Sermon for June 28, 2009 The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 8 Text: Mark 5:21-24a; 35-43 Title: Hands of Fear/Hands of Faith A. Hands are amazing creations of God!! The same hand that can lift a heavy weight or hammer a nail or ball up in a fist can also pick up a dime off the floor. Hands are engineering marvels!! Scientists and engineers are just now making prosthetic hands that can move in many of the directions that a real hand can move. But even now, this five-fingered miracle of God cannot be imitated. You know, you can learn a lot from watching a person's hands. Besides being amazingly flexible, they are also amazingly expressive of our emotions: You may know the story of a certain business executive who was overwhelmed with work stresses to the point of depression. Things were not going well for him, and he was bringing his problems home with him every night. Each evening he would eat his dinner in silence, shutting out his wife and five-year-old daughter. Then he would go into the den and read the paper, using the newspaper to wall his family out of his life. After several nights of this, his daughter walked up to him, and taking her little hand, she pushed the newspaper down. She then jumped into her father's lap, wrapped her hands around his neck and hugged him strongly. The father said abruptly, "Honey, you are hugging me to death!" "No, Daddy," the little girl said, "I'm hugging you to life!" Hands are not only expressive of the emotions, but they are often the instrument of God's healing, for it is the human touch that can give life. B. Case in point – this morning's passage of Scripture. Jesus is crossing back to the "other side" of the Sea of Galilee -- that is, he is returning to the western part of the Lake, a region that is more familiar territory than the land of Gad to the good Jewish citizen. As we saw last week, Gad was a place reputed to be full of evil and demons. Not a place people in the western region of Galilee wanted to go. But despite all this crossing back and forth Jesus was doing, the crowds were consistent. They swarmed Jesus like He was some kind of rock star! If you watch the hands in this passage, you can get the Gospel message Mark is trying to convey. First, there are the outstretch hands of need. The crowds gathered around the Master with outstretched hands of need because they wanted healing in their own life circumstance. They begged Jesus for help!! But suddenly, out of that crowd there stepped a solitary, distinguished individual. Jairus was the ruler of the synagogue, and as such, he was a man of substance, rich, powerful and religiously prominent. In the life of the synagogue, he called the shots. He decided who would preach, what scripture would be read, and what hymns would be sung. He represented the elite of society, especially the religious world. But all this power was of no help to Jairus, because his 12-year-old daughter was dying. Jairus humbled himself before Jesus for the seriousness of her illness changed him from an important official to a desperate dad. Out of love and concern for his little girl, Jairus' posture of importance was punctured, collapsing him at Jesus' feet, hands raised up to implore the Master for help. The sickness ravaging his daughter's body infected the whole family with pain and worry. I suspect we all know how he felt. When my oldest son Matthew was 18 months old, he was severely burned by an overturned cup of boiling water. Following behind the ambulance on the way to the hospital, with Matt and his mother both in the ambulance, I begged God through never-ending tears to heal my son. Jesus responded quickly to Jairus' 9-1-1. They immediately headed for his house. And the large, cumbersome crowd tagged along to see what might happen. Although it is not a part of the lectionary reading for today, Mark interrupts their journey to Jairus' house with the account of the woman with the bleeding problem. It is a technique that Biblical scholars call "insertion". He does this for two reasons. First of all, it adds a measure of drama to the story by forcing the reader to ask "Will they make it to Jairus' house in time?" But more importantly, this technique of putting a story in a story is commonly used by Mark to allow one story to help interpret the other, as will shortly become clear. If ever there were a direct opposite to the respectable figure of Jairus, this woman was it. First of all, and forgive me for what I am about to say, she was a woman, which in Jesus' day made her a second-class citizen. But more than that, she appeared to be alone. Without the protection and position of a husband or family to support her, she was powerless in her society. Added to this lack of family is the unfortunate status this woman bore – her continual flow of blood has made her ritually unclean for the past 12 years, as defined by OT law. Or to put it another way, for 12 years this woman had been banned from sites of public worship or from any contact with other people. Verse 26 declares that a dozen years of physicians and treatments had relieved this woman of whatever resources she might have had -- but had never relieved her illness. A not uncommon situation today, I think we can agree. These two vastly different people, the down and out hemorrhaging woman and the upper-crust daughter of Jairus, are both loved into life by our Lord. And that is why Mark reports each of their stories together. Since religious Law forbade this woman to touch anyone, it is little wonder that this poor, unclean, outcast woman decided that an anonymous, back-door approach was her best chance of obtaining a cure from Jesus. When we look at her hands, we see the hands of hesitancy and fear. So far we have moved from hands expressing need to hands expressing fear and hesitancy. Note that Mark says Jesus was in the midst of a great crowd that "pressed in on Him". Again, like some kind of rock star, they all wanted a piece of Him. Yet, when this woman managed to finger a bit of Jesus' cloak and is healed by its touch, Jesus demands, "Who touched my clothes?". Obviously in such a crush, many people touched, bumped, brushed and squashed against Jesus. It was the woman's faith- filled, expectant touch that was so distinct and unique that Jesus could distinguish it as being very different from all the others. Upon touching Jesus, not only did her blood flow stop but she "felt in her body" that she had been instantly and completely healed. She had been sick so long that when her condition vanished, she could not fail to feel its absence. Although the healed woman might have been content to sneak away, never even bothering Jesus with her presence, Jesus would not let what had happened go unannounced. Though the disciples are befuddled by Jesus' demand ("Who touched me?"), the healed woman knew Jesus was speaking to her. Verse 33 recounts how the woman came in "fear and trembling" and told Him the "whole truth." According to the Law, she should never have touched the Man from Nazareth because of her uncleanness. But desperation drives us to do desperate things, and although she was afraid that the full punishment of the Law would fall upon her, she still had to grab hold of even the slightest chance to be healed. How wrong she was!! Jesus' reason for calling the woman out was not to grandstand for the crowd, rather, it was to complete the healing process. Her healing was finalized by the restorative words that Jesus spoke to her. So now watch the action of the hands: Jesus extended to her the hands of compassion. Jesus stopping His trip to Jairus' house long enough to heal a desperate woman because He loved her. And also by stopping it demonstrated that He was in charge all along, because it didn't matter what time Jesus arrived at Jairus' house to do the healing, or even if He arrived at all. God's time is always the right time. Jesus proclaimed this woman a "daughter" of Israel once again -- no longer an unclean outcast. In addition to wellness in body, she enjoyed a newfound wellness in her spirit. Jesus blessed her and told her to "go in peace" -- a peace that included physical health and a full, healthy relationship with her God and her people. But even as this healing is successfully completed, Jesus is challenged by what appears to be a failure. Messengers arrive from Jairus' house with the tragic news of his daughter's death. The Master isn't needed anymore, because surely no one can raise the dead. Jesus' response to these naysayers is to urge Jairus to "only believe." The very same words Jesus uses with us when we think we are confronted by an impossible to win circumstance. Only believe. The public nature of this next healing is curtailed somewhat by Jesus. First he selects out only Peter, James and John to accompany him into Jairus' house. Once he reaches what is now a house of mourning, Jesus separated Jairus and his wife from the crowd of ritual death-mourners already gathered to weep and wail. As if to throw seeds of doubt into the crowd, Jesus suggested that the little girl was not dead, but only sleeping. To Jesus, who is the Master even over death, death is merely like sleeping. This suggestion allowed the crowd to doubt the miraculous event about to take. Jesus' limited selection of witnesses emphasizes the need for his disciples to "be with him" if they are to learn and understand His special messages to them. Just as only those gathered about Jesus learned the full meaning of his parables, so only those gathered about him at this moment of miraculous restoration knew Jairus' daughter was not awakened from sickness but was roused from death. And finally, we watch the Master's hands of healing. The healing words Jesus spoke were repeated twice in this narrative, emphasizing their simplicity and yet their power when used by Jesus. Immediately restored to life, the little girl began to act like any normal 12-year-old. She was no spirit or angelic being but simply herself, and as such, Jesus reminded his "amazed" witnesses that they should give her something to eat. This proved to everyone that she was not a ghost, because ghosts don't eat, but was a real flesh and blood person, healed by the Master. C. But what about today? Jesus is not physically with us. There is a hymn that starts out "heal me, hands of Jesus…." So how can the hands of Jesus heal us today? Like the unnamed woman with the bleeding condition, like Jairus, like his daughter, we reach up to the Master with hopeless hands, fearful hands, desperate hands. Today we seek out the Lord in the midst of the confusion, murkiness, and pain of life with 911 prayers, on our knees, at the dinner table, in our office, in our room. How can the hands of Jesus heal us today when we sometimes don't even know where to find Him or even if He desires to heal us? Notice the story again. What did Jesus say to the woman with the bleeding problem? "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease." And to Jairus: "Do not fear. Only believe." You see, the genius of Mark is that by linking these two stories together, he demonstrates that Christ is there for any of us, from the least to the greatest (by human standards), from the mighty to the powerless, male and female. No matter who we are, we are equalized before God by our common need for Jesus, for His forgiving love, His saving grace, and His healing power. You see, the real gestures in this passage were not the gestures of the hands at all. It was the gestures of faith. Faith was the power behind the healing of the woman with the hemorrhage. Faith on the part of the father was the force behind the healing of His daughter. Faith is the means for us to touch Jesus also. And by faith I mean trust. Trusting that Jesus loves us enough to be close to us, even when we don't acknowledge His love and presence through prayer and worship. Trusting that Jesus desires us to give us control of our lives so He can make something of them. Trusting that Jesus has the whole world in His hands, and that He is in charge of what is going on, no matter how much we think we are or others are. And I don't know about you, but I can't trust Jesus for a lifetime. I can only trust Him one day at a time. Sometimes I fail to even to that. And sometimes that is the hardest thing in the world, because I'm weak and I forget that He is in charge. But He is. And He loves us. And He wants what is best for us. I understand that the Sequoia trees of California , known as Redwoods, tower as much as 300 feet above the ground. Strangely, these towering trees have unusually shallow root systems that spider out just under the surface of the ground to catch as much of the surface moisture as they can. And this is their vulnerability. Storms with heavy winds would almost always bring these giants crashing to the ground but for the fact that they grow in clusters and their intertwining roots provide support for one another against the storms. And so it is with our Christian life. Christ is as close as our very breathing. The storm will not ultimately knock us down, because He is there. Amen. Keith Almond P.O. Box 4388 Leesburg, VA 20177 703-344-3569 |
Monday, June 29, 2009
Hands of Fear/Hands of Faith
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Stilling the Storms of Life
Sermon for Sunday, June 21, 2009 The Third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 7 Text: Mark 4:35-41 Title: Stilling the Storms of Life A. Welcome to Father's Day, 2009! You know, it's not easy being a Dad, just like it's not easy being a mom. You may have heard the story of the fellow who was in the living room one evening engrossed in the football game when his little daughter brought her Daddy a cup of make-believe 'tea.' It was only plain water, contained in a teeny, tiny toy cup. After several cups of this tea and lots of praise from Dad for making such a yummy concoction, the little girl's Mom came into the room. Dad got Mom to watch their eighteen-month-old bring him a cup of tea, because it was "just the cutest thing!" Well, Mom waited, and sure enough, here the girl came down the hall with a cup of tea for her Daddy. Mom watched Dad drink this special tea, and then smiled as she asked, "Did it ever occur to you that the only place that baby can reach to get water is the toilet?" It's not easy being a Dad, but in this very challenging world in which our children grow up, it has never been more important to have good, Christian dads, as well as good Christian moms who can provide proper parenting. Not every biological father is a good Dad. Today there are step-dads who are facing the challenge of being a Dad to children who may or may not be ready to accept them. There are grandfathers who are filling the role of surrogate Dads. This is a new world, particularly with regard to the family. Today we sincerely salute all those men who are conscientiously seeking to provide a wholesome Christian environment to young people, in whatever role they may be, just as we saluted Christian women a few weeks ago. B. You are probably wondering what Father's day has to do with this morning's Gospel passage. Well, I'm going to wait to discuss that connection until the end of this message, but suffice it to say there is a connection. Before we get to that, let's look at Mark's story of Jesus stilling the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Last week we talked about Jesus' Kingdom of God parables, which in a nutshell say that God's rule in the world is absolute, but also subtle. The Kingdom grows slowly in the world, like planted seeds, empowered by God and outside the control of we disciples, but also shared with us as co-workers in the Kingdom. This flew in the face of popular opinion among Jews of the day – they wanted and waited for a Messiah who would raise up an army and establish the Kingdom of God by force. It was the evening of that same day; Jesus had given the disciples a special tutorial on the parables He had spoken to the crowds. It was now time for Jesus to connect His preaching with His actions. He proposed to His followers that they all cross the Sea of Galilee, so Jesus might be in ministry to the people on the other side. A couple of things should be noted here. First of all, the Sea of Galilee is a pretty large body of water. One can see across it, but barely, and only on an especially clear day. The boat they used to cross the Sea was tiny, no more than 20 feet long. It was just a fishing vessel. Perhaps most important to notice is that the land to which they were headed was Gad. That means nothing to us today but everything to the folks in Jesus' day. Originally the territory of the Hebrew tribe by the same name, repeated foreign conquests had resulted in racial intermixing. In the process, much of Gad's Jewish heritage had been lost, and it had become pagan territory. It was rumored that this was a forbidden land, a land of strange and evil things. One notices that when Jesus and the disciples land on the other side of the Lake in chapter 5, they indeed do meet up with a man possessed by a legion of demons, living among the tombs. But Jesus needed to go there, to bring God's love and salvation even to this strange land. Violent storms are common on the Sea of Galilee. The reason is meteorological. Warm, moist air, blowing in from the Mediterranean, hits the mountains surrounding the Sea, which sits in the valley like a bowl, and condenses into violent storms. I have been there when these storms have blown up, and they are quick to form, equally quick to dissipate, and tremendously destructive. A small vessel like a fishing boat would be swamped in no time during such weather conditions. And that is what happened to those hapless disciples, scaring them out of their wits! Now remember that the people of the ancient near east knew nothing of weather patterns and how they produce violent storms. To them the stormy sea was much more than an uncontrollable, unpredictable action of nature. In the mindset of the day, storms such as these were the result of malevolent demonic powers. The disciples thought the forces of evil were out to get Jesus, and this storm demon wouldn't be happy until they were dead! So Jesus' sleepy indifference to the storm shows that the forces of evil didn't concern Him one bit – Jesus is in charge. Rudely awakened by his disciples with the sarcastic, "Do you not care that we are perishing?" Jesus addresses the violent wind and water: "Peace, be still!" Jesus speaks to the raging elements as though they were a personal demonic entity. The word for "storm" used here in the original Greek is also the word for "whirlwind" in the Book of Job. It carries overtones of supernatural power. So Jesus' command to the storm exorcises the demonic force behind it, leaving a "dead calm" where there had only moments before been a "great windstorm." Clearly Jesus demonstrates a creative power akin to that of the Lord, who in the 1st chapter of Genesis creates order out of disorder. "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth." But Jesus' control over these destructive, life-threatening forces is an opportunity for His disciples to grow their faith. The Master immediately confronts his companions with their fear, a fear that still clung to their soggy, salt-streaked faces. Notice that the disciples do not cheer and rejoice when Jesus calms the storm -- indeed they appear as silent and still as the waters that now surround them. They are in awe and amazement at what had just happened, as if they had been asleep through Jesus' ministry, miracles, and preaching. Jesus' words to them are thus both chastening and didactic. "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" In scolding the disciples for their fear and faithlessness, Jesus suggests to them what their appropriate response to witnessing this miracle should be -- confidence and utter faith in Jesus' abilities and powers. They are "filled with great awe," but not with faith. It is ironic that Jesus' power over the wind and sea seems to make more of an impression on the disciples than does anything else He has done up to this point. But according to Jewish tradition, the powers Jesus has just displayed decisively demonstrate His divine nature. The disciples' question, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" is key to this story. Who is this Man, who calms the storms of life? Who is this man who controls the sometimes-devastating events of life? Answering the second question – Who is this man? – will automatically answer the first – Do you not care if we perish? C. These two key questions addressed to Jesus not only bracket this passage, but oftentimes bracket our lives as well. When the storm threatens to swamp the boat and end the lives of the disciples in one fell swoop, they rush to the Lord and implore Him, "Do you not care if we perish?" And at the end of this story, they wonder within their hearts and to themselves, "Who then is this, and even wind and waves obey Him?" One question expresses fear; the other faith. Fear and faith bracket the lives of all of us at some time or other, and every disciple of Jesus. Sudden illness can render us afraid of life, because we don't know what the future might bring. The death of a marriage can lead to a deep depression. The loss of a job can result in fear of an uncertain financial fate. A wrong decision can leave fearful scars in a loved one forever. Many, many situations in life threaten to take away the life we know, leaving us fearful. We can understand the disciples rushing to the Master and asking in both fear and anger, "Do you not care that we perish?" I've been there, and I suspect you have too. We wonder who this Jesus is, and if He can indeed still the raging storms of life. We wonder whether or not there is a God at all, and if so, is He aware of my problem and does He care about me. We wonder if He is on the boat with us, present with us and concerned for us even when we do not perceive His presence or His care. The miracle Jesus wanted to show the disciples – and us, of course -- is not so much the miracle of calming the storm but the miracle of calming them in the storm. This story at its core is an appeal to the reader to trust in Jesus in every circumstance in life. Nothing can overcome God, nothing in life, not even death. The Resurrection reminds us that we need no longer fear anything, not even death itself, because God is in control. It was 1818 in France, and Louis, a boy of 9, was sitting in his father's workshop. The father was a harness-maker and the boy loved to watch his father work the leather. "Someday Father," said Louis, "I want to be a harness-maker, just like you." "Why not start now?" said the father. He took a piece of leather and drew a design on it. "Now, my son," he said, "take the hole- puncher and a hammer and follow this design, but be careful that you don't hit your hand." Excited, the boy began to work, but when he hit the hole-puncher, it flew out of his hand and pierced his eye! He lost the sight of that eye immediately. Later, sight in the other eye failed. Louis was now totally blind. A few years later, Louis was sitting in the family garden when a friend handed him a pinecone. As he ran his sensitive fingers over the cone, an idea came to him. He became enthusiastic and began to create an alphabet of raised dots on paper so that the blind could feel and interpret what was written. Thus, Louis Braille opened up a whole new world for the blind--all because of an accident! Out of tragedy came good. God was indeed in control, not causing the evil, but working good from it. The miracle story of Jesus' calming the storm at sea testifies to two truths. First, as the divine Son of God, there is nothing Jesus cannot do to keep us from ultimate harm. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Christians "All things work together for good for those who love Jesus." This is true because He is the ruler of all nature, and the ruler over everything in our lives. He even has ultimate power over the Devil and the demonic forces of life. He can say to them "Peace! Be Still". This is not easy to keep in mind when the storms of life are threatening to swamp the boats of everyday existence, sending us into oblivion. But always, every day, in every circumstance, He is as close as our very breathing. Jesus could sleep through a storm at sea because He knew He had ultimate power over that storm. The disciples had to learn that truth. Sometimes we have to learn how much Jesus loves us and how close He really is through those times when He seems to be asleep, or a million miles away! The Second truth that this passage presents to us is related to the first. Notice that it was Jesus who suggested they all go over to the other side of the Lake at that time! He knew the storm was coming. But He also knew that the disciples had to go through the storm, so they could learn a very important life lesson. The storm doesn't blow around their boat just because Jesus is on board. It hits them full force. Nowhere does Jesus promise his followers anything different. A peaceful voyage is not the ticket Christians travel on. But a peace-filled journey, with Christ always present, is the type of journey that is promised. Jesus Christ's promise is not to sail us around every storm but is to bring us through all storms. This is the only way we strong-willed disciples are going to learn some things we have to learn to grow in the faith. Life is bracketed by fear and danger on one side, but by faith on the other side. We have to experience the bad to learn the good. We have to know fear before we can fully realize that peace, salvation, and spiritual growth come through faith. Our faith is strengthened only through tribulation. As Jesus' disciples living in a sinful, imperfect world, we are in for some rough times. But after we go through the rough times, we see that Jesus was there with us all along. On December 29, 1987, a Soviet cosmonaut returned to the earth after 326 days in orbit. Amazingly he was in good health. Five years earlier, touching down after 211 days in space, two cosmonauts suffered from dizziness, high pulse rates, and heart palpitations. They couldn't walk for a week, and after 30 days, they were still undergoing therapy for atrophied muscles and weakened hearts. At zero gravity, the muscles of the body begin to waste away because there is no resistance. To counteract this, the Soviets prescribed a vigorous exercise program for the cosmonauts. They invented a running suit laced with elastic bands that resists every move the cosmonauts make, forcing them to exert their strength. Apparently the regimen is working. Despite the fact that we want an easy, stress-free life, the easier our life, the weaker our spiritual fiber becomes, for strength of any kind grows only by exertion. So now how does this relate to Father's Day? Dads, the Bible says that our primary job in the family is to teach the faith to the children. There is probably no better story than this one to teach the essence of the faith. Today, we might get a cool Dad's Day gift, but the best gift is what we give back to our children, through instruction that asserts that the only true life is lived in faithful relationship to God. Amen. Keith Almond P.O. Box 4388 Leesburg, VA 20177 703-344-3569 |
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Gospel in Story Form
Sermon for June 14, 2009 The Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 6 Text: Mark 4:26-34 Title: "The Gospel in Story Form" A. The Gospel passage this morning features two parables about the Kingdom of God. If you think parables are just confined to the Biblical narrative, think again. Charles Shultz, creator and author of the Peanuts cartoon characters often conveys a Christian message in his comic strips. And if a parable is defined as a type of story that conveys a theological message using familiar language and situations, then Peanuts is modern day parable. In one comic strip, Charlie Brown and Lucy are leaning over the backyard fence speaking to one another, and the conversation goes something like this: CB: All it would take to make me happy is to have someone say he likes me. Lucy: Are you sure? CB: Of course I'm sure! Lucy: Do you mean to tell me that someone has it within his or her power to make you happy merely by doing such a simple thing? CB: Yes! That's exactly what I mean! Lucy: Well, I don't think that's asking too much. I really don't. [Now standing face to face, Lucy asks one more time] But you're sure now? All you want is to have someone say, "I like you, Charlie Brown," and then you'll be happy? CB: And then I'll be happy! Lucy: [Lucy turns and walks away saying] I can't do it! Obviously, Shutlz is demonstrating the absurdity of drawing one's joy from other people, rather than drawing it from within, and in relationship with God.
Parables are stories, based on situations people can relate to, that convey a theological lesson by analogy. Parables are effective because we all remember stories better than we remember lectures. Jesus used parables to make memorable points in the minds of the listeners. Now, since Jesus' parables used images that might not be very common in today's culture, we might find his parables to be a bit hard to understand. We shouldn't feel bad about this; even in Jesus' day His parables were a bit cryptic to the general public; notice that Mark tells us, "Jesus explained everything in private to His disciples." But now let me demonstrate why Jesus spoke in parables. Instead of the Parable of the Mustard Seed, what if Jesus had chosen to tell the following parables: n The Parable of the Crabby Boss and the Christian Coworker. n The Parable of the Kids Who Won't Clean Up Their Rooms and the Mother Who Is Threatening to Ground Them for Life. n The Parable of the Flat Tire and the New Suit. n The Parable of the School That Doesn't Feel Safe and the Kids Who Must Attend There. n The Parable of the Parents Who Don't Have a Clue. n The Parable of the Empty Cupboard and the Overflowing "Bills To Pay" Slot. These titles get our attention in a big hurry! That's the role of parables – to catch the attention of the audience and to make an impression that might just be life changing. By preaching in parables, Jesus let each listener make the Good News his own story or her own experience. There is nothing like a good story to connect us to one another, to our ancestors, to our world and to our God. B. This passage consists of two parables, centering on the Kingdom of God. Both parables draw a comparison between the Kingdom and the behavior of seeds, something that would be very familiar to an agriculturally based culture such as in the 1st century Middle East. In the first parable, the seed is scattered, it sprouts and it grows. It develops to full grain all by itself: "The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head." How it grows the farmer does not know. But a closer look at the seed's activity shows that it is still dependent on the farmer. The farmer sows the seed, waits for its growth, and finally, at the correct time, the crop is harvested. Within this text, the activities of the seed and the farmer are connected, yet their interrelationship is kept mysteriously incomplete. Although he does not understand why the sown seed grows as it does, the farmer has enough knowledge to plant the seed correctly, care for it adequately, and recognize when it comes to full fruit. Now we should notice that the language of this parable echoes the language of the prophetic book of Joel. In the third chapter, Joel's harvest is clearly related to the image of the Lord's warriors, who are sent out to "harvest." Obviously, it is God who does the harvesting. The fact is the farmer (Jesus' disciples) is ignorant of the divine work that accomplishes harvest time, but the farmer is a co-worker in getting to that point. When we think none of our actions as Church are doing any good, harvest time is when the abundant effects of preaching, teaching, and disciple making are at last revealed. Now here is the thing about parables that we need to remember: It's the part of the parable that startles the listener that Jesus wants us to remember. In Jesus' day, people thought the Kingdom of God was coming in suddenly, with military might, brought in by a "Messiah", or "anointed one." This Kingdom would be like David's Kingdom, only it would endure forever. The point Jesus is trying to make in both these parables is that the reality is quite the opposite; the Kingdom grows in a hidden, mysterious way, aided by human effort but driven by God. We can take solace in the fact that when our best efforts in the Church seem to not be good enough, when we feel like we are beating our heads against the wall, God is fully capable of filling in the gaps!! Perhaps the greatest miracle of all is that God allows us the awesome responsibility of being His instruments by which God's Kingdom comes to earth. We preach and teach, we witness to what God has done in our lives, we support each other, we work to create a more just social order. And despite the fact that our efforts might sometimes seem to be in vain, in the end we shall marvel that growth and change has occurred while we slept! The second parable in this morning's passage of Scripture is a very famous passage. Like the preceding parable, the mystery of growth pervades this text. Human understanding cannot fathom how, out of the tiniest of all seeds, the mysterious powers of generation bring about such astounding growth that the mustard shrub should be "the greatest of all." So phenomenal is this growth that the "birds of the air" find shelter and shade in its huge branches.
Now, here is the thing that would catch the ears of the listeners in this parable. Have you ever seen a mustard plant? They aren't very big; only about like this. Well, even in the Middle East, they aren't the largest of the shrubs! To be that large denotes miraculous, unheard of growth. Jesus is telling us that God has the ability to bring in the kingdom of heaven from tiny, apparently insignificant beginnings, such that in the end, we will all be surprised at how vast God's Kingdom is. The power behind this phenomenal growth, as in the first parable, is God. In the case of this mustard seed, there is not even any human attendant watching its growth. God will accomplish great results from small beginnings! We can count on the fact that when we think what we do is small and insignificant, God is fully capable of turning our efforts into unheard of, miraculous results. The birds nesting in the branches of this shrub imply that God invites all to join in the watchful protection of the Lord. C. So what are the implications of these parables for our lives? I can discern at least two. 1. We can rest assured that God's hand is active in our lives, transforming us into the image of Christ by taking our decisions and our life situation and bringing good out of them. We are almost certainly not aware that this is going on, even though all this divine activity is obvious to the 20/20 vision of hindsight. And it takes time – a lifetime, to be precise. It is aided by our efforts and our conscious and constant surrender of our lives to Christ. As the Apostle Paul said to the Philippian Christians, "Therefore, my beloved…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Just like the parables we are reading today, God is involved in our lives, but He isn't a puppet master. He's not going to pull our strings; we have free Will. God isn't going to tell us how He's doing it, just like we don't know how the seeds sprout and grow and we can't explain how a mustard plant becomes a huge shrub. But somehow, miraculously, all the while leaving us free to make choices, either for good or for ill, God works good out of evil. We participate in the act of Christian growth, by studying Scripture, praying, seeking out Christian support, attending worship, and receiving the Sacrament. But God is the power behind the process. God transforms us into the image of Christ, in and through the trials and tribulations of life, as well as through the victories of Christian hope. Michelangelo, one of the world's great artists, was also a great sculptor. One day a visitor was looking at a statue that Michelangelo was making. The visitor remarked, "I can't see that you have made any progress since I was here last time." But Michelangelo answered, "Oh, yes, I have made much progress. Look carefully and you will see that I have retouched this part, and that I have polished that part. See, I have worked on this part of the statue, and have softened the lines here." "Yes," said the visitor, "but those are all trifles." "That may be," replied Michelangelo, "but trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle." God is creating perfection out of imperfect lives. Day to day, the changes may seem like trifles. But they're not. Their cumulative effect is a disciple of Christ. 2. Life can have purpose and meaning in the light of God's love. If there is one thing these parables teach us, it is that Kingdom work is a joint project between God and us. God is the powerhouse, but we have our role to play as well. We are not in control of the growth. We are called to plant seeds and try to nurture them. God gives the growth. We must be very cautious about taking too much credit for apparent success in the spiritual area. But by keeping all this in mind, we find that this joint project is what we as disciples of Christ are meant to do. God gives us gifts, and challenges us to both develop them and use them. Together, we are the body of Christ. All of the body parts are not the same. We do different things in different settings. But together, we work as God present in the world. As I have already mentioned, God has set up the peculiar situation in that He needs us to join with Him in bringing in the Kingdom. And this is empowering. When we are truly authentic, when we are living out of our Christ-refreshed hearts, we are doing Kingdom work. It may not be a big job. Or, by human standards, it might be. But it is still a necessary job because God gave it to us, and called us to do it. God places us in just the right place to use the specific and individual gifts He has given us. And when we do, our life has purpose and meaning. God calls us to be a nurturing parent, to help introduce our kids to Christ. God calls us to be witnesses to the Kingdom. God calls us to use our hands for Kingdom work. God calls us to do a thousand and one things, all unique to us and unique to the circumstance we are in, because God needs us. This is a pretty amazing thought. We are the unique and special Creations of God. No one is just like us. We are all loved and special to God. He won't let us go nor let us down. How, you might ask, do I find what God is calling me to do and be. It's not necessarily easy. Talk to people who love you and who know you. Ask them what God given gifts that they see we possess. Pray about it. There are also inventories one can take to measure spiritual gifts, which I would be happy to talk to you about offline. But despite the gift or the particular manifestation of the gift, the overall job is to enable God to bring in the Kingdom. We do this by showing God's light to a hungry and hurting world. The story is told of a couple who took their two young children with them to tour a large public cave. As always, when the tour reached the deepest point in the cavern, the guide turned off all the lights to dramatize how completely dark and silent it is below the earth's surface. The little girl, suddenly enveloped in utter darkness, was frightened and began to cry. Immediately was heard the voice of her brother: "Don't cry. Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights." We are called to light lights, plant seeds, work in God's garden, and prepare for harvest. As we go from this place today, may this be our work and our calling. Amen. Keith Almond P.O. Box 4388 Leesburg, VA 20177 703-344-3569 |
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Don't let the fire go out!
Sermon for May 31, 2009 Pentecost Sunday Text: Acts 2:1-11 Title: Don't Let the Fire Go Out! A. There are certain events that happen so suddenly and so dramatically that everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing at the time. The destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11 was such event. I bet there is not a person in this room who doesn't remember exactly what he or she was doing on that fateful day. I was senior pastor at a church in Virginia Beach, and one of the staff secretaries rushed into my office to tell me the news. I couldn't believe it! I thought it was a hoax! The entire staff sat glued to the TV that day, watching in a state of shock as the now all-too-familiar events unfolded. Some of our members had family who worked in or near the World Trade Center, and there was a rush of cell phone calls to try to learn if their loved ones where OK. One of our members was working on the side of the Pentagon where the airliner hit the building; he had walked down the hall for just a moment, and that walk saved his life. I remember our senior staff planning a worship service that night, not having any idea what we should do and how we should do it. In an instant, the history of that church (which had a sizable military population) was changed for months to come. Sudden dramatic events can have life-changing consequences. Although that first Pentecost shares little in common with 9/11, they both were sudden, dramatic events that changed the lives of a lot of people forever! B. Our Gospel reading this morning is John's version of the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles. It differs in a lot of details from Luke's version, which is found in our reading from Acts, and which I want to concentrate upon. John actually has the Pentecost gift of the Spirit happening on Easter Sunday night. But as we have seen before, John is not so much interested in historical accuracy as he is with theological accuracy. In the original Greek, the word for "Spirit", "Wind," and "Breath" are all the same word, so when Jesus breathes on the disciples, He is actually giving them His Spirit. John wants us to know that the Spirit comes from Jesus, and is intimately connected with Him. The Holy Spirit is the presence of the living Lord in our lives 24/7. By contrast, Luke is interested in historical accuracy. Luke tells us that the Resurrected Jesus appeared to His disciples on numerous occasions for a period of 40 days before His ascension into Heaven. He instructed the disciples at that time to wait for the gift of the Spirit. The disciples went back to Jerusalem, where they had shared a last meal with the Lord before His Crucifixion. They waited for a week and a half until that fateful first Pentecost. According to Acts 1:13-26, the gathering of the community numbering about 120 persons, consisting of the 11 remaining original apostles, the newly chosen Matthias and "certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers." When this scene opens, the newly formed Christian community was gathered together for the feast of Pentecost. Pentecost was originally an agricultural festival marking the first harvest of the growing season. Called Shevuot in Hebrew, a name that means "Weeks," it is seven weeks from Passover, or roughly the 50th day after Passover. Pentecost, which literally means 50 days, marks the date 50 days after Easter. Now according to this morning's Scripture reading, the Holy Spirit came in a mighty way upon the disciples of Jesus hunkered down in that upper room. The description of the sudden infilling of those disciples with the Spirit is dramatic: "Suddenly from Heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house…Divided tongues as of fire appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them, and all were filled with the Holy Spirit." The arrival of the Spirit is at first pretty noisy. It is a sound like a mighty wind from heaven. It is so loud it fills the house where the group is gathered. As we have already seen, since the word for "wind" and "Spirit" are identical, when we see wind, we should think Spirit. Remember that the people of the ancient Middle East were not immersed in a culture that saw the world in scientific terms, but they were nonetheless keen observers. They knew that the wind can't be seen, or controlled or predicted, but its effects can be felt, and so it is with the Spirit of God. Likewise, whenever we see the word "Fire" in the NT we should think Holy Spirit. Like a fire, the Spirit can consume that which is not desirable. When tongues as of fire settled upon each disciple, the fire burned away the ungodly things in their human lives, and the tongues empowered their speech for the spread of the Gospel.
But with all this symbolism, one thing is certain. This gift of the Spirit transforms a person. It turned those disciples from scared individuals, hiding behind closed doors for fear of discovery and execution, into bold communicators of the Gospel. The tongues of fire set those disciples' tongues on fire, and the Gospel began to spread from Jerusalem outwards across the globe. Peter, one of the leaders of the first apostles, the one who had denied his Lord three times, preached a sermon and 3,000 were converted. Luke's point here is that it is God who has planned and who is now executing the salvation of the world through the preaching, teaching, and miracle working of his people. If you want a one-sentence summary of the message of Acts, it is 'God is in charge, and He's got a plan'. And it is God's Spirit whose infilling presence gives power to the actions of those who are yielded to the Lord. We simply have to get out of the way and give ourselves to the power of God! Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push. After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this procedure for two years to get around. Eventually, ill health forced the Jackson family to leave that mission station, and a new missionary came to replace him. When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man began looking under the hood. Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, "Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable." He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson's astonishment, the engine roared to life. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting that power to work. C. This passage in Acts makes it clear that the Church as the people of God is only Church when the Spirit is present. Oh, you can have a "Church" without the presence of the Spirit, but such a group is more a club than a church. The Spirit empowers believers for mission and ministry. Now, we need to make a distinction here. God's power through the Spirit can work in two ways, either dramatically or subtly. Obviously, the divine fireworks that were seen on that first Pentecost prove that the power of the Spirit is real and active. But the power of the Spirit can also work behind the scenes, working out God's Will in quieter ways. Think of the energy contained in ten gallons of gasoline. This energy can be released all at once, explosively, by dropping a lighted match onto the gas. Or that same 10 gallons of gasoline can be channeled through the engine of a car in a controlled burn and used to transport people many miles. The Holy Spirit works both ways. In the passage of Scripture we just read, the Spirit exploded onto the scene. Thousands were affected by one burst of God's power. But He also works more subtly over the long haul. We must avoid mistaking the subtle workings of God with God not being present at all. There is no mistaking that God was present at that first Pentecost. And today, when we see divine healings and other miracles we have little doubt that God is present with us. But what about those times when the hand of the Lord is less obvious? God is equally present with us at both times, but it is the times where the only way we can be sure that God is present is through the vision of 20/20 hindsight that test our faith. Years ago I served as an associate pastor at a church in Arlington. Besides sharing pastoral duties with the senior pastor, I was also charged with the responsibility of designing programs that would draw new people to the church. The Spanish speaking community was growing rapidly around the church at that time, and soon it became apparent that the Church was being called to speak the Gospel to this large group of people. But we had no idea how to go about doing that? One Sunday morning, I was speaking with the head usher – a fellow by the name of Roy Heinbuck -- at the front door of the sanctuary. While we were talking, a young Hispanic fellow walked up the front steps of the sanctuary and tried to get our attention. He could speak no English and neither one of us spoke Spanish, so we didn't make much progress understanding him. While all this was going on, another member of the congregation named Lynn Epps walked up to us from the other side of the sanctuary. She listened to the young Hispanic man, and then responded in perfect Spanish. He smiled, thanked us, and left. Roy asked her what the fellow wanted. "Oh, he was looking for a Spanish-speaking Church service, so I sent him to the Mormon Church up the street. That's the only church I know that has a Spanish service." Well, that infuriated Roy, who thought God Himself had to be Methodist. He went back to his Sunday school class, a group of about 50 adults, and told them what had happened. They took a collection, and asked me to use the money to do something to reach out to the immigrant community. We started an English as a Second Language Program, which now, some 20 years later, teaches ESL to 3,000 people in 27 churches each year, and has spun off a Spanish language congregation. The Spirit of God empowers our ministry, and our lives, so that the word of God can be spread to those who need to hear it. It's not always clear when and how God is at work, but it's always obvious when we look back, and see how events and decisions have been gradually nudged in the right direction by the finger of God. And God oftentimes picks the unlikeliest people to do His work. Think about it; what corporation today would want that first bunch of disciples running their business? They were uneducated fishermen and other common folk; but when they submitted to the Spirit by letting go and letting God, miracles happened. God gives us the gifts we need to do the job He has for us to do. The NT describes over two dozen different spiritual gifts that God gives the Church to enhance the life of the congregation and individual believers. We've already talked about the gift of tongues. There are also the gifts of administration, teaching, preaching, miracle working, healing, serving, prayer, evangelism, encouragement, and a variety of others. One is no more important than another, and it takes them all, working together, to make a church. God gives a variety of gifts to a specific congregation to be used to enhance the ministry of that particular church. It's up to us to figure out what those gifts are, and how God wants us to use them. The bottom line is that God doesn't call us to be a club; He calls us to be a Church, to receive the anointing of the Spirit so we can do what God calls us to do. God calls us to action; He doesn't want us to sit on the sidelines once we get our marching orders to proceed. And God will transform us by the power of the Spirit, from what we are to what we need to be to respond to what we are called to do. I stand before you this morning as living proof that God can change and renew us. Two years ago needed such a renewal. I needed time to pause and rest and heal. I needed to re-orient my life back to God, and to allow Him to equip me again for ministry after a very difficult time in my life. Thank God that this faith community was God's instrument for doing just that in my life. My friends, God isn't done with any of us. If we pray for the Spirit, we will receive Him. God will transform us over time, and equip each of us for unique ministries in the Kingdom, all with the goal of spreading the Good News, and helping others find a relationship with Christ. We can be healed, restored, and made right with God. And God will bring joy and purpose into our lives, by empowered us to reach out to others in our own way and in God's own time. Amen. Keith Almond P.O. Box 4388 Leesburg, VA 20177 703-344-3569 |