Preaching the Scriptures

T he Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John 3:1-17   Lifted Up: Snakes and Salvation on the Journey Home Christ Church, Duanesburg   There is no place like home…and that is what they missed.   They missed having a place to call home – a place where you can hang your clothes, where the kids can roam the neighborhood with their friends, where the crops you plant are the ones you harvest.   And they did not have that, any of that.   Because they were lost in the wilderness – somewhere between what was and what they desperately hoped would be.   Their patience was thin to the point of threadbare.   And yet Moses decided they should take the scenic route…again.   The people, those tired and tattered wilderness people, did not respond well to that suggestion.   In fact, they lose it.   They lose the little bit of patience they still had.   They lose all self-control.   They lose their sense of decorum.   And they lose...

The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 4:1-11   Desert Days St. George’s, Clifton Park   The water was fine.   But the desert was calling.   There is no denying that the lush riverbank of the River Jordan was, in that moment, the place to be.   It was kinda like the first century version of Daytona Beach during Spring Break: alluring but overstimulating.   It’s a party but it can’t last forever.   Or so I’ve heard.   I mean, I spent my college spring breaks in Ohio eating cookies and playing video games.   So what do I know?   But the Gospel does tell us that those River Jordan crowds flocked from everywhere. “The people of Jerusalem, and all Judea” were there.   And all the people from the “region along the Jordan” were showing up.   There was something magnetic about that stretch of river.   Curiosity, skepticism, desperation, peer pressure, boredom, FOMO, sometimes even the Spirit: whatever the reason,...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18   Abram’s Doubt Trinity, Plattsburgh   This is not the first time Abram has heard this promise – the one we find in today’s Genesis reading.   He left his country and kindred to follow this very promise – a promise that he chased like a distant horizon.   Once upon a time, his life was normal, stable.   And then this mesmerizing, strange God changed his life – stole him away from his birthright, his plans, from the moon gods of his youth and his people.   This new God saw into his heart, spoke to his deepest longings.   And so, like the disciples on the beach, Abram left everything.   Through deserts and danger, he pursued the promise and yet still, beneath the big, starry sky, he seemed no closer to its fulfillment.   The visions kept happening.   But still there was no evidence.   Every month, with the moon, came a reminder that Sarai was again not preg...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 4:1-13   Choose Good St. Paul’s, Troy   The devil in Luke’s Gospel is not the familiar cartoon caricature.   He is not a red-faced goon in sulfur-scented cologne.   This devil is not the twisted star of campy horror movies.   He is not a demented poker with a pitchfork and a hideous scowl.   The devil in today’s Gospel passage is trying to book Jesus as a client; he wants to be Jesus’ agent.   This devil sees the career path to which Jesus has committed – one with an objectively rough ending – and is convinced he can find Jesus something better.   The devil shows up in the wilderness ready for business.   He walks into the meeting prepared to pitch; he has some tempting offers, some ideas, some strategies that will help Jesus really unlock his full potential. Not entirely unlike some of the more saintly characters in this Gospel, Simeon, Anna, John the Baptist, the devil recognizes ...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John 12:20-33   An Answer for the Greeks Trinity, Watervliet, NY   These Greeks were strategic.   They wanted to arrange a meeting with Jesus.   But that was difficult.   During the years of his public ministry, Jesus was always surrounded by crowds of the lame, the sick, the curious, and the skeptical.   But on this particular day, the day the Greeks decide to check in, the crowds were exceedingly large.   On that particular Sunday, Google Maps would have labeled Jesus “busier than usual” – maybe even “as busy as it gets.”   Jesus’ fame was hitting its crescendo.   He had just entered the Holy City Jerusalem.   In the city, he was greeted by palms and psalms; he was greeted as a king.   And so, for the Greeks, on that day, it was especially hard to get face time.   Jesus was a popular guy under normal circumstances; but the crowds were wild that day, that day we call Palm Sun...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Ephesians 2:1-10   Love and Baptism Holy Name, Boytonville   At that point in my life, it is unlikely I would have been described as a notorious sinner – though, admittedly, I was prone to the passions of my flesh.   As I approached the baptismal font, those passions of the flesh were about all I had: a passion for sleep, for nourishment, and the selfish desire to have other people meet my every want and need.   I was one month old when I was baptized.     Like many of us, I am a product of infant baptism.   My grandfather, a United Methodist pastor, baptized me in a font not far from the Ohio River, in a village almost exactly the size of this one.   He had no sense, as he poured sacred waters over my head, how my life would go.   He did not know that I would spend my teenage years leading worship in Pentecostal churches; or that I would discover the Book of Common Prayer while attending a ...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Mark 8:31-38   Following Jesus St. Thomas’ Pakistani Episcopal Church   Jesus was not oblivious.   He was well aware of the excitement that followed him – a blossoming expectation that threatened full bloom.   The conversation in today’s Gospel passage follows on the heels of a miraculous banquet, the feeding of four thousand people, in the desert, with just a few loaves and fish.   Not long after the leftovers were cleared and collected, Jesus performed the stunning healing of a blind man.   Jesus was doing miracles.   And miracles make people talk and ask questions and even hope.   The disciples were not immune to the contagious excitement.   They could feel it; they were in it.   They witnessed so many miracles with Jesus, and by Jesus, that the sheer quantity could make the miraculous feel almost mundane.   They watched as Jesus’ words captured large crowds; his love transforme...