New Rules

This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 8, 2007.

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

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

Rules, I have been thinking a lot about rules lately. I have long joked that according to Genesis, we began with one rule. Don’t eat that. Sure, humanity had chores; we were to tend the garden. We had responsibilities too; worship and be in community with God. But really, there was only one rule, don’t eat that. So, how’d that work out? Gradually, the number of rules increased. From one, we went to ten, the Ten Commandments. But really, in the end, those weren’t enough to work in an increasingly complex society. In Judaism, traditionally there are 613 commandments, the Taryag Mitzvot.

The Taryag Mitzvot are separated into two categories, there are 248 mitzvot aseh, or positive commandments, the things we are called to do. There are also 365 mitzvot lo taaseh, or negative commandments, the things we are called never to do. These numbers have significance in Judaism, 248 corresponds to the number of bones and significant organs in the human body according to Jewish tradition and 365 corresponds to the number of days in the year.[1]

Some of these rules make perfect sense to us today, things like, “Know there is a God,” “Know God is One,” and “Entertain thoughts of no other god except for the One True God.” We’re familiar with these rules from the Old Testament. These are lessons Jesus teaches us in the gospels. Then again, there are others we do not follow. For example, the mitzvot includes the prohibition against eating non-kosher fish. Sorry, but I enjoy catfish and shrimp. Neither is kosher, but both are tasty. In fact, if you brought either of these wrapped with bacon for today’s potluck, then I will make it my purpose in life to make sure you don’t have to worry about leftovers. Again, the pork isn’t kosher, but my mouth is watering anyway.

My point is this; rules have long been a part of religion. Some of them are as old as creation; some of them are as recent as the last meeting of the PC (U.S.A.) General Assembly. Some of them are wise in their time but outdated. For example, catfish and shellfish are bottom feeders eating God knows what from the bottoms of ponds and streams. Undercooked pork can lead to trichinosis. But today, with modern farming and food preparation methods the risks associated with non-kosher foods are minimized.

As for the PC (U.S.A.), the Book of Order contains 425 pages of rules of order and discipline along with the Directory for Worship which tells Presbyterians across the country what we shall do, what we should do, what it is appropriate for us to do, and what we may do.[2] Every other year when the General Assembly meets, additions and subtractions to the book are considered. Last summer in Birmingham was no exception. Next summer in San Jose will be no exception.

Know that when these rules were written, both the mitzvot and the Book of Order, they were based on scripture and formulated by the greatest theological minds of the day. None of these were created with a mind toward being petty or officious or legalistic. They were created as a way of interpreting scripture and the law of God for their given society. The Law isn’t bad, but it has its limitations. Our New Testament readings show us that Jesus has changed and continues to change the rules.

In this part of Luke’s gospel, Jesus sends the seventy ahead of him in pairs to the towns he intends to go himself. He is sending advance teams; they are laying the groundwork and doing reconnaissance work for Jesus and for the kingdom. They are sent with very specific instructions of what they are to do.

It’s kind of like when the circus comes to town. There is always a group that comes a day or two before the show to prepare for the arrival of the main caravan. They do the last minute advertising and pre-show publicity. They scout out laundromats, grocery stores, gas stations and other places that are important for a traveling show. They also staple arrows to telephone poles pointing directions for the caravan to follow to the venue. Jesus sends the seventy to do the advance work and give an indication of what a taste of the kingdom of God is like.

So Jesus sends them with instructions, new rules. The first is easy, so easy I missed it until I saw it in a commentary. Jesus’ first instruction is to pray. When reading chapter ten’s second verse, often it is read as a command to collect the harvest. Yes, the harvest is plentiful and yes, the laborers are few, but that is not the most important part of this command. Jesus commands “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

It is always tempting to take on the mantle of the “doer,” there is something very American about finding something that needs to be done and doing it. So when reading the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, we scream, “Pick me, Monty!”[3] and take up what needs to be done. But this is not what Jesus calls them to do. Jesus gives a new rule to follow before beginning new endeavors. Jesus says pray, Jesus says, “ask the Lord.”

The next thing Jesus does is send out the seventy. He does so with two pieces of advice, two new rules if you will. He tells them it’s dangerous out there and travel light. As Jesus sends the seventy, he says, “Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” As Cat Stevens once sang, “Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there/But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware.”[4] Perhaps this is why this piece of advice is coupled with carry no purse, no bag, and no sandals. If the seventy are in danger in the world, it is best they not worry about their stuff.

These instructions also have to do with being dependent upon the Lord for their provisions, and not their own packing skills or wiles. They are told to go and enter a home asking if anyone shares in peace, if so, this is where they are to stay. They are to rely on the Lord for their safety, their lodging, and their sustenance. They aren’t supposed to scope out the town and look for a better offer; they are to stay at the first place that welcomes them. This is the next piece of advice; rely on the peace of the Lord to show you where you are supposed to be.

The following piece comes in two separate places in the reading. Jesus changes the rules; some of the old ones don’t apply any more. In the verse that gives us the advice to travel light, Jesus also tells the seventy to greet no one on the road. Further, when they enter a new town and its people welcome them, they are to eat what is set before them. Neither of these new rules is kosher.

As for greeting people on the road, there is ceremony involved in greeting. When I lived in southeast Colorado it was traditional that when driving down the street everyone waved to everyone. I was told if you didn’t wave to a neighbor when you passed them on the road they wouldn’t talk to you again until after church on Sunday. Because your neighbor snubbed you, everyone at church would know you had snubbed your neighbor. It may seem petty, but it happens everywhere.

Comedian Jeff Foxworthy says that if you allow someone to pass you on the highway and they don’t give you the little “thank you” wave, you should be entitled to ride their tail, make them loose in the back end, and force them into the wall.[5] In a place where greeting someone on the road could end in a ritual taking several hours, Jesus tells his disciples to forego ritual and go.

Of course the command to eat what you are given is difficult for a Jew who keeps a kosher table. The command to cast aside familiar dietary requirements for bacon wrapped shrimp would be very difficult for the seventy to grasp. While Jesus ministry was focused on the Jews, he was traveling through gentile regions too. His recon teams would be traveling into these places first, so they had to be ready for what was ahead of them. So he gives this new rule my father would be proud of, clean your plate.

Jesus’ final piece of advice, his last new rule is to deliver the one message of the imminence of the kingdom of God. He tells the seventy to deliver this one message whether facing acceptance or adversity. He tells them when welcomed into a new community to say this, “the kingdom of God has come near.” Then he tells them what when they are not welcomed into town to say this, “the kingdom of God has come near.” Two completely different circumstances, only one response, “the kingdom of God has come near.”

For those who know the peace of God, this information will be reassuring. This is what we who know the Lord all long to hear and experience. The kingdom of God has come near. For those who reject the peace of God through the disciples, this is an ominous warning. Beware; the kingdom of God has come near.

Two situations, one message; Jesus tells the seventy to deliver the one message of the nearness of the kingdom, and let the chips fall where they may. The seventy are not to call down fire from heaven. James and John were told not to do this in last week’s gospel reading, and the seventy are told not to call down fire this week. The message all humanity needs to hear and learn and respond to is “the kingdom of God has come near.”

So Jesus has given the seventy new rules. Some of these are consistent with the 613 mitzvot, some are not. The Presbyterian Book of Order is not inconsistent with the new rules, though there doesn’t seem to be a specific mention of these rules either.

Earlier I said not only that Jesus changed the rules, but continues to change the rules. This is a dicier proposition. If Jesus is still changing the rules, then what do the new rules look like? I believe Paul’s letter to the Galatians helps us answer this question. Paul tells the church at Galatia to bear one another’s burdens, this way the law of Christ will be fulfilled. He tells the church people who think they are something they are not that they deceive themselves. He tells the church God will not be mocked and they well reap as they sow. This harkens back to the 613 mitzvah. We are reminded not to grow weary in doing what is right. Paul says our lives, our very beings are to be circumcised to Christ, not our bodies to the law. We are to boast in nothing except for the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Darryl Hill was the first African American to play football for the University of Maryland in the early 1960’s. He received a great deal of abuse from fans throughout the South, but he was especially shocked by the shouts and taunts of the crowd at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Wake Forest had deep Baptist ties and its teams were known as the Demon Deacons.

As the pre-game warm-up ended, Hill notices Wake Forest’s captain approaching him. “I want to apologize for the behavior of my fans,” he said to Hill. Then draping his arm over Hill’s shoulder, he began to walk toward the Wake Forest side of the field, where the jeering was at its worst. By the time the two of them reached the middle of the field, the rude screaming had dropped to near silence.[6]

In a place where slavery and all of its horrible degradations found sanctification in scripture, new rules ended this inhuman practice. In a time and place where abuse of another was justified because of skin color, one man in a football uniform made a step toward changing things by embracing who his fans would not. The old rules people lived by were and continue to be replaced by new rules pointing to new life in Jesus.

Oh, as a professional football player this Wake Forest man would be the first white man to be paired with a black roommate in the National Football League. While the “Kansas Comet” Gale Sayers made a bigger splash in the NFL, it was his roommate who walked Darryl Hill to the Wake side of the field. It is this man who Sayers wrote about him in his book “I Am Third.” This man’s name is Brian Piccolo. You might remember the NFL part of this story from the 70’s TV movie, “Brian’s Song.” Like Paul Harvey would say, “Now you know the rest of the story.”[7]

Remember that the Lord is the one who writes the story, and continues to write the story. And be alert, because sometimes, sometimes he changes the rules. And when rules change we need to be vigilant discerning whether the new rules come from God. When rules point to ways we present ourselves, Jesus reminds us this is nothing. How we present ourselves to him is everything. This is the new rule, the rule of love and obedience toward Jesus Christ our Lord through the cross. We need to be sure any new rule reflects the one truth we know for sure, the kingdom of God has come near.

[1] 613 Mitzvot, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_Mitzvot, accessed July 2, 2007.
[2] The Office of the General Assembly, the PC (U.S.A.), The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., Part III, Book of Order, 2005-2007, Preface. Louisville, KY: Office of the General Assembly, 2005, page 4.
[3] Monty Hall, a “Let’s Make A Deal” reference
[4] Stevens, Cat, “Wild World.” Off of “Tea for the Tillerman.” 1970.
[5] Foxworthy, Jeff, et. al. “Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again.” Paramount Pictures, 2004.
[6] Animating Illustration from Homiletics Online, http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=9300004, accessed June 10, 2007.
[7] Paul Harvey ends his human interest stories with the tag line, “…and now you know the rest of the story.”

Try to Remember and Follow

This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 1, 2007

2Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Luke 9:51-62

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

The travelogue is a classic form of literature and a Missouri man named William Least Heat Moon has written two. The first is a heralded compilation of stories collected as the author traveled for three months around the circumference of the U.S. avoiding big cities and taking the road less traveled. Based on the color of these roads in the old Rand McNally atlas this route was the source of the book’s title, “Blue Highways.”[1] This journey took him to among other places Nameless, Tennessee; Selma, Alabama; Dimebox, Texas; and Moscow, Idaho.

Least Heat Moon’s second travelogue, “River Horse” is an account of his four-month coast-to-coast trip across the U.S., using a variety of boats ranging from a cabin cruiser to a canoe with a trolling motor.[2] This travelogue retraces his attempt to recreate Lewis and Clark's expedition to find the Northwest Passage through the Hudson, Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, and Columbia rivers along with many smaller tributaries. He estimated that in the end he traveled across country with less than 100 miles out of water. While this route forces him past many major cities including New York, Pittsburgh, Saint Louis, and Portland; Least Heat Moon again spends most of his time in small towns the world seems to have left behind when rails and roads took most of the freight traffic.

This part of Luke’s gospel, from today’s reading through the first half of chapter nineteen are Luke’s travel narrative. In this part of the gospel, Luke describes Jesus’ travels through Palestine as he gradually works his way through the holy land toward Jerusalem and the triumphal entry, and ultimately his crucifixion.

On the face of this reading from Luke’s gospel, there seem to be two stories in this lesson. The first is the story of Jesus being rejected in a Samaritan village, with its little additional piece of James and John wanting to use power to show the might of the Lord. This part of the piece helps us answer the question of whether we should destroy or have compassion for people who reject the Lord. The second is Jesus on the road and the people he meets along the way. In this part of the piece, we are called to wonder what Jesus is looking for in disciples and what discipleship truly means.

We start with Jesus on the road. Even this early in Luke’s gospel Jesus knows where he is going and what is going to happen when he gets there. Whether despite this or because of this, Jesus has his face set toward Jerusalem. He is resolute; he is determined to go to Jerusalem. Of course this made the Samaritans none too happy. And since the Samaritans and Jews were related like the Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s were related, when it was clear that Jesus was destined for Jerusalem, the Samaritans would not receive him.

These peoples were on different roads, the Jews believed the Lord made Mount Zion home where the Samaritans believed Mount Gerizim was the house of the Lord. This difference is never clearer than the story of the Samaritan woman at the well from the fourth chapter of John’s gospel. But in this case, there was no woman at the well to hear the word of the Lord and the entire traveling party was left out in the cold. Here is a group of people, an entire nation of folks who were not ready to hear the word of the Lord because it was in such dire conflict with their society and its faith.

Boy, I can’t say things have changed much since antiquity? I’ve said it before and I’m about to say it again, everything that’s old is new again.

Jesus then meets three travelers along the road after leaving Samaria. The first wants to follow Jesus. I’ve said before that Jesus had two types of followers, those who wanted to follow Jesus and those who wanted to follow a great crowd. This man seems to fall into the latter group. “I will follow you wherever you go” he says. So Jesus tells the man “go” is the operative word. They have everywhere to go and nowhere to stay. Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man was just kicked out of a Samaritan village.

This time there is less than no room at the inn, now there isn’t even an inn.

The next man’s case is a little different, “Follow me” our Lord cries. But this man has plans; he needs to bury his father. But Jesus tells him in no uncertain terms this is not his job, his job is to go and proclaim the kingdom of God.

Finally, the last man who didn’t receive the second one’s invitation says he will follow, but wants to bid his family farewell first. Jesus tells him that looking back is no way to go forward into new life. Looking back makes him unfit for the kingdom of God.

You know, maybe Jesus got a lousy night’s sleep because he wasn’t welcome in the Samaritan village; but for whatever reason, he’s more than a little cranky this morning.

In this passage, Jesus is dealing with foreigners and with his own people. He is dealing with people in a strange town and he is dealing with his entourage. He is coping with being rejected by people who don’t want him and by people who do. He also seems to be ignoring people who don’t want him and rejecting people who do. There seems to be a lot of differences between the two halves of the passage, yet there is a very important connection. Jesus is teaching all of these people what it takes to be his disciple. We learn that we must accept the Lord into our community, follow the Lord for his sake, choose life, and move forward. Through this we receive God’s grace and peace and bear the fruit of God’s Spirit.

Unlike the people in Samaria, we need to welcome Jesus into our community, into our village, our homes and our lives. Life in Jesus is completely unlike life without him, it is wholly different. All change is frightening, but we are called to change and welcome the Lord to our lives. In the Lord we go from doing things our way to doing them his way. The way Jesus shows us to be.

Unlike the first man, we aren’t to follow Jesus because of what’s in it for us; we are to respond to God because God has all ready responded to us with the offer of free grace. Often we hear of people who join organizations like Rotary or the Optimist club to make business connections. Jesus reminds us we are to follow him to glorify him. We do not follow for our profit, but for the Glory of God.

Unlike the second man, we are called to choose life over death. The way Jesus puts this is shocking, especially in a society that has such rich and deep family traditions as the Jews. But where in last week’s lesson the Gerasene was told by the Lord to stay at home and share the Gospel, here the Jewish man is told by the Lord to go and spread the Gospel. In the end, both of these men are called to respond to the Lord, not to their own needs. Our joy is that in the Lord, grief and suffering are valued and shared by the Lord and through Him is new life, not old death. Through Christ, even our grief is redeemed.

Finally, the last man wants to follow, but first he wants to say good bye to his old way of life before embarking on the new. Jesus tells him about how spreading the Good News is like plowing a field. Straight lines cannot be plowed by someone looking back over their shoulder to see where they’ve been. Looking back shows the old mistakes that can’t be changed; looking forward is the only way to prepare the field for harvest properly.

But there is one more very important thing to note about the three men Jesus speaks with, scripture does not tell us Jesus left even one of them behind. Jesus doesn’t send anyone away. Jesus doesn’t reject anyone. Jesus doesn’t say “no,” instead he says “now there is a new way.” To each of these men Jesus describes what he would have them do now. Jesus gives them each a new command.

Oh, and further, Jesus shows James and John that there is a better way to deal with people who disagree, disregard, and disrespect the Lord than to call down fire upon them. The son of Man did not come to destroy people, but to save them.[3]

Maybe, just maybe they did not change their ways immediately, but they continued with Jesus until they were fit for the kingdom of God, the old “fake it ’til you make it.” Maybe, just maybe each of these men chose the new life Jesus offered instead of the life they were living. And maybe, just maybe, each of these men repented. And hopefully, quite hopefully, the lives of each of these men began to bear the fruit of the Spirit Paul shares in Galatians. Through the love of the Lord, the free gift of his grace and peace, and their life in the Spirit, life bears the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. And against these things there is no law.

The Eureka Theater Company recently finished its six show run of Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones’ (no, not that Tom Jones) long running Off-Broadway musical “The Fantasticks.” The opening number is called, “Try to Remember.”[4] The first two verses end with this line:

Try to remember and if you remember then follow.

This is our call. We are to remember the new life of peace and love and grace which is ours through Jesus Christ. He calls us to put him first, before all things. And through the fruit of the Holy Spirit, his grace opens us to new life. It allows us to live and to love and even to mourn in a new way; a way that shows the love of God in our lives, a way that puts God first; not our priorities, but the Lord’s.

The last line in the song offers advice for remembering and putting the Lord first even in the dark and cold times:

Deep in December our hearts should remember and follow.

In the days of the harvest of joy and glory we should remember and follow. And in the coldest and darkest days of our December we should remember and follow. Be in Christ, remember, and follow.

[1] Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways: A Journey Into America. Fawcett, 1982.
[2] Least Heat Moon, William, River Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
[3] Reference to verse 9:56a which is not found in the oldest of transcripts and was probably added as a commentary by later scribes. (Metzger)
[4] “Try to Remember” from “The Fantasticks.” Music by Harvey Schmidt, lyrics and book by Tom Jones, The Fantasticks Company, 1960.