Sychar Evangelical Lutheran Church
  • Home
  • Sermons
  • Events & Happenings
  • Children & Youth
  • About
    • Vision Statement
    • Contact
    • Staff
    • Policies
    • FAQ
  • Whats The Word


Trophy Fish

7/27/2015

 
First Lesson: 2 Samuel 11: 1-15
Responsive Reading: Psalm 14
Second Lesson: Ephesians 3: 14-21
Gospel Lesson: John 6: 1-21

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

The next five weeks of summer, we are going to be looking at John 6 known as the “Bread of Life” chapter.  This study will provide us an opportunity to understand communion from five different angles: Communion as Miracle; Communion and This Life; Communion and Eternal Life; Communion as Belief; and Communion as Radical.

What exactly is a miracle?  Last week at Bible study, we were talking about one of my favorite Biblical stories in Jonah and the really big fish.  This is a really interesting story as we consider the meaning of a miracle.  Ask the average Christian what they remember about this story?

They will remember Jonah being in the belly of a great fish for three days and then being spit out.  But there are perhaps even more miraculous things that take place within the story: Jonah ends up in the belly of the whale because he didn’t want to go Nineveh.  Taking a trip to Nineveh would have been as safe a proposition for Jonah as a Christian today traveling to a meeting of ISIS. 

It would have made sense for Jonah to want to run in the other direction, never thinking that he would end up in a fish’s belly.  Yet once Jonah gets to Nineveh something even more miraculous takes place than even surviving three days within the belly of a fish.  Everyone in Nineveh converted, even the King once Jonah began to preach.  Jonah who thought his preaching in Nineveh would be pointless became the world’s most effective preacher to a hostile audience. 

So when I was asked whether I believe that Jonah’s story was true in that he spent three literal days inside the belly of a whale?  My response would be that there are plenty of more unbelievable events that take place within the scriptures such as the conversion of violently anti-Christian Saul on the Road to Damascus.  It’s not a question of whether God could act in such a crazy, way. 

Jesus deals with the Jonah story in Matthew 12[1].  Jesus when addressing the story doesn’t seek to provide an explanation for such a crazy story.  Instead, Jesus uses this story as a reminder of the great lengths that God went to reach the people of Nineveh even if it involved Jonah getting a bit slimy.  Jesus told this story to proclaim that just as Jonah spent three days inside a fish, he would soon spend three days inside the tomb to show how far that God will go to for his people involving either a big fish or a cross.

What exactly is a Miracle?  Today’s gospel lesson contains one of the most famous miracles in the Christian Gospel in Jesus’ feeding of the 5000.  This miracle is so important that the authors of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all place it within their Gospels?

So why is this miracle so significant?

To answer this question, we need to consider exactly “what is a miracle?”

A few years ago, the author Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book on another one of our favorite Bible stories in David and Goliath[2].  Gladwell wanted to write about how this story perhaps didn’t have as unlikely an outcome as we might think.  

Was David beating Goliath a miracle?  Perhaps not.  At first glance, the story would seem to be a miracle, the puny runt David taking down the scariest man in the world in Goliath. 

Goliath probably was unbeatable in a sword to sword or strength to strength battle.  David wrestling against Goliath would have been foolish.  What David lacked in size though he made up for in brains.  David used a slingshot because he could counter Goliath’s size advantage.  David’s weapon was a stone because being a giant Goliath probably didn’t have the best vision.  Was David’s win unlikely?  Most certainly so, but this doesn’t mean it was necessarily a miracle.

Even within the pages of scripture, Miracles were not God’s common way of interacting with humanity.  Miracles are confined to the Exodus, the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, Jesus’ ministry, and occasionally the apostles.  Miracles from this point on seemed to cease, but does this mean that miracles are no more?  Or are there no miracles any more because miracles aren’t what we think they should be.  Perhaps God is working only in not the dramatic, visible earth-shattering ways that we think God should work. 

To answer this question about the existence of miracles, we turn to our Gospel lesson for John 6[3].  Today’s Gospel lesson is a common, human story.  Everyone had heard about Jesus.  Jesus was the talk of Bethsaida.  People had heard all about Jesus healing the sick.  Everyone wanted a piece of Jesus. 

When I go home to Lindstrom and spend time with my dad, someone always wants a piece of his time.  Someone might be calling about an insurance problem or someone having an issue with the City of Lindstrom, but my dad seems like he always has his cell phone next to his ear.  We can complain about people being glued to their cell phones all we want, but in Jesus’ day he wouldn’t be called or texted by people.  People would follow him everywhere that he went. 

The crowd that followed Jesus on this day was so big that it was over 5000 people.  5000 people in the middle of nowhere, it was getting late, there were no fast-food or twenty-four-hour restaurants nearby.  The Disciples and Jesus needed to figure out what to do with all these people.    

Jesus asked the Disciples how much money they had to buy these 5000 people food?  Two hundred denarii was Phillip’s answer or six months wages[4].  The Disciples’ money was not going to come close to feeding all these people. 

So while Phillip’s plan of buying all these people food was poor, Jesus’ other Disciple Andrew hatched a seemingly even worse plan to talk to this one young boy with “five loaves” and “two fish” to feed the crowd[5].

Feeding the crowd with such a small amount of food was to be an even more improbable plan of success.  We all know how people get when they’re hungry.  Those at the back of the line were going to be up in arms once the bread ran out. 

Jonah surviving three days inside a fish is nothing compared to feeding 5000 people with such a small amount of food. 

The Disciples figure that this was the only plan they could try.  So the Disciples started serving bread and fish, people started coming then they kept coming, yet the strange thing is it that they never ran out of bread or fish. 

The interesting thing about this story is the crowd wasn’t given only a small amount of “bread” or “fish”, the crowd was instead given as much as they needed.  What this story ultimately reminds us of is the nature of God’s grace.  People will be given just as much as they need. 

What’s worth noting is how Jesus served the people the five loaves and the two fish[6].

A.    Jesus looked up to heaven[7].
B.     Jesus broke bread[8].
C.     Jesus fulfilled his promise to feed these people[9].
D.    Jesus had the Disciples gather all the leftover bread for later[10].

The feeding of the 5000 is an extraordinary story because Jesus is interacting with his people in an extraordinary way.  Why doesn’t Jesus act like this today?  Who are we to say that he doesn’t?

You see Jesus during the Last Supper took bread no different then today and promised a miracle.  Jesus took bread proclaimed it to be “his body” and gave it to the Disciples promising the forgiveness of sins.  Jesus then encouraged the Disciples to keep having this meal again and again. 

The Lord’s Supper is a miracle because God promises to reach us in an extraordinary way.

I think the reason that so many Christians struggle with the Lord’s Supper is they just look at it as “bread” and “wine”, nothing special about either of those things.  Wonder Bread and Mogen David, I can hear the snickers now as people proclaim the Lord’s Supper to be a miracle.  The Lord’s Supper is a miracle because Jesus promises to be uniquely present within it. 

Luther realized that miracles maybe didn’t happen in his life just like they did in Jesus’ day, but this didn’t mean that God was no longer present.  Luther looked at faith as being the greatest miracle of all.  Luther looked at the fact that people believed after the world crushed them, after they committed sins that they dare not say, and after they struggled with unbelief nearly every day of their life as the greatest of miracles.  Luther saw Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to be the greatest of miracles because Baptism dared to create “faith” where as the Lord’s Supper dared to sustain “faith” against all odds.

Luther knew that the Lord’s Supper was just “bread” and “wine” but this was no ordinary “bread” or “wine”.  For bread is just bread and wine is just wine but when connected with words of Gospel promise great things take place “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins”.  The Lord’s Supper is a miracle because God promises to reach us within it in an extraordinary way.

The thing about miracles is that they are at the center of our faith life, regardless of what type of church you attend.  The thing about miracles is that they go against every bit of sense and sensibility that we might have regarding their outcome. 

People wouldn’t go to church if they didn’t believe miracles reached them in some, small way.  The question to ponder would be “Is something a miracle because we think it to be so, or because God promises to deliver us from all evil?”

One might have many reasons not to believe but at the moment they approach the communion rail all those reasons seem to vanish away.  One or two moments during the month, God’s presence seems to encounter us in a unique way that we could not previously fathom. 

The great miracle that takes place at the communion rail is all our brokenness and sin encounters all of God’s forgiveness.  Forgiveness keeps coming and coming, just like five loaves and two fish fed 5000 people. God’s forgiveness seemingly never runs out.  This miracle doesn’t come because of the church, this doesn’t come because the people sitting in the pew next to you are particularly good Christians. 

We have no idea what the stories were approaching the feeding trough of the 5000 people that Jesus fed, yet he was going to feed them without exception and expectation.

The reason that the Lord’s Supper is so miraculous has to do with the various places that we gather from in life when we approach the communion rail[11].  We are then fed until we are full of God’s mercy.

Bread is just “bread”, Wine is just “wine” but if God wants to do something with it beyond meeting just human needs, but also spiritual needs then this would seem to be God deciding to do the outrageous no different then sending Jonah to Nineveh through any means necessary. 

What is a miracle?  The difference between a “miracle” and “coincidence” is faith.  A miracle can point us to see a grand spiritual purpose in a world that often leaves us longing for answers.  What makes something a miracle is the fact that our human brains can not even begin to fathom the reasons why God might be so generous: five loaves, two fish, 5000 people and one gracious and ever loving God.

Amen   

 


[1] Matthew 12:38-45. 

[2] Gladwell’s book is entitled David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants published by Little, Brown, and Company in 2013. 

[3] John 6:1-21

[4] John 6:7

[5] John 6:9

[6] The connections between this story and the Lord’s Supper is made by Ed Markquart in his commentary in his Series B Gospel Analysis of this passage found at sermonsfromseattle.com.

[7] John 6:11

[8] John 6:11

[9] John 6:12

[10] John 6:12

[11] Great reflection on Communion that I came across written by Sarah Condon entitled “Low Anthropology is My Love Language”.  MBird (Mockingbird Ministries). 28.Apr.2015. Web. Jul.24.2015. 

Grandma and the Pig Sty

7/20/2015

 
First Lesson: 2 Samuel 7: 1-14a
Responsive Reading: Psalm 89: 20-37
Second Lesson: Ephesians 2: 11-22
Gospel Lesson: Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56

“When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.”-Mark 6:34

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Let me begin this sermon like I begin a lot of sermons.  Last Thursday, I went down to the cities to see the Twins play.  So Friday, I went to visit my grandma. Grandma was in a foul mood.  Grandma was mad at nearly every member of her family.  Grandma vowed that she was going to break out of that “pig sty” of a nursing home where she lives.  Grandma was going to move to California, and she had no intention of coming back to Minnesota until she was buried when she wouldn’t know any better since she’ll already be dead.  Grandma in her typical defiant matter said even though she’s 91 years old and confined to a wheelchair that she planned on living for a long, long time.  The reason that I bring Grandma up is because she is like plenty of people that we know.  You know the type, mad at everyone in the world for their problems and constantly wanting to run away from it all.

Today’s Gospel lesson has Jesus being swamped!  Many of us celebrated Bay Days last weekend.  There were races, fundraisers, church services, class reunions, parades, and people to talk to that we haven’t seen in a long time.  I know that by the end of the Bay Days parade last weekend, I just wanted to go home and watch baseball.  As swamped as we may have been last weekend this was nothing compared to Jesus in today’s Gospel lesson.  Our lesson describes Jesus as “For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat[1]”.

The last few weeks of Jesus’ ministry had been quite hectic.  Jesus had been chased out of the synagogue within his hometown of Nazareth[2], John the Baptist had just been executed[3], so people had mourn his loss, and the Disciples had just left for their first missionary journey[4].  Jesus suggests a get away for a few days.

Earlier this winter, I was in Mexico for my friend Ben’s wedding.  The groom and most of his friends and their spouses were my age around 35.  When we were down in Cancun, there were two different approaches to life and the outside world.  My bachelor self-turned off my phone upon leaving Minneapolis, turned the IPAD off upon exiting the plane and spent the next few days disconnected from everyone else.  No one was going to be able to reach me, and there wasn’t much that I could do if they did.  Whereas the married people at the wedding had to have WIFI and international service plans for their phones.  They did this to not only send pictures to their kids or spouses but keep in contact with them via phone because they knew their contact was going to be the most important thing in their kids day.   

Jesus was not going to get a moment of disconnect though for the rest of his ministry as the stakes were too high.  Too many people were out there hurting.  So what did Jesus do to those who were the most hurting?  Jesus began to teach them many things[5].

They were like sheep without a shepherd.  My friend Warren Baker had been to all kinds of churches.  Warren’s heart though lies with small churches not unlike this one.  Warren will think nothing of driving from his house in Jackson, Minnesota to some small mountain town in Idaho with maybe 200 people within 50 miles.  Warren goes to churches with so much hostility in the air that he’s literally worried that people are going to bring baseball bats to church.  Warren visits churches where pastors have been forced out with petitions and Warren’s been to churches divided into two.  Warren steps into messes of churches where the pastor has had to resign for inappropriate sexual behavior or drug and alcohol abuse.  Warren goes to these places because he knows that not many pastors are going to dare to go there.  Warren’s reasoning in putting himself out there rather than living a comfy retirement is that sheep no matter how many or how few always need a shepherd.  Warren always quotes this verse from Mark 6 as to why he does what it does even if people might not understand why Warren cares so much about a twelve member church in Capitol, Montana.  Warren knows the leadership that a people receive makes all the difference in one’s soul.   

Jesus uses the analogy of sheep being without a shepherd to compare himself to false leaders of the day.  When I was in Seminary, I knew a guy named Iver.  Iver was a farmer from West Central Minnesota.  Iver was probably the oldest student at Luther Seminary.  Iver begins to attend classes when he hears all these high flatulent terms tossed around such as exegesis, hermeneutics, and eschatology.  Iver after a while got frustrated by the general academic attitude of the seminary.  Iver one day in the cafeteria just says and I’ll clean up Iver’s language to make it church appropriate when he says “You can do all the Biblical exegesis you want, but if people think you don’t give I’ll say “hooey” about them then it won’t matter one bit.  There are two kinds of shepherds out there those that want the sheep to listen to them for their intellect and those who don’t mind spending time in the pig sty of people’s lives unafraid of getting dirty. 

What did Jesus teach people that day on the Lakeshore?  Our lesson doesn’t really say.  What we can say is what we know about how Jesus taught people.  Jesus probably talked to them about their life.  Jesus probably looked people into the eyes to ask them about their pain.  Jesus probably spoke to them about their life.  Just think of how Jesus speaks to crowds during the Gospels.  He tells stories of men being mugged (Parable of the Good Samaritan)[6], he tells tales of a rebellious son who basically curses out his Father (Parable of the Prodigal Son)[7], Jesus talked about frustrations such as losing things such as coin or sheep[8]; today he might he talk about losing TV remotes.  Jesus talked about money and all its frustrations a lot.  Jesus talked about planting trees and scattering seed.  Jesus probably told the crowd a story about how their life ultimately relates to the Kingdom of God.  Jesus wanted the people on the Lake Shore to know that he was not just some distant shepherd living in a far away land, Jesus had lived every second of their experience.    

We know the people that Jesus was talking to on this day.  We live in a world with a great many hurting people.  People don’t always understand how Christianity fits into all this.  I spend many a night thinking about what type of Pastor do I want to be, what kind of church do I want to lead.  Do I want to dare be able to speak the Gospel to the ones society deems as undefendable? 

This week there was a major story on the news about a teacher at our local school.  Many of us in this room know this teacher.  Many of us have been grieved upon hearing this news.  I’ve led services at the Veterans Home with this teacher.  This teacher and I would always exchange greetings when I ran by the school in the morning.  I do not wish to judge whether this man is innocent or guilty of the crimes that he is accused?  I have no doubts that this man has made some bad choices in life, and the legal system will ultimately play its course.  I ask this morning that we pray for everyone involved in this situation.

What I want to speak about is the spiritual nature of these charges.  What I do know is that because of the nature of the charges that he faces that people will consign him to the fires of hell.  People will define this teacher every day for the rest of his life because of the nature of these charges.  Many people will assume this man can never meet redemption because of the alleged nature of his crimes. 

I think of the story of Jesus encountering the Woman caught in adultery in John 8[9].  People had picked up their stones to throw at this woman.  This woman was as guilty as could be!  Jesus knew that she was as guilty as could be!  Everyone in the crowd knew that she was guilty as could be!  Everyone thought their instincts had taught them the proper way to react to a situation such as this one.  They thought she was “sick”, they thought she was “twisted”.  Jesus figured that he needed to say something standing in the presence of a homewrecker such as this woman. 

Jesus upon seeing this scene bends down to the ground to write “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her[10].”  Jesus then turns to the woman and says,“Has no one condemned you[11]?...Then neither do I condemn you[12].”

A shepherd is only worth following if he will stand beside people when they’re at their absolute worst.  A shepherd is only worth trusting in if they will defend you from the scariest of attackers including judgment of the whole world itself. 

What is the motivation behind "We are an imperfect church for imperfect people.” 

We have a great many people out there longing for a shepherd.  We see these kids at the school, we see these neighbors at the supermarket.  These people might feel cut off from their families; these people might feel isolated from the world around them.  We have people out there who go through everyday fighting against a crippling insecurity over not being young enough, pretty enough, or gifted enough to measure up in this world.  What I say to these people this morning is that you are not alone, we do not condemn you, and you are never alone!

Many people wrongly think that what they need in life is to hear sweet words of affirmation every morning that they are wonderful, and everything will soon be alright.  Every single person knows that picture does not paint an accurate picture of us.  Why I long for Church is because I long for confession.  I long to stand before God and Man and admit that I don’t have it all together.  Life is full of gray areas.  Ten years from now is a pile of uncertainty.  We face the world every day with uncertain answers.  Our tension in life is ultimately O.K. because we have a shepherd who guides us along the path.  A shepherd who promises to lead us through and out of the grave itself[13].

The thing about this passage is that Jesus never got a vacation within his ministry.   The reason for this is Jesus’ promises do not disconnect from the realities of our lives.  The reason that the Shepherd is so good is because he ultimately lays down his life for the Sheep. 

Today as we consider what it means to go through life as a Sheep without a Shepherd.  We reflect upon the words of our 23rd Psalm.  The Lord is My Shepherd I shall not be in want[14].  Jesus is the Good Shepherd[15].  Jesus promises not only to care for us, but to protect us, lead us, and guide us no matter what life throws our way. 

Grandma might not like living in a “pig sty”.  Plenty of people don’t like their current living situation and wish the world around them would change.  We go forth with the assurance that our Shepherd does not stand idly by watching his sheep even for a minute.  Amen


[1] Mark 6:31

[2] Mark 6:1-6

[3] Mark 6:14-29

[4] Mark 6:7-13

[5] Mark 6:34

[6] Luke 10:25-37

[7] Luke 15:11-32

[8] Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:1-7

[9] John 8:1-11

[10] John 8:7

[11] John 8:10b

[12] John 8:11b

[13] Psalm 23:4

[14] Psalm 23:1

[15] John 10:1-21

Piercing Thorns

7/16/2015

 
First Lesson: 2 Samuel 5: 1-5, 9-10
Responsive Reading: Psalm 48
Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 12: 2-10
Gospel Lesson: Mark 6: 1-13

 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

We all have thorns in our life.  Your thorn might be a malady.  It might be being unable to walk like you want.  Your thorn might be a broken relationship.  Your thorn might be trouble trying to make sense of God’s reasons for a certain event to come unto your life.  It might be an illness?  It might be the loss of a loved one.  It might be a continual prayer that always goes unanswered.  We all have thorns!

Today’s lesson comes to us from 2 Corinthians and tells the tale of a man named Paul and Paul’s thorn[1].  I suppose, I should say a little bit about Paul.  Paul was not going through life as a lucky man.  Paul was short, bald; he had a thick, ugly nose along with bushy eyebrows[2].  Paul went through life unmarried, and there weren’t many women complaining about this fact[3]. 

Paul went through life as a rather mundane presence, the type of guy that could sit in the back of the room without anyone noticing him.  Paul was a preacher, who actually wasn’t a very good speaker[4]. 

Paul’s life had been bad in recent years.  He had been lashed, pelted with stones, shipwrecked, and forced to journey from town to town.  Paul had more enemies than friends.  Paul went nights without sleep; or even anything to eat or drink (2 Corinthians 11:24-27).

Paul didn’t consider himself all that needy an individual as he endured all these things, but Paul continued having to come face to face with his thorn.  Paul wouldn’t quite say what his thorn was.  Some people think it was epilepsy, whereas others weren’t quite so sure.  Perhaps it’s not important that we know what Paul’s thorn was because we all have thorns.

Paul’s thorn was such that it consumed him every night as he went to sleep, and Paul reflected upon his thorn as soon as he awakened.  Paul would have given anything for his thorn to go away.

Paul would pray on three separate occasions “Lord, Lord, please take away my thorn[5]”. 

The response on the other line was silence; Paul waited then waited some more.  Finally, Paul would lower his head as he realized that his thorn would remain.  Nearly all of us have been where Paul was when these prayers went unanswered at some time in our life. 

Could there have been a purpose behind Paul’s thorn?  You see Paul didn’t hide his thorn as a secret shame like many of us would do.  Paul was going to share his thorn with the Corinthian church. 

Paul felt that the Corinthian church needed to hear about his thorn.  You see the Corinthians were a new church that was attracting all kinds of different members.  The Corinthians had two types of people within their congregation.  You probably know people like those who existed within the Corinthian church. 

The first type within the Corinthian church showed up with their heads held in shame.  They were maybe living in sexual relationships that they didn’t want others to know anything about.  They were disappointed that their children were in the news for all the wrong reasons.  They felt inadequate and unprepared to defend their faith in the midst of people that challenged it.  They gave what they could, but it wasn’t much.  They prayed occasionally, but never enough.  They were longing for something missing in their life; they hoped that the church could give.  These people would never dare to give a look-at-me testimonial in front of the churchy crowd.  They were like the Syro-phoenican woman within the Bible hoping to receive any crumbs that Jesus might give[6].

We know the other type of people within the Corinthian church you might as well call them “super-apostles[7]”.  These were the people who seemed to have it all together.  They were socially polished, self-disciplined and self-controlled, they could pray beautiful prayers, and if the Corinthian church lost them then they would be in big trouble.  The back row crowd was always ready to submit at the front row crowd’s beckoned call.  The back row crowd didn’t want to hear anybody bring up the reasons why people shouldn’t listen to them.  The back row crowd felt inadequate and unsure of themselves, they didn’t want to be leaders; all they wanted was to hear about this Jesus.

Paul had founded the Corinthian church; he had also founded churches in Ephesus, Thessalonica, Galatia, and Colossae.  Paul had given for the church with every fiber of his being.  People would assume that when Paul was envisioning the perfect church with all sorts of super-apostles filling the Corinthian congregation.  Paul though had been to the top and came to realize that there were more important places to be.  Paul had started out his life with all sorts of power.  Paul was born a Roman citizen; Paul was educated by one of the most influential rabbis in human history.  Paul began his life with so much power that he was able to send soldiers after those with whom he disagreed[8]. 

Yet here Paul was years later almost as if he was the basketball player who had transferred from the conference champion to the laughing stock.  Paul had been laughed at plenty for all his poor choices in life.  Paul was the guy who quit his job as a hot shot lawyer, only to spend the last years of his life being barked orders by others while living alone in a tiny apartment. 

Paul wanted to, wait I scratch that, no Paul needed to say something to the big shots in the Corinthian church.  Paul wanted them to know something about the Gospel, so he began to speak about his thorn.

Paul realized something about human nature that we love winners.  We watch our teams when they’re winning, yet tend to ignore them when they’re losing.  We want our religious leaders to have it all together.  We demand sermons that cause us to shed tears for their beauty, prayers that comfort with their compassion, and to be witnesses to personal lives that others should strive to achieve. 

Some of the most popular preachers today have claimed to have been to paradise.  They claim to come to know God as they rose to the top of the mountain within the world around them.  People like getting self-help from people who drive a Rolls Royce around for the world to see. 

Paul was not this leader.  Paul didn’t want the Corinthian church trying to find this leader.  Paul over the years came to realize something about his thorn.  Perhaps, Paul’s thorn had a purpose.  When Paul was Saul, he thought of life according to one set of realities.  Saul was the ultimate religious success story.  Paul spent the last years of his life feeling like anything but a success. 

So Paul let the Corinthians know that perhaps his thorn had a purpose.  Paul told them of the reason that God did not answer his request to take the thorn away.  God said to Paul “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me[9].”

When Paul said these words he remembered the words that his savior had said a generation before “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”-Matthew 23:12

Paul’s whole ministry was about this little thing that he called “grace”.  Paul proclaimed to the Ephesians “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.[10]”

Paul’s definition of grace pointed to the true meaning of the Gospel.  It’s not about whether any individual member of the Corinthian church was a Christian failure or Christian success story.  Grace is about God accepting you on terms regardless of how the world sees you or even how you see yourself. 

People had called Paul a “fool”[11].  People would snicker about what a sorry state that Paul’s life had become.  Paul realized though that in every undesirable weakness that he had been given that they had some meaning.  Paul’s weaknesses were on one hand to show how God really works.

God is at work when someone is broken-hearted about a loved one by pointing them to the day when sin and pain will be no more.  God is at work walking alongside people in hospital beds as they grieve by pointing them to the power of the Resurrection.  Paul realized that one’s weakness point us to the true nature of authority within the Church belonging to Christ alone.  However convincing we appear to be to those around us, we are ultimately powerless.  The truth is we are all weak on some level, yet through Christ we will one day become a “new creation[12]”  

You have your thorns.  You’re probably thinking of those thorns now.  You’ve maybe prayed prayers for these thorns to go away.  You haven’t gotten the answer that you wanted.  When you think of your thorns, think of Paul’s thorns.  How God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.  We are not Christians because we are better than others, we are not Christians because our lives are more together than others, we are not Christians because of the absence of sin in our lives, we are rather Christians precisely because we believe in a God who takes us into his presence in the midst of our brokenness and despair.  Perhaps Paul’s thorns were to remind him and us of this fact.  Amen


[1] 2 Corinthians 12:2-10

[2] This description of Paul comes from Fredrick Buechner’s Weekly Sermon Illustration blog entitled “Paul” published on June 29th, 2015.  Buechner’s description comes from the Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla

[3] 1 Corinthians 7:7-8

[4] 2 Corinthians 10:10

[5] 2 Corinthians 12:8

[6] Mark 7:25-30, Matthew 15:21-28

[7] 2 Corinthians 11:12-21

[8] Acts 8:3

[9] 2 Corinthians 12:9

[10] Ephesians 2:8-9

[11] 1 Corinthians 4:10

[12] 2 Corinthians 5:17



    Archives

    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Afterlife
    Baptism
    Catechism
    Christmas
    Church Conflict
    Communion
    Confirmation
    Divorce
    Easter
    End Times
    Ethics
    Evangelism
    Faith
    God & Human Suffering
    Grace
    Guest Preachers
    Love
    Lutheranism
    Lutheran Reformation
    New Testament Characters
    Old Testament Characters
    Palm Sunday
    Parables Of Jesus
    Pentecost
    Prayer
    Religion & Science
    Resurrection
    Sainthood
    Salvation
    Scripture
    Sermon On The Mount
    Small Catechism
    Spiritual Gifts
    Suicide
    Temptation
    Ten Commandments
    Testimony
    The Bible And Food
    Transfiguration
    Virgin Birth

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Sermons
  • Events & Happenings
  • Children & Youth
  • About
    • Vision Statement
    • Contact
    • Staff
    • Policies
    • FAQ
  • Whats The Word