PALM SUNDAY

 

Have you ever seen a palm tree? Palm trees grow in hot weather in places like Florida and California. They have very large leaves a produce a lot of palm oil.

In Jesus’ day, people threw palm leaves on the road in front of a king or general to show him honor and respect. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, people did this.

What happened if you did not have palm leaves to throw on the road? What would you do? Would you throw banana peels or apple cores or money or your coat?

How about this?! If you did not have palm leaves, then you waved your arms. It’s like everyone doing the wave. … You can ask your parents to show you how to do that later.

And when your arms got tired, then you could clap your hands. Do you know how to clap your hands? You bring them together like this. (clap hands)

Have you ever clapped before? Why do we clap? We clap to show someone honor and respect. We may clap after someone delivers and inspiring speech or scores a goal. We may clap for sports champions or a great leader. We bring our palms together because we don’t have palm leaves.

Today is known as Palm Sunday because people paid honor and respect to Jesus. We should clap for Jesus because he won something greater than a championship or a battle. On the Cross, Jesus won for us eternal life. He deserves more than our honor and respect. Jesus deserves everything we have and are. With that, let us pray.

Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and all children, and give their parents the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Palm Sunday

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled “God Visits Us as a King,” and my focus is our Processional Gospel (John 12:12-19). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Easter in the Cwynar home meant visiting the Bednarski girls, my mother’s sisters. Most of them lived in Ambridge, allowing us to visit Aunts Jane, Jessie, Helen and Stella in 2 days. This childhood tradition came to me as I pondered how Jesus visited people these last three Sundays. So, let me lay out 3 points. First, the King visits; second, the King is welcomed; and finally, how we respond to the King’s call.

First, the King visits. To visit means to go and stay with a person or at a place for a short time for sociability, business, or curiosity. We visit friends, clients and famous places, like Punxsutawney. The word visit is from the Latin visitare meaning to go to see or come to inspect. By the 13th century, pastors and doctors would visit or pay a call to people in their homes. It also means to come upon or afflict with sickness or punishment. Depending on who the visitor was, you would either welcome or reject him.

If your visitor arrived on horse, be wary. Throughout Biblical history, horses were the mounts of kings, princes, conquerors, and soldiers. Horses heralded threats of war, and were such a symbol of army strength that God ordered Israelite kings not to keep many horses because He did not want the Israelites to trust in their own resources of strength, but to rely on Him for victory and deliverance from their enemies. A king visiting on a horse implied war, doom and victory.

If your visitor arrived on a donkey, relax. Donkeys hold the distinction as being one of the earliest and most frequently mentioned animals in the Bible. A king visiting on a donkey symbolized industry, peace and wealth.

Visits imply welcomes. Welcome to my second point – the King is Welcomed. … Today, we welcome kings, heroes and championship athletic teams with parades. In our Bible study of Thessalonians, I explained how a welcoming committee would go out to greet the emperor and escort him into the city. The Roman citizens did this out of honor and reverence for Caesar and his emissaries. Likewise, when people heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they went out to greet him with leafy palm branches and shouts of “Hosanna!”, a jubilant praise for victory or salvation. John tells us that Jesus’ disciples did not understand these things. What did these “things” mean?

Jesus’ humble entry into Jerusalem foreshadowed victory over his enemies. Of the four accounts, however, only John wrote that the crowd took palm branches, which symbolized victory in Jewish culture, and went out to meet Jesus, singing Psalm 118, a processional hymn for the feast of tabernacles. The significance is that Psalm 118 announces triumph because of reliance on Yahweh, echoing Israel’s jubilant Exodus chant. Shouting hosanna – a phrase invoking God to save them – victors with branches in hand proceeded to the altar where they offered sacrifice.

John’s point? Before ascending the Cross in His hour of triumph, Jesus knew He had won. That is why Scripture records the people singing “Hosanna.” Jesus was victorious – and humble. Jesus was humble to the point that when others declared Him King of Israel, He brushed aside the comment or withdrew into the mountains. Yet, Jesus knew His entry into Jerusalem demonstrated His fulfillment of prophecies from Genesis through Malachi. That is why John records these “things” – the King’s visit and how the King is welcomed – and now we ponder how we might respond to such a King.

For a moment, imagine yourself as a disciple in John’s Gospel, who did not understand these things when they occurred, but now you do. You understand Jesus is the King who conquered Satan, sin and death in His victorious Hour, and now He visits you. The king asks you to follow Him. … Are you willing to follow Him? ... Really?! … Are you truly interested in following a man riding a donkey?

People are willing to follow inspirational, heroic leaders like Patton, Grant or Washington, and sometimes only if they got paid. Napoleon Bonaparte possessed the charisma to inspire multitudes of men. In his own words, Napoleon said, “I know men, and I have inspired multitudes to die for me. A word from me and the sacred fire was kindled in their hearts. I do, indeed, possess the secret of this magical power that lifts the soul, but I could never impart it to anyone. None of my generals ever learned it from me; nor have I the means of perpetuating my name and love for me in the hearts of men.”

Napoleon knew that, unlike Jesus, inspirational leaders do not possess the means of perpetuating their names and others’ love for them. Only Jesus Christ possesses the means of perpetuating His name and love for Him. The difference between dynamic human leaders and Jesus Christ? They are dead. Jesus Christ is a living Person who is present and calls me now. He visits us with grace to expand our hearts which gives us the desire and generosity to do something about this disordered universe. Jesus does not simply say, “Your sins are forgiven.” He calls you to follow Him … on your own donkey.

You need your own donkey because you must ride in peace extending your victorious palm branch to the conquered enemies of this world and let them know – as you know – that they are loved by our victorious Christ and by us. Otherwise, what’s the point of being a Christian if we don’t accompany Christ as compassionate companions? What’s the point of observing Palm Sunday and Good Friday if we can’t say to the world’s Barabbases, “I love you”?

In other words, the King’s visit implies a call to saddle up and ride with Him into the world. His call, His challenge forces us to ask: Is our spirituality authentic if we exclude public issues that conflict with our self-interests? As sinful humans, we have an inordinate hunger for wealth, honor and power. The Word of God, the call of the King, is not held in honor by the world. There is another line in Psalm 118 that reads, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” To heed the King’s call, to obey God’s Word, to welcome the visiting King suggests dishonor in the world’s eyes, but victorious honor in God’s.

I offer one example of a man who embraces the visiting King and accepts his call. Gary Haugen, founder of International Justice Mission and author of “The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence”, pinpoints a basic source of entrenched poverty overlooked by well-intentioned outsiders: corrupt government officials who turn their heads while criminals victimize the poor. For example, 90% of murders in Mexico go unsolved. On the other hand, Haugen reminds us that the church played a critical role in the struggle against child labor and for civil rights. He urges Christians to accept their biblical, prophetic role and use their moral voice to ensure the state protect the weakest in our world. To embrace biblical justice and heed our King’s call, you don’t have to start an international justice mission. Simply embrace His call and apply biblical justice to whatever you do in life.

I close by quoting the prolific Scripture scholar and pastor, NT Wright, “We must speak truth to those with power so we can speak love to those without it.” We must speak truth to those with power so we can speak love to those without it. When we accept our biblical, prophetic role and use our moral voice to ensure those with power protect those without love, because we know Christ our King has already conquered Satan, sin and death, this we know: We are simply donkey riders with palm branches responding to the call of the King. Ride with God, my friends. Ride with God. And may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.[1]

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[1] For additional sources, see https://cwynar.blogspot.com/2014/04/god-visits-his-people-as-king.html

POWER OF GOD

 

Have you ever been really sad? In our Gospel today (John 11), two of Jesus’ friends are very sad because their brother died. Jesus was also sad. He was so sad that he cried. That tells you that Jesus had a human nature like us.

Now, these sisters, Martha and Mary, wanted Jesus to come visit their brother, Lazarus, when he was very sick. Jesus did not go, even though it was less than two miles. Blackhawk High School is two miles from here. Then, a few days later, Lazarus died, and Jesus decided to visit.

Jesus went for several reasons. He wanted to see Martha and Mary, but he also wanted them to see what power God has. So, he walked to their home and spoke with each sister, and then went to the grave – a cave – where Lazarus was lain.

Jesus ordered some men to move the huge stone, and then he prayed to his Father in heaven. He prayed that the people standing around him may know that God the Father sent Jesus.

To me, all of this seems a little strange. I mean, if I were standing there, and saw Jesus offer kind words to his friends, have the grave stone moved away, and then offer this prayer to God the Father, I would wonder what Jesus would do next. That’s when he called Lazarus to life, and Lazarus walked out of the cave. Jesus told the men to take off his grave clothes and let him go free. And that was that.

If you saw that, how powerful would you think Jesus, the Son of God, is? He is so powerful that he can make dead people live again, and someday he will make all of us alive in heaven.

With that, let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and all children, and give their parents the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

People, Person, Predicaments

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled These People, This Person and Predicaments, and my focus is on our Gospel (John 11:1-44). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are standing within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Have you ever asked yourself, “Who are these people?” I remember asking myself that when flying to Israel a number of years ago, and then realized that they were rabbis. I asked myself when we were grocery shopping in some Midwest supermarket, and realized all these young women over 6’ tall were members of a college volleyball team. It’s a question we ask today of three people with important roles in John’s Gospel and life of the Church: Martha, Mary and Lazarus.

The family lived in Bethany, a village one and three-quarters miles east of Jerusalem. There is no mention of the town in the Old Testament, and there is some doubt that the site of the current Bethany is the same as that mentioned in John’s Gospel. The name Bethany means either “House of Misery” or “House of Dates.”

In Bethany Jesus received hospitality. In Mark we read that while Jesus “was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head” (14:3). Matthew wrote that after Jesus cleansed the Temple, he went to Bethany (21:17). Luke records that as Jesus approached Jerusalem, “he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet” (19:29). He also wrote that this is where Jesus led the disciples before he ascended into heaven (24:50ff.). Thus, it is known that Bethany is a place where Jesus went often and everyone knew his name.

Martha is mentioned twice in John, chapter 11 and 12. She is mentioned in Luke 10, where she welcomed Jesus into her house. We are all familiar with Martha’s complaint that her sister, Mary, sat at Jesus’ feet while she prepared and served the meal. Both sisters were disciples who sought to please the Lord.

In today’s passage, St. John identifies Mary not only as the sister of Martha and Lazarus, but also as the one “who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair” (3), which is reported in chapter twelve, when Jesus went to Bethany before Passover. “Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” (1-3).[1]

Apart from being the sister of Martha, there is some confusion on the certainty of who Mary was. When we take all four Gospels together, some believe that there are three distinct women: the “sinner” of Luke (7: 36-50); the sister of Martha and Lazarus (Luke 10: 38-42 and John 11); and Mary Magdalene. This goes back to the Greek and Latin Fathers and today, among Catholic and Protestant scholars. If you are interested in that detail, check the footnote.[2]

Lazarus is the Latin form of Eleazar, a name that means “God has helped,” and mentioned throughout the Old Testament. During the time of Jesus, Eleazar was one of the more popular names for Jewish males. Other than being a close friend of Jesus and sick, there is little to know about Lazarus. We should note, however, that this is not the same person identified in Luke’s Parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus. To conclude my first point, we now know something about “These People.”

My second point is This Person. In this passage the sisters properly addressed Jesus as Lord and Teacher or Rabbi. The way people identified Jesus was much different than how Jesus identified himself. Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus identifies himself using the phrase “I Am.” The phrase is used 45 times leading many interpreters to believe that St. John’s Jesus was making divine claims. The use of this phrase is connected to the Old Testament.[3] In Exodus, God revealed himself to Moses by saying, “I AM WHO I AM.” God told him to tell the people, “I AM has sent me to you” (3:14), and later God said, “I am the LORD” (6:2).

Recall that several weeks ago that Jesus said to the Samaritan Woman at Jacob's well, “I who speak to you am he” (4:26). Several times while speaking to the Jews in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus used the phrase. He said, “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am (he), and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me” (8:28). Later, he said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (8:58). He also used the phrase at the Last Supper and when arrested.[4]

Using this phrase, Jesus identified himself as the Bread of Life (6:35, 41, 48, 51), the Light of the World (8:12; 9:5), the Door (10:7, 9), the Good Shepherd (10:11, 14), the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6) and the True Vine (15:1, 5). Again, all of these have roots in the Old Testament where they are used primarily to speak of God.[5]

His opponents, who supposedly knew the Scriptures, did not understand why Jesus used these phrases to identify himself as God the Son, and accused him of blasphemy. Even his disciples did not understand. We read how Jesus chastised them by saying, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? … The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, every man to his home, and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me” (14:9; 16:32).

In today’s passage, Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (11:25). Her confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ was steadfast. No doubt that Mary confessed the same faith in Jesus. So, what does Jesus mean when he calls himself the Resurrection and the Life?

First, when Jesus responds to Martha’s belief that her brother will rise again in the resurrection on the last day, his statement is a direct answer to this and he is telling her that he is the present realization of what to expect on the last day. Jesus is the Resurrection! If you believe in Jesus, even though you will go to the grave, you will come to eternal life because life is from above – from God – and through the Spirit, life conquers death.

Second, Jesus is that life. Whoever receives the gift of life through belief in Jesus will never die a spiritual death, for this life is eternal life.[6] The resurrection and life are what Jesus is in relation to people. They are what he gives to people, to you and me.

Martha probably understood Jesus in the same way the Samaritan woman did – as a prophet. Only when he told her to go and call her husband did that woman begin the search for a deeper, more meaningful faith. In that exchange, Jesus taught. Here, he will act out the drama that raises Lazarus to life.

Folks, what is it that Jesus said to you – whether in Scripture or in prayer – that led you to search deeper for a more meaningful faith, a more profound faith in Christ and what he can do for you, not so much as individual believers, but to a greater degree, as Church, as a congregation?

You know, as we explore the Gospels throughout the Season of Easter, we will hear Jesus pray for us (John 17) and break bread before us (Luke 24) so that we come to see ourselves not simply as a group of 50 people who come together for an hour on Sunday mornings, but as a powerful sign of God’s sovereignty actively alive in His world. Realizing that will be much more exciting and longer-lasting than the thrill of basketball’s Final Four.

Martha and Mary saw the miraculous work of the Father when Jesus raised Lazarus. Jesus’ prayer was for people to see this miracle, this sign, and even more importantly, to come to know the Father and receive life themselves. John does not dwell on the act of raising Lazarus. For John – and for us – what is crucial is knowing that Jesus has the power to give eternal life on this earth and a belief in Jesus’ promise that in time he will raise the dead. That will include my parents and your parents, our ancestors and friends, and every blessed believer we have ever known.

And that, brings me to my third point, predicament. A predicament is an unpleasantly difficult, perplexing, or dangerous situation. But for those of you who took the required college philosophy class, you may remember that a predicament was one of Aristotle’s categories, meaning something that is predicted or asserted. The Romans borrowed the word from the Greeks, and formed praedicatus, meaning to assert, proclaim or declare publicly before it happens. Here, Jesus made one bold public assertion before he and his Father made it happen.

The predicament was that his friend was dying, and he waited until he fell asleep to go see him. This may have perplexed not only his disciples, but also Lazarus and his sisters. As I said in my children’s message – the distance from Jesus to Bethany was from here to Blackhawk High School. Google tells me that I can walk the distance in 38 minutes. But God does not think or work like Google or us. By waiting Jesus did more for Lazarus and his sisters than by going to see him breathe his last breath. It is how God worked then. It is how God works today.

We’re in a predicament. We will gather here only for four more Sundays. After that, we gather in a new space. We believe, however, that God’s plan is always bigger than ours, at least his plan is always bigger and better than mine; and so, there is something to be said about faithfulness. If you recall my sermon on the First Sunday of Lent, the Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness, I spoke of how Israel did not prove themselves to be faithful to the God who delivered them from Egypt, and how Jesus showed himself and us to be the faithful Son of the Father. God calls us to be faithful like Jesus to the Father’s plan and to worship Him wherever we are.

Friends, I have led worship in many churches, and I have led worship in nursing homes and state mental hospitals, on ships and in social halls, in gymnasiums and parks, even in a pub in Ireland. God can be worshipped by the Church anywhere because we are Church. Because we are Church, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] A careful reading shows that John does not conflict with the accounts in Mark and Matthew for one cannot prove that Martha could not serve in Simon’s house. See https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09721b.htm

[2] https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/Mary-Magdalen

[3] For more on this, a good online resource is https://catholic-resources.org/John/Themes-IAM.htm and https://catholic-resources.org/John/Sharing8.html.

[4] John 13:19; 18:5, 6, 8.

[5] Bread of Life / Bread from Heaven - Exodus 16; Num 11:6-9; Ps 78:24; Isa 55:1-3; Neh 9:15; 2 Mac 2:5-8; Light of the World - Exod 13:21-22; Isa 42:6-7; Ps 97:4; Good Shepherd - Ezek 34:1-41; Gen 48:15; 49:24; Ps 23:1-4; 80:1; 100:3-4; Micah 7:14; Resurrection / Life - Dan 12:2; Ps 56:13; 2 Mac 7:1-38; Way - Exod 33:13; Ps 25:4; 27:11; 86:11; 119:59; Isa 40:3; 62:10; Truth - 1 Kings 17:4; Ps 25:5; 43:3; 86:11; 119:160; Isa 45:19; Vine / Vineyard - Isa 5:1-7; Ps 80:9-17; Jer 2:21; Ezek 17:5-10.

[6] Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John (I-XII). Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. (1966), p. 434.

HOW ARE YOUR EYES?

 

Have you ever had your eyes checked? When I was in third grade, I started wearing glasses. I recently went to see my optometrist or eye doctor. He checked my eyes and my vision has gotten slightly worse. It happens when you get older. So, soon I will have new glasses.

I mention that because in our Gospel today (9:1-41), Jesus cured a man who was born blind. No one could help him see. Jesus spit on the ground and made mud with his saliva and then spread it over the man’s eyes. He was able to see, and then was sent away from the synagogue by the Pharisees and priests.

Jesus then went to the man, and told him that he was the Son of Man and Son of God, the one who healed him. The man threw himself at Jesus’ feet and worshipped him as Lord.

Sometimes we see how God makes things right in the world. Sometimes it is not only when people are healed physically, but also spiritually. Because Jesus acted, this man got his sight and came to know that Jesus is Lord and worshipped him.

We may not see such awesome healings every week like the healing of the man born blind, but we see relationships healed in our families and among friends when they forgive each other. We see people who glorify God for exciting things that happen, like Harrison Butker, KC Chiefs kicker who kicked the field goal that won the Superbowl. He said “All glory to God,” and then went away for a week to pray.

With that, let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and all children, and give their parents the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Blind Man and Body of Christ

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Blind Man and the Body of Christ, and my focus is on our Gospel (John 9:1-41). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are standing within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Renato Rascel, aka Renato Ranucci, was born on April 27, 1912, and died on January 2, 1991. He was an Italian film actor and singer who appeared in 50 films between 1942 and 1972. He also wrote and sang “Arrivederci, Roma.”

Why open a Lenten sermon about an Italian actor and singer who’s been dead for 22 years? Because one of the roles he played is in a series that Cindy and I watched recently and have repeatedly watched every Lent. Renato Rascel played The Blind Man in the 1977 British-Italian epic drama serial by Franco Zeffirelli entitled Jesus of Nazareth. You now know more about the actor who played The Blind Man than you do about the blind man in our Gospel.

Like the Synoptic Evangelists, John wrote his Gospel for a particular audience and setting. Reading each Gospel means I must take into consideration its listeners and original readers, as well as the time, place, religious and ethnic background of that particular church. The world around the Evangelists impacted their Gospels. For example, John Steinbeck could not write The Grapes of Wrath today as he did in 1939. We don’t live in The Dust Bowl of The Great Depression, but people did 90 years ago. One of my favorite books, Boys in the Boat, can only be understood against the backdrop of Hitler’s 1936 Olympic Games, and not the politics of today’s games. Likewise, reading, understanding, appreciating and applying lessons from books and letters of the Bible must include its original audience and setting.

In John’s Gospel the blind man is anonymous. The healing of blind men by Jesus is found in the Synoptic Gospels, but only Mark applied the name Bartimaeus to his blind man. The Evangelists named people or listed them anonymously for their own reasons, which are many, and too far out of scope for this sermon. I will get to why John left his blind man anonymous, but for now, let’s look at the narrative.

This narrative, like last Sunday’s and next week’s, has a theme. Last week, it was water; today, it’s light; and next Sunday, life. These readings have been chosen primarily for people undergoing instruction to be baptized at Easter, but they also challenge how we see Jesus.

In relation to last Sunday’s story of the woman at the well, we see several parallels. The woman and man both come to believe in Jesus because he personally initiated an encounter with them. Jesus told the woman about her life (Jn 4:17-18). He defended and healed the man (9:3-7). Both shared their experiences with the community and affirmed that Jesus was a prophet (4:19, 9:17). Similarly, Jesus revealed his identity as the Messiah (4:26) and the Son of Man (9:37) directly to the woman and man.

At the end of the narrative, when Jesus criticized the Pharisees, he revealed his identity to the man, and said that he came into the world “so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind” (Jn 9:39). To the Pharisees who asked if he thinks they are blind, Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.” In this statement, Jesus suggested that the Pharisees are sinful because their self-assurance prevented them from recognizing His significance.

Today’s narrative is carefully crafted so that no words are wasted. First of all, Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (7:10), one of the three feasts in which all “native born” male Jews were commanded to participate.[1] There were thousands of people all with offerings in Jerusalem during this week.

The feast was instituted by God to remind Israelites in every generation of their deliverance by Him from Egypt. The feast also foreshadowed the work and actions of the coming Messiah, so the phrases that John included in chapter nine, particularly “the light of the world” and the reference to the pool of Siloam are tied to the feast. In chapters seven and eight, we read that Jesus is teaching by word and example, particularly forgiveness to the woman caught in the act of adultery. As you continue reading what follows that act of forgiveness, you must wonder why Jesus hung around the Temple after the scribes and Pharisees picked up rocks to stone him (8:59). Yet, after he hid himself from them, Jesus passes a man blind from birth. The man’s blindness was incurable. He never saw his mother’s face or the sunrise, only darkness.

The man born blind is not named here because he is more than an individual; he is a spokesperson for the community. Augustine said that he stands for the human race. Like the Samaritan woman Jesus encountered at the well, this narrative is about Jesus encountering another sinful human being whom he sees as a child of God. In the story of the Samaritan woman and here, we read of the obstacles one experiences in coming to know who Jesus is.

Immediately, Jesus spots not only the man, but also his isolation and suffering, and reaches out to him. After answering his disciples’ question about the reason for this man’s blindness, Jesus announced that he is the “light of the world,” and spat on the ground. The significance of this is tied to the creation of man, but notice that it is not only dirt but also Jesus’ saliva used to form healing mud before he speaks a divine command to wash in the pool of Siloam.

What is so special about the pool of Siloam? Seven centuries before Jesus, Judah’s King Hezekiah correctly anticipated a siege against Jerusalem by the Assyrian monarch Sennacherib. He ordered a 1/3-mile-long tunnel to be dug underneath the city to bring water from the Gihon Spring. It was an ingenious idea, and for 700 years, this pool furnished people with fresh water.

After washing, the blind man, suddenly able to see, came back to the spot where Jesus was. The reason John included this passage into his Gospel now begins to make sense for his audience and us. The blind man’s washing shows him for who he really is – an enlightened person who only comes to believe in Jesus after a series of trials and being cast out from the Temple. The intensifying series of questions to which the man was subjected, the increasing hostility and the blindness of the interrogators who expelled him from the synagogue, and the blind man’s growing perceptiveness about Jesus under the interrogations, as well as his own parents’ apprehensive attempt to avoid taking a stand for or against Jesus – all of these could easily be enacted on a stage to show how, with the coming of Jesus, those who claim to see have become blind and those who were blind have come to sight.[2]

Now, before I move onto the Body of Christ, let me make a few comments about the significance of Jesus being in Jerusalem for the feast. As I said earlier, the Feast of Tabernacles was instituted by God to remind Israelites of their deliverance by Him from Egypt, and also foreshadowed the work and actions of the coming Messiah. If the Pharisees had studied the prophetic writings, they would have recognized that Jesus was not only a prophet, as the blind man first described him, but also Son of Man and Lord, as he ultimately acknowledged. They did not, however, do that, and instead stumbled over the fact that Jesus gave sight to the blind on the Sabbath (vv 14,16). Their stubbornness is thoroughly described in Isaiah 42, as well as how God’s Servant would lead the blind and turn their darkness into light.

When I led the study on Isaiah, I pointed out how blindness made Israel identical with the Gentile world, and deafness showed her failure to hear God’s message. To have eyes and ears means that one can receive and understand revelation from God, but it is something else to use your eyes and ears to know what is really happening around you. The cardinal sin of the people of God was that they possessed the divine word, but ignored it.

This passage makes for great theater and television, and so I encourage you to watch Jesus of Nazareth between now and Easter, but more importantly, as the Body of Christ, I offer the same encouragement John offered to his community and Paul to the Ephesians.

The message to John’s early Christians, new to the faith, and to us is the same. Anyone who has come to Christ in whatever manner – something miraculous or mundane, someone raised and reared in a Christian home or not – needs to know and to be encouraged as they go through their trials that they have been given an opportunity to come to a much more profound faith than when they first encountered Christ. This is why John painstakingly crafted this narrative so beautifully that 2,000 years later we can still imagine it in our minds or in the mind of Franco Zeffirelli.

Likewise, Paul too encouraged his beloved children to “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (5:2). He warned the Christians in Ephesus not to make themselves identical with the pagans surrounding them by engaging in crude and filthy talk and sexual immorality, but to walk as children of the light who once lived in darkness. Paul did not rely upon John’s Gospel for the basis of his teaching, but on Christ’ revelation and the Apostles’ understanding as well as the Holy Spirit when he spoke to Christians, the Body of Christ.

As individual Christians and a Church Body, we may sometimes be blind. Undoubtedly, each of us has lived in darkness. Today, we know that there are things about ourselves that we cannot see. As you sit in church, you cannot see the back of your head, but the people behind you can. Interiorly, I may not be aware of how my words or actions affect another member of Christ’s body, but a loving friend can. My point is that while stubbornness, which prevented the Pharisees from recognizing and acknowledging the true light that was in their midst, is sinful, spiritual blindness may not be. John’s Gospel suggests that we must fully appreciate our own spiritual blindness in order to see the light of Christ. Like the man born blind, let us acknowledge not only our blindness, but also say to Christ, “Lord, I believe,” and worship Him.

As we journey through Lent, we should acknowledge our limitations and seek healing from Christ as individuals and as one Body for today’s Gospel begins with a physical healing and ends by asserting the importance of spiritual healing. When Jesus healed the blind man, he also healed his loneliness, his emotions and his hopelessness. Through the means of grace – God’s Word and Sacraments – the Holy Spirit heals our Church Body each time we gather with repentant hearts set on seeing Jesus as the blind man did – as Lord. John told his church members that the man fell down and worshipped Jesus. Worship is the most important thing we do. Everything else could cease today, but as long as we worship God our Father through Jesus His Son and our Lord, we are Church. Because we are Church, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Deuteronomy 16: 16-17 reads, “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.” For a fuller understanding, read vv 13-21; 16:9-13; Leviticus 23; Ezra 3:4ff; 2 Chronicles 8:13ff.

[2] Raymond Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament, 348.

WATER FOR ETERNAL LIFE

 

Have you ever asked a total stranger for a drink? Every time you go to a restaurant, you ask a stranger – the person waiting at the counter or your table – to bring you something to drink.

I mention that because in our Gospel today (John 4:5ff), Jesus was tired from a journey. He was sitting near a well to rest. All of a sudden, he asked this total stranger to give him a drink of water. We know that she was surprised because she said to Jesus, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” St. John knew that we would not understand this, so he added that Jews and Samaritans were not friendly to one another. Today, it might be like a Ukrainian asking a Russian for a drink of water.

The point of John’s Gospel is to tell us that the water that Jesus gives will become in us a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

The conversation between Jesus and the woman continues, but about the Messiah that both Jews and Samaritans expected. When Jesus tells her that he is the Messiah or the Christ, she goes to her village and tells everyone about Jesus. Soon, all the villagers come to Jesus and invite him to stay with them.

You never know how a conversation with a total stranger will end. It’s important that you – like Jesus – have kind words to speak to others. That will offer you the opportunity to offer them water that will always quench their thirst. By that I mean that you will have the chance to lead people to Jesus like the woman did.

With that, let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and all children, and give their parents the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

God Refreshes

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled God Visits His People with Refreshment, and my focus is on our first reading (Exodus 17:1-7, with emphasis on verses 6-7). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

When we moved from Livermore, California to Whitesboro, Texas, we would travel to Dallas for tourism and networking events. The first time we drove south on I-35, we approached Denton. When we reached the football stadium for the University of North Texas, we saw a larger than life-sized mural of its most famous Mean Green alumnus, and undoubtedly the greatest football player born in Texas – #75 of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mean Joe Greene. Today, Mean Joe Greene and his six Superbowl rings lives a quiet, Christian life in Flower Mound, Texas.

Why open a sermon entitled God Visits His People with Refreshment with Mean Joe Greene? Two reasons. First, in the time it took us to drive from Edmond, Oklahoma to Dallas, Texas, Moses – if he had a bus and an interstate – could have driven across the Sinai to Israel. It’s 200 miles. That’s the distance from here to Buffalo or Toledo. Even with traffic and construction, it doesn’t take 40 years to travel 200 miles. Second, because, in 1979, Greene starred in a Clio Award-winning commercial for Coca-Cola that changed his life more than his helmet-slapping, stunt stance ferocity. In the commercial a sheepish boy offers an injured Greene a Coke, prompting Mean Joe to grab the bottle and guzzle the contents, before turning to limp away. He then turns back toward the crestfallen child, smiles and tosses the kid his jersey with the famous punchline, “Hey Kid, Catch!” The heartwarming commercial became immensely popular and made Greene an international celebrity. 44 years after Tommy Okon offered Mean Joe his Coke, kids still approach the Steel Curtain stalwart with theirs. No one sells refreshment better than Coca-Cola, but no one refreshes better than our Triune God.

Today, we reflect on first, how God refreshed His people in the wilderness. Second, how God refreshes us with His Word. Finally, how God calls us to refresh the world today.

First, how God refreshed His people in the wilderness. After leaving Egypt, Moses did not travel east along the Way of the Philistines, but turned south into the wilderness of Shur. After three days without water, they arrived at Marah, where the water was bitter. Here, Scripture records, “The people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’” (Ex 15:24). As he was prone to do, Moses cried to the Lord, who showed him a log, which Moses threw into the water, and the water became sweet (Ex 15:25). This was the first of three times God provided refreshment to the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Shortly thereafter, they camped at Elim where there were 12 springs and 70 palm trees.

A few weeks passed, and the people again grumbled against Moses. “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Ex 16:2-3). Hearing their complaint, God provided bread in the morning and meat in the evening.

That brings us to today’s reading. The Israelites camped at Rephidim, an oasis in Sinai that provides enough water for large flocks and people.[1] As Exodus records, however, there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses. ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses replied, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ Unsatisfied with Moses’ inaction, the people grumbled, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’ Moses then cried to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me’ (Ex 17:1-5).

We know God provided refreshment once again when Moses struck the rock as commanded, but … what is really going on here?

More than providing water and food for His people, God was initiating a relationship between Himself and Israel with Moses as their leader. Bear in mind, God’s people were in Egypt for 400 years before Moses led them out of slavery. In Egypt, who was God and who led the people? … Pharoah.

The Israelites were accustomed to a cruel, murderous leader who enslaved them and made life unbearable. As the nation’s leader and god, Pharaoh did not hesitate to kill the Israelites or their young (Ex 1:18-21).

Imagine that the only god you have ever known is a murderous slave-driving tyrant. Along comes Moses, a prince raised in Pharaoh’s palace. This fugitive murderer tended flocks of a cultic priest in Midian. There, he met Yahweh for the first time. Now, he returns and talks of freedom in a land of milk and honey (Ex 3:7-10). … You would be crazy not to follow him, and you would be crazy to follow him – and his God who promises faithfulness, mercy and loving-kindness.

The Israelites could not believe life could be different. They had no experience of a loving, merciful God. He did not exist in Egypt. That is why the Israelites had difficulty adjusting to Moses as their leader and Yahweh as their God. They were accustomed to a precarious existence.

Is it any wonder why the Israelites had trouble entering into a faithful relationship with a God who not only responded to their cries as oppressed slaves and wandering sojourners, but also provided refreshment and protection? They grumbled out of desperation because they honestly believed that Moses led them into the wilderness to kill them. … One day Israel would look back at Massah and Meribah, where they wondered, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’ and realize He was. Having examined how God refreshed His people in the wilderness, we turn to how God refreshes us.

Most of us were raised in Christian homes by parents who taught us about a Triune God. We attended worship and religious instruction on Sundays. Unlike the Hebrew slave under the oppression of Pharaohs, we live in a nation where most people know God’s presence, mercy and loving-kindness. As Lutherans we recognize the means of grace as God’s Word and Sacraments, namely Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

God refreshes us through His Word, that is, Scripture. Read the Bible daily and you will undoubtedly find a passage where God promises you His presence, mercy and loving-kindness. My favorite is Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Rest in God’s presence. Rest in God’s Word.

Baptism. When we were baptized, we were joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His Paschal Mystery sets the pattern and rhythm for our daily lives, strengthening and refreshing us.

Confession. Most of us do not like to admit our faults, our sins, even to ourselves or our Savior. What God’s Word says about our favorite vices may make us angry, ashamed or afraid. However, God’s call to repentance is one of love. God did not call the Israelites into the wilderness to kill them but to love them.

Absolution: For us, repentance or that rhythm of turning from sin and to Christ is no theological abstraction, but a concrete practice of Christian living. I need to hear, “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” from my pastor. Pastors restart our crushed hearts with Jesus’ words of ultimate love: I forgive you all your sins.

Holy Communion. I need to be in a faith community that believes Christ is present under the elements of bread and wine. Eating and drinking His Body and Blood refreshes me. Through this Sacrament, we experience God’s love in the resurrected body and blood of Jesus in the bread and wine.

One way we can ponder the refreshing power of this Sacrament is to pray after receiving Holy Communion these words that are often printed in our hymnals: “We give thanks to You, almighty God, that You have refreshed us through this salutary gift, and we implore You that of Your mercy You would strengthen us through the same in faith toward You and fervent love toward one another; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”

Finally, God refreshes us through one another. Have you pondered how God calls you to refresh not only the people you like, but everyone? Why do I greet some people with enthusiastic joy, but others with the same enthusiasm I feel when my doctor prescribes MiraLax.

Daily God greets each of us with enthusiastic joy and His renewed promises of faithfulness, mercy and loving-kindness. Many of you have been greeted by Maggie when we bring her. She’s happy to meet everyone. Not to diminish the enthusiastic joy of God, but let’s magnify her joy in order to understand God’s visit of refreshment. Refreshed as God’s people, we now ask how we might refresh the world today.

As a Synod, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod responds to people in need. One particular ministry is Lutheran Comfort Dogs. These are … wait for it … Golden Retrievers! Golden Retrievers (like Travis and Maggie) who are trained to offer comfort to people who have suffered some communal disaster or act of violence. Recently, these canine cuties were in East Lansing, Michigan after the shooting at Michigan State University. To quote President Matthew Harrison, “When disasters strike, we make an enormous difference by bringing our resources to bear where people are hurting.”[2]

We strive to ease their hurt and bring refreshment through grace. All Christians should respond as such, but to apply my theme drawn from the refreshing waters of Exodus, think about a population of people who, like oppressed Hebrew slaves, grew up not in a Godly home, but in an environment where God was absent.

Twice in my life, I ministered to the incarcerated. My first experience was to men at the Collins Correctional Facility in New York, an exclusive, gated community, whose motto was – “You pulled the crime. You do the time.”

My second experience was the Allegheny County Jail. I created a program for incarcerated mothers. Few experiences are as distressing and dispirited as meeting with incarcerated mothers. These women committed non-violent crimes related to their addiction – theft, trafficking, solicitation and so on. They sorely missed their babies, their toddlers, their teenage sons and daughters.

Like Hebrew slaves, they grew accustomed to cruel people who made life miserable. They grew up in harsh environments with no knowledge of a God promising faithfulness, mercy and loving-kindness.

I designed “I to I” or “Incarceration to Independence” where I went into the jail to see what these women needed before they went to court or sadly returned to the former lives and habits. Suffice it to say, this is but one way God calls us to refresh the world today.

God does not call everyone to minister to incarcerated, addicted mothers or homeless men with mental health disorders. God knows, however, there are many people in our world who sigh desperate cries of anguish that fall on deaf ears. However, if we listen, we can hear them in our children’s classrooms, in nursing homes or just down the block. We can hear them from here, from our homes and from our work sites, and we can minister to them. We can because God has visited us with refreshment, just as He did in the wilderness.

When people in crisis wander in the wilderness, refreshed Christians walk alongside them. We strive to ease their hurt and bring refreshment through grace. As thirsty as we get when we wander through life’s wilderness, we realize that the Lord is among us. So, stay thirsty my friends. Stay thirsty for God’s refreshment and you will meet the world’s most interesting men and women. When you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Jean-Pierre Isbouts, The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society (2007), 136.

[2] Caring for Body and Soul in the Name of Jesus, A letter from the Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, President, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, May 22, 2013