tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29547046730339399642024-02-08T11:46:35.137-06:00Part-Time Preacher, Full-Time CurmudgeonAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.comBlogger208125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-76545315271219706602015-04-11T15:28:00.000-05:002015-04-11T15:28:47.762-05:00Poor Thomas and the Chai Latte...Thanks go out to <a href="http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2015/04/releasing-and-retaining-brokenness.html" target="_blank">D. Mark Davis</a> and <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2407" target="_blank">Lance Pape</a> for their scholarship in helping build this sermon.<br />
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Honorable mention to my current soundtrack for the audio caffeine:<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>John 20:19-31</i></div>
<i>
</i><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><br /></i>
</div>
<i>
</i><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>When it was evening on that day, the
first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples
had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among
them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed
them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they
saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the
Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he
breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the
sins of any, they are retained.”</i></div>
<i>
</i><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>But Thomas (who was called the Twin),
one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other
disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger
in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not
believe.”</i></div>
<i>
</i><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>A week later his disciples were again
in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut,
Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands.
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him,
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who
have not seen and yet have come to believe.”</i></div>
<i>
</i><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Now Jesus did many other signs in the
presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But
these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the
Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life
in his name.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is the Word of the Lord.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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</div>
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Poor Thomas. Can you imagine being
alive during the greatest event in human, history, being one of the
people closest to the epicenter, able to see the resurrected Christ
in person... and after three days holed up in a stuffy, smelly, dark
upper room in the middle of Jerusalem, shoulder to shoulder with a
bunch of people scared to death that the soldiers will be coming for
<i>them</i> next, you pick <i>this moment</i> to go out for a chai
latte?</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I don't <i>know</i> that a chai latte
is the reason Thomas left, but it's why <i>I</i> woulda left. And I
really identify with Thomas in a lot of ways, and I think that's not
only OK, I think that maybe the Scriptures encourage us to do just
that.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
After all, while he is listed in
Matthew and Luke, Thomas doesn't act or speak in any other Gospel
account than John's. What's more, he doesn't really have a name.
“Thomas” means “twin” in Hebrew... so if we go with the
reading, it's “this guy, The Twin, I mean, they called him The
Twin, was not with them when Jesus came...” What better place to
insert your name, my name? “But John Harrison wasn't with them when
Jesus came.” After all, I wasn't. I am a couple thousand years too
late.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There are other ways I tend to identify
with Thomas. He was more courageous than I am, to be sure, but he was
passionate, and somewhat reactionary, speaking with his heart more
than he spoke with his head.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Here’s what I mean: We only hear from
Thomas three times in the Gospel of John. When, in the 11th chapter,
Jesus sets off toward Bethany, it is apparent to every one of the
disciples that it’s far too close to Jerusalem, far too close to
those who want Jesus killed. Everyone listening to Jesus knows that
for him to go to Lazarus is to sign his own death warrant. Thomas is
the one who stands up, dusts himself off, and says, “Let us also
go, that we may die with him.” There is no doubt in those words,
but resolution, even courage. The worst is yet to come, yes, but
we’ve come this far with Him, let’s finish the journey.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In Chapter 14, at the Last Supper, at
one point Jesus says to his disciples, “I am going there to prepare
a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You
know the way to the place where I am going.” It is left to Thomas
to blurt the one question which <i>had</i> to be pounding in the
disciples’ heads: “Lord, we don't know where you are going, so
how can we <i>know</i> the way?” Thomas is not rebuked for
“doubting,” but is rewarded with one of the clearest Scriptural
statements about who Jesus is and why He came to live and die among
humankind: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And the Scriptures never, ever call him
“Doubting Thomas.” We've done that, and unfairly, I think. After
all, Peter and John had seen the empty tomb, Mary had seen the risen
Christ there in the burial garden, the travelers on the road to
Emmaus had walked and talked with him, had seen him revealed in the
breaking of the bread. And there in that room where Thomas was not,
every one of the disciples had seen Jesus, had seen the wounds the
nails and the spear had left, had heard his words, had felt the
blessing of his breath.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Thomas wasn't there. And it may have
been deeper than him just stepping out for a breath of fresh air. One
of my favorite go-to resources for preparing the sermon every week is
Rev. D. Mark Davis, who runs a blog where he translates the Gospel
reading every week from the original Greek. He points out something
very interesting with this week's reading. Greek has a lot of nuances
and tenses, and when we read, “But Thomas... was not with them when
Jesus came,” we interpret it as Thomas just being physically not
present. And if the Greek had used what's called the <i>aorist</i>
tense, that would be a solid interpretation. The writer of John's
Gospel uses what's called the <i>imperfect</i> tense for what we
translate as “was not with them,” which might just mean that he
was not only not there physically, but emotionally, spiritually, as
well. Thomas, the reactionary, the passionate, speak-with-his-heart,
act before you think guy, saw Jesus die (albeit, like the rest of the
disciples, from a safe distance), and gave up.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Maybe he didn't even go back to the
room with the others. Maybe he walked off in another direction. Maybe
he wanted to be alone in his pain, his mourning, his loss. He just
wasn't there. Wasn't interested.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This makes even more sense when you
couple with it the fact that, when we read the phrase “...the other
disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord...” the word
translated “told him” is <i>also</i> imperfect tense... perhaps
better translated, “were telling him,” as in <i>not a single act,</i>
but an ongoing activity. Maybe the conversation was about bringing
Thomas back into the community.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This excites me, and I'll tell you why:
Jesus breathes on the ten remaining disciples and says, “Receive
the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven
them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Perhaps
the first work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church is
forgiveness and reconciliation, and perhaps it plays out in the
narrative with Thomas, this broken, mourning man who has given up.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
With this interpretation, the disciples
never give up on Thomas, and he finally throws down the gauntlet.
“Fine, I get it, you believe because you've seen him. But unless I
get the same – unless I see what you've seen, unless I can touch
his wounds, I can't. I won't. Take it or leave it.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So, follow this to its logical
conclusion. Faced with a take it or leave it choice in reconciling
with Thomas, the disciples took it. A week later, they were all in
the room, with the door closed and locked. Thomas was with them.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yes, Jesus appears, and gives Thomas
what he demands. Yes, Thomas responds, in what I imagine to be
typical style: blurting “my Lord and my God!” But he was able to
do this because he was present. And he was present because, even
though he didn't agree with them... even though he desired more than
just hearsay evidence... the community of believers let him come on
his own terms... and he was willing to be there.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Thomas got his proof. Good for him,
huh?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I admit it. I'm kind of jealous of
Thomas when it all comes down to it. After all, there's nothing
abnormal, nothing twenty-first century about the desire for
experiential proof. And Thomas was not the only disciple who wouldn’t
take someone else’s word for it. Mary announced the good news of
resurrection to the disciples, and they most definitely didn't take
her word for it. When Jesus came to them that evening, he found the
doors locked in fear, and he offered to each of those present the
same signs that Thomas would later demand.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Proof is what everyone prefers. But we
must come to terms with our place in history. God, in God’s
manifold wisdom, has not ordained that we should “be there” no
matter how sincerely and audaciously we wish it. We live in an age of
wonders, no doubt, but when it comes to the resurrection we walk by
faith and not by sight.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Instead, God has given us the chance to
be blessed according to the last of the beatitudes. “Blessed are
the poor,” said Jesus, and yet the least well off among us are
wealthy by any realistic historical or global standard. “Blessed
are you who hunger,” and yet we are only hungry when we are
dieting. “Blessed are the meek,” and yet we can scarcely avoid
pride at all that we have achieved.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
No, this last beatitude may be our best
shot at the designation “blessed of God.” Blessed are they who
can’t be absolutely sure. Blessed are they who believe the hearsay.
Blessed are the eyes of faith that continue in hope despite the
frustrations and ambiguities. “Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet have come to believe.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Alleluia, amen.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-45181388975531032222015-03-14T19:13:00.000-05:002015-03-14T19:13:31.855-05:00What Does It Mean to Believe?Thanks to the writing of <a href="http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2015/03/facing-evil-coming-to-light.html" target="_blank">D. Mark Davis</a> and the resources provided by Gil Bailie at "<a href="http://girardianlectionary.net/year_b/lent4b.htm" target="_blank">Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary,</a>" where I got even more help from Sarah Dylan Breuer and Tom Truby.<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>JOHN 3:14-21</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>“And just as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that
whoever believes in him may have eternal life.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>“For God so loved the world that he
gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not
perish but may have eternal life.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>“Indeed, God did not send the Son
into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world
might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not
condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already,
because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and
people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were
evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the
light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what
is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their
deeds have been done in God.”</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
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This is the Word of the Lord.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What does it mean to believe? Is it a
simple process of mentally agreeing to a set of doctrinal statements,
does it involve training ourselves to think and act differently? Is
“belief” something more – or something wholly different?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Our passage this morning starts out
with Jesus making reference to a frankly troubling passage in the
Book of Numbers: the Children of Israel, making their journey to the
Promised Land, are complaining that there isn't anything to eat or
drink, and what there is to eat – manna – is terrible. God
responds to the complaints by sending a plague of poisonous snakes.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And even though one of the things the
Jewish people were never ever supposed to do was to make graven
images, when the people repent and ask Moses to ask God to save them,
what does God tell Moses to do?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yep. A graven image. Of a snake, on a
pole. God doesn't take the snakes away, but when someone is bitten,
all they have to do is look at the snake on the pole, and they won't
die.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
By the way, many years later, one of
the Kings of Israel, Hezekiah, destroyed the bronze snake that Moses
made, because people had started worshiping it – which was why God
had said not to make graven images in the first place. But I digress,
sort of.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Jesus is referring to this incident in
the life of the Jewish people to draw a parallel between the lifting
of the snake on the pole as a means of saving the people from death,
and his own lifting up on the cross as a means of salvation to the
world. We know this because the very next sentence Jesus utters in
today's passage is possibly the most well-known Bible passage in the
universe: John 3:16. <i>“For God so loved the world</i> – a
better translation might be “God loved the world in this way:” –
<i>that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him
may not perish but may have eternal life.”</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Now, I would argue first that we do a
disservice by quoting John 3:16 by itself. It is an incomplete
thought, made whole by the next verse: <i>“Indeed, God did not send
the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through him.”</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And it's my inclination to stop there,
honestly. As uncomfortable as I am with the idea of God sending
poisonous snakes because a bunch of people are tired of eating manna
for every meal – manna sausage for breakfast, manna sandwiches for
lunch, manna pot roast for dinner, bamanna bread for dessert... I see
'way too much condemnation in popular Christianity today as it is, so
all the talk about nonbelievers being condemned in the next verses
feels like overkill. It frankly sounds a little like God sent Jesus
as a reason to condemn people... turn or burn, agree with my set of
doctrinal statements (because that's what the word “believe” has
come to mean) or go to Hell...</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And I don't think it's that simple. I
don't think God can be distilled down to a choice between a
benevolent Grandparent or a heavenly vending machine or an angry,
vengeful deity with his hand poised over the “smite” button.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And I do not think we are using the
word “believe” in the right way. Yes, “believe” does mean “to
have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of
something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing
so,” that is technically correct... but I do not think it is
<i>theologically</i> correct.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As I understand it, the Greek word
group <i>pistos</i> tends to be shaded less as “belief” and more
as “faithfulness” and “trust” – because in doing so, it
denotes more of a relationship than a state of thinking – so why,
when we see its verb form, <i>pisteuo</i>, should we satisfied with
the word “believe?” Is faith in the risen Christ, the One who was
lifted up for us, a simple matter of intellectual assent? Is
Christianity a mental exercise, is it just a way of thinking?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What does it mean to “believe?” It
means to trust.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And while we're on the subject of
Greek... I am not a Greek scholar, but more than one scholar and
commentator that I have read this week brings up a very important
point about <i>krino</i> and <i>krisis</i>, the words translated
“condemn” and “condemned,” respectively. Both Gil Bailie and
Mark Davis, for example, make a very compelling argument for <i>krino</i>
and <i>krisis</i> to be translated rather as “judge” and
“judgment,” respectively.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And make no mistake, this is not a
matter of rewriting Scripture, but of making a choice in translating
Scripture – it's a question of, if I may quote Paul from the
epistle to Timothy, “rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The word <i>“krino”</i> doesn't, in
and of itself, have a negative connotation. It's more ambiguous, like
our English word “judge.” We can judge things in positive and
negative ways, but the word “condemn” just means “condemn.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So here's the way the verses might
read: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever trusts in him may
have the life of God's new age. For God loved the world in this way:
he gave his only Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may not
perish but may have the life of God's new age. Indeed, God did not
send the Son into the world to judge the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through him. Those who trust in him are not
judged; but those who do not trust are judged already, because they
have not trusted in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the
judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved
darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Do you see the difference? To say God
condemns isn't wrong, necessarily. God condemns a lot of things –
idolatry and injustice, for example. But is God in the business of
condemnation? Is there a divine game of whack-a-mole going on, with
you and I playing the moles?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's interesting to note that, when the
snakes came on the Hebrews in the wilderness, they didn't go to Moses
talking about the evil that God had visited upon them, they said, “We
have sinned...” Whoever <i>sent</i> the serpents, they understood
them to be the product of their own actions, their own choice to
complain. <i>Theirs</i> was the active role, not God's.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Those who trust in him are not
judged; but those who do not trust are judged already, because they
have not trusted in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the
judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved
darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Who or what we trust has consequences,
doesn't it? If we trust in money, or power, or politicians, or drugs,
or alcohol, or food, or fame, or security, what are we in fact
placing our faith in? One more dollar, one more rich old man who
might vote our way this time, one more buzz, one more bite, one more
FaceBook like, one more lock on the door? Because in the end, when
they close the lid and lower the casket, what are any of those things
worth?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Putting our trust in the risen Christ
saves us from the cesspool of self-absorption, rescues us from the
idolatry of things, and releases us from the certainty that this
life, this existence, this here-and-now is all that there is and ever
will be. When we put our trust in Christ, we enter into relationship
with the eternal.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Make no mistake about it: following
Jesus is not a program for self-improvement; it's an invitation to a
relationship; it is inclusion in a community. It's dislocation from a
worldview that perpetuates injustice, death, and alienation, knitting
us into a network of relationships that bring healing,
reconciliation, and abundant life rooted in the eternal.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Think about how many things are set by
our birth in this world: We are born in a geographical location that
can accustom one person to unjust privilege and prevent another
person from access to clean water, education, the chance to live to
adulthood. One person is born to a family that instills a sense that
he or she is loved, while another person's family leaves them with a
sense that he or she is deeply inadequate. We are born with a skin
color that will also condition our sense of who we are, what we
deserve, whom we may love or fear. This world is set up in ways that
try to lock us into patterns of relationship based on our birth --
patterns that separate us from one another and from God.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
How might the world be different if
those patterns were disrupted, if you and I could be sisters and
brothers in healthy relationship? ... Let me put it this way:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What would our relationships look like
if we shared one birth and were raised in one loving, supportive
family? What would the economy look like if we took seriously the
fact that we live and work in a world that is our common inheritance,
instead of a set of disconnected chunks of land and resources to be
conquered like a board game? What would the world look like if we saw
every child as our own little sister or brother, if "family
first" included them <i>all</i> as our own flesh and blood?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
That's what it means to put our trust
in Jesus. Jesus offers us freedom from relationships that ensnare,
and the choice to relate to one another as beloved children of one
loving God. It's a choice not just for a new name, it's a new world
of new relationships, of new and abundant life.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“And just as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that
whoever trusts in him may have eternal life.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The serpent in the wilderness
represented more than just a poisonous snake. The Hebrew people had
become poisoned with doubt, with fear, they had become disgusted by
the gift that God sent them every morning with the dew – manna.
Looking at the serpent meant looking directly at the worst of
themselves, it meant facing what they were and trusting enough to
turn away from it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
God did not nail Jesus to the cross. We
did. Think about it: it was the rage of the scribes and Pharisees
against a man challenging the religious status quo, it was the greed
of Judas, it was the fear that the chief priests and the Sanhedrin
had of upsetting the Roman occupiers, it was the fear of the crowd
that turned Pilate's resolve to capitulation, and it was the
bloodlust of that crowd shrieking “Crucify him!” that killed
Jesus.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
When Jesus is lifted up on the cross,
we see what happens when we put our trust in our pedigree, our won
wealth, our own theological and doctrinal purity, like the scribes
and Pharisees. We see what happens when we put our trust in cold hard
cash, like Judas. We see what happens when we put our trust in
political systems and corporate power structures, like the chief
priests and the Sanhedrin. We see what happens when we bow to the
whim of popular opinion, like Pilate. We see what happens when we
give ourselves over to sensationalism and the thrill of immediate
gratification, like the crowd.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is the Good News: God's love is so
complete, so irrevocable, so egregiously immense that it survived the
worst that we could do to God's only begotten son! We look at the
cross, and we see the worst in ourselves, the product of the idols
and the temporal things we put our trust in, but we do not see our
end in those things. Rather, in moving our trust from the temporary,
the self-serving, the idolatrous, to the risen and living Christ, we
find the light of God's eternal love, and the truth that indeed sets
us free.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is what it means to believe.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-65580872190279140632015-02-14T21:28:00.001-06:002015-02-14T21:28:53.793-06:00Transfiguration and Transformation...<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Thanks to the writings of <a href="http://disclosingnewworlds.net/transfiguration-blast-epiphany-year-b/" target="_blank">Lawrence Moore</a>, <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2341" target="_blank">Matt Skinner</a>, and <a href="http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">D. Mark Davis</a> for their insights into today's reading.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>MARK 9:2-9</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Six days later, Jesus took with him
Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by
themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes
became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And
there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with
Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be
here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and
one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were
terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there
came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more,
but only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered
them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of
Man had risen from the dead.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is the Word of the Lord.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
How many times have you heard sermons
and lessons on the Transfiguration? I mean, Transfiguration Sunday
happens every year, the last Sunday before Lent begins. And while not
every preacher follows the church calendar, I would think that it's a
pretty safe bet that a preacher can't resist telling a cool story
like this at least once a year...</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So if you come to church regularly,
you've heard about the Transfiguration a whole lot. So have I. I've
preached a sermon on the Transfiguration every year I've been here,
obviously, but if you were to back me in a figurative corner and ask
me to state, definitively, what the transfiguration of Jesus means...
well, I couldn't give you one answer, and honestly, I think that if
we were to package this event into one specific, over-arching
explanation, we'd be selling the narrative short. God always speaks
to us where we are, individually and as a church.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And God speaks to us directly in the
Transfiguration: “This is my Son, the Beloved...” One translation
of this phrase reads, “This is my beloved son in whom I take
delight.” Far from an event that invokes sober reverence and awe,
for God, Transfiguration is an opportunity to declare love, to be
delighted with Jesus the Son.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And it is a shared delight – Jesus is
not alone, after all, Peter and James and John, not to mention Moses
and Elijah, are there in the presence of God, enjoying the delight
that God feels! Delight is an aspect of the holy – and this
holiness is a participatory, shared holiness. God loves, so God
interacts. God gives of God's self, because self-giving is just what
happens when someone adores and celebrates someone else.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So Transfiguration is an opportunity to
simply enjoy the presence of God in Jesus Christ, to be ourselves
transformed by the light of his grace and love.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Because, make no mistake, we cannot
stand long in the presence of God without being transformed. The word
for “transfiguration” and for “transformation” is the same
one: “metemorphothei,” the word we get “metamorphosis” from.
Romans 12:2 tells us “Do not conform to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing
and perfect will.” Which is all well and good, but I like being
told the “what” without the “how” just about as much as I
like paying sales tax. The good news is that God tells us the “how.”
In 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, who with unveiled faces
contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image
with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the
Spirit.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The light of Transfiguration lives
within us in God the Holy Spirit, bringing us into the image and
presence of our loving Creator! That's something to delight in, isn't
it?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So yes, the Transfiguration is for us.
It is, perhaps, Mark's Resurrection account, a picture of the risen
and glorified Christ in a Gospel which, in its original form, doesn't
really have one – it ends like it begins, with a sentence fragment,
and empty tomb and some terrified women.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
On this mountain, we have Jesus, the
Christ, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, robed in the blinding
glory of God, attended by Moses, who represents the Law, and Elijah,
who represents the Prophets. This is the Jesus of the Final Judgment,
prepared to separate the sheep from the goats.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
From this perspective alone, it makes
sense that Peter and James and John were terrified (in fact, a
literal translation might be that they were “freaked out”). After
all, it's all well and good to talk about the Final Judgment,
especially when we're talking about all those other people who'll get
judged for their sins. Face to face with the reality of the Judge
Himself, we might not be so quick to point at others... just sayin'.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
On the other hand, the promise of a
resurrected Christ is, after all, why we believe in the first place,
isn't it? Without the real and physical resurrection of Jesus Christ,
we might as well just sleep in on Sunday, we might as well live our
lives as if this is all there is, and once we are dead we are dust.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But God identifies Jesus as the
beloved, in whom God is delighted! The resurrection is God's seal of
approval on the completed work of Jesus the Son, and the promise of
our faith is that in the same way that Jesus rose and lives
eternally, we will rise, and we will live.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But yet again, I think if we leave it
at this, settle for the triumphalism, we may well be missing
something that God is saying to us.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
After all, it is no small matter that,
in order for Jesus to rise, he must die. And not a simple death, what
Rush Limbaugh might refer to as “assuming room temperature.” Yes,
I just quoted Rush Limbaugh in a sermon, and no, I am not proud of
it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is one path down from that
mountaintop for Jesus. One path that leads to Jerusalem, one path to
the Garden of Gethsemane, one path to the Pavement and the whip and
the crown of thorns, one path to Golgotha and the nails, one path to
the cold, cold tomb.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's easy, far too easy, to simply view
the crucifixion of Jesus in the light of the Resurrection, and what I
mean by that is to too easily dismiss the fear Jesus felt, the mortal
terror that caused him to sweat blood at Gethsemane, the
hopelessness of his cry, “My God, my God, why have you forgotten
me?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Our passage today begins with the
words, “six days later.” That's how long it had been since Peter
had declared that Jesus was the Messiah, and Jesus had begun trying
to prepare his disciples for what was to come: “...that the Son of
Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief
priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and
after three days rise again.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But the disciples don't get it – they
either can't or won't understand. Peter and the rest continue to
impose their own terms on what following Jesus means. Before and
after the Transfiguration, the disciples refuse to accept Jesus'
political fate, they discuss who will be greatest among them when
Jesus takes over and imposes Empire upon the face of the earth; James
and John try to do an end-run around the rest to get the best seats
in the house.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So on the Mount of Transfiguration,
Moses and Elijah meet with Jesus to talk about what's to come – I
think that this was for Jesus, reassurance that the path down from
the mountaintop was the right one; and when God speaks from the
cloud, he says something to Peter and James and John – and to us –
“...listen to him!”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For Peter, James, and John, this means
to stop trying to frame the Kingdom of God in their own template.
Yes, life under the boot of Rome was tiresome and unjust, and yes it
would be nice to overpower, overthrow, destroy the Romans, grind them
to dust, and establish David's throne on earth by force. But the
Kingdom of God is more than mere earthly empire. There is more to the
Messiah than who gets to sit next to him in the throne room.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And – this was for the disciples and
it is for us, today – we will never transform the world, we will
not change people, by force. It simply cannot be done, not in the
name of Christ, and Christ knows we've tried. Kings and emperors and
Presidents and prime ministers too numerous to count have conquered
and ruled and have claimed to do so within the will of God. One after
another over the millenia, each on the ashes of the one before, and
what do we have to show for it?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Poverty is still rampant. Government is
rife with corruption. People the world over die every day from a lack
of food and clean water, people die of easily preventable diseases,
and even more despicable, far more shameful: children in our own city
go to bed hungry, and far too many without a roof over their heads,
every night. I will disagree with the governor and with the chief
justice and with the senator and the attorney general in that it is
this above all else which is the greatest sin in our state, that if
Alabama is to incur the wrath of God it is for our inattention to the
least of these in our midst, and the fact that we do it in the name
of God.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Jesus was transfigured by the love of
his Father, who delighted in him. We are transformed through the love
of God in the risen Christ, through the renewing of the Holy Spirit.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It is love – not power, not weapons,
not empire, which will ultimately transform this state, this country,
and this world into one where all are fed and can drink clean water,
where all are healthy and freed of poverty, where every child and
every veteran has a home, a world where men and women and children
from all walks of life enter the Kingdom of God not from fear of
damnation or promise of prosperity, but because of what God's people
have done to demonstrate the love of God in their lives, a world
where God truly is glorified not just with our lips, but with our
lives.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What does the Transfiguration mean to
you, today? By that I mean, how is God speaking to you? How are you
being transformed by the renewing of your mind? Which path is yours,
off the mountaintop of your transfiguration? How will you, in turn
transform your world?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-77221413234599749642015-01-17T17:10:00.000-06:002015-01-17T17:10:40.126-06:00"Come and See..."<span style="color: white;">Many thanks today to <a href="http://www.politicaltheology.com/blog/the-politics-of-vision-john-143-51/" target="_blank">D. Mark Davis</a>, <a href="http://www.evangelismconnections.org/weeklyreflection/weekly-evangelectionary-for-sunday-january-18-2015/" target="_blank">Mick Bradley</a>, and <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2314" target="_blank">Michael Rogness</a> for their insights into today's reading.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">The quote from Aaron Weiss comes from "Linear," by his group <a href="http://mewithoutyou.com/" target="_blank">mewithoutYou</a>.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/GOA_vtXutR0/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/GOA_vtXutR0&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/GOA_vtXutR0&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
JOHN 1:43-51</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The next day Jesus decided to go to
Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip
was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found
Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in
the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from
Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of
Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw
Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an
Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where
did you come to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the
fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi,
you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus
answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under
the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said
to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the
angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is the Word of the Lord.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I can't help but identify with
Nathanael right off the bat: He has some pretty strong opinions, and
you know that filter that most people have, that little voice in
their heads kind of helps keep them from blurting out stuff they
shouldn't? He doesn't have that. Most of the time I don't have one,
either.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Nathanael only appears by that name in
the Gospel of John. Most of the commentators I've read think that
he's Bartholomew in the other Gospels. Why John didn't remember his
name correctly is beyond me; it may have some symbolic significance,
since Bartholomew means “son of Tolomei,” and Nathanael means
“gift of God,” but that's just a guess.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And make no mistake, that's only one of
the things about this passage that leaves me guessing. I don't know,
for example, why, so many times in the Gospels, just like here with
Philip, the disciples just drop whatever they're doing and follow
Jesus. I don't know why it is important for John to note that Philip
is from Bethsaida. It is translated like a toss-off comment, but I
don't think there are any of those in Scripture. I don't know why
Nathanael thinks nothing good exists in Nazareth, or why his reaction
to Jesus having already seen him is so strong.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
At its core, this reading is a passage
about evangelism, but I don't know if it can be so easily
categorized. I've struggled to find a word for what's going on here –
intentionality, maybe? After all, in addition to the fact that Philip
specifically sought out Nathanael, Jesus found Philip in the first
place. Oh, Philip and Nathanael had been looking, in their own way,
too – looking for the Messiah, the Hope of Israel. Something in
Jesus convinced Philip, apparently on sight, that his search was
over. And though, this side of the Resurrection, I'd like to think
I'd react that same way to Jesus, I think it's more honest to say
that I am more familiar with Nathanael's first reaction to news of
the Messiah.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
After all, what do we most associate
this kind of evangelism with? “Come and see” usually translates
to “come to church,” “come to this or that meeting,” “let
me tell you about Amway,” that kind of thing. There is an entire
industry built around evangelism – marketing tools, how-to-guides,
videos and websites and tracts and training programs... you can use
the Five Spiritual Laws or the Romans Road or any more of dozens of
mnemonics and other catchy devices, all built around the idea that
any time we mention Jesus or Christianity, whoever we are speaking to
will react in the same way Nathaneal did: “Nazareth? Yeah, right.”
And we are to react with well-thought-out rebuttals and systematic
theological arguments.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
All Philip said was, “Come see for
yourself.” Period.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If it had been me, getting invited to
someone's church meeting or some such, I probably wouldn't have gone.
Or maybe...</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I guess it would have to do with who
invited me. If it was some random stranger, or a FaceBook invitation,
or someone at work? Not likely. One of you, or a family member, on
the other hand, I would be more likely to go, and I'm not just saying
that because you're here and it sounds good. What I mean is that I am
more likely to respond positively to someone I have a relationship
with – friends and family trump strangers and FaceBook notices any
day.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If Nathanael in John's Gospel is the
same disciple as Bartholomew in the other three, then we have an idea
of the relationship between Philip and Nathanael. Every time we read
Bartholomew's name in the other Gospels, it is in association with
Philip. Those two were inseparable friends, like they were joined at
the hip. Jesus found Philip and the first thing he thought was, “I
gotta tell Nathanael, he'll love this!”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yes, there are times when people come
to a church meeting or a revival and whatever they see or hear causes
them to respond to Christ. There are times when a stranger's word can
bring a person to faith in Jesus. There are examples in the New
Testament of this: Peter preaches in Acts and five thousand people
become Christians, before they even had a word for it. Philip – the
same Philip we meet today – comes across an Ethiopian eunuch
reading Isaiah and ends up baptizing him into the faith.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But there are so many more times, in
Scripture and in day-to-day life, where it isn't a chance meeting or
a preacher that makes the difference in whether or not someone
chooses to follow the risen Christ. It's personal. Friends and
family. It's relationships.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Words only do so much, after all.
Philip seems to have known this, and when Nathanael scoffed at the
idea of a Messiah coming out of Nazareth (since nothing in Scripture
said anything about that), he didn't try to beat him down with
superior logic, or by yelling louder. He just said, “Come and see.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But let's just wait a second. When you
think about it, however much I've tried to frame it as personal, as
relationship, up until the point Jesus greets Nathanael, “Here is
truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit,” the whole passage
reads like an advertiser or marketer's dream: “come to church, come
to my meeting, come try this new-and-improved cheese spread, come see
my movie, come try this more comfortable bed.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In response to Nathanael’s skepticism
Philip replies, “Come and see,” an invitation akin to offering a
‘money back guarantee’ or a “Don’t take my word for it, try
it on for yourself!” Nathanael approaches Jesus as one who is in
the position of power to judge, to test, to evaluate whether this one
whom Philip has found is indeed the Messiah.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But is God like a garment, hanging on
display, subject to our choosing? Are we even capable of looking at
God, trying God on, or deciding if God fits our criteria? Is the
Messiah an exhibition at which one comes to gawk and make judgments?
Are we really able, on our own, in our power of vision, to decide
whether or not Jesus is “good enough?”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's what we're comfortable believing,
after all. We've bought into the myth of the market, where
something’s worth lies solely in the eyes of the beholder.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Jesus turns that idea on its head when
he says to Nathanael: “Before Philip called you … I saw you.”
Suddenly, Nathanael is no longer in the position of power, to
question, to doubt, to press Philip for convincing proof. Before we
see, we are seen; before we know, we are known; before we choose, we
are chosen.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In our Reformed theology, we believe
that we don't save ourselves, after all, and if it weren't for God's
grace, we wouldn't give a first or a second thought to faith. We
believe that God seeks us out, God in Jesus Christ calls us to faith,
we love because he first loved us.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It is not that humans have no free
will, no capacity to see, no power to evaluate, judge, or choose. It
is, rather, that human will has been contextualized, human capacity
has been circumscribed, and the human power of vision has been
dethroned as the ultimate power of the universe.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In God's vision, things have value,
even if we treat them like nothing; in God's vision, some are
worthless, even if we would choose to kill for them; in God's vision,
some things are necessary, even if we would not buy into them in a
million years. Our estimation of utility is not the final arbiter of
value; the customer is not always right; and what something costs may
have nothing to do with what it is worth.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Maybe... maybe this is why Nathanael
reacts so strongly? The fact that Jesus saw him before he even knew
Jesus existed, that he had value in Jesus' eyes before he approached,
he was known and had worth before Nathanael decided one way or the
other about Jesus...
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Arguments and theologies and doctrines
are fine, as far as they go. But in the end, they are words, and
nothing more. Poet and vocalist Aaron Weiss puts it like this:
“However much you talk, however well you talk, you make a certain
sense, but it's still only stupid talk.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In the end, all we can do – all we
must do – is, like Philip, invite people to “come and see” -
but not come to church, not come see this preacher or that musician,
not come hear this convincing argument or that flawless doctrine...
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We have to show them Jesus. And the
scary part is that all we have that can and should show Jesus... is
us. Our lives. Our actions. Our selves.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Come and see.”</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-80643414135740222842014-12-13T16:23:00.001-06:002014-12-13T16:23:39.490-06:00Who Are You?<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Many thanks to <a href="http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">D. Mark Davis of "Left Behind and Loving It"</a> for his insights on Biblical translation and interpretation.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>JOHN
1:6-8, 19-28</i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i>There
was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to
testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He
himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.</i></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This
is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites
from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and did
not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” And they
asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said to
him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us.
What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one
crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’”
as the prophet Isaiah said.</i></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Now
they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then
are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the
prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you
stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am
not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” This took place in
Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.</i></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who
are you?”</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">It
sounds like a simple enough question, but make no mistake: these
priests and Levites are no mere emissaries on a fact-finding mission.
This man, this John, he is upsetting the “natural order” of
things. He is a danger. This is one ladder-backed chair and bare
hanging light bulb away from an interrogation.</span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who
are you?”</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Judea
was not a great place to live in those days, at least not for most
people. It was a province of the Roman Empire, and not a terribly
important one. As long as the taxes were collected and the peace was
kept, Rome was content to garrison some troops and send a prefect,
and divide the nominal rulership of the province among the three sons
of Herod the Great. The prefect, Pontius Pilate, was an
administrator, but he exercised a strange kind of control over the
religious hierarchy of Judea – the prefect could appoint and
dismiss a High Priest at will, and he kept their holy vestments under
lock and key... they could do nothing, religious or political,
without Pilate's permission.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Even
with these kinds of restrictions in place, the priests were the most
powerful men in Judea in many ways. After all, they oversaw aspects
of Temple worship – the gifts and tithes, the sacrifices; they
alone decided what was and was not an acceptable offering to the Most
High God. Oh, and if you didn't have a proper offering, or happened
to be fresh out of the particular coins the Temple accepted as
currency, no worries. There were merchants and money-changers nearby
who would sell you what you needed.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
even though John never encouraged rebellion against Rome, never once
spoke of insurrection against the powerful rulers of Jewish religious
life, he was dangerous, because he offered people a way to worship
God, hope for salvation apart from the Temple system.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of
course, John wasn't the first person to do this. There was the sect
of the Essenes, for example, which John was said to be a member of,
and there were the Pharisees, who strictly adhered to every real and
imaged letter of the Law.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
glaring difference between all of these people and John was this,
though: whereas the Essenes had abandoned Jerusalem completely in
protest of how the Temple was being run, and the Pharisees kept
themselves from any possible contact with ritual uncleanliness, John
attracted the attention of all kinds of people – unclean and
forgotten, scared and bored, curious and needy – and he touched
everyone that approached him in that muddy trickle of water that was
the Jordan river, and baptized them as a sign of their repentance.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Maybe
that's why John's Gospel tells us that not only the priests and
Levites were interrogating John, but the Pharisees as well. Both
groups saw John as a threat to their authority.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
it's no wonder, is it? Just listen to how Luke's Gospel recounts the
things John was teaching:</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.23in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>John said to the
crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who
warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping
with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have
Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God
can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of
the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be
cut down and thrown into the fire.”</i></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.23in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.23in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NIV-25036"></a>
“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>What should we
do then?”the crowd asked.</i></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.23in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.23in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NIV-25037"></a>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>John answered,
“Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none,
and anyone who has food should do the same.”</i></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.23in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.23in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NIV-25038"></a>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Even tax
collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what
should we do?”</i></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.23in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.23in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NIV-25039"></a>
“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Don’t
collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.</i></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.23in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="line-height: 0.23in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NIV-25040"></a>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Then some
soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”</i></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in; margin-right: 0.41in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>He
replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be
content with your pay.”</i></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">That's
Luke 3:7-14, by the way.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You
see? John was attracting people from everywhere – big cities, small
villages, they came from everywhere, out to that spot on the edge of
the wilderness, out in the middle of nowhere, because John spoke of a
way of living in repentance that didn't depend on the whim of greedy
priests or the impossible expectations of the rich Pharisees. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If
all it took to be approved by God was to treat others as you yourself
want to be treated, if that's all it took to be baptized, anyone
could do it!</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
priests and Levites, as well as the Pharisees, saw any theology that
excluded their spheres of authority as a challenge to that power, and
responded accordingly.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who
are you? What possible right do you have to speak of repentance? By
whose authority do you dare to offer hope through mere baptism? Who
do you think you are?”</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
like to imagine John, waist-deep in the sluggish water, busily
baptizing, a line of people on the riverbank waiting their turn.
There, next to the line but not in any way in the line, is a small
knot of very well-dressed, quite shocked-and-offended men, trying not
to touch anything, and barking out questions to John, who is only
really half-listening as he baptizes person after person.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who
are you?”</span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm
not the Messiah, if that's what you're asking.”</span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well
then, are you Elijah?”</span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nope.”</span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Are
you the Prophet that Moses foretold?”</span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Not
him, either.”</span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well,
then, who are you? Throw us a bone, give us something to take back to
the bigwigs in Jerusalem. Speak up for yourself, man!”</span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>John
pauses in his baptisms and turns to the small knot of men, crossing
his arms casually and grinning a bit. “Y'all ever read the book of
Isaiah?”</i></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What
kind of question is that? Of course we have.”</span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Then
you know: I'm a voice. T</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">he
voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way
of the Lord.’”</span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Straight,
schmaight, buddy-roe. If you ain't the Messiah or Elijah or the
Prophet, why are you baptizing people? What gives you the right?”</span></span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>John
reaches down and cups some of the river water in his palm, raising it
shoulder high, letting it trickle back into the Jordan. “This? This
is what bothers you?”</i></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>He
turns back and begins baptizing again. “This is just water. If this
bothers you, then buckle up, boys. You ain't seen nothin' yet.”</i></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">What
do you mean?”</span></span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I
just baptize with water. There's someone here, right now, who will do
so much more that I ain't fit to lace up his sneakers.”</span></span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There
are a few different interpretations of this passage in the Gospel of
John. Some commentators believe that the primary aim of this passage
is to make it clear that Jesus is a more important person than John
the Baptist, which was apparently an issue in the earliest days of
the church.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Maybe
that's so.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But
I also think that John serves as a kind of example for those of us
who call ourselves by the name of Christ. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
John's time, things were broken – and I'm not simply talking about
inequity and corruption, though that was everywhere. People who were
always on the brink of starvation, who worked and scraped by and who
desperately needed hope – who needed to know that God was there and
that God cared – looked to Jerusalem for salvation and saw that
they needed money to buy things for sacrifices, they needed money to
pay Temple tax and tithes and this and that and the other, they
needed to take time better spent working for the day's food and go to
this festival and that “feast,” and they just couldn't do it all.
The Essenes and the Pharisees weren't an option, either; the demands
of both sects were far beyond the abilities and finances of most
common Judeans.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">John
offered another option. Not an easier way, necessarily, but a more
accessible one. And above all, he pointed away from himself, and
toward Jesus.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
wonder what all those people who came to talk to John expected to
hear? Not the priests and the Levites and the Pharisees in John's
Gospel, but the regular folks and the tax collectors and the soldiers
of Luke's account.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Did
the people expect John to tell them to follow the strict edicts of
the Pharisees, or to reject their lives and families and join the
Essenes out in Qumran? Did the tax collectors and soldiers expect John to tell
them they were beyond hope, that because of who they were and what
they'd done in their lives that God hated them?</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">They'd
all probably heard that before. Second verse, same as the first, you
know?</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But
what John said was different: Talking about repentance is one thing,
lay aside your greed and fear and corruption and show me your
repentance in how you treat one another. And above all, prepare the
way – prepare your hearts and your lives for Jesus. He's the one
who makes the real change. I can put water on you, I can baptize, but
he's the one who brings the fire of the Holy Spirit.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who
are you? Who am I? Who are we?</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Whether
you and I realize it or not, people are looking to us. What are we
telling them?</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Do
we stack demands on people, requirements they must meet in order to
be a part of the Body of Christ? Do we? Do we tell people who are
different – different colors, different nationalities, different
traditions, different orientations – that God hates them because of
who they are? Do we? Do we support a corrupt system either through
active participation or through passive silence? Do we?</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Or
do we speak and do love? Do we offer real hope? Do we speak truth
to power? Do we point the way to Jesus?</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who
are you?</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-25515624238805697332014-11-22T13:38:00.001-06:002014-11-22T13:38:12.067-06:00"...The Least of These..."<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I owe a deep debt of gratitude to the <a href="http://girardianlectionary.net/year_a/xrstkinga.htm" target="_blank">Girardian Lectionary </a>site, as well as <a href="http://girardianlectionary.net/res/niedner_matt25.htm" target="_blank">Fred Niedner</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Servedandprotected?fref=ts" target="_blank">Terry Cranford-Smith</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The ink to the article I read in the sermon is <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/11/21/365433685/if-we-left-they-wouldnt-have-nobody" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>MATTHEW 25:31-46</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with
him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations
will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from
another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will
put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the
king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are
blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was
thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you
welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you
took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the
righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you
hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?
And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked
and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in
prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I
tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are
members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those
at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry
and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to
drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did
not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you
hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and
did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I
tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you
did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This is the Word of the Lord.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This past two Sundays, as we've journeyed through the 25th chapter
of Matthew, we've seen some different ways to look at parables like
the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids and the Parable of the Talents.
And I said something last week, and maybe the week before, about our
reading today – that it isn't a parable but a prediction of the end
of days, a foretelling of the Final Judgment. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I have always really liked this passage. I have quoted that whole
“I was hungry and you fed me” part hundreds, if not thousands, of
times. This passage gives me a chance to count myself among the sheep
and point to other people as goats, and feel good about myself. After
all, I am a fan of social justice. I think the right things about the
poor and marginalized. I like that, in this passage, Jesus makes
following him not about what creeds or doctrines we believe, what
prayer we recite, or what church we go to, or how wet we got when we
got baptized, but about how we treat the poor, how we regard the
forgotten, how we reclaim the marginalized.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I can say, confidently and without equivocation, that in regards
to our reading today, I am a sheep.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Except sometimes I am not. Sometimes, in regards to our reading
today, I am a goat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Yes, I have participated in feeding the hungry. If I am honest,
though, I have, much more frequently, ignored the hungry. I have, on
occasion, participated in giving the thirsty something to drink. But
I've also not done that. I have welcomed the stranger, but more often
I have feared and excluded the stranger. I've given clothing for the
underclothed, and I've also ignored their shivering. I've provided
care for the sick, and I've also said, “I'll pray for you!” as I
walk away and forget all about them. Yes, I've visited people in
prison, heck, I've visited Death Row at a maximum security prison!
Surely that gets me some Brownie points with God, right? But I've
also actively chosen not to go, not to visit, not to care.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Could it be that I will be approved or condemned based on what
kind of day I'm having? Am I a sheep or a goat based on some kind of
divine calculus, is there a percentage of sheep-ness I need to
achieve to make the cut?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And, if everything is based on an algebraic formula of
sheep-to-goat-ness, if I am approved or condemned based on how often
I have fed as opposed to how often I have not... why even be a
Christian? Doesn't it become a matter of following rules to obtain
God's favor rather than relying on the grace of God through the risen
Christ for my salvation?ybe I was wrong</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And and, what's with this dividing people up in the first place?
Us versus them, Jesus, really? What about that passage in Galatians –
the same Bible that today's reading is in, by the way – that says,
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free,
there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ
Jesus.”?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And and and, you're telling me that, one, neither group knew which
they were – sheep or goats? And the sheep, whose life is defined by
compassion, did nothing while this entire other group perished at the
hands of the One they served?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Maybe I was wrong last week. Maybe this passage has less to do with how time will end, and more to do with how we spend the time we have.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Fred Niedner looks at this passage and imagines that, in that moment of separation, the
sheep look across the gulf...
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>“...their eyes wide not with rejoicing or satisfaction, and
surely not with gloating, but with astonishment and the kind of fear
the compassionate have when they see others in danger. For over
there, on the other side, among the goats, are so many of those for
whom they have cared all this while, and now what will become of
those others? Are they to be separated forever? Who will care for
them now?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>“The sheep know about many kinds of starvation, illness, and
imprisonment. They have fed the hungry with bread made from wheat and
given water to the thirsty. They have visited those with pneumonia,
cancer and AIDS. They have visited in penitentiaries. But they have
ministered to others in need as well. They have provided sustenance
for to fill spiritual hunger and the awful thirst for meaning, the
very cravings that drove the goats to selfishness and seemingly
unconcerned arrogance. The sheep have welcomed and befriended the
goats when the goats were so estranged they'd become strangers even
to themselves. And the sheep kept visiting the cells of those
imprisoned in hatred, the goats who hated everyone, and themselves
most of all. And the naked who lived without any chance of another's
love to clothe them, or to adorn their faces with gladness, those the
sheep had clothed with their own humble garments of affection and
care. To those sick to death with the boredom of their world's
routine, the sheep had come with the bread of encouragement.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>“The sheep had given so much of themselves to those others. How
could someone now separate them forever from those others? How could
the Son of Man in this moment call them "blessed?" How
could they rejoice over their inheritance as they looked across the
chasm, toward those who remained lost, sick, naked, and imprisoned in
their own pitiful selfishness? How could they ever again sing a glad
song?”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In Niedner's retelling, the “Sheep and Goats” becomes, not a
foretelling of the end of the world. Rather, the sheep remind Jesus
of who he is and why he came, and ask him – well, compel him,
really – to go and find those lost sheep, those goats who didn't
know they were goats.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>“'...You cannot end all this in a stroke of vindictive justice.
Son of Man, we cannot in this moment do nothing. We must go across to
them,' the sheep insist. 'You must let us go to them."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>“The son of man studies them and calmly says, 'You cannot go
across. It is too late. For you there is no more time.' For a moment
there is stillness.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>“'Then you must go,' declare the sheep. 'Son of Man, you must
remember now how your own heart quivered in horror in the instant
when you saw in Cain's eyes what came bursting from his heart, and
his strong hands were upon you. Son of Man, you must remember the
moment when the soldiers pinned you to the cross, pounded in the
nails, and you were condemned. You must remember the thirst out of
which you cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Remember the torture of abandonment! You must go to them, Son of
Man!'</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>“A deep and heavy silence comes over the judgment scene. The Son
of Man says nothing. He looks at the sheep, his own eyes now wide,
looking like theirs. Then he turns, and he steps across. How could he
not heed their voices? He had taught them to talk like that. They
were using his own best lines on him. He would go. He could not judge
from vengeance. He would have to go -- to Bethlehem, to Calvary, to
Antioch, to Rome, to Kansas City, to Calcutta, yes, even to hell. He
would spend eternity, if it took that, like a shepherd forever in
search of lost sheep, working restlessly to slake the final thirst
and break down the last prison. Some might hide from him forever, but
his heart told him, and the look in the eyes of those sheep told him,
he could never give up. If he was to be king, he must be a shepherd
king, a tireless, searching king, a king with holes in his hands and
crowned forever with thorns, scouring endlessly the depths of hell,
looking, calling. . .”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I'm not saying that we've been reading this passage all wrong,
that we aren't called to feed and clothe and welcome and visit,
please don't hear that. What I am saying is that nobody is ever just
one thing – even the worst of us do good things, and the best of us
do terrible things on occasion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NRSV-25692"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NRSV-25693"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="en-NRSV-25694"></a>
What I am saying is that we get nowhere in life, nowhere especially
in our faith journey, if we exist in a realm of “us versus them.”
After all, what is it that the praying Pharisee says in the 18th
chapter of Luke? “God, I thank you that I am not like other people:
thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast
twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” And that tax
collector the Pharisee mentions? “But the tax collector, standing
far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast
and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” Jesus tells
the story and concludes, “I tell you, this man went down to his
home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves
will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We get nowhere by being better than someone else.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In the end, I can't get away from the fact that neither the sheep
nor the goats knew what they were doing... “Lord, when was it that
we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in
prison...”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Rather than adhering to a set of laws which governed their actions
– laws of love on the part of the sheep, and laws of fear on the
part of the goats – these groups acted out of what was already in
them, be it love or fear. It isn't what they do or do not do that
makes them who they are, it's who they are that makes them do or not
do what they do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And this brings us to another dilemma, doesn't it? If I am a goat,
and if I can't just look at this passage and decide, “Well, I'll do
good stuff and be OK,” what hope is there?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I have to go back to that Max Lucado quote from last week. “God
loves you just the way you are, but too much to let you stay that
way.” In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus never told us to be the
light of the world or the salt of the earth. He said we are the light
of the world and the salt of the earth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">What it comes down to, I think, is a choice. Be foolish and
unprepared like the five foolish bridesmaids, and live in fear of
lack like the five supposedly “wise” bridesmaids... Live in fear
like the third servant, who buried the talent, or live seeking gain
and recognition at the expense of others like the other two servants,
and certainly like the traveling slave owner... or turn our gaze
outward, away from ourselves, and see the opportunities for grace in
the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">NPR recently reported on an assisted living home in California
which shut down last fall. Many of its residents were left behind,
with nowhere to go.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>The staff at the Valley Springs Manor left when they stopped
getting paid — except for cook Maurice Rowland and Miguel Alvarez,
the janitor.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>"There was about 16 residents left behind, and we had a
conversation in the kitchen, 'What are we going to do?' "
Rowland says.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>"If we left, they wouldn't have nobody," the 34-year-old
Alvarez says.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Their roles quickly transformed for the elderly residents, who
needed round-the-clock care.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"I would only go home for one hour, take a shower, get
dressed, then be there for 24-hour days," says Alvarez.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>Rowland, 35, remembers passing out medications during those long
days. He says he didn't want to leave the residents — some coping
with dementia — to fend for themselves.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"I just couldn't see myself going home — next thing you
know, they're in the kitchen trying to cook their own food and burn
the place down," Rowland says. "Even though they wasn't our
family, they were kind of like our family for this short period of
time."</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>For Alvarez, the situation brought back memories from his
childhood.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"My parents, when they were younger, they left me abandoned,"
he says. "Knowing how they are going to feel, I didn't want them
to go through that."</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Alvarez and Rowland spent several days caring for the elderly
residents of Valley Springs Manor until the fire department and
sheriff took over.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>The incident led to legislation in California known as the
Residential Care for the Elderly Reform Act of 2014.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>"If I would've left, I think that would have been on my
conscience for a very long time," says Rowland.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We may well choose to waste the one chance we get to live as the
flesh and blood of Christ on this earth by living a whole life
unmoved by compassion for another human being. But we who claim the
name of Christ may also choose to visit those others on their
sickbeds of selfishness and to feed those who are starving to death
because they have no idea how to give of themselves. We may choose
both at different times and for different reasons, but through the
Holy Spirit, God calls upon us to strive daily to grow into Christ,
to become more like the One who gave himself for the poor, the
marginalized, the despised, the forgotten.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-41875827954605373372014-11-15T13:42:00.001-06:002014-11-15T13:42:51.875-06:00Ten Talents and What God Says...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I relied heavily on the scholarship and insight of <a href="http://www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/2005/11/proper_28_year_.html" target="_blank">Sarah Dylan Breuer</a> and <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thegodarticle/2014/11/the-jesus-parable-the-gop-loves-but-should-actually-hate/" target="_blank">Mark Sandlin </a>this week. Though I do take the latter to task a bit in this sermon, I really appreciate his words and his insight.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
And apropos of nothing at all, here's some really cool music:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ikK5docONc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>MATTHEW
25:14-30</i></b></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding: 0in;"><i>“<span style="font-size: small;">For
it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and
entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to
another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then
he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at
once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same
way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the
one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the
ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of
those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who
had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more
talents, saying ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I
have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done,
good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few
things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy
of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came
forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I
have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done,
good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few
things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy
of your master.’ Then the one who had received the one talent also
came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man,
reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not
scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the
ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You
wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not
sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have
invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have
received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him,
and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who
have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from
those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As
for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”</span></i></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I
am absolutely convinced that a parable is never, ever one thing. Not
when it comes from the mouth of Jesus, anyway.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The
classic interpretation of this parable focuses on the third servant's
– slave's – unwillingness to use what he has been given in a
productive way. The idea that the man who has gone on a long journey,
whose return was a long time in coming, and who reviewed the
performance of those he had left behind, is a representation of Jesus
at the end of time is unavoidable.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">And,
I mean, it works. I've preached it that way, right here, three years
ago.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">suggested,
back then, that the real error in what the third slave did went
deeper than just burying money... because of course the parable isn't
really about money, and it isn't really about special skills or
abilities that (thanks to this parable) have come to be called
“talents,” only as soon as I say that, I realize that I and
everyone else I can recall preaching on this parable from this
interpretation ends up talking about money and talents </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">in
some manner</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
but I digress.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Anyway,
I noted that in the next pericope, when Jesus separates the sheep
from the goats, the criteria he uses to divide the groups is whether
they fed him when he was hungry. When he was thirsty, did they give
him anything to drink? Was he shown hospitality as a stranger, or
clothed when he was naked? When he was sick, when he was imprisoned,
did they visit him? In the economy of the Kingdom of God, these are
the investments that yield the return the Master is truly interested
in.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In
the common interpretation of the Parable of the Talents, if that
third slave had been around today, he would have been the person who
was all about making sure his needs were met, he was comfortable, had
a reliable retirement strategy and a nice car, decent clothes and
plenty of food. He would have fretted about giving money to a
homeless person, because they may spend it on booze. He would have
relied on government agencies or nonprofit organizations to provide
assistance with rent and utilities, all the time complaining about
those agencies and organizations, and never actually daring to face
the needy on his own. They might be lying, after all. They may cheat
him. Worse, once you start caring, once you start giving, once you
answer that phone, well, where does it stop? What if there isn’t
enough left for the bills?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">That
third slave would have buried himself in his work, and in his
activities, and played it safe, and probably would have been pretty
respectable in everyone else’s eyes.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">But
playing it safe never changed anything.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Ultimately,
t</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">he
Parable of the Talents is about being present. About doing the things
that need to be done without fear, with the same extravagant, joyful
abandon with which God has lavished grace and love upon us. The point
of the parable was not whether the slaves had been given six hundred
thousand dollars, or one point two million dollars, or three million
dollars, or twelve dollars and a rusty bucket. What interested the
traveler upon his return was, what had they done with it?</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">And
what will we do with what we have been given? Bury it, or broadcast
it? Playing it safe makes sense, especially in this day and age. It
is rational to be afraid. To be uncertain. We might mess up. We might
do the wrong thing. We might be taken advantage of.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">All
of that is true, and I would be lying to you if I were to say it is
not possible. </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But
God calls </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">upon us to act, and to act now, to take chances and trust that God will take care of us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Like
I said, interpreting the parable that way works.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">But.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Just
like last week's bridegroom, the man, the master, this week... well,
I'm sorry, but he isn't acting a whole lot like Christ. He's
an absentee landlord who doesn't do any work himself, but lives off
of the labor of his slaves. The profit-making that the master demands
would be seen in Jesus' culture as
coming, out of necessity,
at the expense of other more honest people; it would be seen as
greedy and grasping rather than smart or virtuous. The absentee
landowner tells the slave whom he treats
most harshly that the punishment is specifically for refusing to
break God's commandment against usury, a practice consistently
condemned in both the Hebrew bible and the New Testament.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Is
the behavior of the master in the parable something that God would
commend, let alone imitate? Is this kind of behavior what Jesus
expects of God's people?</span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Do
I have to say it? No.</span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mark
Sandlin suggests that the hero of this parable is not the master, but
the third slave – the one who dared to stand up to the master, to
point out his greed and cruelty and injustice. “I knew that you
were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where
you did not scatter seed...” Both
Sandlin and Sarah Dylan Breuer suggest – and it makes sense –
that the next -to-last phrase Jesus utters in this parable: “For to
all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an
abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will
be taken away...” is perhaps better translated this way: “The
rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.”</span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">What
if – what if – the “master” in this parable isn't God... what
if it's <i>us?</i></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The
master is us, those with power – including the middle class in
America.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">Every
time we live into our positions of power and then judge those who are
struggling on what we see as the margins of society, the master is
us. Every time we assume a right to our privileges and label those
without those same privileges as “lazy,” the master is us. Even
when our places of prerogative are so endemic that we live into the
abuse they cause by carelessly supporting the slave labor required to
provide the goods we want at rock bottom prices, the master is us.</span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ouch.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">So
which of these dueling interpretations of the Parable of the Talents
is the “correct” one?</span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I
want to suggest this morning that we don't have to choose. After all,
God is still alive and active, and still speaks to us all where we
are – in the midst of our lives and situations, in our own unique
language. And note how I said this: God speaks to <i>us.</i></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">One
of the dangers in preaching, and in Biblical interpretation in
general, is the tendency to use Scripture as a teaching tool to bring
others into our own points of view. In fact, one of the sources I
used this week for this sermon is an article by a writer that
ultimately uses this parable as an indictment against a political
party that he is not a member of.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I
mean, it's a well-written piece, sure. I think it makes good points,
but, then again, I am not a member of that political party, either.
And just writing or reading something that makes me feel good... at
the expense of others... changes nothing. The rich still get richer,
the poor still get poorer. It's dangerous.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">It
is dangerous because nothing changes. As Max Lucado says, God loves
us just as we are, but too much to let us stay that way. If I read
Scripture to justify myself, but not to grow or change or find
direction and answers and bring myself into closer communion with my
loving Creator, what good is it to read Scripture at all?</span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">So
maybe we do have to choose, but the challenge is to choose to read
the parable in a way that challenges us.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">If,
reading it the traditional way, we are challenged to take what we
have and use it in ways which bring hope and healing, which encourage
others to put their faith in the risen Christ, if it pushes us to
look at what we own in a new and uncomfortable way – not as a
security blanket but as a tool kit – then perhaps this is the
correct interpretation.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">If,
by turning the parable on its head and seeing the third slave as the
good guy and the master as the one ultimately in the wrong, we are
challenged to live beyond our places of privilege, to speak truth to
power and to honor those who live in the margins, then perhaps this
is the correct interpretation.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Because,
ultimately, both interpretations must ultimately be filtered through
what Jesus says next, in the end times prophecy about the sheep and
the goats, which is, by the way, our Gospel reading for next Sunday.
God speaks to us in Scripture, sometimes to comfort the afflicted,
and sometimes to afflict the comfortable, but always to lead us to
act in a manner which glorifies God and brings hope and healing and
comfort and the Good News of the risen Christ to the world.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When
the Son of Man comes, he
won't say, “Just
as you did not do it unto one of the <em>more
productive </em>of
least of these, you did not do it unto me.” The
judgment will
not be predicated on
the basis of how much money we made, or for that matter on how
religious we were or whether we said a "sinner's prayer,"
but rather on whether we saw that the least of our sisters and
brothers in the human family, whether in or out of prison, had food,
clothing, and health care. We serve Jesus himself to the extent that
we do these things, and we neglect Jesus himself to the extent that
we don't. Period.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In
the Parable of the Talents, we are the master, we are the faithful
servants, and we are third slave as well. This is our story. It is a
call to arms, an encouragement, a challenge.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<div align="left" style="border: none; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
question is, are we willing to let go of the fear? Are we willing to
live into the story of the third slave who confronted the powers that
be? Are we willing to risk what little we have in order to heal a
hurting world, in order to bring the Good News of new life in Jesus
Christ to those in the margins, to those who need to hear it most?</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-22028310073233099892014-11-08T15:17:00.001-06:002014-11-08T15:17:42.139-06:00There's More to the Story!I cannot begin to express the depth of gratitude I owe to <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidhenson/2014/11/the-breaking-of-the-bridesmaids-how-scripture-undermines-a-parable/" target="_blank">David R. Henson</a> for helping me face the prickly issues in the Gospel reading, as well as the usual suspects (like <a href="http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/november-9-2014.html" target="_blank">Kathryn Matthews Huey</a>, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/livingaholyadventure/2014/11/the-adventurous-lectionary-november-9-2014-pentecost-22/" target="_blank">Bruce Epperly</a>, and "Working Preacher" contributor <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2207" target="_blank">Greg Carey</a>).<br />
<br />
Seriously, y'all, come by sometime. Lunch is on me.<br />
<br />
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Matthew
25:1-13</i></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-variant: normal;">“</span><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Then
the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their
lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and
five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil
with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the
bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at
midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out
to meet him.’ Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their
lamps. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for
our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will
not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers
and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy it, the
bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the
wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids
came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied,
‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ Keep awake therefore, for
you know neither the day nor the hour.”</span></span></span></span></i></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif; line-height: 0.2in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif; line-height: 0.2in;">I
have a confession this morning. Just between us, OK? This reading
bothers me.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif; line-height: 0.2in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif; line-height: 0.2in;">OK,
I mean, I get what the gist of the passage is: be prepared for the
Lord's return. The “wise” bridesmaids brought extra oil just in
case things ran a little over schedule and the party was late getting
started, I get that. If we take this as a metaphor for the return of
Christ, then the idea is that Christians should understand that while
the Lord's return may be imminent, it isn't necessarily immediate.
Don't give up. Stay the course, keep the faith. And hold that
perseverance in tension with the knowledge that Christ's return just
might be immediate... so stay alert. Be prepared.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
as long as we hold it right there... understand that, historically,
the people Matthew was writing to had seen the Temple destroyed,
which Jesus prophesied in the previous chapter, and they were
expecting Jesus to return in triumph any day now... they had been
expecting Jesus to return any day now for a long, long, long time...
so the message of not giving up, not abandoning the truth of Jesus in
search of some other pleasure or comfort or temporal assurance makes
sense... and as long as that is as far as we go with it, everything
is fine.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Don't
pick at the edges. Don't scratch at the finish to see what's beneath.
We're good, right? There isn't anything more to the story. Pass the
plate and let's sing.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
maybe that was what Jesus intended. Maybe there really isn't more to
the story. After all, he is in the middle of the Gospel of Matthew's
apocalyptic passage, which began with Jesus predicting that the
Temple would be utterly destroyed, and ends with Jesus talking about
separating sheep from goats at the Final Judgment. Maybe all Jesus
intended to get across was “be vigilant, be alert, be prepared.
Period.”</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">There
is a brusqueness, a harshness in this passage about the bridesmaids,
after all, isn't there? It lacks the element of grace we're used to
seeing in Jesus' parables – the father who runs to meet the
Prodigal Son, the joy of finding the lost sheep or the lost coin, the
wild abandon of selling everything to obtain the pearl of great
price. Maybe it's like Fred Craddock says, and there are really <span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">two
types of parables, “those that offer a surprise of grace at the
end...and those that follow the direct course from cause to effect as
surely as the harvest comes from what is sown. There are no gifts and
parties. Together the two types present justice and grace, either of
which becomes distorted without the other.”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Still...
the passage closes with the admonition, “</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Keep
awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” That's
fine, I guess, but it occurs to me that out of the ten bridesmaids,
exactly zero stayed awake waiting on the bridegroom. All of them fell
asleep. The only difference – the only difference! – was that
half of them brought extra oil.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Oil
that they would not share because they might – might! – not have
enough. That fact right there drives me crazy! And I don't mind
telling you that many of the scholars and commentators that I have
read concerning this passage feel the same way.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">And
the very idea that the bridegroom would punish these five “foolish”
bridesmaids for going to get what they needed because of their stingy
counterparts... </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">it
just seems kind of arbitrary to me. All ten got to the banquet hall
on time. All ten of them waited. All ten of them fell asleep. On only
one point did they differ. I don't know if I can agree with Fred
Craddock. This just doesn't seem all that just to me. There has to be
more to the story, doesn't there?</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Yes,
I confess, I almost went with another reading today. It was a choice
between doing that and just kind of glossing over my discomfort,
preaching about preparedness and what that means, and being done with
it. Nothing wrong with that, it's safe, and it would be true.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">And
it would be one-dimensional. No depth. And there isn't anyone here
who is a one-dimensional person. We have facets, and depths, and
complexities and experiences that make us who we are, unique and
wonderful and beautiful, and the faith that each of us possess is no
different.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So
is it enough to say “be like the wise bridesmaids?” Sure, I want
to identify with the wise ones... and there are times and subjects in
which I feel pretty wise. Some days my lamp burns nice and bright.
Some days I think, y'know, Jesus could come back and I'd be OK. I'd
be “in.”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But
there are days... who am I kidding? There are weeks sometimes,
endless dark periods where, if I am honest, I identify more with the
“foolish” bridesmaids than I do with the “wise” ones. I
doubt, I worry, I harbor fears and gnaw on anger over some offense,
where something or another, or several dozen somethings, it seems,
overwhelm me, and my lamp isn't so bright. The flame flickers and
grows dim. If Jesus came back then, would I be “in?” Is it as
arbitrary as this passage makes it seem, is my presence in the
Kingdom of God predicated upon what side of the bed I get out of in
the morning?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">C'mon.
Do I even have to say it? No! There is more to the story.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Our
faith, our theology, dare I say our God is so much larger than a
single passage of Scripture from the Lectionary reading! Yes, we an
say the Kingdom of Heaven is like this parable of the ten
bridesmaids, and – and! – we can say the Kingdom of heaven is
like a mustard seed, and like leaven, and like a treasure hidden in a
field, and like a pearl of great price...</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">What
I'm saying is, there is more to the story.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We
can call the five prepared (but stingy) bridesmaids “wise,” sure,
but we can also put them up against the servant in the very next
passage of Scripture who, rather than take a risk with the money his
master left him with, hid it away and did not use it at all, and was
punished severely for his cowardice, or we can compare them to the
goats at the end of this chapter who saw the hungry and did not feed
them, who ignored the cries of the thirsty or the shivering of the
naked.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">What
I'm saying is, there is more to the story.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So
yes, let's take the important base message here – be patient, but
be vigilant, because the Lord will return, and it might be tomorrow
and it might be today but maybe not – but let's not stop there.
Let's not let this be the only lesson.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">David
Henson asks a wonderful question about this passage, about the
bridesmaids who left, seeking oil for their lamps: “...[W]</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">hat
would have happened, I wonder, had the bridesmaids simply continued
to wait, with sputtering lamps and dwindling lights?</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What
would have happened had the bridesmaids simply waited in the darkness
of the night?</span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">To
me, this was their mistake. They left, when they should have stayed.
The bridal couple surely would have welcomed their friends into the
light of the banquet, unconcerned about the state of their oil lamps,
happy just to see their friends waiting for them.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What
faith it would have taken, though, to wait in such frailty, in such
honesty!”</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Perhaps
what we see in this parable is a lack of faith on the part of all of
the bridesmaids. After all, the wise as well as the foolish are
operating out of fear, not trusting the love that the bridegroom has
for his friends. If the wise ones really trusted, really believed,
they would have shared their oil. So what if they all end up with
flickering lamps, weak flames barely hanging on to the end of dry,
smoking wicks, weakly beating back the darkness of midnight? After
all, the bridegroom is on his way, and he will welcome his friends
who have been faithfully awaiting him into the light and warmth and
joy of the wedding feast!</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There
are times I have been like the five wise bridesmaids: I have all my
ducks in a row I have enough and a bit to spare, but I have been
stingy; afraid that if I gave away part of my excess, that spare bit,
I'd end up with not enough.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There
are times I have been like the five foolish bridesmaids, too:
scrambling to make up for lost time or a lack of resources or cover
my bases because I made a mistake, desperately hoping that no one
finds out what an idiot I have been.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
you know what? There are even times I have been like the bridegroom.
I know, and the context of the passage is pretty clear, that the
bridegroom is supposed to represent the returning Christ. But, again,
I think there is more to the story, and I want to separate the
personality of the bridegroom for the moment from the apocalyptic
nature of the parable.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
guy didn't care about protocol, didn't give a rip about how long
anyone had to wait on him, he just showed up when he pleased, and he
callously excluded half of the bridesmaids because they were away in
that moment when he just decided to pop in, never mind that they were
knocking on the doors of friends and family and merchants in the
middle of the night, desperately trying to make up for what they
lacked, trying their hardest to be good enough for the bridegroom.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What.
A. Jerk.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've
been that guy. I've spoken out of my place of privilege, judged
others harshly for perceived shortcomings, snubbed those who struggle
with difficulties that I have never had to deal with, arbitrarily
dismissing whole classes of people because they aren't as “good”
as I think I am... or as I pretend to be.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
can, if I am honest, identify with every character in this parable in
one way or another. And perhaps that is the lesson.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Perhaps
the lesson is this: When we find ourselves feeling like the foolish
bridesmaids, remember to wait in the darkness. Don’t run from it.
It is a holy place and God will meet us there.</span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When
we find ourselves feeling like the wise bridesmaids, remember to
share what we have, even if it scares us.</span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Especially
if it scares us.</span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don’t
trade temporary comfort for lasting and beloved community. The chance
to give of ourself is a holy place and God will meet us there.</span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When
we find ourselves feeling like the bridegroom, remember to open wide
the door to the banquet feast. Don’t let hurt feelings and fear
insulate us from others. Welcoming those who have made mistakes and
who walk in darkness is a holy place. God will meet us there. The
Lord's table is vast, and the banquet hall as large as the Kingdom of
Heaven.</span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">N</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">o
matter how thin our light, no matter how dark the night, we wait, not
seeking to be anything other than present right where we are. We
trust that in the end, when the light of the bridegroom arrives, it
won’t matter whether our tiny oil lamps are flickering still or
extinguished completely. Rather the light of bridegroom will be
enough for all, to illuminate the beauty of the darkness and to bring
us in joy to the midnight celebration.</span></span></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 0.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Even
so, Lord Jesus, quickly come.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 0.25in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Alleluia,
amen.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-25297024038167656272014-10-25T16:36:00.001-05:002014-10-25T16:36:15.881-05:00"A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners..."<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I borrowed, heavily and unapologetically, from <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mick-mooney/how-jesus-the-glutton-and_b_6040778.html" target="_blank">the work of Mick Mooney</a> for this sermon. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If we got as upset over<a href="http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/child-hunger/child-hunger-fact-sheet.html" target="_blank"> the nearly sixteen million children in America who cannot be certain where their next meal is coming from (or if there will be one)</a> as we get over Ebola being present in the United States... if we were as interested in sick people on the continent of Africa as we are about the three people in the USA who have gotten Ebola, there is no end to the problems we could solve.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's time to get serious... to really, truly do what Jesus would do.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Matthew
22:34-46</i></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>When
the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered
together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test
him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the
greatest and first commandment. and a second is like it: ‘You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all
the law and the prophets.”</i></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Now
while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this
question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is
it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, <br />‘The
Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your
enemies under your feet”’? <br />If David thus calls him Lord, how
can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from
that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></span><br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/" target="_blank">“</a><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/" target="_blank">MedecinsSans Frontieres,” or “Doctors Without Borders,” </a>was created in
1971 with the idea that doctors and medical professionals should go
where the patients are, be it a war zone, a nation stricken by
famine, or a part of a continent battling a dreaded disease. “Doctors
Without Borders” has treated, in its time, over one hundred million
patients, in all areas of the world… including Guinea, in west
Africa, where people are dying of Ebola. Supplies are short, medicine
is short, protective gear is short… these doctors and health
professionals, like Craig Spencer, go anyway. “Doctors Without
Borders” claims no religious affiliation, and over eighty-four
percent of every dollar raised goes directly to program services.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We
heard none of this on Thursday, though, did we? Not a word about the
selfless work of these doctors, going into harm’s way to bring
healing and hope, or at least some measure of comfort and protection,
to a corner of the world most people never even think about. When Dr.
Spencer checked himself into Bellvue, and tested positive for Ebola,
all we heard that was Ebola has invaded New York City.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Never
mind that more Americans have been married to Kim Kardashian than
have died of Ebola. Never mind that, if I may paraphrase humorist
Andy Borowitz, Americans are more frantic about three cases of Ebola
in the US than they are about thirty-nine school shootings – one of them the day after Dr. Spencer's diagnosis was announced – if you pay
attention to the media hype, we have collectively lost our minds.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
calmest headlines said, “New York Doctor Tests Positive for Ebola,”
but of course there was also this jewel of a headline: “Ebola
Strikes New York City!” I fully expected to see “Zombie
Apocalypse in Manhattan, Panic In The Streets, Film at 11” next.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
do not know Dr. Craig Spencer’s religious affiliation, if any. I do
know that he worked in Guinea for about a month, earning far less
than he would have in the same period at his job with Columbia
Presbyterian Hospital. He didn’t go to Guinea for fame, or for the
money, he went because people are dying and they need medical help.
He did it in spite of the very real danger to his life.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What
is the greatest commandment?” the Pharisees ask Jesus.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now,
we can talk all day about how Jesus turned the Pharisees’ attempt
to discredit him on its head, we can talk about how he proved to them
that their expectations of the Messiah were far too narrow. That’s
the kind of stuff I like to do. I like to pull on threads of the
narrative, look at the historical context behind this polite
confrontation, explore the interplay between what we think we read
and the intention of the original languages. It’s fun, and in far
too many ways, it’s easy.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But
I want to talk about those commandments. “You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind.” “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
know I don’t have to remind you that love, and especially the kind
of love Jesus refers to here, has nothing at all to do with how we
feel. This is not a romantic, emotional, felt kind of love. This is
an active, expressed, lived love. It is love as a verb. It is a love
that is spelled out not by our words, not by our creeds, but by our
actions.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dr.
Cornell West says, “Never forget that justice is what love looks
like in public.” Judging by that criteria, what can we say about
the way we love? How many Americans thought that Ebola was
unfortunate, but not that big a deal as long as it was “over
there,” as long as it was citizens of the nations of West Africa
that were dying, and not Americans… and how many are in a panic
right now, spurred on by those “Ebola Strikes New York” headlines
and those FaceBook posts insisting that the CDC is lying to us and
that Ebola is airborne? Is it love to not really be concerned about
problems on the other side of the world until the media start
screaming about it being our problem?</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Is
that love? Is that loving God, is that loving our neighbor as
ourselves?</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
think Dr. Craig Spencer, and his colleagues at Doctors Without
Borders, might have a different view of what love looks like.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Love
is messy. Love is dangerous. Love takes us places we are not
comfortable going.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Do
you know why the Pharisees hated Jesus so much? Yes, partly because
of his teachings – they likely were real fans of the fact that he
separated the worship of God from the Temple, and emphasized the
importance of worship in everyday life. That’s one of the main
bones that the Pharisees picked against the Sadducees, after all. But
there were a lot of other places, like healing on the Sabbath, where
Jesus flew in the face of what they “knew” God wanted.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A
bigger problem, though, was that the Pharisees saw how many people
were looking to Jesus as the promised Messiah, but when they looked,
Jesus didn’t measure up! Not as much because of what he said as
what he did and who he spent time around!</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jesus
did not live in a bubble of holy rollers, going through the same
worship songs over and over, hiding away from society in prayer
meetings and revival events. Jesus was in the midst of the</span></span><em><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
party</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
of life. He was at the center of the celebration, with people, all
kinds of people, from all kinds of walks of life, with all kinds of
world views and lifestyles. He went to weddings, he went to dinners.
He walked and talked and laughed among those the Pharisees referred
to as “people of the dirt.” He got a reputation as a “glutton
and a drunkard” because of the people he enjoyed associating with.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
Jesus was in the midst of the </span></span><em><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">brokenness</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
of life. When a woman was set to be stoned for her immorality, Jesus
was there to defend her from the angry religious crowd. Jesus started
a conversation with the Samaritan woman by the well, a woman no one
would talk to – not even her own people! And Jesus touched and
healed the lepers, the ones that no one dared get close to for fear
of having the sin rub off on them. He healed those who shared his
religion, and those who were of other religions – the servant of
the centurion comes to mind, as well as the daughter of the
Syrophonecian woman.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Love
is not found in demanding that there be a travel ban on the continent
of Africa. Love is found, rather, in the actions of those who provide
help, hope, and healing to suffering people of all races,
nationalities, social castes, religions, orientations and identities.
“Living Waters for the World,” Dr. Craig Spencer and Doctors
Without Borders, are two very obvious examples.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
between last week's reading, where the Pharisees teamed up with the
Herodians to try and discredit Jesus, and this week's reading,
“Pharisees: Reloaded,” The Sadducees took their own pot shots at
Jesus. And make no mistake: the whole aim of everything the Pharisees
are doing here, including using an expert in the Law of Moses to test
Jesus, is calculated to expose him as a heretic, a liar, a false
Messiah.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
Pharisees, and for that matter their bitterest rivals, the Sadducees,
saved their harshest words for those who did not practice Judaism
with the fervor that they expected, who were not willing or able to
attend every Temple event. They kept themselves scrupulously separate
from undesirables, like Samaritans, Gentiles, lepers, prostitutes...</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jesus,
to put it mildly, didn't do any of that. At all. He reserved his
harshest words for the religious elite, those who used religion for
financial gain, who held themselves not simply separate from, but
superior to, the poor, forgotten, despised and marginalized. And he
spent all of his time – all of it! - with those marginalized,
despised, forgotten and poor.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">To
quote Mick Mooney, Jesus “doesn't just rock the boat of religion,
...he sets it on fire and then jumps into the water and swims to
shore.”</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
know that I don't have to spend time expounding on who our modern-day
lepers and Gentiles and Samaritans are. I don't have to say that a
modern-day Jesus wouldn't be in Mountain Brook very often; he'd be
hanging out in Atmore or in the neighborhoods around Legion Field,
the two poorest zip codes in Alabama (in order).</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jesus
was a reckless lover of people, and he refused to bow down to the
religious expectation of loving from a distance. He was up close,
real, embracing all people, from all walks of life. He was hated by
the religious elite because of his love, a love not made up of the
words he spoke, but by the life he lived.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So
what does all of this have to do with “You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself?”</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well,
let me ask: If Jesus, who the religious elite called a “...a
glutton and a drunkard, a friend of... sinners” lived out these
commandments in his every action, and if the ultimate goal of every
citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, everyone who calls themselves by
the name of Christ, is to be like Jesus...</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">...what
should we doing? With whom should we be identified? What should they
call us?</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Let
us pray.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-44961486227380231402014-09-27T22:14:00.002-05:002014-09-27T22:14:57.709-05:00We Don't Get to Choose (Version 2.0)I used the theme "We Don't Get To Choose" <a href="http://tragicpizza.blogspot.com/2011/09/we-dont-get-to-choose.html" target="_blank">before</a>, but this isn't a rehash of an old sermon. It's built from a statement on the <a href="http://www.pulpitfiction.us/home/82-p21a-sept-28-deviled-eggs-for-everyone" target="_blank">"Pulpit Fiction" home page</a>: <span style="line-height: 100%;">“</span>The
tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the Kingdom of God ahead
of you - note Jesus does not say that they will NOT enter the
Kingdom, they will just enter behind the tax collectors and
prostitutes... Why is this a problem? Should we celebrate that we
are all going to the Kingdom and if not, perhaps that is what is
keeping us away...”<br />
<br />
Also, the last time I used this theme, the <a href="https://twitter.com/kirkjeffery" target="_blank">Rev. Dr. Kirk Jeffery</a> posted a quote from Nick
Lillo of WaterStone Community Church. I used it in this sermon.<br />
<br />
(By the way, Rev. Dr. Jefffery roasts and sells the <a href="http://www.kirkjeffery.com/" target="_blank">best coffee in the world</a>. Just sayin'.)<br />
<br />
There's a thing comedians and musicians do called "riffing," where you just take a theme and run with it. Maybe today's riff is, "God loves, so just... go with it."<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>MATTHEW
21:23-32</b></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>When
he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people
came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are
you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus
said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the
answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these
things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human
origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From
heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for
all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not
know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what
authority I am doing these things.</i></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><i>“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">What
do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said,
‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will
not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to
the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but
he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They
said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the
tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God
ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and
you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes
believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your
minds and believe him.”</span></span></span></i></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
road into Jerusalem is strewn with crumpled, dusty palm branches from
the day before, and somewhere between there and Bethany, there's a
withered fig tree that had been leafy, but barren of fruit, just that
morning. The Temple was packed, as always, and though Jesus had
overturned tables and run them out the day before, the merchants and
moneychangers were back at work. It isn't much of a stretch to
imagine that it was one of them who had notified the elders and
priests that Jesus was back. “Hey Phil, isn't that the guy from
yesterday? The crazy guy with the whip?”</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">They
found Jesus, squatting on the pavement in a corner, a tight knot of
people listening as he taught.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Those
priests and elders were, in a way, painted into a corner themselves.
These days, if someone came busting in the church swinging a whip and
turning things over, we would of course call the cops. For all
intents and purposes, the priests and the elders, members of the
Sanhedrin, </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>were</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
the cops... they </span></span><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>could</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
simply have arrested Jesus, right then and there. But if they did
that, the people would very likely riot.</span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm
not saying that everyone in all of Judea who wasn't a priest or an
elder or a Sadducee or Pharisee believed that Jesus was the Messiah.
Most probably accepted that he was a prophet, or didn't care one way
or another. But in a tightly packed city like Jerusalem during
Passover week, all it took was a few angry people to start a fight,
and soon the whole town was rioting, and they wouldn't really have cared <i>why</i>. The Temple elite would have been
a good target, what with their sumptuous living and constant demands
on the dirt-poor believers for more money and more sacrifices.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
even if the priests weren't torn limb from limb by enraged mobs, the
fact remained that Judea was a province of the Roman Empire, under
occupation by legions tasked with keeping the peace at any cost. A
riot would be violently quashed, and the Roman prefect, Pontius
Pilate, would determine that the Temple leaders were ineffective and
have them replaced, perhaps even jailed or killed.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So
this question the elders and priests asked Jesus, </span></span></div>
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">“By
what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this
authority?” was truly a loaded question. On the one hand, it may
have been a valid question - “Please tell us who empowered you,
please help us understand.” Judging by Jesus' reaction, though,
it's safe to assume that the priests and elders were struggling to
expose Jesus as a fraud and a charlatan, discredit him in front of
the people who clung to every word of hope that came from the mouth
of this dusty little Rabbi from the middle of nowhere.</span></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In
any case, can you imagine the turmoil those religious leaders felt?
There was no denying that Jesus was someone special – he spoke
prophetically and with absolute authority, and he performed miracles,
real miracles! The lame walked, the blind received their sight... and
he had even raised a man from the dead. These elders and priests
weren't idiots, they had read the Prophets, they knew how God worked
to correct Israel over the millenia. Why were they so against Jesus?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Perhaps
the simplest, most cynical answer is the true one. They had a good
thing going. Wealthy, well-fed, and enjoying what power Pilate
allowed them to have, they saw Jesus as a threat to their comfortable
lives, and they wouldn't – they couldn't – allow God to send
someone, even a Messiah, that they couldn't control.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">These
priests and elders had responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!” when
God had called them to the vineyard. Yet for all their piety, all
their dedication to the Law of God, they had, in the end, turned
away. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">And
there. right in front of them, in the small crowd gathered around
Jesus – fishermen and laborers, tax collectors and prostitutes –
were men and women who had said, when the call came, that they would
most certainly not serve in the vineyard. And though they had lived
apart from the Law of God, had dedicated themselves to being as
impious as humanly possible, had, in Jesus Christ, turned back to
their loving Creator.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We
don't get to choose.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We
don't get to choose how God's Word comes in to this world. Born out
of wedlock to a teenage girl, in a barn in the middle of nowhere?
Sure, we're used to it now, but think about it... it's ridiculous.
Laughable. All wrong.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But
we just don't get to choose, do we?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Arrested,
beaten, stripped naked, whipped bloody and nailed to a cross to die?
OK, set aside this idea of God dying in the first place, to have God
die in the most humiliating way possible, amongst criminals, then
have his corpse shoved in a rush in someone else's tomb?
Preposterous! Unimaginable! Repugnant!</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We
don't get to choose.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">And
if you are going to rise from the dead, shouldn't you do it in front
of everyone? Or at least find some witnesses that people will listen
to! In that day and age, the one hundred percent worst kind of person
to appear to, to carry your message, would have been a woman. Yet
what does every Gospel tell us? Whether one or two or three or a
group, it was women, every time! It makes no sense.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But
it isn't our script to write. We don't get to choose.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">And
we also don't get to choose who God saves. Oh, I have my lists –
people and groups of people and kinds of people who in my opinion
don't deserve to be in the Kingdom of God. I don't know if anyone
else has lists, maybe it's just me.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">There's
something that Jesus says, though, something intriguing. “Truly I
tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the
kingdom of God ahead of you...”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
am comfortable with the idea of those tax collectors and prostitutes
being members of the Kingdom of God. Not so much, though, the elders
and priests, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees...</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Here's
the thing, though. Jesus didn't say “ the tax collectors and the
prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">instead</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
of you.” Believe me, I checked, and the Greek word </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">proago,</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
which our reading translates as “ahead,” really does mean
“ahead.”</span></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">...the
tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God
</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-variant: normal;">><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">ahead
of you.”</span></i></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
don't think I am talking about Universalism, the idea that everyone
gets in the Kingdom no matter what.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">What
I </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">do</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
think it means is...</span></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
don't get to choose.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">God
will call, save, heal, and reconcile with whomever God will call,
save, heal, and reconcile. I can't pick the ones I like. I don't get
to choose.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
do get to choose how I treat others, though, don't I? I can choose to
be like the priests and elders, or like the scribes and Pharisees,
comfortable in some imagined theological or moral superiority,
looking down on people who, because of birth or choice or whatever,
are different than me.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Or...
I can understand that, as a beneficiary of the grace and mercy of the
living God, I c</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">an
choose to be a conduit of that grace and mercy to others, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">all</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
others, no matter who they are. I can be a reflection of the Jesus I
believe in and try to serve.</span></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Nick
Lillo said, “You have never looked into the eyes of someone who did
not matter with God.”</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We
don't get to choose how God acts, we don't get to choose how the wild
and ebullient Spirit of God m</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">oves
in the world, we don't get to choose who God loves, or how God saves.
But we can choose – we </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">must</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
choose – the part we play as members of the Body of Christ, as
citizens of the Kingdom of God.</span></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
that's really the only choice that counts.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-33607137725745264142014-09-06T14:31:00.001-05:002014-09-06T14:31:13.075-05:00Reconciliation...<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Reconciliation is a hard subject. Here's hoping I did it justice.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>MATTHEW
18:15-20</b></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">“<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">If
another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the
fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you,
you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one
or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by
the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to
listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to
listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and
a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about
anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For
where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">One
thing people are really good at is arguing. Christians will argue
with people who aren't Christians, or with people who are different
kinds of Christians than we are, or with people who are in the same
denomination as we are. People will argue politics, football, what
state has the best barbecue, which Pokemon is the best, we will argue
about anything.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">A
lot of times, arguments have to do with ego – I want to be right,
and if I am right, you can't be. Other times, it has everything to do
with context and interpretation.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">One
example of all of this happened with me this week. I was browsing
either FaceBook at home, or Yahoo News at work, and I ran across an
article: “Five Reasons to Suspect That Jesus Never Existed.” Now,
the article's points were easy to respond to, and me being me, I
did... I made a blog post. As of this morning, less than thirty
people have seen the blog post, compared to the millions that saw the
original article, but... that'll show 'em, huh?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">One
of the things that caught my eye was a quote by Bart Ehrman, which
seemed to support the writer's contention that the existence of Jesus
is a myth.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Now,
Bart Ehrman is the James A Gray Distinguished Professor at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He's a graduate of
Princeton Seminary, the author of twenty books, and he is a well
known speaker. Some of the books he's written include “Misquoting
Jesus,” “How Jesus Became God,” and “Did Jesus Exist?” -
which is the book that's quoted from.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Bart Ehrman will never, ever get a prize for being the world's most
passionate Evangelical. He is, in fact, an agnostic – someone who
believes the existence of God is something we can not know. However,
that is not to say that Ehrman thinks Jesus did not exist. He has
said, both in the book the article quoted and in several interviews,
that there is very little reason to doubt that Jesus did, in fact,
exist.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">Here's
a couple of quotes from Ehrman from an interview on NPR: "Paul
knew Jesus' brother, James, and he knew his closest disciple, Peter,
and he tells us that he did, If Jesus didn't exist, you would think
his brother would know about it, so I think Paul is probably pretty
good evidence that Jesus at least existed."</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-variant: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Also,
“</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
Messiah was supposed to overthrow the enemies – and so if you're
going to make up a messiah, you'd make up a powerful messiah, You
wouldn't make up somebody who was humiliated, tortured and the killed
by the enemies.”</span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-variant: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-variant: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pretty
ironic, I guess, that the author of a book named “Misquoting Jesus”
would, himself, be misquoted.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-variant: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-variant: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Taking
words out of context, purposely misquoting people in order to make a
point or to bolster your own position... these things happen all the
time. Politicians do it all the time, and so do the news media.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-variant: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-variant: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">And
Christians do it, too, and we do it most often with the Bible. There
are very few places this is more true, than with our Gospel reading
today, what to do if a fellow Christian sins against you.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">This
Gospel passage has been misquoted, maligned, and misused as a way to
protect the status quo, to keep people from speaking truth to power,
to make the vulnerable even more vulnerable… Like far, far too many
passages of Scripture, this has been a hammer to beat people down,
rather than a beacon to bring them home, wings to lift them up.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">What
is Jesus really saying? If a brother or a sister does something
that offends, hurts, or harms you, or if he or she is committing a
sin – and yes, it is entirely accurate to include all of this in
the Greek word “hamartia” which is taken from archery and means
“missing the mark” – then find a space where you are both
alone, and point out the problem. If there’s no meeting of the
minds, no resolution, go back with a couple of witnesses. If that
doesn’t work things out, take it to church, and if that doesn’t
fix it, “let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax
collector.”</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Is
this a justification for excluding from fellowship anyone who hurts
our feelings or does something we don’t like? Is Jesus simply
giving us justification for shutting others out, or is there
something deeper at work here?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">To
be sure, if all Jesus is doing is offering us the mechanics of church
discipline, the church as a whole does a really lousy job of carrying
this discipline out. We seem to operate as if church discipline is a
hammer, and people are nails... but I digress.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I
want to suggest to you this morning that this passage speaks less to
classic church discipline and more to personal discipline within the
body of believers. If a brother or sister sins against you – <i>you</i>
go… <i>you</i> take one or two others with you… <i>you</i> go to
the church…</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">That’s
hard, isn’t it? And we are wired so differently than that. It’s
easier, almost more natural that, rather than face the person we have
a problem with, in private, one-on-one, we tell someone else about
the offense, who tells someone else, and on and on and on. It’s the
easier, more face-saving option, sure, because all that gets out as
far as we are concerned is our side of the issue, and it's fun,
because it's gossip… but it all too often leads to churches
splitting, fellowships breaking, or families being destroyed, when a
simple conversation would have set the whole matter straight in
moments. </span>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">C</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">onfrontation
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">is
tough</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
– </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
by “confrontation” I don't mean reality-TV style confrontation;
rather I mean conversation, difficult talks whose foundation is</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
love, speaking softly, with humility, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">with
an eye toward working things out. </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
is hard, hard work. But the Gospel is about relationship. </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">T</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">hrough
Jesus Christ we are </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">related
to one another, and related to our loving Creator God, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">members
of a singular body and a singular Kingdom of God.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">And
the Gospel is about reconciliation. In Christ, we are reconciled to
God. Jesus Christ is all about reconciliation, and the good news is
that even here, even in this Gospel reading, the focus of what Jesus
is saying is not exclusion or excommunication – not how to keep
people out! No, the focus is upon reconciliation and restoration –
how to keep people <i>in!</i></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">That
first step Jesus talks about has a wonderful focus to it! “If [he
or she] listens to you, you have regained that one.”
Reconciliation!</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">That
second step – having one or two others who can hear both sides, and
help work things out! Reconciliation!</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">And
what about that last, seemingly harsh pronouncement: “let such a
one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector?” Think about it –
the one who is speaking is the same Jesus who made it a point to
specifically reach out to, eat with, care for, heal and feed the
Gentile? Who not only ate and spent time with tax collectors, but
even called one, Matthew, to be his disciple?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Knowing
this, it makes sense that Eugene Peterson, in “The Message”
paraphrase, interprets the “Gentile and tax collector” verse to
say something shocking, something profound: “If [the sinning fellow
believer] still won't listen, tell the church. If he won't listen to
the church, you'll have to start over from scratch, confront him with
the need for repentance, and offer again God's forgiving love.”</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Again,
reconciliation.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">And
where is Jesus in all of this? Right there! “…I tell you, if two
of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you
by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my
name, I am there among them.”</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jesus’
presence is found in the hard work of reconciliation!</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It
is at once humbling and reassuring. Jesus does not promise to be
present when we argue, or make blog posts, or share our opinions on
Twitter or FaceBook. As much as I like to be right, God doesn't care
so much if I am right. God cares if I am loving. God cares if I am
compassionate.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">It
isn't about fixing people. It isn't about making you think the way I
think, or making people agree with a given world view, or adhere to a
given doctrinal position. The work of the Kingdom of God is found in
bridging gaps rather than widening them, in opening doors rather than
locking them, in welcoming rather than excluding... Jesus’ presence
is found in the hard work of reconciliation!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-91713265455772611632014-08-02T11:24:00.000-05:002014-08-02T11:24:06.362-05:00"Something to Eat..."<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I drew on my 2011 sermon on this Lectionary reading for the beginning parts of this sermon.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>Matthew
14:13-21</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>Now
when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted
place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on
foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and
he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening,
the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and
the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into
the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them,
“They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They
replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And
he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to
sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he
looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them
to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all
ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the
broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five
thousand men, besides women and children.</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Jesus
had just heard horrible news – the kind of news that hits like a
slap to the face; gut-wrenching, mind-numbing, incapacitating news.
His cousin: a man he’d grown up with and loved, a man whose
willingness to baptize changed Jesus’ whole life – was dead.
Killed at the hands of the despicable King Herod.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Most,
if not all of us, have been in this place. Reeling from shock,
confused, unable to think… of course his first thought was that he
needed to be alone, to get away from the noise of the crowd, their
neediness, the challenges of the scribes and the Pharisees, the
pressure of proclaiming the Kingdom, if only for a little while.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">So
he got in a boat and set off across the lake. I can’t say if the
disciples were in the boat with him; I suspect they watched him float
away, looked at each other, shrugged and decided to walk around the
lake to meet him.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">As
they trudged off for the long journey to the other side, word was
spreading about what had happened. As the disciples passed through
the villages, people laid aside what they were doing, tied on their
sandals, and joined the trek. First, a dozen, then a few hundred,
then, several thousand men, women and children, joining as one in a
somber pilgrimage to meet Jesus.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Have
you ever wondered why? Why would so many, already desperately poor,
already teetering on the edge of starvation, drop everything, leave
the paltry security they had, and with no thought of where they were
going or what they would do to survive when they got there, just fall
in line behind these disciples?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I
mean, yeah, there's the standard response of “Well, they wanted to
see Jesus, wanted to get healed, yada yada,” but I believe there is
something more at work here.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">John
the Baptist had been many things: prophet, preacher, and perhaps
above all, a reminder to these people in bondage that God was not
done with them yet. And when Herod had forced his brother Phillip to
divorce his wife, Herodias, so Herod could marry her, it was John who
said what everybody was thinking: it was a shameful, disgusting
thing, improper for a Jew (even one as nominally Jewish as Herod).</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">The
word was that Herod had been pushed in to arresting John by Herodias,
but no matter who made who do what, John was arrested, and with that
it seemed some of the light had been stolen from the sky. Once again,
the powerful exercised their will on the weak, and no one could do
anything about it.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">For
a while there was hope. John's disciples made sure he had food, and
brought back news that he was still alive, that Herod didn't want to
kill him because he feared an uprising, even that Herod snuck down to
the filthy dungeon at night to have conversations with the prophet.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Now,
village after Galilean village learned the terrible news. John was
dead, murdered as entertainment for a drunken banquet, his head
displayed on a serving platter. So they walked. They walked to share
their grief, they walked to try and figure out what to do next, maybe
they walked because the one thing people need more than food or
shelter in order to keep on living another day is hope, and they were
fresh out and needed more – anything, something – to keep them
going.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
I don't <i>know</i> this but maybe some, maybe all of them, knew who
John had been to Jesus. Maybe they wanted to tell Jesus how sorry
they were that his cousin was dead, to offer some kind of comfort in
<i>his</i> grief.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I
imagine Jesus there, alone, in the boat, probably paying very little
attention to things like setting the sail properly, or rowing, or
whatever it is one needed to do to get that particular watercraft
from one side of the lake to another. It was a time to grieve and a
time to cry. Yes, I’m sure there was prayer; probably along the
lines of asking “why?” as his thoughts turned inward, ever
inward…</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Jesus
was, of course, God-made-flesh. But how easily we forget that
God-made-flesh was, well, a human being. Jesus was on a life journey,
a journey where he learned and experienced and dealt with everything
every other human being has ever had to do – potty training and
learning to use a fork and learning to walk and read and talk, and,
yes, to feel the crushing grief of losing someone we love to Death.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Who
knows how long that boat took to cross the lake? Who knows how deep
Jesus fell into that well of loss, of sorrow, of grief? Perhaps, at
last, the rocking of the boat coaxed him into a fitful sleep…</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
…<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">a
sleep interrupted by the sound of voices. Lots of them. Thousands! A
low murmer, bereft of shouts or laughter, just there. Jesus wiped the
sleep from his eyes and peered over the railing toward the slowly
approaching shore…</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
…<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">and
something happened to Jesus. Our New Revised Standard Version
translation puts it mildly enough, it says that Jesus saw a great
crowd and had compassion for them. That sounds nice, doesn’t it?
But I want to suggest this morning that something far deeper, more
seminal happened right then. You see, the Greek word for what
happened in that moment, splagchnizomai, is derived from a word in
the Greek translation of the Old Testament which described the
removal of an animal’s innards during ritual sacrifice. It’s a
much more decisive, visceral, even violent word, than what we
understand “compassion” to be. Eugene Peterson’s “Message”
translation of this Scripture says that Jesus’ heart went out to
them, and that’s closer, but it’s much more like Jesus’ love
for that crowd – his desire to help them, to heal them – that
compassion was so great that it was as if his very heart was ripped
from his chest.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
the miracles began. Jesus did what Jesus does – he loved them, he
healed their sicknesses. And healed, and healed some more. For hours
and hours.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I
wasn't there, obviously, and I have no way of knowing this, but I
imagine that this gathering was different from the one before, where
the crowd had been so huge and pressing in so uncontrollably to see
Jesus that he had to jump in a boat to keep from being crushed. I
think the sorrow and the grief pressed down on the people so much
that they just stood there. And Jesus walked among them, whispering,
touching, maybe weeping with them, who knows? Who knows what was
said, who was touched, what sicknesses were healed?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
you know what? I think that, as Jesus walked around from group to
group, friends and families clustered together in little knots of
grief, not only was he giving the people what they needed, he was
getting what he needed as well.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">After
all, Zig Ziglar said, “you can't sprinkle the perfume of happiness
without getting a few drops on yourself,” and that is so cheesy it
sets my teeth on edge but it is true. In moving through that crowd,
comforting, healing, loving, Jesus was receiving the comfort and
healing and love that he himself needed in his grief.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I
don't think I am straying off the theological reservation when I
suggest that all of us – even Jesus – need hope, especially in
times of loss and grief. That's what he went looking for when he got
in the boat, and though it didn't look like what Jesus was expecting,
it's what he got.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">So
he touched more, he healed more, he comforted more, hour after hour.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">As
the shadows grew long, his disciples finally came up to Jesus. Maybe
it was Peter who whispered, “Master, it’s getting late, and these
folks need to go find a village and get some dinner.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Jesus
never missed a beat, didn't even look up, going from person to
person, touching, blessing, healing. “Nah, they don’t need to go
anywhere. You give them some supper.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Um,
Jesus, not to argue with you or anything, but we’re not exactly
McDonald’s here. Five loaves, a couple of fish, that’s our
inventory.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
I know that the Gospels don’t record it this way, but I can see
Jesus looking up, smiling, and saying, “Perfect! Give ‘em here.
That’s plenty. Watch…”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I
suppose the disciples could have held back: “What are you, crazy?
This is my lunch! I give this up, then I have nothing! Go get your
own loaves and fishes, man!” – but they gave them over to Jesus,
and the miracles began anew.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Thousands
upon thousands of people sat on the cool grass as Jesus blessed and
broke the bread and the fish, and passed them over to the disciples
to begin handing out.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">The
disciples must have thought their Rabbi had lost his ever-loving
mind. But they dutifully did as they were told, and walked out among
the people with these meager fragments, passing out food. And passing
out food. And passing out food.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">There
wasn’t “too little” after all. In fact, there wasn’t “just
enough.” There was an abundance! Way more than they needed!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I
have heard and read many, many explanations from theologians of all
stripes of how and why the miracle of the loaves and fishes happened.
Many point to Elijah and the miracle of the widow's oil, or of Elisha
feeding a hundred people with a few barley loaves. Others suggest
that what happened was a “miracle of sharing,” where people
responded to the disciples' faithfulness by pulling out their own
food and sharing it.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Look,
it was a miracle, and I don't really care <i>how</i> it happened.
Sorry. I think it's a waste of time to try and explain it, I think it
misses the point.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
I really think it misses the point to make this a Prosperity Gospel
reading, focusing on the fact that, because they were faithful in
giving up the little that they had, they gathered up far more than
they themselves needed. This isn't about giving money to a TV
preacher so God will give you a Cadillac.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I
mean, yes, this is an example of what Paul meant when he wrote in
Phillippians, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the
riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” And we know this – we give
glory to God for our successes, and lean on God when we are in need.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">At
the same time, in this nation where there is an abundance of food and
clothing, where houses stand empty, something like fifteen point nine
children – twenty percent of the child population of the United
States – live in homes where they aren't sure where their next meal
is coming from. Talk all you like about school lunch programs, I have
spoken to many educators who tell me that, for far too many kids,
that free lunch is the only food they can depend on.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">In
a nation of iPhones and Androids and fifty-two inch plasma TV
screens, with a Wal-Mart and a Whataburger on ever corner, we worry
that children surrendering at our Southern border to escape certain
death might tax our resources as a nation.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Jesus
isn't looking to us for a political solution. If we have learned
anything over the past few decades in American politics, it is that
Christians cannot depend on legislators to do the right thing, to act
in ways that are moral without regard to the political cost. Without
removing our responsibility as people of faith to always speak truth
to power, Jesus looks to us.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">After
all, Jesus moves and acts in this nation and in this world through
you and I, <i>we</i> are Christ's hands and feet. Jesus looks to us
and says, “you give them something to eat.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">You
give them something to eat.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">What
does that look like? Does it mean we pack up everything and start
going around the country, feeding hungry people? Maybe.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
maybe it means we start right here, doing what we can with what we
have. Is there a person in need? “You give them something to eat.”
Someone needs comfort, reassurance, hope? “You give them something
to eat.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Anne
Frank wrote, “No one has ever become poor by giving.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Do
we dare? Do we dare test that theory, giving ourselves over to the
gut-wrenching compassion that compels us to do whatever we can to
feed that hungry child, that grieving adult, that homeless family?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">You
give them something to eat.”</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-80866558687973432502014-07-26T15:01:00.000-05:002014-07-27T07:47:50.906-05:00Kingdom Weeds...<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">OK, I confess... I posted this yesterday, knowing it wasn't really a completed sermon, but not knowing what to do with it. In the past, I've winged it from the pulpit, and I guess I've done OK.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">This time, my friend <a href="https://twitter.com/drgwbrown" target="_blank">Dr. Greg Brown</a> came to my rescue. I am blessed to have many smart, spiritually insightful friends, including <a href="https://www.facebook.com/drgwbrown" target="_blank">Dr. Brown</a>, who can take a mess I've made and help me translate it into a sermon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Kinda like Jesus does here with mustard seeds and yeast, huh?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I am also indebted to <a href="http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/july-27-2014.html#Additional" target="_blank">Kathryn Matthews Huey</a> for her insight into today's Gospel reading.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>MATTHEW
13:31-33, 44-52</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>He
put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like
a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the
smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest
of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and
make nests in its branches."</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>He
told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all
of it was leavened."</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>"The
kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone
found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and
buys that field.</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>"Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on
finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had
and bought it.</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>"Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and
caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat
down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will
be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the
evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>"Have
you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes." And he
said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for
the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings
out of his treasure what is new and what is old."</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Jesus
asked “Have you understood all this?” And his disciples answered,
“Yes.” I find that just a little hard to believe, don't you? I
mean, we go from last week's reading, where Jesus took the time to
explain one parable, in detail, just so everyone knew precisely what
he meant by sowing and seeds and ground... and here we are with five
short, rapid-fire parables, and everybody understands completely.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I
guess I'd have an easier time believing that everyone understood
everything Jesus was saying here if it weren't for the pages and
pages of scholarly commentary on different aspects of these parables.
I try to resist that kind of thing, because if we understand parables
as tales told in the moment to a specific group of individuals for
the purpose of making a point, then dissecting each word at length
misses the point. But I digress.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">You
may have noticed that our readings from the Lectionary, especially
when it comes to the Gospel, sometimes tend to jump around a bit,
skipping verses here and there. In this case, I think we miss
something ery important in the missing verses. We don't see to whm
and where Jesus is saying these things. What I mean is this: Jesus
speaks of mustard seeds and yeast to the crowd in general. As far as
we know, he's still on that boat just off the lakeshore where he told
the Parable of the Sower. He goes into a house with his disciples and
speaks of hidden treasures, found pearls, and rejected fish to his
them alone. It is Jesus' disciples, not the crowd at large, who Jesus
asks, “Do you understand?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Good
thing, too, because what Jesus said to the crowd about yeast and
seeds might have taken them a minute to digest.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Yeah,
mustard seeds are teensy, but they sure do grow up big; and it
doesn't take a lot of yeast to make bread rise... but wait a minute!
Why on earth, with so many possible metaphors available to Jesus,
would he pick those? I mean, for just one example, Jesus and his
listeners would have been familiar with the pomegranate. Pomegranate
seeds are small, but the trees get big enough for birds to nest.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">But
no, Jesus specifically chose mustard seeds and yeast. Was he <i>trying</i>
to offend the crowd?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Maybe.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Mustard
for the first-century Judeans wasn't the wonderful condiment we know
today. It was a pungent, pervasive weed. And in proposing that
someone intentionally sowed a mustard seed, not only was Jesus
suggesting that someone planted a weed in their own field, on
purpose, he was in effect advocating an act that was, at the very
least, problematic to the faithful Jew. Richard Swanson says, “Living
a Jewish life means living a life that witnesses to the stable and
orderly love of God in all things. Planting a weed that was a symbol
of wild disorder was judged to be an unnecessary compromise of the
basic principles of a Jewish life.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Furthermore,
yeast, or leaven, was seen as a symbol of things unclean and
corrupting. The Old Testament is filled with these kinds of
references, and the New Testament repeats this view of leaven as a
metaphor for moral corruption – the one rotten apple in the barrel
– as well.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">It's
easy to miss these things in our day and time. I like leavened bread,
and I <i>really</i> like mustard, too. So with the popularity of
mustard and wonderful, yeasty bread, we don't hear the story the same
way, and we miss the offense and – just perhaps – we miss the
power of what Jesus is saying.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Kathryn
Matthews Huey observes that “...our considerable efforts to avoid
offense in the life of the church and in its ministry run the risk of
neutralizing the gospel that Jesus embodied. If he didn't 'give
offense,' would he have been crucified by the powers that be, with
the crowd shouting its approval?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">So,
sure, maybe Jesus was either purposely offending people, and maybe he
didn't care whether he caused an affront to their delicate
sensibilities anyway...</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Or
maybe... maybe...</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">During
this period of his ministry, Jesus is preaching in the towns of
Galilee. He's a long way from the Temple, and probably not terribly
close to any Roman garrisons. So it is most likely that Jesus isn't
speaking to the powerful Romans, or to the wealthy Pharisees and
Sadducees. Rather, in that boat off the lakeshore, he is speaking to
a people oppressed on all sides.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">The
Roman Empire was a massive juggernaut, bringing its bloody form of
“peace” to nearly every corner of the known world. When Rome
conquered, the lucky ones were merely subjugated and taxed; more than
once the Romans had completely obliterated whole societies,
destroying cities and selling those they did not murder outright into
slavery. The only people the “pax Romana” benefited were the
Romans; to everyone else, the Roman Eagle represented harsh
oppression. Talk as they would of the former glory of Israel under
King David, it was easy to see one's self as small, insignificant, as
utterly worthless as a tiny mustard seed.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Then
there were the demands of Judaism – never mind the constant
pressure to pay the Temple tax and to come up with the required
animals and grain and what-not for the sacrifices, no one – no one
– could be expected to live up to the reams of minutiae required to
be properly holy. More than eighty percent of Judeans lived a
subsistence existence, barely enough food to keep them alive,
constantly hungry, and constantly aware that they were not good
enough, not holy enough, not pure enough, for God. They were as cast
out as the leaven at Passover – reviled, forgotten, worthless.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">So
perhaps, just perhaps, one of the things Jesus is saying to the crowd
is that the Kingdom of God is more like them than it is like the
powerful Temple elite or the all-too-holy Scribes and Pharisees.
Maybe the Kingdom of God isn't so much about power as it is about
pervasiveness – like a weed, growing anywhere and everywhere; like
yeast, multiplying and spreading and growing and thriving.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">No,
a mustard tree doesn't look anything like the cedars used to build
the Temple, it doesn't at all resemble the columns of Roman
architecture... but birds find a home in its branches, and even those
who have been oppressed and forgotten by society can find a home in
the Kingdom of God.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">That
was true when Jesus said it, and it remains true today.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
that is dangerous. And offensive. And being dangerous and offensive
isn't something that Western Christianity is used to.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Maybe
it's time to change all of that.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">In
its earliest years, Christianity was known as a religion of women and
slaves. In Rome, Christians would sneak out in the night and rescue
abandoned babies, left to die on the steps of the Forum. Not all of
them, probably, and not every night, but it made a difference to the
ones they were able to save, didn't it? Now, we have people who
proclaim themselves to be Christians, waving signs and hurling
insults at children who surrendered at our southern border to try and
escape certain death in Central America.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">In
its earliest years, Christians were tortured and killed because they
refused to bow their knee to Caesar. Now, we require that a
politician give lip service to God before they can be elected. The
facade of faith trumps competence in far too many elections.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Is
this the measure of Christian faith?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Who
cares for the homeless, the forgotten? Who tells the person
contemplating suicide that there is hope? Who comforts the sick, who
visits the imprisoned? Who becomes the family to one who has been
kicked out of their home because of their orientation? Whose heart is
broken by suffering, and who resolves to use whatever means are
available to alleviate that suffering?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I
know who it should be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
know it should be us, the church.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
know this because time and again throughout Scripture, and
particularly here, in Jesus' choice to use despised, misunderstood,
and rejected things as examples, Jesus is saying this: The Kingdom of
God isn't like the empires you're used to. It doesn't look like Rome,
nor does it look like the Temple.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
Kingdom of God looks like you. It looks like me. And it looks like
every marginalized and forgotten person everywhere, whether in
downtown Birmingham or in Gaza or in Mozul or Detroit. These are the
people of the Kingdom.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Maybe
we look like mustard seeds – worthless weeds, worthy only for the
trashbin. Maybe we look like yeast – others see us as sinful merely
because we exist.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
kingdom will grow from those who have been made to feel unworthy, the
scorned, the abused. Jesus says to these "insignificant"
ones, this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. You are not
worthless and neither are people you may see as "seedier"
than you. It is from these – women and slaves, the despised and
rejected of that society – I will build a Kingdom for all who dare
come, a kingdom so large that there truly will be room for all.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Alleluia,
Amen.</span></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-69181568218514492782014-07-05T16:05:00.000-05:002014-07-05T16:05:34.143-05:00Playground Theologians...<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am indebted to the work of the <a href="http://lectionarylab.com/2014/07/01/year-a-the-fourth-sunday-after-pentecost-july-6-2014/" target="_blank">Rev. Dr. Delmer L, Chilton</a> and <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2099" target="_blank">Stanley Saunders</a> for their insights into today's reading.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
This song kinda fits:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/xwsYvBYZcx4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<div 0.19in="" 0.2in="" margin-bottom:="" margin-top:="">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-transform: uppercase;"><b>MATTHEW
11:16-19, 25-30</b></span></span></div>
<div 0.19in="" 0.2in="" margin-bottom:="" margin-top:="">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
“<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">But
to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting
in the marketplaces and calling to one another,<br /> ‘We played the
flute for you, and you did not dance;<br /> we wailed, and you did not
mourn.’<br />For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say,
‘He has a demon’;</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;">the
Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton
and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom
is vindicated by her deeds.”</span></span></span></div>
<div 0.19in="" 0.2in="" margin-bottom:="" margin-top:="">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">At
that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the
intelligent and have revealed them to infants;</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;">yes,
Father, for such was your gracious will.</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;">All
things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the
Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and
anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.</span></span></div>
<div 0.19in="" 0.2in="" margin-bottom:="" margin-top:="">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
“<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Come
to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I
am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">There’s
a story told about a Hindu disciple who asked his master, “How can
I find God?” Instead of answering the question, the master led the
student down to the river. They stood there awhile, looking out over
the gently flowing water. Suddenly, the master grabbed his student
and dragged him into the water, shoving his head under and holding
him there!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">It
seemed to last a long time, the master fighting to keep the thrashing
student’s head under. Finally, he felt the man beginning to weaken
and let him go. The student sprung to the surface, only waist-high in
water, and he coughed and sputtered and struggled to catch his
breath.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">After
a few minutes, the master smiled and said, “So how did it feel down
there?” The student glared angrily at the master: “It was awful.
I thought I was going to die.” The Master said, “When you want
God as much as you wanted air, when you feel like you cannot live
without God in your life; then you will find God. Or rather, then you
will realize God has already found you.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The
Scribes and Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Herodians, they appear
to everyone to be seriously dedicated to finding God, committed to
worshiping their Creator… but appearances are deceiving.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">OK,
maybe that’s not fair. They were dedicated to finding and
worshiping God, or they thought they were, but somewhere along the
way they’d gotten off track. What the Scribes and Pharisees and
Saduccees and Herodians were all really looking for was a God made in
their own image. They were looking for a religious experience that
fit appropriately into their lifestyle, a religious experience that
they could control and regularize. And when God sent messengers, they
didn’t like them: John the Baptist didn’t match their
expectations, and Jesus didn’t either.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jesus
compares them to </span><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><em>children
sitting in a playground and complaining because no one wants to play
each other’s game: “We played ‘wedding,’ and you did not
dance; we played ‘funeral,’ and you did not mourn.”</em></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><em>And
there is a very good reason for that comparison – it </em></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><em>was</em></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><em>
a game. You see, when the Scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees
weren’t plotting together to destroy Jesus, they were at one
another’s throats, fighting over who was following the rules the
right way. The point was no longer finding God, the point had become
being </em></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><em>right.</em></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">And
that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? We live in a day and age where
complex political and moral questions are distilled down to
soundbites, and where lines are drawn between “us” and “them.”
Whether the subject is politics or religion, the one thing you can
count on today is that people will fight – not to understand, not
to persuade, not to grow and learn, no. People will fight to prove
themselves right.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">We
even choose our news outlets based on which side we’re on.
Conservatives have their news channel, Liberals have theirs, and
these news sources specifically craft their news to appeal to their
viewer base.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">That
means that the information we get – the wisdom we gain – when we
watch these kinds of news sources, what we get is news that is
specifically engineered, not to expand our horizons or challenge our
preconceptions, it isn't intended to open our minds to a unique way
of thinking or give us access to new information... no, the news we
get is the stuff that's intended to make us feel right. Because then,
we'll watch more.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">And,
to get back to the point of the Gospel reading, we can be so busy
being right, that we aren’t listening anymore. When Jesus prays, “I
thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden
these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them
to infants…” he isn’t being anti-intellectual.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Rather,
Jesus is referring to that false wisdom that people seek out not to
expand their understanding of the world around them, but to reassure
themselves that they are correct in their world view.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Back
in February, there was a televised debate between a famous Christian
and a well-known science educator. Ken Ham is what is called a “Young
Earth Creationist,” a Christian who absolutely insists that the
universe was created no more than six thousand years ago. In an
effort to promote his Creation Museum, he challenged “Bill Nye, The
Science Guy” to a debate.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Now,
Ken Ham reads the same Bible we do. He believes in the same triune
God that we believe in. He believes, as we do, that the triune
God created all that is, seen and unseen. But he has decided,
somewhere along the way, that anything which does not unswervingly
adhere to his own rigid interpretation of the Bible must be – not
simply rejected or ignored – but attacked as an enemy.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
most telling question of the night was, </span><span style="font-size: small;">“</span><span style="font-size: small;">What,
if anything, would ever change your mind?” Ken Ham, the
Creationist, said that </span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>nothing</i></span><span style="font-size: small;">
would </span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>ever</i></span><span style="font-size: small;">
change his mind. Bill Nye said, “show me </span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>evidence</i></span><span style="font-size: small;">,
and the </span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>evidence</i></span><span style="font-size: small;">
will change my mind.”</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">During
the debate, Bill Nye also said, “It fills me with joy to make
discoveries every day of things I’ve never seen before. It fills me
with joy to know that we can pursue these answers. It is an
astonishing thing that we are — you and I are one of the ways the
universe knows itself.”</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I
want to suggest this morning that one of the most beautiful assets
that God gives each of us is an innate curiosity about what Douglas
Adams called, “Life, the Universe, and Everything.” The joy of
looking for answers, the thrill of learning a new thing, the pain of
expanding our horizons beyond our narrow circle of knowledge, this is
what I think Jesus means when
he speaks of hiding wisdom from the wise and revealing it to the
infant.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We
humans try very hard, we always have, to put systems in place that
quantify and categorize and explicate God. We desire certainty,
security, even in those things which are beyond our limited grasp.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Ken
Ham does it with Young Earth Creationism, yes, but there are untold
numbers of theologies within Christianity, and they all have two
things in common. First, by offering us easy answers to complex
questions, they very subtly become a crutch to lean on, a
panacea for the nagging doubt that is part and parcel of faith,
something tangible that replaces the intangible and eternal.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Second,
they break down somewhere,
they are flawed, because we are flawed. We are the wild card in every
theology, and in every </span>moral
and political system, every philosophy and grand design.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What
Jesus offers us is a way out of the struggle.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
like the story I started out with, about needing God as badly as we
need to breathe, but I worry a bit that it may paint the wrong
picture. The point is not that we have to be theologically gasping
our last breath, desperately clawing at the ring God tosses us, in
order to find God. The point is that, in the same way that nothing is
more important to a drowning person than air, nothing should be more
important to the follower of Jesus Christ than, well, Jesus Christ.
When we let go of being right, and let go of this idea that God is a
thing to be found, and open ourselves to God, that is when we will
find God, here already</span>.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
Scriptural criteria for being a follower of Jesus Christ is not
“being right.” It isn't
rigid adherence to a set of
doctrinal absolutes. As much as I enjoy theology, in the grand scheme
of things, I don't really think God cares if I am Calvinist or
Armenian, whether I am transubstantiationalist or
consubstantiationalist or ordinalist or virtualist or participate in
anabaptism or paedobaptism.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Jesus
says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved
you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that
you are my disciples, if you love one another.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">That's
it. Oh, I mean, there are details, like “I
was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you
gave me something to drink,”and
so forth, but that is almost
commentary on the central truth of love.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
thing about love is that it tends to pull us away from our comfort
zone. It is a natural human tendency to surround ourselves with
people like us, after all. If I am Republican, I will be most
comfortable around other Conservatives, if I am a Democrat, I will be
more comfortable around other Liberals. I will have more fun watching
a football game with people who are fans of my team.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But
a hungry person doesn't care if they get food from a Presbyterian or
a Baptist or a Methodist or a Mormon or a Muslim or an Atheist. They
need food. The yoke of love that Jesus lays upon us, the light burden
we are to bear, is to not worry about proving ourselves right to the
hungry person, but to feed that hunger.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
Scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees couldn't see God, right
there in their midst, because God didn't meet their criteria. And
that is the big secret: We don't get to decide what God looks like or
how God acts!</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes
God looks like a kid, or a homeless person. Sometimes God has rainbow
hair and tattoos, sometimes God has dark skin. Sometimes God smells
bad.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But
God always offers us a loving opportunity to expand our horizons, to
think and wonder in new ways, to grow in relationship with one
another and with God, to not accept this world the way it is but to
see it as it should be, and to change it and in the process, change
ourselves.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-22215428082239951592014-06-07T16:18:00.002-05:002014-06-07T16:18:16.729-05:00So What Do We Do With Pentecost?<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">No deep words of wisdom in this preamble... Hopefully, the sermon makes some sense of what, for me, is always a struggle between the danger of attempting to define a Person of the Trinity and the relative ease of ignoring the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is dangerous.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And no, I ain't gonna explain what I mean by that.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Also, and probably unrelated to the sermon, I am unapologetically stating that Pharrel's "Happy" is my favorite song right now.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/y6Sxv-sUYtM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">OK, here's the sermon.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>ACTS
2:1-21</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>When
the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a
violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested
on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>Now
there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in
Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered,
because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are
speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our
own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of
Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and
visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes Cretans and Arabs — in
our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of
power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What
does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled
with new wine.”</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">But
Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them,
“Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to
you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you
suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is
what was spoken through the prophet Joel: </span>
</i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>‘<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">In
the last days it will be,God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit
upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and
your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream
dreams. </span>
</i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Even
upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my
Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the
heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky
mist. </span>
</i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>The
sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the
coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">What
do we do with Pentecost?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">We
are Presbyterians, after all. We are a mainline denomination, we
aren't Charismatics or Pentecostals. Most if us don't speak in
tongues, we don't do many healing services, we lay hands on people
only when we're ordaining them as elders or as Ministers of Word and
Sacrament.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Now,
I've mentioned before that I was Pentecostal for about a decade. I've
been in worship services that lasted for hours, where, in a sanctuary
half this size, the preacher would scream into a handheld microphone,
where people would be slain in the Spirit, where my ears rang,
deafened by a cacophony of unknown tongues around me, in the shadow
of a roomful of hands raised to heaven... I've been in a huge
auditorium with an amazing choir singing, and I've seen a guy get so
“in the Spirit” that he leaped to the back of the pew, ran along
the top of it to the aisle, and down to the altar without breaking
stride.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I
have been awash in all of that excitement and passion and emotion,
and I have subscribed to the misconception that Christians who didn't
share in that kind of worship experience were missing out on all God
had to offer.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
I think it is perhaps a reaction to the damage that this
misconception has caused that makes so many mainline believers – or
preachers, anyway – seem to shy away from the subject of the Holy
Spirit. Oh, I mean, we mention the Holy Spirit in passing, the
Apostle's Creed, blessings, things like that. But living, as we do,
in a society where Christianity is too often defined by the worst of
us – where God is used as an excuse for hatred and exclusion and
bullying and bigotry – we spend a lot of our time, we mainline,
less angry, more open and affirming Christians, on trying to say we
aren't like <i>them</i>... and maybe, just maybe, we shy away from
talking about subjects that might make us sound like “them.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Like
the Holy Spirit.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">So
what do we do with Pentecost?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Well,
many churches, and I've been guilty of this, look at Pentecost as
“the birthday of the Church.” It certainly is the point in
history where the message of the Gospel caught fire and began to
spread across the world, yes. But to say the Church started here is
to miss the Resurrection – in fact, the very Incarnation – and it
is to ignore the millenia of men and women and children who, by
faith, followed the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob who is the
same God you and I worship in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
Were they not also, in a very real sense, a part of the Church?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">If
we ascribe to a Trinitarian theology – One God as Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit – then we must recognize that God has always been
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. John tells us in the prologue to his
Gospel that Jesus was both present at, and active in, the creation of
the universe. We know that God in the Holy Spirit was active in our
Old Testament, speaking through the prophets, inspiring David to
write Psalms, and on and on.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">So
if Pentecost isn't the birthday of the Church, what is it? What do we
do with Pentecost?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">You
know what? That's a catchy refrain, “what do we do with Pentecost,”
but it really isn't the question, is it? I'm guilty of doing what I
was talking about before, of kind of shying away from the Holy
Spirit... the real question is, what do we – Reformed, mainline,
non-hand-waving-and-tongue-talking Christians – do with the Holy
Spirit?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Well,
we know that the Holy Spirit is what Jesus called “another
Advocate.” We know from the book of Ephesians that the Holy Spirit
is a seal, God's inscription upon us, identifying us as members of
God's family, residents of the now and coming Kingdom of God. We know
that the Holy Spirit is a Comforter, a teacher, and a guide.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">So
yes, even if we do not take part in the wild emotionalism and the
sound and fury of Pentecostalism, we understand that the Holy Spirit
is a gift from God that is uniquely for God's people, in whom we can
abide and enjoy, and from whom we receive sustenance. The Holy
Spirit reminds us that Jesus did not leave us orphaned, that in life
and in death and in life beyond death, we belong to God.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
that would be a great high note to end a sermon on, but that isn't
all there is to the Holy Spirit, is it? </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Because
the Holy Spirit is also a catalyst. The Holy Spirit makes things
happen! Look at Peter, in our reading today. We make a lot out of
this man, who was such a coward, denying Christ three times and all,
finally standing up and preaching the Gospel so eloquently, and it's
true, but the interesting thing is that the Holy Spirit didn't change
the essence of who Peter was.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Think
about it – who had the courage to reply honestly, from his heart,
when Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?” Who had the guts
to, however wrongheadedly, try to steer Jesus from all that
fatalistic talk of death? Who stepped out of the boat and walked on
water toward Jesus? Who piped up at the Transfiguration and offered
to build houses for everyone? Who, rather clumsily, tried to defend
Jesus with a sword when the Temple guard came to arrest him?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Peter
always had the courage. The Holy Spirit gave him voice, purpose,
focus.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Throughout
the Book of Acts, we see the Holy Spirit giving direction for
evangelism, words for defense and for testimony, comfort in
persecution, and evidence of faith. And that brings up yet another
point: the Holy Spirit is for us, but the Holy Spirit doesn't belong
to us.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">There's
a story told about a seminary professor who was asked to give a talk
to a youth group about the baptism of Jesus. He gave his speech, all
about the significance of the event, saying basically that it was
about to everyone that Jesus was God. He finished, satisfied that
he'd done a good job But, that was when this one kid, without lifting
his head said, “That ain’t what it means.” So the professor
asks, “What do you think it means?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">The
youth says, “The story says that the heavens were opened, right?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Right.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">The
heavens were opened and the spirit of God came down, right?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Yes.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">The
boy finally looked up and leaned forward to say, “It means that God
is loose in the world. And it’s dangerous.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">The
Apostles would have been happy to keep The Way confined to Judea, to
retain God as their sole property... but God had different ideas.
Philip shared the Gospel with a eunuch, then he went, of all places
to Samaria, and preached there! And if that weren't enough, Peter
goes and has this vision on the rooftop and goes and preaches to
Gentiles!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Then
there was Paul... and you <i>know</i> where all he went!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Well,
after Peter went and converted Gentiles, he had to go and defend
himself to the others back in Jerusalem... and they argued, and they
prayed, and they thought... and they concluded “So then, even to
Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">God
is loose in the world, wild, out of control, and dangerous.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">So
this is what we do with Pentecost – what we do with the Holy
Spirit... we rest in the assurance that, in Christ and through the
Holy Spirit, we are adopted into the Family of God, we are citizens
of the Kingdom of God, we belong to God now and for ever.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And...</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">We
rely upon the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit in sharing
the love of God with others through our own unique voice, our time,
talents and treasures. God in the Holy Spirit speaks through us as
God spoke through Peter on Pentecost, directs us like God directed
Philip and inspires and teaches us as God inspired Peter on that
rooftop.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And...</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">We
watch God in the Holy Spirit move in unexpected and shocking –
scandalous – ways. If we believe, as we say we do, that “God do
loved the world...”, then when God moves in communities and peoples
that we, ourselves, may think are “off limits,” our call is not
to judge or limit or hold back, but to let go and say, “So then,
even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">So
what do we do with Pentecost?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">What
we <i>must</i> do is have the courage to release the Holy Spirit from
the confines of Pentecost, to take the risk and reap the reward of a
God set free in the world, ebullient in love, egregious in
forgiveness, bold, unstoppable and dangerous... <i>whatever</i> that
means.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Let
us pray.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-63499683430803633742014-05-24T14:33:00.001-05:002014-05-24T14:33:52.933-05:00"Christ is risen! NOW what?"<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am indebted to the writing of <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1995" target="_blank">Karoline Lewis </a>and <a href="http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/may-25-2014.html" target="_blank">Kathryn Matthews Huey</a> for their thoughts on this reading.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And because why not, here's an awesome version of "Kashmir:"</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/bzEYNsFC2gE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>JOHN
14:15-21</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>“If
you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the
Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for
ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he
abides with you, and he will be in you.</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>“I
will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while
the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live,
you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father,
and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep
them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my
Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christ
is risen... now what?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes,
I know that the reading comes from a part of the Gospel of John
that's before the Crucifixion, but remember when and for whom it was
written – it was written for us Resurrection People, and, more
precisely, a specific group of Resurrection People at the end of the
first century.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
struggled with a word to describe what kind of situation these
believers were in when they first read the Gospel of John, and the
best I can come up with is, they felt alone. Orphaned. The
Resurrection had happened something near seventy years back, which
meant that everyone who had ever seen Jesus was very likely now dead,
except perhaps for John himself... and who knows? By the time the
Gospel got out to most of the body of believers, John was probably
gone, too.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All
they seemed to have left were the writings, the traditions, and the
firm conviction that Christ had risen from the dead. And that's
important, yes, but wasn't Jesus supposed to be coming back any day?
Where was he? Maybe he had forgotten all of that, maybe there had
been a change of plan or something, they didn't know. And the
Apostles, the people who had seen Christ and heard his words, seen
the miracles and felt his breath when he said, “receive the Holy
Spirit,” the living connection these believers had had to the focal
point of their faith, were gone.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So
yeah, they felt alone. Forgotten. Orphaned. Without focus or
direction.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Somewhere
on a sunny, cool afternoon in the Roman province of Asia, which
encircled the Mediterranean Sea, a group of people sit, huddle around
the cooking fire in the open courtyard of a home. Most of them are
slaves and women, and many bear the scars of persecution. Someone,
likely a man, is reading from a codex – that's sheets of papyrus
folded in to what you and I would think of as a book these days.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last
week, you'll remember, Jesus spoke to some of the things they had
been worrying about. Already several of the listeners are looking up,
listening intently as Jesus talks directly to them.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But
can you imagine the feeling when Jesus says, “I will not leave you
orphaned...”? When he promises, “I am coming to you”?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Faces
that had been downcast, looking at the dirt, are now raised to the
sunlight, and Jesus reminds them of something that, just perhaps,
they had forgotten.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
think that a lot of people – preachers, at least – in mainline
Protestant churches don't really know what to do with the Holy
Spirit. We tend to leave talking about this Person of the Trinity to
mentions in the Apostle's Creed and a sermon on Pentecost, for the
most part. My own experience, coming from a decade in the Pentecostal
Church of God, is to be very careful in my own approach. That
tradition rather goes to the other extreme with the Holy Spirit, so I
confess that it is more than a little difficult to find a rational
middle ground.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But
maybe it's time to let the Holy Spirit loose from the cage of
Pentecost, and from the sole proprietorship of the Pentecostals.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesus
promises to send “another Advocate,” which we know is the Holy
Spirit, and he is careful in his language to connect himself with the
Father and with the gathered disciples, and, yes, those believers in
that courtyard and yes, with you and me. “ I am in my Father, and
you in me, and I in you...”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
catalyst in that connection is the Holy Spirit, unseen but active in
the lives of those whose lives are in Christ.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
Holy Spirit is, of course, active in many ways, but (and I never do
three-point sermons, but this is kind of unavoidable) I want to look
at three specific activities that Jesus speaks of concerning the Holy
Spirit in this passage.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First,
the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Last week, we read where
Jesus revealed himself as the way, the truth, and the life. In the
trial he will undergo before Pilate, the concept of truth will play a
major role.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesus
tells Pilate, “...the reason I was born and came into the world is
to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to
me.” The truth is synonymous with Jesus. Jesus <i>is</i> the truth.
Jesus promises his disciples, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he
will guide you into all the truth.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second,
Jesus tells the disciples that they know the Spirit, and, we talked
about this last week, the only real way to know someone is to be in
relationship. The Spirit abides with you and will be in you...
abiding is synonymous with “relationship” in John's Gospel.
Third, the coming of the Spirit, the promise of the Spirit, means
that the disciples, those at the table, those at the cooking fire,
and those gathered here today, in this congregation, and in churches
and fellowships everywhere, will not be orphaned.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK,
I was wrong, I don't want to talk about three activities of the Holy
Spirit, I want to talk about four. Because this last one is a big
deal. This last activity of the Holy Spirit keeps us from becoming a
body of people intent on codifying and adhering to a strict list of
rules and regulations, from leaving the worship of God for worship of
doctrines, from living under the weight of condemnation for every
mistake and sin we commit.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesus
begins and ends our reading today by speaking of his disciples, those
who love him, keeping his commandments. And oh Lord when we read that
we can go wild with it, can't we? Over the last two millenia, we've
put a lot of words in Jesus' mouth, about what day to worship on,
about how wet to get when we are baptized, about what to believe when
it comes to the Lord's Supper, about which people, created in the
image of God, are loved by that God, and which of those created
beings God despises, the kinds of war Jesus likes, what forms of
government and which political parties Jesus supports...</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But
what did Jesus really <i>say?</i> What <i>are</i> his commandments?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hear
the Word of God from the 22<sup>nd</sup> chapter of Matthew, the 35<sup>th</sup>
through the 41<sup>st</sup> verses:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“One
of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?'</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesus
replied: ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and
greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these
two commandments.'”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again,
the Word of the Lord from the Gospel of John, the 13<sup>th</sup>
chapter and the 34<sup>th</sup> and 35<sup>th</sup> verses:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“A
new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you
must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
sense a theme running through these verses, do you?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love
God, love each other, love your neighbor – and if we learn anything
from the Parable of the Good Samaritan, it is that our “neighbor”
is anyone and <i>everyone</i>.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone
and everyone. Dang it. I can't do that.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some
people rub me the wrong way. They do things I don't do, sometimes
they smell bad, or say things that offend me, or like things I don't
like, or look different than me, or act in ways that make me
uncomfortable, or believe things I don't believe, or vote for people
I don't vote for, and I want to close and lock the doors and put an
electric fence around the communion table and say, “not <i>you</i>!”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It
is the Holy Spirit who works through me, and through each of us, to
change that. Dianne Bergant puts it like this: The Holy Spirit
“strengthens us, comforts us, guides us, and inspires us. It is the
Spirit who enables us to interpret the signs of the times in ways
very different from the ways of the world. It is the Spirit who works
through us for the transformation of the world.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
submit to you that this desire to protect my most precious
prejudices, my most beloved hatreds, to sanctify my fear, is the
definition of “the ways of the world.” Over against that, the
Holy Spirit seeks to take down the fences, to throw the doors wide
open – no, to break the doors off their hinges, put them up on
sawhorses, to spread a meal and invite all who hunger to come.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That
is who we are! We are Resurrection People, and we dare to bring the
Resurrection with us beyond Easter Sunday, we are bold to free the
Holy Spirit from Pentecost Sunday, and to say that, in the face of
the unfathomable, egregiously lavish, belligerently generous love
that God has shown for us, we must take this light of Christ that
lives within us as the Holy Spirit and shine it in the dark corners,
we must give of this living water that flows in us to all who thirst,
we must throw our doors and our arms and our hearts open wide and
welcome people in to relationship with the risen Christ, we must make
it clear that whoever, whatever, whenever... God loves you.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-71667213685434893492014-04-19T11:23:00.000-05:002014-04-19T11:23:22.948-05:00Easter: The Cross, the Resurrection, What Does It Mean?<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am blessed beyond measure to have friends like the<a href="https://twitter.com/jazzpastord" target="_blank"> Rev. Debra Avery</a>, the <a href="https://twitter.com/kirkjeffery" target="_blank">Rev. Dr. Kirk Jeffery</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/TerryRamoneSmit" target="_blank">Pastor Terry Ramone Smith</a>. As you can see in the following sermon, the<a href="https://storify.com/jazzpastord/atonement-defined-or-not?awesm=sfy.co_dess&utm_source=t.co&utm_content=storify-pingback&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&utm_campaign=" target="_blank"> conversation with them</a> this past Friday was crucial to the writing of this sermon.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Some of the words in this sermon are taken from an earlier sermon. Many are Kirk and Deb and Terry's words, and the words of many other scholars and friends I am blessed to learn from every day.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <a href="http://www.doxa.ws/Theology/salvation_others1.html" target="_blank">comment about Christ's death being an act of solidarity with victims</a> is from Liberation Theology.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And because I like it, here's some music for your read:</span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/9zACEJdFOpA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>MATTHEW
28:1-10</b></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">After
the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a
great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven,
came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like
lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards
shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do
not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was
crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come,
see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples,
‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of
you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for
you.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and
ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said,
“Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and
worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and
tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">How
easily we say the words, “Christ is risen.” How simple it is to
acknowledge that the tomb is empty, that the Lord has conquered
death, hell, and the grave, that we serve a risen Lord. Easy,
because, all too often, it’s just words, isn’t it? We are
Resurrection people, after all. We live in this reality, the reality
that says Jesus “is,” not Jesus “was.” We are Resurrection
people. We associate springtime with resurrection because it’s an
integral part of our vocabulary.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We
forget, all too easily, that there was a time when, as Barbara Brown
Taylor puts it, “only place springtime happen[ed]… [was] on the
graves, not in them.”</span></span></span><br /><br />The women were<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">n’t
going to the tomb that morning to check the status of the body. </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">They
were</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
going to the tomb </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">to
grieve</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
This was the place where </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mary
Magdalene</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
could get closest to the one person who had looked on her as if she
were human, as if she were valuable, as if she, a woman, were equal.
At least there, in the twilight before dawn, she could be close to
him again, just on the other side of a stone, close enough to touch,
really. It wasn’t much, but it was something.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Do
you see how it was? No one was thinking about Resurrection, not
because of a lack of faith or because Jesus hadn’t told them again
and again, but because it made no sense, it was dancing to
architecture, it was painting with math, completely beyond
comprehension.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jesus
was dead. End of story. All those years, all those miles traveled,
the stories and parables and healings and dangers and triumphs and
evenings in a group around a fire, everything, all of it, gone.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So
Mary Magdalene walked </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">with
“the other Mary” </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">toward
the tomb in the darkness. But it wouldn’t be dark for long.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One
of the things that is most interesting to me in the accounts of the
Resurrection is that each Gospel account is different. Our reading
this morning is dramatic: a mighty earthquake, big, bad guards
fainting in terror, and an angel relaxing on a tombstone. The Marys
see Jesus as they return to tell the disciples what has happened.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mark's
Gospel is (of course) brief; this time the other Mary is identified
as the mother of James, and Salome is with them. No earthquake in
Mark, they find the stone already rolled away. And instead of being
told they saw an angel, they meet a young man robed in white. Mark's
Gospel appears to end with the women telling no one.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Luke
tells us that it was a whole group of women that went to the tomb.
Again, the stone was already rolled back, and the tomb was completely
empty until two men in glowing clothes appeared to announce the
Resurrection. The women run back and tell the disciples, who don't
believe them. Peter goes and checks it out, finds the body missing,
and doesn't get it.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
John's Gospel, Mary Magdalen is alone. The stone is already moved,
the body missing, and she thinks the risen Christ is the gardener.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Let
me ask you something this morning: what does it mean to be
Resurrection people?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Judging
from the Gospel accounts, it doesn't mean we get the story right
every time. The writers who tells us about the most important thing
that has ever happened, the central event in all of human history,
can't agree on the details.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
is true of the Cross as well. The Gospels tell the same story quite
differently. The main points, of course, quite agree; it's the
details that are fuzzy.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So
being Resurrection People doesn't mean we agree all the time.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
had a conversation this past Friday with some friends: The Reverend
Doctor Kirk Jeffery, an Episcopal priest; the Reverend Debra Avery, a
Presbyterian pastor, and Pastor Terry Smith, who operates The Van Atlanta, a
homeless ministry. Since it was Good Friday, the subject was the
Atonement: why did Jesus die on the cross?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Please
understand: we Christians all agree that Jesus died on the cross, and
that the purpose of his sacrifice was to reconcile humanity to our
loving Creator. Where we get fuzzy is in trying to articulate exactly
how that happens. Is it Penal Substitutionary Atonement, is it Ransom
Atonement, was the Cross an avoidable tragedy that God redeemed? Is
it something else?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What
I took away from that conversation was not a clarified comprehension
of Atonement, and that's OK, that ain't what I was after. What I
learned from that conversation, and from reading the Gospel accounts
of the Cross and the Empty Tomb is that we see different things, we
hear different things, we believe different things not because some
of us are right and some of us are wrong... but because God meets us
at the point of our deepest need and directly addresses that
need.<br /><br /><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We
are Resurrection people, but we live in a place that, all too often,
feels much more like that dark path through the cemetery than
anything else.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">How
easily we say the words, “Christ is risen.” How simple it is to
acknowledge that the tomb is empty, that the Lord has conquered
death, hell, and the grave, that we serve a risen Lord. And how hard
it is to make those words more than just that – words.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Perhaps
the</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">re
is a</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
purpose </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">to</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">the
Gospel writers varying so widely on the details surrounding the
Resurrection: was it an angel, was it a man in white or was it two
people in white?</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Was
Mary Magdalene alone, with one other woman, with two other women, or a
group of women? Did they tell no one, did they tell the disciples to
go to Galilee, did Peter run to the tomb alone, did John run with
him? Did Jesus appear to no one, did he appear to everyone at once,
did he appear to the two Marys?</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Perhaps
there is a purpose to the fact that for two millenia, we Christians
have struggled to explain what the Cross means: did Jesus take our
place on a cross that we each, individually, deserve to bear? Did
Jesus pay a ransom for our souls in his blood? Was Jesus' death an
act of solidarity with all victims of death – all of humanity?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
think that the answer for all of these questions, all of them, is
“yes.” The Cross and the Resurrection were, indeed, corporate
acts, events intended for the salvation of everyone... but the Cross
and the Resurrection were at the same time intimate, personal,
individual. </span></span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We
celebrate the Lord’s Supper this morning, in part because it serves
as a point of reference, a reminder of the fact that, and I am
quoting Romans 5:8, “…God demonstrates his own love for us in
this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">God
has met us at the point of our deepest need - “while we were yet
sinners” - and has specifically met that need.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
Cross, the Resurrection, and all of the questions and interpretations
and scholarship and discussion surrounding these central events of
human history are </span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">a
reminder that we live in what the Arabic-speaking people call
“al-fedjr,” the twilight that is just before the dawn. </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It's
dark, we cannot see clearly... we see that the stone is rolled away,
that the tomb is empty, and maybe we don't exactly know why... but
because </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">we
really are Resurrection people, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">we
know that</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
someday the dawn will break.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Someday
we will
see the Risen Lord, and he will call us by name.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-26596714234144752302014-02-16T00:03:00.000-06:002014-02-16T00:03:03.969-06:00Laundry Lists and Love...<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">This isn't the <i>best</i> title for a sermon, but it is the best I could come up with. </span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">I think everything has to do with relationships. How we relate to God, how we relate to one another, how we regard the rich and the powerful and the poor and the marginalized. And no one relationship is disconnected from another.</span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Thanks this week especially to <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?m=4377&post=3071" target="_blank">David Lose</a>, <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2033" target="_blank">Carla Works</a>, and <a href="http://www.evangelismconnections.org/weeklyreflection/evangelectionary-for-february-16-2014-6th-sunday-after-epiphany/" target="_blank">Peter Bush</a>.</span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Finally, something that has nothing at all to do with the sermon, but it was part of my soundtrack as I was writing it. <a href="https://soundcloud.com/javier-versionaba/the-rain-song-led-zeppelin" target="_blank">Javier Barria's cover of one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs, "The Rain Song."</a></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;"><b><i>MATTHEW
5:21-37</i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: white;">“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You
have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall
not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’
But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you
will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister,
you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’
you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your
gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has
something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go;
first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and
offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you
are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over
to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into
prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid
the last penny.</span></span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: white;">“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You
have heard that it was said, ‘you shall not commit adultery.’ But
I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already
committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes
you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to
lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into
hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw
it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for
your whole body to go into hell.</span></span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: white;">“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It
was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a
certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces
his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit
adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.</span></span></span></i></div>
<div style="border: none; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: white;">“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Again,
you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You
shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the
Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for
it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or
by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear
by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your
word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes
from the evil one.”</span></span></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Wow.
That is quite a list, isn't it? It's like Jesus is taking the Law and
putting it on steroids. Many scholars call these the “antitheses,”
because Jesus is saying, “you have heard... BUT,” putting
expectations over and against established expectations.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Oh,
goody, new rules. Peachy. And a laundry list of stuff, too... murder,
anger, adultery, divorce, making oaths... and the punishments are
over-the-top! For cryin' out loud, being condemned to Hell for
calling someone a fool? Mutilating our body to refrain from
committing sin? No wonder these fall in to the category that's called
“the hard sayings of Jesus.”</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">It
goes without saying that most Christians don't follow the letter of
these sayings. We get angry. I know I do, anyway. Divorce is common
nowadays, and in our lawsuit-crazed society we swear oaths verbally
and with our signatures all the time. I don't know of anyone who has
come to the Lord's Supper, then before taking part has left to go
make up with someone they'd had a quarrel with. It has probably
happened, sure, but I have never seen it. I don't know of anyone who
has poked their own eye out or cut off their own hand to refrain from
committing sin.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">As
a list of rules – I am gonna go ahead and just say it – these are
unreasonable. If I have to treat this passage as a checklist of
things I cannot ever under any circumstances do, or else, I give up.
I can't do it. I mean, for crying out loud, I get upset at people's
FaceBook posts, and don't even get me started about Twitter!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">And
let me go further: If we treat the Scriptures as a list of rules and
regulations, a law-book, a Constitution... we will fail. Maybe not
every time, on ever point, no. I may do OK not lusting after my
neighbor's wife, but as soon as I get in a hurry to get from one job
to another and Highway 280 gets backed up around the Summit, I can
promise you someone is gonna swing in front of me from the other
lane, cut me off, and I will <i>at least</i> call that driver a fool.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">I
can tell you that I know of at least one person who was mentally ill,
and who obsessed over keeping every point of Scripture, and was
constantly tortured that he could not do it all, to the point that,
one night, he lay down on some railroad tracks. And no, the story
does not have a happy ending.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">But
what if... what if the point of what Jesus is saying here goes deeper
than keeping rules, following laws? Look at what Jesus is actually
saying here, look at the focal point of his antitheses.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;">“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">...If
you are angry with...” “...if you insult...” “...if you
say...” are some of the phrases Jesus uses to start off this
reading, and he does it over against murder. Jesus seems to say anger
is worse, or at least on a level, with killing... and to be sure,
someone would have to be pretty angry with someone to kill them,
you'd think. But I want to suggest to you that this isn't even about
antecedents to murder.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">It
is about how we think about – how we treat – one another. It
ain't about rules. It's about relationships. God cares about our
relationships. That is the thread that weaves this seemingly
stream-of-consciousness reading together. It isn't random rules and
threats of punishment. It's about how we relate to one another, and
through that, how and if we relate to God.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Isn't
that amazing? This is truly revolutionary thinking! God is not the
Unmoved Mover of the philosophers, nor does God see us as playthings,
nor is God completely disinterested in God's creation. God is not
simply a spiritual director or a dispenser of divine karma. God
cares. God cares about us, and God cares about our relationships.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">I
know that sometimes people say or even do bad things, and our natural
reaction is anger, our natural tendency is to strike back somehow. We
have a right to! But at least in the Christian community, that right
is less important than the responsibility, on both the part of the
offender and the offended, to reconcile.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">God
cares about us. God cares about our relationships.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Think
about it – when we hold a grudge, the person we are mad at is
living in our head rent-free! It takes our heart and mind away from
the things that matter, it causes stress, and stress can kill us.
Better to forgive, even if we cannot safely forgive face-to-face.
Forgiveness isn't about letting someone off the hook, remember, it is
about allowing ourselves to move on and grow out of that and into our
life in Christ.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">And
notice how the burden of reconciliation isn't just on the one
offended – Jesus says that, whenever we realize we have offended
someone, even if we are in the middle of church, even gathered around
the Lord's Table, we must go and fix it right then, it is that
important. Right relationships with one another both speak volumes to
those outside of the faith looking in on us, and those relationships
help to strengthen our individual and corporate walk with God.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Believe
it or not, this dovetails in perfectly with Jesus' words about
adultery, lust, and divorce, because if we value other people deeply
enough to care about right relationships, one thing we are careful
not to do is objectify other people – remove their humanity, define
them as a body part or value them only for what the can do for us. We
cannot treat people as possessions and truly value relationships with
one another or with God.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">God
cares about us. God cares about how we care for and about others.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Now,
treating people, specifically women, as a possession was exactly what
Jesus was talking about when he was speaking of divorce. In Jesus'
time, remember, women had no rights, no identity of their own.
Rabbinic tradition held that a man could write up a “bill of
divorcement” and leave his wife if she displeased him in any way.
Women couldn't own property, had no legal recourse, could not work...
for cryin' out loud, even the Ten Commandments lists “your
neighbor's wife” in the same “Thou shalt not covet” sentence as
his livestock!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">A
woman could be left homeless, destitute, starving to death, because
she burned the toast.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">So
this isn't about forcing women, or anyone, to stay in bad, even
abusive, relationships, it is about elevating women, and by extension
all people, of any race or gender or nationality or orientation or
identity, to the level of equal human beings.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">I
am serious. If we can get that one thing right, everything else will
fall in to place.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">If
I consider every human being equal, then I don't have to worry about
being greater than someone else. No one has to be less-than for me to
feel good. If every human being is of equal value in the eyes of God,
then my concern for right relationship with God compels me to act
like it – to reconcile, to support, to heal.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">If
I am honest, it would be easier if our passage today was a list of
rules and regulations, a checklist I could review every day and give
myself a pass-or-fail. Relationships are messy, difficult things. I
am a dyed in the wool extrovert (I know that is a shock), but there
are days when I just don't want to be messed with. There are times
when I get hurt or offended or wronged and, by golly, someone owes me
an apology.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">But...</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">God
cares about us. God cares about our relationships, and right
relationships are more important than being right.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0.16in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">In
the coming week, I'd like to invite you to join me in doing two
things. First, call to mind one of the relationships in your life
that is most important to you. One that is healthy and whole and good
and sustains you. What makes that a good relationship? Why is that
relationship so important? Reflect on that relationship this week,
and in your time of prayer and meditation give God thanks for that
person and the relationship you share.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0.16in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Second,
think about another relationship that is important to you, but it has
suffered some damage. Don’t waste time trying to figure out who was
to blame for the hurt; rather, hold that person, hold that
relationship in prayer. Offer that broken relationship to God as an
arena of God’s help and healing. And here is the hard part: take
some time and think about what action you can take to move that
relationship to greater health.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">That's
it. We start small. Just one.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Let
us pray.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">O
God, the strength of all who put their trust in you:</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">We
give you praise for our good relationships. Help us to see, and to
focus upon, the things that are good and right and which bring us joy
and life.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">And
because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you,</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">give
us the help of your grace to begin to heal those relationships which
require reconciliation, and to practice forgiveness in those places
where reconciliation is not possible.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Loving
Creator, may we please you both in will and deed;</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">through
Jesus Christ our Lord,</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif; line-height: 100%;">one
God, for ever and ever. </span><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif; line-height: 100%;">Am</span><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif; line-height: 100%;">en.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-7637333389401255982014-01-18T18:26:00.002-06:002014-01-18T18:26:51.657-06:00"Come and See"<div align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My thanks to the writing of <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1879" target="_blank">Richard Swanson</a>, <a href="http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/january-19-2014.html" target="_blank">Kathryn Matthews Huey</a>, <a href="http://lectionarylab.com/2014/01/11/year-a-the-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany-january-19-2014/" target="_blank">the Rev. Dr. Delmer L. Chilton</a>, and <a href="http://girardianlectionary.net/year_a/epiphany2a.htm" target="_blank">Paul J. Nuechterlein</a> for their valuable insights into today's Scripture reading.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>John 1:29-42</i></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The
next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I
said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was
before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with
water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And
John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a
dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one
who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see
the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy
Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the
Son of God.”</i></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The
next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he
watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of
God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed
Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them,
“What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which
translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to
them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and
they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the
afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and
said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated
Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said,
“You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which
is translated Peter).</i></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When
John calls Jesus the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world,” what is he saying? I think the most common interpretation
is that Jesus is the sacrifice which atones for the sins of
humankind. And that's true, yes, and it's fine, in and of itself, if
that is what one takes away from the Gospels, it's enough.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But
the interesting thing is that – remembering that Jesus and John and
the disciples are all Jewish, and that their understanding of
sacrifice would be based solely upon the Jewish Temple sacrificial
system – lambs, in the Scriptures, are not sin sacrifices.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bulls
are sin offerings, as well as male and female goats. Where a lamb is
mentioned it is specifically a female lamb.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Remember,
though, that Jesus is crucified during Passover. That feast
specifically calls for a male lamb, unblemished, sacrificed, roasted
and consumed. The blood of that sacrificed lamb was to be splashed on
the doorframe of the house, so that when the Angel of the Lord saw
it, that house would be passed over, and another, unsplashed home
would see its firstborn killed.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
sacrifice of that lamb protected the home, and ultimately freed the
Hebrew people from slavery, and set them on the road to finding the
Promised Land. The annual feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, remembered that mighty act of God. This, then, is what Jesus,
as the Lamb of God, does: <span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">liberates
the world from slavery to sin by bringing the world into new and
fresh contact with the presence of God, so that human alienation from
God can end.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Yes,
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jesus
Christ is our atoning sacrifice, Scripture is clear on that. But to
say that Jesus </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">simply
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">died
to please the bloodlust of an angry God, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">was
One who wiped the slate clean so we could mess it up again – and
let's be honest, for a sin-washed world, there is plentiful sin still
to go around. People still kill people, people still rape and steal,
hate and lust, disease and starvation and slavery...</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jesus
is our Atonement, and so much more.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">W</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">hen
John points out Jesus to his disciples, when they leave John to
approach this Lamb of God, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">they
approach one who is about reconciling </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">the
cosmos, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">all
there </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">was,
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">is.
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">And
ever will be,</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
to God, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">one
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">who
exists to break down the barriers which separate all of us from our
loving Creator.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">There
is a word in Greek that shows up a lot in this reading: “</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">meno,</span></i></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">”
which is most distinctively rendered “abide.” </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">That
word occurs five times in four verses here: “And John testified, 'I
saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>abided</b></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize
with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>abide
</b></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">is
the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' Then: “</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">When
Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">'</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">What
are you looking for?</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">'</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
They said to him, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">'</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rabbi</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">'</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(which translated means Teacher), </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">'</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">where
are you </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>abiding</b></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">?</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">'</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
He said to them, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">'</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Come
and see.</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">'</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
They came and saw where he was </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>abiding</b></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
and they </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>abided
</b></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">with
him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.”</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">L</span></span></span>ater
in the Gospel of John, Jesus teaches us that <span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">he
abides in the Father and the Father in him, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">a</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd
we as his disciples are then invited to abide in him and he in us. </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So
when Jesus turns to ask the approaching disciples what they're
looking for, and they ask where he lives, maybe they aren't asking
for his address. Maybe they are really answering the question: “What
are you looking for?” “We are looking to abide where you abide,
to live where you live.”</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">N</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ow,
each of the Gospels is clear about how completely clueless the
disciples are, so I don't know that these two completely understand
what they are asking. What I do know is how they reacted </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">to
Jesus' answer to their question </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">–
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">they
respond </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">the
same way John did, by telling what they had found.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Andrew
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">finds</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Simon, and </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">brings</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
him to Jesus... </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
Simon is changed. He gets a new identity.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Evangelism
is a scary word, I'll admit. We don't talk a whole lot about it in
mainline denominations, and when we do, it's </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">often
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">within
the context of a program or ministry of the church as a whole. The
dirty little secret, though, is that even in evangelical
denominations, the idea of sharing your faith is daunting. That is
why there are shelves full of how-to books, warehouses full of tracts
and step-by-step formulas for witnessing to others about Jesus
Christ.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I've
used them and taught them before, but I will be honest: when I was
writing this sermon, I couldn't remember more than Bill Bright's “The
Four Spiritual Laws” and “The Romans Road,” which walks a
person through key verses in (you may guess it by the </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">name</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)
the Book of Romans.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So
I Googled “witnessing tools.” What I found was nine hundred and
two thousand results, including </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">how-to
websites, offers of </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">brochures
and tracts, a Christian multi-tool (one of those things with pliers,
screwdrivers, knives, and all in a pocket tool), a </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">mini
barrel spotlight, illustrations, instructions on witnessing with
balloon animals, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">tee
shirts, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">bumper
stickers, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">drumsticks
and </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">guitar
straps and </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">keychains
and </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">bracelets
and </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">iPhone
cases and </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">purses
and </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">wallets
and </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian
sunglasses and Christian</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
hair accessories...</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But
is the best way to share our faith found in a lanyard or a bumper
sticker? Has anyone's life been changed by a one hundred twenty five
foot high cross on I-65 North or by a billboard or keychain or church
marquee sign?</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jesus
did his fair share of seeking out disciples – John and Andrew by
the sea of Galilee, for example. But in this case, the disciples
sought out Jesus. They were told about him by someone who had
firsthand knowledge, and they went to find out for themselves. And
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jesus
said to those inquiring disciples, “Come and see.”</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">And
they saw. </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">That
is to say, the disciples saw his life, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">saw
where he abided, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
from seeing his life, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">they</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
came to know who he was – Andrew said to Simon, “We have found
the Messiah.”</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">A
multitool or t-shirt can't do that, nor can a billboard or bumper
sticker or a huge metal cross. I submit that these are marketing
campaigns, not evangelism. The most effective form of evangelism, the
best way to share our faith, and by far the most </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">frightening</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
is by </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">living</span></i></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
By being who we are in Christ.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
disciples were seekers. They had connected with John the Baptist
because he had a message, and he pointed out for them the way to
transformation – “Behold, the Lamb of God.” To be sure, this is
a world full of seekers. We have “the pursuit of happiness”
written into our history and our cultural DNA. We seek for meaning to
life, we scramble to fill what St. Augustine called the “God-shaped
hole.” And through it all, our hearts are restless until they rest
in God.</span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">To
find and be found, we all need a John the Baptist, an Andrew, a
preacher, a teacher, a parent, a friend, a brother or sister –
maybe all of the above and more – to point us in the right
direction and to keep us on the trail.</span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">To
be John the Baptist for someone else is not difficult, it is not
something to worry about or shy away from. It doesn't require
perfection or a flawless delivery of perfected points of doctrine. We
don't have to be <i>right</i> all the time. Madeline L'Engle
(“lingel”) said, “We do not draw people to Christ by loudly
discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are
and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely
that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.”</span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 100%;">All
that is required is a willingness to help others find what you have
found. To help them find the place where they can sit and be still
and wait for the Christ to come </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 100%;">and
say to them, as he has to each of us, “Come and see.”</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-91508402343411350152013-12-14T19:57:00.000-06:002013-12-14T19:57:52.430-06:00Are You The One?Thanks go out to the work of <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1935">Arland J. Hultgren</a> for his thoughts on the Gospel reading.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Matthew
11:2-11 </span>
</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">When
John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his
disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are
we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John
what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the
poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes
no offense at me.” </span>
</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><i>As
they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What
did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the
wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes?
Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did
you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a
prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am
sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before
you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen
greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he.</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">A
lot has happened to John the Baptist since we met him in last week's
Gospel reading. He's gone from a wild-eyed prophet in camel's hair,
standing knee-deep in the Jordan and preaching repentance to an
imprisoned man facing death and wrestling with very real doubts:
after all of this, has he hitched his horse to the wrong wagon after
all? Is Jesus really the Messiah he had been proclaiming?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">John's
troubles began when Herod Antipas, who was Tetrarch of Galilee and
Perea, divorced his wife, then somehow arranged or forced his brother
Philip to divorce <i>his</i> wife, Herodias, and married her.
Confusing, I agree, <i>and</i> not only against the Jewish Law but
(since Herodias was also his cousin) <i>creepy</i>.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">It
was hard to find a person in all of Judea, much less the region of
Galilee, who didn't find the whole affair abhorrent, but because the
Herods were a bloodthirsty lot who could pretty much do as they
pleased as long as they kept Caesar happy, not very many people had
the guts to speak out against it.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">John
the Baptist was, as you might imagine, one of the few exceptions.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Now,
I imagine that it is one thing to have the odd priest or Pharisee
criticize the tetrarch, but people were listening to John the
Baptist, and the more John talked the angrier people got at Herod
Antipas. So to shut John up, Herod had him arrested and imprisoned.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">So
this gives us a little background, yes, but I don't think it fully
explains what has happened to John, because he had to have known this
was coming. John couldn't have expected, in that day and age, to
preach against the hypocrisy of the Temple elite and the most feared
and respected theologians (meaning the Pharisees and the Sadducees),
<i>and</i> condemn the private affairs of a despotic ruler, without
consequence.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">These
are the choices and actions of someone who knows what is right and
true and who knows that standing for righteousness is worth the
danger. These are the actions of one who is confident in his calling,
committed to laying the groundwork for the coming Kingdom of God.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">So
why the doubts? Why ask Jesus, who John himself had baptized, who
John himself had proclaimed the “Lamb of God, who takes away the
sin of the world,” if he was, in fact, the Messiah?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">It
wouldn't be a stretch to blame his doubt on the fact that he was
imprisoned. All that time alone, left to his own thoughts, time to
reflect and question and worry and second-guess... but I would
suggest that the issue goes deeper than that.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Firstly,
being imprisoned by Herod wouldn't have been like spending the night
in a drunk tank, or in any fashion like being incarcerated in our
modern penal system. Upon his arrest, John would have been taken to
Herod's palace, and through a passage beneath the building to a dark,
wet, cold, vermin infested cell. We can expect that he was beaten,
malnourished, and miserable. The only things that may have kept him
from starving to death or dying of exposure would have been visits
from his disciples and the interest of Herod Antipas, who we read
elsewhere enjoyed late-night talks with the imprisoned prophet.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Add
to that John's own expectations of Messiah. Remember how he had
preached to the Pharisees and Sadducees: “...one who is more
powerful than<span style="font-style: normal;"> I is coming after
me... he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His
winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor
and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will
burn with unquenchable fire.”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Fire
and winnowing and clearing... for John, the Messiah would come
bringing righteousness, exacting judgment, finally and decisively.
And it wasn't much of a journey from that belief to the realization
that John needed some justice exacted on his behalf, and soon. If
Messiah was going to wipe out evil, why wasn't it happening? Why was
John shivering in this rat-and-sewage-infested hole day after day
after horrible day?</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Jesus
doesn't fit John's expectations of Messiah, nor does he fit in to
Jewish Messianism in general. I can't help feeling that, as
understandable – and, I daresay, as important – as this question
may be, it must have been a painful one for John to have asked.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">We
know that John and Jesus were cousins – Mary was Martha's niece,
and the two women were obviously very close and definitely knew who
Jesus was. Literally from “day one.” It is conjecture, but not
inconceivable, to see John and Jesus growing up together, or at the
very least seeing one another regularly at Jewish festivals or family
gatherings. If John leapt in Martha's womb when Mary came near, how
would he have felt each time he was with his cousin Jesus? Think of
it – he grew up knowing who Jesus was, </span><i>certain</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
of it, and knowing what his own purpose in life was to be!</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">And
now... what if he was wrong? What if the universe had played an awful
trick on him? What if all of this was for nothing?</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Scholars
point out that Jesus' answer was kinda vague, indirect, that it
wasn't really a yes or no response: “</span><span style="font-style: normal;">Go
and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are
raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” </span><span style="font-style: normal;">And
yes, it's true that Jesus made it a habit, at least in what are
called the “synoptic Gospels” (Mark, Matthew, and Luke), to
never, ever proclaim himself, but to proclaim the Kingdom.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Yet,
for all of this, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">I would
argue that Jesus' response </span><i>was</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
direct, and was a resounding </span><i>yes</i><span style="font-style: normal;">!
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">Messiah had come! </span><span style="font-style: normal;">The
Kingdom of God was indeed at hand! </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Justice
and righteousness were being shed abroad... just not in the way John
– or many other people, for that matter – were expecting.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">A</span><span style="font-style: normal;">fter
all, what is righteousness? Is it merely a state of being? Or is it a
verb, something that is done?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">What
is justice? Is justice simply to punish wrongdoers? Or is it
something more holistic?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Punishing
evil may be satisfying... but it does nothing to relieve the
suffering of the hungry. And all the efforts we may make to be
righteous do nothing for the downtrodden.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">With
his simple response, Jesus is directing John's attention to the
oracles of the prophet Isaiah, the promises of Messiah who comes with
healing, with mercy, with healing, with hope.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Hear
the Word of God from the Book of Isaiah:</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">First,
Isaiah 29:18-19</span></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">On
that day the deaf shall hear the words of scroll, and out of their
gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall
obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the neediest people shall exult in
the Holy One of Israel.”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Isaiah
35:5-6</span></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Then
the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf
unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of
the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the
wilderness, and streams in the desert...”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
finally, Isaiah 61:1</span></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;">“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to
the prisoners...”</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">So
even though John and much of Jewish literature and many portions of
the Old Testament </span><span style="font-style: normal;">expected
Messiah to be a powerful ruler, one who would usher in – by force –
a new era of peace. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">John was
looking for the God with the finger on the “smite” button, for
regime change, for </span><span style="font-style: normal;">an earthly
– if holy – Kingdom in the here and now.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">God
has a longer view than that. What's more, God is for us.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">What
that means is that God's love, God's mercy... these come first.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Jesus
came to usher in the blessings of the messianic age – the healing,
the restoration of life, the cleansing of the impure, the mercy, the
love, the good news spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, among others.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Jesus
loved, healed, cleansed, and forgave </span><span style="font-style: normal;">lavishly,
extravagantly, ebulliently – and </span><span style="font-style: normal;">not
just the Jewish people, but Romans </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and
slaves </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and pagans and
Samaritans. He spent time not simply with the religious elite –
Pharisees and Sadducees – but with tax collectors and sinners. In
proclaiming the now-and-coming Kingdom of God, he drew the circle of
mercy and </span><span style="font-style: normal;">love and
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">forgiveness wide, and sealed
that forgiveness in his blood.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I</span><span style="font-style: normal;">n
Jesus Christ, God is for us.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">T</span><span style="font-style: normal;">his
is our legacy, Resurrection People. We live in the promise of hope
and healing and new life in the risen Christ, whose advent we both
celebrate and look forward to. We live in the calling to be hope and
healing, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">to be </span><span style="font-style: normal;">the
vehicles which bring the good news of new life in Christ to all
people: the poor, the downtrodden, the marginalized... even our
neighbors and our family and our friends. People across the planet
and people across the street need to know that God loves them.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Yes,
there is indeed plenty in Scripture which tells of a time when evil
will be purged, when this present sinful earth will cease and a new
heaven and a new earth will be established in righteousness. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">But
until that final Advent, we Resurrection People continue the work of
our risen Lord – to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with our God, and always to draw the circle wide, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and
to be just as extravagant, lavish, and ebullient with the love and
mercy and forgiveness of God... as God has been with us.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">G</span><span style="font-style: normal;">od
is for us.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Alleluia,
Amen.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-48179339896640609562013-12-07T23:25:00.000-06:002013-12-07T23:25:19.356-06:00Prepare the Way of the Lord...<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am indebted to the writing of the <a href="http://lectionarylab.com/2013/12/02/year-a-the-second-sunday-of-advent-december-8-2013/" target="_blank">Rev. Dr. Delmer Chilton and the Rev Dr. John Fairless </a>for their insights into the Gospel reading.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>MATTHEW
3:1-12</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>In those
days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea,
proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The
voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the
Lord, make his paths straight.’”</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Now John
wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist,
and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem
and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the
Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing
their sins.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>But when he
saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them,
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to
come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to
yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you,
God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even
now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore
that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.</i></span></span><br />
<i>“<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I baptize
you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is
coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in
his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his
wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable
fire.”</span></span></i><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif;">This is the
Word of the Lord.</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif;">I have
resigned myself to the knowledge that there are some things I just
will never understand. Calculus, how to play songs on the guitar that
are in, say, C sharp or B flat... and why, smack-dab in the middle of
Advent, in amongst all the pretty lights and the carols and the
nativity scenes and the cooking and the shopping and all of the
buildup to the day we, in our own way, celebrate the birth of Christ,
we get slapped in the face with John the Baptist.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It seems
that John just showed up one day, out in the middle of nowhere,
yelling at the top of his lungs at no one in particular: “Prepare
the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!”</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Maybe a
group of shepherds, watering their flock in the meager, muddy water
of the Jordan, heard him first and went to investigate. It's not much
of a stretch to think that they would be a little freaked out by what
they saw: a man wearing a garment of camel's hair, tied at the waist
with a leather strap. I imagine his hair and beard were unkempt, and
that he had a wild-eyed stare, but that is my imagination talking.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But maybe,
after gawking and maybe stifling some giggles, these shepherds would
listen to what he was shouting, and remember some of the readings
they'd heard over the years in synagogue – The ending of the book
of Malachi, “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the
great and terrible day of the Lord comes...”</span></span><br />
<br /><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This was a
nation and a people, after all, who were hungry for a Messiah. What's
more, this was a nation and a people whose cultural identity was
wrapped up in the writings of prophets... yet there hadn't been a
prophet in Judea in hundreds of years. A man wearing animal skins,
standing knee-deep in the Jordan and shouting at the clouds certainly
<i>could</i> be a prophet...</span></span><br />
<br /><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In any case,
word got around, and people began showing up, and kept showing up,
bringing friends and family, spreading the word. Because John was
doing something new, something unheard of: baptism.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">No, baptism
itself wasn't a new thing. One of the requirements for those wanting
to join the Jewish faith – male and female – was baptism. There
was also, in that day, a group called the Essenes, who, rejecting
Temple worship in favor of a more personalized and rigorous faith
journey, separated themselves from the rest of the Jewish culture,
and practiced daily ritual baptisms.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But what
John was preaching wasn't to proselytize Gentiles, nor was it
introducing a regimen of daily cleansings. John was preaching
<i>repentance</i>.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">That's an
interesting word in a lot of ways. First off, in the original Greek,
the word for “repentance,” <i>metanoia</i>, isn't all that
remarkable a word. It didn't have particularly religious
connotations. It was simply the word they used for turning around.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Reverent
Dr. Delmer Chilton – I love his name – tells the story of a
pastor friend of his who met God on the interstate. He was driving
north on I-85 when a truck crested the hill ahead of them, going
South. Emblazoned above the cab, across the front of the trailer,
were the letters G-O-D.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As the truck
drew closer, he could read the side of the trailer, “Guaranteed
Overnight Delivery,” so he understood what G-O-D stood for in that
case – but a question came to his mind... “If God is going <i>South</i>,
what am <i>I</i> doing going <i>North</i>?”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the New
Testament, <i>metanoia</i>, repentance, means more than merely
changing one's mind. There is more to repentance than feeling bad and
telling God we're sorry. Confession is vital, yes, but it isn't the
full picture. If we say we are sorry, but we do nothing to change,
all we've done is indulge in a feeling. When we are called upon to
repent, we are called upon to effect a complete change – a
reorientation of the personality!</span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif;">And that is
what John is talking about when he comes down so hard on the
Pharisees and Sadducees – both, in their ways, a religious elite,
both groups quite comfortable that they were God's special
snowflakes. A dip in the Jordan would make them part of the crowd,
gain them some acceptance in the community, show everyone around how
utterly serious they were about pleasing God, and whenever this
Messiah person showed up, they would be assured a place in the
re-established Kingdom of David.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But it
wasn't about the water. There is nothing magical or specifically holy
about the water of the Jordan. Dunk or sprinkle or pour, adult or
child or infant, use the water of the Jordan or the water of the
Black Warrior or the water of Lake Purdy or crack open a bottle of
the off-brand purified water you buy at Wal-Mart, the point of it all
is changing the things which separate us from God – the things that
keep us heading North when God is headed South.</span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif;">When
John says to the Pharisees and Sadducees – and to us – to “b</span><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif;">ear
fruit worthy of repentance,” the idea is not to do stuff that makes
us qualified to repent. We don't run around doing good stuff hoping
that God will accept our apology. </span><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif;">Rather,
to bear fruit worthy of repentance is quite simply to live like we
have repented – to show by our actions that we are a changed
people.</span><br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br /><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook L', serif;">In
this season of Advent, when we remember both the birth of our Savior
and anticipate his return, we are called upon to look at our lives
and decide if we are going in the right direction, following the
correct path, adhering to the way of Jesus Christ. And if not, if we
are going north when God is going South, now is the time to move in a
new and better direction, to jump off the next exit, turn around, and
go God's direction.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">God
is traveling on the side of peace and justice and the poor. God
travels the paths of mercy, grace, love and hope. God moves toward
lifting the downtrodden, freeing the oppressed, and including the
marginalized.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It
is not for us to debate whether or not that is the side God is on, or
whether or not God should be on that side. It is for us to get on
that side.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
Good News of the Gospel is that no matter how far we may have gone in
the wrong direction, there is always hope with God; and turning to go
in a new way is always the dawn of a new day in the life of the
spirit.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Century Schoolbook L, serif;">Alleluia,
amen.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-24431771392904151812013-11-16T17:39:00.001-06:002013-11-16T17:40:28.659-06:00Speaking The Truth To Power...<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">My sources include <a href="http://www.dw.de/the-persecution-of-christians-is-increasing/a-17215767" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>, <a href="http://persecution.org/">persecution.org</a>, and <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/27/a-global-slaughter-of-christians-but-america-s-churches-stay-silent.html" target="_blank">The Daily Beast</a>. You can find your Representative <a href="http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/" target="_blank">here</a>, and your Congresspeople <a href="http://www.contactingthecongress.org/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><i>Luke 21:5-19<br />When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."<br /><br />They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them.<br /><br />"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.<br /><br />"But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls."</i><br /><br /><br />This is the Word of the Lord.<br /><br />Luke is recounting, in this part of his Gospel, the final week before Jesus will be executed by the Roman authorities. At this point in history, Herod’s Temple is still under construction, and will be for a number of years to come. As we pick up the narrative, Jerusalem is packed to bursting with families that have come to take part in the feast of the Passover. And however much people dislike, distrust, even hate whichever Herod happens to be in power at a given time, there is no denying the beauty of this structure. From about any point in the city, one can look up and see the Temple, its white marble highlighted with gold decorations, smoke from constant sacrifice wafting through the air and to the heavens.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">By the time Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt, the Temple has been under construction for some forty-six years. Barely anyone alive would remember the Temple as it was when King Herod I undertook its renovation in 19BC. Most folks would have heard about it: small, rather run-down despite constant repair and expansion, maybe – just maybe – when compared to the beauty of the temples the Greeks and Romans built for their gods, a little embarrassing. No matter; that building was actually torn down as part of Herod's building project. But since the daily religious activities had continued without interruption, Herod’s Temple was still considered the second Temple, first constructed by the returning exiles in 515 BC.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The magnificence of this work in progress filled the hearts of every Jewish man, woman, and child with pride. Here, at last, a building which personified the Jewish people and the Jewish God, every stone and every embellishment dedicated to the One True God, who had led them from captivity in Egypt, and had brought them back from Babylon. And right there, in that tallest structure on the innermost courts, was the Holy of Holies – and while no one would admit believing that God actually resided in the Most Holy Place, still deep down, when you looked at the glory of the structure, witnessed the solemn dedication of the army of priests, and felt in your soul the beauty of the singing of the Psalms, it was hard not to think that this was the place where God lived.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">But can God be contained in a building? Of course not, it’s silly to even pretend that it’s worth discussing in a sermon. So let’s change the question: can a people’s identity, can a faith tradition’s identity, be so closely identified with an architectural creation that it is, in effect, inseparable?</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The Jewish people may have thought so. Thankfully, of course, they were wrong. I say “thankfully,” because only three years after the Temple was finally completed, in AD70, it was utterly destroyed. Not one stone was left on the other. As we've talked about in past weeks, the Pharisees were able to, in effect, save the Jewish faith from obsolescence when the Temple, the focal point of their faith, ceased to exist.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Long before that time, mere days from when Jesus utters these words in our reading today, he will shout, “It is finished!” and in that tallest structure in the Temple, the heavy curtain that separates the Holy of Holies from the rest of the planet will be ripped apart, torn from top to bottom like tissue paper.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Anyone who looks will be able to see that this most holy place, the chamber which once housed the Ark of the Covenant, the place where God lives... is empty.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">As empty as Jesus' tomb on Resurrection Sunday.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">From Easter morning on, God’s identity, God’s community, God’s activity will reside not in a building – even a beautiful building – but in people: men and women in every time and place. The Gospel isn’t a residence. It’s a journey, and since the moment the tongues of flame settled on the disciples’ heads on the Day of Pentecost, God's spirit has been loose in the world, and people have been moving.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Men and women found themselves at odds with the Roman authorities, arrested and killed for daring to refuse to worship Caesar, blamed for everything from foreign invasion to natural disaster, they knew, firsthand, what Jesus meant when he said, “they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.”</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Imprisoned, tortured, and killed, still they refused to abandon their trust in the living God, their faith in the risen Christ.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I confess that I am doubtful if anyone in the United States today has any understanding of what it’s like to undergo true persecution. Yet there are places on this planet right now, today, where men, women, and children are being imprisoned, starved, tortured and killed for the crime of believing in Christ. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">According to the German aid organization “Open Doors,” across the world some one hundred million Christians are undergoing persecution in 2013, in countries including North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. In Egypt, Coptic Christians are coming under increasing fire from the Muslim Brotherhood, which blames them for the ouster of Egyptian President Muhammed Morsi. In September, a Taliban suicide bomber killed at least 85 Christians in All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Syrian Christians continue to suffer at the hands of Islamist rebels and, according to one report, fear extinction if Bashaar Al-Assad falls.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Two thirds of Iraqi Christians have simply vanished, having fled the country or been murdered for their faith.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Yet even in environments where Christians are persecuted and killed, the faith grows. In India, despite a growing anti-Christian bias, some seventy-one million people, across all social strata, count themselves as followers of Christ, making it the eighth largest Christian nation on the planet.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Perhaps you and I don’t know what persecution is like. Perhaps it falls on us, then, to be the voice of those in countries who cannot speak up for themselves. It’s as simple as a letter or email to an elected official, calling on them to push for human rights in all areas of the globe.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">It’s as simple as writing a check to a ministry or organization that works to support imprisoned and persecuted Christians, and, for that matter, any marginalized and neglected segment of the world’s population.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">It is simple, but it is vital.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Kirsten Powers, a columnist for The Daily Beast, quotes Israeli author Lela Gilbert as saying that, while her Jewish neighbors are “are shocked but not entirely surprised” by the attacks on Christians in the Middle East. “They are rather puzzled, however, by what appears to be a lack of anxiety, action, or advocacy on the part of Western Christians.” Powers notes that, while American Christians are quite able to organize around issues that concern them, religious persecution appears not to have grabbed their attention, despite worldwide media coverage of the atrocities against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In January, Republican Representative Frank Wolf penned a letter to 300 Catholic and Protestant leaders complaining about their lack of engagement. “Can you, as a leader in the church, help? Will you use your sphere of influence to raise the profile of this issue—be it through a sermon, writing or media interview?”</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">There have, according to Powers, been far too few takers.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Wolf and Democratic Representative Anna Eshoo sponsored legislation last year to create a special envoy at the State Department to advocate for religious minorities in the Middle East and South-Central Asia. While it passed in the House overwhelmingly, it died in the Senate. In January, it passed the House again, but the bill sits idle in the Senate, where there is no date set for it to be taken up.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Imagine the difference an outcry from constituents might have made. Is anybody listening? When American leaders meet with the Saudi government, where is the public outcry demanding they confront the Saudis for fomenting hatred of Christians, Jews, and even Muslim minorities through their tracts and textbooks? In the debate on Syria, why has the fate of Christians and other religious minorities been almost completely ignored?</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Part of what Jesus speaks about in our reading today is the art of “speaking the truth to power.” He says, “I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.”</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">We must speak. We must write. We must act.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the authors of the “Theological Declaration of Barmen” in our Book of Confessions, wrote, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” And Martin Luther King Jr. is quoted as saying, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Jesus has promised to give us the words to say. It is up to us to speak.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-54848072685258447102013-10-19T20:39:00.002-05:002013-10-19T20:39:45.768-05:00Don't Give Up!<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I am deeply indebted to the scholarship and thoughts of <a href="http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/october-20-2013.html" target="_blank">Kathryn Matthews Huey</a>, <a href="http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2013/10/impunity-and-persistence.html" target="_blank">D. Mark Davis</a>, <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1787" target="_blank">Meda Stamper</a>, and <a href="http://store.csspub.com/nav-proper-24-cycle-c.html" target="_blank">David Kalas</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Nothing pithy or humorous to say. Just encouragement: Don't give up...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">LUKE
18:1-8</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Then
Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to
lose heart.</span></span><span style="color: #44473e;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">He
said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared
God nor had respect for people.</span></span><span style="color: #44473e;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant
me justice against my opponent.'</span></span><span style="color: #44473e;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For
a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no
fear of God and no respect for anyone,</span></span><span style="color: #44473e;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">yet
because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so
that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'"</span></span><span style="color: #44473e;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says.</span></span><span style="color: #44473e;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and
night? Will he delay long in helping them?</span></span><span style="color: #44473e;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the
Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"</span></span></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">This
is the Word of the Lord.</span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">There
are some beautiful representations of prayer in classic art. No doubt
when I say the words “Praying Hands,” either a painting or
sculpture of hands pressed together in an attitude of prayer comes to
mind – we've all seen it, haven't we? Or the familiar painting of
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, kneeling at a rock, face turned
toward heaven. Or an elderly gentleman at a table, clasping his
hands, a loaf of bread in front of him.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">There's
nothing at all wrong with these kinds of representations, any more
than there is anything wrong with these kinds of quiet, dignified
prayers. Our Gospel reading today has nothing to do with these kinds
of prayer, though.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">We
begin with a picture of a judge who isn't much of a judge. When you
and I hear the word “judge,” we picture a man or a woman in a
black robe, gavel in hand. As I understand it, for people in Judea
the time of Jesus, the leader of the synagogue was called upon to
mediate disputes among people in their village. The priests of the
Temple in Jerusalem were judges as well, many meeting together in the
Great Sanhedrin to hear and decide matters of religious and civil
importance.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">And
yes, injustices abounded with these different judges – the High
Priest owed his job to the Romans – in fact, Pilate kept the
priestly garments under lock and key, and if the Roman Prefect didn't
like what the Chief Priest was doing, he simply replaced him. Even
so, scholars and historians note that the priestly class in Jerusalem
lived sumptuously off the proceeds from the Temple tax, and was thus
quite dedicated to keeping the status quo.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">By
stark contrast, the widow had, quite literally, nothing. John
Pilch writes that the “word for 'widow' in Hebrew means 'silent
one' or 'one unable to speak.' In the patriarchal Mediterranean world
males alone play a public role. Women do not speak on their own
behalf.” Women could not own property or work to earn a living.
Without a husband or a male child to support her, the widow was
dependent upon the kindness of the synagogue or Temple for her basic
daily needs.</span></span></div>
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<br />
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Now,
of course, we don't know who this woman's opponent was, or what the
person had done against the widow, all we are certain of is that (a)
this judge doesn't care, and (b) the widow doesn't care that this
judge doesn't care. She has a need, the judge can address that need,
so she is by cracky gonna get her need addressed!</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">\You
can just see this widow waiting at the judge's door every morning,
first in line. Maybe she interrupts him again at lunch, and maybe
every time she is turned away she gets back in line again, so by the
end of the day she has been turned away by the judge several times.
Maybe she knocks on his door during supper. Maybe she makes a point
to sit in the front row at they synagogue and </span><i>stare</i>
at him the whole time...</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">After
awhile, the judge gets heartburn every morning because he knows who
is gonna be there when he opens his door. He hears her voice in his
dreams, he is beginni</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">ng
to lose sleep – the Greek for where the judge says “...</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">so
that she may not wear me out...” has, as its primary meanings, “to
beat black and blue, to smite so as to cause bruises and livid
spots.” He is feeling verbally beaten up by this widow's constant
haranguing! S</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">o
for the sake of his own health, he gives in and answers the widow's
request.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Perhaps
the first time this widow stood before the judge, she did so
properly, following decorum. Once he turned her away, though, she was
faced with a hard choice: give up, and let her opponent keep whatever
she had taken from the widow, or keep fighting for her rights.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">One
of the principles I taught in sales is that, most times, people will
take the easiest option given to them. That's why the best
salespeople give only the illusion of choice: So would you like the
red one or the green one? And when faced with opposition, either real
or imagined, the easiest option for humans is to give up, find a
better way, or settle for no way at all.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">But
if Moses had given up after that initial, disheartening encounter
with Pharaoh, the Hebrews would not have been freed. If the children
of Israel had given up marching around Jericho after five days, the
walls would not have fallen. If the Syrophonecian woman had given up
when she received no response — or a negative one — from Jesus,
her daughter would not have been healed. If, following the coming of
the Holy Spirit, the apostles in Jerusalem had given up at the first
sign of opposition, the church there would have floundered while they
cowered. If Paul had given up his missionary efforts as soon as he
encountered difficulty, untold numbers of individuals and communities
would not have heard the good news.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">So
yes, maybe surrender is easy, but giving up is the easiest, quickest
way to lose. And not giving up is a basic key to victory in any sense
of the word.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">At
the point in time Luke was writing his Gospel, people were probably
starting to feel discouraged. Everyone expected Jesus to be coming
any day now, but time wore on and no Jesus. They were tired of
waiting for the deepest hope of their hearts, and it just wasn't
happening. They were tired of being persecuted as a tiny little
minority in a great big, powerful empire. They were anxious and
suffering.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So
this parable is most decidedly not about how to nag God with our
repeated requests so, eventually, we'll wear the Almighty out and God
will give in and give us what we want. Rather, t</span></span><span style="font-size: small;">oday's
passage is about waiting and not being discouraged, not losing
heart.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />Society
may have told the widow that she was a nobody without a voice, but
she knew otherwise, and her persistence helped her hold on to that
knowledge: Barbara Brown Taylor says, “She [was] willing to say
what [she] wanted – out loud, day and night, over and over –
whether she got it or not, because saying it was how she remembered
who she was.”</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">One
of the doctrines of Calvinism, which serves as the basis for our
Reformed theology in the Presbyterian Church USA, is “Perseverance
of the Saints.” This doctrine has been taken to mean a lot of
things, like “Once Saved, Always Saved,” or evidence that people
who may fall away from the faith were never “really saved” in the
first place. But I rather see the idea of “Perseverance of the
Saints” as an encouragement, reassurance that, for the Christian,
staying the course is worth it. </span>
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Our
New Testament Lectionary reading, from Second Timothy, follows on
this theme of persistence, not giving in or giving up. Paul writes to
Timothy, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to
judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his
kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent
whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and
encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is
coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having
itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit
their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and
wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering,
do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Do
you hear how those words stand out? Proclaim, be persistent, with the
utmost patience, endure, carry out...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Don't
give up. In the face of prayers that continue to go unanswered, and
we don't know why, don't give up. When justice is slow, when good
things happen to bad people and when good people just keep getting
bad things, don't give up.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jesus
ends the parable with a question: “...</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">when
the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Faith
is not about our doctrines, faith is not about what we believe.
Marcus Borg puts it best: “you can believe all the right things and
still be in bondage. You can believe all the right things and still
be miserable. You can believe all the right things and still be
relatively unchanged. Believing a set of claims to be true has very
little transforming power.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Rather,
faith has to do with </span><em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">relationship</span></em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">.
With giving your heart and your trust, your radical trust, to God.
Soren Kierkegaard says that “faith as trust is like floating on a
deep ocean. Faith is like floating in seventy thousand fathoms of
water. If you struggle, if you tense up and thrash about, you will
eventually sink. But if you relax and trust, you will float.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Faith
as trust is trusting in the buoyancy of God. Faith is trusting in the
sea of </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>being</i></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
in which we live and move and have our being.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">In
this sense, then, persistence in prayer has very little to do with
what we pray for. Sure, the content of our prayers is important, but
part of what we learn as we grow in relationship with God as we pray,
and pray, and pray, is how to pray. Prayer is one of the ways we
remind ourselves of who we are, and prayer shapes our hearts in a way
that reflects the heart of God.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">It
bears repeating, then: don't give up. God, who is not at all like the
unjust judge, doesn't move in our time frame, no, and sometimes the
answers to our prayers don't come, or they seem to come in ways that
make no sense.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Don't
give up. We are promised the Holy Spirit, we are promised justice,
and we are promised the now-and-coming Kingdom of God. We are
precious to God, and these are the best gifts that God can give to
us.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Don't
give up.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-60635066505794470042013-10-12T23:36:00.000-05:002013-10-12T23:36:33.782-05:00The Tenth Leper...This is a reworking of a sermon I first gave in <a href="http://tragicpizza.blogspot.com/2010/10/tenth-leper-falling-in-love.html" target="_blank">October of 2010</a>. I rethought some of the text, so it is <i>different</i>, but it would be disingenuous to not point out that I am basically pulling this from what my first preacher-mentor called "The Barrel."<br />
<br />
I really wanted to say something about the "lepers" in our society. Hopefully, those who hear and read can make the connections. But it is one reason I enjoy preaching passages about leprosy - in seeing the person behind the "uncleanness," in daring to touch, in daring to heal, Jesus showed amazing and life-altering compassion for the marginalized, the hated, the forgotten, the despised. I cannot but believe that if we in Western Christian culture were to emulate that active love-as-a-verb, no one would ever be in the outer darkness of society again.<br />
<br />
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>LUKE
17:11-19</i></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>On the way
to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and
Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their
distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on
us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves
to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of
them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud
voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a
Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other
nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to
God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on
your way; your faith has made you well."</i><br />
<br />
This is the Word of the Lord.<br />
<br />
On the dusty road that wound its way to Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples
topped the hill and trudged down into a cluttered gathering of houses, shops,
and animals. Even out here in the borderlands, this arid “no man’s land”
between Galilee and Samaria, word traveled ahead of Jesus, and they could see people
clustered around the gate of the village.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Everywhere
Jesus went, a crowd was sure to be waiting, hoping to see a miracle or perhaps
get a free meal. The disciples could hear them begin to call out as Jesus
neared. Anyone else would have found their cries a reason for cynicism – always
wanting a miracle, a sign, bread from heaven, proof that he was the Messiah. But
the disciples knew that all Jesus was interested in was another opportunity to
preach about the Kingdom, to do the work of his Father, and to get on to
Jerusalem… and as confusing and terrifying to all of them as that prospect was,
they trudged onward with Jesus.<br />
<br />
Jesus began to speak, and the crowd fell silent. In the distance, the disciples
heard a new noise. An unwelcome noise in that day and age. Bells tinkling, and
weak voices calling out, “unclean! Unclean!” The crowd around the shabby gate
recoiled in horror at the sight of the ten lepers, swathed in rags, raised
their hands in unison and began to cry out to Jesus, “Master, have mercy on
us!”<br />
<br />
The hot wind swirled dust around the feet of Jesus and the disciples. After a
few moments, even the lepers fell silent, waiting to see what Jesus would do.
Finally, Jesus spoke: “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” </div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
The lepers paused, looking at Jesus a long time before they finally turned and
trudged off toward the synagogue on the other side of the village.<br />
<br />
The disciples felt the weight of the crowd’s disappointment. They had hoped to
see something astounding, and the whole incident passed with nothing at all
very interesting happening. The grumbling had already begin, an undertone to
the sound of Jesus beginning to teach.<br />
<br />
The crowd didn't see what was happening just a few yards behind them. The
lepers had stopped, stock-still, staring in shock and joy at one another’s
faces and hands – the scars and open sores of the leprosy were gone! Their skin
was a healthy brown, not a mark in sight! At a dead run, nine of them tore off
toward the synagogue, already shouting for the leading rabbi.<br />
<br />
No one is exactly sure what Biblical leprosy was. The 13th chapter of Leviticus
describes several different diseases, including forms of psoriasis, and the
text appears to lump some forms of mildew into the mix when discussing leprosy.
What we understand today as leprosy, or Hanson’s disease, is curable with
multiple drug therapies. According to the World Health Organization, the number
of people affected by the disease is steadily falling.<br />
<br />
But the problem with leprosy in that day and age wasn’t simply that the people
who had it were sick. No, the real horror of leprosy was that the people who
suffered from leprosy were believed to be cursed by God, to be suffering
punishment for their sins. They were instructed to wear rags, to ring a bell
and cry “unclean!” wherever they went as a warning to others lest they, too
become unclean, the leper was required to live apart from the community, and
excluded from worshiping God. Far from being pitied, lepers were feared,
hated, loathed, despised.<br />
<br />
The Jewish Law instructed the leper who had been cured to go to the priests, to
be inspected, and to make an offering of thanks. Everyone knew this, and those lepers
who still had hope dreamed of the day they could go and be pronounced clean,
and rejoin their families and their community. Stories always circulated of
this one or that one who had been pronounced clean, but like all urban legends,
no one seemed to have firsthand knowledge of this happening – always a friend
of a friend who lived three villages over, my brother-on-law’s cousin’s
accountant’s sister, that kind of thing.<br />
<br />
Then the lepers began hearing about a traveling rabbi who had done the
impossible, touching a leper and healing him instantly! Could it be true? As
time wore on, and the stories of this man grew more frequent, it certainly
seemed more and more possible. If this was the same man who was said to have
brought sight to the blind, cured the lame and even cast out demons, surely he
could even make the unclean pure!<br />
<br />
When the news came to the band of lepers that Jesus was coming, they decided it
was high time they took a chance on this teacher – perhaps he was a prophet,
perhaps he could cure them as he had others. </div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So they
rang their bells and cried their cries, and confronted, at a respectful
distance of course, this miracle making man.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When Jesus simply
told them to go and show themselves to the priest, they were a bit puzzled, of
course, but they turned and went, because if you learned anything from the
story of Namaan, it was that when a prophet gave a leper an instruction, you
did whatever you were told.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And it was
in that singular act of faith that they were made whole.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I have
always wondered about the other nine… like Jesus, I wonder why they, too, didn't
come back and fall at his feet. I assume that they went ahead to see the priest…
that was, after all, what the Law demanded. And it is easy at this point to
sound cynical, to say that it wasn't the Law that cured them, it was Jesus, how
could they think of following the rules at a time like this… but…</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
One of the things I hope I have conveyed whenever I have spoken about leprosy
was just how horrible a disease this was. Whatever it actually was, and we
really don’t know, the person with leprosy wasn't simply sick. The person with
leprosy was damned.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Think of it
– the person who contracted leprosy had done nothing wrong. Yet in the mere act
of becoming infected they were forced from their community, singled out for
hatred, and denied access to worship – they not only lost their home and family
and job and everything they held dear, they were denied access to God as well!</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I think of
the picture Jesus drew of those not allowed into the Kingdom in the last days, like
in Matthew’s eighth chapter; they are “cast out into outer darkness: there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” That kind of hopelessness, that kind of
loneliness, that kind of bereavement. All because they got sick.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I can imagine that, the second they realized that the leprosy had gone, thoughts of
seeing their spouses and their children, their homes and their friends, after
all these years, everything that was finally possible flooded their minds and
all they could think of was getting home right now! I can imagine a whoop of
joy as they set out at a dead run to find the priest, to be given the freedom
they had missed like a drowning man misses air.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Nine run
off, and one man stands, silent, looking at the clouds of dust their ratty sandals
kick up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
Scriptures tell us that he was a Samaritan, and while this is a significant
point to the narrative, he was not all that different from the nine, who (we
can assume from the way Jesus speaks about them) were Jewish Galileans. This
man would have had a home, and a family he loved, and worked that provided for
his loved ones, and a place he went to worship God, and yes it was the same God
the Jewish people worshiped; just worship interpreted in a different manner.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
He had thus
lost the same things as everyone else had when he became sick, and he had just
the same opportunities opened wide for him in this moment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But he didn't
run away. This man turned back.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
No, that
isn't accurate. I don’t think he turned back, looking at the crowd, hearing
Jesus speak while calculating his next move. There wasn't an internal debate
about waving to Jesus as he strolled across the border into Samaria.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is
some discussion that, since he was a Samaritan, going to a Jewish priest wouldn't
have done much good – after all, Jews considered Samaritans unclean anyway, and
a priest wouldn't pronounce him clean of <i>that</i>,
ever. There is truth to this, of course, but I don’t think the Samaritan spent
any time thinking about this.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I think, I
imagine, that this man, alone among the ten, understood <i>all</i> that had happened. </div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We can
speak of “sin” in a couple of different senses. We can speak of actions or
inactions that are sinful – murder, adultery, and so on… and we can speak of
sin as a state of being – the state of separation from God.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We
Resurrection people understand that it is in that state of separation, when we
were furthest from God, at our most despicable and unclean, that Jesus Christ
died for us. God in Jesus Christ loved us at our most unlovable, and though we
did not deserve it or know to ask for it, the blood of Christ cleansed us from
our unrighteousness, destroyed the barrier of separation caused by sin, and
brought us in to right relationship with God.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
What
happened to that one formerly sick man on that street in that nameless village
that day is a tangible representation of what Jesus Christ has done for us all.
And while any statement concerning the thoughts of that Samaritan is purely
conjecture, I can fully believe that, in that moment, somehow, he knew it.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Those other
nine, they saw what had happened for them in the immediate, in the temporal,
and yes, it was glorious. But that one man, maybe his first thought was being
able to once again worship on Mount Gerissim, to offer his sacrifices and songs
of praise… to feel connected to his Creator once again.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So no, he
did not simply turn back, he ran back, shouting praises at the top of his
lungs, falling flat on his face at Jesus’ feet, lost in the joy of the gift of
life and wholeness he had been given.<br />
<br />
Barbara Brown Taylor puts it like this: “[Nine] behaved like good lepers, good
Jews; only one, a double loser, behaved like a man in love.”<br />
<br />
For this one man, no priest would do. The priests hadn't given him life. What
that Samaritan did was return, at a dead run, to the source of his life – the
feet of Jesus.<br />
<br />
Martin Luther was once asked to describe the true nature of worship. His
answer? The tenth leper turning back.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Worship is
response. We don’t worship because we hope God will save us, we worship because
God, through Jesus Christ, has already saved is, is saving us, and will on the
last day save us.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And worship
is acting out our beliefs. While it is true that we are here in this place at
this time for the purpose of worship, the things we do and say and sing here
are not all there is to say and feel and experience when it comes to worship.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Worship,
for the person who is daily growing in relationship with Christ, is lived in
the moment, every moment of every day. It isn't a ritual, it can’t be taught.
You can't really tell someone to be thankful, you can’t really instruct in a
life of worship. That would just be putting on an act. Thankfulness, worship,
comes from within. Worship is an act of praise, and it is an act of service –
we worship when we sing or pray, yes, but do we not also worship when we give,
when we serve, when we speak?</div>
<br />
<div class="SermonPrep" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
Birds don’t sing because they've learned how. Birds sing because they have a
song. The tenth leper didn't worship at Jesus’ feet because he was told to, he
worshiped because he was in love.<br />
<br />
May God grant that you and I realize that we, too, have been given our life as
a gift from Jesus Christ, may we, too, sing because we have a song, and may we,
too, spend our days falling in love.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2954704673033939964.post-73389611497428508812013-10-05T19:15:00.000-05:002013-10-05T19:15:51.120-05:00Context!<div class="SermonPrep">
My deepest appreciation to <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=680" target="_blank">Greg Carey</a> and <a href="http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2013/09/increasing-faith-and-undeserving-slaves.html" target="_blank">D. Mark Davis</a> for their incredible insights into the Gospel reading. The commenter I refer to in the body of my sermon can be found on Rev. Davis' page.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
If you're interested (and I hope you are), Tim Kurek's book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Cross-Closet-Timothy-Kurek/dp/0983567743/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381014165&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cross+in+the+closet" target="_blank">"The Cross in the Closet," is available on Amazon.com</a>.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<i>LUKE 17:5-10</i></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<i>The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our
faith!"<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 6.0pt;"> </span></span>The Lord replied, "If you had
faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be
uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.</i></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<i>"Who among you would say to your slave who has just
come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take
your place at the table'?<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 6.0pt;"> </span></span>Would you
not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me
while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'?<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 6.0pt;"> </span></span>Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 6.0pt;"> </span></span>So you also, when you have done all that you were
ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought
to have done!'"</i></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
This is the Word of the Lord.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
I have a friend, named Tim Kurek, who is an author. He and
I were speaking on Friday about his book, “The Cross In The Closet,” which (as
the title may suggest) has a very controversial subject matter. The book has sold
pretty well, has gotten him some appearances on MSNBC and The View, and some
speaking engagements. He told me about a review he’d gotten from a very
conservative group of Christians, tearing the book apart. They hated it.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
But.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
In the text of the review, the writer said, and I quote, “Kurek is an
eloquent storyteller who transports readers into his world with skill and
competence.”</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
So Tim took just these two sentences out of that whole scathing
review, and posted them on his author page… making it look, for all the world,
as if this hyper-conservative religious organization liked his work!</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Context matters.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
I bring this up because bits and pieces of our Gospel
reading today have been used, out of their context, in a wide variety of very
troubling ways.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
The whole faith-the-size-of-a-mustard-seed has been
misinterpreted to say, “if you have enough faith then you should be able to do
the miraculous (heal the sick, world peace, etc) and if you can’t do those
things it is because you are not faithful enough!” It’s been used to promote a
Prosperity name-it-and-claim it Gospel, it’s been used to tell hurting people –
the twenty-five-year employee whose corporation has downsized him out, the woman
whose lump was malignant, the boy whose spot on the varsity was supposed to
resolve old feelings of inadequacy, insecurity, and unpopularity – that their
faith just wasn’t ‘big enough.’</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
This is to say nothing of the latter part of the reading,
which has been used though the ages to keep the oppressed – be they women or African
Americans or whoever – in their place.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Context matters.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
So I want to expand our reading just a little bit this
morning, and add the first four verses of Chapter 17 to what we have already
read:</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Occasions for stumbling are
bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! It would be better for
you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea
than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If
another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is
repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you
seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, “I repent”, you
must forgive.’”</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Isn’t it interesting that the antecedent to the apostles’
demand for increased faith isn’t the desire to do miraculous signs and wonders,
isn’t a greedy quest to have more and better, isn’t to have more of something –
faith, money, power – than the next person?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
The apostles are overwhelmed with the fear of causing a
little one to stumble, smothered by the idea of having to forgive, and forgive,
and forgive, and forgive…</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
And yes, in the original language that the Gospel of Luke
is written in, the apostles are pretty clearly making a demand: “Hey, whoah
there, if you are gonna expect us to do something like that, all that forgiving
over and over, well, we are gonna need a power-up, buddy. I don’t care if it’s
an anabolic faith steroid or cosmic enlightenment or a get-out-of-Hell-free
card, but pay up, fella.”</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Now, in that context, all the rest of what Jesus says falls
into place, doesn’t it? And in its proper context, we now learn a whole lot
about faith in a very short time – real, substantive, useful-in-the-real-world
information!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
In his response to a commentary, Barry Rempp makes a
fascinating observation about Jesus’ opening statement: “If you had
faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted
and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Rempp says, “…[R]ather than
being a ‘conditional statement contrary to fact’ (which is how the
English-speaking world traditionally understands it), it is a ‘conditional
statement according to fact.’ To illustrate [and] expand: ‘IF you have faith as
small as a seed of mustard - AND YOU DO - whenever you were saying to this [sycamore]
tree...’ Hence the purpose is to encourage rather than chide. …The point is not
that they need more faith; rather, they need to understand that faith enables
God to work in a person's life in ways that defy ordinary human experience.”</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
This excites me! It isn’t “oh, if I only had more faith, I
wouldn’t have to struggle to pay the bills, my family wouldn’t get sick, if
only, if only, if only…” It tells me that there are certain things that faith
is not:</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Faith is not the coins we drop into the cosmic vending
machine, so God will dispense whatever we want whenever we want.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Faith is not a badge earned or an award achieved or proof
that one person is holier than another. We do not, we cannot, earn faith. Faith
is a gift from God, it is a component of grace, just one example of God’s
egregious and inexhaustible love for us, God’s unmerited favor.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Faith is not the magic behind theological parlor games, be
they snake-handling or faith healing or a perfectly crafted doctrinal
statement.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
And in the context – because, again, context is important –
of the first four verses of the chapter:</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Faith is not license to do whatever we want to whomever we
want for whatever reason seems “right” to us at the time. We cannot use God or
our faith or our Christian name to mislead or to do harm to another human being
for any reason.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Faith is not permission to condemn another human being. “Rebuking”
in the way Jesus uses it has the immediate goal of repentance and forgiveness,
and that forgiveness is to be inexhaustible. It isn’t the Christian saying “you
are bad!” it is the Christian saying, “You’re broken. I’ve been broken, and
maybe I’ve been broken just like you. Please, let me help.”</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Faith does not put the Christian in a superior position over
any other person in any way, shape, or form – our namesake, the focal point of
our entire belief system, on the very night he was arrested and led off to be
brutally tortured and killed, this King of Kings and Lord of Lords, present at
and active in the creation of the universe, took off his robes and donned the
clothing of the lowest of household slaves and washed his disciples’ feet –
even the feet of the man who would betray him to his death!</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
That is the context. That is our faith.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Jesus is telling his apostles, and us, that with the faith
we have, we can do anything – replant sycamores in the ocean, or as Matthew and
Mark recount the saying, move mountains into the sea…</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
So we don’t have to earn faith, we just have to use it. And
in the context of the last part of our reading, we ain’t using faith to get in
God’s good graces, or maybe merit ourselves a better mansion in the sky… we use
our faith because it is who we are.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
I don’t want to wander too far down a rabbit trail, but I
think we in Western religious culture too often confuse great faith with good
marketing and well-targeted PR, skillfully crafted presentations and masterful
crowd manipulation. Faith is not about how many arenas a given TV preacher can
pack or how well this or that Christian author’s last book sold.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Faith is about driving a sick acquaintance to the doctor.
Faith is getting on the phone with a depressed friend. Faith is feeding, faith
is clothing, faith is offering shelter. Faith is making sure a thirsty child in
sub-Saharan Africa has clean water to drink, and it is making sure that no
child in our country ever has to go to bed hungry because there is not enough
food. It is giving up our seat for another person, and it is speaking up for
the rights of all people.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Christ Jesus modeled a perfect faith in that he always put
the needs of others before his own needs, even going so far as to give his
life. Jesus modeled a perfect faith in that his primary and all-consuming focus,
his singular goal, was to glorify God his Father.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
If Jesus was popular, he was popular with all the wrong
people. His fame got him killed, when you think about it.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
But what he did, day in and day out, was to heal and to
speak hope and to break bread and to walk and to listen and to give and to
love. He did the boring things, the things no one else could be bothered to do,
for the people no one else could be bothered to care about.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">Phillipians chapter two, verses six through eight: “Christ
was truly God.</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> <span class="text">But he did not try to remain</span></span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 3.5pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">equal with
God.</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> <span class="text">Instead he gave up everything</span></span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 3.5pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">and became a
slave, when he became</span></span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 3.5pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">like one of
us. Christ was humble.</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> <span class="text">He obeyed God</span> <span class="text">and
even died</span></span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 3.5pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">on a cross.”</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Faith is the miraculous and the mundane. Faith is the
mountain peak and the valley floor. Faith is the energy, the drive, the
encouragement, the reassurance to forgive and to love and to forgive and
forgive and forgive again.</div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
<br /></div>
<div class="SermonPrep">
Faith is what we do because of who we are.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517060258057744432noreply@blogger.com0