Of the Faithful, For the Faithful

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday August 14, 2011, the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Podcast of "Of the Faithful, For the Faithful (MP3)

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Genesis 45:1-15

Psalm 133

Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

Matthew 15:21-28

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

Covenant, the tie that binds. Covenants are different from contracts. Both are legal agreements, both are between two parties; and that’s where the similarities end. In contracts both parties have obligations to one another. In contracts both parties have to bring something to the table. In contracts both parties can be penalized for failure to honor the agreement. Not so in a covenant. A contract is a legal agreement between two parties but a covenant is an agreement, a promise, one party makes to another.

Covenants are promises made by taking a solemn oath. A couple of weeks ago, our Old Testament reading was what’s known as “Jacob’s Ladder,” the dream containing God’s covenant with Jacob.[1] Jacob receives this promise, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”[2]

There is a formula to covenant.[3] It began with a solemn promise made binding by an oath. The promise in Jacob’s Ladder was made in verbally. Such an action or formula is recognized by both parties as a formal act which binds the one who makes the promise to fulfill it. In this instance the Lord uses words to make the promise. Jacob recognizes the promise setting a stone as a pillar and pouring oil over it. This is when he names that place Bethel, Hebrew for House of God.

Genesis 37 contains another covenant promise, this one made to Joseph. The promises made to Joseph are symbolic, not verbal. Where Jacob’s promises are declared in plain speech, the promises made to Joseph come in his dreams. Receiving the same promise twice, once represented by the wheat in the field and then again by the stars in the skies, God’s covenant that Joseph will have dominion over his brothers is established and confirmed.

Our Genesis reading from last week seems to erect a detour to this covenant. Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers and taken to Egypt. It would be logical to assume with your brother sold into slavery you would never have to bow down before him. As the old joke goes: Men plan, God laughs. Today, we read how Joseph’s dreams come true, how the Lord’s covenant is fulfilled.

In our Genesis reading today, we see not only how God’s covenant is fulfilled, but what it means for the promises made to Jacob. In verse five of our reading, we learn how even the brother’s betrayal cannot stop the Lord from keeping his covenant with Joseph. “Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” The covenant with Jacob was fulfilled through the covenant with Joseph.

What confidence we can have when we know and trust the Lord because of a personal covenant. Joseph could bear years of slavery knowing that it was all a part of God’s plan. He even tells his brothers “It was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” Yes, Joseph bore pain and indignity of slavery. He was falsely accused and imprisoned, but he knew his place. He knew and trusted God would keep covenant. Joseph lived in faith and trust. By these two covenants working in accord the nation of Israel would grow large and strong in the land of Goshen while the rest of the world languished in famine.

Our reading from Matthew ties its roots back to an even older covenant, a covenant made by God to Abram in Genesis 12, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[4] This is the root of the saying “salvation comes from the Jews.” The Lord promises Abram not only that he will be made a great nation, but that he and his nation will be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

This blessing is highlighted in Matthew 10 when Jesus sends his disciples out to the world saying, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”[5] The blessing of the Lord and from the Lord is sent first to the Jews.

This is why Jesus tells the Canaanite woman “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

I think I’ve done a pretty good job of explaining where Jesus was coming from so far. I like to think I’m pretty good at explaining things. One of my favorite pastors was an explainer and listening to his sermons for over five years influenced my preaching style tremendously. One of the things he taught me was if you don’t understand it, don’t try to explain it.

Let me share this with you: I have no idea how to “explain” how and why Jesus responds to Canaanite woman like he did. It rubs me the wrong way to see Jesus so callus, so cavalier to someone who is desperately in need, a need that extends beyond her daughter’s demon possession. She is not a member of the twelve tribes; she is a gentile, a foreigner. There doesn’t seem to be a husband or son to care of the family business. In this society, being what would appear to be a single mother, is another big strike against her and her daughter.

She doesn’t appear to have any money or other goods to trade. Evidently the healing arts of the time were unable to help, assuming the healers of the time would have anything to do with her or her tormented daughter in the first place. She is at her wits end and this is when she sees Jesus on the road.

How did she know he was Jesus of Nazareth? Scripture doesn’t say. Surely she didn’t see his picture in the paper or on the news. He wasn’t wearing a name tag, but she knew him when she saw him. She also knew about him. She called him the Lord and the Son of David, both titles belonging to the Jewish Messiah. She knew he was a healer. She knew he was compassionate. She saw him, she came to him, and she cried her plea, “Have mercy.”

His first response is simply ignoring her. Whether he just kept walking or took a seat and turned his back scripture doesn’t say. Neither would have been comforting. After her second cry, Jesus explains why he denies her with the authoritative answer “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” This answer doesn’t help a lick even though it’s the covenant answer, the “correct” answer. Frankly this answer has all the pastoral sensitivity of nails on a chalkboard. She cries out again and finally after rejecting her twice, he insults her and her entire race. This is my opinion, and I believe many would agree with me; this seems harsh.

Nevertheless it’s his answer and even though it’s the right answer it doesn’t help. Jesus knew his mission and this may sound like a restrictive way to describe God Incarnate, but Jesus knew his place and his place began with the children if Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus tells her that the blessing she seeks is not for her, but she points out that the dogs get to lick the floor and pick up the spills. The dogs get to share in the blessings of the master even if they were not intended to receive them.

I can’t explain his words, but this I do know, the blessing of the Lord is overflowing, and even if this woman and her daughter aren’t intended to receive this blessing, they still receive the remains. You see, this Canaanite woman knew her place in Jewish society, a place that didn’t exist. She didn’t count on her status or her power to be entitled to a blessing, but she had faith, faith that God’s overflowing love would be enough for her family.

Last week we heard Peter test Jesus. We heard Peter say “Lord, if it is you tell me to come to you on the water.”[6] Peter wasn’t up to trusting, so he tested. The Canaanite woman does no such thing. She doesn’t say “If you are the Lord” or “If you are the Son of David.” She knows, she believes, and she trusts.

Her faith is greater than Peter’s. That’s right, at this moment the faith of an impoverished Gentile single mother is greater than the faith of the Rock upon which the Church will be built. She is faithful. Jesus declares her faith is great. She cries out.

So what is her faith? Her faith is that Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord, the Son of David is enough. Christ the Messiah is enough for her, her life, and her needs. She’s not entitled to his blessing, yet she has faith. Her faith has nothing to do with deserving his blessing, but that he will bless her even though she doesn’t deserve it. Romans 5:8 says it this way, “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”

This is her faith. She hoped, prayed, and she had faith that while she didn’t deserve what she cried for; it might still be granted. She knew that even though he owed her nothing she had faith that there might be a leftover crumb and that crumb would be enough.

Jesus knows his path, Jesus knows his vocation is first to the nation of Israel, but he also knows that when the cup of his bounty overflows, others will be blessed from the font of many blessings. Jesus is faithful to Israel, and by her faith he is faithful to the Canaanite woman healing her daughter. Saved by grace through faith, this is the foundation of our faith.

God has a plan for salvation. We see its beginnings in Genesis. We see it in the covenant with Abram. We see it in the covenant with Jacob. We see it in the covenant with Joseph. Today we read how Joseph’s covenant plays out and provides for the covenant with Jacob.

God has a plan for salvation which begins with the Jews, and through the Jews all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

If there is something important for us to take from this story, it begins with the fact that God’s love is gracious. It is undeserved. And it is overflowing. Flowing like a great flood, the grace of God in Christ will not be contained. God promised by the faithfulness of Israel the world will be blessed, and the gospel gives the world its first indication of that all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

It is also important for us to know that this new blessing will not come without controversy. This narrative must have been scandalous when it was first shared with the nation that this Canaanite woman is blessed by the Lord. The truth is that when blessings overflow to the feet of outsiders, insiders will not be comfortable. It is up to us to know that what God is doing is not meant to make us comfortable, it is meant to save us.

In Genesis, the Lord established what he will do. In Matthew, the Lord established he will do that and more. God will not be limited, not by culture or even by death. God doesn’t change, but the world does; and God saves the world and all that is in it.

I can’t explain why Jesus said what he said, and especially not how he said it. But I believe to a certain degree I can explain why Jesus did what he did. Jesus is faithful and responds to the faithful. What Matthew shows us is the first time this gracious response touched the gentiles.

---

[1] Genesis 28:10-22

[2] Genesis 28: 13b-15

[3] “Covenant,” Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible.

[4] Genesis 12:1b-3

[5] Matthew 10:5b-6

[6] Matthew 14:28

Boat on the Sea

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday August 7, 2011, the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Podcast of "Boat on the Sea" (MP3)

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b

Romans 10:5-15

Matthew 14:22-33

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

This week has been so hot that I’ve been reminiscing about Christmas, particularly the Chrismons, the symbols that hang on our tree. There are loads of them and each of these symbols has a meaning for the faith. There are doves and fish and letters and crosses and triangles just for a start. There are in all a couple dozen designs that go on the tree.

The triangles represent the trinity. The crosses represent the crucifixion. These are pretty obvious. The letters that look like a capital X and a capital P are the Greek letters Chi and Rho, the first two letters in the word “Christ.” The fish generally has the Greek letters ICQYS inside which spell the Greek word for fish. Looking at the letters like initials they stand for the sentence “Jesus Christ God’s Son Saves” in Greek. The doves can represent God’s peace or the Holy Spirit, or the dove at the end of the story of Noah and the Ark.

There are a whole bunch of chrismons and they all mean something different. There is a traditional Chrismon that we don’t have on our tree though, the sailboat. The sailboat represents the church.

After the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus made the disciples, the twelve apostles along with other believers, go to the other side of the sea, shipping them off in a boat while he saw off the rest of the masses.

This is the first time in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus sends the disciples off on their own. For the disciples, they must have felt like kids being sent off to camp for the first time-apprehensive but excited. For Jesus, it must have felt like being the parent-apprehensive, excited, and maybe probably glad to have a moment alone. No wonder Jesus went off to pray.

So later in the evening, early in the morning really, the boat was being buffeted by the waves. Headway was difficult and the sea was dangerous. Jesus didn’t promise them an easy trip, he just told them to get going.

The sea holds special meaning for Matthew’s readers, the Jewish disciples. To them, the sea was a place of danger and uncertainty. Several of them knew the dangers of the sea first hand; but all of them knew from the creation story that the waters were the place of chaos. The waters were a place of danger and death. Swiss theologian Karl Barth pegged ancient Jewish feelings about the waters saying, “It is a representative of all the evil powers which oppress and resist the salvation intended for the people of Israel.”[1] They were in the midst of their worst known and unknown fears in that pre-dawn darkness.

Without Jesus their lives were in the chaos, and they feared dying without him. Still, they weren’t terrified… yet.

In their rain soaked wind battered vessel, suddenly they see someone, something, walking toward them on the water, and then they were terrified. Scripture says they asked “Is it a ghost?” Now I just can’t imagine a bunch of terrified men having a chat, discussing whoever or whatever it is that has power to walk across the churning sea, and asking questions like “Is it a ghost?” like they’re a debating society.

Instead, I imagine a bunch of scared men, some experienced deckhands but most of them landlubbers deluxe, losing their battle against the world of chaos that seeks nothing less than their lives, seeing something that looks like Jesus but can’t possibly be human. As scary as the storm is for them, the vision is what terrifies them. They know the sea as a place of death, so it can’t really be Jesus walking on the water; it must be some kind of phantom. Scripture says “they cried out in fear.” As for me, I would be screaming like a little girl.

Jesus responds, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

That’s the way it reads in English, but it’s not what the people heard him say. What they heard was Jesus taking the Greek version of the name of God for himself. They heard him boom over the roar of the storm “I AM,” not “It is I.” That just might have been even scarier than seeing a ghost.

Jesus tells the disciples not to be afraid. Fat chance, eh? Jesus tells them He is who he is, as the Lord God told Moses I AM WHO I AM. So Peter, the Rock (and with a nickname like that, we should have seen what’s coming next), he says, “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus says, “Come” and Peter does.

It’s all good for a couple of steps; but when pummeled by the wind and the rain and the waves; the chaos of water and life overwhelm Peter and he begins to sink. He cries out, “Lord, save me!”  Jesus immediately reaches out to Peter saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

The traditional reading of these last words of Jesus on the water is that with a little more faith, Peter would have made it to Jesus. Imagine my surprise to find one of my commentaries says this isn’t what this passage is about.[2] The commentary says this passage is about the Lord and the church. The church is represented by the sailboat, just like with the Chrismon. So like I said earlier, the sea is the chaos of all creation and now the boat is the church. This makes us the boat on the sea.

Getting back to the narrative: As usual, Peter has his own ideas. He sees the Lord on the sea and says, “If it is you, then command me to come to you,” and the Lord replies “Come.” People see Peter’s subsequent sinking as a sign that his faith isn’t strong enough. With just a little more faith, Peter could have made it to Jesus and they could have walked together in victory to the boat. Well, that’s not what I think anymore.

First of all, the command to come is not Jesus testing Peter’s faith. This is Peter testing Jesus. Let me say that again, this is Peter testing Jesus. Let me rephrase what Peter said to Jesus: “You have just said you are not a ghost. You have just identified yourself by the name of the Lord God. So if it is you, command me to come to you.”

Jesus won’t tell a lie. He’s not a ghost, he is the Lord, it is he, and he is who he is. Jesus answers Peter’s question, “Is it you?” the way Peter asked it be answered, “Command me to come!”

You gotta give it to Jesus; he answers our prayers even when it makes us look foolish.

So Peter leaves the relative safety of the boat and tries to get to Jesus on his own. And when he does, the treacherous world drops on his head and he begins to sink. Begging for salvation, he is plucked out of chaos by Jesus, the gracious Lord who takes Peter by the hand and returns him to the boat.

In the broader symbolic sense, Peter not only leaves the boat, he leaves the church and tries to get to Jesus on his own. He tries and he sinks, and so it is with any of us. When we try to get to God on our own, inevitably chaos overwhelms us. When we leave the church to find God on our own, the church which is the body of Christ, we ultimately fail miserably and find ourselves sinking in the morass.

Peter’s little faith is not that he couldn’t get to Jesus. His little faith was that he thought leaving the boat, the church, was the way to get to Jesus. His little faith was that he thought he could walk across the sea, across the chaos of creation, to get to Jesus. His little faith was that he thought it better to walk through the chaos himself without his comrades in the faith than wait for Jesus to make it to the boat.

Peter’s little faith was depending on himself and not on the coming of Jesus, the grace of God. Is there a more dramatic example of grace than Jesus coming to the boat? Than Jesus coming to the Church? While we were sinners, while we were still fearful, while we still thought nature had domain over our lives; Jesus comes into our lives. Jesus comes and picks us up out of chaos. Jesus comes and saves us. Jesus comes to the church and stills the storms of our lives.

Peter’s little faith was not in the loss of sincere belief or brave action; he had lost faith that Jesus would come to the church thinking it was up to him to go on his own. He placed too much faith in himself and not enough in Christ the Lord.

I know that this is not the usual way of interpreting this scripture. The traditional way of looking at this passage has us seeing Peter and his faith. The way this scripture is traditionally interpreted, it’s all about Peter. Now that I have looked at it differently, I don’t want to go back to thinking about Peter. Scripture is not about us, about humanity, it’s about God. This rendering, brings us closer to that. This rendering has this passage about the church and Christ, not about personal shortcomings, and that’s important.

The Word of God is about God. It’s about God’s work. It’s about God’s sovereignty. It’s about who God is, it’s not about us.

God’s sovereignty is found in Genesis when the wind, the breath, the Spirit of God, sweeps over the waters and in a word God said “Let there be light, and there was light. We find evidence of his sovereignty when God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters,” separating the waters of chaos from the waters of life.

Our reading brings Jesus demonstrating his sovereignty over the waters of chaos walking across them and stilling them. The response of the people showed what should always be the response of God’s people, bowing down, worshiping, and saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

We find the sovereignty of Jesus affirmed in the words of Paul in Romans when he writes “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.  For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Paul would have told us to be like Jesus, the one who ate with prostitutes, tax collectors, scribes, Pharisees, and other sinners.  He would have reminded us God is our refuge and our strength.  He would have told us the world will know we are Christians by our love.  Paul would have told us all not just to get on the boat as Jesus commanded, but stay in the boat.  He’s coming.

Jesus not only saves us individually, as he did with Peter, but more importantly as the church when he came aboard and the winds and seas stilled. This was the fruit of Peter’s little faith.

Jesus sends the church onto the chaotic sea of creation. As then, we are called to do the work the Lord has sent us to do. We are to faithfully live our vocation as the people of Christ. This has been the call of the church since the days of Moses, since the days of Jesus, and this is the call we are still called to fulfill today.

Hear now this word for the body of Christ: “Stay in the boat, Jesus is coming.” He is in the Word and in the world. He is sovereign and he is in charge. He may not be coming quickly enough to suit us. The ride is going to be bumpy, but that’s the way it is on the sea. Still Jesus tells us to take heart, be courageous, do not be afraid. The promise remains; in the Lord Jesus we receive eternal life.

What better example of God’s grace is there than Jesus coming to the disciples, coming to the church, during the storm that would take their lives if he let it. Let’s all be here when he comes aboard.  For when he comes, as happened two thousand years ago, those in the boat will worship him saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

The boat is on the sea and the sea is dangerous. Stay in the boat; Jesus is coming.  Share in the grace. He shows us his grace and his power as he walks on the water to the vessel.  We don’t have to leave what he has ordained; the church which is his body. Let’s all, all of us stay on the boat. Let us stay in the boat especially while it’s out on the dangerous sea. Jesus is coming, the Word is coming.

---

[1] Barth, Karl, “Church Dogmatics.” Vol III/I. Edinburough: T&T Clark, 1958, 147.

[2] New Interpreter’s Bible. Volume VIII. Leander Keck, General Editor. Abingdon: Nashville, 1995 pages 322-326.  Interpretation. Matthew.  James Mays, Series Editor.  John Knox Press: Louisville, 1993, pages 167-171.