This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Pentecost Sunday, May 27, 2007.
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Romans 8:14-17
John 14:8-17, 25-27
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
When coming to church, everyone comes with some basic assumptions about what’s going to happen. Some of this is based on how we are raised in the church. Some folks prefer to worship using the smells and bells of a defined liturgy. Some prefer a looser, more open form of worship. Some of this is based on particularly where we are. You would expect something different in a Presbyterian Church than in a Roman Catholic Church than in an African Methodist Episcopal Church than in a Greek Orthodox Church. Some of the differences are very important, after all, theology matters. Some of them are more cosmetic; is there an organ, piano, guitar, band, or a full orchestra?
When it comes to the Word of God, these words from the Presbyterian Church’s Directory for Worship are authoritative for how scripture is to be used in a Presbyterian worship service: “The Scriptures shall be read and proclaimed. Lessons should be read from both Testaments. Scripture shall be interpreted in a sermon or other form of exposition.”[1] As required by the PC (U.S.A.) Book of Order, we do all of the “shall’s.” Scriptures are read and proclaimed and then are usually interpreted in a sermon. Twice this year, Christmas Eve and Good Friday, the Word has been interpreted in worship without using a sermon. As for the “should” in the passage, lessons from both testaments are read in every regular Sunday worship service.
The Directory for Worship also gives some direction about the proclamation of the word. It says, “The preached Word or sermon is to be based upon the written Word. It is a proclamation of Scripture in the conviction that through the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ is present to the gathered people, offering grace and calling for obedience. Preaching requires diligence and discernment in the study of Scripture, the discipline of daily prayer, cultivated sensitivity to events and issues affecting the lives of the people, and a consistent and personal obedience to Jesus Christ. The sermon should present the gospel with simplicity and clarity, in language which can be understood by the people.”[2]
All right, we have covered the formal expectations of worship, the word, and the proclamation of the Good News. But it would be wrong not to be pastorally sensitive to the informal expectations we have for worship and the proclamation of the word. After two years and around one hundred worship services, these are some of the informal expectations I have noticed. For one, we are to be done in one hour, give or take five minutes. For the times when worship lasts longer than that, there should either be a very good reason, like baptism or welcoming new members into the congregation. We should sing good songs. This one is a little difficult because what’s good for some is not for others. At the very least, we should usually sing from songs we know. Frankly, we have a pretty expansive repertoire, this can be done without becoming boring. (So I would like to apologize now for today’s song selections. In today’s service the only songs most of us are familiar with are the Gloria and the Doxology.) Another informal rule is that the sermon should be interesting. Enlightening is one thing, but if the sermon is as dull as dishwater, who’s going to pay attention long enough to be enlightened? Finally, holidays are special and should be treated that way. So, did you notice the paraments are red today in honor of Pentecost? And Ken and Lee Ellen have done a wonderful job of preparing the Fellowship Hall for Memorial Day.
I have nothing against these rules, both the formal and the informal ones. I try to play by them, or have good reason for not. They have good reasons for existing. They are a part of the culture and climate of the congregation. This is fine. It’s just that I am about to violate the rule about interesting sermons, and at Pentecost on Memorial Day weekend, my sin is a double-whammy. Throw in the song scandal and if we don’t finish in an hour my shame will be complete.
Maybe my problem has been with John’s gospel and our lectionary readings. On April 20th, seven weeks ago, we talked about “John’s Pentecost.”[3] The twentieth chapter of John describes Jesus giving the apostles the Holy Spirit: “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”[4] This event happens during Jesus’ first appearance to the apostles after the resurrection. Our gospel reading seems kind of anticlimactic. It’s like we are getting this lesson once more.
For that matter, in last week’s tongue twister extraordinaire we considered the glory of the Father and the Son with enough grammatical twists and turns to impress an Olympic gymnast. So this week it’s once more, this time with feeling.
But then again, the whole second part of our gospel reading seems to conjure up the notion of “once more.” Jesus tells his apostles, “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” With all that is said about the Holy Spirit, in scripture, in books, in magazines, in commentaries, in sermons, John tells us that the Holy Spirit will teach us everything and remind us of what he has said to us. Instead of the powerful mysterious mystical spirit, this reading makes the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Triune God seem look like a bad high school history teacher.
Considering John’s gospel is often called the “Gospel of the Spirit,”[5] this reading is a dud. For John’s gospel, the appearance, the giving of the gift of the Holy Spirit is old news because it doesn’t happen fifty days after Easter, but on Easter.[6] But because of our gospel reading schedule, we celebrate this once more.
So how’s that for a holiday? Repeats. It’s like going to Thanksgiving dinner and getting turkey leftovers.
But as I fought and wrangled with today’s reading, I fell in love with two verses, the last two. The first of these we have all read looked at, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” Again, this seems like a repeat. But then we consider what follows as Jesus offers this benediction, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
The Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Counselor, the Helper, is here to remind us that the peace of the Lord has been left with us and continues to be with us, now and forever, a peace which comforts our troubled, fearful hearts.
It’s easy to focus on the middle verses from our reading, where Jesus promises that those who believe in him will do great works. If we ask in his name, whatever we ask will be done so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. These verses have been used to create a picture of Jesus that is more suited to a picture of Santa Claus. But in the purpose of the Spirit is not to be a credit card from the Lord, it is to remind us of the continued peace of Jesus. So it is when our prayers are in accord with his peace, a peace the Spirit reminds us and teaches us, that our prayers, the prayers which Christ would pray, will be answered.
Philip wants Jesus to show him and the rest of the apostles the Father. If Jesus will do this, they will be satisfied. I am flabbergasted, to me that would be amazing but Philip says it’s enough. Now that’s a tough crowd. Instead, Jesus offers Philip his peace, the peace of knowing that in seeing Jesus he has all ready seen the Father.
To me, this has been a tough passage. So much of it we have seen before, so much of it we have seen recently. Yet, when the Spirit comes, and Jesus tells us that the presence of the Spirit is here to remind us. We are constantly reminded of the holy and redemptive presence of God. By our Confession of Sin not only are we reminded of our human nature, more importantly we are reminded of God’s graceful and grace filled nature. We are reminded that we can never be separated from God because of the constant presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are reminded that we have done nothing to earn such a wonderful gift because that is the nature of a gift, it must be given because we can never earn it.
We are told this joyfully by our Lord Jesus Christ, on the day of his resurrection, and we are reminded of it once more fifty days later as we celebrate Pentecost. So now with no further ado, I’ll say it once more; we are saved by grace through faith and reminded constantly through the living power of God the Holy Spirit just as it was always intended to be.
[1] PC (USA) Book of Order, Directory for Worship, W-3.3101(1), What Is Included, Scripture
[2] Ibid. W-2.2007, Preaching the Word
[3] For a copy of this message, read “Blowin’ in the Wind,” http://timelovesahero.blogspot.com/2007/04/blowin-in-wind.html
[4] John 20:21-22
[5] Cousar, Charles B., Gaventa, Beverly R., McCann, Jr., J. Clinton, Newsome, James D., Texts for Preaching, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV, YEAR C. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994, page 348.
[6] Ibid.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Diverse Unity
This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on the 7th Sunday of Easter, May 20, 2007.
Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
I bid you please forgive me for tripping over today’s gospel reading. I think if auctioneer and square dance caller schools ever had a final exam; that would be it. Another thing this reminds me of is the beginning of the old Beatles song, “I Am the Walrus,” “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.”[1] Theologically it’s not the same, but as far as pronoun reference and tongue twisters go, the quality is the similar.
Our reading is the third part of the High Priestly Prayer, the prayer which comes at the end of the Lord’s Supper. During the supper, Jesus has broken bread and shared the cup with the apostles. He has given his disciples instructions and warnings. He has told them to abide in his love.[2] He has told them “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”[3] He tells them that he is the way, the truth and the life.[4] He has explained that he has chosen them out of the world, with everything that means and everything that requires.[5] He has washed their feet[6] and he has fed Judas,[7] the one who even as we read is returning with a detachment from the guard to arrest Jesus.[8] So to end this meal, to end this part of Jesus’ life and ministry, to close this chapter of history, Jesus offers a prayer for all of creation. Jesus offers prayer for himself, the apostles, and in today’s reading, Jesus offers prayer for the church; “for us and all others in all times and places who believe in him, so that we may all be one in the same way the Father and Son are one.”[9]
In a time and place where diversity is cultivated and celebrated, the prospect of “being one” with anything is not appealing to everybody. This continues to be an age of rebellion. These days, rebellion is found in music and art; and in tattoos and piercings. It is found in rage against authority and rage against whatever’s convenient. But there’s another old expression, “Everything that’s old is new again.”
If we think that being one makes us the same, we need to remember who was with Jesus at the Last Supper. It is tempting to think of the disciples as some sort of monolithic group of men on fire for the Lord. But as we know, this is anything but the truth.
Let’s begin with Levi and Simon the Zealot. Levi was a tax collector, and would have been considered a collaborator with the Roman authorities. As a Zealot, Simon would have advocated and worked toward the radical overthrow of Roman rule.
As for Peter, James, and John; they were best friends. They had enough business success that they were partners in fishing boats on the sea. They probably had men working for them. Peter would be the Rock; James and John were the Sons of Thunder. These three men were as close as brothers, men who trust one another with their lives in a dangerous business.
Then there was little brother Andrew. I don’t know who among us is an older sibling, but if you are you know what it is like to be bothered by the pesky little brother or sister. You’re trying to do fun stuff with the “Sons of Thunder” and here’s tag-along Andy. Or if you are the younger, you know what it is to be left out of the fun stuff, always being told you’re too young or too small or too weak or too whatever. Of course for those of you who are the middle child like me, you know about both.
Phillip was perhaps the member of the group who in our day would be creating actuary tables for insurance companies. He was always the rational one, the careful one. Ancient authorities said that it was Philip who after being called to follow by Jesus asked to bury his father first. When a young boy was found with a few loaves and fishes, it was Philip who told everyone that it would be impossible to feed 5,000 souls with such a paltry offering.[10]
So when we consider just these men who attended the Lord’s Supper, we see that they are a diverse group of folks. Nothing tells us that as they became one with the Lord they lost any of their individuality. Jesus’ arrest scene from John has shown us that the disciples responded in different ways. One responded in violence. Others responded by fleeing. One responded by putting the Passion into motion. Oh, as we talk about the twelve, we shouldn’t forget Judas, his role in these actions, and his status with the twelve.
The book of Acts tells us that as the apostles and disciples gather to be the church of Jesus Christ, there are differences. Questions had to be answered: did you need to be Jewish first before following Christ or could a god-fearing gentile become a member of the community without first being circumcised? Was the community required to maintain the strict table code found in the law or is surf-and-turf now on the menu? If there is one thing the witness of scripture tells us here it is that as we are called to be one in the Lord, as we are one in the Lord, this doesn’t mean we will become identical in the Lord. We are not presented with a single minded mass of men on fire for the Lord; the twelve are twelve different men who are one in the Lord who do not lose their individuality. Christ’s gift is unification, not homogenization.[11] We are one, but we are not the same.
One way I look at this comes from a good friend of Marie and me named Hal Butts. Hal is a Major in the Colorado State Police (Yes, he is Major Butts) and was best man at our wedding. During his toast, he invited us to think of ourselves as two corners on a triangle with Jesus at the apex. He reminded us that as we moved toward the Lord, we would move closer to one another. As Marie and I are two individuals, we will never be one and the same. Thanks be to God we will always be individuals. But as we move toward the Lord, we become one in the Lord, one in our marriage, and one in one another.
This example isn’t so unlike when Peter and John remind the Jewish leadership council that Jesus is the keystone of the faith they have rejected.[12] In stone arch windows and doors, there is a piece at the top of the arch, a keystone. It is the keystone that takes the weight of the sides of the arch keeping the stones from falling in on themselves. Remove the key, and the arch crumbles. Actually, if you remove any of the stones the arch will be weaker, but the key bears the brunt of the forces from both legs and the rest of the structure.
In both examples, none of the individual elements loses its individuality. One spouse does not become the other. One stone does not become another. Neither the people nor the stones become the other, but working together they form something new, different, and wonderful. Whether a marriage or a doorway or a window, the separate pieces retain their individuality yet become something else in unity with the key that makes them whole.
Jesus proclaims that he and the father are one, yet as Father and Son they cannot be the same. They are different and distinct. As Jesus hopes that the church, the church of every time and age, will be one with them; he knows we will not be the same. Jesus prays that we be one so that the world will know God; knowing the Father has sent the Son, and knowing the Father loves the world as the Father loves the Son. Jesus prays that we may be where he is, now and forever in his presence and in the presence of the Father. And yes, Jesus knows the world does not know the Righteous Father, but Jesus knows him and the apostles know that the Father has sent the Son. Jesus finishes his prayer, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
It is through this love that we are one, one in the church, one in the body of Christ, one in the love of the Righteous God. And while we are united in Christ, we are still individuals. We are one, but we are not the same.
In the Sunday night group we’ve been talking about the Irish rock band, U2 and their music. Talking about his band, Larry Mullin, Jr. says, “We are very different people with diverse personalities,” and then paraphrasing one of his band’s songs, “we are one but we are definitely not the same.”[13] This line comes from a song called “One.” The band was having a tough time in 1993 whle working on their new album. They were trying to do something new, and something new just wasn’t happening. Bass player Adam Clayton said, “We weren’t getting anywhere until [the song] ‘One’ fell into our laps and suddenly we hit a groove.” Bono, the lead singer and principle lyric writer said, “Maybe ‘great’ is what happens when ‘very good’ gets tired. We kind of out-stared the average, it blinked first and this song arrived.”[14] This is what came out of nowhere.
One love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should.
One life with each other: sisters, brothers.
One life, but we're not the same.
We get to carry each other, carry each other.
One.[15]
We are given one love and one life in the one blood: the love of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Through what the Lord our God has given his Son our Lord Jesus Christ, we are able to see the one perfect love in action. Through his teachings we are able to see the beauty and the grace of his life and love around us. And through this, we are called as the church, the body of Christ, to live one life with each other, sisters and brothers. We have one life. A life to live worshipping and working to grow closer to the cornerstone, the keystone of the faith, the one whom we believe, we trust, we hope. And in this grace and this peace and this mercy, we are to carry each other. We are to come together as one, one people united in the love of God the Father, through the blood of God the Son, by the power of God the Holy Spirit. This is how we are to respond to god and to one another in his mission of peace and redemption.
We are one, but we are not the same. As diverse as we are, we are called to unity so that we may all be one because as Jesus prays “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us.” As Jesus prays, may we be.
[1] Lennon and McCartney, “I Am the Walrus,” Magical Mystery Tour, Capitol Records, 1967
[2] John 15:1-17
[3] John 14:12-24
[4] John 14:1-11
[5] John 15:18–16:4a
[6] John 13:1-11
[7] John 13:21-30
[8] John 18:1-12
[9] Bower, Peter C., Handbook for the Revised Common Lectionary. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996, page 231.
[10] Barker, William P, The Personalities Around Jesus. Westwood, NJ: Revell, 1963, page 20-29
[11] http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=2838 accessed May 6, 2007.
[12] Acts 41:12
[13] U2 with Neil McCormick, U2 by U2. London: Harper Collins, 2006, page 9.
[14] Ibid, page 221.
[15] U2, “One”, Achtung Baby. Island Records, 1993
Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
I bid you please forgive me for tripping over today’s gospel reading. I think if auctioneer and square dance caller schools ever had a final exam; that would be it. Another thing this reminds me of is the beginning of the old Beatles song, “I Am the Walrus,” “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.”[1] Theologically it’s not the same, but as far as pronoun reference and tongue twisters go, the quality is the similar.
Our reading is the third part of the High Priestly Prayer, the prayer which comes at the end of the Lord’s Supper. During the supper, Jesus has broken bread and shared the cup with the apostles. He has given his disciples instructions and warnings. He has told them to abide in his love.[2] He has told them “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”[3] He tells them that he is the way, the truth and the life.[4] He has explained that he has chosen them out of the world, with everything that means and everything that requires.[5] He has washed their feet[6] and he has fed Judas,[7] the one who even as we read is returning with a detachment from the guard to arrest Jesus.[8] So to end this meal, to end this part of Jesus’ life and ministry, to close this chapter of history, Jesus offers a prayer for all of creation. Jesus offers prayer for himself, the apostles, and in today’s reading, Jesus offers prayer for the church; “for us and all others in all times and places who believe in him, so that we may all be one in the same way the Father and Son are one.”[9]
In a time and place where diversity is cultivated and celebrated, the prospect of “being one” with anything is not appealing to everybody. This continues to be an age of rebellion. These days, rebellion is found in music and art; and in tattoos and piercings. It is found in rage against authority and rage against whatever’s convenient. But there’s another old expression, “Everything that’s old is new again.”
If we think that being one makes us the same, we need to remember who was with Jesus at the Last Supper. It is tempting to think of the disciples as some sort of monolithic group of men on fire for the Lord. But as we know, this is anything but the truth.
Let’s begin with Levi and Simon the Zealot. Levi was a tax collector, and would have been considered a collaborator with the Roman authorities. As a Zealot, Simon would have advocated and worked toward the radical overthrow of Roman rule.
As for Peter, James, and John; they were best friends. They had enough business success that they were partners in fishing boats on the sea. They probably had men working for them. Peter would be the Rock; James and John were the Sons of Thunder. These three men were as close as brothers, men who trust one another with their lives in a dangerous business.
Then there was little brother Andrew. I don’t know who among us is an older sibling, but if you are you know what it is like to be bothered by the pesky little brother or sister. You’re trying to do fun stuff with the “Sons of Thunder” and here’s tag-along Andy. Or if you are the younger, you know what it is to be left out of the fun stuff, always being told you’re too young or too small or too weak or too whatever. Of course for those of you who are the middle child like me, you know about both.
Phillip was perhaps the member of the group who in our day would be creating actuary tables for insurance companies. He was always the rational one, the careful one. Ancient authorities said that it was Philip who after being called to follow by Jesus asked to bury his father first. When a young boy was found with a few loaves and fishes, it was Philip who told everyone that it would be impossible to feed 5,000 souls with such a paltry offering.[10]
So when we consider just these men who attended the Lord’s Supper, we see that they are a diverse group of folks. Nothing tells us that as they became one with the Lord they lost any of their individuality. Jesus’ arrest scene from John has shown us that the disciples responded in different ways. One responded in violence. Others responded by fleeing. One responded by putting the Passion into motion. Oh, as we talk about the twelve, we shouldn’t forget Judas, his role in these actions, and his status with the twelve.
The book of Acts tells us that as the apostles and disciples gather to be the church of Jesus Christ, there are differences. Questions had to be answered: did you need to be Jewish first before following Christ or could a god-fearing gentile become a member of the community without first being circumcised? Was the community required to maintain the strict table code found in the law or is surf-and-turf now on the menu? If there is one thing the witness of scripture tells us here it is that as we are called to be one in the Lord, as we are one in the Lord, this doesn’t mean we will become identical in the Lord. We are not presented with a single minded mass of men on fire for the Lord; the twelve are twelve different men who are one in the Lord who do not lose their individuality. Christ’s gift is unification, not homogenization.[11] We are one, but we are not the same.
One way I look at this comes from a good friend of Marie and me named Hal Butts. Hal is a Major in the Colorado State Police (Yes, he is Major Butts) and was best man at our wedding. During his toast, he invited us to think of ourselves as two corners on a triangle with Jesus at the apex. He reminded us that as we moved toward the Lord, we would move closer to one another. As Marie and I are two individuals, we will never be one and the same. Thanks be to God we will always be individuals. But as we move toward the Lord, we become one in the Lord, one in our marriage, and one in one another.
This example isn’t so unlike when Peter and John remind the Jewish leadership council that Jesus is the keystone of the faith they have rejected.[12] In stone arch windows and doors, there is a piece at the top of the arch, a keystone. It is the keystone that takes the weight of the sides of the arch keeping the stones from falling in on themselves. Remove the key, and the arch crumbles. Actually, if you remove any of the stones the arch will be weaker, but the key bears the brunt of the forces from both legs and the rest of the structure.
In both examples, none of the individual elements loses its individuality. One spouse does not become the other. One stone does not become another. Neither the people nor the stones become the other, but working together they form something new, different, and wonderful. Whether a marriage or a doorway or a window, the separate pieces retain their individuality yet become something else in unity with the key that makes them whole.
Jesus proclaims that he and the father are one, yet as Father and Son they cannot be the same. They are different and distinct. As Jesus hopes that the church, the church of every time and age, will be one with them; he knows we will not be the same. Jesus prays that we be one so that the world will know God; knowing the Father has sent the Son, and knowing the Father loves the world as the Father loves the Son. Jesus prays that we may be where he is, now and forever in his presence and in the presence of the Father. And yes, Jesus knows the world does not know the Righteous Father, but Jesus knows him and the apostles know that the Father has sent the Son. Jesus finishes his prayer, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
It is through this love that we are one, one in the church, one in the body of Christ, one in the love of the Righteous God. And while we are united in Christ, we are still individuals. We are one, but we are not the same.
In the Sunday night group we’ve been talking about the Irish rock band, U2 and their music. Talking about his band, Larry Mullin, Jr. says, “We are very different people with diverse personalities,” and then paraphrasing one of his band’s songs, “we are one but we are definitely not the same.”[13] This line comes from a song called “One.” The band was having a tough time in 1993 whle working on their new album. They were trying to do something new, and something new just wasn’t happening. Bass player Adam Clayton said, “We weren’t getting anywhere until [the song] ‘One’ fell into our laps and suddenly we hit a groove.” Bono, the lead singer and principle lyric writer said, “Maybe ‘great’ is what happens when ‘very good’ gets tired. We kind of out-stared the average, it blinked first and this song arrived.”[14] This is what came out of nowhere.
One love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should.
One life with each other: sisters, brothers.
One life, but we're not the same.
We get to carry each other, carry each other.
One.[15]
We are given one love and one life in the one blood: the love of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Through what the Lord our God has given his Son our Lord Jesus Christ, we are able to see the one perfect love in action. Through his teachings we are able to see the beauty and the grace of his life and love around us. And through this, we are called as the church, the body of Christ, to live one life with each other, sisters and brothers. We have one life. A life to live worshipping and working to grow closer to the cornerstone, the keystone of the faith, the one whom we believe, we trust, we hope. And in this grace and this peace and this mercy, we are to carry each other. We are to come together as one, one people united in the love of God the Father, through the blood of God the Son, by the power of God the Holy Spirit. This is how we are to respond to god and to one another in his mission of peace and redemption.
We are one, but we are not the same. As diverse as we are, we are called to unity so that we may all be one because as Jesus prays “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us.” As Jesus prays, may we be.
[1] Lennon and McCartney, “I Am the Walrus,” Magical Mystery Tour, Capitol Records, 1967
[2] John 15:1-17
[3] John 14:12-24
[4] John 14:1-11
[5] John 15:18–16:4a
[6] John 13:1-11
[7] John 13:21-30
[8] John 18:1-12
[9] Bower, Peter C., Handbook for the Revised Common Lectionary. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996, page 231.
[10] Barker, William P, The Personalities Around Jesus. Westwood, NJ: Revell, 1963, page 20-29
[11] http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=2838 accessed May 6, 2007.
[12] Acts 41:12
[13] U2 with Neil McCormick, U2 by U2. London: Harper Collins, 2006, page 9.
[14] Ibid, page 221.
[15] U2, “One”, Achtung Baby. Island Records, 1993
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Special Treatment
This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on the 6th Sunday of Easter, May 13, 2007.
Acts 16:9-15
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10, 21:22-22:5
John 5:1-9
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, or rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Last year, I made a donation to KSMU radio, the National Public Radio station at Missouri State University in Springfield. This isn’t unusual for me. I have enjoyed listening to NPR for over twenty years. I started listening to KCUR (Kansas City University Radio) after graduating from college. I still listen sometimes while in the office or on the road; though I don’t listen as much since KTHS has begun playing our radio spots.[1]
Anyway, when I made the donation to KSMU, I received a couple of premiums, gifts for donating. One of them was a spa day at the Basin Park Hotel in Eureka Springs. I knew that Marie would love that little bonus. She loves that sort of pampering. And who wouldn’t? I have never had a spa day, but she tells me being pampered for a couple of hours is great. Getting a massage, a facial, maybe a steam, I am told you come out of these spa days feeling refreshed. Just the other day one of Marie’s coworkers mentioned that for Mother’s Day one of her kids got her a haircut, manicure and pedicure at a local salon. She said it made her feel special, wonderful, like a movie star.
So her daughter and I have something in common, we figured it would be wonderful to give someone we love same special treatment, make them feel good. After all, who doesn’t like special treatment?
Today’s gospel passage is about receiving special treatment. And it is not as if the recipient is asking any. He’s dropping hints, but he’s not actually asking for it. Yet he receives special treatment, treatment he hasn’t earned and doesn’t deserve.
We begin during one of the Jewish festivals and Jesus is walking by the Sheep Gate by a pool called Beth-zatha. In some translations this pool is called Bethesda. The Sheep Gate separated the North Eastern part of Jerusalem from the Temple Mount. The pools at the Sheep Gate were used to wash the sheep prior to their sacrifice in the Temple. This use of the pools gave the water a halo of sanctity.[2]
Many invalids came to the pools to be healed I wonder the waters curative properties have anything to do with the lanolin from the sheep’s coats left in the waters after they are bathed. Local legend said that when the pool was stirred, its healing power was activated, and the first person in the waters would be made well. Legends from the third century said the ripples in the pool were caused by angels bathing in the waters. Since the pool was surrounded on all sides by the city walls or the surrounding slope of the hills, breezes in the pool would be infrequent, so the invalid waiting game had to be played with great patience.
The name of this spot means “House of Grace.” It is an appropriate name for a place where the sheep would receive their final bath and inspection before being certified free of blemish and suitable for sacrifice. The name of this spot would also be appropriate for a group of invalids who seek the unmerited favor of healing by the restorative, nearly mystical powers of the waters. Is it any wonder that a Presbyterian Church was founded near the sight of a bubbling spring in rural Maryland in 1820 and then one hundred and twenty years later a Naval Medical Center built nearby would both come to be called Bethesda?[3] A place named for the House of Grace would be the place to receive special treatment, both medical and spiritual.
So Jesus arrives at the pool seeing the sick: the blind, lame, and withered. There, Jesus spotted a man he wanted to know more about. He was probably one of the oldest men at the pool. He learned that this man had been lying there for a long time, thirty eight years to be exact. So Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be made well?”
Oh what a wonderful question! “Do you want to be made well?” Imagine how you would answer this question. “Oh my Lord, yes, I do want to be made well!” I can imagine people being asked this question all over the world and just as easily imagine people crying from the roof tops, “Oh my Lord, yes, I do want to be made well!” But you know, this isn’t the answer Jesus gets from the man.
The man tells Jesus, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”
So, is that a yes or a no?
No, I really mean it.
Is this a yes or a no?
It really isn’t an answer at all. It is an explanation. The man explains to Jesus that he is unable to reach the waters. He tries. He really tries to make it on his own, even though there is no one at the pool to help him. But alas, woe is he; he is unable to make it to the waters first.
Anyway, whether it is a yes or a no or an answer to Jesus’ question at all, Jesus tells the man, “Stand up, take your mat, and walk.” At once, he took up his mat and began to walk.
So, what do you think was going through his mind? “Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord?” If it is, scripture doesn’t say so. He is obedient, he does as he is told, but that’s all. After thirty eight years at the pool he doesn’t seem to be a “go-the-extra-mile” kind of guy. Looking at the whole story, we can’t be sure the man even knew he was talking to Jesus. He may have known he was taking to someone named Jesus, but then again that’s like us saying we were talking to Bob. Back in the day, guys named Jesus were a dime a dozen. He may have known he was talking to “a” Jesus, but if he knew he was talking to “the” Jesus, we don’t know it from our reading.
So he doesn’t know it was “the” Jesus of Nazareth. He doesn’t give thanks to him for the healing. There is not even any indication that this sick man believed this Jesus was the Messiah. The man does nothing to deserve the healing; he makes no motion to Jesus at all. Even when he is asked if he wants to be made well; he doesn’t give Jesus a straight answer. Instead he tells Jesus how hard it is for him to get healed.
Yeah, how hard is it? Jesus of Nazareth makes it so and it is done. What the man can’t do in thirty eight years, Jesus accomplishes without a word. He doesn’t even say “You are healed.” No speech, no proclamation about faith, his or anyone else’s. Jesus just tells the guy stand up, take your mat and walk; and it is done.
If grace is the unmerited, undeserved favor of the Lord, this House of Grace is the place and this guy is its recipient. Jesus moves to him, not the other way around. Jesus responds to the man even when the man doesn’t even know to respond to Jesus.
Again, I ask if he is thankful. No, he isn’t.
You know, it seems to me that in thirty eight years he would have been able to hit the pool first once. If he had been at the pool for thirty eight years, surely the gang would have let him in first once so he could be healed. I know it’s a dog eat dog world out there, but at the House of Grace surely one time he would have been able to make it to the waters first.
Logically, if he couldn’t get into the pool, he wouldn’t have been able to get to the pool. Someone had to get him there daily; couldn’t they stay one day to help him get healed?
Let us ask, what if he didn’t want to be healed? After thirty eight years he would have been the pool boy with the most seniority. His thirty eight years at the pool would have accorded him some power or prestige with the poolside crew. While I have no evidence to back this up, this was probably a popular place for the invalids to beg, and as the sorriest most senior of the group, the begging was probably pretty good for him. He may have even been the Michael Corleone of the pool, assigning spots, taking kickbacks on everyone else’s begging.
If he was healed, if he was able to walk, he would have lost a lucrative income and a lot of prestige. He had standing in the community. Admittedly it was an unhealthy status in an unhealthy community, but he had what he had and he was comfortable enough to live in this unhealthy community for thirty eight years. What was in it for him to be cured?
Thankful? As this story continues, the man squeals on Jesus as soon as the Scribes and Pharisees press him on the matter of his Sabbath day stroll with his mat. That’s thanks for you.
This man is unhealthy in more ways than one and has made a life out of it. It may not be a good life, but it was his life. After thirty eight years, it was all he knew. By cultural standards he has lived a long life and is probably the most senior of the sick. It’s not much of a life, but it’s his. Losing all that he knew, losing his place in the poolside community, a community he had status in, would have been frightening.
Maybe it’s not so difficult to see that he might not have been thankful for receiving the healing grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, after all, he had a life, a life he could have no longer, a life that changed dramatically.
We think of grace as a wonderful and glorious gift, which it is. Yet receiving grace can be frightening. We want to be made well, but are we willing to pay the price, the price of losing our old sick identity for a new identity in Christ? Of course we do, but receiving the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ requires making changes. It required the sick man to get up and walk on his own two feet literally and figuratively. He was no longer able to benefit from others carrying him. He would not be able to benefit from his status in the community of the blind, lame, and withered. He was no longer a member of that group. He was now a part of a new community, a community called by Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ. What changes do we make to gratefully receive God’s special treatment of grace, unmerited favor we have neither earned nor deserved? Are we willing to make hard changes?
We receive this wonderful and free gift, but we are required to do something with it. Being a part of the House of Grace requires us to change. Like the man at the pool, being made well requires us to change. Like the man at the pool, we need God’s grace because we can’t make it on our own. We need God’s grace to survive. It requires us to change how we respond to others. Jesus makes us the recipients of special treatment. We receive gifts we do not deserve, treatment we haven’t earned. That’s what grace is, unmerited favor. We have a choice, we can be unthankful like the man at the pool or we can be thankful for the new life we receive in Jesus Christ, sharing it with the world around us, in God’s good creation, a world made on in Jesus Christ.
[1] KTHS is the local 24 Hour Stereo Country station in Berryville, Arkansas. The church has begun putting promotional/devotional spots on the station.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool_of_Bethesda, accessed May 12, 2007
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda%2C_Maryland and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Naval_Medical_Center accessed on May 12, 2007
Acts 16:9-15
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10, 21:22-22:5
John 5:1-9
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, or rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Last year, I made a donation to KSMU radio, the National Public Radio station at Missouri State University in Springfield. This isn’t unusual for me. I have enjoyed listening to NPR for over twenty years. I started listening to KCUR (Kansas City University Radio) after graduating from college. I still listen sometimes while in the office or on the road; though I don’t listen as much since KTHS has begun playing our radio spots.[1]
Anyway, when I made the donation to KSMU, I received a couple of premiums, gifts for donating. One of them was a spa day at the Basin Park Hotel in Eureka Springs. I knew that Marie would love that little bonus. She loves that sort of pampering. And who wouldn’t? I have never had a spa day, but she tells me being pampered for a couple of hours is great. Getting a massage, a facial, maybe a steam, I am told you come out of these spa days feeling refreshed. Just the other day one of Marie’s coworkers mentioned that for Mother’s Day one of her kids got her a haircut, manicure and pedicure at a local salon. She said it made her feel special, wonderful, like a movie star.
So her daughter and I have something in common, we figured it would be wonderful to give someone we love same special treatment, make them feel good. After all, who doesn’t like special treatment?
Today’s gospel passage is about receiving special treatment. And it is not as if the recipient is asking any. He’s dropping hints, but he’s not actually asking for it. Yet he receives special treatment, treatment he hasn’t earned and doesn’t deserve.
We begin during one of the Jewish festivals and Jesus is walking by the Sheep Gate by a pool called Beth-zatha. In some translations this pool is called Bethesda. The Sheep Gate separated the North Eastern part of Jerusalem from the Temple Mount. The pools at the Sheep Gate were used to wash the sheep prior to their sacrifice in the Temple. This use of the pools gave the water a halo of sanctity.[2]
Many invalids came to the pools to be healed I wonder the waters curative properties have anything to do with the lanolin from the sheep’s coats left in the waters after they are bathed. Local legend said that when the pool was stirred, its healing power was activated, and the first person in the waters would be made well. Legends from the third century said the ripples in the pool were caused by angels bathing in the waters. Since the pool was surrounded on all sides by the city walls or the surrounding slope of the hills, breezes in the pool would be infrequent, so the invalid waiting game had to be played with great patience.
The name of this spot means “House of Grace.” It is an appropriate name for a place where the sheep would receive their final bath and inspection before being certified free of blemish and suitable for sacrifice. The name of this spot would also be appropriate for a group of invalids who seek the unmerited favor of healing by the restorative, nearly mystical powers of the waters. Is it any wonder that a Presbyterian Church was founded near the sight of a bubbling spring in rural Maryland in 1820 and then one hundred and twenty years later a Naval Medical Center built nearby would both come to be called Bethesda?[3] A place named for the House of Grace would be the place to receive special treatment, both medical and spiritual.
So Jesus arrives at the pool seeing the sick: the blind, lame, and withered. There, Jesus spotted a man he wanted to know more about. He was probably one of the oldest men at the pool. He learned that this man had been lying there for a long time, thirty eight years to be exact. So Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be made well?”
Oh what a wonderful question! “Do you want to be made well?” Imagine how you would answer this question. “Oh my Lord, yes, I do want to be made well!” I can imagine people being asked this question all over the world and just as easily imagine people crying from the roof tops, “Oh my Lord, yes, I do want to be made well!” But you know, this isn’t the answer Jesus gets from the man.
The man tells Jesus, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”
So, is that a yes or a no?
No, I really mean it.
Is this a yes or a no?
It really isn’t an answer at all. It is an explanation. The man explains to Jesus that he is unable to reach the waters. He tries. He really tries to make it on his own, even though there is no one at the pool to help him. But alas, woe is he; he is unable to make it to the waters first.
Anyway, whether it is a yes or a no or an answer to Jesus’ question at all, Jesus tells the man, “Stand up, take your mat, and walk.” At once, he took up his mat and began to walk.
So, what do you think was going through his mind? “Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord?” If it is, scripture doesn’t say so. He is obedient, he does as he is told, but that’s all. After thirty eight years at the pool he doesn’t seem to be a “go-the-extra-mile” kind of guy. Looking at the whole story, we can’t be sure the man even knew he was talking to Jesus. He may have known he was taking to someone named Jesus, but then again that’s like us saying we were talking to Bob. Back in the day, guys named Jesus were a dime a dozen. He may have known he was talking to “a” Jesus, but if he knew he was talking to “the” Jesus, we don’t know it from our reading.
So he doesn’t know it was “the” Jesus of Nazareth. He doesn’t give thanks to him for the healing. There is not even any indication that this sick man believed this Jesus was the Messiah. The man does nothing to deserve the healing; he makes no motion to Jesus at all. Even when he is asked if he wants to be made well; he doesn’t give Jesus a straight answer. Instead he tells Jesus how hard it is for him to get healed.
Yeah, how hard is it? Jesus of Nazareth makes it so and it is done. What the man can’t do in thirty eight years, Jesus accomplishes without a word. He doesn’t even say “You are healed.” No speech, no proclamation about faith, his or anyone else’s. Jesus just tells the guy stand up, take your mat and walk; and it is done.
If grace is the unmerited, undeserved favor of the Lord, this House of Grace is the place and this guy is its recipient. Jesus moves to him, not the other way around. Jesus responds to the man even when the man doesn’t even know to respond to Jesus.
Again, I ask if he is thankful. No, he isn’t.
You know, it seems to me that in thirty eight years he would have been able to hit the pool first once. If he had been at the pool for thirty eight years, surely the gang would have let him in first once so he could be healed. I know it’s a dog eat dog world out there, but at the House of Grace surely one time he would have been able to make it to the waters first.
Logically, if he couldn’t get into the pool, he wouldn’t have been able to get to the pool. Someone had to get him there daily; couldn’t they stay one day to help him get healed?
Let us ask, what if he didn’t want to be healed? After thirty eight years he would have been the pool boy with the most seniority. His thirty eight years at the pool would have accorded him some power or prestige with the poolside crew. While I have no evidence to back this up, this was probably a popular place for the invalids to beg, and as the sorriest most senior of the group, the begging was probably pretty good for him. He may have even been the Michael Corleone of the pool, assigning spots, taking kickbacks on everyone else’s begging.
If he was healed, if he was able to walk, he would have lost a lucrative income and a lot of prestige. He had standing in the community. Admittedly it was an unhealthy status in an unhealthy community, but he had what he had and he was comfortable enough to live in this unhealthy community for thirty eight years. What was in it for him to be cured?
Thankful? As this story continues, the man squeals on Jesus as soon as the Scribes and Pharisees press him on the matter of his Sabbath day stroll with his mat. That’s thanks for you.
This man is unhealthy in more ways than one and has made a life out of it. It may not be a good life, but it was his life. After thirty eight years, it was all he knew. By cultural standards he has lived a long life and is probably the most senior of the sick. It’s not much of a life, but it’s his. Losing all that he knew, losing his place in the poolside community, a community he had status in, would have been frightening.
Maybe it’s not so difficult to see that he might not have been thankful for receiving the healing grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, after all, he had a life, a life he could have no longer, a life that changed dramatically.
We think of grace as a wonderful and glorious gift, which it is. Yet receiving grace can be frightening. We want to be made well, but are we willing to pay the price, the price of losing our old sick identity for a new identity in Christ? Of course we do, but receiving the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ requires making changes. It required the sick man to get up and walk on his own two feet literally and figuratively. He was no longer able to benefit from others carrying him. He would not be able to benefit from his status in the community of the blind, lame, and withered. He was no longer a member of that group. He was now a part of a new community, a community called by Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ. What changes do we make to gratefully receive God’s special treatment of grace, unmerited favor we have neither earned nor deserved? Are we willing to make hard changes?
We receive this wonderful and free gift, but we are required to do something with it. Being a part of the House of Grace requires us to change. Like the man at the pool, being made well requires us to change. Like the man at the pool, we need God’s grace because we can’t make it on our own. We need God’s grace to survive. It requires us to change how we respond to others. Jesus makes us the recipients of special treatment. We receive gifts we do not deserve, treatment we haven’t earned. That’s what grace is, unmerited favor. We have a choice, we can be unthankful like the man at the pool or we can be thankful for the new life we receive in Jesus Christ, sharing it with the world around us, in God’s good creation, a world made on in Jesus Christ.
[1] KTHS is the local 24 Hour Stereo Country station in Berryville, Arkansas. The church has begun putting promotional/devotional spots on the station.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool_of_Bethesda, accessed May 12, 2007
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda%2C_Maryland and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Naval_Medical_Center accessed on May 12, 2007
Sunday, May 06, 2007
What Happens In Between
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
In the liturgical year, we are in the Easter Season, the time between the end of Holy Week and Pentecost. In our reading, the Lord is still with his apostles. By our calendar, the Ascension of the Lord is still about ten days away. So it seems a little odd that our reading comes from between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. In fact, by the liturgical calendar, it takes place on Maundy Thursday. Narrowing the time down even further, this is what is happening in between the Last Supper and Jesus’ arrest. This moment is between when Jesus prophesies Judas will betray him and when he will prophesy Peter will deny him.
This is a transitional moment in the life of the Lord and the apostles. Jesus has just told Judas “Do quickly what you are going to do.”[1] The apostles didn’t know what that meant, but Jesus did. He knows the apostles are expecting to celebrate the Passover with the man who has ridden triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey. The people went out to meet him waving palm branches and crying “Hosanna.” This is the greeting reserved for a king, not a carpenter and itinerant preacher. There was joy in this celebration, yes, Jesus had prophesied his own death, but at the moment this was lost on the apostles. Well, it was lost on all who had remained in the upper room.
In the verse preceding our reading the narrator tells us it was night. The sky and the time were dark. Jesus knew that this darkness would extend well beyond the dawn of the new day. At this moment, at this very moment, Jesus knows that his time with the apostles is limited. He knew that the dawn would be difficult for them, so he had to tell them what they needed to be able to survive the next few days without him. This is the end of the first part of Jesus’ ministry on earth and whatever he needs to say to them he has to say now.
So as we go on, we mustn’t lose the irony of their situation,[2] the apostles are basking in the glow of their Passover feast, yet one of them had just left with a cryptic command from their Messiah, so they are a little confused. It’s dark outside, there are a few oil lamps burning around the room. Jesus begins to give his final instructions in this darkness set against a backdrop of betrayal and denial. There is great light in the room, the person of Jesus Christ and the word he speaks, the word of truth and life burns like a fire in the night. All of this happening in the darkest night humanity has ever known; the night the shepherd would be betrayed by one of his sheep.
In our reading, Jesus has two words for the apostles. One deals with his glory and the glory of the Father. The other is a new commandment.
Jesus begins by saying “now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.” Now, while it is dark, while Judas is on his way to betray Jesus and the prophecy of Peter’s denial is imminent, now while this tempest is brewing, the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. In a wonderful motion, God the Father and God the Son lift one another in mutual glorification. They initiate this motion together, simultaneously. This motion has been made from the beginning and exists even now. It has always been this way and it will always be this way, even in this darkest of nights.
On this night, nothing has been left undone, nothing is incomplete.[3] When Jesus says “It is finished” from the cross in just a few hours, he will mean it. Now is the time when Jesus knows he will go to a place no one can follow. He knows his sojourn will be agonizing, but he knows that as his life brings glory to the Father, so too will his death. He knows glory abounds regardless of Judas’ betrayal or Peter’s denial. There is nothing anyone can say or do, there is nothing any group of people can say or do which will separate Jesus from the Father, and in this, glory abounds.
The next thing Jesus gives the apostles is a new commandment, that they love one another. They should love one another just as He loved them. So what does it mean for them to love one another as Jesus loved them?
First, we need to get something clear about this command. They are to love one another. This must come first. At this moment they aren’t being told to go out and evangelize the world. They aren’t being told they have to put more in the plate when it comes by. They aren’t even told to save the world. (It’s Jesus who takes care of that.) They are told to love, and they are told to love one another.
Their love for one another is what is going to get them through the next few days. They are going to feel great loss when Jesus is taken from them. They will feel like their world will never be the same without their Lord. This is when they will need love the most. This love is going to get Peter past his denial of Jesus. This love is going to get all of them past the ugly scene with Judas and the private guard of the chief priests and Pharisees. This love is going to get them past the crucifixion. This love is going to get them through from this dark moment until his glorious resurrection.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that some ordinary human love is a suitable replacement for the love of Jesus; on the contrary. Jesus told them to love one another as he loved them. They are to love one another sacrificially. They must be willing to give up everything for one another. This sort of love has only one source, this is the love of God, modeled for the apostles by Jesus the Christ. Their love will not sustain them through the dark night coming, but His love will.
This love must begin with them, with the community. This love must begin with the apostles and the disciples and all who know the love of Jesus. This love isn’t for the lost of the world outside the communion of the church; it is for the lost of the world inside the communion of the church. Often in the history of the church, there have been disagreements. I could regale you with the latest salvos in the fight for peace, unity, and purity in the Presbyterian Church (USA), but why should I when the first major fight for peace, unity, and purity is found in our reading from Acts?
Our reading in Acts shows Peter in a sticky situation. He has just returned from a glorious time with the Gentiles in Cornelius’s home at Caesarea. Peter had received a word from the Lord to go and take and eat with the Gentiles, so he did. The Gentiles heard the word of God, received the Holy Spirit, and were baptized. Peter shared their hospitality, but with their hospitality he shared their unclean food. Returning to Jerusalem, Peter’s breaking of the table purity with the Gentiles was controversial, even scandalous. Peter explained, step by step, that he was directed by the word of the Spirit. He was told to go, take, and eat. He was also told “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” Peter explained to the church in Jerusalem that the Spirit told him not to make distinction between them and us, between the Jews and the Gentiles.
This is the root of the love we are to share with one another. This is the communion we are share with one another. We are one with the Spirit; we are one with the Lord.[4] This is the love of God, modeled by Jesus, which we are to share with one another. This is the new commandment the apostles received. This is the new commandment we receive still today. And it is through this love for one another that everyone will know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ.
John Lennon once said “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.”[5] Judas had his plans. He was on his way to execute them, and by them he would forge the first link of a chain that would bind Jesus to the cross. Peter had his own gung-ho plans. He was ready to take on the Jews and the world. He was ready to lay down his life for his Lord, but instead he will deny Jesus three times before cockcrow. There are great plans in the works. Conspiracies abound. Toil, torment, torture, suffering and death are on the horizon for Jesus (and Judas for that matter). Plans will come, plots will go, and in the meantime, life goes on.
We are in a great dark time, just like the apostles were some two thousand years ago. In the meantime, like sands through the hourglass, life happens while we make plans. Here’s a challenge, find some time this week and put aside your plans. Take time to look at life and God’s love around us. Take time to feel the sun on your face, or hear the rain on the roof. Let this be a time to put aside our plans, and seek the life happening around us. Let us be with those who are here with us today, and with those who are absent. Be a part of this communion, a communion begun by Jesus on a dark night long ago, a communion of people who are like we are and a communion of people who are not like us at all. And let us love one another as Christ loved us.
The events of our gospel reading happen during the Last Supper. We celebrate the inauguration of this sacrament on Maundy Thursday. Maundy means mandate, commandment.[6] Jesus has given his apostles a new commandment; he has given us a new commandment; to love one another; a love which reflects the glory of God and the glory of Jesus; the glory they give to one another. This is the glory that finds in us another pair of eyes when we take time to be attentive to the glorious life of the Lord surrounding us. This is the glory that finds in us another pair of hands when we take time to participate the glorious life of the Lord surrounding us.
In the liturgical year, we are in the Easter Season, the time between the end of Holy Week and Pentecost. It seems a little odd that our reading comes from between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. But the darkness of this time is not so different from our own. In this dark time, we are to seek the one light that shined brightly on that dark night, the love of Jesus for his apostles and for the world. There is light in the word of God, the word that calls us to see the mutual glory of the Father and the Son, the word that calls us to take this love so graciously given and share it with one another. A love by which all unity may one day be restored, a love by which we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one’s pride, a love which makes us one.[7]
[1] John 13:27b
[2] Cousar, Charles B., Gaventa, Beverly R., McCann, Jr., J. Clinton, Newsome, James D., Texts for Preaching, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV, YEAR C. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994, page 310.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Peter Scholtes, “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love,” 1966 F.E.L. Publications. Assigned 1991 Lorenz Publishing Company (a div. of the Lorenz Corporation)
[5] The Columbia World of Quotations. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. www.bartleby.com/66/. May 5, 2007. Columbia notes that others may have been responsible for this quotation.
[6] McKim, Donald. Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996, “Maundy” entry.
[7] Ibid. Peter Scholtes
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
In the liturgical year, we are in the Easter Season, the time between the end of Holy Week and Pentecost. In our reading, the Lord is still with his apostles. By our calendar, the Ascension of the Lord is still about ten days away. So it seems a little odd that our reading comes from between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. In fact, by the liturgical calendar, it takes place on Maundy Thursday. Narrowing the time down even further, this is what is happening in between the Last Supper and Jesus’ arrest. This moment is between when Jesus prophesies Judas will betray him and when he will prophesy Peter will deny him.
This is a transitional moment in the life of the Lord and the apostles. Jesus has just told Judas “Do quickly what you are going to do.”[1] The apostles didn’t know what that meant, but Jesus did. He knows the apostles are expecting to celebrate the Passover with the man who has ridden triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey. The people went out to meet him waving palm branches and crying “Hosanna.” This is the greeting reserved for a king, not a carpenter and itinerant preacher. There was joy in this celebration, yes, Jesus had prophesied his own death, but at the moment this was lost on the apostles. Well, it was lost on all who had remained in the upper room.
In the verse preceding our reading the narrator tells us it was night. The sky and the time were dark. Jesus knew that this darkness would extend well beyond the dawn of the new day. At this moment, at this very moment, Jesus knows that his time with the apostles is limited. He knew that the dawn would be difficult for them, so he had to tell them what they needed to be able to survive the next few days without him. This is the end of the first part of Jesus’ ministry on earth and whatever he needs to say to them he has to say now.
So as we go on, we mustn’t lose the irony of their situation,[2] the apostles are basking in the glow of their Passover feast, yet one of them had just left with a cryptic command from their Messiah, so they are a little confused. It’s dark outside, there are a few oil lamps burning around the room. Jesus begins to give his final instructions in this darkness set against a backdrop of betrayal and denial. There is great light in the room, the person of Jesus Christ and the word he speaks, the word of truth and life burns like a fire in the night. All of this happening in the darkest night humanity has ever known; the night the shepherd would be betrayed by one of his sheep.
In our reading, Jesus has two words for the apostles. One deals with his glory and the glory of the Father. The other is a new commandment.
Jesus begins by saying “now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.” Now, while it is dark, while Judas is on his way to betray Jesus and the prophecy of Peter’s denial is imminent, now while this tempest is brewing, the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. In a wonderful motion, God the Father and God the Son lift one another in mutual glorification. They initiate this motion together, simultaneously. This motion has been made from the beginning and exists even now. It has always been this way and it will always be this way, even in this darkest of nights.
On this night, nothing has been left undone, nothing is incomplete.[3] When Jesus says “It is finished” from the cross in just a few hours, he will mean it. Now is the time when Jesus knows he will go to a place no one can follow. He knows his sojourn will be agonizing, but he knows that as his life brings glory to the Father, so too will his death. He knows glory abounds regardless of Judas’ betrayal or Peter’s denial. There is nothing anyone can say or do, there is nothing any group of people can say or do which will separate Jesus from the Father, and in this, glory abounds.
The next thing Jesus gives the apostles is a new commandment, that they love one another. They should love one another just as He loved them. So what does it mean for them to love one another as Jesus loved them?
First, we need to get something clear about this command. They are to love one another. This must come first. At this moment they aren’t being told to go out and evangelize the world. They aren’t being told they have to put more in the plate when it comes by. They aren’t even told to save the world. (It’s Jesus who takes care of that.) They are told to love, and they are told to love one another.
Their love for one another is what is going to get them through the next few days. They are going to feel great loss when Jesus is taken from them. They will feel like their world will never be the same without their Lord. This is when they will need love the most. This love is going to get Peter past his denial of Jesus. This love is going to get all of them past the ugly scene with Judas and the private guard of the chief priests and Pharisees. This love is going to get them past the crucifixion. This love is going to get them through from this dark moment until his glorious resurrection.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that some ordinary human love is a suitable replacement for the love of Jesus; on the contrary. Jesus told them to love one another as he loved them. They are to love one another sacrificially. They must be willing to give up everything for one another. This sort of love has only one source, this is the love of God, modeled for the apostles by Jesus the Christ. Their love will not sustain them through the dark night coming, but His love will.
This love must begin with them, with the community. This love must begin with the apostles and the disciples and all who know the love of Jesus. This love isn’t for the lost of the world outside the communion of the church; it is for the lost of the world inside the communion of the church. Often in the history of the church, there have been disagreements. I could regale you with the latest salvos in the fight for peace, unity, and purity in the Presbyterian Church (USA), but why should I when the first major fight for peace, unity, and purity is found in our reading from Acts?
Our reading in Acts shows Peter in a sticky situation. He has just returned from a glorious time with the Gentiles in Cornelius’s home at Caesarea. Peter had received a word from the Lord to go and take and eat with the Gentiles, so he did. The Gentiles heard the word of God, received the Holy Spirit, and were baptized. Peter shared their hospitality, but with their hospitality he shared their unclean food. Returning to Jerusalem, Peter’s breaking of the table purity with the Gentiles was controversial, even scandalous. Peter explained, step by step, that he was directed by the word of the Spirit. He was told to go, take, and eat. He was also told “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” Peter explained to the church in Jerusalem that the Spirit told him not to make distinction between them and us, between the Jews and the Gentiles.
This is the root of the love we are to share with one another. This is the communion we are share with one another. We are one with the Spirit; we are one with the Lord.[4] This is the love of God, modeled by Jesus, which we are to share with one another. This is the new commandment the apostles received. This is the new commandment we receive still today. And it is through this love for one another that everyone will know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ.
John Lennon once said “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.”[5] Judas had his plans. He was on his way to execute them, and by them he would forge the first link of a chain that would bind Jesus to the cross. Peter had his own gung-ho plans. He was ready to take on the Jews and the world. He was ready to lay down his life for his Lord, but instead he will deny Jesus three times before cockcrow. There are great plans in the works. Conspiracies abound. Toil, torment, torture, suffering and death are on the horizon for Jesus (and Judas for that matter). Plans will come, plots will go, and in the meantime, life goes on.
We are in a great dark time, just like the apostles were some two thousand years ago. In the meantime, like sands through the hourglass, life happens while we make plans. Here’s a challenge, find some time this week and put aside your plans. Take time to look at life and God’s love around us. Take time to feel the sun on your face, or hear the rain on the roof. Let this be a time to put aside our plans, and seek the life happening around us. Let us be with those who are here with us today, and with those who are absent. Be a part of this communion, a communion begun by Jesus on a dark night long ago, a communion of people who are like we are and a communion of people who are not like us at all. And let us love one another as Christ loved us.
The events of our gospel reading happen during the Last Supper. We celebrate the inauguration of this sacrament on Maundy Thursday. Maundy means mandate, commandment.[6] Jesus has given his apostles a new commandment; he has given us a new commandment; to love one another; a love which reflects the glory of God and the glory of Jesus; the glory they give to one another. This is the glory that finds in us another pair of eyes when we take time to be attentive to the glorious life of the Lord surrounding us. This is the glory that finds in us another pair of hands when we take time to participate the glorious life of the Lord surrounding us.
In the liturgical year, we are in the Easter Season, the time between the end of Holy Week and Pentecost. It seems a little odd that our reading comes from between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. But the darkness of this time is not so different from our own. In this dark time, we are to seek the one light that shined brightly on that dark night, the love of Jesus for his apostles and for the world. There is light in the word of God, the word that calls us to see the mutual glory of the Father and the Son, the word that calls us to take this love so graciously given and share it with one another. A love by which all unity may one day be restored, a love by which we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one’s pride, a love which makes us one.[7]
[1] John 13:27b
[2] Cousar, Charles B., Gaventa, Beverly R., McCann, Jr., J. Clinton, Newsome, James D., Texts for Preaching, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV, YEAR C. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994, page 310.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Peter Scholtes, “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love,” 1966 F.E.L. Publications. Assigned 1991 Lorenz Publishing Company (a div. of the Lorenz Corporation)
[5] The Columbia World of Quotations. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. www.bartleby.com/66/. May 5, 2007. Columbia notes that others may have been responsible for this quotation.
[6] McKim, Donald. Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996, “Maundy” entry.
[7] Ibid. Peter Scholtes
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