Dennis Sepper, Burnsville, MN

Warm-up Question

• What did you expect when you got up this morning?  Was it pretty much what you expect every morning?
• What affect do those expectations have on what you see, hear and experience?

What Did You Expect?

February 3, 2017—Sulphur, Oklahoma.  A’layah Robinson had a tough start to life.  She and her two brothers were born to a mother who was a drug addict and placed in foster care.  Once there, like many foster kids, they bounced from house to house with various foster families.  A’layah and her brothers had no real home and no one they felt they could trust.  That was until A’layah and her brothers were adopted by the Robinson family.

With a real home and parents who loved her, A’layah blossomed and flourished.  Even though life was now secure and good one thing bothered her.  A’layah realized that while in foster care her brothers never had one toy that was their own.  A’layah decided she had to do something about that.  So, with her parents blessing she started serving lemonade from a stand called “Lemonade for Love” with the goal of raising enough money to provide a toy for each child in foster care in the state of Oklahoma.

A’layah’s vision caught the imagination of many people, so many that between the lemonade stand, a Facebook following, and a GoFundMe page A’layah now provides a string drawn backpack that contains a toothbrush, toothpaste, a blanket, a stuff bear toy (of course) and a bible so that each child in foster care  “can feel special and learn about Jesus”.  A’layah wants to share the love she feels from God and from her parents with as many children as she can.  Oh, and did I mention that A’layah is six years old.

When young A’layah experienced the love of God and Jesus through her parents and through her faith community, she was transformed from a child who had little hope and the prospect of an uncertain future to a young girl who couldn’t help but share the Good News through her service to other foster children.

Discussion Questions

• What was the element that transformed A’layah’s life?
• Was A’layah doing something super human or extraordinary or was she using ordinary things that were within her reach?
• Do you think A’layah is transforming the lives of others because of the love she has to share?  How?

Resurrection of Our Lord, Easter Day

Acts 10:34-43

Colossians 3:1-4

Matthew 28:1-10 or John 20:1-18

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

In both Gospel texts for today Mary Magdalene, either alone or with the other Mary, heads to the tomb of Jesus.  There is no talk of anointing the body of Jesus with spices

as in Mark 16 and Luke 24, so there is no concern about moving the stone sealing the tomb.  They go simply to pay their respects to Jesus.  Their expectation is that the stone will be in place and Jesus’ body will be inside.  The death of Jesus shook them to the core and all they could do was weep.

But then their expectations were shattered.  In Matthew’s account there was a great earthquake (in the Bible, always a sign that God was at work), an angel rolls the stone away, has a seat on the stone, announces that Jesus has been raised from the dead and invites the women to look inside the tomb to see for themselves that it was empty.

In John’s account, Mary sees that the stone has been rolled away.  Assuming that someone has stolen the body of Jesus she runs to get Peter and the other disciple.  When all of them arrive back at the tomb and enter it, they see that the death shroud of Jesus has been neatly folded (even the Risen Jesus made his bed…a good lesson for all of us!)

At this point all we know is that the body of Jesus is gone.  Matthew’s angel gives us a promise but that is all.  In both Gospels the moment it all sinks in is when the risen Jesus appears to Mary.  In Matthew’s Gospel it is in hearing the greeting of Jesus in his own voice that prompts recognition.  In John’s account it is when Jesus calls out to Mary by name that she believes in the resurrection of Jesus.

In that moment all expectations have been torn apart.  Jesus is alive.  Life has conquered death, love has conquered hate, grace and forgiveness has conquered judgment and all that Jesus told and taught his followers is true and trustworthy.  The resurrection of Jesus transformed the life of his followers in ways great and small.  We see this happening in the biblical book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament.

The same is true today, for the Risen Jesus is alive and with us.  Because of the resurrection of Jesus our human expectations are torn apart and our lives are transformed by the love and forgiveness of God.  We are given hope and the opportunity to be set free from feeling unworthy and undeserving of God’s love.  We are set free to not worry about our standing before God and thus free to serve others.  As Jesus declared in John 8:36 “When the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”.

The resurrection of Jesus does not take us out of this world; it transforms this world through love and hope.  There will still be questions, there will still be pain and suffering, and we will lose loved ones to death but because of Jesus we have hope for new beginnings including the beginning of life eternal.

Christ has Risen!  Christ has risen indeed!  This Easter Sunday we remember just how much God loves each and every one of us and we celebrate the love of God shown through the risen Jesus.

Discussion Questions

• In John’s account of the resurrection of Jesus, Mary Magdalene does not immediately recognize Jesus (she believes him to be the gardener).  After spending so much time with Jesus why do you think Mary did not recognize Jesus?  What did it take for her to realize it was Jesus?
• In Matthew’s account of the resurrection of Jesus, the author tells us that the women “left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy” (verse 8).  We might understand their joy but why would they feel fear?  Why does the resurrected Jesus say “do not be afraid” (verse 10)?

Activity Suggestions

We have now spent six weeks in the Church year season of Lent.  On Easter Sunday there will be a transformation of our worship.  We sing hymns and songs of praise, alleluias will abound, and there will be flowers in church–all to symbolize and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Young A’layah Robinson was transformed by the love of Jesus, her parents and her faith community.  That love overflowed to others especially to foster children because A’layah had the experience of being one.  It wasn’t a big deal, she simply wanted to provide a toy, a small toy to others but that small gesture brought huge results.

On this Easter Sunday are there ways you and/or your faith community can show forth the transformation brought by the resurrection of Jesus?  Take a moment to think about you own life experience (and how you answered the third question about A’layah project) and plan a way to celebrate the love of God by reflecting it to others.  It does not have to be something superhuman, just a small gesture of love can make a world of difference and transform the lives of others by the love of God.

Closing Prayer

God of Love, on this day our human expectations fade in the announcement of the good news that Jesus is risen from the dead and lives with us forever.  Open our hearts and minds to the transformation which your love can bring and set us free to serve you and our neighbors with joy.  With thankful and grateful hearts and lives we pray.  Amen.

Paul Baglyos, St. Paul, MN

Warm-up Question

Was Jesus the victim of mob violence?

Mob Consciousness

Sometimes, when people act together in groups they multiply the effective force of their courage, their principles, and their resolve.  Individuals acting together in groups have the capacity to become a movement able to realize higher aspirations of the human heart and mind.  At other times, however, when people act together in groups, they multiply the effective force of their fears, their prejudices and their resentment.  Protected within the relative anonymity of the group, individuals can become a mob capable of acting out the lower impulses of the human heart and mind.

An ABC news story of recent violence at rallies in response to policies of President Trump illustrates the fact that group behavior often becomes mob behavior, regardless of the “side” the group represents.  The story noted that violence was committed by members of both groups, the supporters and protesters alike.  When people regard one another merely as representatives of an opposing side in some conflict, they surrender the capacity to engage one another as human beings with value and dignity and voice and story.

Contrast that ABC news story about violence at political rallies with the News One story about the efforts of some senators to try to heal racial divisions by agreeing to meet in table fellowship over a meal.  Whether or not those efforts can effectively help to heal racism, the fact remains that when people sincerely start to know each other as people it becomes increasingly difficult for them to regard each other as merely  representatives of some “other” group.  Certainly, sharing a meal with someone does not guarantee that unity and harmony will emerge in place of previous divisions or disagreements, but the investment of time and effort that people make in truly knowing one another can transform their lives.

Discussion Questions

If you have access to a computer in your class, look at this picture of an orthodox priest during a protest in Kiev, Ukraine, in 2014. The foreground of the photograph shows two people encountering one another in a moment of interpersonal fellowship, while the background of the photograph shows the presence of a larger group.

• What do you imagine the kneeling man is seeking or requesting?  What do you imagine the priest is offering or bestowing?  What do you imagine each of them is thinking and feeling?  Do you think the larger crowd notices what is going on between the priest and the kneeling man?  What would you think if you were part of the larger crowd and noticed the man kneeling before the priest?

• Discuss the two stories from ABC and News One.  Imagine that some of the Trump supporters and some of the Trump protesters were persuaded to share an occasion of table fellowship over a meal together.  What might be said or done to encourage conversation in place of conflict, and understanding in place of violence?  How do the two opposing groups in the ABC news story inhibit their capacity to see each other (or to be seen by each other) as human beings with value and dignity and voice and story?

Sunday of the Passion

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Philippians 2:5-11

Matthew 27:11-54

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Matthew’s account of the Passion of Jesus is simultaneously a story about group behavior and about interpersonal fellowship.  On the one hand, the story is propelled forward by the insistent clamor of the crowd demanding Jesus’ crucifixion.  On the other hand, the actions of the crowd repeatedly place various individuals in situations of interpersonal fellowship with Jesus.

Consider Pilate, the Roman governor responsible for administrating Roman imperial rule in and around Jerusalem.  Matthew never suggests that Pilate was moved to faith by his encounter with Jesus, but he and Jesus nevertheless share a significant occasion of interpersonal fellowship when they are forced together by the demands of the crowd.  Clearly Pilate is troubled in conscience by the crowd’s insistence that he order the execution of Jesus, a man whom he finds to be innocent.  We are left to wonder how Pilate’s life might have been changed by his encounter with Jesus.

Matthew tells us even less about Simon of Cyrene, the passer-by who was compelled to carry Jesus’ cross to the place of crucifixion.  Whether Simon was chosen entirely at random or for some particular reason, he came to share intimately in the Passion of Jesus that day, and it is reasonable to imagine that the experience had a profound and lasting impact on his life.

The most explicit indication of personal transformation occurs in Matthew’s mention of the centurion (a Roman military officer) who stood near the cross of Jesus; Matthew tells us that the centurion was moved by what he had witnessed to confess with others, “Truly this man was God’s Son” – an indication of personal faith.

Matthew’s account makes it clear that the ministry of Jesus does not stop when he is arrested and bound.  Instead, all along the way to his crucifixion Jesus continues to do what he has always done – moving people to amazement and wonder, providing occasions to walk with him in his way of the cross, and prompting faith’s perception that his ministry is the ministry of God.  The crowd that clamored for Jesus’ crucifixion wanted to end Jesus’ ministry of transforming lives; instead, their actions resulted in the continuation and extension of that ministry.

The crowd behaved like a mob, but the actions of the crowd also carried forward the ministry of Jesus.  However unintentionally, however unwittingly, the insistence of the crowd demanding Jesus’ crucifixion became part of the movement by which people were brought to fellowship with Jesus.  While the crowd eventually got what it demanded – the death of Jesus – God’s ministry of transforming lives was nevertheless unfolding, even within the clamor and conflict of mob behavior.

Discussion Questions

• Which person or people in Matthew’s account of the Passion of Jesus do you find to be the most interesting and fascinating?  Why?
• With which person in the story do you identify most closely?  Why?
• What about the centurion’s experience do you think moved him to confess Jesus as God’s Son?
• How do you experience interpersonal fellowship with Jesus?

Activity Suggestions

An altar or table is one of the most essential furnishings of Christian worship, for it is upon that altar or table that the bread and wine of Holy Communion are prepared as the Lord’s Supper with and for the people.  In Holy Communion, the people are invited to table fellowship with Jesus so that they might grow closely together.  Jesus endured his Passion so that he might enter into fellowship with all people, in all times, places, and circumstances.  In this way, his cross becomes the primary “table” for interpersonal fellowship with people.

Go into the worship space where your congregation worships, and also into the space where the items and appointments used in Holy Communion are stored.  What associations do you see between Holy Communion and the cross?  In what ways is Holy Communion related to the cross in your congregation’s worship?

Closing Prayer

O God, our life, our strength, our food, we give you thanks for sustaining us with the body and blood of your Son.  By your Holy Spirit, enliven us to be his body in the world, that more and more we will give you praise and serve your earth and its many peoples, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

— Evangelical Lutheran Worship, page 65

Jen Krausz–Bethlehem, PA

Warm-up Question

What is appealing about fantasy books and movies (or for younger kids, fairy tales)?

Second Chance

Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast has surpassed last year’s Finding Dory, which earned $135 million, to take in $170 million in the U.S. on its opening

Two models isolated on a black background. Blonde woman holding hands of a beast

weekend, making it the top-grossing G- or PG-rated movie opener ever. The movie broke other box office records as well, becoming the highest opening for a movie so far in 2017 and the best March release ever. It is also the seventh top-grossing opening weekend for a movie of all time.

Disney has made several of its animated classics into live-action movies in recent years, including Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Maleficent, and “The Jungle Book. Upcoming planned releases include Dumbo, Mulan, The Lion King, and Aladdin, among others.

“Nostalgia is a very powerful driver for these films,” Disney head of distribution Dave Hollis said. “What’s exciting here is there is an opportunity to see these beloved stories in a way that’s never been seen before, but you get to build that on the foundation of something that’s very familiar.”

“But you don’t get to $170 million because of nostalgia,” Hollis added. “You have to ultimately make these movies great.” In addition to the record-breaking domestic release, the movie also made another $180 million around the world, and is expected to top $1 billion globally by the end of its run.

The movie featured songs from the original and starred Emma Watson as Belle. It beat out Kong: Skull Island, Logan, Get Out, and The Shack, all of which had debuted in previous weeks. The film follows the story of Belle, an independent, literate woman (who in this version is also an inventor), as she tries to protect her father from the Beast, who she doesn’t know is a prince, cursed by a witch for not being kind to her.

Discussion Questions

• Have you seen “Beauty and the Beast”? What did you think of it? Give a brief review.
• What is your favorite kind of movie? Why do you like them?
• The Beast is seeking redemption for wrong actions in his past. Do you think people deserve a second chance when they mistreat others? Why or why not?
• How was the Beast’s punishment appropriate to his actions? How would the world be different if people’s outward appearance reflected their inner character? Would you wish for such a world? Why or why not?

Fifth Sunday in Lent

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Romans 8:6-11

John 11:1-45

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Not only was Jesus’ raising of Lazarus a huge miracle that showed many people he was sent by God, but it also had a profound impact on Lazarus. Lazarus had a second chance at life on Earth—an opportunity that few people get.

The miracle of Lazarus is multi-pronged and has layers of meaning that don’t become clear to Jesus’ followers until after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Looking at Lazarus from beyond the resurrection, it becomes clear that Jesus is sending a message, not only about God’s sovereignty, but about how we are all dead, in a manner of speaking, because of our sins.

Just as Lazarus needed Jesus to raise him up to a new chance at life, we need Jesus to raise us out of the death that our sin brings. We may not all be physically dead, but without Jesus we are spiritually dead and in need of new life.

The difference between the redemption Jesus offered and that of the Beast in the movie is that we don’t need to—actually, we can’t—earn the redemption Jesus offers. No matter how well our inner character develops, no matter how much we mature, and no matter how many people we get to love us (show our love to), we will all “fall short of the glory of God,” as Romans 3:23 makes clear.

The Beast needed to earn Belle’s love to redeem his beastly state and make him human again, but Jesus has redeemed us from our fallen state; we need only receive that redemption and new life in faithful trust. There is a shadow of self-sacrifice and grace in many fairy tale stories that gives a glimpse of the real thing, and it is often what touches us in these stories and makes them great.

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever tried to earn God’s favor? How did that go?
• Do you believe Jesus can redeem the things that are broken in your life? Why or why not? Are you willing to let him redeem you?
• What does a redeemed life look like? What possibilities can become real when sins are redeemed?
• Lazarus was physically healed from his illness and brought back to life. What spiritual sickness(es) do you need healing from in order to find new life in Christ?

Activity Suggestions

If your church will let you, host a church-wide movie night where you show one of the following movies that have themes of self-sacrifice or redemption:

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Ice Age (the original one)

Superman

Beauty and the Beast (the animated version)

After the movie, lead a brief discussion into the self-sacrifice/redemption aspect of the movie and how that parallels Christ’s actions for us. Sometimes a concrete example like a movie can help people understand the theology of redemption better.

Closing Prayer

Lord God, thank you for your gift of redemption that allows us to know you personally and removes the obstacle of sin from our relationship. Help us to share this good news with others so they can come to know you, too. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Tuhina Rasche, San Carlos, CA

Warm-up Question

In an age filled with distractions and doubts, what does it mean to truly “see” one another?

How Do You “See”?

I’m not going to lie; I probably spend way much more time on my phone than I should. If I want to check the weather, there’s the weather app. If I want to know directions to travel from point A to point B, there’s the map app. I even have my Bible app and Lutheran Confessions app if I need to look up something theological at a moment’s notice. I have instant access to the world through the information that resides in my smart phone.

The instant gratification of having access to people and information has increased drastically since I was younger. It was only 15 years ago that I had to wait a long time for pages on the Internet to load, or for someone to pick up the phone and talk to them, ort to get a ride to the bookstore to pick up a book, or for the day of the week and time when my favorite television show would be aired. How we engage the world has drastically changed over a time. With that comes growing pains and learning how to live in a new way. Sometimes seeing the world in a new way leads to bumps and bruises. For example, I missed a sidewalk curb because I was texting and walking.  This is just one of many dangerous scenarios which occur when people pay to much attention to their phone screens.

That misstep led me to remember an article about multiple (and even dangerous) scenarios that occurred when people paid too much attention to their phone screens and not enough to the immediate physical world around them. We can easily look at information, but fail to “see” the world around us.

There’s tension between our online and fleshy lives. We are embodied people, created in God’s holy image. We are also called to be in Christian community, to be the resurrected body of Christ.  Social media and online spaces are connecting Christian community in new and exciting ways (like interacting with Faith Lens). Part of my life is lived out digitally; this is where I feel the deepest theological connection to a community that represents the resurrected Christ. My church meets every Thursday night on Twitter for #SlateSpeak to engage in deep and meaningful theological conversations. I may not get to see this community face-to-face on a weekly basis, but I get to “see” their passion for Christ.

I value the connections I’ve made over social media, but at the same time, I wonder how to reconnect and engage with the world which lies beyond the screen of my phone. I am experiencing the tension of seeing the world in new and different ways, but at the same time, I wonder if I truly “see” my neighbor in the midst of additional noise and distractions. Do I see the beauty of the image of God in my neighbor in online and in embodied spaces? Do I deeply engage with the communities of faith in which I participate, or do I see things at a surface level, unsure of asking hard questions, and taking the risk to see my interactions within God’s community in new and challenging ways?

Discussion Questions

• If you have a smart phone, how much time do you spend on it? Do you think it helps you stay connected with the communities in which you participate? Does it keep you from participating in communities that meet “in the flesh”?
• With the multitude of information that comes through social media, are you able to see how you engage with your friends and neighbors in online spaces? With your connections in both social media and in the flesh, are these meaningful connections happening in community? How are these interactions meaningful?
• What are some of the ways you can see the world in new ways and stay engaged in life between the embodied existence of being “in the flesh” community and meaningful connections and communities in online spaces?

Fourth Sunday of Lent

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Ephesians 5:8-14

John 9:1-41

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Today’s lengthy Gospel lesson contains multiple binaries. The obvious binaries include light and darkness, and blindness and sight. There are also deeper binaries of belief and unbelief, and sin and redemption. It is also important to recognize that while simple choices are presented to us in today’s Gospel lesson, the world is far more complicated than living in an “either/ or” situation. This is where the gift of our “both/ and” Lutheran theology helps us deal with the complexities presented to us, not just in John’s Gospel, but also in the world around us. Today’s Gospel is also further complicated when talking about the dominant narrative of ableism; Jesus does not use the term “blind man” to describe the person he encounters, but emphasizes his humanity, referring to him as “the man born blind.”

What is fascinating about this particular sign and wonder is that it comes from an unexpected place: a paste made of Jesus’ spit and mud (cue, “Oh, that is so gross”), then followed by washing in the waters of Siloam. Just as our sacramental identity in Christ comes to us in the simple elements of bread, wine, and water, so this healing salve is not made of extraordinary elements we encounter everyday but rarely take the time to  ponder as part of God’s fantastic creation. Our underwhelming sacraments give us a tactile experience of our overwhelming God. An underwhelming peasant man from Galilee is the overwhelming presence of God taking on our flesh.

How do we encounter the extraordinary that is found in ordinary daily elements? This is where John’s Gospel works with the concept of sight. We begin the lesson with a man who could not physically see, yet it ends with the Pharisees who could see neither the healing of the blind man nor the true identity of Jesus. The man born blind had immense faith and saw Jesus as the Son of Man (v. 38), the Pharisees could not “see” the healing that came from an ordinary peasant from ordinary elements. Must a sign use extraordinary elements in order to be believed?

The Gospel message compels us to see the entirety of our siblings in Christ and to see that they are created in the holy image of God. As our extraordinary God meets us in the ordinary, there is a sense of wonder in that meeting. When we are in community and make the effort to be truly present, we not only learn from our community, but  see God’s created world past the duality of binaries. We can “see” and respond in love to the petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.” May we approach this Gospel and our neighbor with such a sense of wonder that our eyes are fully opened and made fully present to  the gift of diversity found within Christian community.

Discussion Questions

• God constantly comes to us and shows up in the most unexpected of places. This is seen in the person of Christ and also how we experience Christ in the sacraments of communion and baptism. There are so many other places to experience God in community. Has God shown up for you in a place and time where you weren’t expecting? Where do you experience interacting with God within your community of faith? Do those places sometimes surprise you? Why?
• The Pharisees approached the man once born blind without actually seeing that he was healed. They had doubts to his identity, and their doubts led them to drive the man out of his community. Have there been times where you’ve had doubts in your faith journey? Have you had the opportunity to honestly talk about those doubts with people you trust? Do you feel encouraged to talk about your doubts in your life of faith? Why or why not?

Activity Suggestions

• We experience God in tactile ways, and sometimes in messy encounters. What does your faith look like if you were to describe it in a picture? What would that faith look like if you were to actually create that picture? In using the ordinary elements from this week’s Scripture lessons (oil, water, and dirt—preferably potting soil), create a portrait of your faith. Because oil and water repel one another, what was it like to create a faith portrait from these elements?
• What would it look like to create a space of blessing and healing for yourself and for others? This is an opportunity to do a simple activity with a profound effect. Stand in a circle, and with a small container of anointing oil or water from the baptismal font, make a sign of a cross on the forehead of the person next to you and state, “[Name], you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” Make sure everyone has the opportunity to give and receive this blessing. Once you have anointed one another, talk about the experience within community of what it meant to bless one another.

Closing Prayer

Merciful God who created us in the diversity of your holy image, we pray that we may experience the world through your vision. We pray to see your holy image in every living being we encounter. We pray that if there is something impeding how we encounter your grace and mercy in the world, that it may fall away. Help us to understand that there multiple ways to encounter the fullness of your love in the world, and it is in that fullness we continue to profess your grace and love. Amen.

Andrew Tucker, Radford, VA

Warm-up Question

Have you ever had a sibling rivalry or a family feud? What was that like? If it resolved, how did that happen?

Sibling Rivalry

This isn’t new news, though it may be news to you. Before World War II, Adidas and Puma were the same shoe company, run by brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler. Yet, the power of sibling rivalry and the fog of war led to a split between not just the companies, but the brothers. While Rudolph and his wife were hiding in a bomb

shelter during an air raid, he remarked, “The dirty !#$!@%*& are back again,” almost certainly in reference to the Allied squadrons. Yet, he said it just as Adolf and his wife were climbing into the bunker. Stress already existed between the brothers, who shared a home despite a sour relationship between their wives. Hearing this remark, Adolf was convinced that his brother referred to him and his bride and not to the B17s overhead. By 1948, the businesses had split from one another, following the separation that already existed within the Dassler family. It’s fabled that the brothers never spoke again after the division.  While they were buried in the same cemetery, the separation remains visible: they demanded to be buried at opposite ends of the graveyard.

Yet, the feud didn’t end with the brothers’ deaths in the 1970s. Adidas and Puma had antipathy toward one another for nearly forty years, and with headquarters in the same town, that anger bled over into the social loyalties for the townsfolk.  In 2009, workers from both companies played a friendly soccer match, though residents of Herzogenaurach still suspect tension between the two companies. It’s incredibly difficult to bury fifty years of antipathy.

You can read more about the Dassler brothers here and here.

Of course, this isn’t the only story of such rivalry within business. For instance, another German family feud led to the development of Aldi and Trader Joe’s in the U.S., known in Germany as Aldi Süd and Aldi Nord, respectively. What makes the story of Adidas and Puma so powerful is that, even under threat of death from another enemy, the vanity of the Dassler brothers rivalry played such a prominent role to shape the future of their families, businesses, and industries for decades to come.

Discussion Questions

• What about the story surprised you?
• What parts, if any, do you identify with? Why is that?
• Imagine a world where the Dassler brothers reconciled. What would have changed for them? For their companies? For the town of Herzogenaurach?
• What’s the power of a grudge?

Third Sunday in Lent

Exodus 17:1-7

Romans 5:1-11

John 4:5-42

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

There are a number of the potential controversies within this story that relate to our lives today. For instance, much is made of the woman’s questionable marital status and the number of husbands that she’s had in the past. Others devote attention instead to the fact that this is a public encounter between an unrelated man and woman, which may seem normal to us but was a cultural taboo with intimate undertones to people in 1st century Israel. Both details deserve attention.

But the most interesting part for our day is that this conversation happens on the stage of Samaria. This is not just a man, but a Jew, and a rabbi at that. Nor is this just a woman, but a Samaritan woman who, either through terrible luck or infidelity (not necessarily her own infidelity, mind you), has been given such a bad reputation that she’s getting water in the middle of the day. Perhaps this doesn’t seem surprising at first, except most people sought water in the morning or the evening to avoid the heat of the day. It seems likely that she’s avoiding the side-eye of her neighbors, trying to save face by seeing as few faces as possible. And then she runs into not just a man, but a Jewish man, and he’s a rabbi to boot. In this day and age, Samaritans didn’t associate with Jews, and yet here we are.

There’s one more important detail to note about the matrix of this interaction. Jews and Samaritans are ethnic and religions cousins. All of the nastiness that you hear in the Scripture about Samaritans isn’t about just some random tribe, but about people who share a common lineage, who also claim Abraham, Isaac, and even the well’s namesake, Jacob, as their forebears. While we’re at it, let’s also remember Abraham’s wife Sarah, Isaac’s wife Rebekah, and Jacob’s two wives Rachel and Leah were prominent players in the story of these nations. The Samaritan woman’s surprise that this Jewish rabbi offers her a drink is quite genuine, for as the passage says, Jews don’t associate with Samaritans, even though they’re family (4:9).

The antipathy between the two groups has its roots in Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BCE.  Many of the elites were taken out of the land. Those who remained in Israel made the best lives they could in a land wasted by war, which meant they intermarried with people other than Jews and developed different social and religious customs, including worshipping on Mt. Gerizim instead of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. They became known as Samaritans.

The Southern Kingdom fell in 587 to Babylon and again the elites were taken into exile.  After the Exile (a period of about 50 years) those who returned to resettle Israel had developed their own set of traditions which focused on the Jerusalem Temple and strong preferences for marrying other Jews.  They did this to keep a strong religious and cultural identity in a foreign land. Yet, Jews and Samaritans worshiped the same God, kept remarkably similar sacrifices, and shared a common family tree. The reasons Samaritans and Jews didn’t associate with one another was because each felt like they carried on the proper traditions of their ancestors. Each identified as God’s truly chosen people.  It’s incredibly difficult to bury fifty years of antipathy between the Dassler brothers, it pales in comparison to the nearly six centuries of division between Jews and Samaritans before Jesus meets this woman at Jacob’s well.

Into this hurricane of social discomfort Jesus brings the message of salvation to the Samaritan woman, and through her, to her entire town. This points to Jesus’ desire to bridge the chasm between Samaria and Israel, bringing fulfillment of God’s promises to all descendants of Jacob and not just one side of the family tree. What’s incredible here isn’t just that Jesus opens salvation to a woman considered a sinner by people’s court, but that Jesus makes her an evangelist for God to Samaria, just as he and his companions preach good news to the Jews. Jesus makes a Samaritan woman a disciple of the God of Israel, who is also the God of Samaria, who is also the God of all creation. Through her, the neighbors who once scorned her past and presence now praise her for her role in bringing them into the joy of Jesus. The power of God isn’t just personal salvation, though it certainly is that, but the mending of ancient hatred for unified and abundant life in God’s kingdom.

Discussion Questions

• Reflection is one of the practices of Lent. How do race and religious practices build walls between us and our human cousins which are similar to those we see between Jews and Samaritans in John 4?
• Repentance is another Lenten practice. What divisions do we need to confess to God?
• Redemption and restoration are the great hopes of Lent. How can you live in ways that, like the Samaritan woman, anticipate God’s restoration?

Activity Suggestions

• “Sardines” highlights the kind of power of Jesus’ movement to overcome the divisions in our lives, even those that work hard to separate us from others. The work of one welcomes us to participate in a family unified in our diversity. For sardines, one person counts while others hide throughout the building (be sure to denote spaces that are out of bounds, like bathrooms). As that person finds the hiders, they in turn join the mission to discover every last person who remains apart from the group. The last person found becomes the new seeker.
• Work together as a group to repair something broken, out of order, or in disrepair. This could be something at the church, for someone in need, or items that each person brings and wants to see restored. Perhaps not everything will get fixed, but that provides for helpful conversation around the difficulty of restoration.

Closing Prayer

Lord God, we often allow the divisions in our world and in our families to make us believe that you love us more than others. Purge that lie from our lives. We repent of the walls that we’ve built. Send your Spirit to help us to build bridges across the artificial divides which prevent us from seeing your divine image in others. As we continue this Lenten journey, keep showing up in the Samarias of our lives, in the places where we least expect you, so that we might find your salvation even beyond the ends of the earth. We pray this all in the name of Jesus. Amen.