Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 23:33-43   The Sign Calvary, Burnt Hills, NY   The sign is a joke.   Not a funny joke; not a joke that brings joy or happiness to the world.   It is, instead, one of those “clever” jokes, like a cartoon in the New Yorker. Maybe it doesn’t make you laugh out loud, but if you get it, if you can untangle the irony, you smile a little and feel smart.   The sign was that kind of joke.   And the joke, this joke, it is on us.   Because we clearly don’t get it, don’t get the clever irony.   We take the sign, nailed as it was just above the head of Jesus, literally.   As if that sign was an informative museum plaque.   And that is a strange stance to take, given the circumstance, in light of the terrible events of this Gospel story.       Most everyone in the story was in on the joke.   The leaders riffed on it, for the entertainment of the crowd, stand-up in ...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 21:5-19   When Will This Be? St. Paul’s, Schenectady (Rotterdam)   I woke up late on that Saturday morning – just in time to watch my Saturday morning favorites: NBA Inside Stuff, Saved by the Bell, and Looney Tunes.   But on this particular Saturday, something wasn’t quite right.   I could sense it almost immediately.   Instead of bustle, the house was eerily silent.   No one was milling about.   The television screen was a powerless dull grey.   Every room I explored revealed the same unsettling discovery: nothing.     I have two parents and two younger siblings, and so the silence, and absence, was notable.   I was a child in the days before cell phones and so my investigative options were limited.   You might remember that back in those days if someone wasn’t at home, by their landline, or right beside you, there was no way to reach them.   It was as if they...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 20:27-38   Resurrection Certainty St. Christopher’s, Cobleskill   They could have come to Jesus to be touched well.   They could have sat at his feet and drank from the well of his wisdom.   They could have simply breathed in the same breath that, in the beginning, separated the water from the dry land.   Or just stood still in his loving gaze.   But instead, they came to embarrass Jesus in front of this crowd.   Because of course they did.   These Sadducees, we are told, did not believe in the resurrection.   And so this was not an earnest or honest question.   Their question was devised to prove to Jesus, and anyone who would listen, that they were right: more well-read, more devoted, more righteous.   And that Jesus was wrong.   Because of their carefully crafted question everyone would see that they knew the Bible better.   And unlike Jesus, they actually res...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 18:9-14   Surprise All Saints, Round Lake   Are you shocked?   Are you stunned?     When Jesus hit that wild, twist of an ending, did you discover that your mouth was left agape, your eyes bulging wide?   Or, were you not surprised at all by the surprise at the end of this parable?   Did you even realize that you were supposed to be surprised?   The truth is: The Sixth Sense or Planet of the Apes are not shocking movies on the twentieth viewing.   Or after a series of spoilers.   The endings are not as twisty when you see them coming.   A surprise doesn’t feel jarring if it is not a surprise to its audience.   If you already know the identity of Luke’s father, “Luke, I am your father” doesn’t take your breath away; it just registers as a dramatically delivered mundane fact.   This Gospel reading is old news – about 2000 years old, to be almost exact. And it i...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Genesis 32:22-31   Heel Turn Christ Church, Cooperstown   Jacob was a heel.   It was right there in his name.   He was branded a bad guy at birth.   It’s not that he was evil, per say, but he did have a history of morally questionable behavior.   And it started in the womb.   It can be hard to outrun a name.   Or overcome a first impression.   Jacob struggled with both.   Because his name was the first impression.   And it stuck.   It could have been a cute story of how twins like to stick together.   But that is not how his parents, or the Bible, told the birth story.   When mom and dad, Rebekah and Isaac, saw Jacob’s little hand gripping the heel of his slightly older brother, they decided that the younger one would always be scheming to supplant the older one.   The name Jacob in Hebrew is related to the word for “heel,” and the phrase “one who grasps the...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15   Investing in Hope St. Luke’s on the Hill, Mechanicville   Jeremiah didn’t really need another property.   He already had a home.   And he spent all of his time there.   Because he was under house arrest.   As a political prisoner.   Because of treason.   King Zedekiah, it seems, was not a fan of Jeremiah’s work.   He did not like those poems at all.       Already plenty stressed out, it does not appear to be the ideal time for the prophet to get into real estate.   But you know what they say, “Strike while the iron is hot.”   And, in Jeremiah’s defense, there were some deals to be had.   For sale signs were popping up everywhere.   Folks, like Jeremiah’s cousin Hanamel, were desperate to unload their properties.   But still Jeremiah wasn’t exactly living in, what you might call, a buyer’s market.   Because of the siege...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Jeremiah 18:1-11   A Crozier Story St. John’s, Johnstown   The prophet Jeremiah went down to the potter’s house.   And in the house he found, no surprise, a potter.   The potter was working at his wheel, spinning clay into earthen vessels.   Or at least trying to turn clay into earthen vessels.   Sometimes the clay did not quite cooperate.   And so Jeremiah watched as the potter took a deep breath, slowed the wheel, wrapped some messy fingers around the awkward lump, and started again.   Until that lump of clay became what the potter dreamed it would be.   Tuesday is the two-year anniversary of my election as your bishop.   Election day was a wild day.   The family woke up early – because mountain time zone – unsure if everything or nothing in our lives would change.   A few hours later, it was everything.   The election thrust us, suddenly, into a season of total tra...