The Second Sunday in Lent
Listen to the Sermon for March 4, 2012
Read the Sermon for March 4, 2012
Category: Sermons
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What moves you?
Mark uses miracle stories in his gospel to illustrate a point the way Matthew and Luke use parables for that purpose in theirs. Jesus’ cleansing of a leper as recorded in Mark 1:40-45 is an example.
A man who was afflicted with leprosy confronted Jesus. The leper broke the code of ceremonial cleanliness just by speaking to Jesus. It was a very bold thing to do. Here is one who is considered unclean and wretched by his people because he has contracted a hideous disease. Leprosy represented sin to the people of Jesus’ day and, like sin, it was considered contagious, more to be cleansed than healed.
A leper was banished from the community and had to dwell alone or with other lepers outside the community. This man had to go about with torn clothes, bared head, and a covering upon his upper lip. As he went, he was required to give warning of his polluted presence with the cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” The leper had not only to bear the physical pain of his disease, he had to bear the mental anguish and heartbreak of being completely banished from human society and totally shunned. So, it is incredible that he would approach Jesus at all, let alone dare to speak to him.
Even more remarkable than that is the fact that Jesus responded to him as he did. He could have run away. He could have had the leper killed. He could have reacted with horror. But he didn’t. Instead, we are told in the story that his response was one of compassion and understanding. Jesus was “moved with pity.” He broke the code and defiled himself when he reached out and touched the leper. In so doing, his power over evil was demonstrated by a miraculous cure. He broke the law and, at the same time, he fulfilled it.
Then he sent the man to the priest and in so doing placed before the religious establishment a difficult problem. Only the priest could certify the cure. To reject it would be to break the code. To accept it would be to acknowledge Jesus’ power and authority. To make matters even worse, this cleansed leper couldn’t keep all of this to himself, even though Jesus had asked him to. Is it any surprise?
In this miracle story, we see that it was Jesus’ nature to be moved by the sight of human need. But sympathy isn’t worth a dime unless it leads to action. Jesus was first moved to pity, then to action. He continues to be moved to compassion and he still reaches out and touches those in need of help. People who have experienced this compassionate power find themselves moved. They become enthusiastic about life and they glorify God in whatever they do.
I recently streamed the movie Bad News Bears. It had been years since the last time I watched it. There is a character in the movie named Lupus. Lupus is a little boy who had a runny nose all the time and was smaller than the others. He had learned to stay in the background because that’s where everyone else told him he belonged. One day, some boys on another team put ketchup in his hat and slapped it back on his head. One of his teammates took both of them on in defense of Lupus. He lost the fight, but afterwards, Lupus said to him, “You’re the first person who ever took up for me.” A short time later, the coach sent Lupus in to play during the championship game and he actually caught a fly ball. Nothing could ever stop Lupus again because someone finally believed in him. That gave him the courage to get out of the background and take his God-given place as a full-fledged member of the team.
Like the story of the cleansing of the leper, the story of Lupus is a miracle story. It tells us what can happen on an infinitely greater plane when Jesus Christ touches a human life. His touch tells us that he believes in us and when we know that touch, we’ll never be the same. We’ll have a new perspective on life, a new confidence in ourselves, and a new ability to reach out to others, especially those who have been pushed into the background, marginalized, and condemned.
Today is a good day to keep my eyes open to watch for a miracle. Today is a good day to experience a miracle for myself. Today is a good day to help a miracle happen for someone else. God, let me live today in miraculous expectation!
P.S. That leper could have written this hymn! Maybe the fact that the tune is not as familiar to American ears will help you listen to the words a little more carefully.
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Entrepreneuerial Christianity
My wife, Gay, has become a quilter. Shortly after arriving in Kentucky, she became involved with a group of women in a ministry of the Church called “Cross Quilts.” They gather weekly in the home of a member and make quilts to give to veterans, homeless persons, and children who are Baptized at the Church of the Good Shepherd. Working together adds something to their mission.
She told me about an experience she had recently while shopping for fabric for one of her quilts. As she was walking through the fabric store, a young woman stopped her and asked for help in selecting some ribbon for a project she was working on. Gay was intrigued that this complete stranger would ask for her opinion and curious to see where this encounter might lead. The young woman explained the project to Gay and they discussed the ways in which the ribbon would be used with different fabrics. At some point, she made her decision, thanked Gay, and took the ribbon to the cashier.
What fascinated me about this story is the openness to collaboration between these two women, who had never met before and will probably never meet again. I’ve seen a lot of that since coming to Kentucky, such as the man I wrote about last week who helped me with my shopping cart. I’ve seen a spirit of collaboration in the churches, in the communities, in circles of friends, and among complete strangers.
I don’t know if it is primarily a cultural phenomenon or if it’s in the water or the air we breathe here in the Bluegrass, but people here seem to value each other’s opinions and appreciate opportunities to work together toward some purpose. Perhaps that is why economists point out “entrepreneurial support” as an attractive economic feature of the Lexington area. Entrepreneurs know the wonder of collaboration in bringing together assets in new ways to develop new things.
There are parallels with the Christian mission. From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he worked collaboratively with his disciples and others to open hearts and minds to the new thing God was bringing about. He was critical of those who were locked into one way of doing things and who resistant to the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit. But to those who were willing to enter into a trusting relationship with him and each other the way to abundant life.
In her sermon today, during a celebration of The Holy Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral here in Lexington, Dean Carol Wade told us that she has established commissions to explore various aspects of the Cathedral’s life and witness. I was fascinated to hear her say that one of those commissions is “The Entrepreneurs Commission.” She described their role as “discovering resources for the increase of ministries.” What a great concept! What an expression of a theology of abundance!
God has provided all the resources we need to do what God is calling us to do. Our job is to open our eyes to see God’s hand at work around us to discover those resources and employ them in new ways in the service of the Gospel.
At the top of the list of resources is people who share a love of Jesus Christ. Christianity has been a collaborative and entrepreneurial enterprise from the beginning. Despite tendencies of the culture to cast Christianity in terms of a private relationship between the believer and Jesus, authentic Christianity is always corporate and collaborative at the core.
A good example is Matthew 18:19-20 where Jesus says, “Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” The Greek word for agree in this passage of scripture is συμφωνία, meaning "agreement or concord of sound", "concert of vocal or instrumental music", from σύμφωνος, "harmonious" (Oxford English Dictionary). It is also the origin of the word symphony.
Is it any wonder that Christians sing when we gather? When we live and work collaboratively in Christ’s mission, we make beautiful music that expresses our life in Christ.
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An Epiphany in a Shopping Cart
On a cold, windy day last week, Gay and I drove to the supermarket to shop. Upon arrival at the parking lot, we discovered that lots of other people had the same idea and we had to park about as far away from the store’s entrance as one can park.
When we returned to our, we loaded our purchases into the trunk and I started looking around for the nearest shopping cart return rack. It was halfway back to the store and I shivered when I thought about having to stay out in the cold wind any longer.
Just then, I heard a voice behind me say, “Here, I’ll take that.” I turned and saw a man who had just alighted from his pickup and was walking toward me. As I looked at him, he smiled and said, “I saw you looking for a place to put that cart and I’m headed that way. Let me return it for you.”
I barely managed to say, “Thank you” before he was briskly pushing the cart toward the store entrance. From inside the car, I watched him return the cart to the rack and continue on toward the entrance in pursuit of whatever mission was on his mind.
The memory of that simple, thoughtful, neighborly gesture has remained with me for more than a week. The subtle significance of that brief encounter between strangers continues to gladden my heart. In that moment, the Kingdom of God came near to both of us. Something changed in my universe and, perhaps, in his. I have no idea who he is or what motivated his good deed. I’d like to think it had something to do with his faith, but there is no way to know that. What I do know is that it had something to do with my faith. It is my faith that prompts me to see God’s hand at work in that moment in the lives of two of God’s children – one of us in need and the other with a meaningful response to that need. That empty cart was full of grace. It was an epiphany from a shopping cart.
We often focus on big goals in mission and ministry: feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, rebuilding storm-ravaged communities, teaching at-risk children to read. But let us not neglect to do good in those smaller, simpler ways, such as offering to return someone’s shopping cart, share a heavy load, sending a smile to someone who has a frown, speaking a word of encouragement to someone who seems worried, letting someone know you are thinking about them. There must be thousands of opportunities to do those good works that God “has prepared for us to walk in” every day. May God open our eyes to see them and move our hands and feet to respond. For in the intersection of another’s need and our response, no matter how simple, the universe is changed. And because God is at the center of those intersections, the change is for the better.
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How can I recognize God’s call?
People often ask, "how can I recognize God's call to me?" It is a question of vocation. The word vocation is derived from the Latin root voca, as in "voice." It means "to call." There are so many voices crying out for our attention and our loyalty, it is difficult to discern the voice of God, and, therefore, to know what God is calling me to do. The question about recognizing God's call may have to do with one's overall life mission or with what God wants of one in a specific situation.
Perhaps we can learn some things about recognition of God's call from Mark's account of the beginning of Jesus' Gallilean ministry. His baptism by John had been in Judea, a mostly Jewish region. After John imprisioned, Jesus went north to an area around the Sea of Galilee, which was inhabited by many gentiles as well as Jews. When he arrived there, his first order of business was to call disciples (e.g., Mark 1:14-20).
There are several characteristics of vocation in that event, which is similar to other Biblical accounts where God's call comes to people and their communities.
God's call is timely. Jesus begins his proclamation by saying, "The time is fulfilled." The kind of time he has in mind is kairos, not chronos. Chronolical time can be measured. Kairos, God's time, the right time, cannot be measured so precisely. It is the time when fruit is ripe or when a baby is ready to be born. While God's call may come to us in many ways, it always comes at the right time. Jesus was speaking of the time when the old age of rebellion against God would cease and a new age would begin. He came at right time in history. His call comes to you and me at the right time in our personal histories and in the history of our faith community.
God's call involves change. Jesus called people to "repent." To repent means to change. Change usually involves turning away from the comfortable and familiar and toward something different. Jesus went to a region that was different. Remember that Galilee was place where there are many gentiles, people of a different race and faith. It still is! God's call can be a turning point in life of a person or a community of persons. What needs to be changed? If you hear a call to remain exactly as you are, it is probably not God calling.
God's call is imperative. Jesus' words, "Repent, believe, follow" are not mere suggestions. The time for action is now and this is what needs to be done. I'm reminded of the story of a golfer whose ball landed atop an anthill. In his attempt to avoid being stung by ants, his stance was clumsy and with every swing he would miss the ball and hit the anthill, scattering hundreds of the tiny creatures. Eventually, one of the ants said to the others, "If we are going to survive, we'd better get on the ball." When God calls and we hear, it is time for us to get on the ball!
God's call is specific. Throughout the gospels, Jesus is very clear about what he wants of his hearers:
hear, repent, believe, follow, preach, teach, baptize, pray, go. The response may involve a person's entire life or a brief period. Following Hurricane Ike, we set up several ways for The Episcopal Church to respond to need. Our banners and signs had the Episcopal shield tilted at a jaunty angle and proclaiming, "The Episcopal Church – Here to Help!" The Diocese of Texas and Episcopal Relief and Development sent staff to the island where they set up headquarters and worked with hundreds of people from across the country who came to help for the next couple of years. Then, the time came when these specific measures were no longer needed. But for a brief period, people set about doing some very specific things to help people in need.
God's call includes reassurance. God does not call people to do something which they can do on their own, always provides the means whereby the call can be fulfilled. "I will make you fishers of people." Prophets, priests, apostles, martyrs.
God's call is consistent. We believe in Christian counsel. That means we explore our vocations together so that we can be sure that the voice we hear is God's. God is not likely to call one of us or all of us to do something which is contradictory with God's purposes and ways as revealed in scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. We allow ourselves to be held accountable by our Christian sisters and brothers as we discern God's will.
God's call is persistent. In Mark's account, Jesus says, "The time is fulfilled." Matthew's account (Matthew 4:18-24) suggests that when Jesus went to Galilee, he fulfilled the place. We are reminded of the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 9:1-7) Hundreds of years had passed. God's Messiah had finally arrived to bring light to those who sat in darkness, people who lived in and around "The Decapolis." The Decapolis was a region of ten gentile cities to the east of the Sea of Galilee. The Jews referred to them as "The Gates of Hell." When Jesus said that the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Church, he may have been alluding to the Decapolis. We are told that in less than 100 years after the Resurrection, those ten cities were Christian cities. Persistence paid off!
Keep listening. And, when the call comes, recognize it, receive it as gift, and let God's grace motivate you to drop everything and go!
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Sermon at Church of the Good Shepherd ~ January 8, 2012
First Sunday After the Epiphany
Baptism of the Lord
Year BListen to the Sermon for January 8, 2012
Read the Sermon for January 8, 2012