Break Open the Word

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, 29 January 2017 Micah 6:1-8 Psalm 15 I Corinthians 1:18-31 Saint Matthew 5:1-12 Background: Blessedness If we look behind the roots of the English word “Blessedness” we discover a variety of not only meaning, but intent as well. If it is used to translate the Latin benedicere, or the Greek eulogein, it means literally “to speak well of”. It also used to translate the Hebrew verb brk , which means “to bend the knee” or to worship. Thus the word is used to cover a multitude of uses. The Hebrew usage is usually directed toward God alone, so that worship (bending of the knee) is in God’s honor. So we can speak of worship as “speaking well of God’s name”, and thus come to the Latin understanding of the word. Thus the direction of the word is God directed, but in some usage is reversed as human kind blesses God, or as God blesses human kind through the words of the priests of the temple. When blessed is used of or for humankind, ...

The Third Sunday after the Epiphany, 22 January 2017 Isaiah 9:1-4 Psalm 427:1, 5-13 I Corinthians 1:10-18 Saint Matthew 4:12-23 Background: Zebulun and Naphtali These two tribes were named after sons of Jacob, Zebulun, his son by Leah, and Naphtali, his son by the slave Bilhah (given as a surrogate wife to Jacob by Rachel). These two then become the progenitors of tribes that occupied the north central and northeastern parts of Israel. Zebulun, the smaller of the two was located just above Megiddo, nestled between Asher on the coast and Issachar on the east. Naphtali also touched on Asher on the west just above Zebulun, and on the east by the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee. Both of these territories, sitting on the trade routes than ran from Syria to the northeast down to the southern coastal areas, were subject to the designs of the larger kingdoms to the east, Syria, and later Assyria. They were invaded by Tiglath-Pileser III (ca. 732 BCE) and their popu...