This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church on July 25, 2010, the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Luke 11:1-15
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
It was about ten years ago when “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” hit American Television. Suddenly, Regis Philbin, “phone-a-friend,” and “is that your final answer” were all over primetime and the national conscience. That summer, one of my co-workers even told me that if she was ever on “Millionaire,” I was going to be her phone-a-friend. The reason was pretty obvious; I have this store of worthless knowledge that goes in a million directions.
In high school I was on our school district’s version of quiz-bowl, the number two player on my team two years in a row. In college I was a trivial pursuit champion. In the workplace, I was Google before Google was Google. With that, came certain authority. I was sought out as an expert on movies, music, science, sports, humor, darts, pipe tobacco, business law, finance, insurance, student development theory as it relates to liberal arts education, the Education Department General Administrative Regulations and geography of the United States and Canada. (Yeah, I didn’t date much.)
In ancient Judea, it was common for Rabbis to teach their disciples how to pray. Where the scribes and the Pharisees were in charge at the Temple in Jerusalem, the Rabbis were the leaders of small bands of disciples. It is sort of like a pastor-congregation relationship. I’m not saying to heck with the temple leadership in Little Rock and Louisville, but I am saying as a matter of fact, as standard operating procedure, that when basic questions arise, folks usually go to the Pastor or Elder or Deacon or Sunday School teacher before seeking a ruling from the Permanent Judicial Council.
Evidently John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray a certain way. He was their Rabbi, he was their teacher, he was their local expert and had the authority to teach them. From Luke’s gospel, at least one of Jesus’ disciples at least knew John had teachings on prayer. He must have heard about ir or read the brochure or something. So if John can teach his disciples to pray, surely Jesus could teach his disciples to pray too.
So Jesus taught his disciples to pray. He gives us five simple petitions:
“Hallowed be,” or “make holy” the name of the Father.
“May the Father’s Kingdom come.”
“Give us the bread we need for today”. Though this could also be translated “Give us the bread we need for tomorrow.”
“Forgive our sins, for we forgive all who are indebted to us.”
And “Do not bring us into sin’s temptation.” Another way to say this is “do not bring us to a time of trial or testing.”
That’s it, five little petitions. Depending on how you translate the petition for bread, one or two of them are for today and the rest are for the future. They are about how we are to live today and about the end times when God’s kingdom comes.
We pray God’s name will be sanctified throughout all creation. In a time when people of the earth prayed to a Parthenon of gods, we pray that the name of the Lord be made holy. In a time when people put so much before the praise and worship of the one true God; we are called to pray for a time when God’s name alone stands before us holy and as pure as light. Whether it be the gods of the Greeks or Romans; or some other philosophy or empty deceit sprouting from human tradition that Paul warns us about in Colossians; we are called to pray for a time when God’s name alone stands before us holy.
Bread was the most basic food of the ancient Israelites. Asking for daily bread harkens us back to the days of the Exodus when God provided manna as the daily bread for the nation. The people were told to gather as much as they needed, and no more, because they were to depend upon the Lord for their daily bread. Everything that’s old is new again when God provides daily bread for the people.
As for the future, in God’s kingdom is all of the bread we will need for tomorrow, in God’s coming kingdom we will never be hungry again. Still we must remember that the bread Jesus refers to is not some frilly loaf from a specialty baker. It’s more like a flatbread, pita or tortilla than a fancy foccacia. Our daily bread is no sundried tomato basil dill herb concoction, but with this simple bread we will never be hungry again.
Forgiveness is, in its own way, bread for the soul, without it we cannot live. What’s unusual about this petition is that we ask for forgiveness because “we forgive all being indebted to us.” In this prayer, we ask God to give us what we have already given others. This is possible if we could fully forgive another in the sinful world we live in, but we know this is impossible. This is only possible in God’s kingdom, where we share in God’s grace and receive God’s good gifts, including forgiveness. So today our duty is not just to forgive, it is to keep forgiving.
Finally we pray not to be lead into temptation. On the way to the kingdom, the ancient Jews faced many trials and temptations, many of them coming from the many gods (that with a lower case “g”) of the ancient world. Temptations on the road to the kingdom distract us from the true goal of holy lives devoted to God, and so we pray not to be distracted.
Thank God that Jesus answers this question directly. The world is used to the Rabbi answering questions with other questions like the Lawyer’s questions and answers with the story of the Good Samaritan. So when Jesus answers this question directly, we should rejoice, a straight answer to a straight question.
Of course, being the disciples of Jesus, we know that nothing is as simple as we would like it to be, we should be alert for the other shoe to drop. We need to be ready to consider the deeper implications of what Jesus has said.
When we force the gospel to become law, and when law is applied to the practice of prayer; our confession, our praise, our supplications, our intercessions become formulas we use to reach God. When we use formulas, we end up creating prayers that are “right” and prayers that are “wrong.” The words of Christ are more than a roadmap to God; they are the very words of God. The Lord’s Prayer is an important prayer, but there is more to it than that. These are very good words, but they are not magic words.
Famed pastor and preacher William Sloane Coffin talks about advice he received from his preaching professor from seminary. One of this professor’s teachings that stuck with Coffin is “Does this preacher describe God or offer God?” Describing the ultimately mysterious absolutely different Lord our God is a vanity exercise. There is no way that we can truly answer the question “Who is God?” so it is up to the preacher to offer God’s presence, testifying to the truth in Jesus Christ.[1]
To explain “The Lord’s Prayer” like I have so far is to describe God, it may have a place, but in the end it is little more than mental gymnastics. I might have a point or two along the way that might be helpful for our walk with God, and in the end it comes up lacking. It’s all fact and no truth. It’s all godly formula without Godly presence. It’s what made me a trivia expert. It’s not what makes us good disciples.
We are called to pray in reverence and in love to God the Father who loves us first. We pray to the Lord who loves us more than we can love God, one another, and ourselves. This prayer reminds us of the faith and glory of the Lord our God. This prayer reminds us that our God is the loving father of us all.
This is especially true for those who did not have good fathers. The Lord that loves us more than we could ever hope or imagine is the good Father we have longed for all of our lives. The Lord is the Father we have needed all of our lives. This prayer introduces us to a new relationship with the Lord our God.
This prayer is an introduction to a loving relationship with our Holy Father. As Jesus reveals in the Lord’s Prayer, God is the father whose name alone is holy. God is the father whose kingdom is greater even than God’s own good creation. God is the father who feeds. God is the father who forgives. God is the father who encourages and empowers us forgive others. God is the father who helps us seek eternal life, not a life of temptation. This is the relationship with our God and with God’s good creation we are called to seek though prayer. It is only through a right relationship with God that we can seek a right relationship with others.
The story at the end of our reading helps us understand this. The neighbor didn’t respond to the friend in need out of the goodness of his heart. He responded to his neighbor’s shameless persistence and out of what he feared his other neighbors would think if he had denied hospitality to another. He acted out of obligation not grace. Through a right relationship with our Lord we can begin to imagine the God who acts out of perfect loving faithfulness.
We look to the future of God’s kingdom while we live in the world today. The Lord’s Prayer is for today and for tomorrow. It’s a prayer for now, and prayer for what is not yet; and it can be tough as nails to pray.
We are called to pray “Our Father in heaven,” but fail to embrace all people as God’s children.
We are called to pray, “Your kingdom come,” without working for the kingdom on earth.
We are called to pray for our daily bread but we see it as our due for our daily work, not recognizing it as God’s good gift to the world.
We are called to pray for forgiveness for ourselves, but we fail to offer pardon to others.
We plead not to be led by God into times of trial, but walk willingly into temptations we find on our own.
We tend to honor God with our lips, but fail to honor God with our lives.[2]
We pray as we are taught, but with this prayer we are called to a way of life we don’t often live up to. This kingdom of God, far from the conditions we live in on any kind of permanence, is one that we can live in for moments at a time.
When we pray for the kingdom to come, we pray with an eye to when Jesus comes again. In the meantime, we are called to act as if the kingdom has come. Doing this, we walk in the footsteps of Jesus in the way that he walked the earth. This is like a lightening strike. It doesn’t last long, it happens in the blink of an eye. But when it happens, it comes with a thunder that announces its arrival. And the place where the lightening strikes is never quite the same.
This question, how should we pray, is as old as humanity. From the moment we sensed, from the moment we knew there was a presence more powerful than us; prayer has been a part of life. Sometimes prayer has involved blood sacrifice and others a sacrifice of praise. Sometimes it has involved memorized words recited by rote, sometimes it’s spontaneously lifted in the spirit of the moment. Sometimes it is in the language of the priests, sometimes in the language of the people, and sometimes in the language of the angels. The question of how to pray is so good that it was asked by Jesus’ disciples.
More important than the words of prayer; Jesus teaches us how to be disciples. Jesus teaches us about developing the relationship he wants us to have with our Lord through prayer. Through prayer Jesus teaches us about the relationship he wants us to have with one another, and just as much, Jesus teaches us about the relationship he wants us to have with ourselves. Luke gives us this reassurance of God’s faithful nature, and there is no better expert on God the Father than God the Son.
[1] Coffin, William Sloane, “The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin, The Riverside Years” Volume 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. From Martin E. Marty’s introduction, pages xxvii-xxviii.
[2] This section is based on a Prayer of Confession found in Homiletics Magazine, online version, http://homileticsonline.com/subscribe.printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=93000008 accessed June 11, 2007
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Eternal Life--from A Service of Witness to the Resurrection for Betty Crittenden
This homily was heard at the clubhouse of Betty's apartment complex in Berryville, Arkansas on Thursday July 22, 2010.
Psalm 23
Titus 3:1-7
Psalm 121
Luke 10:25-37
The lawyer’s question to Jesus has been asked by humanity since the beginning of time. What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Often, all too often, when we read an obituary in the news paper it begins, “Our Sister left this world to be with her Lord…” Far be it from me to tell you that Betty is not with her Lord. In this service of Witness to the Resurrection we begin with this very truth. Yet I must let you know with all humility that Betty did not leave this world to be with her Lord. Betty has been with God long before she and I first met three years ago. Betty knew this quite well, quite well indeed: Eternal life begins while we are still here on earth. Eternal life begins with life in Christ and Betty knew this well; very, very well. She lived like she was a child of God.
She followed the law not just in word, but also in deed. She knew the words of scripture; she knew that she was saved by grace though faith. She knew for sure that a vibrant faith in the living God is about receiving and sharing God’s steadfast love, God’s good grace with those around her.
Betty loved the Lord her God with all her heart, and with all her soul, and with all her strength, and with all her mind; and she loved her neighbor as she loved herself. She demonstrated this through her volunteer work for people who needed what she could provide. With energy and imagination she served the Senior Center well through taking care of the Thrift Shop. She saw the store through three different locations, growing as it moved from space to space to space.
With the church, she helped package school supplies for children whose parents were hard pressed to afford school supplies. Betty and her siblings were raised in humble circumstances, so she knew what it was like to need things for school.
Yet while I say humble, I dare not say poor or impoverished. There is a spirit in her family, from her father who always worked hard to provide for his family to her mother who would tailor and refit WPA clothes handouts during the Great Depression so that her family would have properly fitting clothes. Finances were tight in the dust bowl of western Kansas, and there was eternal life.
Betty was fiercely independent; she could take care of herself as she helped take care of others. In her own words this didn’t set too well before she was school age when her older brother Richard was assigned by their parents to take care of her when they were playing outside. It also had its moments after Betty retired and she moved back to Dodge City to be with her sisters. I can only imagine what it was like when Betty thought she would be taking care of her youngest sister Sharon, and Sharon though the exact opposite. For them it must have been high drama, but I can imagine that for some around them it was pretty amusing.
Yet, Betty did not do these things that she may inherit eternal life. She knew the words of Paul to Titus when he said “when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” She wasn’t like the lawyer who sought to justify himself. She was a woman who knew that it took being a part of the family to receive the inheritance. Betty served others because that is how she learned to serve God, responding to her salvation, not trying to earn it.
Jesus responded to the lawyer’s answer saying, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” By the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in God’s love Betty lived the answer to this question and continues eternal life today.
She loved God and her neighbor. And we who are here today bear witness; her life has borne glorious fruit. By those she has loved and by those who love her, the fruit of her life continues to thrive and will continue to thrive far, far into the future.
The 121st Psalm is a psalm of trust and confidence in God; assuring pilgrims on the way to and from Zion of God’s constant protection. The question raised in the first verse “I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?” is answered beginning with “My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”
She knew and lived the words of the Psalmist through her life and her acts. She knew the Lord kept her and keeps us all. The Lord keeps our lives from this time and forevermore. And she responded to the gracious love and protection of the Lord our God in acts of boldness, love, and mercy. She knew that it was up to her to share God’s love with the world. She knew this was God’s call in her life. She knew it was as important to share as it was to receive God’s grace, peace, and love.
Let me finish by sharing what Betty wrote the best advice she ever received. When she was young girl, she couldn’t have been older than nine or ten, one summer Betty and her brothers, and her sister; contracted mumps and chicken pox. As miserable as it was for her siblings, Betty had to be taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City from their western Kansas home. It took a while, but Betty mended. Just before she was discharged, the doctor gave Betty this advice, “From now on and for the rest of your life I want you to rest when you get tired, eat whether you’re hungry or not, and be a good girl.
Betty wrote that she seldom missed a meal but she had been tired beyond belief. She didn’t comment about whether or not she had been a good girl though.
Well, Betty might have seldom missed a meal but you couldn’t tell by looking at her. She also knew that sometimes the price of taking care of those you love is fatigue beyond belief. She also knew that none is good but God. Today, I say today as we come together to celebrate the life and witness the joy of the eternal life of Betty Crittenden; today I say yes, she was a very good girl.
She was a wonderful woman, sister, and mother. We celebrate the eternal life that she shared when she heard our Lord tell the lawyer “Go and do likewise.” We celebrate the example she set as a child of God who inherited life eternal as an heir to the kingdom, not as a hired hand. We celebrate the eternal life Betty lived and now continues to live in the name of her Lord.
Let us pray…
Psalm 23
Titus 3:1-7
Psalm 121
Luke 10:25-37
The lawyer’s question to Jesus has been asked by humanity since the beginning of time. What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Often, all too often, when we read an obituary in the news paper it begins, “Our Sister left this world to be with her Lord…” Far be it from me to tell you that Betty is not with her Lord. In this service of Witness to the Resurrection we begin with this very truth. Yet I must let you know with all humility that Betty did not leave this world to be with her Lord. Betty has been with God long before she and I first met three years ago. Betty knew this quite well, quite well indeed: Eternal life begins while we are still here on earth. Eternal life begins with life in Christ and Betty knew this well; very, very well. She lived like she was a child of God.
She followed the law not just in word, but also in deed. She knew the words of scripture; she knew that she was saved by grace though faith. She knew for sure that a vibrant faith in the living God is about receiving and sharing God’s steadfast love, God’s good grace with those around her.
Betty loved the Lord her God with all her heart, and with all her soul, and with all her strength, and with all her mind; and she loved her neighbor as she loved herself. She demonstrated this through her volunteer work for people who needed what she could provide. With energy and imagination she served the Senior Center well through taking care of the Thrift Shop. She saw the store through three different locations, growing as it moved from space to space to space.
With the church, she helped package school supplies for children whose parents were hard pressed to afford school supplies. Betty and her siblings were raised in humble circumstances, so she knew what it was like to need things for school.
Yet while I say humble, I dare not say poor or impoverished. There is a spirit in her family, from her father who always worked hard to provide for his family to her mother who would tailor and refit WPA clothes handouts during the Great Depression so that her family would have properly fitting clothes. Finances were tight in the dust bowl of western Kansas, and there was eternal life.
Betty was fiercely independent; she could take care of herself as she helped take care of others. In her own words this didn’t set too well before she was school age when her older brother Richard was assigned by their parents to take care of her when they were playing outside. It also had its moments after Betty retired and she moved back to Dodge City to be with her sisters. I can only imagine what it was like when Betty thought she would be taking care of her youngest sister Sharon, and Sharon though the exact opposite. For them it must have been high drama, but I can imagine that for some around them it was pretty amusing.
Yet, Betty did not do these things that she may inherit eternal life. She knew the words of Paul to Titus when he said “when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” She wasn’t like the lawyer who sought to justify himself. She was a woman who knew that it took being a part of the family to receive the inheritance. Betty served others because that is how she learned to serve God, responding to her salvation, not trying to earn it.
Jesus responded to the lawyer’s answer saying, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” By the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in God’s love Betty lived the answer to this question and continues eternal life today.
She loved God and her neighbor. And we who are here today bear witness; her life has borne glorious fruit. By those she has loved and by those who love her, the fruit of her life continues to thrive and will continue to thrive far, far into the future.
The 121st Psalm is a psalm of trust and confidence in God; assuring pilgrims on the way to and from Zion of God’s constant protection. The question raised in the first verse “I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?” is answered beginning with “My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”
She knew and lived the words of the Psalmist through her life and her acts. She knew the Lord kept her and keeps us all. The Lord keeps our lives from this time and forevermore. And she responded to the gracious love and protection of the Lord our God in acts of boldness, love, and mercy. She knew that it was up to her to share God’s love with the world. She knew this was God’s call in her life. She knew it was as important to share as it was to receive God’s grace, peace, and love.
Let me finish by sharing what Betty wrote the best advice she ever received. When she was young girl, she couldn’t have been older than nine or ten, one summer Betty and her brothers, and her sister; contracted mumps and chicken pox. As miserable as it was for her siblings, Betty had to be taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City from their western Kansas home. It took a while, but Betty mended. Just before she was discharged, the doctor gave Betty this advice, “From now on and for the rest of your life I want you to rest when you get tired, eat whether you’re hungry or not, and be a good girl.
Betty wrote that she seldom missed a meal but she had been tired beyond belief. She didn’t comment about whether or not she had been a good girl though.
Well, Betty might have seldom missed a meal but you couldn’t tell by looking at her. She also knew that sometimes the price of taking care of those you love is fatigue beyond belief. She also knew that none is good but God. Today, I say today as we come together to celebrate the life and witness the joy of the eternal life of Betty Crittenden; today I say yes, she was a very good girl.
She was a wonderful woman, sister, and mother. We celebrate the eternal life that she shared when she heard our Lord tell the lawyer “Go and do likewise.” We celebrate the example she set as a child of God who inherited life eternal as an heir to the kingdom, not as a hired hand. We celebrate the eternal life Betty lived and now continues to live in the name of her Lord.
Let us pray…
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Modus Operandi
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Chruch in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday July 18, 2010, the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Iron Chef America is a show on the Food Network which features two things I like most in my TV shows, it’s a cooking show and it’s a competition. It’s competitive cooking! According to the show’s Japanese lore, Chairman Kaga once had a dream where the most famous chefs in the world come together to compete against one another for the honor of being named Iron Chef. When this show came to America, the Chairman’s nephew took over the reigns of Kitchen Stadium where he hosts great chefs doing battle.
When the show begins, the Chairman enters Kitchen Stadium and introduces the challenger chef who will compete against one of five Iron Chefs who specializes in any one of several cuisines ranging from Japanese to Mediterranean to American Southwest. After the competing chefs are brought together, the cover is raised off of the altar and the theme ingredient is revealed.
The theme ingredient can be any food, meat or fruit or vegetable or grain even; there’s no limit to what has ended up on the altar. The ingredient has been as small as grains of sugar and as large as an elk. There have also been battles with themes like “farmer’s market” and “Thanksgiving.”
Then, after the secret ingredient is announced, the chairman cries out with a flourish “And now in the words of my uncle, Allez cuisine!” and the battle begins. At this moment, the chefs and their sous-chefs grab the theme ingredient and wage culinary war. Food flies, knives are brandished, steam rises, and flames sear the air in kitchen stadium. People are moving with hot food and sharp implements, unsafe at any speed, preparing a five course meal for the judges.
I can just see Martha in this situation. Suddenly and without warning, Jesus, presumably with his disciples since they were traveling together, knocks on the door of the home of Lazarus. Since Lazarus is a friend of Jesus they expect to be welcomed. His sister Martha opens the door to find the weary travelers seeking hospitality. She welcomes them into the home which is shared not only by Lazarus and Martha, but their sister Mary.
As soon as the weary pilgrims come through the door, Martha is off like a shot. It’s as if the cover has come off of the special theme ingredient and the Chairman has cried “Allez cuisine!” Immediately she’s pulling things out of the pantry and the garden and the blast chiller, she’s sharpening knives and stoking the fire. The fatted calf is about to be sacrificed as an offering to the Lord, dinner is set for at least fourteen, and her sous-chef is nowhere to be seen. Where’s Mary? She’s hanging out at the Chairman’s feet feasting on his every word.
I imagine Martha might have been pretty passive-aggressive about her displeasure too. She could be chopping the veggies with extra vigor, slamming the oven door, maybe even talking to herself in a voice that wasn’t meant for just herself. Finally, ticked off to the nth degree, she demands the Chairman to tell her sister to get off her tail and help out in Kitchen Stadium. Martha wasn’t wrong making her request either, hospitality had been a part of the Hebrew tradition since the days of Abraham and Mary was hanging with boys.
Then Martha might have overstepped her bounds, just a touch, when she asked her Lord, “Don’t you care?”
“My sister has left me in the kitchen to prepare a banquet for you by myself, don’t you care?”
“Don’t you care?” There’s a question for the ages. “Don’t you care?” Well, what Jesus says next is not the answer we probably aren’t expecting. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things and there is need of only one thing.” Jesus cares; it’s just that he doesn’t care about the same things Martha cares about.
We should take a moment and back up lest we blame Jesus without warrant. We need to be warned that Jesus is not scolding Martha for providing hospitality for her family and a cast of thousands. Jesus is not going after the servant Martha, the one who provides for her Lord. Jesus is talking to the over-busy Martha. He’s talking to the woman who is worried and distracted. He’s talking to a woman who is multitasking like she has six arms.
I was watching The Today Show on Friday with Marie and Enrique Iglesias was doing a show at Rockefeller Center. The most amazing thing is that a solid chunk of the crowd wasn’t watching the show; they were watching the backs of their phones and other video recording devices. They weren’t taking in the music. They weren’t enjoying the show. They weren’t even enjoying being ten yards from a major pop star and a couple thousand of their closest friends. They were recording it so that they could post it on the internet for the world to see. As of last night, over 2,200 videos were returned when I used the search terms “Enrique Iglesias Today Show Video” on YouTube.[1]
The same search on Google returned over 140 million hits and did it in four-tenths of a second.[2]
We multitask. We can’t just be at a show, we have to record it. We can’t just have an opinion; we have to post it to our blogs and our Twitter account and our facebook page. It’s the way we operate, it’s our modus operandi. Our world has become an interconnected mess of web and text and phone and video. We can’t just sit and be still, abide in the presence of the Lord.
Who thought this when the first cellular phones had shoulder straps and ran on something a little smaller than a car battery? I can still remember William Conrad as Frank Cannon on TV with a rotary dial car phone having to dial the “mobile operator” to make a connection from the scene of the crime. Not five years ago the iPhone would was a dream coming true and twenty years ago it was science fiction. Now it’s where you can call a friend, shoot a video, read a book, pay your bills, and text your kids. The next version will probably allow us to do it all at the same time.
Martha fusses because she’s over busy. With a good smart phone she could use one application to get the meal catered and another to make sure the silverware is placed around the plate properly.
Yet, Jesus does not discredit Martha’s work at providing for her guests. Jesus does not shame her for preparing food for him and a house full of visitors. This kind of service, this kind of work is important in the kingdom of God. Hey, every “Habitat for Humanity” project includes a group whose responsibility to cook the food for the folks using power tools. Still, some days there’s something more important than doing stuff, even stuff for God.
Martha is worked up over the preparations for the meal that she will share with Jesus. She is so worked up that she is upset with her sister for not helping. She’s so worked up that she is upset with Jesus for not telling her sister to get up and help. She is so worked up that she tells her Lord what to do. She is worked up over the meal when she should be worked up over the guest of honor instead. Instead of participating in fellowship she’s worked up with the details of preparing it. Jesus doesn’t mean to scold her; he just wants to tell her that instead of videotaping his appearance at her home to post on YouTube she should be joining in instead.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman put it this way about a trip to Paris some years ago:
The [taxi] driver and I had been together for an hour, and between the two of us we had been doing six different things. He was driving, talking on his phone and watching a video. I was riding, working on my laptop and listening to my iPod.
There was only one thing we never did: Talk to each other.[3]
He was lamenting because he could remember a day when foreign correspondents often quoted cab drivers. I imagine it’s not just because a cab driver can be opinionated, but because of the dozens of fares brought in from Charles de Gaulle Airport everyday. I imagine cab drivers could be privy to some very interesting conversations. We might call it eves dropping, but to a couple of generations of foreign correspondents it was research.
What a resource, and now it’s lost because the driver is now connected with the world instead of with the person sitting two feet behind him. The columnist lamented that while he had been with his driver, he wasn’t even close to him. He laments that while technology brings us closer together, it tears us further apart. This often leads to what one writer calls “continuous partial attention.”[4] An example: If you come into my study and I’m checking email and looking up who has been to my blog instead of looking at you directly in front of me, then you may be standing only six feet away, but I could well be on the other side of the world.[5]
What is the better part, what is the part Mary chose? Well, theologian John Shea notes that what English bibles translate as “better” is better rendered from the Greek as “good.” Mary has chosen the good. She has chosen what is good. She has chosen who is good. She has chosen connection to God who is “the ground and energy of effective action.”[6] She chose to be with her Lord, at his feet, hanging on his every word. Rather than focusing on the fringes of a life of faith, Jesus invites her to participate and take a load off. Jesus promises that this will not be taken away from her.
Jesus shows us what it means to be present. Jesus shows us what it means to be in the moment, not preparing for the next. He shows us that as important as it is to feed the folks at a Habitat house raising, it is as important, maybe even more important, to be with the family that is receiving the house and the Lord whose goodness makes it possible.
What is better is what is good. In our reading from Luke Jesus does not give us the contrast between one who is doing work and another who lounges. He does not give us a contrast between one who toils and one who is contemplative. He is not even giving us a contrast between a woman who is passive and one who is busy and bossy. Jesus is showing us that being with him is more important than being on our own.
We are people of the book and table. We are people of both word and sacrament. Both are important. Yet, we are warned against being overwhelmed by the details of everyday life so that we might be present with God and with one another. We are warned about being worried so that we might be present with God and with one another. We are warned about being distracted so that we might be present with God and with one another.
Martha asks, “Oh Lord, don’t you care.” Jesus responds, “Oh yes Martha, I care so much that I have come to be with you now and always. Jesus cares so much that he still welcomes us into God’s presence and God is good. We are called to come together, and we are called to come together at the feet of our Lord Jesus, the one who is good who provides us with what is better, with what will not be taken away. That’s God’s way of doing things. That’s God’s modus operandi.
[1]YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=enrique+iglesias+today+show+video&aq=0, retrieved July 17, 2010.
[2] Google.com, http://www.google.com/search?q=enrique+iglesias+today+show+video&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1, retrieved July 17, 2010.
[3] New York Times, http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/opinion/01friedman.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=%22The%Taxi%Driver%22&cst-cse, retrieved July 17, 2010.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Actually, I don’t have a computer in my study at the church. So there’s one thing I don’t have to worry about.
[6] Shea, John, “The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels for Christian Preachers and Teachers: The Restless Widow, Year C.” Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2006, 203.
Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Iron Chef America is a show on the Food Network which features two things I like most in my TV shows, it’s a cooking show and it’s a competition. It’s competitive cooking! According to the show’s Japanese lore, Chairman Kaga once had a dream where the most famous chefs in the world come together to compete against one another for the honor of being named Iron Chef. When this show came to America, the Chairman’s nephew took over the reigns of Kitchen Stadium where he hosts great chefs doing battle.
When the show begins, the Chairman enters Kitchen Stadium and introduces the challenger chef who will compete against one of five Iron Chefs who specializes in any one of several cuisines ranging from Japanese to Mediterranean to American Southwest. After the competing chefs are brought together, the cover is raised off of the altar and the theme ingredient is revealed.
The theme ingredient can be any food, meat or fruit or vegetable or grain even; there’s no limit to what has ended up on the altar. The ingredient has been as small as grains of sugar and as large as an elk. There have also been battles with themes like “farmer’s market” and “Thanksgiving.”
Then, after the secret ingredient is announced, the chairman cries out with a flourish “And now in the words of my uncle, Allez cuisine!” and the battle begins. At this moment, the chefs and their sous-chefs grab the theme ingredient and wage culinary war. Food flies, knives are brandished, steam rises, and flames sear the air in kitchen stadium. People are moving with hot food and sharp implements, unsafe at any speed, preparing a five course meal for the judges.
I can just see Martha in this situation. Suddenly and without warning, Jesus, presumably with his disciples since they were traveling together, knocks on the door of the home of Lazarus. Since Lazarus is a friend of Jesus they expect to be welcomed. His sister Martha opens the door to find the weary travelers seeking hospitality. She welcomes them into the home which is shared not only by Lazarus and Martha, but their sister Mary.
As soon as the weary pilgrims come through the door, Martha is off like a shot. It’s as if the cover has come off of the special theme ingredient and the Chairman has cried “Allez cuisine!” Immediately she’s pulling things out of the pantry and the garden and the blast chiller, she’s sharpening knives and stoking the fire. The fatted calf is about to be sacrificed as an offering to the Lord, dinner is set for at least fourteen, and her sous-chef is nowhere to be seen. Where’s Mary? She’s hanging out at the Chairman’s feet feasting on his every word.
I imagine Martha might have been pretty passive-aggressive about her displeasure too. She could be chopping the veggies with extra vigor, slamming the oven door, maybe even talking to herself in a voice that wasn’t meant for just herself. Finally, ticked off to the nth degree, she demands the Chairman to tell her sister to get off her tail and help out in Kitchen Stadium. Martha wasn’t wrong making her request either, hospitality had been a part of the Hebrew tradition since the days of Abraham and Mary was hanging with boys.
Then Martha might have overstepped her bounds, just a touch, when she asked her Lord, “Don’t you care?”
“My sister has left me in the kitchen to prepare a banquet for you by myself, don’t you care?”
“Don’t you care?” There’s a question for the ages. “Don’t you care?” Well, what Jesus says next is not the answer we probably aren’t expecting. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things and there is need of only one thing.” Jesus cares; it’s just that he doesn’t care about the same things Martha cares about.
We should take a moment and back up lest we blame Jesus without warrant. We need to be warned that Jesus is not scolding Martha for providing hospitality for her family and a cast of thousands. Jesus is not going after the servant Martha, the one who provides for her Lord. Jesus is talking to the over-busy Martha. He’s talking to the woman who is worried and distracted. He’s talking to a woman who is multitasking like she has six arms.
I was watching The Today Show on Friday with Marie and Enrique Iglesias was doing a show at Rockefeller Center. The most amazing thing is that a solid chunk of the crowd wasn’t watching the show; they were watching the backs of their phones and other video recording devices. They weren’t taking in the music. They weren’t enjoying the show. They weren’t even enjoying being ten yards from a major pop star and a couple thousand of their closest friends. They were recording it so that they could post it on the internet for the world to see. As of last night, over 2,200 videos were returned when I used the search terms “Enrique Iglesias Today Show Video” on YouTube.[1]
The same search on Google returned over 140 million hits and did it in four-tenths of a second.[2]
We multitask. We can’t just be at a show, we have to record it. We can’t just have an opinion; we have to post it to our blogs and our Twitter account and our facebook page. It’s the way we operate, it’s our modus operandi. Our world has become an interconnected mess of web and text and phone and video. We can’t just sit and be still, abide in the presence of the Lord.
Who thought this when the first cellular phones had shoulder straps and ran on something a little smaller than a car battery? I can still remember William Conrad as Frank Cannon on TV with a rotary dial car phone having to dial the “mobile operator” to make a connection from the scene of the crime. Not five years ago the iPhone would was a dream coming true and twenty years ago it was science fiction. Now it’s where you can call a friend, shoot a video, read a book, pay your bills, and text your kids. The next version will probably allow us to do it all at the same time.
Martha fusses because she’s over busy. With a good smart phone she could use one application to get the meal catered and another to make sure the silverware is placed around the plate properly.
Yet, Jesus does not discredit Martha’s work at providing for her guests. Jesus does not shame her for preparing food for him and a house full of visitors. This kind of service, this kind of work is important in the kingdom of God. Hey, every “Habitat for Humanity” project includes a group whose responsibility to cook the food for the folks using power tools. Still, some days there’s something more important than doing stuff, even stuff for God.
Martha is worked up over the preparations for the meal that she will share with Jesus. She is so worked up that she is upset with her sister for not helping. She’s so worked up that she is upset with Jesus for not telling her sister to get up and help. She is so worked up that she tells her Lord what to do. She is worked up over the meal when she should be worked up over the guest of honor instead. Instead of participating in fellowship she’s worked up with the details of preparing it. Jesus doesn’t mean to scold her; he just wants to tell her that instead of videotaping his appearance at her home to post on YouTube she should be joining in instead.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman put it this way about a trip to Paris some years ago:
The [taxi] driver and I had been together for an hour, and between the two of us we had been doing six different things. He was driving, talking on his phone and watching a video. I was riding, working on my laptop and listening to my iPod.
There was only one thing we never did: Talk to each other.[3]
He was lamenting because he could remember a day when foreign correspondents often quoted cab drivers. I imagine it’s not just because a cab driver can be opinionated, but because of the dozens of fares brought in from Charles de Gaulle Airport everyday. I imagine cab drivers could be privy to some very interesting conversations. We might call it eves dropping, but to a couple of generations of foreign correspondents it was research.
What a resource, and now it’s lost because the driver is now connected with the world instead of with the person sitting two feet behind him. The columnist lamented that while he had been with his driver, he wasn’t even close to him. He laments that while technology brings us closer together, it tears us further apart. This often leads to what one writer calls “continuous partial attention.”[4] An example: If you come into my study and I’m checking email and looking up who has been to my blog instead of looking at you directly in front of me, then you may be standing only six feet away, but I could well be on the other side of the world.[5]
What is the better part, what is the part Mary chose? Well, theologian John Shea notes that what English bibles translate as “better” is better rendered from the Greek as “good.” Mary has chosen the good. She has chosen what is good. She has chosen who is good. She has chosen connection to God who is “the ground and energy of effective action.”[6] She chose to be with her Lord, at his feet, hanging on his every word. Rather than focusing on the fringes of a life of faith, Jesus invites her to participate and take a load off. Jesus promises that this will not be taken away from her.
Jesus shows us what it means to be present. Jesus shows us what it means to be in the moment, not preparing for the next. He shows us that as important as it is to feed the folks at a Habitat house raising, it is as important, maybe even more important, to be with the family that is receiving the house and the Lord whose goodness makes it possible.
What is better is what is good. In our reading from Luke Jesus does not give us the contrast between one who is doing work and another who lounges. He does not give us a contrast between one who toils and one who is contemplative. He is not even giving us a contrast between a woman who is passive and one who is busy and bossy. Jesus is showing us that being with him is more important than being on our own.
We are people of the book and table. We are people of both word and sacrament. Both are important. Yet, we are warned against being overwhelmed by the details of everyday life so that we might be present with God and with one another. We are warned about being worried so that we might be present with God and with one another. We are warned about being distracted so that we might be present with God and with one another.
Martha asks, “Oh Lord, don’t you care.” Jesus responds, “Oh yes Martha, I care so much that I have come to be with you now and always. Jesus cares so much that he still welcomes us into God’s presence and God is good. We are called to come together, and we are called to come together at the feet of our Lord Jesus, the one who is good who provides us with what is better, with what will not be taken away. That’s God’s way of doing things. That’s God’s modus operandi.
[1]YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=enrique+iglesias+today+show+video&aq=0, retrieved July 17, 2010.
[2] Google.com, http://www.google.com/search?q=enrique+iglesias+today+show+video&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1, retrieved July 17, 2010.
[3] New York Times, http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/opinion/01friedman.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=%22The%Taxi%Driver%22&cst-cse, retrieved July 17, 2010.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Actually, I don’t have a computer in my study at the church. So there’s one thing I don’t have to worry about.
[6] Shea, John, “The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels for Christian Preachers and Teachers: The Restless Widow, Year C.” Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2006, 203.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday July 11, 2010, the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. If the church had a video projection system, I would have played this video before the sermon:
Amos 7:7-17
Psalm 82
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
If you know the lyrics, sing along. If you don’t, then just hum. Nobody is going to mind.
It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood; it’s a beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
It’s a neighborly day in this beauty wood; a neighborly day for a beauty.
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
I’ve always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day; since we’re together we might as well say:
“Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?”
Won’t you please, won’t you please, please won’t you be my neighbor.[1]
New episodes of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” were shown on PBS stations from 1970 until 2001 and on National Educational Television two years before that. Reruns can still be seen on many PBS stations including the one I saw this morning on KAFT.[2]
The show was characterized by its quiet simplicity and gentleness. Episodes did not have a plot, but they did have a theme. They consisted of Rogers speaking directly to the viewer about various issues, taking the viewer on tours of factories, demonstrating experiments, crafts, and music, and interacting with his friends. The half-hour episodes were punctuated by a puppet segment chronicling occurrences in the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe.”
At the beginning of each episode, Mister Rogers enters his television studio house singing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” He hangs his suit jacket in a closet, puts on a zippered cardigan, and takes off his dress shoes to put on his sneakers. One of Rogers’ sweaters now hangs in the Smithsonian Institution, a testament to the cultural influence of his simple daily ritual.
Rogers covered a broad range of topics over the years, and the series did not shy away from issues that other children’s programming avoided. In fact, Rogers endeared himself to many when, on March 23, 1970, he dealt with the death of one of his pet goldfish. The series also dealt with competition, divorce, and war. Rogers returned to the topic of anger regularly and focused on peaceful ways of dealing with angry feelings.[3]
All of this happened in the context of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, a mystical place where the imaginary fourth wall of the television screen magically disappeared for a half hour and we were all welcomed into a world of peace and grace.
Considering Mister Fred Rogers was a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and an ordained Presbyterian Minister of Word and Sacrament, welcoming everyone into a world of peace and grace was right up his alley.
So the expert in religious law came to test Jesus asking, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replies in true rabbinical fashion, asking a question when an answer is sought. “What is written in the Law?”
The lawyer answers this question by a perfect recitation from Leviticus and Deuteronomy[4] saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus affirms the lawyer’s answer saying, “Do this, and you will live.” The experts in the law commonly accepted that observance of the Torah was essential to inherit eternal life.[5] So when Jesus and the lawyer agree on this point, they share the truth of thousands of years of tradition.
But the lawyer’s questions are more than an academic or rabbinic exercise. He wants to justify himself. So he asks Jesus another question, “Who is my neighbor?” This is an important question, more important than we may suppose. What gets lost in the translation of Leviticus is that the original command to love the neighbor specifies “your kin” and “any of your people.”[6] So the lawyer wants to be justified that by helping his family, his people, and his nation he will inherit eternal life.
Then Jesus tells the legal expert a familiar little story and asks him another question, “So which of these three, the Priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan, do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
The lawyer answers, “The one who showed him mercy was a neighbor.” In saying this, the lawyer, the expert in the law tells the world that being a neighbor is about more than just being kin or members of the same nation. It has to do with action and it has to do with mercy. Being a neighbor now means more than it did in Leviticus. As a result, Jesus gives him his charge, “Go, and do likewise.”
Jesus shares the vision of inheriting eternal life written in the Torah with the lawyer. Then he shows him that the Living Torah, the person and the work and the word of Jesus Christ, expands the Torah given to Moses. Justification by the Torah now means that loving God and loving your neighbor are inseparable.[7] Being justified means more than just taking care of business as usual.
The hardest part about this story is that the holy men in the parable, the priest and the Levite, were doing what they were supposed to do. They were going to work. They were keeping their hands clean. They were doing what was right in the name of the Law. They followed the rules and abided by the regulations approved by the General Assembly, er, the Presbytery, er, the law handed down to Moses. They did the right thing, but by doing just what was right was no longer enough in the eyes of God.
To the Greco-Roman world, mercy was a character flaw; the ideal was justice. Since mercy involves providing unearned help or relief, it was contrary to justice. This unearned relief, we call it grace.
Sociologist Rodney Stark put it this way. “The notion that the gods care how we treat one another would have been dismissed as patently absurd. This was the moral climate in which Christianity taught that mercy is one of the primary virtues—that a merciful God requires humans to be merciful. Moreover, the corollary that because God loves humanity, Christians may not please God unless they love one another was something entirely new.”[8]
Mercy is the new benchmark in justification. Mercy is the new benchmark in being a neighbor. Mercy has a place in the administration of justice in the Christ’s kingdom. The ancient Greeks disagreed, but theirs is not the way to inherit eternal life. Our courts may disagree, but theirs is not the way to eternal life. The priests and the Levites met their obligations to the temple, but they didn’t act out of love. Only the despised Samaritan acted in accord with the living Torah.
Only the despised Samaritan showed love in an act of mercy. Only the loathed foreigner connected loving God and loving your neighbor as the way to being justified. Only the reviled outsider saw his brother in the man left beaten on the side of the road. Only the detested alien saw the way to justification through mercy. Only the abhorred stranger showed the divinely required attitude of mercy we are called to have toward one another. And all of this came from the mouth of a legal expert.
An ancient rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when the night had ended and the day was on its way back. “Could it be,” asked one student, “when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it is a sheep or a dog?” “No,” answered the Rabbi. “Could it be,” asked another, “when you look at a tree in the distance and tell whether it is a fig tree or a peach tree?” “No,” said the Rabbi. “Well, then what is it?” his pupils demanded. “It is when you look on someone’s face and can see… your brother. Because if you cannot do this, then no matter what time it is, it is still night.”[9]
Eternal life and mercy; peace and grace; isn’t this what we want from our neighbors? We want people in our lives who show what it means to demonstrate the fullness of God’s mercy. We want people in our lives who act in ways that benefit all of us, not just a specific few. We want to know what it is to receive divine mercy, God’s divine loving-kindness. We must realize that this mercy arises out of a mutual relationship one for another, not just as a winner-take-all justice the ancient Greeks favored.
You all might remember this story Marie Bolerjack told:
She, Austin and the kids were going from Mississippi to Oklahoma to visit family. It was the mid 1960’s and the boys were still quite young. Well, it was about noonish when they hit Little Rock and the kids were hungry. Austin and Marie didn’t want to pull off the highway in Little Rock, so Marie promised the boys that they would get some lunch as soon as they got past the city. Well, being the mid 60’s there wasn’t one or six fast food places at every exit, so they ended up traveling quite a way before finding a little diner. They got out of the car, and I bet the boys were cheering as they went to the door. By this time, it was a little after one in the afternoon, they went into the diner and Marie asked if they are still serving lunch. The black woman behind the counter said “Sure honey, have a seat.”
As the afternoon went on, one at a time, several people, all black, came into the diner. They walked up to the woman at the counter, whispered something, and left. After this happened two or three times, it occurred to Marie that they were in a café for blacks. Oh. “But you know,” Marie said, “nobody made us feel uncomfortable. We had a nice lunch and got back on the road.”
Hearing this story, and knowing the volatile racial climate of Little Rock in the 60’s, this story is amazing. Who is my neighbor? To the woman running this diner, her neighbors were a family from Mississippi traveling across Arkansas who needed lunch. Austin and Marie became her neighbors as soon as she helped them on the side of the road.
The lawyer in the story accepts Jesus’ revision of the Torah. He learns that the one who shows mercy like the Samaritan is the neighbor, not those who share family or heritage like the priest and the Levite. What might have started as a theological exercise between the lawyer and teacher becomes more when the Torah comes to life in Jesus Christ.
When the law comes to life, we can no longer answer these questions like we’re taking a college entrance exam. We now have to answer the questions with our hands even more than we do with our heads. Jesus commands us to be good neighbors; loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves. On this the words of the Law and the prophets hang.
This is our call, this is our vocation. It is no longer enough just to do what the written law tells us; now there is more. We are called to this new word of discipleship when he charges the lawyer, “Go, and do likewise.”
So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day; since we’re together we might as well say: Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?
[1] Rogers, Fred, “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Pittsburgh, PA: Family Communications, Inc., 1967.
[2] KAFT is the Arkansas Educational Television Network/Public Broadcasting System affiliate in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
[3] Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Rogers%27_Neighborhood, retrieved July 8, 2010
[4] Leviticus 19:18, Deuteronomy 6:5
[5] “Adlet and Blink,” Commentary section, from Homiletics Online, http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=930000347, accessed June 10, 2007.
[6] 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 427.
[7] Kittel, Gerhardt, “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. vi, page 316
[8] Galloway, Paul, “How Jesus Won the West: Christianity became dominant because it offered better ideas and unexpected mercy,” The Lutheran, November 1998, 19.
[9] Thompson, Marjorie J. “Soul Feast” Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995, 127.
Amos 7:7-17
Psalm 82
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
If you know the lyrics, sing along. If you don’t, then just hum. Nobody is going to mind.
It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood; it’s a beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
It’s a neighborly day in this beauty wood; a neighborly day for a beauty.
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
I’ve always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day; since we’re together we might as well say:
“Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?”
Won’t you please, won’t you please, please won’t you be my neighbor.[1]
New episodes of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” were shown on PBS stations from 1970 until 2001 and on National Educational Television two years before that. Reruns can still be seen on many PBS stations including the one I saw this morning on KAFT.[2]
The show was characterized by its quiet simplicity and gentleness. Episodes did not have a plot, but they did have a theme. They consisted of Rogers speaking directly to the viewer about various issues, taking the viewer on tours of factories, demonstrating experiments, crafts, and music, and interacting with his friends. The half-hour episodes were punctuated by a puppet segment chronicling occurrences in the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe.”
At the beginning of each episode, Mister Rogers enters his television studio house singing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” He hangs his suit jacket in a closet, puts on a zippered cardigan, and takes off his dress shoes to put on his sneakers. One of Rogers’ sweaters now hangs in the Smithsonian Institution, a testament to the cultural influence of his simple daily ritual.
Rogers covered a broad range of topics over the years, and the series did not shy away from issues that other children’s programming avoided. In fact, Rogers endeared himself to many when, on March 23, 1970, he dealt with the death of one of his pet goldfish. The series also dealt with competition, divorce, and war. Rogers returned to the topic of anger regularly and focused on peaceful ways of dealing with angry feelings.[3]
All of this happened in the context of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, a mystical place where the imaginary fourth wall of the television screen magically disappeared for a half hour and we were all welcomed into a world of peace and grace.
Considering Mister Fred Rogers was a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and an ordained Presbyterian Minister of Word and Sacrament, welcoming everyone into a world of peace and grace was right up his alley.
So the expert in religious law came to test Jesus asking, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replies in true rabbinical fashion, asking a question when an answer is sought. “What is written in the Law?”
The lawyer answers this question by a perfect recitation from Leviticus and Deuteronomy[4] saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus affirms the lawyer’s answer saying, “Do this, and you will live.” The experts in the law commonly accepted that observance of the Torah was essential to inherit eternal life.[5] So when Jesus and the lawyer agree on this point, they share the truth of thousands of years of tradition.
But the lawyer’s questions are more than an academic or rabbinic exercise. He wants to justify himself. So he asks Jesus another question, “Who is my neighbor?” This is an important question, more important than we may suppose. What gets lost in the translation of Leviticus is that the original command to love the neighbor specifies “your kin” and “any of your people.”[6] So the lawyer wants to be justified that by helping his family, his people, and his nation he will inherit eternal life.
Then Jesus tells the legal expert a familiar little story and asks him another question, “So which of these three, the Priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan, do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
The lawyer answers, “The one who showed him mercy was a neighbor.” In saying this, the lawyer, the expert in the law tells the world that being a neighbor is about more than just being kin or members of the same nation. It has to do with action and it has to do with mercy. Being a neighbor now means more than it did in Leviticus. As a result, Jesus gives him his charge, “Go, and do likewise.”
Jesus shares the vision of inheriting eternal life written in the Torah with the lawyer. Then he shows him that the Living Torah, the person and the work and the word of Jesus Christ, expands the Torah given to Moses. Justification by the Torah now means that loving God and loving your neighbor are inseparable.[7] Being justified means more than just taking care of business as usual.
The hardest part about this story is that the holy men in the parable, the priest and the Levite, were doing what they were supposed to do. They were going to work. They were keeping their hands clean. They were doing what was right in the name of the Law. They followed the rules and abided by the regulations approved by the General Assembly, er, the Presbytery, er, the law handed down to Moses. They did the right thing, but by doing just what was right was no longer enough in the eyes of God.
To the Greco-Roman world, mercy was a character flaw; the ideal was justice. Since mercy involves providing unearned help or relief, it was contrary to justice. This unearned relief, we call it grace.
Sociologist Rodney Stark put it this way. “The notion that the gods care how we treat one another would have been dismissed as patently absurd. This was the moral climate in which Christianity taught that mercy is one of the primary virtues—that a merciful God requires humans to be merciful. Moreover, the corollary that because God loves humanity, Christians may not please God unless they love one another was something entirely new.”[8]
Mercy is the new benchmark in justification. Mercy is the new benchmark in being a neighbor. Mercy has a place in the administration of justice in the Christ’s kingdom. The ancient Greeks disagreed, but theirs is not the way to inherit eternal life. Our courts may disagree, but theirs is not the way to eternal life. The priests and the Levites met their obligations to the temple, but they didn’t act out of love. Only the despised Samaritan acted in accord with the living Torah.
Only the despised Samaritan showed love in an act of mercy. Only the loathed foreigner connected loving God and loving your neighbor as the way to being justified. Only the reviled outsider saw his brother in the man left beaten on the side of the road. Only the detested alien saw the way to justification through mercy. Only the abhorred stranger showed the divinely required attitude of mercy we are called to have toward one another. And all of this came from the mouth of a legal expert.
An ancient rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when the night had ended and the day was on its way back. “Could it be,” asked one student, “when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it is a sheep or a dog?” “No,” answered the Rabbi. “Could it be,” asked another, “when you look at a tree in the distance and tell whether it is a fig tree or a peach tree?” “No,” said the Rabbi. “Well, then what is it?” his pupils demanded. “It is when you look on someone’s face and can see… your brother. Because if you cannot do this, then no matter what time it is, it is still night.”[9]
Eternal life and mercy; peace and grace; isn’t this what we want from our neighbors? We want people in our lives who show what it means to demonstrate the fullness of God’s mercy. We want people in our lives who act in ways that benefit all of us, not just a specific few. We want to know what it is to receive divine mercy, God’s divine loving-kindness. We must realize that this mercy arises out of a mutual relationship one for another, not just as a winner-take-all justice the ancient Greeks favored.
You all might remember this story Marie Bolerjack told:
She, Austin and the kids were going from Mississippi to Oklahoma to visit family. It was the mid 1960’s and the boys were still quite young. Well, it was about noonish when they hit Little Rock and the kids were hungry. Austin and Marie didn’t want to pull off the highway in Little Rock, so Marie promised the boys that they would get some lunch as soon as they got past the city. Well, being the mid 60’s there wasn’t one or six fast food places at every exit, so they ended up traveling quite a way before finding a little diner. They got out of the car, and I bet the boys were cheering as they went to the door. By this time, it was a little after one in the afternoon, they went into the diner and Marie asked if they are still serving lunch. The black woman behind the counter said “Sure honey, have a seat.”
As the afternoon went on, one at a time, several people, all black, came into the diner. They walked up to the woman at the counter, whispered something, and left. After this happened two or three times, it occurred to Marie that they were in a café for blacks. Oh. “But you know,” Marie said, “nobody made us feel uncomfortable. We had a nice lunch and got back on the road.”
Hearing this story, and knowing the volatile racial climate of Little Rock in the 60’s, this story is amazing. Who is my neighbor? To the woman running this diner, her neighbors were a family from Mississippi traveling across Arkansas who needed lunch. Austin and Marie became her neighbors as soon as she helped them on the side of the road.
The lawyer in the story accepts Jesus’ revision of the Torah. He learns that the one who shows mercy like the Samaritan is the neighbor, not those who share family or heritage like the priest and the Levite. What might have started as a theological exercise between the lawyer and teacher becomes more when the Torah comes to life in Jesus Christ.
When the law comes to life, we can no longer answer these questions like we’re taking a college entrance exam. We now have to answer the questions with our hands even more than we do with our heads. Jesus commands us to be good neighbors; loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves. On this the words of the Law and the prophets hang.
This is our call, this is our vocation. It is no longer enough just to do what the written law tells us; now there is more. We are called to this new word of discipleship when he charges the lawyer, “Go, and do likewise.”
So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day; since we’re together we might as well say: Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?
[1] Rogers, Fred, “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Pittsburgh, PA: Family Communications, Inc., 1967.
[2] KAFT is the Arkansas Educational Television Network/Public Broadcasting System affiliate in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
[3] Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Rogers%27_Neighborhood, retrieved July 8, 2010
[4] Leviticus 19:18, Deuteronomy 6:5
[5] “Adlet and Blink,” Commentary section, from Homiletics Online, http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=930000347, accessed June 10, 2007.
[6] 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 427.
[7] Kittel, Gerhardt, “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. vi, page 316
[8] Galloway, Paul, “How Jesus Won the West: Christianity became dominant because it offered better ideas and unexpected mercy,” The Lutheran, November 1998, 19.
[9] Thompson, Marjorie J. “Soul Feast” Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995, 127.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
70 or 72?
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday July 4, 2010, the 14th Sunday in Ordinary time.
2Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30
Galatians 6:1-16
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
So today, our gospel reading begins with Jesus appointing the seventy and sending them ahead in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go, or is it the seventy-two? As I read this morning, the New Revised Standard Version has the number at seventy. The New International Version has the number at seventy-two. Just to keep everything interesting, the ancient Greek versions of Luke are split answering this question.[1] Well, it is said that it is best that scripture interpret itself; so let’s find why the number could be either seventy or seventy-two.
The New Interpreter’s Bible[2] reminds us that Genesis 10 lists the nations that sprang from Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It says that it is quite probable that these are the nations where Jesus sent the others. These nations are the “every place and town” mentioned in Luke that Jesus intended to go to. It would make sense, if Jesus’ first mission was to redeem the nation of Israel, these are the places he would go and the people he would see.
By now, you may have noted one little problem with my answer, it’s not a number. I haven’t said whether the number of folks he’s sending out, and now where he’s sending them out to, should be seventy or seventy-two.
Hold on, here comes the answer. You see, in the Hebrew Scriptures, seventy nations were listed in Genesis 10 and in the Greek version there were seventy-two. So the answer to the question is quite probably, “The choice of seventy or seventy-two most likely depends on which translation of the Old Testament was used by which manuscript writers and editors to interpret the question of how many nations sprang from the loins of Noah-slash-How many towns and places Jesus intended to go.”
Again, there isn’t a number in the answer to my question, is there. Now instead of a good answer we have another question.[3]
Really, it may be as close to an answer as we can get. To answer the question just decide for yourself which ancient manuscript of the Old Testament floats your boat and once you make that decision the choice of seventy or seventy-two is easy.
As for me, I love the question and I find the answer interesting. I learned more than I intended seeking the answer to it. I have even learned enough to spend a few minutes on a Sunday morning sharing it with you. But as for the importance of this question, “seventy or seventy-two?” it doesn’t mean much in the kingdom of heaven.
What is important, what is of great evangelical and biblical importance is that Jesus set aside a number of people, and sent them off in pairs, breaking ground for him in all of the towns and places he intended to go taking God’s peace to the nations.
If there’s one thing to take from this question, it’s not which number, it’s why the number. The why is sharing God’s peace and preparing the Lord’s way.
There are ten elements to Jesus’ commission to the disciples.[4]
The commissioning of these disciples affirms that there is a need for the church in the world. Jesus sends the disciples to the places he himself intended to go. They were sent first to prepare his way. Yes, these are the places the Lord intends to go and the disciples are sent first.
The commission emphasizes the importance of prayer. They are told that they are to pray for laborers, fellow laborers to join them in the field and reap the harvest which is plentiful. They are to seek God for the glory of the gospel.
They are called to be active in their work in the kingdom of God. They are not called to simply sit at the feet of the Lord and seek their own spiritual growth. The disciples are sent into the world. They are sent into the field to seek the growth of the kingdom.
The commission does not come without a warning. The commission is dangerous. They will be like lambs in a world of wolves. They will be the young and defenseless in a world that is wily and treacherous.
The next part of the commission seems out of line with the rest, they are to greet no one upon the road. If I were sent out to share God’s peace, I would think that telling everyone I met would be a good thing; but this is not their commission. They were called to a specific time and place and it was not on the road. They are called to focus on their journey and not be distracted by the priorities of other travelers.
The commission then specifies the purpose of their mission to the nations, to offer God’s peace. For the cities that accepted the gospel, the disciples were to enter the house and say, “Peace to this house.”
After extending the peace of God to the household, they could receive the peace of God in hospitality. They were told to stay at the first household where they were welcomed; they weren’t to cherry pick for better digs. This means that the host sets the context of the witness. They are not to impose restrictions upon their hosts.
They were to accept food and water to quench hunger and thirst. This foreshadowed the problem that Peter would face later in Acts. If the household that welcomed them was not a Jewish family but a gentile God-fearing family, dinnertime could be dicey. They could be offered things that they would not eat under Jewish culinary restrictions. Yet, this is what the Lord demanded. They were to accept the hospitality provided and not seek other “more suitable” accommodations.
When they entered a town where they were welcomed, they were to heal the sick and declare “The kingdom of God has come near you.” Together, community was developed through hospitality, care of physical needs, and proclamation of the gospel.[5] This is how the disciples were commissioned to take Jesus’ work into Galilee.
Their commission also took into account that the peace will not always be accepted. This is always a difficult thing to imagine, but some will reject the wonder and the glory of God’s peace.
So despite any rejection they face; they were to persevere in their mission. As for the towns that would not accept them, they were told to go out into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you.” Strong stuff, it’s like saying “If that’s the way that you want it, oh that’s the way I want it more.”[6] It’s tough, but they are called to keep on despite the rejection of God’s peace.
As for the word of God, the redemptive word was nearly the same for the nations that do not receive the peace of God. They still receive the Word: “The kingdom of God has come near.” They just don’t hear, “The kingdom of God has come near you.” Now that’s a difference.
So again I say that the answer to seventy or seventy-two isn’t so important. It is when we as the Body of Christ over-focus on the minutiae, the “seventy or seventy-two” type of questions, that we fail to answer the call to the bigger questions of the church’s mission.
Last week I said that our single minded focus is to abide in the First Commandment, “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other Gods before me.” Today we learn what it means for us to share that commandment with others.
God’s commission Jesus gives in this passage is still important for us today. There is still a place for the church in the world. There is still a place for disciples to go before the Messiah returns. We too are called to pray for the church which is the Body of Christ. We are to pray as we go into the world and we are to pray for others to join in the fellowship and work of God’s bountiful harvest. We aren’t to pray for folks in the pews just to bring in more offerings (as nice as that would be); we are to seek disciples for the work of the kingdom of God.
We are to be active as well. I praise God for everyone who comes to hear the gospel of the Lord, but hearing the gospel is not all that discipleship demands. We are called not just to come, but also to go in the name of the Lord. We are called to go into a dangerous world.
We are called to go concentrating on what it means that we are focused on the gospel and not every cause that crosses our path. We are to extend God’s peace to a world that sorely needs to hear the good news of its coming.
We are not to impose ourselves and our way of life on others. In the first century, this would mean that we were not to demand circumcision on all men or humiliate your host for offering shrimp wrapped in bacon. We are all children of God and as a wise man once said we must seek to understand then we can seek to be understood.[7]
We are to know that the peace will not always be seen by others as peace. This is particularly true today when God’s peace is often offered with a dose of bigotry and fear. We need to remember that fear seeks safety, love seeks the truth; and our truth is in God’s peace. We are to take God’s peace as our commission to take the word that “the kingdom of God has come near” and share it with the world. The message of God’s redemptive peace does not change regardless of whether it is accepted or not.
What’s important about our reading is that it gave the folks Jesus sent out their commission and it gives us our commission for taking God and God’s peace into the world too. It’s not so important whether it’s seventy or seventy-two. In this case it’s not so important whether the Hebrew of Greek Old Testament texts are more accurate. What’s important is the commission.
The question of why these numbers are important is the better question. We now know the reason for the number is that Jesus was laying the path, using disciples to make straight his way into the world. Jesus gave them a commission to go into the world sharing the nearness of the kingdom of God with all would listen. Their commission is our commission too.
We are called to take God’s words to others. We are to take God’s peace to those who live across the street and across the globe. So let’s remember to take the most important things. Things like “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other Gods before me.” Things like God’s peace. Things like “the kingdom of God is coming near.” We need to keep a single minded focus on these most important things. Remember, we can’t agree whether it’s seventy or seventy-two disciples and there are bigger fish to fry.
[1] This was edited from the sermon for the sake of time: “Measured in sheer bulk of textual witness, the number Jesus sends out is split pretty evenly between seventy and seventy-two. Considering the textual significance, the academic importance of the manuscripts, the number Jesus sends out is split pretty evenly between seventy and seventy-two. All righty then, if we can’t solve the mystery of seventy or seventy-two using ancient Greek manuscripts, then where do we turn next? ”
[2] Culpepper, R. Alan. “The New Interpreter’s Bible.” “Luke” section. Leander E. Keck, Senior New Testament Editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, page 219.
[3] This was edited from the sermon for the sake of time: “Scripture has a way of doing that. People say it’s an instruction book, but I always found when you look past the shiny coat and look at the meat of holy writ, there’s always more than meets the eye.”
[4] Ibid, Culpepper, page 222
[5] Ibid, page 220
[6] Croce, Jim, “One Less Set of Footsteps.” (The man could write a break-up song.)
[7] Covey, Stephen R. “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” The Free Press, 1989
2Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30
Galatians 6:1-16
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
So today, our gospel reading begins with Jesus appointing the seventy and sending them ahead in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go, or is it the seventy-two? As I read this morning, the New Revised Standard Version has the number at seventy. The New International Version has the number at seventy-two. Just to keep everything interesting, the ancient Greek versions of Luke are split answering this question.[1] Well, it is said that it is best that scripture interpret itself; so let’s find why the number could be either seventy or seventy-two.
The New Interpreter’s Bible[2] reminds us that Genesis 10 lists the nations that sprang from Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It says that it is quite probable that these are the nations where Jesus sent the others. These nations are the “every place and town” mentioned in Luke that Jesus intended to go to. It would make sense, if Jesus’ first mission was to redeem the nation of Israel, these are the places he would go and the people he would see.
By now, you may have noted one little problem with my answer, it’s not a number. I haven’t said whether the number of folks he’s sending out, and now where he’s sending them out to, should be seventy or seventy-two.
Hold on, here comes the answer. You see, in the Hebrew Scriptures, seventy nations were listed in Genesis 10 and in the Greek version there were seventy-two. So the answer to the question is quite probably, “The choice of seventy or seventy-two most likely depends on which translation of the Old Testament was used by which manuscript writers and editors to interpret the question of how many nations sprang from the loins of Noah-slash-How many towns and places Jesus intended to go.”
Again, there isn’t a number in the answer to my question, is there. Now instead of a good answer we have another question.[3]
Really, it may be as close to an answer as we can get. To answer the question just decide for yourself which ancient manuscript of the Old Testament floats your boat and once you make that decision the choice of seventy or seventy-two is easy.
As for me, I love the question and I find the answer interesting. I learned more than I intended seeking the answer to it. I have even learned enough to spend a few minutes on a Sunday morning sharing it with you. But as for the importance of this question, “seventy or seventy-two?” it doesn’t mean much in the kingdom of heaven.
What is important, what is of great evangelical and biblical importance is that Jesus set aside a number of people, and sent them off in pairs, breaking ground for him in all of the towns and places he intended to go taking God’s peace to the nations.
If there’s one thing to take from this question, it’s not which number, it’s why the number. The why is sharing God’s peace and preparing the Lord’s way.
There are ten elements to Jesus’ commission to the disciples.[4]
The commissioning of these disciples affirms that there is a need for the church in the world. Jesus sends the disciples to the places he himself intended to go. They were sent first to prepare his way. Yes, these are the places the Lord intends to go and the disciples are sent first.
The commission emphasizes the importance of prayer. They are told that they are to pray for laborers, fellow laborers to join them in the field and reap the harvest which is plentiful. They are to seek God for the glory of the gospel.
They are called to be active in their work in the kingdom of God. They are not called to simply sit at the feet of the Lord and seek their own spiritual growth. The disciples are sent into the world. They are sent into the field to seek the growth of the kingdom.
The commission does not come without a warning. The commission is dangerous. They will be like lambs in a world of wolves. They will be the young and defenseless in a world that is wily and treacherous.
The next part of the commission seems out of line with the rest, they are to greet no one upon the road. If I were sent out to share God’s peace, I would think that telling everyone I met would be a good thing; but this is not their commission. They were called to a specific time and place and it was not on the road. They are called to focus on their journey and not be distracted by the priorities of other travelers.
The commission then specifies the purpose of their mission to the nations, to offer God’s peace. For the cities that accepted the gospel, the disciples were to enter the house and say, “Peace to this house.”
After extending the peace of God to the household, they could receive the peace of God in hospitality. They were told to stay at the first household where they were welcomed; they weren’t to cherry pick for better digs. This means that the host sets the context of the witness. They are not to impose restrictions upon their hosts.
They were to accept food and water to quench hunger and thirst. This foreshadowed the problem that Peter would face later in Acts. If the household that welcomed them was not a Jewish family but a gentile God-fearing family, dinnertime could be dicey. They could be offered things that they would not eat under Jewish culinary restrictions. Yet, this is what the Lord demanded. They were to accept the hospitality provided and not seek other “more suitable” accommodations.
When they entered a town where they were welcomed, they were to heal the sick and declare “The kingdom of God has come near you.” Together, community was developed through hospitality, care of physical needs, and proclamation of the gospel.[5] This is how the disciples were commissioned to take Jesus’ work into Galilee.
Their commission also took into account that the peace will not always be accepted. This is always a difficult thing to imagine, but some will reject the wonder and the glory of God’s peace.
So despite any rejection they face; they were to persevere in their mission. As for the towns that would not accept them, they were told to go out into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you.” Strong stuff, it’s like saying “If that’s the way that you want it, oh that’s the way I want it more.”[6] It’s tough, but they are called to keep on despite the rejection of God’s peace.
As for the word of God, the redemptive word was nearly the same for the nations that do not receive the peace of God. They still receive the Word: “The kingdom of God has come near.” They just don’t hear, “The kingdom of God has come near you.” Now that’s a difference.
So again I say that the answer to seventy or seventy-two isn’t so important. It is when we as the Body of Christ over-focus on the minutiae, the “seventy or seventy-two” type of questions, that we fail to answer the call to the bigger questions of the church’s mission.
Last week I said that our single minded focus is to abide in the First Commandment, “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other Gods before me.” Today we learn what it means for us to share that commandment with others.
God’s commission Jesus gives in this passage is still important for us today. There is still a place for the church in the world. There is still a place for disciples to go before the Messiah returns. We too are called to pray for the church which is the Body of Christ. We are to pray as we go into the world and we are to pray for others to join in the fellowship and work of God’s bountiful harvest. We aren’t to pray for folks in the pews just to bring in more offerings (as nice as that would be); we are to seek disciples for the work of the kingdom of God.
We are to be active as well. I praise God for everyone who comes to hear the gospel of the Lord, but hearing the gospel is not all that discipleship demands. We are called not just to come, but also to go in the name of the Lord. We are called to go into a dangerous world.
We are called to go concentrating on what it means that we are focused on the gospel and not every cause that crosses our path. We are to extend God’s peace to a world that sorely needs to hear the good news of its coming.
We are not to impose ourselves and our way of life on others. In the first century, this would mean that we were not to demand circumcision on all men or humiliate your host for offering shrimp wrapped in bacon. We are all children of God and as a wise man once said we must seek to understand then we can seek to be understood.[7]
We are to know that the peace will not always be seen by others as peace. This is particularly true today when God’s peace is often offered with a dose of bigotry and fear. We need to remember that fear seeks safety, love seeks the truth; and our truth is in God’s peace. We are to take God’s peace as our commission to take the word that “the kingdom of God has come near” and share it with the world. The message of God’s redemptive peace does not change regardless of whether it is accepted or not.
What’s important about our reading is that it gave the folks Jesus sent out their commission and it gives us our commission for taking God and God’s peace into the world too. It’s not so important whether it’s seventy or seventy-two. In this case it’s not so important whether the Hebrew of Greek Old Testament texts are more accurate. What’s important is the commission.
The question of why these numbers are important is the better question. We now know the reason for the number is that Jesus was laying the path, using disciples to make straight his way into the world. Jesus gave them a commission to go into the world sharing the nearness of the kingdom of God with all would listen. Their commission is our commission too.
We are called to take God’s words to others. We are to take God’s peace to those who live across the street and across the globe. So let’s remember to take the most important things. Things like “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other Gods before me.” Things like God’s peace. Things like “the kingdom of God is coming near.” We need to keep a single minded focus on these most important things. Remember, we can’t agree whether it’s seventy or seventy-two disciples and there are bigger fish to fry.
[1] This was edited from the sermon for the sake of time: “Measured in sheer bulk of textual witness, the number Jesus sends out is split pretty evenly between seventy and seventy-two. Considering the textual significance, the academic importance of the manuscripts, the number Jesus sends out is split pretty evenly between seventy and seventy-two. All righty then, if we can’t solve the mystery of seventy or seventy-two using ancient Greek manuscripts, then where do we turn next? ”
[2] Culpepper, R. Alan. “The New Interpreter’s Bible.” “Luke” section. Leander E. Keck, Senior New Testament Editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, page 219.
[3] This was edited from the sermon for the sake of time: “Scripture has a way of doing that. People say it’s an instruction book, but I always found when you look past the shiny coat and look at the meat of holy writ, there’s always more than meets the eye.”
[4] Ibid, Culpepper, page 222
[5] Ibid, page 220
[6] Croce, Jim, “One Less Set of Footsteps.” (The man could write a break-up song.)
[7] Covey, Stephen R. “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” The Free Press, 1989
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