A Super-Sized Children's Sermon

On this Christmas Eve, I chose to use the children's sermon to bring the full gospel, so while it was called "A Time with the Younger Church," I prefer to think of it as a Super-Sized Children's Sermon. Something happened along the way and the recording did not take, my apologies. On that note...

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on December 24, 2012, Christmas Eve.

Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-20

My mom always said that it’s just not Christmas until she heard the story of the birth of Jesus from Luke’s gospel. Now, you all know that it you shouldn’t disagree with your mom so it’s OK to agree with me. I agree with my mom, I don’t think it’s really Christmastime until I hear this too.

One of my favorite holiday TV specials is “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Charlie Brown finds himself having a hard time understanding what Christmas is all about. He gives Christmas cards to the whole gang, but nobody gives him one. He sees great and wonderful Christmas trees covered in tinsel and ornaments and big lights, but the only tree he can get is a scraggly old thing that falls under the weight of one ornament. Even his dog Snoopy gets into the act winning first place in a house decorating contest.

Finally Charlie Brown finds himself on the stage at school getting ready for the Christmas Pageant. He’s upset. He’s sad. He’s confused. Nothing seems right so he cries out, “Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

Charlie Brown’s best friend Linus walks up and answers him in the best way he knows:

Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying,

‘Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace, good will toward men.’”

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

So, what does this tell us about Christmas?

It tells us first that Jesus loves the little children. Jesus loves the little children so much he became a little child. Just like little Kevin in the nursery, just like all of you, just like me, and just like Mr. Al, we were all babies once, just like Jesus. That’s why Jesus loves us so much. He was one of us.

Another sign that he loves children is that as soon as he was born, the angels went and told the shepherd boys. The angel didn’t tell the President, or Caesar the Ruler of Rome. The angel didn’t tell the leaders of the temple or the Session of the church. The angel didn’t go to anyone who most people would think is important, he went to the children.

Jesus loves the little children so much he was one and he told them first. That gives children a lot of credit as far as I’m concerned. If Jesus loves the little children then everyone should love the little children, shouldn’t they?

Do you feel like everybody who is here loves you? I hope you do because I know they love me too.

Now, Jesus has a lot of names. We call him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace just to name a few. We call him those names because the prophet Isaiah does first. These names seem to be for a grown up for the baby Jesus, don’t they? Titus says “the grace of God has appeared,” doesn’t he? That sounds kind of complicated, doesn’t it?

Well, I’m gonna make it easy. As I told you, Jesus came because he loves us. He loves us so much that he came to save you and me. This is God’s Christmas present to us. Jesus is God’s present to us. How’s that?

Did you know there isn’t a better present? You might find all sorts of neat things under the tree tomorrow, but none of that stuff lasts forever. Now, I think presents are great, I like presents too, but they won’t last forever will they?

And then you have to write thank you notes don’t you?

The present we get that will last forever is Jesus. The gift he gives us is God. That’s where our salvation is too, in God through Jesus!

So, now we need to thank Jesus, do you know how? The first thing we need to do is say “Thank you, Jesus.” Can we do that together?

Then we need to thank Jesus by being good girls and boys. Not like those boys and girls acted toward Charlie Brown. We need to thank Jesus by helping others. We need to do this all the time because with all of these people around you, people who were babies once too, they love Jesus. They say “thank you” to Jesus, and they act like good boys and girls helping others too. So let’s thank Jesus together…

Dear God,

Thank you for your Son Jesus,

Who came as a baby,

To save the world.

Amen.

"Point of View" and "...then how?"

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday October 14, 2012, the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Psalm 22:1-15

Hebrews 4:12-16

Mark 10:17-31

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 like to start with something that has a little more pizzazz than this. I like starting with stories that either take an unexpected turn or stories that seem completely unrelated to the Gospel I had just read. Every pastor has their own way of beginning a sermon, but this one was illusive.

I mean these are some pretty heady readings. Hebrews tells us that Jesus has been tempted and tested just like we are yet is without sin. So let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence. At first look from a cautious point of view that doesn’t sound like such a good idea. Jesus was tried, tempted, and tested just like we are everyday, but he didn’t succumb to Satan’s antics. Jesus has been through the same things we have, and he did much better. How can we approach that?

The gospels are loaded with stories of how Jesus was tried by Satan after forty days in the wilderness, his family when they thought he was nuts, the Presbytery—er, Pharisees, and finally by his own. Yes, saying “by his own” I’m talking about Judas, but Mark’s gospel has shown us that many of the disciples who were named were named because they were making a mistake. Peter, even after he is declared to be the Rock of the Church, told Jesus how to be the Messiah.

So we should approach boldly, with confidence? With our sins and his sinlessness we how can we approach Jesus at all? If we approach with confidence had better make sure we don’t approach in arrogance. Otherwise we could end up like the Nazi’s at the end of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” after picking the wrong Grail cup.

Our Call to Worship this morning taken from the 22^nd Psalm begins with the greatest lament in Christian Literature! “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I know my share of sorrow, grief, and shame—but these words take the cake. “Oh my God, I cry in the daytime and you do not answer; by night I find no rest.” Abandoned by God, the psalmist cries out.

You can expect fair-weather friends and bad-weather enemies to betray you, but when the times get hardest can you imagine being abandoned by your best friends? It happens to Jesus at his moment of greatest despair. It didn’t just happen, he prophesied it would happen.

Of course our Old Testament reading was from Job. Last week’s reading from Job set up the scene for a man’s great downfall. His wife cries out “curse God and die!” Job refuses to curse God. He asks “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” So Job did not sin with his lips.

By this time in the story, Job is not a happy camper. His three “friends,” Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, each try to tell Job why he is bad, wrong, evil, sinful, or whatever. Job is done. He wants justice. He’s so upset that he wants God to come and hear his complaint. He figures no great power would ever press charges against him. Job riles because God is absent, he is abandoned. He is lost, but he is not silenced by this darkness.

So with all of these stories, we see despair. People looking for what’s good. People looking for what’s just. People looking for peace in a world that looks like God is looking the other direction.

To this, we bring you the story of the rich man. The rich man asks the question of the hour, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Let’s be honest, in one way or another, everyone has asked that question. We may scoff because we know how Jesus will respond, but honestly, everyone wants to know what we have to do to inherit eternal life.

At least the rich man doesn’t ask what he has to do to earn eternal life. To earn eternal life implies that there is something we can do, something that has to be done so that we can earn eternal life. At least he got that part of his question right. We can’t earn eternal life, we can only inherit it.

So Jesus gives him the quiz. Using the last six of the Ten Commandments, Jesus asks the rich man how he has treated the people around him, how he has lived in the community. He has kept the commandments of God since he was a boy.

So Jesus told him what comes next. Jesus used five verbs: Go, Sell, Give, Come, and Follow. He tells him to trade his treasures on Earth for treasures in Heaven. Then he can come and follow. He asks the man to do as the other disciples had done, leave it all behind and follow. This is the fate of the apostolic disciples. They gave all they had to God, in exchange God was all they had.

The Dutch missionary Andrew van der Bijl is more commonly known as Brother Andrew. The first of the many books he wrote was the memoir “God’s Smuggler.”[1] It tells the story of his early childhood, conversion to Christianity, and adventures as a Bible-smuggler behind the Iron Curtain. It has now sold over 10 million copies in thirty-five languages and is a model for the modern conversion and missionary story.

One of the major themes in the story is Andrew’s utter dependence upon God. When in Seminary in Scotland, one of the lessons that was impressed upon the students was that they all faced obligations, they all faced challenges, and these could only be met by complete and utter faith in God.

The seminarians who tried to rely on “keeping a little back in case of a rainy day” soon found that every day was rainy. When they began to depend upon themselves and their own money management skills two things happened:

The first was that the demands seemed to increase.

The second was that the miracles seemed to dry up.

The theme of God providing everything was first and foremost in the book. Miraculous acts and gifts provided what Andrew needed, from safety and provision traveling in Eastern Europe to toothpaste.

Nothing was too small or too big for God’s concern. I think we can safely say that this rich man’s story is the antithesis to “God’s Smuggler.” He wanted to follow the Lord, but the rich man didn’t want to leave his safety net behind.

After a bit more of this, noting how difficult it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God, the disciples ask the big question all over again, “Who then can be saved?”

This is where folks often begin to feel a little smug. After all, none of us are rich. We certainly don’t have the riches that the rich man has. We don’t have the world at our disposal. The world is not our oyster. The only oysters we have are found in a Po’ Boy; and we say “po’” because we don’t have enough for the whole word “Poor.” We try to distance ourselves from this narrative because we’re nothing like this rich man, nothing like him at all.

This is how we perceive ourselves, our point of view. When our point of view begins to exclude us from specific scriptures, we fall into one of scripture’s traps. When we begin to think that lessons of scripture don’t apply to us because we’re nothing like that, we begin to pare not only the breadth of God’s sovereignty and authority, but the reach of God’s love.

When we think we are poor, it is because we don’t look around. No, I don’t live in that gated community on South Washington, neither do any of us. But when we look around, and see the poverty that surrounds us we learn that there are some who see us as the rich man who won’t give up what he has to help the poor and follow Jesus.

Also our reading talks about financial wealth. This is surely the most accessible form of wealth. But this is also when I wonder if this point of view isn’t overly restrictive. Our wealth extends beyond our treasure. It includes our time and our talent as well.

Some of us have made sacrifices. Some of us have taken jobs in places where our talents are needed to help those who don’t have the same resources we do. Some of us have taken jobs in places where our talents are sorely needed to help those in crisis and in danger. Some of us have served our country to help preserve the freedom of the rich and the poor. Some of us have taken our lives and shared them with the sick and the widowed and the orphaned. All who do this forsake worldly wealth in exchange for Christian service, but is there more?

Even more than all of this, we are called to set aside our egos. We are called to set aside what we think is best so that we can find and follow what God thinks is best. Setting aside our selves, our notions, and our identities is even tougher than emptying the bank account. From our point of view what we have is limited, and it’s ours! From God’s point of view, what we have been given, given, is everything!

In “Call to Conversion,” Jim Wallis reminds us “Evangelism can no longer mean simply taking people out of the world, running them through some process of conversion and then placing them back in the same world and somehow expecting them to survive. If conversion is the translation of persons from one world to another, from one community to another, then conversion to Christ requires a new environment in which it is more possible to live a Christian life.”[2]

We are called to accept the gift of eternal life and everything that comes with it, the good and the bad. We are then called to share those blessings with others creating a new community that is only possible through God.

So, there is nothing we can do to earn eternal life. There is nothing we can do to purchase our inheritance. For us it is impossible. We can’t buy our way into the family, yet there is a great cost, whether economic or not, to following Jesus like the first apostles and disciples. Our point of view may even keep us from seeing the price we are being called to pay. So then what, what can we do to inherit eternal life?

Gloriously, our earlier readings not only ask big questions, they give us big answers.

Hebrews says that Jesus has been tempted and tested just like we are yet is without sin. So let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence. This still sounds pretty heady and then we finish reading the verse. We approach the throne of grace “so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace and mercy are things we cannot hope to earn or purchase. Offering anything for grace or mercy would not make them grace or mercy at all! The cautious point of view I mentioned earlier is not what God wants from us. Jesus didn’t show us a way we could imitate, he showed us Himself. We can’t be sinless, but we can follow Jesus. This is why we are called to ask. This is why we are called to be bold.

As for the psalmist, too well we know the cry “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But regardless of how David feels about his earthly situation, he still knows God is God. He cries, “Yet you are the Holy One, enthroned upon the praises of Israel, our ancestors put their trust in you; they trusted, and you delivered them.

As for Job, well, he’s seeking an audience with the Lord trusting the Lord is just.

So here’s my point, and it gets back to verse 18 from our Mark reading. Jesus asks the young man “Why do you call me good? No one is good—except for God alone.” This repeats what Hebrews and Psalms teach us. God is good and no one is good except for God alone. It also reminds us that Jesus did not come to eliminate the law. Jesus loves the man because he follows the law! But to follow Jesus, there is more.

We don’t really know the fate of this rich man. He may have gone home and died a rich man who told stories about the day Jesus told him to give it all up. He might have told that story as a grand joke or as a sad lament. Then again, he may have repented. He may have done as Jesus asked, not immediately, but he might have.

Scripture doesn’t say he did, and scripture doesn’t say he didn’t.

What I say is Jesus is in the business of reconciliation. Our take on the shape of reconciliation isn’t always to our liking. It wasn’t to the liking of a lot of people. That’s our point of view, but it is God bringing us together in the name of Christ. And that’s who can be saved, everyone through Christ; because only in God are all things possible.

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[1] Brother Andrew with John and Elizabeth Sherrill, “God’s Smuggler.” Old Tappan, NJ: Spire Books, 1967.

[2] Wallis, Jim, “The Call to Conversion.” San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1992), 115. Found at http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?item_topic_id=1208.

His Disciples Remembered

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday March 11, 2012, the 3rd Sunday of Lent.

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Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 19

1Corinthians 1:18-25

John 2:13-22

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

Scholars teach there are three sections to the Ten Commandments, this morning’s reading from Exodus. The first three commandments, verses 4-7, tell us how humanity is to relate to the Lord our God. Verses 8-11 teach us how to relate to creation by way of the Sabbath.  Finally, verses 12-17, the last six commandments, address social relations, how we deal with and take care of one another. Most of the Ten Commandments teach using action verbs, though usually through their negative. We shall not make; we shall not bow; we shall not take; we shall not murder; we shall not steal; and so on. 

The only commandment that seems passive is “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” But this is not so, the command to remember the Sabbath is not just a mental exercise, it’s active too. Verses 8-11 instruct us not only to remember the Sabbath but how to remember the Sabbath. We are instructed not to work, not only us but everyone and everything in our household is not to work. We are to remember that the Lord made heaven and earth in six days and on the seventh the Lord made, blessed, and consecrated (consecrated means “made holy,” or more simply “set aside”) a day of rest for all that was created.

In English, often we think of remembering as a mental exercise, like remembering our multiplication tables or the alphabet. We know to “Remember the Alamo,” but what does that mean? What exactly are we to remember about the Alamo?

For the Alamo, we can be called to remember the bloody military battle and its horrendous body count. We can be called to remember political consequences of this battle to the Republic. We can be called to remember “Remember the Alamo” as the slogan used by the Republic forces at the Battle of San Jacinto, the battle which ended the revolution in favor of Texas.

Remembering the Alamo, I want to remember the words Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis wrote about Davy Crockett during the battle. “The Hon. David Crockett was seen at all points, animating the men to do their duty.”[1] Crocket reminded the men of their duty, what they were to do in service to the Republic of Texas. The men were not only to mentally remember their duty; they were to perform their duty in service to the Republic.

This is a very Hebraic—Jewish—way to remember, not only do we remember in our minds, but we remember with our actions.[2] As important as it is for us to bear the Sabbath in mind, it is important that we respond to the Sabbath. We are to meet the sovereign God and answer the Lord’s call keeping the Sabbath day holy. This is the command of the Lord to Moses and all God’s people. 

The reading from John’s gospel is the story of Jesus coming to the temple for the Passover and seeing it turned into a marketplace. It is the story of his acts in cleansing the temple for worship. It is also a prophecy of the destruction of the bodily temple Jesus inhabits; and the resurrection of that same temple.

But there are two very interesting pieces to this reading that aren’t common to our lectionary readings. Most of the time, our readings are real time narratives. There is a sense of “you are there” in the readings. There is no indication that what we read wasn’t recorded as it happened until in verses 17 and 22 where we are told that his disciples remembered. The disciples not only remembered the events, but they remembered teachings that preceded these events.

They remembered what happened in the past as foreshadowing of what would happen in the future. This reading is one of the few times that we realize the author was remembering the events and actively reflecting on them after they happened. They remembered not only words and lessons; they remembered the actions that would follow them.

As the last verse in our reading teaches us, they remembered and by remembering they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. They remembered not only in their minds, they responded through belief; and through their belief, through their faith, were able to do many great things in the name of the Lord.

We are called to remember our baptism. In the words of John Calvin, “As often as we fall away, we ought to recall the memory of our baptism and fortify our minds with it, that we may always be sure and confident of the forgiveness of sins.”[3] 

Surely those of us who were baptized as infants, like Billy Wayne, Elizabeth, and Isabel were, we won’t remember the events of our baptism. We don’t remember the chill of the water as we are anointed as God’s own. But as these children of the Body of Christ were baptized into the community God calls into existence, we are called to remember the vows of our baptism too.

We are called as the community to accept the responsibility to encourage those receiving this sacrament. The baptismal liturgy in The Book of Common Worship asks the congregation:

Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ,

promise to guide and nurture these who receive this sacrament

by word and deed,

with love and prayer,

encouraging them to know and follow Christ

and to be faithful members of Christ’s church?[4]

Answering “We do,” as surely as we who were baptized as infants will not be able to remember our baptism, we can remember those who are now baptized. And by our very words, we are called to remember the promises we make to them upon their baptism; promises not only of word but deed, not only of thought but action; actions including teaching, serving, rejoicing, weeping, sharing food, and breaking bread together.[5]

As we celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, we hear the words of institution:

On the very night He was betrayed

Jesus took bread and gave You thanks

He broke it and gave it to His disciples,

“Take, eat, this is My body which is given to you;

do this in remembrance of Me.”

In the same way, after supper

He took the cup and gave You thanks

He gave it to His disciples, saying,

“Drink this, all of you;

this is My blood of the new covenant,

which is shed for you and for many,

for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this as often as you drink it,

In remembrance of Me.”

If you are thirsty, drink the Fount of Life

If you are hungry, eat the Bread of Life.

Blessed are all who hunger for this Bread

And thirst for this Fount.

Together we remember and proclaim

the mystery of Christ.[6]

Again, this remembrance is more than a mental exercise. This remembrance is a call not only to know in our minds but to reimagine—even recreate the Lord’s last supper.[7] In our remembrance of the Lord, we are not just to imagine as we celebrate the sacrament. We are not to experience remembrance as a solitary event. Remembrance is an event of the church. We celebrate the body and blood of Christ as the Body of Christ. By repetition, we are to take this remembering into our very beings and into the world. Doing this in remembrance of the Lord is so important to us that these very words are carved into the table.

We do this together until he comes again. In an oddly wonderful command, we are to remember into the future. We are to remember what is to come. The same Hebraic understanding of remembrance that allows us to experience anew the past also allows us to experience already the future.[8] The hope that is rooted in the historic past is the source of our Christian hope for the future. It is in remembrance that we connect these things in the present. It is in this sacrament that we are fed, nourished as the Body of Christ for God’s work in the world.

As the last verse in our reading teaches us, they remembered and by remembering they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. They remembered not only in their minds, they responded through belief, and through their belief, through their faith, were able to do many great things in the name of the Lord.

To us in the world of today, this kind of remembering, remembering with our minds and our actions, is foreign, it’s paradoxical and ironic. I know about remembering, but what does this kind of remembering have to do with the Republic of Texas? What does that have to do with the sacraments? What does that have to do with the cross?

One of the ways this takes us to the cross, one of the ways this takes us on our Lenten journey, is it teaches us something special about our remembering; when we remember by our own wisdom, we gain nothing at all. When we remember by our own wisdom, we gain nothing at all.

For those wise in the ways of the world, the wisdom of the cross is lost. When we base our wisdom on our own understanding, the wisdom of God seems foolish. When we try to figure out how the things of God work in the ways of our world, our thinking cannot help but be too small.

Those who demand signs may receive them, but the ability to interpret them properly will fall short as long as we use what makes us wise to read them. We can study and we can debate and we can interpret and reinterpret all creation, but when we do, God will make our wisdom foolish.

In human wisdom we are told that those with the most toys win. We are told everyday that the only value anything has is the value that can be measured with a price tag. Let’s face the truth of this; Donald Trump gets better ratings than a Billy Graham Crusade. Keeping our life and life style is all that some people value.

Unfortunately, if that value cannot be earned honestly it can be stolen, and if it can be stolen it must be protected. Walls have to be built, power has to be collected. Giving becomes a sign of weakness.

This is not the power of the cross. This is not the power of God.

Paul writes God has made foolish the wisdom of the world. To those who build walls and store treasures, their reward is kept. They cannot give and perish a little more everyday. But to those who are bathed in the power of the blood, those who are bought with the body of Christ, we who see the cross as the world’s greatest failed attempt at controlling God; we are saved through the grace, peace, and glory of Jesus the Christ. This bit of wisdom is a stumbling block to those whose understanding is in the tangible things of our flawed, sinful humanity.

Instead we are to call on the Lord, whose foolishness is greater than all of our collected wisdom; whose weakness is greater than all of our combined strength. Paul remembers this, and Paul teaches not only the Corinthians to remember, but us as well.

On Wednesday evenings we are studying a book by Adam Hamilton called, “Final Words from the Cross.”[9] In last week’s lesson Hamilton teaches us that “‘Remember me’ meant ‘help me and deliver me.’ In the Old Testament, when God remembered individuals God delivered them.”[10] He goes on to cite Noah and Abraham, and Rachel among those God remembered and delivered. His disciples remembered and they are delivered; but it is the Lord remembered them first. God’s remembering is their salvation.

In the waters of our baptism, in the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper, we participate in the life and death and resurrected life of Jesus Christ, the special revelation of God, the Law incarnate, the living Torah. We are called to participate as Jesus did; not in the pomp and ceremony of the temple sacrifices, but in the life of the Church, the Body of Christ on earth and all of God’s good creation. 

As the apostles and disciples before us, we are to remember and by remembering believe. By believing and through faith, the Lord is able to do far more with us than we could ever hope or imagine doing on our own. 

We are called to remember. In remembering we are called to respond to God in gratitude. Answering God’s call because of an obligation is only necessary when gratitude is missing. In gratitude we are called to share the good news of Emmanuel, God with us. 

We are called to share from the very life we are given in Christ.  Today let us begin by remembering the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. Let us remember God’s wondrous love and respond. Let us remember the foolishness of our wisdom and weakness of our strength. Finally, and most important of all, let us remember who remembered us first.

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[1] Groneman, Bill, “Alamo Defenders: A Genealogy, the People and Their Words.” Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1990, page 27

[2] “rAk±z"” entry, Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Electronic Edition found in BibleWorks version 7.0.019k.1 (Print Edition Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907, page 269)

[3] Calvin, John, Institutes of Christian Faith, vol. 4, part xv, section 3.

[4] “The Book of Common Worship” compiled by The Theology and Worship Ministry Unit for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993, page 406.

[5] Boonstra, Henry, “Perspectives: Remember Your Baptism”, in Reformed Worship Magazine, #14, http://www.reformedworship.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=243, retrieved March 14, 2009.

[6] Imago Dei Christian Community, a community drawn to Christ, Celtic Communion Liturgy, http://imagodeicommunity.ca/category/celtic-communion-liturgy/, retrieved March 10, 2009.

[7] Stookey, Laurence Hull, “Eucharist, Christ’s Feast with the Church.”  Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993, page 28.

[8] Ibid, page 31

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

[10] Ibid, page 43.

What Size Miracle Are You Looking For?

This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville Arkansas on September 30, 2007, the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time.

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
1Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31

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

One of the problems with preaching parables is the richness of their imagery. It’s hard to take the words of Jesus through the brushstrokes of Luke’s words and do anything that is more than a pale reflection. And this parable of the rich man clothed in purple is a dramatic example of the way Luke frames the wonderful words of Jesus. Hopefully one thing I can do is point out some echoes that we have lost in the translation.

The contrasts in this story are just one element that makes it so wonderful. We begin with a man who is very rich, a man who has everything this life can offer. Then we have another who is poor, destitute. This difference between the two is the root of the other distinctions between them. The rich man is dressed in purple and in fine linen. The other’s clothing is without description. We know that one is clothed in the finest cloth of the day. The color of his clothes showed that he was a very important man, a man of regal stature. Purple linen could not be worn by just anyone. It was the law. There were actually laws about who could wear purple, and how much of it they could wear, and the rich man in the parable could wear it enough that he was the purple Johnny Cash of his day. He was the “Man in Purple.”

As for the other man, the parable doesn’t even say he was covered with clothes, he was covered in sores.

One feasts daily while the other one sits hungry. Different translations color this differently. One says feasted sumptuously, another says lived in luxury, and a third says he was living in splendor. Each of these translations says he lived like this everyday. The rich man is the first guy on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” Robin Leech could have followed this guy looking for pointers everyday.

The other man, he is laid at the gates of the rich man’s home. He is shown with out food, longing for scraps from the rich man’s table. Even worse, not only is he without food for himself, he is a source of food for the mongrel dogs who come and lick his sores.

What does seem a little strange is that while the rich man seems to have everything, he doesn’t have a name. The poor man, Jesus tells us his name is Lazarus. When Jesus tells a story of layered contrast, he isn’t shy about pouring it on so we get the message. But the contrasts have only just begun.

The rich man dies, and he was buried. The rich man is buried and by his stature and his wealth, tradition would mandate an incredible funeral. By the description of his clothes, the “Man in Purple” may have even been accorded a state funeral.

So Lazarus dies. And when he does, he is carried away by the angels and he rests in the bosom of Abraham. Oh, rock-a-my-soul in the bosom of Abraham. By the way, this may be one of those weird little questions of the bible, like “Where did Cain’s wife come from?” Where’s Lazarus’ body? Was it carried away? Was it put in a pauper’s grave? Was it eaten by the dogs that licked his sores? Was it miraculously lifted to the bosom of Abraham? Scripture says he was lifted, but whether he was lifted bodily or spiritually is not specified, though hearers of this parable would have heard this as being carried spiritually. But, if he was raised bodily after his death, and made whole so to rest in the bosom of Abraham, that would be some kind of miracle, wouldn’t it?

The rich man is in Hades while Lazarus is with Abraham. This is not just another contrast, but a stunning reversal of fortune. The man who was resting on a cold stone portico of a rich man’s estate is now feasting at the table of eternity while resting in the bosom of Abraham. The man whose every whim was catered on earth is now the one who is being tormented in what the Jews called Sheol the Greek called Hades, and we call hell. The one whose sores were being licked by dogs is now resting in a place anyone would long to be while the one who feasted sumptuously every day now lives in fiery torment.

“Father Abraham,” the tormented man cries out. Even in the pain of the fires he remembers his earthly status and cries not to just anyone, he cries to Father Abraham. He cries out as a Jew to the great patriarch of the faith. “Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue.” Send Lazarus. Even in the pain of the fires he remembers his earthly status and cries out to Father Abraham; send me Lazarus that he might do me this service. That he might do me this service.

But Abraham said, “Child,” acknowledging the tormented man’s status as a member of the chosen people of Israel, “Child, too bad, so sad, what you once enjoyed Lazarus now enjoys. What Lazarus once endured you now endure. Where once the distance between you and Lazarus was nothing, now there is a chasm so great that no one can cross from one side to the other.” The stunning reversals of fortune continue. And as they continue the tormented man sees there is no hope for him. But perhaps it is not too late for others.

Well then Father Abraham, send Lazarus like a lackey and have him warn my brothers so they won’t be forced to face this horrible fate of fire and torment. Still from the torment, for the second time, the tormented man asks Abraham to treat Lazarus in the same way he treated everyone else while he was alive, like Lazarus’ greatest purpose in life, and now in death, is to do his bidding.

“Nope,” Abraham says, “they have the word of God recorded by Moses and the prophets. That is enough, they should listen to them.”

“No, no, no, Father Abraham, if Lazarus goes, if anyone from the dead goes to them, then they will repent.”

Father Abraham ends this discourse telling the tormented man, “If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” Now there’s a little dig for the end of the story. If they don’t pay attention to the words of Moses and the prophets they won’t pay attention to anyone else who is sent, even if they have risen from the dead. I read this with the none-too-subtle foreshadowing of someone who celebrated Easter twenty-four weeks ago.

Send them Lazarus. Send him well fed and healed. Send him with word of my torment and my status in the afterlife. Let them hear what happened to me. Even in the torment of the fires of hell, it’s still all about him. My brothers will repent if they hear about me and my fate. I never paid any mind to the frail, lifeless, sore ridden body of Lazarus while he was alive. Now that he is perfect and at your side have him run an errand for me. If he does this chore, my brothers will be saved, they will repent.

Father Abraham just says no, if they don’t hear and heed the words of my children while they are alive; surely the voice of one more, even one from the dead, will be without consequence. You think one more miracle will help, surely I tell you that one more miracle, even one as grand as the redemption of Lazarus, will not change your brothers. Even something so wonderful as and appearance from beyond the grave will not cause them to turn their lives, to repent.

The life of the rich man clothed in purple was all about him. He was dressed in purple and in fine linen. He feasted sumptuously every day. Even after he died his body was handled in the most extravagant of ways. And now in death, it is still all about him. Send Lazarus to quench my thirst. Send Lazarus to tend to my family. In life and in death, it’s all about him. He tells Abraham, “If you do this one miraculous thing, all will be good in my death. My family will be saved.”

I don’t think there is contempt in the voice of Father Abraham, but a simple acceptance of life its own self when he replies, “No, they have their miracles. Let them learn from that. Let what has been done be their salvation.”

I began by saying parables are difficult to preach because of the richness of their imagery, and the images of this parable are over the top. There is luxurious living and there is abject poverty. There is cloth of purple and fine linen and a coating of sores. There is then a stunning reversal of fortune where the outsider is suddenly the insider covered in the bosom of Abraham and the insider left to the woes of his torment unhappily ever-after. What else can be said about this? All the man has to say is “Have Lazarus take a message and save my brothers.” Then Abraham responds, “Moses and the prophets have given them all the message they need.”

When folks seek a word from the Lord, seeking guidance or direction, often we ask for a miracle, signs and wonders that will cause us to change the way we see life. Miracles and signs and wonders that will cause us to change the way we live life. But as Father Abraham tells the rich man dressed in purple whose fate was reversed to become the man clothed in the torment of Hades, the miracle is there in the words of Moses and the prophets. The miracle is with you, pray your brothers seize it that they may escape your fate.

What size miracle is the tormented man looking for? The tormented man hopes for Lazarus, the miracle of Lazarus, whether in body or spirit, to appear to his brothers. As I said a moment ago, this is some miracle, isn’t it?

What size miracle are you looking for? We have the answer to that question; we are looking for the most wonderful miracle imaginable. What we have is a miracle that is even grander than that. The miracle we have been given is that God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.[i] For us the miracle is not a what, it is who. We have been given the miracle who is able to do abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,[ii] the miracle of the Word of God come to life in Jesus Christ.

And through this miracle, now we are to be the miracle. We are called by the Lord to take and share the miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only with one another but with the world, the world that begins immediately outside the doors of this sanctuary.

Much has been written and said lately about evangelism in the Presbyterian Church. There are some congregations where when you say the word “evangelism” you are confronted with the imperial sins of the church that once took the word to the world with a bible and a gun. But in truth evangelism is sharing the Good News of God, life in Jesus Christ here and now, and for eternity. Evangelism is loving God and saying it out loud.

Christ lived for us. This is a miracle. Christ died for us. This is a miracle. Christ rose for us. This too is a miracle. Now, we are called to live for Christ, by Christ, through Christ. This is how we are to be the miracle. We are called to share the Good News of Jesus Christ and what God has done and continues to do through the power of the Holy Spirit.

[i] Romans 6:8
[ii] Ephesians 3:20

Duke, Paul Simpson, The Parables, A Preaching Commentary. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005, pages 57-66.