And

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday February 26, 2012, the 1st Sunday in Lent.

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Genesis 9:8-17

Psalm 25:1-10

1 Peter 3:18-22

Mark 1:9-15

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

One of the unexpected benefits of the Internet is the new toys that utilize its data processing, visual, and interactive technologies. One of my favorites is something called a “word cloud.” Like many other Internet toys, the word cloud has a useful purpose. Word clouds are the visual representations of the relative frequency of specific words in a set of text. Some of the images that come to mind when we think of graphics are the graphs we learned about in school. Images of bar graphs and pie graphs would show this relative frequency in familiar ways. Word clouds display their results differently.

According to their homepage, “Wordle is a toy for generating ‘word clouds’ from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.”[1] So the larger the word in a word cloud, the more often it appears in the text. Unless you can eyeball exact proportions, it’s difficult to discern hard data using a word cloud, but that is not its purpose. Looking at a word cloud gives the viewer a quick look at each word and the bigger the word the more often it appears.

Let’s remember, the Wordle website calls its own technology a toy, so you can play with the image the data spits out. Choosing different fonts, layouts, and color schemes makes each word cloud a little different. The relative font size doesn’t change, but manipulating the other elements changes the images into new and interesting pictures.

Wordle word cloud of Mark 1:9-15
Click to see larger image

Inside your bulletin (or just on the right) is a Wordle word cloud of our reading from Mark. As you can easily see, the biggest word in the cloud is Jesus. Thus, the word most frequently found in this passage is Jesus. In my opinion, when looking at the Gospels having Jesus as the biggest word in the cloud is a good thing. There is another thing you might have noticed about this cloud, there are some words missing.

Wordle automatically omits the most common words, the words that are peppered everywhere in language. It omits the definite and indefinite articles “a,” “an,” and “the.” Pronouns are also left out of the Wordle so “I,” “you” and “them” are missing. It leaves out being verbs like “is,” “was,” and “were.” It also leaves out connecting words like “if,” “and,” and “but.” If these words were left in the image they would overtake the cloud dwarfing even Jesus. There is one of those words, those ever-present words that caught my attention, the conjunction “and.”

Looking at our reading, in seven verses of scripture, the word “and” appears ten times. There is a lot of this-and-that going on in this passage. That’s what I want us to examine.

If our reading looks familiar it’s because we saw these first three verses together on Baptism of the Lord Sunday. It is where Jesus came from Nazareth and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Two distinct actions are coupled together. Jesus came from his home to where John was living into his vocation and then he was baptized. The word “and” combines these two actions into one package.

The connection between the two is that Jesus joins the community. Jesus comes, physically moves himself to be with the people who await his arrival. Jesus comes to be with the people bodily. We can’t say this too many times: Jesus came to be with the people; God comes to be with us in person. Not only does he come, he comes identifying himself with the community in their baptism.

The people confessed their sins to John before they were baptized; and it would have been a lie if Jesus had confessed his sin. Still, with no sin to confess, he comes and accepts John’s watery baptism. The one who came to baptize with the Holy Spirit is baptized in the water of the Jordan. In the waters of his baptism he identifies with us in the waters of ours. In the waters of the Jordan he joins with us so that we may be with him.

The next set of and’s is a triple whammy, coming from the water Jesus saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending upon him and he heard the voice of the Father. Such wonder and glory in a moment frozen in time in Holy Writ. People with too many academic degrees and too much time on their hands call this a “theophany,” an appearance of God. This is the first time in all of scripture that all three persons of the Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, appear together. In concert they come together marking a new chapter not in their life together, but of our life with God; and according to Mark’s gospel the folks who were there couldn’t even see it.

The next incident has Jesus immediately being sent into the wilderness forty days and there he was tempted by Satan. Sent from the Jordan, Jesus is tempted. Believe it or not, there’s nothing special here. Being tempted by Satan is an everyday occurrence in the life of every human being. Neither Jesus nor we can stay at the Jordan for the rest of our lives, we go into our own wildernesses and we are tempted by Satan. So if it’s nothing special for either of us we need to know this, Jesus entered a world where he faced the same temptations we do everyday. Jesus is tempted just like we are; the only difference is that he doesn’t succumb to the world’s temptations.

In the meantime, he was with the wild animals and the angels attended him. It takes a hard look at the Greek grammar to see this, but these are two specific wilderness experiences. First is that Jesus was with the wild animals and also the angels attended him.

Mark’s gospel doesn’t say what the animals were doing, it’s logical to think the wild animals, or in other translations wild beasts, were doing what wild beasts do. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my; Jesus seemed to have been in great peril. What our text doesn’t exclude is that this was a “Daniel in the Lion’s Den” experience. The beasts that surround him might have been at bay. It just doesn’t say.

As for how the angels waited on Jesus, again it doesn’t say. Where Matthew’s gospel delays the angels until after forty days of fasting and Satan’s temptations, in Mark’s it seems like they might have been there all along. Perhaps he was being protected from the wild beasts by the angels. Then again, this could have been an “Elijah and the widow moment” from 1Kings 17 where there the Lord provided flour and oil for bread when all else seemed lost. While Matthew gospel says more on the subject, Mark’s doesn’t.

Regardless, we do know that Jesus was in the desert for a good long time, there were wild beasts, and there were angels attending. We don’t have to know how all of this worked; instead we can have faith and rejoice that it did.

Something missing from the New International Version is in the New American Standard and the New Revised Standard Versions are two more “and’s.” In the original texts verse fifteen begins with “and.” Then between the two parts of Jesus’ original proclamation is another. Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the Good News of God and saying “The time has come and the kingdom of God is near.” Jesus left one place, a place that wasn’t very hospitable, and left for the city to share the Good News saying specifically “The time has come and the kingdom of God is near.”

Jesus leaves the dangers of the wilderness for a more familiar place. Jesus was from a backwater town, but selling the wares of his trade, he would have known and been known in the city. This time though, he’s coming with a different message. Instead of selling his skills he proclaims the Good News of God. He seems like the same guy to everyone who knows him, but now there’s something different. Jesus declares that simple difference in the first thing he says, “The time has come and the kingdom of God is near.”

Jesus tells them, Jesus tells us, Jesus tells all creation that everything the world has awaited for such a long time is now at hand. Friends, it’s done. Jesus is here, the Good News of God walks among us.

Of course only a fool would believe that even with the Good News of God present and the time fulfilled that sin has been banished from the world. And it takes a different kind of fool to think that nothing has changed because the time has come and the kingdom of God has come near. It’s a brand new world that still has the rampages of the same old sin. It is up to us to know that where there is God there is hope. In Christ we aren’t optimistic. Optimism is about what we can do. In Christ we are hopeful, based on what God has already done.

The last connection made is “repent and believe.” In the ancient world to repent meant to change your mind. It could also to feel remorse and be converted. To repent eventually became the subject of the disciples’ proclamation.[2] What’s missing from this repenting is an action. That’s just what the way it was in the ancient days. In the ancient world believing carried the action element that we associate with repenting. Go figure, language takes turns that we can neither anticipate nor expect. Words change but God doesn’t. The truth is regardless of the words and what they mean, in this combination we are expected to change our minds and our habits.

This whole concept of Jesus and the “and” led me to examine some of the things I do when creating a sermon, rules of thumb I try to follow. When writing, there are a couple of words I don’t like using, the first of those words is “but.”

There are a couple of reasons that I tend to avoid the word “but.” One reason is that both the Greek and Hebrew have words that can be translated as either “and” or “but.” Using one over the other is a translator’s interpretation of what these documents really mean. Of course the folks who create those translations do it as their Christian vocation so we can expect a certain level of expertise. Sometimes though, it’s kind of fun to replace the exclusionary word “but” with the inclusive word “and” to see where it leads.

This is the second reason I work to avoid the word “but.” The word “but” makes us lean toward excluding things and people. The Good News of Jesus Christ is a story of redemption of all humanity and all creation. There isn’t a whole lot of exclusion to be found in the gospels themselves. So I find it more fruitful to consider the “and’s” over the “but’s.”

There is another word I avoid in sermons, “you.” There are two simple reasons for this. The first is if I say “you need to do this,” or “you need to change,” or “you need to” whatever; I set myself above you. As soon as I separate myself from you I have quit serving the Lord and this congregation. Telling you what you have to do puts me above you, a place I do not belong. Like the word “but,” it excludes, it separates me from you. This is not a good place for any pastor to be.

The other reason is that pointing the crooked finger of judgment is the act that puts the preacher in the place of God above the people and puts me in a place that belongs to God alone. I may bring the word of God, but I am not the Word of God.

If I preach “at you” rather than worship the Lord “with you” I fail you and God. It is this failure I work to avoid. This is why you will rarely hear me address you, instead I talk about us.

This is what I have to say about us, Jesus was one of us. Because of his humanity he experienced everything we will experience. He was tempted. He kept his sinless nature in tact forty days in the wilderness, in the synagogues and temple, before Pilate, and on the cross.

In him, all that we need has come. In him all that we could ever want is near. Everything we ever needed or wanted is with us because Jesus embraced the “and” of his fully human and fully divine existence. Jesus embraces the “and,” and he wants us to join him in that loving embrace.

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[1] Wordle.net homepage, http://www.wordle.net/, retrieved February 23, 2012.

[2] metanoe,w, Bauer Danker Greek English Lexicon

High Wire

This sermon was heard at the ecumenical Ash Wednesday worship service sponsored by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Marshall and First Presbyterian Church [PC(USA)] in Marshall, Texas held at First Presbyterian on Wednesday February 22, 2012.

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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.

Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, the season of introspection, reflection, and repentance. Who says the season doesn’t need better PR? This is one of those days in the Christian calendar we Protestants really aren’t quite sure about. I find this especially true living in America, the Land of Opportunity, a season that begins with fire and ash representing death and penitence is pretty far from our cultural understanding.

We’re more familiar with Ash Wednesday’s naughty cousin, Mardi Gras. Given the choice between reveling like tomorrow won’t come and wearing ashes while someone in a black robe says, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return,” who wouldn’t take beads any day of the week? Of course, there’s more to the choice than that, which is why I’ll be the guy in the black robe holding the ashes this evening.

About ten months ago, the youth of the church came entering waving palm branches crying the words of the grand entry into Jerusalem, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” We get that. We understand that with no trouble. The triumphant entry into Jerusalem is a great and wonderful celebration of the church. And we know the trials of Holy Week that follows, but we may gloss over that as we look forward to the glorious resurrection, our chance to proclaim that other ancient liturgy of the church, “He is risen, He is risen indeed.”

Tonight, those same ashes play a crucial role in our liturgy. Dried, burned, and mixed with oil they will make the sign of the cross on our foreheads in just a few minutes. Last year’s joyful, triumphant entry is this year’s sign of death.

“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Frankly, given a choice of things to say in worship, I will always prefer “He is risen, He is risen indeed.” But you can’t have one without the other. Without death there cannot be resurrection. Without death there cannot be new life.

So what thanks do we get for sharing the Good News of the death and resurrection of the Lord? Let’s find our answer in our reading from 2Corinthians. The former Saul of Tarsus, the man who went from the most zealous persecutor of Christ to the one who took Christ to the gentiles, shows us the consequence of bringing the faith to the people of Corinth in specific and the world in general.

He’s met with troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger. He talks about the rewards of sharing the Good News of Christ Crucified.  He speaks of himself and his companions as servants of God commending themselves in every way by the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left.

Paul and his fellow travelers knew glory and dishonor, bad report and good report. They were genuine evangelists, yet regarded as impostors. The Lord and the people knew them, yet they were regarded as unknowns. In Christ they die yet, and yet they still live. They were beaten, and yet not killed. You know, I just don’t see our evangelism committees saying, “Yeah, sign me up for that!”

About twenty years ago, I was running a residence hall at a community college in rural southeast Colorado. The students were none too happy with me, and one of the reasons why is that I could catch them at their own tricks. If you were going to pull the wool over my eyes you had to bring your A-game, “good” wasn’t good enough. This was when my boss told me that in his opinion if the students hated me I must have been doing something right. I guess this letter to the Corinthians is an ancient example of what my boss said, if the people hated him he must have been doing something right.

But there is that last part; they were sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. While poor, they made many rich in the gospel. Having nothing, in the Lord they possessed everything.

I said that this liturgy of sorrow and joy is foreign to many Protestants, but I may have used too broad a brush to paint that picture. As true as that may be, it seems like Ash Wednesday would cause most Americans in general a lot of discomfort.

Living in the world today seems to be a high wire act and here we are, standing on the wire hundreds of feet above a surface that is more than likely quite hard, working without a net.

Did you know that? High Wire performers almost always work without a net. It’s true. It’s because there is nothing like falling to earth gaining tremendous speed while carrying what is tantamount to a huge spear. This actually makes bouncing on a net unsafe. Bouncing around gives the walker’s balance pole a couple more shots at a good skewering so most high wire acts don’t use a net.

So we seem to live in a high wire act, working without a net, standing high above the ground where one misstep can bring us to our death. As the old song goes, “I’m up on the tight wire, one side’s ice and one is fire,”[1] and it seems like as long as we stay on this small, small wire we are safe, safe in a place between fire and ice. But let me tell you something, this is a lie, it’s a bald faced lie.

The truth is that the wire isn’t so high. It’s more like a line painted on the ground. We can get off the wire at any time, but there’s a kicker. As Paul reminds us, living in Christ does not save us from the unsavory characters of this world. People who want to oppress and suppress and depress will be there to give it their best shot. There is prosecution and persecution and as much as it was a way of life in Paul’s time it is a way of life in ours.

Tonight we remember this with the mark of the cross with the ash from last Palm Sunday. Jesus did this by the agony of the cross. But in this agony there is mercy. And by the mercy of God, let us be marked as his, marked by the ash, and by his blood.

Worshiping Christ does not take us from the daily grind. What it does though is show us that when we face life with both feet on the ground, grounded in God’s peace and love, we are bathed in love that redeems the pain and suffering. Even death is redeemed in Christ, by Christ, and through Christ from the cross and the empty tomb.

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky.[2] It is true, we are dust, and to dust we shall return. But in Christ even the dust is restored to abundant life.

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[1] Leon Russell, “Tight Rope”

[2] That’s right! “Ashes to Ashes” by David Bowie

Tongue Tied

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday February 19, 2012, Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday.

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2 Kings 2:1-12

Psalm 50:1-6

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Mark 9:2-9

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

There is a habit people fall into when looking at the disciples as a group. It is held by pastors and preachers. It is held by teachers and believers. It’s an easy conclusion, a stereotype that makes the work of understanding easier. That habit is thinking the disciples are just dense. Let’s face it, when you look at some of the things they say and some of the questions they ask, it makes you wonder if Jesus picked them because they were clueless. Today gives us one such time to wonder.

Jesus changes his appearance before Peter, James, and John. His clothes take on a whiteness that no laundry will ever match. His clothes are whiter than any bleach will ever make them. This brightness was incredible; the disciples were seeing Jesus come into his glory on the spot, but there was more.

Jesus not only appeared in this whiteness, but he appeared with two of the three persons who according to scripture and tradition didn’t die. Jesus appears in his glory having a chat with Moses and Elijah.

(By the way, the third is Enoch. His story is in Genesis 5:18-24. He doesn’t have a place in this reading, but I knew if I didn’t mention his name it was going to bother some of you until you either remembered, looked it up, or were told. I know I would have been that person.)

This is when Peter, who was frightened along with the others, became completely spooked. He was so taken with fright that he had to say something. So he did. “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.” Now I can’t argue with that. To be in the presence of Jesus as he displays his glory as God of gods, King of kings, and Lord of lords is a glorious thing. It is very good to be there. That’s where he should have stopped. But he didn’t.

He continues, “Let us put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!” So why would Peter want to put a construction project on the side of a mountain? At the Thursday morning study we came up with several reasons. They included creating a memorial, making a shrine, erecting tiny tabernacles, and building a place where they could be worshiped. Many pagan religions built shrines and memorials on mountain tops and sides, it seems like this could have been Peter’s way of showing those others whose God is Lord (and it ain’t theirs!).

This is one of those times when learning the historical, social and theological answers to the question “Why build?” might have satisfied our curiosity, but little else. Scripture says why he said what he said. He said what he said because he was frightened. He was so frightened he was tongue tied. How often have you heard someone say something completely out of character, or worse completely out of line because they didn’t know what to say?

When I was in college, one of my fraternity brothers died[1] from complications of Marfan syndrome. At the funeral, the University’s Dean of Students came up to a small group of us at graveside and said, “Well boys, another learning experience at Emporia State.” Half of us walked away, the other half stared; none of us said anything. Truly this was a moment when it was better to say nothing at all.

There’s an old expression used by people who teach counseling and pastoral care, “Don’t just do something, stand there.” There are times, like at a funeral, during times of severe sorrow, in moments of great depression when it is better to just be there. It’s a time to listen. It’s a time to be attentive to the person you are with. It’s a time when greater care can be had in a quiet moment and a shared cup of coffee than with all the well wishes in the world.

I will concede this is easier said than done. We’re a doing people. One of the trademarks of Western civilization is we get stuff done. If it’s not stuff to be done it’s not worthy. If it’s not stuff to be done it’s nothing. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In the quiet moments, the truth is revealed far more clearly than when we’re busy.

This is when the cloud appeared and enveloped them (how’s that for a glorious word, enveloped), and a voice came from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.” This harkens back to the words from the heavenly voice to Jesus in Mark 1:11, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” The words spoken at the Baptism of the Lord are heard again at the Transfiguration. The Father shares this word first with the Son and now with the three. See what Peter would have missed if he hadn’t quieted down?

Today we celebrate “Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday.” I find the word “transfiguration” interesting. I can’t think of another time or place that this word is used in the English language. It’s a word we borrow from Latin meaning “to change appearance.” Jesus didn’t change and Jesus doesn’t change; he did change how he appeared to these disciples. This is the difference, appearance.

This is a part of our challenge everyday, how does Jesus change his appearance around us everyday to show us God is at work in our world? How does Jesus show himself to us everyday?

Lately, I have been talking about “what we need to do” in sermons. Today I want to remind us that not only do we need to do something, we need to just sit there and listen first. We need to take the time to listen to him just as the voice from the cloud instructs us. God loves the Son, if we fail to pay attention it’s at our peril.

People tend to fall into patterns in prayer. One of these patterns is speaking to God and failing to wait for a response. This is why during the Confession of Sin and Prayers for the People I invite us to spend time in silence. This is a time to lift what is on our hearts to the mercy seat of God, and even more it is a time to listen for an answer. This is how we follow the command from the cloud to listen in our corporate prayers

We also do this in study, like the one we will begin a week from Wednesday about Christ’s final words from the cross.[2] Camp is a wonderful place to learn this too. So, in a few minutes, we are all invited to join in the Fellowship Hall for a spaghetti dinner provided by the youth as they earn funds for camp.[3]

Peter, along with the others was so frightened he was tongue tied. He wasn’t being stupid or ignorant or any other thing he just blurted out the first thing that crossed his mind. God provides us the remedy for fear and uncertainty, his Son. It is upon us to listen for the word of the Lord and it is up to us to respond before sharing that remedy. When we listen first and then share the word with the world, we do as our Lord commands.

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[1] My fraternity brother and “pledge son” Philip Anthony Berg died on April 17, 1985 in Emporia, Kansas and is buried in Neodesha, Kansas. Love ya, Phil.

[2] Hamilton, Adam, Final Words from the Cross, Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2011.

[3] Camp Fund donations can be sent to First Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 667, Marshall, TX 75671-0667. Please write “Camp Fund” in the memo line.

Echoes Only Dogs Can Hear

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday February 12, 2012, the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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2 Kings 5:1-14

Psalm 30

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Mark 1:40-45

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

In Chaos Theory, there is a concept called “the Butterfly Effect.” The general idea is that minor changes in circumstances can cause a large change in outcome. One of the most common expressions for this is that a butterfly in China can cause a Kansas thunderstorm. The events have nothing to do with each other, but the effect is based on the supposition that a brief flutter on the other side of the world can cause dramatic consequences thousands of miles away. It’s truly nonlinear thinking, but one of the truths of this world and our faith is what we think is oblique may be more direct than we think.

We often think of events taking place in direct ways. We often think of the powerful flexing their muscle to get things done in this life. It sure looks that way, especially in an election year when political ads tell us one person changes everything. Some scholars call this a “Great Man” view of history.

Our readings today seem to have great actions taken by great men. I believe we have some great men being swept up in thunderstorms that were born on a butterfly’s wing.

Our reading from 2Kings is one of my personal favorites. What makes this passage so extraordinary to me is that the movers and shakers in this passage aren’t the people you would ordinarily expect to be pushing forward the narrative.

There are some heavy hitters in this passage. One of the biggest names in the social and political realm doesn’t have a proper name; he’s simply referred to as the King of Aram. The commander of his army was a man named Naaman. He was a valiant soldier, a mighty warrior, and the Lord had given victory to Aram through him. We even have mention of Naaman’s wife. As a woman in this ancient world she wouldn’t have had the power and authority of her husband and her king, but in her household she had more than enough power and authority.

As for the Israelites, as we have the unnamed King of Aram we also are introduced to the unnamed King of Israel. As with the King of Aram, the King of Israel is the chief mover and shaker of the nation. Then our reading has a name we are all familiar with from our bible studies, the chief protégé of the great prophet Elijah, Elisha.

Looking at the butterfly effect illustration, these folks are the thunderstorms, and these thunderstorms can produce heavy rains, large hail, damaging winds, and possible tornadoes. These names are big names and powerful people. But as these people are the storms, I find the butterflies far more interesting.

Let’s start at the beginning again, something I did not mention is that Naaman had leprosy. Evidently this ailment wasn’t as big a distraction for the King of Aram as it was for the temple leaders in Jerusalem. While at war, the armies of Aram brought home a young girl from Israel who serves Naaman’s wife. This young girl is the one who suggests her master Naaman see the prophet in Samaria to be rid of his leprosy.

Now that’s some gall. Scripture doesn’t say anyone asked the opinion of this young slave girl. Her people were conquered, that’s how she became a slave, and she’s offering advice to her mistress about matters of state and public health. It’s just not done. This could have been an easy way to write her own death sentence, and she did it. This is our first butterfly flitting its wings on the other side of the world.

Naaman goes to see the King of Israel. Now, no great king’s great general would get an audience with a neighboring king empty handed. Naaman leaves Aram with the blessings of his king, a letter of introduction, six talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The old expression “beware Greeks bearing gifts” is appropriate here. This expression is a reference to the Trojan horse; but in this case a foreign general comes to town having all of the same implications without any of the covert operations.

The King of Israel reads the King of Aram’s letter and sees the general with his entourage, so the first thing that crosses his mind is to cry “Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” The King of Israel expects the worst, and frankly who can blame him.

So Elisha hears his king has torn his robes in lament expecting Naaman to start taking names any second. Elisha sends a message via courier. Now I say “via courier” because he didn’t have access to either pony express or email. The courier gives him the message, “Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” Here again is nobody special moving the action along. It isn’t the army or the King but a simple servant sending the prophet’s message to the big boys.

Naaman makes his way to the house of Elisha to receive the cure. Elisha sends a messenger to say “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

Thank God for obedient messengers. If I had received this command from the prophet my first impulse would be to look him in the eye and say, “You want me to do what?” A messenger, a simple messenger is sent to the renowned general of the King of Aram, a general who won great battles and found favor in the Lord. This little guy is sent to the door to meet the general with his personal detachment to tell him to take a bath. No, wait, he is sent to tell him to take seven baths.

Again, it’s the messengers carrying the messages from their masters. The thunderstorms rumble, but it is the butterflies that carry the messages. Their wings carry the words that carry the message.

Naaman is perturbed. The prophet doesn’t come out. The prophet doesn’t invoke the name of the Lord. The prophet doesn’t even pick a nice river. He’s perturbed. But one of Naaman’s servants appeals to the general’s wiser nature. “If he told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?” If the prophet had told him to perform dramatic acts he would have. Naaman’s servants lead the general to wisdom and to a cure.

There it is, some of the most prominent people in the book of Kings, the movers and shakers who carry out the action; they are the thunderstorms. But if it were not for the servants, slaves, and messengers; the little people, none of this action would have been accomplished. If one of these butterflies had failed to flap its wings the story would not have ended the way it did. If one of the links in the chain of action had been missing then there would have been leprosy and there could have been war.

Often, often people ask themselves if what they can do would make any difference in the whole wide world. You may be familiar with this nursery rhyme:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the battle was lost.

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.[1]

If one little piece is missing everything falls apart. We are those pieces.

There’s another song, originally a German folk tune from around 1700 but you may be more familiar with the calypso version sung by Harry Belafonte and Odetta or maybe the Sesame Street version; the song is called “There’s a Hole in My Bucket.”[2]

He says there’s a hole in the bucket. She tells him to fix it. He asks her how and she tells him to use straw. This goes on through more and more verses as she tells him he’ll need water to wet the whetstone to sharpen the axe to cut the straw to patch the bottom of the bucket but he can’t. Why not? He can’t get water because there’s a hole in the bucket. When one thing goes wrong, the whole thing falls apart.

In our gospel reading a man with leprosy comes to Jesus. We are still in that first fateful week after Jesus first teaches in the synagogue; right after Jesus calls his first disciples. This meeting takes place not long after Jesus tells the gang that no matter how many people are coming up to Simon and Andrew’s ancestral home, there are others who need him too. They need to go so they can share the Good News with all the people. That is why he came.

So not long after they leave, along the road, they are met by a man with leprosy. “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus tells the man he is willing and he is cleansed.

After the cleansing, Jesus sends the man away at once with a strong warning, “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.” The storm is rising and people who can portend the signs are already beginning to see this storm in Jesus of Nazareth, the man who is God who exorcises spirits and heals diseases. But this time the butterfly throws a monkey wrench into life its ownself.

He doesn’t go to the temple to show himself to the priest and make the sacrifices Moses prescribed. As Jesus said—appearance at the temple, cleansed, with the appropriate offerings would provide testimony to them—the temple priests—that something was happening in the hinterlands of Judea. Instead, the man goes out and began talking freely, spreading the good news. He makes it so Jesus can’t enter a town openly. He is forced to stay in the wilderness, the desert, what the New International Version calls “lonely places.”

How’s that for one little hitch causing things to go awry?

So here is one of the great “what if” questions of scripture. What if the man had presented himself to the temple priests? John’s gospel gives us an indication on this one. John 9 gives us the story of the man who was blind from birth. Jesus heals the man with a spittle mud pack. When he is taken to the temple by the Pharisees the temple elite are not happy to see him or his opened eyes. In one of the great misunderstandings of scripture, the man asks if the temple folks want to be Christ’s disciples too. With that he is insulted and thrown out.

Looking at our gospel reading and this story from John 9, it may not be a great leap to say that if he had presented himself at the temple, even with the sacrifices Moses commanded, it would have caused a scandal the likes of which the temple was not ready to face. As Jesus said, this was a word to the temple; that healing and cleansing—acts of God—were happening in the wilderness. Instead, the man who used to have leprosy spreads the Good News of God making it impossible for Jesus to leave the countryside.

Little guys can make a big difference. As for the difference it meant to Jesus’ mission on earth; while it changed the trajectory of the spread of the gospel, in the end it meant nothing. We know that Christ’s mission ended the only way it could, on the cross and in the resurrection. In this case, the butterfly wings caused a diversion, but it could never sidetrack our Lord from his goal, the reconciliation of God and humanity.

So there it is, when we feel weak, when we feel that there is nothing we can do, we can. When we feel there is no place for us in the work of God there is. We don’t have to be the Moderator of the General Assembly or the head of something, when we answer our call our butterflies fly and great thunderstorms are moved.

But there is always the question, “What if I stumble, what if I fail?”

Here’s the difference between these two stories: As we read in 2Kings, we can help change the lives of those around us. As we see in Mark, nothing we can do will change God. As the leper did, we may cause a hitch in the git-a-long of the Lord, but we cannot halt the kingdom. This should be reassuring. If we fear what we do can hinder God, we cannot. Like the leper in our reading, we cannot change God’s reconciling work.

There’s a butterfly in China and a Kansas thunderstorm. There are actions and reactions that cause things to happen half-way around the world. Sometimes it’s as dynamic as we read in Kings. More often than not they’re echoes only dogs can hear; and here’s the good news, God hears those echoes. God hears the echoes and by his sacrifice we are restored. Thanks be to God.

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Thanks to Bob Walkenhorst and The Rainmakers for the title of this sermon.

[1] This version found at http://www.rhymes.org.uk/for_want_of_a_nail.htm, retrieved February 10, 2012.

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There's_a_Hole_in_My_Bucket, retrieved February 10, 2012.

Looking for Jesus

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday February 5, 2012, the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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Isaiah 40:21-31

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Mark 1:29-39

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

There are times reading the scriptures that the simplicity of a phrase becomes more than the sum of its parts. I find this glorious grace in the phrase “Everyone is looking for you.” Jesus has gone to be alone with the Father and when his new companions find him they declare “Everyone is looking for you.” They mean everyone in town, in truth they have no idea how right they are.

At the beginning of our reading, we’ve reached the end of a long day; this is the day that started with last week’s reading of Jesus teaching in the synagogue. This is the day he teaches with authority in his words. With his words he exorcises a demon from a possessed man. His words carry so much authority his deeds flow from his mouth. That is an authority beyond the scribes.

After synagogue worship, Jesus, with James and John, go to the home of Simon and Andrew. It’s a multigenerational setting with at least two generations and perhaps even more groups of parents and children. Since Simon and Andrew joined Jesus the previous day and since there is no work on the Sabbath, there may well not have been enough to go around. Still, the call to hospitality rings loud, so with the mouths to feed at home; Simon and Andrew bring three more.

There are three more mouths at dinner while Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. Here’s something interesting about fevers. Deuteronomy 28 brings warnings about what will befall the nation should they be disobedient to the Lord. The blights include curses to the countryside and curses to the city. There are curses to the grain basked and the kneading trough. Neither the family nor the livestock nor the crop will be fruitful. There will be blight and terror in the household.

Verse 22 offers this specific curse, “The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.” Yes, that’s right, fever. The same fever mentioned in Deuteronomy 28:22 is found in verse Mark 1:31. Jesus goes to her and helps her up; he lifts her back to health. The fever leaves. The fever leaves and she begins to wait on them. The Sabbath is not yet over, and she serves him.

Humanity’s sin is figured in the body of a wrecked woman who lies sick to the world, so ill she cannot rise. Jesus comes not only taking her illness, but taking the curse of sin from the world. This little note would not have gotten past the people of Israel. They who knew the law best would have seen this connection.

Just to add fuel to the fire of biblical injunctions and social conventions, touching the ill is a taboo, especially for a person who is not a member of the family. For a strange man to touch a woman who is not a member of the family is also against the mores of the time. Then for him to heal and her to serve; each does work on the Sabbath making a not a trifecta but a superfecta of prohibited behavior.

This is the simple point, Jesus breaks the rules. Jesus does things that no other person can do, not because he is above the law but because he is the law. He is the living law teaching us a new way to live together and take care of one another. He teaches us that even when it is unexpected, even when it is difficult to fathom, we are called upon to serve one another. Jesus shows us what it means to be our brothers’ keeper.

In fact, the word that our bible[1] translates as “to wait upon” is where we get our word deacon. In the Presbyterian Church, deacons are “ministers of compassion” sharing the grace and peace of God in the world through service. It’s not an administrative vocation like the Ruling Elder, it’s a passionate call to serve. It is truly a wonderful ministry and I thank the ladies of the church who have taken this ministry as their own to serve the body of Christ and the world.

But Jesus isn’t quite ready to tell the world who he is yet. So while this gospel begins proclaiming this the “gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” Jesus is not ready for the others in the narrative to know this yet. So as soon as the sun sets and the Sabbath ends he heals many and drives out demons, he silences the demons so they will not share the news they know.

This tells us something special too, this tells us that the demons know the truth of the Son of God; the demons know Jesus is the Christ. Often we hear people who “aren’t sure there even is a God.” We also hear that evil’s greatest trick is to make it so people don’t think the devil exists. Combine the two and there’s a really big trick: The demons who believe in God have convinced people that neither they nor God exist. Now that’s the big lie.

Yet, somewhere deep inside most of us is a place that longs for peace, longs for connection. For many people, the desire to seek God takes them to a solitary place where they seek connection not with something but with nothing. They seek a peace that does not exist in the natural world and they use nature as that focus. Many people would rather believe in creation than in the creator. It give us a choice, do we believe in something or do we believe in nothing. Friends, we believe not in something but someone, we believe in Jesus our Lord and Savior.

Jesus wakes early in the morning and while everyone else sleeps he goes to a solitary place to pray. He doesn’t seek to commune with nature, he seeks nature’s creator. Even Jesus needs some alone time with the Father, and if that’s true for him it is infinitely more true for us.

When the four find him they tell him everyone is looking for him. What does he do? Does he set up a base camp and open a shrine or a temple? No. Jesus tells his friends it is time to go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so he can preach there also. That is why he has come, not so that people can come to him, but so that he can go to the people. We know that we need to seek God, but before that happens, before that can happen; the Lord Jesus, God who walked the earth, sought us first.

According to the Christian Century Magazine:

The GenXer [that is someone from the Post-Baby-Boom Generation, someone born between 1962 and 1980] is suspicious of institutions, especially religious institutions. He focuses on personal experience in the spiritual quest, and on a sense of suffering expressed in a psychological and spiritual crisis of meaning. The GenXer also accepts the ambiguity that may be found in the fusion of sacred and profane, spiritual and sensual, orthodox and blasphemous in popular culture. He does not reject or dismiss faith tradition or religious institutions, but they are not the only sources of spirituality. The implications are clear: If traditional Christianity is to engage the spiritual quest of the GenXer, it must attend to the ways in which these young adults draw on the church and popular culture.[2]

This was written nearly fifteen years ago, but considering the bulk of people who define their heavenly belief system as “spiritual, not religious,” it still rings true. As the article says, they don’t reject everything out of hand, but they connect it with what they know better than Jesus, the world around them. They seek connection, connection to the world and to something bigger.

Our gospel says everyone was looking for Jesus. In our time it may be more accurate to say everyone is looking for their own personal Valhalla or Nirvana or Heaven or whatever. So if everyone is looking for Personal Jesus, what do we do to help them find him?

The answer is as easy as this, share. It is up to us to share God with the world. We are called through the community of God to have a relationship with the Lord that came for us first. We are called to worship a God who seems to break the rules which appeals to many but in truth has broken the mold.

We worship God who came not to be served but to serve. In response we serve one another, the community, and the world. Today we do this not only with our work, words, tithes, and offerings; we do this through the Souper Bowl[3] offering.

We are called to reach out. We are called to share our treasure, sure, but that’s not all. Jesus of Nazareth, a man without earthly treasure, shared his time and his talent. Jesus shared his fully-human fully-divine being with the world and with us.

This too is our call. We are to welcome people with hospitality. We are to share our time. And when the time comes, we are to take time and recharge our batteries through praying. We are to take our talents to the people who come and to the world that doesn’t know what’s coming.

This is what we share. Why do we do this? Why do we share ourselves with the world? Simple, that is why Jesus has come, so that’s why he sends us too. I can’t promise this will always be comfortable. I can’t promise you will always feel ready when the time comes. Just know that God does not call the equipped, but equips the call.

And as always, remember, we are to seek God but God seeks us first, that is why he came.

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[1] This is from the New International Version. As for me, I prefer the NRSV’s translation which says “she began to serve them.”

[2] Foster, Charles R. "Paying Attention to Youth Culture," Christian Century, December 9, 1998, 1186. Parenthetic definition of GenXer is mine.

[3] See http://souperbowl.org