First Lesson: Joshua 5: 9-12
Responsive Reading: Psalm 32
Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
Pastor Tom Long tells the following story[1].  Once upon a time, a woman was reflecting upon her relationship with her father. When she was a girl growing up, she was closer to her father than anybody else in the world.  Like many close relationships, they had a ritual that was just between them. 

Their ritual took place at family gatherings with grandmas, grandpas, aunts, and cousins.  At these family gatherings, they would always break out the polka music so everyone could dance.

The highlight for both the girl and her father was when the “Beer Barrel Polka” would come on.  Every time this song came on, her father would ask her to dance.  Dancing with her father to this song was the most exciting thing in the world as a young girl.

Well the girl began to grow, her Dad was forever the same, but she was different.  When she was a teenager, her dad asked her to dance to the “Beer Barrel Polka” and she snapped.  “Don’t touch me.” “Leave me alone[2]!”  The Father would never ask her to dance to this song again. 

Their relationship continued changing throughout her teenage years.  She would frequently come home way past curfew.  She would see her Dad sitting on his chair, half-sleep, staring out the window, waiting for her arrival.  The daughter kept up her attitude: “What do you think you’re doing?”  Only to hear her Dad sadly reply: “Just waiting on you[3].”

Dad did everything he could for his daughter.  He’d rearrange his schedule to attend every school function of hers.  He was always patient and kind in her presence.  Regardless of what her dad did, the daughter kept withdrawing further.

The daughter finally goes away to college.  She was thrilled to get away from her tragically unhip dad.  She never communicated with her dad for years and years; she eventually began to miss her father[4].

Finally, one day she receives an invitation to her next family reunion.  She didn’t approach her father at first, not knowing quite what to say.

Finally, the “Beer Barrel Polka” is played. She takes a deep breath, walks over to her father, says “I believe this is our dance[5].”

A smile breaks out over her father’s face, wider than any smile she had seen.  Right before her father says: “I’ve been waiting on you[6].”  Father then danced with his daughter with as much enthusiasm as his legs could muster.

Today’s Gospel lesson tells us a similar story[7].  Now let me set the background. Jesus is sitting down for supper.  His dinner companions were unexpected[8].  Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners.  Tax collectors being agents of the idol worshiping Romans, getting rich by exploiting their fellow Judean citizens.  Sinners being such a varied crew of spiritual misfits that their crimes aren’t even defined.  So watching this scene is the good, religious Pharisees.

The Pharisees knew the scriptures, were in Temple every Sabbath and sought to follow the Law of Moses since their birth.  The Pharisees are shocked that a so-called “religious” teacher like Jesus would dare eat with tax collectors and sinners.

So Jesus begins to tell the Pharisees a series of parables involving lost items. First, he tells them about a lost sheep than a lost coin and finally, he tells them about a lost son.

Once upon a time, there was a man who had two sons. The younger son comes to the father one day with the boldest of requests: “Father, give me my share of the estate.”

The following request would have been the ultimate act of disrespect to one’s father. It’s announcing to your father: “You’re dead to me[9].” And “By the way, give me my share of the inheritance.”

If the Parable of the Prodigal Son were a movie, the younger son would be the villain. He’s an arrogant jerk, who you’d assume any family would be better if he left.

Now in just about any other family within Jesus’ day, the father would have said “no” to the younger son’s request[10].  This father though appears to be a “sap” and a “sucker” as he proceeds to give the younger son, his share of the estate, so he may go live as wild a life as he wants, far away from home[11]. 

The younger son soon squanders his father’s inheritance.  He begins to starve as the land undergoes a famine. He’s forced to take a job feeding pigs[12].

He finally decides to take a desperate step, what seemed a while back to be the last thing he would ever do.  He decides to return home to his father and beg for a job as a hired servant, so hopefully, he can eat[13].

So the son returns home, the father spots him in the distance. The father begins to run to embrace him[14].
When I was in Lamberton, I was sitting at home watching the Vikings play the 49ers.  The 49ers seemed certain to have the game won. The 49ers were up four points; the Vikings were out of chances to stop the clock.   Twelve seconds were left in the game; Brett Favre heaves the ball towards the back of end zone, Greg Lewis catches it with two seconds left on the clock for a touchdown. Vikings win!  My dad was at the game; the stadium had emptied because the Vikings losing seemed certain.

I see this catch watching at home; I start running as fast as I could around the house, I run past the kitchen, past the restroom, and into the computer room, where I fall over.  I start hyperventilating from the excitement. I would not fully collect my breath again for what I remember to be nearly a half-hour.  I reacted this way because I didn’t care because no one else was in the house.

Now as I picture this scene of the running father embracing the prodigal son.  I don’t imagine a natural nor fluid runner.  I don’t see a guy who was at an age, where it was even necessarily a good idea to run. I see a father running because he had just witnessed the most exciting thing in his life; his long-lost son was back home once again.  I picture a father whose love for his son was so great that he couldn’t contain his excitement that he took off spontaneously running.  I imagine a guy so excited at the son’s embrace; he runs the risk of his breath hyperventilating.

The Son upon seeing the Father begins to admit his wrongdoing: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.[15]”

None of this though was the Father’s concern. “Bring out the best robe[16].” “Kill the fattened calf.” “Let’s have a celebration[17].”

There is one other character within this story.  The older brother who could also be known as the responsible brother. The brother who hears music and wonders what is going on[18].  He hears about a party for his long-lost brother.  He finds out his reckless, wasteful younger brother returning is the reason for the party[19]. 

The responsible brother gets mad.  He had been seemingly the perfect son for years and years. He was hardworking and respectful of his father. He had played life totally by the rules and was unable to celebrate with even a young goat with his friends[20]. If this were a movie, everyone would acknowledge how the responsible brother made all sorts of good points regarding the unfairness of it all. 
The following tale is no different than the Pharisees making good points as they saw Jesus dine with tax collectors and sinners.

 Here’s the point thought that Jesus is making about the Kingdom of God.  God’s love knows no bounds to both the responsible and the reckless. God’s grace poured out in Jesus Christ might end up being more generous than the Pharisees think it should be. But this doesn’t mean that it isn’t still the greatest of gifts to all who receive it.  The point of our passage isn’t ultimately about the irresponsibility of the younger son, nor the righteous anger of the older son, the point of our parable is our Father in heaven’s love towards all his children.  How this love is so great the father doesn’t care about how it appears to others.

Let me close with one final story to illustrate this as told by Tim Zingale[21], a man once upon a time was commissioned to paint a picture of Our Gospel lesson: “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.”

 The painter sets about his task. Finally, the big day comes when he is to unveil his work.  The scene is right outside the father’s house.  The moment captured is the father running with his arms outstretched, preparing to embrace his long lost son.  The man who commissioned the painting was thrilled at  the work. But as he was getting ready to pay the artist, he noticed a detail that he had missed at his original viewing. 
The man looked down at the father’s feet, noticed he was wearing one blue shoe and one red shoe[22].  The man was shocked that the painter could be so careless to miss what he thought to be such an important detail.  The man began to question the painter about his error.

 The painter merely smiled as he replied: “Yes, there is no better image of the love of God for his children than a Father running out of his house in such a hurry to celebrate that he didn’t care about fashion, he didn’t care about comfort, he just grabbed the two nearest shoes he could find, so he could run to embrace his long lost child[23].”

Amen
 

[1] Long, Rev.Dr Thomas. “Is There Joy in God's House?” Day 1. 21.Mar.2004. Web. Mar.14.2019.
[2] Long, Rev.Dr Thomas. “Is There Joy in God's House?” Day 1.
[3] Long, Rev.Dr Thomas. “Is There Joy in God's House?” Day 1.
[4] Long, Rev.Dr Thomas. “Is There Joy in God's House?” Day 1.
[5] Long, Rev.Dr Thomas. “Is There Joy in God's House?” Day 1.
[6] Long, Rev.Dr Thomas. “Is There Joy in God's House?” Day 1.
[7] Luke 15:1-2, 11-32.
[8] Hoezee, Scott. “Luke 15:1-2, 11-32.” Center for Excellence in Preaching. Calvin Seminary. Grand Rapids, MI. 29.Feb.2016. Web. Mar.14.2019. 
[9] Hoezee, Scott. “Luke 15:1-2, 11-32.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[10] McLarty, Phillip. “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.” Sermon Writer. 2004. Web. Mar.14.2019. 
[11] Luke 15:13.
[12] Luke 15:15.
[13] Luke 15:17-20. 
[14] Luke 15:20.
[15] Luke 15:21
[16] Luke 15:22.
[17] Luke 15:23.
[18] Luke 15:25-26.
[19] Luke 15:27.
[20] Luke 15:29.
[21] Zingale, Tim. “ The God of Unmatched Shoes.” Sermon Central. 12.Mar.2007. Web. Mar.14.2019.
[22] Zingale, Tim. “ The God of Unmatched Shoes.” Sermon Central
[23] Zingale, Tim. “ The God of Unmatched Shoes.” Sermon Central. 

First Lesson: Isaiah 55: 1-9
Responsive Reading: Psalm 63: 1-8
Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 10: 1-13
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 13: 1-9

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
William Henry Harrison was elected President of the United States in 1840.  Harrison had a distinguished career to this point: Governor of Indiana, Army General, Congressmen from both the Northwest Territory and Ohio, and Diplomatic Envoy to the nation of Colombia[1].

Harrison was inaugurated President on March 4th, 1841.  It was a cold, wet day in Washington D.C.  Harrison’s inaugural address was 8500 words and lasted nearly two hours.  Three weeks after his inauguration, Harrison caught a cold.  Harrison tried bed rest, but this was difficult as the President of the United States. Harrison then brought in all sorts of potential medical remedies from leeches to opioids[2].
Recent medical analysis has theorized that Harrison probably died not from pneumonia, but rather typhoid fever due to a contamination of the White House water supply.[3]

William Henry Harrison is the shortest serving president in American history dying at 30 days, 12 hours.  Harrison’s only official act as President was to call Congress into a special session at the end of May to deal with a revenue crisis.  Harrison died eight weeks before he could achieve anything as President[4].   

I want to tell you something about William Henry Harrison though in spite of his short presidency; he is perhaps the rare President to have influenced the lives of every single American who has lived after him.

The year was 1809; the United States was rapidly expanding into Native American lands[5].  Harrison was tasked with negotiating a settlement with various Native tribes along the Wabash River in Indiana.

Harrison used questionable methods to get a settlement such as buying tribal lands from Native leaders who did not possess them on top of giving them special bribes[6].  Harrison also made sure those negotiating were always well stocked with whiskey.[7]

Word of Harrison’s questionable tactics used to negotiate the Treaty of Fort Wayne eventually reached the Shawnee leader Tecumseh.  Tecumseh’s soldiers show up at Harrison’s home demanding the treaty to be annulled. If it wasn’t for the meditation of another native chief, then William Henry Harrison probably meets his end before being elected President[8]. 

Harrison for payback attacked Tecumseh’s tribe one year later. This was known as the “Battle of Tippecanoe,” it would be Harrison’s claim to fame for the remainder of his career. Tecumseh survives vows to partner with the British, and during the upcoming War of 1812, Harrison’s forces kill Tecumseh[9].

As Harrison occupied the White House in 1840, a rumor started to spread that a curse had been placed on Harrison for his treatment of Tecumseh.

What was the nature of this curse: every president elected in a year like Harrison starting with “0” would die in office.  So what happened to Presidents elected every twenty years beginning in 1840[10].

1840-William Henry Harrison died in 30 days of Typhoid Fever.

1860- Abraham Lincoln- is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford Theater.

1880- James Garfield[11] is the second shortest serving President assassinated after six and half months in office by a disgruntled government appointment seeker[12].

1900- William McKinley assassinated early in his second term of office[13].

1920-Warren Harding- Died a little over two years into office to uncertain causes probably heart attack or stroke[14].

1940- Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a hemorrhage, shortly into his fourth term of office[15].

1960-John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas.

1980- Ronald Reagan becomes the first President to survive an assassination attempt at the hands of John Hinckley, Jr. after thirteen days in the hospital[16]. 

Medical technology managed to seemingly put an end to The Curse of Tippecanoe after “140 years” as Reagan’s wounds were more severe than those that took the lives of Presidents Garfield or McKinley[17].
Now as you ponder the potential curse brought about by William Henry Harrison, I want to tell you the story of another curse. 

But before this story, I want to ask everyone a seemingly unrelated question “What fruit did Adam and Eve eat in the Garden of Eden causing humanity to fall into sin?”

Now every one of our first inclinations is probably an apple.  I’m probably partly responsible for this as apples are easy sermon material being the most common fruit.

When the Bible was first translated to Latin the words for Apple “Malum” and evil “Malus” are very similar[18]. 

The most likely fruit that Adam and Eve probably ate was a “fig[19].” 

Genesis 3:5-7: “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”

Here’s something about Jesus’ ministry seemingly related to Adam, Eve, and the figs. Jesus seems to have a strong negative reaction whenever he comes across fig trees.

“and along the way, he saw a fig tree. But when he came to it, he found only leaves and no figs. So he told the tree, “You will never again grow any fruit!” Right then the fig tree dried up.” –Matthew 21:19

“From a distance, Jesus saw a fig tree covered with leaves, and he went to see if there were any figs on the tree. But there were not any, because it wasn’t the season for figs. So Jesus said to the tree, “Never again will anyone eat fruit from this tree!” The disciples heard him say this.”-Mark 11:13-14.  

The most well-known story of Jesus’ anger is turning the money-changers tables in the Temple, but we can also establish that Jesus doesn’t seem to like figs very much for some reason.

Now in Today’s Gospel, Jesus tells a parable where the target is once again, figs[20].  A man plants a fig tree in his vineyard.  The man kept looking for fruit on this tree and continually found none for three years.  The man instructs his gardener “cut it down.[21]” The gardener though wishes to do everything he can to save the fig tree including the extra special effort of putting manure around it.  If it doesn’t bear fruit, then the gardener will finally cut it down. 

So what’s going on within our parable[22]?  The owner issues a harsh judgment against the fig tree. Cut it down. Kill the fig tree! The fig tree has been nothing but troubled since it was planted.  Nothing good has come from the fig tree.  The gardener though suggests a different course.  Give it one more chance. I will do everything to save this tree that I can. 

The gardener is even willing to get down to the depths with manure[23]. 

So what’s going on in this story starts from the original fig tree. Sin from the time of Adam and Eve had brought nothing but pain and death to the world for generations.  There seemed to be no hope other than the fig tree to fall to its eventual death. 

As Jesus is telling this parable, he is reminding the Disciples of the nature of his ministry to reverse the curse given to every human being from the time of Adam and Eve. Jesus is here to get down to the manure in the depths of the Earth of the grave.  His death and resurrection shall soon bring forgiveness to all those who had experienced sin’s curses.  Jesus is putting to death sin (fig trees) to resurrect it to the fruits of life eternal.   

Here’s the thing about curses like the Curse of Tippicanoe no matter how ingrained they might appear to be at any given moment.  They shall not last forever! 

The year was 1920; the Boston Red Sox Baseball team was owned by a man named Harry  Frazee.  Frazee was in debt from his purchase of the team, the acquisition of Fenway Park, and a bad run of theater productions.  As a way to try to finance his way out of debt: he did the unthinkable he sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000 and 300,000 dollar loan[24].

Over the next 84 years, the New York Yankees were the most successful franchise in Professional sports winning twenty-six world championships.  As for the Red Sox, their 84 years were filled with zero championships including losing the final game of the World Series on four separate occasions[25].

The year was 2004. The script was seemingly set in stone. The Yankees were playing the Red Sox.  The Yankees were up 3-0 in a best out of 7 series.  No Baseball team had ever advanced in the playoffs after having lost the first three games. 

The Red Sox were down in Game Four heading into the ninth inning 4-3 going up against a pitcher who would end up in Baseball’s Hall of Fame Mariano Rivera. No outcome seemed more certain, what was now known as the Curse of the Bambino for Babe Ruth would live for another year. 

What happened next is a reminder like in the case of Ronald Reagan surviving John Hinckley Jr’s bullet, or Jesus walking out of the grave reminds us that all curses will eventually be broken.  Red Sox get a walk, stolen base, RBI single, Home Run to win the game in the 12th Inning[26]. The Boston Red Sox starting on this day would win their last eight games of the 2004 season to win the World Series.

After 86 years, the Curse of the Bambino was over. The Red Sox have won three more World Series in the fifteen years since.

Jesus said to the fig tree: “You shall bear fruit no more.” Jesus said, “Sin’s power shall soon wither away.” Jesus says no matter how much sin, death, and the power of the devil have benefitted from this curse.” The Curse of the Fig Tree like the Curse of the Bambino shall come to an end.

 Jesus declares I will soon walk out of the grave.  All who have fallen victim to the Fig Tree’s curse shall be forgiven! 
Amen
 
[1] “William Henry Harrison.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 9.Mar.2019. Web. Mar.9.2019. 
[2] “William Henry Harrison.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
[3] “William Henry Harrison.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
[4] “William Henry Harrison.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
[5] “Treaty of Fort Wayne.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 11.Dec.2018. Web. Mar.9.2019. 
[6] Bergen, Anthony. “ Tecumseh's 140-Year-Old Curse.” Dead Presidents Tumblr. 16.Jan.2010. Web. Mar.9.2019. Linked from Real Clear History  on April 3rd, 2017. 
[7] Bergen, Anthony. “ Tecumseh's 140-Year-Old Curse.” Dead Presidents Tumblr.
[8] Bergen, Anthony. “ Tecumseh's 140-Year-Old Curse.” Dead Presidents Tumblr.
[9] Bergen, Anthony. “ Tecumseh's 140-Year-Old Curse.” Dead Presidents Tumblr.
[10] Bergen, Anthony. “ Tecumseh's 140-Year-Old Curse.” Dead Presidents Tumblr.
[11] “Curse of Tippecanoe.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 21. Feb.2019. Web. Mar.9.2019.
[12] “James A. Garfield.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 10.Mar.2019. Web. Mar.10.2019.
[13] Curse of Tippecanoe.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation
[14] “Warren G.Harding.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 1.Mar.2019. Web. Mar.10.2019.
[15] “Franklin D. Roosevelt.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 9.Mar.2019. Web. Mar.9.2019.
[16] “Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 19.Feb.2019. Web. Mar.9.2019. 
[17] Bergen, Anthony. “ Tecumseh's 140-Year-Old Curse.” Dead Presidents Tumblr.
[18] Quora. “Why are the words “malum” (apple) and “malus” (evil) so close?”. 12.July.2017. Web. Mar.9.2019.
[19] Prisoner of Conscience. “What Did Adam and Eve Really Eat?” Prisoner of Conscience. 26.Apr.2011. Web. Mar.9.2019. 
[20] Luke 13:6-9. 
[21] Luke 13:7. 
[22] Capon, Robert Farrar Capon. “Kingdom, Grace, Judgement: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus.”. Erdmann’s Publishing. Grand Rapids, MI. 2002. Print.  Pages 248-250. 
[23] Capon, Robert Farrar Capon. “Kingdom, Grace, Judgement: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus.”. Erdmann’s Publishing. Pages 248-250. 
[24] “Curse of the Bambino.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 27.Feb.2019. Web. Mar.9.2019. 
[25] “Curse of the Bambino.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation
[26] “Curse of the Bambino.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation

First Lesson: Genesis 15: 1-12, 17-18
Responsive Reading: Psalm 27
Second Lesson: Philippians 3: 17 - 4:1
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 13: 31-35

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
Bob Beamon was born in Queens, New York in 1946[1].  Beamon as a youth loved doing two things: running and jumping[2].  By the time, he was in high school had the perfect build for a track star; long, lean, and muscular.  By the end of high school, he not only had a track scholarship to the University of Texas El-Paso.  Beamon was considered a top contender to make the next Olympics in Mexico City in 1968.  Beamon kept getting better and better as a jumper. He arrived in Mexico City considered to be the favorite to win the gold medal having won twenty-two of his previous twenty-three events.[3]

Beamon’s nerves though soon got the best of him, he scratched during his first two jumps during the qualifying round, only barely making it to the medal round on his third and final jump[4].

The next morning though, Bob Beamon would forever change the history of track and field. Bob Beamon’s first jump was the jump of his life[5]. He jumped so far that stadium officials needed to scramble to find a different tape to measure it.  Bob Beamon’s long jump was measured at twenty-nine feet and two inches.  Beamon shattered the world record by nearly two feet.

A term would arise in the wake of Bob Beamon’s jump Beamonesque as a way to describe athletes whose performance far exceeds the competition[6].  When Sports Illustrated was putting together its list of the greatest sporting moments of the 20th Century Beamon’s jump came in the top five[7].  Bob Beamon had his Olympic gold and now got to take his place on the medal stand. 

All of Beamon’s long-term goals had just come true in the most spectacular of fashions.  Could nothing seemingly be better for Bob Beamon or any one of us? Something interesting though happened to Bob Beamon after setting his world record and winning his gold medal that we’ll get to in just a little bit.
Today’s lesson is from Philippians 3[8].  Let me set the stage for Philippians. Phillipi was a colony of Rome[9].  Many of Phillipi’s residents and Paul the writer’s hearers would have been Roman citizens.  Roman Citizenship had all sorts of unique benefits[10].

For example in a story from the Book of Acts[11],  Paul and Silas come across a troubled, female slave who makes her owners a great deal of money through fortune-telling, Paul then orders an “unclean” spirit to come out of her.  The woman then abandons her fortune-telling to follow Jesus and her owners are outraged.  Paul and Silas are then beaten and thrown into prison.  When word gets out that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, the Roman officials came to personally apologize and escort Paul and Silas from prison for the injustice they received.  There was no more powerful privilege in the ancient world that Roman citizenship.

So Paul with this understanding in mind; Paul wishes to redefine the meaning of citizenship for his Christian audience. 

“For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven.[12]”

In Paul’s day, Roman citizens would have had unique, financial benefits within the empire[13].  Roman citizens would possess nearly all the wealth as they were the only ones allowed to own or inherit property. Roman citizens would be exempt from certain taxes and whenever Rome needed additional money they would seek to exploit the earnings of non-citizens who could not vote in Roman legislative elections.  Whereas the Jews of Jerusalem within Jesus’ day hated the Romans because of this, many of the Christians in Philippi were pretty well-off because they were citizens of Rome.  

So everyone to whom Paul was writing understood the benefits of living within a Roman colony.  So this is why Paul speaks of all Christians as living under the colony of heaven. 

Paul is trying to let the Philippians know that the benefits they shall eventually receive from Jesus Christ are much greater than even Roman citizenship.  How citizenship in heaven is better than even the most magnificent things, this world can offer.

Earlier, I told you the story of Bob Beamon and his unbelievable long-jump.  What happened though to Beamon upon leaving the medal stand?  Beamon was asked about his gold medal jump forty years later, where he recalled that his celebration only managed to last a couple of minutes. Things then quickly back to normal within Bob Beamon’s world[14].

He had the highest peak one can imagine, but one week later he would be back in a college classroom sitting through sociology classes.  Forty years later, Beamon would tend to downplay his accomplishment within interviews to instead focus on his work in philanthropy trying to help others[15]. 

Now fifty years after Bob Beamon’s greatest of earthly achievements it appears to be evident that there is something even more significant to receive than just an Olympic Gold Medal.

Now having told you the story of Bob Beamon, I want to tell you a completely different story as told by author Richard Lischer.  Lischer writes about his time serving as a pastor in a small church like this one in a small town in rural, remote Illinois not unlike Silver Bay[16].  

Pastor Lischer was fresh out of the seminary, in his first week at his first church.  The pastor’s phone one night went off at three in the morning.  On the other end of the phone, was one of his congregation members[17]. 

He was down at the local hospital because his wife had a ruptured gall bladder.  She was going to have to be rushed into surgery and her prognosis was uncertain. The husband declared: “We need you, here, if you can.”

So the pastor arrives at the hospital, where he is escorted to a small room to visit with a middle-aged childless couple that he barely knew.  As his eyes came upon the couple, he could tell how nervous they both were about the upcoming surgery.
Now they were looking towards the pastor for words of wisdom.  The pastor in his hurry to get to the hospital was totally unprepared: no Bible and no prayer book, so he began to fear awkwardness at the least and possibly being exposed to be a total fraud.

The pastor began to think quickly, before spontaneously belting out: “The Lord be with you.” The couple replied: “Also with you.”  The pastor then began chanting: ‘Lift up your hearts.” The couple responded: “We lift them to the Lord.[18]”

It was at this moment that the pastor began feeling the power of the Lord within this room like at few other times within his life.  A calmness amid the chaos came over everyone who was gathered.  The pastor and the couple concluded with a brief prayer, as the wife was wheeled away into surgery[19]. 

Today’s lesson, Paul is trying to explain to the Philippian church what it means to be a citizen of heaven[20].  Paul seeks to remind us that heaven’s citizenship as Bob Beamon realized goes way beyond one’s accomplishments within this world. Heaven’s citizenship instead has to do with finding peace amidst life’s greatest storms.  Citizenship in heaven is the patience of eagerly awaiting the presence of our Savior[21].  The Savior who will one day bring all things under his control, so that our mortal bodies may be like his immortal body[22].  Citizenship in heaven has to do with having a common language of faith: sin, grace, and salvation.  Citizenship in heaven continually points us in the direction of the Cross of Christ towards which we journey during this Lenten season.  Citizenship in heaven is a greater prize than any gold medal that this world may place into our hands; instead, we await the crown that our Savior will one day place upon our heads[23].  Amen
 

[1] “Bob Beamon.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 28.Jan.2019. Web. Mar.6.2019. 
[2] Alter, Adam. Irrestible. Penguin Books. New York City. 2017. Web. Page 98. 
[3] Alter, Adam. Irrestible. Page 98. 
[4] Alter, Adam. Irrestible. Page 98. 
[5] Alter, Adam. Irrestible. Page 99.
[6] Bob Beamon.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
[7] Bob Beamon.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
[8] Philippians 3:17-4:1.
[9] Hoezee, Scott. “Philippians 3:17-4:1.” Center for Excellence in Preaching. Calvin Seminary. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 15. Feb.2016. Web. Mar.6.2019.
[10] Shively, Elizabeth. “Commentary on Philippians 3:17-4:1.” Working Preacher. Luther Seminary. 24.Feb.2013. Web. Mar.6.2019. 
[11] Acts 16:16-40.
[12] Phillippians 3:18-20.
[13] Quora. “What were the benefits of being a Roman citizen during the Roman Republic and Empire?” 7.Aug.2018. Web. Mar.6.2019. 
[14] Alter, Adam. Irrestible. Page 100. 
[15] Alter, Adam. Irrestible. Page 100.
[16] Lischer tells the story in the book Open Secrets. The Analogy comes from Hoezee, Scott. “Philippians 3:17-4:1.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[17] Hoezee, Scott. “Philippians 3:17-4:1.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[18] Hoezee, Scott. “Philippians 3:17-4:1.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[19] Hoezee, Scott. “Philippians 3:17-4:1.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[20] Hoezee, Scott. “Philippians 3:17-4:1.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[21]Philippians 3:20b. .
[22] Philippians 3:21.
[23] Phillippians 4:1. 

First Lesson: Deuteronomy 26: 1-11
Responsive Reading: Psalm 91: 1-2, 9-16
Second Lesson: Romans 10: 8b-13
Gospel Lesson: Luke 4: 1-13

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
Life might seem to be nothing more than a never-ending boxing match between Satan and ourselves. The prize though happens not to be a championship belt, but rather our eternal body and soul.

Round 1: The place was the Garden of Eden. Satan was staring down our spiritual ancestors Adam and Eve[1]. Satan’s words were clever: “You will not certainly die…For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil[2].”

Here’s what made Satan’s words so dangerous not that they were false, but rather that they were true!  Adam and Eve looked over the tempting fruit, saw that it looked good, pleasing to the eye, and would grant them wisdom.  Adam and Eve’s eyes were both opened[3].  They both immediately noticed their nakedness[4]! Adam and Eve did not instantly die! Something much worse though happened.  The whole world started plunging into a never-ending cycle of death and destruction.  Generations after generations tried to escape this cycle.  Satan remained undefeated! Satan appeared to be the never-ending champion of this world with humanity the vanquished foe.

Round 3: Our Gospel lesson comes to us Today from the 4th Chapter of Luke’s Gospel[5]. Jesus leaves his Baptism from the Jordan River and is led by the Holy Spirit out into the Wilderness[6].  Jesus was going to spend forty days staring Satan down like everyone else before him only in isolation.

Satan’s first temptation is simple: “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread[7].”

Once upon a time, a woman joined a diet club[8].  She was getting frustrated though as she had gained weight rather than lost weight.  She was now going to have temptation directly. Over the weekend, she made her family their favorite cake.  The family ate half the cake at dinner. The next day as she walked by the fridge, she kept staring at the other half of the cake. She would walk away, then open the refrigerator again a few minutes later and stare at the cake some more.  Finally, she decided that she could have cut a very thin slice for herself.  Well, one sliver of this cake wasn’t going to be sufficient and pretty soon the whole cake was gone.  The woman was lamenting how disappointed she was in her lack of willpower and what was she going to tell her family upon their wondering: “Where the rest of the cake went[9]?”

As she tells the diet club her story, they wondered what did her family say when they saw the missing cake[10].

The woman smiled. “They never found out.  I made another cake and ate half of that one[11].”

A few years back, an experiment was conducted with about seventy people.  The group was brought to a lab[12].  The group was divided into half and told they were not to eat anything for the next five hours.  The other group was able to enjoy as many wheat thins as they wanted over the next five hours.  The groups were then tasked with food shopping online to determine “Whether their hunger impacted their choices?” The hungry group proceeded to buy nearly 50% as much junk food[13].  When the experiment took place in a grocery store comparing groups that shopped right after lunch between 1-4 and those who were hungrier between 4-7, similar results were found.  The hungrier you were, the more likely, you were to make bad decisions[14]

Our willpower with food isn’t the only thing that breaks down the hungrier we get, a recent study at the University of Michigan showed that hunger breaks down our willpower to such a degree, we’re more likely even to buy things such as office supplies when hungry[15]. 

So the Devil’s first temptation to Jesus takes place after days and days of starvation with lightheadedness seemed destined to defeat him.  The following was the same type of temptation for food faced by Adam and Eve generations before. 

Jesus merely disregarded the Devil’s temptations of bread by declaring: “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.[16]”

Round 7: The Devil knew he had to change his techniques at this point.  The Devil had something much more alluring for Jesus. The Devil took Jesus to a high point and offered him all the Kingdoms of the world[17].

I was in third grade.  There was a kid that I’ll call Jimmy.  Jimmy was like a lot of third-graders in that he liked to brag about all the things at which he was really good.   Well, the other kids were getting tired of Jimmy’s bragging.  So a group started gathering around Jimmy on the playground.  I wasn’t the leader, but I was a willing follower.  Eventually, another kid gets behind Jimmy in a bridge position.  Like a lot of kids, I was really tough when surrounded by a group of other kids.  So I pushed Jimmy over the bridge.  I would spend the next day’s recess inside for fighting.   Now Jimmy grew up and is a really good guy. I was invited to Jimmy’s graduation party when he finished high school.  I saw him not long ago in Lindstrom where he greeted me pleasantly as he drove by while, I was walking. 

Satan is clever in how he breaks us.  In Jimmy’s case, it wasn’t anything dramatic that he did wrong to me.  Satan worked over time by making power more alluring to me.  Finally, Jimmy is standing in my way.  Then I’m doing what’s wrong in shoving others on the playground[18]. 

Adulthood can often work in the same way.  People have affairs because they long for the power of feeling attractive.  People struggle with addiction because their sense of power is warped.  Often it is our longing for power than blinds us to our self-destruction.

So Jesus could have achieved the height of all human power as the Devil declared: “If you worship me, it will all be yours[19]”  

Jesus unlike myself on the playground or Adam and Eve realized there are limits to power in human form.  “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only[20].’”

It is only in our weakness that we can see the way to salvation.

Round 11: Satan led Jesus to the highest point of the Jerusalem Temple.  Satan demands Jesus to leap off the top of the Temple to prove he can save himself.  Satan’s basic instruction is for Jesus to abandon all his faith.  Embracing spiritual despair can be the most deadly of all temptations.

Once upon a time, two frogs fell into a vat of cream[21].  One frog quickly lost all hope and sank in the cream and eventually died.  The other frog kept his long legs paddling and paddling.  The frog kept kicking and kicking until he turned the cream into butter before leaping to his safety[22]. 

Two frogs, one frog embraced spiritual despair unto his own death. The other frog walked a more difficult road of clinging to hope however seemingly small unto his own salvation.

Paul Gerhardt was a minister in Germany during the Thirty Years War[23].  The Thirty Years War was devasting for all of Europe. Some cities in Germany would lose up to ninety percent of their population as a result of either war or plague.  Well one night, Gerhardt and his family were forced to flee from their homes.  They finally found shelter in a nearby village. Years and years of bad news had broken Gerhardt’s wife.  She began to break down and shed tears in despair.  Gerhardt proceeds to comfort her by reminding her of the scripture’s promises.  Gerhardt then left her presence, only to go outside to cry himself.  Gerhardt proceeds to write a hymn Give to the Winds Thy Fears. Gerhardt despite every reason to embrace despair remained a prolific hymn writer throughout his life.  Gerhardt in the darkest of times was able to place his faith in God’s hands rather his own. 

Jesus for the third and final temptation was being asked to do the same thing.  Jesus proceeded upon this last temptation to stare the Devil down again and declare: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test[24].” Jesus sought to remind Satan that faith is ultimately a more powerful force than despair!

Round 15: Satan left Jesus.  He was going to wait for an opportune time though to return[25]. 

James J. Braddock[26] was a promising boxer in the early 1920s[27]. He began his career 44-2. He had an opportunity to become the Light Heavyweight Champion of the world. He narrowly lost in the fifteenth and final round. Braddock hurt his hand in the process[28]. His boxing career then went in the tank.  He finally had to give up boxing due to his losing streak. He would be forced to receive government relief.  He finally found work as a long shore man.  During his longshoremen work, James Braddock had to get proficient working with his left hand because his right hand was so weak from the previous injury[29].  

Braddock several years later finally returns to a boxing ring. He triumphs in a series of upsets.  In March 1935, Braddock was scheduled to fight Max Baer to be the Heavyweight Champion of the World. Braddock was thought to be an easy payday for the champ[30].   Baer dismissed Braddock as a joke. The fight begins.  Baer seemed destined to make quick work of the older Braddock.  It soon became apparent that no amount of punishment could defeat James Braddock.  After fifteen rounds, James Braddock was the Heavyweight Champion of the World no matter the previous odds[31].

Satan was undefeated when he came face to face with Jesus in the wilderness. Food, power, and loss of faith would certainly be enough to defeat Jesus like so many foes before him.    Jesus survived Satan’s temptations for forty long days.  Their story would not be over.  Satan finally had Jesus defeated as he hung upon a cross. Three days later, Jesus rose from the ground only to claim the world back as his own.  Satan’s power began to wane.  The gates of heaven were opened as Satan was unable to stop it.  Amen
 

[1] “The Battle.” Lutheran Hour Ministries. 6.Mar.2017. Web. Feb.12.2019. 
[2] Genesis 3:4-5. 
[3] Genesis 3:7.
[5] Luke 4:1-13. 
[6] John 4:1-2a.
[7] Luke 4:3. 
[8] “Will Power, Self Control.” Preaching.com. Web. Feb.12.2019.
[9] Will Power, Self Control.” Preaching.com.
[10] Will Power, Self Control.” Preaching.com.
[11] Will Power, Self Control.” Preaching.com.
[12] Rettner, Rachael. “Grocery Shopping While Hungry Not Good Idea, Science Confirms.” Live Science. 6.May.2013. Web. Feb.12.2019. 
[13] Rettner, Rachael. “Grocery Shopping While Hungry Not Good Idea, Science Confirms.” Live Science.
[14] Rettner, Rachael. “Grocery Shopping While Hungry Not Good Idea, Science Confirms.” Live Science
[15] Van Hare, Holly. The Daily Meal. 16.Jan.2019. Web. Feb.12.2019. 
[16] Luke 4:4.
[17] Luke 4:5-7. 
[18] Hoezee, Scott. “Luke 4:1-13.” Center for Excellence in Preaching. Calvin Seminary. Grand Rapids, MI.
[19] Luke 4:7.
[20] Luke 4:8. 
[21] Zingale, Tim. “Temptation=Ease” Sermon Central. 24.Feb.2004. Web. Feb.12.2019. 
[22] Zingale, Tim. “Temptation=Ease” Sermon Central.
[23] “Despair.” Our Daily Bread. 7.May.1992. Web. Feb.12.2019. Found on Sermon Illustrations.
[24] Luke 4:12. 
[25] Luke 4:13.
[26] Braddock’s lifestory is told in the 2005 movie Cinderella Man starring Russell Crowe.
[27] “James J. Braddock.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 19.Jan.2019. Web. Feb.12.2019. 
[28] James J. Braddock.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
[29] James J. Braddock.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation
[30] James J. Braddock.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation
[31] James J. Braddock.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation

First Lesson: Exodus 34: 29-35
Responsive Reading: Psalm 99
Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 3: 12 - 4:2
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 9: 28-36, (37-43a)

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
In 1918, a boy was born in a small town in Rural Oklahoma.  The boy grew up on a tiny farm milking cows[1]. As he got older, this boy did everything he could to try to make ends meet from delivering newspapers to waiting tables.  The young man eventually gets into college. His first job is with JC Penney for $75 a month[2].  He then serves his country in World War II.  He uses money from his time in the service along with a loan from his father in law to purchase a small variety store in Newport, Arkansas.  The business quickly grew increasing sales three hundred percent within the first three years.  His business model was simple; he didn’t want to own stores in big cities, but instead small towns.  He wanted to have a wide variety of products at the lowest prices possible.  He realized he had only one boss the customer to whom he had to answer.  In 1962, he decided to open another new store; this new store had his name “Walton” in the store’s name. Within five years, Sam Walton’s store had annual sales exceeding of over 12 million dollars.  Today, Walmart has become the world’s largest company by revenue.  Growing up dirt poor in Oklahoma, Sam Walton could never imagine the direction that God would take his life.  Walton though is not unique.

Second story, in 1928 a boy is born outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The boy had a difficult childhood.  He had health problems such as asthma[3]. He was bullied by other children.  He was made fun of for his weight.   The boy was shy. He spent much of his time alone in his room.  Since he didn’t have any friends, he became a puppeteer to try to create friends within his make-believe world.  He spent the rest of his free-time becoming a talented piano player.  He eventually gets accepted in Dartmouth College, which he couldn’t stand for its hyper-macho environment.  He drops out to transfer to a school far away from home.  He eventually becomes a seminary student back in Pittsburgh.  He felt he was being called to a ministry like no one else in the Presbyterian Church either before or since.  He believed his ministry was to be an educational T.V. ministry to young children[4].  His church body balked at his request.  He eventually begins his show on Pittsburgh’s WEQD[5].  Forty years later upon his retirement, he’s considered one of the most influential T.V. stars of all time. Perhaps the most significant influence in Early Childhood Education this country has ever known.  Mr. Fred Rogers’ ministry had been born in some of the toughest days of his childhood and ended up becoming an influence to tens of millions of children of this country because of it.
The third and final story, 385 A.D. a young man is born within Roman Britain[6].  He grew up in relative prosperity and comfort.  In these days, the Roman Empire in these parts was on the verge of collapse[7].  The British Coast would often be attacked by Irish pirate ships.  In 401 A.D. the young man was captured in one of these raids.  He would spend the next six years of his life living in Ireland as a slave.  His task as a slave was the most miserable of all. He was ordered to be a shepherd.  The young man would be isolated in Ireland’s cold mountains for months on end[8].  Food was always challenging to find and he was unable to speak the native language. The young man with no other place in the world to turn begins to embrace his Grandfather’s Christian faith.  The young man would start to spend his days praying for God to save him from the land that he hated.  The young man eventually does escape Ireland and return to his native Britain.  His parents begged him never to leave Britain again.  God would have other plans! The young man continues studying Christianity! One night he has a vision that he is to return to Ireland so that he may become “The Voice of the Irish[9].”  The young man returns to Ireland; his missionary work is so successful that he comes to be known as the “Saint of Ireland[10].”  By the time of Saint Patrick’s death, a little over thirty years after his initial capture Ireland, had transformed from a pagan nation to a Christian one.

What these three stories have in common is God taking people from unlikely circumstances and using them to help transform not only people but ultimately nations. 

Today’s Old Testament lesson tells a similar story[11].  To understand the life of the Prophet Isaiah let me give a little brief background.

King Solomon died about 170 years before Isaiah’s birth. Solomon’s death left Israel divided into Northern and Southern Kingdoms over the question of who should inherit his throne[12].  Isaiah lived in the Southern Kingdom which was compromised two of Israel’s twelve tribes.

So the Lord would frequently call prophets to try to get the people to turn from their false worship before their inevitable destruction. 

In our lesson, Isaiah is standing in the Temple of the Lord.  He looked up and saw a vision.  The Lord was sitting on his throne, the back of his robe is filling the Temple, surrounding the Lord are Seraphim which are six-winged angels singing out: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory[13].”
The impact of the Heavenly Choir is such that Isaiah is in awe.  Isaiah knew this vision meant that God was calling him to be a “prophet” among the Northern Kingdom. Isaiah thought he felt deeply unworthy. Isaiah’s unworthiness had nothing to do with growing up poor like Sam Walton, being shy and socially awkward like Mr. Rogers, or not wanting to have anything to do with the people of the Northern Kingdom like Saint Patrick.  Isaiah’s reluctance instead had to do with his tongue:
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty[14].”

A few months back, I was lifting weights.  The previous lifter had forgotten to take their weights down, so before I could begin, I would need to do so.  The problem was the rack had been moved, so I didn’t have much room to maneuver. I bumped my leg, and I proceeded to drop a 45 lb. — barbell right on top of my pinky finger.  The finger soon turned black, and just this week the nail would fall off.  The mark was quite noticeable.  I was down at Zup’s a when Kathy the cashier says she was discussing my finger with another customer.  She then asked me: “Did I cuss when the accident happened?”

To which I answered that I didn’t, but that the pain was such that I could easily forgive anyone that did.  
 
You see the reason Isaiah felt that he was unworthy of God’s calling is he had used too much R-rated language throughout his life. Isaiah believed there were all sorts of people that could throw this fault in his face; thereby God could certainly find someone better to serve as a Prophet to the people of the Northern Kingdom. 

God’s response to Isaiah’s excuse is noteworthy.  The Seraphim grabs a piece of coal, flies over to Isaiah[15], touches his lips, and declares Isaiah’s “guilt is taken away[16].” And “sin is atoned[17].”

Isaiah’s attitude would soon do a 180-degree turn.  The Lord would then ask: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us[18]?” To which Isaiah would reply: “Here am I. Send me![19].”

Isaiah would serve as one of Israel’s longest prophets with a ministry that lasted upwards of sixty-four years.  What Isaiah’s ministry centered on was a coming judgment that would fall upon Israel’s kingdoms as long as they persisted in their sin. Isaiah though speaks even more forcefully though of a great hope to be given to the people in the Messiah that is to come.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him,  and by his wounds we are healed.”-Isaiah 53:5. 

It was Isaiah who would quote the words later spoken by Jesus:
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;1 he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor[20]

Without God calling the previous foul-mouther Isaiah the story of our salvation is never written.  It reminds us that God’s promises of forgiveness are more powerful than our excuses.  Abraham was already an old man, yet he eventually became the father of a great nation.   We might claim we’re too shy, too broken, too young, or too old. Here’s the point of our lesson made clear by the stories of Sam Walton, Fred Rogers, and Saint Patrick:  “God calls us out of our imperfections, rather than for our perfection.”

A few weeks ago, I was at a Basketball game at William Kelley. A group of students was cussing loud enough that I had to tell them to quiet down.  Isaiah reminds me that this is never an excuse to seek to inevitability run from God’s calling upon our lives.   Amen


[1] Sharma, Arun. “Rags to Riches: Sam Walton.” Wisdom Pearls. 21.Mar.2017. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[2] “Sam Walton.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 18.Jan.2019. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[3] “Fred Rogers.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 24.Jan.2019. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[4] I recently read Maxwell King’s biography: The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers published by Harry N.Abrams in 2018. King’s book heavily informs this analogy. 
[5] “Fred Rogers.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
[6] “Saint Patrick.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 28.Jan.2019. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[7] Higgins, Scott. “St.Patrick.” Stories for Preaching. Web. Jan.29.2019. Higgins’ source is Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilisation (Hodder, 1995)
[8] Higgins, Scott. “St.Patrick.” Stories for Preaching.
[9] Higgins, Scott. “St.Patrick.” Stories for Preaching.
[10] Saint Patrick.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation
[11] Isaiah 6:1-13. 
[12] Butler, Amy. “Marching Orders.” Sermon Writer. 2006. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[13] Isaiah 6:3. 
[14] Isaiah 6:4. 
[15] Isaiah 6:6
[16] Isaiah 6:7
[17] Isaiah 6:7. 
[18] Isaiah 6:8. 
[19] Isaiah 6:8. 
[20] Luke 4:18, Isaiah 61:1-2. 

First Lesson: Genesis 45: 3-11, 15
Responsive Reading: Psalm 37: 1-11, 39-40
Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 15: 35-38, 42-50
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 6: 27-38

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
“Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”-Romans 13:10.

Ed Markquardt tells the following story[1]. Once upon a time, there was a gentleman out driving, who did the safe thing by braking at an intersection upon seeing the light turn yellow.  The woman driving behind him though was furious.  She knew that both cars could have made the intersection before the red light.  She starts honking her horn repeatedly and cussing up a blue streak loud enough that the other stopped cars could hear her. 

In the midst of her ranting, raving, and honking, she hears a tap upon the window.  She sees a very stern looking police officer staring at her.   The officer orders her out of the car and takes her to the police station. She is fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell[2].

After a couple of hours, a policeman approaches her cell and opens the door.  She then is brought out front, where the arresting office greets her[3].

He began to speak: “I’m awfully sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.  I noticed your ‘What Would Jesus Do’  and Follow Me to Sunday School’ bumper stickers, and chrome plated Jesus (Christian) fish on the trunk[4].”  “Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car[5].”

Jonathan Swift was a clergyman born in England in 1667[6]. Swift’s greatest fame though isn’t as a preacher, but rather as a writer. Swift’s most well-known work is Gulliver’s Travels. Gulliver’s Travels tells the story of a ship captain named Gulliver whose ship would get continually get shipwrecked[7].  These wrecks would always lead Gulliver to islands and civilizations that no Englishmen had ever seen.  

First Island, Gulliver visits it’s full of little people, six inches tall where Gulliver towers as a giant.

The second island, Gulliver is an insect surrounded by giants over forty feet tall.

On the third island, the people are of average size but don’t possess the ability to communicate.  They run around like animals within the woods.  On this island, the civilized beings are talking horses[8]. 

Gulliver is immediately struck by the world that the horses have created.  No one steals on this island, is mean, and they are so honest that their language doesn’t even have a word for lying[9].

The horses treat each other with complete respect and peace reigns supreme among them.  Gulliver in all his travels had finally found the perfect place that he never desired to leave[10].  What ends up happening to Gulliver and the talking horses? We’ll get back to his story in just a little bit. 

Today’s Gospel lesson comes to us from Luke 6[11].  It comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain.  Let me set the stage for Today’s lesson.

Luke’s Gospel is written in the earliest days of the Christian church.  The earliest Christians were a persecuted minority among both Jewish and Roman authorities within their homeland. Luke’s Gospel seeks to address: “How should we respond to the name-calling and threats we receive on a daily basis?”

So Luke quotes Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain as an example of how to build up the Christian community around them[12].

The clearest way Luke seeks to build up this community is verse 31 where he declares: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Luke’s saying to his first readers: “If you want a peaceful world like Gulliver experienced in the presence of the talking horses then live this way.”

This statement is what’s known as the “Golden Rule.”

It’s known as the “Golden Rule” because Gold had long been considered the most precious commodity in the entire world[13].  For example, King Tut of Egypt was buried a little over thirteen hundred years before the Birth of Christ[14]. King Tut was buried with a golden mask[15].  Subsequent Pharaohs of Egypt would always be buried with golden jewelry or other trinkets as a way to symbolize their importance amongst the people of Egypt[16]. 

The Golden Rule finds its basis in the earliest parts of the Old Testament:
Deuteronomy 6:5 declares: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Leviticus 19:18 then declares: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

How the Golden Rule is supposed to function is it’s supposed to cause us to question our first instinct about how to respond.  Like the woman stuck at the traffic light, we will all inevitability get angry and tend to say and do things we know aren’t good for us and others.  It’s often tough to prioritize in half a second, the safety and schedule of total strangers sitting at the light on the other side of the intersection. 

Not responding when tempted can be hard,  a few months back, I was watching the Chicago Bears play Vikings.  As the fourth quarter was in progress, it was evident to everyone in the stadium that the Bears were going to end the Vikings season.  Now down at the end of the aisle from me was a Bears fan who had been drinking, as Viking fans were exiting before the end of the game, her mouth got roaring. She started calling Viking fans “losers” and using all sorts of additional taunts. Every Vikings fan around her was getting mad.

Now witnessing this scene unfold, your first instinct is to try something to quickly right the situation.  Jesus’ earliest of followers would have experienced situations and people way more hostile than this. 

We’re all going to have times when we’re tempted to get mean and rude as a way to right both perceived and actual wrongs.  Our sin has a way of only resulting in the death of the world around us. 

Earlier, I told you the story of Gulliver traveling to the land of the talking horses.  Gulliver wanted to stay in such a perfect place as long as he could.  The horses though didn’t feel the same way about Gulliver. They thought him to be nothing more than another unintelligible human yahoo[17].

Gulliver thought he had found the perfect place, only to be expelled for his imperfection.  Gulliver would spend his remaining days isolated at home, dreading further exposure to his fellow humans. Gulliver’s only solace would be found in his stable, talking to his horses for hours on end[18]. 

Gulliver exposed a problem that can arise from the Golden Rule; it very easily can lead to spiritual pride.  The curse of spiritual pride that has brought nothing but death to the world since the time of Adam and Eve. 

The point of Jesus giving the Golden Rule within our Gospel lesson is to highlight the type of people that we are called to respond to as Christians. We are called to confront people in their spiritual despair and darkness.

Let me close with one final story on the true meaning of the Golden Rule.  Mike Adams tells the following story.

 Adams never knew his grandmother, but knows the story of her death shortly before his birth[19].  Adams’ grandmother Nell died a young woman at the age of 48. How she died showcases the meaning of the Golden Rule.  Nell had been diagnosed with cancer; she was scheduled for surgery, where she had a cancer-ridden organ removed. The Doctor thought he had cured Nell’s condition.  A short time later, it was revealed that Nell’s cancer had returned in another organ.  The Doctor had made a terrible mistake in not spotting this. Nell’s cancer was now so advanced there was no possible cure.   The Doctor goes to break to Nell the news; he begins tearfully apologizing for his error[20]. 

Grandma Nell’s reaction though was remarkable as a person of faith[21].  She knew her doctor to be a good one, who had made a bad mistake even though it would cost her life. Nell then begins to tell the Doctor that he’s forgiven. 

As her illness advanced, she also proceeded to write the doctor a letter that was so full of grace and hope that he kept it on his desk for the remainder of his career.  When Nell died, the doctor canceled all his appointments to attend her funeral.  The Doctor proceeds to tell Nell’s daughter how in his years as a doctor, Nell was the only patient who ever tried to console him upon delivering bad news[22].  How Nell’s forgiveness was not only career-changing but life-changing.

Nell’s daughter had not been a Christian before all this. As she witnessed her mother’s grace, she changed herself. She concluded that if her mother could have such faith in the midst of great adversity, there is no greater testimony to the presence of Almighty God[23].

 Nell’s daughter whole life would become consumed with the Church and extending charity to others.  Nell’s death not only changed her children, but eventually her grandchildren, and even her great-grandchildren who she never met[24].  Beyond even this, Nell changed the life of not only her doctor, but every patient he would ever encounter[25].

Here’s the important thing, following the Golden Rule didn’t change people within this story.  Christ changed Nell, Nell’s faith changed others.  It was in Nell’s weakest moments that the greatest triumph of the Gospel within her was revealed.

The reality of this life is encountering people without fault is as likely as meeting talking horses. We will confront instead bad drivers, obnoxious football fans, and even possibly the wrong doctor.  These do not serve as opportunities to prove our perfection; they instead speak to all our needs for grace and charity. 
They point us to Jesus who reminds us that like in the story of Nell’s misdiagnosis; faith and hope will eventually triumph over all circumstances of this world even death.  Spring and Easter will be here sooner than we can even imagine! Amen
 
               

[1] Markquardt, Edward. “The Golden Rule.” Sermons from Seattle. Web. Jan.31.2019. 
[2] Markquardt, Edward. “The Golden Rule.” Sermons from Seattle.
[3] Markquardt, Edward. “The Golden Rule.” Sermons from Seattle.
[4] Markquardt, Edward. “The Golden Rule.” Sermons from Seattle.
[5] Markquardt, Edward. “The Golden Rule.” Sermons from Seattle.
[6] “Jonathan Swift”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 2.Jan.2019. Web. Jan.31.2019. 
[7] Stier, Leon. “Talking Horses (a).” Email Meditations. 9.Feb.2017. Web. Jan.31.2019.
[8] Stier, Leon. “Talking Horses (a).” Email Meditations.
[9] Stier, Leon. “Talking Horses (a).” Email Meditations.
[10] Stier, Leon. “Talking Horses (a).” Email Meditations.
[11] Luke 6:27-38. 
[12] Allen, Ronald J. “Commentary on Luke 6:27-38.” Working Preacher.Luther Seminary. Saint Paul. 24. Feb.2019. Web. Jan.31.2019. 
[13] Markquardt, Edward. “The Golden Rule.” Sermons from Seattle.
[14] “Tutankhamun.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 29.Jan.2019. Web. Jan.31.2019.
[15] Markquardt, Edward. “The Golden Rule.” Sermons from Seattle.
[16] Markquardt, Edward. “The Golden Rule.” Sermons from Seattle.
[17] “Gulliver's Travels.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 29.Jan.2019. Web. Jan.31.2019. 
[18] Stier, Leon. “Talking Horses (a).” Email Meditations.
[19] Stier, Leon. “The Law Written on Our Hearts (part one).” Email Meditations. 26. Oct. 2014. Web. Jan.31.2019. 
[20] Stier, Leon. “The Law Written on Our Hearts (part one).” Email Meditations.
[21] Stier, Leon. “The Law Written on Our Hearts (part one).” Email Meditations.
[22] Stier, Leon. “The Law Written on Our Hearts (part one).” Email Meditations.
[23] Stier, Leon. “The Law Written on Our Hearts (part one).” Email Meditations.
[24] Stier, Leon. “The Law Written on Our Hearts (part two).” Email Meditations. 27.Oct.2014. Web. Jan.31.2019. 
[25] Stier, Leon. “The Law Written on Our Hearts (part two).” Email Meditations.

First Lesson: Jeremiah 17: 5-10
Responsive Reading: Psalm 1
Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 15: 12-20
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 6: 17-26

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
Once upon a time, there was a man who lived in Northern China whose most prized possession in the world was his horse[1].  Well one day, the horse bolted from his owner’s property crossing over the nearby border.  The owner never believed he would see his horse again.  He was sad for days over his horse’s loss.  Everyone around did their best to comfort him.

 His father though gave him advice different from every other person that he encountered. He told his son: “You never know, it could be a blessing.”  The son can’t quite make sense of his father’s words.

Months go by, the horse finally returns, only this time he brought with him the most splendid stallion that anyone had ever seen.  Everyone but the owner’s father’s rejoiced as he declared: “You never know it could be a curse[2].” The son is once again, confused.

A few weeks go by; the owner is out riding on his horse.  The horse throws him; he breaks his leg in the process.

Everyone tries comforting the man in his misfortune, other than his dad upon seeing the broken leg declared: “It could be a blessing.”  

Well, a few more weeks go by, a group of nomads crosses the border forcing every non-disabled young man to grab a bow to try to defend the village.  The casualties among the men in the village were high.  The father’s words were correct as because of the son’s leg, his life was spared[3]. 
This story reminds us how it is indeed often what seems to be our greatest blessings that can lead to disaster, and our greatest disasters lead to eventual blessing[4]. 

Second story, a little over eight years ago, I was working in Lamberton and got called by a church in Kentucky.   They wanted me to meet with them to be their next pastor. The church wanted a young pastor with experience working with youth.  They let me know that I was the only candidate they were considering.

So I drove twelve hours into Kentucky.  I had dinner with the Call Committee Chair.  I had an open forum with nearly everyone in the congregation attending. I preached Sunday morning what I thought was one of the better sermons I had ever written.

I don’t hear anything back for a couple of weeks.  I then get a call from the Call Committee Chair saying they had a congregational meeting to discuss me.  They decided their only candidate wasn’t what they were looking.

Now, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to move to Kentucky.  Grandma might well have vetoed the move.  Potential job loss like this causes a person to doubt God’s ways within a situation.

A few months later, Glenda Hedin from Sychar gives me a call.  A few months after that, I move to Silver Bay making it my home a lot longer than I could ever imagine living in Kentucky away from my beloved Vikings.

So a situation that seemed to be a woe eventually leads to a blessing.

These stories lead us into our Gospel lesson for Today from Luke 6[5].  Today’s Gospel Lesson has Jesus preaching a sermon titled “The Sermon on the Plain.” Jesus’ most well-known sermon is the “Sermon on the Mount” from the Gospel of Matthew. 

These might be the same sermon as much of the content is very similar though Jesus like any good preacher would repeat important points throughout his ministry.  Both sermons occur right before the Healing of the Roman Centurion in Matthew and Luke’s Gospel[6].  The difference in two sermons has to do with how they begin.  The Sermon on the Mount begins with Jesus walking up a Mountain to speak[7]. The Sermon on the Plain has Jesus coming down to address a gathering crowd[8]. 

Perhaps the most noticeable difference is the Sermon on the Mount is 107 verses long[9], whereas the Sermon on the Plain only 32 verses long[10].

Our section for Today deals with the concept of blessings in life and woes in our lives.  We can define a “woe” as doom or condemnation brought to us[11].  Examples of woe would include: losing a horse, breaking a leg, or not getting a job. 

The critical thing to understand about woe in Jesus’ day is how people thought about it. 

Tim Zingale describes this well when he says: “The people in Jesus’ day thought that if you were rich, successful, happy and popular this was because you were favored by God. But if you were poor, miserable, and rejected, or you had a disability or a terrible accident this was because you or a relative had done something to displease God[12].”

So Jesus within the Sermon on the Plain wanted to change the way that people thought of not only their blessings but also their woes.

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
 Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
        because of the Son of Man.[13] Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven[14].

Some years ago, the country music singer Garth Brooks wrote a song titled Unanswered Prayers.[15]  The song is autobiographical from Brooks’ life.  When Brooks was in high school, he had a girlfriend.  He would pray that his girlfriend would become his wife[16].  The relationship eventually crumbles. Brooks is distraught. Brooks keeps hoping that his ex-girlfriend would take him back. Some time passes, Brooks meets his wife.  Years later, he runs into his ex-girlfriend at a high school football game in their hometown.  Brooks only upon running into his ex-years later, realizes that some of the best things in life are indeed unanswered prayers. How even when God doesn’t necessarily answer, this doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care[17].   As he looks at his wife, he thanks God for having better judgment than himself.  How indeed God’s greatest gifts often come from turning our woes into an eventual blessing.

Jesus within our Gospel lesson is hoping to speak a word of hope to those with their unanswered prayers as he declares: “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.”

Jesus’ words intend to give us perspective regarding our situations.  Now we have been blessed in many ways to live in this country[18].  We have a standard of living that wouldn’t have been imaginable 100 years ago.  We still inevitability struggle with a longing for more.

My Mom has undertaken multiple mission trips to Africa.  What’s always stood out to her so much about Africa is the perspective of the men, women, and children whom she has come across. How people that seemingly have nothing, seek to give to those who seemingly have everything continually.  These visits have highlighted to my mom how material possessions don’t guarantee happiness, but can instead be sources of woe.

My mom’s experiences highlight why Jesus closes the lesson with a list of woes including eternal punishment commonly associated with material comforts. 

Here’s the thing about our wealth. It doesn’t guarantee us the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus turns our sins into vessels to receive his forgiveness.   Woes often lead the way to the blessings that are to come. 

Let me close with one final story about how we often get the nature of woes and blessings wrong as Christian people.

Once upon a time in Poland lived a very poor man named Isaac who often went hungry[19].  One night, Isaac had a dream.  In Isaac’s dream, he had a vision of the city of Prague where a certain bridge contained buried treasure beneath it.  Isaac kept having the same dream, night after night.  Finally, Isaac decided that he needed to walk on foot hundreds of miles to Prague to try to find this buried treasure.

Isaac finally arrives in Prague, found the bridge in his dream, and went underneath it to try to find his treasure.  A soldier spots Isaac then comes over to question him. Isaac proceeds to tell the solider about his dream regarding the buried treasure[20]. 

The soldier begins laughing hysterically in Isaac’s face.  He calls Isaac “stupid.”  He points out how foolish that he is to trust in his dreams.  The solider continues to make fun of Isaac as he declares his own dream to find treasure buried in Isaac’s kitchen.  The solider though won’t go to Isaac’s kitchen because it would be the most idiotic thing to do in the world. He then kicks Isaac to mock him before leaving his presence[21]. 

Isaac walks home dejected, feeling like a fool.  Upon returning home though, Isaac moves the stove in his kitchen when something catches his eye.  There was treasure buried in Isaac’s kitchen all along.  Isaac had gone from a very poor man to a very rich man within the blink of an eye.  No soldier could ever take this away from Isaac.  Isaac’s greatest woe had become his greatest blessing[22].

As Jesus gives the Sermon on the Plain to us Today as his Christian people, he seeks to remind us that indeed our woes (our poverty, our relationship failures, our job loss, our broken bones, and our lost possessions) might be the sources of our inevitable salvation.  When Jesus would soon breathe his last breath, he was not dying, but merely opening the gate to life eternal instead.     Amen
 


[1] McLarty, Phillip. W. “Are You Blessed.” Sermon Writer. 2007. Web. Jan.29.2019.  Story by Liu An. 
[2] McLarty, Phillip. W. “Are You Blessed.” Sermon Writer.
[3] McLarty, Phillip. W. “Are You Blessed.” Sermon Writer.
[4] McLarty, Phillip. W. “Are You Blessed.” Sermon Writer.
[5] Luke 6:17-26. 
[6] Wayne, Luke. “What is the Sermon on the Plain?” CARM Ministries (Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry). 25.Feb.2016. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[7] Matthew 5:1
[8] Luke 6:17
[9] Matthew 5-7
[10] Luke 6:17-49. 
[11] Wellman, Jack. “What Does Woe Mean? A Biblical Definition Of Woe.” Christian Crier. Patheos Network of Blogs. 20.Aug.2015. Web. Jan.30.2019. 
[12] Zingale, Tim. “The Lifestyle.” Sermon Central. 16. Feb.2004. Web. Jan.30.2019. 
[13] Luke 6:20-22.
[14] Luke 6:23.
[15] “Unanswered Prayers.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 7.Dec.2018. Web. Jan.29.2019.  Reference comes from Rev. Dr. Phillip McLarty’s sermon “Are You Blessed” published on Sermon Writer in 2007. 
[16] McLarty, Phillip. W. “Are You Blessed.” Sermon Writer.
[17] Unanswered Prayers.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
[18] Markquardt, Ed. “Luke’s Beattitudes.” Sermons from Seattle. Web. Jan.30.2019. 
[19] Jackson Shelton, Sarah. “Blessing or Curse?” Day 1. 11. Feb.2007. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[20] Jackson Shelton, Sarah. “Blessing or Curse?” Day 1.
[21] Jackson Shelton, Sarah. “Blessing or Curse?” Day 1.
[22] Jackson Shelton, Sarah. “Blessing or Curse?” Day 1.

First Lesson: Isaiah 6: 1-8, (9-13)
Responsive Reading: Psalm 138
Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 5: 1-11

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
In 1918, a boy was born in a small town in Rural Oklahoma.  The boy grew up on a tiny farm milking cows[1].  As he got older, this boy did everything he could to try to make ends meet from delivering newspapers to waiting tables.  The young man eventually gets into college. His first job is with JC Penney for $75 a month[2].  He then serves his country in World War II.  He uses money from his time in the service along with a loan from his father in law to purchase a small variety store in Newport, Arkansas.  The business quickly grew increasing sales three hundred percent within the first three years.  His business model was simple; he didn’t want to own stores in big cities, but instead small towns.  He wanted to have a wide variety of products at the lowest prices possible.  He realized he had only one boss the customer to whom he had to answer.  In 1962, he decided to open another new store; this new store had his name “Walton” in the store’s name.  Within five years, Sam Walton’s store had annual sales exceeding of over 12 million dollars.  Today, Walmart has become the world’s largest company by revenue.  Growing up dirt poor in Oklahoma, Sam Walton could never imagine the direction that God would take his life.  Walton though is not unique.

Second story, in 1928 a boy is born outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The boy had a difficult childhood.  He had health problems such as asthma[3]. He was bullied by other children.  He was made fun of for his weight.   The boy was shy. He spent much of his time alone in his room.  Since he didn’t have any friends, he became a puppeteer to try to create friends within his make-believe world.  He spent the rest of his free-time becoming a talented piano player.  He eventually gets accepted in Dartmouth College, which he couldn’t stand for its hyper-macho environment.    He drops out to transfer to a school far away from home.  He eventually becomes a seminary student back in Pittsburgh.  He felt he was being called to a ministry like no one else in the Presbyterian Church either before or since.  He believed his ministry was to be an educational T.V. ministry to young children[4].  His church body balked at his request.  He eventually begins his show on Pittsburgh’s WEQD[5].  Forty years later upon his retirement, he’s considered one of the most influential T.V. stars of all time. Perhaps the most significant influence in Early Childhood Education this country has ever known.  Mr. Fred Rogers’ ministry had been born in some of the toughest days of his childhood and ended up becoming an influence to tens of millions of children of this country because of it.

The third and final story, 385 A.D. a young man is born within Roman Britain[6]. He grew up in relative prosperity and comfort.   In these days, the Roman Empire in these parts was on the verge of collapse[7].   The British Coast would often be attacked by Irish pirate ships.  In 401 A.D. the young man was captured in one of these raids.  He would spend the next six years of his life living in Ireland as a slave.  His task as a slave was the most miserable of all. He was ordered to be a shepherd.  The young man would be isolated in Ireland’s cold mountains for months on end[8].  Food was always challenging to find and he was unable to speak the native language. The young man with no other place in the world to turn begins to embrace his Grandfather’s Christian faith.  The young man would start to spend his days praying for God to save him from the land that he hated.  The young man eventually does escape Ireland and return to his native Britain.  His parents begged him never to leave Britain again.  God would have other plans! The young man continues studying Christianity! One night he has a vision that he is to return to Ireland so that he may become “The Voice of the Irish[9].” The young man returns to Ireland; his missionary work is so successful that he comes to be known as the “Saint of Ireland[10].” By the time of Saint Patrick’s death, a little over thirty years after his initial capture Ireland, had transformed from a pagan nation to a Christian one.

What these three stories have in common is God taking people from unlikely circumstances and using them to help transform not only people but ultimately nations. 

Today’s Old Testament lesson tells a similar story[11].  To understand the life of the Prophet Isaiah let me give a little brief background.

King Solomon died about 170 years before Isaiah’s birth. Solomon’s death left Israel divided into Northern and Southern Kingdoms over the question of who should inherit his throne[12].  Isaiah lived in the Northern Kingdom which was compromised of ten of Israel’s twelve tribes.  The Northern Kingdom also known as Samaria in Isaiah’s days had seen many of its residents abandon the God of Israel for the foreign God Baal. Baal was believed to control the weather, war, and even human fertility[13]. Many Samaritans didn’t believe such beliefs were incompatible with their worship of the God of Israel. 

So the Lord would frequently call prophets to try to get the people to turn from their false worship before their inevitable destruction.  The most famous prophets of the Northern Kingdom are Elijah who called down fire from heaven, Jonah who ended up in the belly of a whale, and Isaiah whose call story we hear Today.

 In our lesson, Isaiah is standing in the Temple of the Lord.  He looked up and saw a vision.  The Lord was sitting on his throne, the back of his robe is filling the Temple, surrounding the Lord are Seraphim which are six-winged angels singing out: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory[14].”

The impact of the Heavenly Choir is such that Isaiah is in awe.  Isaiah knew this vision meant that God was calling him to be a “prophet” amongst the Northern Kingdom. Isaiah thought he felt deeply unworthy. Isaiah’s unworthiness had nothing to do with growing up poor like Sam Walton, being shy and socially awkward like Mr. Rogers, or not wanting to have anything to do with the people of the Northern Kingdom like Saint Patrick.  Isaiah’s reluctance instead had to do with his tongue:
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty[15].”

A few months back, I was lifting weights.  The previous lifter had forgotten to take their weights down, so before I could begin, I would need to do so.  The problem was the rack had been moved, so I didn’t have much room to maneuver. I bumped my leg, and I proceeded to drop a 45 lb. — barbell right on top of my pinky finger.  The finger soon turned black, and just this week the nail would fall off.  The mark was quite noticeable.  I was down at Zup’s a when Kathy the cashier says she was discussing my finger with another customer.  She then asked me: “Did I cuss when the accident happened?”

 To which I answered that I didn’t, but that the pain was such that I could easily forgive anyone that did.   

You see the reason Isaiah felt that he was unworthy of God’s calling is he had used too much R-rated language throughout his life. Isaiah believed there were all sorts of people that could throw this fault in his face; thereby God could certainly find someone better to serve as a Prophet to the people of the Northern Kingdom. 

God’s response to Isaiah’s excuse is noteworthy.  The Seraphim grabs a piece of coal, flies over to Isaiah[16], touches his lips, and declares Isaiah’s “guilt is taken away[17].” And “sin is atoned[18].”

Isaiah’s attitude would soon do a 180-degree turn.  The Lord would then ask: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us[19]?” To which Isaiah would reply: “Here am I. Send me![20].”

Isaiah would serve as one of Israel’s longest prophets with a ministry that lasted upwards of sixty-four years.  What Isaiah’s ministry centered on was a coming judgment that would fall upon Israel’s kingdoms as long as they persisted in their sin. Isaiah though speaks even more forcefully though of a great hope to be given to the people in the Messiah that is to come.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him,  and by his wounds we are healed.”-Isaiah 53:5. 

It was Isaiah who would quote the words later spoken by Jesus:
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;1 he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor[21]

Without God calling the previous foul-mouther Isaiah the story of our salvation is never written.  It reminds us that God’s promises of forgiveness are more powerful than our excuses.  Abraham was already an old man, yet he eventually became the father of a great nation.   We might claim we’re too shy, too broken, too young, or too old. Here’s the point of our lesson made clear by the stories of Sam Walton, Fred Rogers, and Saint Patrick:  “God calls us out of our imperfections, rather than for our perfection.”

A few weeks ago, I was at a Basketball game at William Kelley. A group of students was cussing loud enough that I had to tell them to quiet down.  Isaiah reminds me that this is never an excuse to seek to inevitability run from God’s calling upon our lives.   Amen


[1] Sharma, Arun. “Rags to Riches: Sam Walton.” Wisdom Pearls. 21.Mar.2017. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[2] “Sam Walton.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 18.Jan.2019. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[3] “Fred Rogers.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 24.Jan.2019. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[4] I recently read Maxwell King’s biography: The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers published by Harry N.Abrams in 2018. King’s book heavily informs this analogy. 
[5] “Fred Rogers.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
[6] “Saint Patrick.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 28.Jan.2019. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[7] Higgins, Scott. “St.Patrick.” Stories for Preaching. Web. Jan.29.2019. Higgins’ source is Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilisation (Hodder, 1995)
[8] Higgins, Scott. “St.Patrick.” Stories for Preaching.
[9] Higgins, Scott. “St.Patrick.” Stories for Preaching.
[10] Saint Patrick.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation
[11] Isaiah 6:1-13. 
[12] Butler, Amy. “Marching Orders.” Sermon Writer. 2006. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[13] “Baal.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 18.Jan.2019. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[14] Isaiah 6:3. 
[15] Isaiah 6:4. 
[16] Isaiah 6:6
[17] Isaiah 6:7
[18] Isaiah 6:7. 
[19] Isaiah 6:8. 
[20] Isaiah 6:8. 
[21] Luke 4:18, Isaiah 61:1-2. 

First Lesson: Jeremiah 1: 4-10
Responsive Reading: Psalm 71: 1-6
Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 4: 21-30

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
Once upon a time, there was a wife as mad at her husband as any wife could be[1].  She goes to see her minister, where she proceeded to go on and on about all her husband’s terrible qualities.  The wife’s hatred is made-known as she declares; “I not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even.  Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me[2].”  

The minister then proceeded to suggest what seemed to be a genius plan to grant her wishes.  “I want you to go home, and I want you to act as if you really love your husband. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him[3]!”

After you’ve spent weeks convincing him of all this, then you will drop the bombshell, how you demand a divorce!  You will truly crush him at this point!  The wife then thinks the minister’s plan is absolutely brilliant!  She promises to call the minister back once she goes through with this plan.   

So the wife goes home does exactly as the minister instructed.  For the next two months, she sought to be as loving, kind, honoring, patience, and selfless as she could be. 

The minister never hears back from the wife.  Finally out of curiosity, he decides to call her to find how things are going.  The minister asks about her divorce from her hated husband? The wife scoffs “Divorce? Never! I’ve discovered I really do love him[4].” Her new understanding of love had permanently changed their marriage!

Today’s Epistle lesson seeks to do the same thing to members of the Corinthian Church[5].  As I talked about last week the church in Corinth was in conflict. At the roots of the conflict was whether certain members of the church who spoke in the secret prayer language of tongues were extra special within the Kingdom of God[6].   Paul seeks to redirect their focus as Christian people instead.  He seeks to point out that the Christian life is not about accumulating rewards, but rather how your love can lift those around you.  Paul seeks to begin by making the point that love is indeed the most valued of all gifts within the Christian church. 

“If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal[7].”

The gift of love given unto others like in the opening story of the woman, the minister, and her husband highlight love’s power to permanently redeem from even the most hopeless of circumstances.

Once upon a time, there was a young woman who ran far, far away from home because her father was an alcoholic[8].  She vowed never to speak to him again! The years afterward, she becomes a Christian.  She then decides that her calling as a Christian woman is to move back home, so her father may be well again!
Everyone who heard her speak of this was in shock? She had previously described her father as the meanest man; she had ever met!

Someone asked her: “What will you do when he finds fault with all your efforts to please him.”

She replied: “I will try a little harder[9].”

They then asked: “Yes but when is unreasonable and unkind you will be tempted to lose your temper, and answer him angrily. What will you do then?”

The daughter replied: “Pray a little harder[10].”

Finally hoping to get this woman to finally give up hope they asked: “What if he is as awful as you can imagine. Won’t you regret going home? What could you do but leave[11]?”

Only for the Christian daughter to end the conversation by declaring: “Love him a little harder[12].”

The daughter does go home. Things were far from perfect.  The daughter then kept praying, kept patient, kept loving, and her previously lost father saw first-hand the power of salvation[13]. 

Paul begins our passage by establishing Love as the highest of Christian callings.  Paul continues our scripture lesson by defining “love” within a Christian context. 

Now 1st Corinthians 13 is most commonly read at weddings.  While 1st Corinthians 13 gives good advice to a Bride and Groom to be: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy; it does not boast, it is not proud.

1st Corinthians 13 was not written with marital love in mind[14].  Paul’s whole point is instead within the Christian community how love is often uncomfortable. Love’s calling will put you in the presence of undesirables.   Love is not about your emotions in any given moment; love is instead the highest of callings especially when it is the most difficult.

Once upon a T.V. reporter was on assignment in Israel[15].  A bomb explodes, and a mass of people are wounded.  Through the crowd comes a man carrying a severely injured little girl.  The man begged the reporter to help get the girl to a hospital.  He thought that as a member of the press, the reporter would be able to get through the security line that the police had formed.  The reporter agrees. He brings the man and what appeared to be his daughter in his car to the hospital.  Both the reporter and man were unsure whether the girl would survive.

They eventually arrive at the hospital. They wait together to get the news regarding the girls’ fate.  Eventually, the doctor regrets to inform them that the girl had died. The man collapsed in the reporter’s arms sobbing.  The reporter then starts trying to comfort the man: “I don’t know what to say. I can’t imagine what you must be going through. I’ve never lost a child[16].”

The man turns to the reporter to say: “That girl was not my daughter. I’m an Israeli settler.  She was a Palestinian. But there comes a time when each of us must realize that every child, regardless of that child’s background, is a daughter or a son. There must come a time when we realize that we are all one family[17].”

Paul closes our Gospel lesson that Love shall outlast time itself.  Paul confesses within our lesson that he hasn’t always loved like should: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”  

Love though is more powerful than any imperfection within our life.  Paul closes our lesson that even at those times when our world seems to be ending.  “Love never fails[18] “.  Love will outlast tongues, prophecies, and even knowledge itself.  Love will survive even the end of the world. 

Our lesson closes with the following promise: ‘And now these three (things) remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love[19].”

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who had a sister who needed a blood transfusion[20].  Her blood type was rare, and her brother was the best possible match.  The doctor then begins to explain the procedure to the boy explaining that without the transfusion that his sister would die. 

The doctor finally asks the boy: “Would you be brave for your sister?” The boy began to think it over, before finally cracking a smile saying” Sure, for my sister,” I’ll do it.” The two siblings were then wheeled into the hospital room.  Mary was pale and thin, whereas Johnny was looking robust and healthy[21].  He watched as blood as came out of his sister, down a clear plastic tube.  Johnny finally turns to the Doctor as says: “Doctor, when do I die[22]?” for Mary. 

Johnny didn’t quite understand the procedure in that giving his blood didn’t mean losing his life. Johnny did understand love.  Johnny believed that his love for Mary was so great that was willing to die to save her. 

Paul’s point to the Corinthians is that they have already received the greatest of love that can be given upon a cross[23]. A love that not only changes lives, a love that forgives us, and a love that can resurrect from the grave itself.  Human love is an imperfect comparison to the love of God given unto us.

It is this love that shall ultimately heal all broken relationships between not only individuals, but families, and ultimately nations.  Love is not merely an emotion that wavers depending on the moment; Love is a promise given by our savior unto one’s own death itself. 

“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”-1 Peter 1:18-19. 

Love cannot only change our world; Love made most fully known in Christ Jesus will ultimately change the world that is to come.  Amen
 
 
[1] Petersen, J. Allan. “Love.” Sermon Illustrations. Web. Jan.24.2019. 
[2] Petersen, J. Allan. “Love.” Sermon Illustrations.
[3] Petersen, J. Allan. “Love.” Sermon Illustrations.
[4] Petersen, J. Allan. “Love.” Sermon Illustrations.
[5] 1st Corinthians 13:1-13. 
[6] Mast, Stan. “1 Corinthians 13:1-13.” Center for Excellence in Preaching. Calvin Seminary. Grand Rapids. 25.Jan.2016. Web. Jan.24.2019.
[7] 1st Corinthians 13:1
[8] New Illustrator. “Love's Persistence.” More Illustrations. Jan.24.2019. 
[9] New Illustrator. “Love's Persistence.” More Illustrations.
[10] New Illustrator. “Love's Persistence.” More Illustrations.
[11] New Illustrator. “Love's Persistence.” More Illustrations.
[12] New Illustrator. “Love's Persistence.” More Illustrations.
[13] New Illustrator. “Love's Persistence.” More Illustrations.
[14] Suk Kim, Yung. “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.” Working Preacher. Luther Seminary. 3.Feb.2019. Web. Jan.24.2019.
[15] Higgins, Scott. “We Are All Family – A Story About Loving One’s Enemy.” Stories for Preaching. Jan.24.2019. 
[16] Higgins, Scott. “We Are All Family – A Story About Loving One’s Enemy.” Stories for Preaching.
[17] Higgins, Scott. “We Are All Family – A Story About Loving One’s Enemy.” Stories for Preaching.
[18] 1 Corinthians 13:8. 
[19] 1st Corinthians 13:13. 
[20] Higgins, Scott. “When Do I Die?” Stories for Preaching. Web. Jan.24.2019. Taken from Robert Coleman’s Written in Blood.
[21] Higgins, Scott. “When Do I Die?” Stories for Preaching.
[22] Higgins, Scott. “When Do I Die?” Stories for Preaching.
[23] Peterson, Brian. “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.” Working Preacher. Luther Seminary. 31.Jan.2016. Web. Jan.24.2019.  

First Lesson: Nehemiah 8: 1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Responsive Reading: Psalm 19
Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31a
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 4: 14-21

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
I was eleven years old and playing my first summer of Little League.  Here’s the thing that I must confess I was never a good baseball player. When batting lineups were made even though my dad was the coach, I would always bat last.    I would occasionally get on base, as my goal was to do whatever I possibly could not to swing the bat hoping that a pitcher couldn’t throw me strikes so that I may walk instead. I dreaded swinging the bat, as the main reason I wasn’t a good hitter is “I was afraid of the ball.” I would always flinch when it came my direction.

When it came to field assignments, I would always be placed in Right Field next to a seemingly fast center fielder; thereby I’d hardly ever see a ball hit in my direction the whole game where my lack of speed would be a factor. 

Well my first year of Little League, we had a good team.  We had a pitcher named Brant Larson who no one could get a hit off.  If Brant were allowed to pitch the whole game, we never would have lost.  But thanks to Brant, we made it far in the Little League playoffs against the best team in the league. 

Well as the game was entering the later innings, the game was hanging in the balance, my team had kids in position to score, and the last person I wanted to bat was coming to the plate! Me.  I had to stand in and face a pitcher with a game on the line with two outs in the inning.  I was going to have the swing the bat as the pitcher was good and unlikely to walk me.  So I see a pitch swing the bat, make contact, hit a liner over the infielder's heads.  We score! We go onto the win the game.  Sitting in my parents’ house in Lindstrom is the only game ball I ever received growing up for helping to win that Little League playoff game. 

I might have been the weakest player on the team, but my team on this day would not have won without me. 

The second story, Sir Michael Costa was one of the great orchestra conductors of the 19th Century[1].  Legend has it one day he was rehearsing with not only his orchestra but a great choir.  Midway through the session, the piccolo player stopped playing. Now the piccolo is the smallest of woodwind instruments (a half-size flute).  Now to the untrained musical ear in the midst of such a great chorus of sounds, no one would ever notice the piccolo’s absence.   Sir Michael immediately heard something to be off with the rehearsal. He immediately stopped everyone as he shouted out: “Where’s the piccolo? What happened to the piccolo[2]?’

As Michael Costa recognized it is indeed the piccolo player who is indispensable. According to the Apostle Paul within our lesson for Today from 1st Corinthians 12, it is much the same way within the Kingdom of God[3]. 
Here’s what you need to know about the Corinthian Church, it was a church of divided loyalties. Some were claiming to be followers of the church’s founder the Apostle Paul, whereas others proclaimed loyalty to the new preacher the charismatic Apollos, whereas the hardcore traditionalists declared their devotion to Christ’s disciple Peter[4].  So the Corinthians disagreed about preaching, worship, ethics, and belief matter in general.   But perhaps the most hot-button issue among the Corinthian church, in general, had to do with how they understood spiritual gifts[5].  The highest tension centered around speaking in tongues[6].  Basically, the holiest and most active members of the Corinthian Church believed that God had blessed them with a secret prayer language, which second-class believers did not possess. 

So how does Paul respond to the Corinthians back and forth: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.”

Why does diversity exist within the Body of Christ?  To strengthen the entire Body of Christ, no different than Sir Michael Costa thought that his musical piece would sound wrong without the piccolo.

It’s not an issue of which gifts are superior within the Body of Christ; the passage continues with Paul seeking to address how there is no such thing as inferior or superior gifts within the Christian Church[7].

Verse 22: “ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.”

The whole point of the Body of Christ is this.  It shows to the world what the Church can be when gathered.

Once upon a highway department truck pulled up alongside a city street[8].  The first worker climbs out of the truck and digs a hole between the street and sidewalk.  A few minutes later, a second worker gets out of the truck, filled the hole with dirt.  The procedure keeps getting repeated every few feet down the block. A senior woman watches this scene unfold and is confused by it all.  She then approaches one of the workers to ask: “What are you doing?”  The worker responded: “We’re on an urban renewal project?”  The woman shakes her head: “The street is way uglier than before, with all these dirt holes.” To which the worker responds: “Well you see, the man who plants the trees is out sick today[9].”

The following story showcases Paul’s point within our lesson about the problem of holes within the Body of Christ:

Verse 25: “so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

The ideal image of the Christian Church is when it ceases being a collection of individuals arguing over whose gifts are superior and instead becomes a Body seeking to proclaim the Grace of Christ to the entire world, even as the church might seem splintered into all sort of unique Church bodies.

While the issues that divide us retain importance, Paul says they should not be burdens in the end to the real mission of why we gather?

I talked this week to my friend Cody in Wisconsin; I was the best man in Cody’s wedding.  Cody is an active and faithful member of the Wisconsin Synod. The Wisconsin Synod is as conservative as other Lutheran bodies get when it comes to interacting with other Christians.   I’ve gone to church services in Cody’s church where I haven’t taken communion out of respect for their beliefs, and I’ve even visited the Wisconsin Synod seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin. 

As I was talking to Cody, he was telling me about the Wisconsin Synod’s television program: Time of Grace Ministry with Pastor Mark Jeske. Pastor Jeske is among the most talented Lutheran preachers that I’ve ever heard.  Cody though remarked to me: “When you watch his show, they tend to downplay the WELS’ distinctive beliefs.” To which I responded: “The goal is to make the Lutheran faith accessible to a wider audience.”

The problem with too many Christians is that we make perfect the enemy of the good.  We go looking for a church that isn’t there to the detriment of the church that we’re truly called to be. 

God has given us some wonderful gifts: “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues[d]? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.”

Remember these greater gifts might not seem to be what they appear.  The year was 1981; President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr[10]. The President would be confined to a hospital bed for the next several weeks.  The government managed to keep functioning over these weeks, and little impact was felt daily for the average American.

 In 1986, a seemingly unrelated event took place in Philadelphia the garbage collectors went on strike for three-weeks during the hottest part of summer.  Trash would pile up, the city’s smell turned noxious, and a huge public health hazard became a reality.  Now at first glance, it would seem obvious who is more important the President of the United States or a random garbage collector.  Paul’s point though about the Body of Christ is that everyone’s gifts are needed for the good of the whole body. 

I’ve got a baseball sitting in my childhood bedroom that can tell you why.  Amen

[1] Higgins, Scott. “Sir Michael Costa.” Stories for Preaching. Web. Jan.22.2019. 
[2] Higgins, Scott. “Sir Michael Costa.” Stories for Preaching.
[3] 1st Corinthians 12:12-31a.
[4] 1 Corinthians 1:12. 
[5] Mast, Stan. “1 Corinthians 12:12-31a.” Center for Excellence in Preaching. Calvin Seminary. Grand Rapids, MI. 18.Jan.2016. Web. Jan.22.2019. 
[6] 1st Corinthians 14. 
[7] Mast, Stan. “1 Corinthians 12:12-31a.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[8] Mast, Stan. “1 Corinthians 12:12-31a.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[9] Mast, Stan. “1 Corinthians 12:12-31a.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[10] Parsons, David. “Body of Christ.” Sermon Illustrations. Web. Jan.22.2019.