Busyness

Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-25
Luke 10:38-42

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

It’s one of the great “Women’s Fellowship” questions of all time, are you a “Mary” or a “Martha.” Ladies, you can help me here. The Martha’s do the work in the kitchen. The Martha’s are the women who make up the Funeral Dinner and Kitchen committees. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying these women are passive homebodies. These women know how to get things done and if you should besmirch the church kitchen you will pay. The Reverend Bill Clarke at the First Presbyterian Church in Lamar, Colorado, one of my mentors, taught me to be careful when putting away silverware because spoons put in the wrong drawer can bring a fate worse than death.

Now when it’s time to come to the lessons and the worship and such, that’s where the Mary’s take over. They are a little more studious and are definitely more comfortable presenting it. Before the event, they’re the ones doing the organizing. They’re doing lesson plans and putting together the teaching supplies too. Of course, it’s the Martha’s who make sure the snacks are on the table to gnosh.

I’m not saying Martha’s can’t have Mary traits and Mary’s can’t have Martha traits, but I am saying that we have comfort zones. Not many of us excel in both, some do, but not many. Both are blessed. Both are necessary. I’m glad we have both in this congregation.

When it came to Vacation Bible School I was blessed. At the first organizing meeting, I did my part, then the women, I was the only man at that meeting so I repeat, then the women ran with it. When I had to go with Marie to the doctor’s office on Friday, all I had to do was put together the lesson plan and one of the Mary’s took it and made it sing. It’s as if the theme for the week was “No Problems.” Some of the ladies apologized to me for this or that. I smiled to say that everything was fine because it was. It wasn’t perfect because nothing is, but the lessons, the music, the crafts, the play; was glorious. God bless all of you Mary’s and Martha’s. It doesn’t always run that way though. It didn’t with the first Mary and Martha.

According to Luke’s gospel: “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?’” It’s that last sentence I want to focus on.

Hospitality is important. It has been important since Abram and Sarai (that’s right, they weren’t Abraham and Sarah yet) hosted three travelers in their tent. It was at this meeting where they were blessed with their son Isaac and their new names. Martha wasn’t fishing for a blessing, she just had her Lord, his disciples, probably various hangers on and very little warning that they were on the way. When she got the news, she went into “Martha Stewart Mode.” She had to get everything just so and it wasn’t when he got there.

The New International Version says Martha was “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” The New Living Translation said Martha was “distracted by the big dinner she was preparing.” In this case, like the New Living Translation, it’s a bit more descriptive. It has that feel that the Messiah has come for dinner with the feel that Martha is trying for a spot on “Iron Chef Palestine.” She’s got her sauces on. The meat is over the spit. The naan is being baked and it’s going to be yummy. Maybe there’s an antipasto ready to be passed around. Everybody has washed their feet and she has that laundry sorted.

Everything’s going according to plan, almost. Jesus is teaching but Martha’s sister Mary is at the feet of the Lord. She’s taking the position of a disciple instead of helping which is her place not only as a woman but as the younger sister. Doesn’t she know her place?

Here’s today’s bible study lesson. We need to know what translations or paraphrases we are reading. All translation is interpretation; you’ll hear me say that a lot. The New International is a very good translation. The NIV is a pretty easy read and has a more evangelical tilt. That doesn’t mean conservative/evangelical, it means it’s accessible to new seekers.

Paraphrases take more risks and generally aren’t translations from the original Hebrew and Greek at all. They rephrase other versions to make them easier to read. Unfortunately, in making things easier, some things get lost, some things get tacked on. In the NIV we read “She [Mary] came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’”

Eugene Peterson’s famous paraphrase, The Message this reads, “Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. ‘Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.’” Gosh Martha, passive-aggressive much? No other translation takes this tone with the Lord. Martha is so lost in her busyness that she comes off cranky.

This is the normal point in the sermon where the pastor points out that Jesus points out Martha is worried about many things but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will be better. Remember, after “Iron Chef Palestine” Mary will have the learning and Martha will have the dishes, thus comes the rhetorical question “who is wiser?” Well I’m not going there.

Now, something I find interesting as a language geek is the Greek verbs used in this passage to describe what Mary and Martha are doing. More accurately, I find their prefixes interesting. The prefix used in the Mary verb is para-, it means alongside. The Martha verb prefix is peri- meaning around. We say Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet and Martha is distracted, but to peel the Greek verb like an onion, Mary is literally sitting alongside and Martha is literally hovering around. Other ways to translate the verb used to describe Mary’s activity include overburdened or overwhelmed. Mary is being with Jesus while Martha is doing things for Jesus. Martha is paying attention to cultural norms and Mary is not, but because Martha is not paying attention to Jesus, she doesn’t really know what he wants, does she?

So the question for us isn’t study vs. service, or active vs. contemplative, the question is where do we put ourselves in relationship to Jesus? Do we sit alongside him or do we hover around him? Do we rest at his feet, moving when he moves? Or do we constantly work anticipating our Lord’s next move, his next need, making plans which may or may not come to fruition? When we are alongside Christ, as he moves we can move. If we are constantly in motion, making contingency plans, when the Messiah moves we might be in a committee meeting trying to figure out the next big thing for ourselves. Or worse, we could be trying to figure out how to recapture the glory of days gone past.
It is better to be alongside than around.

I know cradle Disciples and UCC members may not be familiar with this, but if you have ever been to a church that used creeds, our reading from Colossians may sound familiar. Colossians 1:15-20 says:

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

It’s very nice to say, “I have no creed but Christ,” but in the earliest days of Christianity, theologians had too many different ideas about what that meant and some of the crazier ideas needed to be weeded out. So, in 325 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine called a council of Bishops to make the very important decisions about “what is the nature of God.” Decisions which split the church between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. In 381, Roman Emperor Theodosius I continued and completed this work which became the Nicene Creed. I could tell you more, but then you’d have to kill me, or at least you'd want to kill me.

All you need to know is that the writer of Colossians, thought to be a student of Paul from sometime around 80 AD, wrote this to remind his readers, the church at Colossae, Paul’s thoughts on the nature of Jesus which are orthodox in the church around the world. Many of these words making their way into a creed used over 1600 years later. This is the same Jesus we all understand. This is who we stand alongside.

So yes, Mary chose the better way, not because there are fewer dishes or because the meal Martha prepares nourishes for a time and the Body and Blood of Christ nourish for a lifetime but because it is better to be alongside Christ than it is to be around Christ. We do this through study. We do this through contemplation. We do this through remembering our stories. And we do this through sharing our stories. It’s not a bad idea to have something to gnosh on, but a genuine word of God and a Chips Ahoy are in the words of our Lord, “what is better.” After all, if the word is sincere, store bought cookies will be good enough.

You Want Me to Do WHAT?

This sermon was heard at The Federated Church in Weatherford, Oklahoma on Sunday July 3, 2016, the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

2Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30
Galatians 6:7-16
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

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

In this life, there are things we have to do. Our bosses, our parents, and even our children tell us there are things to do. Sometimes it’s society, whether the government, which is just the formal arm of society, or obligation and expectations, like keeping the lawn mowed. Often we don’t want to do them. We’d rather laze around the house, hike in the mountains, sit on the back patio with a beverage of choice, or shoot the back nine. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld said it like this, “A recent study showed that more people are afraid of public speaking than are afraid of dying. That means that at a funeral, the average American would rather be in the coffin than giving the eulogy.”

Naaman is a mighty warrior. He has won many battles and gained glory in the name of the King of Aram. Of course he doesn’t get to share the spoils with anybody because he has leprosy. A tiny slave girl laments over the fate of her master. She tells her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” If you think your health plan has hoops, here’s a slave girl referring her master to a Jewish Prophet in exile in Samaria through her mistress. So the King of Aram signs off on this and sends Naaman off to the King of Israel with a signed letter and a gift of silver and gold worth about $680,000 by today’s standards.

Unfortunately, when the King of Israel got the letter it said “so you may cure him.” His first response was You want me to do what? “Am I God? Can I cure disease?” He rented his garments, a fancy way to say he dramatically tore his clothes in woe, grief, sorrow, and in this case he wondering if the King of Aram was raring for a fight sending his mightiest General. Elisha caught wind of this and sent the king a note saying send him to me. The king was more than happy to pass the buck. He sent Naaman to see the prophet in Samaria.

Let me set the scene for you. Naaman isn’t travelling alone or with a small cadre of officers. The man is traveling with a small army including the slaves who serve them. He’s got an entourage that would make a Hollywood diva positively jealous. Elisha’s house isn’t a ranch style three bedroom with attached garage a couple blocks from good schools either. It would be more like a Mexican Villa. There would be a main house with a walled courtyard surrounding the larger compound. This is where Naaman knocked and the servant met him.

Now imagine this, you’re a servant, probably the chief steward to Elisha, the prophet of the Lord, you have received Naaman at the gate and seen the army of the King of Aram. You have received the formal request that Elisha heal the General of his leprosy. So Elisha’s in the 9th Century BC equivalent of his man cave and he tells you to tell the General, in front of that army, to go take a bath in a dirty river.

Imagine being that guy, now say it with me, “You want me to do what?” You get to meet an army and tell its General to get naked and take a bath in front of the very people he has defeated in battle. If you’re imagining sudden death, I suspect you’ve put yourself in his sandals. Naaman couldn’t give Elisha’s servant the satisfaction of hearing it, so he says it to his servant, “He wants me to do what?” Instead he talks about cleaner rivers at home. The servants shrug and say “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!”

Naaman does and his flesh is made anew, baby soft.

Now, did you notice this about the story, the people who move the action along are the people with the least power. When Naaman balks at taking the trip to the Jordan, it is his servants who convince him to go. Before that it’s not Elisha but his servant who delivers the delightful news of the cure. When Naaman arrives at the King of Israel’s throne with an army and the blessing of the King of Aram seeking a cure it’s Elisha who takes this problem off the King’s hands. Finally, and most significantly, it’s a slave girl that gets the ball rolling. Her concern for her master causes her to seek her mistress and tell her where to find a cure. An Israelite slave girl is the ultimate non-person in this place and time. Age, race, and gender all play against her. She is nobody and she sets this chain of events in motion. Over and over I have asked “You want me to do what?” and nobody asked her anything.

After all of this history, and all of this narrative, here comes another question: How many of these servants really wanted to speak up in front of the people with such power? You already have my opinion about the King of Israel sending Naaman to Elisha, he was glad to have him out of the throne room. And the servant of Elisha, going to meet an army alone to tell the General to take a bath. I’m guessing he feared for his life.

What about Naaman’s servants and the little girl? Did they want to speak up? The Naaman’s servants knew giving such bold advice alone could get them killed, and if it didn’t work, it would get their dead bodies stomped to dust. As for the little girl, she wanted the General who conquered her people cured. Now that’s something. She had the least, and she had the purest motive and without her there would be no story of the healing power of the Lord through the authority of the prophet Elisha. People want others to do what is right in their eyes and the eyes of their peers for their own gain. The little girl gained nothing.

Paul warns the Galatians that powerful people want them to be circumcised not for their benefit, but for the benefit of the people in charge of the Synagogue. He writes, “The only reason they do this, is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.” Before Paul became a force in Christianity, the gentiles who wanted to accept Jesus were required to first become Jews. It was logical at the time, Jesus was a Jew, the followers of Jesus were Jews, so to be a new follower of Jesus was to first be a Jew.

It was all to keep the law, but “not even those who are circumcised keep the law,” reminded Paul, “yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh.” The truth was the ritual wasn’t so much for the glory of God or Christ, it was for the leaders who wanted the gentiles circumcised. Paul, who was one of those leaders before his conversion, refused to accept those accolades anymore. He cried out, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” He would die for none but his Lord Jesus the Christ. What others wanted, Paul knew was worthless, submission to the cross is all that mattered, and he made sure the Galatians knew.

This power through submission theme continues in our gospel reading. Jesus sent the seventy-two to offer his peace upon a household, and if his peace remains to stay. Then “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” Of course when they return they tell another story.

When they returned they had fish tales to tell, one pair landing bigger fish than the last. “Lord,” they said, “even the demons submit to us in your name.”

Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” Jesus says,

“Yeah, you have this power. This is good, but this is not why I sent you out.” He sent them out to share the good news. To heal the sick. To bring in the harvest. Demons and snakes and scorpions were tools to do the work, not the work itself.

Jesus told them, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” The flashy part isn’t the important part. Relationships, that’s what’s important. A relationship with the heavenly Father, that’s what’s important.

In this world, we will be asked to do a lot of things and our first impulse is to answer, “You want me to do WHAT!” We see it in our reading from Kings. Our reading from Galatians offers it up in a form, but Paul has told us that form is no longer required. In Luke, Jesus has paired up 72 disciples and sent them out, but it seems they became more enamored by the frosting than the cake. Here’s what I want you to do.

I want you to remember a time in your life when faith changed your life. Was it a mended relationship, or forgiveness, or healing, or a turning point. Think about it. Really think about it. Then, can you find a way to share that story in a couple of minutes? In evangelism (WAIT, YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT! It’ll be alright, hold on!) these are called “elevator talks.” Share what you want to share in just a couple of minutes, the length of time it takes to go up a couple of floors on an elevator. People don’t want to know theologies, they want to know what kind of difference Jesus, what kind of difference this body of Christ has made in your life.

That’s what I want you to do. Be just like that little girl in 2Kings. She knew there was a prophet, she knew there was healing to be had, and she shared. Now I’m not saying “tell the world” tomorrow. Share the story with your spouse, or someone from the congregation. Share it with me or Marie, we love good stories, and we’ll share our stories with you. This way together we take the first step to share the good news of the kingdom of God with the world… one person at a time.

Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood

This sermon was heard at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Longview, Texas on Sunday July 14, 2013, the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Amos 7:7-17

Psalm 82

Colossians 1:1-14

Luke 10:25-37

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

If you know the lyrics, sing along. If you don’t, then just hum. Nobody is going to mind.

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood; it’s a beautiful day for a neighbor. 

Would you be mine? Could you be mine? 

It’s a neighborly day in this beauty wood; a neighborly day for a beauty. 

Would you be mine? Could you be mine?

Would you be mine? Could you be mine?

I’ve always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.

 I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day; 

since we’re together we might as well say:

“Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?”

Won’t you please, won’t you please, please won’t you be my neighbor.[1]

New episodes of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” were shown on PBS stations from 1970 until 2001 and on National Educational Television two years before that. Reruns aren’t available on local stations, but they are through the PBS Kids web site.[2]

The show was characterized by its quiet simplicity and gentleness. Episodes did not have a plot, but they did have a theme. They consisted of Rogers speaking directly to viewers about various issues, taking the viewer on tours of factories, demonstrating experiments, crafts, and music, and interacting with his friends. The half-hour episodes were punctuated by a puppet segment chronicling occurrences in the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe.”

At the beginning of each episode, Mister Rogers enters his television studio house singing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” He hangs up his suit jacket, puts on a zippered cardigan, then takes off his dress shoes to put on his sneakers. One of Rogers’ sweaters now hangs in the Smithsonian, a testament to the cultural influence of his simple daily ritual.

Rogers covered a broad range of topics over the years, and the series did not shy away from issues that other children’s programming avoided. In fact, Rogers endeared himself to many when, on March 23, 1970, he dealt with the death of one of his pet goldfish. The series also dealt with competition, divorce, and war. Rogers returned to the topic of anger regularly and focused on peaceful ways of dealing with angry feelings.[3]

All of this happened in the context of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, a mystical place where the imaginary fourth wall of the television screen magically disappeared for a half hour and we were all welcomed into a world of peace and grace.

Considering Mister Fred Rogers was a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and an ordained PC(USA) Minister, welcoming children into a world of peace and grace was his vocation as well as his passion.

So the expert in religious law came to test Jesus asking, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replies in true rabbinical fashion, asking a question when an answer is sought. “What is written in the Law?”

The lawyer answers this question by a perfect recitation from Leviticus and Deuteronomy[4] saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus affirms the lawyer’s answer saying, “Do this, and you will live.” The experts in the law commonly accepted that observance of the Torah was essential to inherit eternal life.[5] So when Jesus and the lawyer agree on this point, they share the truth of thousands of years of tradition.

But the lawyer’s questions are more than an academic or rabbinic exercise. He wants to justify himself. So he asks Jesus another question, “Who is my neighbor?” This is an important question, more important than we may suppose. What gets lost in the translation of Leviticus is that the original command to love the neighbor specifies “your kin” and “any of your people.”[6] So the lawyer wants to be justified that by helping his family, his people, and his nation he will inherit eternal life.

Then Jesus tells the legal expert a story and asks him another question, “So which of these three, the Priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan, do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

The lawyer answers, “The one who showed him mercy was a neighbor.” This must have been difficult for the expert in the law. He knew it wasn’t his people, the Priest or the Levite, but he couldn’t push the name of his dreaded cousin past his lips. Instead he says, “The one who showed him mercy was a neighbor.”

Saying this, the lawyer, the expert in the law tells the world that being a neighbor is about more than just being kin or members of the same nation. It has to do with action and mercy.  Being a neighbor now means more than it did in Leviticus. Then Jesus gives him his charge, “Go, and do likewise.”

Jesus shares the vision of inheriting eternal life written in the Torah with the lawyer.  Then he shows him that the Living Torah, the person and the work and the word of Jesus Christ, expands the Torah given to Moses. Justification by the Torah now means that loving God and loving your neighbor are inseparable.[7] Being justified means more than just taking care of business as usual.

The hardest part about this story is that the holy men in the parable, the priest and the Levite, were doing what they were supposed to do. They were going to work. They were doing what was right in the name of the Law. They followed the rules and abided by the regulations approved by the General Assembly, er, the Presbytery, er, the law handed down to Moses. They did the right thing in the eyes of the law, but doing what was right was no longer enough in the eyes of God.

To the Greco-Roman world, the cradle of Western culture, mercy was a character flaw; the ideal was justice. Since mercy involves providing unearned help or relief, it was contrary to justice. This unearned relief, we call it grace.

Sociologist Rodney Stark put it this way. “The notion that the gods care how we treat one another would have been dismissed as patently absurd. This was the moral climate in which Christianity taught that mercy is one of the primary virtues—that a merciful God requires humans to be merciful. Moreover, the corollary that because God loves humanity, Christians may not please God unless they love one another was something entirely new.”[8]

Mercy is the new benchmark in justification. Mercy is the new benchmark in being a neighbor. Mercy has a place in the administration of justice in the Christ’s kingdom and only the Samaritan acted in accord with the living Torah.

Only the despised Samaritan showed love in an act of mercy. Only the loathed foreigner connected loving God and loving your neighbor as the way to being justified. Only the reviled outsider saw his brother left beaten on the side of the road. Only the detested alien saw the way to justification through mercy. Only the abhorred stranger showed the divinely required attitude we are to share with one another.

An ancient rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when the night had ended and the day was on its way back. “Could it be,” asked one student, “when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it is a sheep or a dog?” “No,” answered the Rabbi. “Could it be,” asked another, “when you look at a tree in the distance and tell whether it is a fig tree or a peach tree?” “No,” said the Rabbi. “Well, then what is it?” his pupils demanded. “It is when you look on someone’s face and can see… your brother. Because if you cannot do this, then no matter what time it is, it is still night.”[9]

In the past month, there has been quite a commotion about Mr. Rogers. The people at Fox News found a 2007 article by Jeffrey Zaslow from the Wall Street Journal titled, “Blame It on Mr. Rogers: Why Young Adults Feel So Entitled” [10] At the center of the article was LSU finance professor Don Chance who observed a “culture of excessive doting” in 21^st Century university students The article begins:

[The professor] says it dawned on him last spring.  The semester was ending, and as usual, students were making a pilgrimage to his office, asking for the extra points needed to lift their grades to A’s.

 “They felt entitled,” he recalls, “and it just hit me.  We can blame Mr. Rogers.”

Professor Chance notes Asian students, students who did not grow up with Mr. Rogers, accept “B’s and C’s as an indication that they must work harder, and that their elders assessed them accurately.” The article continues:

By contrast, American students often view lower grades as a reason to “hit you up for an A because they came to class and feel they worked hard,” says Prof. Chance. He wishes more parents would offer kids this perspective: “The world owes you nothing. You have to work and compete. If you want to be special, you'll have to prove it.”

If there is one thing I can agree with after working over ten years in higher education, it’s that there is a sense of entitlement among students. I have seen that sense of entitlement reinforced by some parents and grandparents who called to ask if there wasn’t any way I could give Junior one more chance. I don’t say that Professor Chance is wrong about that. I do say that his finger pointing is misdirected. I won’t say where it should be directed, but putting this on Mr. Rogers is wrong.

Looking at Mr. Rogers’ point of view, we need to remember that he was a Christian and a Presbyterian minister. He pastored children daily for over 40 years. He told children, the weakest members of any society, that in the eyes of God they are loved and have value. He told misfits they are loved. He told fat kids they are loved. He told bullied kids they are loved. He told poor kids they are loved. He told abused kids they are loved. Even if it is just in his neighborhood, they are loved.

He loves them. He is their neighbor. He invited children into that neighborhood daily not so that they could beg for grades from Professor Chance fifteen years later, but so that they could know grace and peace and mercy and love and hope. It’s true; this world isn’t looking to do them or anyone else any favors, but through Christ God offers us grace, peace, mercy, love, hope, and salvation. We are freely offered grace as a gift, not as payment for services rendered. If it were, it wouldn’t be grace. This is what Mr. Rogers offered his audience daily.

Gentleness, love, mercy, peace, grace; isn’t this what we want from our neighbors? It sure beats the scorn and ridicule, derision and division we see every day. We want people in our lives showing the fullness of God’s mercy to everyone, not just some.

We want to know what it is to receive divine mercy, God’s divine loving-kindness. We must realize that this mercy arises out of a mutual relationship one for another, not just as a winner-take-all justice the ancient Greeks favored.

If Professor Chance and Fox News want us to believe we have no value outside of what we can do for our economy and ourselves that is their business. It is after all the way of the world. On the whole though, I prefer to live a state of grace, a place where I know what is most important cannot be earned, it can only be given. A place where that grace is freely given, even if it’s just for 30 minutes a day with a man in a zip up cardigan.

Luke shows us the lawyer accepts Jesus’ revision of the Torah. He learns that the one who shows mercy like the Samaritan is the neighbor, not those who share family or heritage like the priest and the Levite. What might have started as a theological exercise between the lawyer and teacher becomes more when the Torah comes to life in Jesus Christ.

When the law comes to life, we can no longer answer these questions like we’re taking a college entrance exam. We now have to answer the questions with our hands even more than we do with our heads. Jesus commands us to be good neighbors; loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength; and our neighbor as ourselves.  On this the words of the Law and the prophets hang.

This is our call, this is our vocation. It is no longer enough to do just what the written law tells us; now there is more. We are called to this new word of discipleship when Jesus charges the lawyer, “Go, and do likewise.” Or as Mr. Rogers once said:

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

Friends in Christ, Mr. Rogers tells us, Jesus tells us, those who help are our neighbors. So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day; since we’re together we might as well say: Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?

---

[1] Rogers, Fred, “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”  Pittsburgh, PA: Family Communications, Inc., 1967.

[2] From the PBSKids.org websie retrieved July 12, 2013.

[3] Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Rogers%27_Neighborhood, retrieved July 8, 2010

[4] Leviticus 19:18, Deuteronomy 6:5

[5] “Adlet and Blink,” Commentary section, from Homiletics Online, http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=930000347, accessed June 10, 2007.

[6] Cousar, Charles B., Gaventa, Beverly R., McCann, Jr., J. Clinton, Newsome, James D., Texts for Preaching, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV, YEAR C. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994, page 427. 

[7] Kittel, Gerhardt, “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. vi, page 316

[8] Galloway, Paul, “How Jesus Won the West: Christianity became dominant because it offered better ideas and unexpected mercy,” The Lutheran, November 1998, 19.

[9] Thompson, Marjorie J. “Soul Feast” Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995, 127.

[10] Zaslow, Jeffrey, “Blame It on Mr. Rogers: Why Young Adults Feel So Entitled.” Wall Street Journal, July 5, 2007, retrieved July 12, 2013.

Ladies and Gentlemen and Children of All Ages

This sermon was heard at the Broadmoor Presbyterian Church in Shreveport, Louisiana on Sunday July 7, 2013, the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

2Kings 5:1-14

Psalm 30

Galatians 6:7-16

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

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

During last week’s sermon,[i]  the Reverend Freeman told a story about his grandfather the Reverend Freeman. Jim’s grandfather was a talented man. Among his many skills was the ability to ride his bicycle’s handlebars facing the back wheel, his feet pedaling backward to move the bike forward… while juggling. That must have been a sight. In the story, a member of the congregation loaned Grandpa Pastor Freeman a plot of land so that he could plant a garden. On the day he began to till the plot, everyone came out to watch him work the land.

Already having the title of today’s sermon in mind, my first thought was, “Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages! Step right up! Step right up and see the Plowing Pastor! Can he plow a straight line while facing backward on the Tilling-Two-Wheeler-of-Death? Watch and see as he attempts to juggle the seed into the farrows!” and that’s when the high school band drum line kicks in to increase the tension until the cymbal crash and trumpet voluntary at the end of the stunt.

So that was just me, huh?[ii]

“Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages…” Whenever we hear these words we know that something exciting is going to follow. This is the cry of the Ringmaster, the Master of Ceremonies under the big top who lures our attention to the center ring, drawing our attention to what’s important. In fact, the only reason the Ringmaster is important is to draw our attention to the main attraction.

This is what Paul is getting at in his letter to the Galatians. He’s trying to make sure that nobody gets suckered into the bad P. T. Barnum sideshow the Scribes and Pharisees are trying to get the church to buy. Our reading from the New Revised Standard Version is a very good translation of what Paul says; but the New Living Translation has fewer $5.00 words and better English sentence structure. This makes Paul’s intended message more transparent. Verses 12 and 13 read:

Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save. And even those who advocate circumcision don't keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples.

Paul is telling us these church leaders make lousy ringmasters. They aren’t drawing the Galatians to what’s important. Their evangelism is for their own benefit, not for the church. They are trying to sell a bill of goods they don’t keep because they can’t. They aren’t pointing to what’s in the center ring. They are trying to draw attention to themselves so their peers will think they’re big shots. Their goal is to bring people to themselves, not to Christ.

Paul even says that whether they are circumcised or not doesn’t matter to Jesus. It’s not the flesh that matters. Paul says what counts is whether or not they have been made a new creation. It’s not what we look like as much as what we become and what we do as a new creation that makes a difference to the Lord. It’s people who live as a new creation that truly come to know the peace and mercy of God.

Let me make this clear—I don’t think this can be said often enough—our salvation does not hinge on what we do. We are saved by grace through faith. What matters to God is that we are transformed and how we are transformed by our salvation. If our transformation is only skin deep, it won’t matter much to us, the world, or to God for that matter. If we aren’t transformed by our salvation, it’s like being a dried out piece of clay in the potter’s hand. The potter’s hand is the one place where clay can be made into something useful, but dried out it’s nothing more than a lump. As Paul says, we reap what we sow.

A tale of transformation is found in our gospel reading. Many of us know this reading well, the “Sending of the 70.” [iii] What we know is Jesus sends these believers out to all of the cities and places he intends to visit. These men who were sent are sent with a mission. They are sent with instructions, and some new rules.[iv] First and foremost, Jesus says pray. They are told to pray first then act.

Jesus sends them with two pieces of advice. He tells them it’s dangerous out there and travel light. As Jesus sends them he says, “Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” Or in the words of Cat Stevens, “Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there/But just remember there’s a lot of bad and beware.”[v] Under those circumstances, this is good advice; when in danger, it is best not to be burdened by stuff.

These instructions also mean they will have to depend on the Lord for their provisions, and not their packing skills or wiles.

 

They are told when they enter a home to say “Peace to this house!” If the peace is shared, the peace will remain. They are told to stay and accept their hospitality. This way they rely on the Lord for their safety, their lodging, and their sustenance. They aren’t supposed to scope out town looking for a better offer. They are to rely on the Lord to show them where they are supposed to be so that they may do remarkable things.

 

If the peace is not shared, it will return to them. Then while leaving, they are to knock the dust from their feet in protest.

Then too, some of Jesus’ instructions will make them uncomfortable along the way because they aren’t all kosher. One is to greet no one along the way.

 For travelers in this time, greeting involves ceremony. When I lived in southeast Colorado it was traditional when driving down the street to wave to everyone. I was told if you didn’t wave to a neighbor when you passed them on the road then they wouldn’t talk to you again until after church on Sunday. Because your neighbor snubbed you at church, everyone would know you had snubbed your neighbor during the week. If you have a Facebook or Twitter account you know what that means for this century. In a time when greeting someone on the road could lead to an hours long ritual, Jesus tells his disciples to forego ritual and go.

The following command is given twice. When they enter a new town and its people welcome them, they are to eat what is set before them. This command can be difficult for a Jew who keeps a kosher table. Casting aside familiar dietary restrictions in favor of crawfish étouffée would be very difficult for them.

 

Jesus’ ministry was focused on the Jews, but he would be traveling through gentile cities too. Since his recon teams would be going there first, they had to be ready for what was ahead of them. So he gives new rules my earthly father would approve, eat what’s put in front of you and clean your plate.

Jesus’ final piece of advice, his last new rule is to deliver the one message of the coming of the Kingdom of God. He tells them to deliver this message whether facing acceptance or adversity. When they are welcomed into a new community they are to say, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”  When they are not welcomed they are to say, “The kingdom of God has come near.”

For those who know the peace of God, this will be a blessing, “The kingdom of God has come near to us.” For those who reject God’s peace, this is more a warning than a blessing.  It sounds like a holy version of “Wait ‘til your father gets home.”

When the circus comes to town there is a group that comes a day or two before the show to prepare for the arrival of the main caravan. They do the last minute publicity. They scout out laundromats, grocery stores, gas stations and other places that are important for a traveling show. Jesus sends the seventy to do the advance work and give a taste of what the kingdom of God is like.

Then after the seventy return to home base, they report their wonderful success and Jesus affirms them saying (again from the New Living Translation) “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!” Then Jesus gives them the advice Paul gives the Galatians; don’t brag about what you’ve done. Don’t rejoice “that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

In this day and time we are called to be the next seventy, sent where our Lord sends us. In prayer we are to seek the way. We are to travel light and beware. We are to rely on God alone and eat what we are given. We are to offer God’s blessing… in one way or another. By the power of the Holy Spirit we are to point to God and God in Christ, not to ourselves. And in Christ, by Christ, and through Christ we are transformed, just like the original seventy 2,000 years ago.

We are to cry out, “Ladies and Gentlemen and Children of all ages! Step this way! Everyone’s welcome!” Then by the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ we may all come into God’s glorious presence where we may survey the wondrous cross together. This is what we have been sent to do.

---

[i] Freeman, The Reverend James, “Of Chariots and Plows.” Heard at the Broadmoor Presbyterian Church, June 30, 2013, the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

[ii] I was prepared to say “Okay, so that wasn’t just me, nice” if the people had responded.

[iii] Or “the 72” depending upon your translation, but I preached that several years ago.

[iv] Culpepper, R. Alan. “The New Interpreter’s Bible.” “Luke” section.  Leander E. Keck, Senior New Testament Editor.  Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, page 222.

[v] Stevens, Cat, “Wild World.”  Off of “Tea for the Tillerman.” 1970.

Eternal Life--from A Service of Witness to the Resurrection for Betty Crittenden

This homily was heard at the clubhouse of Betty's apartment complex in Berryville, Arkansas on Thursday July 22, 2010.

Psalm 23
Titus 3:1-7
Psalm 121
Luke 10:25-37

The lawyer’s question to Jesus has been asked by humanity since the beginning of time. What must I do to inherit eternal life?

Often, all too often, when we read an obituary in the news paper it begins, “Our Sister left this world to be with her Lord…” Far be it from me to tell you that Betty is not with her Lord. In this service of Witness to the Resurrection we begin with this very truth. Yet I must let you know with all humility that Betty did not leave this world to be with her Lord. Betty has been with God long before she and I first met three years ago. Betty knew this quite well, quite well indeed: Eternal life begins while we are still here on earth. Eternal life begins with life in Christ and Betty knew this well; very, very well. She lived like she was a child of God.

She followed the law not just in word, but also in deed. She knew the words of scripture; she knew that she was saved by grace though faith. She knew for sure that a vibrant faith in the living God is about receiving and sharing God’s steadfast love, God’s good grace with those around her.

Betty loved the Lord her God with all her heart, and with all her soul, and with all her strength, and with all her mind; and she loved her neighbor as she loved herself. She demonstrated this through her volunteer work for people who needed what she could provide. With energy and imagination she served the Senior Center well through taking care of the Thrift Shop. She saw the store through three different locations, growing as it moved from space to space to space.

With the church, she helped package school supplies for children whose parents were hard pressed to afford school supplies. Betty and her siblings were raised in humble circumstances, so she knew what it was like to need things for school.

Yet while I say humble, I dare not say poor or impoverished. There is a spirit in her family, from her father who always worked hard to provide for his family to her mother who would tailor and refit WPA clothes handouts during the Great Depression so that her family would have properly fitting clothes. Finances were tight in the dust bowl of western Kansas, and there was eternal life.

Betty was fiercely independent; she could take care of herself as she helped take care of others. In her own words this didn’t set too well before she was school age when her older brother Richard was assigned by their parents to take care of her when they were playing outside. It also had its moments after Betty retired and she moved back to Dodge City to be with her sisters. I can only imagine what it was like when Betty thought she would be taking care of her youngest sister Sharon, and Sharon though the exact opposite. For them it must have been high drama, but I can imagine that for some around them it was pretty amusing.

Yet, Betty did not do these things that she may inherit eternal life. She knew the words of Paul to Titus when he said “when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” She wasn’t like the lawyer who sought to justify himself. She was a woman who knew that it took being a part of the family to receive the inheritance. Betty served others because that is how she learned to serve God, responding to her salvation, not trying to earn it.

Jesus responded to the lawyer’s answer saying, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” By the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in God’s love Betty lived the answer to this question and continues eternal life today.

She loved God and her neighbor. And we who are here today bear witness; her life has borne glorious fruit. By those she has loved and by those who love her, the fruit of her life continues to thrive and will continue to thrive far, far into the future.

The 121st Psalm is a psalm of trust and confidence in God; assuring pilgrims on the way to and from Zion of God’s constant protection. The question raised in the first verse “I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?” is answered beginning with “My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”

She knew and lived the words of the Psalmist through her life and her acts. She knew the Lord kept her and keeps us all. The Lord keeps our lives from this time and forevermore. And she responded to the gracious love and protection of the Lord our God in acts of boldness, love, and mercy. She knew that it was up to her to share God’s love with the world. She knew this was God’s call in her life. She knew it was as important to share as it was to receive God’s grace, peace, and love.

Let me finish by sharing what Betty wrote the best advice she ever received. When she was young girl, she couldn’t have been older than nine or ten, one summer Betty and her brothers, and her sister; contracted mumps and chicken pox. As miserable as it was for her siblings, Betty had to be taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City from their western Kansas home. It took a while, but Betty mended. Just before she was discharged, the doctor gave Betty this advice, “From now on and for the rest of your life I want you to rest when you get tired, eat whether you’re hungry or not, and be a good girl.

Betty wrote that she seldom missed a meal but she had been tired beyond belief. She didn’t comment about whether or not she had been a good girl though.

Well, Betty might have seldom missed a meal but you couldn’t tell by looking at her. She also knew that sometimes the price of taking care of those you love is fatigue beyond belief. She also knew that none is good but God. Today, I say today as we come together to celebrate the life and witness the joy of the eternal life of Betty Crittenden; today I say yes, she was a very good girl.

She was a wonderful woman, sister, and mother. We celebrate the eternal life that she shared when she heard our Lord tell the lawyer “Go and do likewise.” We celebrate the example she set as a child of God who inherited life eternal as an heir to the kingdom, not as a hired hand. We celebrate the eternal life Betty lived and now continues to live in the name of her Lord.
Let us pray…

Modus Operandi

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Chruch in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday July 18, 2010, the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

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

Iron Chef America is a show on the Food Network which features two things I like most in my TV shows, it’s a cooking show and it’s a competition. It’s competitive cooking! According to the show’s Japanese lore, Chairman Kaga once had a dream where the most famous chefs in the world come together to compete against one another for the honor of being named Iron Chef. When this show came to America, the Chairman’s nephew took over the reigns of Kitchen Stadium where he hosts great chefs doing battle.

When the show begins, the Chairman enters Kitchen Stadium and introduces the challenger chef who will compete against one of five Iron Chefs who specializes in any one of several cuisines ranging from Japanese to Mediterranean to American Southwest. After the competing chefs are brought together, the cover is raised off of the altar and the theme ingredient is revealed.

The theme ingredient can be any food, meat or fruit or vegetable or grain even; there’s no limit to what has ended up on the altar. The ingredient has been as small as grains of sugar and as large as an elk. There have also been battles with themes like “farmer’s market” and “Thanksgiving.”

Then, after the secret ingredient is announced, the chairman cries out with a flourish “And now in the words of my uncle, Allez cuisine!” and the battle begins. At this moment, the chefs and their sous-chefs grab the theme ingredient and wage culinary war. Food flies, knives are brandished, steam rises, and flames sear the air in kitchen stadium. People are moving with hot food and sharp implements, unsafe at any speed, preparing a five course meal for the judges.

I can just see Martha in this situation. Suddenly and without warning, Jesus, presumably with his disciples since they were traveling together, knocks on the door of the home of Lazarus. Since Lazarus is a friend of Jesus they expect to be welcomed. His sister Martha opens the door to find the weary travelers seeking hospitality. She welcomes them into the home which is shared not only by Lazarus and Martha, but their sister Mary.

As soon as the weary pilgrims come through the door, Martha is off like a shot. It’s as if the cover has come off of the special theme ingredient and the Chairman has cried “Allez cuisine!” Immediately she’s pulling things out of the pantry and the garden and the blast chiller, she’s sharpening knives and stoking the fire. The fatted calf is about to be sacrificed as an offering to the Lord, dinner is set for at least fourteen, and her sous-chef is nowhere to be seen. Where’s Mary? She’s hanging out at the Chairman’s feet feasting on his every word.

I imagine Martha might have been pretty passive-aggressive about her displeasure too. She could be chopping the veggies with extra vigor, slamming the oven door, maybe even talking to herself in a voice that wasn’t meant for just herself. Finally, ticked off to the nth degree, she demands the Chairman to tell her sister to get off her tail and help out in Kitchen Stadium. Martha wasn’t wrong making her request either, hospitality had been a part of the Hebrew tradition since the days of Abraham and Mary was hanging with boys.

Then Martha might have overstepped her bounds, just a touch, when she asked her Lord, “Don’t you care?”

“My sister has left me in the kitchen to prepare a banquet for you by myself, don’t you care?”

“Don’t you care?” There’s a question for the ages. “Don’t you care?” Well, what Jesus says next is not the answer we probably aren’t expecting. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things and there is need of only one thing.” Jesus cares; it’s just that he doesn’t care about the same things Martha cares about.

We should take a moment and back up lest we blame Jesus without warrant. We need to be warned that Jesus is not scolding Martha for providing hospitality for her family and a cast of thousands. Jesus is not going after the servant Martha, the one who provides for her Lord. Jesus is talking to the over-busy Martha. He’s talking to the woman who is worried and distracted. He’s talking to a woman who is multitasking like she has six arms.

I was watching The Today Show on Friday with Marie and Enrique Iglesias was doing a show at Rockefeller Center. The most amazing thing is that a solid chunk of the crowd wasn’t watching the show; they were watching the backs of their phones and other video recording devices. They weren’t taking in the music. They weren’t enjoying the show. They weren’t even enjoying being ten yards from a major pop star and a couple thousand of their closest friends. They were recording it so that they could post it on the internet for the world to see. As of last night, over 2,200 videos were returned when I used the search terms “Enrique Iglesias Today Show Video” on YouTube.[1]

The same search on Google returned over 140 million hits and did it in four-tenths of a second.[2]

We multitask. We can’t just be at a show, we have to record it. We can’t just have an opinion; we have to post it to our blogs and our Twitter account and our facebook page. It’s the way we operate, it’s our modus operandi. Our world has become an interconnected mess of web and text and phone and video. We can’t just sit and be still, abide in the presence of the Lord.

Who thought this when the first cellular phones had shoulder straps and ran on something a little smaller than a car battery? I can still remember William Conrad as Frank Cannon on TV with a rotary dial car phone having to dial the “mobile operator” to make a connection from the scene of the crime. Not five years ago the iPhone would was a dream coming true and twenty years ago it was science fiction. Now it’s where you can call a friend, shoot a video, read a book, pay your bills, and text your kids. The next version will probably allow us to do it all at the same time.

Martha fusses because she’s over busy. With a good smart phone she could use one application to get the meal catered and another to make sure the silverware is placed around the plate properly.

Yet, Jesus does not discredit Martha’s work at providing for her guests. Jesus does not shame her for preparing food for him and a house full of visitors. This kind of service, this kind of work is important in the kingdom of God. Hey, every “Habitat for Humanity” project includes a group whose responsibility to cook the food for the folks using power tools. Still, some days there’s something more important than doing stuff, even stuff for God.

Martha is worked up over the preparations for the meal that she will share with Jesus. She is so worked up that she is upset with her sister for not helping. She’s so worked up that she is upset with Jesus for not telling her sister to get up and help. She is so worked up that she tells her Lord what to do. She is worked up over the meal when she should be worked up over the guest of honor instead. Instead of participating in fellowship she’s worked up with the details of preparing it. Jesus doesn’t mean to scold her; he just wants to tell her that instead of videotaping his appearance at her home to post on YouTube she should be joining in instead.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman put it this way about a trip to Paris some years ago:

The [taxi] driver and I had been together for an hour, and between the two of us we had been doing six different things. He was driving, talking on his phone and watching a video. I was riding, working on my laptop and listening to my iPod.

There was only one thing we never did: Talk to each other.[3]

He was lamenting because he could remember a day when foreign correspondents often quoted cab drivers. I imagine it’s not just because a cab driver can be opinionated, but because of the dozens of fares brought in from Charles de Gaulle Airport everyday. I imagine cab drivers could be privy to some very interesting conversations. We might call it eves dropping, but to a couple of generations of foreign correspondents it was research.

What a resource, and now it’s lost because the driver is now connected with the world instead of with the person sitting two feet behind him. The columnist lamented that while he had been with his driver, he wasn’t even close to him. He laments that while technology brings us closer together, it tears us further apart. This often leads to what one writer calls “continuous partial attention.”[4] An example: If you come into my study and I’m checking email and looking up who has been to my blog instead of looking at you directly in front of me, then you may be standing only six feet away, but I could well be on the other side of the world.[5]

What is the better part, what is the part Mary chose? Well, theologian John Shea notes that what English bibles translate as “better” is better rendered from the Greek as “good.” Mary has chosen the good. She has chosen what is good. She has chosen who is good. She has chosen connection to God who is “the ground and energy of effective action.”[6] She chose to be with her Lord, at his feet, hanging on his every word. Rather than focusing on the fringes of a life of faith, Jesus invites her to participate and take a load off. Jesus promises that this will not be taken away from her.

Jesus shows us what it means to be present. Jesus shows us what it means to be in the moment, not preparing for the next. He shows us that as important as it is to feed the folks at a Habitat house raising, it is as important, maybe even more important, to be with the family that is receiving the house and the Lord whose goodness makes it possible.

What is better is what is good. In our reading from Luke Jesus does not give us the contrast between one who is doing work and another who lounges. He does not give us a contrast between one who toils and one who is contemplative. He is not even giving us a contrast between a woman who is passive and one who is busy and bossy. Jesus is showing us that being with him is more important than being on our own.

We are people of the book and table. We are people of both word and sacrament. Both are important. Yet, we are warned against being overwhelmed by the details of everyday life so that we might be present with God and with one another. We are warned about being worried so that we might be present with God and with one another. We are warned about being distracted so that we might be present with God and with one another.

Martha asks, “Oh Lord, don’t you care.” Jesus responds, “Oh yes Martha, I care so much that I have come to be with you now and always. Jesus cares so much that he still welcomes us into God’s presence and God is good. We are called to come together, and we are called to come together at the feet of our Lord Jesus, the one who is good who provides us with what is better, with what will not be taken away. That’s God’s way of doing things. That’s God’s modus operandi.

[1]YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=enrique+iglesias+today+show+video&aq=0, retrieved July 17, 2010.
[2] Google.com, http://www.google.com/search?q=enrique+iglesias+today+show+video&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1, retrieved July 17, 2010.
[3] New York Times, http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/opinion/01friedman.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=%22The%Taxi%Driver%22&cst-cse, retrieved July 17, 2010.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Actually, I don’t have a computer in my study at the church. So there’s one thing I don’t have to worry about.
[6] Shea, John, “The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels for Christian Preachers and Teachers: The Restless Widow, Year C.” Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2006, 203.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday July 11, 2010, the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. If the church had a video projection system, I would have played this video before the sermon:



Amos 7:7-17
Psalm 82
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37

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

If you know the lyrics, sing along. If you don’t, then just hum. Nobody is going to mind.

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood; it’s a beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
It’s a neighborly day in this beauty wood; a neighborly day for a beauty.
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
I’ve always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day; since we’re together we might as well say:
“Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?”
Won’t you please, won’t you please, please won’t you be my neighbor.[1]

New episodes of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” were shown on PBS stations from 1970 until 2001 and on National Educational Television two years before that. Reruns can still be seen on many PBS stations including the one I saw this morning on KAFT.[2]

The show was characterized by its quiet simplicity and gentleness. Episodes did not have a plot, but they did have a theme. They consisted of Rogers speaking directly to the viewer about various issues, taking the viewer on tours of factories, demonstrating experiments, crafts, and music, and interacting with his friends. The half-hour episodes were punctuated by a puppet segment chronicling occurrences in the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe.”

At the beginning of each episode, Mister Rogers enters his television studio house singing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” He hangs his suit jacket in a closet, puts on a zippered cardigan, and takes off his dress shoes to put on his sneakers. One of Rogers’ sweaters now hangs in the Smithsonian Institution, a testament to the cultural influence of his simple daily ritual.

Rogers covered a broad range of topics over the years, and the series did not shy away from issues that other children’s programming avoided. In fact, Rogers endeared himself to many when, on March 23, 1970, he dealt with the death of one of his pet goldfish. The series also dealt with competition, divorce, and war. Rogers returned to the topic of anger regularly and focused on peaceful ways of dealing with angry feelings.[3]

All of this happened in the context of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, a mystical place where the imaginary fourth wall of the television screen magically disappeared for a half hour and we were all welcomed into a world of peace and grace.

Considering Mister Fred Rogers was a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and an ordained Presbyterian Minister of Word and Sacrament, welcoming everyone into a world of peace and grace was right up his alley.

So the expert in religious law came to test Jesus asking, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replies in true rabbinical fashion, asking a question when an answer is sought. “What is written in the Law?”

The lawyer answers this question by a perfect recitation from Leviticus and Deuteronomy[4] saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus affirms the lawyer’s answer saying, “Do this, and you will live.” The experts in the law commonly accepted that observance of the Torah was essential to inherit eternal life.[5] So when Jesus and the lawyer agree on this point, they share the truth of thousands of years of tradition.

But the lawyer’s questions are more than an academic or rabbinic exercise. He wants to justify himself. So he asks Jesus another question, “Who is my neighbor?” This is an important question, more important than we may suppose. What gets lost in the translation of Leviticus is that the original command to love the neighbor specifies “your kin” and “any of your people.”[6] So the lawyer wants to be justified that by helping his family, his people, and his nation he will inherit eternal life.

Then Jesus tells the legal expert a familiar little story and asks him another question, “So which of these three, the Priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan, do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

The lawyer answers, “The one who showed him mercy was a neighbor.” In saying this, the lawyer, the expert in the law tells the world that being a neighbor is about more than just being kin or members of the same nation. It has to do with action and it has to do with mercy. Being a neighbor now means more than it did in Leviticus. As a result, Jesus gives him his charge, “Go, and do likewise.”

Jesus shares the vision of inheriting eternal life written in the Torah with the lawyer. Then he shows him that the Living Torah, the person and the work and the word of Jesus Christ, expands the Torah given to Moses. Justification by the Torah now means that loving God and loving your neighbor are inseparable.[7] Being justified means more than just taking care of business as usual.

The hardest part about this story is that the holy men in the parable, the priest and the Levite, were doing what they were supposed to do. They were going to work. They were keeping their hands clean. They were doing what was right in the name of the Law. They followed the rules and abided by the regulations approved by the General Assembly, er, the Presbytery, er, the law handed down to Moses. They did the right thing, but by doing just what was right was no longer enough in the eyes of God.

To the Greco-Roman world, mercy was a character flaw; the ideal was justice. Since mercy involves providing unearned help or relief, it was contrary to justice. This unearned relief, we call it grace.

Sociologist Rodney Stark put it this way. “The notion that the gods care how we treat one another would have been dismissed as patently absurd. This was the moral climate in which Christianity taught that mercy is one of the primary virtues—that a merciful God requires humans to be merciful. Moreover, the corollary that because God loves humanity, Christians may not please God unless they love one another was something entirely new.”[8]

Mercy is the new benchmark in justification. Mercy is the new benchmark in being a neighbor. Mercy has a place in the administration of justice in the Christ’s kingdom. The ancient Greeks disagreed, but theirs is not the way to inherit eternal life. Our courts may disagree, but theirs is not the way to eternal life. The priests and the Levites met their obligations to the temple, but they didn’t act out of love. Only the despised Samaritan acted in accord with the living Torah.

Only the despised Samaritan showed love in an act of mercy. Only the loathed foreigner connected loving God and loving your neighbor as the way to being justified. Only the reviled outsider saw his brother in the man left beaten on the side of the road. Only the detested alien saw the way to justification through mercy. Only the abhorred stranger showed the divinely required attitude of mercy we are called to have toward one another. And all of this came from the mouth of a legal expert.

An ancient rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when the night had ended and the day was on its way back. “Could it be,” asked one student, “when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it is a sheep or a dog?” “No,” answered the Rabbi. “Could it be,” asked another, “when you look at a tree in the distance and tell whether it is a fig tree or a peach tree?” “No,” said the Rabbi. “Well, then what is it?” his pupils demanded. “It is when you look on someone’s face and can see… your brother. Because if you cannot do this, then no matter what time it is, it is still night.”[9]

Eternal life and mercy; peace and grace; isn’t this what we want from our neighbors? We want people in our lives who show what it means to demonstrate the fullness of God’s mercy. We want people in our lives who act in ways that benefit all of us, not just a specific few. We want to know what it is to receive divine mercy, God’s divine loving-kindness. We must realize that this mercy arises out of a mutual relationship one for another, not just as a winner-take-all justice the ancient Greeks favored.

You all might remember this story Marie Bolerjack told:

She, Austin and the kids were going from Mississippi to Oklahoma to visit family. It was the mid 1960’s and the boys were still quite young. Well, it was about noonish when they hit Little Rock and the kids were hungry. Austin and Marie didn’t want to pull off the highway in Little Rock, so Marie promised the boys that they would get some lunch as soon as they got past the city. Well, being the mid 60’s there wasn’t one or six fast food places at every exit, so they ended up traveling quite a way before finding a little diner. They got out of the car, and I bet the boys were cheering as they went to the door. By this time, it was a little after one in the afternoon, they went into the diner and Marie asked if they are still serving lunch. The black woman behind the counter said “Sure honey, have a seat.”

As the afternoon went on, one at a time, several people, all black, came into the diner. They walked up to the woman at the counter, whispered something, and left. After this happened two or three times, it occurred to Marie that they were in a café for blacks. Oh. “But you know,” Marie said, “nobody made us feel uncomfortable. We had a nice lunch and got back on the road.”

Hearing this story, and knowing the volatile racial climate of Little Rock in the 60’s, this story is amazing. Who is my neighbor? To the woman running this diner, her neighbors were a family from Mississippi traveling across Arkansas who needed lunch. Austin and Marie became her neighbors as soon as she helped them on the side of the road.

The lawyer in the story accepts Jesus’ revision of the Torah. He learns that the one who shows mercy like the Samaritan is the neighbor, not those who share family or heritage like the priest and the Levite. What might have started as a theological exercise between the lawyer and teacher becomes more when the Torah comes to life in Jesus Christ.

When the law comes to life, we can no longer answer these questions like we’re taking a college entrance exam. We now have to answer the questions with our hands even more than we do with our heads. Jesus commands us to be good neighbors; loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves. On this the words of the Law and the prophets hang.

This is our call, this is our vocation. It is no longer enough just to do what the written law tells us; now there is more. We are called to this new word of discipleship when he charges the lawyer, “Go, and do likewise.”

So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day; since we’re together we might as well say: Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?

[1] Rogers, Fred, “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Pittsburgh, PA: Family Communications, Inc., 1967.
[2] KAFT is the Arkansas Educational Television Network/Public Broadcasting System affiliate in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
[3] Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Rogers%27_Neighborhood, retrieved July 8, 2010
[4] Leviticus 19:18, Deuteronomy 6:5
[5] “Adlet and Blink,” Commentary section, from Homiletics Online, http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=930000347, accessed June 10, 2007.
[6] Cousar, Charles B., Gaventa, Beverly R., McCann, Jr., J. Clinton, Newsome, James D., Texts for Preaching, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV, YEAR C. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994, page 427.
[7] Kittel, Gerhardt, “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. vi, page 316
[8] Galloway, Paul, “How Jesus Won the West: Christianity became dominant because it offered better ideas and unexpected mercy,” The Lutheran, November 1998, 19.
[9] Thompson, Marjorie J. “Soul Feast” Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995, 127.