Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 5:1-12   Unsung Saints   This has been a hard year, really hard.   Death, division, and discrimination have dominated the news cycle and more than a few dinner table discussions.   Arguments and anxiety are as ubiquitous as the screens on which they are featured.   The world has never been smaller and we have perhaps never felt more isolated.           And I recognize that is a strange thing to say on All Saints’ Day: that we are isolated.   Strange, because we stand today in the midst of this immense Communion of Saints, connected to a great mystical fellowship of holy ancestors.   We dine with them around this holy table; we pray with them; we feel their presence as we rehearse the very liturgical language they spoke while on this earth.   We stand haunted by this beautiful, holy mystery: soaked in the heavenly love of generations of saints.   And yet, even...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 22:15-22   To Whom do You Belong?   Jesus does not have to answer your questions.   He is Jesus.   Throughout the Gospels he makes this abundantly clear.   Often the religious leaders confront him with tricky questions, always hoping to put Jesus in a precarious position, always hoping that his answer will erode his popular support or justify his arrest.   Today is no exception.   Once again the religious leaders scheme up a very difficult question.   Today’s is an especially rich query.   It combines the trifecta of trickiness: politics, money, and religion.   It is not difficult to imagine the Pharisees and the Herodians suppressing gleeful smiles and shaking with the buzz of excitement as they set up the ask.   Finally, after many unsatisfactory showdowns, many embarrassing encounters, they are going to force Jesus to reveal his partisan leanings.   The strange al...