Exodus 20:1-17 (p.58)
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1Then God spoke all these words:2I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;3you shall have no other gods before me.4You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.7You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.8Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.9Six days you shall labor and do all your work.10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
12Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.13You shall not murder.14You shall not commit adultery.15You shall not steal.16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.17You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (p.926)
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18For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Foolish Words
We call them the Ten Commandments. Jews call then the Ten Words. But no matter what you call them, they are a central teaching that Jews and Christians share. So important are the Ten Commandments, we hang them on plaques in our houses. We post them on our church walls. Some towns down south put them in front of their courthouses though not without controversy. There’s even a depiction of Moses and the Ten Commandments in the US Supreme Court building, though not in any place that gives them special prominence.
There was a time when we could recite the Ten Commandments from memory. We taught them to our children. In confirmation class, they would explore them further as part of studying the catechism. Today, I’m not sure how many of us could list the Ten Commandments, let alone in order. I won’t quiz you, but do you know where else one can find the full Ten Commandments besides Exodus? If this were Jeopardy, the correct response would be “What is Deuteronomy?” By the way, that book’s name means second law – kind of a hint.
It may surprise you that there are slight differences between the two lists of commandments. In Exodus, the reason given for observing the Sabbath day is because God created the heavens and the earth in six days, then rested on the seventh. In Deuteronomy, the reason given is that in Egypt they were slaves brutally treated and without any rest. Now freed by God, they are to take a day of rest and to offer Sabbath to their servants and even their animals.
It may also surprise you to learn there are three different schemes for numbering the commandments. Jews tend to follow one method, Catholics and Lutherans a second, and the rest of us Protestants a third. Upon hearing of a movement to post the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, a rabbi asked “Which Ten?”
Regardless of numbering, all agree they are divided into two tables. One set of commandments describe how we are to live before God. The other set describe how we are to live with others. And both sets are connected. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, he answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.” You cannot love God without also loving the neighbor. And you cannot really love one’s neighbor unless that love is rooted in the love of God. Love is the key.
We tend to see the Ten Commandments as a list of “Thou shalt nots.” Perhaps in thinking about them, we have an image of God wagging a finger at us, taking all the fun out of life. And frankly, in describing the three uses of the law, John Calvin said one of those uses was as a bridle to restrain us. He did understand the law to have a civic function. Perhaps that’s the reason some in this country insist on posting them in our courthouses as the answer to America’s problems. But Calvin considered the law as a restraint to be the least important use of the law. Better is the law as a mirror – by showing us how we are to live before God and with our neighbor, the law reveals some of the ways our lives are not what they are supposed to be. The law functions to turn us back to God as our only help and hope. But Calvin said the most important use of the law is as a lamp. They guide us as we travel in our life before God and with our neighbors.
The Ten Commandments aren’t just about ethics and moral living. You can’t really understand what they are about without remembering the history of Israel and their covenantal relationship with God. God didn’t tell the people enslaved by Egypt “Follow these laws and then I’ll free you.” God freed the people first, brought them to Mount Sinai, and then gave them the law.
The law is first of all a gift from God to a people chosen by God. By following this law, the people of Israel were set apart from all the religions and cultures around them. The law also reveals something about the nature of God. Walter Brueggemann writes, “These commands might be taken not as a series of rules but as a proclamation in God’s own mouth of who God is and how God shall be ‘practiced’ by this community of liberated slaves.” The law describes the practices of those in covenant with God. The law calls the people to live all aspects of their life before God, not just the time they are in worship. And it calls the people to live in a way that reflects love and care for their neighbor. The law is about the community of faith. But we also discover following the law is the way to life. When we teach this as a Sunday school lesson, we call it “The 10 Best Ways to Live” - to live with God, and to live with each other.
When I (Nancy) was a teacher with Head Start, we had classroom rules. We had them posted on the wall, and because my children could not yet read, we had them in picture form—pictures of how to line up, how to wash your hands. We practiced how to ask a friend to play, how to take turns on the playground, how to ask for more mashed potatoes at lunch, how to say thank you when being given something. We had rules—about how to live together. And I was passionate about those rules, because I was passionate about those children, and their families, and their future success. It gave order to their life, and to our common life. I knew that if they could learn those rules, internalize those rules, those principles, and learn how to live as a community, those children would be on their way to a good future. (In a way this wasn’t just about learning to live ethically, but about a covenant. I had a covenant with these children and with their families. I was passionately committed to their future and to a way of living that was life-giving.)
The Ten Commandments give us the shape, order a life lived out of gratitude – gratitude for the gift of life, and redemption, and freedom that we receive from God in Christ. In some churches, the Law, or a summary of the Law, is recited by the congregation AFTER the assurance of pardon as a way to say, “with the help of God and as a forgiven people, this is how we will live.” The Westminster Catechism, written in Scotland in 1647, and part of the PCUSA’s Constitution, expands on the 10 commandments. The Law is not just a list of “thou shalt nots” but is an exploration of all the ways we are to live, positively, as God’s people. For instance, in the portion about “Thou Shalt not bear false witness”, we read that we are called to “a charitable esteem of our neighbors, loving, desiring and rejoicing in their good name, freely acknowledging their gifts and graces, and studying and practicing those things that are true honest, lovely and of good report”. (BOC 7.254)
What is remarkable about the Ten Commandments is how well they have stood against the test of time. Perhaps one summer we may preach a sermon series on the Ten Commandments, one per week. For now, consider how radical and foolish they are compared to the wisdom of the world:
1. The world says “You are your own boss. Do whatever you want to do whenever you feel like it.” God says “Serve only the one true God” (not yourself or other people or things).
2. The world says “Decide who and what is important to you. Pay attention only to those people and things.” God says “Make no idols to serve.”
3. The world says “It does not matter when or how you say God’s name. You can use it to swear or cuss or to get what you want (as in “God is on my side” statements).” God says “Do not speak God’s name lightly or for you own purposes.”
4. The world says “It doesn’t matter if you worship with God’s people on Sunday. If there are other things you’d rather do, go do them.” God says “Keep the Sabbath holy to rest and remember the gifts of creation.”
5. The world says “Parents don’t get it. Ignore them whenever you can.” God says “Honor your father and mother.”
6. The world says “Kill whatever or whoever gets in your way. The strongest live longest.” God says “Do not kill.”
7. The world says “Don’t worry about your family. Think only about yourself and what you want.” God says “Be faithful in your marriage.”
8. The world says “Finders keepers! Toddler’s Rule of possession: I see it, I want it, it’s mine! If you want it, figure out how to get it.” God says “Do not steal.”
9. The world says “Lie if you have to get out of trouble. Lie to get what you want. Lie to make yourself look good – even if it makes someone else look bad.” God says “Do not lie.”
10. The world says “The one who dies with most toys wins. The world is full of wonderful things. Get your share.” God says “Do not even want what others have.”
Following the law of God may seem foolish, even burdensome. But following the law is a joy for in the law we gain a sense of life in God’s kingdom, and a revelation of who God is. And for Christians the story does not end there. The fulfillment of the law and the fullest revelation of God is Jesus Christ. If you want to know what it means to love God with all your heart and soul and might, look to Jesus’ obedience and prayer life. If you want to know what it means to love your neighbor as yourself, look to Jesus’ ministry, suffering, and death on the cross. Pretty foolish.
But that is the God revealed in the law, the God revealed in Jesus Christ. We worship a God who brings us out of slavery, to freedom. A God who travels with us through the wilderness of our lives, a God who loves us enough to give us ways to act out being God’s own people, and a God who comes to us, and dwells with us, a God who went to the cross, to death- for us and for the world. We serve a foolish God. We worship a God who loves us and wants us to have life and to have it abundantly.
So I have to ask you, and ask myself: what shape will your love, your passionate love for God, and for God’s creation, take? In this Lenten time, as we prepare for Easter, and the gift of new life in Christ, what form will your life of gratitude, and freedom, and obedience, take? How will we act, and how will we order our lives as the people of God, who have already received such this gift?
(The “World’s Ten Words” are from http://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/ and “God’s Ten Words are adapted from “Young Children and Worship” by Stewart & Berryman)
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Second Sunday in Lent
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
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1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.2And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”3Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,
4“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.5No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
15God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Mark 8:27 – 9:1
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27Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”28And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”29He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”30And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 1And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
Loss and Gain
It’s a wonder there is a church today and that people still want to become members of it. Jesus tells his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life… will save it.” Imagine if we put that on the sign out front. Come and join us – as we deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and lose our lives for the gospel. Good news! I’m thinking not too many would decide to worship here this morning…or any morning. Yes, it’s a wonder to me that any of Jesus’ disciples continued on the journey with him.
In fact, that almost didn’t happen. Peter, spokesman for the rest of the disciples, has a Spirit-given revelation: “Jesus, you are the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one. You are the one Israel has been waiting for.” And it’s true. For hundreds of years, Israel has been waiting for the Messiah who will drive out the Romans and return the land back to the people of God. The Messiah is a hero, a conqueror, a king. That’s what was in the disciples’ minds, and how fortunate they are to be part of Jesus’ entourage. After all, some of the spoils of victory have to fall their way.
“Then [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Huh!? No way, Jesus! I doubt the disciples even heard that last bit about rising again. Their minds probably went blank after hearing the suffering and death part. Can you picture Peter putting his arm around Jesus shoulder to have a heart-to-heart talk? “C’mon, let’s turn this show around and head back to Capernaum. You could heal hundreds, feed thousands, and teach us some more of those riddles you call parables. Let’s go back home.”
The disciples didn’t sign on for this. The only thing Jesus mentioned when he called them was about fishing for people. I’m sure they had grown to admire, even love, the man they were following. How hard to hear what was ahead for him. How hard to hear that the one you care about is going to suffer and die. And there was probably a little bit of self-worry in the mix. If Jesus is going to be killed, what will it mean for all of the disciples who have been following him? How tempting to avoid the tough road ahead.
There lie the two questions Christians have struggled with from the beginning. Who is Jesus Christ, the person at the center of our faith? And what does the answer mean for those who follow Jesus? That is, who is a disciple of Jesus Christ?
According to Mark, it’s not about labels or descriptions. Yes, Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one. But you can’t understand what a Messiah is unless you see what he does, where he’s headed. It’s about actions, and Jesus actions, his teaching, his healing, his feeding, his questioning and defying the status quo, will lead to the cross. The challenge to Jesus’ followers today is that we have watered down what it means to be his disciples. Bearing crosses and losing our lives sounds a lot tougher than what we expect. It’s not what we signed up for. Maybe it’s more than we’re willing to do.
But we must also be careful not to misunderstand what Jesus is saying, either. Cross-bearing is not to be confused with patient suffering or perseverance in the face of adversity. This is not a call to playing the victim, to putting up with abuse, to suffering because it’s good for the soul. The key to understanding what Jesus is saying here is "for the sake of the gospel," and Jesus is the exemplary model. Cross-bearing is what happens when you risk suffering and shame while continuing Jesus’ ministry for the sake of others.
One can certainly think of role models in history like those who hid Jews from the Nazis during World War 2, or who worked for civil rights in 50’s and 60’s in this country. But one can look to events just last week at Chardon High School in Ohio where one student brought a gun to school and opened fire killing three other students. Hearing gunshots, assistant football coach Frank Hall located and chased the gunman from the school probably saving student lives. These are obviously extreme and more literal expressions of Jesus’ call to his disciples.
Most of us will not face giving our own precious life for the sake of another, but we do have opportunities every day to choose between putting ourselves first in acts of self-preservation, and choosing life-giving acts for others. Cross-bearing is also what happens when you love another and are willing to put their needs ahead of your own, to make sacrifices for the sake of the other, for the sake of the Gospel.
When the Hector youth meet in fellowship hall, Nancy & I sometimes put a few questions on poster paper for them to think about and respond. Last Sunday, one of the questions was, “Do you believe there is more contentment in making money or giving it away? Why?” And every one of them answered, “Giving it away.” Sometimes I think our youth are smarted than us adults – we could learn much from them.
Jesus tells his disciples, us, quite openly and boldly. The going is going to be rough. The way includes pain and suffering and leads to death. But we know the ending. Jesus life openly and boldly reveals God’s love for us, a radical love of healing and feeding, of forgiveness and reconciliation that goes to through the cross to resurrection and new life. That’s God’s promise to us. It’s not unlike the promise God made to Abraham and Sarah: new life. And we don’t have to wait until we die. New life begins the moment we choose to let our old way of thinking and living die, when we choose to follow Jesus. “The way to gain lies through loss, and the way to life lies through death. The demand for sacrifice is the invitation to blessing.” Good news.
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1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.2And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”3Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,
4“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.5No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
15God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Mark 8:27 – 9:1
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27Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”28And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”29He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”30And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 1And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
Loss and Gain
It’s a wonder there is a church today and that people still want to become members of it. Jesus tells his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life… will save it.” Imagine if we put that on the sign out front. Come and join us – as we deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and lose our lives for the gospel. Good news! I’m thinking not too many would decide to worship here this morning…or any morning. Yes, it’s a wonder to me that any of Jesus’ disciples continued on the journey with him.
In fact, that almost didn’t happen. Peter, spokesman for the rest of the disciples, has a Spirit-given revelation: “Jesus, you are the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one. You are the one Israel has been waiting for.” And it’s true. For hundreds of years, Israel has been waiting for the Messiah who will drive out the Romans and return the land back to the people of God. The Messiah is a hero, a conqueror, a king. That’s what was in the disciples’ minds, and how fortunate they are to be part of Jesus’ entourage. After all, some of the spoils of victory have to fall their way.
“Then [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Huh!? No way, Jesus! I doubt the disciples even heard that last bit about rising again. Their minds probably went blank after hearing the suffering and death part. Can you picture Peter putting his arm around Jesus shoulder to have a heart-to-heart talk? “C’mon, let’s turn this show around and head back to Capernaum. You could heal hundreds, feed thousands, and teach us some more of those riddles you call parables. Let’s go back home.”
The disciples didn’t sign on for this. The only thing Jesus mentioned when he called them was about fishing for people. I’m sure they had grown to admire, even love, the man they were following. How hard to hear what was ahead for him. How hard to hear that the one you care about is going to suffer and die. And there was probably a little bit of self-worry in the mix. If Jesus is going to be killed, what will it mean for all of the disciples who have been following him? How tempting to avoid the tough road ahead.
There lie the two questions Christians have struggled with from the beginning. Who is Jesus Christ, the person at the center of our faith? And what does the answer mean for those who follow Jesus? That is, who is a disciple of Jesus Christ?
According to Mark, it’s not about labels or descriptions. Yes, Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one. But you can’t understand what a Messiah is unless you see what he does, where he’s headed. It’s about actions, and Jesus actions, his teaching, his healing, his feeding, his questioning and defying the status quo, will lead to the cross. The challenge to Jesus’ followers today is that we have watered down what it means to be his disciples. Bearing crosses and losing our lives sounds a lot tougher than what we expect. It’s not what we signed up for. Maybe it’s more than we’re willing to do.
But we must also be careful not to misunderstand what Jesus is saying, either. Cross-bearing is not to be confused with patient suffering or perseverance in the face of adversity. This is not a call to playing the victim, to putting up with abuse, to suffering because it’s good for the soul. The key to understanding what Jesus is saying here is "for the sake of the gospel," and Jesus is the exemplary model. Cross-bearing is what happens when you risk suffering and shame while continuing Jesus’ ministry for the sake of others.
One can certainly think of role models in history like those who hid Jews from the Nazis during World War 2, or who worked for civil rights in 50’s and 60’s in this country. But one can look to events just last week at Chardon High School in Ohio where one student brought a gun to school and opened fire killing three other students. Hearing gunshots, assistant football coach Frank Hall located and chased the gunman from the school probably saving student lives. These are obviously extreme and more literal expressions of Jesus’ call to his disciples.
Most of us will not face giving our own precious life for the sake of another, but we do have opportunities every day to choose between putting ourselves first in acts of self-preservation, and choosing life-giving acts for others. Cross-bearing is also what happens when you love another and are willing to put their needs ahead of your own, to make sacrifices for the sake of the other, for the sake of the Gospel.
When the Hector youth meet in fellowship hall, Nancy & I sometimes put a few questions on poster paper for them to think about and respond. Last Sunday, one of the questions was, “Do you believe there is more contentment in making money or giving it away? Why?” And every one of them answered, “Giving it away.” Sometimes I think our youth are smarted than us adults – we could learn much from them.
Jesus tells his disciples, us, quite openly and boldly. The going is going to be rough. The way includes pain and suffering and leads to death. But we know the ending. Jesus life openly and boldly reveals God’s love for us, a radical love of healing and feeding, of forgiveness and reconciliation that goes to through the cross to resurrection and new life. That’s God’s promise to us. It’s not unlike the promise God made to Abraham and Sarah: new life. And we don’t have to wait until we die. New life begins the moment we choose to let our old way of thinking and living die, when we choose to follow Jesus. “The way to gain lies through loss, and the way to life lies through death. The demand for sacrifice is the invitation to blessing.” Good news.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
First Sunday of Lent
Genesis 9:8-17 p 6
8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,9“As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:13I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
This is the word of the Lord…thanks be to God
Mark 2:13-22 p 813-814
13Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them.14As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.15And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him.16When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”17When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
18Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”19Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.20The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
21“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
This is the word of the Lord….thanks be to God
Apparently the whole world was sinful, at least in Noah’s day. The world was so bad—when not too very long ago God made it and declared it “good” –so bad, that God wants to destroy it. Or rather, God regrets that he has made the world, and humans in it. Every thought, every impulse of their lives is evil, says God. All the time. This isn’t working. I’ve got to start over, God thinks.
Ah…but there is one faithful one, Noah…and his family. Now, we don’t know in what ways Noah was faithful…we are only told that he was.
So, Noah builds the boat, and God sends water, lots of it, and they ride out the storm in a ship, filled with animals and each other, and finally, finally, come out, 40 days later, to a world that is different. Wiped clean.
What kind of God would do that? We might ask. What kind of God regrets his own creation? What kind of God wants- and makes- a “do-over”?
We have a hint. God makes a covenant with Noah. A covenant in which God promises never to destroy the world by flood ever again. A world, in which, perhaps, God regrets the flood as well as the creation, and wants to re-establish a relationship, with all creation—through Noah, and Noah’s descendents, and the descendants of all the animals who were carried on that boat.
And here’s the thing: God doesn’t require anything of Noah and his children. God only binds himself “As for me….” God says. There is nothing about what Noah and his family and descendants are required to do. God chooses to limit God’s power, and chooses to establish a new covenant, a new relationship with humans. God makes a promise never again to destroy the world in this way.
The world had not improved much by the time we get to first century Palestine. The only sure things in life are death, and taxes. And Levi is a tax collector, for the Roman government, and, most probably, taking a cut for himself as well. So, both a shill for the oppressors, and someone who’s padding his own pockets. He would have made a bundle, it was thought, because that portion of Galilee was the Via Maris, a major trade route. People traveled on the Roman roads because they were safe. But they paid a price. And when they went thru that particular portion of road, they paid their taxes to Levi.
And Jesus comes by. And disrupts Levi’s work day. Because that’s what Jesus does.
Jesus commands him- follow me. And Levi does, and is given new life. He arose, got up- but the word there doesn’t mean he stood up from his chair- it is the word we use for resurrection: anastao- - - Just like Simon and Andrew and James and John, who left their fishing nets, Levi gets up and lets the coins and receipts fall from his lap, as he arises, and follows Jesus.
A wonderful story, we think- a new life! Resurrection! A happy ending!
Except, it’s not. People are mad- why would Jesus call a collaborator, someone who works for the enemy? Why would Jesus sit down with tax collectors and sinners?- we are reminded – 3 times! That Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners!- Jesus is rubbing elbows with them. And people are outraged.
Jesus, of course, has a simple answer. Those who are healthy don’t need a doctor. I have not come to heal the righteous, he says, but to heal the sick. I have not come to save the holy, but to save the sinners.
Which is good news. For all of us.
Think back to the Noah story. “the inclinations of the humans hearts was very evil, all the time, always. “ things weren’t any different in Jesus day. They’re not much different now. But God decided to enter into covenant with Noah, and with creation, and with all creation again—knowing fully what humans were capable of.
And God in Jesus decided to come for the sick and the sinners- and to eat with us, and to die for us, and to teach us and heal us.
The story of Noah and the ark is often used for baby blankets, wall decorations for a baby’s or child’s room. Or a play boat filled with animals for a toddler aged child—and the child would have fun, marching the animals up into the ark, two by two.
But, in some ways, this is a disturbing story- God decides to wipe out the world—not exactly the kind of story you want to tell your baby as she is drifting off to sleep. And that is one way to look at this story.
But it is not the whole story—we know the rest of the story, the story of the covenant, given by God, lived out in Jesus Christ, in which we stand today.
When Christ called Levi, a notorious sinner, a traitor, a collaborator, we don’t hear any rules about what Levi must do first. We don’t hear any laws preached to him before he will be allowed to follow Jesus, before he can be named an official follower of the Messiah. In fact, we don’t even hear Jesus talking to Levi about repentance, or quitting his day job, or any of it. That doesn’t seem to be on Jesus’ mind- just “follow me” and Levi does. And Jesus doesn’t seem to have laid down any rules for Levi’s sinful friends, either: first we have Jesus calling Levi, next thing we know, Jesus is in the thick of it, at the table with notorious sinners.
Jesus goes where the sinners are. The physician has come for the sick, not the healthy.
This past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. The beginning of Lent. A time of 40 days when we meditate on Christ’s journey to Easter. A time of reflection, of fasting, of deepened prayer and spiritual disciplines.
And we often think of that, or at least I think of that, as kind of a solitary work. The Bible even says “when you pray, do it in secret. When you fast, put oil on your face, don’t be somber, so that others will know you are fasting…” So it sounds like a recommendation to do these quietly, discretely, alone.
But I don’t know if you heard any of the news stories about churches bringing ashes for Ash Wednesday out into the public: in Starbucks, at drive throughs, at the subway or train stations.
Sara Miles blogged about this (http://www.episcopalcafe.com/daily/church_year/ash_wednesday_in_the_streets_1.php)
: about the weirdness and rule-breakingness and blessing of bringing ashes to people in San Francisco. They set up next to the subway entrance. She and some others from the church put up signs, duct-taped to the fence behind them. The two signs read: Life is very, very short, and More Forgiveness. They brought ashes, last year’s palm branches, burned up, in baby food jars. And people began edging closer….to get a glimpse of grace, to be blessed. They went into a restaurant, and one of the cooks said “Oh….did you come because you knew we couldn’t get to church, so you came to us?” Outside in traffic, a man saw what they were doing and lurched his truck into a parking space, and threw open the door: “Oh! Can I have those? Wait, my mom is in the back seat…can you go give her some?” As they walked down the alleyway, blessing all, a teenaged drug dealer, looking menacing, broke into a smile, and lifted his cap: to show them he already had ashes on his forehead. You are dust, Sara said as she applied ashes, and to dust you shall return.
Miles was amazed that virtually everyone said the same thing: Thank you. Thank you. Why would they thank her, she wondered, for reminding them that they are mortal, that one day they will die? Miles thinks it is because she told them the truth, the unvarnished truth. Which is this: We are all made in the image of God, claimed by God. And so we are also called to act like Jesus: breaking rules, bringing grace, feeding sinners, going out into the world. Because we know the truth about us. We are sinners, and redeemed. We are dust, but breathed into by the Spirit of God. We live in this broken world, and we are in the kingdom of God.
8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,9“As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:13I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
This is the word of the Lord…thanks be to God
Mark 2:13-22 p 813-814
13Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them.14As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.15And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him.16When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”17When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
18Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”19Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.20The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
21“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
This is the word of the Lord….thanks be to God
Apparently the whole world was sinful, at least in Noah’s day. The world was so bad—when not too very long ago God made it and declared it “good” –so bad, that God wants to destroy it. Or rather, God regrets that he has made the world, and humans in it. Every thought, every impulse of their lives is evil, says God. All the time. This isn’t working. I’ve got to start over, God thinks.
Ah…but there is one faithful one, Noah…and his family. Now, we don’t know in what ways Noah was faithful…we are only told that he was.
So, Noah builds the boat, and God sends water, lots of it, and they ride out the storm in a ship, filled with animals and each other, and finally, finally, come out, 40 days later, to a world that is different. Wiped clean.
What kind of God would do that? We might ask. What kind of God regrets his own creation? What kind of God wants- and makes- a “do-over”?
We have a hint. God makes a covenant with Noah. A covenant in which God promises never to destroy the world by flood ever again. A world, in which, perhaps, God regrets the flood as well as the creation, and wants to re-establish a relationship, with all creation—through Noah, and Noah’s descendents, and the descendants of all the animals who were carried on that boat.
And here’s the thing: God doesn’t require anything of Noah and his children. God only binds himself “As for me….” God says. There is nothing about what Noah and his family and descendants are required to do. God chooses to limit God’s power, and chooses to establish a new covenant, a new relationship with humans. God makes a promise never again to destroy the world in this way.
The world had not improved much by the time we get to first century Palestine. The only sure things in life are death, and taxes. And Levi is a tax collector, for the Roman government, and, most probably, taking a cut for himself as well. So, both a shill for the oppressors, and someone who’s padding his own pockets. He would have made a bundle, it was thought, because that portion of Galilee was the Via Maris, a major trade route. People traveled on the Roman roads because they were safe. But they paid a price. And when they went thru that particular portion of road, they paid their taxes to Levi.
And Jesus comes by. And disrupts Levi’s work day. Because that’s what Jesus does.
Jesus commands him- follow me. And Levi does, and is given new life. He arose, got up- but the word there doesn’t mean he stood up from his chair- it is the word we use for resurrection: anastao- - - Just like Simon and Andrew and James and John, who left their fishing nets, Levi gets up and lets the coins and receipts fall from his lap, as he arises, and follows Jesus.
A wonderful story, we think- a new life! Resurrection! A happy ending!
Except, it’s not. People are mad- why would Jesus call a collaborator, someone who works for the enemy? Why would Jesus sit down with tax collectors and sinners?- we are reminded – 3 times! That Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners!- Jesus is rubbing elbows with them. And people are outraged.
Jesus, of course, has a simple answer. Those who are healthy don’t need a doctor. I have not come to heal the righteous, he says, but to heal the sick. I have not come to save the holy, but to save the sinners.
Which is good news. For all of us.
Think back to the Noah story. “the inclinations of the humans hearts was very evil, all the time, always. “ things weren’t any different in Jesus day. They’re not much different now. But God decided to enter into covenant with Noah, and with creation, and with all creation again—knowing fully what humans were capable of.
And God in Jesus decided to come for the sick and the sinners- and to eat with us, and to die for us, and to teach us and heal us.
The story of Noah and the ark is often used for baby blankets, wall decorations for a baby’s or child’s room. Or a play boat filled with animals for a toddler aged child—and the child would have fun, marching the animals up into the ark, two by two.
But, in some ways, this is a disturbing story- God decides to wipe out the world—not exactly the kind of story you want to tell your baby as she is drifting off to sleep. And that is one way to look at this story.
But it is not the whole story—we know the rest of the story, the story of the covenant, given by God, lived out in Jesus Christ, in which we stand today.
When Christ called Levi, a notorious sinner, a traitor, a collaborator, we don’t hear any rules about what Levi must do first. We don’t hear any laws preached to him before he will be allowed to follow Jesus, before he can be named an official follower of the Messiah. In fact, we don’t even hear Jesus talking to Levi about repentance, or quitting his day job, or any of it. That doesn’t seem to be on Jesus’ mind- just “follow me” and Levi does. And Jesus doesn’t seem to have laid down any rules for Levi’s sinful friends, either: first we have Jesus calling Levi, next thing we know, Jesus is in the thick of it, at the table with notorious sinners.
Jesus goes where the sinners are. The physician has come for the sick, not the healthy.
This past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. The beginning of Lent. A time of 40 days when we meditate on Christ’s journey to Easter. A time of reflection, of fasting, of deepened prayer and spiritual disciplines.
And we often think of that, or at least I think of that, as kind of a solitary work. The Bible even says “when you pray, do it in secret. When you fast, put oil on your face, don’t be somber, so that others will know you are fasting…” So it sounds like a recommendation to do these quietly, discretely, alone.
But I don’t know if you heard any of the news stories about churches bringing ashes for Ash Wednesday out into the public: in Starbucks, at drive throughs, at the subway or train stations.
Sara Miles blogged about this (http://www.episcopalcafe.com/daily/church_year/ash_wednesday_in_the_streets_1.php)
: about the weirdness and rule-breakingness and blessing of bringing ashes to people in San Francisco. They set up next to the subway entrance. She and some others from the church put up signs, duct-taped to the fence behind them. The two signs read: Life is very, very short, and More Forgiveness. They brought ashes, last year’s palm branches, burned up, in baby food jars. And people began edging closer….to get a glimpse of grace, to be blessed. They went into a restaurant, and one of the cooks said “Oh….did you come because you knew we couldn’t get to church, so you came to us?” Outside in traffic, a man saw what they were doing and lurched his truck into a parking space, and threw open the door: “Oh! Can I have those? Wait, my mom is in the back seat…can you go give her some?” As they walked down the alleyway, blessing all, a teenaged drug dealer, looking menacing, broke into a smile, and lifted his cap: to show them he already had ashes on his forehead. You are dust, Sara said as she applied ashes, and to dust you shall return.
Miles was amazed that virtually everyone said the same thing: Thank you. Thank you. Why would they thank her, she wondered, for reminding them that they are mortal, that one day they will die? Miles thinks it is because she told them the truth, the unvarnished truth. Which is this: We are all made in the image of God, claimed by God. And so we are also called to act like Jesus: breaking rules, bringing grace, feeding sinners, going out into the world. Because we know the truth about us. We are sinners, and redeemed. We are dust, but breathed into by the Spirit of God. We live in this broken world, and we are in the kingdom of God.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Transfiguration
2 Kings 2:1-12 p290
Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.2Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.3The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.”4Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.5The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be silent.”6Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.7Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan.8Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.
9When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.”10He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.”11As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven.12Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
This is the word of the Lord…..Thanks be to God
Mark 9:2-9 p 820
2Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,3and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.5Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”6He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”8Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
9As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
This is the word of the Lord……thanks be to God.
(sing)
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, comin for to carry me home…..swing low, sweet chariot, comin for to carry me home……
I’m guessing Elijah wasn’t singing this, as he crossed over the Jordan, knowing that his time on this earth was almost over. We are sure Elisha, his protégée and student, was not happy to see him go—in fact, three times he tries to delay Elijah’s departure. And twice when companies of prophets come to say goodbye to Elijah, Elisha tries to silence them, saying, in effect Shut up. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear that my master is going away today to be with the Lord”. It’s the kind of news Elisha doesn’t want to hear, even if its true.
Because, after all, with Elijah gone, his work and responsibilities fall entirely on Elisha’s shoulders. And the prophet’s life is a difficult calling that requires one to speak truth to power, often with life threatening consequences. And to think that someone you admire, someone you’ve left everything for, someone you’ve been traveling with for a significant part of your life—to think of him being taken away—well, that’s unthinkable.
Up on the mountaintop, there was no singing, at least that we know of, but a voice, that came from heaven and said “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to Him.”
The disciples did not want to listen. Just a short while before this, Peter has declared that Jesus is The Messiah. But when Jesus tries to explain what that entails, what that will mean, what the future will be like, including suffering and the cross….Peter, and the other disciples, do not want to hear it. Much like Elisha being reminded of Elijah’s impending death. It’s the kind of news they don’t want to hear, even if it is true.
Because, after all, a Messiah who suffers and dies isn’t really much of a messiah, is he? A savior of the world who can’t—or won’t save himself isn’t really a savior, is he? And to think of someone you love, someone you’ve left everything for, someone you’ve been traveling with and living with these 3 years—to think of him being crucified, --in his own words—well, that’s unthinkable.
So Peter, up on the mountaintop, in all that light and that glory, must be deliriously happy- or so scared he is stupefied- because all he can talk about is pitching camp and staying up there. Of course he wants to stay up there- everything is hunky dory, right? No more of this stubborn death talk—there’s light, and glory, and Moses and Elijah up there, chatting with Jesus.
But the fact that it is Moses and Elijah who appear should give us some pause. Moses and Elijah are important people in the Hebrew tradition. And Elijah is supposed to reappear, by tradition, when the Messiah is about to come.
Moses and Elijah are two of the only there people who are thought not to have died (Enoch is the other, and we don’t hear much about him) but to have been taken up to heaven. Elijah goes in a big fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses- sort of like an old testament version of Ghost rider, I guess- and we never really know what happened to Moses- he hides in the cleft of a rock, and we don’t hear anything about him after Joshua takes the people over to Canaan.
So, we would likely think that Jesus will go in the same way- a fiery chariot, or taken up by God…leaving his disciples to stay behind and wonder, mouths open, fingers pointing, necks craned upward.
But that’s not what happens. After all that glory, after all that light, a voice comes out of heaven and says “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him”
Because the disciples don’t want to hear those words that Jesus has said.
Then, the moment is gone, and Jesus comes down from the mountain.
Jesus comes down, to enter daily life, with us. And as his disciples, we are called to do the same. As tempting as it is to hold onto those mountaintop moments, to want to stay up there, to try and prolong the moment, to dwell in them, like Peter, our call is to go down the mountain, and enter life.
Perhaps you have had some moments- perhaps a time in your life- on retreat, after studying the word, after being at Camp Whitman, when you have felt the glory of God, the love of God. And the moment is so—so holy, so other, that you don’t want it to end. But it does. And you come down, into real life. Which is not very shiny or glorious, but is filled with people like you and me, all of whom happen to be in the same line at Wal-mart, all at the same time. I find it interesting, that in the PC(USA), there are two Presbyteries with the word “peaks”- Presbytery of Plains and Peaks, in Colorado, and the Presbytery of the Peaks, in the Blue Ridge mountains. Which makes sense, geographically. But there do not appear to be any presbyteries named “peaks and valleys”—which would be a much more accurate statement of what life as a Christian is like.
Jesus is clear about what will happen. He speaks very plainly to the disciples. And as disciples, we also are called to walk in that way as well- the way of suffering and of the cross.
Now, let’s be clear. None of us is the Christ. And while suffering has been held up in many traditions as a spiritual good in itself, or as saving and redemptive, it is not. But it is the price we pay as followers of Christ.
We are not called to a passive life, or a passive love that simply tries to be good and avoid evil. Rather we are called to an active life, that engages the world, that works for justice, that speaks the truth in love, that refuses to play the world’s power games, that refuses to buy into the world’s definitions of what is good and honorable, we are called to witness to a love that is transformative and life changing.
Christ came down from the mountain, knowing what was ahead. Christ came down, to be God with us. To go to the cross, and die. For us. And be resurrected, by the grace of God, to bring new life, to bring hope, knowing that wherever we may go, Christ has already been, and where Christ is now we will be one day.
This is the kind of God we have. This is the kind of love God loves us with. This is not like Elijah, or Moses. This is Jesus Christ, the Son, the Beloved, who suffers with us and for us, who redeems us. In the Apostle’s Creed, which we will say in a few minutes, we say this about Christ: “he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell…” The psalmist says “Though I make my bed in Sheol, you are there…” There is no place that we can go, there is no suffering we go through, that God in Christ is not with us. Jesus comes down from the mountain…and joins us in our life. Our lives that are messy and broken, our lives that are ordinary and long, our lives that are lived out in both darkness and sunshine.
There is another song we sing, at Christmastime.
(sing) “He came down that we may have love”
Now, the song talks about the incarnation, and in a call and response, the singer asks “Why did he come?”
And the people reply: “He came down that we may have love. He came down that we may have love. He came down that we may have love, yes! Alleluia forever more.”
Jesus came down from the mountain, knowing what he was going to face—that we may have love, and life, and have it abundantly. Alleluia. Forevermore.
Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.2Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.3The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.”4Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.5The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be silent.”6Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.7Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan.8Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.
9When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.”10He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.”11As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven.12Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
This is the word of the Lord…..Thanks be to God
Mark 9:2-9 p 820
2Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,3and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.5Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”6He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”8Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
9As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
This is the word of the Lord……thanks be to God.
(sing)
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, comin for to carry me home…..swing low, sweet chariot, comin for to carry me home……
I’m guessing Elijah wasn’t singing this, as he crossed over the Jordan, knowing that his time on this earth was almost over. We are sure Elisha, his protégée and student, was not happy to see him go—in fact, three times he tries to delay Elijah’s departure. And twice when companies of prophets come to say goodbye to Elijah, Elisha tries to silence them, saying, in effect Shut up. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear that my master is going away today to be with the Lord”. It’s the kind of news Elisha doesn’t want to hear, even if its true.
Because, after all, with Elijah gone, his work and responsibilities fall entirely on Elisha’s shoulders. And the prophet’s life is a difficult calling that requires one to speak truth to power, often with life threatening consequences. And to think that someone you admire, someone you’ve left everything for, someone you’ve been traveling with for a significant part of your life—to think of him being taken away—well, that’s unthinkable.
Up on the mountaintop, there was no singing, at least that we know of, but a voice, that came from heaven and said “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to Him.”
The disciples did not want to listen. Just a short while before this, Peter has declared that Jesus is The Messiah. But when Jesus tries to explain what that entails, what that will mean, what the future will be like, including suffering and the cross….Peter, and the other disciples, do not want to hear it. Much like Elisha being reminded of Elijah’s impending death. It’s the kind of news they don’t want to hear, even if it is true.
Because, after all, a Messiah who suffers and dies isn’t really much of a messiah, is he? A savior of the world who can’t—or won’t save himself isn’t really a savior, is he? And to think of someone you love, someone you’ve left everything for, someone you’ve been traveling with and living with these 3 years—to think of him being crucified, --in his own words—well, that’s unthinkable.
So Peter, up on the mountaintop, in all that light and that glory, must be deliriously happy- or so scared he is stupefied- because all he can talk about is pitching camp and staying up there. Of course he wants to stay up there- everything is hunky dory, right? No more of this stubborn death talk—there’s light, and glory, and Moses and Elijah up there, chatting with Jesus.
But the fact that it is Moses and Elijah who appear should give us some pause. Moses and Elijah are important people in the Hebrew tradition. And Elijah is supposed to reappear, by tradition, when the Messiah is about to come.
Moses and Elijah are two of the only there people who are thought not to have died (Enoch is the other, and we don’t hear much about him) but to have been taken up to heaven. Elijah goes in a big fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses- sort of like an old testament version of Ghost rider, I guess- and we never really know what happened to Moses- he hides in the cleft of a rock, and we don’t hear anything about him after Joshua takes the people over to Canaan.
So, we would likely think that Jesus will go in the same way- a fiery chariot, or taken up by God…leaving his disciples to stay behind and wonder, mouths open, fingers pointing, necks craned upward.
But that’s not what happens. After all that glory, after all that light, a voice comes out of heaven and says “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him”
Because the disciples don’t want to hear those words that Jesus has said.
Then, the moment is gone, and Jesus comes down from the mountain.
Jesus comes down, to enter daily life, with us. And as his disciples, we are called to do the same. As tempting as it is to hold onto those mountaintop moments, to want to stay up there, to try and prolong the moment, to dwell in them, like Peter, our call is to go down the mountain, and enter life.
Perhaps you have had some moments- perhaps a time in your life- on retreat, after studying the word, after being at Camp Whitman, when you have felt the glory of God, the love of God. And the moment is so—so holy, so other, that you don’t want it to end. But it does. And you come down, into real life. Which is not very shiny or glorious, but is filled with people like you and me, all of whom happen to be in the same line at Wal-mart, all at the same time. I find it interesting, that in the PC(USA), there are two Presbyteries with the word “peaks”- Presbytery of Plains and Peaks, in Colorado, and the Presbytery of the Peaks, in the Blue Ridge mountains. Which makes sense, geographically. But there do not appear to be any presbyteries named “peaks and valleys”—which would be a much more accurate statement of what life as a Christian is like.
Jesus is clear about what will happen. He speaks very plainly to the disciples. And as disciples, we also are called to walk in that way as well- the way of suffering and of the cross.
Now, let’s be clear. None of us is the Christ. And while suffering has been held up in many traditions as a spiritual good in itself, or as saving and redemptive, it is not. But it is the price we pay as followers of Christ.
We are not called to a passive life, or a passive love that simply tries to be good and avoid evil. Rather we are called to an active life, that engages the world, that works for justice, that speaks the truth in love, that refuses to play the world’s power games, that refuses to buy into the world’s definitions of what is good and honorable, we are called to witness to a love that is transformative and life changing.
Christ came down from the mountain, knowing what was ahead. Christ came down, to be God with us. To go to the cross, and die. For us. And be resurrected, by the grace of God, to bring new life, to bring hope, knowing that wherever we may go, Christ has already been, and where Christ is now we will be one day.
This is the kind of God we have. This is the kind of love God loves us with. This is not like Elijah, or Moses. This is Jesus Christ, the Son, the Beloved, who suffers with us and for us, who redeems us. In the Apostle’s Creed, which we will say in a few minutes, we say this about Christ: “he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell…” The psalmist says “Though I make my bed in Sheol, you are there…” There is no place that we can go, there is no suffering we go through, that God in Christ is not with us. Jesus comes down from the mountain…and joins us in our life. Our lives that are messy and broken, our lives that are ordinary and long, our lives that are lived out in both darkness and sunshine.
There is another song we sing, at Christmastime.
(sing) “He came down that we may have love”
Now, the song talks about the incarnation, and in a call and response, the singer asks “Why did he come?”
And the people reply: “He came down that we may have love. He came down that we may have love. He came down that we may have love, yes! Alleluia forever more.”
Jesus came down from the mountain, knowing what he was going to face—that we may have love, and life, and have it abundantly. Alleluia. Forevermore.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
February 12
Isaiah 43:18-25 p. 586
18Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.19I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.20The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,21the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.
22Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel!23You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense.24You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.25I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
This is the word of the Lord…….Thanks be to God
Mark 2:1-12 p. 813
2When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.2So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them.3Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.4And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”6Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,7“Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”8Immediately, Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’?10But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he said to the paralytic—11“I say to you, rise up, take your mat and go to your home.”12And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
This is the word of the Lord……Thanks be to God
This morning’s story is the next in a series of healings that Jesus performs. And he has gone from simple to complex, or at least from straight forward to confusing: for before, the healings were relatively clear: the demons were cast out, Peter’s mother in law is cured, the leper is restored. In this morning’s story, we hear talk about forgiveness of sin mixed in with the healing. And we’re not sure what that’s doing in there.
The man, the paralytic, is brought to Jesus by his friends. And Jesus, upon seeing the man come down thru a hole in the roof, notices and commends the friend’s faith. He does not comment on the faith of the paralytic, who remains nameless, and, in fact, never speaks. We don’t know anything about the faith of the paralytic. We don’t know if he begged his friends to bring him, we don’t know if he resisted the idea, we don’t even know what his name was. It is the faith of the friends that Jesus notices. But Jesus words are addressed to the paralytic: “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
Which I think are pretty strange words to utter to someone who has just been lowered through the roof. Really? That’s the first thing you would say to someone who cannot walk, who has been carried on a litter, all the way up to the roof and down on ropes….”your sins are forgiven?”
Why not “be healed” or, “I do choose”, or even hello. Welcome. Glad you have such good friends. Thanks for dropping in.
Many preachers throughout the centuries have seen in this text a relationship between sin and disease. And, in fact, in Jesus’ time, sin and disease were considered related: last week we said that if someone had leprosy, the question was “how did you sin?” not, how did you catch this disease. So, for Jesus’ context, this makes sense.
But for us, with our understanding of genetics, and science, and neurobiology, it doesn’t resonate as true.
But we do know there is an interplay between physical healing and forgiveness.
The Greek language has no real word for “forgive”—at least not in the way we use it. The word Jesus uses here is “to release, or let go”—you are released from your sins, he says to the man.
Sins are the things we need to be released from. Sins are the things which bind us, sin is broken relationships, with God and with others. Sin is what closes off the future……unless there is an act of release.
Now, forgiveness isn’t just saying “its ok, no big deal.” Forgiveness is release—it is trying to break open a situation, making something new in place of what was, so that there can be a future. In Isaiah, God says to us: I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
Release from sin is what allows us to move forward.
When I was a beginning chaplain my supervisor gave me a pin that is shaped like a fishhook. Now, she got it at a religious store, where it was sold as a reminder to be “fishers of men.” But Laurie used it—because she had one, too—as a reminder not to get stuck on the past, not to get hung up on the old resentments and patterns, but to be released, to be free.
The four friends knew what they were doing, in their audacious move. Climbing up on the roof, taking apart the roof tiles, lowering their friend. They knew their paralyzed friend was trapped, was bound, and had very little foreseeable future. They knew they had to find a new way. They knew that the only future their friend had was in Jesus. So they did what they had to—they did the outrageous—they did the unusual in order to get their friend inside the house.
For a long time, now, there has been talk about the church dying. All over, and in Presbyterian circles, we hear that fewer and fewer people are coming in the doors. And they are certainly not lining up outside, straining to hear a word, to get a glimpse. So perhaps what we need to do is find ways—unusual ways—outrageous ways—to get people in to Jesus.
Some of these, most of these, will not be the way we have been doing church, the way we grew up with church. They will involve media- facebook, twitter, an internet presence—this church has a website, and a blog. We email our Session agendas, and people, mostly outsiders, email us about what they see or hear on the web.
In Hector, we have teens who are not members of our church working with us in youth group. Here at Lodi, there is growth going on in a Community Youth Group.
Another way this church is making a new way is through the support of Camp Whitman, and its ministry for young people, and for adults with developmental disabilities. I know that in the Presbytery there are voices saying that we should not be doing this ministry, we should not bother having a camp, that in these financial times, the Presbytery could sell off the lakefront property, make a bundle, and be free of debt for quite some time. But perhaps camp is a backdoor way, an opening up the roof way, to bring people to Christ, people who would not necessarily hear this message any other way.
Nick Warnes pastors a new church development in a Los Angeles neighborhood that is 40 percent white, 40 percent Latina-o and 20 percent Asian and composed primarily of de-churched people. “Many told us it would be impossible to plant Northland Village here, because they would not welcome us,” says Warnes.
In the neighborhood, Warnes saw that people were concerned about justice. Working with its de-churched neighbors, Northland began to recognize an injustice in how funding was distributed to schools in the neighborhood. “Instead of complaining, we wanted to help spring justice,” says Warnes. “So we created a way where computers could be donated and money could be given to the schools that were receiving inequitable funding.”
Recently a guy in the neighborhood came to Warnes saying, “I want nothing to do with church, but I feel like I need to give to your church.” Warnes could see there were lots of layers to this man, who had been spiritually hurt by the church. “I have no money,” he continued, “but I make beer.” Warnes told him, “You came to the right church.” Northland partnered with a local winery, throwing a party for the neighborhood. “I think it was quite appropriate,” says Warnes. “Historically Christians have been known for making the best beer. Right in the middle of the bar, while everyone was trying a Belgian IPA, an intern at Northland delivered a sermon, talking about the radical hospitality of Jesus.”
Now, I know the idea of church and beer makes many of us uncomfortable. But this is a way the Northland church found, a different way, a backdoor way, perhaps an outrageous way, to help people connect with Christ, hear the Good News.
At the end of the story, Jesus turns to the paralytic- who has been declared forgiven, released. Jesus knows there is skepticism about his ability—and right—to proclaim someone forgiven and restored. So Jesus turns to the paralyzed man—and says “Stand up, take up your mat, and go to your home.” And immediately—there’s that word again- immediately, the man stands up, rolls up his mat, in front of God and everybody, and walks home. Jesus commands the man to stand up- but what the text actually says is that the man “was raised up”. The language uses the passive—as a reminder to us that it is not the man’s will, or force of self, or his choice—it is God’s action that raised the man up. It is the exact same language used about Christ: that God raised him up from the dead.
This is our calling: to tell people about the Good News of God, that God is always about raising people up, to glorify God, and to tell others, even if it is by unusual, outrageous way
18Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.19I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.20The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,21the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.
22Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel!23You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense.24You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.25I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
This is the word of the Lord…….Thanks be to God
Mark 2:1-12 p. 813
2When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.2So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them.3Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.4And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”6Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,7“Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”8Immediately, Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’?10But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he said to the paralytic—11“I say to you, rise up, take your mat and go to your home.”12And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
This is the word of the Lord……Thanks be to God
This morning’s story is the next in a series of healings that Jesus performs. And he has gone from simple to complex, or at least from straight forward to confusing: for before, the healings were relatively clear: the demons were cast out, Peter’s mother in law is cured, the leper is restored. In this morning’s story, we hear talk about forgiveness of sin mixed in with the healing. And we’re not sure what that’s doing in there.
The man, the paralytic, is brought to Jesus by his friends. And Jesus, upon seeing the man come down thru a hole in the roof, notices and commends the friend’s faith. He does not comment on the faith of the paralytic, who remains nameless, and, in fact, never speaks. We don’t know anything about the faith of the paralytic. We don’t know if he begged his friends to bring him, we don’t know if he resisted the idea, we don’t even know what his name was. It is the faith of the friends that Jesus notices. But Jesus words are addressed to the paralytic: “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
Which I think are pretty strange words to utter to someone who has just been lowered through the roof. Really? That’s the first thing you would say to someone who cannot walk, who has been carried on a litter, all the way up to the roof and down on ropes….”your sins are forgiven?”
Why not “be healed” or, “I do choose”, or even hello. Welcome. Glad you have such good friends. Thanks for dropping in.
Many preachers throughout the centuries have seen in this text a relationship between sin and disease. And, in fact, in Jesus’ time, sin and disease were considered related: last week we said that if someone had leprosy, the question was “how did you sin?” not, how did you catch this disease. So, for Jesus’ context, this makes sense.
But for us, with our understanding of genetics, and science, and neurobiology, it doesn’t resonate as true.
But we do know there is an interplay between physical healing and forgiveness.
The Greek language has no real word for “forgive”—at least not in the way we use it. The word Jesus uses here is “to release, or let go”—you are released from your sins, he says to the man.
Sins are the things we need to be released from. Sins are the things which bind us, sin is broken relationships, with God and with others. Sin is what closes off the future……unless there is an act of release.
Now, forgiveness isn’t just saying “its ok, no big deal.” Forgiveness is release—it is trying to break open a situation, making something new in place of what was, so that there can be a future. In Isaiah, God says to us: I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
Release from sin is what allows us to move forward.
When I was a beginning chaplain my supervisor gave me a pin that is shaped like a fishhook. Now, she got it at a religious store, where it was sold as a reminder to be “fishers of men.” But Laurie used it—because she had one, too—as a reminder not to get stuck on the past, not to get hung up on the old resentments and patterns, but to be released, to be free.
The four friends knew what they were doing, in their audacious move. Climbing up on the roof, taking apart the roof tiles, lowering their friend. They knew their paralyzed friend was trapped, was bound, and had very little foreseeable future. They knew they had to find a new way. They knew that the only future their friend had was in Jesus. So they did what they had to—they did the outrageous—they did the unusual in order to get their friend inside the house.
For a long time, now, there has been talk about the church dying. All over, and in Presbyterian circles, we hear that fewer and fewer people are coming in the doors. And they are certainly not lining up outside, straining to hear a word, to get a glimpse. So perhaps what we need to do is find ways—unusual ways—outrageous ways—to get people in to Jesus.
Some of these, most of these, will not be the way we have been doing church, the way we grew up with church. They will involve media- facebook, twitter, an internet presence—this church has a website, and a blog. We email our Session agendas, and people, mostly outsiders, email us about what they see or hear on the web.
In Hector, we have teens who are not members of our church working with us in youth group. Here at Lodi, there is growth going on in a Community Youth Group.
Another way this church is making a new way is through the support of Camp Whitman, and its ministry for young people, and for adults with developmental disabilities. I know that in the Presbytery there are voices saying that we should not be doing this ministry, we should not bother having a camp, that in these financial times, the Presbytery could sell off the lakefront property, make a bundle, and be free of debt for quite some time. But perhaps camp is a backdoor way, an opening up the roof way, to bring people to Christ, people who would not necessarily hear this message any other way.
Nick Warnes pastors a new church development in a Los Angeles neighborhood that is 40 percent white, 40 percent Latina-o and 20 percent Asian and composed primarily of de-churched people. “Many told us it would be impossible to plant Northland Village here, because they would not welcome us,” says Warnes.
In the neighborhood, Warnes saw that people were concerned about justice. Working with its de-churched neighbors, Northland began to recognize an injustice in how funding was distributed to schools in the neighborhood. “Instead of complaining, we wanted to help spring justice,” says Warnes. “So we created a way where computers could be donated and money could be given to the schools that were receiving inequitable funding.”
Recently a guy in the neighborhood came to Warnes saying, “I want nothing to do with church, but I feel like I need to give to your church.” Warnes could see there were lots of layers to this man, who had been spiritually hurt by the church. “I have no money,” he continued, “but I make beer.” Warnes told him, “You came to the right church.” Northland partnered with a local winery, throwing a party for the neighborhood. “I think it was quite appropriate,” says Warnes. “Historically Christians have been known for making the best beer. Right in the middle of the bar, while everyone was trying a Belgian IPA, an intern at Northland delivered a sermon, talking about the radical hospitality of Jesus.”
Now, I know the idea of church and beer makes many of us uncomfortable. But this is a way the Northland church found, a different way, a backdoor way, perhaps an outrageous way, to help people connect with Christ, hear the Good News.
At the end of the story, Jesus turns to the paralytic- who has been declared forgiven, released. Jesus knows there is skepticism about his ability—and right—to proclaim someone forgiven and restored. So Jesus turns to the paralyzed man—and says “Stand up, take up your mat, and go to your home.” And immediately—there’s that word again- immediately, the man stands up, rolls up his mat, in front of God and everybody, and walks home. Jesus commands the man to stand up- but what the text actually says is that the man “was raised up”. The language uses the passive—as a reminder to us that it is not the man’s will, or force of self, or his choice—it is God’s action that raised the man up. It is the exact same language used about Christ: that God raised him up from the dead.
This is our calling: to tell people about the Good News of God, that God is always about raising people up, to glorify God, and to tell others, even if it is by unusual, outrageous way
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
February 5, 2012
2 Kings 5:1-14 (p. 293)
1Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3The girl said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4So Naaman went in and told the king just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.” Naaman went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.” 8But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”
9So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house.10Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.”11But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!12Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage.13But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”14So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said: Now I know that there is no god in all the earth except in Israel.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Mark 1:40-45 (p. 813)
40A leper came to Jesus begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” 41Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” 42Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43After sternly warning him Jesus sent him away at once, 44saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 45But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Sermon
Leprosy – for centuries that word has evoked fear. Those afflicted with this skin disease were often forced to leave their families and homes, and live in colonies away the community. One of the more famous leper colonies in recent times was located on the island of Moloka’i in the kingdom of Hawai’i during the last half of the 1800’s. There was an outbreak of leprosy brought to the islands by sailors and other visitors.
Conditions were pretty horrible in the colony as no one who was healthy was willing to go near the area. And deliveries of food, medicine and other necessities were insufficient. Eventually, a Roman Catholic priest named Father Damien chose to live and care for the people there. He set about improving conditions, organizing farms and the building of homes and schools. It wasn’t long before Father Damien contracted leprosy himself, but he didn’t stop working. Toward the end of his life four more volunteers joined him to provide pastoral care, to set up a small hospital, and to continue constructing and maintaining buildings in the community. He finally died in 1889, sixteen years after he first began his ministry to the lepers.
A statue of Father Damien, now Saint Damien, currently stands outside the Hawai’i State Capitol Building. What has most impressed people about Father Damien was his willingness at the cost of his own life to reach out, touch, and care for those who were rejected by society. Why did he do it? Perhaps this morning’s story from Mark’s gospel was one reason.
This morning we have 2 stories of healing. And I’m glad we have 2 accounts of healing, 2 different kinds of stories, because I think healings happen in many, varied ways. It’s important for us not to think that healing happens only in one, specific way. These stories have similarities and differences. Both men are suffering from leprosy. Both men are seeking healing. And, in the end, by the power of God, both men are healed.
Leprosy was a disease that caused fear and isolation. According to the Old Testament, having leprosy made you ritually unclean and required that you be banished from the community. They believed that getting this disease was punishment for having sinned. You have leprosy? You must have sinned in the eyes of God. The book of Leviticus includes two whole chapters on identifying the skin disease, how to tell when it has healed, and what kind of ritual to follow to be declared clean again, and able to rejoin the community. Until you were declared clean you had to stay away from people; touching another person made him or her unclean, too. You had to identify yourself, shouting “Unclean! Unclean!” so that no one would accidentally have contact with you. You were put out of the community, away from your family, away from work, forced to beg, isolated and feared.
Now, while both men in our stories are lepers, Naaman is a rich man, a powerful man. He’s a warrior and the general for the king of Aram, in what is now Syria. Naaman has wealth and power and prestige. The one thing he doesn’t have is his health. Fortunately for him, a slave girl, whose name we don’t even know, tells him about a prophet in Israel who can cure him. Naaman gathers his riches together and heads on over to Israel. Except, he doesn’t go to the prophet. Naaman, with his cargo of costly garments and silver and gold, goes directly to the king of Israel. Now the king of Israel is savvy enough, is faithful enough, to be alarmed by this, and asks the correct question: “Am I God?” The king knows only God can heal.
Naaman eventually finds his way to the prophet Elisha’s house…and stands outside, horses and chariots and all his finery. And Naaman is outraged. First of all, Elisha didn’t even bother to come out and see him, much less wave his hands in the air and cure him. Secondly, Elisha sends some flunky out to him with a message: “Go and wash 7 times, in the Jordan River, no less.” At this point Naaman shakes his head thinking “The Jordan – what a sewer! I’ve got better rivers back in Syria. Why can’t I just go home, and wash there?” But, desperate people do desperate things. And so, eventually, Naaman goes to the Jordan, and washes, and is made clean, is healed.
The leper, in the gospel of Mark, is an Israelite, not like Naaman. But Mark’s leper is an outsider in his own community. He cannot be with his own family. He cannot work. He cannot go to the synagogue. He cannot come close to anyone in town. And yet the man approaches Jesus. Pretty gutsy. But then, desperate people do desperate things. The leper gets down on his knees and begs (actually the word there is really more like urges or exhorts), and he says to Jesus, “if you choose, you can make me clean.” And Jesus says, “I do choose” and touches the leper. And the leper is made clean, is healed.
What is the response of both Naaman and the leper to their being cured? They both go and give public witness to God for their healing. Naaman shamefacedly goes back to Elisha, and says “now I see there is no other god except the God of Israel.” The leper in Mark’s Gospel ignores Jesus instruction to go straight to temple, do not pass Go, and do not tell anyone about your healing. Just show yourself to the priests, be pronounced cured, and return to your community. No, the leper pays no attention to Jesus’ instructions. Instead, he goes out, and proclaims freely, he preaches, the good news of God, that the kingdom has come near. And this is what the kingdom looks like: people are healed, people are restored, people are given new life where before there was only suffering.
What’s surprising in these stories is there is anger in them. Naaman is pretty ticked off that he was being asked to wash in the dirty Jordan. And Elisha was not about to put up with Naaman’s “I’m Mr. High and Mighty” act; won’t even come out to speak to him face to face. In the story of Jesus and the leper, we’re told Jesus was filled with compassion, or was moved by pity. However, some of the oldest handwritten copies of Mark have a different Greek word here that clearly means, “Filled with anger, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the man.”
Jesus angry? Not my Jesus. No, this has to be wrong. Jesus doesn’t get angry, at least not at us – he only gets angry at the bad guys like the Pharisees. It’s possible some of the first scribes copying the Gospel of Mark thought the same thing and tried to soften the story by changing the word. After all, why would Jesus be angry? And who was Jesus angry with?
The leper? Well, I suppose he had a right to be angry at the leper. He was unclean, and healing the man meant Jesus had to touch him. That would make Jesus unclean as well. He’d have to call a halt to his ministry and go through the rather complicated, costly, and lengthy ritual to be declared clean again. I could see Jesus being angry at that.
Or, perhaps, Jesus knew what would happen after he declared the man clean. He knew the man would ignore Jesus. He knew the man would go around the countryside and testify to everyone what Jesus did. Perhaps Jesus knew this would happen, and that he would have to change his plans. That might have made Jesus angry.
But Mark never tells us why Jesus is angry so all we can do is guess. I don’t think Jesus was angry at the leper. His willingness to reach out and touch him doesn’t reflect anger, but love, love for one who has had to live in the margins of society. No, I think Jesus was angry at the disease and the system that forced the leper to spend the rest of his life apart from his community and family and to beg in order to survive.
One would think that today with our modern understanding of disease and all the tools for fighting it, we wouldn’t have these attitudes anymore, but they continue. In the 1980’s HIV and AIDS became the new leprosy. For several years the cause and means of transmission of this disease was unknown, and worse, we had no ways to fight it. Becoming infected with AIDS was a death sentence and also meant suffering in isolation from a fearful society, abandoned even by one’s family.
As medicine began to understand how the virus operated, how it was transmitted, and came up with a way to slow its progress, churches took a more active role in caring for those who were infected and abandoned. The church I attended near Albany joined one such organization forming a Care Team to support a man suffering from AIDS. The disease had so weakened him he was unable to do many basic chores. His family refused to have anything to do with him, so our care team became his family. They cleaned his apartment, cooked meals, and drove him to doctor’s appointments and the store. Pastor Nancy was on the team and she admitted the first time the team sat down and shared a meal with him, she was a little nervous. She knew how the disease spread and that she wasn’t in any danger, but fear of the unknown is powerful. Eventually, she got over her fear and continued to be a part of the team until we moved to Florida. When the young man finally succumbed to the disease, our church held his funeral service. His family never showed up. I don’t know how Jesus felt, but it made me angry and sad.
But there’s another reason I feel a bit of anger when I hear these healing stories. As we’ve mentioned before, in the Gospel of Mark things happen “immediately” (the word for “immediately” occurs 43 times in this Gospel). The leper was healed immediately. Peter’s mother-in-law was cured immediately. And yet we all know healing doesn’t happen immediately.
It takes weeks for your surgeon just to schedule the surgery. It takes a full 2 weeks of antibiotics to get rid of the bronchitis, and even then, you’ll probably have to have a second round. It takes at least 6 weeks for the antidepressants to begin to work. It takes weeks and months for the chemotherapy to work, and years before you can say if you are “cured” are not. Now, I’m not saying all of that is not the work of God for healing and wholeness. But I am saying that it does not seem to match the description of healings we have been given in the Gospel.
And we all know people who do not receive a healing, people for whom, it seems, there was no cure. And so what are we to say, in the face of that? How do we believe, when our own experiences do not match the Gospel record? How are we supposed to believe, when there is suffering and death and disease, when Christ is Lord of all, and the people we love still die?
I don’t have any pat answers for you. But I do have testimony: the God I know and worship is a God of life, and healing and wholeness. God does, indeed, choose life and health for us, and for all creation. I also know we live in a broken world, in which the kingdom has come near, but is not fully, completely, here yet.
One of the places I catch a glimpse of that kingdom is when we learn of a family in need in our community and this congregation responds “immediately” and abundantly to that need.
And one of the places I catch a glimpse of that kingdom is when we come and gather around this table. At one point in the communion liturgy, the pastor says “Lift up your hearts.” And the congregation responds, “We lift them up to the Lord.” We lift up our hearts, and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are lifted up, joined to Christ, who is in heaven, seated, we say, at the right hand of God the Father.
For just a moment we are lifted up to join the one who knows what it is to suffer, to join the one who suffered for us. For just a moment we are lifted up, with all the company of saints, our loved ones who went before us, to sit, and be fed, and to love. For just a moment there is no more pain or disease or death, only wholeness and healing. For just a moment we catch a glimpse of the kingdom. And that’s enough to keep me going. Thanks be to God.
1Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3The girl said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4So Naaman went in and told the king just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.” Naaman went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.” 8But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”
9So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house.10Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.”11But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!12Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage.13But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”14So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said: Now I know that there is no god in all the earth except in Israel.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Mark 1:40-45 (p. 813)
40A leper came to Jesus begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” 41Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” 42Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43After sternly warning him Jesus sent him away at once, 44saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 45But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Sermon
Leprosy – for centuries that word has evoked fear. Those afflicted with this skin disease were often forced to leave their families and homes, and live in colonies away the community. One of the more famous leper colonies in recent times was located on the island of Moloka’i in the kingdom of Hawai’i during the last half of the 1800’s. There was an outbreak of leprosy brought to the islands by sailors and other visitors.
Conditions were pretty horrible in the colony as no one who was healthy was willing to go near the area. And deliveries of food, medicine and other necessities were insufficient. Eventually, a Roman Catholic priest named Father Damien chose to live and care for the people there. He set about improving conditions, organizing farms and the building of homes and schools. It wasn’t long before Father Damien contracted leprosy himself, but he didn’t stop working. Toward the end of his life four more volunteers joined him to provide pastoral care, to set up a small hospital, and to continue constructing and maintaining buildings in the community. He finally died in 1889, sixteen years after he first began his ministry to the lepers.
A statue of Father Damien, now Saint Damien, currently stands outside the Hawai’i State Capitol Building. What has most impressed people about Father Damien was his willingness at the cost of his own life to reach out, touch, and care for those who were rejected by society. Why did he do it? Perhaps this morning’s story from Mark’s gospel was one reason.
This morning we have 2 stories of healing. And I’m glad we have 2 accounts of healing, 2 different kinds of stories, because I think healings happen in many, varied ways. It’s important for us not to think that healing happens only in one, specific way. These stories have similarities and differences. Both men are suffering from leprosy. Both men are seeking healing. And, in the end, by the power of God, both men are healed.
Leprosy was a disease that caused fear and isolation. According to the Old Testament, having leprosy made you ritually unclean and required that you be banished from the community. They believed that getting this disease was punishment for having sinned. You have leprosy? You must have sinned in the eyes of God. The book of Leviticus includes two whole chapters on identifying the skin disease, how to tell when it has healed, and what kind of ritual to follow to be declared clean again, and able to rejoin the community. Until you were declared clean you had to stay away from people; touching another person made him or her unclean, too. You had to identify yourself, shouting “Unclean! Unclean!” so that no one would accidentally have contact with you. You were put out of the community, away from your family, away from work, forced to beg, isolated and feared.
Now, while both men in our stories are lepers, Naaman is a rich man, a powerful man. He’s a warrior and the general for the king of Aram, in what is now Syria. Naaman has wealth and power and prestige. The one thing he doesn’t have is his health. Fortunately for him, a slave girl, whose name we don’t even know, tells him about a prophet in Israel who can cure him. Naaman gathers his riches together and heads on over to Israel. Except, he doesn’t go to the prophet. Naaman, with his cargo of costly garments and silver and gold, goes directly to the king of Israel. Now the king of Israel is savvy enough, is faithful enough, to be alarmed by this, and asks the correct question: “Am I God?” The king knows only God can heal.
Naaman eventually finds his way to the prophet Elisha’s house…and stands outside, horses and chariots and all his finery. And Naaman is outraged. First of all, Elisha didn’t even bother to come out and see him, much less wave his hands in the air and cure him. Secondly, Elisha sends some flunky out to him with a message: “Go and wash 7 times, in the Jordan River, no less.” At this point Naaman shakes his head thinking “The Jordan – what a sewer! I’ve got better rivers back in Syria. Why can’t I just go home, and wash there?” But, desperate people do desperate things. And so, eventually, Naaman goes to the Jordan, and washes, and is made clean, is healed.
The leper, in the gospel of Mark, is an Israelite, not like Naaman. But Mark’s leper is an outsider in his own community. He cannot be with his own family. He cannot work. He cannot go to the synagogue. He cannot come close to anyone in town. And yet the man approaches Jesus. Pretty gutsy. But then, desperate people do desperate things. The leper gets down on his knees and begs (actually the word there is really more like urges or exhorts), and he says to Jesus, “if you choose, you can make me clean.” And Jesus says, “I do choose” and touches the leper. And the leper is made clean, is healed.
What is the response of both Naaman and the leper to their being cured? They both go and give public witness to God for their healing. Naaman shamefacedly goes back to Elisha, and says “now I see there is no other god except the God of Israel.” The leper in Mark’s Gospel ignores Jesus instruction to go straight to temple, do not pass Go, and do not tell anyone about your healing. Just show yourself to the priests, be pronounced cured, and return to your community. No, the leper pays no attention to Jesus’ instructions. Instead, he goes out, and proclaims freely, he preaches, the good news of God, that the kingdom has come near. And this is what the kingdom looks like: people are healed, people are restored, people are given new life where before there was only suffering.
What’s surprising in these stories is there is anger in them. Naaman is pretty ticked off that he was being asked to wash in the dirty Jordan. And Elisha was not about to put up with Naaman’s “I’m Mr. High and Mighty” act; won’t even come out to speak to him face to face. In the story of Jesus and the leper, we’re told Jesus was filled with compassion, or was moved by pity. However, some of the oldest handwritten copies of Mark have a different Greek word here that clearly means, “Filled with anger, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the man.”
Jesus angry? Not my Jesus. No, this has to be wrong. Jesus doesn’t get angry, at least not at us – he only gets angry at the bad guys like the Pharisees. It’s possible some of the first scribes copying the Gospel of Mark thought the same thing and tried to soften the story by changing the word. After all, why would Jesus be angry? And who was Jesus angry with?
The leper? Well, I suppose he had a right to be angry at the leper. He was unclean, and healing the man meant Jesus had to touch him. That would make Jesus unclean as well. He’d have to call a halt to his ministry and go through the rather complicated, costly, and lengthy ritual to be declared clean again. I could see Jesus being angry at that.
Or, perhaps, Jesus knew what would happen after he declared the man clean. He knew the man would ignore Jesus. He knew the man would go around the countryside and testify to everyone what Jesus did. Perhaps Jesus knew this would happen, and that he would have to change his plans. That might have made Jesus angry.
But Mark never tells us why Jesus is angry so all we can do is guess. I don’t think Jesus was angry at the leper. His willingness to reach out and touch him doesn’t reflect anger, but love, love for one who has had to live in the margins of society. No, I think Jesus was angry at the disease and the system that forced the leper to spend the rest of his life apart from his community and family and to beg in order to survive.
One would think that today with our modern understanding of disease and all the tools for fighting it, we wouldn’t have these attitudes anymore, but they continue. In the 1980’s HIV and AIDS became the new leprosy. For several years the cause and means of transmission of this disease was unknown, and worse, we had no ways to fight it. Becoming infected with AIDS was a death sentence and also meant suffering in isolation from a fearful society, abandoned even by one’s family.
As medicine began to understand how the virus operated, how it was transmitted, and came up with a way to slow its progress, churches took a more active role in caring for those who were infected and abandoned. The church I attended near Albany joined one such organization forming a Care Team to support a man suffering from AIDS. The disease had so weakened him he was unable to do many basic chores. His family refused to have anything to do with him, so our care team became his family. They cleaned his apartment, cooked meals, and drove him to doctor’s appointments and the store. Pastor Nancy was on the team and she admitted the first time the team sat down and shared a meal with him, she was a little nervous. She knew how the disease spread and that she wasn’t in any danger, but fear of the unknown is powerful. Eventually, she got over her fear and continued to be a part of the team until we moved to Florida. When the young man finally succumbed to the disease, our church held his funeral service. His family never showed up. I don’t know how Jesus felt, but it made me angry and sad.
But there’s another reason I feel a bit of anger when I hear these healing stories. As we’ve mentioned before, in the Gospel of Mark things happen “immediately” (the word for “immediately” occurs 43 times in this Gospel). The leper was healed immediately. Peter’s mother-in-law was cured immediately. And yet we all know healing doesn’t happen immediately.
It takes weeks for your surgeon just to schedule the surgery. It takes a full 2 weeks of antibiotics to get rid of the bronchitis, and even then, you’ll probably have to have a second round. It takes at least 6 weeks for the antidepressants to begin to work. It takes weeks and months for the chemotherapy to work, and years before you can say if you are “cured” are not. Now, I’m not saying all of that is not the work of God for healing and wholeness. But I am saying that it does not seem to match the description of healings we have been given in the Gospel.
And we all know people who do not receive a healing, people for whom, it seems, there was no cure. And so what are we to say, in the face of that? How do we believe, when our own experiences do not match the Gospel record? How are we supposed to believe, when there is suffering and death and disease, when Christ is Lord of all, and the people we love still die?
I don’t have any pat answers for you. But I do have testimony: the God I know and worship is a God of life, and healing and wholeness. God does, indeed, choose life and health for us, and for all creation. I also know we live in a broken world, in which the kingdom has come near, but is not fully, completely, here yet.
One of the places I catch a glimpse of that kingdom is when we learn of a family in need in our community and this congregation responds “immediately” and abundantly to that need.
And one of the places I catch a glimpse of that kingdom is when we come and gather around this table. At one point in the communion liturgy, the pastor says “Lift up your hearts.” And the congregation responds, “We lift them up to the Lord.” We lift up our hearts, and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are lifted up, joined to Christ, who is in heaven, seated, we say, at the right hand of God the Father.
For just a moment we are lifted up to join the one who knows what it is to suffer, to join the one who suffered for us. For just a moment we are lifted up, with all the company of saints, our loved ones who went before us, to sit, and be fed, and to love. For just a moment there is no more pain or disease or death, only wholeness and healing. For just a moment we catch a glimpse of the kingdom. And that’s enough to keep me going. Thanks be to God.
January 29, 2012
Psalm 62:5-12 (pg. 458)
5For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.
6He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
8Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
9Those of low estate are but a breath, those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.
10Put no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
11Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,
12and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. For you repay to all according to their work.
Mark 1:29-39
If we were watching a TV series, this would be the time when the announcer would say, “Previously in the Gospel of Mark”…. Then we would see a series of clips from previous episodes:
John the Baptist at the river Jordan as Jesus approaches
The heavens torn apart as God breaks into the world
Jesus, Son of God, driven into the wilderness to be tested
Jesus walking along the shore of Galilee calling his first four disciples
Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath teaching and exorcising a demon
The people in the synagogue whispering to one another: Wow! A new teaching – with authority!
Let’s pick up the story where we left off – we’re at Mark 1:29 (page 813):
29As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Sermon
It almost feels like an episode of “24.” A nefarious villain is threatening the world, to plunge it into chaos and darkness. Our hero, Jack Bauer, aka Jesus, bursts onto the scene doing battle with evil’s henchmen, one by one. At times, Jack’s situation seems hopeless, that the bad guys will succeed. Yet, somehow Jack overcomes each hurdle, risking it all to continue the fight and defeat the enemy. And we watch the clock in the corner of the screen ticking on its unrelenting march toward the deadline when disaster will strike and all will be lost.
Looking for a hero to save the day seems to be a common theme when life is a struggle with little hope. That’s true whether you live in the 21st century or the 1st century. Jesus public ministry begins with teaching and an exorcism in a synagogue setting. This is not a Hollywood-style scene, with lots of gory, too-loud special effects, but an attack nonetheless on the power of evil that opposes God’s intentions for us – sowing hate instead of love, tearing down instead of building up, creating division instead of unity. Those are the effects of demons in society, in our lives. But they are no match for the kingdom of God. Jesus wins this battle and his power is witnessed by the people attending worship, including his disciples.
Now the scene shifts. Following the service, Jesus visits the home of Peter’s mother-in-law. And again, Jesus encounters another enemy – illness that’s causing a fever. We might think, “Take two aspirin,” but this was probably a life-threatening disease. After hearing the details, Jesus goes to the woman and drives the fever out of her, much like he drove the demons out of the man at the synagogue.
The response of the community to both healings is what we would naturally expect. Everyone suffering from an ailment or struggling with a demon comes to Jesus. I could picture them lined up in the street in front of the house late into the night. Peter probably had to send them home at some point so Jesus could get a little sleep. Yeah, I imagine Peter as Jesus’ agent. “Sorry folks. Jesus needs to get some rest – come back in the morning.” And I imagine they probably began lining up again early the next morning…hoping. Peter was probably beside himself when he realized Jesus had left the house before sunrise. No wonder he was insistent Jesus return once he and the other disciples finally figured out where Jesus went.
That’s the problem with a miracle worker. We keep expecting him or her to do the impossible all the time. And then when they fall short we turn on them and look for another hero to worship. The disciples don’t get it. The crowds don’t get it. They think Jesus’ ministry is all about healing – no time to waste on personal prayer. After all, in Mark’s gospel, things happen immediately! Well, then, Jesus, the disciples might have said- get down to the business of healing, let’s see some action! There’s no time for naval gazing, for quiet contemplation--Look at all those people standing outside the door! Throughout Mark’s gospel, the disciples just don’t seem to understand. Peter seems to be the poster child for misunderstanding.
I wonder if Jesus was tempted to keep on healing as well – a lot easier than the path that was ahead of him. But he stays faithful to his calling – maybe that’s why needed to pray – and reminds Peter his ministry is both preaching and healing. His healings are proof his preaching can be trusted. What he preaches is that the kingdom of God has come near – healing and wholeness are two of its signs. In fact, though, there is more to Jesus, the Son of God, than preaching and healing. Until we have the whole story, Jesus will continue to hush the demons and rebuke his disciples. Mark wants us to see the whole story, the one that ends with suffering and death on a cross, before we can truly begin to grasp who is Jesus, who is the God we worship revealed in Jesus.
This morning’s story gives us a piece in the puzzle. Combined with last week’s story we have 24 hours – a day in the life – of Jesus. In this fuller picture of Jesus’ ministry, we discover God’s love is not limited. Jesus’ healing ministry is in the church, and in the home, and in the street. It’s not just in Capernaum, but also in the countryside and villages. He heals men and women, unknown strangers and known relatives. He heals with challenging words, and with a simple touch. Perhaps that’s the teaching with authority that amazes the people in the synagogue and confounds Peter and the disciples. We try to put God in a box and God will have nothing to do with limits.
Peter and the other disciples don’t get it…except for one: Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus takes her by the hand and heals her. And her response is to serve. I know, it sounds like she was sick, then healed, and now, conveniently, she’s up and cooking supper for the men. If you’re not on your deathbed, you’ve got chores to do. It would seem to perpetuate a male-dominated world. But what Mark actually writes is that Jesus raised her up. It’s the language of resurrection, of baptism, of a new life. Reaching out his hand to take hers, Jesus made her whole. And her simple, understated response is to offer her hand in quiet service to Jesus and the others in the house (and probably those lined up in the street). Mark writes that she was a deacon – the first mentioned in the gospel.
Peter and the other male disciples won’t begin to understand who Jesus was until Easter. But several times in Mark’s gospel, women respond in ways that show they do understand. We’ll hear their stories this year – the woman with a hemorrhage praised for her faith, the poor widow who gave all she had to God, the woman with ointment who used it to wash Jesus’ feet, the women at the cross who remained while the men fled, the women going to the tomb to tend properly to Jesus’ body. They don’t try to put Jesus on a pedestal or complain when he goes off to a quiet place for prayer. They aren’t heroes saving the day. In fact, we know very few of their names. But they remain faithful followers of Christ and serve in the regular tasks of daily life. That becomes their simple, yet powerful proclamation of the nearness of God’s kingdom. And they, in turn, become role models for Mark’s congregation and for us. Thanks be to God.
5For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.
6He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
8Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
9Those of low estate are but a breath, those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.
10Put no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
11Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,
12and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. For you repay to all according to their work.
Mark 1:29-39
If we were watching a TV series, this would be the time when the announcer would say, “Previously in the Gospel of Mark”…. Then we would see a series of clips from previous episodes:
John the Baptist at the river Jordan as Jesus approaches
The heavens torn apart as God breaks into the world
Jesus, Son of God, driven into the wilderness to be tested
Jesus walking along the shore of Galilee calling his first four disciples
Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath teaching and exorcising a demon
The people in the synagogue whispering to one another: Wow! A new teaching – with authority!
Let’s pick up the story where we left off – we’re at Mark 1:29 (page 813):
29As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Sermon
It almost feels like an episode of “24.” A nefarious villain is threatening the world, to plunge it into chaos and darkness. Our hero, Jack Bauer, aka Jesus, bursts onto the scene doing battle with evil’s henchmen, one by one. At times, Jack’s situation seems hopeless, that the bad guys will succeed. Yet, somehow Jack overcomes each hurdle, risking it all to continue the fight and defeat the enemy. And we watch the clock in the corner of the screen ticking on its unrelenting march toward the deadline when disaster will strike and all will be lost.
Looking for a hero to save the day seems to be a common theme when life is a struggle with little hope. That’s true whether you live in the 21st century or the 1st century. Jesus public ministry begins with teaching and an exorcism in a synagogue setting. This is not a Hollywood-style scene, with lots of gory, too-loud special effects, but an attack nonetheless on the power of evil that opposes God’s intentions for us – sowing hate instead of love, tearing down instead of building up, creating division instead of unity. Those are the effects of demons in society, in our lives. But they are no match for the kingdom of God. Jesus wins this battle and his power is witnessed by the people attending worship, including his disciples.
Now the scene shifts. Following the service, Jesus visits the home of Peter’s mother-in-law. And again, Jesus encounters another enemy – illness that’s causing a fever. We might think, “Take two aspirin,” but this was probably a life-threatening disease. After hearing the details, Jesus goes to the woman and drives the fever out of her, much like he drove the demons out of the man at the synagogue.
The response of the community to both healings is what we would naturally expect. Everyone suffering from an ailment or struggling with a demon comes to Jesus. I could picture them lined up in the street in front of the house late into the night. Peter probably had to send them home at some point so Jesus could get a little sleep. Yeah, I imagine Peter as Jesus’ agent. “Sorry folks. Jesus needs to get some rest – come back in the morning.” And I imagine they probably began lining up again early the next morning…hoping. Peter was probably beside himself when he realized Jesus had left the house before sunrise. No wonder he was insistent Jesus return once he and the other disciples finally figured out where Jesus went.
That’s the problem with a miracle worker. We keep expecting him or her to do the impossible all the time. And then when they fall short we turn on them and look for another hero to worship. The disciples don’t get it. The crowds don’t get it. They think Jesus’ ministry is all about healing – no time to waste on personal prayer. After all, in Mark’s gospel, things happen immediately! Well, then, Jesus, the disciples might have said- get down to the business of healing, let’s see some action! There’s no time for naval gazing, for quiet contemplation--Look at all those people standing outside the door! Throughout Mark’s gospel, the disciples just don’t seem to understand. Peter seems to be the poster child for misunderstanding.
I wonder if Jesus was tempted to keep on healing as well – a lot easier than the path that was ahead of him. But he stays faithful to his calling – maybe that’s why needed to pray – and reminds Peter his ministry is both preaching and healing. His healings are proof his preaching can be trusted. What he preaches is that the kingdom of God has come near – healing and wholeness are two of its signs. In fact, though, there is more to Jesus, the Son of God, than preaching and healing. Until we have the whole story, Jesus will continue to hush the demons and rebuke his disciples. Mark wants us to see the whole story, the one that ends with suffering and death on a cross, before we can truly begin to grasp who is Jesus, who is the God we worship revealed in Jesus.
This morning’s story gives us a piece in the puzzle. Combined with last week’s story we have 24 hours – a day in the life – of Jesus. In this fuller picture of Jesus’ ministry, we discover God’s love is not limited. Jesus’ healing ministry is in the church, and in the home, and in the street. It’s not just in Capernaum, but also in the countryside and villages. He heals men and women, unknown strangers and known relatives. He heals with challenging words, and with a simple touch. Perhaps that’s the teaching with authority that amazes the people in the synagogue and confounds Peter and the disciples. We try to put God in a box and God will have nothing to do with limits.
Peter and the other disciples don’t get it…except for one: Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus takes her by the hand and heals her. And her response is to serve. I know, it sounds like she was sick, then healed, and now, conveniently, she’s up and cooking supper for the men. If you’re not on your deathbed, you’ve got chores to do. It would seem to perpetuate a male-dominated world. But what Mark actually writes is that Jesus raised her up. It’s the language of resurrection, of baptism, of a new life. Reaching out his hand to take hers, Jesus made her whole. And her simple, understated response is to offer her hand in quiet service to Jesus and the others in the house (and probably those lined up in the street). Mark writes that she was a deacon – the first mentioned in the gospel.
Peter and the other male disciples won’t begin to understand who Jesus was until Easter. But several times in Mark’s gospel, women respond in ways that show they do understand. We’ll hear their stories this year – the woman with a hemorrhage praised for her faith, the poor widow who gave all she had to God, the woman with ointment who used it to wash Jesus’ feet, the women at the cross who remained while the men fled, the women going to the tomb to tend properly to Jesus’ body. They don’t try to put Jesus on a pedestal or complain when he goes off to a quiet place for prayer. They aren’t heroes saving the day. In fact, we know very few of their names. But they remain faithful followers of Christ and serve in the regular tasks of daily life. That becomes their simple, yet powerful proclamation of the nearness of God’s kingdom. And they, in turn, become role models for Mark’s congregation and for us. Thanks be to God.
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