"Better Together" - Pentecost 14A

Romans 13:8–14

Saint Matthew 18:15–20

In my former congregation we had a man who was difficult to say the least. 

His family has been members since the cornerstone of the first building was put in place and no matter how sparse the crowd was he, his wife, and his children always occupied the very last pew of the church just like his father did. 

He loved to read Scripture in worship and, when he did, he did it well.  The only problem was that even though the text from the New Revised Standard Version was printed in the bulletin he always brought his own bible to the lectern which was the King James Version and caused some confusion to those who were not familiar with his proclivities.

These were minor matters but on other occasions his disruptive tendencies were more difficult to overlook.

During the week of Christian Unity the local Roman Catholic priest and I decided to preach and lead forums in each other’s churches. 

When my parishioner saw Father Sakowitz coming down a narrow hallway toward him he turned on his heals and made an obvious show of going the other way.  Clearly, he was not going to shake hands, or even acknowledge the presence of a Catholic priest in his Lutheran Church. I’m sure he believed that Father was not just a priest but a Papist.

The breaking point came when we were approached by a congregation of Korean Presbyterians about renting our building.  They were good people, very kind, very friendly, very Christian. 

Needless-to-say, my always cantankerous member was against it.

The usual reasons were put forth:  Wear and tear, use of electricity, messing up the kitchen, etc.  But he pushed it one step too far when he said, “I’ll never forgive them for what they did during the Korean War.”

As luck would have it I had just finished reading David McCullough’s very fine biography Truman and my last nerve had been worked.  I shot back at the man in front of God, country, king, crown, and congregation. “The Korean War ended in July of 1953!  That was six months before I was born and I’m old! Get over it!”

He never did.

I confess that my response was not in keeping with the words Jesus and Saint Paul have placed before us in today’s readings.  So, as you listen to what I have to say remember that these words may be being spoken by the chief of sinners who needs to hear them the most.

I like to call Jesus admonitions “Evangelical Order” because they offer a careful and precise directions over what to do if a fellow believer hurts you or the community in some way.

Dr. Thomas G. Long, reminds us in his commentary on this passage:

Matthew has no romantic illusions about the church. He knows that the church is not all sweet thoughts, endlessly patient saints, and cloudless skies. In Matthew's church, people ‑‑ no matter how committed ‑‑ are still people, and stormy weather is always a possible forecast.1

The trouble for Matthew’s community is the same as it is for most churches today.

According to a study from Duke University “In 2012, the average congregation had only 70 regular participants, counting both adults and children”2 while “a huge church in Matthew's day included at the most 50 members. Their gatherings were much more like small family reunions -- maybe 20‑30 people. We can easily imagine how the actions or attitude of one family member could spoil the festive gathering for the rest.”3

In our deeply divided culture we know what these occasions can be like.  We dread the thought of having a holiday, or even coffee, with family members who are on opposite ends of the political spectrum from us.  Nothing is more unpleasant than sitting between an MSNBC loyalist and a FOX News aficionado.

And now, we can even be forewarned about just how unpleasant our anticipated encounter may be by following their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter accounts.  The only upside of knowing what might be in-store at the next gathering is that we can decide to use paper plates instead of the fine china just in case things get out of hand.

In this instance Jesus first instruction is particularly helpful.

Whi­le we may stew over what to do if one member of the clan shows up wearing “Make America Great Again” hat and another arrives sporting a Biden campaign button as big as their chest, Jesus suggests there might be a better way to handle the matter.  Go and talk to the two parties involved privately.  Tell them no buttons and no hats.  Tell them that for one night at least your house with be for all people and therefore it will be a politics free zone.

Now I know this is easier said than done.  It is very hard to go and tell a person face to face that what they do upsets you.  As C.S. Lewis said  once: “It is much easier to pray for a bore than to go visit him.”

One of my favourite people and preachers Judith Watt said in a sermon: 

The process outlined is set up so that no one will be shamed. No one is to be called out in front of others. Go first, and speak privately about the offense. By implication, no one should be shamed by being talked about behind his or her back. The first step if you are hurt, or have been offended, is to talk to that other person privately. And if you aren’t heard, then to take a couple of people with you, not as people on your side, but instead ... for the purpose of being sure both you and the one who has offended you are hearing one another. The process is meant to lead both parties to greater knowledge, to lead both parties to growth and expansion, to lead both parties to a wider ability to love, to bigger hearts, to expanded understand­ing. When that happens, both people are preserved and the well‑being of the community is preserved.5

Restoration is the ultimate goal but Jesus is also a realist and he knows that some people will hold on to their grudges, their differences, their anger no matter what.  They may be like my former parishioner and hold on to their anger for a lifetime. 

If, after numerous attempts at restoration, they still refuse to be reconciled to a person or to the community, Jesus says, “let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”6 

Some of us believe that Jesus might have said this with a smile and a nod to the Gospel’s author who was standing right next to him at the time.  It may have even made Saint Matthew laugh because before he met Jesus he was a tax collector.

Throughout his ministry Jesus “was a great friend to tax collectors (for which the pious ridiculed him), and the inclusion of Gentiles ... is at the heart of everything Christian. Dare we imagine Jesus giving a little wink,”7 in Matthew’s direction and Matthew laughing out loud as he made a point to remember what Jesus said and include it if he ever got around to writing all of this down.

When he heard Jesus refer to tax collectors Matthew may have thought back to his colleagues at the office still pouring over accounts and trying to finagle an extra nickel from their fellow citizens.  He may have remembered the puzzled looks around the the place when he announced that he was giving it all up to take his life in a new direction by going on this adventure with Jesus.  He may have even heard again in his mind them calling him a “loser” and wondering what was in it for him.

Matthew made sure to include this little encounter because he knew that lives could be changed when people met Jesus because his was!

Gentiles, tax collectors, sinners, and other ne’re-do-wells, were the objects of Jesus’ love and so are we.  It’s called “forgiven grace” and it is where we all stand.

We bring nothing to Jesus and receive everything in return.  “You did not choose me but I chose you.”7 he said once and then added. “And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last...”8 Our only task is to spread the love we have received around.

Saint Paul reminds us that we don’t owe each anything but to reflect the same love to others that we have been given by God.  All the laws of God he says “are summed up in this one saying: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’. Love hurts nobody: therefore love is the answer to the Law’s commands.”9

How different is that from the attitudes of our prevailing culture where, “Somebody hits me, I hit back harder” has become a mantra. Or, “if somebody hassles you, forget them. It’s their problem, not yours.”

Christians offer something greater to each other.  The opportunity to become restored in Christ’s love and God’s grace.

Every week the Korean congregation that I mentioned earlier would have a light lunch after church.  It was mostly soup and bread spiced up with some Kimchi on the side.  The soup warmed our hearts while the Kimchi had most of us Anglos reaching for the antacids.  

Every week they invited us all, every single one of us, including the member who couldn’t get over what happened in a war he did not serve.  Every week while we had spent the hour it took them to worship drinking our coffee and conversing they would invite us down to fellowship hall for lunch and many of us accepted except, as you might have guessed, the man who decided to keep nursing a grudge from a lifetime ago.

Had he made the effort he may have discovered something. 

He would have discovered that many of them fled their country during the war in fear for their lives.  He would have even discovered that some had fled North Korea after suffering years of religious oppression.  He would have discovered that the people who couldn’t forgive were as committed Christians as he believed himself to be.  He would have discovered that he had more in common with his Korean brothers and sisters than he had ever imagined.

But instead, he made himself an outsider.  Instead he rejected the fellowship they offered.  He couldn’t accept that they too had been embraced by Christ’s love and been restored in him.  He never understood because he refused to understand that God’s forgiving grace was so broad that it even reached out to individuals and groups he disliked.  God’s forgiving grace was so wild and untamed that it even included Roman Catholic priests and Korean Presbyterians.

Every day of our lives the choice is put before us. 

It is a tougher choice than we ever might have imagined because it asks us to not only accept God’s forgiving grace for ourselves but to understand that this very same grace, love, and forgiveness is being extended to others, even those people we do not particularly like.

As my pastor friend, Judy Watt observed, “We ought to remember that what makes a church a church is presence of so many troublesome people.”10

You, me, everybody has that potential to be a troublemaker, but we also have the potential to be people who reflect God’s forgiveness, grace, and love in our lives.

Now, all we have to do is figure out what kind of of person we will be, today, tomorrow, and everyday for the rest of our lives.  May God help us as we not only try to figure this out but to live this out.

---

1.   Thomas G. Long, Matthew (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), p. 209.

2.  Mark Chaves and Allison Eagle, “Religious Congregations in 21st Century America,” n.d.

3.  Brian Stoffregen, “Matthew 18.15‑20 Proper 18 ‑ Year A,” Matthew 18.15‑20, accessed September 4, 2020, http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/matt18x15.htm. 

4.  C. S. Lewis, Prayer: Letters to Malcolm (London: Fount, 1998).

5. Judith Watt, “Protecting Community” 8 A.M. Worship. Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. (September 10, 2017).

6. St. Matthew 18:17. (NRSV) [NRSV=The New Revised Standard Version]

7. James Howell, “What can we say September 6? 14th after Pentecost” James Howell's Weekly Preaching Notions (blog) (Myers Park United Methodist Church, July 1, 2020), http://jameshowellsweeklypreachingnotions.blogspot.com/.

8. St. John 15:16. (NRSV)

9.  Romans 13:8-10. (PHILLIPS) [PHILLIPS=J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English: a Translation (London: William Collins Sons & Co., 1960).

10. Watt, op. cit. 

"Living Arguments" - Pentecost 13A

 

 

Romans 12:9–21

Saint Matthew 16:21–28

 

 

In the year 1952 a book was published called The Power of Positive Thinking.  It was written by Norman Vincent Peale who was then the pastor of Marble-Collegiate Church in New York, City.  Even to this day we are not sure whether the book set the tone for its time or simply reflected the sentiments of the age.

My personal opinions about Peale and Marble-Collegiate are conflicted.  On the one hand my preaching professor in seminary, Dr. Ernest T. Campbell, who was then the pastor at Riverside Church in New York, couldn’t stand the guy.  One the other hand, under the last three senior pastors since Peale’s death, if I lived in New York it would probably be the church I attended.

The book’s teachings are straightforward, orga­nized around 10 key principles, like the laws of Moses. The author ... recommends visualizing success, drowning out negative thinking, and minimizing obstacles—pretty much a Tony Robbins seminar or a Sunday morning with Joel Osteen. Certain Bible verses (“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”; “If God be for us, who can be against us?”) stripped of context, interpretation, and theology, are to be repeated 10 times per day to ward off the evil spirit of negative thought. The purpose of these psychological and spiritual practices is to free individuals from self‑doubt and feelings of inferiority and help them to become the people God truly intends them to be: happy, wealthy, popular, and professionally successful.

Peale was exceptional for cutting the flock some spiritual slack, encouraging them to look for the sunny side and conquer their inferiority complexes. In his world, you can have the economic gains minus the guilt, which seems perfectly suited to the American sensibility. The Power of Positive Thinking must have been a like a tonic, or perhaps a gin and tonic, some­thing to soothe the wired, weary, worried soul.1

Unfortunately the “positive thinking” of Peale and the “possibility thinking of his protege Robert Schuller doesn’t leave much room for the cross.

In fact I once heard Robert Schuller suggest that the letters in the word, Lent should stand for “let’s, eliminate, negative, thinking.”  Theology like this certainly turns the idea of Lent as following Jesus on the way to the cross on its head.

It also can cause a severe disconnect with how the way things are as enumerated by conservative columnist Charlie Sykes in last Thursday’s Bullwork:

So we wake up to this: Hurricane Laura makes landfall in Louisiana; a 17‑year‑old is charged with murdering two people in Kenosha during protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake; NBA and MLB games are postponed after players declare a boycott, wildfires continue in Califor­nia; the death toll from the coronavirus neared 180,000; an asteroid is speeding toward earth; and Vice President Mike Pence warned us all how awful things would be if Joe Biden was elected president.2

No matter how rosy a picture some paint the events of almost every day tell us that there is a cross in there somewhere.  

We can’t wish it away, we can’t hope it away, we can’t even push it away with all of our might. We know this when even the long standing counterclaim that “Everyday in every way things are getting better and better” doesn’t seem to ring true anymore. 

In light of all the evidence to the contrary we still are slow to embrace the cross as central symbol of our faith.  But don’t feel bad. Even the great Saint Peter wasn’t so excited by the prospect when it finally dawned on him that Jesus was serious.

In last week’s gospel Peter was being praised for confessing Christ. “Who do you say I am?” Jesus asked.  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter,[and on this rock I will build my church...”3

That is pretty high praise for Peter.  He gets an “A” on his confirmation class quiz!  But just as he is march­ing up to take his seat at the head of the class he discov­ers that the central sign for this church that Jesus is building was going to be a cross, with a man on it, and that man would be Jesus himself.

Scholars tell us that his “Never Lord” could have been a prayer. Literally, Peter could be offering a prayer, "May God be merciful to you, Lord; this will not happen to you." Being merciful would imply that God prevents bad things from hap­pening, thus the translation, "God forbid it" in NRSV. The CEV has: "God would never let this happen to you." Peter presumes to know God's will. Jesus makes it clear that Peter is mis­taken.4

 Peter is trying to correct Jesus’ negative thinking.  He is trying to make Jesus’ message into a simple “accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and don’t mess with mister in between.” That’s the stuff of song lyrics and not a messages of salvation.

Peter’s reaction to Jesus’ passion prediction has made him an adversary (satanas) and stumbling block (skanalon) to Jesus. Peter reacts to Je­sus’ prediction as if the prediction were scan­dalous. Jesus response to Peter shows Peter’s words to be the real scandal.5

Giving into the ways of the world has been a cause for concern since Peter’s first confession.  Jesus is calling “his disciples to ‘deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow’ – to lose their lives in order to save them – coupled with the warning that one can gain the whole world and lose one’s own life.”6

In his commentary on the book of Matthew, Dr. Thomas G. Long tells us what this means:

Cross bearers forfeit the game of power before the first inning: they are never selected “Most Likely to Succeed.” Cross bearers are drop outs in the school of self-promotion. They do not pick up their crosses as means for personal fulfil­ment, career advancement, or self-expression: rather, they ‘deny themselves” and pick up their crosses, like their Lord, because of the needs of other people.”7

Saint Paul calls this genuine love.  Like Peale and Schuller he has made a list only his list is much more difficult than anything those two came up with.  Paul is much more demanding than Peale’s advice to, when you are stuggling, “Just give it a quarter turn on the mental carburetor” or Schuller’s hopeful, “The me I see is the me I’ll be.”

Saint Paul’s response to the “call of God at any given moment: genuine love, tenacious goodness, mutual affection, competition not to gain honor but to give it.The list goes on and on, prominently featuring such practices as suffering patiently, blessing those who persecute, refusing to repay evil in kind, and renouncing retribution – all clearly counterintuitive to a project of self-advance­ment.8

The one thing you can never accuse Jesus of is false advertizing. He is calling his followers to follow the way of the cross which means we cannot just deny realities and keep moving but have to face evil head on.  We are not going to be able to conquer the challenges of our day by blinding ourselves to them we have to face them.

What we are talking about is giving up, dying to, crucifying, our old ways and building a radically inclusive community where ... Jesus followers defy customary social divides between classes and ethnic groups reaching out to even to one’s declared adversary.

This means we have to reverse the parlance of the wild west and to ask questions first and shoot much, much, much later.  It is to realize that no matter how angry one may be destruction is not the answer and may end up hurting your cause. 

Taking up ones cross means working together in genuine love so that Saint Paul’s dream that we live peaceably with all might be fulfilled.

Jacob Blake’s mother, Julia Jackson, said it best when she called for peace and healing. “Let’s use our hearts, our love, and our intelligence to work together to show the rest of the world how humans are supposed to treat each other.”9

This is going to take work but it is our cross to bear for our time. And can be fulfilled when we realized that if one life, any life, doesn’t matter then no life will matter.

May we bear the cross that has been given us this day with resilience, strength of character, and the courage that we can be “Living Auguements” for the truth of the Gospel that has come from the one who bore the cross for us, Jesus Christ our Lord.

---

1.   Brent Orrell, “The Power of Positive Thinking: Too Much and Never Enough,” The Bulwark, August 26, 2020, https://thebulwark.com/the‑power‑of‑positive‑thinking‑too‑much‑and‑never‑enough/?utm_source=afternoon‑newsletter.

2.   Charles Sykes, “America's Dark Moment,” The Bulwark, August 27, 2020, https://thebulwark.com/newsletter‑issue/americas‑dark‑moment/.

3.   St. Matthew 16:16–17. (NRSV) [NRSV=The New Revised Standard Version]

4.   Brian Stoffregen, “Matthew 16.21‑28 Proper 17 ‑ Year A,” Matthew 16.21‑28, accessed August 29, 2020, http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/matt16x21.htm.

5.   Raquel St. Clair Lettsom, “St. Matthew 16:21-28. Commentary 1: Connecting the Reading with the World.” Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Teaching 3 (Louisville, KY: Westminister| John Knox Press, 2020): pp. 278‑280.

6.   David J. Schlafer, “St. Matthew 16:21‑28. Commentary 1: Connecting the Reading with Scripture,” Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Teaching 3 (Louisville, KY: Westminister| John Knox Press, 2020): pp. 278‑280.

7.   Thomas G. Long, Matthew (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), 190.   

8.   Schlafer, loc. cit.

9.   Blase J. Cupich, “Statement of Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, on Jacob Blake Shooting,” Archdiocese of Chicago, August 28, 2020, https://www.archchicago.org/en/statement/‑/article/2020/08/28/statement‑of‑cardinal‑blase‑j‑cupich‑archbishop‑of‑chicago‑on‑jacob‑blake‑shooting?fbclid=IwAR1qZ5LXJ8XXWR2_VtIkUHVDQgNArX85ike0GWGAO95w4ntjHI2kkKdOKUw.

"From Call to Commitment" - Pentecost 12A

Feast of Saint Bartholomew

 Saint John 1:43--51'

Saint Matthew 16:13–20

More years ago than I care to remember I was called upon by a funeral director friend to help a family whose loved one died “without the benefit of clergy.”  It is always an honor to do this and I take the task very seriously.

Prayers were to be said after dinner and so by the time I arrived it was just the family.  I entered the chapel, looked around, and decided to forgo a formal service in favour of asking his wife, his children and grandchildren to reminisce about their loved one after which I would read a scripture and say a prayer.

All was going well.  Warm stories about  their husband, dad and grand-dad were told.  There were a few tears but mostly there was laughter.  His wife kept returning to the single theme that her husband was not very religious.

When it became apparent that the family had told their last story I asked if they were ready to hear a word of scripture and pray with me.

No sooner than I had started with the familiar: “Let not your heart be troubled . . . ” the man’s wife interrupted with “Yes, but how do I get that?”

 It would have been a great question were it not for the fact that it seemed to be spoken by someone who was about to enter into mortal combat of the verbal variety.

 “You say I should have an untroubled heart,” she repeated, “How do I get that?”

 I was taken back a little and her children were looking at her with a look of horror that is reserved for full-grown adults who are being embarrassed by their parents.  There was the uncomfortable shifting in their seats and the sideways glances that seemed to implore one of their siblings to “please, say something.”

 Unfortunately, I am not of the Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, Joel Osteen school that would have us believe they always had or have just the right word for any occasion to affect immediate conver­sion.  I usually don’t but I tried my best.

 I thought back to the “Four Spiritual Laws” of Campus Crusade for Christ.  “God loves you and has a plan for your life . . . ”  only to be interrupted with another question.  I thought maybe Billy Graham’s, “Have you given your heart to Jesus?” might be the solution only to face another interruption.  Nothing was working.

 Finally, one of the children suggested that they had taken up enough of the good pastor’s time and that their mother should just let me finish, uninterrupted, so that I could be on my way.  Never had I heard more gracious words in my life. 

 I beat myself up all the way home.  Why couldn’t I get through to her?  Why wouldn’t she at least give a listen to what I had to say?  Even one of the daughter’s apologies for her mom on the way out didn’t make me feel better.  Her excuse that her mother likes to give everybody a hard time offered little consolation.

 I thought about the encounter for days.  Obviously, I’m thinking about it still. 

 The French have a term, l’esprit d’escalier or in English “the wit at the bottom of the stairs.”  It is that response that you wish you could have made at the moment but only comes to you much later on the drive home or when you are climbing the stairs to go to bed.

 Here, years later, is what I should have said to the widow woman. “What you want is a gift. Ask God and God will give it to you. But, once you have it you’re going to have to use it, learn more about it by reading the bible, going to church, studying and praying to figure out how this gift affects your life. And, I must warn you, that gift may not effect your life the way you want.”

 I think that is the theme of the two gospel stories we have before us.

As all of you who regularly consult the Lutheran liturgical calendar know tomorrow is the commemoration of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle so we will let his story go first.

All of the Gospels have stories in them about Jesus calling his disciples.  They follow the same pattern.  Jesus is walking along somewhere, he sees someone and says, “Follow Me” and they do.

Only in John’s Gospel do we get this account of some of Jesus’ disciples being called by other disciples and I take great comfort in the  fact that, at first, things don’t seem to go well for them either.

Jesus’ tried and true formula works with Philip. Jesus says “follow me” and Philip does.  But then Philip goes and finds Nathaniel and says to him: “‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathaniel asked.”1

That went almost as poorly as my encounter with the woman in the funeral parlor. 

It might have gone worse because Nathaniel is rejecting Jesus out of pure prejudice.  He has something against Jesus hometown.  In our day it would be even more true because “Nazareth is known as ‘the Arab capital of Israel’. The inhabitants are predominantly Arab citizens of Israel, of whom 69% are Muslim and 30.9% Christian.”2

It is prejudice that keeps these groups apart.  Years of distrust have made them wonder if any good can come from the other.  Nathaniel was just saying what everybody knew: Nothing good has, can, or ever will come out of that place.

We too reject places and people on the basis of their reputation.  We can’t get over who they are, what they look like, where they came from, we don’t want to give them a chance.  We may even insult them, call them names.

 The disciples challenge Bartholomew’s characterizations with, “‘Just come and see for yourself,’ Philip declared.”3  And he does. 

 Douglas John Hall, in his book Bound and Free: A Theologians Journey, wrote: “I owe such happiness as I have had to one Source ‑‑ namely, the sheer grace of God as it is mediated through the lives of other people.”4

That is how most of us got here.  Somehow, somebody, somewhere in our lives took the time to introduce us to Jesus and we followed.

 And like Peter in the gospel appointed for this day, we walked with him, we studied his life, we read his stories over and over until we came to make the same confession: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”5

 Dr. William H. Willimon could have been there in the chapel with me that night when he wrote:

Lots of people in our world  . . .  want a faith that they can put on a bumper sticker, three spiritual laws, six basic fundamentals, and four Christian principals to live by. But  . . .  God is so more interesting than that. Jesus is so much larger than that, and life is so much more demanding.

To be a Christian means to walk by faith, faith that even when Jesus does not come up with straightforward, simple answers, at least Jesus poses for us the very deepest and most impressive questions.6

While I am not sure that is what the woman in chapel A wanted.  I’m am sure that what she wanted after she lost the love of her life were answers, peace, security.  But, in order to get that we have to follow Jesus, listen to Jesus, be willing to learn from Jesus.

This Sunday is sandwiched between two great Quadrennial promise festivals otherwise known as political conventions in which the candidates of both parties promise us that they have all the answers to all our questions. They even have answers to questions we never asked.

 They promise that they will be able to give us what we need.  They promise that they and their party will give us safety, security, prosperity and anything else we desire.  They promise us an “untroubled heart.”

 That is why I think Jesus would have been such a terrible politician. He was always challenging people to new experiences. He was always asking people to associate with others who were different from them.  He didn’t offer a life of ease but a life that was always being challenged to stretch beyond traditional boundaries and enter into a different way of seeing things.

 My only hope for that woman out of the dark ages of my past, for all of us who have said of Jesus with Nathani­el and Peter, “You are the Son of God.  You are the Messiah!” is that we will get used to the idea that being a Christian does not call us to a life of ease but to a life of adventure.

May this be so in the lives of all who have called upon his name.

Amen.

---

1.         St. John 1:44. (NIV) [NIV=The New International Versiion] 

2. “Nazareth,” Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation, August 8, 2020), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazareth.

3.        St. John 1:46. (TLB) [TLB= The Living Bible]

4.        Douglas John Hall, Bound and Free: a Theologian's Journey (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005), 29‑30.

5.    St. Matthew 16:16. (NRSV) [NRSV= The New Revised Standard Version ]

6. William H. Willimon, “Daring Impossible Questions,” Pulpit Resource, 2008, pp. 33 ‑36.

"'Me Too!' "Me Too'!" Pentecost 11A

Saint Luke 1:26-38

Saint Matthew 15:21-28

This morning I would like to talk with you about two women – two very strong women. Perhaps you might call them the original members of the “Me Too” movement for they stood up for what they believed in, called others to account, and made everyone they came in contact with live up to their higher selves.

The first is Mary, the Mother Our Lord.  

Our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers in the faith -- whom I hold in high regard and for whom I have a deep affinity -- celebrated her feast day yesterday. It is called the Assumption of the Virgin Mary because it is taught that on that day Mary was bodily taken up into heaven.  It is regarded as her heavenly birthday.

If you look at the Lutheran liturgical calendar (which I am sure you check every morning) yesterday was designated in her honour simply as Mary, Mother of Our Lord.  

Perhaps this is because we don’t really know what to do with Mary and that, as Harvard’s chaplain Dr. Peter Gomes once pointed out, “many of us suspect that she is a Catholic.”  In a sermon preached before his death  Dr. Gomes observed that those of us who are “‘pathologically protestant’ “don’t have much room in our spiritual household for Mary.”1

Perhaps we should because she is the subject of more paintings and statues than any other figure in Christendom. More churches are named for her than any other person in Scripture and, through the centuries, she has been the object of much popular piety and devotion.

We do not know the name of the other strong woman I want to draw your attention to.  Unlike Mary, there are no churches named for her.  And she is not a favourite among artists or sculptures.  Yet, today she is taking her place along side of Mary as one of the women of the bible whose stories have been passed down to us to remind us that women are not to be taken lightly.  Mary and the unnamed woman in today’s gospel can remind us not only of the power of faith but the tenacity of faith. 

Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, is often portrayed as a pushover. Perhaps that is because she is young but more likely it is because she was a girl.  

When she is depicted it is often as a serene figure, with loving eyes and a tender heart – sugar and spice and everything nice.  She is gentle Mary, meek and mild.  This picture couldn’t be further from the truth as her little encounter with the angel in today’s first reading shows. 

Who knows what Gabriel was thinking when he approached this young member of the peasant class with what he might have thought was the offer of a lifetime.  He is offering her a chance to be famous. He is offering her  a chance to play a huge part in history.  He is offering her nothing less than the honour of being the Mother of the Son of God.  Who could refuse such an offer? Mary could!

At first it looks like she is going to.  She has a huge question to ask of her heavenly messenger before she accepts the offer being put forth.  I have the feeling it probably stopped Gabriel in his tracks. As it has been paraphrased “Mary asked the angel, “‘But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.’”2

Mary is joining the “Me Too” movement with a question mark.  She is not sure that the offer being put before her is a good one.  In fact, it is a offer that has the potential for ruining her entire life.  

She was betrothed to Joseph in an arrangement most likely made by their fathers.  To announce that she was “with child now” and that the child was of “unknown origin” would end the arrangement and bring shame to both families. It would also result in her estrangement from the community.  Before she gives all this up the angel has some explaining to do.

Writing for Time Magazine many years ago novelist Reynold’s Price described the encounter this way.

When she hesitated, assuming that this was some evil joke, the voice spoke again: “You’re free to refuse, and I’m free to tell you that should you accept...”3

 People always forget that Mary could have said “no.” She could have said, “Listen my fine winged friend I have Joseph and my whole life ahead of me and you’ve got the wrong person. I don’t have time for this! I don’t need this!  So, don’t let the door hit you in the wings on your way out!”

Nobody could accuse Mary of not being smart and direct.  She knows that there is something missing from the angel’s proposition. If she is going to have a baby she is going to need something she has not yet had.

If she is going to accept this offer she is going to have to do so on faith.  After what seems like an eternity she accepts.  She could have said “no” but instead she says of her own free will: “‘Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”4

The baby born to Mary and Joseph grew to be a man.  He challenged those in authority.   He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and reached across boundaries of race, and class, and creed.  He was living out the words his mother prophesied about him when she sang to her cousin Elizabeth, “My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord, and my sprit rejoices in you. You have cast the mighty down from their thrones, and uplifted the humble of heart. You have filled the hungry with wondrous things, and left the wealthy no part.”

Apparently however, by the time today’s gospel rolls around Jesus had forgotten the words of his mother’s song.  In his encounter with the unknown, unnamed Canaanite woman, he seems to be doing just the opposite of what his mother sang about. He is not doing wondrous things for those who hunger for healing.  In fact, he is having no part of them.  

The woman, this outsider is yelling “Me Too!” with an exclamation point.  She comes to him not just shouting but the Greek word is screaming for mercy for he tormented daughter.  There is no question mark here! She willing to risk crossing the boundaries of  social, religious, and cultural norms to receive healing for her daughter and Jesus seems to be giving into those norms. 

Lance Pape, Professor of Preaching at Texas Christian University wrote splendidly of today’s gospel.

This passage, read aloud in Christian worship, is a scandal. In fact, this text might be a good test of who is paying attention during the Gospel reading. (Hint: The people with worried looks were actually listening.) It is not often that we catch Jesus with his compassion down, so to speak. This is not the Jesus we think we know.5

 First he tries to ignore her and then, when that doesn’t work,  he insults her. 

“It is not right, you know,” Jesus replied, “to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”6 

Did Jesus just say that?  Did Jesus just compare this woman’s daughter to a dog?  

Fortunately for us this woman is not one to be ignored because she is convinced that her daughter deserves healing and Jesus is the one to do it.  In fact, he had better do it because not only her daughter’s future but the future of his ministry depended on it.  

In one sentence she reminds him that he is his mother’s son and if he is going to be what his mother thought he was going to be he had better listen and honour her goals for his life.  “Yes, Lord, I know, but even the dogs live on the scraps that fall from their master’s table!”7

She has him!  She has Jesus right where she wants him.  This rabbi who has done verbal battle with the best and brightest minds in all Jerusalem has been verbally bested by this strong woman who reminded him that he was the son of another strong woman whose high hopes for him are about to go unfulfilled.

In the moments between his hearing her response and his granting her wish you can almost hear his mother’s voice running through his head.  What was it that she taught him about justice and fairness?  What was it that she said about his needing to always be on the side of the outcast and downtrodden?  Hadn’t he, because of the rumours around his conception, been an outsider too?  Hadn’t his mother bourn the brunt gossip about him just like this mother was bearing weight of worry over her daughter’s illness?

Jesus was now faced with the central question of his ministry.  Was it for everybody or not?  Was he sent to only a few or was he was sent for everybody?  He had to decide. If he wasn’t on the side of this woman and her daughter than his ministry would be just as limiting, just as exclusionary, as all the other teachers and preachers around him.

Not to act would not only betray the central question of his ministry it would deny his mother’s dreams for him. He would just be another who sent the hungry away empty.

This persistent woman is reminding Jesus that his ministry was not just for a few chosen people but for her, her daughter, everybody.  By shouting “Me too!” in his face she is reminding him of his true calling. She is reminding him of the dreams God and his mother had for him.  She was reminding him that the salvation he offered was to be for all people.

These two women – Mary whose name everybody knows and the outsider whose name nobody knows – have a message for these divided times.  It is a message of inclusion not exclusion.  It is a message that is as counter-cultural as Mary predicted.  It is a message which says that God’s “Me Too” includes everybody.

As The Rev’d Courtney Allen Crump reminded me recently in a masterful sermon:

 As followers of Jesus in this time and place this is our call. This means we have to do more than just know that there are no dividing lines or boundaries when it comes to God’s all-encompassing love. We have to live and love and show up and speak out and advocate for just and equitable ways of living together—for we belong to God and we belong to each other.8

May we be as outspoken as Mary, the Mother of our Lord, was with this message and as brave, and persistent, and fierce as the woman was for her daughter in proclaiming that God’s “Me Too” includes everybody. 

That is our message! That is our charge!  May we all say “me too” to playing our part in making this so.  Amen.

____________

1. “Religions - Christianity: The Assumption of Mary,” BBC (BBC, July 21, 2011), https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/beliefs/assumption.shtml.

2.  Saint Luke 1:34. (TLB) [TLB=The Living Bible. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers Inc., 1971)

3. Reynolds Price, “Jesus Of Nazareth,” Time (Time Inc., November 28, 1999), http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,35079-3,00.html.

4. St. Luke 1:38. (NRSV) [NRSV=The New Revised Standard Version]

5. Lance Pape, “Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28,” Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Teaching 3 (Louisville: KY: Westminister|John Knox Press, 2020): pp. 242-244.

6. St. Matthew 15:26. (PHILLIPS) [PHILLIPS=J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English (London: HarperCollins, 2000).

7. St. Matthew 15:27. (PHILLIPS)

8. Courtney Allen Crump, “On Changing One's Mind,” A Sermon For Every Sunday, August 10, 2020, https://asermonforeverysunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Courtney-Allen-Crump-Canaanite-Woman.pdf.

"Stormy Weather" - Pentecost 10A

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Our Saviour Lutheran Church

Saint Matthew 14:22-33

“Stormy Weather”

Every great once and awhile I decide to scroll through television programs I have recorded to see which ones are worth savings and which ones can easily be deleted.  What always amazes me is the number of programs I actually have watched but, for some reason, believe I will watch again.

Take for example the recording of the New York New Year’s Eve Celebration from Time Square with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.  I think I recorded it in fear that I would not be awake to watch the celebration at midnight on the east coast. And, the team of the off-the-wall Cohen and the old, sobersides Cooper always make me laugh especially as the evening wears on and Anderson gets a little tipsy.

So, in the midst of the heatwave, I watched New Year’s Eve in New York once again.  It was sad and strange

to see the hopefulness with which 2020 was greeted.

I pondered the age-old question: What if we knew then what we know now.

Would there be the same kind of joy among the revellers who knew nothing of the term “social distancing”?  Would the hugs, kisses, and even handshakes from friends and acquaintances be greeted with the same terror they are now.

Would the crowd watch the giant Tiffany orb slowly descend with glee or would they be yelling, “No! Go back! Go back!”

Would their faces be all smiles, as they were that night, or would they look more like Evard Munch’s painting “The Scream”?  

No, 2020 did not live up to its billing.  In the hope department it may even be considered to be a spectacular underachiever. It certainly did not live up to the hype of that night when December turned to January and expectations were high.

This year feels like we have been hit by one storm after another. It’s been like a never ending hurricane. You know how those work, we saw it again this week on the east coast.  

First there the winds increase and the skies darken. Then the rains come. Pounding rains that are so heavy that you literally cannot see. Then trees are uprooted and powerlines are down and everything becomes pitch black.  Then there is the storm surge where water rushes in with a mighty force. 

This year is like being in a never ending siege of stormy weather.

First, the pandemic.  Can you believe that it was only 20 days into the new year, January 20th to be exact, that a 35 year old man from Snohomish County in Washington State, became the first patient to be diagnosed. “As of Monday, [February 4] there were 11 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S., including six in California, two in Illinois – among a husband and wife – and one each in Massachusetts, Arizona and Washington. A total of 260 people were being monitored for infection in 36 states.” 1

This shower turned into a hurricane of mammoth proportions.

As of Thursday evening, more than 4,879,200 people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus and at least 159,500 have died, according to a New York Times database.2

Then the senseless death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police office brought Black Lives Matter movement into the national consciousness with the storm of unrest that came with it.  When protests are met with backlash we are sure to be in for a bout of stormy weather.

In light of all that we are facing the idea of Jesus walking on the water in the midst of a storm can not only be quaint but convey an image of God who is above it all, completely unaffected by the storms of every day life.  That’s the Sunday School image of a “drip dry Jesus” out for a stroll on the deep blue sea untroubled by the winds and waves.

That was not an image the first century church needed and it is not helpful for the twenty-first century church either.

 While we are facing a crises that has inextricably altered all of our lives the audience Matthew was writing for was “caught in the turmoil of a persecuted existence because of their belief in Jesus, and the reality of this fear is a reflection of the fear of the disciples.”3 Matthew emphasizes this by when he describes the boat as being battered which in the original Greek means: harassed, distressed, tortured.  Matthew isn’t talking about the boat he’s talking about the passengers!

Not only was the storm the disciples found themselves in torturous it had a very real potential for ending their earthly existence.  Experienced seafarers or not, no matter how hard they tried they were making no progress against the gale.

Isn’t that us?  For some our lives are being threatened which is why we have been staying home, keeping away from large crowds, social distancing, wearing our masks, washing our hands and it still seems like we not getting anywhere.  We fear that we might even be going backwards in this struggle the likes of which we have never seen before.   Many of us are rowing while others are partying.

While the disciples are paddling Jesus is away somewhere praying. 

By four o’clock in the morning they are cold, wet, exhausted, and afraid for their lives. By four in the morning they have had about all they can take. They are wearied, battered, and seasick from the rough waves. There hands are blistered from the struggle against the storm. It looks like it is curtains for them.

Just then one of the disciples looks up, and amidst the sea mist and clouds ... sees a figure coming closer on the dark waves.  As if the storm wasn’t scary enough, now they are all terrified by what looks like ghost walking on the whitecaps.4

 Most preachers and teachers give the disciples tons of grief for misidentifying Jesus as if they could have done better. Nobody I have read on this subject had ever experienced what the disciples were experiencing. We’ve had two thousand years to get used to this scene.  Had we been there in a small boat, in a storm, in the darkness, who knows what we might have said.  At least, “It’s a ghost!” is repeatable in mixed company.

Peter too doesn’t escape criticism of the arm chair quarterbacks who have had over two centuries to review the tape.  They are all fairly certain that the last thing they would have done was want to get out of the boat.  Most are convinced they would have been begging Jesus to hurry and join them so that he could do something about the stormy weather.

To understand what Peter did “you have to have understand a little about the background of Jesus’ world.” Peter was a disciple and back then

A disciple wanted to do what his teacher did. A disciple wanted to talk like his teacher talked. A disciple wanted to walk like his teacher walked. A disciple devoted his entire life to being just like his teacher. 

So Peter is just being a good disciple when he asks to walk on water with Jesus. He wants to do what his rabbi is doing.5

 The first amazing thing for me in this encounter is that Jesus says, in effect, “give it a try.”  Jesus doesn’t say, “No Peter! You’ll sink like a stone and drown!” Jesus says, “Alright!  If you want to. Give it a whirl!

After Peter has taken a few steps he begins to sink and here is where the traditional interpretation of this story leaves me cold.

In this picture  Jesus seems absolutely fine, unfazed by that is happening.  Notice that his hair is still perfectly quaffed, his clothes are not even damp, as he gently, ever so gently, reaches out to an adoring Peter.

My brothers and sisters, that is not the way it went down!  That is why I have fallen in love with the painting by Yongsome Kim called “The Hand of God”.  It is from Peter’s perspective!  It is the perspective of a drowning man searching the surface and looking for help.  Kim shows us  Jesus reaching down for Peter even looking a bit bemused at his friend’s predicament.

Much as I love that picture even it probably gets what really happened all bullocks up.  I say this not from years of studying theology but from my time as a lifeguard and a water-safety instructor.

I know that if you are going to save someone in heavy seas you are going to have to throw yourself in after them and I believe that is exactly what Jesus did.  I believe that Jesus dove in after Peter and grabbed him. In good Red Cross fashion I believe he managed to get one arm around Peter’s chest, placed his free hand in the small of the disciple’s back, and pushed him to the surface.  Once that was accomplished, I believe, he dragged him back to the boat, and with the help of the other disciples hoisted himself and Peter back on board.

I also believe that when he asked, “Why did you doubt?” They both were dripping wet and breathing heavily.  “Why did you doubt?” Jesus sputtered.  “What got into you?” 

Then after another gasping breath, “Didn’t you believe I would get you, save you?”  Then with chest heaving, “Didn’t you have faith enough in me to know that I would never let you drown?”

What happened to Peter, with his mixture of faith and doubt, is what has been happening to all of us through this very difficult.  

Many of the hopes and dreams of those New Year’s Eve revellers have been drown out by the reality of having to face a global pandemic that nobody in the crowd that night could have predicted.  We have spent most of the year that dawned with such hope just hoping to survive.

What people remember most about this story is that Jesus walked on water and when Peter tried it he sank like a stone.  But this is really a story about Jesus who not only saved Peter but got into the boat with the rest of the disciples and gave them the faith to sail on.

Jesus is present with us just as surely as he was with the disciples. In this “stormy weather” he is with us in our boat.  

That is our hope! In the midst of pandemic, economic downturns, and social strife Jesus is with us.  In the midst of any adversity while we are looking up through raging water and raging times afraid for our lives he is not just reaching out but diving in after us to bring us to safety.

In The Living Bible Matthew concludes this miracle story which has become a story for our times with the words: “And when they had climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.  The others sat there, awestruck. ‘You really are the Son of God!’ they exclaimed.”6  And they worshipped him.

Only Jesus, the Son of God, who is willing to ride out our stormy weather with us is worthy of our praise, and worship, and devotion.  Only Jesus, who promises to be with us in our  New Year’s Eve celebrations is and during the darkest days of our year can be counted on to in fair weather and foul.

Only Jesus is worthy of this kind of praise.

____________

1. Gaby Galvin, “First U.S. Coronavirus Patient Released From Hospital,” U.S. News & World Report, February 4, 2020), https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2020-02-04/first-us-coronavirus-patient-released-from-hospital.

2. “Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count,” The New York Times, March 3, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html.

3.  Gennifer Benjamin Brooks, Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Teaching, (Louisville, KY: John Knox|Westminister Press 2020), pp. 222-234.

4.  William H. Willimon, “Just Like Jesus,” Pulpit Resource 36, no. 3 (2008): pp. 25-28.

5. ibid.

6. St. Matthew 14:32-33. (TLB) [TLB= The Living Bible. (Carol Stream, IL:  Tyndale House Publishing, 1971)]