Church Street United Methodist Church

February 19, 2012 - The Transfiguration

2012-02-20T16:14:00.001-08:00

NotMerely Great – God!

Mark 9.2-9 – TheTransfiguration

Rev. Andy Ferguson

[SPIDERMAN]

Everyone knows that the action-hero Spiderman is really the very ordinaryPeter Parker underneath that cool costume and all his spider skills. One of thetensions that runs through the Spiderman movies and comics is who should knowhis true identity. While WE know from the beginning that Peter and Spidermanare the same person, we are invited to watch this tension work its way out inthe course of each story.

+Surely, Spiderman would notintentionally make himself known to his enemies. That would leave him and thoseclose to him vulnerable to attack.

+Peter Parker’s boss at thenewspaper is always criticizing Spiderman. He is not worthy to have such asecret.

+But, what about Peter’sgirlfriends? And specifically, what about Mary Jane, who became his wife?Getting close to someone means being honest and open about who you are. Whenshould he reveal his true identity to her?

Whensomeone asks for our trust, then it only seems fair that we trust them inreturn. Trust doesn’t really matter with the guys at the carwash or the clerkat the corner store where you buy milk on your way home. But, trust is anecessary ingredient in marriage. In limited ways, it is important with ourbusiness associates and even with the political candidates who ask for ourvotes. Trust works both ways or it does not work at all.

The fear in Peter’s mind was thatMary Jane could not commit herself to a guy who climbs walls in the middle ofthe night, whose personal quest is to fight crime alone. What if she does notwant such a life with him? What if she walks away? Would it be better to keepthe secret even from her?

But the fact is that Peter is muchmore than Mary Jane has seen. He wants her to know and to commit herself to thewhole package.

By the way, when Spiderman gotaround to talking with Mary Jane about his true identity as Peter Parker, shealready knew. She had seen him as Spiderman crawling out of Peter’s bedroomwindow one night and put it all together. Still, even though she had figured itout, she wanted Peter to tell her himself. His telling was important to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the chapter leading up to the Transfigurationstory in Mark 9, Jesus has just fed the 4000; then he cured the Blindman andgave him his sight. Reading the Gospel, it is pretty clear that Jesus issomething special. In the midst of these miracles, the Pharisees come to Jesusand demand a sign to prove his identity. But, Jesus rejects their demand; theyare too much like Spiderman’s boss at the newspaper. They don’t want to believein him; they just want more ammunition to attack him. Jesus has nothing for thePharisees.

Still, it is time for Jesus toreveal himself. He chooses the disciples for this conversation. Unlike thePharisees, the disciples have shown their willingness to follow him. Jesusbegins by asking what they believe about him and what they trust him to be forthem.

27 Jesus went onwith his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way heasked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28 And theyanswered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, oneof the prophets." 29 He asked them, "But who do you say that Iam?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah" (Mark8:27-29.)

To this point in the experienceof his disciples, Jesus has appeared to be an ordinary human being. Sure, hecan teach with power. And he can work miracles of healing, feeding, andcleansing. At his command the storm will cease. These are important, but so far Jesus has presented himself asnothing more than a human being who is called and gifted for God’s service.Moses, Elijah and others did as much. At Jesus’ initiative, Peter has saidaloud what he sees in Jesus. He has all the evidence so far. If he had stoppedat this point, we would respect Jesus as any great, charismatic leader that theworld has produced:

+Gandhi,

+Lincoln,

+AmeliaEarhart,

+SallyRide,

+andSojourner Truth are several examples.

Each of them did someremarkable things and inspired others to remarkable feats in turn.

[TRANSFIGURATION]

Now, in response to Simon’sconfession, Jesus goes further, revealing himself to be more than a giftedhuman being; he reveals himself to be God among them. Or as the *Prologue of John* puts it: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John1.14). It will be a huge leap in their understanding.

The Transfiguration happened thisway:

2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter andJames and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And hewas transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such asno one on earth could bleach them (Mark 9:2-3.)

I. Let’s look at thedetails of the transfiguration:

B.Visually, this was a powerful experience. His clothes became dazzling whitesuch as no one on earth could bleach them. Jesus was recognizable, but he didnot look the same. They saw Jesus in a whole new light as they had never seenhim before. And they saw “glory” – that was most important.

The word “Transfigured” literallymeans “changed in one’s form.” This is more than putting on a different suit ofclothes; he was entirely changed. He temporarily exchanged the normal humanform he had during this earthly life for the unique glorious form He wouldpossess after he was exalted to heaven as the risen Christ. But, the glory theysee in the Transfiguration goes further: they see the glory of Jesus that is alreadyat work in him. Until now, they have seen Jesus as an especially gifted humanbeing who does amazing acts of healing, teaching, and feeding. Because of theTransfiguration, they see that he is so much more: he is in fact God among themdoing all of these things – and promising so much more that God alone can do.

C.4 And there appeared to them Elijah withMoses, who were talking with Jesus. Now, Elijah and Moses were important.The last verses of the Old Testament were written by the Prophet Malachi.There, 400 years before Christ, he said:

4Remember the teaching of my servant MOSES… 5 Lo, I will send you the prophetELIJAH before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn thehearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents(Malachi4).

Because of this prophecy, people inJesus’ day believed that Moses and Elijah would return to mark the coming ofthe Messiah and the Day of the Lord. Mark understands, as he writes his Gospel,that this is no minor detail from the event. It is confirmation that theancient prophecy of Malachi was fulfilled in the life of Jesus on the day ofhis Transfiguration.

E.Peter did not know what to say, for theywere terrified.

Thisis not blind terror in the face of the unknown. This is the beautiful and reverent,holy fear that comes over a person in the presence-of and in full awareness-ofGod. How many times have we come to this place in the story and wanted such aspine-tingling experience of God for ourselves?

F. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and fromthe cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen tohim!"

Clearly, God was not at a loss forwords. These are the same words God spoke at Jesus’ baptism. “Listen to him!”It is a direct command – not only for Peter, but also for every Christian.Listen to Jesus – to his teachings, to his commands, to his heart.

G.8 Suddenly, when they looked around, theysaw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus.

Just as suddenly, they are aloneagain with Jesus. And even this moment has its message. At the height of theTransfiguration, Elijah and Moses were necessary to make the point of Jesus’divinity. But, now they are gone, and only Jesus is all they need, so he remains.Thus, Jesus fulfills and carries forward all that Elijah and Moses brought. AsI heard so many times in seminary, “When you have seen the face of Jesus, youhave seen the face of God.”

II. We have come to theend of the passage, explaining all the details that can be explained. My sensehas always been that the story and the event to which it points is greater thanour explanations.

[CRADDOCK] The outstanding teacher of preachers, Dr.Fred Craddock, suggests that it is better to "hold this text before thelisteners in (its) full extraordinariness rather than reduce (it) to fit thecontour of our experiences. It is better to be led to the foot of the Mount ofTransfiguration, to be helped to sense its significance on Jesus and threeapostles, and to be left there for awhile in awe of its mystery and power.

He seems to be saying, "Tell the story, butdon't worry about illustrations; Jesus is Jesus, and we are, after all, just us"(2).

IV. [CHALLENGE]

Well, all of our explanations are finished. We have explored this rich passagein its context, and we have explained the details within it. But, it is notenough that we dissect it – that we hold it in our hands like an interestingrock that we have found along the path. The scriptures are not given just topique our curiosity or serve merely as an object of our exploration. Thescriptures are given to lead us to the same place they led the disciples. Jesuscarefully prepared His disciples for the moment they would step forward infaith and trust. So, through the scripture this morning, we too have beenprepared to step forward in faith and trust. What now do you say to Jesus’question: “Who do you say that I am?” Don’t tell him what others have said;that is interesting but beside the point. It is time for our commitment, ourtrust, our faith in Christ to be spoken aloud. It is time for our faith inChrist to be lived aloud. Who do you say He is?

And the Good News, for each one whocomes to Christ in trust and faith, is that to such as these – and only forsuch as these -- He will reveal himself in all his glory. He is so much more.Jesus is not merely great; he is God among us!

Come now: what do you say?

Notes:

2. Adaptedfrom Fred B. Craddock, Luke [Atlanta: John Knox Press] 1990, pp. 132f

January 1, 2012 - New Year's Day

2012-01-01T05:54:00.000-08:00

Note: This morning, beginning at 9:30 am, the Knoxville Track Club is sponsoring a 5k race on Neyland Drive. It goes from Calhoun's on the River to the UT Trial Gardens --and back. Those of you traveling to church along that route may encounter some congestion.Other routes are unaffected.
Andy Ferguson

December 4, 2011

2011-12-04T13:58:00.001-08:00

TwoBuilders: Joseph and Herod

Matthew 1.18-25 Advent2

One figure inthe Christmas story whose contributions and faithfulness have been under-appreciated was Joseph. Joseph is mainly remembered as the man who was definitely not thefather of Mary’s child. Then, we expand the insult by recalling how he almostdumped Mary when he learned that she was pregnant before their formal marriage.Oh yes, he was a carpenter. And, it seems that he dreamed a lot and took hisdreams pretty seriously. Other than that, he is seen as little more than thatguy leading the donkey on front of Christmas cards, or the rather un-resourcefulfellow who couldn't even find a fit place for his wife to give birth, or thetall kid wearing his father's bathrobe who doesn't have to do or say anythingin children's Christmas pageants.

This sermon, like all our preachingthis Advent is inspired by an Advent Study written by Rev. Adam Hamilton; it istitled, *The Journey: Walking the Road toBethlehem*. This study invites us to see how the geography and history ofthe places where Jesus was born shapes the Christmas story and indeed shapesthe great gospel message of salvation.

[CAROL:O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM]

In any list of our *10 favoriteChristmas carols*, we would certainly include “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Itis a dreamy carol which sets out to transport us to an idyllic Bethlehem wherea baby as precious as Jesus would certainly be born.

O little town ofBethlehem

How still we seethee lie

Above thy deepand dreamless sleep

The silent starsgo by…

Thatnight, of course, was the night of the Baby Jesus’ birth. Beguiled by thecarol, we imagine Bethlehem to be a place of unbroken peace and simple beauty,set apart from the dangers of the Romans and their heavy-handed ruler, KingHerod.

In some ways, the magic and beautyof the Christmas season make it hard for us to look at the larger story of thebirth of the Christ Child. We want our Christmas to be about “angels andshepherds and starry nights;” any other details get in the way. But, as we turnour attention to Joseph and his birthplace in Bethlehem this morning, we needto see the bigger picture. It is rich with evidence of the hand of God and wellworth our attention. This time let’s look at the familiar Christmas story fromthe viewpoint of Joseph, the intended husband of Mary, and thus the earthlyfather who raised Jesus as his own child.

I.According to Luke, Joseph was required by King Herod to return to the city ofhis birth to register for a census. Most people further assume that this censuswas for the purpose of a taxation. This city was Bethlehem.

Because of the Christmas Carol, weassume that Bethlehem was a peaceful place, set apart from the dangers of thelarger world. Nothing could be further from the truth. Further, talking aboutBethlehem will help us better understand the character of Joseph and thewonderful contribution he made to the coming of the Christ Child.

The first clue that there is more tothe story of Bethlehem comes in the verses which follow our scripture readingthis morning. If your Bible is still open to our scripture, just continue readingwith Matthew 2 beginning with verse 1:

**In the time of King Herod,

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. . .**

Inchapter 1, we began with Joseph; now in chapter 2, we must pay attention toKing Herod. Herod was born around 74 BC and died in 4 BC. The year of Herod’sdeath and this reference in Matthew are the reason that many think that Jesuswas actually born in 4 BC. Herod was a Roman client who ruled Judea. He isdescribed as "a madman who murdered his own family including many of his ownsons. He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem andelsewhere, including his expansion of the Great Temple in Jerusalem.

When Joseph and Mary traveled toBethlehem, they did not find a sweet town isolated from the politics andoppressions of King Herod and his Roman patrons. Just a short distance south ofBethlehem, King Herod had built a fortress palace for himself. At the site ofone of his military victories, Herod took an ordinary hill and built it upuntil it was one of the highest mountains in the area. Inside that man-mademountain, he built a self-contained fortress and palace where he could defendhimself against any attacker. On the outside, it looked like a smallishfortress on top of a hill. Inside it had a water system, barracks for troops, avilla for the King and his court – all reached by narrow steps going up theside. At the base of the mountain he built an artificial lake, gardens and acity for his guests. King Herod was so proud of this fortress built inside amountain that he named it the “Herodion” – he named it for himself.

The Herodion was so tall andprominent that you could see it from most places in Bethlehem. Roman soldiersand officials traveling between Jerusalem the capital and the Herodion fortresscould have passed through Bethlehem often.

I have described all of this toprepare you to think about the fact that what we have in Bethlehem at the birthof Jesus is the contrast of two builders. *Joseph the carpenter* and *Herod thegreat builder*. Mark uses the Greek word, *tekton*,to describe Jesus as the son of a *carpenter*. The word can also mean*builder*. A person who was a *master builder* was called *arch-tekton* whichis where our word *architect* comes from. You might imagine that King Herodwith all his building projects could be called an *arch-tekton,” but Joseph wasonly a *tekton* -- a craftsman.

II.Now, contrast these two builders:

A. Joseph was a modest man; he doesnot have single word recorded in the Bible. He lived out the role offather-figure in Jesus’ early life. The New Testament assumes that Jesus wastrained as a carpenter himself.

+Joseph wanted to marry andproposed marriage to Mary.

+He learned that Mary was withchild before they had married – a great shame for both of them.

+He considered divorcing her;

+Matthew describes him as a *righteousman*, but we need to think about what righteousness means in this instance.Usually, *righteousness* means doing the right thing as required by the law.Their law, like ours, required each person to do certain things and not-to-docertain things. The law of that day required that a woman who was engaged tomarry but became pregnant by another man should be condemned for adultery andstoned to death. This is what righteousness according to the Law required. In oursociety, it is still considered grounds for ending an engagement. So, Josephcould have ended the engagement; many would have expected him to condemn herfor adultery publicly so that she could be stoned to death. He chose neither ofthese. Instead, because of a dream, he took her as his wife. Then, when thechild was born, Joseph named him Jesus. In that society, it was the father whopublicly named a child; it was the traditional way by which the father claimedthe child as his own and gave the child his name.

Thus, wewould have to say that Joseph’s righteousnesswas really what we would call compassion.He might have done many things to protect his honor and the honor of hisfamily; he chose instead to act with mercy toward Mary and protect her. Remember,at this point in the story of Jesus, only Mary and Joseph have any assurancethat this child is of the Holy Spirit. Every other person sees only a scandal.

+Clearly, Joseph was willing tolisten to the voice of God. At the point where he was most confused by the eventsunfolding around him, he listened when God spoke to him in a dream. He acceptedthe assurance from God, given in the dream that this child was from the HolySpirit. // How many of us at the point of our greatest confusion and distrustwill listen to the still, small voice of God? I fear that it would not be many.

So,here is Joseph:

+father,

+carpenter/builder,

+righteous,

+merciful,

+trusting,

+listening for the voice of God.

Inmy opinion, this Joseph of the Christmas story is a man of quiet integrity, whohas something to teach us about character.

B. Herod the King was a verydifferent sort of man. We have already talked some about him, so I’ll justsummarize. Herod was:

+a master-builder,

+as a king, he was considered amadman,

+unrighteous – using his authorityto inflict his will on others,

+unmerciful – killing many of hisown sons,

+untrusting, even paranoid accordingto some,

+certainly, not listening or heedingthe voice of God.

Whata contrast! Two builders, each with a different character. Two fathers – Josephgiving life to the Son that would not be his own; Herod killing his own fleshand blood out of paranoia.

This is not some far away point;this is a very current point to be made about the American character. In TerryMattingly’s article on “George Gallup’s Interest in Religion” said on Saturday:

"We reverethe Bible, but don't read it." "We believe the Ten Commandments to bevalid rules for living, although we can't name them. We believe in God, butthis God is a totally affirming one, not a demanding one. He does not commandour total allegiance. We have other gods before him" (1).

[LESSON:] The lesson to learn fromJoseph is that often the greatest witness to our faith in God is not thespeeches we make or the honors we win for ourselves. Often our greatest witnessis measured

+by our willingness to liveinconvenienced by faith in this God;

+bythose who are helped because we passed their way;

+by the trust we offer when thingsbegin badly -- that they will one day work out well.

The question we bring to thecommunion table is morning is just this: “What do we bring to this table? Ourtrophies and honors? Or our willingness to follow?

Arewe coming to this table today as consumers of grace or as those committed tothe God of grace – wherever that God may send us? You see, the differencebetween these two builders and now in these two visions of life is enormous.

Notes:

1. Mattingly, Terry. "George Gallup's Interest in Religion," Knoxville News-Sentinel, December 3, 2001.

November 20, 2011

2011-11-27T14:07:00.001-08:00

AGrateful, Courageous heart

Psalm 66

Thanksgiving Day is coming. Thereare some who will complain that we have nothing to be thankful for this year.

+TheStock Market is down.

+Groceriesare high.

+Folksare out of jobs.

+Thereis no end in sight!

Howcan we give thanks on Thanksgiving when this year has been harder than the lastyear, and recent years have been harder than years in the not-so-recent past?

If giving thanks requires that everyyear be bigger and richer than the year before, then the complainers are right.We should only give thanks when every THIS year is bigger than every LAST year.But if giving thanks has a different source, then you’d better get to the storeto buy food for a feast. Thanksgiving Day is almost upon us.

[Illus: Have YouTaken Inventory Lately?]

Author David McLennon tells a storyof his very first job in a small town general store. This was in the day beforemails and supermarket chains. At age thirteen he was hired as a handy boy. He would sweep the floor, bagitems for customers, and put up stock.

On one particular Saturday, he heardthe owner say to one of the clerks: “It’s that time of the year again: InventorySeason." Dr. McLennon confessed that this was a word that had not yetentered into his vocabulary. When an opportune moment arrived, he went to the storeowner and asked, “Sir, what is InventorySeason?” Patiently the owner explained that it was a time when you made alist of everything that you had -- from groceries on the shelves to wrappingpaper and string.”

Still somewhat puzzled, the youngMcLennon then asked, “Why?”

“Well,” responded the owner, “Weneed to count the stock we have at the end of the year. Every now and then we haveto take inventory just to see what we have.”

That little story, to me, providesan important aspect of what Thanksgiving is about. It is a time when each of usneeds to ask ourselves the question: “HaveI taken inventory of my life lately? Have I made an effort to count all thethings that I do have in life insteadof complaining about the things that Idon’t have? It is a good exercise especially when we are of a mind to broodor worry. Have you taken inventory lately?

What I am suggesting here is that fromtime to time, we should sit down and do some talking to ourselves about all ofthe gifts and opportunities and challenges that God has given each one of us. Thisis a simple and gracious attitude toward life.

Now, one step further: Is thisattitude of taking inventory of our blessings harder this year than it was inyears past? After all, if we have suffered losses and setbacks in this year,should we be expected to give thanks? In good years, “Yes;” in bad years, isour answer, “No”? The core of the matter is this: What is the source of our gratitude? Is the source of ourthanksgiving spirit an ever-growing abundance of blessings and upward mobility?Or does a thanksgiving spirit have a different source?

[ILLUS: EXPRESS PRAYER]

A young boy had only heard his Grandfatheroffer the blessing before the meal at Thanksgiving, Easter, and other specialoccasions; when he, typically, said a long prayer over the food.

One night, after a fun campout andfishing trip, the Grandfather (to the boy’s surprise) asked a very briefblessing on the food. With a gleam in his eye, the boy grinned at hisGrandfather and said, "You don't pray so long when you're hungry, do youGrandpa?"

Theyoung boy caught the question that I am raising this Sunday beforeThanksgiving. Are we more grateful when we are well-fed and life is filled withpromise than when we are not-so-well fed and maybe even worried about ourfuture?

I contend that the source of our gratitudeis not the measure of the blessings we pile around us on Thanksgiving or anyother day. Instead, the source of our gratitude is our confidence in thegoodness and constancy of God. You see, if our gratitude depends on themeasured pile of our blessings, then that measure can vary from day to day andyear to year. Some years are better than others. Some days are better thanothers. Some days I just feel more ableto take on the challenges than I do on other days.

As a nation, we measure our readinessto take on the challenges with something called “The Consumer ConfidenceIndex.” I’m not sure how they come up with it, but we hear it reported fromtime to time on the news. But, what does it measure? Is it only focused on ourreadiness to buy things? Or does it measure other areas of confidence andworry?

Certainly, our confidence that thefuture looks bright enough to make a major purchase is a kind of measure.Still, I contend that it is not a worthy basis for deciding our thankfulness onthis Thanksgiving Day.

[ILLUS: Grinchwho stole Christmas]

Remember that wonderful Children'sholiday classic "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas?" It was will be onTV again this Christmas. You'll recall in the story how the Grinch, disguisedas Santa Claus, enters all the homes by way of the chimneys. He takes all thepresents and ornaments, the trees and stockings, and even their food down tothe last morsel. He drags his loot up to his mountain and then looks down upon Whoville with a sinister grin. He islistening for the cries and wailings of the people to start as they wake up onChristmas morning to discover a Christmas lost. What he hears instead surpriseshim. Up from the town of the Whoscomes a joyful Christmas carol. They are singing.

"Why?" he asks. It isbecause, he learns, Christmas resides not in things but in the heartwhich is thankful. He could not steal their gratitude (3).

Whilethe movie does teach us that gratitude is in the heart, not in presents andthings, it does not explore the deeper source of that gratitude. I want toexplore that well-spring of gratitude now with you.

II.The source of our gratitude is plain to see in our scripture this morning fromthe Psalms. The source is our confidence in the goodness and constancy of God.

TEXT: The Psalm we read this morningreaches back into Israel’s past to tell the story of God’s faithfulness. Itreaches back to tell the defining story of God’s love for his people:

5 Come and see what God has done,

His wonderful acts among people.

6 He changedthe sea into dry land;

ourancestors crossed the river on foot.

There werejoiced because of what he did.

7 He rulesforever by his might

andkeeps his eyes on the nations.

Let norebels rise against him. (Psalm 66.5-7).

[A.] This Psalm reminds Israel thatGod led Israel out of Egypt and slavery, to form them as a distinct people andthen brought them to the Land of Promise. Every time Israel told this story,they were reminded of that defining moment in their history. Even though we do notcherish this story as ancient Israel did, this story reminds Christians ofGod’s mighty deeds, too. And this story prepares us to hear how God acted againin the person of Jesus Christ to call the world out of sin and into righteousness.You see it in our Christian story, the Gospel, too.

[B.] There is something more about the Exodus story that hits us who areAmericans in a distinct way. The Exodus story is not just about geography – asif moving from Egypt to Israel was the whole story. This story tells us thatGod’s great defining act was leading Israel out of slavery into freedom. Somemight claim that this is the power of liberation over the power of oppression.But, I read this as more personal than the triumph of one concept over another.This is God, who moved by love, called Israel out of slavery in Egypt intofreedom in the Land of Promise. Not finished, God, in that same love, wouldextend such freedom to all the peoples of the earth. This is the God, who fullyrevealed to us in the face of Jesus Christ, would extend such grace and hopeand freedom to whosoever would believe in Him. It is not just about geography;it also about God’s gift of freedom from oppression.

[C.] So, the Psalmist called Israel, in every year following that definingmoment of freedom and love, to give thanks to God, knowing that this is theconstant character of God. Now, as Christians, we freely add to that story of Israel’sliberation, the Christian story of the gracious gift of the Christ.

[D.] And one further step: as Americans on Thanksgiving Day, we now add to thisfaith story our nation’s story which has been a blessing to each and every one ofus. Almost from our nation’s beginnings, we have heard the call for a day ofnational Thanksgiving for God’s gift of this good land, its people, and itsvision of freedom with opportunity.

So regardless of the currenteconomic indicators, we reach back for the great stories of our history to findevidence of God’s goodness and God’s love. In the conviction that God’s loveand goodness do not waver, we rise up to give thanks for God and God’s manyblessings.

Last year, the Thanksgiving Proclamationfrom the President of the United States included this thought when he said:

Thanksgiving Day is a time each year, datingback to our founding, when we lay aside the troubles and disagreements of theday and bow our heads in humble recognition of the Providence bestowed upon ourNation. Amidst the uncertainty of afledgling experiment in democracy, President George Washington declared thefirst Thanksgiving in America, recounting the blessings of tranquility, union,and plenty that shined upon our young country. In the dark days of the Civil War when the fate of our Union was indoubt, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a Thanksgiving Day, calling for"the Almighty hand" to heal and restore our Nation.

In confronting the challenges of our day,we must draw strength from the resolve of previous generations who faced theirown struggles and take comfort in knowing a brighter day has always dawned onour great land. As we stand at the closeof one year and look to the promise of the next, we lift up our hearts ingratitude to God for our many blessings, for one another, and for our Nation(1).

Thankfulnesscomes, not from our piled up trophies; instead, it rises out of a grateful,courageous heart. It comes from the great story of God’s faithfulness whichdoes not waver and our confidence in God’s loving-kindness. The fortunes ofeach passing year will vary; some years are better than others. But, each timewe recall the great story of God’s mighty acts by which we have been brought tofreedom, we return to our foundation of gratitude.

III.Take this thought one step further. Thankful is not merely our response to ourGod who is good and constant in love. I believe that thankfulness shapes usinto the people we become.

Do you remember the poem by Dorothy Nolte,“Children Learn What they Live”? While is focuses on children, it actuallyspeaks about the way our environment shapes the people we become.

The poem beginswith words of caution:

If children livewith criticism, they learn to condemn.

If children livewith hostility, they learn to fight.

If children livewith fear, they learn to be apprehensive.

It ends withmore positive thoughts:

If children livewith kindness and consideration, they learn respect.

If children livewith security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.

If children livewith friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live (2).

IfI could add one more line to the poem, it would say: “If people live withthankfulness, then they learn to receive the world with gratitude.” Of course,the opposite is true, too. We are shaped by what we live with. On ThanksgivingDay, we are learning to receive the world with gratitude by gathering withfamily and friends to share the feast of Thanksgiving.

On Thursday, all across this nation,we share a feast. Let it be a feast of gratitude, a feast of retelling thegreat story of this nation with its freedom and its opportunity, a feast ofremembering the goodness and faithfulness of God.

Notes:

1. PresidentBarak Obama, The Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation, 2010

3. “How theGrinch Stole Christmas.” written by Dr. Seuss, published as a book by RandomHouse in 1957. Chuck Jones adapted the story as an animated special for TV in1966. (Source Wikopedia.)

October 2, 2011 - Throwing out the Good Stuff

2011-10-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

Philippians3.4b-12

It is a matter of values: what areyou and I willing to give up to get what we want? Does kids’ soccer mean thatmuch? Does getting an education mean so much to us that we are willing to payfor it? Does getting the right job mean you’d be willing to leave behind home andfriends to move anywhere? This is Sunday church: What would we GIVE UP tofollow Christ?

[MOVING]

Being a United Methodist preacheracross these many years has meant moving from time to time. When I committedmyself at my ordination to go where I am sent, I did not realize how seriouslythe Bishop was going to take that promise. It didn’t talk long to see that, inthe world of United Methodist pastors, moving is just part of the deal.

Each time we move, it seems to takea slightly bigger truck. For a long time, I assumed it was the children whocame from the hospital with so much stuff. Even now, they are kind enough to storesome of their high school and college boxes with us. But, they moved out tohomes of their own some years ago, and our pattern did not change. The lasttruck that brought us to Knoxville was the biggest one of all.

Being married means that moving isan exercise in delicate, inter-spousal diplomacy. Like most husbands, I cancull my wife’s carefully saved treasures with an iron hand. This is a husband-skillthat she does not appreciate in the least. That I have never thrown away a toolor a book from my side of the house is sure evidence that I am not qualified tomake any decisions about her treasured keepings. So, like most couples who packup and move from time to time, we pack together, each keeping a watchful eye onthe other lest something precious to one callously fall into the discard pile.

C. I’m going to guess that someonein your house and in your pedigree has had to deal with the same decisions:about what to keep, about what to throw away, about what to pass along tosomeone else. You know the old sayings:

+ “One person’s junk is anotherperson’s treasure.”

+ “Beauty is in the eye of thebeholder.”

Thatkind of thing. Mostly, we try to make the case that something is no longeruseful or does not work or is hopelessly out of style. That makes it easier topart with it. Sometimes in the inter-spousal diplomacy, we defer to the otherand let it go to Goodwill.

But the truth is that we rarely getrid of the good stuff.

+Ifwe might need it.

+ifit can still be in style,

+Andespecially if it has sentimental value for us,

Weare righteously unwilling to part with it.

II.But, then we meet Paul, the apostle, the follower of Jesus. He is confident, tosay the least. No one would ever have to tell him that he really ought to standup for himself.

In this passage from the Letter tothe Philippians, he does not list his accomplishments as a politician inAmerica might do; instead he enumerates his pedigree. Apparently, there werevoices in Philippi who claimed that only real Jews could be full Christians;they were uncomfortable with the gospel being offered to these pagan gentiles.As you know, Christianity rose out of the Jewish world; Jesus was the son of aJewish carpenter, after all. These Judaizers wanted to make the case forkeeping Christianity as Jewish as possible. So, Paul addresses these Judaizersabout his right to speak on the subject.

+I, too, have reason for confidence in theflesh. In fact, if anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I havemore:

+circumcisedon the eighth day,

+amember of the people of Israel,

+ofthe tribe of Benjamin,

+aHebrew born of Hebrews;

+asto the law, a Pharisee;

+asto zeal, a persecutor of the church;

+asto righteousness under the law, blameless.

Now,what we expect Paul to say is this: “Since I have the right pedigree to speakout on Jewish subjects, I’m going to tell you the way I see it.” But, that isnot what he says. Instead, this:

[A.] Yet whatever gains I had, these I have cometo regard as loss because of Christ.

[B.]I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing ChristJesus my Lord.

Paulstates that he is willing to count everything he holds dear as so much rubbish,if only he can gain Christ. Knowing the life of evangelism he undertook,knowing the risks he endured, knowing the hardships he endured, it is clearwhat he gave up to follow Christ.

Thinkabout the contrast here. We struggleto throw out the junk that accumulates in our lives; Paul says he has thrownout the good stuff so that he can follow Christ. He has thrown out:

+thehouse,

+thebest car – the one that’s not even paid for yet;

+hisSunday suit and all those new shirts and ties;

+acareer doing something ordinary that would have allowed him to stay home,

+thegood china and with that the company silver;

+thebest tools in his workshop;

+maybeeven the family that would have meant living a normal life.

TheGOOD STUFF is all that furnishes ourhomes and our lives, the stuff we touch and depend on every day. All thisPaul has willingly tossed aside so that he might know Christ. He has gainedChrist and the righteousness that comes from following him. Immersing himselfin knowing Christ has become the mission of his life.

Consider the claim Paul has made,and think what it would mean for you and me to do the same. It’s not so muchthat Paul has set a high standard; it is that Paul sees the treasure hidden ina field, and he is willing to sacrifice everything else to buy that field andclaim the treasure. I hope you can see it, too.

[IV.APPLIC:]

What does it mean to Paul to give upthe Good Stuff in order to gain Christ? Just this: Paul clearly wants to belike Christ, to imitate Christ in his life, his witness, and his commitment.

Since the beginning, God hasattempted to get people’s attention and to call them into a commitment to livewith principles, values, and sense of sacredness that God wants from allhumanity. It is in the living, breathing person of Jesus that we really see allthings we call holy, such as forgiveness, sharing, joy, vision, courage,perseverance, and especially love. We might think we understand love, forexample, but when we receive totally unconditional love from another person,love takes on a completely new meaning for us. Jesus shows us the ultimateexample of love, namely, God’s love. Seeing this example in Jesus’ life makesall the difference in the world for us.

[SWINDOLL]

When CharlesSwindoll was a young boy, he was greatly influenced by a remark from an oldTexan: "The problem with the Christian life is that it's so daily."

Following Jesus is a lifestyle thatbuilds on past lessons and decisions, but it also depends on our dedication dayby day. We cannot live off yesterday's successes, last week's prayers, or theBible stories we heard when we were children.

Each new day is both a challenge andan opportunity. Our faith will be challenged, and we can use that challenge asan opportunity to grow in our relationship with God. Jesus Himself said thatthose who wanted to be His disciples were expected to be in a continualattitude of self denial and obedience to Him. Here's how the Lord put it:"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up hiscross daily, and follow Me" (Lk 9:23).

As each day unfolds, we must pauseand remind ourselves that this is a day dedicated to God, that it is to be usedfor His glory, and that it is best lived in continual recollection of whatJesus did for us on the cross. Starting today, let's look at life that way.It's a daily commitment.

[ILLUS: Fred Craddock]

Dr Fred Craddock spoke about commitment andsacrifice and grand gestures. He told this story: "A wealthy man went tohis priest with a check for fifty thousand dollars made out to the church. Hehanded the check to the preacher and the preacher looked at it. It was a lot ofmoney! Then the preacher handed it back and said, "Go cash it in. Cash itin for quarters and dollar bills. Then, go out and spend fifty cents or adollar at a time doing the Lord's work."

The man exclaimed, "But thatwill take the rest of my life!"

"That's right!" answeredthe priest. “That is the point!" (3)

Notes:

2. Loren B. Mead.The Once and Future Church.

3.Craddock, Fred. Reprinted in Our DailyBread, February 12, 1997

September 18, 2011 - We Grumble; God Provides

2011-09-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

Exodus 16:2–15

On the night of Passover,Israel set out to leave Egypt. Following Moses, they went to the Red Sea andwandered up and down the edge of the Sea. There Pharaoh’s armies chased them,intending to bring them back to slavery. And, there God opened a path throughthe sea on dry ground with walls of water standing up on each side. They walkedthrough the Sea to safety on the other side. Then, as they looked back, theysaw Pharaoh’s armies racing up behind them, following the path through the seathat they had just crossed. But now, God sent the Sea back into its place, andthe sea swallowed up the chariots and the horses and the warriors. And when thesea was back to its place, Israel saw that they were finally free from Egypt.They were free from Egypt’s rule, but theydid not yet know how to be a people led by God. So began the 40 year Exodusjourney through the wilderness of Sinai. This was the journey that definedIsrael as a people; this was the journey that led them to know that they werenow the people of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

One day, they will arrive at MtSinai to receive the Ten Commandments and its covenant. But, they have manymore lessons to learn along the way: lessons about themselves, lessons aboutlife, and lessons about God. Along the way, the desert wilderness of the Sinaibecomes one of their teachers in their journey to become a people.

I.As the journey begins, the children of Israel have no idea how to they willsurvive in the desert wilderness. I have traveled across that desert. There islittle vegetation, few animals survive there, and water is scarce. People maketheir homes there, of course. But, they are not many in number as Israel was.And they are not traveling as Israel was. So, the people complained to Moses. Youhave to love their complaint:

"If only we had died by the hand of the LORD inthe land of Egypt,

whenwe sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread;

for you have brought us out into this wilderness

tokill this whole assembly with hunger."

Injust a few words they have gone from “I’m hungry”:

+tolonging for Egypt -- where they were slaves,

+toimagining how well they ate – which they did not;

+toforgetting that God has led them out to freedom – which they did not have inEgypt.

The problem is that they do notknow what do with freedom. This story is a great reminderthat people do not automatically know how to deal with freedom. It is also areminder that people can become comfortable with slavery, so much that theywould prefer it over freedom.

As we are beginning the 2012Presidential Election process, this story is already a reminder to us that thisnation cannot assume that everyone knows what freedom is. Freedom is not merely the license to live anyway you want withoutcost and without restraint – though some would want that. Freedom is the rightto be heard in the public debate; it is the right to have a vote that countsregardless of your bank account, your party, the color of your skin, yourreligion or lack of it, OR your gender. Freedom as a citizen means your votecounts with no regard for any of those considerations.

And freedom is costly. We easilygive thanks for the soldiers who gave their lives to insure our freedom. And weshould. But freedom is costly in other ways. Taxes -- there are some thingsthat we want government to do. Paying attention to the campaign so you and Ican vote intelligently; that is one of the costs. Taking time to vote. Livingas good neighbors to our neighbors. Freedom must be written on our hearts.

You and I might complain that lifewas easier when our parents took care of all the bills and fixed the house whenit needed repair. You and I might complain that life was easier when we werechildren. But, unless we are in fact children, it is time for us to take up theresponsibilities and costs of full citizenship.

Israel was just learning the lessonsof citizenship and faith. They began the journey into the wilderness withalmost nothing. This journey will shape them into a distinct people with agreat history and following a great God. It’s time for them to learn a lesson. Itbegins when they complain: they are hungry and tired, and they wonder if itwould be better back in Egypt. So they complain about Aaron and Moses.

II.Now, God speaks in answer to the complaint.

[A.] Part1: "Iam going to rain bread from heaven for you,

and each day the people shall go outand gather enough for that day.

Godwill give from his rich storehouse so that the people will not need bread fromPharaoh’s storehouses.

Thetheological point God is making to Israel, and now to us, is that God provides for his people. They do notneed to look to their slave masters for their daily bread; it is God whoprovides for our needs. The difference is dramatic: as long as they look totheir slave masters, then the masters hold their future; as long as they lookto God, then God holds their future.

The fact is that we can be bought,you and I. When we are hungry and worried about our survival, we too can bebought for nothing more than a meal. Slavery is just that close. Israel came tosee that the choice between freedom and slavery is not just a matter of farawaypolitics; it was as close as their daily bread.

[APPLIC:] So, let us give thanks toGod for the gift of freedom. The experience of Israel in the wilderness is aconstant reminder of the gift of freedom which God has given. God provides forus in the simple provision for our ordinary needs.

God might have continued the bigmiracles and wonders that make great movies but little more. The problem withthe miracles and wonders approach is that we would learn to turn to God only atthe edges of life; we would never realize our need of God in the center of lifewhere we live every day. By providing their daily bread, God reminded Israelthat they would meet God daily. Thus, we have been taught to begin our mealswith a prayer of thanks to God for bread. As God provided bread for Israel inthe wilderness, so we are convinced and grateful that God provides bread for usdaily.

[APPLIC:] As you know, fall us uponus; Thanksgiving Day is not so far away. It is a day of football, familygatherings, trips to Grandma’s house, and all the rest. But, at its heart, itis marked by gratitude for God’s daily provision for our needs.

[B.] Now, God goes one step further.

5 On the sixth day, when they prepare whatthey bring in,

it will be twice as much as they gather on otherdays."

Thisis God’s provision for the Sabbath – just as God provided for the Sabbath increation. But, this is the first time we have heard about it since Genesis 1 –2. They had forgotten it, but God did not. God provided for the Sabbath.

The message of God’s provision forthe Sabbath is that Sabbath is not an afterthought; it is the gift of God fromthe beginning. [DEF:] The term "Sabbath" derives from the Hebrew word,"to cease", which was first used in the Biblical account of theseventh day of Creation. On that day, God rested after six days of working atcreation. To keep Sabbath is to enter into the resting of the Lord. BecauseSabbath is shared with God, it is a gift of refreshment and peace.

[C.] Now, what follows are fourstatements addressed to the Israelites.

This is God teaching Israel how toworship. In one of these, Moses and Aaron say to all the Israelites:

"In the evening you shall know that it wasthe LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning youshall see the glory of the LORD. . .”

[ILLUS: My DogSaw the Rabbit]

There is a story from the DesertFathers about a young monk who asked one of the old men of the desert why it isthat so many people came out to the desert to seek God and yet most of themgave up after a short time and returned to their lives in the city.

The old monk told him, "Lastevening my dog saw a rabbit running for cover among the bushes of the desertand he began to chase the rabbit, barking loudly. Soon other dogs joined in thechase, barking and running. They ran a great distance and alerted many otherdogs. Soon the wilderness was echoing the sounds of their pursuit but the chasewent on into the night.

After a little while, many of thedogs grew tired and dropped out. A few chased the rabbit until the night wasnearly spent. By morning, only my dog continued the hunt. "Do youunderstand," the old man said, "what I have told you?"

"No," replied the youngmonk, "please tell me father."

"It is simple;" said theolder man, "my dog saw the rabbit."

In thewilderness, Israel saw God move among them. It was a memory they could notshake off.

Worship begins with “knowing that itwas the Lord” and “seeing the glory of the Lord.” This is the beginning of worship.A little later, Moses says to the people, “Draw near to the LORD. . .” – againthe words of worship. We say almost the same in the invitation to the Lord’sTable at Holy Communion: “Draw near with faith, and take this sacrament to yourcomfort.”

[IV.]As I look back over this story of the manna in the wilderness, I am struck bythe way God is teaching Israel the basics. These Children of Israel have justbeen led out of slavery in Egypt. In the most profound sense, their slavery defined them. The Pharaohgave them the food they ate, told them when and where to work, how to get alongwith one another, and how to worship. They might have groaned under the burdenof their slavery, but they did not know how to voice a prayer to God. They didnot know what freedom would look like, even if it was handed to them. Theybegan in Egypt with the signs of the Ten Plagues by which God led them out ofslavery. But, once in the wilderness, they had much to learn.

In a sense, the wilderness was theplace of no rules.

+They could worship any god theyliked;

+they could eat anything that didnot eat them;

+they could set any rules for livingthey liked.

Theywere truly on their own to sink or swim on their own terms. But, God in wisdomused that time in the wilderness to teach them and shape them into a people.

[APPLIC:] As I have lived with this ancientstory this week, I am increasing conscious that we are again traveling througha wilderness. It is a time in the nation …

+of social change. The recentCensus has measured that change.

+of change in the role of work.What’s a 40-hour work week? The standards just keep rising. There are jobs andareas of study today that did not exist when I was in college.

+of divided politics in thisnation.

Wecan fret that we are traveling through a trackless wilderness like the Hebrewchildren, wondering if we are going anywhere. Or, like the Hebrew Children, wecan storm out of the house on Monday morning convinced that it is God who leadsus to a Land of Promise, and it is God who is shaping us to be the a distinctand vibrant people who will know the joys and the responsibilities of freedom.Let us fight the temptation to go back to Egypt and its slavery; let us goforward in the conviction that a loving and wise God leads us forward.

September 4, 2011 - The Passover behind the Last Supper

2011-09-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

Exodus 12.1-14

[I.] I want to tell you a story thatbelongs to you and me; in fact, the Old Testament portion belongs to Christiansand Jews together. This ancient story tells how we came to be a distinct peoplemarked by our faith in God.

TheChildren of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years when God heard theircry of anguish. God sent Moses to go to Pharaoh to demand that he let Israelgo. God had prepared a land of promise and freedom, and God was going to leadthem out to enter that freedom. So Moses went to Pharaoh and told him, “The Godwhose name is ‘I am’ sends me to tell you to let his people go.” It was nosurprise to anyone that Pharaoh did not believe this Moses, and it was nosurprise that Pharaoh did not let Israel go.

So,God began to deliver plagues upon Pharaoh and all Egypt to show him that thisdemand for the freedom of Israel was not one man’s claim; it was the claim of apowerful and relentless God. So, one plague after another was unleashed upon Egypt:

1. Plague of blood

2. Plague of frogs

3. Plague of lice

4. Plague of flies

5. Plague of pestilence

6. Plague of boils

7. Plague of hail

8. Plague of locusts

9. Plague of darkness – 9 plagues so far.

[10. Death of the firstborn] Whenall this was not enough to convince Pharaoh that he must let Israel go asIsrael’s God required, then Moses went one last time to the court of Pharaoh todeliver this warning:

4 Moses said to Pharaoh, "Thussays the LORD: About midnight I will go out through Egypt. 5 Every firstborn inthe land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on histhrone to the firstborn of the female slave who is behind the handmill, and allthe firstborn of the livestock. 6 Then there will be a loud cry throughout thewhole land of Egypt such as has never been or will ever be again. 7 But not adog shall growl at any of the Israelites--not at people, not at animals--sothat you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. (Ex 11.4-7)

And with that strong warning,Moses left the court of the Pharaoh. He went to the Israelites to prepare themfor the coming of the Lord.

Thistenth plague stands out because this was the only plague in which Israel had apart to play. It is a part that continues to mark Jews as the descendants ofIsrael; it is a part that prepares Christians to join Jesus in the Last Supper.But, I’m jumping ahead of our story.

[II.] The scripture we read todayis God’s instruction to Moses.

[B.] 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month

they are to take a lamb for eachfamily, a lamb for each household.

Ina shepherding society, lambs would be available but valuable. Families did noteat meat except on special occasions; this was to be a defining occasion. Bykeeping these instructions they are going to become part of God’s visitation againstEgypt. The intention is that everyone must take part in the ritual; no one shouldbe left out.

Thisis more than an old story; it is an order of worship for Sunday church. Everygeneration of Israelites is commanded to do this just as those who did it onthe first night. As Terence Frethem explains this:

WhenIsrael reenacts the Passover, it is not a fiction, as if nothing really happensin the ritual, or all that happens is a recollection of the happened-ness of anoriginal event. The reenactment is as much a salvation event as the originalenactment. The memory language is not a “soft matter, recalling to mind somestory of the past. It is an entering into the reality of that event in such away as to be reconstituted as the people of God thereby (1).

[C.] 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male;

Thatis to say that this must be the sacrifice of a valuable animal – one they couldhave sold at the market for top dollar. And more than its value, it callsIsrael to come before God bringing its best. This is not the time forpocket-change or second-rate. This is the time to make the commitment ofyourself and your treasure in a way that shows your commitment to God.

[APPLIC:]This, of course, is the way we are still called to bring our offerings to God.When the offering plate is passed by you, don’t settle for a gift of pocketchange – the coins you will leave on the dresser tomorrow morning when you getready for your day. Bring your best as your offering. By bringing our best as ouroffering to God, we make the commitment that shapes us as Children of God.

[D.] 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts

and the lintel of the houses inwhich they eat it.

Theblood smeared on the doorposts serves as a sign both to Israel and to Yahwehthat no harm will befall the family during the night of destruction of thefirst-born. Understand that this blood was not just a marker, as if any colorfulstuff would do. The blood was the life of the sacrifice given for the peoplewho lived in the marked houses. The blood of the sacrifice is shed so thatIsrael’s’ blood might be spared.

Rememberthat on the night of the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples were sharing thePassover Meal. Do you see how Jesus redefines the meaning of the blood?

+Inthe Passover story, the blood of thelamb is shed so that Israel’s blood might be spared.

+Inthe cross of Jesus, the blood of theLamb of God is shed so that the blood of those who believe in him might bespared.

At the Last Supper, Jesusredefined the meaning of the Passover to make it a story of redemption for alltime and all creation.

[E:] 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted overthe fire….

9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiledin water, but roasted over the fire….

Asa sign of God's decisive action, the people must prepare their meal in a hurry.The lamb is not to be dressed; rather the whole carcass is to be cooked in onepiece. Even the cooking is done in the speediest manner. They cannot take thetime to heat water and boil the meat. So the people are told to roast the meatover a fire.

Thisis the language of sacrifice, not the language of a dinner cookbook. If this isonly a dinner, then how the meat was cooked would make little difference. But,this is a sacrifice and thus the method of preparation is part of the ritual.

[F.] 11 This is how you shall eat it:

your loins girded, your sandals onyour feet,

and your staff in your hand; and youshall eat it hurriedly.

Allthese actions are to be performed in an atmosphere of readiness and urgency.The time is at hand! It's a rush. They're dressed with sandals on their feetand staff in-hand, prepared to go at a moment's notice. In other words, whatGod is about to do is decisive. We have reached the climax of the plaguesagainst Egypt. Death will only pass over the homes with doors painted withblood and will enter the homes of the rest to strike the firstborn. This willbe the decisive act. It will release the Hebrew people from slavery intofreedom.

[APPLIC:]A student of one of the great rabbis asked him why Israel had to eat thePassover dressed for a journey. Why didn’t God just set them free? The oldrabbi pointed out that God could only offer the moment. Until the peopledecided that they would leave their slavery and begin the journey to freedom,they would always be slaves. They had to decide.

Assomeone pointed out this week, the people of Libya have been under a dictatorfor four decades. If they have a different form of government, they will haveto take responsibilities they have not held for 40 years. They have to decide.

[III.] So, Moses calls all the familiesof Israel to offer a sacrifice. He provides a detailed ritual for thesacrifice. Because we are not familiar with the ritual of sacrifice, let’s talkabout this just a moment. While we use the term “sacrifice” as a metaphor andnothing as messy as blood will every touch this altar. The Israelites, incontrast, literally sacrificed animals as part of their regular worship in theTemple. The Bible mentions sacrifices of goats, sheep, cattle, and birds. Thiswas the world of regular worship in the O.T. and -- in Jesus’ day -- theregular worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. Whenever Jesus talked aboutsacrifice, it was something he had seen for himself.

Gerhardvon Rad explains that sacrifice had three meanings for the ancients:

+gift – especially of the firstfruits,

+communion,

+and atonement.

Thegift of the first fruits comes from the conviction that the whole harvestbelongs to God. So, in token of our obligation and gratitude, we give back toGod what is holiest, the first-fruits or the first-born. Thus, the ancientfarmer would sacrifice the first-fruits of the field or the flock as a way ofgiving thanks and dedicating the whole harvest to God. This is where ourChristian conviction about tithing comes from.

Communionin sacrifice is the conviction that God is sharing this meal with us. God isthe unseen guest at the meal. In ancient times, a covenant between two familiesor kings would be sealed with a ritual meal. The idea was that God was theunseen guest at the meal who stood as the witness and guarantor of the covenantthat had been established.

Thisis the reason we celebrate our biggest occasions with a meal today:

+ThanksgivingDinner is rooted in offering our thanks to God, the unseen guest at the feast.

+Weddingsoften call for a banquet. The bride and groom have made their vows before God.

+Thesigning of a business contract is often followed with a dinner.

In each case, God is the unseenguest and witness at the meal. This becomes the earliest meaning of communion.

Thethird meaning of sacrifice is atonement - repentance and cleansing from sin andanything which separates us from God. We have replaced this in modern timeswith the prayer of confession in church. In ancient times, it was understood thata sacrifice was an expression of repentance for our sins and our confidencethat God is willing to forgive.

Forthe Children of Israel, living as slaves in Egypt, all of these meanings are atwork. As they ate the Passover lamb, they were grateful that God was leadingthem out of slavery and into freedom. They were turning away from the sin ofEgypt, repenting of the sin of getting comfortable in that slavery. And, thismeal placed them in a ritual shared with God – communion.

[IV.] Now you see how the LastSupper, which we share today gathers up all of these meanings.

+First,as far as the disciples knew as the supper began, Jesus was merely hosting theregular Passover meal on the night that he was betrayed.

+Then,it was a meal of thanksgiving. For the disciples on that night, it wasthanksgiving for the ancient Passover feast by which God led them to promiseand to freedom. For disciples like us, it is thanksgiving for Jesus and hiswilling sacrifice for our salvation.

+Then,it is a meal of communion – sharing the bread and wine with Christ, who is the notthe unseen guest at the table; Christ is the unseen host.

+Finally,it is a meal of atonement. In Christ’s cross, we realize the depth of ourseparation from God and the cost Christ paid that we might be restored. In thismeal, we make the turn back to God through Christ.

[INVITE]

So,you and I are invited to the Lord’s Table. It is a table of sacrifice.

+It is invitation;

+it is the gift of ourfirst-fruits;

+it is our returning to God inatonement;

+it is communion with Christ;

+it is a renewing of ourcommitment with God.

Knowingall this, I am surprised that Christians leave church planning to relax allafternoon after Sunday services. Communion sounds like a call to action. Itcomes as a call to freedom and out of slavery to all the things that wouldenslave us. Come to communion with your suitcase in hand. Wear your hat andyour gloves. But don’t bring your keys; you won’t be going back to that old lifeanyway.

Notes:

1. Frethem, Terence. Exodus,a volume in the Interpretation Biblical Commentary Series, John Knox Press, p.139.

2. Von Rad, Gerhard, Theologyof the Old Testament, vol. 1, p. 253.

August 21, 2011 - The Great Confession

2011-08-27T03:49:00.000-07:00

Matt 16.13-20

Question: How did St. Peter, the disciple of Jesus, get stationed at the Pearly Gates? Think about it. We *all* assume that when we get to heaven, St. Peter will greet us at the entrance of heaven to usher us inside. It is commonly assumed even if we don’t take it seriously. There is, in the Gospel according to Matthew, a passage in which Jesus says to Peter,

18 "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

So, based on this commission from Jesus himself, Peter stands, in our imagination, at the gates of heaven announcing the decision about who will enter and who will not.

I. As everyone knows there is safety in numbers – even at church.

A. I remember when I was a small boy walking into church with my family: Daddy and Mother, one brother and two sisters. At that first church – not this one -- where I was baptized, walking into that familiar church with my family was never hard. I guess that I just grew up knowing those people and confident somehow that they knew me. My family made it easy to begin in church.

B. I make it a practice to go to church wherever Celia and I vacation. I encourage her not to come along; I really do. You’re probably thinking that I’m afraid that she’ll discover that she could find a better preacher if she looked around a bit. But no, that is not it. I want to see what it’s like for all the first-timers to walk into a strange church for the first time. We all know that God loves us, but I’m not so sure about those ushers standing on each side of the open door. They step forward to offer a bulletin; most of them even smile in a friendly sort of way. But, I always wonder: do they really mean it?

My major terror on visiting a church for the first time is that I will sit in some well-established saint’s favorite pew. And even if they are gracious and don’t say anything, every regular in the church will be staring because they know that I’ve taken a pew that has been reserved for that pillar of the church since the first Bush was President.

Those of us who are regulars should be on the lookout for the first-timers among us. They have taken a great risk. When you see someone you’re not familiar with, I hope you’ll speak that person. If that someone is in your pew, tell them how happy you are to be sharing it with them. You might even invite them back to share it next Sunday all over again.

C. When you are small, Sunday school works the same way. It’s important to come to Sunday School on Promotion Sunday. You go to your old class. There you discover that your old teachers are somehow misty-eyed; they seem to hug a lot. They are in a bit of a hurry. Then, the time comes that you walk down the hall to your new classroom. On Promotion Sunday, you’re not by yourself; you walk with the other kids to find this new classroom. Even though you’re only walking down the hall, they are just as lost as you are, but you’re together. There is safety in numbers.

D. Then, Confirmation Class begins. New room, maybe even a new part of the church building, definitely new teachers. Again, you’re with the other kids and it all gets familiar soon enough. Everything is good until the end of the school year. Sometime in the early spring, the teacher warns you that one of the preachers is coming to your house to talk with you and your parents. And you realize that you are going to be alone with questions to answer. The image of the interrogation room in *Law and Order SVU* crowds your mind. You hatch at plan: on the day for the preacher to visit, you’ll just be late getting home from school. But, your parents, in a fit of responsibility, offer to pick you up. No need to walk or ride the bus. You’re going to have to face the music; you are going to be on your own.

You’re about to be called to the front of the church. There will be questions to answer; the preacher really wants to hear your voice when the answer is given. I remember at the time of my confirmation, I was stopped in my tracks. I think it was first time in my young life that I had made a promise like this to anyone outside my family. Up until this point, I had, like all small kids, done what my parents said we were going to do.

+Showing up at the summer picnic happened because they said we would.

+Being Christians and being at church on Sunday happened because they were already doing that.

+Starting school when I turned five was just what my parents decided so that was what I did, of course.

But, none of these commitments were made because I made them; my parents made them for the family, and I went along – as all little kids do.

But, at the end of Confirmation, this was the first time that I really *got it*. Answering these vows out loud meant that I was going to keep them, and these vows said something about the kind of person I was going to be. I had to think about it: This was real. Was I ready to say all this?

I realized because of this step the power of standing up in public to make a commitment. It is one thing to show up because your parents have decided that you are going to show up; it is quite a different thing to stand up and say, “This is what I stand for.”

B. Actually, we make commitments all the time; some commitments mark us; other commitments are just the price of doing business.

+I got a new cell phone this week; it came with a two-year commitment.

+I joined a health club a year or so back; it came with a three-year commitment.

Commitments like these are just the price of getting in. We watch the calendar for the day we finish the contract so we can do something different. But commitments like these don’t have the power to present us to the world.

Other commitments mark us; they tell the world who we are:

+I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…

+Each person enlisting in one of the armed force takes the oath that begins:

"I solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…”

These commitments are bigger and more open-ended; the level of personal commitment is much higher.

C. Now, Jesus asks the disciples: "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They began to tell him what *people* were saying. They were just reporting what they have heard; they were making no commitment themselves. This sounds like the infamous “they” who say all kinds of things about us.

15 Then, He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Suddenly, the conversation takes on a far more ominous tone. What are you ready to say? Are you ready to stand up in public and make a claim? It is one thing to say something about Jesus that you might have heard; it is a very different thing to say something public yourself.

At Jesus’ question I can imagine the disciples looking down, suddenly very interested in the grass growing between the rocks along the road. “I’ll have to get back to you on that, Jesus.” Maybe the disciples, while looking down, sneak sideways glances the way school children do, just to make sure the others are trying to avoid answering just as hard as they are. As the seconds add up to a minute and the silence begins to get heavy, they realize that one of them is going to have to say something. They wait to see which one will break the increasingly awkward silence.

You see, to speak our *convictions* about Jesus Christ goes far beyond a simple description or beyond an overheard report. It says something loud and clear about whom we are.

+If I claim that Jesus is Lord, then I must follow as his disciple;

+If my Jesus went the way of the cross, then I must take up the cross, too;

+If I am confident that Jesus is the healer of souls, then I must search out only Jesus for that healing;

+If Jesus teaches us the way to live as Children of the God of Heaven, then we commit ourselves to live just that way.

Jesus isn’t just asking for an answer; he’s asking for a commitment and a promise. So, Simon clears his throat. The other disciples look up at him in relief; he will go first. He doesn’t waste the moment:

16 **Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God**."

In Mark and Luke, this moment was one which gave further evidence that the disciples did not get what Jesus was doing and where he was going. They were constantly misunderstanding or trying to use Jesus to put themselves ahead in their narrow world.

But in Matthew, Simon stands up before all the rest and declares that *he gets what Jesus is* and *what Jesus does* and makes a life-risking commitment to Jesus of his own. When Peter said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God,” he stated: “This I believe.” He said, “Yes, Jesus, you have a claim on my life.” He promised that he would never turn back. All this was there in the out-loud answer Simon gave to Jesus’ question. Matthew told what Simon had done that day because it marked a turning point in Simon’s life and the gospel.

What Simon did that day stands as a model for each one of us who also comes to faith in Jesus Christ. The claim he made was no different from what others around us have made:

“Jesus is Lord.”

“I have decided to follow Jesus.”

“I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only son, our Lord…

This was no small step for Simon Peter; it is a life-changing step for each of us.

[II.] We talked about this scripture at Bible Study the other night. At this point in our discussion, I was ready to get all misty-eyed at what Simon had done, but I quickly realized that no one else seemed particularly moved by it. So, I asked the group, “What is missing here? This ought to be one of the great examples of coming to faith by one of the giants in the Christian faith. Why isn’t it more important?

One person pointed out that Peter said this, and that was fine. But just a few verses later, Jesus had to call him down. As Jesus said, “You are a stumbling block to me.” What a devastating criticism – especially since Peter had just made the *Great Confession*. The problem as the Bible Study saw it was that Peter was a giant in the faith when he kept his eyes on Jesus, but he could be a total mess-up, too.

+Peter denied Jesus on the night he was arrested.

+After Pentecost, Peter argued with Paul about including non-Jewish people in the gospel.

How can we count Peter as a giant in the faith when just as often he acts like a pigmy?

They were correct, of course. But, then it occurred to me that the problem is NOT that Peter failed; the problem is that Peter is too much like us.

+We have a record of confessing Jesus and a record just as long of denying Jesus when the way gets hard.

+Like Peter, we get some parts of the gospel but don’t understand -- or worse -- don’t like other parts. We assume we have a right to fix Jesus.

+Like Peter, we want to do Jesus’ work in the world in our way, not his.

How can Peter be a hero and a model for faith if he is no better than we are?

But, think again. If Peter is like us, his is the story of a real person who came to faith in Jesus Christ. He came slowly, awkwardly; Peter made mistakes. Still, he did come at Christ’s invitation. And he did spend his life in the service of Christ.

It means that as Peter finally came to a life-changing faith and willing service in the name of Christ, we can, too.

As Jesus said to Simon:

"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!

For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,

but my Father in heaven.

That Simon got it was not the result of his own accomplishment; it was God’s grace which enabled him to see what he could not see before. It was the result of God’s grace giving him courage to claim what he could not claim before. It was the result of God’s grace.

What are we expecting at the moment we decide for faith in Christ?

+Fireworks to light up the sky?

+A brass band to play?

+The Church Choir follow you around, ready to break into the “Hallelujah Chorus”?

+That Simon will never stumble over himself again?

That’s not a life of faith, that’s finding a place on a museum shelf.

The Christian life begins as God’s grace is given to us. It continues as we respond to that grace with curiosity and commitment. It grows as we are tested by circumstances and challenges. It grows every time we get back on our feet after a fall. Simon Peter answered Jesus that day when Jesus asked them, “Who do you say that I am?” And that same, searching question is pressed upon each one of us daily. “Who do you say he is?” What claim do you make? What stand do you take? Are you and I growing in this faith or stagnant in unexamined convictions? Are you and I allowing Christ to complete his work in you and in me? Are we trying to be make-believe heroes or living, breathing, real-life followers of Jesus?

August 14, 2011 - Going to School with Jesus

2011-08-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

Going to School with Jesus

Matthew 15:21‑28

There are times when even God is willing to be called up short. There is a story in Matthew’s gospel about a woman who taught Jesus something about the mercy of God. The good news is that Jesus was a pretty good student.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I. [SETTING]

As the scripture opens, the danger to Jesus and his movement is rising. In the 14^th chapter, Matthew tells us that John the Baptist has been beheaded; Jesus, always aware of the politics around him, knows he might be next. Later, at the beginning of the 15^th chapter, Matthew tells how the scribes and Pharisees left Jerusalem, found Jesus, and confronted him for breaking the traditions of the elders. It was a meeting that did not go well. Jesus might have responded with a compromise or contrition; instead he challenged them for breaking the commandment of God for the sake of their tradition. Surely, keeping one of the Ten Commandments is higher than keeping the tradition of the elders. In any event, he offered no olive branch. They went away fuming. So, realizing that King Herod and the Jerusalem leadership have had just about enough of him, he decides to exit into foreign territory, where hopefully no one will care about the controversies he leaves behind. Thus, our text opens with the news: “Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon” (15.21).

Tyre and Sidon are located north-west of Galilee, outside King Herod’s kingdom and the population was definitely not Jewish. The problem with Tyre and Sidon is that it was ethnically Canaanite. In the conquest of the Holy Land, the Hebrews had followed the ancient holy war instructions from God. Basically, Holy War required total destruction of the people living in the Promised Land. The core of the God’s instruction is chilling: “Show them no mercy.”

Centuries after the conquest of the Holy Land, these are not the instructions Jesus expected to follow on this trip; it does suggest, however, why Jesus was not inclined to welcome the Canaanite woman when she approached him on the road. Old prejudices die hard. Even the best of us have to watch ourselves that we not fall back into the old racism or sexism of our earlier years.

II. [THE CANAANITE WOMAN]

So, as they enter the region of Tyre, a woman comes near and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”

Let’s start with what is missing: Where is her husband? Think about it: we are naturally shy around strangers. We are even more shy around foreigners. Thirdly, women of ancient times were taught never to speak to men in public -- and especially groups of men. Tradition held that her husband should approach Jesus and make this request. If her husband was not around, then her son or another male relative should have stepped forward. That the woman approaches Jesus herself suggests that she has no man to speak for her. She may be a widow or divorced; this suggests that she has a very low status in that world. This was true in the Jewish world of Israel; it was true in the Canaanite world where she lived.

That a mother might approach Jesus on behalf of her daughter is, of course, no surprise to any of us. By speaking up for her daughter, she did what we applaud regardless of her status.

Now, think about the woman’s cry:

1. This woman is a Canaanite, not an Israelite. People did not worship the God of Israel in any Canaanite land. That she cries out in faith is strong evidence of her willingness to commit to Jesus, regardless of the cost, regardless of the social isolation she will suffer in her hometown.

2. Second, Jesus has just criticized the Scribes and the Pharisees for their poisonous words. As he told them, “It is not what you eat that makes a person unclean; it the words that come out of your mouth that make you unclean in the sight of God.” So, here in the very next passage, this seemingly unclean, low status woman utters these beautiful words of faith in God and loyalty to her daughter.

3. In the instructions to Israel when it invaded the Promised Land, God told the Israelites: “Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy” (Deut 7.1). This woman specifically cries out to Jesus for mercy.

4. Now, Matthew knows that the long standing claim of Israel held that the God of Israel is only for the people of Israel. But, he also knows that Jesus came to save all people – for all time, in all places, in every situation. Because Matthew writes his gospel for a distinctly Jewish audience, he has to make sure they understand that Jesus came to do a new thing. So, this story of the day Jesus met this is precious to Matthew and to every one of us who is not of Israel. This story shows Jesus himself breaking the boundaries, and thus we are invited to break the old boundaries for the sake of the gospel, too.

III. [JESUS’ RESPONSE #1]

According to Matt, Jesus responded three times in ways designed to send her away:

This Canaanite woman recognizes him and begins to beg for her daughter’s healing. First, Jesus does not respond in any way.

[APPLIC:] Like any of us being hassled by a panhandler on the sidewalk, the best response is no response. Keep walking; don’t make eye contact. There is no need for confrontation; they will get the message soon enough and stop trying.

How to respond to the person who calls out to us along the way is one of the most common moral dilemmas we face.

+Should we give them a little money to help them?

+Would giving them money just encourage this panhandling and turn them into full time beggars?

+Should we engage them in conversation to determine what really might meet their need? Giving a dollar when someone really needs diapers really does not help much if the diaper store is 5 miles away.

+Should we get involved in their lives or just give a little money so our consciences will let us move along?

This is the moral dilemma we face every time someone calls out to us on the street. For all of these reasons and all the reasons Jesus did not want to deal with Canaanites, he simply did not respond in any way.

[[JESUS’ RESPONSE #2]

Well, the silent treatment did not discourage her. She continues to call and continues to follow them. The disciples come to Jesus and urge him to send her away. So he turns to the woman and says: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (15.24).

“I know my job, and my job does not extend to you. Please excuse me; we have to move along.” Again, it is a perfectly logical and expected response to the woman’s call. Actually…, it is the expected response except for the “Christmas story”. Remember, it was Matthew who gave us the genealogy of Jesus in chapt-1 which included several women. Three of the women in Jesus’ family tree were Canaanites (or Gentiles) and another one was married to a Gentile. In addition, it was Matthew in chapt-2 who told us the well-loved story of the three Wisemen, gentiles all, who came to worship the baby Jesus at his birth. Later, in the 8^th chapter, Matthew tells the story of Jesus healing the Centurion’s servant – again a gentile. Matthew is carefully rethinking the ancient debate in Israel over the work of the Son of Israel’s God. Did Jesus come only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel? Or was Jesus sent to all people in every place and time with the message of God’s love? I think Matthew is telling us that Jesus tore down that ancient boundary between Israel and the rest of the world.

[APPLIC:] Again, what boundaries do we keep? Are there places where we are not expected by God to carry the message of God’s love? Maybe in the tough parts of town? Maybe in the nations where we already know that they have another religion?

Is the day of proclaiming the gospel past that others may come to know the love of God in Jesus Christ? I think it is not past. We who are Christians walk a fine line between (1) respecting the convictions of our neighbors and (2) keeping the call of Jesus to proclaim the gospel. Still, we cannot keep the call of Jesus by our silence.

Further, we must examine the convenient boundaries we keep to protect ourselves from undesirable people around us. These boundaries tell us who we are by assuring ourselves who we are not. These boundaries keep us out of areas of moral compromise by keeping us where people like ourselves agree on the right course of action. But, we must be willing to examine these boundaries to determine (individually and as a society) whether the old worries that drew these boundaries still hold. Name for yourself the areas where you and society have made great progress over the past 50 years. Name for yourself in the areas where you and society are hearing the call to examine the ancient boundaries. There are boundaries that individually and as a society we must keep for the protection of all that is good. There are boundaries that serve us well; there are boundaries that must be examined

[JESUS’ RESPONSE #3] Now, Jesus 3^rd response:

The Canaanite woman comes closer, kneels before Jesus and makes the most heart-felt prayer that anyone can imagine: “Lord, help me.” It doesn’t get any more basic than this.

And Jesus’ response, this third response, takes our breath away: "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."

There have been many efforts to explain this response away or to soften its insult. I find these efforts lacking. It is simply a very male, chauvinist, distancing response.

+The word “children” suggests the children of Israel – those who live in the land and therefore have the right to worship Israel’s God.

+The word dogs is simply an insult applied to this woman. Having dogs as family pets is a fairly modern practice. In poor countries today and in ancient culture, dogs are present but not loved as pets.

If there are Jewish Christians in Matthew’s world who are uncomfortable with the idea of their Jesus offering a miracle to a Canaanite woman, they are surely satisfied that he has done everything in his power to discourage her. He has compared her to a dog. Now, it is up to the woman to redeem this awkward moment.

She absorbs this third response and with humility and wit turns it back on him. He said: "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." To which she, the great theologian replied: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Like the pets that inhabit our homes, the dogs of ancient times would snoop around the table when dinner was finished on the chance that they might find a tasty crumb for themselves.

But theologically, she is claiming the crumbs of grace that fall from God’s hands knowing that even crumbs of grace offer a feast to hungry soul. She was a good theologian; she was a tenacious believer. And Jesus, failing to make the case for keeping God’s grace exclusive to Israel, gave in and provided the healing that she asked. I think that Jesus didn’t get it right the first time, but by the time she wore him down, he had learned something about the grace of God from that Canaanite woman.

V. [WORRY]

This story raises several worries that I do not find in keeping with the whole of the gospel.

1. We worry that only those who are good enough at sparing with Jesus will receive grace. Or perhaps only those who have prayed enough or given enough or witnessed enough will receive grace.

2. We worry that grace is “iffy” – that there really is some condition or status that will let us in or keep us out.

3. We worry that only those with something called “enough faith” can have their prayers answered.

Each of these worries are contradicted by the rest of the gospels. Everywhere else in the gospels Jesus keeps feeding and teaching the crowds, Jesus keeps sharing the table with sinners of every ancient kind. This story is about Jesus’ willingness to extend the gospel to the peoples that Israel found unthinkable. Like the gospel song says:

There's a wideness in God's mercy,

Like the wideness of the sea.

VI. [RESULT]

28 Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly.

The woman -- with the wrong status, born in the wrong country, who began her life worshiping the wrong god, with the evidence of sin in the words of her request, breaking all the rules that said she must not speak to male strangers – went to Jesus, asked a healing for her daughter and received the grace she wanted her daughter to have. She went home to find her daughter whole again.

Now that we get the story, I think we can get the invitation right:

+to you who don’t fit in,

+to you who have messed up,

+to you whose past is written in the deep wrinkles all over your face,

+to you who don’t know the right questions,

+to you who live the wrong lifestyle or come from the wrong nation,

+to you who love the wrong person,

+to you who have never gotten to love any person,

+to you who used to be blessed but suddenly find yourself a stranger,

… to you the Lord Jesus says, “Come. There is a place in my house – there is mercy enough – for you. My invitation is for you, too.”

June 5, 2011 - Standing on Holy Ground

2011-06-08T10:08:00.001-07:00

Standing on Holy Ground

John 20.19-23

Exodus 3.1-6

[PULLED UP SHORT]

Over the past several communion Sundays, I have entered the nave as part of the procession; then I have gone to my place near the pulpit. Early in the service we pray the Prayer of Confession from the Hymnal, then continue with the Words of Assurance. Those words near the bottom of the page end with a proclamation by the pastor and then a response by the congregation. Most often, this has been one of our other pastors, so it is their voices that ring in my brain whenever I recall this moment.

**Hear the good news:

Christ died for us while we were yet sinners;

That proves God’s love toward us.**

[THE KICKER] (Now, these are the words that pull me up short:)

**In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!**

Then, the congregation responds in the same way, except this time every voice in the house addresses that one pastor with that same proclamation:

“In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!”

Do you realize what a *fearsome thing* we proclaim each time we say those words to one another? This is the forgiveness of God we offer one another. Who are we to handle holy things with unholy hands?

For starters, what does that pastor know about our readiness to stand before God forgiven?

1. A new pastor, standing before the congregation, cannot know the lives that members of the congregation live.

+What people do behind closed doors is closed to us.

+No one has had time to brag about or confess what happened last night.

+Is the pastor making some kind of claim to know that everyone has gotten busy over the weekend so that every life has been cleaned up and ready for God’s inspection? Such a claim would be absurd.

+No pastors, when they are new, can know. So, how can the pastors or the congregation make such a claim on the forgiveness of God?

2. A long-time pastor stands in a different relationship with the same congregation. I’m not sure when we pass from “newly arrived” to “well established,” but the day does come. It comes when we have been some places together:

+places of decision,

+places of success and accomplishment,

+places of bone-tired weariness;

+places where our best intentions turned into the dust of failure;

+We have faced truths about ourselves and each other which no one else was supposed to see;

+We have experienced revelations that leave us frighteningly vulnerable.

Of course, I am not singling you out; I am talking about all of us; I am talking about us in private and us as a large community. A new pastor prays pretty prayers that bounce along the surface; a long-time pastor prays deeply, yearning to offer each breaking family or life to God’s care.

The long-time pastor speaks the words: “In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven” praying that this is the truth, and knowing the greatness required of Christ to make it possible.

[WRAP-UP] So, maybe the reason these words of absolution pull me up short is that I know the depth of the mercy required to wrap us in forgiveness. That’s the reason I pray that it just might be possible.

II. What is this forgiveness that is spoken over us at the Lord’s Table?

Pamela Tinnen told one of her Kentucky stories that she called: “Knowing your Name.”

**It was the story of an abused youngster named Robert George who landed in Youth Detention. He was caught stealing a blanket and some clothes. The owner wasn’t going to press charges, but the county took Robert George up to Youth Detention, to keep him until he was 18. Pamela’s daddy started going up to see him. At first, Robert George wouldn’t come to the visitors’ room—said he didn’t have no use for some bleeding heart, Bible spouting Christian. He got lonely, apparently, because finally one time when her Daddy showed up, there he was, waiting behind that screen.

Feeling kind of jealous, she asked her daddy what they talked about. “What in the world have you got to say to him, Daddy?”

“The same thing your mama and me been saying to you since the day you were born,” said her Daddy. “You are a beloved child of God. He has claimed you, and you are his forever.”

“And just what good is that going to do?” she asked, sounding snippy even to herself.

“Well, child,” he said, his voice easy and gentle, “You can’t really know who you are until someone tells you. You can’t really know you’re loved until someone claims you.”**

That work of forgiveness certainly rings true.

[B.] Sometimes I fear that we misunderstand God’s forgiveness. Americans love to think about the world in legal terms or perhaps in the language of illness. Our *language* shapes the way we look at the world.

1. We love to look at the world in legal terms; it shows in the TV programs we watch:

+Law and Order

+Law and Order S.V.U.

+Bones

+CSI: Miami, and all their kin.

The basic question of American life is this: Have we have broken the law, or we are innocent of the charges?

We are a guilt/innocence society, and it shapes the way we talk with God. What if church operated like the courts with…

+charges,

+plaintiffs proffering their injuries in public,

+witnesses for and against us,

+of course, we would be the defendants

Thus, when the pastor proclaims, “In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven,” we are very relieved that in God’s courtroom that we will declared innocent. But, we are vaguely uneasy; maybe we really did something that we shouldn’t have; God has just forgiven us so we don’t have to go through all the trouble of a trial. The problem with seeing forgiveness as an American legal process is that we are freed from punishment but not restored to a joyful relationship with one another or with God.

The church is not a courtroom where the guilty are charged and the innocent are exonerated. If the courtroom is the model, then we just walk away when the sentence is read out. There isn’t anything more. But, I assure you that God is not through with us just because the verdict has been read.

2. The other way we like to look at the problems of the world is *illness*. Sin is a sickness that can be and must be cured. You might have to take some bad-tasting medicine, but you know that it will make you feel better.

Churches in the illness model would be like clinics where sinners and those infected with their sin could get treatment. Soon enough, everything will be cured and everyone will be healthy again.

Just the same, the church is not a hospital where sin is only a sickness that needs to be cured. If illness is the model, then sin is just something we need to get over. And once we are over it, then we are free to go out with no further restraint beyond a tender, *“Be careful out there!”* But, God is not finished when sin is cured.

3. The whole reason for speaking of sin and forgiveness is to give voice to the invitation of God. God’s invitation is that we return and live before God again:

+as a prodigal, useless son to his father, is welcomed home;

+as a self-righteous older brother is invited inside to join the welcome home party;

+as a woman reaching out for relief from the bleeding that has sapped her strength for 12 years finds healing;

+as a disciple who denied his loyalty to Jesus at the moment of his greatest need, is restored and given a great new commission;

+as a woman caught in the act of adultery is set free to live and sent out to sin no more.

To hear Jesus say, “You are forgiven is to be invited to walk with Jesus on the road of life as a companion and friend.

4. Clearly, this authority is given to the church in the scripture that we read this morning from John 20. Jesus has returned to his disciples on the day of Resurrection. As he speaks to them, he bestows the Holy Spirit on them. Then, he gives them this amazing authority:

23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;

if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

This is clearly a task reserved for God. And in this remarkable passage, Jesus has presented this authority to his disciples and now to us.

5. That this is *authority* is shown in the second part: “**If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.**” In other words, you and I, or *we as the congregation*, do not have this forgiveness dragged out of us. No one can mug us for it. We have the authority to offer it or withhold it; it is ours to give or deny. To get specific:

+The battered wife is not required by God to forgive her abusive husband and go back to be beaten again.

+The victim of abuse is not denied the right to protect himself or herself.

+Society has the authority to require restitution or even punishment of criminals as the path to restoration.

We have been given the authority to offer or withhold forgiveness.

The point here is that we are given the authority to restore wrong-doers of every kind *back to the community*. This has many forms.

+It may be as simple as a tearful apology and the acceptance of that apology.

+It may be as complicated as working with our insurance company to fix the other guy’s car in that fender-bender we had last week.

+It may be as serious as legal charges, court, and even jail-time.

The purpose of each of these is *restoration* as much as possible to relationship and community.

[IV.] III. But, now that we have talked about sin and forgiveness, there is one further matter that we must consider. Who are we to proclaim the forgiveness of God? In the act of confession and absolution in communion, the pastor pronounces forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ; then, the congregation responds by pronouncing that same forgiveness. This is the moment that has pulled me up short in our communion services over the past several months. We have taken into our human hands the forgiveness of God. Who are we to make such a holy claim? I am struck that at the moment of absolution, when we pronounce Christ’s forgiveness to one another, we stand on holy ground.

[Exodus 3:1-6] Remember the day Moses met God at the burning bush:

**1 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Median; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.

3 Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up."

4 When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!"

And he said, "Here I am."

5 Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6 He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God**.

Like Moses encountering God at the burning bush, we stand on holy ground when we pronounce the forgiveness of Christ at the breaking of the bread. We take holy things into our ordinary hands; it is the honor from God which we cannot possibly deserve. //

The Savior Jesus sent me to tell you: “The table is set; come on to dinner.”

Notes:

1. Tinnen, Pamela, “Knowing Your Name,”

2. Taylor, Barbara Brown. Speaking of Sin, p. 77.

May 22 - When Creation Needs a Recall

2011-05-27T06:25:00.000-07:00

When Nature Needs a Recall

Mark 4.35-41 - the Stilling of the Storm

This week, I watched on YouTube.com some of the weather reports from April 27 – the night of the big tornados that moved across the Southeast. Those storms did some damage in Tennessee; in Alabama they did enormous damage with over 200 people killed. According to that weather report I saw, one of the tornados touched down and traveled across Alabama for 181 miles. We had our own weather event in East Tennessee – not as much destruction or loss of life, but frightening and very disruptive for many of us. Actually, I did not watch the weather and the news on that night; our power was out throughout much of that week.

As the recovery moves slowly forward, I am beginning to realize how emotionally and spiritually draining recovery has become. Like most folks, we have insurance, and the insurance folks have been responsive and respectful. As a result, we do not need FEMA to rescue us; they can focus on people with much bigger losses than ours.

As our recovery gets underway, the news on TV has turned to the flooding along the Mississippi River. People there will soon be starting their own clean up -- and some will ask for help.

That week of storms was different from other weeks and other storms. Previously, when storms came, they tore through someone else’s neighborhood. Previously, when storms came, they only did a little damage. This time the damage was real and the recovery will take months. I expect that I am not alone in being weary of the hassle of cleaning up and putting life back together. I expect I am not alone in hoping to hear a Word from God for those of us wearied by cleaning up from the storms.

[I.] Where is God when the storm breaks over our homes? And who is God when grace and kindness are obliterated by the flood washing lives away, by the hail pounding against our windows, and by the tornado tearing the roofs from over our heads? These are questions we are not good at asking. Therefore, most of us do not ask them until the storms actually descend upon us and drive us against the rusty barbs of these questions.

[WEATHER CHANNEL] The Weather Channel has a regular feature called “Storm Stories” – a segment which shows us the amazing things which happen when storms hit. The stories tell how weather changed history or how certain people escaped death and injury. Oddly, these storm stories focus on the science of the storm or the human drama that unfolded; they never ask, “What does the storm tell us about God?” We wonder: Is this the world God created or are some parts of creation misbehaving? Does God intend the world to be a gift of wonders or a fearsome hazard? Should Nature be recalled for safety reasons?

People do wonder. Human beings are always trying to make sense of the events unfolding around us. People wonder what storms and events say to us about God. And when the clean up takes longer and imposes a greater cost on us than we can bear, we wonder whether God is even with us.

[TEXT]

In the Stilling of the Storm from Mark 4, we find the disciples more than ready to question the purposes of God. When the storm broke over the little boat, they woke Jesus, who was asleep in the stern of the boat. In their desperation, they cried out to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we perish?"

They were certainly not afraid to ask of God. I think Mark tells this story with a twinkle in his eye, because he knows that the disciples do not know – at least, not at this point – that Jesus is God. Still, they know that he is their leader; they know that he is powerful. This is enough; so they awaken him and confront him with their desperation.

B. [APPLIC:] When have you, like the disciples wanted to awaken Jesus to see the desperate situation that was breaking over you? When have you been driven to your wits’ end by challenges that you feared you could not handle? When have you stood before challenges that were greater than your strength?

II. Notice that the storm came, as our storms came, while the disciples were going about their daily work. No, better than that, they were traveling with Jesus. They didn't do anything bad or stupid to deserve this storm.

A. Storms come to us as well

1. Without warning,

2. While we are busy with the business of our day.

3. While we are going out of our way to do that which is definitely Christian.

4. Storms fall on us--and on all people. As Jesus said, "The rain falls on the just and the unjust."

B. Storms take many forms:

1. Wind and rain.

2. Illness or terrible injury.

3. A death in the family.

4. Sometimes storms come as hard decisions we have to make

--tough love when the most loving thing to say is "No."

-- Helping a loved-one leave their home and move to a nursing home.

It does not matter who we are or how carefully we plan our steps and our lives. Storms come. They shake us to our foundation. Our week of storms made us realize that not one of us is immune.

C. Who is this God that builds a world which is filled with both wonders and dangers? What does this tell us about God? Who is this God who speaks so that the wind and the waves obey? Who is this God who takes flesh in Jesus of Nazareth?

V. Who is this God? And what does the power of Creation teach us about our God?

1. We believe that God is the Creator who created the world out of nothing. Thus, God is the god of limitless power over the forces of nature. The God who created the wind and taught it to blow must surely have the power to command the wind and the storm.

2. We believe that God is the Creator who created the world by calling order out of the chaos of darkness and water before the beginning of time. The God who can call the primordial chaos into the marvelous order of creation has the power to still the storm with a command. The God who can create humankind from the mud of a riverbank still has the power to shape and heal human lives.

Who is this God? The question that the storms raise about the nature of God come from the conviction that God created all things. And if God has the power to call the world into being and the imagination to dream the complexities of life, then why does not God use such power to keep the world under control? Storms are surely part of nature, but couldn’t God have placed limits on nature just as God gave powers to nature?

3. Who is God? We believe that God is love and that the primary way God works in the lives of all creatures great and small is through love.

Through love God made us wonderfully complex and capable.

Through love God made us for loving one another and God in response.

Through love God refused to give up on humankind when sin entered the world.

Through love God took human flesh and walked among us in the man Jesus that he might share our world.

[GOD’S CHILDREN]

Two new boys came to Sunday School one day. To register them, the teacher had to ask their ages and birthdates. The bolder of the two said, “We’re both seven. My birthday is April 8, and my brother’s birthday is April 20.”

“But that’s impossible!” said the teacher.

“No, it’s not,” answered the quieter brother. “One of us is adopted.”

“Which one?” asked the Sunday School teacher before she could stop herself.

The boys looked at each other and smiled, and the bolder one said, “We asked our Mom awhile back, but she just said she loved us both and couldn’t remember any more which one of us was adopted.”

The scripture says the same of God: By faith in Christ we have been adopted –daughters and sons of God. As fully adopted and accepted children, we share the same inheritance as the only begotten Son, Jesus. This is a beloved picture of God – the God of deep and thoughtful love. So, if this is the love of God, then how does a God of such love allow the storms that destroy and injure? Who is God when storms come?

These three pictures of God and the way God deals with destruction in the Creation are each cherished as true of God. And yet, each one fails to provide a satisfying picture of the God who created the earth and loves the earth yet stands by when suffering comes.

4. Dr. Daniel Migliore, in his book, Faith Seeking Understanding, suggests that we are looking in the wrong place. To understand this we should look to Jesus. In Jesus…

God’s eternal being-in-love reaches out to the world. Far from being aloof, apathetic, and immutable, God freely becomes vulnerable out of faithful love for the world. The destructiveness of evil in creation can be overcome not by divine fiat but only by a costly history of divine love in which the suffering of the world is really experienced and overcome by God (3).

The crucial point is that God does not deal with suffering in the world through God’s almighty-ness but by the power of love at work in the ministry, cross, and resurrection of Jesus.

The power of the triune God is not raw omnipotence but the power of suffering, liberating, reconciling love. An emphasis on God as Trinity gives providence a different face. The God who creates and preserves the world is not a despotic ruler but “our Father in heaven;” not a distant God but a God who becomes one of us and accompanies us as the incarnate, crucified, risen Lord; not an ineffective God but one who rules all things by Word and Sprit rather than by the power of coercion (4).

[POINT]

Too often, we look for a God who will arrive in our times of need like the Calvary -- riding in on horses, blowing the trumpet, calling the troops to battle, guns blazing – we are looking for a god who does not look like Jesus. And, God always looks like Jesus.

Jesus is God now in human flesh:

+Sharing our common life,

+Facing the temptations to which we are prone,

+Enjoying accomplishments and running into obstacles – as we all do.

+Riding in the boat with us when the storm breaks out.

Jesus is God loving so deeply that he will go to the cross for the world which he loves.

+Loving so deeply that he will serve the bread and cup to the one who will betray him.

+Loving so deeply that he will wash the feet of the one who will deny and abandon him.

+Gathering up into his life, death and resurrection all that is human life so that life might be redeemed in his life.

[CONCL:] Where is God when storms come? And what does our God look like? The God of heaven and earth looks like Jesus:

+sharing our life, storms and all;

+watching the storm in wonder and apprehension;

+walking beside us for as long as the clean up might take.

This is who God is when storms come.

Notes:

3. Migliore, Daniel. Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology, p. 226.

4. ibid. p. 228.

April 24, 2011 Easter Day

2011-04-25T05:36:00.000-07:00

Hit the Road, Jack!

Matt 28.1-10

"Hit the Road Jack"

Mark was three years old when his pet lizard died. Since it was her grandson's first brush with death, Grandma suggested that Mark and an older boy in the family hold a "funeral" for the lizard. Grandma explained what a funeral was: a ceremony where you say a prayer, sing a song, and bury your loved one.

Grandma even provided a shoe box and a burial place in the backyard. The boys thought it was a great idea, so they all proceeded to the backyard. Taking the lead, the older boy said a prayer. Then he turned and asked little Mark if he wouldn't like to sing a song. With tears in his eyes, Mark clasped his hands, bowed his head, and belted out "Hit the Road, Jack” (2).

That's exactly what Pilate, Herod, the Scribes, Pharisees, and the mob that shouted, “Crucify!” were singing on Friday. That was their fondest wish.

"Hit the road Jack and don't you come back

No more, no more, no more, no more.

Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more" (1).

Then, they buried Jesus in a borrowed tomb, out of sight and out of mind. As far as they were concerned, this Jesus thing was over. But, as you know, God had other ideas. On Easter, Christ was raised from the dead – not just returned to ordinary life like Lazarus or Jairus’ daughter. Jesus was raised – skin and bones, body and soul – to life that could never be taken from him again.

I. GUARDS The story of Easter morning actually begins on Saturday, the day before. The chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate and said, "Order the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, 'He has been raised from the dead.” So, the tomb was sealed with a large stone. Nearby, a Roman soldier stands guard – a seal against the fear that Jesus’ disciples might try to steal the body.

II. The Mary’s

Now, on Sunday, Easter morning, two Marys make their way to the tomb: Mary Magdalene, one of the women who followed Jesus, and another Mary.

Despite the fact that twelve men were known as Jesus’ disciples, it was these women who went to the tomb early in the morning. In the ancient Middle East, and to some extent still today, their society was male dominated. Men coming to the tomb early in the morning would be considered threatening to the soldiers. But women were not considered a threat to a soldier. They could approach the tomb without attracting much attention.

So, two Marys walk toward the tomb. According to Matthew, they have not come to prepare the body for burial; they have only come to see. Perhaps the Marys have come to keep vigil at the tomb just as any of us might visit the grave soon after a funeral. There is no suggestion that they come to see if the tomb is empty. This is simply a sign of respect and love for Jesus.

Tomb watchers

Think about their gesture: Each of us should go out to stand as "tomb watchers" every now and then.

· Maybe we are keeping vigil for a part of ourselves that lies dormant and seemingly dead or lost or has fallen into a coffin of depression or despair.

· Maybe that shrouded figure in us is the loss of a way to pray, a deadening unforgiveness, or a body experiencing its physical limitations.

· Maybe our "tomb watch' is us becoming the angel of vigil, attending someone else in pain.

Easter is about "tomb watchers." It is about love that keeps vigil and waits and believes in life, no matter how dark and empty and cold the inner space feels. Easter is about hope that is willing to sit at the tomb while it trusts in transformation. Easter is about faithful companions who keep watch with us and cheer us on as we wait for our inner resurrection (3).

But, any thought that this visit will be the gentle gesture of love and grief that anyone of us might offer for a loved one will be pushed aside. As I said, God has other plans.

III. EARTHQUAKE

As the Marys approach the tomb, before they can speak to the guards, before they can do anything they might have planned, there is an earthquake. This is not the mechanism by which the stone is moved; this earthquake is a sign that God is intruding into the expected affairs of a Sunday morning. That’s all. And that is enough to get their attention.

Now, an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, comes and rolls back the stone. And, just to show that this angel is in charge of the situation, he sits upon it. The point is that the guards and the stone which Pilate and the Temple rulers placed to keep the tomb closed are no more a problem for God’s angel than a Kleenex draped over the door. The angel is not afraid the guards; the angel can move that stone without breaking a sweat. Such is the power and the decisiveness of God.

The angel is not hiding the fact that he comes from heaven. His appearance is like lightning, his clothing as white as snow. This is the messenger of God, and there can be no mistaking his purpose.

Well, the guards, those representatives of Rome’s power, the pawns of the Temple rulers, are so undone they fall down like dead men. So much for earthly power when it is confronted by God’s power. It is no contest. You can just imagine the guards reporting to Pilate later that same morning. “There was an earthquake! And an angel streaked down from heaven! Then, he kicked the stone aside like it was nothing. We couldn’t do anything to stop him, so we ran to tell you as soon as we could.”

The sad part of the guards’ role in this moment is that, lying near like “dead men” they were not addressed by the angel. The angel did not get to call them to see for themselves and believe. THE POINT is that Jesus’ resurrection was not offered to skeptics; God did not offer the resurrection as the proof that was going to change the minds of doubters. God offered the resurrection to strengthen the faith of believers.

NOW, LET’S TURN TO THE MARYS

The earth stops shaking, the guards have fallen like dead men, the tomb is standing open. Now, the angel addresses the women, the Marys, “Do not be afraid.” This is the way most encounters with the divine begin. We are appropriately afraid in the presence of the holy; caught in the presence of God is to know that we have no more authority than those passed-out guards lying over there on the ground. So, the angel begins with reassurance: “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.”

Curious, isn’t it that Matthew sees no need to explain how the resurrection happened or to give details of the moment? We are hungry for the fantastic details; that is our way of savoring the miracle. Later writers tried to fill in the missing details mainly from imagination. Apparently, the mechanism of Jesus’ resurrection is not Matthew’s concern. Matthew is focused on something else.

V. COMMISSION

What Matthew wants us to hear is the commission that the women received from the angel: “Go quickly and tell his disciples. ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.”

A. Like the disciples at the Transfiguration, who want to stay on the mountain and savor the resurrection moment, we want to stay at the tomb and savor the details. But, God’s angel will have none of that. “Go quickly. . .” This is Matthew’s interest. And thus, these women, the Marys, become the first witnesses and bearers of the Gospel message.

You can almost conclude from the angel’s instructions that the core of the Christian faith is not in what we have figured out about Jesus; the core of the Christian faith is in our willingness to go to those who do not know and tell what has happened. “Go quickly and tell his disciples.”

B. And what are they to tell? What is the content of the message that we are sent to deliver?

“He has been raised from the dead,

and he is going ahead of you to Galilee;

there you will see him.”

VI. JESUS

Now, the women leave the tomb quickly and with fear and great joy. They are running to tell the disciples. As they turn to go, they meet Jesus. He stops them, and they fall to worship him. Again, notice what Matthew is telling us: it is in going to tell the News of what God has done in our lives that we encounter Jesus most real and alive.

A. Like the women running from the tomb on Easter morning, the message we carry is first: Jesus is alive! He is not among the dead; he is among the living. You see, if Jesus is alive, then he is a figure for the present, not just for the past.

The most important question concerning Jesus, then, is simply this: Do we think he is dead or alive?

If Jesus is simply dead, there are any number of ways we can relate to his life and his accomplishments. And, if some obscure bit of data should turn up, we might hope to learn more about him.

If he is alive, however, everything changes. He not only spoke long ago, he continues to speak to the lives and situations that continue to unfold. If he is alive, he not only speaks, he might just confront us and our fondest assumptions. If he is alive, then he is present and watching as we carry out the lives he has given us.

Go and tell the world that Jesus Christ is a living reality. He continues to be known; he continues to know us.

B. The second message we carry: God has vindicated Jesus. God has said, “Yes,” to Jesus and “No” to the powers who executed him. Easter is God’s “yes” to Jesus against the powers who killed him. As Jesus said, God has given him authority over all other authorities of this world. In the words of one of the earliest post-Easter affirmations of faith: Jesus is Lord. And if Jesus is Lord, the lords of this world are not. Easter affirms that that the powers and assumptions of this broken world are not of God and that they do not have the final word (5).

+The peace of God is our future, not war without end. The old black spiritual got it right when it said, “I ain’t gona study war no more;”

+And “love your neighbor as yourself” works in the boardroom when we are making strategic decisions and on the street when we are skirting the panhandler who is always asking;

+And forgiveness 70 x 7 times really does welcome our children and our in-laws home again.

CONCL

Christians are sent people—commissioned to carry a message of hope, commissioned to serve the world in the name of Christ. On Easter, Jesus, who was crucified, was raised from the dead. But, we cannot set up camp outside the tomb; we have been sent to carry the news of a great hope that will heal the world. Hurry now, we must go to tell all the others.

Notes:

1. Strayhorn, Rev. Billy D. "Resurrection: God's Final Answer,"

2. “Hit the Road, Jack,” written by Percy Mayfield in 1960 but recorded most famously by Ray Charles in 1961.

3. “OUT OF THE ORDINARY” by Joyce Rupp

5. Borg, Marcus and John Crossan, The Last Week, pp. 204ff.

February 20, 2001

2011-02-22T05:15:00.000-08:00

Did Jesus Really Mean That?
Matt 5.38-48

Author Frederick Buechner said about Love:

      "The love for equals is a human thing
    – of friend for friend, brother for brother.
        It is to love what is loving and lovely.
        The world smiles.

      "The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing
    – the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely.
        This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.

      "The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing
    – to love those who succeed where we fail,
        to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice,
        the love of the poor for the rich,
        of the black man for the white man.
        The world is bewildered by its saints.

      "And then there is the love for the enemy
    – love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain.
        The tortured's love for the torturer.
        "This is God's love. It conquers the World " (3).

The single most important command of Jesus is that Christians must love: we must love one another, love God with heart and soul and mind and strength, and, hardest of all, we must love our enemies. This love of our enemies does not come easily or naturally. It goes against our self-interest. Immediately, I recognize this as one of the hard teachings of Jesus. But, there it is in the Sermon on the Mount.
----------------

[PROTECT US FROM JESUS]
    One Sunday, Bishop Will Willimon read as his preaching text a familiar passage in which Jesus commands Christians to forgive. A woman emerged from the church and accosted him at the door demanding to know, “Do you mean to tell me that Jesus expects me to forgive my abusive husband who made my life hell for ten years until I finally had the guts to leave him?”
    The preacher immediately went into defensive mode with, “Well, we only have twenty minutes for a sermon and I can’t appropriately qualify everything here, and I do believe that spouse abuse is a terrible evil, but, er..., this is the sort of odd thing that you would expect Jesus to say. He did say that we ought to forgive “seventy times seven times.” And that’s a great deal of forgiveness. And he did say to forgive our enemies and I can’t think of a worst enemy for you than your ex-husband, and...” Willimon confessed that he finally trailed off.
    The woman drew herself up to her full height, took a deep breath, and said, “Good, just checking.”
    In the quiet of the church after everyone was safely gone to find their Sunday lunch, the preacher prayed, “God, give me the grace not to protect others from Jesus” (1).

    The woman was correct; the teachings of Jesus call on Christians to take risks, to give up the security of our rights. And many have endured far beyond “reasonable” in keeping them. I do not expect anyone to suffer due to some rigid rule-keeping – even Christian rules; I do ask Christians to deal honestly and creatively with even the hard teachings of Jesus.

    In the Sermon the Mount, Jesus said:

38 "You have heard that it was said,
    'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
39 But I say to you,
    Do not resist an evildoer.
    But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek,
    turn the other also;
40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat,
    give your cloak as well;
41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile,
    go also the second mile.

    The Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew, chapters 5-7, is one of the most extensive and far-reaching ethical teachings in the N.T. While there are sayings and claims here which are loved and even revered, the ethical teachings of this Sermon are more often broken and intentionally ignored than they are kept.
        +That we should consider ourselves to be murderers when we are merely angry with a brother or sister is laughable. Try making that stick in Circuit Court. They have real crimes and injuries to address over there.
        +Who among us has stopped everything to apologize to the jerk who cut us off in traffic – the one we called that ugly name that you don’t say out loud in front of the kids or your parents? Not many.
        +Who among us has worried that we let God down for enjoying the sight of that girl or that guy who walks by us every morning in home room class? Not many.
        +Who among us has made arrangements to cut off hand or eye or ear because they caused us to sin in our hearts? Not many, I hope.
        +Who among us, that has endured cruelty at the hands of another, has gotten through such an experience by the wholesome confidence that one day the abuser will wake up to the hurt they are causing and never do that to us again? Not many.
And one after another the ethical teachings of the greatest sermon ever preached are ignored and rationalized away. This is upside down. It is amazing that Jesus had any followers at all, once people truly caught onto his hard teachings.

    Does Jesus really mean this? This is the question that immediately comes to mind as we read closely the Sermon on the Mount and consider its claims. It is sweet; it is beautiful. But, it is not where we live in the first half of the 21st Century.
        +Egypt’s people, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, were able to drive out Mubarak the dictator through a peaceful revolution, but their future remains very unsure.
        +Protestors in Iran, calling for peace in their nation, went out to the streets and found themselves greeted by tear gas and arrests.
        +Closer to home, we enjoy a relatively peaceful community and at the same time teach our children how to handle themselves at the mall.
        +Sure, we trust the people with whom we do business every day, but we always get a receipt.
If Jesus really means what he teaches in the Sermon on the Mount, what should we make of it in our daily lives? How should we allow this teaching to shape our life as a community of faith?
        +Is this the Law for a world that really follows Jesus, complete with rewards and punishments for those who keep or break such law?
        +Is this the Christian Law about which Muslims should worry the same way we worry about the Islamic Sharia law?
        +Is this a vision of a new world that we might admire from a distance, knowing that human beings can never achieve more than a few bits and pieces of it? And knowing that we will never realize it in our world?
        +Is this a vision of a new world that Jesus would have us working toward? One which we can see if we are faithful?

II. I believe that Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount are intended to point us toward a new world which Jesus already sees. This is a vision of a new world that Jesus would have us working toward. As Jesus addresses the crowd on the hillside, he invites the people to follow him into a new way of living that is so different from every other way of living that he called it the Kingdom of Heaven.

    Jesus’ new instruction offers his followers much work to do, and it guides his followers into very different ways from the world where Jesus taught.
        1. Jewish rules sought purity achieved by separation from all sources of impurity. The order is simple: Stay away from whatever harms you.
        2. Jesus’ rule takes a much riskier approach. Rather than avoiding ethical danger, one is to embrace sources of defilement:
        +one’s enemies,
        +situations that bring out one’s insecurities,
        +persons in the community who call forth one’s worst self.

The reason Christians are called to embrace impurity is to transform it by spreading the grace of God made known in Jesus. Rather than worry over our own purity, we must trust God’s grace enough to work through us for the transformation of the world.

    But, frankly, Jesus’ new instruction offers a way that is quite different from our world, too.
        1. We live in a world which is obsessed with best practices in performance and accomplishment. We are equally obsessed with stopping bullying in our schools and abuse in the workplace. The underlying conviction is that we can and should keep these high standards.
        2. Still, in the face of bullying, we hear Jesus say, “Turn the other cheek.” In the face of abuse in the workplace, we hear Jesus say, 39 But I say to you, “Do not resist an evildoer.”

How do we take the words of Jesus seriously knowing how hard we have worked to call abuse what it is and knowing what many have suffered unseen at the hands of those with more power?
    Is Jesus calling Christians to suffer abuse and bullying in silence? Do you hear Jesus teaching us: “Cancel the police! We’re just going to love people until they love us back!” I don’t think so; Jesus lived in the real world just as we do.

    Perhaps this is not, after all, the appropriate question. The point is not the impossibility of the standards set by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. The point of the Sermon on the Mount is a grand vision for human life focused on God graciously working in us and through us. Jesus believed that God was building a new world based on the coming of Jesus into the world. The social order was changing, and his responsibility was to spell out a new way of life (4).

III. We read this over and ask ourselves, “Does Jesus really mean this?” Matthew looks up at us with a smile and responds, “Imagine.” Imagine a world shaped by this way of dealing with the evildoers and the enemies who pester your world. Imagine a world shaped by people who have set out to give their very best instead of settling for the very least.
    Christians are to be become utterly other-oriented and non-judgmental. They are to have no worry for their own comfort or financial security. They are to be thoroughly gentle, peaceful, and gracious under pressure. They are to set aside all anger and all thoughts of revenge.

    [Garrison Keillor] told a story one Saturday night on “A Prairie Home Companion” in which he told about his 11th grade English teacher, Helen Story. She always told her classes “Ad astra per aspera,” which he translated to say, “Reach for the stars.” Don’t settle for completing just what is expected of you, reach high. Stretch yourself. Believe in yourself. Be more than everyone else expects you to be (2).

    Reach for the highest that Jesus teaches. Jesus does mean for those who follow him to reach for a way of living that embodies his life and his teachings. Without a doubt, keeping the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is fraught with risks. We might be stepped on; we might be pushed aside by many people who are willing to be more ruthless than we are. Further, our efforts at keeping the teachings of Jesus might be misunderstood as foolish OR misread as weakness. We can be certain that few of those we treat as Jesus teaches will enjoy a remarkable transformation.
    But... just as we have caught a glimpse, however fleeting, of the world as it will be when God rules, we can offer to the world a glimpse of it through our lives.

    [EX:] A thought-provoking example of Jesus’ teaching can be found in Victor Hugho’s novel, “Les Miserables.”
    The convict Jean Valjean is released from a French prison after serving nineteen years in prison (5-years for stealing a loaf of bread and 14-more years for his attempts to escape). When Valjean arrives at the town, no one is willing to give him shelter because he is an ex-convict. Desperate, Valjean knocks on the door of the kindly bishop of the city. The Bishop treats Valjean with kindness, and Valjean repays the bishop by stealing his silverware. When the police officer, Javert, arrests Jean Valjean, the Bishop covers for him, claiming that the silverware was a gift. But, more than that, the Bishop brings out more silver, telling Valjean in the presence of the police officer, “You left behind the best of the silver I wanted you to have it all.” In this way, the Bishop lives out the command of Jesus to turn the other cheek.
    Well, the police officer has no choice; he releases Valjean, and the Bishop makes him promise to become an honest man. Eager to fulfill his promise, Valjean masks his identity and enters another town. Under an assumed name, Valjean invents an ingenious manufacturing process that brings the town prosperity. He eventually becomes the town’s mayor. He has kept his promise to the Bishop that he become an honest man.
    Thus, the Bishop’s act of turning the other cheek in response to Valjean’s theft becomes redemptive. The thief becomes new man with a whole new future. This was Victor Hugho’s hope for any act of following Jesus’ teachings.

The Sermon on the Mount sounds impossible when we first hear it. But, Victor Hugo showed us that, though it is costly, it is possible. And more than possible, he showed us that following the teachings of Jesus might just give someone a new life.

38 "You have heard that it was said,
    'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
39 But I say to you,
    Do not resist an evildoer.
    But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek,
    turn the other also;
40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat,
    give your cloak as well;
41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile,
    go also the second mile.
42 Give to everyone who begs from you,
    and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

Notes:
1. Willimon, Will. “Matthew 5.43-48,” Interpretation, January 2003, pp. 63.
2. Keillor, Garrison. Details quoted from Liberty, a novel, although the incident was quoted from memory of hearing the story on the radio.
3. Beuchner, Frederick. “The Me in Thee,” The Magnificent Defeat, San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985, p. 105.
4. Charry, Ellen. “The Grace of God and the Law of Christ,” Interpretation, January 2003, pp. 34ff.