Our Strength, God's Joy

Unless something dramatic happens, this is my last sermon at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas.It has been my honor and privilege to serve by God's grace this part of the Body of Christ. This sermon was heard on Sunday January 27, 2013.



Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Psalm 19

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Luke 4:14-21

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 Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah are wonderful historical pieces that just don’t get the attention that the prophetic books get in our weekly scripture readings. When the Church uses a series of readings that runs three years, we get only 150-some opportunities to read from the entire canon of the Old Testament. With such a large and glorious amount of material something’s going to get the short shrift, in this case it’s Ezra and Nehemiah.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are our main source of information about Israel’s return from the Babylonian exile. It’s the narrative of the transition between the first and second temples.[1] It’s a story about the return of the people and the restoration of what makes them who they are.

It’s the story of fealty to their faith and their forefathers. When rebuilding the altar and the Temple they were erected precisely on their former sites. After the completion of the altar, they celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles anticipating the joyful dedication of the Temple. Then came the equally joyful observation of Passover a few months later. Of course no building plan goes as scheduled; delays in the completion of the Temple were blamed on the actions of the people of the land who persistently opposed the work in Jerusalem.

The book of Nehemiah includes of a first-person narrative, traditionally called the Nehemiah Memoir, recounting his role in constructing the walls of Jerusalem, along with the social problems caused by an expanding population. There was crime, sabotage, and other issues to be handled.

So today we assemble with the nation of Israel. Ezra has been told to bring the book of the Law of Moses which the Lord has given to Israel. He read it at the Water Gate from early morning until midday to both the men and the women and everyone was attentive to the reading. Then Ezra stood, and all the people stood and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God and all the people said, “Amen, Amen.” They lifted their hands and bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Why did they worship with their faces to the ground? Scripture lets us wonder. Scripture doesn’t tell us why. It does say that the people weren’t bored to death. In fact scripture tells us they “listened attentively to the Book of the Law.” So why?

The book of Kings tells us about another reading of the Law of Moses that had an impact on the listener. The books of Judges and Kings and Chronicles show us the effects of cycles of leaders who were faithful and unfaithful to the Law. In 2Kings 22 we receive the glorious story of Good King Josiah. This story tells us of a time just before the Babylonian Exile when King Josiah began restoring the temple.

During the restoration, Hilkiah the high priest found the Book of the Law. It was taken to Josiah who heard the words of the Law, probably for the first time ever in its entirety  When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law he tore his robes. Hear the words of 2Kings:

 “Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”

One possible explanation about why the people in Nehemiah’s time bowed their heads mourning and weeping is that they felt the same conviction Josiah felt that day. Bookending the exile was the reading of the Law. While it is definitely true on the front end it could well have been true on the back end, those who heard the Law were convicted by it. Without a savior, those words of conviction are damning. This is as true now as it was then. Without redemption there is no living under the law without harsh conviction.

So what I’m saying is that while we won’t know for sure, it would be within Israel’s experience to hear the Law then weep, mourn, and even rent their clothes because they know that those who came before them have not lived up to the Law’s requirements. If it’s good enough for Josiah, it’s good for the Hebrew children.

But then something happened, Nehemiah, Ezra, and all of the Levites said to them, “This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” Nehemiah further implored them to “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Today is a day of celebration because it is the day of the Lord. This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. It is not for anything Israel has done or left undone, it is because the day is holy to the Lord. Their leaders implored them, “This day is sacred, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.”

There is only one way they could even hope to rejoice instead of mourn, and that is in the presence of the glory of the Lord, for the joy of the Lord is their strength.

Friends, I now implore you, “This day is sacred, this day is holy to the Lord our God. Do not mourn or weep” for the joy of the Lord is our strength. Our strength is not lodged in where we live or how powerful we are. Our strength is not in our nation or our state. Our strength is not in our jobs or careers. Our strength is not in all of the things our society holds so dear. The only source of our strength is the God’s joy.

For all those folks who want to wield the sword of God, vengeance belongs to the Lord. God’s vengeance is not our strength. “God hates…” whatever isn’t any source of strength. The Lord’s joy is our strength.

This is a day of sadness for this congregation, this part of the body of Christ. Unless the Spirit moves in a mysterious way, this will be the last time we will worship together. This will be the last time I share the Word of the Lord with you in this space. Upon the recommendation of the Session, the congregation has spoken. Today the Session along with representatives of the Presbytery will decently and orderly put all of our ducks in a row.

I can’t and won’t scold anybody who gets misty today. There was some wailing in December. I would be wrong to scold anyone who cried that day or who cries today. If I did, I would be the first to face the scolding as my water works flowed as much as anybody’s.

And with that, I remind you, “This day is sacred, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” We shouldn’t mourn or weep because the joy of the Lord is our strength.

During one of my sermons I once heard someone cry out “That’s easy for you to say!” Well, it wasn’t so easy that day and it isn’t so easy today either. So often words of solace are heard for what they are, just words. There is little compassion, it’s replaced by empty words.

Some might think that when after our Confession of Sin I say “Friends, believe the Good News of the Gospel! In Jesus Christ you are forgiven!” these are just so many sounds conveying nothing. Nothing could be further from the truth. We come together and we confess that we have fallen short of our Christian vocation. We confess we have sinned against God first and against one another second. These are only empty words if we make them that way.

I proclaim our Assurance of Pardon joyfully because I truly believe the Good News of the Gospel that in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. But here’s something greater than anything I could imagine: Whether I believe or not, whether we believe or not, it’s still true, in Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

This is our Assurance of Pardon, not just that in an ancient translation of the book of Isaiah Jesus read the prophecy:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Our assurance lies in the truth that Jesus read this, sat down, and told all with ears to hear “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” It wasn’t a popular statement at the time, but popularity has never been a good barometer of truth. Our strength comes from the Lord's joy and our joy begins when we say Jesus is Lord. The Lord has anointed him to bring good news to the poor, to free the prisoners, to restore sight to the blind, and to free the oppressed.

The only way I can share with you these words from Ezra and Nehemiah, “This day is sacred, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” is by saying Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in our hearing by the words of Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus who is the Christ. In Christ and in Christ alone are we free. In Christ and in Christ alone do we receive life eternal which is the year of the Lord’s favor.

On October 3, 2010 I stood before you for the first time. My sermon was called “Oh, the Places We’ll Go.” It was based on Luke 17, the story of the mustard seed. This is how I ended that sermon:

“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 [sic] 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 [the Lord’s Supper] 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.

It has been our distinct privilege to come together with all of you and share the mission of this part of the body of Christ. We have been nourished remembering the waters of our baptism with the infants, children, and adults who got wetter than they expected in a Presbyterian Church. We have been nourished in the holy food that satisfies the soul by the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper. In that time ministry has taken shape, changed shape, and moves into one more shape before we all leave together.

Today, one more time we will leave together behind Brionna taking the light of the Lord into the world. Let us all take the light of God with us into the world. We can do this because in Christ, by Christ, and through Christ the Gospel of the Lord is fulfilled in our hearing.

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[1] “Ezra and Nehemiah (Books and Men),” Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Supplemental Volume, this reference from the electronic version. 

The Scandal of the Gospel

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday January 20, 2013, the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Isaiah 62:1-5

Psalm 36:5-10

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

John 2:1-11

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

Beginning on Christmas Eve we celebrated the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. As I said that evening, Christmas just isn’t Christmas unless somebody reads Luke’s Christmas Story. It’s just not Christmas without the annunciation of the angelic host to the shepherd boys singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

The Epiphany story of the Magi coming from Mark’s gospel is also one of the great narratives of scripture. The Wise Men came guided by the star in the east. They came to worship the Lord. They didn’t quite know where they were going so they violated “guy code” and stopped to ask for directions. Then again King Herod didn’t know either, so he consulted his people and got them the directions.

There is something startling about these stories. I mentioned this about the shepherds, but I missed this point about the Magi—neither of these parties was particularly welcome in the world of the babe who is Jesus of Nazareth.

The shepherd boys were all but expendable. They were supposed to stand in the gateway of the sheep pens to fend off predators. If the wolf or the lion got to the boy it was a shame, it they got to the sheep it was worse. They were dirty little boys. They were the bottom of the society’s structure. They were the least in the community.

At least the shepherd boys were a part of the community, the Magi didn’t have that. They were gentiles. You know, the folks Paul called “the pagans who were led astray to mute idols.” This sentence, this fact, this truth didn’t even cross my mind until a pastor friend from St. Mark’s United Methodist here in Marshall shared those very words with me. The Magi were gentiles. So as far as social standing goes, as low as the boys were in the social structure, at least they were in the social structure. These Magi, these wise men, these unclean foreigners who came to worship the King of the Jews were not just outsiders; they were the representatives of the ultimate outsiders.

Whether by the angelic host or the star in the skies, it is the outsiders who receive the revelation that God is doing something new. It is the least amongst the people of the world, the children and the gentiles, who respond when the call is made. It is the outsiders who come to worship Jesus. It is those who receive the call, respond to the call and worship him that Jesus welcomes.

The events of our gospel reading happen on the third day, or as we would call it, about thirty years after Epiphany. Everybody is heading to a wedding in Cana. Jesus was invited and so were his disciples. Jesus’ mother was there too.

Weddings, the industry behind weddings is huge. I don’t know about you, but my in my family we planned our own weddings, all eleven of them. Marie did most (alright, all) of the planning for our wedding. There hasn’t been a wedding here in the past two years that has used a wedding planner either. They have all been wonderful and glorious too. They’ve been about God and the couple and the covenant of marriage, not the spectacle of the wedding.

Then we end up seeing the festivals and fiascoes of weddings on television. I like to watch those shows from time to time just to say “there but for the grace of God…” They focus on the circus that is the event, not on the true focus of the marriage celebration. Then again, there are real crime shows for some of these marriages. The sixty-five year marriage is only celebrated on TV by Willard Scott and Smucker’s Jams on The Today Show.

Weddings in these ancient of days were spectacular events! They were glorious celebrations with a holy ceremony as the focus. And as with many weddings in our time, the party that followed was generally more memorable than the ceremony itself. In that way, they aren’t so different from our weddings. There was one thing that was different, in Jesus’ day; if you ran out of food and wine at your wedding is was a sign that you did not know how to take care of your family, your friends, and your community.

In our time, it would be like getting drunk at the company picnic and making a pass at the boss’ wife, daughter, son or worse-a combination. It’s a sign that you don’t know how to take care of your business. You wouldn’t be able to be trusted at work anymore. Any hope of promotion is completely out the window. You’re the shame of the company and a laughingstock in the community.

The only real difference is back in the day you didn’t have enough where today it’s about having too much. The effects are the same though, you’re shunned by the people you need and care about the most.

Everybody knew this back in the day, so when Jesus’ mother discovered the wedding party was out of wine she knew there was trouble in River City. She called her son and told him what was happening and Jesus didn’t need etiquette classes to know what this meant. Still, it wasn’t his moment to shine and with all due respect told her so. Yet Mary was confident Jesus would do something so she told the servants to follow his lead.

This is when the miracle story springs to life. Jesus has the servants bring the jugs used to hold water for the family’s ritual cleansing. He told them to fill them with water so they filled them to the brim. He told them to take some to the banquet master and again they did as they were told. And when the banquet master tasted the wine, his reaction was a rave. Wine Spectator magazine would have given it a 101. It was so good the banquet master either complemented or complained that the host held out on the good wine serving it when nobody could appreciate it.

Now let’s look at the facts. The banquet master didn’t know where the wine came from. Scripture tells us that. If the banquet master didn’t know the groom sure didn’t know, he hired the banquet master to take care of that. The guests sure didn’t know; they were just glad to sample the best, the finest wine. So who knew? The house slaves knew.

It was the house slaves who drew water. It was the house slaves who drew wine. It was the house slaves who knew that everything that happened in between had nothing to do with them. They were the only ones who knew the source of the miracle. The fullest revelation of the miracle was made not to the groom, not to the banquet master, not even to Mary. The fullest revelation of the miracle of changing water to wine was made to the weak and powerless house servants.

On Christmas Eve during the children’s time I said,

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.

On Epiphany I could have said something similar. Instead of saying “the angels went and told the shepherd boys” I would have said, “only the Wise Men responded to the sign in the skies.” Other than that it’s the same point. Today I make that point again.

During the wedding in Cana Jesus himself made it clear to the servants that he was doing something new in the world. He didn’t tell the President, or Caesar. He didn’t tell the leaders of the temple or the Session of the church. He didn’t tell the groom or the banquet master or even his mother. He didn’t go to anyone who most people would think is important.

With what is tantamount to a wink and a nod he tells the slaves, the lowest, that something new is happening. It’s the lowest of the household who know God is doing something new.

There’s one more thing that’s important about these three bible stories; there is in each of these stories someone with greater church status in the neighborhood when these events happen. The people who were supposed to be getting the message either didn’t get the message or the message they got was lost in the mail.

We don’t know if the angels made their call to others before the shepherd boys answered. Scripture doesn’t say who didn’t answer the call, it only says who did. As for Epiphany and the Wise Men, guided by the most unusual star in the heavens, only these magi decided to follow. Thousands of thousands of other folks would have seen it and said, “Golly, that’s different” but only one group of folks decided to see what it was all about.

Even Herod’s advisors who knew the scripture thought nothing of it. They knew what it was all about, they even told Herod, but they didn’t respond to the Word of the prophets they had just read.

Today, Jesus isn’t volunteering any information, but nobody asks either. The groom doesn’t ask the banquet master where he got the wine and he doesn’t ask the slaves. Did Jesus have to close their inquisitive minds miraculously or did he just figure their minds would close on their own? Who ever looks a gift horse in the mouth? Well, if these guys had then they would have seen something new and different and the one who makes it new and different. Then again, it wasn’t his time yet, so for Jesus this was just as well.

I titled this gospel interpretation “The Scandal of the Gospel.” There are several scandals happening that we need to be aware. The first is that Jesus makes his appearances to the poor and oppressed. We have three examples of this truth in scripture since Christmas Eve. Jesus appeared to the weak and poor and the humiliated. Slaves and boys and gentiles meet the Lord. Jesus shows himself to the people who need the Lord the most.

This first truth lines us up for the second even harder truth, often people who are supposed to see Jesus first don’t. It may be for any number of a million reasons, but here is the best: The people who are doing just fine have often quit looking for Jesus. It’s human nature that when things are going good we quit looking. People begin to think they can do it on their own.

Some people quit looking for God because they’re doing fine on their own. Isaiah knows and understands this. He also warns us in 30:1,

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,

who rely on horses,

who trust in the multitude of their chariots

and in the great strength of their horsemen,

but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,

or seek help from the Lord.

Woe to those who rely on themselves and their stuff. Instead we are called to respond to the Lord our God, and when we do we will see the first verse from our Old Testament reading:

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,

for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,

till her vindication shines out like the dawn,

her salvation like a blazing torch.

Only when we rely on God for our vindication, only when for the world’s sake we cry out to the Lord, only when we do these things will our salvation burn like the dawn, like a blazing torch.

Still, there is one more scandal we need to remember; a scandal so ripe that it was the greatest controversy of the ancient church. Jesus came, fully human and fully divine-these qualities distinct yet inseparable from one another-he came to show us the way. It is up to us to know just how poor we are. Only then might we stop relying on ourselves and rely on the Lord our God. It’s not our boot straps; it’s the thong of the sandal we are not worthy to untie. Now that’s a scandal.