Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time B / Reformation Sunday
Job 42:1-6, 10-17 / Mark 10:46-52
28 October 2012
So here it is Reformation Sunday ... and if you don’t know what that means, well, for people who have proudly and long-waved the banner “Lutheran Christian” ... who’ve attended Lutheran Christian worship as long as they can remember; who went through confirmation or Sunday School, or been part of a Lutheran congregation for a long part of their lives ... well, today is as close as we get to having our own political convention ... minus the balloons and the speeches, of course.
And what that means is, for one Sunday, we come together to celebrate all things Lutheran ... we splash red all over the Sanctuary and all over ourselves ... red for Reformation ... we sing the old songs ... and we retell the old stories of Martin Luther hammering the 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenburg, Germany on October 31, 1517.
But is this all there is to Reformation Sunday? A tribute to the reformers of old ... men with strange old names like Martin Luther and Philipp Melancthon? Having a big party to celebrate our brand loyalty?
Our texts for this morning say otherwise.
Granted, these are not the “usual” Reformation Sunday readings ... if you came here this morning counting on hearing those words you’ve heard, every year on this day, as long as you remember ... Psalm 46, Romans 3, John 8 ... well, this year I decided we’d take a year off of those “justified by faith” readings and use the texts assigned to the rest (read – non Lutheran) ... the rest of the lectionary-reading Christian church instead ... because these readings we have before us today so wonderfully illustrate Martin Luther’s main point of the Reformation ... and his opening words of those 95 theological arguments he nailed to the church door 395 years ago:
When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
Now, granted, “repentance”... and its associated terms ... humility, acknowledgement of wrongdoing, removing oneself from the center of one’s existence ... repentance is not a word ... nor an activity ... which brings up much positive feelings these days.
Rather ... it’s me, right or wrong ... and all the concentric circles which fly out from that centering ... that’s what life is all about these days.
Acknowledgement of error, mistakes or past sins seen as signs of weakness.
And when they appear to be offered, the “non-apology apology” is really what we get ...“I’m sorry you feel that way.”
And yet ... the world is no less full of people hurting each other ... personal, corporate, national hubris ... and everyone, EVERYONE, disobeying God and God’s good and gracious will for their, our lives.
Boy, are we in dire need of a reality check.
Job got his reality check last week ... if you recall, that Old Testament text, from last Sunday and a few chapters earlier ... God, God who had been beside Job all along, all through Job “losing everything,” Job cursing the day he was born, Job’s wife advising him to “curse God and die” (he didn’t), Job’s friends, trying to find cause for Job’s suffering by saying that this God-confessed righteous man had sinned, or maybe his children had sinned ... SOMEONE HAD TO HAVE DONE WRONG, AND MADE GOD MAD, BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY THAT WAS WHY GOD WAS PUNISHING JOB ... and Job, for his part, wanting to take on God ... on God’s own level, as an equal, taking God to court, if you will, to plead his case and fight his awful state.
As I said, though, Job got his ... God, who had been there with Job all along, God finally spoke, and uttered that great phrase,
Where were YOU when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Bombastic ... belligerent ... bellicose ... these words hit like a ton of bricks. God is responding, and is God ever ticked. And boy, is Job in for it now.
Except ... except this isn’t what’s happening here at all.
Remember last week I said that these words from God are not prelude to punishment. They are, truly, pointing out Job’s place ... place for the sake of relationship. God is creator, Job is created one ... and Job has overstepped his place in this relationship of love and care between creator and creation.
This week ... Job gets it.
I know, Lord, that you can do all things ...
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
There it is. I repent.
It’s what we are called to do when relationship is broken. Which – don’t kid yourself – happens all the time. Between us and others. And between us and God.
Job has broken relationship with God. Now, one might say, “who can blame him, he’s hurt, he’s angry, he’s lost everything, he’s just trying to find out why ... why all this happened.” Fair enough. Why is the quintessentially human question.
It’s just that, it’s the wrong question.
Because “why” will never, never ever, bring anyone satisfaction ... comfort ... hope ... peace.
For example: My dad smoked cigarettes since he was 14. A pack or so every other day, so ‘not much,’ but he still smoked. He worked around dangerous chemicals for thirty five years in a paint factory, pigments and bases and lacquer thinner. And he died at age 68 of lung cancer brought on by his smoking and all those other contributing factors.
My friend Janet never smoked a day in her life; she worked in smoke free offices; kept physically fit, ate well, took great care of her body. At 50 she was often mistaken for her college age sons’ girlfriend instead of their mom. Janet also got lung cancer, and this summer, she died.
Why? I don’t know. And even if I did know, it wouldn’t help much. And you know, that I know what caused my dad’s death doesn’t bring me much comfort either. He’s still dead.
What does help me is knowing who. Who was with my dad in his suffering. The same who that was with my friend Janet as she suffered. The same one who was there with Job in his suffering, had Job gotten beyond his searching and demanding to have his legal challenge heard.
That who was, is, our God.
This is what Job finally realizes. And why he repents.
Now, some might say, oh, but look at what he says there, “I despise myself.”
We can’t say that.
It will destroy our self-esteem. Make us seem like groveling nothings. Incapable of doing anything good, or right, in life.
Perhaps so. Perhaps Job’s words go too far. Indeed, who should despise what God has made?
The Hebrew word here is unclear. It may be better translated “I relent” or “I recant” rather than “I despise myself.”
Regardless, though, what Job is feeling is remorse. He’s sorry for breaking relationship with God.
And that is all right. Remorse, that is.
We have lost that sense of remorse for our wrongs today, in our bowing down and worshipping at the altar of self-esteem, self-love, I’m just fine the way I am and I have no need to change or apologize for any of my actions.
Luther would be appalled.
It is wrong to despise God’s good creation. But it’s just as wrong to worship the creation.
Only one is Good, and that One is God.
Just see how Good that God, our God is to Job.
God repents ... God repents of God’s actions ... God restores Job’s fortunes, indeed, giving Job twice as much as Job had before.
And there was much loud rejoicing.
Our Gospel reading also has some loudness in it, but here, it’s from the blind beggar Bartimaeus, sitting by the side of the road as Jesus passes.
Now, in the past couple of weeks’ worth of Gospel readings, the people Jesus has encountered have been:
• The rich man, who told Jesus he’d obeyed all the commandments, and through his behavior, climbing his gold plated ladder to God, wanted, no, thought that he deserved to inherit eternal life;
• And last week, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who plotted to use their close proximity in relationship to Jesus, to request a place beside him in eternity.
Both those stories … both those examples … show more of the utter hubris of which we’ve been speaking this morning. The rich man, James and John, all three, wanting to approach God on God’s own level, if not as equals, then, certainly as ones who thought they deserved some kind of reward from God for their place, their good behavior, and so on.
Ah, but now this week, we encounter blind Bartimaeus … and the third story in the series, the third person-example, here, he is the one who gets it. What does Bartimaeus say, what does he do, when he encounters Jesus?
Does he demand place? Demand a reward?
Nope.
Son of David, have mercy on me!
Bartimaeus … not the rich man, not James and John … Bartimaeus gets it. And it is what faith in God, faith in God through Jesus Christ, is all about.
Repentance.
Repentance is the heart of Bartimaeus’ re-formation. He doesn’t claim any place of “rank” with Jesus … true, how could he, given that he was a blind beggar … but that’s the point, isn’t it? As Luther wrote in his last words in this life, “We are beggars, it is true.” All we have and all we are, we owe to God. There is no such thing as our claiming “place” with God … except the place of repentance. In humility. In humble de-centering of ourselves, and centering on God, and how far short we fall from God’s will for our lives.
Jesus sees this in Bartimaeus. And thus, we can see the outcome for Bartimaeus … the outcome of his claiming of his proper place for the sake of his relationship with God. His sight is restored. And seeing clearly, he follows Jesus.
Repentance is the heart of our reformation as well.
What repentance does, and brings to us – it’s the same as for Bartimaeus … as we repent, as we turn around, we hear the call of the Lord to decenter from ourselves and center on God, and see and hear how far short we fall from God’s will for our lives … as we repent, we find our true place with God … not co-creator, but created ones, created in God’s image … created ones, loved by God, but we get that relationship wrong … like Job, like the rich man, like James and John … we get that relationship wrong ALL THE TIME. Which affects all our other relationships, with the rest of God’s creation.
We aren’t always right, we don’t have all the answers, so we begin with repentance …
WE ARE NOT GOD, EVEN THOUGH WE THINK AND ACT LIKE WE ARE … so we must begin with repentance … each, every one of us. And through repentance, and forgiveness … we are restored to that wonderful place in life … our lives, God’s life, the life of the world.
Our sight is restored, our vision is made clear … and we see who we are made by our God to be … servant people … servant people who can now clearly see the world around us … and our neighbors in need, our neighbors who we are called to serve, in Jesus’ name.
And how many times are we called to repent? Every day. All ways.
For every time we repent, it is a re-washing by Christ in the flowing streams of living water, a remembrance of our baptism, a reclaiming of who God created us to be, in our right place in that relationship of love between Creator and creation.
When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
We are beggars, it is true.
On this Reformation Sunday, may those words of Luther … as they guide us back to the Scripture, back to repentance, back to our right place in relationship with our God … may those words bring you life … life, in the place where God calls you to be …
Your place, as part of God’s good created order … baptized children of God, sons, daughters, spouses, partners, employees, students, voters, citizens … in all those places, living your call to repentance, and forgiveness … bringing in the Kingdom of God, in your places, one word, one loving act, at a time, until that day when all is God’s Kingdom and God’s Kingdom is all, through the forgiving, restoring, healing touch of our dead and risen Lord Jesus Christ …
… to whom be all the glory, this day, and always.
Amen.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
21 October 2012
Job 38:1-7, 38-41; Mark 10:35-45
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time B
21 October 2012
Do you remember the first time you got “put in your place?”
Now, I realize, asking that question, sets me up for some trouble. Because, to even suggest that there is a place for everyone, an order to things, people, the way things are done … well, that word could well offend those who, well, don’t like to blindly accept that “fact.”
Some might call those kind of folks “iconoclasts” or “challenging authority.” But that criticism can be too harsh … certainly there have been historically, and continue to be, “places” people have been put in, which have not been just. How women have been treated. How minorities have been treated. And so on.
But that’s not the kind of being ‘put in your place’ of which I’m speaking this morning.
I’m thinking more of the good old “too big for your britches” place. The defiant child insisting they don’t have to finish their vegetables, or take out the garbage, or do their homework. The small fluffy dog, having eaten her dinner, getting right in my face, insisting that she is owed a treat.
That’s what I’m talking about this morning. This is “place for the sake of relationship,” meaning that, in order for there to be right relationship between two, there needs to be a proper appreciation, respect, for place. The child must finish their vegetables, take out the trash, do their homework, because they need to learn about good dietary habits, good work habits, good life skills, to prepare for adulthood. The dog needs to learn and obey the authority of their owner because the owner is their protector, they wouldn’t get very far in life on their own.
And so, here, too, is where we find Job, in this third week in October, this third week our lectionary reading from the Hebrew Scriptures has selected its portion from this ancient book of the Bible.
The past two weeks have introduced us to Job, the “blameless and upright” God-fearing man ... we’ve heard about how he “lost everything” ... flocks, herds, children ... how his wife advised him to “curse God and die” ... how his friends, Elipaz, Bildad, and Zophar, came to sit with Job but also, to try and pin blame on Job for his misfortune ... and how Job responded, insisting that he’d done nothing wrong, and seeking to take on God in a legal challenge ... Job, desiring to come before God on God’s level, to argue his innocence before God.
Until now, through the friends’ accusations and Job’s protestations God has remained silent.
But no longer.
Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
At first ... no, scratch that ... pretty much, every time we read or hear this, the voice those words come through in, sounds like this:
Where were YOU when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Bombastic ... belligerent ... bellicose ... these words hit us like a ton of bricks. God is responding, and is God ever ticked. And boy, is Job in for it now.
Except ... except this isn’t what’s happening here at all.
Now, I don’t want to give away next week’s concluding reading from Job ... but let’s just say right now that these words from God are not prelude to punishment. They are, more, pointing out Job’s place ... place for the sake of relationship.
Namely, Job is a creature, a creation of God the creator. That’s the way this relationship was created, if you will, to be and work. It is a relationship of love, yes, that’s true, but it’s not a relationship of equals.
God’s the creator, and Job is the creation. Don’t get too big for your britches, is what God is saying here.
It’s a little heavenly discipline ... yes ...but remember discipline does not have at its root “punishment,” but “disciple.”
Discipling ... it’s all about teaching right behavior for the sake of right relationship.
Don’t be misled. God loves Job, that’s for certain ... and God has been right here, alongside Job, paying attention, listening closely, through all the onion-peeling searching for the “why” of his suffering which Job’s friends have imposed upon Job ... and through all of Job’s fist-shaking and injunction-filing, uphill scrambling, expending all his wits and energy to get on the same level with God because he – Job - just has to be there, he’s done nothing wrong, he doesn’t deserve this, and he demands to take it up, man to man, with God.
Yet God was there all along, hearing every word.
What would have happened if Job would have realized this, and thrown himself onto the relationship of love which always existed between him and God, rather than trying to build castles in the air to reach God on God’s level?
Well, the book of Job would be a lot shorter, that’s for sure.
The point is, God was always there for Job, always there, in God’s place, for the sake of his relationship with Job ... Job was the one who moved away from God.
So God needed some loving discipline ... teaching right behavior for the sake of right relationship ... to bring Job back.
And once again this week, the word from the Hebrew Scriptures is echoed in the Gospel text.
Here, those who have gotten “too big for their britches” are James and John, the sons of Zebedee, two of the twelve apostles. If we go back in Mark’s Gospel, back to chapter one, we recall that these two were numbers three and four of the twelve Jesus originally called to follow him.
Evidently James and John thought that “their close place meant privilege,” or something like that.
Teacher ... grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.
Jesus’ response back to them ... not as harsh-sounding as God’s word back to Job ... still, it calls James and John back to their place ... once again, place for the sake of relationship:
You do not know what you are asking.
The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.
But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.
Jesus wants James and John to know what they are asking of him ... just like Job, they are trying to put themselves on the same level with God. However, since they don’t yet really know what or who Jesus is all about ... Jesus’ words are more low-key to them. You do not know what you are asking, so I’ll tell you about it ... it’s also not your place to ask to be in that place; that’s only for God to grant.
The other disciples, though ... they are angry with James and John. Relationship has been broken.
So Jesus has to have a talk with everyone about place ... place for the sake of relationship, Jesus’ relationship with them, and more, their relationship with the rest of the world:
Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first of all must be slave of all.
Your place ... Jesus says ... your place, dear disciples, if you wish to follow me ... your place is with me in my most holy place ... as servant, as slave, of all.
Once again ... just as in last week’s Gospel text, Jesus’ interaction with, his words to the rich man who wanted to climb his gold-plated ladder to God, Jesus points out here that when he –Jesus – talks about the Way of God, he’s talking a totally different way than the world sees, or does.
What Jesus is talking about here is a totally different way of living, a way at “cross paths,” if you will, with the way of the world.
He’s talking ... the Theology of the Cross.
In other words ... everything which people say is Godly and true and right ... wealth, prestige, power, popularity ... NONE of that brings us closer to God ... the God who comes in Jesus Christ, who comes and says and lives, that what brings one closest to God is emptying oneself, suffering, dying ... “losing it all.”
And the “new” word here today ... for the disciples, for us ... is not really new at all; it was the same word God gave to Job ... you, my precious one, I haven’t moved away from you at all; my way is service and I am servant, slave ... that is my place for the sake of relationship ... now, hear my Word again, my Word as I call you to that same place of service ... where I am, there you shall be also ... this place, for the sake of our relationship ... for the sake of the world I created, which I sustain, which through the death and resurrection of my Son, I redeem ...
... For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
And so, once again this week, the Word of God for us today, from both these texts ... in this community gathered ... through flowing streams of living baptismal water ... through the Meal of our Lord who gives us his very self, week after week, so that he becomes true part of us ... the Word of God for us once again today is that We Are Not Alone. Ever.
God’s. Will. In. Jesus. Is. That. You. Will. Never. Ever. Be. Alone.
You. Are. Not. Alone. Christ. Is. With. You.
Christ ... whose place is always alongside you ... whose place is holy, sacred service, to and for the sake of the world God loves.
Christ ... who calls you to your place. Your place, for the sake of relationship, with him, with others, with and for the sake of the world God loves. Your place ... which is as servant, as slave, of all.
Service ... especially to those who God calls most precious ... the poor, the widowed, the orphan, the stranger, the alien, foreigner, outcast in our midst ...
Service ... as Jesus lives it ... most precious, most holy, to those who are most different from us ... politically, socially, ideologically, religiously.
Service ... o people of God, o people of Nativity ... service is our place, our place for the sake of relationship, relationship with God, relationship with each other, relationship to and for the sake of the world which God most certainly loves.
You and I are called to service. Each, all of us. This is not a passive, sit back and let it wash all over me faith. It is living, and active, and VITAL ... service, determined, worked out, realized, as we listen, and share, and interact ... in relationship ... with each other. As Christ does for us. So we are called as well.
THIS is the Word of Life which gives us life.
THIS is the Word of Life which creates in us new life, not just for the time to come, but for the time that is now.
You. Are. Not. Alone. Christ. Is. With. You.
And Christ calls you to that place where he always is, the place of holy, sacred service.
May you know the courage, the wisdom ... the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ ... as you follow Christ’s call to stand in that gap, for others, this week ...
... one day at a time ...
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time B
21 October 2012
Do you remember the first time you got “put in your place?”
Now, I realize, asking that question, sets me up for some trouble. Because, to even suggest that there is a place for everyone, an order to things, people, the way things are done … well, that word could well offend those who, well, don’t like to blindly accept that “fact.”
Some might call those kind of folks “iconoclasts” or “challenging authority.” But that criticism can be too harsh … certainly there have been historically, and continue to be, “places” people have been put in, which have not been just. How women have been treated. How minorities have been treated. And so on.
But that’s not the kind of being ‘put in your place’ of which I’m speaking this morning.
I’m thinking more of the good old “too big for your britches” place. The defiant child insisting they don’t have to finish their vegetables, or take out the garbage, or do their homework. The small fluffy dog, having eaten her dinner, getting right in my face, insisting that she is owed a treat.
That’s what I’m talking about this morning. This is “place for the sake of relationship,” meaning that, in order for there to be right relationship between two, there needs to be a proper appreciation, respect, for place. The child must finish their vegetables, take out the trash, do their homework, because they need to learn about good dietary habits, good work habits, good life skills, to prepare for adulthood. The dog needs to learn and obey the authority of their owner because the owner is their protector, they wouldn’t get very far in life on their own.
And so, here, too, is where we find Job, in this third week in October, this third week our lectionary reading from the Hebrew Scriptures has selected its portion from this ancient book of the Bible.
The past two weeks have introduced us to Job, the “blameless and upright” God-fearing man ... we’ve heard about how he “lost everything” ... flocks, herds, children ... how his wife advised him to “curse God and die” ... how his friends, Elipaz, Bildad, and Zophar, came to sit with Job but also, to try and pin blame on Job for his misfortune ... and how Job responded, insisting that he’d done nothing wrong, and seeking to take on God in a legal challenge ... Job, desiring to come before God on God’s level, to argue his innocence before God.
Until now, through the friends’ accusations and Job’s protestations God has remained silent.
But no longer.
Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
At first ... no, scratch that ... pretty much, every time we read or hear this, the voice those words come through in, sounds like this:
Where were YOU when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Bombastic ... belligerent ... bellicose ... these words hit us like a ton of bricks. God is responding, and is God ever ticked. And boy, is Job in for it now.
Except ... except this isn’t what’s happening here at all.
Now, I don’t want to give away next week’s concluding reading from Job ... but let’s just say right now that these words from God are not prelude to punishment. They are, more, pointing out Job’s place ... place for the sake of relationship.
Namely, Job is a creature, a creation of God the creator. That’s the way this relationship was created, if you will, to be and work. It is a relationship of love, yes, that’s true, but it’s not a relationship of equals.
God’s the creator, and Job is the creation. Don’t get too big for your britches, is what God is saying here.
It’s a little heavenly discipline ... yes ...but remember discipline does not have at its root “punishment,” but “disciple.”
Discipling ... it’s all about teaching right behavior for the sake of right relationship.
Don’t be misled. God loves Job, that’s for certain ... and God has been right here, alongside Job, paying attention, listening closely, through all the onion-peeling searching for the “why” of his suffering which Job’s friends have imposed upon Job ... and through all of Job’s fist-shaking and injunction-filing, uphill scrambling, expending all his wits and energy to get on the same level with God because he – Job - just has to be there, he’s done nothing wrong, he doesn’t deserve this, and he demands to take it up, man to man, with God.
Yet God was there all along, hearing every word.
What would have happened if Job would have realized this, and thrown himself onto the relationship of love which always existed between him and God, rather than trying to build castles in the air to reach God on God’s level?
Well, the book of Job would be a lot shorter, that’s for sure.
The point is, God was always there for Job, always there, in God’s place, for the sake of his relationship with Job ... Job was the one who moved away from God.
So God needed some loving discipline ... teaching right behavior for the sake of right relationship ... to bring Job back.
And once again this week, the word from the Hebrew Scriptures is echoed in the Gospel text.
Here, those who have gotten “too big for their britches” are James and John, the sons of Zebedee, two of the twelve apostles. If we go back in Mark’s Gospel, back to chapter one, we recall that these two were numbers three and four of the twelve Jesus originally called to follow him.
Evidently James and John thought that “their close place meant privilege,” or something like that.
Teacher ... grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.
Jesus’ response back to them ... not as harsh-sounding as God’s word back to Job ... still, it calls James and John back to their place ... once again, place for the sake of relationship:
You do not know what you are asking.
The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.
But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.
Jesus wants James and John to know what they are asking of him ... just like Job, they are trying to put themselves on the same level with God. However, since they don’t yet really know what or who Jesus is all about ... Jesus’ words are more low-key to them. You do not know what you are asking, so I’ll tell you about it ... it’s also not your place to ask to be in that place; that’s only for God to grant.
The other disciples, though ... they are angry with James and John. Relationship has been broken.
So Jesus has to have a talk with everyone about place ... place for the sake of relationship, Jesus’ relationship with them, and more, their relationship with the rest of the world:
Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first of all must be slave of all.
Your place ... Jesus says ... your place, dear disciples, if you wish to follow me ... your place is with me in my most holy place ... as servant, as slave, of all.
Once again ... just as in last week’s Gospel text, Jesus’ interaction with, his words to the rich man who wanted to climb his gold-plated ladder to God, Jesus points out here that when he –Jesus – talks about the Way of God, he’s talking a totally different way than the world sees, or does.
What Jesus is talking about here is a totally different way of living, a way at “cross paths,” if you will, with the way of the world.
He’s talking ... the Theology of the Cross.
In other words ... everything which people say is Godly and true and right ... wealth, prestige, power, popularity ... NONE of that brings us closer to God ... the God who comes in Jesus Christ, who comes and says and lives, that what brings one closest to God is emptying oneself, suffering, dying ... “losing it all.”
And the “new” word here today ... for the disciples, for us ... is not really new at all; it was the same word God gave to Job ... you, my precious one, I haven’t moved away from you at all; my way is service and I am servant, slave ... that is my place for the sake of relationship ... now, hear my Word again, my Word as I call you to that same place of service ... where I am, there you shall be also ... this place, for the sake of our relationship ... for the sake of the world I created, which I sustain, which through the death and resurrection of my Son, I redeem ...
... For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
And so, once again this week, the Word of God for us today, from both these texts ... in this community gathered ... through flowing streams of living baptismal water ... through the Meal of our Lord who gives us his very self, week after week, so that he becomes true part of us ... the Word of God for us once again today is that We Are Not Alone. Ever.
God’s. Will. In. Jesus. Is. That. You. Will. Never. Ever. Be. Alone.
You. Are. Not. Alone. Christ. Is. With. You.
Christ ... whose place is always alongside you ... whose place is holy, sacred service, to and for the sake of the world God loves.
Christ ... who calls you to your place. Your place, for the sake of relationship, with him, with others, with and for the sake of the world God loves. Your place ... which is as servant, as slave, of all.
Service ... especially to those who God calls most precious ... the poor, the widowed, the orphan, the stranger, the alien, foreigner, outcast in our midst ...
Service ... as Jesus lives it ... most precious, most holy, to those who are most different from us ... politically, socially, ideologically, religiously.
Service ... o people of God, o people of Nativity ... service is our place, our place for the sake of relationship, relationship with God, relationship with each other, relationship to and for the sake of the world which God most certainly loves.
You and I are called to service. Each, all of us. This is not a passive, sit back and let it wash all over me faith. It is living, and active, and VITAL ... service, determined, worked out, realized, as we listen, and share, and interact ... in relationship ... with each other. As Christ does for us. So we are called as well.
THIS is the Word of Life which gives us life.
THIS is the Word of Life which creates in us new life, not just for the time to come, but for the time that is now.
You. Are. Not. Alone. Christ. Is. With. You.
And Christ calls you to that place where he always is, the place of holy, sacred service.
May you know the courage, the wisdom ... the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ ... as you follow Christ’s call to stand in that gap, for others, this week ...
... one day at a time ...
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
14 October 2012
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time B
Job 23:1-9, 16-17 / Mark 10:17-31
14 October 2012
Today’s texts both have as their theme “searching for God.”
Job, in the midst of his suffering, wondering where is God for him in it.
The rich man, running up to Jesus, wondering how he can inherit eternal life.
Let’s first take a look at Job.
A little catch up to where we find Job today … last week, we had our introduction to Job, this one seen by God as upright and without blame, yet assaulted and assailed by the Adversary (yes, he’s named Satan here but this is not at all his place – think ‘independent prosecutor’ for a more accurate picture of who this is.) Job “loses everything” … his flocks and herds, his daughters and sons, his health.
Only his wife remains, and she’s not much for which to give thanks.
Curse God and die! is her spousal advice to Job.
After this loving word … Job is visited by three friends … Elipaz, Bildad, and Zophar. They sit in silence with him for a whole week, and then, Job opens his mouth, cursing the day he was born.
Then the friends begin a series of discourses with Job … each one, speaking in turn, then Job responding to each.
What do they say to Job?
To condense it down to a main point, it would be this … each ‘friend’ tries to find some reason, some explanation, some cause for Job’s suffering. Job must have done something wrong … maybe his children or family have done something wrong, offending God … their insinuation is that God punishes the wicked, and since you suffered all this loss, Job, you must be being punished by God for some kind of wrongdoing.
And Job’s response?
Much as you would guess … Job maintains his own innocence … besides, he says, look around … there are plenty of wicked people whose lives are flourishing.
And the friends’ response?
They continue to defend the holiness of God and the punishment of the wicked.
And that’s the theme of chapters 3 through 22 ... words I encourage you to read them for yourselves, because there is much there to consider and ponder.
But today, in the portion of Job we have before us, from chapter 23, Job takes a break from responding to his friends’ words and, instead, turns inward, considering how he would complain to God, oh, if he (Job) could just find God ...
Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning.
Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling!
If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him;
On the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.
For Job, there with his friends but oh, so alone, in the presence of their accusations, their finger pointing, their trying to find fault or reason where reasonableness ends ... for Job, God is a million miles away, unable to hear, to see, to feel what he’s going through.
A few chapters earlier, Job is even more eloquent, in more familiar verses of which their original meaning ... what Job means by saying them ... this has been most obscured by Christians over the centuries.
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
And after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
Those verses from Job chapter 19 have been read at countless funerals over the centuries, and set to music in Handel’s beloved “Messiah.”
They have given the dying hope, the grieving comfort and peace.
And yet ... for Job, in Job’s place, where he’s saying them ... in this singular moment, it’s simply more of the same stuff he’s saying in chapter 23.
Namely ... what Job wants is to put himself on the level playing field with God ... to confront, to insist on an answer to the why and the wherefore of it all ... to demand to be treated as an equal with God.
Job is seeking, scrambling after God in those words from chapter 23. And the “redeemer” he wants in chapter 19 is better translated as “vindicator,” one on the level with Job and God who would take up Job’s cause before the heavenly court, an equal and opposite prosecutor to the one who has inflicted such suffering on him.
In other words, the way Job seeks to find answers to his questions, the way Job seeks peace, is to seek legal satisfaction ... going after God on his (Job’s) terms.
Much like the rich man in the Gospel reading.
Note in this text, how high Jesus sets the bar for one seeking after the holiness and righteousness of God.
Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor ... then come, follow me.
We hear those words and the truth of what Jesus says in the next paragraph, How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God, well, it really sinks in.
As well it should.
This story is about stuff and, yes, stuff gets in the way of our worship of God. The more stuff you and I have, the harder it is to focus on a spiritual life.
As if to synchronize the Scriptures to daily life this week, witness the survey from the Pew Research Center which came out this past week. That survey’s findings ... fully 20% of all Americans have no religious affiliation whatsoever. Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jew, Wiccan ... it doesn’t matter. One fifth of all Americans, when checking the box marked “religious preference,” put their X in “none of the above.” The highest number ever.
Now, I didn’t hear if Pew took the same survey in, oh, Tanzania, South Africa ... where the average annual wage is $280 US dollars ... that’s per year, folks. I would guess Pew didn’t do that same survey there ... but I would also guess that those who they might ask the same question of in Tanzania wouldn’t have any idea what the choice “no religious affiliation” was about.
Because stuff gets in the way of faith. Plain and simple.
Jesus knew this, this rich man being so self assured that, in his pursuit of eternal life, he had kept all the commandments. But then Jesus dropped The Big One – get rid of all your stuff, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow me.
And when he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
What’s happening here, is that Jesus is being completely consistent. Consistent with the message we’ve heard all the way through this section of Mark’s Gospel we began over a month ago ... contrary to the dominant voices of human culture and popular religion ... personal wealth is not a sign of God’s favor; indeed, the more personal wealth you have, the larger the obstacle between you and right relationship with God.
No wonder the rich man walked away grieving. We hear that; and we do, too. Not because we’re capitalists and like the free-enterprise, market-based economy (I certainly do like that system, I’m betting my retirement on it) ... but simply, because we like our stuff.
We do. And we can’t bear the thought of giving it up.
Now, all that being said ... I want to say something which may upset some of you.
The easy temptation for some preachers in what used to be called “mainline” churches, preachers in our churches who encounter this text, is to use it to drive a wedge between rich and poor ... indeed, to swing it around like some kind of a Scriptural sledgehammer, “Here most certainly, Jesus is exhorting us to a radical redistribution of wealth.” “Jesus is commanding us, Give it all up, you who have much, give it to the poor so they can have ... give it over and you will get closer to me.”
Haranguing for liberal guilt.
Personal political agendas with Jesus’ face slapped on them for good measure.
I’ve heard sermons like that before. Perhaps some of you have too. I would guess, in this election year, there are plenty of sermons being preached like that today.
BUT PREACHING THIS WAY, INTERPRETING THE TEXT THIS WAY, IT’S COMMITTING THE SAME SIN AS THE RICH MAN ... THE SAME SIN AS JOB.
Namely ... suggesting, insisting, that by US doing something, we’re going to be able to draw closer to God.
Bull.
Jesus knows what a farce that is. Yes, he doesn’t back down from his words; but yes, his words are calling his hearers, then and now, to something far greater than a bumper-sticker slogan for the 2012 Presidential Election.
First, note the disciples’ words. In this conversation about stuff, they are keenly aware of how difficult Jesus’ words are.
They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?”
Indeed, who?
NO ONE.
The bar is set far too high.
For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.
You see, that, to which this Gospel text is calling us, US, both rich and poor, is something vastly different than a Biblically prescribed economic system. The Good News for all ... rich, poor, and everyone in between ... is that the way to be completely rich is to die to wealth completely.
That’s totally different than the empty shell game, of moving the same old stuff around, and setting up new legal rules and more ladder rungs for reaching the Lord.
Which is all garbage.
Because what Jesus is talking about here is a totally different way of living.
He’s talking ... the Theology of the Cross.
In other words ... everything which people say is Godly and true and right ... wealth, prestige, power, popularity ... NONE of that brings us closer to God ... the God who comes in Jesus Christ, who comes and says and lives, that what brings one closest to God is emptying oneself, suffering, dying ... “losing it all.”
And unknowingly, the rich man speaks the True Word about the Cross in his opening words:
Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
The key word is right there, inherit.
To inherit, as anyone knows ... some of us, far too well, far too close these days ... to inherit, means someone has to die.
Precisely.
THE ONLY WAY WE RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE IS TO INHERIT IT. As gift. Through the death of Jesus.
The worst of all which brings the best for all.
THIS IS THE WAY GOD COMES TO US ... NOT A WAY WE GET TO GOD, BUT THE CROSS BRINGS OUT THE WAY WE LIVE IN JESUS, THE WAY GOD ‘GETS TO US.’
Life, from death.
And suffering and sacrifice bringing benefits.
Yes ... suffering and sacrifice bringing benefits.
Don’t believe me? Then listen to a real authority, the Pirate of Pullman, WSU football coach Mike Leach, lay out the theology of the cross for us, as he spoke in an interview with Sportspage Northwest this past week:
Right now we're a team that if we face any adversity, we get discouraged. If you don't embrace adversity, you're never going to improve.
If you don't embrace adversity, you're never going to improve.
Precisely.
And it’s here where Job and the rich man, the disciples and Jesus, all come together ... cross paths, so to speak, this week. At the Cross.
The Cross ... where God become a Man goes, to become the real Redeemer ... not to make Job equal with God, so Job could shake his fist in God’s face and demand answers ... but instead, showing the way of submission ... Jesus’ total submission, for us, suffering and dying, giving it all up, to give us life.
The Cross ... where Jesus shows how far God is willing to go to be with us ... which is, all the way. Through the adversity, through the abandonment, through the suffering and the dying. In other words, through it all, so that we would never be totally alone.
EVER.
For Job, then, the real question isn’t, Why?, but Who? Who is there with him, in his suffering, in his pain, in his walking through the valley of the shadow of death?
For the rich man, the real question isn’t What?, but Who? Who is the One who suffers my suffering, who lives my life with all its rising and falling, who knows what it is to be Truly Human because he is truly human, who dies my death so that I may inherit eternal life?
In a way, both the rich man and Job have it right. The rich man, unknowingly using that word “inherit.” And Job, unwittingly, saying that he knows his Redeemer lives ... though he does not know Christ, his words point ahead, ahead to the day of the Cross, the Grave, the Empty Tomb and the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting ... his words do now give hope. That through the gate and grave of death itself ... death to wealth, death to power, death to all that this earth views of value ... death of ourselves, our stuff, our ALL ... through death, comes life.
And so the Word of God for us today, from both these texts ... in this community gathered ... through flowing streams of living baptismal water ... through the Meal of our Lord who gives us his very self, week after week, so that he becomes true part of us ... the Word of God for us today is that We Are Not Alone. Ever.
Through it all ... through the loneliness of Job ... through the loneliness of the rich man ... both extremes, both lonely and alone in their own way ... the Word of God for them, and for us, everyone in between, is that You Are Not Alone.
God’s. Will. In. Jesus. Is. That. You. Will. Never. Ever. Be. Alone.
On the highest mountain, in the deepest valley, with lots of stuff or hardly anything at all.
You. Are. Not. Alone. Christ. Is. With. You.
The Word of Life which gives us life.
The Word of Life which creates in us new life, not just for the time to come, but for the time that is now.
The Word of Life which drives us to be there, with and for each other;
not like Job’s friends, turning over theological rocks to try and find the little bugs crawling underneath ...
... not like the rich man, trying to climb to God on his gold-plated ladder ...
... but now, forgiven, freed, agenda-less ... simply, free to be there for and with each other, so that Christ’s presence with us might, will be felt through the flesh and blood that is us, simply present with and for one another, us, freed to empty ourselves fully, completely for one another ... for each other ... for the sake of the world God loves.
You. Are. Not. Alone. Christ. Is. With. You.
May you know the courage, the wisdom ... the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ ... as you follow Christ’s call to stand in that gap, for others, this week ...
... one day at a time ...
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Job 23:1-9, 16-17 / Mark 10:17-31
14 October 2012
Today’s texts both have as their theme “searching for God.”
Job, in the midst of his suffering, wondering where is God for him in it.
The rich man, running up to Jesus, wondering how he can inherit eternal life.
Let’s first take a look at Job.
A little catch up to where we find Job today … last week, we had our introduction to Job, this one seen by God as upright and without blame, yet assaulted and assailed by the Adversary (yes, he’s named Satan here but this is not at all his place – think ‘independent prosecutor’ for a more accurate picture of who this is.) Job “loses everything” … his flocks and herds, his daughters and sons, his health.
Only his wife remains, and she’s not much for which to give thanks.
Curse God and die! is her spousal advice to Job.
After this loving word … Job is visited by three friends … Elipaz, Bildad, and Zophar. They sit in silence with him for a whole week, and then, Job opens his mouth, cursing the day he was born.
Then the friends begin a series of discourses with Job … each one, speaking in turn, then Job responding to each.
What do they say to Job?
To condense it down to a main point, it would be this … each ‘friend’ tries to find some reason, some explanation, some cause for Job’s suffering. Job must have done something wrong … maybe his children or family have done something wrong, offending God … their insinuation is that God punishes the wicked, and since you suffered all this loss, Job, you must be being punished by God for some kind of wrongdoing.
And Job’s response?
Much as you would guess … Job maintains his own innocence … besides, he says, look around … there are plenty of wicked people whose lives are flourishing.
And the friends’ response?
They continue to defend the holiness of God and the punishment of the wicked.
And that’s the theme of chapters 3 through 22 ... words I encourage you to read them for yourselves, because there is much there to consider and ponder.
But today, in the portion of Job we have before us, from chapter 23, Job takes a break from responding to his friends’ words and, instead, turns inward, considering how he would complain to God, oh, if he (Job) could just find God ...
Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning.
Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling!
If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him;
On the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.
For Job, there with his friends but oh, so alone, in the presence of their accusations, their finger pointing, their trying to find fault or reason where reasonableness ends ... for Job, God is a million miles away, unable to hear, to see, to feel what he’s going through.
A few chapters earlier, Job is even more eloquent, in more familiar verses of which their original meaning ... what Job means by saying them ... this has been most obscured by Christians over the centuries.
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
And after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
Those verses from Job chapter 19 have been read at countless funerals over the centuries, and set to music in Handel’s beloved “Messiah.”
They have given the dying hope, the grieving comfort and peace.
And yet ... for Job, in Job’s place, where he’s saying them ... in this singular moment, it’s simply more of the same stuff he’s saying in chapter 23.
Namely ... what Job wants is to put himself on the level playing field with God ... to confront, to insist on an answer to the why and the wherefore of it all ... to demand to be treated as an equal with God.
Job is seeking, scrambling after God in those words from chapter 23. And the “redeemer” he wants in chapter 19 is better translated as “vindicator,” one on the level with Job and God who would take up Job’s cause before the heavenly court, an equal and opposite prosecutor to the one who has inflicted such suffering on him.
In other words, the way Job seeks to find answers to his questions, the way Job seeks peace, is to seek legal satisfaction ... going after God on his (Job’s) terms.
Much like the rich man in the Gospel reading.
Note in this text, how high Jesus sets the bar for one seeking after the holiness and righteousness of God.
Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor ... then come, follow me.
We hear those words and the truth of what Jesus says in the next paragraph, How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God, well, it really sinks in.
As well it should.
This story is about stuff and, yes, stuff gets in the way of our worship of God. The more stuff you and I have, the harder it is to focus on a spiritual life.
As if to synchronize the Scriptures to daily life this week, witness the survey from the Pew Research Center which came out this past week. That survey’s findings ... fully 20% of all Americans have no religious affiliation whatsoever. Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jew, Wiccan ... it doesn’t matter. One fifth of all Americans, when checking the box marked “religious preference,” put their X in “none of the above.” The highest number ever.
Now, I didn’t hear if Pew took the same survey in, oh, Tanzania, South Africa ... where the average annual wage is $280 US dollars ... that’s per year, folks. I would guess Pew didn’t do that same survey there ... but I would also guess that those who they might ask the same question of in Tanzania wouldn’t have any idea what the choice “no religious affiliation” was about.
Because stuff gets in the way of faith. Plain and simple.
Jesus knew this, this rich man being so self assured that, in his pursuit of eternal life, he had kept all the commandments. But then Jesus dropped The Big One – get rid of all your stuff, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow me.
And when he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
What’s happening here, is that Jesus is being completely consistent. Consistent with the message we’ve heard all the way through this section of Mark’s Gospel we began over a month ago ... contrary to the dominant voices of human culture and popular religion ... personal wealth is not a sign of God’s favor; indeed, the more personal wealth you have, the larger the obstacle between you and right relationship with God.
No wonder the rich man walked away grieving. We hear that; and we do, too. Not because we’re capitalists and like the free-enterprise, market-based economy (I certainly do like that system, I’m betting my retirement on it) ... but simply, because we like our stuff.
We do. And we can’t bear the thought of giving it up.
Now, all that being said ... I want to say something which may upset some of you.
The easy temptation for some preachers in what used to be called “mainline” churches, preachers in our churches who encounter this text, is to use it to drive a wedge between rich and poor ... indeed, to swing it around like some kind of a Scriptural sledgehammer, “Here most certainly, Jesus is exhorting us to a radical redistribution of wealth.” “Jesus is commanding us, Give it all up, you who have much, give it to the poor so they can have ... give it over and you will get closer to me.”
Haranguing for liberal guilt.
Personal political agendas with Jesus’ face slapped on them for good measure.
I’ve heard sermons like that before. Perhaps some of you have too. I would guess, in this election year, there are plenty of sermons being preached like that today.
BUT PREACHING THIS WAY, INTERPRETING THE TEXT THIS WAY, IT’S COMMITTING THE SAME SIN AS THE RICH MAN ... THE SAME SIN AS JOB.
Namely ... suggesting, insisting, that by US doing something, we’re going to be able to draw closer to God.
Bull.
Jesus knows what a farce that is. Yes, he doesn’t back down from his words; but yes, his words are calling his hearers, then and now, to something far greater than a bumper-sticker slogan for the 2012 Presidential Election.
First, note the disciples’ words. In this conversation about stuff, they are keenly aware of how difficult Jesus’ words are.
They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?”
Indeed, who?
NO ONE.
The bar is set far too high.
For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.
You see, that, to which this Gospel text is calling us, US, both rich and poor, is something vastly different than a Biblically prescribed economic system. The Good News for all ... rich, poor, and everyone in between ... is that the way to be completely rich is to die to wealth completely.
That’s totally different than the empty shell game, of moving the same old stuff around, and setting up new legal rules and more ladder rungs for reaching the Lord.
Which is all garbage.
Because what Jesus is talking about here is a totally different way of living.
He’s talking ... the Theology of the Cross.
In other words ... everything which people say is Godly and true and right ... wealth, prestige, power, popularity ... NONE of that brings us closer to God ... the God who comes in Jesus Christ, who comes and says and lives, that what brings one closest to God is emptying oneself, suffering, dying ... “losing it all.”
And unknowingly, the rich man speaks the True Word about the Cross in his opening words:
Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
The key word is right there, inherit.
To inherit, as anyone knows ... some of us, far too well, far too close these days ... to inherit, means someone has to die.
Precisely.
THE ONLY WAY WE RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE IS TO INHERIT IT. As gift. Through the death of Jesus.
The worst of all which brings the best for all.
THIS IS THE WAY GOD COMES TO US ... NOT A WAY WE GET TO GOD, BUT THE CROSS BRINGS OUT THE WAY WE LIVE IN JESUS, THE WAY GOD ‘GETS TO US.’
Life, from death.
And suffering and sacrifice bringing benefits.
Yes ... suffering and sacrifice bringing benefits.
Don’t believe me? Then listen to a real authority, the Pirate of Pullman, WSU football coach Mike Leach, lay out the theology of the cross for us, as he spoke in an interview with Sportspage Northwest this past week:
Right now we're a team that if we face any adversity, we get discouraged. If you don't embrace adversity, you're never going to improve.
If you don't embrace adversity, you're never going to improve.
Precisely.
And it’s here where Job and the rich man, the disciples and Jesus, all come together ... cross paths, so to speak, this week. At the Cross.
The Cross ... where God become a Man goes, to become the real Redeemer ... not to make Job equal with God, so Job could shake his fist in God’s face and demand answers ... but instead, showing the way of submission ... Jesus’ total submission, for us, suffering and dying, giving it all up, to give us life.
The Cross ... where Jesus shows how far God is willing to go to be with us ... which is, all the way. Through the adversity, through the abandonment, through the suffering and the dying. In other words, through it all, so that we would never be totally alone.
EVER.
For Job, then, the real question isn’t, Why?, but Who? Who is there with him, in his suffering, in his pain, in his walking through the valley of the shadow of death?
For the rich man, the real question isn’t What?, but Who? Who is the One who suffers my suffering, who lives my life with all its rising and falling, who knows what it is to be Truly Human because he is truly human, who dies my death so that I may inherit eternal life?
In a way, both the rich man and Job have it right. The rich man, unknowingly using that word “inherit.” And Job, unwittingly, saying that he knows his Redeemer lives ... though he does not know Christ, his words point ahead, ahead to the day of the Cross, the Grave, the Empty Tomb and the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting ... his words do now give hope. That through the gate and grave of death itself ... death to wealth, death to power, death to all that this earth views of value ... death of ourselves, our stuff, our ALL ... through death, comes life.
And so the Word of God for us today, from both these texts ... in this community gathered ... through flowing streams of living baptismal water ... through the Meal of our Lord who gives us his very self, week after week, so that he becomes true part of us ... the Word of God for us today is that We Are Not Alone. Ever.
Through it all ... through the loneliness of Job ... through the loneliness of the rich man ... both extremes, both lonely and alone in their own way ... the Word of God for them, and for us, everyone in between, is that You Are Not Alone.
God’s. Will. In. Jesus. Is. That. You. Will. Never. Ever. Be. Alone.
On the highest mountain, in the deepest valley, with lots of stuff or hardly anything at all.
You. Are. Not. Alone. Christ. Is. With. You.
The Word of Life which gives us life.
The Word of Life which creates in us new life, not just for the time to come, but for the time that is now.
The Word of Life which drives us to be there, with and for each other;
not like Job’s friends, turning over theological rocks to try and find the little bugs crawling underneath ...
... not like the rich man, trying to climb to God on his gold-plated ladder ...
... but now, forgiven, freed, agenda-less ... simply, free to be there for and with each other, so that Christ’s presence with us might, will be felt through the flesh and blood that is us, simply present with and for one another, us, freed to empty ourselves fully, completely for one another ... for each other ... for the sake of the world God loves.
You. Are. Not. Alone. Christ. Is. With. You.
May you know the courage, the wisdom ... the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ ... as you follow Christ’s call to stand in that gap, for others, this week ...
... one day at a time ...
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Sunday, October 07, 2012
7 October 2012
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Job 1:1, 2:1-10; Mark 10:2-16
7 October 2012
So here we are, the first Sunday of a new month, the seasons perceptibly changing from summer to fall ... and we might well think, well, here in worship, perhaps the change of calendar will bring us some more pleasant texts to hear and read and ponder on, especially after those we had in September; hard words for us from Jesus about how we should ... submit to God: favor the poor; live the cross-shaped life; confess Jesus’ name in our actions rather than just in words; and live together as God’s people.
Ah yes. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few light sentences about sheep?
But NO!
Here this morning, we get the suffering of Job ... and divorce.
A miserable combination of texts if ever there were. Job by itself might be all right ... and, indeed, we will have readings from the book of Job ... much discussed by people OUTSIDE worship but seldom heard IN worship ... today and the next three Sundays we’ll have our Old Testament reading from Job.
But then we add the text from Mark’s Gospel ... and suddenly, what could have been a beautiful morning of worship becomes at the least, uncomfortable, and for some, unbearable.
Now, six years ago I did a rather extensive sermon-study on this passage of Mark’s Gospel. But – and perhaps, you will be relieved at this word -- I’m not going to do that again today. Maybe in three more years, when this text comes around again, and most of you have forgotten that 2006 sermon, I might roll it out, dust it off, spruce it up and preach it again ... until then, I can give you a copy if you want.
But don’t rush into relief. Such a text calls us to pay attention to these main points ... points I believe we need to hear, today, as well, and not just leave the Word, and us, its hearers, hanging:
• First, Jesus never prohibits divorce. It is allowed “because of your hardness of heart;” so it is a law, like so many laws given by God because people couldn’t handle the freedom that God would rather give them, they needed rules and guidelines, kings and judges, rulers and rules. Read the text yourselves: Jesus never says, “Don’t get divorced.” And he certainly does not condemn those who must go there, for whatever reason. Certainly, divorce is a better alternative than breaking one of the commandments – like murder! The Pharisees ask the wrong question of Jesus.
• Second, what Jesus does talk about in this passage is “what is God’s will for marriage?” That’s the right question that the Pharisees should have asked him, but didn’t. And Jesus’ answer is clear ... God’s will concerning marriage, is that it would last forever.
• Third, Jesus’ words about committing adultery if one who is divorced remarries. Note that Jesus doesn’t shout this from the rooftops; it’s a private question between the disciples and Jesus, after they had left the public square. So this is where the delicate stuff comes out; words he doesn’t wield as a club, but quietly, with those he trusts and loves.
• And yet ... these words are clear. No amount of theological nit-picking, ancient situation gazing, word study, whatever, can make them go away. They are what they are ... and what they are, are not words for us to use to beat up on each other, but rather, words about God’s intentions for us.
But we have two other passages of Scripture before us today for our study and meditation ... one, the second part of our Gospel; the other, the prologue and beginning of the story of that poor fellow Job. And guess what. They also have a laser-focus on what God’s intentions are for us.
First, let’s get more familiar with Job, since we’ll be hearing his story for the next four weeks.
Some Bible scholars believe that, rather than the Pentateuch or Torah (the first five books of the Bible – Genesis/Exodus/Leviticus/Numbers/ Deuteronomy), Job is actually the oldest book in the Bible ... written in perhaps the 7th century before the Christian era.
Whether that’s true or not, we can agree that the questions behind the book of Job are certainly as old as humanity itself ... namely, “Why is there evil in the world?” and “Why do good people suffer?”
Questions certainly pertinent to our Gospel reading ... thus its pairing with this section of Mark.
But the Word in Job should certainly be examined on its own merits first.
As the story goes,
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
And then ... la merde a frappé le ventilateur.
We need to get a few things straight, first, though.
Note that we only get the first verse of chapter one in our reading today ... there is a lot of chapter one missing. So what’s in those missing verses? Much of it sounds a lot like what is given in the part we do have, from chapter two.
“Satan” in this very early work doesn’t mean the same thing that we connect “Satan” with today. This isn’t the devil ... so stop thinking of Jon Lovitz in red tights and a horned hat, carrying a pitchfork ... “Satan” here simply means “adversary” or “accuser.” He’s part of the heavenly council who functions as a sort of independent prosecutor ... we read that he’s been going to and fro on the earth, and walking up and down on it ... presumably, looking for someone to accuse or oppose, someone with a character flaw, someone deserving of punishment and suffering.
But Job’s not deserving. At least, that’s what God says.
Have you considered Job ... there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.
And yet ... the accuser (not God, we must note) … the accuser afflicts him. In the later verses of chapter one Job, in the vernacular of our day, so focused on possessions, he “loses everything:” his servants die, his flocks are killed, and his herds are slaughtered or carried off by enemies. And to take it one step further ... all his sons and daughters are killed in a windstorm which knocks down the walls of the house they are in.
All of which ... brings forth his strange, wonderful, awesome and yes, eerie word from Job:
Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.
And then we get the words from chapter 2 which are before us today ... God, once again defending Job; the accuser, asking to go after him even further, inflicting him with loathsome sores ... from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
And then Job’s wife comes along.
What a caring, loving, sympathetic character is she.
Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God and die!
Yet Job won’t have any of it.
Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?
And here’s the point where Job crosses the first section of our Gospel reading.
No, no, not that Job should have written his wife a certificate of divorce ... although, certainly, we might understand the temptation being there ... what a loving, caring spouse ... ha!
No – the point is, in the midst of all that happened and was happening to him ... Job approaches things differently. Rather than ask the question, “why me?” he goes back to the who of it all ... that who being God ... and he, Job... he trusts that God has not abandoned him in his suffering ... he, Job, remains in a posture of repentance ... not playing the ‘blame game,’ the victim, blaming his problems on something or someone else (“it’s their fault I’m like this!”) ... no, this isn’t Job at all.
And so with our divorce text. What Jesus does in turning around the question on the Pharisees, is take away their search, their longing for self-justification before God. The point is, Jesus says, it’s not about OUR justification, who’s right, who’s wrong ... pointing the finger in blame, “he said, she said”... NO, it’s not all about us ... it’s about God ... God’s intentions for us in life, and our submission to God ... in other words, this is a text about repentance, and WHOSE we are.
Now , one large caveat here. Remember, note, that Jesus NEVER prohibits divorce. Nor does he wield this text like a club, for condemnation and damnation. Specifically, here, I’m talking about abusive relationships. Namely, if you’re in one ... if your spouse or partner is hitting and hurting you, abusing you physically, verbally, psychologically ... this text, these words are NOT some kind of a fence meant to keep you in that abusive relationship. Abusive relationships are NEVER God’s intention for us.
If you’re being abused in a relationship, GET OUT. NOW. That’s law, and Gospel, for you. Seek help. If you need help finding help, ask me.
You see, these texts, ultimately, are texts about DIGNITY.
Job, amid all the bad stuff going on in his life, amid the verbal abuse of his spouse, keeps his dignity.
Jesus, in his words about divorce, in the culture the Pharisees knew well, the Mosaic-Judaic culture where a man could simply write off his wife with a slip of paper saying “I divorce you” because she burned the matzoh or didn’t launder his tallit properly ... Jesus says “this is not God’s intention” and thus gives the women of first-century Israel dignity.
And the second part of the Gospel text is all about dignity, too.
For so long, we’ve heard this text, about Jesus receiving the little children, and the image which comes to mind is that cheery Sunday School scene with happy, well scrubbed, cherubic infants climbing all over a smiling Jesus.
But that’s not what this text implies.
Far from it. This is a scene right out of the pediatrician’s office during flu season. Note that people were bringing little children to Jesus in order that he might touch them.
This word, touch, in Mark’s Gospel, is an indicator, a sign, which implies healing is needed ... right here, right now.
So instead of that happy little scene we might envision when we hear these words, instead start seeing Jesus and these kids for what is really happening ... crying, fussing, temper tantrums, spitting up, high fevers, projectile vomiting, smelly diapers, fighting, pulling at another’s hair, toys flying around the room in anger.
And now it makes sense. This is why the disciples would have none of it. This is why they wanted to prevent the people from bringing their children to Jesus. It probably would have been all right if these kids would have been well, and happy, and behaving themselves. But not this scene of mayhem.
And yet ... Jesus gives them ... DIGNITY.
These children are in need of healing, too. Just like Job. Just like couples who find themselves in the midst of divorce. These parents are living into the submission to God which is what the life of faith is all about ... in the pain, in the suffering, in the messy smelliness of life, they are hearing the invitation, and coming to Jesus.
Let the little children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such that the kingdom of God belongs.
And ultimately, this is the Word these texts have for us today.
Stop lying about your lives, people of God.
As the old song goes, “Everybody hurts.” All of us are hurting somehow, some way. Whether it’s divorce or illness, hopelessness or joblessness, the burdens of life wearing us down, the wearing down of our bodies or our spirits ... each of us is in need of Christ’s healing touch. EACH, ALL OF US.
Christ’s healing touch which comes to us when, as we bow down in submission to God, submission to the One who makes and gives and restores life ... life, as God intends it for us ... full, rich, free, and abundant.
We feel it in the flowing streams of living water flowing over, invading, permeating our parched-dry lives. We touch and taste it in the abundance of Christ’s own body and blood, given and shed for you and for me, for our forgiveness, for our reconciliation, for life, full and complete, so that we may, must be sent forth to serve others.
People of God, people called Nativity, people of new birth, new life, rejoice and give thanks today for these words of Christ:
Let the little children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such that the kingdom of God belongs.
For they are for you, and for me, for us, words of submission to our God, yes ... and more, words of hope. Words of love and life. For us. For the life of the world God loves, and wants and wills to be whole.
God. Wants. And. God. Wills. You. To. Be. Whole.
In and through Jesus, who is ALWAYS, for you.
Amen.
Job 1:1, 2:1-10; Mark 10:2-16
7 October 2012
So here we are, the first Sunday of a new month, the seasons perceptibly changing from summer to fall ... and we might well think, well, here in worship, perhaps the change of calendar will bring us some more pleasant texts to hear and read and ponder on, especially after those we had in September; hard words for us from Jesus about how we should ... submit to God: favor the poor; live the cross-shaped life; confess Jesus’ name in our actions rather than just in words; and live together as God’s people.
Ah yes. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few light sentences about sheep?
But NO!
Here this morning, we get the suffering of Job ... and divorce.
A miserable combination of texts if ever there were. Job by itself might be all right ... and, indeed, we will have readings from the book of Job ... much discussed by people OUTSIDE worship but seldom heard IN worship ... today and the next three Sundays we’ll have our Old Testament reading from Job.
But then we add the text from Mark’s Gospel ... and suddenly, what could have been a beautiful morning of worship becomes at the least, uncomfortable, and for some, unbearable.
Now, six years ago I did a rather extensive sermon-study on this passage of Mark’s Gospel. But – and perhaps, you will be relieved at this word -- I’m not going to do that again today. Maybe in three more years, when this text comes around again, and most of you have forgotten that 2006 sermon, I might roll it out, dust it off, spruce it up and preach it again ... until then, I can give you a copy if you want.
But don’t rush into relief. Such a text calls us to pay attention to these main points ... points I believe we need to hear, today, as well, and not just leave the Word, and us, its hearers, hanging:
• First, Jesus never prohibits divorce. It is allowed “because of your hardness of heart;” so it is a law, like so many laws given by God because people couldn’t handle the freedom that God would rather give them, they needed rules and guidelines, kings and judges, rulers and rules. Read the text yourselves: Jesus never says, “Don’t get divorced.” And he certainly does not condemn those who must go there, for whatever reason. Certainly, divorce is a better alternative than breaking one of the commandments – like murder! The Pharisees ask the wrong question of Jesus.
• Second, what Jesus does talk about in this passage is “what is God’s will for marriage?” That’s the right question that the Pharisees should have asked him, but didn’t. And Jesus’ answer is clear ... God’s will concerning marriage, is that it would last forever.
• Third, Jesus’ words about committing adultery if one who is divorced remarries. Note that Jesus doesn’t shout this from the rooftops; it’s a private question between the disciples and Jesus, after they had left the public square. So this is where the delicate stuff comes out; words he doesn’t wield as a club, but quietly, with those he trusts and loves.
• And yet ... these words are clear. No amount of theological nit-picking, ancient situation gazing, word study, whatever, can make them go away. They are what they are ... and what they are, are not words for us to use to beat up on each other, but rather, words about God’s intentions for us.
But we have two other passages of Scripture before us today for our study and meditation ... one, the second part of our Gospel; the other, the prologue and beginning of the story of that poor fellow Job. And guess what. They also have a laser-focus on what God’s intentions are for us.
First, let’s get more familiar with Job, since we’ll be hearing his story for the next four weeks.
Some Bible scholars believe that, rather than the Pentateuch or Torah (the first five books of the Bible – Genesis/Exodus/Leviticus/Numbers/ Deuteronomy), Job is actually the oldest book in the Bible ... written in perhaps the 7th century before the Christian era.
Whether that’s true or not, we can agree that the questions behind the book of Job are certainly as old as humanity itself ... namely, “Why is there evil in the world?” and “Why do good people suffer?”
Questions certainly pertinent to our Gospel reading ... thus its pairing with this section of Mark.
But the Word in Job should certainly be examined on its own merits first.
As the story goes,
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
And then ... la merde a frappé le ventilateur.
We need to get a few things straight, first, though.
Note that we only get the first verse of chapter one in our reading today ... there is a lot of chapter one missing. So what’s in those missing verses? Much of it sounds a lot like what is given in the part we do have, from chapter two.
“Satan” in this very early work doesn’t mean the same thing that we connect “Satan” with today. This isn’t the devil ... so stop thinking of Jon Lovitz in red tights and a horned hat, carrying a pitchfork ... “Satan” here simply means “adversary” or “accuser.” He’s part of the heavenly council who functions as a sort of independent prosecutor ... we read that he’s been going to and fro on the earth, and walking up and down on it ... presumably, looking for someone to accuse or oppose, someone with a character flaw, someone deserving of punishment and suffering.
But Job’s not deserving. At least, that’s what God says.
Have you considered Job ... there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.
And yet ... the accuser (not God, we must note) … the accuser afflicts him. In the later verses of chapter one Job, in the vernacular of our day, so focused on possessions, he “loses everything:” his servants die, his flocks are killed, and his herds are slaughtered or carried off by enemies. And to take it one step further ... all his sons and daughters are killed in a windstorm which knocks down the walls of the house they are in.
All of which ... brings forth his strange, wonderful, awesome and yes, eerie word from Job:
Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.
And then we get the words from chapter 2 which are before us today ... God, once again defending Job; the accuser, asking to go after him even further, inflicting him with loathsome sores ... from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
And then Job’s wife comes along.
What a caring, loving, sympathetic character is she.
Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God and die!
Yet Job won’t have any of it.
Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?
And here’s the point where Job crosses the first section of our Gospel reading.
No, no, not that Job should have written his wife a certificate of divorce ... although, certainly, we might understand the temptation being there ... what a loving, caring spouse ... ha!
No – the point is, in the midst of all that happened and was happening to him ... Job approaches things differently. Rather than ask the question, “why me?” he goes back to the who of it all ... that who being God ... and he, Job... he trusts that God has not abandoned him in his suffering ... he, Job, remains in a posture of repentance ... not playing the ‘blame game,’ the victim, blaming his problems on something or someone else (“it’s their fault I’m like this!”) ... no, this isn’t Job at all.
And so with our divorce text. What Jesus does in turning around the question on the Pharisees, is take away their search, their longing for self-justification before God. The point is, Jesus says, it’s not about OUR justification, who’s right, who’s wrong ... pointing the finger in blame, “he said, she said”... NO, it’s not all about us ... it’s about God ... God’s intentions for us in life, and our submission to God ... in other words, this is a text about repentance, and WHOSE we are.
Now , one large caveat here. Remember, note, that Jesus NEVER prohibits divorce. Nor does he wield this text like a club, for condemnation and damnation. Specifically, here, I’m talking about abusive relationships. Namely, if you’re in one ... if your spouse or partner is hitting and hurting you, abusing you physically, verbally, psychologically ... this text, these words are NOT some kind of a fence meant to keep you in that abusive relationship. Abusive relationships are NEVER God’s intention for us.
If you’re being abused in a relationship, GET OUT. NOW. That’s law, and Gospel, for you. Seek help. If you need help finding help, ask me.
You see, these texts, ultimately, are texts about DIGNITY.
Job, amid all the bad stuff going on in his life, amid the verbal abuse of his spouse, keeps his dignity.
Jesus, in his words about divorce, in the culture the Pharisees knew well, the Mosaic-Judaic culture where a man could simply write off his wife with a slip of paper saying “I divorce you” because she burned the matzoh or didn’t launder his tallit properly ... Jesus says “this is not God’s intention” and thus gives the women of first-century Israel dignity.
And the second part of the Gospel text is all about dignity, too.
For so long, we’ve heard this text, about Jesus receiving the little children, and the image which comes to mind is that cheery Sunday School scene with happy, well scrubbed, cherubic infants climbing all over a smiling Jesus.
But that’s not what this text implies.
Far from it. This is a scene right out of the pediatrician’s office during flu season. Note that people were bringing little children to Jesus in order that he might touch them.
This word, touch, in Mark’s Gospel, is an indicator, a sign, which implies healing is needed ... right here, right now.
So instead of that happy little scene we might envision when we hear these words, instead start seeing Jesus and these kids for what is really happening ... crying, fussing, temper tantrums, spitting up, high fevers, projectile vomiting, smelly diapers, fighting, pulling at another’s hair, toys flying around the room in anger.
And now it makes sense. This is why the disciples would have none of it. This is why they wanted to prevent the people from bringing their children to Jesus. It probably would have been all right if these kids would have been well, and happy, and behaving themselves. But not this scene of mayhem.
And yet ... Jesus gives them ... DIGNITY.
These children are in need of healing, too. Just like Job. Just like couples who find themselves in the midst of divorce. These parents are living into the submission to God which is what the life of faith is all about ... in the pain, in the suffering, in the messy smelliness of life, they are hearing the invitation, and coming to Jesus.
Let the little children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such that the kingdom of God belongs.
And ultimately, this is the Word these texts have for us today.
Stop lying about your lives, people of God.
As the old song goes, “Everybody hurts.” All of us are hurting somehow, some way. Whether it’s divorce or illness, hopelessness or joblessness, the burdens of life wearing us down, the wearing down of our bodies or our spirits ... each of us is in need of Christ’s healing touch. EACH, ALL OF US.
Christ’s healing touch which comes to us when, as we bow down in submission to God, submission to the One who makes and gives and restores life ... life, as God intends it for us ... full, rich, free, and abundant.
We feel it in the flowing streams of living water flowing over, invading, permeating our parched-dry lives. We touch and taste it in the abundance of Christ’s own body and blood, given and shed for you and for me, for our forgiveness, for our reconciliation, for life, full and complete, so that we may, must be sent forth to serve others.
People of God, people called Nativity, people of new birth, new life, rejoice and give thanks today for these words of Christ:
Let the little children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such that the kingdom of God belongs.
For they are for you, and for me, for us, words of submission to our God, yes ... and more, words of hope. Words of love and life. For us. For the life of the world God loves, and wants and wills to be whole.
God. Wants. And. God. Wills. You. To. Be. Whole.
In and through Jesus, who is ALWAYS, for you.
Amen.
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