This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday October 10, 2010, the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Psalm 66:1-12
2Timothy 2:8-15
Luke 17:11-19
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
When Marie and I started dating, she was living in Grand Rapids, Michigan and I was living in Lamar, Colorado. She asked me what I was planning to do over the Fourth of July and I told her that I was planning on going to Central Missouri to see my parents. She said that she would love to meet my parents.
By the way, Marie says that she did not invite herself like I tell the story. But hey, I’m the one telling the story. So let’s continue…
I was taken aback. I had met Marie’s mom a couple of months earlier when I went to Grand Rapids, and I wanted her to meet the folks, but I was taken aback. There was a difference between “someday” and “today” and the sudden realization that someday was becoming today surprised me. Cool as a cucumber though, I said, “Sure, that would be great.”
So I got to Mexico, MO a few days before Marie’s coming. The folks were excited to meet her. They had never met “a girlfriend” before and since I was in my early 30’s they were just thrilled that I might not die alone.
The closest major airport was in St. Louis and that’s where Marie was flying into. About three hours before her flight was due to arrive, my dad said, “Get up Paul, let’s get ready to go.” I raised an eyebrow and said, “Well, I was planning on leaving in about a half hour.” “Nope, we’re going now.”
Here I am, thinking I’m a fully grown man, and I figured I could drive to Lambert Field and get Marie myself. Nope, we’re going now. “Er, Dad, I know how to get to the airport.” “Nope we’re going now and I’m driving.” There was nothing I could say to him; we were going to the airport and he was driving.
So we get Marie and her bags with no complications and we get in the van and head back to the homestead.
Now, something you need to know about my father is that he had a lot of little rules we had to follow. One of those rules was “Get my attention before talking to me.” So every time we wanted to say anything to him, we would have to begin by saying, “Hey, Dad.” He would then say “what” or something and then conversation could begin. He said it prevented a lot of repeating. The upshot of this, whenever talking with my dad, everything would begin with getting his attention.
Well, Marie is sitting in the back seat of the van, I’m riding shotgun, and Dad is driving. Suddenly Marie says, “Hey!” I turn around, look her in the eye, and ask, “What?” She takes her right hand, points out the window, and says “Hay!” It was time for a cutting and the huge rounds of hay were in the fields. Hay. There it was, big as life, hay, and I had been had. The smile on her face and the glint in her eye was something to be seen.
It could be a couple of hours from St. Louis to Mexico depending on the traffic around the airport and in the county around St. Louis, so we had been on the road a while. Suddenly, Marie cries out from the backseat, “Hey!” I turn around again and ask “What?” You see where this is going don’t you? Well I didn’t.
She points again; this time with her left, and says “There’s hay on this side of the highway too.” Marie is laughing at me, not really hard, but she was loving every minute of it. What I finally noticed was the look on my father’s face. He was trying so hard not to laugh out loud, not because he didn’t want to embarrass his little boy; I imagine he feared losing control of the car doing 70 on I-70.
When my mother heard the story, she was so proud of Marie. The family discovered that I had met my match.
Stories, I absolutely love stories. I love to tell stories. I love to listen to stories. I love to see how people’s faces change when they tell stories. When you hear people tell stories about their families you can see the love and the joy in their eyes and their smiles. Voices pick up in ways you just don’t get when going over the shopping list.
Stories are the narrative of who we are, they are the ways we share what is important to us. There are little nuances that come from stories that come from no communication. For example, in my little story you can tell that Marie is smarter than I am. (I don’t know if this is when I finally realized it, but at least I do realize it and that’s a start.) You can see that I have been well trained by my father. Even three years after his death, more than twenty years since I have lived under his roof, and I still “get your attention” before I begin to chat with you. You might even say that if you train me well enough, I’m obedient. Finally if nothing else, you can tell that, yes, I love stories.
So imagine our gospel story told by the tenth leper. One of ten who were at the side of the road, of course they weren’t too close to the road. They were required to keep their distance; their shouts of “unclean” kept the unsuspecting traveler from being exposed to their ritual impurity. Still they were close enough to recognize Jesus and the circus train that was with him along the border betwwen Samaria and Galilee.
So they cried out to him, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” What happens next? Jesus tells them “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” He doesn’t say “You are healed.” He doesn’t wave his hands. He doesn’t use water or balm of any sort. Nothing! He just tells them “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” An obedient sort, they go to present themselves to the priests. Then somewhere along the way they are cleansed. Then one, just one turns, finds Jesus, and gives thanks.
As our reading ends, Jesus does not remind him to go show himself to the priest, but he doesn’t tell him not to go to the priest. I’ve called him obedient, so let’s say that he is going to follow the first direction Jesus gave him, he’s going to show himself to the priest.
Imagine the cleansed man telling this story to the priest. “Hey, I was with those nine other guys you saw earlier. You should have seen us, we were ragged, unclean; we were a plight on our families. Then we see that Jesus guy, you know, the one everyone is talking about. Well we see him and we call out to him. We ask for compassion, we ask for pity, and he tells all ten of us to come and show ourselves to you.
“I mean, there was nothing. He didn’t do anything, he just told us to come see you. We didn’t know quite why, but hey, we would do as we were told. Suddenly, along the way, it happened, we were cleansed. I’m not quite sure when it happened, I really don’t know how it happened, but I know who made it happen, it was Jesus.
“Well, my mother always told me to be grateful, to give thanks, so I went back and found Jesus and fell at his feet and gave praise in a loud voice. I mean I gave THANKS and it was in a LOUD VOICE. Then he wondered where the other nine were. He even made a point to tell everyone who was travelling with him that I was a Samaritan, someone who was not a part of the nation of Judah. Then he told me to rise up and go. He said it was my faith that saved me.”
You might notice that I took a turn away from the text as it’s found in our English bibles. Most English language bibles render this sentence from verse nineteen “your faith has made you well.” Gloriously, this passage could just as easily be translated “your faith has saved you.”
The Samaritan tells the story of what Jesus has done for him. Jesus has made him clean; not for anything the Samaritan did, not for who he was, just for being a child of God and asking; Jesus made him clean. Unmerited favor, this is what we call grace. And through his faith he is saved. Today we still say that we are saved by grace though faith.
So what does this story tell us?
It tells us that Jesus heals and that Jesus saves.
It tells us that being grateful for what we have received is important.
Well, as I just said it tells us that the Samaritan was saved by grace through faith.
It also tells us that even the despised foreigner, which is what the Samaritans were in the eyes of the Jews, even the despised foreigner is a recipient of God’s good grace. We are even told to pray for their enemies, as Jeremiah told the exiles to pray for Babylon.
These last two items can be difficult for us to absorb, but what we would consider “difficult” is occasionally used by God in ways and for reasons we cannot fathom.
Jeremiah makes this point. The nation of Judah is taken to Babylon and the exile will be difficult. There is a prophet who says that the exile will not last long. Jeremiah says no. He says that the Lord of Hosts says build a house. Build a house? Why build a house if it’s going to be only a short time in exile? Exactly, it’s not going to be short, build a house. Sometimes, the word of the Lord is not what we want to hear.
Sometimes the Word of the Lord is “it’s gonna take some time this time.” Sometimes it’s that the despised Samaritan is the one who shows the gratitude all God’s people should show.
How important is the story of the grateful leper? Well, it’s important enough that Luke recorded it in his gospel. It’s important because it shows us how people responded to meeting our Lord. It’s important because even 2,000 years later, it still means something to us. It’s a story that is a benchmark story of the faith, particularly for the outsiders. It helps us define and share our faith.
In the notes from a congregational meeting, one of the things on this congregation’s wish list is that there be more witnessing. It may seem too obvious a question, but what do we witness? Well, the answer is that we witness Christ crucified, this is the story of our faith. We are to tell the world of our savior Jesus the Christ and what God intends for all creation. Well, that can be a mouthful. Some people have difficulty talking about it, I mean where do we start?
Well, if the story of our faith is Christ crucified, then the stories of our faith is where our lives cross this story. As a congregation we have several stories.
One of the stories of this congregation is the story behind “The Church of the Bells.”
It was almost twenty-five years ago that Elder Jesse Walker presented his dream of the Christmas bells to the Session beginning a special ministry that coincides with the city's Wonderland of Lights. When Mr. Walker told the Session what he envisioned, and the dimensions were worked out, and he was told that it would be well over twelve feet tall and nearly fifty feet long, he excitedly said “Yes, that’s just what I have in mind!” The goal was to complete 100 bells by June 30 and members young and old worked joyfully for six months to meet the deadline. Then it was time to work the next task, making the bells move when music is added. Then a third elder made the stereo clarion bells ring out with joyous music proclaiming the birth of the Savior.
What a proclamation to the community! The music and the lights, the setting and the bells; and people come by and see that there is a church in downtown Marshall that believes in the glory of the incarnation of Christ, the living person of God who came as a baby 2,000 years ago to live and show us how to live; and to die and show us how to live.
What a glorious story of this congregation.
I have one more story to share. A few months after meeting my parents, when I was still living in Lamar, Colorado, Marie decided to move to Colorado Springs. She thought (Hoped? Prayed?) I would eventually wise up and propose to her. She gave me a year to come to my senses. (It didn’t take that long, thank God.) So I went out to Michigan to help load the truck and help drive the nearly 1,300 miles in the U-Haul.
Now, something I learned dating Marie is that when she travels on the highway; when she stops, she stops at fast food restaurants. The restaurants are cleaner and there is someplace clean to eat and drink if you want. I tend to go to odd truck stops for the exact same reasons, fast food restaurants may be cleaner, but they are far less interesting.
Along the way, Marie said to me that she was thirsty and could stand to go through a drive-thru. I told her that I didn’t want to drive a U-Haul in a drive-thru, but the biggest truck stop in central Missouri was less than ten miles ahead, it was clean and we could stop there.
Then Marie said to me, “I didn’t say that.” As I was about to say, “Yes you did, you said…” Marie said, “I was thinking it, but I didn’t say it.” The look on my face must have been something else. So what did I learn from this? For me, this was as if God was looking right at me and saying, “All right boy, now that I’ve got your attention, ‘Listen to me, and don’t mess this up.’ ”
When people ask us what being a Christian means to us, we could talk about what God does for humanity, but without a personal connection telling the story may be just so many words that have been learned and spoken by rote again and again. It is where our lives intersect God’s purposes that important things happen, and it is when we share these stories with others that people can connect with us and with God.
So when people ask what it means to be a Christian, we need to learn how to say, “Well let me tell you a story…” God gives us a word to share with one another. Listen to the stories of God in your life, and share the word of the Lord.
Showing posts with label Luke 17. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luke 17. Show all posts
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Oh, the Places We'll Go
Dear friends and followers,
Thank you for your patience and your prayers. Marie and I have finally (happily! joyfuly!) arrived in Marshall, Texas and have begun serving as Pastor and Spouse. Today was my first Sunday in the pulpit at First Presbyterian and worship was glorious. So with no further ado...
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday October 3, 2010, the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26
Psalm 137
2Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
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 literature, there are two models of optimism. One of them is Don Quixote. Quixote is the Man of La Mancha; he is the one who tries to cure the ills of his society through acts of chivalry. While part one is written as a farce, written to see how comical the life of a chivalrous man is when seen through the eyes of sensible readers, the second part is more serious and is focused on deception. The noble, if not a little mentally unhinged “Man of La Mancha,” becomes aware of how the world perceives him and how his nobility is mocked by those around him. Even his squire, the faithful Sancho Panza, makes sport of his master. While accidental, Panza’s deceit shatters Don Quixote. Eventually, the noble knight falls into a melancholy which is only “cured” when he regains his mental health. He dies a sane yet broken man. Alas, the tragedy of a broken man who realized he was a better man when he lived his delusions.
The other great model of optimism is Pollyanna. Pollyanna is a young orphan sent to live with her rich but stern Aunt Polly in Vermont. Pollyanna’s gift is that she can see the bright side of every situation through what she calls “The Glad Game,” an optimistic attitude she learned from her father. Her attitude and the game eventually rub off on the entire town and people begin to see their lives as half full rather than empty and futile. This is even true when Pollyanna is hit by a car and looses use of her legs. After some turmoil, Pollyanna finds her silver lining and is glad that she once had legs.
If there is one difference between these two literary optimisms it is this:
Quixote’s optimism is based on something inside of him, his chivalry and people’s reactions to it. Ultimately it becomes unrealistic; a foolishly impractical pursuit of principles marked with rash and lofty romantic ideals. Pollyanna’s optimism is based on gratefulness for what she has, which has nothing to do with other’s reactions. It’s not that she doesn’t realize that she is in hot soup; she knows that life can be harsh, especially for an orphan who goes to live with an aunt that doesn’t particularly want to become her guardian. It’s just that she knows what is good in her life and she chooses to celebrate goodness instead of pain.
Quixote tried to make grand gestures, he tilted at windmills; this is where we get the expression “tilting at windmills.” He tried to change great things by great acts. Pollyanna changed lives around her simply by counting her meager blessings and sharing them with others until thankfulness prevailed.
I mention this because of how it relates to our reading from Lamentations this morning.
The Jews call the book of Lamentations “Eikha” or in English, “How.” In this book of scripture, Jeremiah, on behalf of the Jews, cries to the Lord how horribly their world is crumbling around them. It’s a tragic time for the community. Jerusalem has become like a widow who mourns at the loss of her protector. She was a princess in the Lord’s world, but now she is merely another slave. Exile will be difficult, ripe with suffering and hard servitude. There will be no resting place; no place to rest, eat, or drink. The nation’s gates are desolate and its foes will become its master. The nation’s enemies will prosper and Judah will suffer.
This is how the book of Lamentations begins, with a full recitation of the woes of the nation of Judah beginning with the question “How lonely sits the city that once was full of people?”
Yet on the same scroll Jeremiah’s words come, words realizing that while even the thought of affliction and homelessness is wormwood and gall, there is one truth that comes to mind. There is one thought that will keep the people even in the midst of their exile: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is the faithfulness of the Lord.
Jeremiah knows that there is pain and struggle and strife, he has been prophesying this very pain, struggle and strife for a long, long time. The people just mocked him as he told them a hard rain was going to come and there was only one place to find an umbrella.
Jeremiah is not like Don Quixote who hopes and prays that the works of people, even good works by well meaning people, will make a difference. He is more like Pollyanna who knows that there is good; and in the case of Jeremiah, knows the source of all that is good is in the name of the Lord.
It is Pollyanna who takes even the smallest blessings of her life and makes them so that they become blessings for the world around her. It is through her attitude and her actions that she can see the blessings of the bleak world around her. As the Apostles cry out to Jesus asking for more faith, it is our Lord and Savior who says that even the smallest amount of faith, faith the size of a mustard seed, can do unimaginably mighty things.
So today, with our faith the size of a mustard seed, we are able to see and live the future that the Hebrews couldn’t even imagine in exile. Today we join with Christians around the globe and celebrate the meal that brings us all together. World Communion Sunday originated at the Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh by The Rev. Dr. Donald Kerr in 1933. This was the darkest year of the Great Depression. The storm clouds of Nazism and Fascism hovered over Europe and threatened the entire world. As a faith response to these concerns, a group of leaders at Shadyside Presbyterian Church sought to do something both real and symbolic to proclaim that God is God indeed, in spite of politics, economics and future shock.
Still in our time when the Great Recession has been declared over by those who no longer suffer its effects, and still in our time when men and women fight oppression and terror overseas and at home paying the ultimate price for their work on behalf of a grateful nation where we reap the benefits of their sacrifice; still it is time for us to do what is both real and symbolic to proclaim to the world that God is God indeed. In the words of Dr. Kerr, “[World Communion Sunday] emphasized [sic] that we are one in the Spirit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
According to our very own Book of Common Worship, “The [Lord’s Supper] was given by Christ himself. Before church governments were devised, before creeds were formalized, even before the first word of the New Testament was written, the Lord's Supper was firmly fixed at the heart of Christian faith and life. From the church's inception, the Lord's Day and the Lord's Supper were joined. Along with the reading and proclamation of the scripture, the supper has given witness to God's redemptive acts each Lord's Day, giving Christian worship its distinctive shape. In this sacrament, the bread and wine, the words and actions, make the promises of God visible and concrete. The Word proclaimed in scripture and sermon is confirmed, for all that the life, death, and resurrection of Christ means, is focused in the Sacrament.”
It is by this meal shared together with fellow Christians everywhere that we do more than share Dr. Kerr’s vision. It is the meal that nourishes Christians everywhere. It is the meal that our Lord ordained to feed his servants until he comes again in victory.
So today we share this meal, a meal we consider the outward sign of an inward grace. It is by grace through faith, faith the size of a mustard seed, faith the size of a little orphan girl, that we come and share the promise given us for new life in Christ Jesus. We do this for one reason, because in the words of Luke, we do as we are expected to do. To paraphrase the words of the New English Bible in verse ten of our reading from Luke, we are servants doing our duty. Today we do it together in celebration with Christians of all stripes.
We celebrate the Lord’s Supper, doing this in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do this also to be fed to do the work of God, going where our Lord sends us, sharing what we are called to share with the world.
“Oh, the Places You’ll Go” was the last book written, illustrated, and published by acclaimed children's author Dr. Seuss before his death in 1991. About life and its challenges and written in the style of classics such as “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Cat in the Hat,” “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” is a popular gift for high school and college graduates every year because of its whimsical style and eye to the future. It is perhaps best known for the line, “Will you succeed? Yes, you will indeed. (98 3/4% guaranteed.)”
Oh, the places we’ll go. For Marie and I it is a joy and our distinct privilege to come together with you and share the mission of this part of the body of Christ. We come together with you in the sight of our Lord to do the work that we have all been called to do, and it is by this sacrament that we all come together to be nourished by the Lord our God. Do I know the shape and direction of that ministry today? Well, this I do know: That in the light of God, through discernment of the Holy Spirit, and in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, all I can say is, “Oh, the places we’ll go.” After all, it’s 98 3/4% guaranteed.
Together we will go into God’s good creation taking the Word with us. As our acolyte Brionna leads us, where a little girl with faith the size of a mustard seed leads, let us go boldly into the world. Let us all take the light of God into the world.
Thank you for your patience and your prayers. Marie and I have finally (happily! joyfuly!) arrived in Marshall, Texas and have begun serving as Pastor and Spouse. Today was my first Sunday in the pulpit at First Presbyterian and worship was glorious. So with no further ado...
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday October 3, 2010, the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26
Psalm 137
2Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
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 literature, there are two models of optimism. One of them is Don Quixote. Quixote is the Man of La Mancha; he is the one who tries to cure the ills of his society through acts of chivalry. While part one is written as a farce, written to see how comical the life of a chivalrous man is when seen through the eyes of sensible readers, the second part is more serious and is focused on deception. The noble, if not a little mentally unhinged “Man of La Mancha,” becomes aware of how the world perceives him and how his nobility is mocked by those around him. Even his squire, the faithful Sancho Panza, makes sport of his master. While accidental, Panza’s deceit shatters Don Quixote. Eventually, the noble knight falls into a melancholy which is only “cured” when he regains his mental health. He dies a sane yet broken man. Alas, the tragedy of a broken man who realized he was a better man when he lived his delusions.
The other great model of optimism is Pollyanna. Pollyanna is a young orphan sent to live with her rich but stern Aunt Polly in Vermont. Pollyanna’s gift is that she can see the bright side of every situation through what she calls “The Glad Game,” an optimistic attitude she learned from her father. Her attitude and the game eventually rub off on the entire town and people begin to see their lives as half full rather than empty and futile. This is even true when Pollyanna is hit by a car and looses use of her legs. After some turmoil, Pollyanna finds her silver lining and is glad that she once had legs.
If there is one difference between these two literary optimisms it is this:
Quixote’s optimism is based on something inside of him, his chivalry and people’s reactions to it. Ultimately it becomes unrealistic; a foolishly impractical pursuit of principles marked with rash and lofty romantic ideals. Pollyanna’s optimism is based on gratefulness for what she has, which has nothing to do with other’s reactions. It’s not that she doesn’t realize that she is in hot soup; she knows that life can be harsh, especially for an orphan who goes to live with an aunt that doesn’t particularly want to become her guardian. It’s just that she knows what is good in her life and she chooses to celebrate goodness instead of pain.
Quixote tried to make grand gestures, he tilted at windmills; this is where we get the expression “tilting at windmills.” He tried to change great things by great acts. Pollyanna changed lives around her simply by counting her meager blessings and sharing them with others until thankfulness prevailed.
I mention this because of how it relates to our reading from Lamentations this morning.
The Jews call the book of Lamentations “Eikha” or in English, “How.” In this book of scripture, Jeremiah, on behalf of the Jews, cries to the Lord how horribly their world is crumbling around them. It’s a tragic time for the community. Jerusalem has become like a widow who mourns at the loss of her protector. She was a princess in the Lord’s world, but now she is merely another slave. Exile will be difficult, ripe with suffering and hard servitude. There will be no resting place; no place to rest, eat, or drink. The nation’s gates are desolate and its foes will become its master. The nation’s enemies will prosper and Judah will suffer.
This is how the book of Lamentations begins, with a full recitation of the woes of the nation of Judah beginning with the question “How lonely sits the city that once was full of people?”
Yet on the same scroll Jeremiah’s words come, words realizing that while even the thought of affliction and homelessness is wormwood and gall, there is one truth that comes to mind. There is one thought that will keep the people even in the midst of their exile: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is the faithfulness of the Lord.
Jeremiah knows that there is pain and struggle and strife, he has been prophesying this very pain, struggle and strife for a long, long time. The people just mocked him as he told them a hard rain was going to come and there was only one place to find an umbrella.
Jeremiah is not like Don Quixote who hopes and prays that the works of people, even good works by well meaning people, will make a difference. He is more like Pollyanna who knows that there is good; and in the case of Jeremiah, knows the source of all that is good is in the name of the Lord.
It is Pollyanna who takes even the smallest blessings of her life and makes them so that they become blessings for the world around her. It is through her attitude and her actions that she can see the blessings of the bleak world around her. As the Apostles cry out to Jesus asking for more faith, it is our Lord and Savior who says that even the smallest amount of faith, faith the size of a mustard seed, can do unimaginably mighty things.
So today, with our faith the size of a mustard seed, we are able to see and live the future that the Hebrews couldn’t even imagine in exile. Today we join with Christians around the globe and celebrate the meal that brings us all together. World Communion Sunday originated at the Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh by The Rev. Dr. Donald Kerr in 1933. This was the darkest year of the Great Depression. The storm clouds of Nazism and Fascism hovered over Europe and threatened the entire world. As a faith response to these concerns, a group of leaders at Shadyside Presbyterian Church sought to do something both real and symbolic to proclaim that God is God indeed, in spite of politics, economics and future shock.
Still in our time when the Great Recession has been declared over by those who no longer suffer its effects, and still in our time when men and women fight oppression and terror overseas and at home paying the ultimate price for their work on behalf of a grateful nation where we reap the benefits of their sacrifice; still it is time for us to do what is both real and symbolic to proclaim to the world that God is God indeed. In the words of Dr. Kerr, “[World Communion Sunday] emphasized [sic] that we are one in the Spirit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
According to our very own Book of Common Worship, “The [Lord’s Supper] was given by Christ himself. Before church governments were devised, before creeds were formalized, even before the first word of the New Testament was written, the Lord's Supper was firmly fixed at the heart of Christian faith and life. From the church's inception, the Lord's Day and the Lord's Supper were joined. Along with the reading and proclamation of the scripture, the supper has given witness to God's redemptive acts each Lord's Day, giving Christian worship its distinctive shape. In this sacrament, the bread and wine, the words and actions, make the promises of God visible and concrete. The Word proclaimed in scripture and sermon is confirmed, for all that the life, death, and resurrection of Christ means, is focused in the Sacrament.”
It is by this meal shared together with fellow Christians everywhere that we do more than share Dr. Kerr’s vision. It is the meal that nourishes Christians everywhere. It is the meal that our Lord ordained to feed his servants until he comes again in victory.
So today we share this meal, a meal we consider the outward sign of an inward grace. It is by grace through faith, faith the size of a mustard seed, faith the size of a little orphan girl, that we come and share the promise given us for new life in Christ Jesus. We do this for one reason, because in the words of Luke, we do as we are expected to do. To paraphrase the words of the New English Bible in verse ten of our reading from Luke, we are servants doing our duty. Today we do it together in celebration with Christians of all stripes.
We celebrate the Lord’s Supper, doing this in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do this also to be fed to do the work of God, going where our Lord sends us, sharing what we are called to share with the world.
“Oh, the Places You’ll Go” was the last book written, illustrated, and published by acclaimed children's author Dr. Seuss before his death in 1991. About life and its challenges and written in the style of classics such as “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Cat in the Hat,” “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” is a popular gift for high school and college graduates every year because of its whimsical style and eye to the future. It is perhaps best known for the line, “Will you succeed? Yes, you will indeed. (98 3/4% guaranteed.)”
Oh, the places we’ll go. For Marie and I it is a joy and our distinct privilege to come together with you and share the mission of this part of the body of Christ. We come together with you in the sight of our Lord to do the work that we have all been called to do, and it is by this sacrament that we all come together to be nourished by the Lord our God. Do I know the shape and direction of that ministry today? Well, this I do know: That in the light of God, through discernment of the Holy Spirit, and in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, all I can say is, “Oh, the places we’ll go.” After all, it’s 98 3/4% guaranteed.
Together we will go into God’s good creation taking the Word with us. As our acolyte Brionna leads us, where a little girl with faith the size of a mustard seed leads, let us go boldly into the world. Let us all take the light of God into the world.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Give Thanks
This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 14, 2007.
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Psalm 66:1-12
2Timothy 2:8-15
Luke 17:11-19
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 English and creative writing classes, teachers encourage students to learn and use synonyms. By using a word that means the same thing as another word, a writer can add a little spice to an essay or a story. Some words add a little nuance that others lack. So using synonyms adds color, texture to a piece that is missing if you use the same word over and over again.
For example a word that I have used six times so far, is word. Make that seven. If I had used the word (and that makes eight) expression it would have meant the same thing, but would have added a little flair. If I had used utterance it would have changed the meaning because an utterance is a spoken word. Speech is another synonym that I could have used, but that would throw even more of a curve ball into the mix because speech can mean either the ability to speak or a speech can be a whole bunch of words connected together by a theme or a concept.[1] When using synonyms, great care has to be taken because the wrong word can change the meaning of a sentence entirely. Meanings can be added or lost.
On the other hand, some words that seem synonymous aren’t. This is what happened to me with this gospel reading. This passage, the healing of the ten lepers, is well known. Ten are healed, one returns to give thanks, Jesus asks questions he doesn’t expect anyone to answer, and the one who returned is told to go. But this “Reader’s Digest Condensed Version” lacks the full expression of the language. When I first looked at this reading, I thought the phrases “were made clean,” “was healed,” and “made you well” pretty much meant the same thing. But they don’t, not in this story. In this narrative, these phrases that seem to be synonymous aren’t at all.
Let’s pick up the story from the fourteenth verse: “When Jesus saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean.” Luke very specifically uses the phrase “were made clean.” There’s a lot going on in this little phrase. The first thing it says is that they did not make themselves clean. They did not hop in the shower with soap and shampoo. The verb here is passive, they were made clean. They did not make themselves clean, they were made clean by something else, or more correctly someone else.
There is an even deeper meaning to this “being made clean.” This cleaning includes the ritual cleansing necessary so that the lepers could present themselves to the priests.[2] And since the approval of the priest was necessary before a leper could rejoin polite society, this was an important step. This cleaning is what makes them right with the community and allows them to resume their lives.
Continuing at verse 15, “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed turned back.” In the church setting, when we think of being made clean, we think of being healed, but Luke was careful to use two different verbs in these two verses. The word used in this verse speaks to the physical aspects of the healing.[3] The leper noticed that the skin rash that had made him unclean and exiled him from society had vanished. Physical healing had been accomplished. Of course, this physical healing would have had to precede going to the priest who would declare that the leper had been made clean physically and ritually.
Let’s skip to the last verse of our reading, after the single leper turns back to Jesus praising God with a loud voice. “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’” This seems pretty straight forward in English, made well is like physically healed and even like being made ritually clean. But the people who heard this story in the first century would have heard even more. Because of the word Jesus used, they would have heard that the man was free of disease, and more that he had been saved from death. Even more than physical death, the word Jesus used here meant that the man had been saved from spiritual death.[4] The word used here is the one used for saves, as in Jesus saves. Jesus told this man, this former leper, this Samaritan, his faith has saved him.
Jesus heals us; Jesus takes from us the unclean things that we absorb into our bodies and our lives and makes us clean, holy, and presentable. Still there is more to our healing.
Something theologians say over and over again is that we are saved by grace through faith. What this means to me is that God freely gives us the gift of grace. We are the recipients of a gift that we could never purchase. We cannot earn the gift of grace; we can never seize the gift of grace. We can’t even guilt the Lord into giving this wonderful gift; it can only be given freely and lovingly. But by our faithful response to this glorious generous gift of God’s grace, we accept the relationship Jesus offers and become partners with the Lord in his ministry.
The ten lepers all received Jesus’ freely given gift. By this gift, their bodies were healed and they were allowed to return to their lives. But one of them, just one of them, the dreaded Samaritan, turned and gave thanks to Jesus for the healing he received. And by his response, his faith, he alone was saved. This one Samaritan leper was saved by grace through his faith, a faith shown in the act of turning from his new life and returning to Jesus and loudly giving thanks to God.
We are called to do as this man has done. We are called to turn from our daily lives and give thanks for the grace and the peace and the bounty that is ours through the gifts of our Lord Jesus Christ. This doesn’t mean that life will always be easy or pleasant; there are times of trial. There will be times when we will be like the lepers, needing the word of the Lord to heal us, to restore us. There will be times when we are shunned like a leper, or even worse, like a Samaritan leper, the outsider among outsiders. But the word of the Lord is always present with us. The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ is always with us and calls us to respond faithfully.
Faithful response comes in many ways. Today we come together and share the joy of welcoming two new faces to this part of the body of Christ. Today Leah[5] faithfully responds to the call of the Lord joining this congregation, this part of the body of Christ. Today we as the congregation will faithfully respond by welcoming Leah.
Today we will celebrate one of the most joyful events in the life of the church; today through the grace of God we celebrate the baptism of Leah’s daughter Tasha. In baptism, we, the entire church of God throughout creation, welcome Tasha into the family of God. Today we as the people of God will also respond by telling Leah and Tasha that God and God’s people are present in their lives too.
There is joy and celebration in these glorious events. And by the grace of God freely given, and our faithful response to this grace, we are made well. We are saved. We are called to faithfully respond in many ways. We are called to respond with our time. We are called to respond with our talents. And yes, we are called to respond with our tithes. But right now, let us joyfully turn back to Jesus and offer God the sacrifice of praise with a loud voice. Alleluia! Amen!
[1] The MicrosoftWord 2003 Thesaurus lists the words expression, utterance, and speech as synonyms for word.
[2] Translation to “katharitzow,” A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Earlly Christian Literature, Third Edition. Revised and edited by Frederick William Danker based on Walter Bauer's Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frühchristlichen Literatur, sixth edition, ed. Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, with Viktor Reichmann and on previous English editions by W.F.Arndt, F.W.Gingrich, and F.W.Danker. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2000, electronic version in BibleWorks, version 7.0.019b.4, 2007.
[3] Translation to “iaomai,” Ibid.
[4] Translation to “sosow,” Ibid..
[5] The names have been changed
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Psalm 66:1-12
2Timothy 2:8-15
Luke 17:11-19
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 English and creative writing classes, teachers encourage students to learn and use synonyms. By using a word that means the same thing as another word, a writer can add a little spice to an essay or a story. Some words add a little nuance that others lack. So using synonyms adds color, texture to a piece that is missing if you use the same word over and over again.
For example a word that I have used six times so far, is word. Make that seven. If I had used the word (and that makes eight) expression it would have meant the same thing, but would have added a little flair. If I had used utterance it would have changed the meaning because an utterance is a spoken word. Speech is another synonym that I could have used, but that would throw even more of a curve ball into the mix because speech can mean either the ability to speak or a speech can be a whole bunch of words connected together by a theme or a concept.[1] When using synonyms, great care has to be taken because the wrong word can change the meaning of a sentence entirely. Meanings can be added or lost.
On the other hand, some words that seem synonymous aren’t. This is what happened to me with this gospel reading. This passage, the healing of the ten lepers, is well known. Ten are healed, one returns to give thanks, Jesus asks questions he doesn’t expect anyone to answer, and the one who returned is told to go. But this “Reader’s Digest Condensed Version” lacks the full expression of the language. When I first looked at this reading, I thought the phrases “were made clean,” “was healed,” and “made you well” pretty much meant the same thing. But they don’t, not in this story. In this narrative, these phrases that seem to be synonymous aren’t at all.
Let’s pick up the story from the fourteenth verse: “When Jesus saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean.” Luke very specifically uses the phrase “were made clean.” There’s a lot going on in this little phrase. The first thing it says is that they did not make themselves clean. They did not hop in the shower with soap and shampoo. The verb here is passive, they were made clean. They did not make themselves clean, they were made clean by something else, or more correctly someone else.
There is an even deeper meaning to this “being made clean.” This cleaning includes the ritual cleansing necessary so that the lepers could present themselves to the priests.[2] And since the approval of the priest was necessary before a leper could rejoin polite society, this was an important step. This cleaning is what makes them right with the community and allows them to resume their lives.
Continuing at verse 15, “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed turned back.” In the church setting, when we think of being made clean, we think of being healed, but Luke was careful to use two different verbs in these two verses. The word used in this verse speaks to the physical aspects of the healing.[3] The leper noticed that the skin rash that had made him unclean and exiled him from society had vanished. Physical healing had been accomplished. Of course, this physical healing would have had to precede going to the priest who would declare that the leper had been made clean physically and ritually.
Let’s skip to the last verse of our reading, after the single leper turns back to Jesus praising God with a loud voice. “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’” This seems pretty straight forward in English, made well is like physically healed and even like being made ritually clean. But the people who heard this story in the first century would have heard even more. Because of the word Jesus used, they would have heard that the man was free of disease, and more that he had been saved from death. Even more than physical death, the word Jesus used here meant that the man had been saved from spiritual death.[4] The word used here is the one used for saves, as in Jesus saves. Jesus told this man, this former leper, this Samaritan, his faith has saved him.
Jesus heals us; Jesus takes from us the unclean things that we absorb into our bodies and our lives and makes us clean, holy, and presentable. Still there is more to our healing.
Something theologians say over and over again is that we are saved by grace through faith. What this means to me is that God freely gives us the gift of grace. We are the recipients of a gift that we could never purchase. We cannot earn the gift of grace; we can never seize the gift of grace. We can’t even guilt the Lord into giving this wonderful gift; it can only be given freely and lovingly. But by our faithful response to this glorious generous gift of God’s grace, we accept the relationship Jesus offers and become partners with the Lord in his ministry.
The ten lepers all received Jesus’ freely given gift. By this gift, their bodies were healed and they were allowed to return to their lives. But one of them, just one of them, the dreaded Samaritan, turned and gave thanks to Jesus for the healing he received. And by his response, his faith, he alone was saved. This one Samaritan leper was saved by grace through his faith, a faith shown in the act of turning from his new life and returning to Jesus and loudly giving thanks to God.
We are called to do as this man has done. We are called to turn from our daily lives and give thanks for the grace and the peace and the bounty that is ours through the gifts of our Lord Jesus Christ. This doesn’t mean that life will always be easy or pleasant; there are times of trial. There will be times when we will be like the lepers, needing the word of the Lord to heal us, to restore us. There will be times when we are shunned like a leper, or even worse, like a Samaritan leper, the outsider among outsiders. But the word of the Lord is always present with us. The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ is always with us and calls us to respond faithfully.
Faithful response comes in many ways. Today we come together and share the joy of welcoming two new faces to this part of the body of Christ. Today Leah[5] faithfully responds to the call of the Lord joining this congregation, this part of the body of Christ. Today we as the congregation will faithfully respond by welcoming Leah.
Today we will celebrate one of the most joyful events in the life of the church; today through the grace of God we celebrate the baptism of Leah’s daughter Tasha. In baptism, we, the entire church of God throughout creation, welcome Tasha into the family of God. Today we as the people of God will also respond by telling Leah and Tasha that God and God’s people are present in their lives too.
There is joy and celebration in these glorious events. And by the grace of God freely given, and our faithful response to this grace, we are made well. We are saved. We are called to faithfully respond in many ways. We are called to respond with our time. We are called to respond with our talents. And yes, we are called to respond with our tithes. But right now, let us joyfully turn back to Jesus and offer God the sacrifice of praise with a loud voice. Alleluia! Amen!
[1] The MicrosoftWord 2003 Thesaurus lists the words expression, utterance, and speech as synonyms for word.
[2] Translation to “katharitzow,” A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Earlly Christian Literature, Third Edition. Revised and edited by Frederick William Danker based on Walter Bauer's Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frühchristlichen Literatur, sixth edition, ed. Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, with Viktor Reichmann and on previous English editions by W.F.Arndt, F.W.Gingrich, and F.W.Danker. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2000, electronic version in BibleWorks, version 7.0.019b.4, 2007.
[3] Translation to “iaomai,” Ibid.
[4] Translation to “sosow,” Ibid..
[5] The names have been changed
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Extra Credit
This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday October 7, 2007, the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Lamentations 1:1-6
Psalm 137
2Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
I don’t know if I have ever shared this with you, but I have a rule of thumb. When looking at the scripture for Sunday, I generally find that the shorter the reading, the tougher the message. I don’t know if it works this way for everyone, but that’s the way it works for me. I find that the longer a passage is, the better it flows. Longer pieces just tend to have more of a melodic quality, a rhythm that lends itself to preaching. Narratives like the Call of Gideon in Judges or the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospels lend themselves to proclamation. True to form I find today’s reading of just seven verses from Luke’s Gospel just plain nasty. In this tiny little reading, Jesus gives two lessons to his apostles, the first is two verses on faith and the other is five verses on personal worth.
Let’s begin by noting that this Word of the Lord was not for everybody. Jesus did not direct this message to the masses. He specifically addressed these sayings to his apostles. So when we read, “Who among you would say to your slave…?” Jesus was asking the twelve to put themselves in the place of the master, the slave owner. And Jesus is asking them how they would treat their slaves.
Also remember that slavery in the first century was not the same thing slavery was in seventeenth to nineteenth century America. Slavery in the first century was closer to what we would call indentured servitude. It was possible for slaves to earn their release from service after a period of time. This is particularly true among the more orthodox Jewish masters who by the Law of Moses were called to release their slaves on the Sabbath year. Still first century slavery was not a picnic. The hours were long and the work was difficult. Slaves could earn their release, but it was a long and arduous process.
So Jesus is asking his apostles, the twelve who knew him best in this world what they would do as masters of slaves. Jesus anticipated their answer, nobody would invite their slave to sit on down, take a load off, and take a place at the table while someone else, or even less likely the master, gets the slave’s dinner. No self respecting slave owner would ever do this.
Is it so different today? If you say yes, I want you to go to Crescent Hotel after worship and tell the person waiting your table at the Crystal Dining Room to take your seat, have a little bagel and lox, and maybe a waffle, while you take care of their tables.
Or how about going to Sonic, telling the carhop to get in the back seat of your car while you get her a Coney and some Ched-R-Peppers[1] while you handle her orders?
Oh, and the tips still go to the restaurant staff.
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
In a way, we are different. We appreciate the people who serve us, but we don’t invite them to trade places with us. More than that, the slave master of the day would not thank a slave for doing what they had been commanded. Appreciate maybe, commend no.
This is where Jesus puts the screws to the disciples. They have just finished affirming the way things are in the world as if they were the masters when Jesus turns the tables on them. “So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.’” Jesus gets everyone worked up over how they would treat their slaves, only to be told that they themselves are slaves, and when they have done all that was ordered, they shouldn’t expect any thing more than to be slaves. They are expected to say, “Well, I’m just doing my job, boss.”
Yuck. There’s something you want to hear from the Messiah, the Anointed, the Christ, “we are worthless slaves.” But let’s take this apart before we get too offended by these words. Other translations don’t use the word slave; they use the word servant instead. So we are able to soften this if we wish. But I don’t think we should.
Without bondage to the slavery imposed by sin, we don’t need the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. If sin is turning against God and others, claiming mastery of our own lives, and becoming exploiters of the world,[2] then redemption is how we who are slaves to sin are recovered by our original owner for a price.[3] When we use the language of slavery we can use the language of redemption.
We are slaves, slaves to sin who have been redeemed, purchased for a price by the body and blood of Christ. Using the word “servant” gets rid of that nasty antebellum plantation connotation, but it candy coats who we are and minimizes what God has done. As slaves, our freedom was purchased by the Lord on the cross with his body and his blood.
Jesus is subtle. He sets a snare for the disciples, having them imagine themselves masters over slaves and them springing the surprise, tells them that they themselves are slaves in this life. And as they do what they ought to do, they should not expect to receive special treatment from the master.
There is a bit of this passage in the New English Bible translation that I like better than the New Revised Standard Version. Instead of saying we are “worthless” the New English Bible says we “deserve no credit.” The nuance that this translation gives us is not that we are not worthy, but it’s that we don’t deserve extra credit for doing what we are supposed to do.
Marie didn’t sponsor a parade for me because I took out the trash on Wednesday night. It’s what I’m supposed to do. There will be no bill boards posted for me because I served as chaplain at the hospital last week. This is what I am supposed to do. Now Marie did graciously thank me for taking out the trash, and others have thanked me for serving at the hospital. But these are not master-slave relationships either. To tweak this a little, it’s not that I’m worthless; it’s that I don’t deserve extra credit from the Lord for doing what I am called to do.
And this is where I am glad that Jesus Christ has come to redeem us. The big twist of this passage is the difference between what we have earned and what we have received.
You see, despite the fact that we shouldn’t expect to be invited to sit down and be served; God has invited us to the table. The words, “come, taste and see that the Lord is good” ring from the table every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. It is the Lord who invites those who believe to come and receive his gift not because we have earned it, but because the Lord wants us to be there. The Lord invites us to the table and says this is my body given for you and this is the new covenant sealed in my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. And whenever we take of the loaf and the cup, we do it in remembrance of Him who invites us to the table and provides the meal.
Since early this morning, and throughout the rest of the day, Christians around the world come to tables like this one and share the one loaf and the one cup. With other Christians around the world, today we celebrate World Communion Sunday. In this meal, we are fed, we are fortified, and we experience the outward sign of the inward grace of the Lord God Almighty. In this meal, the church, the body of Christ is fortified and nourished.
The joy of this meal is in the simple fact that we participate in this good gift not because we deserve it, but because the Lord wishes to share it with us. We are slaves who do not deserve extra credit for doing what we are supposed to be doing, feeding the poor, praying for the church, taking the word into the world. But because God has created us and because God wants a relationship with us, God invites us to this table. The extravagant gift of the living God is that the Lord God gave himself, body and spirit that we may be in relationship with him, even though nothing we can do could ever earn us a spot at the table. We are not worthy of such a wonderfully gracious gift, yet we are invited to come, share, and celebrate.
We are saved by grace through faith. And by the Lord’s grace our faith is fed by the meal he sets before us, the meal of bread and cup which become so much more by the virtue of the one who provides them. It becomes so much more because the Master invites us to join him at the table. It is the meal the Master serves the slaves. It is the meal that lifts our spirits and our bodies as we do the Master’s work in the world. And by this meal, this sacrament, we are able to move mountains, and mulberry trees. We are able to join together to do his work.
We are hungry, so hungry, and we long for the master’s table. But there is nothing on earth we can do to deserve a place at the table. Yet in the twist that defines our faith, the master invites all of us, all of humanity, all of creation to the table not because we deserve it, but because the Lord God wants us to come and join him. This is the meal we share with God and God’s glorious creation. Come, taste, and see, the Lord is good.
[1] Ched-R-Peppers is a Registered Trademark of the Sonic Corporation.
[2] The Confession of 1967, The Presbyterian Church (USA), Line 12.
[3] “Redeem” entry, The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Buttrick, G. A., General Editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962-1992, electronic version, 2002.
Lamentations 1:1-6
Psalm 137
2Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
I don’t know if I have ever shared this with you, but I have a rule of thumb. When looking at the scripture for Sunday, I generally find that the shorter the reading, the tougher the message. I don’t know if it works this way for everyone, but that’s the way it works for me. I find that the longer a passage is, the better it flows. Longer pieces just tend to have more of a melodic quality, a rhythm that lends itself to preaching. Narratives like the Call of Gideon in Judges or the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospels lend themselves to proclamation. True to form I find today’s reading of just seven verses from Luke’s Gospel just plain nasty. In this tiny little reading, Jesus gives two lessons to his apostles, the first is two verses on faith and the other is five verses on personal worth.
Let’s begin by noting that this Word of the Lord was not for everybody. Jesus did not direct this message to the masses. He specifically addressed these sayings to his apostles. So when we read, “Who among you would say to your slave…?” Jesus was asking the twelve to put themselves in the place of the master, the slave owner. And Jesus is asking them how they would treat their slaves.
Also remember that slavery in the first century was not the same thing slavery was in seventeenth to nineteenth century America. Slavery in the first century was closer to what we would call indentured servitude. It was possible for slaves to earn their release from service after a period of time. This is particularly true among the more orthodox Jewish masters who by the Law of Moses were called to release their slaves on the Sabbath year. Still first century slavery was not a picnic. The hours were long and the work was difficult. Slaves could earn their release, but it was a long and arduous process.
So Jesus is asking his apostles, the twelve who knew him best in this world what they would do as masters of slaves. Jesus anticipated their answer, nobody would invite their slave to sit on down, take a load off, and take a place at the table while someone else, or even less likely the master, gets the slave’s dinner. No self respecting slave owner would ever do this.
Is it so different today? If you say yes, I want you to go to Crescent Hotel after worship and tell the person waiting your table at the Crystal Dining Room to take your seat, have a little bagel and lox, and maybe a waffle, while you take care of their tables.
Or how about going to Sonic, telling the carhop to get in the back seat of your car while you get her a Coney and some Ched-R-Peppers[1] while you handle her orders?
Oh, and the tips still go to the restaurant staff.
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
In a way, we are different. We appreciate the people who serve us, but we don’t invite them to trade places with us. More than that, the slave master of the day would not thank a slave for doing what they had been commanded. Appreciate maybe, commend no.
This is where Jesus puts the screws to the disciples. They have just finished affirming the way things are in the world as if they were the masters when Jesus turns the tables on them. “So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.’” Jesus gets everyone worked up over how they would treat their slaves, only to be told that they themselves are slaves, and when they have done all that was ordered, they shouldn’t expect any thing more than to be slaves. They are expected to say, “Well, I’m just doing my job, boss.”
Yuck. There’s something you want to hear from the Messiah, the Anointed, the Christ, “we are worthless slaves.” But let’s take this apart before we get too offended by these words. Other translations don’t use the word slave; they use the word servant instead. So we are able to soften this if we wish. But I don’t think we should.
Without bondage to the slavery imposed by sin, we don’t need the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. If sin is turning against God and others, claiming mastery of our own lives, and becoming exploiters of the world,[2] then redemption is how we who are slaves to sin are recovered by our original owner for a price.[3] When we use the language of slavery we can use the language of redemption.
We are slaves, slaves to sin who have been redeemed, purchased for a price by the body and blood of Christ. Using the word “servant” gets rid of that nasty antebellum plantation connotation, but it candy coats who we are and minimizes what God has done. As slaves, our freedom was purchased by the Lord on the cross with his body and his blood.
Jesus is subtle. He sets a snare for the disciples, having them imagine themselves masters over slaves and them springing the surprise, tells them that they themselves are slaves in this life. And as they do what they ought to do, they should not expect to receive special treatment from the master.
There is a bit of this passage in the New English Bible translation that I like better than the New Revised Standard Version. Instead of saying we are “worthless” the New English Bible says we “deserve no credit.” The nuance that this translation gives us is not that we are not worthy, but it’s that we don’t deserve extra credit for doing what we are supposed to do.
Marie didn’t sponsor a parade for me because I took out the trash on Wednesday night. It’s what I’m supposed to do. There will be no bill boards posted for me because I served as chaplain at the hospital last week. This is what I am supposed to do. Now Marie did graciously thank me for taking out the trash, and others have thanked me for serving at the hospital. But these are not master-slave relationships either. To tweak this a little, it’s not that I’m worthless; it’s that I don’t deserve extra credit from the Lord for doing what I am called to do.
And this is where I am glad that Jesus Christ has come to redeem us. The big twist of this passage is the difference between what we have earned and what we have received.
You see, despite the fact that we shouldn’t expect to be invited to sit down and be served; God has invited us to the table. The words, “come, taste and see that the Lord is good” ring from the table every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. It is the Lord who invites those who believe to come and receive his gift not because we have earned it, but because the Lord wants us to be there. The Lord invites us to the table and says this is my body given for you and this is the new covenant sealed in my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. And whenever we take of the loaf and the cup, we do it in remembrance of Him who invites us to the table and provides the meal.
Since early this morning, and throughout the rest of the day, Christians around the world come to tables like this one and share the one loaf and the one cup. With other Christians around the world, today we celebrate World Communion Sunday. In this meal, we are fed, we are fortified, and we experience the outward sign of the inward grace of the Lord God Almighty. In this meal, the church, the body of Christ is fortified and nourished.
The joy of this meal is in the simple fact that we participate in this good gift not because we deserve it, but because the Lord wishes to share it with us. We are slaves who do not deserve extra credit for doing what we are supposed to be doing, feeding the poor, praying for the church, taking the word into the world. But because God has created us and because God wants a relationship with us, God invites us to this table. The extravagant gift of the living God is that the Lord God gave himself, body and spirit that we may be in relationship with him, even though nothing we can do could ever earn us a spot at the table. We are not worthy of such a wonderfully gracious gift, yet we are invited to come, share, and celebrate.
We are saved by grace through faith. And by the Lord’s grace our faith is fed by the meal he sets before us, the meal of bread and cup which become so much more by the virtue of the one who provides them. It becomes so much more because the Master invites us to join him at the table. It is the meal the Master serves the slaves. It is the meal that lifts our spirits and our bodies as we do the Master’s work in the world. And by this meal, this sacrament, we are able to move mountains, and mulberry trees. We are able to join together to do his work.
We are hungry, so hungry, and we long for the master’s table. But there is nothing on earth we can do to deserve a place at the table. Yet in the twist that defines our faith, the master invites all of us, all of humanity, all of creation to the table not because we deserve it, but because the Lord God wants us to come and join him. This is the meal we share with God and God’s glorious creation. Come, taste, and see, the Lord is good.
[1] Ched-R-Peppers is a Registered Trademark of the Sonic Corporation.
[2] The Confession of 1967, The Presbyterian Church (USA), Line 12.
[3] “Redeem” entry, The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Buttrick, G. A., General Editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962-1992, electronic version, 2002.
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