Pastor Ron Jansen

From Condemnation to Commendation

Pentecost 23, 2009, Pinckneyville/Conant, Mark 12:38-44

    This past week in the comic strip “Sally Forth,” daughter Hillary is making out her Christmas wish list while seated on the couch with her mom.  Sally reminds her daughter that it’s not all about getting.  She wants Hillary to do something for others.  Hillary answers, “Oh, you want me to take some canned goods to the pantry or some old clothing to a charity?”  “No,” answers her mother, “This Holiday season I want you to donate time to a charity after school.”

“After school?!” Hillary responds, “That’s MY time!”  After a moment she continues, “That probably wasn’t the best counterargument I could give, Huh?”  Mom says, “Uh-uh.”

    Today Jesus, in the temple and only days before the cross, makes one more effort to teach us, that we are not the center of the universe.  That way is the way to condemnation.   This must be an idea that is hard to get across to us disciples.  Over the last several weeks we have heard Jesus say repeatedly, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”  Again, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  Again, “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”  “Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  If we are followers of Jesus then we are called to go his way.  Jesus told Bartimaeus after he restored his sight, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.”  Bartimaeus did go his way, but now his way was Jesus way.  Jesus is the way out of God’s condemnation to God’s commendation.

    In a scene before our text, Jesus and a Scribe agree that the most important commandments are to love the Lord our God with everything we are and have and our neighbor as our self.  Now in our gospel lesson Jesus warns that the Scribes’ life is opposite to their confession.  There is a caution for us too.  Are our life and the life of our church in harmony with our confession of faith?

    Jesus warns to beware of the Scribes because they are all about self promotion.  They love to dress up in festival robes in public.  Fortunately, my granddaughter, Abby, calls this, “Grandpa’s costume.”  The scribes spend their time in the marketplace glad handing shoppers and vendors.  They strive for seats at or near the head table at banquets. They believe their rightful place in the synagogue is up front, facing the people.  For the pretence of piety evidenced in long prayers they make a profit by eating up the estates of widows.  Robert Browning in his poem, “The Bishop orders His tomb” makes all this self promotion appear ridiculous.  The bishop, on his deathbed, is giving instructions regarding his tomb.  Though his predecessor, Gandolf, has snatched the choicest niche in the front of the church for his tomb; nevertheless, Gandolf, will have all eternity to envy the splendor of the current bishop’s sepulcher.  His tomb will be made of peach-blossom marble, jasper and even lapis lazuli rather than Gandolf’s dull onion stone.  Of course, the poem takes the Scribes striving for the best seats in the synagogue to the point of absurdity.  The bishop will have one of the best places in the front of the church, but it’s a tomb.  Indeed that is the way to condemnation.

But how does all this apply to us? We’re humble Lutherans.  We like to sit toward the back of the church.  Yet, even our humility can be a source of pride.

Remember the Mac Davis song, “O Lord, it’s hard to be humble.”  It is. It really is.

One time a turtle that lived up north wanted to go south for the winter.  So he talked two large birds into take him along.  He clamped his jaws on a stick and they took the ends in their beaks and headed south with the turtle hanging on.  It all went well until they flew over a crowd of people in Miami.  They looked up in amazement and called out, “That’s great idea. Who thought of it?”  The turtle couldn’t resist. “I did,” he said letting go of the stick.  And that was that.  O Lord, it’s hard to be humble

    God, in Christ, saved us from all self centeredness. In fact, he has given us a festival robe to wear every day of our lives.  He has clothed us in the garments of salvation.  He has covered us with the robe of righteousness. (Is. 61:10)  Paul writes of the time we received our salvation wardrobe.  “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put one Christ.” (Gal. 3:27)  Christ is our festival everyday garment.  We have received the robe of Christ’s righteousness, for that is the only righteousness we have.  The result is that we will one day stand among the throng gathered around God’s throne, counted as having washed our robes white in the blood of the lamb.  There we will see him face to face.  Here, St. Paul calls us to live our new life, now.

    In our lesson, Jesus uses an object lesson to bring home what he has been teaching.  He calls our attention to those placing offerings in one of the thirteen receptacles in the temple.  In order to prevent theft, coins were dropped into narrow funnel attached to the box.  Thus as the coins rattled down to the bottom it was not difficult to tell whether someone contributed a large sum or small.  We traditionally call this the story of the widow’s mite.  There is an African painting of the scene in which a man in a flowing robe is walking away from the viewer.  The man is about to drop a large gold colored coin into the funnel. At the moment a tall woman, dressed in a bright yellow dress carrying a large basket on her head and small baby in her arms is walking toward us.  Her hand is also extended from which drops two small copper colored coins.

Jesus pronouncement to us is, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box.  For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”  It’s a case of more is less and less is more.  It’s interesting to consider that the rich man walking away has eaten his way through the widow’s estate, and yet, in her faithfulness she is willing to contribute her whole life.  The scene leads us to ask ourselves, how have I, and how has our church used its funds to demonstrate that we not only love God, but love our neighbor as our self?  You see, Jesus commendation went to the widow who gave all she had, not to the man in the flowing robe or to the temple that still had plenty stashed away in accounts and investments.  That’s a topic for next week.  Only a few weeks ago Jesus spoke with a man who claimed to have kept all the commandments perfectly.  Jesus looked at him and loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, and sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Come follow me and in your life follow my way is Jesus invitation to us today.   For the widow in the temple giving her all was emphasizing what Jesus had been teaching and foreshadowing what Jesus would do on the cross for us and our salvation. As we read in the epistle lesson, “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”  There is our hope and there is hour honor and salvation.  If we must promote and boast about someone, let it not be ourselves, but with power of Christ’s Spirit let us promote Christ and his gospel and love our neighbor.  For Jesus is our way out of condemnation to commendation.       

           

 

     

Preview of coming Attractions

Feast of all Saints 2009, Pinckneyville/Conant John 11:32-44

We don’t have to go to the theater any more to watch previews of coming attractions.  They are on TV and the internet.  Today, Jesus provides his own preview of a coming attraction in the raising of Lazarus to life again.

  Andrew of Crete the late 7^th century Archbishop of that Mediterranean island wrote a homily on our text called, “Lazarus, Come Out!” 

Lazarus, Come out!  It is the voice of the Lord, the proclamation of the king –an authoritative command.

Come out!  Leave corruption behind and receive the flesh of incorruption.

Lazarus, Come out!  Let them know that the time has come when those in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of man.  Once they have heard they will come alive.

Come out!  The stumbling block is taken away.

Come to me-I am calling you.

Come out!  As a friend, I am calling you, as Lord I am commanding you…,

Come out.  Covered with burial cloth so that they won’t think you were only pretending to be dead.  Let them see your hands and feet bound and your face covered.  Let them see, if they still do not believe the miracle.

Come out!  Let the stench of your body prove the resurrection.  Let the burial linen be undone so that they can recognize the one who was put in the tomb.

Come out!  Come alive and enliven!  Come out of the tomb.  Teach them how all creation will be enlivened in a moment when the trumpet’s voice proclaims the resurrection of the dead.

Come out!  Let breath appear in your nostrils, let blood pulse through your veins, let the voice sound in your larynx, let words fill your ears, let vision enlighten your eyes, let the sense of smell fill your senses, walk as nature intended as your earthly tent is enlivened by your soul.

Come out!  Leave behind the burial cloth and glorify the miracle.  Leave the revolting stench of death and proclaim the strength of my power.

I’ m calling you out!  I who said, “Let there be light, let there be firmament.”  Come out.

One gets the idea from Andrew’s sermon that Lazarus was reluctant to participate in Jesus’ preview of the coming attraction of our resurrection which is powered by Jesus own rising from the grave on Easter morning.  Numerous artists have sought to capture the scene of Lazarus’ resurrection.  Rembrandt portrays Jesus standing on the slab of stone that, at his command, had been removed from Lazarus’ tomb.  With hand raised he calls out, “Lazarus, come out!”   Lazarus, ashen faced and emaciated, struggles to pull himself out of his grave. 

Today is all Saints Day.  Today we are shown a preview of the coming attraction of our resurrection.  We need to remember, it’s a preview and not the attraction itself.  We, and all those who have died in the faith before us, still look forward to that time when we join the throng from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne of God and before Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of nations, tribes, and people.  That’s the main feature.   Before the throne of God and the victorious Lamb we will join our loud voices with the great multitude crying out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.”  Then the myriad of angels and all the creatures of heaven will echo our cry, voicing their agreement, “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!”  Yes! It is so.  That is a preview of the timeless heavenly worship and life in which we will participate in full and glorious color.

Though the heavenly Father has loved us in Jesus Christ and restored us as children of God, what we will be has not yet appeared.  The resurrected Lazarus did not live the glorified life either.  He returned from the cemetery to live with his sisters Martha and Mary.  In fact, his resurrection was the signal for the development of two other plans.  Many believed in Jesus because of Lazarus’ resurrection.  But others went to the Pharisees and tattled, leading to a meeting of the Sanhedrin who heeded Caiaphas advice that “it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”  Thus they sealed Jesus’ death warrant. One man would die so that everyone else might live.   They also decided it would be well if Lazarus met his maker again, and that very soon.  We don’t know if that plan was carried out or not.  But we know the one concerning Jesus was successful, both from the point of view of his enemies and from God’s point of view and finally, from our point of view as well.

Because Jesus did die and rise again we do not celebrate All Saints Day in the somber mood of Good Friday.  It’s rather the joy of Easter, the proclamation of the great “I am” who is the resurrection and life.  He rises before us and bids us follow him.  This allows us to face with dignity, courage and hope not only the deaths of those who have gone before us, but also our impending demise. 

Jesus’ call “come out,” foreshadowed his own agony on the cross and his subsequent resurrection by God.  Our grief at the time of the death of those we love and our celebration of life in the face of the inevitable is a rehearsal for our death and our resurrection.  Even as the leaves cascade down, a signal of the dying of the earth and the onset of winter, we celebrate the message of life in the face of death.

Before we ever heard of Lazarus or knew of his resurrection, God provided a preview of the coming attraction of heaven where, “God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.”  In baptism Jesus dying and rising worked forgiveness of sins, rescued us from death and the devil and gave us eternal life according to the words and promises of God.  We were buried with Christ so that “just as he was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  We remember that in baptism all sinners are now sainted.  Thus, we are both sinner and saint at the same time.  Our sainthood does not begin after we die, but when we drowned and rose again in the gracious flood of the water and the word.  We live, according to Luther, “by daily contrition and repentance…that a new person should arise daily…to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”

Our preview of the coming attraction of eternity with God is contained in the celebration of Holy Communion.  Holy Communion is the foretaste of the eternal feast to come.  It’s the appetizer of the heavenly meal, if you will.  Furthermore, we eat with all of have gone before us as say in the liturgy, “with angels, archangels and all the company of heaven.”  With them we laud and magnify God’s glorious name as we will in eternity in heaven.

Just as Lazarus experienced the end, resurrection, when he was in the middle of life, so all of us have a preview of what is coming, giving us hope and courage for the journey to come.  Luke Bouman of Valparaiso University says that his father, theologian Walter Bouman likened this to his habit or reading the end of a mystery novel first.  It helped him to experience the journey of the novel more richly, knowing what was coming.  Just so we celebrate on All Saints Day the outcome that God has in mind for all of us.  But it is an outcome which we have already previewed at Easter, in Baptism and in Holy Communion.         

  Come, Lord Jesus that we might see you as you are and show us what we will be.   

 

 

 

 

The Truth sets you Free

Reformation Day, 2009

I am indebted to Prof. Reed Lessing for the input he provided for this Reformation Day sermon.

It was Independence Day!  But fireworks, sparklers, parades and floats play no part.  Neither did the Statue of Liberty.  There were no baseballs, no hotdogs, no apple pies, no Chevrolets.  On this day there weren’t even any patriotic songs like The Star Spangled Banner or I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy or God Bless America. It was Independence Day, but it wasn’t the fourth of July celebration of  the events of 1776.  No, this Independence Day began 259 years earlier with the Reformation; when Martin Luther announced to the world that he was on a journey toward freedom.  His declaration of independence was driven in part by these words from our Gospel lesson. “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus liberating truth that sets sinners free is echoed in the Collect of the Day, “Keep Us steadfast in Your grace and truth…”  If we had been with Luther during his years as a monk, we would have said he was an unlikely candidate to trumpet independence.  For years he had only known bondage, captivity, and personal prison to his guilt over his inability to shed himself of his sins and make himself pleasing to God.  He spent entire weeks without food, without speaking, without seeing the light of day.  But the fireworks of freedom began when this German monk took hammer in hand on All Hallows Eve, in 1517, and posted his 95 theses on the Wittenberg Castle Church door.  This was his Independence Day!

The original Independence Day declaration was not nailed to a church or hammered out in the spring and early summer in Philadelphia, but issued from the mouth of Jesus “and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  Those words of Jesus are probably quoted more in TV than any others.  Usually we hear them on a sitcom when one person, usually a man, has done something foolish that he wants to keep from his wife or girlfriend.  While he and his friend are discussing whether and how he should tell her, his friend will chime in with “Well, as they say, ‘the truth will set you free.’”  The message of Jesus words as they are used on TV is, “If you are dumb enough to tell her the truth, you are going to be in so much trouble and anything but free.”  In other words, you don’t ever want to admit to anything, if you want to be free.  Thus Jesus words are rejected as ridiculous.

    Those new disciples who had just come to believe in Jesus thought much the same thing about his talk about the truth setting them free.  They took umbrage.  “We have never been slaves to anyone,” they declare.  What a denial.  But we see the same prisoners of denial and delusion.  The alcoholic and his family who won’t admit to a drinking problem.  The abused person who defends the abuser, whether it’s psychological, physical or verbal abuse.  The person who has been having an affair but won’t admit it or throws the blame back on his or her spouse.  The individual who rejects the idea that they are addicted to work, work, work. 

    Jesus first addresses those fickle disciples, which is just fine with me.  But then he includes me, and you, “Truly, truly I say to you, EVERYONE who commits sin is a slave to sin.”  Jesus hammers home the hard reality that none of us can say, “We have never been slaves to anyone.”

    Notice, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”  That’s us.  Otherwise, why did we bother with a confession of sins this morning?  We are locked into habits we cannot beat, and bound in a bondage we cannot break.  That’s the goal of the devil, to lock us up and throw away the key for eternity.  If it is the truth, that is Jesus, who liberates and frees, then it is the liar who captures and kills.  Later in this 8^th chapter of John, Jesus describes the liar:  “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.”  Namely the one who is truth is not in him and therefore his native language is lying and all lies begin with him.

    Martin Luther was familiar with this voice.  He wrote in A Might Fortress, “the old evil foe now means deadly woe, Deep guile and great might are his dread arms in fight; on earth is not his equal.”

On the other hand, John’s gospel is full of fireworks as it celebrates this destiny altering news: Jesus Christ is the world’s only liberating truth.  Listen, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  Jesus later said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.”

    Jesus delivers the Truth that sets people free. To Nicodemus, caged in by laws and rules, He says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  To the woman at the well bound in one broken relationship after another, He says, “The water I give...will become... a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  To the man born into the prison of blindness He says, “Go, and wash in the Pool of Siloam.  To Mary and Martha, locked in grief over the death of their brother Lazarus, He says, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

    Our freedom march began when Jesus was bound and taken to Annas the high priest.  He was slapped, spit upon, and sent to Caiaphas.  Then, blindfolded, He was struck in the face with fists and beaten by guards.  The next morning He was taken to Pilate who passed him off to Herod.  Herod dressed Him in a purple robe.  Back before Pilate, he was crowned with thorns, stripped naked, and scourged, just short of death.  He walked the way to the execution grounds.  Finally, He was stretched out on two pieces of wood, and three iron spikes were hammered into his flesh.  His friends ran away.  His possessions had been gambled away.  His strength was ebbing away. Even his Father turned away.  All he had left was one word, “It is finished.”  But with this our bondage was broken, the sacrifice completed, death defeated, paradise restored.  “It is finished” was not a cry of defeat.  Had it not been for the nails, a triumphant fist would have lifted toward the sky as he announced, “It is finished.”  This is the Savior’s cry of victory- “Let freedom ring!”

    The death and resurrection of Jesus means that we are liberated from the liar and that our prison doors are wide open.  Luther wrote of the realization of that freedom in his own life, “When I understood it and the light of the Gospel came into my soul, the gates of paradise opened, and I walked through.”

    This same liberating power sets us free from the condemnation of our sins, from the pain of our past, from worry about our future.  No one can take this freedom from us, no law can stop it, and no power on earth or in hell can destroy it.  Again Luther, “and take they our life, goods, fame, child and wife, though these all be gone, our victory has been won; the kingdom ours remaineth!”

 Jesus proclaimed, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”  This is our Independence Day!  Live in that word of truth, freedom and life now and forever.

 

  

 

On the dusty Road to the Cross

   

Pentecost 20, 2009, Pinckneyville/Conant, Mark 10:35-45

    In 1966 Coach Don Haskins led the Miners of Texas Western College to the NCAA championship in an upset victory over the powerhouse Kentucky Wildcats coached by Adolph Rupp.  What made Texas Western’s upset victory more notable was that this was the first team to win with an all black starting lineup.  In 2006 the movie “Glory Road,” directed by James Garner, brought attention to the struggles of the coach, the team and individual players on their journey to the ultimate goal of the glory of the national Championship.

    Today we encounter, Jesus and his disciples continuing their journey, not on the glory road but the dusty road toward Jerusalem.  According to Jewish custom a teacher should walk in the center of his pupils with his two lead disciples, stationed one on his left and one on his right.  Two of Jesus disciples, James and John, sidled into those positions.    They were honoring Jesus, but they want some honor for themselves.  In fact, they wanted to turn the temporary situation to a permanent one in Jesus’ glory.  They request, “Teacher we have something we want you to do for us.”   In back of that request is another question we might ask, “What good does it do for me to be a Christian?”  That question came to mind as I was walking my dog in the cemetery and passing the tombstone of the Rev. Fred Langhorst who served St. Lucas UCC for 18 years.  What good does it do us?  If we are a young person, our life is about the same as many others.  If we are a young married couple, we have the same challenges as others.  The honeymoon doesn’t last forever.  As we grow older we discover that we spend a lot of time sitting in doctors’ offices, like many others in our generation. The recent rains have softened the fields of both the Christian and non-Christian farmer.  What’s the payoff for me?   Another question is, “what will be different in your life because you came to church today.”  I thought of that as I walked down my street toward home.  We are the only ones on the two block long street who regularly, if at all, go to church on Sunday morning.  Tomorrow, our neighbors will be getting along as well as we are.

    James and John wanted the dusty road they trod with Jesus to be a glory road.  “In your glory, reserve for us the two chief places of honor right beside you.”  We’ve heard the expression, “Blood is thicker than water.”  They seem to have forgotten their neighbor and fishing buddy, Peter.  In their view, there are only two places of honor in Jesus’ glory and it might just as well be them.  Anyway, Peter has been sticking his foot in his mouth and is probably in Jesus doghouse.  Time to carpe diem, seize the day.  After all, they’ve been faithful.  They have given up everything.  They’ve been suffering. They qualify for the glory. Don’t we also qualify?  Aren’t we faithfully here pretty much every Sunday?  We give up our Sunday mornings to be in church, and we give up some of our income.    Furthermore, In regard to James and John, Jesus will be ruling the world and dispensing blessings from his throne on those who are in need.  Well, the sons of Zebedee are not above helping Jesus from their lofty place of honor.  James Edwards writes in his commentary on Mark, “How easily worship and discipleship are blended with self-interest or worse, self interest is masked as worship and discipleship.”

But what Jesus has in mind is illustrated by a story from the revolutionary War.  A company of soldiers were struggling to move a large log while the captain yelled at them to try harder.  A stranger in everyday clothing arrived on horseback.  He asked the captain why he isn’t helping and received the reply, “I am an officer.”  The stranger climbed off his horse and helped the men move the log.  As he departed, he said to the captain, “next time you need help, just call on me.  My name is George Washington, and I am Commander in Chief.”

 Jesus, the Commander in chief of our faith and life is about to knock James and john off their high horse.  We read in the Introit this morning, “The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”  He is about to break their hearts and crush their spirits so that He can be near them.   When we believe that our hearts and spirits are just fine through our efforts and therefore, we deserve some glory, then we have moved away from Christ.  Christ is not on the glory road, he is on the dusty road that leads to Jerusalem and the cross.  He will save us by being crushed.  He will deliver us from seeking the glory road because when we want to go that route we don’t know what we are doing.  We are becoming lost.

  Just who will occupy the spots of glory to the right and left of Jesus?  Listen, “And it was the third hour when they crucified him…and with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.”  Ernesto Tinajero comments, “If you read the bible and it doesn’t challenge you, then you are reading yourself and not the Bible.”

However, James and John are not easily crushed nor their hearts readily broken.  They are optimistic about their chances of glory.  Jesus asks, “Are you capable of drinking the cup I drink, of being baptized in the baptism into which I’m about to be plunged.  James and John aren’t easily crushed.  “Can do,” They say,

 

The cup that was in the hand of Jesus’ heavenly Father was a cup filled with wrath and shame instead of glory.  He drank that cup to its dredges.  Jesus is not the dispenser of honorific places, but he is the deliverer who gave his life as a ransom for our bondage to serving ourselves.

So the cup we receive in Holy Communion is a cup of blessing rather than a foaming cup of God’s wrath.  As Paul writes, “The cup of blessing that we bless is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

His was a baptism of plunging into the depths of servitude that he might deliver us through his suffering and death.  So it is with our baptism.  We are plunged into the life, death and resurrection of our Lord.  So that, as Luther writes, “by daily contrition and repentance (our Old Adam) be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”  Luther cites Paul, “We were buried with (Christ) through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father we too may live a new life.”

We, the church, are plunged into a new way of living.  When we take our place at the table of the Lord to share in the cup of blessing, we also are called to reckon with the prospect that this is also a cup of suffering and of service.

Notice what Jesus says, “but whoever would be great among you must be your servant.  Being a servant is the nature of a disciple of Christ.  A song verse says,

 If water is not wet it is not water

If fire is not hot it is not fire.

If ice is not cold it is not ice

If a disciple is not a servant he is not a disciple.

Let me go back to the questions I asked earlier.  The question is not, “What good does it do me to be a Christian?” Rather, “What good does it do my neighbor that I am a Christian?”  For Jesus has done all the good for me in giving his life to deliver me from my self-centered self.  The question is not, “What difference does it make that I am in church this morning?”  Rather, “What difference is being here going to make in the way I live this next week?”  Christ has already made the difference with his death on the cross and through His Spirit drawn me to hear his word preached and read.

Two months before he was killed in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King preached a sermon on our text entitled, “The Drum Major Instinct.”  He said anyone can be great.  You don’t need a college degree.  You don’t have to be able to get your verbs to agree.  All you need is a heart filled with grace and a soul full of love.  In Christ, we already have the heart filled with grace and our soul filled with love, His grace and his love.  Therefore, what is keeping us from being great this week?  Go and be a servant.   

 

    

          

Getting Hold of True Treasure

Pentecost 19, 2009 Pinckneyville/Conant, Mark 10:17-31

 “How have you felt during the recession?”  The recession has had an impact.  In Alexander County the bank repossessed 5 new sheriff’s department cars.  Prior to a bible class earlier this year I overheard two retired gentlemen discussing their investment losses.  An over the road trucker, I know, who was paid by the mile, didn’t get any miles one week in January. Phone calls to churches asking for assistance have multiplied. A counselor from Iowa talked about wide spread depression among farmers.  How has the recession affected you?  Could God use your loss for your eternal life?

In our Gospel lesson Jesus is setting out on his journey.  “His journey,” will take him to Jerusalem and the cross. Jesus is barely underway, when a man runs up and throws himself down before him.  The man is respectful and a deeply religious person.  He could well be one of us, who has come here this morning to hear a word about life from Jesus. Though his practice of piety is perfect; yet, he senses there is something more that needs to be added to his life.  His prayer is not for more stuff, as Janis Joplin once sang, “O Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?”  No, he is more in line with Amos’ statement in the Old Testament lesson, “Seek the Lord and live.”  He calls up from his place in the dust, “Good teacher, what must I do to get hold of eternal life?” Jesus deflects the question, asking instead, “Why do you call me good?  Only God is good.”

Now you and I know that in kneeling before Jesus the man is kneeling before God who is the only perfectly good being.  Mark told us that right off the bat in his gospel, “Jesus Christ (is) the Son of God.”  Near the end of the gospel, while Jesus hangs on the cross, a Roman soldier declares, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”  The man kneeling in the dusty road doesn’t know all this.  Nevertheless, believes that Jesus knows something about how to get life beyond the grave.  In that way he is also like us.  He believes in eternal life.  Not everyone did in those days.   Not everyone does today.

The man wants a list of good things to do that he might get this eternal life.   Jesus accommodates him by giving an apparently doable list, the commandments that have to do with how we live with one another.  Don’t murder another person.  Check!  Don’t mess up your marriage by adulterating it with another person. Check!  Don’t steal from anyone, even Wal-Mart.  Check!  Don’t lie or even shade the truth to your benefit.  Check! Then Jesus throws a curve ball.  Don’t defraud anyone.  That is, don’t cheat to get something you want.  Defrauding people isn’t in the Ten Commandments, per se.  Jesus is referring to taking action in order to gain that which we covet. Check!  Finally, Jesus cites the fourth commandment about honoring our parents.  Again, check! 

How did you do with the list Jesus gave to the man?  I must confess I came up short on more than one of them.  However, the man declares, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”  Wow! If I have to go back to my youth, I’m really sunk.  The man is a far better person than me.  How about you?

Then Mark tells us, Jesus, looking at him, loved him.  We will hear something similar in the closing blessing when we are assured that the Lord looks upon us and gives us peace.  We will walk out with a blessing of God in hand.  For the young man, the blessing of eternal life in God’s kingdom was within a hands grasp.

    Now Jesus stuns the man and us by putting the kingdom of God so far out of our reach that we can never get hold of it.  “You lack one thing; go, sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come, follow me.”  I thought the Lord loved me.  Now he wants me to cast myself into poverty by making the poor wealthy.

I have noticed that it often happens when I’m working on a text for the next Sunday that the lord throws me into a situation where I have to deal with his words in my own life.  It happened again in the rain on Thursday in the Kirkwood Wal-Mart parking lot.  When I opened the car door I heard a voice calling, “Excuse me sir.”  As I exited, there stood a black woman holding an umbrella. “Sir, could you help us with bus fare?  There’s three of us.”  When she gave the amount I thought, “I guess the fare has gone up since I last road a bus in 1967”.  My second thought was, “I think I only have twenty dollar bills.  Do I have to give her a twenty?  I don’t suppose she has change.”  Fortunately, I had a five and some ones, just enough for her.  She thanked me and said, “God bless you.” And we went our way.  That’s the way we help people out.   I didn’t need to make myself poor in the pouring rain on that Wal-Mart parking lot.  I still had two twenties in my billfold and my bank card.

If Jesus had been there, as if he wasn’t, because that’s who that black woman was.  But if Jesus had been there in the flesh looking at me and loving me, he would have said, “Go ahead and give her the two twenties too.”  And I would have trudged off in the rain, slump shouldered and grumbling, “Oh that Jesus.  Can’t he stick to dying on the cross and saving me?  Does he have to interfere in my life too?  The man in our text walked off too.  And the reason was money. Jesus invited him to divest himself of himself and all he had and to invest in Jesus and he would have treasure in heaven.  You see Jesus isn’t the fixer of our problems.  He can be just the beginning of our problems, if we take him seriously. 

    This gospel lesson is also being heard in the Catholic churches, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, UCC and more.  What if when I come down on Wednesday there are For Sale signs posted up and down the streets and highways, with the intent that everyone gives the proceeds to the poor?  What kind of a crazy idea would that be anyway?  What would that do to your lives and to the economy of Perry County? 

Yes, Jesus words are unsettling, discomforting, astonishing, dismaying and offer no loopholes.    Therefore the disciples asked, “Then who has any chance of being saved?”  Jesus was blunt, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself.  Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”

    That’s what Jesus means when he says, “Follow Me.”  Out of His great love for us He divested himself of all the riches of the universe giving up his home in heaven and having no permanent home here on earth.  St. Paul says, “He became poor that by his poverty we might become rich.”  In his life and in his death, he became last so that he might become the first to enter into heaven and store up for us the treasure of eternal life.  In eternal life, what you have now will be nothing, compared to what is your inheritance in eternal life.

Jesus doesn’t force us.  He is our flesh and blood deliverer who loves us with a patient love.  He gives us time to think about the satisfaction found in our possessions and the satisfaction found in following him.  Thus the Holy Spirit draws us toward him, leading us to say with the Psalmist, (73:25-26) “Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

When our possessions are taken from us, the Spirit gives us a deeper look into what it means to have Jesus as our Savior.  Therefore, we pray with Luther in the Small Catechism, “that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from the valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.”  What must I do to inherit eternal life?  Follow Jesus.  He’s got a firm grasp on it.  In the light of such grace that proceeds and follows us, we are able to have a loose grasp on our lives and our possessions.      

 

 

             

  

 

       

   

William Tyndale

 

William Tyndale was a contemporary of Martin Luther.  He was educated at oxford and Cambridge, England.  Tyndale was ordained in 1521.  His life’s desire was to translate the scriptures into English.  He had become acquainted with the ideas of the reformers on the continent, such as Erasmus, Luther and Zwingli.  John Wycliffe had translated the bible into English some two centuries previously, however, many of his writings were burned and the language had changed.

However, Henry VIII opposed him and he couldn’t get his translation published in England.  He went to the continent and visited with martin Luther.  His translation was finally published in 1525 in the City of Worms.  This is the same city in which Luther had appeared before Emperor Charles V and refused to take back anything that he had written unless he were proven wrong from scripture.

Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament used the original Greek and not the Latin as Wycliffe had done.  Parts of the Old Testament were published in Belgium.  Finally his enemies caught up with him, and on October 6, 1536 he was burned at the stake near Brussels.

Many copies of his translation were smuggled into England.  This did much to further the Reformation in England and Scotland.  Miles Coverdale completed Tyndale’s work and published was is called the “Matthew Bible” in 1537.  This translation greatly influenced the King James Version which was published in 1611.    

How to Build a House

Third last Sun.  2006 Bethel, DuQuoin  Ps. 127:1-2

I had this weekend off.  However, portions of Psalm 127 served as the Introit for Pente3cost 18, 2009.

 A Mother Goose rhyme begins, “This is the house that Jack built.“
It continues, “This is the malt That lay in the house that Jack built.
 This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cat that killed the rat.
This is the dog that worried the cat.
This is the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog.
This is the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with the crumpled horn.
This is the man all tattered and torn that kissed the maiden all forlorn.
This is the priest all shaven and shorn that married the man all tattered and torn that kissed the maiden all forlorn.
This is cock that crowed in the morn that waked the priest all shaven and shorn that married the man all tattered and torn.
This is the farmer sowing his corn that kept the cock that crowed in the morn that waked the priest all shaven and shorn that married the man all tattered and torn that kissed the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

  The rhyme might continue, “This is the babe that was born to the man all tattered and torn who married the maiden all forlorn living in the house that Jack built.”  Life in the house that Jack built, and the family, and the church, and the community would go on year after year, generation after generation to no end or purpose.  Such a life no matter how successful and prosperous, without the Lord’s involvement, is empty and worthless. Therefore, the Psalmist warns,  “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”
  In 1787 Benjamin Franklin laid those words before his fellow delegates as they began to draw up a constitution for the United States of America.   Those who designed and wrote our constitution  recognized that what we do in our government, our country and community is of interest to the Lord.   We who voted and those elected to govern do well to remember that the Lord wants to be involved.  Indeed the God of history is involved whether we realize it or not.  For the Lord governs, whether it’s the nation or a city council, through those chosen to serve.   As St. Paul wrote to the Roman followers of Jesus,  they are “God‘s servants.”  He continues, “There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”  That lays a heavy responsibility on us citizens and on those who govern in God’s stead for our good.  Beyond the great responsibility is an even greater blessing.  Its not all dependent on our wit and our wisdom but God will work out his will for our good through us.  We may not see the Lord’s ends in the short term but in the long term, often despite ourselves, his way and will will be worked out and prevail.  Otherwise, all we have is the house that Jack built.
 The word “house” in our psalm has several meanings.   Working hand in hand with the Lord we build our house, our life, our marriage, our family and our church.  When we build, whether its our house, life, marriage or family we start out with flawed material.  That is, we are starting out with ourselves. There is always the tug and pull of sin.
A pastor friend of mine was building a new home for his family.  Both he and his wife are strong willed exacting people.  One day at lunch I asked how the house was coming along.  He said, “Ron, if you want to build a house, you better start with a strong marriage.”
 The same is true of our life.  We can labor hard and long hours.  We can lose sleep over what must be accomplished with days and nights filled with anxiety.  The psalmist warns, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil.”
 James, Jesus younger brother, cautions, “Come now, you who say, ’today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town…and make profit’- yet you don’t  know what tomorrow will bring.  What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, ’If the Lord wills we will live and do this or that.’”    Luther reminds us in the catechism that God has created us, sustains us and gives us all that we need to support this body and life.  He keeps watch over us, for he neither slumbers nor sleeps.
 My younger sister in law has a plaque in her guest bedroom that serves as a great reminder of God’s watchfulness.  The Plaque reads “Every evening I turn my worries over to God…Because He’s going to be up all night anyway.”  Bev added in her email, “I think I lived by that many times as our children were growing up and I am sure I am not alone.”
 The Psalmist adds a personal  promise from God who directs history, and gives governments authority, “for he gives to his beloved sleep.”  We studied our Psalm in a Wednesday morning bible Class I teach.  One 80 plus year old said, “I’m glad there is a White Castle nearby that’s open 24 hours because I never know when I’m going to wake up.”  This coming Wednesday we’re going to study passages on sleep and see what we older adults can come up with.  My daughter has a 400 page book about getting your baby to sleep.  A cartoon showed a man in bed Z’s issuing forth.  “Sawing wood we used to call it.  In the final panel his coworker remarks, “You look tired.“  The man says, “I couldn’t get work out of my head last night.“  Their daytime work was sawing wood.  Sleeping is at times a problem for nearly everyone as the mind refuses to rest.  At times life seems to be living in the house that Jack built.
  Among the Jews the new day began at sunset.  Gen. 1 reads, “There was evening and there was morning.“  The beginning of the day was not filled with hurrying and scurrying about, but with a time of rest and refreshment wherein the Lord could do his work in their lives when their bodies and minds were at rest offering less resistance and distraction.  His grace and love could enter in preparing  the body and mind for the morning when they would go about working the work he had given whereby they might earn a living and serve him.
 This is the same Lord who took on a human body and lived in a family just as you and I do.   Through his life, his death and his resurrection  Jesus created a new family, a new house to receive all the gifts that God has to offer, even unto the gift of salvation and eternal life.  That new family, that new house that God built is called the church. 
 Thus St.  Peter speaks of us as living stones being built into a spiritual house.    St. Paul calls us “members of God’s household” built by God on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone.
What a wonderful happenstance that you are members of and worshipping in a building identified as Bethel.  Undoubtedly others have called to mind from this pulpit that Bethel comes from the Hebrew - “Beth el” meaning House of God.   Not only is this building a house of God, but you too are houses of God.  St. Paul writes, “In him (that is, in Jesus Christ) you also are built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”  Notice, Bethel, House of God exists because God has built it through the efforts of those who belong to the House of God.  God’s Holy Spirit does works through the good news of Jesus Christ as we receive it in his word, read, studied, preached, and sung and eaten and drunk in Holy Communion. 
 Bethel congregation is not here to serve the whims and ways of any one person or any group of people but to serve our Creator God and his Savior Jesus Christ.  Bethel is not a house that Jack built. Bethel is a house that God built.  God is the one who is served.  With that in mind we are able to heed Paul’s invitation that “as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”  For God showed his love to each and every person by sending his son to die for our sins.  No one has any more nor any less of God’s love.  Thus being such a spiritual house we are able to offer our lives as acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. For when we labor with the Lord, whatever the endeavor might be, whatever is done is not done in vain but to the glory and praise of God and service to one another in Bethel, God’s House.

Jesus makes satisfaction for our dissatisfaction

Pentecost 17, 2009, Pinckneyville/Conant, Numbers 11

Israel set out from Sinai with a hope and a smile,

Stage by stage they covered mile after mile.

The Lord’s ark went before them to clear out the way,

To scout out a place to rest at the end of three days.

In the morning Moses said, “Rise, O Lord, and your enemies scatter.”

And in the evening, “Return, you have kept us from the lion and adder.”

The cloud of the Lord gave cover from the sun

Until that burning ball its daily journey had run.

Under the Lord’s protection what could go wrong

For the ten thousand thousands of Israel’s vast throng?

 

But what is this complaining from the people upwelling?

Misfortune and hardship, evil words they are yelling.

In the hearing of their lifeline, the people did whine

Against the One who had freed them from the Egyptian slave line.

The Lord’s anger broke out into such a wildfire

That the fringe of the encampment was singed by his ire.

The people cried out to Moses, their leader, by name.

And Moses prayed to the Lord who doused the flaring flame.

They named the location, ”Conflagration.”

For there the Lord had seared his congregation.

Have you to the Lord complained of misfortune and hardship

Yet, in regard to his praise remained rather more tight-lipped?

Have you promised to live as the Lord would have you do,

But then found that you were unable to His word to be true?

Confess to Jesus your lack of compliance.

From the cross his grace filled utterance is your sure reliance.

 

No sooner had the Lord’s ire fire died out

Than the people had a new plaint about which they could pout.

Out in the outskirts the riffraff was craving a craving

This set the rabble to babbling and raving.

Worse yet, all of the raging was steadily sweeping

 into the tents of Israel setting everyone to weeping.

There arose a ranting chanting about what they were eating

In their railing, they accused God of ill treating.

“We want meat!  We want meat!  We want meat to eat!”

Oh how they wished they had the fish of Egypt

And cucumbers, melons, leeks and onions with garlic.

They remembered these tasty treats upon which they had supped

But now in this desert their strength was dried up.

They recalled the Egyptian diet had come to them freely

Oh, there was that small fee of their bondage in slavery.

Could it really be free, if they paid such a fee?

Rather than grumbling, their discontent voicing,

Their freedom from bondage gave reason for rejoicing.

God had redeemed them even as Christ paid the price,

To loose us from sin that gripped us in its vice.

He made satisfaction for our dissatisfaction

That we might stand before our God in full gratification.

 

Each morning the Lord blessed them with manna on the dew.

But by now the people were sick of what their eyes held in view.

Each morning it lay thick all over the ground

Each morning they would go, gather, grind or pound

Cook it in a cauldron or bake pancakes on a stone.

Each day the people set up a great groan,

“Flapjacks for breakfast, flapjacks for lunch, for supper more flapjacks,

Oh, please not for Sabbath brunch.”

 

The wrath of the Lord flared fiercely and Moses was displeased.

He turned on the Lord and was not about to be appeased.

“Why have you treated me evil?” he cried out in a voice loud and shrill.

“Do you think I’m some kind of imbecile?

Why have I not found favor in your eyes?

Why do you hate me, to be more precise?

Did I conceive this people?  did I give birth to them?

That you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom.

Hold them in your lap.  Dandle them on your knee

For the whole of the wilderness safari

 until you reach the land I swore to their fathers.’

Oh, why do I a bother?

How am I able to answer their weep

When they cry, ‘Give us meat to eat.’

 Six hundred thousand men are growling

And thousands of women and children, all them glowering.

I might just as well carry a huge heavy boulder.

At this rate I don’t want to get much older.

If I have found favor, and you love me without hate

Then kill me and let me not see my evil fate.”

 

The Lord said to Moses, “Will the Lord’s hand be too short?

Now you will see my word will come with true support.

The Lord said, “Choose seventy elders for the purpose of helping

 to squelch the incessant yipping and yelping.”

The Lord came down in the cloud, took some of the spirit from Moses

 and put it on the whole elder crowd.

Two men, Eldad and Medad did not go out to the tent,

Nevertheless, the spirit rested on them and gave its assent,

That they too could exhibit the seventies prophesying behavior.

But Joshua wanted Moses to put a stop to such a horror.

Moses told Joshua he was all wet,

“Would that each of the Lord’s people could be a prophet.”

 

In the waters of baptism our Lord made us all prophets and helpers

To aid in the work of the Lord’s Word by being showers and tellers.

In Holy Communion we receive the heavenly bread,

That is, Jesus, who died to deliver us from sin and death’s dread.

So was the Lord’s hand able the lack of meat to resolve?

Yes, indeed, and here is what was involved.

The Lord stirred up a gale that continued to prevail

 Until the encampment was left three feet deep in--- quail.

You wanted meat?  Now eat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practice Stooping

Pentecost 16, 2009 Pinckneyville/Conant Mark 9:30-37

    Aaron, our second oldest son called this week and said that he had volunteered to help in their daughter’s first grade class.  He spent the afternoon cutting out numbers and putting them in bags.  “I wanted to tell the teacher that I had a doctor’s degree,” he said.  His degree is in biology plus seven years doing research at the National Cancer Institute.  “Maybe she could have put me to better use,” he stated.  I replied, “You have given me a sermon illustration for Sunday.  Check out the Gospel lesson.”  Aaron, who is now half time music director at their church and stay at home Dad said, “Oh, you mean about being last.  Well, I was certainly least and last this afternoon.”

    In our Gospel Lesson Jesus continues to teach us that to stand tall in his kingdom means that we must learn how to stoop.  Jesus stooped all the way down to death before he stood tall before his heavenly Father.

 Today we encounter Jesus and his disciples on the way.  In the short term they are on their way through Galilee to their home base in Capernaum.  However, in the long term Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem where he will suffer rejection, death and emerge victorious and glorified in resurrection.  Jesus has already done plenty of stooping.   He made himself nothing, took the form of a servant and was born in the likeness of men.  As Paul writes, “have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus.”  That is what Jesus is trying to teach us in the gospel lesson, to have the mind of Christ. 

Jesus is the heavenly Son of Man who was handed over by God, through the agency of Judas, into the hands of men who would do with him whatever they pleased.  As it turns out it pleased them, or should I say us, to unleash our wishes upon him until he was stooped under the weight of His cross that he carried to the execution grounds.

In the way of the cross Jesus brought the good news of our salvation into the world.  In the way of the cross, Jesus proved to be the beloved Son, having accomplished the purpose for which the Father had sent him into the world, for us and for our salvation.  That was the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, son of God.

But the disciples didn’t get it.   God had instructed them to listen to the beloved Son, but they didn’t want to hear what he had to say about being killed. “What?” We can almost hear them saying, “Is he talking about being killed and rising again, again?”  They were afraid to ask him because they didn’t want to hear the answer.  He had already included them as members of that “faithless generation” who had not learned to commit their way to the Lord, trust in him and wait for him to act.  They had failed to cast out a spirit that made a boy mute.  Now they became mute and deaf to what he is telling them.

    We read in the Introit:   “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.”

But the disciples stillness was not one in which they were patiently waiting for the Lord to act through his death and resurrection.  Rather, it was the stillness of embarrassment and fear.  They didn’t get it and were afraid to ask.

Since they won’t question Jesus, Jesus questions them.  “What were you arguing about on the way?  Again they were silent.  They had been arguing among themselves as to who was the greatest.  Can you imagine how out of sync they were with Jesus?  Jesus is talking about stooping down to the point of death and they are puffing out their chests against one another arguing about who belonged at the top, who gets the corner office, who should have the best parking spot, who gets the disciple of the month award. How often we would be silent if Jesus were to confront us and ask us what we were discussing along the way of our life of faith.

    If we look around in the church, we can find all sorts of things, both serious and frivolous, that are out of sync with Jesus way.  Alyce McKenzie remembers sitting in church one time while the preacher was preaching a sermon entitled, “Jesus is the Reason for the season.”  Suddenly the novelty tie worn by a man in the pew behind her, started loudly playing.  The tune was “Santa Claus is coming to town.  And the switch for some reason resisted his best efforts to turn it off.

She also recalled a Good Friday service when she was surrounded by multitaskers.  A woman with her compact out was touching up her lipstick.  Another woman was checking her email on her iphone.  A man was sending a text.  A couple of teenagers were flirting.  Several people were snoozing.  Then she adds, “Self-righteous little me was busy watching them and feeling superior.”

In all of this Jesus becomes a kind of background noise chattering on about suffering, dying, and rising in our behalf.  One person has written, “It’s a lot easier to wish Jesus well with his mission than it is to lay our self-absorbed desires on the altar and exchange them for his.”

Nevertheless, Jesus continues to be both our Savior and our Teacher.  Jesus sat down and called the twelve disciples to gather around him.  Like any good teacher he employs a different tact in trying to teach them and us about living in the kingdom of God while living in the kingdom of the world.  “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” The way to the top under Jesus rule is to make your way to the bottom.  The way to be first in line is to take your place at the end of the line.  In other words, be the one who serves everyone else.  If you want to be first in God’s kingdom, be last in status.  Lowliness and service are the hallmarks of life for those who are baptized into Christ.

In fact, Jesus stoops even lower to teach us about lowliness and service.  He uses an object lesson.  From somewhere he finds a child.  I imagine the child eavesdropping on Jesus Adult Sunday School class.  In any case, he takes a child, who should not have been anywhere near an adult discussion.  He puts this child in their midst.  Jesus puts his arm around this one who was regarded the least and last and says, “whoever, receives one such child in my name receives (welcomes) me, and whoever receives (welcomes) me, welcomes not me but him who sent me.”  Who is it that you would regard as having no importance, one to whom you would be reluctant to stoop and help?

Jeremiah, in our Old Testament lesson was regarded as such a one.  He was such an irritating misfit that people were plotting to kill him so that no one would remember his name.  They didn’t want him getting married and having children who would perpetuate his family name.  Yet, he was one who had committed his cause to the Lord and the Lord had chosen him to proclaim his word.  Guess what?  We still remember Jeremiah and know his name and read his words.  Nothing remains of those who planned to kill him.

As I walked around Pinckneyville last night I reflected on all the people in the congregations I served who did the little things around church that kept things going.  These are people who are unknown to most of the congregation.  Yet, without them, pews would be undusted, light bulbs burned out, and water faucets would leak.

    In my early years as a pastor I would often call on women who had given up much of their lives in order to care for their parents.  Their brothers and sisters had married, become parents and pursued a career.  Now this one who had spent her years caring for her parents, was now in need of care herself.

I think of the member of Holy Trinity, St. Clair, Mo. who personally planned and brought to fruition a Thanksgiving meal that the congregation now serves for anyone in the community who wishes to come.

These are the selfless ones, the servants, and the lowly ones Jesus places before us as teachers that you and I might learn how to stoop.  Do you want to be in first place?  Do you want to be great? Practice stooping.   

    

   

    

 

       

 

 

Jesus is Still Able

Pentecost 15, 2009 Pinckneyville/Conant Mark 9:14-29

            When Peter and James and John saw Jesus transfigured before them, His clothing radiated whiteness beyond anything bleach could accomplish.  In that whiteness, Jesus talked with Elijah and Moses.  A voice from a cloud declared, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” In response, Peter observed, “It is good that we are here.”  It was good to be there and would be even better to have continued on that glorious mountaintop.  In the end “they saw Jesus only.”  Peter was right.  They should have stayed there.  After all, isn’t that our hope too?

            We’ve had our mountaintop experiences, a vacation or a conference that left us exhilarated and wishing we could just sustain the wonder of it forever.   Then we return home and discover that the rest of the family isn’t all that excited about our excitement. They’ve been dealing with reality, a broken furnace, a conflict, a day where everything went wrong, or perhaps even resent at having to pick up some task that had been neglected because we were gone having this wonderful experience.  We in turn resent their resentment.  Then, we know that we have returned to earth.

            Jesus and the three disciples returned to earth too, with a thud.  At the base of mountain they came upon the disciples embroiled in an argument with scribes.  When the crowd saw Jesus, they all ran to greet him.  On the Mt. of Transfiguration the disciples saw Jesus and him alone.  At the base of the mountain the crowd sees only Jesus too.  Jesus is again the focus of attention, but this time it is not glory that surrounds him, but a whirlwind of failing disciples, the crowd’s faltering and frail faith in him who is worthy of all faith.  He asks, “What are you arguing about?”  Someone from the crowd calls out, “I brought my son to you so you could cast out a spirit that controls him.  Since you weren’t here, I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”  The disciples failure left them flailing about under cross examination from the scribes and the crowd.

Disappointment, disagreement And defeat were all around.

            How we in the church falter in encountering forces that oppose us or know that hold views different from ourselves.  We appear so powerless.  We don’t how to speak or act in such a way that we are a witness to our faith.   We even try arguing our way to some success.  We’re likely aware that the ELCA voted to allow gay and lesbian pastors in a committed relationship to be pastors of congregations, if it’s okay with the local congregation.  The action left some members of that church body in disagreement with that decision.  Last week I read a letter in my home town newspaper addressing the issue and signed by three or four Missouri Synod pastors in the area.  However, the letter was written in such a condemnatory and contemptuous tone that I thought, “No concerned ELCA member would be moved to come and speak with any those clergymen.”  There was nothing winsome about the letter and is sure not to win anyone.  Then that same week I read your District President’s advice that we state our position with care for wounded consciences and concern for spiritual welfare lest we be guilty of the greater sin.  He counseled that we may come off sounding like the Pharisee in Jesus parable, who upon encountering a tax collector in the temple prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men.” Holding the tax collector in contempt the Pharisee went home condemned by God.  Trusting in the rightness of our own rightness, the godliness of our own godliness, the faithfulness of our own faith we leave ourselves vulnerable to losing our trust in Christ.  In truth, counting on ourselves is the source of all powerlessness.

            The question is, Yes, Jesus can become more glorious than the sun on the Mt. of Transfiguration, but is he able to do anything for the disciples, the crowd and the father and let’s not forget the son who is powerless against an evil spirit?

 Jesus answer to that question gets to the heart of the problem.  “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you?  How long am I to bear with you?”  Then he says, “Bring the boy to me.”  When the crowd brought the boy, the spirit saw Jesus and threw the boy to the ground convulsing him as he rolled about.  The father pleads, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”  Jesus responds, “If I can!  All things are possible for the one who believes.”  The father cried out, “I believe: help my unbelief.”  The crowd came running, “Is Jesus able to do anything?” Jesus rebuked the spirit and ordered it out of the boy and to never return again.  The spirit could do nothing but obey.

            Now two thousand years later, is Jesus still able?  Again we answer with a resounding, “Yes, he is able.” There will come a day when Jesus will show us his power and authority when he comes to raise us from our graves.  But we need not wait until then to know his power.  In fact, we have already experienced it.  This morning once again you heard the authority and power of his word in these words, “in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  Once again Christ forgave your sins right here this morning.  The slate is clean.  Though your doubt may have been large this week, your faith faltering and your sin as a mountain, God’s grace in Christ overcame doubts, frail faith and a mountain of sin   Where sin abounds grace abounds even more.  God gave the promise to you in baptism where you died to sin and arose to a new life in Christ Jesus.  In Holy Communion you receive his life, given and shed on your behalf for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening your faith.  Here and now at this very moment you are hearing of his decision to show you mercy, instead of giving what you deserve. 

            Your sin cannot separate you from God.  When Jesus died on the cross he did away with it, and when you were given the gift of faith you received the benefits of his death and resurrection.  That means that whatever your weaknesses, whatever your troubles, whatever your sorrows, they only have a short time to live.  Though they may seem to rule our lives and control us, they do not.  Christ reigns in our hearts and lives.  For Jesus has said to all them, “come out and never enter again.”

Seminary Professor Tim Saleska provides a fitting word, “The Lord and King of all, when he returns, will transform your fleshly bodies into spiritual ones, ‘there will be no more death or sorrow or pain…’”  It is as St. Paul writes, “”Nothing will separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  This is the promise of Christ Jesus who rose from the dead and who has power over all things.  There is no need for us to have a troubled heart or to live in fear.  Is Jesus still able?  Believe it and live.