First Lesson: Exodus 17: 1-7 Responsive Reading: Psalm 78: 1-4, 12-16 Second Lesson: Philippians 2: 1-13 Gospel Lesson: Matthew 21: 23-32 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Immediately after services today, I will drive down to Minneapolis to watch my beloved Vikings play as I have nearly every fall Sunday afternoon for almost thirty years. The thing about the Vikings is they stand a pretty good chance to lose today and a pretty good chance to lose nearly every game for the rest of the season. For the Vikings’ season fell apart a few weeks ago when some troubling news came out about arguably their best player Adrian Peterson. Adrian Peterson had beaten his four-year-old child with a switch, and legal authorities had issued a warrant for his arrest. Reaction to this news was swift. Some commentators called for Peterson to be thrown off the team forever[1]. When the Vikings were going to led Peterson play, sponsors got up in arms about his presence on the football field being damaging to their brand. What can we say about the downfall about someone who has brought me so much joy for the last several years? What can we say about someone who had previously done all sorts of good in the community who was the biggest sports hero in Minnesota on one Friday afternoon turning into its biggest villain? It reminds me of a story as told by Pastor Tim Zingale[2]. One time there was a church, not unlike this one in a town, not unlike this one. Within this church, a prominent member was having an affair with a married woman that carried on for a number of years. What made this so interesting is that this man was serving on the Church Council, active in helping to lead the youth group, and helpful in every way. Eventually, this man’s guilt got the best of him. He decided he needed to break off the affair and come clean with those around him. He first went to his wife to confess how he had sinned against her. He then told a few friends in confidence of what he had done only for his friends to be a bit looser with whom they were going to talk. By the time this man went to talk to his pastor, word of his affair had spread around town. This man soon became the center of conversation during coffee in the morning. Pretty soon, this man began to realize that people were starting to treat him quite a bit different. They would always look at him strange when they met him on the street. They would try to keep their conversations with him as short as possible. Supposed friends didn’t seem to return his calls. So as this man finally sat down in his Pastor’s office to confess his sins, he admitted he had no idea “How he could ever come to church again”. He felt too many eyes would be upon him. His secret was out in the open in front of the whole town, and he wasn’t quite sure to respond. There is no lonelier feeling than you against the world, yet when this man looked at his church; all he saw was law, judgment, and condemnation; all he heard was back-biting and gossip. It was for these reasons that this man had lost sight that the church with its promise of the forgiveness of his sins was exactly the place he needed to be. The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Everyone who encountered this adulterer was able to justify their actions by pointing to their disgust at his adultery. They could point towards their disgust over him pretending to be something that he wasn’t. They could articulate their disgust over having someone like him and supposedly unlike them sitting inside their church. We all know people like this adulterer, yet do any of us know what we would say if we saw him on the street? CS Lewis is one of the most famous authors of the 20th Century. The Chronicles of Narnia being his most famous work, which became a series of movies that has made like a billion dollars. But another famous CS Lewis work is entitled the Screwtape Letters, which deals with the theme of Spiritual Warfare. The battle each of us wages with Satan on a daily basis. The Screwtape Letters is a series of 31 Letters written by a Senior Demon named Screwtape as he seeks to instruct his young nephew a Junior Demon Apprentice named Wormwood. These letters contain a discussion of the most effect ways to destroy the faith of a young believer named The Patient. But what is so noteworthy about the Screwtape Letters is that it addresses many of the misunderstandings we have about Satan's work in the world. The Junior Demon named Wormwood only wanted to tempt the Young Believer into dramatic, specular sins such as murder or adultery figuring this would be the most sure-fire way to destroy a believer's faith. Dramatic sins are how many people like to think of Satan working only in spectacular ways like 9-11, the Holocaust, or the Rwandan Genocide. Whereas the Senior Demon Screwtape believed the most effective way to send someone to Hell was through gradual and subtle temptation. Screwtape did this through confusing a person's motives, intentions, and pride like those who sought to condemn the adulterer rather then tempting someone to give into what society considered a great evil. For put a frog in boiling water, he immediately jumps out. But put a frog in tepid water and slowly turn up the heat then frog will not notice and will surely die. The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. When Martin Luther was reflecting upon the question of whether someone could possibly be good enough to help get them into heaven. Luther theorized that all of our actions on some level (even those which seem good) are motivated in some way, shape, or form by the love of self or sin). If we do good for the sole purpose of not being Adrian Peterson, if we do good for the sole purpose of being able to thumb our nose at our neighbor Reckless Rick then our motivations are not love of God but rather sin. Human pride is why Luther believed that no matter how noble that we convince ourselves that we are that we are unable to contribute anything of benefit to our salvation. The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. The theme of good intentions going awry is made evident in today’s Gospel lesson that comes to us from Matthew the 21st Chapter[3]. This lesson occurs during the last week of Jesus’ life. What Jesus says within our lesson is so unpopular that it contributes to him being sentenced to death just a few days later. Jesus is in the midst of a series of discussions with the Pharisees. The Pharisees obsessed about their own good intentions and religious commitment. In spite of the Pharisees intentions, they were often Jesus’ chief protagonists throughout the Christian Gospels. Jesus knew the Pharisees could look religious. Jesus knew they could talk religious. He knew they could act religious. He knew they could smell religious, yet what was missing is that Pharisees couldn’t see the need for God to change who they were deep down inside. The Pharisees thought of themselves as the embodiment of God’s kingdom and anyone who wasn’t them the Pharisees spit on as they lied in the gutter of life. For the Pharisees in spite of all their good intentions, they could not see their need for God’s Grace. So Jesus tells a parable today that is intended to serve as a condemnation of the Pharisees attitude and shake up their views about the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus tells a tale of two sons. The First Son we will call Charlie Church. Charlie Church looked the part, wore a nice suit to church on Sunday morning, had never been in trouble in his life, Charlie Church could quote the Bible like few other people. Yet, Charlie Church didn’t understand the Kingdom of God. Whereas the Second Son didn’t look the part. The Second Son was probably intimidated by religion and religious people. The Second son was probably denounced by his neighbors for his vile and disgusting actions no differently than the man caught in adultery or Adrian Peterson. It was this Second Son who grasped what the Kingdom of God was all about. The key line in Today's Gospel comes as Jesus says to the religious Pharisees “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you[4].” The ones who society spit out will be the first ones that Christ came to save. Back to Adrian Peterson, it seems the issue isn’t whether Adrian Peterson is a responsible parent (he isn’t). Nor is the issue whether he has anger management problems (I’m sure he does). The issue isn’t even what type of punishment the Vikings or the NFL should give him. The issue is how people reacted with such disgust at the possibility that a guilty man might get off from what they perceive to be heinous crimes. What his situation reminds us is that we often have a hard time coming to grips with the most central concepts of the gospel in free grace and dying love. We love forgiveness for ourselves, yet we don’t want it to be too indiscriminate. As we reflect on Adrian Peterson what the average person thinks should be irrelevant. Adrian Peterson did what he did and in the eyes of many his sins could never be atoned. We are not Adrian Peterson his crimes unless we are on the jury don’t concern us. Just like the sins of our neighbor only concern us when they ask is there a way forward. The amazing thing about our gospel is the past does not change because we possess the ability to go back in time, go back to the moment before the Vikings season was over. What makes our Gospel have power is that we have an intervention of grace come down from heaven on our behalf on the cross[5]. As we begin a new year of ministry on this Sunday. We consider a vision for Sychar Lutheran Church, like Adrian Peterson we cannot change the past. The past will reign down whatever consequences that it does. What we can do is begin to seize a vision for our future together. A vision that will define the ministry here at Sychar, The most important question for any church to consider is how it sees it see itself interacting with the wider community. We have a couple different things we can do. We can claim to be like the First Son. We can blame everyone else for the state of the world. We can go on and on about how the weaker members of our flock need to follow the example of the stronger members of our flock. We could even dare to purge the weaker members to make a stronger whole. Plenty of churches are like this. Plenty of religious people think this way. Or we can embrace who we truly are. We are the Second Son. We are Sychar Lutheran; we are an imperfect church made for imperfect people. We have sinned against God and our neighbor over the years in thought, word, and deed by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We don’t need to hide from this fact. If people want a church where no one has ever done anything wrong, we can feel free to tell them to look elsewhere. We speak to our failings because it serves as the most powerful of testimonies to the depths of God’s mercy and forgiveness. We do not need to parade anybody’s sin before ourselves, just as they don’t need to parade our own. We come hear to receive the gifts given to us in word and sacrament. Each and everyone comes here today with a common bond; we are all broken people. We’re all in need of a Savior. We are the people who Jesus comes to rescue us from the Road to Hell today by his cross, his death, and his resurrection. Amen [1] Glover, Ted. “The Vikings Should Release Adrian Peterson”. Daily Norseman.com. Vox Media. 12. Sept.2014. Web. Sept.27.2014. [2] Zingale, Pastor Tim. “What Kind of Sinner Are You”. Sermoncentral.com. Sept.2005. Web. Sept.25.2011. 2. [3] Matthew 21:23-32 [4] Matthew 21:31 [5] Reflection on the Adrian Peterson situation was inspired by Todd Brewer over at Mockingbird who wrote an article about a similar situation concerning former Balitmore Raven Ray Rice entitled “Ray Rice and the Perils of Relative Righteousness”. This article was published on September 22nd, 2014. First Lesson: Exodus 16: 2-15 Responsive Reading: Psalm 105: 1-6, 37-45 Second Lesson: Philippians 1: 21-30 Gospel Lesson: Matthew 20: 1-16 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Let us begin this morning by considering a hypothetical scenario, imagine your first day in heaven. At first everything seems to be going well, weather is nice, food is good, and everybody seems to be nice. This whole heaven thing is setting up to be pretty good. Then out of the corner of your eye much to your surprise, you see Him! Him could be your old high school bully; Him could be your hothead boss; Him could be your neighbor who was always fighting with his wife, and spent more than one night passed out on his lawn. You never expected to see Him here! Seeing Him here is the one thing about the Kingdom of God that you just don’t understand. We’ll get back to your arch-enemy, your worst person in the world in a little bit. Today’s Gospel lesson comes to us from Matthew the 20th Chapter. Let us reflect on a modern retelling of it as told by Robert Farar Capon[1]. There was a man named Robert, who owned a vineyard. The weather for the past month or so had been perfect for growing grapes, the harvest was setting up beautifully, yet bad news was on the horizon. The weather was about to turn cold in two days times; the grapes needed to harvest fast, or else ruined would be the whole crop. So Robert goes down to the local hiring hall first thing on Monday morning at 6 AM to be exact. Now people that tend to be down at the hiring hall at 6 AM are quite ambitious. The workers that gathered at 6 AM were the cream of the crop, the straight A students, the ones with goals and a plan for their life. The 6 AM crowd was full of hard workers who had no problem getting a little dirty in a vineyard. These workers were in demand as all the other vineyard owners around wanted to hire them. So Robert decided that he was going to be generous in his offer. Whereas the going rate for a day’s work in a vineyard was two-hundred dollars, Robert was going to double it to attract the best workers, and pay four-hundred dollars for a day’s work. The workers were thrilled to receive such a generous offer; they began to daydream how they were going to spend their bounty at the end of the day, and off to Robert’s vineyard they went. Around 9 AM, Robert receives word that the weather forecast had changed once again. So Robert decides that he needs more workers and fast. Robert makes another trip down to the local hiring hall, only this time he finds good workers, but not great workers looking for a day’s wages. Robert found the B-students, the ones who liked to sleep in a little bit, the ones who would be content with just a nice steady-life. Robert found the workers who preferred a nine to five rather than a six to six pace. Yet by noon, even more workers were required. So Robert decides to go back to the hiring hall. The type of people there at noon had more of a work to live, rather than a live to work mindset. The type of people that would only work if nothing better came along, yet Robert hired them by promising them top dollar for their time. 3 PM the hours were winding down in the day. Robert was just going to hire anyone that might be standing around. By this point, Robert didn’t care if they were lazy, he didn’t care if they would sneak a grape to eat now and then. 5 PM the hiring hall was empty, but Robert needed still more help. So Robert walked around the streets outside. Robert saw kids whose pants barely hung above their knees, kids who seemed incapable of proper English with every adjective being a cuss word, kids whose clothes were producing a funky smell, and kids who even Robert knew would be of little use in a harvest yet by 5 PM Robert would hire them anyway. The kids went along figuring an hour’s work would give them a little more cash for the evening’s party. As each new group of workers got to the Vineyard, they did what every human being would do. They asked about the pay. Word quickly spread that Robert was paying four hundred dollars for a day’s work. New workers kept dividing the hours worked figure into 400 and thought that it still sounded pretty good. As the day ends, Robert is in a good mood. The grape harvest is a great success. Robert is a rich man, so Robert decides that he is going to be exceptionally generous when issuing payments. Robert calls over his manager instructing him to conduct an odd way of paying the workers. Robert commands him to pay the last hired workers first; this was an odd form of payment as managers normally wanted to see the most valuable workers taken care of first. So the first guy walks up to the Manager, this guy was a real piece of work, ripped jeans, spiked blue hair, and a nose ring that looked like it belonged on a bull. The manager knew that this guy contributed next to nothing to the project, yet he handed him an envelope with eight crisp fifty dollar bills. Spikey blue hair walks away as fast as he can hoping the manager wouldn’t notice the error, only to afterwards be astonished when his equally unproductive friends received the same reward for one hour of work in eight crisp fifty dollar bills. Word of Robert’s foolish generosity quickly spread, so much so that the when the first workers heard about it they were eager with anticipation. Their brows were filled with sweat, their hands were beaten, their legs were tired from hours upon hours of standing, they wanted nothing more than a shower, yet they felt like they were about to win the lottery. They figure if the worthless workers had been gifted four-hundred dollars then their payment would be in the thousands of dollars. Yet these workers were in for a shock as they approached the manager only to be handed an envelope with eight fifty dollar bills. The hard workers faces at this moment looked like the kid whose Christmas dreams have just been crushed. They were going to give Robert a piece of their mind about the unfairness of his payment plan. Yet as Robert heard them begin to whine, Robert was getting annoyed, he was being exceedingly generous to all his workers. “So what if he made the last first and the first last.” Robert had been more generous than anyone could have ever imagined. Robert really didn’t care if the angry workers wanted to go to the local watering hole to talk about the unfairness of their boss. Robert was going to do things his way, because it was his business and nobody else’s. The story of Robert and the vineyard workers is a modern retelling of the Parable of the Vineyard. This parable is a double-edged sword. It’s a parable that provides grace to some, and judgment unto others. Judgment falls against those who can’t accept Robert’s foolish generosity, whereas grace is given to those who can’t believe Robert’s generosity. The thing about grace is that it isn’t merely about bettering our situation a little bit here and there, God’s grace centers on bringing the dead back to life. There is no such thing as just a little dead; there is not anybody in need of a little less or little more Resurrection than anybody else. Our evidence of God’s grace never failing us or letting us go was made known on a cross. A key tenant about Jesus’ parables is that he takes the notions of first and last and turns them right around. Think back to the story of Zacchaeus[2], Zacchaeus was thought to be a complete loser in the ways of God, yet Jesus comes into his life and reverses this outcome[3]. The thing to understand about Jesus’ ministry is that the last are often made first, and the first are often made last. We often can’t grasp that slackers like Spikey McBlueHair could be given such a generous gift. Our parable for today comes right after Jesus encounters a rich young ruler[4]. This young ruler felt that he deserved eternal life because he had kept the commandments, similar to how the Vineyard workers thought they deserved more money, yet the thing about grace is that we don’t deserve anything, yet God gives it to us anyways. Jesus’ ministry is all about turning the world upside down as he promises that the exalted will be humbled and the humble will be exalted[5]. Today’s parable is a parable about everyday life. It’s a parable for the guys who sit around the bar night after night complaining about how professional baseball players make too much money; it’s a parable that seeks to point us back instead towards a reminder of all the gifts that God gives to us. It’s a parable that reminds us how God’s grace is so great that we don’t know how to respond to it, so we seek to place conditions upon it. Last weekend, I was in Hawley, Minnesota attending a theological conference put on by a friend of mine named Tom Olson. Tom used to be a missionary in Africa, Tom spent many a day over there drinking and self-loathing. Tom’s mom would worry about him every night turning into nothing more than a lonely, alcoholic pastor. Tom over there meets a woman named Eunice, they get married, yet Tom develops an annoying habit within the marriage. Tom would put himself down at every opportunity till finally his wife snaps as she says “Why won’t you just let me love you without conditions.” This story and this parable is a reminder of the nature of God’s love for us. The Parable of the Vineyard is parable about the Kingdom of Heaven it’s a parable that reminds us that on the first day in Heaven there will be all kinds of people there. There will be the seemingly religious success stories: the ministers, the choir boys, the little old ladies who attended every Bible-study for seventy-five years along with those whose presence might shock us, even dare offend us. You might see your neighbor there who ranted whenever you brought up the church, you might see the kids who drove by your house always blaring obnoxious music, and you might even see the worst person in the world. I remember one time in Seminary talking to John Rasmussen who is a preaching professor at the ILT when we were reflecting upon the age-old question of “If Baptism is so great what about those really despicable people who were baptized?” To which John simply said “I guess if you see them in heaven, then get upset, then YOU could always leave.” This is the Parable of the Vineyard. Amen [1] Capon tells this story on pages 391-397 of Kingdom, Grace, and Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus. Eerdman’s Publishing. Grand Rapids, MI. 2002. Print. Additional creative license is taken with Capon’s original version. [2] Luke 19:1-10 [3] Zimmerman, Aaron. “Winners, Losers, Zuccotti Park, and Jesus of Nazareth”. Mockingbird Ministries. Mbird.com Christ Episcopal Church. Charlottesville, VA. 9. Dec.2011. Web. Sept.16.2014. [4] Matthew 19:16-22 [5] Matthew 23:12, Luke 14:11 First Lesson: Exodus 12: 1-14 Responsive Reading: Psalm 149 Second Lesson: Romans 13: 8-14 Gospel Lesson: Matthew 18: 15-20 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
As long as there has been a Christian church there have been disagreements amongst its members. Let me begin this morning by citing a few examples from the New Testament. In the book of Philippians, Paul had to address two women named “Euodia” and “Syntache” because their disagreement was negatively affecting the church in Phillipi[1]. 1st Corinthians was written to a church with divided loyalties with recent converts claiming to be followers of the charismatic, new leader Apollos where the old guard members considered themselves to be followers of the Apostle Paul. Perhaps the most famous church conflict to take place within the New Testament occurs in the Galatians when the early church’s two most prominent leaders go at it. The Apostle Paul is forced to rebuke the head of Jesus’ disciples Peter because Peter refused to associate with non- Jewish Christians because they did not adopt the Jewish ritual of circumcision[2]. Even outside the New Testament, conflict has been common place within the history of the church. At one of the most famous meetings in the history of the church in the Council of Nicea (from where we get our Nicene Creed), Bishop Nicolas of Myra (or he would later be known as Saint Nicolas or Santa Claus) got so mad at one of his opponents Arius that he slapped him in the face. Lastly, the Lutheran church was born in conflict as Martin Luther never had any intention to leave the Catholic Church until he was formally excommunicated or kicked out by way of the Papal Bull in 1521. Now as we consider the meaning of conflict from a Christian perspective, we must always remember that conflict is often a very positive thing. You would never want to tell a church to seek actively to avoid conflict because we would never grow as people. For example, we never would have believed that the Earth revolves around the Sun if Galileo hadn’t created conflict by challenging the status quo. So our goal as Christian people should never be to avoid “conflict”, but rather “destructive conflict” that eventually destroys human relationships. So with this in mind, I want to speak this morning about why church conflicts get out of control. The first reason that church conflicts get out of control is faulty spiritual perspective. For example, if two people disagree over what to eat at dinner, it’s pretty likely that they will be able to compromise in a way that both parties leave without too much resentment. Church conflicts though tend to work themselves out in a different way because people don’t associate what to eat for dinner with anyone’s salvation. So in church conflicts, people tend to dig in their heels because they associate their viewpoint with a higher purpose. Is this a good way to view many of these issues? Let me bring up an issue that causes more congregational strife than any other in the worship wars of contemporary versus traditional. These arguments often go this way; you get one group saying how young people aren’t in church, and the reason for this is because they prefer the music of the Katy Perry to the music of Vagner. People claim that if we don’t change to bring these young people into the church then people will end up in Hell. Where the other side says if we abandon such and such traditions that my grandmother loved than people will end up in Hell. Let me make something very, very clear, write this down, quote me even if this gets me in trouble. “There will not be one more or one less person in the Kingdom of Heaven on the basis of what type of worship style that a church adopts. No one enters the Kingdom of Heaven because they preferred the fresh sounds of guitar chords to boring old organ music.” People only enter the Kingdom of Heaven because the Holy Spirit creates faith through Word and Sacrament. Since “faith” is not created by marketing, the only non-negotiable goal of a church should be that the Gospel is rightly preached every Sunday. Every other argument that descends into a debate about someone’s eternal destiny takes place because people not only have a misplaced spiritual perspective, but they also misunderstand the historic teachings of the Lutheran church. While the color that someone paints the kitchen does matter from an aesthetic perspective, it should be a very, very secondary issue to a church’s overall health. Once a church adopts a misplaced spiritual perspective there will be problems. The second reason that church conflicts get out of control is faulty personal perspectives. One of my favorite one-liners and I’ve used it before is “I am way more worried about the lady writings down the names of everyone going into the bar on Saturday Night then the people inside the bar themselves.” The reason that church conflicts often get out of control is because people are always very quick to see the speck in their neighbor’s eyes, all the while ignoring the log in their own[3]. A while back, I was talking to Pastor Warren Baker, who works with congregations in conflict, Warren onetime traveled to a congregation that he felt was in the midst of the one of the worst arguments he had ever seen. As Warren sat down to meet with people one or two families at a time over the course of two days, Warren kept hearing the same things over and again. “The Church Council President was terrible.” ‘The Pastor was terrible.' ‘Their neighbor had done this or that.’ People were raising their voices; people were saying that they were never going to come back to church. Stories like this highlight why churches often tend to be in conflict. Because when people are expecting the perfect pastor or the perfect leadership or the perfect members, people will inevitability fail other people and conflict will ensue. The problem with misplaced personal perspective is like the lady writing down the names of everyone going into bar how we love to focus on the speck in our neighbor’s eye while ignoring the log in our own. The simplest way to avoid Church Conflicts getting out of hand is to remember what Martin Luther said in the Small Catechism about the 8th Commandment regarding bearing false witness against our neighbor. That we are at all times called to put the best possible construction or explanation on our neighbor’s actions, no matter how goofy people’s ideas around us might seem at first.” There is no surer sign of an unhealthy congregation that will always be in conflict when members are always assuming the worst about those around them. When we feel we can be reckless rather than cautious in choosing our words problems will follow. So with this mind, how should we deal with disagreement within Christian congregations? Our discussion brings us to our Gospel lesson for today from the 18th chapter of Matthew. I’m just going to concentrate on three verses in verses 15-17. Verse 15, “If your brother has sinned against you, go and tell his fault between you and him alone”[4]. The worst thing you can do in the midst of a conflict is to seek to humiliate someone in public. For example, I remember being in the 8th Grade and I wrote an English Paper that was in poor taste to try to amuse me and my friends. I’ll freely admit I had done something that I shouldn’t have done. But I had this English Teacher named Mr.Chrun that wanted to teach me a Lesson. So every day at Chisago Lakes Middle School would begin with a ten minute homeroom period for daily announcements or whatever. In the name of wanting to get his point across Mr.Chrun sends an office runner to bring me up to his classroom during his homeroom. Mr.Chrun then proceeds to tell me to sit at the back table, Mr. Chrun then proceeds to yell at me at the top of his lungs for what seemed like the whole period. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I’m sure I had tears forming in my eyes. I left that day having been humiliated in front of a bunch of my peers; I probably behaved slightly better after that. Even till this day, even though I know I was in the wrong, even though I know I should be forgiving, it’s tough not to hold resentment on some level. The reason that Jesus spoke these words today is because when it comes to solving conflict, we are called to go against our very natural instincts. We are called to be patient, when our hearts fill with rage. We are called to be gracious and understanding, when we wish to embrace the harshest of judgments. If we act out whenever the going gets tough, we will inevitability loss every conflict situation that we encounter. Now let me tell you another story, fast-forward fifteen years later. I remember one day the Chairwoman of the School Board coming up to talk to me about how much her kids liked working with me when I was a substitute teacher. This woman didn’t have the best-behaved kids in the world. Her oldest son had gotten in all sorts of trouble. He was suspended from school for a weapons violation in his car; he had been caught drinking under the bleachers during Homecoming and had to go away to treatment for a month, and he would constantly get in trouble when he was in school. He could tell because of his ways that a lot of teachers were uncomfortable working with him. So the School Board Chair asks me “Why I related to him differently?” My answer was “Because I’ve been there, because I deserved to have Mr. Chrun yell at me, because I remember making plenty of poor decisions growing up, because I remember how my mind was working when I made these decisions.” I also am honest enough to admit that I don’t come to one human interaction without my share of personal faults. We all have things we can improve on, and when we come to this realization in dealing with conflict situations one on one. We can comfortably open up about our growing edges, and learning curves while acknowledging how similar we truly are to the one sitting across from us. Totally different approaches to seeing conflict tend to produce totally different results. For one thing, I’ve always noticed when I hear about church conflicts is the more involved that don’t pertain then the worse they often get. These stories explain why verse 15 “If your brother has sinned against you, go and tell his fault between you and him alone[5]” is so important. Let’s look at the 2nd part of this passage. “But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector[6].” These verses bring up an issue that is never addressed in the church of “Would you ever ask someone to leave a church?” The concept of church discipline is clearly biblical. The Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians says, “Drive the wicked people from among you[7]”. In 2nd Thessalonians[8], Paul says to have nothing to do with those who deny the church’s teachings. There are definitely Churches out there that like to emphasize how if certain obligations are not met they can be thrown out then a Christian can be banned from the assembly. For example, the Amish are famous from the practice of shunning or avoiding members as bad influences which have left the assembly. The reason the Amish formed was because they thought the Mennonite church was too soft in their treatment of former members. The Amish throw out Bible Verses supporting their practice. The problem with churches who remove members for failing to live up to their standard is they often just embrace their own deadly pride and self-righteousness when they ban people. They fail to listen to what Jesus is getting at elsewhere in the Gospel of Matthew regarding how we all miss the mark and not to focus so much on the failings of others. But I do believe there are times that you would ask someone to leave a church, the reasons have nothing to do with not measuring up to some phony’ religious people’s standard. I believe the only reason; you would ask someone to leave the church, whether it is a pastor or another member, is if they were destructive to the Body of Christ by back-biting and being divisive. If someone was looking down at their fellow believers for not being allegedly perfect Christians, at this point, maybe you do encourage people to try to find the perfect church more to their liking. As we gather together as Sychar Lutheran Church on this day, we have an opportunity to reflect upon the type of church that we wish to be. We could either strive to be the perfect church made up entirely of young-families, overflowing with good and gracious givers, with the type of members who always attentive, patient, and moral that could only be described by Garrison Keillor as being the type of Lutherans that exist only in Lake Wobegon. We could instead be a different type of church; we could admit to being the imperfect church. The type of church whose membership consists of failed Christians, frail bodies, and genuine human emotion. We can either be the church for the strong or the weak. We can be a church which proclaims earthly successes or we can be a church who proclaims forgiveness. Let me close this morning on Church Conflict with some very wise insight from a Friend of Mine- Pastor Donovan Riley: “Sometimes the church has to suffer for the pastor to learn. Sometimes the pastor has to suffer for the church to learn. When the Holy Spirit is at work suffering sinners, abound. But, that's not the final word. When the Spirit of God is at work, it’s love which has the final word: Christ's love for sinners abounds in the forgiveness of sins which binds us together as His suffering, holy body[9].” Amen [1] Phillipians 4:2-6 [2] Galatians 2 [3] Matthew 7:3 [4] Matthew 18:15 [5] Matthew 18:15 [6] Matthew 18:16-17 [7] 1 Corinthians 5:13 [8] 2 Thessalonians 3:6 [9] These words were given by Pastor Riley in a 2011 Facebook Post First Lesson: Exodus 3: 1-15 Responsive Reading: Psalm 105: 1-6, 23-26, 45b Second Lesson: Romans 12: 9-21 Gospel Lesson: Matthew 16: 21-28 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Today, I want to reflect on perhaps the most well-known story of the Old Testament in the story of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt. Moses is the most important character in the whole Old Testament. Four books of the Bible (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) are written about the story of Moses’ life from the time of his birth to his death after forty years of leading the Israelites through the wilderness to the brink of the Promised Land. The story of Moses starts about three generations before during the story of Joseph. Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers. He ends up in prison where he showcases the ability to interpret dreams. Pharaoh brings Joseph before him where he interprets Pharaoh’s dream to mean that Egypt will have harvests of seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, so they needed to save grain. Egypt because of Joseph’s talent becomes the richest nation in the world. Joseph becomes second in command to Pharaoh himself. The story ends happily with all of Joseph’s huge family of ten half-brothers, one brother, Dad, and others immigrating to Egypt with Pharaoh’s blessing. As Genesis ends about 65 years passes between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses. The Egyptian attitude towards the Jewish people changes greatly in this time. The Egyptians figured that the Israelites were becoming too numerous. The Egyptians began to fear that the Israelites could align with Egypt’s enemies in acts of treason. So Pharaoh decided he needs to get harsh with the Israeli immigrants or else supposedly the Egyptians would suffer terrible consequences[1]. So this background sets up a lot of Moses’ story. Moses’s birth takes place in Egypt at a time when all Jewish boys under the age of two were supposed to be put to death as a way to reign in the Hebrew population[2]. Moses’ mother desperate to save his life puts him in a basket and lets him float down the Nile River taking hope in nothing but dumb luck and chance[3]. Pharaoh’s daughter discovers Baby Moses, and she would soon adopt him[4]. Moses grows up in privilege but one day his life changes as he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave. Moses snaps at the sight of an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew slave. In an attempt to cover up his crime, Moses hides the body. Only for Moses’ secret to be known by everyone, Moses was a murderer, and Pharaoh was going to find him to put him to death[5]. Moses then flees from Egypt and becomes a Shepherd for a period of 40 years. One day, while tending to sheep, Moses saw the oddest thing that he had ever seen for a bush was burning yet it wasn’t being consumed into ashes[6]. As Moses went to get a closer look, Moses heard for the first time in his life the voice of God commanding him to travel back to Egypt so that he may deliver the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery[7]. Moses was hesitant to go about this task[8]. Moses had a speech impediment and figured he would be laughed out of the room when he approached Pharaoh’s throne[9]. The Lord promises Moses that he would walk alongside him and reunite him with his brother Aaron, a silver-tongued orator who was currently living in Egypt[10]. The Lord also commanded Moses to take his shepherd’s staff with him to Egypt[11]. For it was through this staff that Moses would perform signs and wonders in the presence of others to prove that Moses spoke for the Lord[12]. As Moses returns to Egypt to step into Pharaoh’s presence, Pharaoh’s heart was hard. Pharaoh figured that Moses was nothing more than a magician serving a false God[13]. So Moses with the Lord’s power brought forth ten plagues to the Land of Egypt: water turned to blood[14]; frogs[15], gnats[16], and flies[17] covered the land; all the Egyptian livestock died[18]; boils broke out on every man and beast throughout the land[19]; then comes hail storms[20], locusts[21], and perpetual darkness[22]. Pharaoh does not change his position though either through the hardening of his own black heart or God hardening Pharaoh’s heart[23]. Lastly comes forth the most significant of all the plagues of the tenth and final plague in the Passover and the death of the firstborn. It was during this plague that the Angel of Death was going to visit Egypt and take the life of every first-born son[24]. No, differently than Pharaoh attempts to purge Egypt of all Hebrew children in the days of Moses’ birth. The only way for one’s child to survive was to place Lamb’s blood on their door-post so that the Angel of Death would know to pass-over your house with this most horrible of plagues[25]. It was only after this horrific night[26] that Pharaoh recants his position of never releasing the Israeli slaves[27], only for Pharaoh to quickly change his mind as he considers how much valuable labor he would be losing[28]. So Pharaoh decides to send his troops out towards the Red Sea to prevent the Israelites from leaving Egypt[29]. Finally, as the Israelites come to the banks of the Red Sea, they appear to be trapped[30]. Only for Moses to pound his staff into the ground so that he may perform his greatest miracle of parting the Red Sea into two so that the Israelites could cross to safety[31]. The Red Sea collapses upon the attacking Egyptian army as soon as the Israelites reached the shore[32]. The Israelites crossing the Red Sea is just a partial history of Moses’ life as we aren’t going to touch on him receiving the Ten Commandments[33] or the forty years spent journeying throughout the wilderness. But this morning I want to look at the story of Moses from a different angle. I want to explore the question of “Why so much blood had to be shed so that the people of Israel may be let go from Egyptian slavery?” Let’s consider the bloodshed again in the story of Moses. Pharaoh seeks to kill all Hebrew children born in Egypt. Moses kills an Egyptian. All of Egypt’s livestock is wiped out. The Angel of Death kills all first-born Egyptian sons including Pharaoh’s own. Lastly, Pharaoh’s Army drowns in the Red Sea. All this bloodshed takes place so that the people of Israel may return home, after being forced to move to Egypt because of a famine in the first-place. What confuses is with all this bloodshed is God’s role in it all? One of the more famous phrases from within the encounter between Moses and Pharaoh is “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart,” this phrase is present on four separate occasions[34]. These passages have long been one of the scripture’s most fiercely discussed and debated. Perhaps the greatest debate in all of religion is between free-will and determinism when it comes to human suffering. We could also ask this question as are we responsible for the bad choices that bring about bad things to our life or is God ultimately to blame? We don’t know what to make of these passages with God hardening Pharaoh because they imply that God is the author and the cause of all the evil, death, and destruction that took place within the story of Moses. I think though to answer the question of God's role in regard to the suffering not only within the story of Moses, but all of human history, we need to go back to the beginning itself with the story of Adam and Eve. What we must remember is before Adam and Eve fell into sin there was no death or destruction, so ultimately human sin is to blame. As pointed out by Pastor Larry Peters, an important thing to understand about the role of Pharaoh within the story of Moses is that Pharaoh’s heart is only hardened after not only years of abuse being heaped by Pharaoh amongst God’s people. This says nothing of Pharaoh rejecting God’s messengers who sought to correct his wayward course[35]. For skeptics encountering scripture passages where God actively sees to it that someone acts in such a way that they bring death and destruction to thousands of people naturally assign God being the one to blame. The reality is that Pharaoh was not some decent, kind-hearted individual who God corrupted to not let his people go. God didn’t turn Pharaoh’s heart black; Pharaoh’s heart was already black rather God merely worked through Pharaoh’s black heart for God’s outcomes. There are a couple different ways that we can interpret the story of Moses. We can either interpret the story through the means of it or the end of it. The means of the story are all sorts of horrific things taking place within the land of Egypt through God’s intervention and non-intervention. The end of the story has God fulfilling his promise to the people of Israel that he will not abandon, nor will he ever let them go. As Peters expresses, part of the problem in how we interpret this story has to do with our understanding of God’s role within our lives. Many of us assign all credit for the good things in our life to our talents, and work-ethic, whereas the bad things are assigned to God, who hoists them upon us. Another way to look at this is all good things are seemingly under our control, whereas all bad things are God’s faults. When in reality, how we should be interpreting good and evil is with the remembrance that God works through both good and evil for his ultimate ends[36]. A while back, there was a Lutheran Pastor who served in the Minnesota legislature who one day was conducting a radio interview, when the Interviewer brought up a recent incident within his home area where a couple children perish within an automobile accident. The Interviewer asked the Pastor what he would say to the children’s parents about their loss? The Pastor replied “God grieves alongside them in the midst of their pain.” The Pastor would wish to assure that God is there to comfort them and provide care for them in the midst of their suffering. Yet this is precisely the wrong answer to give to such a question of what to say. For whenever people ask about God’s role in a particularly tragic situation? The only answer that we can give is look towards the cross. I would much rather follow a God who is responsible for death and destruction that can do something about it rather than follow a God who be nice, but is impotent and powerless. I would rather follow a God, who can intervene in both life and death. As the Apostle Paul makes clear in 1st Corinthians 15 “If Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our faith is worthless[37].” A good friend of mine Warren Baker explained this verse best when he said, “If Christ has not been raised, you should take your Bible and throw it in the fireplace”. We can look over the story of Moses and Pharaoh see all sorts of death and mayhem then inevitability try to make sense of God’s role in it all. We will ultimately fall short in our search for answers. What we must remember is that God’s role in the story is not about bringing forth death and destruction rather God’s role is about rescuing us from death and destruction. God’s role in the story of Moses points towards God redeeming life, not taking it away, for just as God freed the people of Israel from Egyptian slavery, God would soon free all of his people from our own bondage to sin. As we hear this bloody story of Moses, and Pharaoh what we remember that our God’s ultimate purposes are not death and destruction, but rather our forgiveness and salvation. Amen [1] Exodus 1:10 [2] Exodus 1:22 [3] Exodus 2:3 [4] Exodus 2:10 [5] Exodus 2:11-15 [6] Exodus 3:2 [7] Exodus 3:7-10 [8] Exodus 3:11 [9] Exodus 4:10 [10] Exodus 4:14 [11] Exodus 4:4 [12] Exodus 4:5, 4:21 [13] Exodus 7:11 [14] Exodus 7:14-25 [15] Exodus 8:1-15 [16] Exodus 8:16-19 [17] Exodus 8:20-32 [18] Exodus 9:1-7 [19] Exodus 9:8-12 [20] Exodus 9:13-32 [21] Exodus 10:1-20 [22] Exodus 10:21-29 [23] Exodus 10:27 [24] Exodus 11 [25] Exodus 12:1-28 [26] Exodus 12:29-30 [27] Exodus 12:31-32 [28] Exodus 14:5 [29] Exodus 14:6-9 [30] Exodus 14:10-12 [31] Exodus 14:21-22 [32] Exodus 14:26-29 [33] Exodus 20 [34] Exodus 9:12, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10 [35] Peters, Pastor Larry. “Does God harden the hearts of people?”. Pastoral Meanderings: The Random Thoughts of a Lutheran Parish Pastor. blogger.com. 17.Oct.2013. Web. Aug.26.2014. [36] Peters, Pastor Larry. “Does God harden the hearts of people?”. [37] 1st Corinthians 15:14 First Lesson: Exodus 1:8 - 2:10 Responsive Reading: Psalm 124 Second Lesson: Romans 12: 1-8 Gospel Lesson: Matthew 16: 13-20 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
In recent years, a popular trend of American society has been to make the Devil into a cartoonish/mythological figure no different than the Easter Bunny. As we turn on the news this week, the big stories came from Ferguson, Missouri. Ferguson reveals the worst of human nature as anger, violence, retribution, and demagoguery are all on display. The news in Ferguson harkens back to the story of Cain and Abel. Cain looked at his brother Abel and got mad. The reason that Cain got so mad is because he felt that all the problems in his life were of Abel’s doing. Cain would rather take his brother Abel’s life than be willing to admit that he was part of the problem[1]. Father Dwight Longnecker over at Patheos described the culture of scapegoating in this country quite well when he said “Who is to blame? The rich people say the indigent (lazy) poor are to blame. The poor say the greedy rich are to blame. The blacks say the (racist) whites are to blame. The whites say the (criminal) blacks are to blame. The Jews blame the Palestinians. The Palestinians blame the Jews. The Protestants blame the Catholics. The Catholics blame the Protestants. The young blame the old. The old blame the young. The men blame the women. The women blame the men.”[2] As we come unto an election cycle, the Republicans say the Democrats are to blame, and the Democrats say the Republicans are to blame. All this mindset does is keep spinning our wheels as the world gets more and more of its axis. Probably each and every one of us in this life know people that if they weren’t complaining about other people than they wouldn’t have anything to say. Once a scapegoat emerges all rational, nuance, or potentially compassionate analysis of the situation goes out the window. The issue in Ferguson isn’t whether there are cops out there influenced by racism (I’m sure plenty are) nor is the issue whether Cops or any other human being always displays the best judgment (they definitely don’t like any other human being). The issue in Ferguson goes even beyond whose version of the events is right or wrong. The real issue in Ferguson has to do with how we respond to those wrong us. The real issue in Ferguson has to do with who is responsible for all of society’s ills. The issue in Ferguson has to do with charting a course forward from a tragic loss of human life. The Ferguson Riots bring us to today’s Gospel lesson from Matthew the 16th chapter. It’s a relatively famous Gospel lesson as Peter receives from Jesus the gift of the keys to the kingdom. Catholics have long used this passage as a justification for their adherence to the Pope. Something else is going on here that is way more important than the role of the Pope within the world. Jesus gives Peter a certain authority. Jesus states to Peter,“ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.[3]” These two keys that Peter receives speak to the entire message of the Christian church as it gathers on Sunday morning. Peter is given the power to use these two keys by either binding sins by declaring that one’s sins shall have consequences for one’s life. Peter is also given the ability to loosen sins or declare that we have been set free from sin’s consequences by the power of our Gospel. Jesus is giving Peter an awesome responsibility within our text in that Peter can either withhold this forgiveness, or Peter can forgive the sins of the world around him. Christ in this text is giving the same responsibility to us. We wonder how should these two keys work together in our lives?? For many people out there like those protesting in Ferguson, can only see the world working in terms of the first key of the Law. The Ferguson response makes sense since the first key of the Law is the common everyday human experience. As you talk to people about their everyday existence, you constantly encounter troubled burdens beaten down by their day to day interactions. For the truth about our lives is we cannot escape the Law in our life. Divorce is Law. Broken relationships are Law. Guilt is Law. Death is Law. The first key which Christ gives Peter of the Law is the only key that many of us know. So, we naturally assume it’s the solution to all of life’s problems. We experience judgment, so we need to rationalize judgment; we need to cast judgment upon those who sin differently than ourselves since its often the only way we know how to solve problems. A number of years ago, GK Chesterton who was a famous Catholic philosopher was asked to write for The Times of London regarding “What is wrong with the world?” Here was Chesterton’s letter in its entirety. “Dear Sir: Regarding your article 'What's Wrong with the World?' I am. Yours truly, G.K. Chesterton.[4]” G.K. Chesterton in this letter dared to do something that very few people today would have the guts to do in that he took the blame. The very first step to going forward as a world is finally admitting that our sin is just as responsible for its downfall as anybody else. Perhaps the most beautiful story of confession within the Christian gospels occurs in Luke the 18th Chapter the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. One man, a Pharisee, admitted that he had sinned, but wanted to qualify the situation. The Pharisee’s sins weren’t that bad; they weren’t as bad as the sins of the Tax Collector. Contrast this to the Tax Collector who couldn’t even lift his head as he prayed out “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me a sinner.” What made the Tax Collector’s words, so poignant is that he didn’t shift the blame, but rather he took the blame. The Tax Collector admitted that the world was a big, colossal mess for which he was responsible. The only way out would be forgiveness and understanding[5]. How should the world respond to the situation in Ferguson? I think back on this day to the story of Nelson Mandela. Mandela grew up under a system of governance where the black majority, was brutally suppressed by the white minority. Mandela’s protest of the situation led to him spending twenty-seven years in jail. During Mandela’s years away in prison the situation worsened, even his wife Winnie was taken away from the children for eighteen months[6]. I know how many people would have spent the nights that Nelson Mandela spent in a prison cell, they would have spent these nights plotting out revenge, and they would have spent these nights praying for the destruction of their enemy. As Nelson Mandela is set free from prison in 1990, his response was different, in that Mandela wanted to forgive those who wronged him. Mandela realized that the anger never helps to soothe the pain of a particular situation of injustice. At the moment of his release for prison Mandela said the following “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison[7]." In 1994, Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa. In 1995, South Africa played in the Rugby World Cup. The rugby team had been hated during the years of oppression as they were seen as a symbol of white authority. Mandela dared to become the rugby’s team most vocal supporter to the shock of many people within his homeland[8]. What guided Mandela’s beliefs is that he believed in a Messiah, who chose not race, who chose not one country, who chose not one language, who chose not one tribe, rather he believed that his Messiah chose all of an imperfect humanity[9]. If Nelson Mandela walked to Ferguson today, I believe his response to injustice would have been very different from what we have witnessed. If Jesus were to walk into Ferguson, he would not be shouting with anger. Jesus would rather be praying for those who persecute, Jesus would be extending compassion to those like Officer Darren Wilson, who may feel like the whole world is out to get him, and Jesus would be grieving with the family of Michael Brown. Jesus would encourage us to pray that whatever prejudices exist in the human condition that we may acknowledge them so that we may begin to let them go. I want to give you two promises this morning. The first promise is that people will wrong. This world will spit you out and swallow you whole. Your spouse will disappoint you; your children will disappoint you; your friends will disappoint you, and the general state of the world will disappoint you. The world will probably make you mad. We can do one of two things with this information. We can either choose to retain people’s sins against them. We can seek to hold onto hurt so that it defines and ultimately wrecks our lives. We can find plenty of people who will behave this exact way. Win Jordan, who is a writer, recalls leading a Bible study one day when someone asked the following question “How was Jesus such a loving figure, yet so many people wanted to kill him?”[10] Jordan answered that people hated Jesus’ message of forgiveness because it is an offense to our warped sense of right and wrong; we have a hard time embracing forgiveness since we can’t stand anything that goes against the idea of that which should happen, not happening. For we can be different, we can speak words that make us uncomfortable. We can look towards, our own day of healing and restoration made known on a cross. The hardest thing to know in life is what to say in those moments when life grows increasingly complex, when we have to tread carefully on our every word as walk a fine line between when to bring the hammer down, when to overlook, enable, forgive, and love. For often in life, we are going to be called to do things that are going to eat us up inside especially as those go against our very nature. As Jesus gave Peter the key to forgiving people’s sins, he was giving him the ability to change one’s entire human experience with just four magic words “Your sins are forgiven.” The second promise given to us on this morning is the promise that is given to Peter on this day. “I will build my church, and the gates of hades will not prevail against it[11].” We are told on this day that the powers of death and damnation are not as strong as the powers of God nor will those evil powers win the battle. The powers of death and evil are all around us whenever we turn on the nightly news, but these evil powers are not stronger than the church and its power of God, who guides it. The promise we are given is that evil will lose out!!!! The promise that Christ gives Peter and gives to us on this day is one of freedom. Jesus is promising unto Peter a gift of life. Jesus is promising to Peter that the old self shall one day be put to death, only to rise again anew three days later. We leave this place with the hope that the sins of the whole world don’t rest in our hands; they rest in the hands of our Lord and Savior. Amen [1]Genesis 4:1-8 [2] Longnecker, Father Dwight. “Our Ferguson Problem”. Patheos. 19.Aug.2014. Web. 19.Aug.2014 [3] Matthew 16:19 [4] Story recalled by Longnecker, Dwight. “Our Ferguson Problem”. [5] Luke 18:9-14 [6] Jordan, Win. “The Idiot Forgiveness of Nelson Mandela”. Mockingbird. Christ Episcopal Church. Charlottesville, VA. 6.Dec.2013. Web. Aug.19.2014 [7] Trimmer, Micheal. “Nelson Mandela and His Faith”. Christianity Today. 10.Dec.2013. Web. Aug.19.2014 [8] Jordan, Win. “The Idiot Forgivenes of Nelson Mandela.” [9] This is based on a Mandela quote as laid out by Trimmer, Micheal in “Nelson Mandela and His Faith” [10] Jordan, Win. “The Idiot Forgivenes of Nelson Mandela.” [11] Matthew 16:18 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
As this country’s news, this week, focuses on the sudden and tragic death of Robin Williams, let me begin with a story. A man goes to see a doctor. Doctor asks the man “what seems to be the trouble." The man says “Doc, I’m depressed. Simply, I can’t sleep sometimes, I can’t eat, and I feel down and irritable most days. I just can’t feel happy.” The Doctor figuring it was a simple case of a man being down in the dumps offers a solution saying “Sir, I’ve got the perfect fix for you. In town, tonight is the great clown Pagliacci. He’s considered to be the funniest man in all the land; he will make you laugh until you cry. During his show, you will experience a joy unprecedented.” Upon hearing this advice, the man broke down beginning to sob hysterically. The Doctor is thoroughly confused by the man’s reaction at this point, so he asks “Why the tears?” At which point the man belts out “Doctor, I am Pagliacci."[1] What this story along with Williams’ death reminds us is how we can’t judge what’s going on in a person’s life merely on the basis of external appearances. We remember how a man who had brought so many people happiness and laughter throughout the years went through life unable to escape from the darkest of places. The reality of not only Williams’ death but also our neighbors well-being brings us to our Gospel lesson for today from Matthew the 15th chapter. To understand our story you need to know that it takes place in Tyre and Sidon which were outside the land of Palestine where Jesus spent most of his life. Within Tyre and Sidon, Jesus would have encountered a very different type of religious people from everyone else he would have encountered previously within his ministry. Let me tell another story, when I was in Seminary I attended quite a few Minnesota Twins games. I was in school during the Twins run of back to back to back division titles. The Twins closest competitors during these years were the Chicago White Sox. The contrast was stark between the big market; power-hitting White Sox versus the small-market, small-ball Twins. I went to a few games between the White Sox and the Twins in Minneapolis during this time. There was the occasional White Sox fan at the games during these times. White Sox fans were wildly outnumbered by Minnesota college kids who had bought $3 tickets. If any White Sox fans got too-bold, there would be trouble. I liked nothing better than cheering loudly for the White Sox to get beat with tens of thousands of other Twins fans to back me up. Well, a few years after this, I went to a game at US Cellar Field on the South Side of Chicago right in White Sox territory. 2005 was the year the White Sox had the best record in Baseball and would eventually win the World Series. It’s safe to say that I was a lot less bold in my cheering surrounded by inebriated White Sox fans than I was in home territory. Our lesson for today takes place in the heart of Gentile territory, amongst the Canaanite people. The Canaanite people engaged in every sort of religious practice that good first century Jews like the disciples would have found offensive they engaged in interfaith marriages, and they sacrificed children. These bad feelings between Jews and Canaanites over their religion had stretched back nearly two-thousand years since the days of Abraham. The idea of a Canaanite going to Jesus for religious wisdom seems about as probable as me wearing a White Sox jersey to Target Field. There was this woman, and this woman was a piece of work. One of Robin Williams’ most-famous movies roles was the film Mrs. Doubtfire. In this film, Williams plays an unemployed actor, who is loved by his kids, but considered immature by his wife. The wife played by Sally Field eventually divorces Williams’ character, ending up with sole custody of the kids due to Williams’ irresponsibility. Many people would have heard this news and given up. Williams’ character though was going not to stop until he could spend time with his children. Upon Williams finding out that his ex-wife wanted to hire a housekeeper to help watch the children, Williams decides to fake a resume so that he may pose as an elderly Scottish Nanny named Mrs. Doubtfire as a way to spend time with his kids. What gave this rather silly film its heart was the lengths that Williams’ character was willing to go on a daily basis through make-up, ill-fitting clothing, and continuous awkward situations for the sake of his children. Jesus encounters a woman in Tyre and Sidon who was persistent just like Mrs. Doubtfire. This woman was sassy; this woman was bold, and this woman dared to approach Jesus to ask him to heal her daughter of demon-possession[2]. The Disciples were probably uncomfortable with this scene as it would have been considered scandalous for a religious teacher to be interacting in such a matter with a foreign woman who wasn’t his wife[3]. Jesus seems to at first shrug off this woman’s request, proclaiming that he could only deal with the sheep of his house the House of Israel[4]. Merely saying no isn’t going to deter Mrs. Doubtfire. This woman who is the star of our gospel lesson reminds me of the lady at Walmart who even though she might not have had a good case for a refund. She is going to be so annoying that the Clerk eventually just throws their hands up in the air, and opens the cash register. This Lady was not going to stop pestering Jesus until he dealt with her demon-possessed daughter. This woman was not trying to stop Jesus’ mission to the people of Israel; she was merely asking that he bring his ministry beyond the people of his homeland. What this lady wanted on this day was merely scraps from the Master’s table[5]. What does this story say to us on this day? I think it reminds us of something important about Jesus’ ministry how he is always finding faith outside the traditional religious establishment of his day. What this story reminds us is that the Kingdom of God is about breaking down boundaries every single day that many people thought to be previously unimaginable. We face some stiff challenges in the days ahead as a congregation. We’re getting older every day; our numbers have been declining for years and years. We pray that something will turn it all around. We assume that we are not up to the task. Some of us have given up hope. We figure we’re not preachers, we assume that we have no way to reach other people. Let me tell you a story, there once was a teenager girl named Kate. Kate was the first of her friends to get a driver’s license. One of Kate’s friend’s parents decided that they would let Kate drive their new Ford Explorer so that their daughter and her friends could have a good time. So a group of teenage girls goes out having a good time and being silly in the car blasting music when Kate loses control of the car crashes into a telephone pole. The car is unsalvageable. Kate believes her life to be over. Kate had to first call Mrs. Anderson her friends’ mom to explain everything she had done wrong. Eventually, police arrive onto the scene of the accident. Main officer asked questions to Kate; she confessed the whole truth and nothing but the truth. As every discriminating word came out of Kate’s mouth, she grew more and more convinced that she would wind up in jail. Kate sits in the back of a cop car for 45 minutes, when one of the girl’s parents came up wanting to say something to her. Kate didn’t know Jessica’s dad all that well as he approached her. The only thought that could go through Kate’s head at this time was that now she was going to get everything she deserved. As soon as Kate rolled down the window, the first words out of Jessica’s dad’s mouth were “You know one time; I totaled a Porsche when I was test-driving it.” Kate broke down in tears at this very moment. As Jessica’s dad proclaimed “We’re all just so thankful that no one is hurt. Don’t worry; this happens to all of us.”[6] As Jessica’s dad spoke forgiveness, this was the first time since the accident that Kate didn’t hate herself. A figure that Kate dreaded as a condemning judge chose to pour out grace and empathy instead. How do we face the challenges before us a church? We’re going to do what Jessica’s dad did. We’re going to proclaim grace when people become convinced that no one else in the church will proclaim to grace to them. We’re going to speak forgiveness, when people don’t believe they can receive forgiveness. We are going to embrace people when not one other person in the world will embrace them. These things do not promise us success, for Jesus wasn’t successful in earthly terms, the disciples weren’t successful in earthly terms, yet they realized that their proclamation was more important than mere success in earthly terms. It was not easy for the Disciples today to accept that Jesus dared to reach out to such a strange woman in such a strange land. We are often called to reach out to people whose behavior extends beyond what we might dare to consider acceptable. Loving someone who has hurt you or even could potentially hurt you is tremendously difficult, yet the most-meaningful love that we encounter in this life doesn’t come without struggle or hurt. The most-meaningful love of all was poured out upon the cross. So who are we trying to reach this morning? We’re going to try to reach Kate the reckless driver. We’re going to try to reach Terry and Kim the upstanding church couple who accidentally had a kid out of wedlock. We’re going to try to reach Steve, the guy who just got busted with a DUI and now needs rides to work every day. The type of woman that Jesus encounters in our Gospel is the type of person that we need to be encountering, the type of person who pours out all her hurts and needs upon Jesus’ feet. We will reach people by reminding them that no one person in this room has life all figured out. We will remind them that no matter what brought them to this place, we have a God whose grace is bigger than our weakness. We will remind them that everything that people think they know about religion might very well be wrong. These truths are what Jesus taught the Disciples on this day[7]. We encounter today the very types of people that would have been in Jesus’ mission field. We’re going to let people know that in the midst of deserving judgment that we still love you and Jesus does too. For ultimately there are more than enough table scraps of God’s grace to go around. Amen [1] This joke is based on the 1892 Italian Opera Pagliacci. This story/joke was told in the 2009 film Watchmen. [2] Matthew 15:22 [3] Matthew 15:23 [4] Matthew 15:24 [5] Matthew 15:27 [6] Norris, Kate. “Judgment Kills, Love Gives Life”. Mockingbird. Christ Episcopal Church. Charlottesville, VA. 26.Oct.2010. Web. Aug.12.2014. This story is from a collection of stories called Judgment and Love put out by Mockingbird Ministries in 2010. [7] These were inspired by a article by Corrie Mitchell at On Faith entitled “5 Churchy Phrases Millennials Want To Hear” published on August 14, 2014 First Lesson: Genesis 37: 1-4, 12:28 Responsive Reading: Psalm 105: 1-6, 16-22, 45b Second Lesson: Romans 10: 5-15 Gospel Lesson: Matthew 14: 22-33 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Let me begin this morning with an apparent statement that families don’t always get along. The most common tensions are related to money and possessions. For example, I had a great-aunt Bonnie Jean, who had a sister named Corrine. When their father Henry died, he left Bonnie Jean with over 900,000 dollars, while leaving Corrine without a penny. So these sisters never spoke the last thirty years plus years of their lives due to jealously. The second cause of family conflict is power dynamics. For example, I have an Aunt in California who works as a psychologist who loves giving other people advice whether solicited or not. I have a Sister who is in law school who doesn’t like hearing what to do. So when my aunt contacts my sister let’s just say that the combo of Facebook, late-nights, natural combativeness, and wine tend to produce some contentious outcomes. But a family not getting along isn’t anything new; Today’s Old Testament lesson comes from the Book of Genesis. There are more dysfunctional families in Genesis than an episode of The Jerry Springer Show. The first family in the Bible was Adam and Eve. Boy was their family dysfunctional! Genesis 3:6 describes Adam and Eve falling into sin at the same time by eating the forbidden fruit together, but as soon as the Lord confronted Adam and Eve for their sins, Adam blamed Eve for all their problems. As is the case with couples who are quick to blame each other, but never acknowledge their faults, the bickering would continue for years and years. As is often the case with dysfunctional parents (Adam and Eve), they tend to produce dysfunctional children (Cain and Abel). Cain killed his brother Abel over jealously because the Lord preferred Abel’s offering. Cain then tries to pass off any blame for his actions by declaring to the Lord “Am I my brother's keeper[1]?” Then you move further into Genesis to see the Patriarchs, the fathers of the nation of Israel only to see more family dysfunction. Abraham marries Sarah. Sarah is unable to get pregnant[2]. So Sarah encouraged Abraham to take a second wife (her handmaiden named Hagar)[3]. Abraham and Hagar have a son named Ishmael[4]. Only for Abraham to later have a son with Sarah named Isaac[5]. Plenty of family conflict followed. Ishmael and Isaac didn’t get along[6], so Sarah wanted and got Ishmael and Hagar kicked out of Abraham’s family out of anger[7]. But just as Abraham’s family was dysfunctional so was his son Isaac’s family. Isaac had two sons. Isaac’s favorite son the rugged hunter Esau and Rebekah’s favorite son the chef Jacob, it was the tale of the hunter versus the mama’s boy[8]. Well, eventually momma and younger brother trick father and older brother out of dad’s inheritance[9]. Feelings are so bad out of this that Jacob flees for twenty years fearing that his brother was going to take his life[10]. Now we come to the last major story of the Book of Genesis, the last story of family dysfunction. Today’s Old Testament lesson tells the story of Jacob’s most famous son Joseph. The thing to know about this story is Joseph was hated by his brothers, on account of a couple different reasons. The first reason was jealousy. His father absolutely adored Joseph. Joseph was the son of Jacob’s favorite wife the beautiful Rachel[11], whereas Jacob’s other children came from his ugly wife Leah or his slave-wives. So Joseph from the time of his birth was special to Jacob because of his mother. What had really gotten the brothers going was Joseph’s latest gift of a beautiful multi-color coat[12]. The coat would have been the Ancient Canaanite equivalent of ten brothers walking to school while the younger brother gets a mustang to drive. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him like anyone’s brothers would have been jealous of him. Joseph’s brothers might not have hated him so much if it wasn’t for this fact, as can be summed up in the title of the sermon in that Joseph was an annoying little brat. Joseph had a big mouth; he lacked common sense; he was arrogant, he was aloof and uncaring. Joseph was self-impressed and in love with himself[13]. Joseph was the guy that we all know who was always bragging about his income, his or his kid’s athletic prowess, or his sake of genius. What Joseph’s brothers hated to hear him talk about were his dreams. The first dream, Joseph bragged about was of eleven sheaves of wheat bowing down to Joseph in reverence. Joseph interpreted this dream to his brothers as telling him that a day would come when they all would bow down before him at his throne. Considering Joseph was the 11th of 12 brothers, the older brothers didn’t think much of baby-bro predicting a day when they kissed his feet[14]. Let me tell a brief story, when I was working as a substitute teacher I had a student who was a short, stocky little redheaded ninth grader who could not be quiet in class. Every two seconds were a disruptive comment, so I eventually sent him out into the hall to carry out in the classroom proceedings in peace. Only for me to be told that sending this kid into the hall was a terrible idea, when I inquired as to why “I was told that he would run his mouth to the seniors then they would beat him up”. I had a hard time comprehending that such a small kid would do such a reckless and foolish thing. As soon as I opened the door, I saw this kid shooting off his mouth to kids’ way, way bigger than him. This kid reminds me of Joseph in that he just couldn’t stop his mouth from moving. So the question is not why Joseph’s brothers did try to get rid of him, rather the question is what took Joseph’s brothers so long to try to get rid of him? So the brothers then began to consider their options for the next time they were alone with Joseph in their father’s fields. They were debating between killing Joseph or just throwing him into an empty well[15]. They decided the best option would be to make a little money in the process, so they encounter some Egyptian slave traders passing through, saw an opportunity to make twenty pieces of silver[16] along with never seeing their obnoxious, big-mouthed brother ever again. The brothers then as a way of covering their tracks, took his multi-colored coat dipped it in Goat’s blood[17] and told their father Jacob that his most-beloved son was alive no more. Jacob’s grief was such that he would never recover[18]. But the story of Joseph was by no means finished. Once Joseph arrived in Egypt, he was purchased by one of Pharaoh’s officials, a man named Potiphar[19]. Joseph initially was a highly valuable worker to Potiphar[20]. But soon Joseph would become embroiled in scandal as Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce Joseph as he was “handsome” and “well-built[21]”. Joseph turned down her advances on account of his morals[22], so Potiphar’s wife became angry enough and bitter enough at Joseph to accuse him of attempting to seduce her and away to prison Joseph went[23]. Once Joseph went to prison, he ended up meeting two men who had been sent there by Pharaoh himself in a Butler and a Baker. Now both of these men were deeply troubled as they had dreams of which they could not figure out their meaning. Joseph figured he had a knack for interpreting dreams, so he went about revealing the Butler and Baker’s future. Joseph predicted the Butler to be set free and return to working for Pharaoh within three days, whereas Joseph predicted the Baker’s dream to have a less happy ending as he was going to hang within three days. On the third day, Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams was proven to be right on the money. As the Butler goes free from prison, Joseph’s only request for the Butler was to remember him in Pharaoh’s presence[24]. Around this time, the Pharaoh of Egypt began having dreams that made no sense. Pharaoh saw seven healthy cows standing next to seven sickly cows, along with seven healthy heads of grain, standing next to seven sickly heads of grain. Eventually, cows began to eating cows, and grain began eating grain. Pharaoh had no clue what to make of any of it. So Pharaoh started asking anyone who would listen to make sense of his dreams, Pharaoh was getting nowhere until he encounters the same Butler who encountered Joseph in prison. Joseph appears before Pharaoh’s presence where he interpreted the dreams to mean that Egypt would have seven years of plenty during the harvest followed by seven years of famine[25]. Joseph’s prediction was right on the money. So not only was Joseph set free from prison after two years, he became the manager of all of Egypt’s agriculture (second in command to Pharaoh himself)[26]. Joseph was the complete story of rags to riches as he had all the clothes, gold, or feasts that he could ever want. Egypt was thriving being the only nation in the world that saved its grain during bountiful harvests, so that they made a ton of money during the famine as the only country in the world with food to distribute. The situation at this time wasn’t good at all for Joseph’s brothers as famine plagued their land. They eventually had to leave their Canaan home behind and travel to Egypt bowing down before their brother begging for grain[27]. Joseph’s dreams had come true. As Joseph’s brothers walked into his presence, they did not recognize him[28]. Soon Joseph’s brothers would be given a very strange request; Joseph would give them enough grain to tie them over, but for more grain, Joseph needed to see their youngest half-brother Benjamin. Benjamin was Joseph’s only full-blood brother. Upon hearing this unknown man’s offer, father Jacob would have rather starve then see anything happen to Benjamin in Egypt. Jacob had already lost Rachel’s older son; he was going to make sure that nothing happened to her youngest[29]. Jacob eventually relented as the famine became a matter of survival not only for himself, but everyone around him including Benjamin[30]. Joseph was moved upon seeing Benjamin[31]. For Benjamin was many years younger than Joseph and merely a young child at the time that Joseph entered into slavery. Joseph wished to reunite with his brothers, but was worried that they were the same backstabbers that had always been. So Joseph came up with a plan to try to determine if his brothers were who he thought they were. Joseph was going to frame Benjamin with stealing a silver cup to see how his brothers would react. So after his brothers received their grain, and began their journey back home, Joseph sent his guards after them with instructions to find his missing silver cup[32]. When the guards found the cup in Benjamin’s bag, the brothers were forced to head back to Egypt fearing for their life[33]. They began to figure that this was God punishing them for all they had done against Joseph years before. As the brothers stood in Joseph’s presence, they confessed their sins against their brother Joseph from years before unaware that it was their brother hearing their confession. His brothers’ repentance shocked Joseph causing him to send everyone else out of the room[34]. It was at this moment that Joseph revealed “who he was” to his brothers[35]. The one that thought might have been dead; Joseph was alive and stood before them. Finally, Joseph asked the question he had been waiting for years to receive an answer to as he said “Is my father still alive[36]?” The family would soon reunite, a reunion that would have seemed impossible years before[37]. Joseph’s story has the happiness of endings. But what is the point of this tale? Joseph summarizes the story quite well in Genesis 50:20 when he says “What you (his brothers) meant for evil, God meant for good.” On the surface, this line spoken by Joseph seems ridiculous. We often have encounters in our daily life from which we think that no good could arise out. The idea that God can bring forth good from disaster seems incomprehensible. As Joseph mouths these words, this is the part of the story where Joseph’s story becomes our story. God uses Joseph’s weaknesses to bring him to Egypt to save multiple nations[38]. God took Joseph’s pride and arrogance to lead to one day reunite with his family. God’s plan for Joseph and his brothers probably didn’t seem real obvious at the time, as Joseph’s situation took years and years to play out towards a resolution. At the moment that Joseph got sold into slavery it merely got the ball rolling on this tale. For today’s lesson reminds us of some very famous words from Romans the 8th chapter which say “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose[39].” We hear on this day that God works through dysfunctional families; God works through undesirable jobs, and God even might work through personal pain and tragedy. We remember that God is with us today through the pits of our lives and that God sees resolution even when we cannot[40]. Our answer to the will of God is ultimately found for us on the cross. For my good friend, Pastor Donovan Riley said explaining how God can work all things for good “God keeps the church impoverished and struggling, so we don't worship and preach the church. God keeps the pastor a broken, feeble man so we don't worship and preach the pastor. God keeps the Christian weak and needy so we don't worship and preach the Christian. God raised Jesus from the dead and made His the Name above all names so that at the name of Jesus every knee bows [in worship]; those in heaven, on earth and below the earth.[41]” Amen [1] Genesis 4:9 [2] Genesis 16:1 [3] Genesis 16:3 [4] Genesis 16:11-16 [5] Genesis 21:2 [6] Genesis 21:9 [7] Genesis 21:10-12 [8] Genesis 25:27 [9] Genesis 25:29-34, Genesis 27 [10] Genesis 27:41 [11] Genesis 35:23 [12] Genesis 37:3 [13] [14] Genesis 37:5-8 [15] Genesis 37:18-24 [16] Genesis 37:28 [17] Genesis 37:31 [18] Genesis 37:35 [19] Genesis 39:1 [20] Genesis 39:2-6 [21] Genesis 39:6-7 [22] Genesis 39:8 [23] Genesis 39:11-20 [24] This story appears in Genesis 40 [25] Genesis 41:1-36 [26] Genesis 41:37-57 [27] Genesis 42:1-8 [28] Genesis 42:8-9 [29] Genesis 42:34-38 [30] Genesis 43:13 [31] Genesis 43:30 [32] Genesis 44 contains this tale. [33] Genesis 44:13 [34] Genesis 45:1 [35] Genesis 45:2 [36] Genesis 45:3 [37] Genesis 46:28-34 [38] McDavid, Will. “Hopelessly Devoted: Genesis Chapter Thirty Seven Verses Three Through Seven”. Mockingbird. Christ Episcopal Church. Charlottesville, VA. 14. Jan. 2014. Web. Aug.4.2014. [39] Romans 8:28 [40] McDavid, Will. “Hopelessly Devoted: Genesis Chapter Thirty Seven Verses Three Through Seven”. [41] This is a quote from a 2011 Facebook post from Pastor Riley. First Lesson: Genesis 32: 22-31 Responsive Reading: Isaiah 55: 1-5 Second Lesson: Romans 9: 1-5 Gospel Lesson: Matthew 14: 13-21 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
When I was young, I was a huge fan of professional wrestling. One of the great thrills of my childhood was attending matches at the Target Center where I got to stand about three feet away from Hulk Hogan as he marched to the ring to Rick Derringer’s “Real American." There was no more exciting thing in the world when you were 11 years old than when Hulk Hogan was able to body-slam someone who had a listed weight of well over 400 lbs. There was nothing more exciting than seeing Hogan conquering a seemingly unconquerable foe. Hulk Hogan leads us into an interesting question for this morning “what if someone an average Jake who lacked the muscles of Hulk Hogan was able to wrestle against seemingly the most unconquerable foe of all and live to tell about it?” Our Bible story for today centers around the idea of wrestling against God, and it centers on the person of Jacob. Jacob’s story begins about twenty years before our lesson. Jacob had a twin brother named Esau. I should tell you a little bit about Jacob and Esau. Esau was the first brother out of the womb. Esau was a man’s man. Esau was a rugged hunter[1]. Esau probably had more muscles than anybody in the whole land. Esau probably had a manly beard like one of the guys on Duck Dynasty. Esau was the type of guy who probably would eat a three-pound steak in a single setting then polish it off with a gallon of whole, raw milk. Esau if he lived today would have loved football, monster trucks, drinking beer, and professional wrestling. Esau on account of his manliness was the apple of his father’s eyes[2]. And then you had Esau’s brother Jacob. Jacob was quite a bit different from Esau[3]. Jacob didn’t like getting his hands dirty. Jacob liked spending time with his mom in the kitchen[4]. Jacob probably had about as much facial hair as a twelve year old boy[5]. If Jacob were alive today, he would probably love drinking wine and wearing skinny jeans. These brothers tended not to get along the best. Jacob had been jealous of Esau his whole life for what he was about to receive. Esau was going to receive his father’s “birthright." What Esau receiving the birthright means is upon Esau and Jacob’s father Isaac’s death that Esau was going to be rolling in it. Esau was going to have twice as much money as Jacob, twice as much land, twice as many flocks. Esau was going to be the big man in all the land of Canaan. Jacob knew this and Jacob was jealous of it all. Esau though had a weakness; he was arrogant. Esau thought that he was pretty hot stuff even if he didn’t have the birthright. Jacob used Esau’s weakness to his advantage. One day Jacob is cooking in the kitchen when Esau comes marching in from the field. Esau demanded something to eat[6]. Jacob said he would feed Esau as long as he sold him his birthright[7]. This offer would have seemed outrageous, an evening meal in exchange for great riches. Esau in a moment of foolishness went along with Jacob’s demands[8]. All Jacob had to do for his swindle to be complete was to receive his father Isaac’s blessing. Jacob knew that Isaac would not go along with his favorite son’s foolish decision. So Jacob decided that he needed to take advantage of his father. Jacob was going to trick his father into receiving the birthright. Jacob killed an animal, and then covered his arms with hair so that he could pretend to be his brother Esau to receive his father’s blessing[9]. Jacob takes advantage of his father’s blindness by marching into his room claiming that he was his brother Esau, stealing his brother’s blessing and now Jacob’s swindle of Esau out of his father’s inheritance was complete[10]. So to recap Jacob’s behavior to this point in the story he lied to his blind father and cheated his brother out of their possessions. Esau was so furious about this that he threatens to kill Jacob. Jacob then flees as far away from Esau as he could be[11]. Esau and Jacob would not encounter each other for twenty years. In the meantime, Jacob had gone to live with an uncle named Laban[12]. Laban and Jacob were both cunning and made for each other. Laban got Jacob to agree to work for him for seven years to get his beautiful daughter Rachel’s hand in marriage. Only for Jacob’s wedding night, Laban pulls a fast one on him by sending his undesirable daughter Leah into Jacob’s bed instead. Jacob, the con-man, had been conned. Jacob would not stop though; Jacob agrees to work for Laban for another seven years finally marrying Rachel[13]. Don’t worry about Jacob though. Jacob got his revenge on Laban. Jacob tricked Laban into giving him all of his spotted, diseased livestock, only for Jacob to develop a breeding technique which made the spotted livestock healthy, thus making Jacob into a very rich man[14]. Now twenty years later, Jacob wanted to return home with all his possessions. Jacob figured it was time for him to enjoy the benefits of his father’s inheritance. Only one big problem stood in the way. The problem’s name was Esau. So Jacob being Jacob started to think about how to outsmart Esau once again. Jacob at first sends messengers to spy on Esau, yet when Jacob hears back from the messengers he finds out Esau has 400 men to fight alongside him[15]. Jacob was still looking for ways to avoid his brother. So Jacob then decides like the conniving coward that he had been his entire life that he was going to send his wives in two separate parties across the river into the Land of Canaan, hoping to let half his party along with Jacob escape[16]. Jacob’s schemes were going him safe from Esau at least for the night. The night of Jacob’s supposed safety was going to change his life forever. In the middle of the night, a man comes out of nowhere to begin to wrestle with Jacob[17]. Jacob didn’t know who the man was at first. As Jacob begins to wrestle, he doesn’t follow his normal course of action; Jacob doesn’t make excuses or try to escape. Jacob for the first time in his life chooses to face the problem before him[18]. In this encounter, Jacob was taken to the darkest places in his life. Jacob on this night was finally forced to confront the past twenty years of scheming that had led him to this moment. The wrestler reveals to Jacob on this night that he had wrestled with God[19]. Jacob wrestled with God so he may receive God’s blessing. This encounter changed Jacob as he ultimately saw God face to face[20]. When the story says a “man wrestled with Jacob until dawn.” What we must remember is that dawn in a biblical passage is the signal of a man undergoing an epic encounter in one’s life that will change them forever. We hear the story of Jacob wrestling with God and don’t know what exactly to make of it. We wonder what such a scene might look as within our own lives. In 1997, Robert Duvall starred in a movie called The Apostle. Duvall played Sonny a Pentecostal preacher who like Jacob had his share of character defects. Sonny was a womanizer, whose wife Jessie played by Farrah Fawcett grew tired of his act then proceed to run off with his church’s youth minister much to Sonny’s dismay. Sonny’s failures to win her back fail. Sonny’s congregational elders side with his wife in the dispute and show him the door. Sonny then proceeds to snap at one of his kid’s softball games and savagely beats his wife’s boyfriend with a baseball bat into a coma. Sonny then proceeds to become an outlaw much like Jacob. Sonny stays with his Momma hiding out from the law, no different then Jacob hiding out from Esau leading to the film’s greatest scene. Sonny snaps at God for his life ending up so wayward. Sonny begins to yell at God for taking his wife, and stealing church. Sonny yells at God for answers wanting to know if it was God or the Devil messing with him like this. All Sonny wants from God is peace. Sonny’s previous few weeks finally cause him to break down as he yells out “Lord I know that I’m a sinner, and I’m a womanizer, yet what should I do Lord, what should I do, so that you blow this pain out of me?”(The Apostle)[21] This scene was beautiful because like Jacob’s wrestling it paints the tale of a messed up preacher putting it all on the line. Sonny wrestled with God, lived to tell about it, and that Sonny realized that God’s forgiveness was even more powerful than our greatest sin. Richard Hays describes this passage best when he says the message of Genesis 32 is that if we are transferred from darkness to light then God is going to have to wrestle with us in the darkness. We cannot see God any other way. Those who wrestle with God in the midst of their darkest hours will ultimately change before the dawn[22]. This idea of Jacob wrestling with God all night seems rather silly to us. We wonder what would be the point of a human prevailing against God in a wrestling match? Pastor Nathan Asseng tells the following story, a number of years ago in Iowa there was a wrestling match between Ogden High and Humboldt High. “Humboldt had a senior wrestler on the team with Down syndrome[23]”. The kid with Down syndrome possessed no physical threat to any other wrestler. “But the coaches asked if anyone on the opposing team would at least give the boy a chance to get out on the mat”[24]. A wrestler from Ogden High offered to take him on. The Ogden wrestler not only wrestled him for entire six minutes, but allowed the boy with Down syndrome to beat him on points[25]. He gave this kid, not only the ability to compete, but even more graciously the opportunity to raise his hands in victory. “At the end of this match, both wrestlers got a standing ovation, and as you can imagine, there was hardly a dry eye in the house”[26]. In the midst of Jacob’s greatest challenge, God sought to touch Jacob. God did not punish Jacob for every decision that he had made for the last twenty years leading to that moment. God instead takes down Jacob so that he was never going to be the same ever again. Jacob’s life from this moment forward was no longer going to be defined by his cowardliness, cheating, or manipulating. Jacob was instead going to go forward with the promise that his God would not be distant from his everyday struggles. What happens to Jacob and Esau? Jacob after being wounded by God has a newly found courage, the same type of courage that the disciples find after they encounter the risen lord. So, Jacob the next day rushes all of all his men finally to face Esau on the front line of battle. Yet as soon as Jacob sees Esau a shocking outcome occurs. Esau runs forward, puts Jacob in a beat hug then Esau the manly man begins weeping over his reunion with Jacob, only for Jacob to break down shortly thereafter along with him[27]. As Jacob reentered the Land of Canaan after twenty years away he was no longer the spoiled brat who had left it twenty years before. Jacob was instead ready to be the Father of a great nation. What we reminded of this morning as we hear Jacob’s story is a reminder of the nature of God. How God stuck beside Jacob for reasons that we are not able to fathom. God is not the terrifying presence that Jacob saw Esau being. We receive a reminder how we wrestle with God nearly every single day of our lives. Many of us have thrown everything that we possibly could at God from anger to doubt to despair to even cursing his name. Our God will not abandon us in the wilderness; our God will wrestle us through the darkest moments of our lives, to bring us safely forth to the dawn. Amen [1] Genesis 25:27 [2] Genesis 25:28 [3] Genesis 25:27 [4] Genesis 25:28-29 [5] Genesis 27:11 [6] Genesis 25:30 [7] Genesis 25:31 [8] Genesis 25:32-33 [9] Genesis 27:15-16 [10] Genesis 27:18-29 [11] Genesis 27:41-45 [12] Genesis 28:1-5 [13] Genesis 29:1-20 [14] Genesis 30:25-43 [15] Genesis 32:7 [16] Genesis 32:8 [17] Genesis 32:24 [18] Genesis 32:25 [19] Genesis 32:28 [20] Genesis 32:30 [21] This scene can be found at You Tube- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5v5DOEF45E [22] Hays, Richard. “Limping and praising”. Faith & Leadership. 14.Apr.2009. Web. July.28.2014 [23] Aaseng, Nathan. “Wrestling with God”. Working Preacher. 18.Dec.2007.Web. July 28.2014 [24] Aaseng, Nathan. “Wrestling with God”. [25] Aaseng, Nathan. “Wrestling with God”. [26] Aaseng, Nathan. “Wrestling with God”. [27] Genesis 33:4 First Lesson: Genesis 22: 1-14 Responsive Reading: Psalm 13 Second Lesson: Romans 6: 12-23 Gospel Lesson: Matthew 10: 40-42 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
The following is a modern re-telling of one of the Old Testament’s most confounding stories in the Story of Abraham and the near-sacrifice of his long awaited son Isaac. I want to tell you the story of Mark and April. Mark and April met at the state university. They connected both being farm-kids with similar values. April was attracted to Mark’s brains and personal steadiness. Mark was attracted to April for being such a free-spirit, April was the life of the party wherever she went. Mark and April both graduated college, got married, and ended up with good paying jobs. They settled not in a town, not unlike this one. Mark worked as a Nuclear Engineer while April worked as a Fourth Grade Teacher. Mark and April soon then joined the local Lutheran church Saint Gerhard’s in town where they quickly became active. Mark and April seemed to have it all, they seemed to be an example of a perfect couple, but they wished for their family to be complete. Mark and April tried to conceive a child for one year without nay luck. Mark and April then went to see a Doctor who would test for their fertility levels. April was discovered to be infertile. Mark and April spent nights trying to think about the next step. They prayed nightly as they considered their options. After months and emotional turmoil and soul-searching, they decided to begin pursuing the adoption process. Right when Mark and April began their paperwork, April wasn’t feeling right. April was constantly tired, and nauseous when she woke up in the morning. Mark and April went to the doctor to be checked out. A miracle had occurred! April was pregnant! Mark and April were determined to be the best parents they could be. During the months of April’s pregnancy, they read every book that they possibly could. Nine months later a son was born. Mark and April named their son “Isaac” which means laughter. They named their son Isaac because of the long-odds of Isaac’s birth, remembering how the pregnancy announcement of the doctor caught April so off-guard that she laughed in a state of shock. Isaac went through the next several years of his life as the apple of Mark and April’s eye. Isaac was a greatly spoiled child because of Mark and April’s means. Isaac was the All-American child with blonde hair, blue eyes, along with being a good student in school. Mark and April seemingly finally had it all! Then one day Mark and April were put to a great test. One day when Isaac was out running around on the soccer field, he collapsed, Isaac was soon taken to the local discovered that Isaac had an enlarged heart. Isaac was going to need a heart transplant to live. The only problem with this scenario is that due to Isaac’s age it was going to be tough to find a donor heart for Isaac’s body. The doctors told Mark and April without a heart transplant they feared that Isaac only had weeks to live. Mark felt like his heart had been ripped in two at the moment of the doctor’s pronouncement. Mark and April’s friends couldn’t help but look on at this whole affair with the belief that God was cruel taking a child so young. Isaac’s defect after Mark and April waited so long for his arrival was nothing more than God’s harshest jokes. The next few weeks were a tremendous struggle for Mark and April were barely sleeping as they pondered all of the ifs about Isaac’s condition? They wondered why them? They wondered why faithful people such as them deserved this fate? Mark and April began to cope with the situation of Isaac’s illness differently. Mark was furious at God. Mark vowed to stop going to church because of Isaac’s condition. Mark would spend the night shouting at God, cursing at God. April’s response to Isaac’s diagnosis though was the exact opposite of Mark’s. April’s days were spent breaking down crying then praying. April would sneak out to the garage to cry when she thought Mark couldn’t stand to hear her cry anymore. On Sundays and Wednesday nights, April would stay around forever after church to just talk to whoever would listen about what her family and young Isaac were going through. As April kept thinking about God’s role in this all, she had what would have seemed like a very strange feeling in the back of her head. April thought that God would work all things for good even if it led to the tragic loss of their son Isaac. April believed that even if Issac shall die before he gets a new heart then God shall be able to raise their son from the dead. April thought back to the times when God answered her and Mark’s prayer for a child of their own, even as their doctors deemed it to be impossible. April believed that God could bring a blessing in the midst of what seemed like the most unforgiving of curses. Through it all, April didn’t get angry with God, April didn’t argue with God, April didn’t seek out an explanation as to why God would seek to take Isaac’s life so soon. Whereas some people would look at April as an example of faith, just as many people would have dismissed April’s attitude as that of a crazy person. The longer the test of Isaac’s illness went on, the more strain that it seemed to put on Mark and April’s marriage. Isaac had grown weary of seeing Mom and Dad fight as his body grew weaker and weaker. Isaac’s condition was growing scarier. Then one day a miracle happened. It was almost as if God shouted down from the heavens yelling out, “Do not harm this boy." A donor heart had been found to give to Isaac. The transplant took place. Isaac would go onto have kids, and grand-kids whose stories are worth telling another time. Mark’s attitude about Isaac’s ordeal began to change after Isaac’s successful heart transplant. Mark understood that he would never know God’s angle in the whole thing. Mark could merely think back to his own relationship with his father from years before. Mark remembered getting so mad when his Dad would set boundaries upon Mark’s whims and wishes, yet it was only years later when Mark became a father on his own that his Dad’s words from a generation before made any sense. Mark realized he would never quite understand God’s challenges presented upon him in the form of Isaac. As Mark was at church one day, the preacher said something that made quite a bit of sense to Mark. The Preacher said “What the Resurrection ultimately proves is that God wants his people to live rather than die, regardless of whatever conflicting messages that this life might throw at them. How God wants to rescue people with his grace and mercy, rather than condemn them with fire and judgment. How we can never judge God’s angle through any one incident, we can merely judge him by what we know from the cross. Now back to Mark and April. They slowly began to work out their issues to the point of reconciliation to their differing grief over Issac’s situation. One night talking about Isaac’s illness they talked about how plenty of people had gone through what Mark and April had endured. Situations of the impossibly tragic; many people had wondered why their own seemingly innocent children have been taken away from them for no good reason. They discussed why God might have intervened in Isaac’s case, but not in the case of other children. Abraham had been made the father of a great nation on account of his trial; Mark and April were apparently rewarded with nothing more than life experience, if Mark and April’s ordeal were a test, they couldn’t know whether they passed or failed it. Mark apparently failed the test with his anger at both God and the church through Isaac’s ordeal. Whereas all April did to respond to test of faith was cry and cry some more, perhaps the reason that April kept with her faith in the midst of her tears was because her tears were a representation of April’s own powerlessness. The tears served as a reminder that April’s answers did not lie within herself. April before Isaac’s illness thought her faith was supposed to make her strong, yet as she worried about her baby boy, she would quickly discover that her faith made her anything but strong. As April and Mark struggled with God’s role in Isaac’s illness, they were reminded that our Gospel never promises unto us that life shall never be a struggle. It is rare to come across a person whose life ends up exactly the way they wanted it. Perhaps the reason that we enter into our own Garden of Gethsemane as a way to prepare for being put to death on our eventual crosses is because this would seem to be the only path to redemption. As Mark and April looked back on the tale of Isaac’s trial the only thing, they could take from it was that God was present even at those moments when it seemed like he wasn’t. What Mark and April had gone through was the strangest of contradictions how through even the worst of times, they still saw God’s love operating on some level. God stood by April and Mark even as they were brought to the brink of destruction. We cannot imagine what Abraham went through as he was asked to sacrifice his only son “Isaac” upon Mount Moriah. Where we can identify with Abraham is that each of us has undergone tests at points within our life. The testing might have come in the form of cancer, heart attack, grief, hunger, financial difficulties, or martial troubles. The thing about tests and the reason we dread them so much is because they seem to attack us at our weakest points whether they be greed, power, sex, pride, or gluttony. Perhaps what Abraham went through with Isaac hits us closer to home than we often imagine. What the ultimate point of the story of Abraham is at the moment when Abraham is crying over the impending death of his son, this is the time when God responds over the sorrow of his children. Hope would be revealed in the years between Abraham, Mark and April when God gave his own son for the sake of the world. How God felt pain, so that ours may one day go away. How even if Mark and April had lost Isaac there was always going to be a resurrection in their future. Amen First Lesson: Genesis 21: 8-21 Responsive Reading: Jeremiah 20: 7-13 Second Lesson: Romans 6: 1-11 Gospel Lesson: Matthew 10: 24-39 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Today, I want to reflect on the quintessential American story. It’s a tale of humble beginnings, God-given athletic prowess, illness, healing, rising to the top of the world, rumors, innuendo, fall, and uncertain path to redemption. The quintessential American story is the story of cyclist Lance Armstrong. Armstrong grew up in Plano, Texas. Armstrong grew up without knowing his father. Armstrong as a young child developed an overwhelming force of will to try to prove himself. Armstrong began as a swimmer, then he became a triathlete, he soon realized that he was a good bike rider, so good that he eventually turned professional. Armstrong was initially considered more of a sprint cyclist rather than an endurance cyclist. Armstrong was still in position to make a good living as a cyclist even if he never won the world’s greatest race the Tour de France. In 1996, Lance Armstrong’s world came crashing down. He received a diagnosis of stage three testicular cancer. Armstrong had ignored the symptoms, and the cancer had spread to his brain, lungs, and abdomen. Armstrong’s Urologist believed that he had no chance of survival. Lance Armstrong through experimental treatments and sheer force of will overcomes cancer. Armstrong vowed to return to cycling better than ever, even if teams were only willing to pay him 20% of what he had been making previously. Armstrong was determined to overcome the longest of odds to win the Tour de France. 1999 comes and Armstrong shocks the world by winning the race. Armstrong quickly became a hero to millions. Armstrong founded an organization called “Livestrong Foundation” that raised over 500 million dollars for cancer research through the sale of yellow wristbands. Armstrong though didn’t just win one Tour de France; he kept winning Tour de France after Tour de France. Seven wins for Armstrong in all. He was the most decorated cyclist of all-time. Lance Armstrong was the definition of a modern-day “saint." His life seemed to be way too perfect; he was dating a beautiful rock star and a national hero. The rumors started to spread. Armstrong had close ties with a controversial trainer known to bend the rules; former teammates started saying that Lance Armstrong had taken blood injections during his victories giving him his superhuman endurance in the French Pyrenees. Then in 2013, Armstrong gets interviewed by Oprah where he admits that the story of Lance Armstrong was all a big, fat lie. We all know Lance Armstrong’s story. We know it when the local businessman faces accusations of cheating his customers. We know it when we find out that our neighbor has got caught with a “DUI." We know it when our children display the kind of morals that we wish that they didn’t display as adults. What Lance Armstrong’s public shame reminds us is that everyone at some point in their life will stumble and fall off the wagon. You only hope it’s not on display in front of the entire world. What do we say to people whose life and the lives of their loved ones have ended up before the whole world as being nothing more than abject failures? I think the path to proclamation comes in remembering the words of the Apostle Paul from Romans 7 when he says, ““So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out[1].” We remember that our stumbles are not the same as Lance Armstrong’s, yet they are still present. We are grateful that any path moving forward from our day of shame is ultimately not found within ourselves. Second story involving a famous person this morning, recently one of the biggest music stars in the world Justin Bieber decided to get baptized. This baptism raised people’s eyebrows. You see Bieber is far from the type of role model that we would hope that kids emulate. Within the last year, Bieber got arrested twice once for getting a DUI while drag racing, and another time for assaulting a limo-driver. Bieber’s been caught on camera engaging in a relationship with a prostitute along with telling racially insensitive jokes. Bieber would in many ways be the last thing that a father would ever want to see her teenage daughter bring home[2]. Recently Justin Bieber goes out and gets baptized. Bieber then begins talking about God’s forgiveness. People were skeptical. They claimed this is all a publicity stunt. One Fox News commentator said, ““Bieber doesn’t care about the Bible; he only cares about Justin Bieber.[3]" All of Justin Bieber’s haters get Christianity wrong. They get Christianity wrong not because they doubt that Justin Bieber will mess up again; I am sure that he will. Rather these people get Christianity wrong because they assume that God’s mercy and blessing are dependent on our motives. They act like it’s a bad thing that Bieber turned to God when he was at his lowest, when this is precisely the moment when people turn to God. The standards of skepticism that could be applied to Justin Bieber’s baptism could be used to question the effectiveness of anyone else’s baptism[4]. Plenty of people were skeptical of Saul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus, but Paul understood God’s grace better than perhaps anybody else in the early church. The reason that Paul understood God’s grace was because of the depths to which he had sunk[5]. What we inevitability forget about Christianity is that Christianity is not about turning us into better people, Christianity is rather about a cross where bad people are forgiven and redeemed. What I believe about Justin Bieber was best summed up by Martin Luther nearly 500 years ago when he described “the believer’s existence as being one of being both fully sinner and fully saint at the same time." We are fully sinners by our very nature, our very weakness in the face of temptation. We are fully saints because God has declared us to be his own in Christ Jesus. Where as many people question Justin Bieber’s faith because they don’t like him. We receive a call to defend the undefendable because we believe that no one is too far gone to receive God’s grace. This brings us all to our Gospel lesson for today from Matthew the 10th chapter. Our passage is one of the tougher lessons in our entire gospels. Jesus promises “He came not to bring peace to the earth, but rather a sword." Jesus’ strongest words come in verses 38-39 when he says “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” This whole Gospel passage centers on speaking to the Disciples’ fears. There is no more common human emotion than fear. Lance Armstrong was a highly completive athlete, who feared that his cancer would wreck his career. Justin Bieber has everything at the world at his fingertips, yet fears for his own soul. We fear for our own lives and safety, we fear for our economy and our nation, we fear for loved ones. Jesus is speaking to the Disciples’ fears because he knows that they will encounter all sorts of nasty slander, rejection, and persecution in the days ahead. Jesus knows that the Disciples are about to travel into hostile environments. Jesus knows that the Disciples were being asked to say things that were going to cause them to be rejected even by their own family members. We misunderstand Jesus’ message when we water it down into nothing more than Jesus was “nice” and “loving”. If that message were all the Disciples were going to say, no one in Palestine would have hated them or given them two seconds worth of thought. Instead, the Disciples were being asked to engage in the muck and mud of life. The Disciples were being asked to bring forgiveness to the Lance Armstrongs and Justin Biebers of the world. The Disciples were being asked to reach out even to the worst sinners amongst it. The Disciples were being asked to engage people at their very lowest, and all the while ripping their own masks out of their eyes. When Jesus told the Disciples to take up their cross and follow him, he was thinking back to the days of his childhood as Jesus would witness crosses being hung alongside the road. These crosses hung up for those who dared to think outside the box, those who dared to challenge the status quo of Roman rule, religious rule, and social rule. Jesus saw first hand how little value those around him placed on human life, so Jesus was going to challenge the disciples to place immeasurable value on human life as messy as it might be. The message of the Gospel inevitability brings division. We always want to portray to others that we’re entirely in control of our future. We have a hard time coming to terms with the message that our own guilt and sin must be put to death to undergo a resurrection. We have difficulty wanting to believe the message that our God reaches us at the point of our brokenness. The message that God does not justify making excuses, or minimize our sin, rather the message that God instead forgives the sinner. We have the Truth, and the Truth shall set us free. (John 8:34). What Jesus is seeking to remind the Disciples is that they can go forth with confidence because what can ultimately destroy the body cannot kill the soul, that those who bring death cannot stop the Holy Spirit, who brings faith. Today, we have an important event in the life of our congregation as Hunter and Chase Dow receive their First Communion. Hunter is the most enthusiastic acolyte that we’ve maybe ever had here at Sychar. Hunter asked if he could acolyte with his big brother, Brandon, and sister, Tara, in 4th grade. Margaret Groethe and I figured any kid that wants to acolyte, we better get him a robe as soon as possible. Chase has such boundless energy; he’s one of the rare kids that have been able to tire me out. Today they receive the gift of the presence of Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of sins for the first time. What makes this gift, so special is that we do not hold the keys to it. What makes salvation so wonderful is that it offers us something that is so valuable that we do not possess it on our own, or cannot ultimately control it. We do not offer Communion today to Hunter or Chase because we believe that they will never get in trouble again at home or school. We don’t offer them Communion today because it’s magically going to transform them into perfect Christians. We rather invite them to the table today because our faith and salvation do not belong to us. We come to the table today because each and every one of us from Lance Armstrong to Justin Bieber to myself to Hunter to Chase desire’s God’s forgiveness. We come to the table today because we eagerly anticipate the day when all human cynicism, skepticism, and anger will be put to death. A day where we inherit a world where he will be our “God”, and we shall be his children. We look forth to entering a world where our lives and beings will be so precious that all the hairs on our head will be numbered. These are the promises given to us today through Christ’s body and blood given to Hunter, Chase, and given to each and every one of us. Amen [1] Romans 7:17-18 [2] Griswold, Alexander. “What Should We Make of Justin Bieber’s Baptism and Ours”. Juicy Ecumenism. 17.Jun.2014. Web. June.18.2014 [3] The following quote was made by Juan Williams taken from Griswold. “What Should We Make of Justin Bieber’s Baptism and Ours.” [4] Griswold. “What Should We Make of Justin Bieber’s Baptism and Ours.” [5] Griswold. “What Should We Make of Justin Bieber’s Baptism and Ours.”” First Lesson: Genesis 1:1-2:4 Responsive Reading: Psalm 8 Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13 Gospel Lesson: Matthew 28: 16-20 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
A few years back there was a seminary student who was in the middle of an interview examining him for ordination. This student received a question from which he could draw nothing more than a blank answer. The question this student was asked to “explain the Trinity?” “Explain the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?” This student like plenty of other people was stumped even for one word to say. There is truth to the saying that trying to explain the Trinity to other people is like trying to explain one’s taxes. So with this student’s story in mind what I want to talk about this morning is how we can make sense of the Trinity. The answer is to go back to the beginning of existence itself. The key to understanding the Trinity comes in understanding the creation of the world as described in our lesson from Genesis 1. The key to understanding the Trinity understands who was present at the time of the heavens and earth’s creation. The very first two verses of the Bible place two members of the Trinity at the scene. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”- Genesis 1:1-2 The fact that multiple beings took part in the creation is acknowledged even later in the creation story which states in verse 26: “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. For the second member of the Trinity, we look to the beginning of the Gospel of John. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” John’s Gospel begins with an even more impressive claim than a virgin birth. John’s Gospel begins by placing Christ at the scene of creation described in Genesis 1. Our best understanding of the Trinity is that there has never been a time where neither the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit never existed, neither the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit had a day of non-existence. Let me tell a story. The summer after my freshman year at Concordia, I worked as a Bible camp counselor. My first week on the job, a sixth grader comes up and asks me the following age old question “If God created the universe then who created God?” All I could do to answer this young man was quote the words from the Book of Revelation that “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Such a question of “Who created God?” forces us to confront a much more fundamental question of “What set the Universe in motion?” What was the cause for the subsequent effect? On a philosophical level, the idea the Universe came into existence out of nothing requires an explanation for where the material to create out of nothing derived? Even if one claims that this universe is the result of a black hole. They are still left trying to explain from “where the black hole came”? They try to provide an answer to how the Universe has been able to operate with such precision for thousands of years if its being is pure chance? How if the gravitational constant was just a bit off, then life would cease to exist as we know it. How if one were to break down a 7-8 ounce human eye, you would see over 2 million working parts capable of processing 36,000 bits of information per hour. Our answer to the question of “Who created God?” is either a confession of faith in a god who exists outside the limitations of space and time that brought our planet into being. The second possibility is life derived from nothingness that arose from the lowest of probability. Let me tell another story as told Rev. Dr. James Kegel, there once was an old rabbi who was approached by a learned philosopher. The philosopher proceeded to tell the rabbi, he could not believe in God’s existence, rather he believed that the universe came into being through purely natural means. The rabbi gave the philosopher no answer to his question on that day, but later returned to the philosopher carrying a beautiful poem written in the most exquisite of hand-writing. The philosopher couldn’t believe the beauty of the poem, so he wished to know who wrote it. The rabbi told him that there was no poet for this poem. The rabbi explained that all that had happened was that a piece of paper was lying on his desk when the cat came by to knock over the inkwell. The philosopher was flabbergasted by this explanation; he stated that such a course of events sounded impossible that surely someone had written this beautiful poem. To which the rabbi replied, “You said yourself that the universe, the world and life, which are more beautiful and wondrous than any poem, came into being by themselves, so why do you doubt the same for this simple, humble poem?” The Earth was a formless void, yet soon was populated by living, breathing human being. How do we make sense of this all? It seems like there are two options that are continually presented before us as either science or religion. The paradigm of science and religion inevitability clashing is wrong. I believe as people of faith we have to have a tremendous openness and respect for all of science’s findings and discoveries. I think what ultimately becomes helpful is making a distinction between science and religion is putting their roles in proper perspective. Science cannot answer the “why questions of life?” Science can not tell you “Why am I here?” “What happens after I die?” “Is there a God?” Science can not offer explanations to questions that we cannot observe within the natural world.. A telescope cannot tell you about human origins, not speak to the morality or immorality of someone’s actions. When science claims to give answers beyond merely observable phenomena than it is no longer science but has instead become a religion. The idea that the recreation of human life in a lab with unlimited resources with the greatest marvels of human technology under the most ideal of conditions has proven to be nearly impossible makes a strong case that our life is not an accident. The idea that this same human life came about via chance seems to fail the principal of Occam’s Razor that the simplest explanation is often the best explanation. We misunderstand science if one believes that it can provide an answer to the questions of whether there is a God. Science can merely evaluate properties, and behaviors. Science does overstep its bounds when it claims something as the Big Bang to be a fact for how life came into existence. What separates religion from science is religion considers the question of whether there is a God, who operates outside observable nature in space and time. Religion oversteps its bounds when it blurs the line between what is an object of fact versus an article of faith. So bringing it back to the story of creation from Genesis 1 how should we make sense of it? Let me tell another story, a number of years ago I was working in a church when one day I went out for Pizza with a couple of my female co-workers. The first woman was named Joyce. Joyce was a youth director, and Joyce’s husband was a school teacher. Both Joyce and her husband considered their beliefs about God to be informed by both religion and science. Where as the other woman was named Lisa. Lisa was a church secretary. Joyce spent the lunch hour telling Lisa how she needed to believe in evolution. Lisa said she couldn't do it. Lisa proclaimed if it was proven to her that the world did not come into existence in six literal days that her faith would fall apart. In Lisa’s mind if one part of the Bible was determined to be untrue then the whole thing would fall apart. While I understand Lisa’s opinion about the creation story, I think its best not to get bogged down in the time frame regarding the number of days or the age of the earth. For we’re not defending whether God could have created the earth in six days, we have no doubts that God could have created the earth in six days, six hours, six minutes, or even six seconds. I think we want to caution upon insisting that a particular understanding of the Bible is always necessary for interpreting Science. For example in the 17th century, the scientist Galileo was branded a heretic for claiming that Earth revolved around the sun. So when it comes to an issue like Evolution. We can acknowledge like Billy Graham or Pope John Paul II before us that Evolution does naturally occur. The DNA of a species does change overtime depending on the environment. For example Sparrows in the North will always be bigger than in the South, certain types of Mosquitos have developed a resistance for DDT, and Human beings are quite a bit bigger than 200 years ago due to different nutrition. And given enough years and mutations eventually new species will form. We can still be Christians and feel this is a method by which life comes into being. We can observe these things and not feel that our faith is a house of cards about to collapse. The Trinity cannot be separated from the story of creation on one hand; the Trinity is ultimately defined by the story of salvation. Our Gospel lesson for this morning has Jesus giving the Disciples instructions on how to baptize. The instruction that Jesus gives has him invoke the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as equally integral in his command to baptize. “How does the Trinity work together?” The Trinity is God as three distinct persons all co-equal, and co-eternal working together with one unified purpose. The reason that we don’t understand the Trinity is we often compare it to human relationships for even the best of marriages don’t always see eye to eye. Whereas the Trinity is counter-intuitive due to its unity of character and being, take away the work of any member of the Trinity and our salvation is incomplete. Take away God’s acting to create the life out of nothing, to rise from the dead, or create faith than our existence would be nothing but a slow march towards death on account of our sins. I think as we consider the relationship between religion and science where the rubber hits the road is when it comes to the concept of miracles. Any approach to the Christian Faith, which denies the miraculous is problematic. Taking miracles out of Christianity makes it a fundamentally worthless religion. If the dead stay dead or everything has a natural or scientific explanation, there is no point in sitting here in Church Today. At the same time- Scientific miracles are extremely rare or else the Universe could not exist in an orderly fashion. For example, even though Jesus walked on water, I could not go walk on Lake Superior. The whole of the Christian Hope comes from the idea that we have a God, who can operate outside the laws of nature that we believe that he created, a God, who can speak creation into existence out of nothing, a God, who could overcome death. For where Science has its limits is in answering questions such as “why human beings ever feel shame for their actions if life is merely survival of the fittest?” Science can’t answer the questions of right or wrong, or explain man’s continual struggle with eternal separation. This is why we look towards the cross for our answers. This is why we hold out hope for miracles. This is why we celebrate the work of our God today through Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen First Lesson: Acts 2: 1-21 Responsive Reading: Psalm 104: 24-35 Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 12: 3-13 Gospel Lesson: John 20: 19-23 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
When I was in High School, I had a friend named Matt. Matt like a lot of kids didn’t like school. Matt would rather have spent his time playing golf, driving cars, and making money. When other kids were deciding upon where they were planning to attend college. Matt didn’t want to go. Matt had to struggle with the idea that going to college was what a person is supposed to do after high school. One of Matt’s high school teachers told Matt “That he would never make anything of himself until he went to college." Matt never went to college. Matt worked a variety of jobs, mostly in sales working towards developing his craft. Matt is eventually selling cars, and Matt has become quite good at it. Matt’s now a Sales Manager at a Kia dealership in Mankato. Matt developed his gifts apart from the traditional way of college. Matt developed his gifts, in a way, different from everyone else around them. For Matt, this non-traditional approach worked. An interesting story about Matt, I was talking to him on the phone this week. Matt married a girl who graduated from Saint Olaf. Matt and his wife Heidi attended her college reunion where had the opportunity to catch up with many of his Heidi’s friends from Saint Olaf. As Matt talked to the Oles about where they were in life all, he heard was complaining. “I don’t like my job”, “I have too much debt." Matt can not help to feel vindicated by his going against the grain decision to skip college years earlier. Matt pointed out something important as we were talking about this “The issue isn’t how much money they are or should be making, the real issue is living a purposeless existence where you’re not doing something that you see as valuable.” What makes something that we do valuable? Matt’s story brings us to our lesson for today from 1st Corinthians. Let me begin by giving a brief summary of 1st Corinthians. The Apostle Paul wrote this book as a way of addressing a church conflict amongst the earliest believers. The Corinthians met in individual homes out of fear for persecution. The Corinthians probably did not have many people in their house church at any one time. So the Corinthians got to know each other quite well. Perhaps the Corinthians got to know each other too-well as they encountered the non-saintly aspects of their fellow Christians’ lives from the sexual immortality to their own our sense of selfishness played out in everything from food squabbles to power struggles. Paul wrote this chapter on Spiritual Gifts because the people in Corinth kept trying to create layers and artificial divisions amongst themselves based on what they thought they brought to the table. The story in Corinth is not the story of a unique church. The story of Corinth is the story of every church. When you bring sinning sinners together, sparks are always going fly within the midst. Paul wrote this letter to the Church in Corinth because he wanted to create a different type of religious culture. Paul wanted to unite the culture between the spiritual have and the have not, the athletic have and the have not, the intellectual have, and the have not, along with the financial haves and the have not. Paul wrote to the Corinthians as a way of trying to bring them together in the middle of their division that was threatening to devour them. Paul understood that a miracle of sort was taking place in Corinth. The miracle wasn’t that more people weren’t leaving the church in Corinth. The miracle was that people were coming to the church in Corinth at all. The Corinthians had experienced pastoral turmoil, the Corinthians fought over Roman politics and the Corinthians had endured all sorts of rude treatment at the hands of their fellow members even including lawsuits being filed against their fellow believers, yet they still gathered. The miracle was the Holy Spirit’s effectiveness as the Corinthians gathered together time after time to confess together that Jesus was their Lord and Savior. Paul wrote that the nature of the church is such that they were no longer a series of identities, but rather one identity brought together as the people of God in Christ Jesus. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the identity of their spiritual gifts, what Paul was seeking to remind the Corinthians is that their spiritual gifts didn’t just belong to their preacher; their spiritual gifts belonged to each and every member of the Corinthian church. What Paul is seeking to remind the Corinthians is their disputes are not between those who possess the Holy Spirit versus those who don’t. Rather we all serve together the same spirit, the same lord. Right before starting in the Seminary, I was asked perhaps the most important question that I’ve ever been asked in my life, “How do I know that it’s God, not the devil calling me into the ministry?” In being asked this question, I was forced to confront a struggle that we will all face as we seek to discern God’s direction for our life versus that of our own whims and wishes. What we are left with is asking ourselves: “Do our actions build unity or disunity amongst God’s people?” and “Do our actions seek to bring a word of comfort and forgiveness to our neighbor?” and “Do our actions proclaim the Gospel? We make excuses why these things with which Paul speaks don’t apply to us. People say that they might be too old to make a difference. People figure that what you are good at might not be that important. Let me tell you a story. There was a woman’s group at a Lutheran Church that had the same 10-15 woman meeting month after month for what seemed to be decades. The oldest member of the group was a woman named Catherine. When these women bickered, Catherine would always interrupt with her kind and gracious demeanor to give perspective. When the church was in conflict, the members fighting amongst themselves, Catherine would seek to bring people together for a greater purpose. When woman would start to gossip, Catherine would try to change the conversation a different direction. Catherine at ninety some years old brought a wisdom and knowledge to that group that at times kept it from falling apart. Once Catherine moved away, a void was going to be felt at every single meeting. Once Catherine moved away, the meetings started to get a little testier. Catherine’s grace and leadership were invaluable to all that came across her; it didn’t matter one iota what her age. “Wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues – these are the gifts that Paul celebrates in our lesson for today. (1 Corinthians 12:8-10). These gifts come to us in many forms; healing can come to us in the forms of doctors and nurses whether it seems obvious to them at the time or not. Prophecy involves the ability to interpret how the past, will play out in the future. Tongues come to us when people become convicted that one of God’s people needs their prayer in a particular moment. Tongues come when people are overwhelmed in an unexplainable fashion by God’s own spirit. An important distinction for this morning is pointing out the difference between “ gift” versus “ talent” as it relates to our lesson. This week, the NBA Finals began between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. The Heat’s Lebron James is arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time. Lebron James has the type of raw talent when it comes to things like speed, strength, passing ability, and footwork that might not be equaled by any other human being on the planet for the next one-hundred years. Lebron James possess earth-shattering talent; Lebron James’ talent has led to him making more money then generations of his ancestors will know how to spend. As Paul was writing to the Corinthians he wanted to let them know that a spiritual gift was even more valuable than talent. The thing about talent is that it only serves to better yourself, whereas a spiritual gift serves to better the whole community around you. Paul makes this distinction as the people of Corinth were infighting amongst themselves that their ministry needed to be focused inward, rather than outward for the sake of their own survival. Christ is not seen necessarily in one’s talents, whereas Christ can be seen through one’s gifts. To further illustrate the distinction between talents and gifts, I want to close this morning with the story of Alice the Maid, otherwise known as Alice from the TV Show The Brady Bunch. Alice was played by the actress Ann B. Davis. Ann B. Davis died last weekend. If you only know Ann. B. Davis as Alice the Maid you are missing a fascinating story. Right as the Brady Bunch drew to a close, Ann B. Davis became a born again Episcopalian. While doing a play in Denver, Co, Davis would become close friends with an Episcopalian Bishop William Frey. Davis then slowly transitions out of show-business by moving into a religious commune with twenty other people. When Davis got calls about job offers in Hollywood, she would often pass saying that she found something better. Davis spent the last years of her life traveling around the country speaking at various churches, singing in the church choir, taking seminary classes in her free-time while also doing laundry for an area homeless shelter. Reading a tribute of hers this week, someone said they never saw joy on her face like when Ann B. Davis would reunite stray socks while folding a load of laundry at a homeless shelter. What made Davis’s life so different from that of her fellow Brady Bunch cast members is that she found meaning in life for something much greater than chemical addiction, or illicit sexual liaisons. Davis found her meaning in life from how she served others in her own unique way. The message for Pentecost is that ministry doesn’t have to look a certain way. My friend Matt didn’t have to go to College to find success in life. If you lie awake in terror at the thought of public speaking, you don’t need to be a preacher. If you can’t boil water, you don’t need to work in the Kitchen. My point is not to make your life look like Alice the Maid’s. My point is rather to cultivate your own spiritual gifts. The more people and the more ways that we reach out, the more and more ideas that are brought to the table, the stronger we are as a faith community. My point is to consider the extent of the mission field that lies before you. How we live out our spiritual gifts cannot be separated from the Christian freedom won for us on the Cross. We are not defined by God because our lives look a certain way. We are instead claimed directly by God so that our lives may be given new meaning from the day of our Baptism forward. In Baptism we are reminded that our lives from every day forward are ultimately not about us anymore, but rather the one that we are called to serve. As we celebrate Pentecost today. We reflect on the meaning of our own spiritual gifts: diverse and varied. We possess gifts that God gives us to reach the world around us, gifts that God gives us to bring us together as the body of Christ. These were the gifts that were given to Jesus’ earliest of followers, the gifts that have been given to those before us to bring us to this place today. Amen . Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Today’s Gospel lesson comes to us from Luke the 24th Chapter. It’s the tale of Jesus and the Disciples saying their final goodbyes to each other as Jesus sought to leave the disciples with a word of promise, right before Jesus ascended out of the Disciples sight to never be seen in the flesh by them again. Crucifixion then Resurrection then Ascension, we spend almost all of Lent getting ready for the Crucifixion, we then spend almost all of Spring then celebrating Easter, whereas the Ascension of Jesus is the least talked about of these three big events. This morning’s sermon is the first that I have ever given on the Ascension. If Easter is the day where Christ achieved his victory over sin and the grave, then the Festival of Ascension is the day where Christ returned to his throne. Ascension Sunday raises an interesting question for us of “Where exactly Jesus went when he left the Earth?” The Common way of thinking of the world even amongst Christian people has been the three-tiered universe which we could also know as the three-tiered planet. Heaven is up above us. Popular culture often portrays Heaven as existing up in the clouds. Heaven is the place where your loved ones even the rascals go when they die. Down below us underneath the ground is Hell or the Underworld, Hell is where apparently Satan pokes and prods people that have been naughty. Hell is where your neighbor who doesn’t clean up after his dog, and makes a lot of noises late at night or early in the morning tends to end up. Hell is the domain of people we don’t like. Right in between this is all is where we live in the here and the now. Heaven, Hell, and Planet Earth all contained between the North and South Pole is the traditional understanding of the three-tiered universe. The question for this morning would be “Is this understanding, right?” When Jesus is proclaiming his message of salvation to the people of Capernaum in Matthew 11 he says the following: “And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to Heaven? You will be brought down to Hades.” When Jesus speaks to this belief of Heaven being above us, and Hell being below us he is merely reinforcing the beginning of the Book of Genesis which states: 6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse[a] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made[b] the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven.[c] And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.” The waters that are spoken about in the creation story as being above the Earth are thought to be the waters that separate God from his people. So the actual creation story itself points to the sky as the dividing barrier between God and his people. The creation story doesn’t go into details as to where exactly God nor the Heavens exist at the present time. This all brings forth an interesting point about the location of Heaven. Either the location of Heaven is somewhere in the clouds that ultimately we cannot see, or Heaven ultimately resides in a place that we cannot find on a map or any GPS? So where is Heaven located then? The question was not one that I ever previously sought to form an answer. Although a while back, I was having Pizza over at Jimmy’s with Pastor Brostrom from Faith Lutheran, who put forth an interesting idea that “Heaven does not exist within the traditional confines of the Earth, rather Heaven is located possibly in an alternative dimension." I realize that such a suggestion sounds quite odd talking about alternative dimensions and Twilight Zone stuff. There are a few points about all this for us to consider this morning. Within the last twenty-five years as scientists keep discovering more and more about the Universe what can conclude is that there is a lot out there that we don’t know definitive answers. For example, ninety-five percent of all matter within the universe would be dark matter, or matter that cannot be seen with a telescope because it does not emit light or any measurable magnetic pull. So to claim that we have all the answers to how the Universe works or what exists within it with five percent of the relevant material would be a proclamation of foolishness. Even defining what we know about the Universe proves that our knowledge is limited. The Universe has been thought of as possessing four dimensions (length, width, height, and space- time) since the initial work of Albert Einstein on Relativity Theory. Einstein's work has been expanded upon for our understanding of the planet in recent years. Quantum Physics a science that studies the behavior of subatomic particles suggests that there beyond the four observable dimensions of which Einstein spoke that there exists the possibility of several additional dimensions that cannot be directly detected. The most popular theory “M-Theory” regarding the behavior of subatomic particles suggests eleven possible dimensions. What this means for us this morning as we consider the location of heaven is that we can’t say whether God created an invisible spiritual dimension that operates outside the space-time continuum of this world. What we can say is that the Universe in all probability possesses dimensions that can’t be physically inhabited by us in our present condition. We must not view Religion and Science as at odds with each other. What Science is revealing to us is patterns of behavior of even the tiniest sub-atomic particles that go way beyond human understanding. We can’t understand the ability to control time, let alone understand the possibility nor inner-workings of alternative dimensions. Turning this discussion back biblically, one of the big themes of the Book of Revelation is the distinction that it makes it in the constant switch in the two scenes between Earth and Heaven. The whole point of Revelation is that things of the spiritual world are gradually becoming made known to the Apostle John. When Revelation makes such a sharp distinction between Heaven and Earth what it seems to be indicating is that Heaven is not merely a part of the Earth rather Heaven is a completely separate reality from Earth. The whole point of the Book of Revelation in John’s letter to seven persecuted churches is to give believers confidence that their earthly persecution and situation will not last. Perhaps our greatest misunderstanding of Heaven and Earth is laid out in Revelation 21:2 which states: “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Perhaps the way for us to think about the Afterlife isn’t so much in terms of us ascending into Heaven but rather in terms of God coming down to Earth. The exact location of the New Heaven or it’s connection with the New Earth isn’t what is ultimately important, but what is important is that God promises to come yet again for his people. The language that surrounds our Gospel is important. The key thing about Jesus’ ascension into heaven isn’t whether Heaven is located physically above us as we point towards the sky. Rather the key thing about the Ascension is that it turned his death and resurrection into a present reality for not only the Disciples, but all those who believed in it. So how does Jesus conclude the forty days between his resurrection and his ascension before he says goodbye to the disciples until the day of their own resurrection. Jesus leaves the earth behind with a word of promise “Behold; I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Last week, we had our Pastors meeting down in Duluth. I was talking to a Pastor Paul Reiff from down in the Moose Lake Area, who had recently done a funeral for a sixteen year old boy who committed suicide. This boy was having issues with his girlfriend. They were communicating on what is called “Snap Chat." Snap Chat is a way for kids to communicate over the phone that communicates quickly without leaving behind any evidence. This boy’s Girlfriend used Snap Chat to flick him off as a way of telling him that their relationship was no more. The Boy’s response was then to take a gun to himself, shoot a video of him ending his own life that would be sent immediately received by everyone that he communicated with on a frequent basis. What makes this story so sad is this young man’s warped sense of self-worth, how he saw his value in life coming merely from the affirmation of a sixteen year old girl. What makes this story so important is there are infinite people out there who feel the way this kid does. What I like to believe is the promise that Jesus is giving to the Disciples as he ascends from their presence is that in the moments when we want more than anything to see his presence, he is not absent. Jesus understood that as he left the disciples, the great human fear of being alone. Pope Francis said a while back that “The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old.” These statements initially struck me as missing the mark, but perhaps these things are merely expressions of the present human condition. Where the Ascension story comes to us today is that proclaims that Jesus does, in fact, live on for those who most need to hear during the struggles of their everyday existence. The Disciples’ response to Jesus’ departure was quite a bit different than their response to his crucifixion that occurred several weeks earlier. Where as the Disciples had fled from the scene out of great fear at the time of Jesus’ arrest, the Disciples looked onto Jesus’ departure with a confidence that in spite of Jesus being removed from them that they would be all right. Maybe these feelings were a result of the promise of the coming or Holy Spirit, or maybe it had to do with Christ was not going to be that far gone. As we reflect upon our lesson for this morning we remember Jesus’ final words from the Book of Revelation, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen-Revelation 22:20 I think it’s important as we consider questions regarding the possible location of Heaven within the universe that while these questions are fascinating, they are ultimately what’s not important. What’s important is that Jesus’ presence in our lives is not confined to any single place or any single time, nor is Jesus going to be gone for good. Amen Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
There’s a saying amongst pastors that Confirmation students ask the best questions. Where as older adults might hesitate to ask certain questions for fear of being perceived as rude, inappropriate, or making others uncomfortable. Confirmation students often lack any such filter, so they just blurt out the first thought that inevitability pops into their head. So this morning I wish to begin our sermon by answering one of the best Confirmation questions, it’s a question that probably all of us have wondered about at some time in our life. The question to consider this morning is “If believing in Jesus is the only way to get to heaven, then what happens to a man living on an island in the South Pacific that never has encountered any missionaries, nor even heard Jesus’ name. Would God be so mean and unfair as to condemn someone for all eternity for either bad luck or ignorance”? I think before answering this question, we need to consider the concept of God’s fairness. What should be stated is that Heaven is the unfair outcome, whereas Hell is the fair outcome. If I were to die in a car accident this afternoon, death would not be an unfair result, hell would not be an unfair result, what would be unfair would be God’s forgiveness, what would be unfair is to be a recipient of God’s promises of eternal life. We speak of salvation by grace, salvation by what is unmerited or undeserved for this reason. So the question about the South Pacific Islander’s eternal destination is not a question about God’s fairness, but rather a question about God’s nature. So does God save the man born in the middle of nowhere who has never heard the Gospel? I think the first thing to point out is that God ultimately wants to save all people and come to knowledge of the truth.-1 Timothy 2:4 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son”-John 3:16 We remember that Christ came not to condemn the world, but rather Christ came to save and redeem the world. Christ wept at the awfulness of sin as he witnessed his friend Lazarus’ death. We are continually reminded throughout the scriptures that God can save the non-believer through any means that he chooses. In the Book of Acts, God saves Cornelius a religious man who had never heard of Jesus Christ by choosing to make him the first gentile to convert to Christianity[1]. In the Book of Joshua, God worked through the prostitute Rahab who limited knowledge of him or the scriptures[2], yet was later referred to in the Book of Hebrews as a person of great faith[3]. God poured out his grace upon the Syrian Army commander Namaan[4], even as he lived in and served a nation that was openly hostile towards his ways. So we must be continually brought back to the nature of God’s mercy being poured out upon the most unexpected of people. I think what we must ultimately come back to when considering the fate of the unevangelized is Jesus’ emphasis on the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Jesus said to “Bring the Gospel forth to all nations." The Disciples then proceeded to risk their life and reputation for spreading the Gospel. If Christ’s earliest and closest of followers didn’t believe that sharing their faith mattered for the sake of heaven/hell then, their actions would make no sense. For whether God might grant mercy to all people at some point in time, I can’t say. We reflect on this question of the South Pacific Islander, who never heard the Gospel in many of the same ways as we reflect upon the question of unbaptized babies. I think it’s best to point towards the nature of the God that we do have. The God who proclaimed to an unbaptized Thief hanging alongside him “Today you will be with me in Paradise[5]” We can very rarely answer with any certainty questions regarding anyone’s salvation, all we can do is take comfort in the God that we have, the God that went forth to the Cross. While I believe that people cannot receive salvation apart from the Gospel of Christ, what I can’t say with any certainty is how far his Gospel can reach. I believe that the potential reach of the Gospel goes way beyond my own prejudices and biases. I wake up every morning giving thanks that the fate of humanity is not governed by my own whims and wishes, but rather by God’s mercy and grace. I ultimately don’t consider myself to be a Universalist (one who believes that everyone is automatically saved) not because I have any certainty whether it is so. I have trouble with universalism because it says that Word and Sacrament don’t matter. Universalism makes the Death of Jesus into an unnecessary event. Universalism also doesn’t speak to why Christ’s closest followers were so were to risk their lives in the Church’s earliest days. One of these stories from the Church’s earliest days comes to us this morning from the Book of Acts the 17th Chapter in the story of Paul preaching at Mars Hill. There is a very large church in Seattle called “Mars Hill” because when they started out their whole mission was reaching the unchurched and religiously unaffiliated of the Pacific Northwest. Our story for today is perhaps the Bible’s greatest tale of evangelism. Our story for today begins a few verses before our lesson[6]. The Apostle Paul is out walking through the streets of Athens where he is disturbed by all that he sees. Paul sees religious idols everywhere that he walked. Paul could have easily given up, and figured it was all a lost cause. Paul could have gone back to his home and been much more comfortable than trying to engage strangers in a foreign culture. Paul instead decided to engage with the people of Athens and deal with the inevitable consequences. Paul’s first stop was the Agora, where Paul debated academics[7]. Most of the people rejected Paul that he encountered, but some were willing to give him a second chance. Leading to our lesson for today where Paul speaks at Mars Hill. What makes Paul’s speech, so remarkable is his approach to the people of Athens, Paul doesn’t seek to lash out at them rather Paul commends them for their pursuit of religious truth. Paul was willing to engage the people of Athens, where they were at, not where Paul hoped they should be. Let me tell a story, I know a lady named Janie. Janie’s a kind, sweet, old lady who seems to love everyone that she encounters. Janie’s getting up there in years; she has to have oxygen and walking is quite difficult without losing breath. Janie has four children and nine grandchildren. Janie overtime started to realize that she wasn’t seeing her grandchildren as much as they moved away, or got tied up with school. Janie noticed that her phone calls were being returned way after the fact. So Janie at seventy some years old decided that she was going to learn how to send text messages on her cell-phone to communicate with people better. What I admire about Janie so much is that she is terrible at text-messaging. When I worked as a substitute teacher I would see kids that could send message after message keeping their phones inside their pockets the entire time. Some kids can text 30-40 words a minute with ease, whereas for Janie every letter that she types into the phone time. Janie trying to identify a letter on her phone might look like a bird trying to find a worm on the ground. The reason Janie learned text messaging is because she believes that it’s important for her to stay connected. The thing that I admire so much about Janie is she reaches out, even when it involves doing something uncomfortable for her because she knows the cost of it all is of infinite worth. Janie teaches us something important about evangelism that evangelism isn’t ultimately about being a great mind. Evangelism is instead the act of becoming. Janie reminds me of Paul at Athens. Paul knew the Athenians were lost in the wilderness in their pursuit of spiritual truth. Paul didn’t view the Athenians as his enemies; Paul rather viewed them as fellow travelers in pursuit of trying to figure life out. Paul sees that the Athenians had built an altar to an “unknown god[8]," so Paul takes what was unknown to seek to make it known. Paul made it known that the God he worships has so much power that he raised a man to life who had been in the tomb for three days[9]. “People who inspire others are those who see invisible bridges at the end of dead-end streets”- Charles Swindoll. Some rejected Paul's message to the people of Athens on that day, yet Paul also gained willing ears wanting to hear more. “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”-Acts 17:32 There are two types of churches out there. There are churches that are just seeking to survive. Churches whose sole focus takes place inside their walls: budgets, numbers, and traditions. Churches whose focus is on sorting through power struggles and appeasing their own members. The second types of church are churches that are seeking to thrive. Churches that seek to reach the community, churches that seek out new relationships, and churches that seek out new ways of reaching people. People of Sychar years of declining membership have beaten us down, old age has beaten us down, conflict has been us down, yet none of these things is our future. I have hope because I see joy on people’s face as kids go down the aisle to collect the well offering. I have hope because I see visitors welcomed as friends. I have hope because we understand that our existence is much bigger than ourselves, we define ourselves as a faith community by the forgiveness of sins. I was having dinner with a friend a while back down in Duluth. This friend had grown up in a real religious home, yet over the years has drifted away from the church. The one thing though he couldn’t escape from Christianity is the beauty of forgiveness. Hearing that your sins have been declared clean from someone who believes it is a message that will not replicate through any other human community which people claim can replace the church. For in the words of Thomas Edison, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Too often we have the wrong idea about increasing church membership. We merely think we need to invite someone to church. We say “come to our church, I’ll maybe see you there.” “If I’m feeling particularly outgoing that day, I might even wave at you and send you well-wishes.” When what we need to do is not invite people to church, but rather bringing people to church. Bringing people to church goes beyond offering rides. Bringing people to church involves taking people into your lives no matter their personality quirks. Bringing people to church involves taking people in the midst of both their joys and sorrows. Bringing people to church involves a promise to be a support system for someone through thick and thin. Paul went forth to Athens with great risk; Paul dared to proclaim salvation in a God whose name no one had ever heard. People had been put to death previously for doing what Paul was doing. We risk something different; we risk losing the church we know and the church that many of us love. Nothing stays the same forever. People come; people go, and people come to believe that their needs are best met elsewhere. These challenges are normal. What instead defines us is a message that is bigger than any one individual. So Blurt It Out! Sychar Lutheran is not museum for the saints; Sychar Lutheran is rather the hospital for sinners. Sychar Lutheran is the place which promises you that you do not go through life alone. Sychar Lutheran like Athens is the place that God will never give up on. Amen [1] Acts 10 [2] Joshua 2 [3] Hebrews 11:31 [4] 2 Kings 5:1-14 [5] Luke 23:43 [6] Acts 17:16-21 [7] Acts 17:17-18 [8] Acts 17:23 [9] Acts 17:31 First Lesson: Acts 2: 42-47 Responsive Reading: Psalm 23 Second Lesson: 1 Peter 2: 19-25 Gospel Lesson: John 10: 1-10 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Let me begin this morning with a story from my childhood. When I was eight years old, my dad had put up a tree house about seven feet off the ground for my friends and I to use. My parents being quite cautious attached to this tree house a ladder that was meant to be used for every journey up and down from the tree. I had a group of friends from the neighborhood that would frequent the tree house. As a child, I was the most risk averse of the children in our group. My friends Tommy and Danny discovered that they could jump down from the tree house, rather than take a boring ladder. So Tommy and Danny began to jump down quite frequently from the tree house, while I would watch. Tommy and Danny in all their jumps never managed to get hurt, so I believed that I could jump down like them also. So one day, I decided I was going to make my first jump down from the tree house. Now when Tommy and Danny jumped they always managed to jump straight down. They maybe even hung with their legs dangling along the edge before jumping off. I had a different idea for my first jump though; I was going to jump as high into the air as I could, thinking that I would be able to fly like superman. Judging by the title of the sermon as you probably guessed; my first jump would end up being my last jump. Soon I would be an eight year old boy having to use a walker, and the next three months were going to be spent in a cast. What does this tale of my broken leg; have to do with our gospel lesson? I’ll get back to broken legs in a little bit. Our Gospel lesson for today comes to us from John the 10th chapter. This lesson takes place right after Jesus heals a Man who born blind, the discussion before this miracle between Jesus and his disciples centered on the following question, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”[1] Our lesson for today occurs right after a long debate regarding the meaning of the Blind Man’s healing. The passage consists of two basic parts. The first part of the passage consists of Jesus describing the work of his ministry in comparison to herding sheep. The second part of this passage makes sense of the analogy. So why does Jesus seek to interpret the Blind Man’s healing by comparing the people of Israel to sheep? 1. Sheep are vulnerable to attack. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”-John 10:10 Second story- when I was at Luther Seminary, I managed the Seminary Mailroom. One Saturday early afternoon a guy came in who appeared to be frantic. The Guy said he lived across the street from the school; this story seemed plausible with so many different people living either on or near campus. This guy claimed that he had locked himself out of his house, and he needed $20 bucks to pay a locksmith. This guy said he would come back in twenty minutes, and give me $40 bucks to go buy lunch. Being my normal self, I handed the guy twenty without giving it much thought. As you can guess, I never saw this guy again. As I tell the story I realize how completely sketchy this guy’s story was, and to be totally honest I am somewhat embarrassed to admit it. This story reminds us all though how we often fail to see and recognize the forces both spiritual and earthly that are out to attack us before it is too late to respond. The reason Jesus compared his followers to sheep is because of the nature of our enemies, how we are often defenseless against the wolves and coyotes of life in sin, death, and the power of the devil. Those who are seeking to destroy our faith along with crushing our spirit. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. We know these words from the 23rd Psalm. We hear these words and we immediately know they are words of comfort directed at us. Perhaps the greatest image of the Lord being our Shepherd is the Sunday school painting with Jesus holding a lamb in his arms no differently than a mother would hold her child. We see this painting, and it quickly brings us peace. We do not want kids to be done with Sunday school without understanding the meaning of this painting. For even though none of us probably know shepherds, there are a few things we know about shepherds. We know shepherds as being caring and loyal in every circumstance that comes before them. A shepherd cares for his sheep, no differently than a mother would care for a child that she carried in her womb. The relation that Jesus speaks of between the sheep and the shepherd only makes sense if one realizes the nature of the very forces which seek to threaten us nearly every single day. 2. Sheep often stray “All like sheep gone astray”- Isaiah 53:6 I want to tell you this morning the story of a Major League pitcher named Barry Zito. Barry Zito came up with the Oakland A’s and was a star. Two years into Zito’s career, he won the Cy Young award as the best pitcher in the American League. After six and a half seasons in Oakland, Zito signed a seven year contract with the San Francisco Giants for $126 million dollars. Zito’s contract was the richest given to a pitcher at the time that he signed it. Zito’s time though in San Francisco was a disaster. Zito ended up in such low regard that just four years into his contract; he was left off the San Francisco Giants roster as they won the World Series[2]. Zito had been brought up in a very religious albeit non-traditional religious home. Zito had been brought up in New Age Spirituality. New Age Spirituality tends to place emphases on flowery ideas such as humanity’s inner goodness. Christianity tends to stress humanity’s differences with God; whereas New Age Spirituality tends to emphasize humanity’s oneness with God. The New Age Movement tends to de-emphasize things such as sin, evil, and judgment. The New Age Movement teaches humanity’s problem is one of sheer ignorance, keeping them from reaching their full illumination as individuals. New Age Philosophy has been brought to the mainstream by people like Oprah Winfrey, Shirley Maclaine, and plenty of 21st century churches. As Zito kept encountering disappointment after disappointment from the highest of highs, he began to reconsider some things about the nature of his faith. Barry Zito heard that there was no sin, yet such a statement is the very opposite of comforting when all you see around you is darkness. Barry Zito eventually gets injured. A few months after Zito’s injury, he was talking to his best friend who told him the story of the shepherd. How a shepherd will be leading his sheep and one of the sheep will be walking astray from the pack. The shepherd will then take the radical step of breaking the sheep’s leg, so that the sheep will have to rely on the shepherd to get better. But once that leg is completely healed, that sheep never leaves the side of the shepherd ever again[3]. This story illustrated to Barry Zito something important about the nature of faith. Faith is not dependent on our own sense of inner-goodness or motivation, faith is rather dependent on the promises of forgiveness that come to us as strayed sheep in our Gospel. What Barry Zito’s story reminds us of is something important, Barry Zito needed to truly stray from the path that he designed for his life, to be able to find answers. Zito had to walk along a path that he would have never chosen for himself, yet it was on this path that the Shepherd’s ultimate work was revealed to rescue lost sheep. 3. Sheep need to be guided. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”- Matthew 9:36 The thing about sheep is that they are not dumb animals. The thing that makes sheep, so unique is their inability to act apart from the rest of the sheep. If the head sheep won’t eat, none of the other sheep will eat. Sheep tend to follow the crowd. I saw friend after friend jump out of the tree house; I needed to do it next. When you are eight years old, you will follow your friends over the edge of a cliff. Herd instinct will be stronger than intelligence. When I was in high school, I was playing in a golf meet talking to a kid that had recently moved to a new small school. This kid’s new school drove him crazy! If one kid had a particular pair of jeans, then within two weeks, everyone else would make it a priority to have the same time of jeans. One kid would smoke, soon everyone else would smoke. Studies about human decision making tend to portray humans as risk adverse in all walks of life, the main reason that humans are so risk-averse is they fear standing out for the crowd[4]. Sheep at the end of the day are ultimately fearful creatures that will not lie down unless they know that the shepherd is in sight. “A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”-John 10:5 What our lesson in comparing humans to sheep reminds us of, is our need for a shepherd, a shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for his sheep. Our Good Shepherd leads us to the Cross. It is on the Cross, that the Shepherd stays beside those who have strayed from him there whole lives. The Good Shepherd goes before us into the valley of the shadow of death and seeks to call his own sheep by name, so that they may come out upon the other side. Our Good Shepherd reminds us that we shall not go through anything that he has not already endured. On the Cross, the Shepherd became the Sheep, the Lamb of God who takes way the sin of the world, who cleanses us from all sin. “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”-John 10:3-4. Amen. [1] John 9:2 [2] Lannon, Nick. “Barry Zito, a Broken Leg, and the Outer Christ.” MBIRD. 12.Dec.2012. Web. [3] Keown, Tim. “A man in the game.” ESPN the Magazine. 1.Dec.2012. Web. [4] The Asch conformity experiments of the 1950’s are one of many studies which highlight this general phenomena. |
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