This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday March 29, 2009, the 5th Sunday in Lent.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 51:1-12
Hebrews 5:5-10
John 12:20-33
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Next week we celebrate Palm Sunday. So this is the time of year when we break out the DVD’s of “The Passion of the Christ,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and “Godspell.” Marie agrees with this statement so strongly that she is singing “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” to herself right now. That’s fine with me; any of you who wish to sing along with her are welcome to go right ahead. Of the three, “Godspell” is my favorite film of the Passion genre. In their own way, each of these movies is a recreation of the final day of life of Jesus on earth. Well, let’s just say it’s the first-last day. We’ll get to that in a couple of weeks.
The scene in our gospel reading comes immediately after the events we will celebrate next week, Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Jesus came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. This isn’t the first celebration of the Passover in John’s gospel. John 2 contains the earliest account of Jesus at the Passover festival. John 5 has Jesus coming to Jerusalem for a festival, but it could have been First Fruits or Tabernacles or Passover. Jesus made other trips for other festivals during his life too.
The point here is that Jesus knew his way around the temple and since he would teach while he was there, the temple knew him too. But this time, something different is going on, there is a charge in the air like before a storm. There is a feeling that something new is about to happen, and it begins with the arrival of some Greeks. The Greeks who had come to see the festival were also there to see Jesus. So they sought Philip and Andrew, the Apostles with Greek names, to make the introduction.
What’s so important about the arrival of the Greeks? The Greeks were travelers, not just tourists. The cosmopolitan Greeks would come, learn, and take the cultures they encounter with them. This is how the most important transcripts of the New Testament came to be written in Greek. According to a reference on Greece, “Not only is the New Testament a Greek book, but all Christian literature down to the early third century, even in Rome and the West, and to this day in the East, is in Greek.”[1]
Greek was the language of art and culture. This is how so many of the works of Ancient Greece have survived when so many works of other cultures have been lost to antiquity. The Greeks were the travelers and philosophers of the day, constantly moving from place to place drinking in the culture of the world.
So when Jesus gets the news that the Greeks had arrived from Philip and Andrew, Jesus knew that his time, his hour, had come. Where in every prior instance in the gospel Jesus had kept the “messianic secret,” now there was no need. His time had come; he is to be lifted up.
Jesus told everyone who was around him “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” He used a story with an agricultural base to show them explosive growth. He told them when a single seed dies in the proper way and time it produces much fruit. He lets them know this death is necessary.
He tells them that people who love their life will lose it and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Such a twisted statement would be confusing but it is ultimately comforting. It is joyful when we realize what is gained by eternal life; a life of plenty to be lived today, life where those who serve the Lord will be honored by the Father.
Then Jesus tells us a story that doesn’t seem quite right coming from the mouth of the Son of Man, his soul is troubled. Yes, the Lord our Savior is disturbed by what he knows is to come. God Incarnate is in personal turmoil over what will follow oh so soon. But he knows that it is for this reason that he has come to this very hour.
Jesus knows his own story. Jesus knows what is to come and what is to follow. He knows of the pain and the mocking and the torture and the death. He knows what is to come, what is to follow. He knows he will be betrayed by one of his followers, his Apostle Judas Iscariot.
It is this scene the betrayal that I find the most touching in “Godspell.” Jesus has just finished teaching his disciples the final lessons. There is a sense of hurry. Jesus is rushed, but not panicked. Then Judas arrives with the garrison. Judas comes to give the kiss that will separate Jesus from everyone else.
When Judas stands before the messiah, he cannot do it. He cannot betray Jesus with a holy kiss. Jesus stands before Judas and says, “Do what you have come to do.” Judas balks. Maybe Judas is even reconsidering the whole plan; maybe he can’t betray Jesus after all. Jesus says “Do what you have come to do.” Judas is frozen. So Jesus suddenly and quickly leans in and kisses Judas… and smiles. Then the chaos of the arrest begins.
Jesus knows his story. He knows what has to happen. He knows his destiny and he both dreads and embraces it. To me, this is the glory of the scene from “Godspell.” Jesus knows what has to happen and when the scene’s other principal cannot bring himself to do it, Jesus does. Jesus knows his own story so well that when others don’t follow the script, Jesus takes over and ensures that what must happen happens.
There are very few movie scenes that make me cry, but that one does it every time.
Jesus came to glorify the Father and the Father glorifies the Son. This is affirmed by the voice of God who says for all with ears to hear “I have glorified my name and I will glorify it again.” Jesus tells the people what they heard was for their sake, not his own. Jesus doesn’t need to hear the story, he knows it well enough. We need to know the story. We need the affirmation of the Word of God, so we hear it for our sake. We hear it to affirm the story of faith in the world.
We have our stories too. Take a moment out of this busy day and ask God to remind you of an important story in your life with God. Let me share this example from the beginning of my life in this part of the body of Christ.
Four years ago in Conway, Arkansas, I was examined by the Committee on Preparation for Ministry at a meeting of the Presbytery. I had preached a sermon. I was questioned by the committee. When it was finished, as is the tradition in this Presbytery, I left the sanctuary as the Presbytery discussed the issue. When it was over, Marie and I reentered the assembly to applause and rejoicing. The moderator then asked members of the Berryville congregation to stand and be recognized. Wayne and Janet were there standing, so was Shelly. Carolyn was with her.
I smiled with the love of God coursing in my very being. It was a glorious moment. I went over to the corner of the sanctuary where Shelly and Carolyn were. Carolyn was beginning to tire, it had been a long day, and she and Shelly were getting ready to return home.
I leaned over and hugged Carolyn. She said, “I love you.” And I said “I love you too.” By the grace and love of God, at that moment, I became her pastor. At that moment I began to love her as a pastor loves every member of the church, with the love God calls all of us to share with one another. In that moment, I went from being a candidate for ministry to being a minister, her minister. It was a wonderful moment, and it came only by the love and grace of God.
Jesus had a story to tell and an audience to take it with them. And when they left Palestine, after the Passover, after the crucifixion, after the resurrection; the Greeks would take word of Jesus with them.
We too have stories to tell, stories of how the Lord has lifted our lives. Take a moment here and now, and consider the question. Ask God to remind you of an important story in your life with God. Our lives in God are filled with wonderful stories, stories of peace, mercy, and joy; stories of power and might, stories of sorrow and redemption. Be reminded of these stories and do yourself a favor, share them at lunch today. Share the stories of God as you break bread. Then you will taste and see that the Lord is good.
Take a couple of minutes to contemplate your story.
Amen
[1] The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, “Greece,” part 9, Age of Hellenism.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Heavy Lifting
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday March 22, 2009, the 4th Sunday in Lent.
Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:14-21
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
There are some things that are unavoidable for the preacher. John 3:16 is one of them. Since I have been in the pulpit, I have preached this piece from John’s gospel twice. Today makes three. Now for the third time, I begin with this thought on this most beloved of all bible passages:
Some call this “the Gospel in a nutshell.” Others call it a confessional summary of the Gospel. Believers and unbelievers alike have a special connection to this verse. For many, this verse is seen as the answer. Of course, if this is the answer we had better do a good job of identifying the question. Because if this is the answer, then it has got a lot of heavy lifting to do.
Heavy lifting is nothing unusual in our readings today. Our reading from Numbers is another example of heavy lifting. In the time of this passage from the Old Testament, the people had become impatient, other translations say discouraged and faint hearted. They spoke against Moses and they spoke against God.
The people were sick and tired of making the journey to find the promise of God, the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham. They detested the miserable food and preferred the thought of square meals and unending slavery. When starving; hard work under harsh conditions might be seductive to the faint hearted. So the Lord sent serpents, poisonous serpents, among the nation and people died.
It doesn’t take long for the Israelites to realize they had erred, so they came to Moses and they asked him to “pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” Yeah, Moses has gone before Pharaoh, and the Lord on behalf of the people; and now the people who had been complaining about his leadership are at Moses’ feet crying for him to solicit the mercy of the Lord. Moses has done some heavy lifting during his days. Today they ask him to do some more.
Moses asks on behalf of the people and does as the Lord directs. Moses makes a serpent of bronze and puts it on a pole. A people who made a golden calf know how to do flamboyant metalwork, so I imagine a bronze serpent at least twelve feet long. I don’t know if it is coiled or stretched out, scripture is silent. Regardless, you know this is one big piece of heavy metal.
Imagine the US “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, but as a bronze sculpture on the end of a stick. This is what Moses lifts up above his head. He lifts it so that whenever one who was bit would look upon it; they would live.
While considering this passage, I wondered why looking at the bronze serpent healed the bitten Israelites? Maybe this miracle simply served as a reminder of who the Lord is? Surely it shows the mystery and sovereignty of God Almighty. Seeing as how the Israelites had forgotten who the Lord was in this passage, that wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
It is a reminder that the Lord sent the serpents of both injury and healing—along with the implicit reminder of the serpent of deception from Genesis. Snakes in the ancient world were a symbol of death and danger; and fertility, life, and healing.[2] This ties into the sovereignty theme well. While the nation would always tie the serpent to the story of the banishment from the garden it would also show that the Lord can use the same symbol for the good of the people, to heal the people, to redeem the people.
These are the sorts of things poets wonder about on a warm summer’s night. These musings are lovely; they come to the aid of the mystical and mysterious pieces of our souls to the glory of God. But they surely aren’t the sorts of questions that are going to be asked on the quiz. (Wait, didn’t I tell you there was going to be a quiz?)
Some things are certain. We can be sure that this is the kind of story that would be popular within a people who carried their history by oral tradition. There isn’t a twelve year old boy alive who would ever forget this story after hearing it. So when Jesus uses this image in our passage from John’s gospel; the listener returns to this time in the wilderness.
Jesus tells the people that in the wilderness, God is there. In the wilderness of forty years in the desert, God is there. In the wilderness found within the temple, God is there. In the wilderness found within the depths of our lives, God is there. God is present with them on that day as during the days of Moses. We read this story today knowing that God is here with us too. This was true when it was said, and it is just as true today.
Now that’s some heavy lifting.
We read “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” But where the verb for lifting up in Numbers implies picking something up to look up toward it, the New Testament verb we translate as lifting up means to raise physically or to exalt. So as Moses lifted the serpent to be seen, the Son of Man is lifted to be praised and lauded.
Again, that’s heavy lifting.
Scripture tells us why the Son of Man is exalted, why the Son of Man is lifted. The Son of Man is lifted so that those who believe may have life eternal. So, what is eternal life?
Eternal life is a gift. It is given to everyone. Imagine if you will, everyone on earth is given a flashlight; a light that will never be extinguished or burn out. Imagine we are all given this light.
We are saved by the grace of the sovereign God. We are freely given the gift of grace, a gift of eternal life given to us even though we could never do anything to deserve it. This is the light we have received.
Now imagine we turn on this light and it shines brightly showing us the way. This is what happens when we demonstrate faith. We are saved by grace through faith. It is these two things together that make eternal life, the things that make life worth living.
This is the Good News, to take to the eternal life we begin by turning on the light we have received. Those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.
So life eternal is a quality of life instead of a length of life, a way of living today that transcends how we see living in our bodies, our earth, and our time. The Son of Man is lifted up not just for the afterlife, but for our present lives. This changes how we live and breathe and love and behave not in some future time and place, but here and now.
Yet, Jesus warns us that when we have a light and don’t bother to turn it on, when we receive the gift but do nothing with it the gift is useless. It hangs like an albatross around our necks; and Jesus warns this would happen.
He warns us that people love the darkness rather than the light. And this evil, this darkness is heavier lifting than we could ever imagine. It’s a pity that we don’t have to do this lifting, but still we choose to. It’s lifting that we drop when we turn on the light. It’s lifting we drop when we exercise our faith by the grace God has freely given us.
Moses did some heavy lifting in the desert. Jesus did some heavy lifting too, and the lifting of his body at Golgotha is not the half of it. The body of the Lord might have weighed even less than a twelve foot long brass snake.
Eternal life is for all who believe, for those who are saved by grace through faith; now that’s some heavy lifting. Thanks and praise to the one who alone is willing and able to lift us. Saved by grace through faith, that’s the answer to today’s quiz.
[1] Holy Bible, King James Version, Gideon International, page 10.
[2] New Interpreter’s Study Bible, notes on Numbers 21:4-9.
Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:14-21
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
There are some things that are unavoidable for the preacher. John 3:16 is one of them. Since I have been in the pulpit, I have preached this piece from John’s gospel twice. Today makes three. Now for the third time, I begin with this thought on this most beloved of all bible passages:
Page ten of the current edition of the Gideon Bible contains this in the introduction:The introduction continues with this verse translated into languages ranging from Afrikaans to Vietnamese. These simple words have a tremendous impact on people everywhere. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
“There is a verse in the Bible which has been translated into more than 1,100 languages. It tells of One who loved us with an everlasting love. The verse is here recorded in 27 languages of the world which are understood by more than three-quarters of the earth’s population. That verse is John 3:16.”[1]
Some call this “the Gospel in a nutshell.” Others call it a confessional summary of the Gospel. Believers and unbelievers alike have a special connection to this verse. For many, this verse is seen as the answer. Of course, if this is the answer we had better do a good job of identifying the question. Because if this is the answer, then it has got a lot of heavy lifting to do.
Heavy lifting is nothing unusual in our readings today. Our reading from Numbers is another example of heavy lifting. In the time of this passage from the Old Testament, the people had become impatient, other translations say discouraged and faint hearted. They spoke against Moses and they spoke against God.
The people were sick and tired of making the journey to find the promise of God, the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham. They detested the miserable food and preferred the thought of square meals and unending slavery. When starving; hard work under harsh conditions might be seductive to the faint hearted. So the Lord sent serpents, poisonous serpents, among the nation and people died.
It doesn’t take long for the Israelites to realize they had erred, so they came to Moses and they asked him to “pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” Yeah, Moses has gone before Pharaoh, and the Lord on behalf of the people; and now the people who had been complaining about his leadership are at Moses’ feet crying for him to solicit the mercy of the Lord. Moses has done some heavy lifting during his days. Today they ask him to do some more.
Moses asks on behalf of the people and does as the Lord directs. Moses makes a serpent of bronze and puts it on a pole. A people who made a golden calf know how to do flamboyant metalwork, so I imagine a bronze serpent at least twelve feet long. I don’t know if it is coiled or stretched out, scripture is silent. Regardless, you know this is one big piece of heavy metal.
Imagine the US “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, but as a bronze sculpture on the end of a stick. This is what Moses lifts up above his head. He lifts it so that whenever one who was bit would look upon it; they would live.
While considering this passage, I wondered why looking at the bronze serpent healed the bitten Israelites? Maybe this miracle simply served as a reminder of who the Lord is? Surely it shows the mystery and sovereignty of God Almighty. Seeing as how the Israelites had forgotten who the Lord was in this passage, that wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
It is a reminder that the Lord sent the serpents of both injury and healing—along with the implicit reminder of the serpent of deception from Genesis. Snakes in the ancient world were a symbol of death and danger; and fertility, life, and healing.[2] This ties into the sovereignty theme well. While the nation would always tie the serpent to the story of the banishment from the garden it would also show that the Lord can use the same symbol for the good of the people, to heal the people, to redeem the people.
These are the sorts of things poets wonder about on a warm summer’s night. These musings are lovely; they come to the aid of the mystical and mysterious pieces of our souls to the glory of God. But they surely aren’t the sorts of questions that are going to be asked on the quiz. (Wait, didn’t I tell you there was going to be a quiz?)
Some things are certain. We can be sure that this is the kind of story that would be popular within a people who carried their history by oral tradition. There isn’t a twelve year old boy alive who would ever forget this story after hearing it. So when Jesus uses this image in our passage from John’s gospel; the listener returns to this time in the wilderness.
Jesus tells the people that in the wilderness, God is there. In the wilderness of forty years in the desert, God is there. In the wilderness found within the temple, God is there. In the wilderness found within the depths of our lives, God is there. God is present with them on that day as during the days of Moses. We read this story today knowing that God is here with us too. This was true when it was said, and it is just as true today.
Now that’s some heavy lifting.
We read “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” But where the verb for lifting up in Numbers implies picking something up to look up toward it, the New Testament verb we translate as lifting up means to raise physically or to exalt. So as Moses lifted the serpent to be seen, the Son of Man is lifted to be praised and lauded.
Again, that’s heavy lifting.
Scripture tells us why the Son of Man is exalted, why the Son of Man is lifted. The Son of Man is lifted so that those who believe may have life eternal. So, what is eternal life?
Eternal life is a gift. It is given to everyone. Imagine if you will, everyone on earth is given a flashlight; a light that will never be extinguished or burn out. Imagine we are all given this light.
We are saved by the grace of the sovereign God. We are freely given the gift of grace, a gift of eternal life given to us even though we could never do anything to deserve it. This is the light we have received.
Now imagine we turn on this light and it shines brightly showing us the way. This is what happens when we demonstrate faith. We are saved by grace through faith. It is these two things together that make eternal life, the things that make life worth living.
This is the Good News, to take to the eternal life we begin by turning on the light we have received. Those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.
So life eternal is a quality of life instead of a length of life, a way of living today that transcends how we see living in our bodies, our earth, and our time. The Son of Man is lifted up not just for the afterlife, but for our present lives. This changes how we live and breathe and love and behave not in some future time and place, but here and now.
Yet, Jesus warns us that when we have a light and don’t bother to turn it on, when we receive the gift but do nothing with it the gift is useless. It hangs like an albatross around our necks; and Jesus warns this would happen.
He warns us that people love the darkness rather than the light. And this evil, this darkness is heavier lifting than we could ever imagine. It’s a pity that we don’t have to do this lifting, but still we choose to. It’s lifting that we drop when we turn on the light. It’s lifting we drop when we exercise our faith by the grace God has freely given us.
Moses did some heavy lifting in the desert. Jesus did some heavy lifting too, and the lifting of his body at Golgotha is not the half of it. The body of the Lord might have weighed even less than a twelve foot long brass snake.
Eternal life is for all who believe, for those who are saved by grace through faith; now that’s some heavy lifting. Thanks and praise to the one who alone is willing and able to lift us. Saved by grace through faith, that’s the answer to today’s quiz.
[1] Holy Bible, King James Version, Gideon International, page 10.
[2] New Interpreter’s Study Bible, notes on Numbers 21:4-9.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Remembering
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday March 15, 2009, the 3rd Sunday in Lent.
Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
John 2:13-22
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Scholars teach there are three sections to the Ten Commandments, this morning’s reading from Exodus. The first three commandments, verses 4-7, tell us how humanity is to relate to the Lord our God. Verses 8-11 teach us how to relate to creation by the Sabbath. Finally, verses 12-17, the last six commandments, address social relations, how we deal with and take care of one another. Most of the Ten Commandments teach us using action verbs, though usually through their negative. We shall not make; we shall not bow; we shall not take; we shall not murder; we shall not steal; and so on.
The only commandment that seems less active is “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” But this is not true, the command to remember the Sabbath is not just a mental exercise, it’s active too. Verses 8-11 instruct us not only to remember the Sabbath but how to remember the Sabbath. We are instructed not to work, not only us but everyone and everything in our household is not to work. We are to remember that the Lord made heaven and earth in six days and on the seventh the Lord made, blessed, and consecrated a day of rest for all that was created.
In English, often we think of remembering as a mental exercise, like remembering our multiplication tables or the alphabet. We know to “Remember the Alamo,” but what does that mean? What exactly are we to remember about the Alamo?
For the Alamo, we can be called to remember the bloody military battle and its horrendous body count. We can be called to remember political consequences of this battle to the Republic. We can be called to remember “Remember the Alamo” as the slogan used by the Republic forces at the Battle of San Jacinto, the battle which ended the revolution in favor of Texas.
Remembering the Alamo, I want to remember the words Lieutenant Colonel William Travis wrote about Davy Crockett during the battle. “The Hon. David Crockett was seen at all points, animating the men to do their duty.”[1] Crocket reminded the men of their duty, what they were to do in service to the Republic of Texas. The men were not only to mentally remember their duty; they were to perform their duty in service to the Republic.
This is a very Hebrew way to remember, not only do we remember in our minds, but we respond in our actions.[2] As important as it is for us to bear in mind the Sabbath, it is important that we also respond to the Sabbath. We are to meet the sovereign God and answer the Lord’s call keeping the Sabbath day holy. This is the command of the Lord to Moses and the people.
The reading from John’s gospel is the story of Jesus coming to the temple for the Passover and seeing it turned into a marketplace. It is the story of his acts in cleansing the temple for worship. It is the story of the veiled prophecy of the destruction of the bodily temple Jesus inhabits; and the resurrection of that same temple.
But there are two very interesting pieces in this reading that aren’t common to our lectionary readings. In verses 17 and 22, we are told that his disciples remembered. The disciples not only remembered the events, but they remembered teachings that preceded these events. They remembered not only words and lessons; they remembered the actions that coupled them. The way the disciples remember these events is not so different from how the Alamo was remembered at San Jacinto.
As the last verse in our reading teaches us, they remembered and by remembering they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. They remembered not only in their minds, they responded through belief; and through their belief, through their faith, were able to do many great things in the name of the Lord.
We are called to remember our baptism. In the words of John Calvin, “As often as we fall away, we ought to recall the memory of our baptism and fortify our minds with it, that we may always be sure and confident of the forgiveness of sins.”[3]
Surely those of us who were baptized as infants, as Maddie and Roxy and Suzy were, we won’t remember the events of our baptism. We remember neither the chill of the water, nor the smell of the oil as we are anointed as God’s own. But as these children of the Body of Christ were baptized into the community God calls into existence, we are called to remember the vows of our baptism too.
We are called as the community to accept the responsibility to encourage those receiving this sacrament. The baptismal liturgy in The Book of Common Worship asks the congregation:
Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ,
promise to guide and nurture these who receive this sacrament
by word and deed,
with love and prayer,
encouraging them to know and follow Christ
and to be faithful members of Christ’s church?[4]
Answering “We do,” surely as those of us who were baptized as infants will not be able to remember our baptism, we can remember those who are now baptized. And by our very words, we are called to remember the promises we make to them upon their baptism; promises not only of word but deed, not only of thought but action; actions including teaching, serving, rejoicing, weeping, sharing food, and breaking bread together.[5]
From Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday and Ash Wednesday; through Lent and Eastertide; until Trinity Sunday, we here celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Today we hear these words of institution of the sacrament:
On the very night He was betrayed
Jesus took bread and gave You thanks
He broke it and gave it to His disciples,
“Take, eat, this is My body which is given to you;
do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way, after supper
He took the cup and gave You thanks
He gave it to His disciples, saying,
“Drink this, all of you;
this is My blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for you and for many,
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this as often as you drink it,
In remembrance of Me.”
If you are thirsty, drink the Fount of Life
If you are hungry, eat the Bread of Life.
Blessed are all who hunger for this Bread
And thirst for this Fount.
Together we remember and proclaim
the mystery of Christ.[6]
Again, this remembrance is more than a mental exercise. This remembrance is a call not only to know in our minds but to reimagine—even recreate the Lord’s last supper.[7] In our remembrance of the Lord, we are not just to imagine as we celebrate the sacrament. We are not to experience remembrance as a solitary event. Remembrance is an event of the church. We celebrate the body and blood of Christ as the Body of Christ. By repetition, we are to take this remembering event into our very beings and into the world. Doing this in remembrance of the Lord is so important to us that these very words are carved into the table.
We are to do this together until he comes again. In an oddly wonderful command, we are to remember into the future. We are to remember what is to come. The same Hebraic understanding of remembrance that allows us to experience anew the past also allows us to experience already the future.[8] The hope that is rooted in the historic past is the source of our Christian hope for the future. It is in remembrance that we connect these things in the present. It is in this sacrament that we are fed, nourished as the Body of Christ for God’s work in the world.
As the last verse in our reading teaches us, they remembered and by remembering they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. They remembered not only in their minds, they responded through belief, and through their belief, through their faith, were able to do many great things in the name of the Lord.
In the waters of our baptism, in the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper, we participate in the life and death and resurrected life of Jesus Christ, the special revelation of God, the Law incarnate, the living Torah. We are called to participate as Jesus did; not in the pomp and ceremony of the temple sacrifices, but in the life of the Church, the Body of Christ on earth and all of God’s good creation.
As the apostles and disciples before us, we are to remember and by remembering believe. By believing and through faith, the Lord is able to do far more with us than we could ever hope or imagine doing on our own.
We are called to remember. In remembering we are called to respond to God in gratitude. In response we are called to share the good news of Emmanuel, God with us.
We are called to share from the very life we are given in Christ. Today let us begin by remembering the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. Let us remember God’s wondrous love and respond.
[1] Groneman, Bill, “Alamo Defenders: A Genealogy, the People and Their Words.” Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1990, page 27
[2] “tskr” entry, Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Electronic Edition found in BibleWorks version 7.0.019k.1 (Print Edition Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907, page 269)
[3] Calvin, John, Institutes of Christian Faith, vol. 4, part xv, section 3.
[4] “The Book of Common Worship” compiled by The Theology and Worship Ministry Unit for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993, page 406.
[5] Boonstra, Henry, “Perspectives: Remember Your Baptism”, in Reformed Worship Magazine, #14, http://www.reformedworship.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=243, retrieved March 14, 2009.
[6] Imago Dei Christian Community, a community drawn to Christ, Celtic Communion Liturgy, http://imagodeicommunity.ca/category/celtic-communion-liturgy/, retrieved March 10, 2009.
[7] Stookey, Laurence Hull, “Eucharist, Christ’s Feast with the Church.” Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993, page 28.
[8] Ibid, page 31
Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
John 2:13-22
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Scholars teach there are three sections to the Ten Commandments, this morning’s reading from Exodus. The first three commandments, verses 4-7, tell us how humanity is to relate to the Lord our God. Verses 8-11 teach us how to relate to creation by the Sabbath. Finally, verses 12-17, the last six commandments, address social relations, how we deal with and take care of one another. Most of the Ten Commandments teach us using action verbs, though usually through their negative. We shall not make; we shall not bow; we shall not take; we shall not murder; we shall not steal; and so on.
The only commandment that seems less active is “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” But this is not true, the command to remember the Sabbath is not just a mental exercise, it’s active too. Verses 8-11 instruct us not only to remember the Sabbath but how to remember the Sabbath. We are instructed not to work, not only us but everyone and everything in our household is not to work. We are to remember that the Lord made heaven and earth in six days and on the seventh the Lord made, blessed, and consecrated a day of rest for all that was created.
In English, often we think of remembering as a mental exercise, like remembering our multiplication tables or the alphabet. We know to “Remember the Alamo,” but what does that mean? What exactly are we to remember about the Alamo?
For the Alamo, we can be called to remember the bloody military battle and its horrendous body count. We can be called to remember political consequences of this battle to the Republic. We can be called to remember “Remember the Alamo” as the slogan used by the Republic forces at the Battle of San Jacinto, the battle which ended the revolution in favor of Texas.
Remembering the Alamo, I want to remember the words Lieutenant Colonel William Travis wrote about Davy Crockett during the battle. “The Hon. David Crockett was seen at all points, animating the men to do their duty.”[1] Crocket reminded the men of their duty, what they were to do in service to the Republic of Texas. The men were not only to mentally remember their duty; they were to perform their duty in service to the Republic.
This is a very Hebrew way to remember, not only do we remember in our minds, but we respond in our actions.[2] As important as it is for us to bear in mind the Sabbath, it is important that we also respond to the Sabbath. We are to meet the sovereign God and answer the Lord’s call keeping the Sabbath day holy. This is the command of the Lord to Moses and the people.
The reading from John’s gospel is the story of Jesus coming to the temple for the Passover and seeing it turned into a marketplace. It is the story of his acts in cleansing the temple for worship. It is the story of the veiled prophecy of the destruction of the bodily temple Jesus inhabits; and the resurrection of that same temple.
But there are two very interesting pieces in this reading that aren’t common to our lectionary readings. In verses 17 and 22, we are told that his disciples remembered. The disciples not only remembered the events, but they remembered teachings that preceded these events. They remembered not only words and lessons; they remembered the actions that coupled them. The way the disciples remember these events is not so different from how the Alamo was remembered at San Jacinto.
As the last verse in our reading teaches us, they remembered and by remembering they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. They remembered not only in their minds, they responded through belief; and through their belief, through their faith, were able to do many great things in the name of the Lord.
We are called to remember our baptism. In the words of John Calvin, “As often as we fall away, we ought to recall the memory of our baptism and fortify our minds with it, that we may always be sure and confident of the forgiveness of sins.”[3]
Surely those of us who were baptized as infants, as Maddie and Roxy and Suzy were, we won’t remember the events of our baptism. We remember neither the chill of the water, nor the smell of the oil as we are anointed as God’s own. But as these children of the Body of Christ were baptized into the community God calls into existence, we are called to remember the vows of our baptism too.
We are called as the community to accept the responsibility to encourage those receiving this sacrament. The baptismal liturgy in The Book of Common Worship asks the congregation:
Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ,
promise to guide and nurture these who receive this sacrament
by word and deed,
with love and prayer,
encouraging them to know and follow Christ
and to be faithful members of Christ’s church?[4]
Answering “We do,” surely as those of us who were baptized as infants will not be able to remember our baptism, we can remember those who are now baptized. And by our very words, we are called to remember the promises we make to them upon their baptism; promises not only of word but deed, not only of thought but action; actions including teaching, serving, rejoicing, weeping, sharing food, and breaking bread together.[5]
From Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday and Ash Wednesday; through Lent and Eastertide; until Trinity Sunday, we here celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Today we hear these words of institution of the sacrament:
On the very night He was betrayed
Jesus took bread and gave You thanks
He broke it and gave it to His disciples,
“Take, eat, this is My body which is given to you;
do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way, after supper
He took the cup and gave You thanks
He gave it to His disciples, saying,
“Drink this, all of you;
this is My blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for you and for many,
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this as often as you drink it,
In remembrance of Me.”
If you are thirsty, drink the Fount of Life
If you are hungry, eat the Bread of Life.
Blessed are all who hunger for this Bread
And thirst for this Fount.
Together we remember and proclaim
the mystery of Christ.[6]
Again, this remembrance is more than a mental exercise. This remembrance is a call not only to know in our minds but to reimagine—even recreate the Lord’s last supper.[7] In our remembrance of the Lord, we are not just to imagine as we celebrate the sacrament. We are not to experience remembrance as a solitary event. Remembrance is an event of the church. We celebrate the body and blood of Christ as the Body of Christ. By repetition, we are to take this remembering event into our very beings and into the world. Doing this in remembrance of the Lord is so important to us that these very words are carved into the table.
We are to do this together until he comes again. In an oddly wonderful command, we are to remember into the future. We are to remember what is to come. The same Hebraic understanding of remembrance that allows us to experience anew the past also allows us to experience already the future.[8] The hope that is rooted in the historic past is the source of our Christian hope for the future. It is in remembrance that we connect these things in the present. It is in this sacrament that we are fed, nourished as the Body of Christ for God’s work in the world.
As the last verse in our reading teaches us, they remembered and by remembering they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. They remembered not only in their minds, they responded through belief, and through their belief, through their faith, were able to do many great things in the name of the Lord.
In the waters of our baptism, in the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper, we participate in the life and death and resurrected life of Jesus Christ, the special revelation of God, the Law incarnate, the living Torah. We are called to participate as Jesus did; not in the pomp and ceremony of the temple sacrifices, but in the life of the Church, the Body of Christ on earth and all of God’s good creation.
As the apostles and disciples before us, we are to remember and by remembering believe. By believing and through faith, the Lord is able to do far more with us than we could ever hope or imagine doing on our own.
We are called to remember. In remembering we are called to respond to God in gratitude. In response we are called to share the good news of Emmanuel, God with us.
We are called to share from the very life we are given in Christ. Today let us begin by remembering the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. Let us remember God’s wondrous love and respond.
[1] Groneman, Bill, “Alamo Defenders: A Genealogy, the People and Their Words.” Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1990, page 27
[2] “tskr” entry, Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Electronic Edition found in BibleWorks version 7.0.019k.1 (Print Edition Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907, page 269)
[3] Calvin, John, Institutes of Christian Faith, vol. 4, part xv, section 3.
[4] “The Book of Common Worship” compiled by The Theology and Worship Ministry Unit for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993, page 406.
[5] Boonstra, Henry, “Perspectives: Remember Your Baptism”, in Reformed Worship Magazine, #14, http://www.reformedworship.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=243, retrieved March 14, 2009.
[6] Imago Dei Christian Community, a community drawn to Christ, Celtic Communion Liturgy, http://imagodeicommunity.ca/category/celtic-communion-liturgy/, retrieved March 10, 2009.
[7] Stookey, Laurence Hull, “Eucharist, Christ’s Feast with the Church.” Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993, page 28.
[8] Ibid, page 31
Sunday, March 08, 2009
...Before the Dawn
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday March 8, 2009, the 2nd Sunday in Lent.
Because of the car malfunction described here, the manuscript of this sermon was not put to paper before Sunday worship. This is a transcript rather than a manuscript. It is choppier than one of my usual sermons, but whether that's good or bad is between you and the Holy Spirit.
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:23-31
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Those words from the nineteenth psalm have a little special meaning for me this morning and I hope they have a little more special meaning for you this morning; because for better or for worse, you have never heard me from this pulpit without a manuscript. Today I’m not exactly winging it, but let’s just say that I got detoured along the way.
We all know what a detour is, when you’re going someplace, going down the highway and suddenly because of something that happened probably completely out of your control you’re diverted down a completely different road to a new set of experiences and you know it’s not the main road. They never ever detour you to the main road, do they? But eventually you get back onto the path of the detour.
Last night at about three in the afternoon, I hit the detour. When I was leaving Little Rock yesterday afternoon, the car’s tachometer quit working. Well, the last time that happened was because the alternator was giving out, the battery was completely drained, every light on the dashboard was on and then off, every gauge in the car quit working, and was dead. I got to Conway where I needed to get some gas, and frankly, I wanted to take a look. I left the engine running, I popped open the hood and saw smoke coming off of the engine block. You know, that just wasn’t the idea of the party I was expecting to have last night.
So I took the car and I drove, if you know the Conway exit from I-40 to highway 65 going north, there is a Shell station, where I did all of this. Well, I ran the car downhill to the Cracker Barrel restaurant and pulled in there because they have a lovely back corner that no one cares if you park there.
Well, you gotta tell the manager first, that’s all there is to that, you gotta tell the manager.
So, I’m sitting in Conway, the car, if it’s not dead yet, I’m worrying that it might die somewhere between Conway and Harrison; and let me ask you, what kind of a good idea is that? It’s one thing to have the car dying where you have cell phone coverage and another thing going out where you’re really out of control.
And it was dark for me. I had been in Little Rock since Thursday, doing a workshop put on by the Presbytery’s committee on congregational care and development, busy around here all week long so that as Kenny noticed and Wayne noticed, the bibles and the hymnals didn’t get changed. None of those nice little tabs I put in there for the worship leaders to follow were there. Everyone else got a nice little detour along the way there too. And so I just didn’t get everything done, including the work I was going to do on this sermon; which by the way included a completely different introduction.
And it was dark to me. I had no idea what was going to happen next. I got on the phone and I was upset. I called Marie, who got in touch with Bill and Lucille, who got us taken care of. But in the meantime, I’m sitting on my tail under a lamppost, next to the care, behind the Cracker Barrel Restaurant at I-40 and US 65 in Conway, and what’s there to do but wait?
It was dark and I was waiting for the dawn, and there was really nothing I could do but wait. What else was there? I got in touch with the Hyundai dealer so I figured out how to get the key dropped off and how to get everything taken care of, so now I’m sitting there and I’m worrying about everything. Is Marie okay? Is this going to be all right? What’s going on? And in my head I was just all over the place.
Anyway, in the scene immediately preceding our gospel reading, that’s the scene where Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed, the one who is set aside, the Christ. Peter has just proclaimed that Jesus is the Christ. And so Jesus tells the disciples one of the things that it means to be the Christ is suffering. Pain, death, torture; death by crucifixion is horrid. Because you don’t die by blood loss, the pain doesn’t kill you. What happens is by being stretched out, it’s impossible to get a breath. It’s impossible to breathe well. Lungs begin to fill with fluid. At the same time, in the hot Judean sun, you suffer from dehydration you suffer from heat exhaustion, sunstroke and eventually die in the most horrible, socially unacceptable way imagined.
And Peter says, this cannot be, Lord. I just said you are the Messiah, the Christ; and you agreed with me. you are the Messiah, the Christ and now you’re trying to tell me that you’re going to suffer and die? No. No, that cannot be Lord. And then Peter hears the words that none of us ever wants to hear from the man he had just called Messiah, he says Satan get behind me. Your mind isn’t on the big picture. Your mind isn’t on the kingdom. Your mind is on your idea of what it means for me to be the Messiah and you to be the disciple. Put that out of your mind because what you’re thinking is not what it’s going to look like.
Jesus knew, Jesus told them, and when Peter asked “Are you sure about that?” Jesus said, “Oh my yes, and if you don’t believe me then your mind is not on the thoughts of the kingdom. You’re not discerning the word of God. You’re discerning your opinion of what the Messiah should be.”
Jesus tells us to keep our eye on what’s heavenly, on the work of the kingdom, of what follows next. And Jesus teaches us that it’s dark. Jesus teaches us that it is painful, Jesus teaches us that it is socially unacceptable; that God is going to be seen as a criminal. And that’s the way of the kingdom. That’s the way of the kingdom.
But with the darkness, through the darkness, after the darkness, comes the dawn. We know what the darkness looks like. It’s borne on the cross. And we know what the dawn looks like too, through the resurrection and the life, the coming of Jesus in triumph. Not as one who is to be served, but as one who serves.
We all have darkness in our lives. We all have darkness in our lives. Right now, I’ve got a car 140 miles away that I have no idea what’s going to happen with next. The session has recently been looking at the budget woes being faced by this part of the body of Christ. And we have recognized that there is a darkness there.
It’s dark, but I am going to promise you two things. First of all is that the light comes. The light comes. In the name of Jesus Christ in the person of the resurrection, the light comes. And when it comes it comes with redemption.
But there’s a warning that needs to come with this. It is the warning of Peter. What our idea of redemption is going to look like man not be what God’s idea of redemption will be. This is what Peter learned. He wanted a political messiah, he wanted someone who will ride the white horse into Jerusalem and take over, take over the kingdom of Israel. Instead what he got was the messiah who rode in on a colt to not only become king of Israel but to be king of all creation.
What happened to Jesus was horrible. But what happens with us through that is redemption. And by this redemption God’s glory is known in our lives and in our world.
Because of the car malfunction described here, the manuscript of this sermon was not put to paper before Sunday worship. This is a transcript rather than a manuscript. It is choppier than one of my usual sermons, but whether that's good or bad is between you and the Holy Spirit.
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:23-31
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Those words from the nineteenth psalm have a little special meaning for me this morning and I hope they have a little more special meaning for you this morning; because for better or for worse, you have never heard me from this pulpit without a manuscript. Today I’m not exactly winging it, but let’s just say that I got detoured along the way.
We all know what a detour is, when you’re going someplace, going down the highway and suddenly because of something that happened probably completely out of your control you’re diverted down a completely different road to a new set of experiences and you know it’s not the main road. They never ever detour you to the main road, do they? But eventually you get back onto the path of the detour.
Last night at about three in the afternoon, I hit the detour. When I was leaving Little Rock yesterday afternoon, the car’s tachometer quit working. Well, the last time that happened was because the alternator was giving out, the battery was completely drained, every light on the dashboard was on and then off, every gauge in the car quit working, and was dead. I got to Conway where I needed to get some gas, and frankly, I wanted to take a look. I left the engine running, I popped open the hood and saw smoke coming off of the engine block. You know, that just wasn’t the idea of the party I was expecting to have last night.
So I took the car and I drove, if you know the Conway exit from I-40 to highway 65 going north, there is a Shell station, where I did all of this. Well, I ran the car downhill to the Cracker Barrel restaurant and pulled in there because they have a lovely back corner that no one cares if you park there.
Well, you gotta tell the manager first, that’s all there is to that, you gotta tell the manager.
So, I’m sitting in Conway, the car, if it’s not dead yet, I’m worrying that it might die somewhere between Conway and Harrison; and let me ask you, what kind of a good idea is that? It’s one thing to have the car dying where you have cell phone coverage and another thing going out where you’re really out of control.
And it was dark for me. I had been in Little Rock since Thursday, doing a workshop put on by the Presbytery’s committee on congregational care and development, busy around here all week long so that as Kenny noticed and Wayne noticed, the bibles and the hymnals didn’t get changed. None of those nice little tabs I put in there for the worship leaders to follow were there. Everyone else got a nice little detour along the way there too. And so I just didn’t get everything done, including the work I was going to do on this sermon; which by the way included a completely different introduction.
And it was dark to me. I had no idea what was going to happen next. I got on the phone and I was upset. I called Marie, who got in touch with Bill and Lucille, who got us taken care of. But in the meantime, I’m sitting on my tail under a lamppost, next to the care, behind the Cracker Barrel Restaurant at I-40 and US 65 in Conway, and what’s there to do but wait?
It was dark and I was waiting for the dawn, and there was really nothing I could do but wait. What else was there? I got in touch with the Hyundai dealer so I figured out how to get the key dropped off and how to get everything taken care of, so now I’m sitting there and I’m worrying about everything. Is Marie okay? Is this going to be all right? What’s going on? And in my head I was just all over the place.
Anyway, in the scene immediately preceding our gospel reading, that’s the scene where Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed, the one who is set aside, the Christ. Peter has just proclaimed that Jesus is the Christ. And so Jesus tells the disciples one of the things that it means to be the Christ is suffering. Pain, death, torture; death by crucifixion is horrid. Because you don’t die by blood loss, the pain doesn’t kill you. What happens is by being stretched out, it’s impossible to get a breath. It’s impossible to breathe well. Lungs begin to fill with fluid. At the same time, in the hot Judean sun, you suffer from dehydration you suffer from heat exhaustion, sunstroke and eventually die in the most horrible, socially unacceptable way imagined.
And Peter says, this cannot be, Lord. I just said you are the Messiah, the Christ; and you agreed with me. you are the Messiah, the Christ and now you’re trying to tell me that you’re going to suffer and die? No. No, that cannot be Lord. And then Peter hears the words that none of us ever wants to hear from the man he had just called Messiah, he says Satan get behind me. Your mind isn’t on the big picture. Your mind isn’t on the kingdom. Your mind is on your idea of what it means for me to be the Messiah and you to be the disciple. Put that out of your mind because what you’re thinking is not what it’s going to look like.
Jesus knew, Jesus told them, and when Peter asked “Are you sure about that?” Jesus said, “Oh my yes, and if you don’t believe me then your mind is not on the thoughts of the kingdom. You’re not discerning the word of God. You’re discerning your opinion of what the Messiah should be.”
Jesus tells us to keep our eye on what’s heavenly, on the work of the kingdom, of what follows next. And Jesus teaches us that it’s dark. Jesus teaches us that it is painful, Jesus teaches us that it is socially unacceptable; that God is going to be seen as a criminal. And that’s the way of the kingdom. That’s the way of the kingdom.
But with the darkness, through the darkness, after the darkness, comes the dawn. We know what the darkness looks like. It’s borne on the cross. And we know what the dawn looks like too, through the resurrection and the life, the coming of Jesus in triumph. Not as one who is to be served, but as one who serves.
We all have darkness in our lives. We all have darkness in our lives. Right now, I’ve got a car 140 miles away that I have no idea what’s going to happen with next. The session has recently been looking at the budget woes being faced by this part of the body of Christ. And we have recognized that there is a darkness there.
It’s dark, but I am going to promise you two things. First of all is that the light comes. The light comes. In the name of Jesus Christ in the person of the resurrection, the light comes. And when it comes it comes with redemption.
But there’s a warning that needs to come with this. It is the warning of Peter. What our idea of redemption is going to look like man not be what God’s idea of redemption will be. This is what Peter learned. He wanted a political messiah, he wanted someone who will ride the white horse into Jerusalem and take over, take over the kingdom of Israel. Instead what he got was the messiah who rode in on a colt to not only become king of Israel but to be king of all creation.
What happened to Jesus was horrible. But what happens with us through that is redemption. And by this redemption God’s glory is known in our lives and in our world.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Being Torn
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on the First Sunday in Lent, March 1, 2009.
Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 25:1-10
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:9-15
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Today is the first Sunday of Lent, the first Sunday of a season of preparation and penitence, taking us seven weeks through the teaching and preaching of Jesus, moving to his triumphant entry into Jerusalem; his crucifixion and death; and his glorious resurrection.
Today we return to scripture we explored in other recent gospel readings. We begin with the Baptism of the Lord and the first proclamation of the Good News, the proclamation that this is the Son, the Beloved, with whom God is well pleased.
We have also looked at the last two verses of our reading as Jesus tells the world “The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” In between is a piece that is always a part of the lectionary readings for the First Sunday in Lent, Christ’s temptation by Satan.
In the church, Lent is historically a season of preparation for baptism. So today we begin our reading with the baptism of the Lord. Jesus came to John and was baptized. Such a simple and wonderful vision; Jesus is dipped in the waters and after arising he sees the heavens split open. Then the spirit descends in the same way a dove descends and a voice from the heavens says “you are my Son, the Beloved, in you I am pleased.”
This reading gives us two contrasting visions; we have the gentleness of the spirit descending like a dove with the assuring voice from the heavens saying “you are my Son.” But this comfort is preceded by violence: the glorious and horrible vision of the heavens being split open. The word in Greek is the root of the word we use for someone whose psyche is torn and split into pieces, schizophrenia. This root is also where we get the word used to describe a church split, schism. When describing this splitting of the heavens, only Mark uses this word, the other synoptic gospels use a less violent one.
So in Mark’s gospel, the heavens are split, fractured. There is chaos again in creation not seen since the days of Noah when the flood began. But from this chaos comes the Spirit, descending like a dove despite the chaos in the heavens. From this chaos comes the voice of comfort, the voice of a parent calling a child, “you are mine, you are my Beloved, in you I am pleased.”
This tearing word is used in Mark’s gospel in one other place. When the curtain is torn in the temple, it is not just ripped, it is torn apart; it is ruptured with the power of the word from which we get the word scissor.
I find it amazing that on this First Sunday in Lent we find this verb of such violence tied so closely with such hope. With the splitting of the heavens is the coming of the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God descends through the chaos of division. With the curtain between the Holy of Holies being torn, the division between God and humanity is rendered moot. When the curtain is torn “the centurion, who stood facing Jesus, seeing him breathe his last said, ‘Truly this man was God's Son!’”[1]
This splitting, this tearing, this being torn was used in Mark’s gospel both at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and at the end. That is the end as it is in Mark’s gospel before Jesus is entombed; the end before the resurrection; the end before the new beginning.
This word, schism, has great power. It has been thrown around by good Christians since the early days of the church. It has been a part of church life since Peter ate his first meal with the gentiles. It has been used since the days of the heretics and the Church Universal. It has been used since the split between the Roman and Greek Orthodox churches. It has been used since Henry VIII and Martin Luther. It has been used with John Calvin and John Knox. It is still bandied about today when talking about issues that threaten to divide the Presbyterian Church.
This is a hard word, a powerful word. It is the kind of word that once used is hard to turn back from. It is one of those words that when used in an argument takes everything to a new level, a level that can easily spiral out of control. It can become the point of no return in a relationship.
And it is this power that is exhibited for our favor, for our salvation in this reading. It is when the heavens are being torn asunder that the Spirit of God comes. In the midst of the chaos of the heavens torn apart comes the Holy Spirit in the nick of time.
In the Temple when the curtain, the one thing that separated God’s Holy resting place from the rest of the earth, when it is torn God is no longer contained. God demands entry into creation for the benefit of what God created.
It is what the prophet Isaiah asked for when he prayed “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence.” In the midst of violence and danger comes the grace and peace of the Lord.
The spirit that falls like a dove comes to us like the dove that returns to Noah on the ark with a leaf of an olive tree. With the chaos of the waters around Noah, there is a sign of life. After the world has been ripped asunder by the flood, God promises Noah that never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. God creates this covenant with Noah by setting down a weapon, a bow.
God puts the bow in the clouds and when it is seen, God is reminded of this covenant. A covenant of faithfulness which is fulfilled in spite of the chaos of the tearing of the heavens, a covenant fulfilled by the descending of the Spirit and the life, death, and resurrection of the Son.
Death takes many forms in this existence. It kills not only life, but those things which make life sacred and meaningful, valuable and beautiful. Death takes many forms. There are fathers who die as fathers, because they are waiting until other obligations are less demanding before becoming acquainted with their sons. There are mothers who die because they sincerely intend to be more attentive to their daughters, but just can’t find the time. There are spouses who promise they will be more understanding toward each other but aren’t. There are people in this room who are alone and lonely, feeling friendless, seeking security and compassion, some are grieving.
The many forms of death; death can even tear apart a loving community. Death tears us apart. That’s what death is—a tearing apart. In the face of such deaths, what can we do to affirm the value of life? What can we do in the face of death except affirm the value of life? But how?[2]
Someone once asked John Wesley that suppose he were to know that he would die at 12:00 midnight the next day, how would he spend the intervening time. His reply: “Why just as I intend to spend it now. I would preach this evening at Gloucester, and again at five tomorrow morning; after that I would ride to Tewkesbury, preach in the afternoon, and meet the societies in the evening. I would then go to Rend Martin’s house, who expects to entertain me, talk and pray with the family as usual, retire to my room at 10 o’clock, commend myself to my heavenly father, lie down to rest and wake up in Glory”[3]
This is a wonderful and glorious story; Wesley had such a confidence in God, his vocation, and his response that he was ready to wake up in Glory at any moment. I read this story and am in awe of Wesley’s answer and his confidence. But as I read this, I see something more important; Wesley was more than prepared to die, he was prepared to live.
When are we going to live, knowing not that we’re going to die some day but knowing we are living? This is life! The sacred is here! Even with grief, struggle and suffering. And the whole living includes death and life, grief and joy.[4]
This power of God, the power of the Spirit upon Christ in the waters of his baptism, the power of God splitting the curtain while Jesus writhes upon the cross; these images of horror and death come with one great additional image, new life. Let us examine this moment in our lives. Let us look upon the danger and see not the death, but the new life in our Lord Jesus Christ.
[1] Mark 15:39
[2] Mark Allstrom, “Talking with Malachi,” March 24, 2002, Australia and New Zealand Unitarian Association Web Site, Anzua.org.
[3] Tan, Paul Lee; Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, Signs of the Times. Assurance Publishers, R. R. Donnelley and Sons, Inc.: Chicago, 1979, Illustration #1500.
[4] Ibid, Allstrom
Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 25:1-10
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:9-15
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Today is the first Sunday of Lent, the first Sunday of a season of preparation and penitence, taking us seven weeks through the teaching and preaching of Jesus, moving to his triumphant entry into Jerusalem; his crucifixion and death; and his glorious resurrection.
Today we return to scripture we explored in other recent gospel readings. We begin with the Baptism of the Lord and the first proclamation of the Good News, the proclamation that this is the Son, the Beloved, with whom God is well pleased.
We have also looked at the last two verses of our reading as Jesus tells the world “The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” In between is a piece that is always a part of the lectionary readings for the First Sunday in Lent, Christ’s temptation by Satan.
In the church, Lent is historically a season of preparation for baptism. So today we begin our reading with the baptism of the Lord. Jesus came to John and was baptized. Such a simple and wonderful vision; Jesus is dipped in the waters and after arising he sees the heavens split open. Then the spirit descends in the same way a dove descends and a voice from the heavens says “you are my Son, the Beloved, in you I am pleased.”
This reading gives us two contrasting visions; we have the gentleness of the spirit descending like a dove with the assuring voice from the heavens saying “you are my Son.” But this comfort is preceded by violence: the glorious and horrible vision of the heavens being split open. The word in Greek is the root of the word we use for someone whose psyche is torn and split into pieces, schizophrenia. This root is also where we get the word used to describe a church split, schism. When describing this splitting of the heavens, only Mark uses this word, the other synoptic gospels use a less violent one.
So in Mark’s gospel, the heavens are split, fractured. There is chaos again in creation not seen since the days of Noah when the flood began. But from this chaos comes the Spirit, descending like a dove despite the chaos in the heavens. From this chaos comes the voice of comfort, the voice of a parent calling a child, “you are mine, you are my Beloved, in you I am pleased.”
This tearing word is used in Mark’s gospel in one other place. When the curtain is torn in the temple, it is not just ripped, it is torn apart; it is ruptured with the power of the word from which we get the word scissor.
I find it amazing that on this First Sunday in Lent we find this verb of such violence tied so closely with such hope. With the splitting of the heavens is the coming of the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God descends through the chaos of division. With the curtain between the Holy of Holies being torn, the division between God and humanity is rendered moot. When the curtain is torn “the centurion, who stood facing Jesus, seeing him breathe his last said, ‘Truly this man was God's Son!’”[1]
This splitting, this tearing, this being torn was used in Mark’s gospel both at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and at the end. That is the end as it is in Mark’s gospel before Jesus is entombed; the end before the resurrection; the end before the new beginning.
This word, schism, has great power. It has been thrown around by good Christians since the early days of the church. It has been a part of church life since Peter ate his first meal with the gentiles. It has been used since the days of the heretics and the Church Universal. It has been used since the split between the Roman and Greek Orthodox churches. It has been used since Henry VIII and Martin Luther. It has been used with John Calvin and John Knox. It is still bandied about today when talking about issues that threaten to divide the Presbyterian Church.
This is a hard word, a powerful word. It is the kind of word that once used is hard to turn back from. It is one of those words that when used in an argument takes everything to a new level, a level that can easily spiral out of control. It can become the point of no return in a relationship.
And it is this power that is exhibited for our favor, for our salvation in this reading. It is when the heavens are being torn asunder that the Spirit of God comes. In the midst of the chaos of the heavens torn apart comes the Holy Spirit in the nick of time.
In the Temple when the curtain, the one thing that separated God’s Holy resting place from the rest of the earth, when it is torn God is no longer contained. God demands entry into creation for the benefit of what God created.
It is what the prophet Isaiah asked for when he prayed “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence.” In the midst of violence and danger comes the grace and peace of the Lord.
The spirit that falls like a dove comes to us like the dove that returns to Noah on the ark with a leaf of an olive tree. With the chaos of the waters around Noah, there is a sign of life. After the world has been ripped asunder by the flood, God promises Noah that never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. God creates this covenant with Noah by setting down a weapon, a bow.
God puts the bow in the clouds and when it is seen, God is reminded of this covenant. A covenant of faithfulness which is fulfilled in spite of the chaos of the tearing of the heavens, a covenant fulfilled by the descending of the Spirit and the life, death, and resurrection of the Son.
Death takes many forms in this existence. It kills not only life, but those things which make life sacred and meaningful, valuable and beautiful. Death takes many forms. There are fathers who die as fathers, because they are waiting until other obligations are less demanding before becoming acquainted with their sons. There are mothers who die because they sincerely intend to be more attentive to their daughters, but just can’t find the time. There are spouses who promise they will be more understanding toward each other but aren’t. There are people in this room who are alone and lonely, feeling friendless, seeking security and compassion, some are grieving.
The many forms of death; death can even tear apart a loving community. Death tears us apart. That’s what death is—a tearing apart. In the face of such deaths, what can we do to affirm the value of life? What can we do in the face of death except affirm the value of life? But how?[2]
Someone once asked John Wesley that suppose he were to know that he would die at 12:00 midnight the next day, how would he spend the intervening time. His reply: “Why just as I intend to spend it now. I would preach this evening at Gloucester, and again at five tomorrow morning; after that I would ride to Tewkesbury, preach in the afternoon, and meet the societies in the evening. I would then go to Rend Martin’s house, who expects to entertain me, talk and pray with the family as usual, retire to my room at 10 o’clock, commend myself to my heavenly father, lie down to rest and wake up in Glory”[3]
This is a wonderful and glorious story; Wesley had such a confidence in God, his vocation, and his response that he was ready to wake up in Glory at any moment. I read this story and am in awe of Wesley’s answer and his confidence. But as I read this, I see something more important; Wesley was more than prepared to die, he was prepared to live.
When are we going to live, knowing not that we’re going to die some day but knowing we are living? This is life! The sacred is here! Even with grief, struggle and suffering. And the whole living includes death and life, grief and joy.[4]
This power of God, the power of the Spirit upon Christ in the waters of his baptism, the power of God splitting the curtain while Jesus writhes upon the cross; these images of horror and death come with one great additional image, new life. Let us examine this moment in our lives. Let us look upon the danger and see not the death, but the new life in our Lord Jesus Christ.
[1] Mark 15:39
[2] Mark Allstrom, “Talking with Malachi,” March 24, 2002, Australia and New Zealand Unitarian Association Web Site, Anzua.org.
[3] Tan, Paul Lee; Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, Signs of the Times. Assurance Publishers, R. R. Donnelley and Sons, Inc.: Chicago, 1979, Illustration #1500.
[4] Ibid, Allstrom
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)