"Wheelchairs In Heaven?" - Pentecost 11C

Saint Luke 13:10-17

All of us know that, more often than not, things are not what they appear to be at first glance.

Anybody who has taken their car in for what looks like a simple repair and have emerged $900.00 poorer knows this.

Anybody who has had any home maintenance done knows that it takes three times longer and is four times more expensive than originally thought.

And all of us know how perilous a trip to the doctor can be.  You go in with one ailment and you come out with ten more you didn’t even know you had.

So we might take comfort from today’s gospel.  At least here we know what is going on and what to expect. 

The characters are all well cast. There is the bent-over woman in desperate straights.   There is Jesus the Rabbi and healer.  And appearing as the villain is the leader of the synagogue.

As I have continually pointed out in our Bible Studies, we must be careful with this.  In light of Anti-Semitism and the violence it has brought broad generalizations about any group can get us into very deep and turbulent water.

To make matters a little more difficult (And more fun!) what if this story about Jesus is one of those things that aren’t what they seem at first glance. 

I was pretty much on the glide path to an easy, breezy sermon until I was led to an article by Ben Mattlin who graduated cum laude from Harvard at 21, is the author of several books and, as a freelance financial journalist, has had articles published in numerous newspapers and magazines.  Mattlin is a husband, father of two daughters and a quadriplegic from birth.

His article, “A Disabled Life Is a Life Worth Living,” may give us new insights into the woman and the best gift Jesus gave her in today’s Gospel.

Mattlin writes:

Growing up with a disability, I often became isolated. Feeling devalued by my peers, with no confidence in my future, I experienced intermittent but profound depression. One can take only so many surgeries, so many bodily betrayals, so much rejection, before wanting to give up. Even today, I can pivot from utter terror over an itch I can’t scratch or a bite of food I can’t quite swallow, to almost unbelievable joy if I manage to clear my throat unassisted or zoom my motorized wheelchair through a crowded street. As disabled people, we are endlessly buffeted by circumstances beyond our control.1

That paragraph gives us an idea about what the disabled woman in the synagogue was feeling and it wasn’t good.

The words we heard to describe her today were that she was plagued by “a spirit that crippled her for eighteen years.”2 Other translations of this passage try to diagnose from a distance saying (and I am not making these up) she was bothered by: “arthritis”3 or, as J. B. Phillips suggested in his paraphrase: “some psychological cause.”4

We all know what it’s like when we are suffering with anything.  It doesn’t matter if what is bothering us is physical or psychosomatic.  When something is wrong, it can bend us low in body and spirit.  And most of all, as Mattlin points out it can leave us feeling isolated.  We can feel this way in the midst of a crowd or even when we are surrounded by friends and family.

The point is that Jesus sees her.  He interrupts his preaching and gets to healing. 

Jesus not only sees her but calls her forward - which she probably hated because it drew attention to her infirmity. 

When she has made her way through the crowd straining to look up but mostly seeing only ground, feet and sandals she comes to Jesus.   I don’t think he was towering over her as the others were but rather he stooped low and became as bent over as she was so that he could look her in the eye and see her face.

Maybe for the first time in what seemed like forever she was eye to eye with another person and then this person touched her.

“‘Woman, you’re free!’” he said and then.  “He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.” 5

The place goes wild and so does the religious leader.  His complaint is that this could have waited.  This is the Sabbath!  The woman’s disease was not life threatening.  Neither she nor Jesus would be heading out of town before sundown because travel was forbidden and after dark it was dangerous.  They would both be  around tomorrow.  Couldn’t this have waited?

Of course it could have! 

They all could have reconvened at the same time the next day when the leader put the keys in the synagogue doors to open the place up but there were too many variables.

What if the woman went home and thought about how her life would change if she was healed and somehow decided for the status quo?  What if her family had become so used to her the way she was that they talked her out of going back?  What if her friends told her she had taken up enough of the rabbis’ time and wasn’t worthy of any more attention?

No!  There were too many other options and all of them were bad! For Jesus there was no time like the present!

Besides, he points out that if could lead their ox or donkey to water on the Sabbath.  “So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—- think of it -—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”6

Here is what I think embarrassed the people the most. 

Jesus knew that the wealthy among them could keep from disobeying the rules by being able to hire someone.   They could afford to employ some outsider to do their work for them.  Light a candle.  Make a hot dinner.  Take care of all their chores.  They could pay someone to do it for them.

While the poor - which were most of the people present that day - could not.  If they needed a hot dinner, or a candle lit, or one of their animals fed and watered they had to do it themselves. 

They may have tried their best but more often than they wished necessity trumped legality.  They probably disobeyed strict Sabbath rules every week not because they wanted to but because they had no other choice.

So, why not do this good work now?  Why not restore this woman to her rightful place in her community at this very moment?  Why wait?  Act!

That is how it is with God.  Jesus shows us that God is always acting on our behalf but it may not be in ways that we think.

Ben Mattlin continued in his article:

Indeed, some people find life after disability more intense, more deeply appreciated than it was before. My lifelong experience, with disability, has made me a creative problem-solver, and, ironically, perhaps, a diehard optimist, if only because I've had to be. It's taught me a great deal about patience, tolerance and flexibility. My disability is part of who I am.7

But Jesus tells us that our shortcomings do not have to define us which is what people do all the time. 

Good, well-meaning people have read this story and preached this story and come away with the conclusion that only a touch from Jesus will do the trick.  Let Jesus touch you and you will be healed. 

But what if this isn’t about Jesus’ healing? What if this is about Jesus’ acceptance and restoration to being a part of the community from which you have been separated?

Mattlin attended a funeral for another quadriplegic friend where the young minister (It could have been an old minister too) said that his friend was  "a free spirit, trapped in an unresponsive body. Now that spirit is truly free." 

We were told he'd gone to a place where he could walk again. His dad added `”Walk? He's probably playing basketball in the nude.” The words stung. Mourners need to believe their loved one has gone to a better place. Yet what was the message here? Death sets you free and cures disability? Was he better off dead than disabled? I realize I'm biased. I have never ridden a motorcycle or done half the other physical things my friend used to love, but I do know one can live a pretty full life with a disability.

How limited is this vision of life, and of the afterlife? Are there no wheelchairs in heaven? I'm not buying it. For me, if there is a heaven, it's not a place where I'll be able to walk. It's a place where it doesn't matter if you can't.8 

How about that for an idea?  What if this isn’t about keeping the Sabbath laws but rather Jesus telling us that there is a place where we all are welcomed no matter what?  Wheelchair or no wheelchair, infirmity or no infirmity we will be welcomed.   In the Kingdom of Heaven  and in our community on earth it doesn’t matter what you can or can’t do Jesus wants all to be welcomed.

Wheelchairs in heaven?  Mull that one over for a while.  I still am.

___________

1.  Mattlin, Ben. “A Disabled Life Is a Life Worth Living.” The New York Times, October 5, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/05/opinion/a-disabled-life-is-a-life-worth-living.html.

2.  St.  Luke 13:11. (NRSV) [NRSV= The New Revised Standard Version]

3.  St.  Luke 13:11. (MSG)  MSG=The Message]

4. St.  Luke 13:11.  (PHILLIPS) Phillips, J. B. The New Testament in Modern English. (London: HarperCollins, 2000. )

5. St.  Luke 13:13.  (MSG)

6. St.  Luke 13:16.  (NKJV) [NKJV=The New King James Version]

7.  Mattlin, loc.cit.

8.  Mattlin, Ben. “Valuing Life, Whether Disabled or Not.” NPR Morning Edition. NPR, December 7, 2005. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5042181.

“Healing Our Divisions” - Pentecost 10C

Saint Luke 12:49-56

It is a rare thing when a single sentence has an effect on anything.  Most of us say things we do not mean and our friends just brush it off because they understand enough to know that nothing was meant by it.

Sometimes however, a single sentence can have a powerful effect on an entire life.

Such was the case on April 23, 2014.  It was not a day that will live in infamy but it is a day that changed the life of one woman.

Peggy Kusinski was a sportscaster for channel 5 and NBCSports Chicago.  All who saw her work with the Bulls, Blackhawks, Sox, Cubs and Bears knew that she was very good.

On that fateful day in April she was under a lot of stress. 

She was grieving the loss of her sister who had become the matriarch of the family after the death of their mother.  She had only taken a week off after her sister’s death before she was back on the Blackhawk beat covering their Stanley Cup playoff series with the Saint Louis Blues.

On that fateful day, April 23, 2014, Patrick Kane scored halfway through the first overtime period, giving the Hawks the victory and tying the series at two games apiece.
In the locker room scrum after the game - where reporters jostle to stick a microphone in the star-of-the-games face to get the perfect quote which is often nothing else than another sports cliche - Kusinski heard herself ask: “Patrick.  Was this your first overtime game winner?”

Let me remind you that up until the time of the ill-fated question Patrick Kane already had numerous games winning goals in the regular season and two overtime game winning goals in the play-offs including the one against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 that gave the team their first Stanley Cup in 40 years.

Kane was classy with his answer.   He “looked up to see who it was, and after a short pause chuckled and offered playfully, ‘I'm going to have to check that. I think I've got a couple.’"

When Kusinski got home that night, she realized that she was being vilified on social media. 

Just in the past few weeks she broke her silence to tell Barry Rozner of The Daily Herald “some of the trolls on Twitter were horrible. Hawks fans were the worst. Any time after that -- for years after that -- that I posted anything about the Hawks -- stuff from the locker room -- they would say, 'Did you ask Patrick Kane if he had any game-winners?'”

Then she went on to reflect.  Work done well “doesn't matter to the underbelly of society, the part that spends its days and nights searching for someone to ruin on social media, incapable of experiencing happiness or pleasure, living only to destroy someone or something.  And civilization dies a little bit every day, a few hundred characters at a time.”1

It is much easier to become divided from each another today than in Jesus day but sill he warns that divisions will come whether we want them to or not.

The divisions Jesus warned about were major ones that split families and divided communities. 

Social scientists tell us that as important as families are in our day they were even more important in Jesus’.

A person's place in the family conferred both personal identity and a place in the community.  People knew who you [were], because they knew your father and mother.  The family also provided a support system in a world without public welfare programs.  To divide a family is to leave its members on shaky ground socially and economically.  It is hacking at the very roots of the social structure.2

Divisions hack at the very roots of society and our relations with one another.  Tweets are so easy yet they can be mean spirited.  Tweets can be used to divide one group from another.  Words can divide fragile communities when they are not carefully used.  They can be used to correct but they also can be corrosive when they are used as threats. 

This whole business is so dangerous because we are so easily divided over matters as trivial as a question after a hockey game.  Jesus was talking about the divisions that come from following him.

For us that is a “ho hum” matter.  Tell somebody you are a Christian or a practicing Jew and quite likely you will get no response.  Say you’re some Sikhs, or a Buddhist, or a Baha’i and you might garner some interest but you will also find a disinterested acceptance.  But, tell somebody you are a Democrat or a Republican and a war will break out.

The sin of humankind is that we will always be looking for ways that divide ourselves one from another.  We’ll always  look for the character flaws - real or imagined - in a person or group that will set them apart.  We will always find something that will allow us to say, “we’re not like that.”

We may believe that we are more divided than ever before.  We may come to believe that the only thing people care about any more is not that their side wins on the basis of ideas but that the other side loses on the basis of personality.  

Columnist Jonah Goldberg invites us to take a deep breath.

In 1958, according to the Brookings Institution, 44% of whites said they’d leave if a black family moved in next door. In 1998, only 1% did. In 1990, according to the Pew Research Center, 63% of non-blacks expressed dismay at the prospect of a close relative marrying a black person. By 2016, that number had dropped to 14%. In 1967, only 3% of Americans married outside their race or ethnicity. Today, nearly one-fifth do.3

Pew Research continues this theme reminding us that “in 2004, Americans opposed same-sex marriage by a margin of 60% to 31%.”

And today, support for same-sex marriage remains near its highest point since Pew Research Center began polling on this issue. Based on polling in 2019, a majority of Americans (61%) support same-sex marriage, while 31% oppose it.4

That shows progress but there is still work to do.  The problem comes when we try to rush this work along.

We too might long for the fire Jesus promised to bring to come and consume those whose opinions we do not share but that is not how God works.  It wasn’t the way God worked for Jesus and it isn’t the way God works for us.  God will separate the good from the bad in God’s good time and we can’t rush it, or plan it, or even help it come to pass.

In the meantime all we can do is respond like Peggy Kusinski. 

Eventually she quit the daily grind of sports reporting and retreated into a private life.  The closest she comes to a microphone now is a pod cast with one of her seventeen-year-old twins.  Now, it was reported, “Peggy Kusinski takes deep breaths and long walks, enjoying time with her husband and three children in the Western suburbs.”5

She has left behind those who would sow divisions and destroy our peace 280 characters at a time. 

Maybe the way out of our divisiveness is to stay out of the fray. 

Ignore any meanspirited talk whether it comes from the occupant of highest office in the land or the lone hockey fan in his basement wanting to make a sportscaster’s life miserable.
Maybe the best way  is to follow the advice of Chasten Buttigieg, husband of South Bend mayor and presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg, who wrote in, of all things, a tweet:

So here's the thing. You can look at that tweet . . . that really nasty tweet. The gross, homophobic tweet. The blatantly racist tweet. The "fires you up with fake outrage" click-bait news article tweet and just say "nope."

Scroll away.  Don’t engage.   Adios gross tweet. Not today.  

Just be kind to your heart. Take care of others. Let hate sit alone.”

Take a deep breath. Be kind.  Take care.  Most of all let hate sit alone. 

And - this may be the hardest part of all - wait for God to take care of our divisions which God will do if we don’t stoke the fires of our own discontent.

Thanks for listening.
 

__________
1.  Rozner, Barry. "Rozner: Whatever Happened to Peggy Kusinski?" Daily Herald. July 31, 2019. Accessed August 17, 2019. https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20190729/rozner-whatever-happened-to-peggy-kusinski. 

2.   Richard Donovan, "Peace on Earth," Sermon Writer: Making Preaching More of a Joy, July 31, 2019, accessed August 16, 2019, https://www.sermonwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019-08-18-Proper15C.doc.

3.  Jonah Goldberg, "Commentary: Yes, We Have Problems, but Let's All Take a Breath," Chicagotribune.com, August 09, 2019, , accessed August 17, 2019.  https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-guns-racism-bigotry-jonah-goldberg-20190809-ioufik4wqfcgfdksihrhjk7amm-story.html.

4,  "Changing Attitudes on Same-Sex Marriage," Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project, May 14, 2019, , accessed August 17, 2019, https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-gay-marriage/.

5.   loc.  cit.

"Have No Fear! Are You Kidding" - Pentecost 9C

Hebrews 11:1-3 & 11-16
Saint Luke 12:32-40

About this time last summer Lowell and I were driving out to Iowa to see his mom.  She lives about 7 or so hours directly west of here in Cherokee, Iowa.  It is a straight shot on I-80 to US-20 whose scenery - except for the area around the Galena Territories - is mostly corn and soybean fields. 

Because I had something for work we didn’t get started until mid-afternoon.  As the miles wore on Lowell’s foot must of become heavier and heavier until we were stopped less than a half-hour from our destination by red lights whirling on the car behind us.

The bad news was we were getting a speeding ticket.  The good news was that the officer was one of the nicest people you could ask for to do such a deed.  He was soft-spoken, unfailingly courteous, and almost apologetic about having to issue us a citation.

What struck me was that he was alone.  It was just the three of us in the dark on an Iowa interstate with the nearest house a mere speck of light on the horizon.  During the course of the paper work - licence, registration, insurance, you know the drill - I became afraid for him.  What if we were crazed lunatics armed to the hilt instead of two old goats driving fast so that they could reach Cherokee before their bedtime.  I’ve thought of that lone officer a great deal this past week. 

We know that stopping cars for speeding on a dark road at night has an element of danger to it but so apparently does going out for a drink in Dayton, Ohio; or to a Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, or to a Walmart in San Antonio, Texas; or to a bible study at church; or prayers at your synagogue; or even to school.  Who would think that we would have reached a time when doing such mundane things might get you killed.

It can cause a perpetual state of fear and it does.

Not so long ago we were sitting in a movie theater and we had been assigned two seats in the front row of the balcony.  I honestly thought to myself, “If anything happens we’re sitting ducks here.”

Before mass-shootings there was a quick glace to see where the nearest exit was just in case the building caught fire.  Now I am plotting how I can get there in a hail of gunfire. 

Before anyone get their hackles up thinking this is going to be a sermon about gun control, it is not.  What we are talking about is the fear that seems to permeate all of our lives that can leave us paralyzed.

When Jesus suggests that we “have no fear” after the last months and especially last weekend it is hard not to respond with a “Are You kidding?”

One way we can face our fears was the way the British did during the bombing of London. Historians tell us that the citizens saw every daily activity as an act of defiance.

They would look up from their tea and see an amazing display of fireworks as the Luftwaffe began their bombing raids.  A trip to work was an event and a trip to the theatre came with the warning that patrons who became nervous during the performance should leave quietly. 

There would be good reason to be on-edge.  A solo would be sung over the din of explosions.  A dancer’s pirouette would be punctuated with loud bangs coming from outside. 

It was estimated that 177,000 Londoners camped out in the Underground each night.  (40,000 less than the current population of Aurora.)  They cued up early toting mattresses and rugs, then spread themselves out on the cold dark concrete platforms [where] people found comfort in the companionship.

Londoners played cards and joked and made dates to meet at the same curve in the tunnel wall, as if it were a corner pub.  There, they found camaraderie and freedom from the harsh light of reality at street level.1

Maybe you are feeling that way too?  You who have had the chaos of a mass shooting less than a mile from this place may feel this cuts close.  Maybe you are not in immanent personal danger but every time you open a newspaper, turn on a television, or check the newsfeed on your i-Phone your stomach churns a little.  Maybe, like me, you find yourself actually listening to the pre-flight instructions on airplanes that all of us can say by heart. 

The antidote to this fear, Jesus says, is trust.  Trust that God is powerful enough to sustain you.  Don’t worry about any of the things anyone in their right mind, then or now, worries about from day to day.  Trust that once you have done everything you possibly can believing that God will take care of the rest.

Somehow the list of people who put their faith in God against all odds got left out of this mornings letter from Saint Paul.  It is a catalog  of people of faith about whom a little sermon could be preached.

It was by faith that Noah constructed an ark.  It was by faith that Moses and the Children of Israel marched through the sea from bondage to freedom.  It was by faith that Joshua gave the order, the trumpet blew, and the walls of Jericho collapsed.  

“I could go on and on,” (Saint Paul wrote,)] “but I’ve run out of time.”  (And so have I!) There are so many more—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. . . . Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves.”2

 Paul makes special mention of Abraham who we studied last Wednesday over hot dogs on the porch. 

Scholars tell us that there is one more interesting thing about his and Sarah’s story that I had not known before.  Sarah and Abraham’s story may have been written down during the Children of Israel’s  long period of captivity in Babylon. 

Away from their home the “community was in danger of losing confidence in the promises and power of God.  The purpose [of the story] was to offer hope to this community by reminding them that God made promises ... to the ancestral couple ... at a time when the fulfilment of those promises seemed unlikely.3

It is then, we are told, when God breaks in.  It is just when our world seems broken beyond repair and we would like to hide in a dark tunnel somewhere that God will break in.  It is just when we have screwed up so badly in our personal lives that God will break in.  It is in those middle of the night moments when we toss and turn over something that we have done or left undone that God breaks in.

Not having fear in troubled times is not easy. 

We may be at such a moment now when we wonder if things will ever be right again.  Will we ever get a handle on the violence in our streets?  Will we ever be able to stop weapons designed for war from falling into hands of people with evil intent?  Will we ever stop the personification hate and bigotry from walking into a Walmart and shooting the place up?  Will the murder and mayhem ever end?

For such a time as this we may do well to heed the words of Dr.  David Lose, Senior Pastor of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis:

Sometimes, faith in God’s promises is easy. When that’s true for you, come here, to your church, in order to give thanks and to let your faith shine as bright as a star in heaven and encourage those around you. Sometimes, though, faith in God’s promises is hard. And when that’s true, feel free to go outside and look up at the stars and remember God’s promise to Abraham. Or, even better, when faith is hard, come here, to your church, and see some of those stars of the heavens now scattered throughout this congregation. God has given us to each other, you see, precisely so that we can remind each other that, while it sometimes may take a long time, God always keeps God’s promises.4

 It just may be that the “Kingdom” Jesus is promising us is not some place afar off but the very presence of God right here, right now.  All is asked is that we keep awake and ready to receive it when it comes to us even in life’s darkest moments.

 May it be so for all of us always.

____________

1.  Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster, The Century. (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1988).  p.  225-226.

2. Hebrews 11:32-38.  (MSG) [MSG=The Message]

3. Ronald J. Allen, "Genesis 15:1-6. Connecting the Reading with Scripture," in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Teaching, vol. 3, Year C (Louisville, KY: Westminister John Knox Press, 2019).  p.  218.

4. David Lose, "The Call of Abraham," A Sermon for Every Sunday, August 5, 2019, , accessed August 10, 2019, https://asermonforeverysunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/David-Lose-Call-of-Abraham.pdf.

"Prayer at the Barricades" - Pentecost 7C

Saint Luke 11:1-13

On Labor Day Sunday of 1966 60 people met  at the Bear Lake pavilion of Cherry Log Mountain in Georgia to hold a worship service.  The group continued to meet, monthly at first, then weekly, eventually forming Cherry Log Christian Church.  By  Easter, April 12, 1998, the congregation had grown to 80 members.  Leading them as the pastor was Dr. Fred B. Craddock who one year later would begin his teaching career as preaching professor at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. 

Dr. Craddock was not a tall man and admitted that he had few of the gifts other preachers had.  He lacked either a booming voice or an impressive stature and he served a church which we have come to learn was of average size.  It still is.

A collection of Dr. Craddock’s Sermons from Cherry Log Church contained the quote that you  often hear as you leave this place.  It is  the very un-Lutheran “Charge to the Congregation” to go forth and “live simply, love generously, speak truthfully, serve faithfully, pray daily and then leave everything else to God.“ 

I love those words.  If they were original to Dr. Craddock, he should have copyrighted them because I have seen them appear on plaques, coffee mugs, and numerous other tchotchkes in  shops of towns both large and small.

The words are comforting because they begin by listing things we can do. 

Live simply.  We can do that.  Sometimes we spurge on something like a vacation, or a car, or a big screen television.  But we know each other pretty well by now and we know that if there is one thing that describes us is that we are not flashy.  We are simple folk in the best sense of that word.

Love generously.  We can do that too.  I can’t enumerate for you all the ways you do it but I have seen you do it.  Loving generously may be your forte.

Speak truthfully.  That you can do too.  And like me, I bet there have been times in your lives that you have spoken a little too truthfully. 

Serve faithfully.  On our best days those are words all of us hope will describe us.  We hope we are faithful servants.

It the last clause in the sentence that we might trip over.  Sure, we pray daily but there are times when it is hard, very hard, to then leave everything up to God.

We may place some loved ones in God’s hands but we want to know what the tests or surgical results are so that God and the doctors can be about the business of healing.

We may pray about our finances but we still check our retirement accounts to see if we’re solvent.  We may pray for our church but that doesn’t stop us from getting a little anxious in times of transition.

We can pray about all manner of things but that still doesn’t stop us from trying to help give God a hand in fixing them.

On occasion Dr. Craddock would tell his students that it was all right to give their listeners the good news at the beginning of a sermon rather than waiting until the end.  And the good news for us is that even biblical characters and examples of people in Jesus’ parables sometimes had a very hard time “leaving everything else up to God.”

Clearly Abraham is not going to let God’s desire to destroy the twin sin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah go unchallenged.  He is not going to “leave this up to God.”  Instead he is going to storm the barricades on behalf of the city where his nephew Lot and his family lived.

The problem with the city is that it was ruled by mobs.  It was ungovernable to the point that any visitors or residents of the city could be the victims of murder, robbery and mayhem at any time.  It had become a mad house.

God doesn’t see any other way out other than its complete destruction.  Abraham objects in a most strenuous matter.  His prayer is not “thy will be done” but rather “let’s make a deal.”  

Unbelievably to us moderns he enters into a bidding contest with Yahweh on the city’s behalf.  It is like an auction.  

Abraham starts the bidding with 50 righteous. If he can find 50 good people would Yahweh consider sparing the city?

The problem is he can’t so he reduces the number.  “How about 45?  40?” Abraham bargains.  “35?  30?  25?  20?  Can I get a 15?”  What is this?  An auction.  Finally Abraham and the Lord settle on 10.

Violence has so overwhelmed the two cities that Abraham can’t even meet that quota.  He can’t find ten good people in two towns!  His prayers for the communities are going to go unanswered with only his nephew Lot and some of his family being sparred. 

Even after storming the barricades Abraham didn’t get everything he wanted but he did get what he really needed - the lives of his nephew and members his family.

Perhaps Jesus’ disciples were tired of this storm the barricades model of prayer when they asked Jesus for a better way.  What Jesus gives them and us is a prayer that invites us to trust God above all else for everything we need. 

We are to trust God for the big things like the forgiveness of our sins and the coming of the kingdom.  We are also to trust God for the everyday things like our daily bread.  It’s a prayer that invites us to leave everything up to God.

That is a great place to be but Jesus makes it even better.  He says that with God we can be like that neighbor who shows up in the middle of the night banging on the door and yelling, “‘lend me three loaves of bread. An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don’t have a thing on hand.’”1

Jesus says that unlike God while we may grouch a little bit and yell back at our neighbor, “‘Please don’t ask me to get up. The door is locked for the night and we are all in bed. I just can’t help you this time.’”2

But “‘I’ll tell you this, ‘” says Jesus ‘if you keep knocking long enough, (your neighbor) will get up and give you everything you want—just because of your persistence.’”3

Scholars agree the word is not persistence but “shamelessness.” “[S}hamelessness, even though a negative quality in society, is not necessarily so in the Gospel tradition. The ‘faith’ commended  . . .  is a boldness that refuses to be stopped by social proprieties.”4

Who gets up in the middle of the night and goes to a friend and says, “Hey!  I’ve got company.  Have you got anything to feed them?”  Such a request would be shameful but there is no need to worry about that with God.

Four times in these verses, the word "friend" (philos) is used. There is the friendship between the two neighbors and the friendship between the first man and his midnight visitors. The story then suggests that there is a similar friendship between God and us -- we can approach God as a friend -- even waking him up from a deep sleep -- that is, if God ever slept.5

God is not staying up all night waiting for us to present a problem that is too big for God to handle. 

That is what I love about Dr. Craddock’s charge.  We are to do our part - storm the barricades if we feel we have to - but then we can “leave everything else up to God” knowing that God may not give us what we want but will give us what we need.

Adam Fronczek, Senior Minister of Know Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati tells this story:

I  have a minister friend who performed one of the most brilliant acts of parenting I’ve ever seen. When his son was four and going through a period of being fairly demanding about things, my friend taught his son some Rolling Stones lyrics. Every time little Michael demanded something that just wasn’t going to happen, his dad, said, “Michael, what do the [Rolling] Stones say?” And Michael would huff and puff and then would look at his daddy and say, “You can’t always get what you want.” And then [his father] would say, “What else, Michael?” And Michael would answer, “But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.”6

Remember “to live simply, love generously, speak truthfully, serve faithfully, pray daily and then leave everything else to God” and discover that, of all people, the Rolling Stones were right.  “You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.”

How about that?  
__________

1. St. Luke 11:5-6.  (MSG) [MSG = The Message]

2. St. Luke 11:7.  (TLB) [TLB = The Living Bible]

3. St. Luke 11:8.  (TLB)

4. Robert C. Tannehill, Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Luke. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), p.189-190.

5. Brian P. Stoffregen, "Luke 11.1-13 Proper 12 - Year C," Luke 11.1-13, , accessed July 27, 2019, http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke11x1.htm.

6. Adam Fronczek, ""Jazz at Four" Sermon" (sermon, 4 O'clock Worship, The Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, January 20, 2013),  accessed July 27, 2019, http://www.fourthchurch.org/sermons/2013/012013_4pm.html.

"Mary and Martha's Secret to an Untroubled Life" - Pentecost 6C

St.  Luke 10:38-42

“Everybody’s got different blessings, this is mine,”1 said the unassuming, rugged looking, bearded man from Florida.  In his case his blessing would reap rewards that only Chicago could think up.  In addition to appearing on almost every news and radio program he was asked to toss out the first pitch of Tuesday night’s game and Wrigley and throw the switch that turned on Buckingham Fountain on Wednesday.

In case you have forgotten the man with two first names is Frank Robb and his blessing is that he is able to catch alligators.  His fame came from his ability to do, in one night, what others couldn’t do in six.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday morning Mr.  Robb reeled in “Chance the Snapper,” whom he found hiding out in a corner of the Humboldt Park Lagoon.

Mr. Robb’s predecessor called himself “Alligator Bob” who forever and always will have to remind people that, in his case, Bob is spelled with one “o” not two.  (You’ll think about that on your way home and you’ll laugh!)   The only thing he succeeded in doing was turning the park into a party destination.

People came from all over to look.  They brought food and had picnics.  Strolling mariachi bands entertained Chance at table-side.  Even mascots from some of the Chicago sports teams showed up with cheerleaders.  The alligator must have wondered what he had gotten himself into.
 
Thanks to Mr.  Robb’s blessing the 4-foot 18-pound Alligator will live out the remainder of his days in Florida at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park which will afford him and Mr. Robb a chance to visit.

It was a feel good stories that made me feel especially good when it became obvious that Mr. Robb was a person of faith.  You had to listen carefully because he didn’t hit you over the head with a “I just knew Jesus wanted me to catch that alligator!”  But rather simple things he said like, “I took a deep breath and said a prayer.” before taking the mound at Wrigley.  It was faith in action.  He used his blessing and gave glory to God.

How unlike the unmitigated social disaster we have before us in today’s gospel where a simple invitation turns into a battle between two sets of “blessings.”
Before we get too deep into the byplay between Martha and Mary let us first consider this story’s radical beginnings. 

Martha, a woman, invited Jesus, a man, to dinner and Jesus accepts.  This was not to be done!  Women did not extend invitations to men and men did not accept them.  It was not considered socially acceptable but Jesus and Martha do it anyway.

It looks like it is going to be a great evening as both sisters are primed for spending time with Jesus.  The problem is they are not on the same page on how that time will be spent.

Martha sees it as serving Jesus an unforgettable meal.  She is going to impress him with her hostess and culinary skills.  The table is going to be perfectly set with the very best she had. Every course is going to be excellent and the timing will be impeccable. 

I love dining like this. 

The minute the appetizer is finished the staff is there will the salad.  At almost the very instant the salad fork is placed on the plate the entree arrives cooked to perfection and presented beautifully.  Chicago Tribune food critic Phil Vettle would give the place four stars if the dessert was creative and as good as all the rest.

Martha is making this happen while Mary is not. 

Have you ever thought that maybe Mary is not because Mary could not?  Maybe Mary is one of those people who couldn’t boil an egg.  Maybe she couldn’t tell a cup from a carload.  Maybe if Mary was charged with preparing the meal, they all would have been eating Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches off of paper plates.

I must confess that at this point the story breaks down for me.  It seems that this dinner party really is perfectly organized.   Martha is making dinner while Mary is conversing with Jesus.

I asked some of the guys at the bible study I attended this week how it worked for them in their house.  Most exchanged roles with their partners - one popping in to converse while the other did what needed to be done in the kitchen and then changing off when needed.  It seemed that nobody was expected to spend all of their time in the kitchen and nobody was expected to spend all their time entertaining.

That is where things break down here.

Mary is chatting while Martha is clamoring in the kitchen.  She is cooking on all burners!

Had she been paying attention Mary might have heard the commotion.  She might have heard the pots banging and the dishes clattering.  She may have even heard her sister refer to the guest’s family as she shouted “Jesus, Mary and Joseph.” 

It seems to me that the problem comes when Mary fails to act.  Her blessing is listening to Jesus.  She is hanging on his every word and has his undivided attention. All she wants to do is listen to Jesus.  What could be better than that? 

Fred Craddock warns us not to make a cartoon out of this story.  And he is right.  In fact, I’ve come pretty close to doing that already, haven’t I? 

“If we’re not careful, we’ll get a picture of Martha who always sits at the dinner table sideways, ready to leap into action every time somebody needs something from the stove. And Mary will be so lazy she doesn’t even stoop over to tie her shoes.”2  Says Dr.  Craddock: “If we censure Martha too harshly, she may abandon serving altogether, and if we commend Mary too harshly, she may abandon serving altogether, and if we commend Mary too profusely, she may sit there forever.”3

If we narrow this exchange down too much and make it only a binary choice of either serving or listening to Jesus we are offering a false choice. 

The balanced life contains both.

Martha’s part is not the bad part she is just busy doing things to  show Jesus a warm welcome.  And Mary welcomes Jesus by listening to him.

My guess is that few of us are either Mary or Martha.  Most of us are a combination of the two having some Martha traits and Mary traits within us and Jesus blesses both because we need both.

We all know people who are so caught up in their work or their play that they don’t have time to relax and enjoy their families or their friends.  Spending time with them can make a person nervous because they are always checking their watches or looking around to see if something is happening elsewhere.  They are unable to settle down and center down.

Taking time for any kind of centering prayer is unheard of and the Quaker Idea of an “Inner Light” - the belief God speaks to everyone, but in order to hear his voice, one must learn to be still and actively listen for it - is rebelled against.

I had two such persons in my last congregation. 

One who simply could not keep still during worship but was always walking around in the back balcony choir loft or always engaged in speaking with a neighbor. 

Another would complain about what was termed  the excessively long periods of silence before the congregation prayed.  “Can’t we just get on with things?” was the complaint.

Then there were people who just wanted to come to church and listen to Jesus.  They didn’t want to serve on a committee.  They didn’t want to do any work they just saw church as a place for worship where they would faithfully come to hear the word of God. 

Many of those folks I knew had stressful jobs or lives and them just needed a quiet place to go and commune with their creator.

The secret of a balanced life is to realize that everybody has different blessings and then to find out what yours is.  It is to, with God’s help, find the good portion in your life and even if that “good portion” is catching alligators to label it a blessing.

We gather here in worship. We listen for God’s Word. We sing. We pray. We make our offerings. We show compassion to each other. We do our very best to inhale God’s grace as deeply as we can so we can exhale it once we leave this place.4 

Following Jesus can be a demanding task which is why we need to take time to just be with him.  Sometimes following Jesus, serving Jesus, takes a great deal of hard work.

And sometimes following Jesus means simply being with him and hanging on his every word.

I don’t think that Jesus accepted the invitation to Martha’s house just to talk with Mary.   I think that after he calmed Martha’s anxiety about making everything perfect and assured her that it was already perfect, he took her by the hand and invited her to sit down too.  I think that, after the dustup settled they all sat together and had a fine meal with good conversation because Jesus loved and blessed them both.

And so too by his desire to spend time with us at work or at prayer, in this place or in our kitchens, whenever we use our “different blessings” for the glory of God Jesus blesses us.  

Go!  Be a blessing to someone and by so doing you’ll find yourself being blessed by God.

Thanks for listening.

____________

1. Alehandro Serado and Javonte Anderson, "It's a Wrap for 'Snapper'," The Chicago Tribune, July 17, 2019, Morning ed., sec. 1., p.  11.

2. Randy L. Hyde, "Sermon, Luke 10:38-42, It's All in the Timing," Sermon Writer, July 08, 2019, , accessed July 20, 2019, https://www.sermonwriter.com/sermons/new-testament-luke-1038-42-its-all-in-the-timing-hyde/.

3. Fred Craddock, Interpretation: Luke, (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990), pp. 151-152.

4. Shannon Kershner, "What Is the Church Doing" (sermon, Morning Worship, The Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Illinois, July 17, 2016), accessed July 20, 2019, http://www.fourthchurch.org/sermons/2016/071716.html.

 

"Hate Has No Home Here" Pentecost 5C

Saint Luke 10:25-37

Shortly after our sign was changed to read: “Hate has no home here...only love” I received an email from a very supportive member wondering what it meant.  

I got the idea from signs that I had seen but I thought the message derived its meaning from urban slang: “Don’t you be hating on me.”  It meant don’t hate somebody because you are jealous of them.  “Don’t you be hating on  me ... because of my flashy car, or nice clothes, or spiffy outfit.”

When I did a little research I discovered that the signs and slogan originated in a neighborhood in Chicago close to mine.

The neighborhood around North Park College is known for its diversity. 

One of the mainstays of the neighborhood is Peterson Elementary School whose student body also matches the assortment of races, nationalities and family make-ups in the area.

Now comes the really neat part!  The phrase used in this poster and on our sign was imagined by a third grader and kindergartner at Peterson Elementary!  A third grader and a kindergartner!  A North Park neighbor and designer, created the graphics; and other neighbors secured the translations, organized and launched the campaign.

Let me repeat that again because I can hardly believe it myself.  A third grader and a kindergartner were responsible for the slogan “Hate Has No Home Here.”

The signs not only can be seen in the Peterson Park, North Park, Portage Park neighborhoods of Chicago but all over the city and even United States.  You don’t even have to buy them but can download them at the group’s website: www.hatehasnohomehere.org.

You might be more inclined to do so after listening once again to this beloved parable of Jesus that, when he told it, must have gone over like a dirty joke at a party of prudes.

You know the story as well as I do.  There is no surprise in this masterpiece for us because we know it by heart. 

I could see you settling back in your seats as I began to read.  It was like we were curling up and I was about to read you “The Night Before Christmas.”  For us this as comfortable as an old bedtime story but for Jesus’ original listeners this must have been like having a bomb dropped on them.
 \
You see “by time Jesus and the lawyer were doing their little intellectual sparring, Jews and Samaritans had hated each other for over a thousand years.  

When King Solomon died the monarchy broke into two factions: the ten tribes of the North rebelled and founded a capital in the city of Samaria.  The two southern tribes made their capital in Jerusalem.  There was long-held ethnic hostility and political and religious rivalry between Jews and Samaritans.  So when Jesus said ‘Samaritan’”1 all of Jesus’ listeners had to be surprised and some of them were probably mortified.

They may have understood why those who were considered the highest and mightiest of society past by the wounded man.  They were important people with important things to do.  Their agendas were jammed packed.  As we would say in our day, they had a full plate.

The priest and the Levite are not symbols of what is wrong with the law or Judaism, as so many have claimed, but simply a failure to do what needs to be done.  They are highly religious people who fail to act in compassion, or even obligation, toward one who is in desperate need.2

Now if you are like everybody else who has every heard or read this parable you are probably feeling a tinge of guilt.  Or, maybe a lot of guilt.  I know it runs around like a crazy puppy in my mind every time I pass a beggar on the street but, as Amy Butler, the former Senior Minister of the Riverside Church in New York City reminded us:

In answer to the lawyer’s question Jesus didn’t take out a paper and pencil and make a list: the homeless guy on the street corner, the person with the flat tire, the checker at WalMart, the college student with nowhere to stay for Thanksgiving, so the lawyer could check them off one by one and meet the legal requirements for heaven.3

 Jesus isn’t talking about the legal requirements, or even the moral requirements, but only the requirement that we see our neighbor. 

Not asking if these people are worthy to receive mercy. Not stopping to enquire about church membership or belief structure. Not querying their theological background or being sure that they subscribe to our particular way of being in the world, but offering a hand of assistance and help in times of desperation and trouble.4

` Jesus only asks the questioning lawyer to see and do.  

So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”  And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”5

 What might that going and doing look like?  It may not be quite as extensive as offering a wounded man emergency care and more than a few nights of lodging.  It may be seeing a symbol of divisions and deciding to do something about it.

Only last April did Henry Buxton, a white 85-year-old maintenance volunteer, dismantle the chain-link fence that divided the Linney Cemetery from the Acie Cemetery in Dayton, Texas.  Residents said they were so used to the fence that they didn’t think anything of it.

Buxton and his new boss, Mike George, did.  It was understood and accepted in the community that the Linney Cemetery was for white folks and the Acie Cemetery was for blacks.  That fence was the border line - blacks to one side and whites to the other.

The residents accepted that fact but Henry Buxton and Mike George didn’t.  “It should have been done years ago,” George said. 6 But it wasn’t until the two men saw the fence, realized what it meant, and decided to do something about it.

What must I do?” was the lawyer’s question.  And Jesus’ answer is simply “be a neighbor”.

If we see that people around you are becoming afraid of the violence that seems to be breaking out everywhere - in churches, synagogues, mosques, even Sikh temples where people are killed because of their faith.  In workplaces where people get angry and lash out.  And even in nightclubs and the Las Vegas strip.
We may want to take a lesson from a third grader and kindergartner who know their limitations and know they can’t change the world but they can create a sign that creates a movement which proclaims: “Hate Has No Home Here.”

We may take a lesson from the two guys who saw a chainlink fence that stood for longer than anybody could remember as a subtle reminder of a communities division and decided to take it down.  It was not much really.  It certainly won’t heal all of societies differences but it was a start and a strong statement that “hate has no home here.”

While that fence stood for who knows how long the divisions between Jesus’ people and the Samaritans stood for a thousand years.  One story was not going to change that.  History tells us that, much as we love the story, it hasn’t. 

Maybe the main point of the story is to act.  Do something like those kids at Peterson Park Elementary.  Be like those guys in Dayton, Texas and remove a needless boundary.

Maybe at the end of the day the main thing is to act.  In fact, that is all Jesus tells the lawyer and us to do.  Nowhere in this story does Jesus say, “Love your neighbor.” Jesus tells us to look at all those examples of people doing right by their neighbors and then “Go and do likewise.”

And maybe, one by one, little by little, if we keep doing that hate will not only have no home here but anywhere.

Don’t you think?

____________

1. Amy Butler. “Power Play.” A Sermon for Every Sunday, 9 July 2019, www.asermonforeverysunday.com. Accessed 12 July 2019. 

2,    Stanley P. Sanders, "Luke 10:25-37. Connecting the Reading with Scripture," in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship, vol. 3, Year C (Westminister John Knox Press, 2019).  p.  156-158.


3.  Butler, loc.  cit.

4. Jerrod McCormick, ""Bearing Witness Even in Dust," ModernMetanoia, June 24, 2019, , accessed July 13, 2019, http://modernmetanoia.org/2019/06/24/proper-9c-bearing-witness-even-in-the-dust/

5.  St.  Luke 10:36-37.  (NKJV) [NKJV= The New King James Version]

6.  Johann Calhoun, "Texas Cemetery Fence That Marked Racial Divide Comes down," The Philadelphia Tribune, July 9, 2019, July 9, 2019, accessed July 13, 2019, https://www.phillytrib.com/news/across_america/texas-cemetery-fence-that-marked-racial-divide-comes-down/article_d3da9fe5-adf2-5054-9b2e-6cde35753864.html?fbclid=IwAR1izcRB1k9SdeZDLOa6Sd34tqMNJ3hMZBsbjuiHPi96JyfMz2dr-68uPEs.

"Follow the Directions" - Pentecost 4C

2 Kings 5:1-14

Last February the first pastor I ever worked with, Ted Romberg, passed away.  He was married to his very patient wife Sharon for 55 years and had two wonderful daughters Kristen and Susan, two sons-in-law’s Greg and Rob, and was the grandfather of six.

Ted’s death came as a surprise but everything Ted did was surprising.

We spent almost three years together making each other laugh.  His life motto was “Love big, whoop it up and eat more cookies.”  All of this Ted did and then some.  His biggest gift was his ability to laugh at himself.

One slushy afternoon he called me because a parishioner had called him to say that she had gotten not one but both of the family cars stuck in the grass in her backyard.  I have no idea how the first one got stuck but the second one was there because she had tried to pull the first one out with it. 

Ted called me to help because I had a four-wheel drive vehicle and he had a chain.  The cars came out easily and on our way back home I asked him about our little adventure wondering sarcastically who his people called when they needed pastoral care?  The Auto Club?  He laughed and said it was all part of his being a “full-service pastor.”  That he was and he was also a full-time crazy man.  Or, as my family called them, “crazy-makers” because the actions drove everyone Nuts.

His grandson “loved it when Ted would hit all the floor buttons in every elevator they rode in together - and smile in delight when Sharon, his wife, protested.”  I have done this numerous times and have caused Lowell to respond: “What are you?  Six.”  Now he knows where I learned this.

Ted once hit the SOS button on his OnStar© device instead of the garage door opener.  When the police arrived he just laughed and told the story on himself often.

One of the things that Pastor Romberg was best known for was ignoring directions.  To him they were merely suggestions.  Ted would feign surprise if it didn’t work and call his son-in-law  Greg, to fix it later. If an electronic device is not doing what you want it to just start pushing buttons and see what happens. 

Clearly I am Ted’s protege in many ways.  And fellas, by the look on some of your wives’ faces you too have to same kind of relationship with directions that Ted and I have. 

My dear sisters in Christ, have mercy.  This may come as no surprise to you but we don’t like being told what to do even if we don’t know what we are doing.  Knickknack stores haven’t sold as many of those plaques that say “When all else fails follow the directions” for no reason, you know.

And the good news is that this male behavior dates back to biblical time.  We heard it this morning.  It is the story of Naaman, a commander in the Syrian army, and a man who had a hard time following directions.

It may have been his position that made him so direction adverse.  Here was a man who was used to giving orders not following them.  Now his disease was putting that position in jeopardy.

Any skin disease in biblical times fell under the general category of Leprosy.  It could have been what we now know as Hanson’s disease which  according to WebMD, is a bacterial infection.  The commander also could have been suffering from Psoriasis or even Eczema. 

It didn’t matter what kind of skin disease you had in Naaman’s day the result was the same.  Eventually you would find yourself being cut off from your friends, your community, and even your family.  Naaman would certainly lose his job if he didn’t follow directions.

Those directions come from the most unlikely person.  A Jewish slave girl - literally a prisoner of war - one of the most powerless people imaginable. \

Fortunately for Naaman she was not forced to sleep on the hard floor of some camp covered only with a blanket but was working in his house as one of his wife’s many maids.

She remembers a prophet in her homeland who has the power to heal and so she suggests that Naaman go and see him.  In a way Naaman listens but in another way he doesn’t.  He doesn’t go see the prophet but rather the prophet’s king with what amounts to a bribe.

Naaman and his King thought they were participating in a pay-for-play scheme.  The bundle of goodies they brought would have made any Chicago alderman’s eyes fall out of his or her head.  “Ten talents of silver would weigh about 750 pounds and 6,000 shekels of gold would weigh another 150 pounds.1

Naaman and his king are following the directions of their world and ours where money is thought to buy access to power and wisdom.  They thought that even healing can be bought if “the price is right.”  And where, if you want something done, you go to the top and bring a pile of cash with you.
 
In America we would say they were lobbying the king to get what they wanted done.  Who knows what they would have called it but the intent was the same.

The trouble is that from their high and mighty state they don’t really listen to what the servant girl is saying.  She said “prophet” and they heard “king.”  When they thought power they thought government and sometimes so do we.  We don’t think prophets have much power and maybe they don’t.

When George F.  Will  was called by Ted Koppel “one of the most powerful men in Washington” he replied.

I have written approaching 6,000 columns since 1973, and if power is properly defined as the ability to achieve intended effects, I've got no power that I can see. The country resolutely refuses to do what I tell it to do!"2

 When the powerful discover that they have no power over something they get frustrated.  The king acts like a child.  He tears his clothes.  He pitches a fit.  He accuses Naaman and his king of trying to pick a fight with him.  It is a scene unworthy of a leader.

When the lowly prophet hears that his king is acting like a fool he sends word.  “Send the long-suffering man to me.”

For a moment it looks like Naaman just might follow directions until he gives into his preconceived notions about how life should work and refuses to follow the directions of the prophet who didn’t ever bother to leave his house before describing the prescription for what ails him.

Elisha has God’s power and so is unimpressed with Naaman’s.

The cure prescribed in simple - go and bathe in the Jordan.  It’s too simple for a commander of an Army.  He is not going to follow these directions because there are far nicer, far cleaner, rivers back home.  He didn’t come all this way to take a bath in some local tributary he came all this way to be healed. 

It’s like what doctor’s tell patients who are battling a cold.  “I could give you something and it will go away in a week.  Or, I could prescribe  something and it will go away in seven days.”  A friend of mine who is an M.D. says he is always surprised how many times people have taken the prescription rather than heard his advice.

The key to the story is what happens again.  This time it is Naaman’s servants who intercede with him.  “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply to go and wash and be cured!”3

You can almost see Naaman’s soldiers begging with him and cajoling him.  “Come on big boy, just three little dips.  We’ve come all this way.  Why not just try it?  What can it hurt?

When Naaman finally follows directions, he gets the healing he desired.  

 I like to think he was surprised when he stepped out of the water smoother than a slightly used bar of Ivory soap and more than 99 and 44/100ths percent pure.

The moral of today’s little excursion is not that one should always follow the directions.  My friend Ted and other males that I know  (Myself included!)  have made it blissfully through life thinking that they are merely instructions and that if you have a part or two left over at the end of the construction process it is perfectly acceptable to declare those parts “unnecessary.”

The point is that the best directions do not come in the way we would expect from the people we would expect.

In an unnamed servant who belonged to Namaan’s wife who has enough love in her heart to be concerned about the master of household in which she is held captive.  

It is not the king but an uncooperative prophet who is able to set the mighty warrior on the path to healing.  And it is the commander’s servants who get him to put away his pride and take the final steps.

It is those we think of as being powerless who can help us find the power of God. 

It looks like following directions just might be a good idea after all.  I am so convinced that I just might try it some day.

____________

1. Matthew Richard Schlimm, "2 Kings 5:1-14, Connecting the Reading with Scripture," in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship, vol. 3 (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2019).  p.  125.

2.  Ted Koppel, writer, "George Will, a Conservative Rock, Unmoved by Chaos," on Sunday Morning, June 2, 2019.

3.    2 Kings 5:13.  (TLB) [TLB=The Living Bible]