Amos 7:7-17; Mark 6: 14-29
Speaking truth to power is risky. That seems like the understatement of the century after hearing the story of John the Baptist’s beheading. But however understated or redundant, it is a truth we must face over and over again. Whether it’s our personal struggle to stand up for ourselves with our parents, our employers, our spouses, or someone who is oppressing us; or whether it is speaking up on behalf of some other group of people who are being treated unjustly, the risks of speaking truth to power are evident at every turn.
The people of Iran learned the lesson recently, as protesters and their leaders were arrested for questioning the current arrangement of power. The risk isn’t just about life and death. It’s about success and failure. What if a lot of people die speaking truth to power and nothing changes? A recent editorial in the New York Times, entitled “Understanding Iran: Repression 101”, compares the impact of the protests in Iran to those 20 years ago in Tiananmen Square in China, where the Chinese Communist party, albeit changed, continues in power; and to Solidarity uprisings in Poland where more radical change resulted. It goes on to compare protests and revolutionary movements in Burma and North Korea and Nicaragua. We can ask about the impact of protests in this country – against various wars, about environmental issues or abortion, the anti-nuclear movement of two decades ago, and many other examples of speaking truth to power.
Clearly, if speaking truth to power is evaluated based on short term success in light of the risks involved, not many would chose to participate. But that is to address the matter politically. How might it look different if we address it spiritually? What happens spiritually when we fail to speak truth to power? William Sloan Coffin said, “If you lessen your anger at the structures of power you lower your love for the victims of power.” (To the left, p. 5) I agree with Rev. Coffin. But love and anger are difficult travelling companions. One usually wins over the other at any given moment. That leads me to ask a question about the spirituality of people who speak truth to power. What prepares a person spiritually to speak truth to power? Amos and John the Baptist offer some hints.
First of all, both Amos and John had an appropriate sense of their own importance. Now, appropriate means neither too high nor too low. Both decided that despite not having high enough status, there was no one else more appropriate or available to take up the mantle. Amos refers to himself as “just” a herdsman, as over against Amaziah, who was a priest, with access to the king’s ear. When Amaziah tried to emasculate Amos by calling him a prophet and saying he wasn’t living up to a prophet’s status, Amos refused to take the label. “I am not a prophet. I am just obeying God’s call to prophesy.” Amos spoke truth to King Jeroboam; the official priest Amaziah tried to silence him. Amos wouldn’t hear of it. He was clear about who he was and what he was called to do. It wasn’t about him; it was about a larger cause. He wasn’t into status–that didn’t matter.
The same was true of John the Baptist. John’s role as messenger was to prepare for someone else. He began his career making sure everyone knew that he was not “the one.” “There is one greater than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” Along the way he insisted that that he had to decrease while Jesus increased.
The people who need to speak truth to power don’t do it because it makes sense for them to be the ones who do it. They do it because there is no one else who is any better. Even though on the outside prophets clearly have a lower status than kings, in the Bible the call of the Prophet and the call of the King are very similar. In Nathan's oracle to David concerning building a "house" for God (temple) and a "house" for David (dynasty), God says, "I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel" (2 Sam 7:8). The wording is strikingly similar to that in Amos's account of his calling: "and God took me from following the flock, and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel"' (Amos 7:15). Similarly, John’s announcement of his message is the same as Jesus’: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come near.” The prophet has to know this while accepting a situation in which the prophet is in the power- down situation with respect to the person in power. That is the appropriate sense of self-importance so clearly spoken by both Amos and John.
The person who speaks truth to power has a sense of being part of something greater than him or herself – something that is more important than ones personal agenda, personal status, or petty peccadilloes. Who speaks truth to power? Not the powerful themselves. Rather, it is those who are considered least likely to do so. People who speak truth to power aren’t always the ones in the spotlight. Well known people are often expected to speak truth to power, so there may actually be less impact when they do. It’s the common person who has no right to speak, the one whom nobody expects to do it, that will have greater impact on the powerful. Whenever you find yourself tempted to say, “What difference could my voice make?” remember that it has mostly been people who didn’t think they could make a difference who made a difference when they spoke truth to power.
That was the kind of impact Gandhi had. While he became a person of stature through his struggle, he started out as a common person. He was able to have the impact he had because he understood that speaking truth to power required a spiritual strength that had to be developed. And he dedicated most of his energy to developing that spiritual strength.
Throughout history it has been mostly the unsung heroes rather than the historical icons we tend to elevate to hero status who have made the most significant changes. Howard Zinn proposes some alternative heroes for our nation’s history.
Why not recall the humanitarianism of William Penn, an early colonist who made peace with the Delaware Indians instead of warring on them, as other colonial leaders were doing?
Why not John Woolman, who, in the years before the Revolution, refused to pay taxes to support the British wars, and who spoke out against slavery?
What about grassroots heroes like Fannie Lou Hamer, the Mississippi sharecropper? Mrs. Hamer was evicted from her farm and tortured in prison after she joined the civil rights movement, but she became an eloquent voice for freedom. Or Ella Baker, whose wise counsel and support guided the young black people in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the militant edge of the civil rights movement in the Deep South?
Today also there are heroes speaking truth to power, like thousands of students on more than 100 college campuses across the country who are protesting their universities' connection with sweatshop-produced apparel; and the four McDonald sisters in Minneapolis, all nuns, who went to jail repeatedly for protesting against the Alliant Corporation's production of land mines; and the thousands of people who have traveled to Fort Benning, Georgia, to demand the closing of the murderous School of the Americas. (Published in the June 2000 issue of The Progressive Unsung Heroes by Howard Zinn)
The spirituality that undergirds this ability to speak truth to power has to do with moving from a reactive mode to an active mode of being. This is true whether it involves a public political protest, a child standing up to a parent, an employee standing up to a supervisor, or a customer relating to a shopkeeper. Personally, I have found it more challenging to speak truth to power on behalf of myself than on behalf of others. About 25 years ago I took a battery of tests that revealed how I respond to things when I’m in a reactive mode and how I respond when I’m in an active mode. For example, when I didn’t feel that people were respecting me, I went to my reactive response, which was either to withdraw or to relate to them as a compliant child. On the other hand, when I felt respected, I could access the broad range of active skills and abilities that I have and respond fruitfully.
Over the years I’ve learned that I have the option of choosing to respond from an active mode even when I am experiencing a lack of respect, by consciously accessing either healthy anger by restoring boundaries in a relationship, or by disengaging from the relationship because I realize the other person doesn’t respect me, and that I don’t want to be in relationship with that person. When I combine that awareness with the realization that I am participating in something that is greater than myself, I can choose to remain engaged, and channel my anger to speak truth to the one who claims more power in the circumstances, but who doesn’t really have more power in the larger scheme of things.
Another aspect of spirituality for speaking truth to power is the importance of maintaining a combination of love and anger, along with the courage to speak when it’s dangerous. St. Augustine wrote: “Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.” But it is also important for the spokesperson to stay connected to the love for the people that motivates the speaking truth to power in the first place. As William Sloan Coffin said, “We have to hate evil, else we’re sentimental. But if we hate evil more than we love the good, we become good haters, and o those the world already has too many. However deep, our anger must always and only measure our love.”
We see this balance in Amos. God shows three scenes to Amos in Amos 7: locusts ready to eat the harvest, a shower of fire that dried up the sea and ate up the land, and a plumb line. In the first two cases, Amos begged God to relent of the plans for destruction, and God did relent. In the third case, which is today’s passage, God inserts a question to Amos after showing him the plumb line: “Amos, what do you see?” God hadn’t asked that the other two times. Once Amos acknowledges that he sees a plumb line (a tool of measurement rather than an instrument of destruction like the other two), God proceeds to reveal plans for destruction. This time Amos does not beg. What happened? Did Amos lose his love and patience for the people? Or did he finally see what God saw: the discrepancy between Israel’s calling and its conduct.
The demand for justice required dramatic action to make the wall “plumb.” The wall that was Israel would never be able to support the structure of God’s call on its life without the needed correction to straighten the wall. A building whose walls are not straight (or “plumb”) will collapse under its own weight. In that case, love requires convincing the owner to invest in making the necessary adjustments.
I have a friend who just added a room onto a house. Last week the inspector came and said the city had denied the building permit. At this point, my friend will try to negotiate with the inspector to allow the room to stand, perhaps paying a fine. But if the inspector refuses, my friend will have to tear down the addition, which cost about $15,000. At a certain point, it does no good to argue. It is time for action.
Some of you may be following the news about the current spat between labor unions. At a time when workers need unions to be advocating for them more than ever, some of the largest unions are trying to recruit members from each others’ ranks. Whatever else one might say about that, it demonstrates a disconnection between the anger that leads people to fight for justice and the love for the people that evokes that anger when the people are hurt.
We have our own struggles to keep love and anger, justice and peace together. It turns out that this is one of the great challenges of taking up the mantle to speak truth to power. It is the message of the Psalm for today – Psalm 85: “Will you be angry with us forever? Show us your steadfast love, O God, and grant us your salvation… Steadfast love and truth fill meet, justice and peace will kiss each other. Truthfulness will spring up from the ground and justice will look down from the sky.”
Must we speak truth to power? Yes. Do we need to do that from a spiritually centered place? Double yes. As Immanuel continues to engage our anger at injustice by participating in struggles for justice for many groups of people, I pray that we will be able to do it in ways that also reveal our love and build bridges of peace. For otherwise, our justice work will just be clanging gongs and noisy cymbals.
July 13, 2009
July 9, 2009
July 8, 2009 + Who Is Your Neighbor? (Luke 10:25-37) + Hayward Fong
Samuel gave such a stirring sermon last Sunday, I’m glad I had skipped the Lectionary assignment and spoke instead about Independence Day and Christian Freedom. Immanuel is in the Second Year cycle, so as to avoid any duplication of thoughts, I’m using one of the other two years for our Wednesday worship. The familiar selection, which I just read for the 15th Sunday is commonly called the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
A few years ago, one researcher found in a survey that 49% of the people interviewed said they would be able to tell the story of the Good Samaritan if asked to do so, 45% said they would not be able to, and 6% were unsure whether they could or not. Among those who attended religious services every week, the proportion that thought they could tell the story rose to 69%.
But whether or not one could accurately retell this parable, the concept of the “Good Samaritan” is familiar enough to most everyone. We name hospitals, churches, and institutions in his honor. Most people know a ‘Good Samaritan’ when they see one…Mother Teresa, Albert Schweitzer, that anonymous person who simply stops to change a flat tire for you or helps a blind person across the street. Yes, we have all met one or have heard of one even if we can’t relate to the details of the parable.
In the story, we are immediately introduced to a lawyer, who poses a question to Jesus as a test, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” When I was teaching in the Army, I would often encounter someone in the class who would “sharp shoot”, put me to the test. I wish I had the ability to turn the tables as Jesus in those situations. Jesus answers the lawyer’s question with one of his own, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”
The answer comes back, “You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Good answer. And Jesus agrees. But the lawyer, not satisfied with that, still wishes to be noticed, so he asks another question, “And who is my neighbor?” In other words, “OK, Jesus, I understand that I’m suppose to CARE, but what are the limits of my caring? When can I quit? And here Jesus tells this famous story.
The first person to whom we are introduced is the poor traveler. He had taken the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, which was notoriously dangerous. It descended nearly 3,300 feet in 17 miles, running through narrow passes at various points. The terrain offered easy hiding places for the bandits who terrorized travelers. This unfortunate man had been stripped, beaten and left for dead. Jesus’ audience that day knew how easily it could happen and I suspect that we as Jesus’ audience today could easily identify by glancing quickly through the newspapers or watching the TV news of the violence taking place on a daily basis.
Suddenly who should come along but a Priest? If anyone could be expected to stop and help it would be a Priest. But wait! The Priest doesn’t come over to help; on the contrary, he passes by on the other side. No reason is given. Perhaps it was fear? The Priest may be thinking, those who beat the man in the ditch might be lying in wait to beat him as well. Have you ever come upon someone after an ugly accident, and simply passed by for fear of becoming involved? You didn’t want to be a hero! As a note, if a Priest found a body on their journey they had a duty to bury it. Maybe that was what was going through his mind. For whatever reason, he went on his way.
Next, along comes the Levite…an “assistant” Priest. As Luke records it, “…he came to the place and saw him, (and) passed by on the other side.” He wasn’t going to be a hero either!
Now the final character comes along – a Samaritan. The GOOD Samaritan! Nowhere in the Bible will we find the words “Good” and “Samaritan” next to each other. For those folks who first heard this story, the phrase “Good Samaritan” would have been an oxymoron, (oxymoron is the putting together of words which seem to contradict each other) – the only GOOD Samaritan would have been a DEAD Samaritan.
Why such a depth of feeling? A little Jewish history! The hostility between Jews and Samaritans was hundreds of years old. It went back to the time of the division of the nation into the Northern and Southern kingdoms – Samaria came to be identified with the North and Judea with the south. Following the fall of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria in 721 B.C., exiles from many nations settled in Samaria, creating something if a melting pot, no longer was it purely Jewish. Move forward a hundred years or so. Now it is the turn for the Southern Kingdom to fall – this time the conqueror was Babylon, and, as was the custom of the day, the people were carried off into exile to prevent any uprising in the occupied territory. The few Jews left in Samaria were considered no threat in that regard, so they were left in Palestine. Seventy years passed and the exiles were allowed to return. The Samaritans were ready to welcome them back, but the returnees would have none of it – Samaritans had intermarried with gentiles making them “half-breeds.” They had perverted the race. The Samaritans had also perverted the religion. They looked to Mt. Gerizim in their own land as the place to worship God, not Jerusalem. The interpreted the Torah differently that the Southern Jews.
By the time of Jesus, the animosity toward Samaritans was so great that some Jews would go miles out of their way to avoid walking on Samaritan soil. The hatred between Jew and Samaritan in Jesus’ day was as least as deep as the feeling Jews and Arabs have towards each other today. So much of this necessary historical background; let’s get on with the story
If Jesus were just trying to say we should help the helpless, supply the need of the needy, he could have talked about the first two men who passed by and the third one who stopped and cared for the half-dead guy in the ditch, without any identity. If Jesus were also making a gibe against the religious establishment, we would expect the third person to be a layman – some ordinary Israelite – in contrast to the two professional clergy. If Jesus were illustrating the need to love our enemies, then the man in the ditch would have been a Samaritan who is cared for by a loving Israelite. But that’s NOT the way the story goes. I’ll get into the question “Why a Samaritan?” in a few moments. Let’s get back to the story and try to see why Jesus cast these roles as He did?
The Samaritan sees the man, but instead of distancing himself just as the Priest and Levite had earlier, he comes closer. As Luke states, “…when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them (oil to keep them soft, wine to sterilize). Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii (two days wages), gave them to the innkeeper. And said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’” Not an insignificant amount, not lavish either, but enough to do the job. End of story!
Jesus has responded to the lawyer’s question about the neighborliness with this story and now turns the question back to the lawyer. “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” His answer, “The one who showed him mercy.” Amazing isn’t it? The concept of the GOOD Samaritan is so distasteful that the lawyer cannot bring himself to even speak the name. Perhaps the answer to that question I raised a few moments ago, “Why a Samaritan?” is that Jesus did not want his hearers to identify with this generous caregiver. It would be a temptation to identify with the charitably attractive and winsome behavior of this man, the helper/hero that he obviously was, but no good Jew could do that. He would not want to be like the Priest or the Levite either, so the only character left with which to identify would be the man in the ditch.
Now Jesus concludes, “Go and do likewise.” What? Be the guy in the ditch? Perhaps that is not so far-fetched as we might think. We never hear if this poor victim recovers, but my assumption is that he does. That being the case, what would the effect have been on him that a Samaritan had rescued him? One would presume that it would forever color his view of Samaritans. For that matter, one would presume that it would forever color his view of the world’s victims. There would be less callousness, less inclination to lay blame for getting into such fixes in the first place, less temptation to “pass by on the other side.”
If Jesus’ story had gone on any longer, I would bet that this poor fellow, from that day forward, became a better neighbor to the rest of the world than he would have ever dreamed possible. On occasions, when thinking of this parable, I’ve wondered about the rest of the story. What effect did the charity have on the man who was robbed and beaten and taken care of? Did he remember the cruelty of the robbers and shape his life with that memory? Or did he remember the nameless generosity of the Samaritan and shape his life with that debt? What did he pass on to the strangers in his life, those in need he met? Has anyone ever helped you?
“Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.” Amen.
A few years ago, one researcher found in a survey that 49% of the people interviewed said they would be able to tell the story of the Good Samaritan if asked to do so, 45% said they would not be able to, and 6% were unsure whether they could or not. Among those who attended religious services every week, the proportion that thought they could tell the story rose to 69%.
But whether or not one could accurately retell this parable, the concept of the “Good Samaritan” is familiar enough to most everyone. We name hospitals, churches, and institutions in his honor. Most people know a ‘Good Samaritan’ when they see one…Mother Teresa, Albert Schweitzer, that anonymous person who simply stops to change a flat tire for you or helps a blind person across the street. Yes, we have all met one or have heard of one even if we can’t relate to the details of the parable.
In the story, we are immediately introduced to a lawyer, who poses a question to Jesus as a test, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” When I was teaching in the Army, I would often encounter someone in the class who would “sharp shoot”, put me to the test. I wish I had the ability to turn the tables as Jesus in those situations. Jesus answers the lawyer’s question with one of his own, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”
The answer comes back, “You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Good answer. And Jesus agrees. But the lawyer, not satisfied with that, still wishes to be noticed, so he asks another question, “And who is my neighbor?” In other words, “OK, Jesus, I understand that I’m suppose to CARE, but what are the limits of my caring? When can I quit? And here Jesus tells this famous story.
The first person to whom we are introduced is the poor traveler. He had taken the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, which was notoriously dangerous. It descended nearly 3,300 feet in 17 miles, running through narrow passes at various points. The terrain offered easy hiding places for the bandits who terrorized travelers. This unfortunate man had been stripped, beaten and left for dead. Jesus’ audience that day knew how easily it could happen and I suspect that we as Jesus’ audience today could easily identify by glancing quickly through the newspapers or watching the TV news of the violence taking place on a daily basis.
Suddenly who should come along but a Priest? If anyone could be expected to stop and help it would be a Priest. But wait! The Priest doesn’t come over to help; on the contrary, he passes by on the other side. No reason is given. Perhaps it was fear? The Priest may be thinking, those who beat the man in the ditch might be lying in wait to beat him as well. Have you ever come upon someone after an ugly accident, and simply passed by for fear of becoming involved? You didn’t want to be a hero! As a note, if a Priest found a body on their journey they had a duty to bury it. Maybe that was what was going through his mind. For whatever reason, he went on his way.
Next, along comes the Levite…an “assistant” Priest. As Luke records it, “…he came to the place and saw him, (and) passed by on the other side.” He wasn’t going to be a hero either!
Now the final character comes along – a Samaritan. The GOOD Samaritan! Nowhere in the Bible will we find the words “Good” and “Samaritan” next to each other. For those folks who first heard this story, the phrase “Good Samaritan” would have been an oxymoron, (oxymoron is the putting together of words which seem to contradict each other) – the only GOOD Samaritan would have been a DEAD Samaritan.
Why such a depth of feeling? A little Jewish history! The hostility between Jews and Samaritans was hundreds of years old. It went back to the time of the division of the nation into the Northern and Southern kingdoms – Samaria came to be identified with the North and Judea with the south. Following the fall of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria in 721 B.C., exiles from many nations settled in Samaria, creating something if a melting pot, no longer was it purely Jewish. Move forward a hundred years or so. Now it is the turn for the Southern Kingdom to fall – this time the conqueror was Babylon, and, as was the custom of the day, the people were carried off into exile to prevent any uprising in the occupied territory. The few Jews left in Samaria were considered no threat in that regard, so they were left in Palestine. Seventy years passed and the exiles were allowed to return. The Samaritans were ready to welcome them back, but the returnees would have none of it – Samaritans had intermarried with gentiles making them “half-breeds.” They had perverted the race. The Samaritans had also perverted the religion. They looked to Mt. Gerizim in their own land as the place to worship God, not Jerusalem. The interpreted the Torah differently that the Southern Jews.
By the time of Jesus, the animosity toward Samaritans was so great that some Jews would go miles out of their way to avoid walking on Samaritan soil. The hatred between Jew and Samaritan in Jesus’ day was as least as deep as the feeling Jews and Arabs have towards each other today. So much of this necessary historical background; let’s get on with the story
If Jesus were just trying to say we should help the helpless, supply the need of the needy, he could have talked about the first two men who passed by and the third one who stopped and cared for the half-dead guy in the ditch, without any identity. If Jesus were also making a gibe against the religious establishment, we would expect the third person to be a layman – some ordinary Israelite – in contrast to the two professional clergy. If Jesus were illustrating the need to love our enemies, then the man in the ditch would have been a Samaritan who is cared for by a loving Israelite. But that’s NOT the way the story goes. I’ll get into the question “Why a Samaritan?” in a few moments. Let’s get back to the story and try to see why Jesus cast these roles as He did?
The Samaritan sees the man, but instead of distancing himself just as the Priest and Levite had earlier, he comes closer. As Luke states, “…when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them (oil to keep them soft, wine to sterilize). Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii (two days wages), gave them to the innkeeper. And said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’” Not an insignificant amount, not lavish either, but enough to do the job. End of story!
Jesus has responded to the lawyer’s question about the neighborliness with this story and now turns the question back to the lawyer. “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” His answer, “The one who showed him mercy.” Amazing isn’t it? The concept of the GOOD Samaritan is so distasteful that the lawyer cannot bring himself to even speak the name. Perhaps the answer to that question I raised a few moments ago, “Why a Samaritan?” is that Jesus did not want his hearers to identify with this generous caregiver. It would be a temptation to identify with the charitably attractive and winsome behavior of this man, the helper/hero that he obviously was, but no good Jew could do that. He would not want to be like the Priest or the Levite either, so the only character left with which to identify would be the man in the ditch.
Now Jesus concludes, “Go and do likewise.” What? Be the guy in the ditch? Perhaps that is not so far-fetched as we might think. We never hear if this poor victim recovers, but my assumption is that he does. That being the case, what would the effect have been on him that a Samaritan had rescued him? One would presume that it would forever color his view of Samaritans. For that matter, one would presume that it would forever color his view of the world’s victims. There would be less callousness, less inclination to lay blame for getting into such fixes in the first place, less temptation to “pass by on the other side.”
If Jesus’ story had gone on any longer, I would bet that this poor fellow, from that day forward, became a better neighbor to the rest of the world than he would have ever dreamed possible. On occasions, when thinking of this parable, I’ve wondered about the rest of the story. What effect did the charity have on the man who was robbed and beaten and taken care of? Did he remember the cruelty of the robbers and shape his life with that memory? Or did he remember the nameless generosity of the Samaritan and shape his life with that debt? What did he pass on to the strangers in his life, those in need he met? Has anyone ever helped you?
“Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.” Amen.
July 1, 2009 + Independence Day: Christian Freedom (Psalm 33:8-22; Galatians 5:13-18) + Hayward Fong
Next Saturday, July 4th, we celebrate the 233rd birthday of our nation, The United States of America. Since the date falls on a Saturday, many offices will be closed on Friday and people will take the day off to make it a three day holiday weekend.
People will be celebrating Independence Day in a variety of ways. Many have become traditions. Some people will travel to see loved ones and others will just stay at home with the family. There will be fireworks. With the tinder dry brush conditions, I hope people will realize the high danger of wild fires associated with neighborhood firework displays. There will undoubtedly be the traditional barbeques and picnics, and hopefully some patriotic observances in recognition of what the Day stands for.
We celebrate this holiday because of what happened in 1776.
On July 4, 1776, there was signed in the City of Philadelphia one of America’s historic documents: The Declaration of Independence. It marked the birth of this nation which, under God, was destined for world leadership.
We often forget, in declaring independence from an earthly power, our forefathers made a forthright declaration of dependence upon Almighty God. The closing words of this document solemnly declare: “With firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
The fifty-six courageous men who signed this document understood that this was not just high sounding rhetoric. They knew that if they succeeded, the best they could expect would be years of hardship in a struggling new nation. If they lost, they would face a hang man’s noose.
We celebrate that these people had the wherewithal and courage to break the existing hold of Europe on these wilderness colonies.
It is important to remember certain facts about the men who made this pledge; they were not poor men by any stretch of the imagination. Most of them enjoyed much ease and luxury in their personal lives. They were wealthy landowners, respected men in their communities. Among the signers was a Presbyterian minister, John Witherspoon.
But they considered liberty much more important than the security they enjoyed, and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. They fulfilled their pledge. They paid the price. And freedom was won. It has been said, “To be born free is a privilege. To die free is an awesome responsibility.”
Freedom is never free. It is always purchased at a great cost. On the signing of The Declaration of Independence, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, “I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states; yet, through all the gloom I can see the rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means.”
We celebrate the actions of people we only know about because of books. We celebrate the actions of people who lived without the things we take for granted in our everyday living.
What did they want to become independent from? If you read through the document you find oppression, abuse, removal of rights, false justice and punishment. You find a precisely stated set of charges against the king and their justification for independence. Their declaration was to break free of the strangling hold of a tyrant.
Interestingly we celebrate the day of declaration not the day it was actually achieved. I guess if they had actually lost the struggle we would not be celebrating at all on Saturday. We celebrate the ideal of the prize that was worth so much time, energy and lives.
So what is the Christian comparison?
The scripture we heard this morning is talking about freedom. This passage is about Mosaic Law, something that helped to identify sin and how to live a life honorable to God. However, too many people, religious leaders, used the Law as a tool of control. They used it for power and position and separation.
Paul declares freedom from the Law. He tells the churches in Galatia that they are called by God through Jesus to be free.
The people of Paul’s day suffered persecution and hardship which increased as they become Christians. The community made it tough to live this new found faith. It was hard to celebrate the freedom that Paul encourages.
They had already broken from their old tradition. They were trying to figure out the ins and outs of this new faith. They had lots of questions and pressures to give into and it appears in Scripture that one of the most logical was becoming a Jew to become a Christian. The pressure was to live under the Law as a first requirement. Paul argued that it was not so.
Hindsight is so good. Today we can look at United States history and find the investment made by these signers so long ago was worth it. It is great to be free. It is fantastic that I can pretty much do what I want and say what I want.
The structure of the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence would give an English teacher apoplexy. The second sentence is straight forward and says: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable (unchangeable) Rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” 233 years later we still enjoy the freedom that the Declaration of Independence created for us: “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
This is my kind of place. I am so happy that God placed me here – in the United States of America, in Los Angeles, in your company here at Immanuel. There are a lot of less comfortable places in the world where there is little or no freedom. Places where the liberty and pursuit of happiness are a pipe dream. The sun does not set on any part of this planet where the biggest goal is to have life and there is little hope for much else.
Great as it is to live here in the United States, we are not without our problems, or should I say challenges to freedom and the pursuit of happiness: traffic laws, traffic lights, speed limits, home mortgages, income taxes, building codes, unemployment, medical costs, long lines at the checkout counter, need for money…the list could go on and on. It seems to me that with freedom, a lot of other things come which steal away our freedom.
The freedom we receive is cooperative, not exclusive. It is a union of people to protect God given rights at a cost that is shared by the group. The freedom we enjoy was not obtainable by one or two. In the revolutionary war they fought to make something new.
The freedom we receive has limits that keep us from expressing our freedom at the expense of another. But let us look at this from a Christian perspective. We live in the greatest country in the world, the richest, the finest, and the seemingly blessed.
In our reading, Paul tells the churches in Galatia that they are meant to be free. Free from slavery to sin – free from the obligation to keep the Law which is impossible to keep. However, Paul explains that with freedom there are still rules and limits.
He states Rule 1 like this: “Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love” (vs. 13).
We cannot use our freedom to become immoral people!
We cannot use our freedom to abuse or use other people!
We cannot use our freedom to avoid obligations with the church!
We cannot use our freedom to sit around and do nothing!
Our freedom is not a license to sin in any way. Paul adds, “We are to serve one another in love” (vs. 13).
Sounds like a limited version of freedom with all sorts of restrictions, kind of like the fine print that comes with the no interest credit card from B of A. But it really isn’t too expensive. After all, the people at church are family by birth or holy adoption. Remember Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia. We all do things we don’t necessarily like for family, at least occasionally.
Paul states Rule 2 like this: “The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (vs. 14). Here’s that “Love your neighbor” thing again. It starts in Leviticus (19:18), then Jesus is quoted in Matthew, Mark and Luke, then Paul (Gal. 5:14) and James (2:8) both remind us. Sort of a pain, isn’t it, to be reminded about loving your neighbor, over and over and over again?
Perhaps, we need to take the reminders as extra significance or importance. Here Paul reminds us that this one rule replaces the entire Law. This one rule, if followed, will set your life on an even footing in the right direction. This one rule will set you free of all the little nuances and petty restrictions of the Law.
Loving your neighbor as self, what does that really mean? How do we demonstrate our love for ourselves?
When we are hungry, thirsty or sick, we do something about it. When I decide to go someplace, I get in my car, something I bought to meet my needs. I guess there are a lot of things I do for myself… some are needs, some are comforts or fun. But I am worth all of it…right?
According to Paul, our neighbors are worth something as well. With freedom comes obligations to our family, community, neighbors and even individuals along our path. Folks that don’t value you or me at all, should still be important to us because of our freedom.
Paul is writing to people who are in the middle of a battle over salvation. They do not have the advantage of hind sight. They are fighting their way toward the path of righteousness and are uncertain of the proper steps. Some of their issues are raised within the Church itself. There must have been some real knock-down conversations and accusations between fellow believers, as they struggle with the freedom that Paul reminds them of.
The main struggle is to try to live under the oppression of the Law in hopes that it would get better or to choose the freedom that God offered through Jesus Christ.
Our forefathers in this nation recognized that their lives were on the edge of slavery to the king. No rights or self government and more and more loss of control over lives led them to declare freedom against the all powerful King of England.
They did not declare war on the king. They just severed their servitude to a life as servants to an unjust king. They changed their direction, choosing the harder path of independence. A path of struggle and pain that would end in freedom like few in the colonies had ever known.
Paul tells his readers that for Christians that path is directed by the Spirit. The battle he describes is between the sinful nature of every person and the guidance offered by the Holy Spirit. He explains that the struggle is an individual battle within each person. The choice is being bound and controlled by a sinful nature or following the Spirit toward ultimate freedom.
The struggle for independence is still going on today. In our nation the battle over religious freedom is growing and I would suggest that if we don’t join the battle, we will continue to see our rights and freedoms trimmed and removed. Our nation’s founders obviously were much more open to the leading of God than many of our politicians and judges today who are trying to lead us to their form of a theocracy to the exclusion or limitation of other religious beliefs.
The battle over our individual spiritual freedom continues as well. We struggle over right and wrong everyday. We decide over loving ourselves and loving our neighbor and we probably don’t do as good a job as we could or should.
God offers us the help we need though it’s not as easy to find as we want. It takes real effort and control to listen to the Spirit. It takes an even greater effort to follow its direction.
All Glory be to God! Amen.
People will be celebrating Independence Day in a variety of ways. Many have become traditions. Some people will travel to see loved ones and others will just stay at home with the family. There will be fireworks. With the tinder dry brush conditions, I hope people will realize the high danger of wild fires associated with neighborhood firework displays. There will undoubtedly be the traditional barbeques and picnics, and hopefully some patriotic observances in recognition of what the Day stands for.
We celebrate this holiday because of what happened in 1776.
On July 4, 1776, there was signed in the City of Philadelphia one of America’s historic documents: The Declaration of Independence. It marked the birth of this nation which, under God, was destined for world leadership.
We often forget, in declaring independence from an earthly power, our forefathers made a forthright declaration of dependence upon Almighty God. The closing words of this document solemnly declare: “With firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
The fifty-six courageous men who signed this document understood that this was not just high sounding rhetoric. They knew that if they succeeded, the best they could expect would be years of hardship in a struggling new nation. If they lost, they would face a hang man’s noose.
We celebrate that these people had the wherewithal and courage to break the existing hold of Europe on these wilderness colonies.
It is important to remember certain facts about the men who made this pledge; they were not poor men by any stretch of the imagination. Most of them enjoyed much ease and luxury in their personal lives. They were wealthy landowners, respected men in their communities. Among the signers was a Presbyterian minister, John Witherspoon.
But they considered liberty much more important than the security they enjoyed, and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. They fulfilled their pledge. They paid the price. And freedom was won. It has been said, “To be born free is a privilege. To die free is an awesome responsibility.”
Freedom is never free. It is always purchased at a great cost. On the signing of The Declaration of Independence, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, “I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states; yet, through all the gloom I can see the rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means.”
We celebrate the actions of people we only know about because of books. We celebrate the actions of people who lived without the things we take for granted in our everyday living.
What did they want to become independent from? If you read through the document you find oppression, abuse, removal of rights, false justice and punishment. You find a precisely stated set of charges against the king and their justification for independence. Their declaration was to break free of the strangling hold of a tyrant.
Interestingly we celebrate the day of declaration not the day it was actually achieved. I guess if they had actually lost the struggle we would not be celebrating at all on Saturday. We celebrate the ideal of the prize that was worth so much time, energy and lives.
So what is the Christian comparison?
The scripture we heard this morning is talking about freedom. This passage is about Mosaic Law, something that helped to identify sin and how to live a life honorable to God. However, too many people, religious leaders, used the Law as a tool of control. They used it for power and position and separation.
Paul declares freedom from the Law. He tells the churches in Galatia that they are called by God through Jesus to be free.
The people of Paul’s day suffered persecution and hardship which increased as they become Christians. The community made it tough to live this new found faith. It was hard to celebrate the freedom that Paul encourages.
They had already broken from their old tradition. They were trying to figure out the ins and outs of this new faith. They had lots of questions and pressures to give into and it appears in Scripture that one of the most logical was becoming a Jew to become a Christian. The pressure was to live under the Law as a first requirement. Paul argued that it was not so.
Hindsight is so good. Today we can look at United States history and find the investment made by these signers so long ago was worth it. It is great to be free. It is fantastic that I can pretty much do what I want and say what I want.
The structure of the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence would give an English teacher apoplexy. The second sentence is straight forward and says: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable (unchangeable) Rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” 233 years later we still enjoy the freedom that the Declaration of Independence created for us: “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
This is my kind of place. I am so happy that God placed me here – in the United States of America, in Los Angeles, in your company here at Immanuel. There are a lot of less comfortable places in the world where there is little or no freedom. Places where the liberty and pursuit of happiness are a pipe dream. The sun does not set on any part of this planet where the biggest goal is to have life and there is little hope for much else.
Great as it is to live here in the United States, we are not without our problems, or should I say challenges to freedom and the pursuit of happiness: traffic laws, traffic lights, speed limits, home mortgages, income taxes, building codes, unemployment, medical costs, long lines at the checkout counter, need for money…the list could go on and on. It seems to me that with freedom, a lot of other things come which steal away our freedom.
The freedom we receive is cooperative, not exclusive. It is a union of people to protect God given rights at a cost that is shared by the group. The freedom we enjoy was not obtainable by one or two. In the revolutionary war they fought to make something new.
The freedom we receive has limits that keep us from expressing our freedom at the expense of another. But let us look at this from a Christian perspective. We live in the greatest country in the world, the richest, the finest, and the seemingly blessed.
In our reading, Paul tells the churches in Galatia that they are meant to be free. Free from slavery to sin – free from the obligation to keep the Law which is impossible to keep. However, Paul explains that with freedom there are still rules and limits.
He states Rule 1 like this: “Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love” (vs. 13).
We cannot use our freedom to become immoral people!
We cannot use our freedom to abuse or use other people!
We cannot use our freedom to avoid obligations with the church!
We cannot use our freedom to sit around and do nothing!
Our freedom is not a license to sin in any way. Paul adds, “We are to serve one another in love” (vs. 13).
Sounds like a limited version of freedom with all sorts of restrictions, kind of like the fine print that comes with the no interest credit card from B of A. But it really isn’t too expensive. After all, the people at church are family by birth or holy adoption. Remember Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia. We all do things we don’t necessarily like for family, at least occasionally.
Paul states Rule 2 like this: “The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (vs. 14). Here’s that “Love your neighbor” thing again. It starts in Leviticus (19:18), then Jesus is quoted in Matthew, Mark and Luke, then Paul (Gal. 5:14) and James (2:8) both remind us. Sort of a pain, isn’t it, to be reminded about loving your neighbor, over and over and over again?
Perhaps, we need to take the reminders as extra significance or importance. Here Paul reminds us that this one rule replaces the entire Law. This one rule, if followed, will set your life on an even footing in the right direction. This one rule will set you free of all the little nuances and petty restrictions of the Law.
Loving your neighbor as self, what does that really mean? How do we demonstrate our love for ourselves?
When we are hungry, thirsty or sick, we do something about it. When I decide to go someplace, I get in my car, something I bought to meet my needs. I guess there are a lot of things I do for myself… some are needs, some are comforts or fun. But I am worth all of it…right?
According to Paul, our neighbors are worth something as well. With freedom comes obligations to our family, community, neighbors and even individuals along our path. Folks that don’t value you or me at all, should still be important to us because of our freedom.
Paul is writing to people who are in the middle of a battle over salvation. They do not have the advantage of hind sight. They are fighting their way toward the path of righteousness and are uncertain of the proper steps. Some of their issues are raised within the Church itself. There must have been some real knock-down conversations and accusations between fellow believers, as they struggle with the freedom that Paul reminds them of.
The main struggle is to try to live under the oppression of the Law in hopes that it would get better or to choose the freedom that God offered through Jesus Christ.
Our forefathers in this nation recognized that their lives were on the edge of slavery to the king. No rights or self government and more and more loss of control over lives led them to declare freedom against the all powerful King of England.
They did not declare war on the king. They just severed their servitude to a life as servants to an unjust king. They changed their direction, choosing the harder path of independence. A path of struggle and pain that would end in freedom like few in the colonies had ever known.
Paul tells his readers that for Christians that path is directed by the Spirit. The battle he describes is between the sinful nature of every person and the guidance offered by the Holy Spirit. He explains that the struggle is an individual battle within each person. The choice is being bound and controlled by a sinful nature or following the Spirit toward ultimate freedom.
The struggle for independence is still going on today. In our nation the battle over religious freedom is growing and I would suggest that if we don’t join the battle, we will continue to see our rights and freedoms trimmed and removed. Our nation’s founders obviously were much more open to the leading of God than many of our politicians and judges today who are trying to lead us to their form of a theocracy to the exclusion or limitation of other religious beliefs.
The battle over our individual spiritual freedom continues as well. We struggle over right and wrong everyday. We decide over loving ourselves and loving our neighbor and we probably don’t do as good a job as we could or should.
God offers us the help we need though it’s not as easy to find as we want. It takes real effort and control to listen to the Spirit. It takes an even greater effort to follow its direction.
All Glory be to God! Amen.
July 1, 2009
June 28, 2009 + Mark 5:21-43 + Elizabeth Gibbs-Zehnder
21When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.”
24So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32He looked all around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
35While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” 36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
The little mom & pop convenience store around the corner from our house sells lottery tickets. They try to encourage sales by posting proof of the winning tickets that were sold there, taping them up to the bullet proof glass at the cash register.
When you sit down and do the math, its plain to see that the odds of winning are slim, very very slim, and yet, as my friend used to say – you can’t win if you don’t play.
In today’s gospel, Mark is encouraging us to get in the game, to play and he teaches that God runs the lottery differently than the state of California.
Mark tells us that Jesus comes to town and everyone wants a piece of him. They want to know what he is about, who he is, and what he can do for them …
Like the early months of Obama’s presidency. Sure he promised a lot of nice things on the campaign trail, but now that he is in the Whitehouse, who is he really? What is he going to do for us? We look closely at what he’s acting on, what projects he tackles first, wanting to see what promises he makes good on first. By watching what he does, we expect to learn who he really is.
Jesus and the disciples step off the boat, back into Jewish territory, and there’s a crowd waiting for him, watching to see who he seeks out, what he’ll do first- will he have lunch with the mayor or the bishop? Will he head to city hall or stay on the posh Westside? Who is going to be on the inside of the new administration and who is going to be left behind? News of his miracles must have traveled ahead of him, because at least two people in the crowd that morning were there, hoping for their own miracles of healing.
So where are you this day that Jesus came to town, his boat scraping sand on the shore, the disciples holding it steady as Jesus steps out – did you get up early to be there? Are you secretly working your way to the front – your head ducked so that the neighbors won’t recognize you? Maybe you’re the synagogue leader, standing in the front row with the other VIP’s, forcing a pleasant smile on your face trying to cover up the desperate question burning in your heart. Did you buy your lotto ticket? Are you holding it in your pocket, waiting for the numbers to be read?
Jairus, the synagogue leader has left his dying daughter’s bedside to seek Jesus’ help. It’s desperate to be helpless at the bedside of a loved one who is slipping away from you, no matter what you tried, no matter how hard you prayed. Rounds of chemo and radiation had failed, acupuncture had done nothing, nasty herb teas and medications left her even more sick.
That morning Jairus put aside his dignity and social position, fell to the sand at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come and heal his beloved daughter. Apparently what ever lunch plans Jesus had made could wait and the two of them (and the crowd of disciples and people) headed to Jairus’ home.
Time is clearly of the essence, Like an ambulance with sirens flashing, dashing across town, I imagine they were moving at brisk pace when Jesus stopped suddenly and started asking about who had touched him.
Everyone feels derailed by his distraction, the disciples give voice to it, barely cloaking their irritation, “obviously the crowd is pressing in on you, of course someone touched you”, and Jairus is silently screaming at Jesus to get moving again.
Who touched me?
The crowd parts and a woman comes forward, now she falls at Jesus’ feet, the whole story pouring out, 12 years of bleeding, endless visits to specialist, medical bills that emptied her savings, the religious authorities declaring her “unclean” being forced into isolation so as not to contaminate her family, hearing the stories about him, she had waited at the shore since dawn, hoping to get close to Jesus, hoping he could heal her, she was willing to buy one more ticket, take one more chance and she won, as her finger tips touched the edge of his jacket, she felt the bleeding stop.
Jairus’ heart must have sunk even lower, every second that slipped by, his daughter slipped closer to death, but now, this woman had touched Jesus, I bet Jairus recognized her, after all it was the religious laws that had judged her unclean.
And the way that everyone in the crowd understood cleanliness, religious cleanliness meant that this woman with her 12 years of bleeding, in touching her Jesus, even if it was just the hem of his jacket, now Jesus was unclean and unfit for ministry. Jairus, knew, as did everyone in the crowd, what Jesus was required to do to restore his own cleanliness – a ceremonial bath, a change of clothes, off by himself until sundown – then he’d be ready to go and heal Jairus’ daughter. By then, Jairus knew it would be too late. He let go of the worthless lottery ticket in his pocket.
And it appeared that Jesus was going to have a long conversation with this woman – Jesus listened as she laid it all out. And then Jesus said the most surprising thing, instead of condemning her for breaking the purity laws, instead of shaming her for making him, a rabbi, unclean, breaking the barriers that have kept her in the margins - Jesus calls her daughter – he names her as part of God’s family. No longer excluded, he gives her a place in the circle, daughter, and he blesses her, go, your faith has made you well.
Shocking really, because in the eyes of that community, she was of very little consequence – why would Jesus waste his time, his healing energy on her? Her condition – the “bleeding” is really code for vaginal bleeding, which meant if she’s bleeding for 12 years, she’s not able to bear children, which was the accepted sign of God’s approval of a woman. Its inferred that she has met with God’s disapproval) So Jesus comes into contact with her, and heals her bleeding, but then he places her directly in God’s embrace – Daughter, he calls her – this was code for child of the covenant, daughter of Abraham, Daughter he calls her, this makes her part of the family of faith again. Jesus demonstrates that God’s love goes out as far as there are people wanting to receive it. Any one can win God’s love.
A miracle for her and instructive for us. We can know that God’s love extends to us. There is no longer such a thing as being beyond redemption.
SO we can sit back in our comfy philosopher chair, with a nice cappacino and imagine the most dramatic situation in which this Gospel truth would apply – would Jesus reach out to someone of no consequence? A murderer? the serial killer on death row? sure, of course…God’s love goes to the ends of the earth.
But perhaps God’s radical reach is needed closer to our homes than we think. An more common experience for us is to be broken and marginalized by everyday life – to be broken by the familiar economic struggles and social marginalization that is so much of the air we breath that we don’t even see its face or sense its power to keep people on the edges, unable to find the healing they need.
We don’t even realize that we are just going through the motions of life
–crushed slowly by low grade depression, without energy or conviction to get what we need
– consistently passed over for promotion because we don’t work like our euro-American male co-workers.
– Its like the high school student’s I talk with, who tell me about teachers who expect little of them, who tell them they aren’t smart enough to pass, and pretty soon, these students believe what they are being told, and they drop out of school.
God’s love and God’s healing break through the margins and reach us here too, God reaches out to us, even when we are only a shell of our former self and restores us to a place at the table.
In Mark’s action-packed style, just as Jesus is turning from the formerly-bleeding woman, the people come from Jairus’s home with the terrible news, Jesus is too late, she has died. They dismiss Jesus, free him to return to his original plans for the day. We’ve learned from playing the lottery, where there is a winner, there is always the losers.
The street starts to spin out from under Jairus’s feet, his heart explodes with grief, Jesus catches him by the elbow and speaks calmly into the blur, “do not fear, only believe”.
So Jesus, now an unclean healer, dripping with impurity, heads to the home of the man charged with the responsibility of keeping the whole community clean and pure in God’s eyes. Jairus is desperate, he’s way beyond hope purchased by keeping the rules and he is clinging with all his might to a very small ticket of belief that God’s love could transform even this.
Jesus orders the crowd to stay put, and Jairus and Jesus and three of the disciples turn the corner to Jairus’ home. The women were already wailing and mourning, they laugh at Jesus when he tells them the girl is only asleep. With Jairus and his wife in the room, Jesus breaks the cleanliness law for the second time that day and touches the dead child, “get up little girl”. And again there is enough of God in the person of Jesus to go around. Its not some parlor trick, Jesus urges the parents to give the girl something to eat.
A gift of life from death is almost too big to receive, too big to grasp in the moment, winning millions after working for pennies each day. In the aftermath of the miracle, the everyday task of making a sandwich becomes a welcome refuge. But I imagine Jairus’ heart opened in a new way, maybe months later as he sang happy birthday to his daughter at her 13th birthday, his daughter now crossing into womanhood, maybe entering into marriage, now able to fulfill what society understood as God’s desire for woman.
There was enough love that day, Mark is teaching us, in God’s love, everyone can win. I imagine the bullet proof glass thick with tape and lotto tickets, every ticket purchased has won the jackpot! the multitude of winners declaring God’s kingdom has arrived.
Mark teaches us about God’s love – there is enough of God’s love for everyone. But just like the chaos at the convenience store where every lottery ticket is a winner, chaos accompanies God’s love as it breaks in. The world as we’ve understood it, a world where there is room for only one winner, the rules that keep that world in place get broken.
Being an overly obedient person, I find this a bit unsettling. I find comfort in knowing what the rules are, knowing what is expected of me, knowing how to function within a system to get what I want, knowing how to earn the “A”, the approval, the blessing. Even when the rules work against me, I still rely on them to understand the lay of the land.
But when God’s love breaks in, God doesn’t follow the rules – the bleeding woman didn’t stay obediently at home, hoping that Jesus would come calling – no, she went out, she sought him out, her hunger for healing, for inclusion in God’s family was a part of the equation.
And Jairus, he didn’t wait for Jesus to appear at the synagogue reception area. He didn’t wait for the official meet and greet cocktail hour to talk with Jesus – no, he was on his knees in the sand as Jesus stepped out of the boat.
Jesus didn’t stick to the agenda or the religious structure of the day. He poured out God’s love to those in need of it. And they were transformed by the experience – sickness to health, death to life, outsider to daughter.
We need to be clear on what Mark is NOT teaching us.
This is no domesticated Gospel. Jesus isn’t a puppet on the strings of our desires and agendas. There is no secret formula of prayer & desperation that will turn God’s hand.
I need to tell you that I’ve played the lottery, and never won the jackpot.
I’ve prayed for healing until my heart was broken open – for my own healing and for loved ones. Sometimes my prayers were answered. Sometimes they weren’t.
My guess is you’ve prayed similar prayers with similar results. My guess is the people following Jesus and Jairus around that day did too. For every woman who’s bleeding stopped, another’s continues. For every daughter restored to life, another succumbs to sickness.
The take away from today’s text isn’t about trying to touch the hem of Jesus’s jacket in the same spot or to get Jesus to kneel at the bedside in just the same way.
There’s no formula. There’s no guarantees. There’s no way even to calculate the odds. We learn from the text that God remains God – mysterious, powerful, and in the person of Jesus, ready to break into the whole of humanity in the most surprising way.
What Mark gives us is a glimpse of God breaking into the world in the person of Jesus. Reaching out in love and healing where healing was unimaginable. We see that God’s love knows no bounds. On that day and today Jesus comes to town and the reach of God’s love transforms with healing everything in its path.
Amen.
24So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32He looked all around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
35While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” 36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
The little mom & pop convenience store around the corner from our house sells lottery tickets. They try to encourage sales by posting proof of the winning tickets that were sold there, taping them up to the bullet proof glass at the cash register.
When you sit down and do the math, its plain to see that the odds of winning are slim, very very slim, and yet, as my friend used to say – you can’t win if you don’t play.
In today’s gospel, Mark is encouraging us to get in the game, to play and he teaches that God runs the lottery differently than the state of California.
Mark tells us that Jesus comes to town and everyone wants a piece of him. They want to know what he is about, who he is, and what he can do for them …
Like the early months of Obama’s presidency. Sure he promised a lot of nice things on the campaign trail, but now that he is in the Whitehouse, who is he really? What is he going to do for us? We look closely at what he’s acting on, what projects he tackles first, wanting to see what promises he makes good on first. By watching what he does, we expect to learn who he really is.
Jesus and the disciples step off the boat, back into Jewish territory, and there’s a crowd waiting for him, watching to see who he seeks out, what he’ll do first- will he have lunch with the mayor or the bishop? Will he head to city hall or stay on the posh Westside? Who is going to be on the inside of the new administration and who is going to be left behind? News of his miracles must have traveled ahead of him, because at least two people in the crowd that morning were there, hoping for their own miracles of healing.
So where are you this day that Jesus came to town, his boat scraping sand on the shore, the disciples holding it steady as Jesus steps out – did you get up early to be there? Are you secretly working your way to the front – your head ducked so that the neighbors won’t recognize you? Maybe you’re the synagogue leader, standing in the front row with the other VIP’s, forcing a pleasant smile on your face trying to cover up the desperate question burning in your heart. Did you buy your lotto ticket? Are you holding it in your pocket, waiting for the numbers to be read?
Jairus, the synagogue leader has left his dying daughter’s bedside to seek Jesus’ help. It’s desperate to be helpless at the bedside of a loved one who is slipping away from you, no matter what you tried, no matter how hard you prayed. Rounds of chemo and radiation had failed, acupuncture had done nothing, nasty herb teas and medications left her even more sick.
That morning Jairus put aside his dignity and social position, fell to the sand at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come and heal his beloved daughter. Apparently what ever lunch plans Jesus had made could wait and the two of them (and the crowd of disciples and people) headed to Jairus’ home.
Time is clearly of the essence, Like an ambulance with sirens flashing, dashing across town, I imagine they were moving at brisk pace when Jesus stopped suddenly and started asking about who had touched him.
Everyone feels derailed by his distraction, the disciples give voice to it, barely cloaking their irritation, “obviously the crowd is pressing in on you, of course someone touched you”, and Jairus is silently screaming at Jesus to get moving again.
Who touched me?
The crowd parts and a woman comes forward, now she falls at Jesus’ feet, the whole story pouring out, 12 years of bleeding, endless visits to specialist, medical bills that emptied her savings, the religious authorities declaring her “unclean” being forced into isolation so as not to contaminate her family, hearing the stories about him, she had waited at the shore since dawn, hoping to get close to Jesus, hoping he could heal her, she was willing to buy one more ticket, take one more chance and she won, as her finger tips touched the edge of his jacket, she felt the bleeding stop.
Jairus’ heart must have sunk even lower, every second that slipped by, his daughter slipped closer to death, but now, this woman had touched Jesus, I bet Jairus recognized her, after all it was the religious laws that had judged her unclean.
And the way that everyone in the crowd understood cleanliness, religious cleanliness meant that this woman with her 12 years of bleeding, in touching her Jesus, even if it was just the hem of his jacket, now Jesus was unclean and unfit for ministry. Jairus, knew, as did everyone in the crowd, what Jesus was required to do to restore his own cleanliness – a ceremonial bath, a change of clothes, off by himself until sundown – then he’d be ready to go and heal Jairus’ daughter. By then, Jairus knew it would be too late. He let go of the worthless lottery ticket in his pocket.
And it appeared that Jesus was going to have a long conversation with this woman – Jesus listened as she laid it all out. And then Jesus said the most surprising thing, instead of condemning her for breaking the purity laws, instead of shaming her for making him, a rabbi, unclean, breaking the barriers that have kept her in the margins - Jesus calls her daughter – he names her as part of God’s family. No longer excluded, he gives her a place in the circle, daughter, and he blesses her, go, your faith has made you well.
Shocking really, because in the eyes of that community, she was of very little consequence – why would Jesus waste his time, his healing energy on her? Her condition – the “bleeding” is really code for vaginal bleeding, which meant if she’s bleeding for 12 years, she’s not able to bear children, which was the accepted sign of God’s approval of a woman. Its inferred that she has met with God’s disapproval) So Jesus comes into contact with her, and heals her bleeding, but then he places her directly in God’s embrace – Daughter, he calls her – this was code for child of the covenant, daughter of Abraham, Daughter he calls her, this makes her part of the family of faith again. Jesus demonstrates that God’s love goes out as far as there are people wanting to receive it. Any one can win God’s love.
A miracle for her and instructive for us. We can know that God’s love extends to us. There is no longer such a thing as being beyond redemption.
SO we can sit back in our comfy philosopher chair, with a nice cappacino and imagine the most dramatic situation in which this Gospel truth would apply – would Jesus reach out to someone of no consequence? A murderer? the serial killer on death row? sure, of course…God’s love goes to the ends of the earth.
But perhaps God’s radical reach is needed closer to our homes than we think. An more common experience for us is to be broken and marginalized by everyday life – to be broken by the familiar economic struggles and social marginalization that is so much of the air we breath that we don’t even see its face or sense its power to keep people on the edges, unable to find the healing they need.
We don’t even realize that we are just going through the motions of life
–crushed slowly by low grade depression, without energy or conviction to get what we need
– consistently passed over for promotion because we don’t work like our euro-American male co-workers.
– Its like the high school student’s I talk with, who tell me about teachers who expect little of them, who tell them they aren’t smart enough to pass, and pretty soon, these students believe what they are being told, and they drop out of school.
God’s love and God’s healing break through the margins and reach us here too, God reaches out to us, even when we are only a shell of our former self and restores us to a place at the table.
In Mark’s action-packed style, just as Jesus is turning from the formerly-bleeding woman, the people come from Jairus’s home with the terrible news, Jesus is too late, she has died. They dismiss Jesus, free him to return to his original plans for the day. We’ve learned from playing the lottery, where there is a winner, there is always the losers.
The street starts to spin out from under Jairus’s feet, his heart explodes with grief, Jesus catches him by the elbow and speaks calmly into the blur, “do not fear, only believe”.
So Jesus, now an unclean healer, dripping with impurity, heads to the home of the man charged with the responsibility of keeping the whole community clean and pure in God’s eyes. Jairus is desperate, he’s way beyond hope purchased by keeping the rules and he is clinging with all his might to a very small ticket of belief that God’s love could transform even this.
Jesus orders the crowd to stay put, and Jairus and Jesus and three of the disciples turn the corner to Jairus’ home. The women were already wailing and mourning, they laugh at Jesus when he tells them the girl is only asleep. With Jairus and his wife in the room, Jesus breaks the cleanliness law for the second time that day and touches the dead child, “get up little girl”. And again there is enough of God in the person of Jesus to go around. Its not some parlor trick, Jesus urges the parents to give the girl something to eat.
A gift of life from death is almost too big to receive, too big to grasp in the moment, winning millions after working for pennies each day. In the aftermath of the miracle, the everyday task of making a sandwich becomes a welcome refuge. But I imagine Jairus’ heart opened in a new way, maybe months later as he sang happy birthday to his daughter at her 13th birthday, his daughter now crossing into womanhood, maybe entering into marriage, now able to fulfill what society understood as God’s desire for woman.
There was enough love that day, Mark is teaching us, in God’s love, everyone can win. I imagine the bullet proof glass thick with tape and lotto tickets, every ticket purchased has won the jackpot! the multitude of winners declaring God’s kingdom has arrived.
Mark teaches us about God’s love – there is enough of God’s love for everyone. But just like the chaos at the convenience store where every lottery ticket is a winner, chaos accompanies God’s love as it breaks in. The world as we’ve understood it, a world where there is room for only one winner, the rules that keep that world in place get broken.
Being an overly obedient person, I find this a bit unsettling. I find comfort in knowing what the rules are, knowing what is expected of me, knowing how to function within a system to get what I want, knowing how to earn the “A”, the approval, the blessing. Even when the rules work against me, I still rely on them to understand the lay of the land.
But when God’s love breaks in, God doesn’t follow the rules – the bleeding woman didn’t stay obediently at home, hoping that Jesus would come calling – no, she went out, she sought him out, her hunger for healing, for inclusion in God’s family was a part of the equation.
And Jairus, he didn’t wait for Jesus to appear at the synagogue reception area. He didn’t wait for the official meet and greet cocktail hour to talk with Jesus – no, he was on his knees in the sand as Jesus stepped out of the boat.
Jesus didn’t stick to the agenda or the religious structure of the day. He poured out God’s love to those in need of it. And they were transformed by the experience – sickness to health, death to life, outsider to daughter.
We need to be clear on what Mark is NOT teaching us.
This is no domesticated Gospel. Jesus isn’t a puppet on the strings of our desires and agendas. There is no secret formula of prayer & desperation that will turn God’s hand.
I need to tell you that I’ve played the lottery, and never won the jackpot.
I’ve prayed for healing until my heart was broken open – for my own healing and for loved ones. Sometimes my prayers were answered. Sometimes they weren’t.
My guess is you’ve prayed similar prayers with similar results. My guess is the people following Jesus and Jairus around that day did too. For every woman who’s bleeding stopped, another’s continues. For every daughter restored to life, another succumbs to sickness.
The take away from today’s text isn’t about trying to touch the hem of Jesus’s jacket in the same spot or to get Jesus to kneel at the bedside in just the same way.
There’s no formula. There’s no guarantees. There’s no way even to calculate the odds. We learn from the text that God remains God – mysterious, powerful, and in the person of Jesus, ready to break into the whole of humanity in the most surprising way.
What Mark gives us is a glimpse of God breaking into the world in the person of Jesus. Reaching out in love and healing where healing was unimaginable. We see that God’s love knows no bounds. On that day and today Jesus comes to town and the reach of God’s love transforms with healing everything in its path.
Amen.
June 24, 2009
June 24, 2009 + “Keep the Faith!” (Mark 4:35-41) + Hayward Fong
According to the Lectionary, the Gospel reading was for last Sunday, the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Because I chose to speak on a Father’s Day theme last week, I’m a week behind.
I don’t need to tell you how the economic recession had shattered the lives and dreams of so many Americans and their families. I get a lot of mail from charities. Many include real life stories of people who are facing the realities of today and how they are managing to face the “Storms of Life.” I want to begin this morning by sharing with you a real life story of a man named Steve.
Steve was living what some people might call the American Dream. He had a great wife and two wonderful children. He lived in a beautiful house on a quiet street, and had a job that most people would love to have. However, upon coming to work one day, Steve found out that his job in management had been eliminated…not downsized, but eliminated. As the bills grew higher and higher so did the tension between Steve and his family. The things that Steve and his family were going through could be summed up in four words, and they are the “Storms of Life.”
Have you experienced storms in your life?...those times where things just didn’t make any sense…times where your problems seemed so big and your faith seemed so small…times where you felt so swamped and so afraid that you were going to be taken over by the storm. I think all of us have had a feeling like that. I know that I have. Jesus’ disciples were no different. How did they deal with the storm? There are some major points that we can apply, between the Spiritual Storms and the disciples’ Physical Storm.
The first point is there will be storms…storms will come, sooner or later, they will come. Do you remember the lyrics of a song of the 40-50s, “Into each life some rain must fall, but too much has fallen in mine…!” Even if everything is going great right now, you must keep your faith in Jesus, because the storms will come. It only takes a second for everything to change, for everything to be flipped upside down. Maybe you lose your job, or a family member is in a serious accident, or as we’ve noted in recent years here in Southern California, home destroyed by wildfires and earthquakes. You can fill in your personal storms because the list goes on and on and on, physical storms, spiritual storms.
For the disciples, it wasn’t a spiritual storm, but rather a physical storm. When they left the docks that evening, everything was fine. However, it only took a split second for everything to go horribly wrong. The winds picked up and the waves crashed over the boat, and the disciples were afraid. When the storms come, they bring out the emotions of fear, anger, frustration, and uncertainty.
If we know the storms will come, we have to ask ourselves the next question, “How do we deal with these storms when they come?” The first thing we need to do is never give up. We need to take the storm that is plaguing our life for what it is, and that it is a test or trial or temptation. We must remember never give up!
The next thing we need to do in dealing with the storms is to keep focused. It’s so easy when times are hard to lose our focus from the things that are really important or the tasks we need to accomplish. And isn’t that how the devil traps and entangles us...by putting other things in our life to break our focus and to make us lose sight of our goal? You can bet your bottom dollar on it! That’s why we need to keep focused.
The third and final thing we need to do in order to deal with the storms in our life is that we must remember! We must remember to have faith in Jesus. With faith in Jesus we can be assured that no matter how bad things get, the storm will not stick around forever. And that leads us to the next major point.
The storms will go. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a storm that stuck around forever. I know that when it rains, infrequently as it does here in Southern California, and it’s wet and miserable outside, it feels like the storm will last forever, but what eventually happens? The Sun comes out, the temperature rises and before we know it, the storm is over. We can always take hope in the fact, that no matter how bad things get, the storm will pass. The same can be said of the blizzards in the Midwest or the hurricanes in the Southeast, the storms will pass.
Jesus’ disciples saw the same tings. They thought the storm may last forever, or at least long enough to put an end to them. But what do we see from the story, the SON, S-O-N, not the SUN, S-U-N, came out and calmed the winds and the waves and the storm that they were so worried about ended.
And isn’t that the way it usually goes? When we realize that we can’t do it on our own, that’s when we ask for help. That’s when we start looking for Jesus. And why do we do that? We do that because we know that Jesus will always be there to calm the winds and the waves of our spiritual lives. He will always be there to strengthen and comfort us.
But one question remains, what do we do with Jesus after the storm is gone? And here is an answer that I think is most important. We must remember to put our faith in Jesus! Now you might be asking yourself, why should I put my faith in Jesus? The storm is already over. Well, the storm may be over, but Jesus is still there! And that leads us to the third major point.
Jesus always remains. Just because Jesus is there in the storms of your life, that doesn’t mean you can’t look for Him in the good times. It doesn’t mean that you should only ask for help and guidance in the bad times. He wants to be there when things are going great also. He wants to share in you joys as well as your sorrows. When I say Jesus always remains, I mean always!
When we look at the disciples in the story, at what time did they go and get Jesus? It was when times were really bad, it was when they had no place else to turn. I think that is something each and everyone of us should think about!
I like a poem called “Footprints in the Sand,” by Mary Stevenson (1936). Let me read it for you.
“One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
“In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was only one.
“This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,
“’You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?’
“The Lord replied, ‘The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you’”
A lot of people feel that the greatest phrase in this poem is the concluding phrase. While it is a wonderful phrase, I feel the best part is during the rest of the man’s life where there were two sets of footprints in the sand. The two sets of footprints remind me that we must put our faith in Jesus. For the simple fact that Jesus is always there! For the simple fact that Jesus’ love is always there! For the simple fact that His peace and patience and kindness is always there! And most of all for the simple fact that Jesus Always Remains!
Let us revisit our friend Steve. Since we last saw Steve, everything has changed. He has found a new job, and has rediscovered his relationship with Jesus. Steve summed everything up in this way, “When everything was going great, I thought I could do it all on my own. I thought Jesus was there to help in my times of trouble. However, when the storms hit my life, I began to read the Bible and I found out that Jesus always remains. He is there in the good times as well as the bad. And all I had to do is remember to put my faith in Him.”
I think Steve is on the right track. When the storms come we must remember to put our trust in Jesus, because He will help us through tough times. When the storms go we must remember to continue putting our faith in Jesus, because He will help us put our lives back together, strengthening and encouraging us along the way. And finally we must remember to keep our faith in Jesus, because Jesus Always Remains! So, let Him remain in your life always, through good times and bad.
Amen.
I don’t need to tell you how the economic recession had shattered the lives and dreams of so many Americans and their families. I get a lot of mail from charities. Many include real life stories of people who are facing the realities of today and how they are managing to face the “Storms of Life.” I want to begin this morning by sharing with you a real life story of a man named Steve.
Steve was living what some people might call the American Dream. He had a great wife and two wonderful children. He lived in a beautiful house on a quiet street, and had a job that most people would love to have. However, upon coming to work one day, Steve found out that his job in management had been eliminated…not downsized, but eliminated. As the bills grew higher and higher so did the tension between Steve and his family. The things that Steve and his family were going through could be summed up in four words, and they are the “Storms of Life.”
Have you experienced storms in your life?...those times where things just didn’t make any sense…times where your problems seemed so big and your faith seemed so small…times where you felt so swamped and so afraid that you were going to be taken over by the storm. I think all of us have had a feeling like that. I know that I have. Jesus’ disciples were no different. How did they deal with the storm? There are some major points that we can apply, between the Spiritual Storms and the disciples’ Physical Storm.
The first point is there will be storms…storms will come, sooner or later, they will come. Do you remember the lyrics of a song of the 40-50s, “Into each life some rain must fall, but too much has fallen in mine…!” Even if everything is going great right now, you must keep your faith in Jesus, because the storms will come. It only takes a second for everything to change, for everything to be flipped upside down. Maybe you lose your job, or a family member is in a serious accident, or as we’ve noted in recent years here in Southern California, home destroyed by wildfires and earthquakes. You can fill in your personal storms because the list goes on and on and on, physical storms, spiritual storms.
For the disciples, it wasn’t a spiritual storm, but rather a physical storm. When they left the docks that evening, everything was fine. However, it only took a split second for everything to go horribly wrong. The winds picked up and the waves crashed over the boat, and the disciples were afraid. When the storms come, they bring out the emotions of fear, anger, frustration, and uncertainty.
If we know the storms will come, we have to ask ourselves the next question, “How do we deal with these storms when they come?” The first thing we need to do is never give up. We need to take the storm that is plaguing our life for what it is, and that it is a test or trial or temptation. We must remember never give up!
The next thing we need to do in dealing with the storms is to keep focused. It’s so easy when times are hard to lose our focus from the things that are really important or the tasks we need to accomplish. And isn’t that how the devil traps and entangles us...by putting other things in our life to break our focus and to make us lose sight of our goal? You can bet your bottom dollar on it! That’s why we need to keep focused.
The third and final thing we need to do in order to deal with the storms in our life is that we must remember! We must remember to have faith in Jesus. With faith in Jesus we can be assured that no matter how bad things get, the storm will not stick around forever. And that leads us to the next major point.
The storms will go. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a storm that stuck around forever. I know that when it rains, infrequently as it does here in Southern California, and it’s wet and miserable outside, it feels like the storm will last forever, but what eventually happens? The Sun comes out, the temperature rises and before we know it, the storm is over. We can always take hope in the fact, that no matter how bad things get, the storm will pass. The same can be said of the blizzards in the Midwest or the hurricanes in the Southeast, the storms will pass.
Jesus’ disciples saw the same tings. They thought the storm may last forever, or at least long enough to put an end to them. But what do we see from the story, the SON, S-O-N, not the SUN, S-U-N, came out and calmed the winds and the waves and the storm that they were so worried about ended.
And isn’t that the way it usually goes? When we realize that we can’t do it on our own, that’s when we ask for help. That’s when we start looking for Jesus. And why do we do that? We do that because we know that Jesus will always be there to calm the winds and the waves of our spiritual lives. He will always be there to strengthen and comfort us.
But one question remains, what do we do with Jesus after the storm is gone? And here is an answer that I think is most important. We must remember to put our faith in Jesus! Now you might be asking yourself, why should I put my faith in Jesus? The storm is already over. Well, the storm may be over, but Jesus is still there! And that leads us to the third major point.
Jesus always remains. Just because Jesus is there in the storms of your life, that doesn’t mean you can’t look for Him in the good times. It doesn’t mean that you should only ask for help and guidance in the bad times. He wants to be there when things are going great also. He wants to share in you joys as well as your sorrows. When I say Jesus always remains, I mean always!
When we look at the disciples in the story, at what time did they go and get Jesus? It was when times were really bad, it was when they had no place else to turn. I think that is something each and everyone of us should think about!
I like a poem called “Footprints in the Sand,” by Mary Stevenson (1936). Let me read it for you.
“One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
“In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was only one.
“This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,
“’You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?’
“The Lord replied, ‘The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you’”
A lot of people feel that the greatest phrase in this poem is the concluding phrase. While it is a wonderful phrase, I feel the best part is during the rest of the man’s life where there were two sets of footprints in the sand. The two sets of footprints remind me that we must put our faith in Jesus. For the simple fact that Jesus is always there! For the simple fact that Jesus’ love is always there! For the simple fact that His peace and patience and kindness is always there! And most of all for the simple fact that Jesus Always Remains!
Let us revisit our friend Steve. Since we last saw Steve, everything has changed. He has found a new job, and has rediscovered his relationship with Jesus. Steve summed everything up in this way, “When everything was going great, I thought I could do it all on my own. I thought Jesus was there to help in my times of trouble. However, when the storms hit my life, I began to read the Bible and I found out that Jesus always remains. He is there in the good times as well as the bad. And all I had to do is remember to put my faith in Him.”
I think Steve is on the right track. When the storms come we must remember to put our trust in Jesus, because He will help us through tough times. When the storms go we must remember to continue putting our faith in Jesus, because He will help us put our lives back together, strengthening and encouraging us along the way. And finally we must remember to keep our faith in Jesus, because Jesus Always Remains! So, let Him remain in your life always, through good times and bad.
Amen.
June 17, 2009 + “Joseph: Jesus Step-Father” (Matthew 1:18-25) + Hayward Fong
Next Sunday is Father’s Day. Looking at the makeup of our Wednesday morning attendance, I don’t think a traditional Father’s Day message is appropriate. Yet at the same time, there should be something that I can say that would be equally applicable for male and female. So, let me try.
One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm, a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was just about to turn out the light when he asked in a trembling voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?” His mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t, Dear,” she said, “I have to sleep with your daddy.” After a long silence he said, “The big sissy.”
There are certain sayings we associate with our fathers. Here are some typical quotes attributed to current vintage American Dads.:
“Ask your mother.”
“Don’t worry; it’s only blood.”
“Do I look like I’m made of money?”
“I’m not sleeping; I was watching that show.”
“I’m not just talking to hear my voice.”
“A little dirt never hurt anyone; just wipe it off.
“We’re not lost.”
“No, we’re not there yet.”
“Don’t make me stop this car.”
There are numerous quotes of different fathers in the Bible, but try as I might, I wasn’t able to locate a single quote from a prominent father, Joseph. I never thought about this before, but Joseph doesn’t say a single word in the Gospels. He listens and obeys. Once would think his words are recorded. We can only imagine the conversations he might have had with Mary and the angel Gabriel. We can hear him talking with the innkeeper. We can visualize him teaching Jesus about carpentry, but then he fades from the scene. It is widely thought that Joseph was much older than Mary, and when Jesus began his ministry, Mary appears alone. And, although the Bible doesn’t say she’s a widow, we can figure Joseph has since died.
Joseph probably thought his life was pretty well planned. His marriage and vocation were all arranged neatly for him, but then his world came crashing down. He discovered that his bride-to-be was pregnant. We know that Joseph was a man of integrity – he wanted to do the right thing, in the right way. He considered divorcing Mary when he learned of her pregnancy, but wanted to do so without calling attention to the reason, whereas he could have had her publicly disgraced or even stoned to death for adultery. Instead he risks being questioned about Mary’s pregnancy and marries her. As you may recall from earlier homilies, a marriage contract in those days was worked out between families and the engaged couple continued to live with their parents until their wedding. The townspeople could well have thought Mary and Joseph didn’t wait till their wedding. Joseph protected their reputation by moving up the wedding date and the Roman census took them far away from the town’s questioning eyes. This serves for all time as an example of godly wisdom and tender consideration for others.
Although Joseph came from the royal lineage of King David (thanks to the Gospel genealogy), we can easily picture him as a humble man. The brief portrait of him in Scripture suggests he was a quiet, unobtrusive man, available when needed, willing to endure hardship and disappointment. Looking forward to fathering his own child, Joseph was faced with being a step-father to a child not his own. He accepted the humbling circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth. He trusted the providential care of God every step of the way. He didn’t have Dr. Spock’s book on parenting, any training on how to be the father to the Son of God, but he possessed faith and compassion. Bible scholars portray Joseph as an effective provider and protector of the family.
A Sunday school class was putting on a Christmas pageant which included the story of Mary and Joseph coming to the inn. One boy wanted so very much to be Joseph, but when the parts were handed out, a boy he didn’t like was given that part, and he was assigned to be the inn-keeper instead. He was pretty upset but he didn’t say anything to the director.
During all the rehearsals he thought what he might do the night of the performance to get even with this rival who got to be Joseph. Finally, the night of the performance, Mary and Joseph came walking across the stage. They knocked on the door of the inn, and the in-keeper opened the door and asked them gruffly, “What do you want?”
Joseph answered, “We’d like to have a room for the night.” Suddenly the inn-keeper threw the door open wide and said, Great, come on in and I’ll give you the best room in the house.”
For a few seconds poor little Joseph didn’t know what to do. Thinking quickly on his feet, he looked inside the door past the inn-keeper then said, “No wife of mine is going to stay in a dump like this. Come on Mary, let’s go to the barn.” And once again the play was back on track.
In all the Christmas pageants performed, Joseph doesn’t get a starring role, but his role is so important. His task is to watch over Mary and the baby Jesus. Joseph had the important role of caring for the needs of others.
When our lives take a nasty turn, we cry out, like Joseph must have cried out, “God how can this be?” But like Joseph, we hear a still small voice from God saying, “Trust me.” God’s ways are not always our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and we may never understand everything that God is doing this side of heaven, but God says, “Trust me, and all things will work together for good.”
It’s been said the best thing a father can do for his kids is to love their mother. Joseph’s love for Mary is reflected in Paul’s definition: “Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast; it is not proud or rude. Love is not self-seeking or easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but it rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres (I Cor. 13). Instead of being indignant, Joseph accepted this child as his own. Joseph accepted the revealed will of God. He followed the instructions – journeying from Nazareth to Bethlehem, then to Egypt, then back to Nazareth. We can easily picture Joseph receiving his son as a gift from God. The Bible doesn’t tell much about the 30 years that Jesus lived at home, but it’s safe to say that there was a deep and strong affection between Jesus and Joseph.
Joseph became a father to the Messiah, who would teach us all about the acceptance and grace of God. Joseph is charged with naming their son and thus defining His mission. The name Jesus means “Savior”. Archeologists have uncovered the ruins of Sapphoris, a thriving city near Nazareth. It is believed that Joseph spent much time there working on carpentry jobs, probably with Jesus, his carpenter apprentice son. When Jesus returned to his hometown, the people responded, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph, the carpenter?”
Was Joseph a perfect father? I don’t think so. We’re told that after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had children of their own, and they did not become believers in Jesus till after His resurrection. In spite of what their parents tried to tell them of their older brother’s miraculous birth, they refused to accept it. Parents can teach their children, but they cannot give their children faith. They can tell their kids how to live, but they can’t make them moral persons. They can baptize their children, but they cannot make them believe. They can love their children, but they can’t give them eternal life. The influence of parents is important, but we individually choose to accept or reject faith in God.
There’s a lot I’d like to know about Joseph – where and when he was born, how he spent his days, what he said, when and how he died. The last we hear of him is when he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with Mary and Jesus, when Jesus was 12 years old. He was apparently a man of few words, for even in this episode, it is Mary who is quoted, but he did what he was suppose to do. We don’t know much about Joseph. We’re pretty sure he wasn’t a sissy - afraid of thunderstorms! Scripture has left us with the most important knowledge: who he was: “a righteous man” (Mt 1:18). Joseph may have thought that being righteous involved doing the right thing; he found out that it is also about being the right person.
Prayer: Lord God, when we observe the action of this mature, responsible man; when we study the compassionate involvement, his disciplined restraint, his plain obedience, all woven together into righteous action, we know that we too can live in accordance with your will for our lives. Amen.
One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm, a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was just about to turn out the light when he asked in a trembling voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?” His mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t, Dear,” she said, “I have to sleep with your daddy.” After a long silence he said, “The big sissy.”
There are certain sayings we associate with our fathers. Here are some typical quotes attributed to current vintage American Dads.:
“Ask your mother.”
“Don’t worry; it’s only blood.”
“Do I look like I’m made of money?”
“I’m not sleeping; I was watching that show.”
“I’m not just talking to hear my voice.”
“A little dirt never hurt anyone; just wipe it off.
“We’re not lost.”
“No, we’re not there yet.”
“Don’t make me stop this car.”
There are numerous quotes of different fathers in the Bible, but try as I might, I wasn’t able to locate a single quote from a prominent father, Joseph. I never thought about this before, but Joseph doesn’t say a single word in the Gospels. He listens and obeys. Once would think his words are recorded. We can only imagine the conversations he might have had with Mary and the angel Gabriel. We can hear him talking with the innkeeper. We can visualize him teaching Jesus about carpentry, but then he fades from the scene. It is widely thought that Joseph was much older than Mary, and when Jesus began his ministry, Mary appears alone. And, although the Bible doesn’t say she’s a widow, we can figure Joseph has since died.
Joseph probably thought his life was pretty well planned. His marriage and vocation were all arranged neatly for him, but then his world came crashing down. He discovered that his bride-to-be was pregnant. We know that Joseph was a man of integrity – he wanted to do the right thing, in the right way. He considered divorcing Mary when he learned of her pregnancy, but wanted to do so without calling attention to the reason, whereas he could have had her publicly disgraced or even stoned to death for adultery. Instead he risks being questioned about Mary’s pregnancy and marries her. As you may recall from earlier homilies, a marriage contract in those days was worked out between families and the engaged couple continued to live with their parents until their wedding. The townspeople could well have thought Mary and Joseph didn’t wait till their wedding. Joseph protected their reputation by moving up the wedding date and the Roman census took them far away from the town’s questioning eyes. This serves for all time as an example of godly wisdom and tender consideration for others.
Although Joseph came from the royal lineage of King David (thanks to the Gospel genealogy), we can easily picture him as a humble man. The brief portrait of him in Scripture suggests he was a quiet, unobtrusive man, available when needed, willing to endure hardship and disappointment. Looking forward to fathering his own child, Joseph was faced with being a step-father to a child not his own. He accepted the humbling circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth. He trusted the providential care of God every step of the way. He didn’t have Dr. Spock’s book on parenting, any training on how to be the father to the Son of God, but he possessed faith and compassion. Bible scholars portray Joseph as an effective provider and protector of the family.
A Sunday school class was putting on a Christmas pageant which included the story of Mary and Joseph coming to the inn. One boy wanted so very much to be Joseph, but when the parts were handed out, a boy he didn’t like was given that part, and he was assigned to be the inn-keeper instead. He was pretty upset but he didn’t say anything to the director.
During all the rehearsals he thought what he might do the night of the performance to get even with this rival who got to be Joseph. Finally, the night of the performance, Mary and Joseph came walking across the stage. They knocked on the door of the inn, and the in-keeper opened the door and asked them gruffly, “What do you want?”
Joseph answered, “We’d like to have a room for the night.” Suddenly the inn-keeper threw the door open wide and said, Great, come on in and I’ll give you the best room in the house.”
For a few seconds poor little Joseph didn’t know what to do. Thinking quickly on his feet, he looked inside the door past the inn-keeper then said, “No wife of mine is going to stay in a dump like this. Come on Mary, let’s go to the barn.” And once again the play was back on track.
In all the Christmas pageants performed, Joseph doesn’t get a starring role, but his role is so important. His task is to watch over Mary and the baby Jesus. Joseph had the important role of caring for the needs of others.
When our lives take a nasty turn, we cry out, like Joseph must have cried out, “God how can this be?” But like Joseph, we hear a still small voice from God saying, “Trust me.” God’s ways are not always our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and we may never understand everything that God is doing this side of heaven, but God says, “Trust me, and all things will work together for good.”
It’s been said the best thing a father can do for his kids is to love their mother. Joseph’s love for Mary is reflected in Paul’s definition: “Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast; it is not proud or rude. Love is not self-seeking or easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but it rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres (I Cor. 13). Instead of being indignant, Joseph accepted this child as his own. Joseph accepted the revealed will of God. He followed the instructions – journeying from Nazareth to Bethlehem, then to Egypt, then back to Nazareth. We can easily picture Joseph receiving his son as a gift from God. The Bible doesn’t tell much about the 30 years that Jesus lived at home, but it’s safe to say that there was a deep and strong affection between Jesus and Joseph.
Joseph became a father to the Messiah, who would teach us all about the acceptance and grace of God. Joseph is charged with naming their son and thus defining His mission. The name Jesus means “Savior”. Archeologists have uncovered the ruins of Sapphoris, a thriving city near Nazareth. It is believed that Joseph spent much time there working on carpentry jobs, probably with Jesus, his carpenter apprentice son. When Jesus returned to his hometown, the people responded, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph, the carpenter?”
Was Joseph a perfect father? I don’t think so. We’re told that after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had children of their own, and they did not become believers in Jesus till after His resurrection. In spite of what their parents tried to tell them of their older brother’s miraculous birth, they refused to accept it. Parents can teach their children, but they cannot give their children faith. They can tell their kids how to live, but they can’t make them moral persons. They can baptize their children, but they cannot make them believe. They can love their children, but they can’t give them eternal life. The influence of parents is important, but we individually choose to accept or reject faith in God.
There’s a lot I’d like to know about Joseph – where and when he was born, how he spent his days, what he said, when and how he died. The last we hear of him is when he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with Mary and Jesus, when Jesus was 12 years old. He was apparently a man of few words, for even in this episode, it is Mary who is quoted, but he did what he was suppose to do. We don’t know much about Joseph. We’re pretty sure he wasn’t a sissy - afraid of thunderstorms! Scripture has left us with the most important knowledge: who he was: “a righteous man” (Mt 1:18). Joseph may have thought that being righteous involved doing the right thing; he found out that it is also about being the right person.
Prayer: Lord God, when we observe the action of this mature, responsible man; when we study the compassionate involvement, his disciplined restraint, his plain obedience, all woven together into righteous action, we know that we too can live in accordance with your will for our lives. Amen.
June 15, 2009
June 10, 2009 + “The Price of Freedom and Forgiveness” (Luke 7:36-47) + Hayward Fong
The month of June holds many important dates in my life as an American citizen. June 14, 1775 is the birthday of the United States Army. On the same date two years later was our first Flag Day. On June 12, 1898, (Pista Sai Nayon) the Philippines were freed from the Spanish rule only to endure many more years of foreign rule until she received her independence from the United States. On June 6, 1944, the Allied Forces stormed onto the Normandy beaches to free Europe from the Axis powers. Last Saturday, President Obama in the company of British, Canadian and French leaders stood on the shores of Omaha Beach in Normandy where thousands of servicemen gave their lives on the D-day invasion that led to the eventual liberation of Europe from the Axis powers. Having served my country for 36 years in the United States Army, you can understand why these dates are so meaningful to me.
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln stood on the battlefield of Gettysburg to dedicate a portion of that land as a national cemetery. The featured speaker of the day was Edward Everett, acclaimed as possibly the greatest classical orator of his time. A former United States senator, Governor of Massachusetts and President of Harvard University, he spoke for more than two hours to an audience of some 25,000 people. His was a masterful address, broad in its scope and dramatic in its presentation.
Next was a musical interlude by the Baltimore Glee Club and then, finally, President Lincoln. Lincoln was formally introduced and the people settled back down in their chairs and on the grass to listen to him. Lincoln spoke simply and clearly and startled the people by the briefness of his remarks.
Now, I realize that most of you are already familiar with what he said, but would you listen again to a portion of it? After his opening sentence, he said:
“We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
“But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
“It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Gettysburg does not stand alone in our memory. I would run out of time were I to detail scenes of carnage and courage in places as Valley Forge, Flanders Field, Omaha Beach, Iwo Jima, Pork Chop Hill, the Mekong, and of recent times the operations throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.
But friends, we must realize that if freedom is to be carried on from generation to generation – if our children and grandchildren are to enjoy freedom – then we must be willing to pay the price, because “freedom is never free.” “Freedom is never free.” It sounds like a paradox when you say it, but it is true. “Freedom is never free.”
In the same way, “forgiveness is never free.” That, too, sounds untrue at first. But before forgiveness takes place there is always a price to be paid. Let me call your attention to the Scripture reading of a few minutes ago. This incident and the parable that Jesus shares in it are of particular importance
Jesus had been invited to the home of a Pharisee by the name of Simon. That is something quite unusual because the Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat to their power, their teachings and their legalistic system. They saw Jesus as their enemy, not all of them, of course, but most of them. But this Pharisee invited Jesus to his home. We’re not exactly sure why he invited Him but most commentators believe he invited Jesus because he wanted to upstage Him. And Jesus accepted the invitation.
It was normal, when a guest arrived, to make him feel welcome by going through certain common courtesies.
First of all, his feet would be washed. A guest’s feet would be caked with dirt after walking in sandals on the dusty roads. So a servant would greet him at the door with a basin of water and would wash and dry his feet. After his feet had been cleaned, the host would come and greet him with a kiss to make him feel welcome and let him know that he was an honored guest.
Then it was a matter of courtesy to anoint the head of the guest with some cooling oil. Maybe it because of the hot oriental sun. Maybe some of the men were thin on top and slightly sunburned. Whatever the reason, it was customary to use oil to anoint the head of a guest. All these things went together to say, “You are welcome to our home.” But when Jesus visited the home of this Pharisee, none of these things happened.
Now, as they began eating, an unusual thing happened. This woman – Luke calls her a sinner (the word means “an immoral woman, a prostitute”) came to where they were eating – probably an outdoor courtyard to catch the evening breeze. She fell at Jesus feet and started to weep. Her tears fell on his feet so she dried them with her hair. Then she broke a vial of expensive perfume and anointed his feet and began kissing them.
All the while, Simon the Pharisee was watching. He was greatly offended and embarrassed by what was going on. Because all the things he failed to do as a host she was doing. Simon knew what kind of women she was, so as he judges her, he is also judging Jesus. He is thinking to himself, “If this man is truly a prophet, he would surely know that she is an immoral woman.” Simon saw her as a prostitute but Jesus saw her as a child of God who needed forgiveness.
Then Jesus told this parable about the two men who owed a money lender money. I won’t try to translate how much a denarii is suffice to say that a denarii represented a days wages at that time. So one fellow owed the equivalent of 50 days wages and the other 500 days. Assuming a five day work week, one owes ten weeks and the other 100 weeks or almost two years.
So Jesus says to Simon, “Simon, since neither can repay their debt and the money lender says to these two men, ‘Tell you what, fellows, I’ll stamp your bill paid in full and you won’t owe me anything,’ which one would be the most grateful?” Simon was caught between a rock and a hard spot. He thinks to himself, I may admit that I am a sinner, but not to the same degree as that woman. Jesus is making me out as the fellow who owes the 50 denarii’s and she as the person owing the 500. So he answers, “It would be the one who owes the most who would be most thankful.” Jesus said, “You have answered correctly,” and leaves it there for the time being.
He turns to the women and reminds her that her sins have been forgiven. He tells Simon that those who have been forgiven much love much and those who have been forgiven little love little.
How does this tie into “Freedom” and “Forgiveness” you may ask.
Every one is a spiritual debtor – you and I are in debt to society, to our nation and to God. We are all debtors. You may not thought of it in this way, but face it, all of us are debtors.
Now, an important asset when you are in debt is a good memory. Because if you don’t remember to whom you owe money, you’re going to have all kinds of problems. Simon’s problem was that he had a poor memory.
I suspect when Simon looked at himself he thought, “God, you’re lucky to have me on your team. I’m pretty special. I’ve memorized the law! I pray beautiful prayers! And I do so many significant things for you! I’m a Pharisee and I’ve mastered the art of being a Pharisee. God, I’m a pretty special guy.”
What Simon forgot was that he was a sinner. His sins were sins of the heart and he didn’t recognize them as sins. It was easy for him to forget that he stood in the need of forgiveness.
And isn’t it so easy for us to forget how indebted we are to those who paid the price to achieve freedom for us? Isn’t it easy for us to get in our cars and drive from one place to another without even thinking about the blessings of the freedom we enjoy?
Isn’t it easy for us to come into God’s house and open our Bibles and never give it a second thought. Isn’t it easy for us to forget those pilgrim forefathers who crossed the ocean to this new land? Isn’t it easy to forget the blood that was shed at Valley Forge and at Gettysburg?
We put hamburgers on the grill and sit around enjoying all the material blessings that God has given us and forget the blood that was shed so that the stars and stripes could fly in the breeze and that we could still enjoy the freedom that is ours as citizens of the United States of America.
We owe a great debt to our country and to those who have gone before. We also owe a great debt to our God who has redeemed and forgiven us. We are all debtors. We all owe a debt. We can never repay that debt.
Our nation’s fiscal situation is a good example of what I said. General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, AIG, Bank of America, Citicorp and all the other corporate “money managers” found that they owed more than they were able to pay and the Federal government had to bail them out. Our citizens who learned to live by the credit cards soon found themselves in the same situation. By making minimum payments, they were getting deeper and deeper in debt. The federal government faces the situation by printing more paper money and selling them as “IOUs”. In so doing, the United States faces the same dilemma should all its creditors decide to collect what is owed them all at once. All of these debtors, be it the government, the corporations or John Q. Public, have remained solvent so long as the creditors don’t demand everything at the same time.
When I think of the debt of freedom that I owe to our forefathers, I realize that is also a debt I can’t pay. And when I think of the debt I owe God for the price He has paid for my sins, I realize that I can’t pay that either.
Now getting g back to the story: When she wet Jesus feet with her tears and tried to dry them with her hair, and anointed Him with the oil, it was an expression of gratitude and love. Though you and I may think that was the way to pay God back, she wasn’t paying Him back. She was saying, “Thank you Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins.”
And that’s all you and I can do. We can never pay God back. But we can show our gratitude and love by rolling up our sleeves and go to work. We can worship and we can serve and we can cry a little bit and we can pray a bunch. And we can get out and reach people for Jesus. We can do all that, but we will never be able to pay the debt that we owe our God.
However, forgiveness is available to everyone. Though we can’t pay it, forgiveness is not free. In the instance of the money lender, it cost him 550 dinarii to forgive the debt. A pittance compared to the forgiveness of God, but it is a teaching parable. When God forgives, the forgiveness cost God through the cross. The ledger had to be stamped “Paid in Full” before forgiveness became a reality. Now that it’s been paid, it’s available to all.
Isn’t that also true of our freedom? The price has been paid. It is available to all in this great land. That is why we rejoice at the Declaration of Independence. That is why we rejoice in the Statue of Liberty. Freedom is available to all of us, regardless of where we live in this great nation.
Let me close with a story that I’ve told many times. One day, Abraham Lincoln went to a slave auction and noticed a young Negro girl who was about to be auctioned off. So he began bidding and eventually purchased her. They brought her over to him and he instructed them to take the shackles off her wrists and ankles. The he said to her, “You are free to go.”
She looked at him and said, “You mean that I don’t have to go home with you?” He said, “No, you don’t.” She said, “You mean that I don’t have to do what you say?” “That’s right.” “You mean I don’t have to be your slave, I don’t have to put up with your whims and your fancies?” He said, “No, you don’t. You are free to go.”
She bowed her head and tears started flowing down her cheeks. She looked up at Abraham Lincoln and said, “Then I guess I’ll go with you.”
Freedom is never free. It always costs someone something. Forgiveness is never free. There is always a price that must be paid.
Right now we need to remember the price and to thank God for our freedom and for our forgiveness. And we dedicate ourselves to keep on paying the price so that freedom and forgiveness might be enjoyed for generations to come.
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln stood on the battlefield of Gettysburg to dedicate a portion of that land as a national cemetery. The featured speaker of the day was Edward Everett, acclaimed as possibly the greatest classical orator of his time. A former United States senator, Governor of Massachusetts and President of Harvard University, he spoke for more than two hours to an audience of some 25,000 people. His was a masterful address, broad in its scope and dramatic in its presentation.
Next was a musical interlude by the Baltimore Glee Club and then, finally, President Lincoln. Lincoln was formally introduced and the people settled back down in their chairs and on the grass to listen to him. Lincoln spoke simply and clearly and startled the people by the briefness of his remarks.
Now, I realize that most of you are already familiar with what he said, but would you listen again to a portion of it? After his opening sentence, he said:
“We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
“But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
“It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Gettysburg does not stand alone in our memory. I would run out of time were I to detail scenes of carnage and courage in places as Valley Forge, Flanders Field, Omaha Beach, Iwo Jima, Pork Chop Hill, the Mekong, and of recent times the operations throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.
But friends, we must realize that if freedom is to be carried on from generation to generation – if our children and grandchildren are to enjoy freedom – then we must be willing to pay the price, because “freedom is never free.” “Freedom is never free.” It sounds like a paradox when you say it, but it is true. “Freedom is never free.”
In the same way, “forgiveness is never free.” That, too, sounds untrue at first. But before forgiveness takes place there is always a price to be paid. Let me call your attention to the Scripture reading of a few minutes ago. This incident and the parable that Jesus shares in it are of particular importance
Jesus had been invited to the home of a Pharisee by the name of Simon. That is something quite unusual because the Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat to their power, their teachings and their legalistic system. They saw Jesus as their enemy, not all of them, of course, but most of them. But this Pharisee invited Jesus to his home. We’re not exactly sure why he invited Him but most commentators believe he invited Jesus because he wanted to upstage Him. And Jesus accepted the invitation.
It was normal, when a guest arrived, to make him feel welcome by going through certain common courtesies.
First of all, his feet would be washed. A guest’s feet would be caked with dirt after walking in sandals on the dusty roads. So a servant would greet him at the door with a basin of water and would wash and dry his feet. After his feet had been cleaned, the host would come and greet him with a kiss to make him feel welcome and let him know that he was an honored guest.
Then it was a matter of courtesy to anoint the head of the guest with some cooling oil. Maybe it because of the hot oriental sun. Maybe some of the men were thin on top and slightly sunburned. Whatever the reason, it was customary to use oil to anoint the head of a guest. All these things went together to say, “You are welcome to our home.” But when Jesus visited the home of this Pharisee, none of these things happened.
Now, as they began eating, an unusual thing happened. This woman – Luke calls her a sinner (the word means “an immoral woman, a prostitute”) came to where they were eating – probably an outdoor courtyard to catch the evening breeze. She fell at Jesus feet and started to weep. Her tears fell on his feet so she dried them with her hair. Then she broke a vial of expensive perfume and anointed his feet and began kissing them.
All the while, Simon the Pharisee was watching. He was greatly offended and embarrassed by what was going on. Because all the things he failed to do as a host she was doing. Simon knew what kind of women she was, so as he judges her, he is also judging Jesus. He is thinking to himself, “If this man is truly a prophet, he would surely know that she is an immoral woman.” Simon saw her as a prostitute but Jesus saw her as a child of God who needed forgiveness.
Then Jesus told this parable about the two men who owed a money lender money. I won’t try to translate how much a denarii is suffice to say that a denarii represented a days wages at that time. So one fellow owed the equivalent of 50 days wages and the other 500 days. Assuming a five day work week, one owes ten weeks and the other 100 weeks or almost two years.
So Jesus says to Simon, “Simon, since neither can repay their debt and the money lender says to these two men, ‘Tell you what, fellows, I’ll stamp your bill paid in full and you won’t owe me anything,’ which one would be the most grateful?” Simon was caught between a rock and a hard spot. He thinks to himself, I may admit that I am a sinner, but not to the same degree as that woman. Jesus is making me out as the fellow who owes the 50 denarii’s and she as the person owing the 500. So he answers, “It would be the one who owes the most who would be most thankful.” Jesus said, “You have answered correctly,” and leaves it there for the time being.
He turns to the women and reminds her that her sins have been forgiven. He tells Simon that those who have been forgiven much love much and those who have been forgiven little love little.
How does this tie into “Freedom” and “Forgiveness” you may ask.
Every one is a spiritual debtor – you and I are in debt to society, to our nation and to God. We are all debtors. You may not thought of it in this way, but face it, all of us are debtors.
Now, an important asset when you are in debt is a good memory. Because if you don’t remember to whom you owe money, you’re going to have all kinds of problems. Simon’s problem was that he had a poor memory.
I suspect when Simon looked at himself he thought, “God, you’re lucky to have me on your team. I’m pretty special. I’ve memorized the law! I pray beautiful prayers! And I do so many significant things for you! I’m a Pharisee and I’ve mastered the art of being a Pharisee. God, I’m a pretty special guy.”
What Simon forgot was that he was a sinner. His sins were sins of the heart and he didn’t recognize them as sins. It was easy for him to forget that he stood in the need of forgiveness.
And isn’t it so easy for us to forget how indebted we are to those who paid the price to achieve freedom for us? Isn’t it easy for us to get in our cars and drive from one place to another without even thinking about the blessings of the freedom we enjoy?
Isn’t it easy for us to come into God’s house and open our Bibles and never give it a second thought. Isn’t it easy for us to forget those pilgrim forefathers who crossed the ocean to this new land? Isn’t it easy to forget the blood that was shed at Valley Forge and at Gettysburg?
We put hamburgers on the grill and sit around enjoying all the material blessings that God has given us and forget the blood that was shed so that the stars and stripes could fly in the breeze and that we could still enjoy the freedom that is ours as citizens of the United States of America.
We owe a great debt to our country and to those who have gone before. We also owe a great debt to our God who has redeemed and forgiven us. We are all debtors. We all owe a debt. We can never repay that debt.
Our nation’s fiscal situation is a good example of what I said. General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, AIG, Bank of America, Citicorp and all the other corporate “money managers” found that they owed more than they were able to pay and the Federal government had to bail them out. Our citizens who learned to live by the credit cards soon found themselves in the same situation. By making minimum payments, they were getting deeper and deeper in debt. The federal government faces the situation by printing more paper money and selling them as “IOUs”. In so doing, the United States faces the same dilemma should all its creditors decide to collect what is owed them all at once. All of these debtors, be it the government, the corporations or John Q. Public, have remained solvent so long as the creditors don’t demand everything at the same time.
When I think of the debt of freedom that I owe to our forefathers, I realize that is also a debt I can’t pay. And when I think of the debt I owe God for the price He has paid for my sins, I realize that I can’t pay that either.
Now getting g back to the story: When she wet Jesus feet with her tears and tried to dry them with her hair, and anointed Him with the oil, it was an expression of gratitude and love. Though you and I may think that was the way to pay God back, she wasn’t paying Him back. She was saying, “Thank you Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins.”
And that’s all you and I can do. We can never pay God back. But we can show our gratitude and love by rolling up our sleeves and go to work. We can worship and we can serve and we can cry a little bit and we can pray a bunch. And we can get out and reach people for Jesus. We can do all that, but we will never be able to pay the debt that we owe our God.
However, forgiveness is available to everyone. Though we can’t pay it, forgiveness is not free. In the instance of the money lender, it cost him 550 dinarii to forgive the debt. A pittance compared to the forgiveness of God, but it is a teaching parable. When God forgives, the forgiveness cost God through the cross. The ledger had to be stamped “Paid in Full” before forgiveness became a reality. Now that it’s been paid, it’s available to all.
Isn’t that also true of our freedom? The price has been paid. It is available to all in this great land. That is why we rejoice at the Declaration of Independence. That is why we rejoice in the Statue of Liberty. Freedom is available to all of us, regardless of where we live in this great nation.
Let me close with a story that I’ve told many times. One day, Abraham Lincoln went to a slave auction and noticed a young Negro girl who was about to be auctioned off. So he began bidding and eventually purchased her. They brought her over to him and he instructed them to take the shackles off her wrists and ankles. The he said to her, “You are free to go.”
She looked at him and said, “You mean that I don’t have to go home with you?” He said, “No, you don’t.” She said, “You mean that I don’t have to do what you say?” “That’s right.” “You mean I don’t have to be your slave, I don’t have to put up with your whims and your fancies?” He said, “No, you don’t. You are free to go.”
She bowed her head and tears started flowing down her cheeks. She looked up at Abraham Lincoln and said, “Then I guess I’ll go with you.”
Freedom is never free. It always costs someone something. Forgiveness is never free. There is always a price that must be paid.
Right now we need to remember the price and to thank God for our freedom and for our forgiveness. And we dedicate ourselves to keep on paying the price so that freedom and forgiveness might be enjoyed for generations to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
