05-27-12 WHAT HAPPENED THAT WINDY DAY
Download | Duration: 00:17:22
WHAT HAPPENED THAT WINDY DAY
Acts 2: 1-21
When the wonderful entertainer George
Burns “was seven years old, he sang with three other Jewish kids from his
neighborhood in ‘The PeeWee Quartet.’ A small Presbyterian Church in the
neighborhood asked the quartet to represent the church in an amateur contest at
a picnic for all the churches in New York City. The boys opened with ‘When
Irish Eyes are Smiling,’ followed by ‘Mother Machree’ and won first prize—a
purple velvet altar cloth for their church and an Ingersol watch for each of
the kids. George was so excited he ran all the way home to tell his mother. She
was on the roof hanging out the wash. He rushed up to her and said: ‘Mama, I
don’t want to be a Jew any more.’ His mother looked at him calmly and said ‘Do
you mind my asking why?’ and George said ‘Well, I’ve been a Jew for seven years
and never got anything. I was a Presbyterian for 15 minutes today and I already
got a watch!’ He held out his wrist and showed it to her. With perfect timing
his mother looked for at his watch then at him and said: ‘First help me hang up
the wash, then you can be a Presbyterian.’”
A gathering of Christians—and some Jews—can be a
joyful event like that! Indeed, there was such a gathering of Jews and
Christians ages ago, in Jerusalem, around the Temple, at Jewish feast called
Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks. The Feast of Weeks is the second of the three
major Jewish festivals (the other two are Passover and the Feast of
Tabernacles). The festival was observed 7 weeks from the second day of Passover.
The Festival is also known as Pentecost (Pentecost is Greek for 50 days)
because it falls on the 50th day (7 weeks is 49 days so the day
after is the 50th.) It was a time to thank God for the harvest, and
to offer the first fruits of the harvest back to God. The Christian movement
was so new that disciples still followed the Jewish festivals and Christianity
had not yet spread to other nations, until that fateful day when the winds of
change blew through the holy city, taking divide people and making them united
in Christ. In our day, the political climate can even divide Christians by
their political parties, and in these next few months the stand of red state
and blue state Americans can pull people apart even further if we let it. In Jerusalem in the first century, there was
also unrest about government—particularly about taxes—but it was a more united
unrest. Yes, there were the haves and the have nots, there were divisions
between the rights of men and of women; and the rights of widows and orphans.
There were divisions then as now; but sometimes people let politics trump the
commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.
We are experiencing the first tropical depression of
the season this week, and even though it was off the coast of North Carolina,
it created some dangerous swimming conditions some wind outside. Years ago in
Jerusalem we can’t say for sure that there was a change of weather in
Jerusalem, but we can say that there was the sound as of wind. When the sound
came, visually people looked different; they seemed to have a flame appear on
them that did not consume them. Think back: when did faithful Jews first hear
about a flame that did not consume something? Why it was when God came close to
Moses, when Moses turned and looked at a bush, burning that was not consumed in
Exodus 3. It was a theophany; a God thing; a message from the Almighty. On Pentecost, after the resurrection of
Jesus, and the Ascension of Jesus, God was doing a new thing. God was giving a new message not just to Moses, but to
all who were there for a holy event; and a holy event they would get, just not
the one they thought. In our day some Christians misunderstand the power of
tongues: it is meant to be a uniting event, not a dividing event; it is not
meant to be about who speaks in tongues and who doesn’t: all Christians have
different gifts as Paul preached in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13. But on that day of
Pentecost, the gift of tongues helped people from all over the world understand
each other, it was not a man-made gathering with limited success like the G-8
Summit or the United Nations—but a God
event filled with God’s Holy Spirit, to create a paradigm shift. Instead of
people from one country posturing against another country; or people from one
political party posturing against another party; or angry protestors being held
off by police in riot gear, there was a different wind blowing through the
city: almost like the wind of catastrophe that has, for brief moments in the
past, brought arch enemies together to realize that underneath their
differences, they are neighbors. There
are some brief moments when the climate in America has gotten united: sometimes
it has been to defeat an enemy, but at other times it was to build up the
broken hearted. Pentecost is not a man
made thing; it is a God thing.
At the beginning of this service we sang “Spirit of
the Living God, fall afresh on me; Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on
me.” On that Pentecost day in Jerusalem so long ago, people who normally would
not speak to each other understood each other; people with different points of
view started to see the point of view of the others. Pentecost, was, and still
can be, a God day; a day of new beginnings; of fresh starts; and of new
understandings. As our election year
ratchets up higher and higher, is it possible that people of different stripes
who love Christ can be baptized with the Holy Spirit as they engage in
dialogue? If so here are the characteristics we will be able to see in others,
and they will be able to see in us:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. Those are the fruits of the Spirit of the Living
God according to Galatians 5. Could we, who are in the Spirit, start to change
the world with God’s love and God’s message? It will take a concerted effort by
spirit-filled Christians to curb the vitriolic messages that we are hearing
each day. Let me offer you some examples of people who have done that years ago
and recently.
Ages ago, St. Augustine’s own conversion to Christ
was hastened by his knowledge that God was working not just in Bible times, but
300 years later. And today, on this Pentecost Sunday, I declare to you that God
is alive and well today, more than 2000 years after Christ walked the earth.
God’s Holy Spirit speaks to women and men, youth and children, democrats,
republicans, independents, and people of every skin color. I have seen God work
by representatives of every group, just as understanding took place in
Jerusalem in Acts chapter 2. Television, websites, and radio personalities often
run news that sensationalizes. But I have read the blogs of thoughtful people,
and read the books written by others. I have heard the interviews of some faith-filled
people and known personally some others. There are God-honoring, Spirit-filled,
thoughtful, and well-spoken people around us. Look for them; listen to what God
might teach you through them. And you may come to believe, as I have, that the
Spirit of the Living God is alive among us. I’ll close with these
examples: The late Henri Nouwen is one
who, I think, was Spirit-filled and thoughtful. He taught at the University of
Notre Dame, at Yale Divinity School, and at Harvard Divinity School, but he
left the academic world to live at L’Arch Community of Daybreak in Toronto. In
one of his reflections he says: “It strikes me again and again that, in our
publicity-seeking world, a lot of discussions about God take it as their
starting point that even God has to justify himself. People often say ‘If that
God of yours really exists, then why doesn’t he make [himself] more visible in
this chaotic world of ours?’ God is called to account, as it were and mockingly
invited to prove, just for once, that he really does exist…. The bitterness and
sarcasm evident in remarks of this sort show what’s expected: that God should
at least be concerned about his own popularity. People often talk as though God
has as great a need for recognition as we do.”
[SHOW ME THE WAY, A Crossroad Book, 1992, p. 83-84.]
Another famous example would be Mother Teresa and
how she devoted her life to the poor. But there are still other less known
examples. 1944 Corrie Ten Boom, Author of THE HIDING PLACE and TRAMP FOR THE
LORD, was imprisoned because her family had harbored persecuted Jews during
World War II. For that she spent time in concentration camps. Years later she
was approached by a concentration camp guard who asked for her forgiveness. She
struggled with the request. She had deeply resented the guard’s actions against
her and others, but she saw that, even as Christ forgave others from the cross,
those who forgave others were best able to relieve their tormented souls. She
forgave, for her sake and Christ’s sake. And she gained peace in her heart. One
other example from recent times: On October 2, 2006, a number of Amish girls
were murdered by a gunman at their school. It was a heinous and senseless act
that brought great grief to the families. But as the Amish father of one of the
girls who was murdered said about the gunman: “He had a mother and a wife and a
soul, and now he’s standing before a just God.” Another Amish family comforted
the family of the shooter. One Amish man held the shooter’s sobbing father for
almost an hour. And more than 30 of them attended the funeral of the shooter;
in turn the shooter’s mother was invited to attend the funeral of one of the
Amish girls. As one person said, “The Amish willingness to forgo vengeance (and
offer forgiveness instead) does not undo the tragedy or justify the wrongdoing,
but rather represents the first step toward healing.”
God has given the world his Spirit: the Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, of counsel, and might and comfort. If we do not
receive and use that Spirit, can we honestly say we are following the Savior
who lived the Sprit-filled life so humbly and lovingly? What can you do
differently since you have prayed sincerely “Spirit of the Living God, fall
afresh on me?” May people know you are a Christian by your love in the days and
months ahead.
Jeffrey A. Sumner May
27, 2012
05-13-12 PETER PREACHES ‘NO PARTIALITY’
Download | Duration: 00:15:00
PETER PREACHES ‘NO PARTIALITY’
Acts 10: 34-48
Next January 20th, as in past Januarys, this church will host one of our most well-attended services: The Kirkin’ O’ the Tartans. Tradition states that the Scottish minister who became the chaplain of the US Senate, the Rev. Peter Marshall, instituted the practice as a way of lifting up Christ and putting aside any former reasons for feuding among clans. Because of their love for Jesus Christ, persons who otherwise fight with or even despise another family make amends and connect. Some Scots can be stubborn indeed about their historic feuds with another family, not unlike the animosity and bad blood William Shakespeare included between the Capulets and the Montagues in Romeo and Juliet. Even the old Presbyterian John Knox was notoriously hateful toward Roman Catholic Christians. Sometimes such hate, or partiality occurs out of ignorance or believed right belief. For example, Southern Presbyterians, from the time of the War Between the States to the end of the 19th century, owned slaves and thought that passages in the Bible sanctioned their actions. I was dismayed to read yet again about a group of white people this week that highjacked the Christian name in a misguided and evil attempt to declare war on people of color, arming their home as if it were an Armageddon last-stand compound. It is wrong to make it sound like Jesus would ever hate, or have nothing to do with, another person. The New Testament is chocked full of examples of Jesus, or people in his name, approaching and helping lepers, Samaritans, the woman accused of adultery, the Ethiopian Eunuch we studied last Sunday, and more. There is no room for such exclusivism in the name of Christ; Christ welcomes all: from the east from the west, from the north, and from the south, all are invited to the table of the kingdom of God. Yet we might back away with a morsel of permission for private organizations to be exclusive. Some golf clubs are exclusive by gender, and some were exclusive in other ways not long ago. There is the PGA and the LPGA of course. But professional baseball, basketball, and football among other sports have women compete against women and men against men. In NASCAR Danica Patrick is not the first female driver, but when one breaks into the field, it really makes news. Our country had some horrible times as integration was forced on those not ready to move in the direction of the mixing of the races. We have come a long way, but we are nowhere near the perfect love that God embodies and that our Savior Jesus exhibited so well. Even in the so called Holy Land, Israelis and Palestinians have a tense and sometimes hateful relationship. And in the growing Muslim world, there is not only intolerance for perceived infidels, there is intolerance for other branches of Islam; but lest we point out the splinter in our neighbor’s eye without noticing the log in our own eye, even Jews and Christians have the same kind intolerance for each other. All of that background—of how few things are new under the sun when it comes to some attitudes—lets us know that what happened with Peter in today’s text is nothing short of a born again experience. Let’s set the stage:
Acts is a wonderful book that helps us watch the halting first steps of the baby religion called “The Way,” those people are later called “followers of the Way” and only in chapter 11 are such followers first called “Christians.” Just two chapters earlier in chapter 9, Paul is a confirmed Jewish Christian- hater named Saul who supervised the carrying out the first murder of a Christian; he supervised the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Peter, on the other hand, has been preaching Christ, but he firmly believed that no one could become a Christian unless they first became a practicing Jew! These are two of the greatest Christians of all time! Churches all over the world are named after them, not because they are perfect; not because of who they were; they are famous because of who, by the grace of God and the powerful witness of Jesus Christ, they became. Paul, you might recall, had a spiritual meeting with the risen Christ one day on the road to Emmaus, and his life and attitude changed forever from that day forward. No one became a greater advocate for Christ than Paul who covered thousands of miles in his lifetime, sleeping in tents and in prisons, and traveling in the most primitive ways. To Paul we owe an exceeding debt.
Today, however, we are looking at the conversion of Peter, not from being something else to being a Christian, for he certainly was one of the inner three of the Twelve who was singled out by Jesus himself when Peter declared him to be the Christ.
”Upon this Rock I will build my church” he said to Peter regarding his declaration of his faith. But actually, Peter was like some Americans; like some Isaelis; like some Palestinians; and like some in every nation: he had his beliefs that had almost been set in stone; they were strong enough beliefs against another group of human beings that it could have been labeled as prejudice; he excluded Gentiles from Christianity unless they first became a Jew. Acts chapter 10, our chapter today, is the conversion chapter for Peter; it represents a paradigm shift for this premier disciple. First of all, Peter had a vision of a sheet descending from heaven holding every animal that Jews believed were unclean; a voice then came into Peter’s head that told him they were acceptable now. He could not believe his ears, but he gave respect and authority to the voice that he believed his risen Lord. Second, Peter objected strenuously: “No Lord, I have never eaten anything so wrong and unclean!” And the voice said: “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” Peter was still perplexed; no one changes life-long beliefs about a race of people in an instant; some never change. But angels spoke to a God-fearing Gentile (or non-Jew) named Cornelius, who received Peter with humility and said they were ready to hear what God had told him to preach to them. Finally, in that moment Peter could have returned to his cherished stance of hating, or not going near Gentiles; or Peter could have received the words of the heaven-sent voice and given a message of love and grace. Peter became a vessel of God’s grace as he first mounted the pulpit there in Joppa and said these words: “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality.” Jesus must have been overjoyed; his Father in Heaven might have had his heart gladdened; and his mother Mary, who had to adjust to enormous life changes, nodded her approval. Peter got the message that his Teacher and Lord had tried to teach him all his earthly days. But it took being born from above, having a new outlook on people: not an outlook that distinguished by categories or income or color or gender, but an outlook that saw others just as children of God. On that day in Joppa of all places, [a Gentile city,] Peter got it. The light went on in his head. Eager Gentiles lined up for baptisms and to be welcomed into the band of followers that others had labeled as Christians. That was a label they would keep.
Today there are some good reasons—and some poor reasons—why we are categorized by age, grade or gender; some are called white collar or blue collar; some are in the armed forces and some are civilian. Today, the Spirit of the Living God invites each of us to seek to lay down our cherished prejudices, especially the ones that have become imbedded. Some women are doctors and some men are nurses, and some women are ministers and some men work in day care centers; some people with disabilities hold down full time jobs while some physically capable persons scheme to stay on welfare roles. Paul at one point hated Christians; Peter at one point hated Gentiles; can we start to look at others through the enlightened eyes that Paul got, and that Peter got; to see others as ones that Jesus loved, and that Jesus still loves. One day we may see what Christ already hopes to see: what Kirkin’ O’ the Tartans and other ceremonies try to say: that we are all different, and each unique, but we are united by Christ. Christ is the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. And as the great Christian hymn proclaims it: “In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth;” so may it be.
Jeffrey A. Sumner May 13, 2012
05-06-12 THE GOSPEL GOES FORTH
Download | Duration: 00:14:00
THE GOSPEL GOES FORTH
Acts 8: 26-40
Witnessing to others about the gospel of Jesus Christ has not been a sacrificial venture for many of us in 21st century America. Presbyterians often may take the “actions speak louder than words” approach to telling others about our faith. Few of us hand out religious tracts, or pamphlets, around neighborhoods and knock on doors; few of us stand on street corners with a sandwich board held high saying “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” But there should be no mistake about it: just as the unofficial slogan among higher education professors is “publish or perish,” the unofficial slogan for Christians is “witness or perish.” The Great Commission from the lips of our Lord Jesus himself in Matthew 28 commands us to do so: “Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” That is what we are to spread around the globe: the Great Commission; it’s like Christ’s final words to his loved ones as he departed from the earth until he comes again. Jesus laid that work squarely in our laps. Sometimes that work can be pleasant—like telling a new neighbor where you go to church and inviting them to come with you; or sharing with a new friend about the time you decided to be Christian, or the day when God’s amazing grace saved a wretch like you. There are other times, however, when Christians have had to take a stand that cost them their lives. We call them martyrs. Even some of the original Twelve Apostles, or at least 11, were martyrs, and the word “martyr” itself means “witness,” but it is a witness to the point of death. In the 20th Century Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian martyr in Germany during the Third Reich when he would not put the fuhrer Hitler ahead of Christ. Our apostles’ banner that hung in our sanctuary from Palm Sunday through Easter had the shields of the apostles on it, most of which depicted the traditional way they were martyred. Witnessing happens in various ways.
Some of you have followed my Doctor of Ministry progress carefully and I am glad to share the work I do. For my July class, I have arrive at class with research done and a 16 page paper written on the history of Christian Spirituality from the death and resurrection of Christ until the present day. The paper will break up the history of Christianity into eight sections and describe the qualities of each era over the last 2000 years! As I have begun the reading I have been studying Gerald Sittser’s book WATER FROM A DEEP WELL: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries. He reminds readers that Christians in countries today such as Indonesia, Vietnam, India, and Nepal to name a few, all have people persecuted because they are Christians. Some of them are killed as martyrs, that is, they have refused to deny Christ when threatened with their very lives. “Much of the martyrdom we read about today”, says Sittser, “especially in the form of suicide bombing, is the complete opposite of the martyrdom that Christians suffered in the first few centuries. These modern [terrorists that are called martyrs]—if we dare even use the word to describe such horrific acts—bear witness to a God of vengeance, hate, and murder, not a God of love. The early Christians were victims of such hate, not persecutors. They absorbed violence; they did not inflict it. They were called to martyrdom; they did not force it on innocent people, which is what suicide bombers do today. In early Christianity martyrdom was only one way of many ways to bear witness to the truth of the gospel.” [Sittser, IVP Books, 2007, p 31.] In those early years of Christianity, the Roman Emperor Neron Caesar, among others, thought nothing of putting Christian men in the center of Rome’s Circus Maximus with a hungry lion for the sport of it, or setting tied up Christians on fire, attached to poles around the stadium, to light up the arena. Rome’s rulers demanded ultimate allegiance, some of them demanding to be addressed as “Lord and God.” The book of Revelation was written by John to address such horrible conditions of martyrdom. And from the first century on, the names of Christian martyrs, both men and women like Justin, Perpetua, and Polycarp, remind us that our faith was not forged in a field of flowers but in the blood of martyrs, those who would not deny Christ as Lord, just as our Lord Jesus shed his blood for us.
But not all witnessing, then and today, has such dreadful costs. Sometimes it is a joyful event when a friend has a great spiritual awakening and, in the language of some, “gets saved.” Sometimes it is the great joy of a church or a family gathering in a sanctuary, at a baptistry, a font, or at a river and baptizing a new follower “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes witnessing culminates with the waters of baptism rather than the blood of martyrs. Such was the case in Acts on one occasion. The Acts of the Apostles is a powerful account of the first halting steps of Jesus’ disciples, confronting others, proclaiming Christ to others, praying with others, or baptizing others. Today we have a baptism story. Today we heard this passage: Phillip, one of the twelve, heard an angel of the Lord instruct him to head in a certain direction. Have you ever had a very strong feeling to go somewhere, or call someone, or check on someone? Sometimes I think such urges, which often turn out to be timely, are heaven sent. “Arise and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” In his day and in our day, taking the road from Jerusalem to Gaza would give people pause. In Old Testament times the Philistines were in Gaza, the one who battled Israel in 1 Samuel and who put up the Giant Goliath against the only representative of the Israelite army: David. Gaza is the strip today where skirmishes break out, and it was, at its root, the antithesis of Godly faithfulness. That was not easy territory for an Apostle—on his own for the first time—to share Christ. But he answered the call of his Lord and started out. On his way he had the supreme test of Christian witnessing: he met a man of a completely different color, for Ethiopians were jet black; he was a man of high authority and training since he was what we might call the “Prime Minister” for his Queen of Ethiopia, and he was castrated too by custom to make him loyal to her. So he was loyal to the queen, and by his castration he was, by Jewish rules, prohibited from entering an assembly of the Lord according to Deuteronomy 23:1. What a test the angel had for Phillip! He was asking if he could be baptized! The Ethiopian clearly was curious about the faith because he was reading from the book of Isaiah, and he was wealthy enough to have obtained a copy! On that day, Philip passed the witnessing test, a test that Paul had to pass, and eventually, other disciples did too. They began inviting non-Jews to become Christians, and by that move, opened Christianity to the world, and eventually to you and to me! A man, a non-Jewish, exotic foreigner, asked if he could be baptized into Christ. And Phillip did so.
Because of the blood of martyrs, and the good work of earlier witnesses, we have Christ to share with others today. But our children, and our children’s children, will not have Christ if we do not witness about him to others by our invitation, encouragement, our tireless work for others, and with our love. There may be a time when our children will need to take stands in the faith as well that are not easy or popular, so that there is no doubt that Jesus Christ is Lord of their lives. But today it is about you. Who will test you; an angel; a neighbor; a child with their unexpected questions? Where will you be sent; down a dusty road; into prison ministry; to care for those who others have forgotten; to another state or country; or into the dark of night? You and I each have our own ways to witness to our faith: be sure those around you know that Jesus is Lord of your life, as he is of mine.
Jeffrey A. Sumner May 6, 2012
04-29-12 THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Download | Duration: 00:12:46
The Good Shepherd. That’s such a classic image, isn’t it? We have the Good shepherd in our lives. And because Jesus is the good shepherd we know that he would lay down his life for us. That he HAS laid down his life for us. Jesus will care for all of our hurts, all of our troubles, because he is a good shepherd, not just a hired hand.
After all, the sheep are not simply the Shepherd’s livelihood or responsibility. They are "his own"—like his own flesh and blood. "I know my own and my own know me." Unlike the corporate CEO, who sees the flock in terms of profits and expenses, the Shepherd cares deeply for the sheep. They are worth his life to him. We are not just a responsibility to Christ. We are his. While this is not the promise of a pain-free life, it is a powerful assurance that we count. We are not alone. Amid so much that is impersonal and profit-driven in the world, we have a God who sees, notices, and cares. God is with us. God will not turn from us.
We know that God loved us because of what Christ has done for us. God's love came to us before we had done anything to deserve it. This is joyous, wonderful news. Knowing that no matter how far we stray, Christ will come looking for us. No matter what trouble we get into, Jesus will be there for us through it. We should rejoice and find comfort in it. We don’t need to do anything to gain God’s love, because God already loves us!
Now, by calling ourselves Christians we agree to follow Christ. Do do as he did. How can we claim genuine faith without authenticating action, asks John in the first lesson? Words lead to deeds: "This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us." We cannot believe in Jesus without believing in love, and we cannot have love without action. Because God loved us, we are supposed to help those in need. Because God loved us. Not in order to get God to love us. That's already happened, remember.
So we too are called to live lives of love and caring that stand in contradiction to all that debases and diminishes human life. We are, after all, not "our own" we are Christ’s.We are called to live as Christ in the world. We are not only sheep; we are also called to act as the risen Shepherd in the world. Jesus makes it clear as he draws near the cross that his motivation is love. He is choosing to make this sacrifice. He is choosing to be faithful to what God has put before him.
In the first letter of John we are challenged to love in that same manner. If he loved us enough to lay down his life for us, we should be willing to lay down our life for each other. But that sounds crazy in actual practice... doesn't it? There is a tale that in the first century a man came to Tertullian, a father in the early church. And in trying to justify some compromises the man had felt he had to make, commented, "I have to live, don't I?" to which Tertullian is reported to have said, "Do you?" The challenge is to focus away from self and to others, to ask where our real values are: Is what matters only survival? Or does the way we live matter more? Are there some things worth giving up our lives for? Can we love one another that much?
Jesus says yes. And turns, giving up his life for all of us. The shepherd laying down his life for the sheep, proving that we are truly his own. Alright, so we know that we have love by laying down our lives for another. But honestly... how often do we come across the situation where we lay down our lives for one another these days? Sure, we hear stories in the news of people who run into burning buildings or jump after drowning victims or foil robberies, but those aren’t the norm. Most of the time, that just isn't what we are asked to do. Most of us will never be in a position to do such things.
However, the call to risk, to sacrifice, is more than with just our deaths. We can sacrifice not only with our life but with the years and days that make up our lives. Have you ever seen the famous drawing called The Praying Hands by German artist Albrecht Durer? There is a legend behind the painting that tells of two struggling artists. One is a musician whose goal in life was to play and compose music to the glory of God. Durer, the other of the two, was a painter and engraver. They had flipped a coin to decide who would go on to become an artist and who would work in the goldmines to support them financially. Albrecht won the coin toss, and so he went on to Italy to work on his art, while his anonymous friend or brother worked in the mines. One day when Albrecht came back to his hometown he saw the gnarled, work-ruined hands of the man, too hardened to return to his career in music. The legend is that those hands have become the model for the famous praying hands. Whether or not the story is true, it is an example of the love John talks about here. The actions of a good shepherd. Laying down one's life is not always a matter of life or death, but at a time of postponing or canceling dreams and plans so that another might fulfill their dreams or plans.
We are called to such stories. And perhaps a bit intimidated by them. We aren’t sure if we are capable of such dramatic sacrifices. But these sacrifices exist on the small scale too. Every day there are small quiet sacrifices of love. A teacher takes money out of his or her own pocket to buy teaching resources that enhance her students’ learning. A neighbor delivers a casserole to a sick friend. A politician takes an unpopular and principled stand to see that benefits to the poor are not cut, even if it costs him or her votes. Maybe it’s as simple as taking time from a busy schedule to listen, maybe even give a hug, to someone who is feeling down and unlovely or unlovable.
Dave Simmons tells a story about his eight year old daughter making such a sacrifice. He came upon a petting zoo while out with her and her younger brother. Thinking to give them a chance to play while he shopped, he gave them each a quarter and headed off. He relates what happens next. “A few minutes later, I turned around and saw Helen walking along behind me. I was shocked to see she preferred the hardware department to the petting zoo. Recognizing my error, I bent down and asked her what was wrong.
She looked up at me with those giant limpid brown eyes and said sadly, ‘Well, Daddy, it cost fifty cents. So, I gave Brandon my quarter.’ Then she said the most beautiful thing I ever heard. She repeated the family motto. The family motto is ‘Love is Action!’
She had given Brandon her quarter, and no one loves cuddly furry creatures more than Helen. She had watched Sandy take my steak and say, ‘Love is Action!’ She had watched both of us do and say ‘Love is Action!’ for years around the house and Kings Arrow Ranch. She had heard and seen ‘Love is Action,’ and now she had incorporated it into her little lifestyle. It had become part of her.”
Even small sacrifices reveal immense love and caring. While they do not cost us our lives, they reveal the true depths of the love Jesus calls us towards.
Yes, but.. what about people we don’t like? What about those we don’t want to love? Surely Jesus didn’t want us to love them too.. Well, Frederick Buechner once said that “[Jesus] is telling us to love our neighbors in the sense of being willing to work for their well-being even if it means sacrificing our own well-being to that end, even if it means sometimes just leaving them alone. Thus in Jesus’ terms we can love our neighbors without necessarily liking them . . . This does not mean that liking may not be a part of loving, only that it does not have to be. Sometimes liking follows on the heels of loving. It is hard to work for people’s well-being very long without coming in the end to rather like them too.” We still make the sacrifices even when there isn’t like, because Jesus calls us to love.
That’s the kind of love to which we are called. Love that isn’t just for the good or the kind, but love for the saint and sinner alike. The mean and the caring. Jesus life, death, and resurrection have had many levels of theological interpretation wrapped around them over the years. All deep, logically developed, formulations aside, the simplest interpretation is that he came to show us what love is, and the power of love, seen in acts of self-giving, sometimes heroic and extreme, sometimes quiet and every day. And all of them for those who don’t deserve the immensity of such love. Jesus, the Logos, the Word of God, translated God's speeches of love and grace into incarnate action, and he calls us now to do the same. It is never easy, but it always brings life. He is the Good shepherd and we are to follow him.
How will you show your love in truth and action?
04-22-12 WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE?
Download | Duration: 00:19:13
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE?
Acts 3:1-10
Perhaps you heard about the passengers on the cruise ship the Star Princess who spotted a small fishing boat waving to their ship for help. The cruise passengers were using binoculars and spotted them and they did the right thing: they quickly reported their find to a crew member, expecting the ship to respond. But the ship sailed on out of sight of the boat. One of the woman who spotted the boat even sent an email to the Coast Guard, or at least she thought she did, but apparently they did not get contacted either. Later the three survivors in the small boat, trying to cling to life, became just two, and finally just one who was finally rescued by the Ecuadorian Navy two weeks later. Two people died because a chain of command or communications failed to get the news to either the captain or the officer of the watch. At sea for centuries, the law, written or unwritten, has always been to help others in distress. On land it can be a different story. Circumstances often dictate which actions are appropriate. For example: some people who are alone may stop to help an apparently wounded man and get carjacked or kidnapped. Some willing swimmer might try to help a drowning man or woman and find himself dragged under the water by the desperate swimmer. There are even neighborhoods in America when neighbors might even witness a shooting and not come forward for fear of being the next victim. In fact good counseling has taught me how to appropriately care, with something called “self-differentiation,” that is caring, but knowing how to care appropriately instead of exhaustively. Let me describe it: when my children were young and we lived in Arkansas, I was the President of our local Ministerial Association. In that capacity I met strangers at truck stops to give them aid, or drove them to get food, or had them in my office with a stream of sad stories. I was a new young pastor trying to do what I thought Jesus would do: help everybody. Well two things happened: first, Mary Ann put her foot down about me going and meeting strangers late at night saying she did not want to end up being a widow; and second, I learned that word gets around like a burning wildfire once you try to help everybody. Soon every person who feels needy shows up. Still the opposite of caring too much, that is, not helping at all, has made our society much colder. Some may chat on Facebook or on cellphones, but our car windows are often rolled up at stoplights so we can’t speak to others. On buses or on sidewalks, and in airports or on airplanes, people of all ages have earphones in so that communication is difficult. Many people just try to keep to themselves, sometimes out of fear. Today we are going to look at the customs and responses of two Christian followers in the first century to learn how they helped others.
First some background: in John chapter 5 there is a record of a man who wanted to get into the pool of Bethesda but couldn’t; he would have needed help to get into the naturally bubbling pool that was not unlike a spa. Going into such a pool might have aided the invalid’s pain or mobility. But no one lifted him into the pool. Some believed in that day that healing would only happen for the first person in the pool, so once the first man entered the pool, other crestfallen invalids just gave up. It would have created some tension, it seems to me, and some quarreling each day among those who lay beside the pool day and night. Who might be the first to go in? Was their maneuvering to be first or some fake false moves? Like a crowd of three hundred persons trying to get one of twenty specially priced High Definition TVs at Christmas, there is often pushing, attempts at line breaking, and shouting. In the first century by the pool, however, it is unlikely that anyone would have been afraid of being liable if they had dropped a man trying to lift him as people would fear today; it is more likely that they would have realized what an imposition as it might have brought on: People might have thought: “If I put the man in the pool, I’ll probably have to stay around to lift him out of the pool later in the day. I don’t have time for that.” So invalids lay near the pools. One wonders how they even got that close. Jesus tells the man to simply take up his mat and walk, and a healing takes place. But today we are looking more at the caring hospitality of these stories more than the miraculous healing. Let’s fast-forward to a time after Jesus’ resurrection, when we encountered Peter and John in Acts 3 today. Even in Acts both Peter and John were still Jews who also believed in Jesus as Lord. In Acts 3:1 they were entering the Temple to pray at the 9th hour. What hour is that? It is 3:00. Like with Muslims today, prayer was specified to happen at particular hours of the day. The Bible says that the man they encountered was “lame from birth.” It matters to know that. In that day it was believed that lame, blind, deaf, or diseased people were that way because of their own sins or the sins of their parents or grandparents. We are even aware of the disciples in John 9:2 asking Jesus about which of the blind man’s parents had sinned to cause him to be blind. Even in the first century the blame game was alive and well. “Whose fault is it?” they were asking! The religious men of the day were busy pointing fingers and assessing blame. Blaming, however, delays the start of fixing a problem, doesn’t it? Does it really matter how some became blind? In our day people would want to know that to know who to sue. It happens today in the insurance world as blame, or “cause” is assigned; and it happens in high profile murder cases when media grandstanders choose to assign blame for pain and suffering in front of cameras and mics. To their credit, medical doctors are almost never wrapped up in assigning blame, or making judgments against others, just in administering treatment. But in the first century their belief that the man’s own sins caused his blindness shades the reason why people did not help that man: in a matter of speaking they thought this: “he made his bed; now he’ll lie in it.” Or to put it another way, they’d think he caused his own problem and if he had put thing right with God and God had forgiven him, he would have been healed. Therefore, since God had not forgiven him, so they also had no need to help an unrepentant sinner. But fortunately Christians Peter and John were following the teachings of Jesus; they showed the man compassion and did not cast stones. There he was at the Beautiful Gate and they stopped to listen to and acknowledge him! That was the beginning of his healing. What was the other name of the Beautiful Gate; do you know? Why, it’s the Golden Gate, the one that faces the Mount of Olives, the one that opened almost into the Temple courtyard; and the one through which Jesus entered on a donkey surrounded by palms on that fateful Sunday. It was at the Beautiful Gate that Jesus once entered the city, and it was at the Beautiful Gate that the ministry of the risen Christ began to grow. Perfect! The man asked for alms, which were just monetary handouts as beggars often ask for even today. But Peter and John did not pass him by; they did not give him money, but they did stop and address him: Peter said clearly: “Look at us.” The lame man must have had his heart begin to sink as he heard the familiar words: “I don’t have any silver or gold.” But then the sentence continued and the man perhaps had his heart lifted up, and then his whole body! Peter said: “I give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Peter then took the man by his right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong!
The usual focus in this passage is that at the Beautiful Gate a healing took place. And then we either praise Jesus because we too know people who have been miraculously healed, or we are crestfallen because we know people who have not. But today I want you to see what this passage teaches us that you and I can do to carry out ministry to others; Peter and John did it at the Beautiful Gate, and Jesus did it all over Galilee, Judea, and in other territories: they noticed those who others failed to acknowledge. In my life one place I can clearly do this is nursing homes. Sometimes the residents are lined up in wheel chairs up or down hallways; it becomes a gauntlet I have to traverse in order to see my intended parishioner. My temptation, and perhaps that of others, is to walk quickly past them. But their gaze is penetrating, like they are so desperately hoping that I will notice and acknowledge them. So I greet them, and smile at them. If they ask for help, I’ll see if there is something I can do. If they say “Get me out of here!” I’ll remember my self-differentiation guidance from counselors and just walk on! But even in this Facebook world, we have people, sometimes children, sometimes older people, and sometimes those with disabilities, who desperately want to be noticed. As I showed the children today, sometimes grown ups can look right past them! Jesus noticed and acknowledged others as persons. I know there are times when people talk with me and I look right past them to someone waving hello over their shoulder. Everyone wants to be greeted, yet giving full attention to one person is what they deserve, and I am always working to do better to pay attention to everyone. Peter and John acknowledged a man who other clearly had passed by countless times. On our Holy Land trips I’ll confess that I found myself giving to no beggars that I encountered, but I noticed another man in our group who gave to almost every one of them. We all have room to grow, don’t we?
What is your growing edge? Where are the areas in your hospitality life that need attention? People look right past strangers in churches, schools, or in neighborhoods, as we overlook the new person among us to connect with those we already know. This week, think about Peter; and John; and Jesus. This week, think about noticing, and acknowledging those you might have looked past yesterday, or last week. This week, think about any time when you felt left out, and try to minister to someone else so they will feel connected. It is a Christ-like thing to do.
Jeffrey A. Sumner April 22, 2012
04-15-12 FIRST RESPONDERS IN THE FAITH
Download | Duration: 00:13:28
FIRST RESPONDERS IN THE FAITH
Acts 4: 32-35
On April 1st, an Oscar Nominated Short Film, 37 minutes long, was released for purchase. It details a remarkable story. The storyteller is Dolores Hart, a gorgeous movie star of the fifties and sixties. She had roles in “Where the Boys Are,” “King Creole,” “Lonely Hearts,” “Loving You,” “Wild is the Wind” and “Francis of Assisi” among other films while she was in Hollywood. Her leading men included George Hamilton, Robert Wagner, Warren Beatty, and Marlon Brando. When she was on Broadway she starred in The Pleasure of His Company, with George Peppard. But her most memorable leading man was the young, slim, and wildly popular Elvis Presley. Her journey is quite unique because she stepped away from all of those roles, those leading men, and a contract offer of over one million dollars (which was staggering in the 1960s) because of a different kind of love: she felt a love for God, and a love for those that God loved. While she was on Broadway, she was starting to feel worn down, a little disillusioned with stardom, and perhaps a little burned out. She asked a wise friend if she knew any place where she could get away and have some peace for awhile. Her friend steered her to Bethlehem; no, not “the” Bethlehem, but Bethlehem Connecticut, where the Abbey of Regina Laudis, an enclosed Benedictine Monastery, is the only one if its kind in the United States. Dolores Hart had a life-altering visit to the Abbey. But unlike sister Maria in “The Sound of Music” who left an Abbey for love, Dolores Hart turned down a marriage proposal from a wonderful man in the early 1960s to enter the Abbey and offer her time and love the God. The amazingly understanding man, although disappointed, gave her the space she wanted, but he has stayed in touch with her to this day, for 45 years. Dolores is now the Reverend Mother Dolores Hart, and she tells her amazing story in the short film she cleverly calls “God is the Bigger Elvis.” Ironically, when she was a movie star she starred as St. Francis’s friend St. Clare, who also started a women’s cloister movement. When she met Pope John XXIII for the first time, she introduced herself not as a Reverend Mother, but as Dolores Hart who played St. Clare in the movie called “Francis of Assisi.” The Pope, who already knew of her work on screen and in the abbey, paid her a high compliment when he said to her, “No child, you are St. Clare.”
Dolores Hart is not the first or the last to turn from much means to modest means in their lives for the purpose of sharing with others. Another of them was St. Francis of Assisi, who we studied in our “Lives of Great Christians” series during Lent, and another was actually the woman who admired Francis and started his work among women: St. Clare. St. Francis was the eldest son of one of the richest men in Assisi: a cloth merchant. He gave Francis everything he needed in life, but Francis did not embrace the upper class life when people of other classes were in need. Francis was carefree, much too care free in his father’s eyes. He sang much of his day, and he adored nature. He also read and learned about the Lord Jesus Christ. He learned, as perhaps you have learned, that Jesus had “no place to lay his head,” that it is never recorded that he had a place of his own once he was grown, or that he had money. But what he had, Jesus gave to anyone who asked: he gave prayers, he gave blessings, and he gave healing. He gave everything that he had to show love for others. Francis read these words of Jesus in Matthew 25: “Whenever you give to the least of these my brothers or sisters, you have given unto me.” Like Dolores Hart and Clare after him, and many more, Francis stepped away from the lights that could dazzle and the fame that could come and go in a flash; like Jesus, he took the road less traveled: being with the poor, the needy, the hungry, and the ones society painted into the “sinners” corner. Jesus went there; so that’s where St. Francis went. He went to highways and byways, giving people the shirt off of his back, the coat off of his back, or the shoes off of his feet. At one point he was walking naked through town because he had radically given everything away as Jesus his Lord commanded him to do. Some thought he was mentally unbalanced at that point; but Francis found discipleship to be a radical life change.
Clare could not safely go through the highways and byways as a woman, but she could help and cloister women, giving to them until she too was poor. And she did. The communal life of sharing with one another was not something new with any of these people. The first Christians started such a radically different way of life. Things forced to be shared equitably with others often gets called “socialism.” But things willingly shared with others who have less gets another radical term: it’s called “Christianity.” Luke, in his writing that we call “The Acts of the Apostles,” captures one part of the radical nature of Christianity: it is caring for the poor in ways that society does not. After Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, we know that the disciples first got their number back up to 12 with the choosing of Matthias to replace Judas. They then experienced the Holy Spirit while in Jerusalem and soon after began to heal and baptize others while they “devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers.” (Acts 2:43) Peter then spoke about Jesus in Solomon’s Portico after which Peter and John were brought to the Jewish Council to answer charges that they were evangelizing for Jesus on the Temple grounds. Undaunted, Peter, John and the other disciples prayed for boldness, and among the actions they chose to follow were these: Our text from Acts 4 puts it this way: “They were of one heart and soul.” In other words, they were spiritually in tune with one another and with God. That’s the first manifestation of the Spirit we witness from these first responders in the faith. The second thing we witness is that “No one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned they held in common.” Again these people were learning how to get beyond human wants and address human needs, a very Christ-like thing to do. By so doing, the Bible says “Great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them.” Can we say that in our own country? Even in areas of the heaviest Christian populations, is there no one in need? In any of the seats of Christianity around the world: Rome, Jerusalem, Latin America, can we truly say that need has been eradicated? What happened in those days after Christ rose from the dead was extraordinary. Do you remember what else our Bible text said? “Those who owned land or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid them at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” Is that Camelot? Is it Heaven? Or is it just part of Christian living that witnesses to the poverty and the power of those around us? In the first century, like in our world today, the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. There are ways to address this disparity, one of which is Christian charity, charity from the Latin word “Caritas” which means selfless love. Jesus died for more than our Heavenly lives; he died so that we might have abundant life here too. Delores, Francis, and Clare found happiness in such a life. Could we find such happiness as well?
Jeffrey A. Sumner April 15, 2012
04-08-12 PTSD: Post Traumatic Sabbath Disorder
Download | Duration: 00:14:31
PTSD: Post Traumatic Sabbath Disorder
Mark 16: 1-8
Monday morning quarterbacking is nothing like having to think and act in a matter of seconds in the midst of a game; viewing a surgery through a glass is nothing like having instruments in your hand having to decide what and how much to cut. One hundred years ago next Sunday the Titanic sank in frigid waters, far from land; even those aboard the Costa Concordia were traumatized three months ago and they were just a few yards from land. Ten and a half years ago we may have watched the Trade Center Towers fall on a television, but that certainly had a fraction of the impact as seeing jumpers, experiencing the pungent smells, and the acrid dust of an eyewitness. And nothing in civilian life equals the sounds, feelings, smells, and anxiety of a man or woman in a war zone. Such events that I’ve described, when things go wrong or happen unexpectedly, can cause traumatic stress. The Mayo Clinic staff says that PTSD, that is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is triggered by a terrible event; its effect can last for hours, weeks, months, or a lifetime. Symptoms may include upsetting dreams or flashbacks; feeling emotionally numb, memory problems, irritability or anger, overwhelming guilt or shame, and seeing or hearing things. For the first responders, and the eyewitnesses of traumatic times, such symptoms are a menu of possibilities. For those of us who were not on the Titanic, or in the World Trade Centers, or in an operating room during a trauma, we have a buffer, some distance between us and the traumatic events. That is something like the experience we all have today with our faces pressed against the glass of a Biblical crisis 2000 years ago. We are not sinking, we are not hearing the sound of a surgical saw, and we’re not hearing the terrifying screams of trapped victims in a skyscraper. We are, however, looking on at a situation that was, in ways, every bit as traumatic. Let’s consider what led to Easter.
If you read your Bible carefully, as I said last week, you find out what hugely grueling days Jesus and his disciples faced. These were mostly men from Galilee, a rural area of tradesmen. Once a year those Jews who were able would have made the trip to Jerusalem for Passover. It was not an easy trip, likely one they did not relish. This journey was more about religious responsibility. Those who took the trip knew they were heading into Bike Week like crowds, where lodging prices were raised, places to get food were crowded, and more people packed the city than could comfortably be handled. In addition there were scam artists, pick pockets, and thieves looking for unsuspecting targets. The city was intimidating, and as massive as the Temple was, it’s controllers, the Sadducees, could be just as difficult to deal with. And then there were the Romans; their security team was on high alert, always trying to keep the peace. In one gathering of travelers there might be laughter and reunions; in another gathering there might be arguments and conflicts: all par for the Passover course. That was the destination for Jesus and his followers. Their days were long, going often beyond sundown. Have you noted, for example, how many of the last scenes in Jesus’ life happened at night? Most work happened in the day; there were no lights burning in the city and torches were costly to burn all the time. No; something was up; Jewish leaders were trying to take down one who challenged and angered them; and they knew the right persons to contact to make it happen. It was their city and they knew whose cage to rattle, whose peace needed to be disturbed from late at night to early in the morning. The Roman guards that go to find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane were doing so late into the night, perhaps 10, 11 O’clock or later. The guards were on overtime because of Jesus; they were not happy about it and Jesus had kicked a hornet’s nest. It’s in the middle of the night that Jesus is led to the house of the high priest; the middle of the night when the rushed trial took place; it was under the cover of darkness when the light of the world did not seem to be able to shine any light into the darkness. Even followers may have started to doubt, and in their state of tension and little sleep, desperate people began to act out. One betrays when he might not have done so had he the chance to do it over; another perhaps began to doubt that Jesus was Messiah, for Messiah, according to the First Testament prophets, would come and liberate the people from their captors, in this case the Romans. It seemed like Jesus was doing none of that. All of the interrogation of Jesus happened in the middle of the night. And Peter, the so called rock, stood by, paralyzed by fear, anxiety, or exhaustion. He had lost his nerve; the entire night he not only did not defend Jesus, he denied knowing him. How do we know it went all night? Because on his last denial, a rooster crowed, and roosters don’t crow at night; they crow at daybreak. A new day was dawning and Peter was an exhausted and humiliated man. Chapter 15 says “as soon as it was morning” which means it was a sunrise meeting when Jesus was brought to a just awakening Pilate. It was the dawn of the Friday only in hindsight we call “good.” Friday was the fateful day when exhausted followers got further traumatized: their leader was accused of treason; his stand as a teacher and even messiah has now been turned into a capital offense against the Romans. Did all the other followers sign up for such agony? Would they be next? Some went into hiding while others crumbled when accusations were leveled at them. They watched, even from a distance, as Jesus is tried, tortured, and crucified. Certainly watching a crucifixion, any crucifixion, could have brought on PTSD. But to watch the one who you thought was messiah be crucified would shake witnesses for the rest of their lives. Could it have seemed like a terrible dream that it happened or a terrible mistake that they followed him? It wasn’t even disciples who asked for Jesus’ body from the cross to give him a decent burial it was Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the Jewish council, who gave up his family tomb for Jesus. It was an enormous gift. Mary the mother of Jesus, and another Mary accompanied him to the tomb so they would know how to find it at dawn on Sunday. They could not do such work on their Sabbath.
At this point, to these distressed, afraid, and sleep-deprived band of followers, Jesus was dead. No one could remember, or believe, what he had said about rising on the third day. They were under extreme stress. So as numb and saddened women, going to do their religious and loving act, they were going to anoint the body of their dead friend. They absolutely did not expect what we are all here to celebrate. They were certainly dumbfounded women, who returned and told dumbfounded men, all of whom wanted to see for themselves. Many people think the writer of Mark’s gospel originally ended it with verse 8: “And the women went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Doesn’t trauma cause us to act differently, see differently, and think differently? Even Luke tells a story of Jesus himself later joining disciples on the road to Emmaus and they don’t recognize him!
Today let us honor the early followers of Jesus who perhaps had a form of PTSD, who from Friday night until sunup on Sunday had perhaps the most traumatic Sabbath of their lives: on this first day of the week, a man had died and rose from the dead; not a ghost, not a vision, but a bodily resurrection! It was extraordinary to them; it is life-saving to us! He appeared in one place and certainly almost made them faint when he showed them the nail holes in his hands. He appeared in another place to eat something in their presence to prove he was not ghost. He was dealing with people in a state of shock who looked on in disbelief. Over time we have come to not be shocked that Jesus arose from the dead. But it is huge news; it is good news! And it changes our destiny forever. Their trauma tells us that they were eyewitnesses; they saw what we have come to believe by faith and by reading about it. It is extraordinary news! A man rose from the dead! His name is Jesus; and he is the Savior of the world! Hallelujah! Amen!
Jeffrey Sumner April 8, 2012
04-01-12 THAT FATEFUL DAY
Download | Duration: 00:12:56
THAT FATEFUL DAY
Mark 11: 1-10
Around this time of the year, some networks show the great films of the faith like the epic, “Jesus of Nazareth,” “The Robe,” or even perhaps the gut-wrenching “Passion of the Christ” which shows up on premium channels Some channels, like Discovery and the History Channel show documentaries about the life of Christ and in particular about his final week: his entry into Jerusalem, the cleansing of the temple, his teachings, his time in the Garden, his capture, his questioning before Pilate, and finally his crucifixion. That is the week we are facing. It does the salvation story of the Bible a complete disservice to jump over the gore to the glory of Easter. Few take lightly the price Christ paid for us once they encounter those passages.
For almost all of 2012 I have dealt with Mark’s gospel; Mark is generally considered to be the oldest gospel and to be extremely reliable historically; Mark never seems to add unnecessary information. If you have come to our Maundy Thursday service you’ve seen that I always choose Mark to read for that fateful night. Today for a few minutes I hope to help bridge the knowledge gap about Palm Sunday and to fill in some details. What is my source? Of course, it is the Bible itself; we will not trust another commentator when we can glean information for ourselves.
This fateful day—Palm Sunday—did not start with Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. So many people assume that Jesus got up one day, made the preparations, and entered Jerusalem one fateful morning. Let’s see if that’s the case. According to Mark 10:1 Jesus and his disciples left their adopted hometown of Capernaum in Galilee and headed toward Judea and beyond the Jordan. That means he would have encountered many Jews also going to Jerusalem for the Passover, and that there may have also been Gentile travelers as well. As they journeyed, Jesus was already known by some of them and crowd members constantly questioned him. He knew he was going to Jerusalem to die, but he still had to face Pharisees asking him questions about divorce in verses 2-12! What a topic as he faces his own death! Feeling for our Savior’s reserve of strength, we still see that people are relentless about approaching him. Some want him to hold or touch their children in verses 13-16 while the disciples fruitlessly tried to act as Jesus’ bodyguards. Jesus overruled them and said what we know so well: “Let the children come to me and do not hinder them.” He then has a man ask him what he needs to do to inherit eternal life, in verses 17-22. Even when the man heard Jesus’ answer, he went away because he could not part with his possessions as Jesus told him to do. Jesus’ then uses the examples of the conversations of the day to teach his disciples in verses 23-31. This man Jesus, already peppered with questions, must have gotten his second wind around Mark 10:32, for Mark says: “They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them, and they were amazed.” He then tells them again what he himself already knew: this trip has a purpose; he himself will be killed. There was more that he said, but surely his disciples were most troubled by that part. James and John noted his impending death and then did what some children have rudely done to their parents: they start to maneuver for positions of favoritism, asking about inheritance, and wondering if they are the favorite in the sight of the dying one. It is not pretty when I’ve seen it in families. And here, not just two people but two disciples ask Jesus to grant them a special status before he is thrown to his death: they ask that one be on his right hand in glory and one on his left. According to verse 41, the other 10 disciples were indignant that those two asked such an insensitive question of their “Teacher.” From verses 42-45 Jesus says they don’t know what they are asking. As I read it, this is all one day.
Before they arrive in Jerusalem they would naturally, on the path they were taking, go through Jericho, the oldest city on the planet, and a most resort-like city. But instead of finding respite there, Jesus encounters a blind man in verse 46—a blind man mind you, who is able to see in Jesus what sighted persons cannot. Somehow he not only knows who Jesus is and what he is reported to be able to do, he also senses when Jesus gets in close proximity- it’s astounding. Jesus might have been tempted to keep going- what time is it by now? Two O’clock? Three o’clock? Later? Instead he says “Call him.” After finding out that the blind man, named Bartimaeus, wanted to see, Jesus granted his request. Then Bartimaeus also left Jericho and followed Jesus. The newly sighted man was likely in the Palm Sunday crowd! On the outskirts of Jerusalem there are two small villages where the Bible records that Jesus stopped at differenc times, but today was not going to be one of those times. Our Lord presses on. This time Jesus has a purpose to be carried out, lateness of the day or not. So the assumption that I raised a few minutes ago—that Jesus entered the city one bright morning, gets tested now. Read your Bible and you may conclude, as I have, that Jesus entered Jerusalem late in the day. Likely prior arrangements allowed Jesus’ request for a colt on which to ride to be accomplished with some haste. It was not a fine white horse, a steed. Instead it was a small one, a colt; some other gospels say donkey. Nevertheless it was a small animal. The disciples and other travelers put some garments on it for his comfort and Jesus began riding into town on it. Certainly down from the Mount of Olives through the Golden Gate of the city there was an air of festivity! Passover already had made the city streets and inns jammed with people, with a celebration in one corner and an argument in another. As Jesus made us way, they strew branches along the road Mark’s gospel says in chapter 11, verse 8. John’s gospel says they are palm branches, and there is good reason to believe that. The palm was the national symbol of a free Judea, and the Jews hoped to be out from under the thumb of the powerful Romans. They were reading a human agenda of revolt into Jesus’ heavenly agenda of intended peace and salvation. They even quoted the prophet Zechariah and the Psalmist David who said when the Messiah comes it will be to the cry: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Into the city Jesus came among happy children, cautious disciples, and suspicious security officials. The security officials perhaps had Jesus entrance pegged: no sooner did he get inside the city wall through the entrance called the Golden Gate that Mark’s gospel says he went straight to the Temple, according to verse 11. He went to look everything over and perhaps offer a brief prayer. It is likely Jesus saw much that he did not like, but, the Bible says:
“And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went back to Bethany with the Twelve.” As far as I can tell, that is the end of the very long day that Jesus had; his entry into the city was they culmination of his day, not the beginning. We know from verse 15 that it was the next day when he returned and overturned the tables of the moneychangers at the Temple. Before that day he had traveled many miles, been asked many questions, had healed and blessed several people, and arrived at the place that would be his death city. What an exhausting, dreadful day, he had had, and now he starts a new day with the confrontation at the Temple. Jesus of Nazareth was not only filling his role as Rabbi, now he would claim the crown of the King, albeit a painful crown. He was not only a shepherd of people, he was the Lamb of God, and lamb selection day was facing him. The Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, would be crucified on the day the Jews called “Lamb selection day. How perfectly terrible; and God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.
As we face this week, we will be sharing one Holy Communion today; but Thursday, if you are here, you will have a reminder of the Last Supper. May your soul be girded for this week with your Lord, and may it not waver with denial, doubt, or betrayal.
Let us pray: O God: prepare us now to realize the magnitude of our participation in this sacrament. Our choice shows Jesus whether or not we choose to be his disciples, even with the costs. Amen.
Jeffrey A. Sumner April 1, 2012
03-25-12 CONSIDERING SIN
Download | Duration: 00:13:40
CONSIDERING SIN
Jeremiah 31: 31-34
This is the weekend when the first
film of the thrilling trilogy of stories, THE HUNGER GAMES, is hitting the
theatres, an event that has created some record-breaking box office numbers.
Set in the future of a broken
Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard in his
volume called EITHER/OR, said he preferred the men and women of the Old
Testament to others because “they know how to sin!” He is not condoning sin; he
sees Old Testament person feeling the weight of sin, acknowledging sin, and
repenting of sin. The rest of us, he lamented, lack enough moral vitality to
achieve real sinfulness! What an interesting observation! In the film, Katniss
sharpens her archery skills so that she and her family can survive. Yet in
places in our world today, desperation leads some to act out of desperation or
even out of cowardice instead of heroism. The ones who do not think through the
consequences of owning a firearm and pulling the trigger may have to re-visit
the “Thou shalt not kill” commandment. The one who holds up a convenience store
for the funds in the drawer may need to revisit the “Thou shalt not steal” commandment;
and the ones who kidnap a young child in a horrible decision to extort ransom
from parents not only break civil and moral laws, they break hearts and hopes
as well. But sometimes in our world today, sin runs amok; it is accepted and
not even named. The sharing of certain
music files in our day is accepted and costs the copyright owners millions in
lost revenue; the youths who think that a store or corporation makes enough
money that they will not miss the food, the electronics, or the clothes they shoplift-
those young people may be lifted up as heroes by peers, but they are not. They
are an example of an ethical choice where the tempter won at an age when moral
boundaries are being formed in their souls. Law abiding shoppers pay many cents
and often many dollars more for products, not because of gas prices, but
because of the cost of security and the cost of loss. The expense gets spread
to us. And there are adults with an arrogant sense of pride when they are able
to cheat on or finagle the taxes owed to the country they profess to love every
time they join in the singing or listening to “God Bless
My text today from Jeremiah is
deliberate; in the First (or the Old) Testament, sin is named not only in the
commandments, but in the Covenant Code that went with it. Sin had gravity;
weight, and consequences which is what seems to have fallen through the cracks
of our permission-driven, enabling world. Professor and Rabbi Leonard S. Kravitz
once said: “The notion of sin contains a paradox: there can be no sin without
some sense of the Divine and there can be no sin without a denial of that
sense. We become lawbreakers if we contravene civil or criminal law, but we
become sinners only if we do that which God commands us not to do. Sin is
possible only if we sense what God demands of us.” [“The Living Pulpit, Vol. 8,
No. 1, p.28.] Is that the problem today: that right from wrong is no longer
black and white but many shades of gray? Is it that neither children, nor their
parents, can name the commandments that, if broken constitute, sin? The Rabbis remind us that the root word for
sin means “to miss the mark.” Like the best archer, God asks us to aim for the
center of the target, not to miss the target, broaden the target, or do without
a target. It is God’s clear command; aiming for the bulls-eye is always not
only pleasing to God, it is also better for our souls now and later. Sin almost
always becomes like the children’s game “Mousetrap,” where one seemingly
innocent {but in fact sinful} action leads to a series of reactions that bring
about destructive or hurtful results. Sin must be back on the table for the
lives of Christians, instead of having the off-handed thought that since our
sins are nailed to the cross with Christ, we no longer have to worry about their
consequences. Wrong. Yes through Jesus we get forgiveness, but we also get it
through remorse expressed to the ones we have wronged. That’s why God’s words
in Jeremiah carried so much weight. The Lord said that in the New Covenant, he
would forgive the iniquity of His people, “and remember their sin no more.”
(31:34). Sin had the weight of bricks in the hearts of Moses and Jeremiah and
others, not the weight of Styrofoam as it is so often treated by sinners. I’ve told this story to my children and have
told it to adults. If you haven’t heard this example, it’s the best one I know
about the consequences of sin:
A father had a boy with an
exceptionally bad temper. When he was angry, he did destructive things like
break windows or furniture, say hateful things to his sister or his friends, or
become disrespectful and defiant to adults who tried to guide him. The father
said to him after he had cooled down, “Son, I want you to take this hammer and
these nails and put them out in the back shed. When you do something to hurt
someone or break something, I want you to take a nail and drive it part way
into our white back fence. It will remind you of the things you did wrong. When
you truly make amends by fixing what was broken, or by truly apologizing for
your actions, you can then pull one nail out of the fence. But I want you to
see that even when you think things
are fixed, there is still a scar in the fence that will not fade. All your destructive
actions have consequences.”
I am glad that Jesus died for your
sins and mine. But it does not abdicate us from acknowledging the heavy weight
of our sins and their consequences. We cannot believe that our sins magically
get whisked from our souls and nailed to the cross of Christ just because we
are Christian! We still have responsibility for our sins! Today, let’s put sin
back into our modern vocabulary and our thoughts. In so doing, it says you know
God, honor God, and you honor the God-given guidance that we should always try
to hit the mark of right living. This week, it has taken a girl with a bow and
arrow to picture a horrendous future that could be possible if we do not reign
in sin and its power. But if we take sin and its consequences seriously, our
future will look less like “The Hunger Games,” and more like a man praying over
five loaves and two fish, then distributing them to feed 5000 people. The
direction we take today will change our destiny tomorrow.
Jeffrey A. Sumner
