He Had to Go Through Samaria

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday March 27, 2011, the 3rd Sunday in Lent.

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Exodus 17:1-7

Psalm 95

Romans 5:1-11

John 4:5-42

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen

Lent is a journey, a time of preparation as we follow the movements of Jesus from the moment after he was baptized through his travels around Judea and Galilee to the triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Lent ends with Jesus introducing the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, being betrayed by his disciple, dying on a tree, and rising from the tomb. Today the journey takes us through Samaria where along with the Lord we meet the woman at the well.

We start at verse five, “So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.” What a lovely sentence.  It should remind us of Abraham and Sarah, and Joseph and his brothers.

This scene also harkens back to 1 Kings with the story of Elijah asking the widow of Sidon for a cup of water.  Elijah and Jesus both interrupt the women’s daily chores seeking hospitality.  It also takes us back to the betrothal stories of Abraham’s servant seeking a wife for Isaac in Genesis and Moses at the well of Midian finding a bride of his own in Exodus.  In each of these stories water is used as a sign from the Lord, a sign of family and a sign of new family.

These vital images of the faith should play gloriously in our minds.

The problem with all of these glorious images is that they crowded my mind with too much wonder. So much that I had no idea where this morning’s sermon should go. I quickly realized that without a Sherpa there was no way I was going to get to the mountaintop, to the point of the story.  Then realizing I’m your Sherpa; the awesome responsibility of preaching the Gospel became even more daunting today than it usually does.

The story of the woman at the well, the story of the living water, it’s a story Christians know very well. I know when reading it my eyes didn’t glaze over, but there was a familiarity I brought to the text, a familiarity that dulled my focus.

Yes, my mind drifted through the passage, and my drifting was reverent and glorious, but it was drifting all the same. This story is so well known that sometimes we Christians forget to really read it because we already know it.

One of the things you have probably noticed about my sermons is that I try to find a hook, a story or an illustration, that shines light on the reading. Sometimes the connection is very obvious, sometimes the connection is barely recognizable.

As I said, I had trouble finding this connection, and then a couple of days ago I read something that showed me what I needed, and I hope it helps you too.[i] It sent me to verse four, the verse before our reading this morning, the verse that starts the paragraph in our bibles. It says, “He had to go through Samaria.”  That was it, “He had to go through Samaria.” Everything that follows happens because he had to go through Samaria.

It’s seemingly one of those lovely transition sentences that takes us from one bible story to the next.  Except that it’s not a simple segue like “meanwhile back at the ranch.”  There’s more to it than meets the eye.

This is when little questions entered my mind, things like why did he “have” to go through Samaria? I’ll get to that one in a couple of minutes.

Here’s an easier question, didn’t Jews avoid Samaria at all costs? Yes they did. The Jews avoided Samaria at all costs. Part of the irony of the story of the Good Samaritan is that in the day there was no such thing as a good Samaritan. To the Jews the Samaritans were the cousins from the wrong side of the tracks and as our reading says “Jews do not associate with Samaritans.”[ii]

Here’s another easy question, wasn’t there more than one way from Judea to Galilee, including one that avoided going through Samaria? This answer is yes to that one too.  It’s because of this seedy Samaritan reputation there were several routes from Judea to Galilee avoiding Samaria all together.  These roads took longer, but they were well worth it to the traveler that didn’t want to go to the wrong side of the tracks.

So when we read “he had to go through Samaria” we read it like a travelogue. When it was written nearly 2,000 years ago it was written to reflect a conscious choice and a scandalous one at that. This leads us back to the first question, why did he “have” to go through Samaria?

If he didn’t have to go through Samaria because there were other paths, and if Jews avoided Samaria why did he have to go through Samaria? The answer isn’t logistical, the answer isn’t tactical, the answer isn’t ancestral.

Why did he have to go through Samaria? He went to Samaria because that was where he was called to go. The answer is evangelical.

I have been asked by several folks for a report on the numbers of people in worship recently.  Let me begin saying there is reason to rejoice.  The average number of people in worship in October of last year was almost 31, this month the average is 42 people in worship. This is an increase of over 38 percent.

In 2009, we reported nine people participating in Christian Education.  With four new Christian Education offerings in the past six months, we have filled twenty seats in these classes alone. Count the Women’s Circle that wasn’t counted in 2009 and this number is going way up.

According to Presbytery reports, over the past ten years, this congregation has celebrated ten infant baptisms and five adult baptisms, a full 20 percent of which we celebrated this year on Baptism of the Lord Sunday. Trust me when I say that people who look at numbers love increasing baptism and particularly increasing adult baptism numbers.

The Clerk of Session’s report to the denomination shows that we have as many members under the age of 45 as we do over the age of 65. This may not mean anything to you, but again to people who read the numbers it means a great deal. They love seeing numbers like these.

Our society also keeps score using dollars and cents too, so we should look at these numbers; and by my calculations the comparisons between offerings collected last October and this March is equally remarkable, offerings have increased by nearly 45 percent.

Now, I didn’t ask Neal to collect these figures, anyone with six months worth of bulletins could have assembled these numbers just like I did. My analysis doesn’t reflect whether these trends are normal either. For all I know, the attendance and offering trends I just cited happen every year. But I believe there is reason to celebrate. Especially since there are so many new faces in the congregation, this is a reason to shout for joy.

This means that there are people who are sharing the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ and inviting people to come and worship the Father in Spirit and truth, and this invitation has not fallen on deaf ears or still feet. People are sharing and people are coming. Like Jesus to the woman at the well the Good News is being shared, this is a reason to shout for joy.

But what should we be shouting? What is our joy? Our reading from Romans, the scripture I read at the beginning of worship today gives us an answer to that question.

We mustn’t celebrate that we are strong. We mustn’t celebrate that we are good. We mustn’t celebrate that God is on our side.  If we boast we must boast about our access to the grace in which we stand.  If we boast we must boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. If we boast we must boast in our sufferings; knowing suffering produces endurance that produces character that produces hope, and hope does not disappoint.

We can boast that while we were still weak, Christ died for all of us ungodly people. God demonstrates love for us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. We can boast that while we were still weak we have been justified by his blood and are saved from God’s wrath through Christ.

We can boast that we were enemies of Christ and while enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of the Son. And how much greater is our salvation that we are saved through his life and his death.  This is how we have been reconciled to God, through the life and the work, through the death and blood of Jesus Christ.

Paul’s letter to the Romans teaches us that if we boast, we can only boast about who Jesus is and what he has done.  The story at the well shows us how Jesus reaches out to those who have nothing to boast about, people who were society’s “others,” the “enemies.” At the well Jesus broke every rule in the book, but then again, whose rules are those?

Jesus dares all with ears to hear to reconsider what sustains us and its source.  The Samaritans were so interested in finding the answers to these questions that they invited Jesus to stay with them so they could learn more about the word and the work and the life-giving water.  This was not simple either, because Jesus chose to stay and eat and share God’s grace with the people his culture vilifies. Yet because Jesus went though Samaria, because Jesus chose to throw convention and the rules to the wind, many came to testify that he is the Savior of the world.

Jesus had to go through Samaria.  Not because it was the easiest route, but because it was the most difficult.  Jesus touches the untouchable yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  Renewed by God through the Holy Spirit we receive the same assurance in this gift of living water, by which the great benefits of life through him in the waters of our baptism are set before our eyes to behold.[iii] This is something we can boast about.

This water, this work, this relationship is new and dangerous. Jesus showed that himself when he approached the Samaritan woman at the well. In each of these instances, social conventions went out the window and a new connection was forged. Based on those Old Testament well texts what Jesus was doing was not new to scripture. It was new to the mitzvah, the rules established by the Priests, the Pharisees, and the Scribes, but not to scripture. This new relationship was dangerous, but new relationships are always dangerous.

Lent is a journey. In this journey, Jesus went to places where few Jews dared to travel, he had to go through Samaria. He went there because it was the right place to go. He taught because it was the right thing to do. He went there to share his grace because this is his vocation.

Lent is a journey. It sends us to places we wouldn’t go without the grace and peace of Christ in our lives. Christ sends us places we wouldn’t go without faith and the hope that comes through faith.

Like I said earlier, the reason Jesus had to go through Samaria was evangelical.  By the grace of God, through the faith our Lord shows in us, and by the hope our Lord gives us; we are called to follow these footsteps. We are called to visit our own little Samaria’s sharing the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The reason we are sent to do this, like Jesus was sent, is evangelical.

The Good News of the Gospel is that this congregation has been bringing in the harvest that was planted so long ago. The Good News of the Gospel is that we continue planting the seed of God’s Word so that the glorious harvest may continue. There are so many others who need to hear the word. Because people are still thirsty for the word like this Samaritan woman and her community, and we are to carry the living water to the world so that all may be quenched.

So yes, rejoice in growth of this part of the body of Christ, and boast in the one who makes all life possible. Drink from the font of living waters and share it with all around you.

---

[i] HomileticsOnline.com, commentary on John 4:5-42, retrieved February 18, 2008.

[ii] John 4:9c, New International Version

[iii] Paraphrase from The Second Helvetic Confession, Chapter XX “Of Holy Baptism,” Paragraph 3, “What it means to be baptized.” 

All Translation Is Interpretation

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday March 20, 2011, the 2nd Sunday in Lent.

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Genesis 12:1-4a

Psalm 121

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

John 3:1-17

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen

Last Sunday I mentioned something written by Kurt Vonnegut.  In the same essay I quoted last week he writes that the first thing to get lost in translation is a joke.[1]  He goes on to say that any joke written skillfully by the authors of scripture in its original language is doomed to sound like Charlton Heston in “The Ten Commandments” when rendered in the King James.  Unfortunately it’s true.  The only thing to get butchered worse in translation than jokes is poetry.  Our New Testament reading contains neither jokes nor poetry, but there is a translation issue that is very important to the gospel and how we live into it.

Dr. Kristin M. Swenson, author of “Bible Babel: Making Sense of the Most Talked About Book of All Time,” recently wrote an article called “Five Things Everyone Should Know About The Bible, Believe It or Not.” In it she wrote something that I often say, but did it so much better that I want to share it with you now.

If you're reading the Bible in English, you're reading a translation. With the exception of a small minority of Aramaic texts, the books of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible were all written in Hebrew. The books of the New Testament were written in Greek. Every translation is by nature interpretation. If you've ever studied a foreign language, you know that it's impossible to convert exactly and for all time the literature or speech of any given language into another. A translator has to make choices. There are often several ways to render the original text, and changes in English affect the meaning we read as well.[2]

The best example of “every translation is by nature interpretation” is found in our reading today.  In John 3:3 we begin with Nicodemus who hears Jesus say, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”[3] But if you look at the footnote found at the bottom of the page you will find this little note, “or ‘born from above.’”

In the opposite way, the New Revised Standard Version renders verse three like this: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” carrying the footnote “Or born anew.”[4]

So what we have is two different translations of scripture with the opposite translation choice.  One says we need to be born “again” while nodding to “from above” and the other saying we need to be “born from above” with a nod to being “born again.”  It’s not as if either translation comes from the fringes of biblical translation either.  These are mainstream main line translations used by readers and scholars everyday.  So what’s the difference?

This is one of those times when the Greek language geek in me gets a workout.  As Dr. Swenson noted, the New Testament was originally written in Greek.  The word used in the Greek version of this verse can be translated into English as either “from above” or “again.”[5]  It can also mean “from the beginning” or “anew.”  But the English language lacks a word that can mean “from above” or “again” or “from the beginning” or “anew” all at once.  It would be great if we had a word that could carry all of these nuances, but we don’t.

Imagine if translators had tried to do this, imagine if they had tried to connect all of these nuances.  Imagine Jesus saying, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom unless he is born again from above anew from the beginning.”  The text may be accurate, but it’s just not right is it?

Since Greek does have a word that can mean all of these things at once and English doesn’t, translators have to make a decision about which way to render it.  So Biblical editors have to decide which word to put into the text and which word to put into the footnote.  Which ever translation decision is made, it will be correct, but not right.  It will be right, but not complete.  Going one way or the other is the only way, but doing so leaves something very important behind.

So which translation is the right translation, again or from above?  I say being forced to make a choice and defend it may be important for biblical translators, but not so much for us.  We don’t need to make that decision.  We don’t have to make a choice between one and the other.  We, we can say both.  We can do what the translators cannot.  Rather than seeing this as an either/or translation, we can say that according to Jesus, we must be born again and we must be born from above.  This is because as each of these English translations colors the meaning of the verse a little differently, they each tells us a little something different about what Jesus meant when he said what he said.

To be born again is to tell us that our first birth is not enough, not for the kingdom of God.  Our first birth, physical birth, is not enough.  As Jesus tells Nicodemus, we need a second birth, not like the birth we had in the fluid of our mother’s womb, but a rebirth like the one we receive in the waters of our baptism and through the power of the Holy Spirit.  This being born again is needed to be born again into the kingdom of God.

When Jesus tells us we are to be born from above, he gives us the knowledge that the rebirth comes from a source, it is not something that we can do ourselves.  To be born from above means that the power of the Lord through the work of the Holy Spirit comes upon us as the children of God.  In this way we are born from above.

To be born from the beginning gives us the perspective of starting life again without the weight of the baggage of our former lives.  As Nicodemus says, it is impossible to enter the womb a second time; so to be born from the beginning must be a completely new beginning. In Romans, Paul talks about living under the law and under the wrath it brings.[6]  We need to be born from the beginning so that we may live in God’s grace, not under God’s law. The law punishes the flesh; grace gives us all a new beginning.

To be born anew, when we look at these other definitions, these other translations, together we can come into birth anew and with it life anew.  To be born anew reminds us of the birth from the womb we receive through our mothers and fathers.  From them we receive the gift of life.  To be born anew points us to the one who provides the source of this first birth and this new birth, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus says, “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit.”  To be born anew points to the bath that we receive in the waters of our baptism, the waters of our second birth.  To be born anew is to leave an old life in the flesh behind in favor of one given by the Spirit of God.  To be born anew is to be given a fresh start with God and God’s people as the body of Christ, the church.  To be born anew is to be born, with all of the promise of new life in the kingdom of God.

There is another piece of “translation anxiety” I want to share with you today from the fourteenth verse of our gospel reading.  As I said earlier, this passage gives the Greek geek in me a workout; but this is the place where the pastor in me needs to flex more muscle than the biblical interpreter.

This is where Jesus says, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”  The Old Testament reference is to Numbers 21 when the Lord becomes distraught over the nation of Israel.

In verses one and two, the Lord hears the cries of the nation and saves them from their oppressors.  By verse five they’re back to whining and moaning and speaking against God.  So God set loose fiery serpents to inflict death upon the nation.  In Numbers 21:8, God tells Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” This is the situation Jesus is referring to when he says, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”

Well, the word “lifted up” can mean two things, it can mean to raise vertically like the snake on a pole, or it can mean to exalt, to lift up voices in praise.  So which did Jesus mean?  This is when translators leave us standing waiting for the bus.  “To lift up” can mean either of these things in Greek or English so there aren’t any language issues with biblical translation.

So what’s the difference?  We are called to lift Jesus up.  We are called to exalt the King of kings and Lord of lords.  We are told to share his glory and his story with the world.  We are called to lift him up with our voices and our works.  This is our call and our vocation.

To Jesus, this being lifted up means something different.  He will be lifted up like the serpent on the pole.  He will be stretched on a tree like a common thief.  He will be forced to carry his own cross up a Jerusalem garbage dump and there he will be lifted up.  He descended from heaven and will descend to the dead before Lent is over.

What’s the difference between being lifted up in praise and being lifted up physically?  The first one is for us to do; the second is what he did.  He gave his life that we may know life eternal.  The Father gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  The world and all that we know was created in a word by the triune God.  God does all of this so that the world may be saved by the person and work of Jesus who is the Christ.

To give us new life, Jesus will give his.  We are in the second week of Lent, and over Lent’s forty days, we will journey along with Jesus on his journey.  We take this trek through the Judean wilderness until we reach Jerusalem, the upper room, Pilate’s court, and the cross.  We take this journey again and again.  We take it every year during this holy season from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.

Where we take this trip annually, Jesus takes this trip once, but gloriously for our sake once is enough.  Because of his one trip, he is able to take us along through the end of eternity.  He goes above and beyond the call of duty of any man.  But with thanks and praise, he is not any man; he is the Son of Man and the Son of God.

It is on his cross that Jesus will die, and it is from his tomb he will rise again, and it is in his Spirit through the waters of our baptism that we will be born again, from above, anew, from the beginning.

All translation is interpretation, but the one thing we must never lose in the translation is the love of God.  This is the love that sustained Jesus while he was forty days in the wilderness.  This is the love that sustains us on our forty day journey with the Lord through Lent.  As Jesus will be lifted up upon the cross in the way Moses lifted the snake, we must lift him up with our voices and in our works.

We are called to lift him; we are called to exalt him; and we do this not because we will be rewarded, but because we have already been rewarded with salvation and life eternal.

---

[1] Vonnegut, Kurt, “Palm Sunday.” Essay titled “Palm Sunday”

[2] Swenson, Kristin M., “Five Things Everyone Should Know About The Bible, Believe It or Not” on The Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-m-swenson-phd/five-things-everyone-shou_b_835721.html?ref=fb&src=sp, retrieved March 17, 2011

[3] John 3:3, New International Version, New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation

[4] John 3:3, New Revised Standard Version

[5] anothen, The Greek New Testament, edited by Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, and Allen Wikgren, in cooperation with the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, Münster/Westphalia, Fourth Edition (with the same text as the Nestle-Aland 27th Edition of the Greek New Testament), Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft; Stuttgart, 1966, 1968, 1975 by the United Bible Societies (UBS) and 1993, 1994 by (German Bible Society)

[6] Romans 4:15

God's Hunger

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday March 13, 2011, the 1st Sunday in Lent.

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Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7
Psalm 32
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

When I was a boy, I stuttered. After seeing eye doctors and school psychologists it was determined that I was dyslexic. They said it was mild and I should be able to grow out of it. By grow out of it they meant learn some tricks and after years and years the tricks become second nature. Still, to this day, reading a manuscript presents difficulty.

This makes worship its own challenge since I use a manuscript for liturgy. Despite the trouble there are several reasons why I use a manuscript. Among them is if I have a manuscript I am less likely to lose my place completely during worship. Sure, a word or two gets mangled, but it does keep me from misplacing the offertory in the middle of the confession of sin.

The second reason I use a manuscript is to stay on point. I can find rabbit trails a plenty if I don’t have the manuscript. Just as much, with a manuscript what I want to say remains a well thought out piece of scripture, interpretation, and worship, all very important things. Also if I go out on the range chasing rabbits you might wonder if I will ever make it back.

Still, a manuscript does not prevent goofs.

One Sunday morning a few years ago, I was standing at the table presiding at the Lord’s Supper. My intention was to follow the manuscript and say, “Jesus said ‘Come to me all who are hungry.’” Well, between not being in the moment, looking ahead in the manuscript, and suffering from mild dyslexia; this wasn’t what I said. What I said was, “Jesus said, ‘I am hungry’ No he didn’t!” The congregation burst out laughing. For the rest of the service there was one woman I couldn’t make eye contact with, when I did she would just start giggling and so would I.

So imagine my laughter earlier in the week when I read this morning’s gospel, “After forty days and forty nights he was hungry.” So I guess in truth I wasn’t wrong, but since I didn’t say this on this First Sunday of Lent, I was speaking out of context. Or that’s my new story.

Jesus was hungry, after forty days and forty nights he surely must have been. I don’t know how he was fasting, and as I said on Ash Wednesday there are several different ways to fast, but being swept into the desert to be tempted by the devil, I don’t imagine there was much of anything at all for him to eat or drink.

After forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry, so the first thing Jesus gets tempted with is what he would desire the most, bread. The tempter says, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” He offered the temptation to take what God provides, in this case stone, and convert it into food. I love the way the tempter doesn’t go overboard either. Surely Jesus could make a fine dinner of bread, fish, and wine from the rock, sand, and dust that were available. He could surely make what ever he wanted.

But Jesus answers this temptation with what truly feeds, “Man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus tells us that nothing made from stone will ever be filling. The Word of God alone is filling.

So the devil takes Jesus to the Holy City, a place he has felt at home since his youth. From atop the highest point of the temple, the devil offers this temptation, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

The devil is sneaky here, very sneaky, Jesus says we live on every word that comes from the mouth of God and the devil uses the Word of God to frame this temptation. It’s very close to how Adam and Eve were tempted in Genesis, very close indeed. But Jesus is not so easily duped, even by the most cunning of tempters.

Jesus returns word for word the Word of God saying, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Jesus knows more about righteous relationship with the Lord than Adam and Eve did and was able to resist. Quickly and effectively, this temptation is dispatched.

Again, the devil gives another try, and this time it’s something dramatic. Surveying this world with all its splendor and riches, the devil offers it all to Jesus, if he will bow down and worship him. Worship Satan, the accuser, the deceiver, the tempter, and it’s all his.

From this vantage point, it would have been the most thrilling temptation in the world to any man. They were atop a high mountain, able to see all of the wonders of the world, all of the kingdoms and all of the splendor.

Now, I imagine the devil only showed Jesus what he wanted seen. Scripture says he didn’t show Jesus the pain the strife that exists in the world, only the kingdoms and their splendor. But Jesus wouldn’t have been fooled; he would know and remember the suffering. This might have actually made it even more tempting to Jesus. It would all be his and he could make it better. He could evict sin from the world, like God the Father evicted sin from the garden. Now that would be a temptation.

But Jesus isn’t falling for it, he’s done with the devil, he’s done with the tempter, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” This might be tempting to a human, and Jesus is human, but being fully human and fully divine Jesus knows that what the devil offers is only fleeting.

Jesus is offered some very tempting things. He is offered food when he is hungry, forty days hungry. He is offered the opportunity to confirm the faithfulness of God. Finally he is offered the opportunity to rule the world now.

But Jesus has his priorities in order. Bread is not as important as the one who makes it. Testing God’s faithfulness is not as important as knowing God is faithful. Power is not as important as the one who creates and gives it.

Yet, right under the surface, there are a couple of other temptations that Jesus is offered that don’t make the list. The first is the temptation to doubt. The devil prefaces the first two temptations with this phrase, “If you are the Son of God…” So while it is easy to say that the temptations are about bread and faithfulness, there is something more sinister happening.

The greater, more subtle temptation the devil tries to place in Jesus’ mind is the doubt that he is the Son of God. Yes, on the surface the devil asks Jesus if God will do what God has promised the Son. But it is far more devastating if Jesus doubts that he is the Son. If the devil can plant this seed, then everything is lost.

But this seed has no purchase either. Jesus will not allow the devil to define what being the Son of God means. The devil will not define what kind of Messiah Jesus will be, that is between Father and Son.

Jesus reminds us that being children of God is more important than anything else and as soon as we doubt that we are the children of God we are lost.

Jesus is also tempted with something else just as sinister. If he can’t get Jesus to doubt that he is the Son of God, maybe Jesus can be tempted to make himself like God on earth. The devil was replaying his gambit with Eve, if you do this, you will be like God. Not you will be God, but you will be like God. This is another way to look at the temptations.

The temptation about creating bread from stone is about setting aside the natural order, and creating all things anew. This is a way to reframe creation from the perspective of a hungry Nazarene carpenter, not the Christ. Falling to this temptation would end hunger, but to what end. He would be hungry again. Further, it would redefine God’s good creation in a way that did not glorify the Father. When Jesus turns water to wine in John’s gospel, it is for the glory of God, not for himself or the groom who didn’t get enough wine at the liquor store.

The second is a temptation to create spectacle. Our world awaits entertainment without patience. Our world cries out “What have you done for me lately?” Our world wants to see everything first hand and Jesus being carried to the ground by the hand of God from the top of the temple would certainly fill those bills.

People love to see miracles. Kurt Vonnegut wrote that people probably wanted to see Lazarus more than Jesus after he was raised from the dead. According to scriptural witness, Vonnegut is wrong about that. But, I believe if he had been talking about people today he would have been on target.

We live in a world where nobody believes what they haven’t seen for themselves. And we live in a world where the media is trying to do just that, show everybody everything. Then too, we live in a world where pundits will spin every piece of information to make their point; not God’s point, but their own point.

So to see Jesus float from the top of the temple and land safely on the ground would have created a cult of personality that could overshadow his own true deity. He would be like God instead of being God. I can hear the devil say, “That’s my point exactly.”

The final temptation is the biggest of all. Jesus is tempted with the prospect of creating his kingdom without the cross. He is tempted to do it all by himself without suffering, pain, and humiliation. He is tempted to take the cult of personality I mentioned and take it to the ultimate level; Jesus could be given kingdom, dominion over all of the earth. He could make it better. He could eliminate the horrors of sin. He could do whatever he wanted, and being fully divine it would be good stuff too.

Of course, Jesus would have to worship the tempter, the accuser, the devil, the Satan. That one little catch could make it tricky, but if you have power over all creation that’s small potatoes, right? It’s been that way for everyone who has ever tried to rule the world, whether politically, economically, or militarily; and history is filled with men (no political correctness hedging here, they were men) who have given this a shot. Ancient and modern history will show that men like these will continue to give this form of personal deity their best shot.

These temptations have been around forever. Scripture even tells us this. Temptation leading to sin was with us since the beginning.

Jesus is hungry, but not for anything with a shelf life. He isn’t hungry for anything that Satan has to tempt him with, whether the temptations are obvious or sly. Matthew’s gospel tells us that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. The devil was there all along waiting for a moment of weakness. After forty days and forty nights, Satan thought that when Jesus was hungry it would be a good time to sprung these fates on him.

So too it is with us today. We are hungry in a world that wants to give us stone instead of bread, despair instead of faithfulness, and weakness instead of power. We are tempted with the same sins that have been available for 2,000 years. We’re just bigger, stronger, and faster; and that brings temptations of its own. Our chore is to know God’s hunger for us, hunger that is not rooted in sin.

Fortunately, while we wander this wilderness of life, we have Jesus with us. Jesus also gives us a gift he didn’t have, Jesus gives us the church. For us, because of the particular way Presbyterians look at the church, Jesus gives us the community to help each and every one of us with what tempts us and what feeds us. Not just me either, I am not a priest who stands between you and God. Presbyterians ordain not only Ministers of Word and Sacrament, but Elders to do the work God calls the church to do.

This part of the Body of Christ is filled with people who have walked all stripes of life. This part of the Body of Christ is loaded with people who love you and want to help you seek the life God wants for you. This part of the Body of Christ is even loaded with people who can help navigate what the wild, wild world has in store. These people are like angels who come not unlike the angels who attended Jesus.

So never doubt that we are the children of the one true God, and never fall to the temptation to do it all yourself. It’s God’s role to lead us in this life and our role to seek life in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit who is with us in our desert just as the Spirit was with Jesus. When we try to do it by ourselves we are doing what Adam, Eve, and Jesus are tempted with, trying to be like God. That never satisfies God’s hunger or God’s hunger for us.

Fasting with Full Cabinets

This homily was heard on Wednesday March 9, 2011 during an ecumenical service shared between the people and staff of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Marshall, Texas and the First Presbyterian Church [PC(USA)] at First Presbyterian on Ash Wednesday.

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Isaiah 58:1-12

Psalm 51:1-17

2Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen.

One evening when I was a younger man in my first career after college, my boss was regaling some friends with a story from the previous weekend.  Now, this was one of those years with an early Easter and a late spring, so everyone was more than a little stir crazy.  One Saturday morning the weather finally broke and he was out on the golf course.

As he tells the story, he shot a great front nine.  The skies were clear and the weather was warm.  The winds were mild and it was a perfect day on the links.  He went into the clubhouse feeling great.  He got a Polish sausage and doctored it up just right, mustard, ketchup, onion, pickle relish and sauerkraut.  There was a smile on his face and a gleam in his eye until that moment, the moment he remembered that it was Lent.  He suddenly remembered that he had given up meat for Lent.

Everyone hearing the story lets out a moan.  They ask him what he did; did he eat it or what?  He finishes the story telling his friends no, he didn’t eat it.  He threw it away. He shook his head and went out to shoot the back nine.  Of course after his close encounter of the sausage kind he lost all concentration and the back nine was a disaster.  Condolences were offered all around the table.

This is when I imposed myself on the story.  I came up behind the boss, put my arm around his shoulder and said, “Why’d you do that?  You know there’s no meat in a Polish.”  He then asked me if there wasn’t any work I should be doing and discretion being the better part of keeping my job, I went back to work.

Fasting is one of the traditional paths taken on the journey through Lent.  Sometimes the fast is celebrated by giving something up for Lent like my boss did.  This often leads people to give up meat or eggs or dairy during the forty days.  Some Eastern Orthodox groups not only give up meat and eggs and dairy for the fast, they give up fish, wine, and olive oil too.[1]  Some other peoples fast completely, eating and drinking nothing during daylight hours until sunset when the fast is broken.[2]  Each of these Lenten fasting practices is about eighteen hundred years old, so the fast is nothing new.

On day preceding Ash Wednesday, to prepare the household for the fast, all fats and oils are removed from the home.  The preparation is an inspiration for Carnival as we know it.  The time before Ash Wednesday, particularly Mardi Gras, is that one last fling before Lent’s Forty Days of penitence and reflection.  Plus Sundays, don’t forget the Sundays.  It makes sense in a very earthly way, if you are going to be penitent you might as well have something to confess.

The apostle Paul wouldn’t have been happy with that sort of logic, but he was never down on Bourbon Street either.  But come to think of it, the differences between “The Big Easy” to first century Rome probably weren’t that great.  I guess it would be a wash in the end.

Still, in the ancient of days, “celebrating the fast” may have been an ironic choice of words.  One of the truths of Lent is that by this time of year, a family’s food stores were becoming pretty well depleted.  The harvest isn’t due for another four to eight weeks so there’s between one and two months where there isn’t much food around the house; and what’s there was prepared to be eaten last.

This means the soups are getting thinner.  The vegetables that are still in the cellar aren’t in the freshest shape.  Fresh meat would be a fond memory.  The meat that is available has been heavily salted or preserved in some other manner.  Contrary to what my wife would say, pickled herring only goes so far.  Salted fish was a staple in biblical times, but there is only so much fish jerky a family can take before rebellion storms the kitchen.

Jesus tells us not to look somber when fasting, but with that kind of diet, it could be tough not to look somber.

Honestly I prefer the New Revised Standard Version’s translation, it’s more descriptive.  Instead of somber it uses dismal and I think dismal has more power.  Dismal seems like the right word when screwing your face up and throwing your sausage into the trashcan.  But this is not what we are called to do.

Our call is to live the fast days as we would any other day, washing up and not making a big show of it.  We are called to live life as normally as possible so that only our heavenly father knows we fast.  Remember, if we receive the reward of friends pitying the loss of a Polish, what is there for our God to give?

 

Immediate reward is its own gain.  Immediate reward is fleeting.  But heavenly reward, reward deferred, reward that comes from the Father; that is eternal.  In an age of instant gratification, this is more important to us now than ever.

In the fourth century, Jerome, the priest responsible for the most important Latin translation of scripture said, “When the stomach is full, it is easy to talk of fasting,” and for most of us, our stomachs are full when we want them to be.  Getting food is not the issue; everything we could want is as close as the local supermarket.

It is easy to talk about giving up dairy products when we have soy milk and egg beaters.  It is easy to talk about giving up meat for a month or so when we know that at a moment’s notice, the local store has every sort of beef or pork, fish or fowl we could imagine.  We don’t have to worry about lacking for food like the ancients did.  When we fast, we don’t do it because if we don’t there may not be food next Friday.

So how are we called to fast when we want for nothing?  How should we fast with full cabinets?

Isaiah reminds us that we rebel against God, as a nation we sin.  He says that because of our human folly when we fast we quarrel with one another, we create strife.  We stop seeking justice and peace and share wicked fists instead. So this is how the prophet Isaiah[3] shows us the fasting God chooses for the people:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

   and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

   and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

   and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

   and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

   you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

Our fast and what we need to refrain from isn’t meat or chocolate or some other food, it is better to refrain from quarrelling and strife.  Our fast shouldn’t be steak and pancakes or chicken and waffles. We are to give up gossip and malicious talk.  We are to give up greed and oppression.  When we cry to God this way, God answers.

Jesus dares us to reconsider what nourishes and sustains us.  He dares us to consider greater wealth than can be accrued in banks.  He wants us to seek what moths and vermin cannot consume.  He wants us to be righteousness without being hypocritical.  He wants us to give alms without drawing attention to ourselves.

It was said, “Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. If we have not all three, we have nothing.”[4]  Tonight we begin our fasts with full cabinets.  Let us seek Isaiah’s guidance on fasting.  By our fast, let our prayers have soul.  And by the mercy of God, let us be marked as his own.  Marked by the ash, and by his blood.

---

[1] Vitz, Evelyn Birge, “A Continual Feast.” HarperCollins, 1985

[2] Socrates the Historian (Fifth Century), “The Lenten Triodion.”  Translated by Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware.  London: Faber and Faber

[3] Isaiah 58:6-9a

[4] From  “A Word in Season: Monastic Lectionary for the Divine Office.” Reprinted by permission of Augustinian Press, Villanova, Pennsylvania.

Echoes

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday March 6, 2010, Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday.

Exodus 24:12-18

Psalm 2

2 Peter 1:16-21

Matthew 17:1-9

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen

Today we read what is in my opinion one of scripture’s greatest miracles of the revelation of Jesus to his apostles, the transfiguration.  This word, transfiguration, literally means “to change face” or as we would understand it “to change appearance.”  The essence is the same, but the appearance is different.  And on the mountain Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John.

His face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white, as white as light.  Suddenly, this simple Palestinian carpenter wasn’t engulfed by light; he was the source of light as bright as the sun.  His clothes were whiter than alabaster, whiter than the palest moon.  And then appearing not to him but with him were the two greatest heroes of the faith, Moses and Elijah.  And they were talking with Jesus.

This was when a voice suddenly came from a bright cloud that came over them like a white fog saying the words last spoken when Jesus was baptized, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased.”  This time these words come with an added instruction, “Listen to him.”

These apostles were fishermen so they probably weren’t at the Jordan when Jesus heard these words from above.  But I can imagine this, overshadowed by the bright light, hearing these words for themselves, everything that they had ever experienced, heard, or thought was now far more personal and intimate than they had ever dared imagine.

So they fell to the ground terrified.

Well of course they fell to the ground!  Of course they were terrified!  The sight of God’s perfect glory should cause anyone to be overcome with fear.  Such power, such authority, such joy and delight and fear come together so that there is nothing left to do but fall to the ground worshipping God.  Even if the posture they took was a posture of worship, they fell to the ground terrified.

These men had grown up knowing the story of Moses at the burning bush.  They knew that they could not see God and live.  And suddenly here’s Moses with Elijah chatting up the man they had just followed up the mountain.  Then just as suddenly they were swallowed by a bright cloud that told them who their Rabbi truly is, the Son of the one true God.

“Terrified” might begin to describe how they felt.

They were told to listen, and in this time listening meant more than just hearing.  It meant much, much more.  It meant hearing and it also meant understanding.  Beyond that, to listen meant to respond.  This simple sentence from the cloud revealed to Peter, James, and John that beyond any doubt Jesus is the long awaited Lord and Messiah and they were being called to his obedience.  They were told that Jesus is the beloved of God and they were to listen to him.

Then, still cowering in worship, Jesus came and touched them saying, “Get up and don’t be afraid.”  He touched them and he reassured them.  This is what Jesus did.  He didn’t give them the secret to life.  He didn’t tell them what Moses and Elijah had been saying to him or he to them.  He didn’t give them a way to clean their robes so theirs would be as white as snow.  He touched them and with a word he reassured them.  This is what Jesus did.

Now, imagine how they might have responded if Jesus had not touched and reassured them.  I imagine the fear that would have continued to overwhelm them.  They would have been scarred by such a terrifying experience.  Their terror would change them and how we know them; but the Lord does not leave them to stew in their terror; with a simple touch he reassured them.

At this point in the gospel of Matthew, reassurance is something that is both needed and welcomed.  In the previous chapter, Jesus declares to his disciples that he will suffer.  What a tremendous and horrible image for any people, their Lord and master suffering.  Of course this horror will not stand, and Peter is just the guy to rebuke God Incarnate.  Peter says “God forbid!”  Jesus says “You do not have the things of God in your mind.”  Our Lord calls the rock “Satan” and tells him to get back.  Yes, Peter could use some encouragement at this moment.

Then, just a single verse after our reading, Jesus foretells his suffering again.  Then the disciples ask an interesting question, “Why do the why the teachers of the law say Elijah must return first?”  It’s a sensible question, if the Messiah is here and Elijah had to come first, where is or was Elijah?

Jesus declares Elijah did return and the people didn’t recognize him.  The people did with him as they pleased, finally allowing him to be executed on the word of a child.  Jesus revealed to them that he was talking about Elijah returned as John the Baptist.  So in one sentence, these disciples heard the truth about the death of Elijah and John.

This is how John the Baptist died.  This is how Elijah died, and the stones did not cry out.  Again words of consolation were welcomed and appreciated.

But in the middle of this screaming in pain and suffering, in the midst of suffering past and future, there is a clarion call of hope, there is a cry of peace, there is a vision of the past, the present and little did they know, the future.

In the midst of these prophecies of suffering, there is an echo to the past, a past when Jesus accepts our condition in the waters of his baptism.  We, the people who receive this gospel, listen to the echo of the words heard at his baptism.

We too are called to listen, learn, and respond to the Word of God.

We are to carry on the work of Jesus; going to those who are overcome by fear, those who are terrified.  And we are to touch them saying, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”  We are witnesses to the grace and peace and glory of Jesus the Christ who walked the earth as a Palestinian Jew two-thousand years ago and continues to walk with us today; empowering us through the Holy Spirit for the work of the church for all of creation.  We are the ones who are called to gather and welcome the broken people of the world and through God’s love make us one.

And this is another of the great lessons of the transfiguration; the power and glory of God are wonderful, and joyous, and terrifying.  In the raw presence of God we have no real choice other than to be overwhelmed.  As we are overcome by the glory that surrounds us, there is a hand and a word calling us not to be afraid.

Jesus makes it clear in the last verse in our reading that one size does not fit all when he tells the three to tell no one about the vision.  Why didn’t Jesus want them to tell the world what had happened?  Why didn’t he bring everyone up the mountain to see the transfiguration?  Perhaps it is because this vision was meant just for these three disciples.  And based on the Word of the New Testament, they overcame their fears becoming great leaders of the Church of Christ.

Does this mean that the other apostles were second class disciples because they did not experience this image of God’s glory?  No, it just meant that what they needed was different.

We can give a smile, or a word of encouragement.  We can spend time with someone.  We can give gifts of ourselves and our works.  We can do service for others who need our help, who need to see the light of God in the world.  We can give a thirsty person cold water.  We can offer a prayer on their behalf.  We can visit people who are alone and frightened.

We are to share the message Jesus shared with his disciples on that mountain top so long ago.  “Get up and do not be afraid.”  In this word, Jesus reminds his disciples that he is with them.  In this word, Jesus reminds us, his disciples, that he is still with us.

It’s funny.  One of the things most young people learn on overseas mission trips is the depth and breadth of the faith and devotion of the people they have come to serve, the people they have come to bear witness to the glories of God.  Often people who go on overseas mission trips receive far more than they give.  For God, results like that aren’t uncommon.  It is wonderful and joyful and glorious and sometimes more than a little bit frightening.

This is our call, this is our vocation.  We are the hands of the body of Christ in the world, offering the touch of his love and his peace to a terrified world.  We are to be the voice of God in this world saying “do not be afraid.”  And it’s also one of the glorious aspects of this giving, when we give through the power of the Holy Spirit, we tend to receive more than we could ever hope or imagine.  Jesus tells us, the disciples of two-thousand years, “get up and do not be afraid” so that we may share the same message with the broken people of the world.