warnings to the rich and self-promoting; and
the "response to the word" section (27-30). The basic theme of contrast between
the blessed/happy ones and the unwise, unblessed ones is shared between Luke 6, Psalm 1
and Jeremiah 17-a rare agreement of the biblical planets for this week in epiphany.
