Category: Sermons

The podcast can be found here.

---

---

In the early 1800’s the Central American country of Poyais became an exceptional place for the British wealthy to invest their money.  The indigenous people were friendly and hard-working, there was a well established harbor for trade, and the capital city of St. Joseph was uniquely English, sporting all the fineries of society, including an opera house.  And it was the Cazique, a princely title, of Poyais that travelled the ocean to England looking for investors, which he found in droves.  They invested in banks, land, corporations, mineral rights, and even titles.

To show off this great land of opportunity, the Cazique hired a boat, and sold tickets to some of those early investors for them to be the first to arrive.  When they did, they found themselves on the Mosquito Coast of what is now Nicaragua.  There was no harbor.  There was no capital city.  There was no friendly labor.  And there was no Cazique of Poyais.  Why?  Because there was no Poyais.  It was a country that had been made-up by a very hardworking and apparently, convincing con-artist.   

Following his scamming tour through the elite of British society, Gregor MacGregor had amassed a substantial fortune: £200,000, the equivalent of £3.6 billion today.  He died some twenty-five years later in Venezuela, a very happy and wealthy fraud.

The fraudster has accomplished some remarkable tricks.  One sold the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal… twice!  Another sold the Brooklyn Bridge… twice!  There’s Bernie Madoff and his Ponzi (another fraudster) scheme and Enron, both managing to steal millions from investors.  Then there are the other frauds.  Milli Vanilli: a pop duo who sold millions of records and even won a grammy.  Turns out they never sang a note and were lip-synching it all.  Add in the cheaters, plagiarist, false credentials, and you really do wonder who you can trust.  Although I do feel that Mrs. Masinga Mbeki is legitimate and really does need someone to help her move $5 million out of an unnamed country.

Fraudsters have been around since the beginning, some of whom have even claimed to be the Son of God.  Take that Jesus fella.  Everyone knows he’s just Joe’s boy.  Disappears for a couple of years and comes back here claiming that he’s the Messiah.  Even got himself a few “followers” to assist with the con.  We’re not going to fall for that one.

Today in our Gospel, Jesus returned to his hometown and it doesn’t seem to go as planned.  He is now being rejected by his hometown, just as he had earlier been rejected by the religious leaders: the people said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?”  Jesus was not surprised by this reaction: “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.”  I would like to think that our reaction would have been different, but I suspect that it would have been quite similar.

We all know ____.  He/she is a relatively good person.  Leads a fine life.  Comes to church, etc., but let’s say that _____ disappears for a couple of years, then returns with a small ragtag group of followers, all of who claim that _____ is the Messiah.  They tell us that _____ is in trouble with the religious leaders in Oklahoma City for preaching the Kingdom of God, but Oh!, did we mention, just yesterday he/she raised a little girl from the dead.  And, before I forget, you should also know that his/her mom was a virgin, and that he/she was conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and is in fact the Son of God.  Riiight.  I may have been born at night, but not last night.  And like the folks in Jesus’ hometown who took offense at him, we take offense at _____.  Who does he think he is?  He’s just Joe’s boy.  He’s a fraud.

The religious leaders rejected him.  His hometown rejected him.  Some commentators state that his family rejected him.  Many others rejected him as well.  But the disciples… the disciples believed.  What was the difference?

A Chinese boy who wanted to learn about jade went to study with a talented old teacher. This gentle man put a piece of the precious stone into his hand and told him to hold it tight. Then he began to talk of philosophy, men, women, the sun and almost everything under it. After an hour he took back the stone and sent the boy home. The procedure was repeated for several weeks. The boy became frustrated. When would he be told about the jade? He was too polite, however, to question the wisdom of his venerable teacher. Then one day, several months later, when the old man put a stone into the boy’s hands, the boy cried out, “That’s not jade!”

Many believed that Jesus was a fraud, but those who had spent time with him, listening, watching, learning, these understood that he was no fraud.  “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  Jesus revealed himself to them through word and deed and they received him: “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.  He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.  But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”

You can only know Jesus is Lord through the work of the Spirit.  Paul writes, “No one can say Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”  But we can cooperate in this work with the Spirit by drawing near to Jesus and entering into that deeper relationship with him.  By entering into friendship with Jesus.  “You are my friends if you do what I command you.  I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”  He has called us friends and we must respond.

My friend Thomas à Kempis writes, “You cannot live well without a friend, and if Jesus be not your friend above all else, you will be very sad and desolate. Thus, you are acting foolishly if you trust or rejoice in any other. Choose the opposition of the whole world rather than offend Jesus. Of all those who are dear to you, let Him be your special love. Let all things be loved for the sake of Jesus, but Jesus for His own sake.  Jesus Christ must be loved alone with a special love for He alone, of all friends, is good and faithful.”

By responding to Jesus’ friendship, his drawing near to us – remembering: “We love because he first loved us.” – we come to know him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Pope Francis made this appeal to all during his sermon at the Easter Vigil in 2013: “Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life! If up till now you have kept him at a distance, step forward. He will receive you with open arms. If you have been indifferent, take a risk: you won’t be disappointed. If following him seems difficult, don’t be afraid, trust him, be confident that he is close to you, he is with you and he will give you the peace you are looking for and the strength to live as he would have you do.”

From the beginning, there have been those who reject Jesus for any number of reasons and they condemn themselves by doing so.  There have also been those who keep him at arms length, never allowing him full entrance into their souls, only seeing him as a “nice idea” or a “morally good person;” however, Jesus gives these a warning: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”  Therefore, do the will of the Father: repent, believe—enter in and know Jesus as the Son of the Living God.

Let us pray: Father in Heaven, when the Spirit came down upon Jesus at His Baptism in the Jordan, You revealed Him as Your own Beloved Son. Keep us, Your children, born of water and the Spirit, faithful to our calling. May we, who share in Your Life as Your children through Baptism, follow in Christ’s path of service to people. Let us become one in His Sacrifice and hear His Word with faith. May we live as Your children, following the example of Jesus.  In His name we pray.  Amen.

The podcast can be found here.

---

---

St. Paul tells us that Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob all, “confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth.”  They looked around at where they lived and all that they had and knew that something was missing.  Perhaps they wouldn’t have been able to put their finger on it, perhaps it was just a feeling of unease, but there was a yearning within for their true home.

C.S. Lewis was one who also wrote of this feeling: “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death…”  (Mere Christianity)

Today, we celebrated the 242nd birthday of our country.  Even so, I suspect that even if you believe everything is right, you still look around with the same feelings that Lewis expressed.  Therefore, instead of ranting against or pouring on accolades for our current home, I would like for us to pray for this country as we await our admittance into that Heavenly one.  For as a Christian people, we know, regardless of outward appearances, Our God reigns.  Would you please join me in turning to page 838 of the Book of Common Prayer. 

Almighty God, giver of all good things: We thank you for the natural majesty and beauty of this land.  They restore us, though we often destroy them.

Heal us.

We thank you for the great resources of this nation. They make us rich, though we often exploit them.

Forgive us.

We thank you for the men and women who have made this country strong. They are models for us, though we often fall short of them.

Inspire us.

We thank you for the torch of liberty which has been lit in this land. It has drawn people from every nation, though we have often hidden from its light.

Enlighten us.

We thank you for the faith we have inherited in all its rich variety. It sustains our life, though we have been faithless again and again.

Renew us.

Help us, O Lord, to finish the good work here begun. Strengthen our efforts to blot out ignorance and prejudice, and to abolish poverty and crime. And hasten the day when all our people, with many voices in one united chorus, will glorify your holy Name. Amen.

That we might act as our Savior’s disciples in the fulfillment of this great work, I offer you the words of St. Francis that they may serve as a guide:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace:
where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy. 

O divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive, 
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

The podcast can be found here.

---

 

---

Austin enjoyed the time he spent with his grandfather, a tough old cowboy everyone knew as “Curly.” The hardened rancher showed his grandson how to ride, shoot, and mend fences. Along the way, Curly even shared little pieces of advice with Austin.

One day, Austin asked his grandfather what he needed to do to live a long life like the one he’d seen his grandpa live. “Oh, that’s simple,” replied Curly. “Just sprinkle a little bit o gunpowder on yer oatmeal every morning, son.”

Austin did that, faithfully, for 93 long years.

When Austin died, he left behind 9 children, 28 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren…and a fifteen-foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.

We are all familiar with page 355 of the Book of Common Prayer.  It is where most Prayer Books automatically fall open to—the Holy Eucharist, Rite Two.  Preceding this is Holy Baptism and the other five sacraments follow.

First, after Holy Eucharist, is Confirmation, then Marriage, which—interestingly enough—is followed closely by Reconciliation, confession.  Then we have Ministry to the Sick (Unction) and burial of the dead, which is not a sacrament.  I don’t have a problem with those last two, per se, but I do have a problem with what is missing, something I believe demonstrates a clear lack of faith.  Perhaps it is just me, but don’t you think we should have at least one page on “Raising the Dead”?

The rubrics, those instructions in the small italics, could simply say: “The celebrant stands and directing his/her voice to the deceased, says in a commanding voice, ‘Wake up!’”  It could even be in all capitol letters, like the Great Amen at the end of the Eucharistic prayers, that way God would know we were serious when we said it.  The committee in charge of the Prayer Book would likely even include a footnote at the bottom of the page that read: “If successful, please contact the national church at 1-800-so and so along with all media outlets.”  As crazy as that may sound to some, I really do think we need it; however, we’ll probably never get it because the funeral home business will cry foul.

Wake up.  That is essentially what “Talitha cum” means.  Some might see it as an incantation that you would find in one of Harry Potter’s books of magical spells, but—as Mark translated the Aramaic for us—talitha cum are only the words that a parent would say to a sleeping child.  “Little girl.  It is time to wake up.”

We can limit our understanding of this event and see it only as one of the extraordinary miracles of Jesus.  A miracle that demonstrates Jesus’ authority over life and death, confirming his promises of eternal life: If he can raise the dead, then he can give us new and eternal life after we have died, through the resurrection.  However, when Jesus spoke those words to that little girl some 2,000 years ago, he wasn’t saying them so that she would only live in the resurrection.  He was saying them so that she would live then.  At that very moment.  Therefore, the talitha cum that Jesus spoke to the little girl is not an isolated event and those words are intended for us as well.

Consider what St. Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (5:17)  Notice, Paul does not say that everyone will become new.  Even in the Greek it is “has become new.”  When we “wake up” in Christ, we become new.  We are given new life so that we might live… now.  What is so sad about this is that we can live very dead new lives.

I’m not encouraging you to go out and live some hedonistic self-absorbed life.  Not anything close to it, but let me ask you this: Baskin Robbins – 31 Flavors.  You’ve got all these flavors of ice cream and you, you order the exact same flavor every time (confession: I do the same thing).  I’m a vanilla ice cream kinda guy.  Why?  Because I branched out one time.  Tried Rocky Road.  Disgusting.  Threw most of it away.  The next time, I played it safe and went back to vanilla.  Played it safe the next time as well.  And the next time.  And the next… 

We as a Christian people often think of the “world” as a bad place.  I’ve probably even preached sermons that pointed in that direction, but the truth is, what God creates is not evil and meant to be enjoyed.  To give life.  The wedding at Cana.  It was a party.  Jesus went to it.  When they ran out of booze, he made more!  And it wasn’t ripple!  It was the best.

The Israelites were leaving Egypt and the Lord said, “The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey.”  Do you think the Lord brought them into such a bountiful land and then made them sit and stare at it or do you think he meant for them to enjoy it?  To truly live in it and experience what it had to offer?

Anthony Bourdain, he died a few weeks back.  He travelled the world, shared his thoughts, and he had a passion for food.  For him, food can tell you a great deal about people and culture.  The Washington Post ran an article and quoted Pat Younge, former head of the Travel Channel.  Speaking of Bourdain, he said, “Part of what made him so great was that he wanted you to understand more than the obvious. If he went to Paris, he didn’t just walk along the Seine; he went to parts of the city that many visitors didn’t go to because he thought they were key to understanding it. The same was true in Hanoi or Shanghai or anywhere else. He thought you had to find all these areas and really get under their skin.”

He wanted to live.  To taste it all and like an anthropologist, he studied the people through its food.  Bourdain put it this way in his book, Kitchen Confidential, “Do we really want to travel in hermetically sealed popemobiles through the rural provinces of France, Mexico and the Far East, eating only in Hard Rock Cafes and McDonald’s? Or do we want to eat without fear, tearing into the local stew, the humble taqueria’s mystery meat, the sincerely offered gift of a lightly grilled fish head?  I know what I want.  I want it all.  I want to try everything once.  I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, Señor Tamale Stand Owner, Sushi-chef-san, Monsieur Bucket-head.  What’s that feathered game bird, hanging on the porch, getting riper by the day, the body nearly ready to drop off?  I want some.”  He summarizes that by saying, “If you’re willing to risk some slight lower GI distress” over the things you do eat, why not try the “good stuff.”

And everyone thinks: “Fr. John must have been hungry when he wrote this one.  He keeps talking about food.”  Perhaps (I’m always hungry), but this isn’t just about food.  It is about living.  Remember, we are given new life so that we might live… now.

So the discussion on food can become a discussion on people: Do we really want to have hermetically sealed lives, traveling through this world only engaging the people we know, or do we want to live without fear, smiling at the stranger, speaking to the person next to us in line, crossing a societal barrier and engaging the “other.”  

Ice cream can become love: I know these people love me, but I’ve tried to love someone else and it went horribly wrong.  I’m just going to stick with the ones I know or will you live and give love another chance.

God has brought me into the land of milk and honey, but I’m going to stick with hard bread and water.  Why?

Again, I’m not encouraging you to a life of anything goes, but we can taste, without becoming gluttonous.  We can look, without becoming covetous or lustful.  We can feel, without becoming greedy.  We can live, experience life, engage in God’s glorious creation, have joy and happiness without coming to a place of sin.

Put a little gunpowder on your oatmeal.  Try the lightly grilled fish head.  Look the stranger in the eye.  Smile.  Love.  Have an encounter with God’s creation outside of the hermetically sealed.  All of these things are expressions of his great love for us.

Talitha cum.  Jesus calls for us to wake up into a new life.  A new life where we might love him.  Yes.  A new life where we might love our neighbors.  Yes.  A new life where we will change the world.  Yes.  A resounding “Yes” to all this.  But Jesus also called you into a new life so that you might live.  Yeah, you may get the occasional lower GI discomfort, but that’s also just a part of living… and it will pass.

Let us pray: Father, we thank you for coming to give us abundant life. Help us to walk in obedience to your will and your commandments so that we may enjoy your blessings and creation to the fullest, and help us to live in such a way that our joy is visible to the world around us, that we might be living testaments to your great love. In Christ Our Lord we pray.  Amen.

The podcast can be found here.

---

---

Many of you will be starting the book, 40 Years with a Saint, about the life of St. Josemaría Escrivá, so instead of trying to summarize that particular work, I thought I would share with you a passage from Josemaría’s collection of writings, Friends of God.  As we mostly consider various Saints during this time on Wednesdays, it seemed appropriate to choose a passage on how we are to live as we seek holiness in our own lives.  This is from the chapter, “In the Footsteps of Christ.”

“How crystal clear Christ’s teaching is. As usual, let us turn to the New Testament, this time to St Matthew, chapter eleven: ‘Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.’ Don’t you see? We have to learn from him, from Jesus who is our only model. If you want to go forward without stumbling or wandering off the path, then all you have to do is walk the road he walked, placing your feet in his footprints and entering into his humble and patient Heart, there to drink from the wellsprings of his commandments and of his love. In a word, you must identify yourself with Jesus Christ and try to become really and truly another Christ among your fellow men.

“To make sure there is no mistake here, let us read another quotation from St Matthew. In chapter sixteen, Our Lord makes his doctrine even clearer: ‘If anyone wishes to come my way, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.’ God’s way is one of renunciation, of mortification and of self-surrender, but it is not one of sadness or faint-heartedness.

“Reflect on the example that Christ gave us, from the crib in Bethlehem to his throne on Calvary. Think of his self-denial and of all he went through: hunger, thirst, weariness, heat, tiredness, ill-treatment, misunderstandings, tears… But at the same time think of his joy in being able to save the whole of mankind. And now I would like you to engrave deeply in your mind and upon your heart — so that you can meditate on it often and draw your own practical conclusions — the summary St Paul made to the Ephesians when he invited them to follow resolutely in Our Lord’s footsteps: ‘Be imitators of God, as very dear children, and walk in love, as Christ has loved us and delivered himself up for us, a sacrifice breathing out fragrance as he offered it to God.’

“Jesus gave himself up for us in a holocaust of love. What about you, who are a disciple of Christ? You, a favoured son of God; you, who have been ransomed at the price of the Cross; you too should be ready to deny yourself. So, no matter what situation we may find ourselves in, neither you nor I can ever allow ourselves to behave in a way that is selfish, materialistic, comfort-loving, dissipated or — forgive me if I speak too candidly — just plain stupid!”  (Friends of God, #128-129a)

How do you attain holiness and become a Saint?  Be joyful, become a holocaust of love, and don’t be stupid.

From the book, The Forge: “Persevere along your way no matter what happens; persevere, cheerfully and optimistically, because the Lord is bent on sweeping aside all obstacles—Hear me well: I am quite certain that if you struggle, you will be a saint!” (#355)

You may need to cast your nets on the other side of the boat, but persevere and become what God created you to be.  A saint.

The podcast can be found here.

---

---

At church camp for children one of the counselors was leading a discussion on the purpose God has for all of his creation.

They began to find good reasons for the clouds and trees and rocks and rivers and animals and just about everything else in nature.

Finally, one of the children asked, “If God has a good purpose for everything, then why did He create poison ivy?” This made the discussion leader gulp and, as he struggled with the question, one of the other children piped up, “The reason God made poison ivy is that He wanted us to know that there are certain things we should keep our dang hands off of!”

We could have some remarkably good arguments here this morning if I started talking about how God, “In the beginning…,” created.  However, instead of delving into that quagmire, I just want to look at one particular element of creation: water.

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God [read that: while the Spirit of God] swept over the face of the waters.”

There are many stories in Scripture regarding water, and in most of them there are consistent themes.  The water is an uncrossable barrier without the help of God.  The water swallows up the land in the time of Moses killing every living thing except those saved by the ark and the water allowed the Israelites to cross, but swallowed up the Egyptians.  The water is home to the greatest and most terrifying creatures: the behemoth and the leviathan.  It all comes down to the water being chaos, hell, and death.  The water is evil.  David writes in the Psalms: 

Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.

To go into the water was to go into the chaos, the evil, and death.  The Israelites believed this and were therefore people of the land.  Let others go off in their boats, we’ll tend the pastures.  Yet, there were a few fishermen and, as we know, many of the disciples were.  So when Jesus told them to put out on the water to go to the other side, they would not have hesitated, but they would have known not to take the waters for granted, especially the waters of the Sea of Galilee that they were crossing.

The Sea of Galilee is 700 feet below sea level and 200 feet deep. It is 12 miles long, and 8 miles wide at the widest point. Surrounded by mountains and desert brings in the cold and warm air.  We’re in Oklahoma.  You know what that means: storms.  Because the Sea of Galilee is so small and contained, extremely violent storms can come up very quickly, turning the waters into a roiling cauldron.  This is what occurred in our Gospel reading today.  “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.”  

The storm was so violent that even though the disciples were seasoned fishermen, they were terrified and believed they were going to die.  Jesus was asleep in the stern of the boat, but “they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’”  Teacher, hell has come against.  Chaos is everywhere.  Death is near.

I think I’ve shared this with you: when I was in college, I worked dog kennel.  We boarded up to 200 dogs every weekend.  The workday started early – 5:30 a.m.  In the four years I worked there, I was only late once, but there was one other occasion when I almost didn’t make it at all.  Cold winter morning and me and my Datusn B-210 were tooling along nicely.  For the record, your cellphone puts out more light than the headlights on this car, but I managed fine until that morning.  The first thing I saw was a small glowing red dot in the middle of the road, about eye level.  It turned out to be the reflector in the middle of a flatbed trailer that was straddling the road.  When I saw it for what it was, I still had plenty of time to stop.  What I didn’t know was that there had been just enough of an ice storm that night to put a nice shine on the road.  I have few memories that actually scare me when I recall them.  That one does.  I can almost feel that flatbed hitting me right about here.  I did manage to stop before the big crunch, but… Teacher, hell has come against us.  Chaos is everywhere.  Death is near.

My friend in Montana has four wonderful daughters.  The oldest, in her mid-twenties, the twins in their early twenties, and Molly who came along a bit later and said, “Surprise!”  Well, on Wednesday afternoon about 4:45 p.m. I was sitting right up there, waiting in vain for one of you lot to come in for confession.  So that my time waiting on you won’t be wasted, I generally do some reading in preparation for the Sunday sermon.  I kid you not, I was reading a commentary by N.T. Wright and had truly just read the sentence that begins, “The forces of evil are roused, angry and threatening…” when the phone rings, it was my friend from Montana.  I’m happy to hear from him, but like the storms rising without warning on the Sea of Galilee… he called to tell me that his oldest daughter had been found dead that morning.  Hell.  Chaos.  Death.

He called me, his friend.  His priest.  He needed to know why.  Why would this happen?  He needed an answer from “the Big Book.”  I didn’t have one.  If you were to ask him, he probably would tell you that Jesus was sleeping in the stern of the boat, while the rest of us are facing the chaos.  He… heck, I wanted to cry out, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’”  Teacher, hell has come against us.  Chaos is everywhere.  Death is… not near… death is hear.  Don’t you care?

I didn’t have an answer for my friend and I don’t have an answer for you.  I don’t know why the storms come up like they do, so suddenly and so violently, but I’ll tell you what I do know.  First, there is hell, chaos, and death and these things are indiscriminate in who they effect.  Movie: The Help.  Deals with race and civil rights in 1963 Jackson, Mississippi. (If you haven’t seen it, rent it.)  At one point in the story, a tornado comes tearing through Jackson.  The main character, Aibileen tells us, “Eighteen people were killed in Jackson that night. Ten white and eight black. God don’t pay no mind to color once he decide to set a tornado loose.”  The first thing I know: there are storms in this world, there is evil, and it will come against anyone it chooses.

The second thing I know: there is evil, but then, there’s Jesus. (You should say, Amen.)  When the evil comes, we look for Jesus and find him asleep.  We wake him and cry out, “Don’t you care that we are dying?”  When he’s awake, Jesus says, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”  I always hear that and think I’m being reprimanded.  “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”  But I’ve come to believe that they are words spoken with deep compassion and understanding.  “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”  Why do I think that?

The incident in the boat: the storm, the evil, the fear, Jesus sleeping and rising, calming the storm… not only is this showing Jesus command over the natural world, but this is also a foreshadowing incident of what is happening and what is to come.  Jesus has been preaching, teaching, healing.  The people love him, but the religious leaders… remember from just a few weeks ago after Jesus rebuked the Pharisees?  “The Pharisees went out right away and began to plot with the Herodians against Jesus, trying to find a way to destroy him.” Jesus is doing the work of God, but the storm, the evil is rising against him.  Later, he is crucified, and instead of sleeping in a boat, he’s sleeping in the earth, in the grave.  On the boat, when in great fear the disciples wake Jesus, Scripture says, “[Jesus] woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’”  Three days after Jesus was crucified, the disciples were again afraid, hiding in the upper room, and Jesus came to them and said, “Peace be with you!”  “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

Jesus speaks those words  — “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”—with compassion and understanding because he also knows the evil.  He has entered into the chaos.  He has experienced our greatest fear: death.  And he speaks those words to remind us that even though we also experience these things—evil, chaos, fear, death—he has conquered them once and for all.  He speaks to these thing as he did the sea and says, “Keep your dang hands off.  These are my mothers and brothers and sisters, for they are the ones who do the will of God.”

I don’t know why the storms rise.  I don’t know why the evil comes, but I do know that Jesus does not leave us to face it alone.  I know that he has gone before us and that where the chaos and evil speak death, Jesus speaks life.

The light of God surrounds us.
The love of God enfolds us.
The power of God protects us.
The presence of God watches over us.
Wherever we are, God is,
And where God is, all is well.

Amen.

The podcast can be found here.

---

---

“No Trespassing” signs: “No Trespassing: if you weren’t invited, you aren’t welcome.”  “No Trespassing: This is not Disneyland, Tourist are not welcome.”  “No Trespassing: Owner is armed at all times.”  “Is there life after death? Trespass here and find out.”

I read those kind of signs and I’m reminded of the joke about the man who complained to God, because a certain church did not think he was their type and would not let him come in.  God responded: “Don’t worry about it son; I’ve been trying to get into that church for years and haven’t made it yet.”  Yet, to welcome is part of our calling.  As the Lord said to Moses, “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Alban, who we celebrate today, was one who understood this.  

Most of what believe about his life is legend.  There are few actual facts other than he lived in Britain and was martyred on June 22 in the year 302 a.d., but it wasn’t until the mid-sixth century that we find someone writing—only a paragraph—about him, which shed some light on why he was martyred.

A Christian priest, later named Amphíbalus (a Latin term meaning chasuble or cloak) was fleeing the pagans in the country north of present day London.  Coming to a house, he knocked and begged entry.  The owner of the house, Alban, who was not a Christian, welcomed him in and hid him for a time.  While there, the priest proclaimed to Alban the Good News and Alban believed, asking to be baptized, but they were betrayed.  A servant of Alban’s reported to the pagans who were searching for the priest and led them to the house.  And it is here that Alban’s hospitality extended to his very life.  He insisted that he and the priest exchange cloaks, clothes so that the priest could escape.  They did, and Alban later turned himself over to pagans.  The Venerable Bede records the trial:  

“Then,” said the judge, “of what family or descent are you?” “What does it concern you,” answered Alban, “of what family I am? But if you desire to hear the truth of my religion, be it known unto you, that I am now a Christian, and employ my time in the practice of Christian duties.” “I ask your name?” said the judge, “which tell me immediately.” “I am called Alban by my parents,” he replied, “and ever worship and adore the true and living God, who created all things.” Then the judge, in a rage, said, “If you will enjoy the happiness of eternal life, do not delay to offer sacrifice to the great gods.” To which Alban answered, “Those sacrifices, which you offer to devils, can neither avail the offerers any thing, nor obtain for them the effect of their petitions; on the contrary, whosoever offers sacrifices to these idols, shall receive the eternal pains of hell for his reward.” 

The judge was not pleased with Alban’s response.  Alban was taken, scourged, and beheaded, making him the first recognized Christian martyr in Britain.  That night, legend has it that a cross appeared in the sky and the angels sang:

“Alban, a man of rare renown,
Has won the martyr’s glorious crown.”

Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”  Alban, although a Christian for perhaps only a few hours, understood these words.  Through the words of the priest, he received the Good News, and no longer feared what the pagans would do to him.  He who knows that death has been conquered is not concerned with his own death, but only the will of God and the fulfillment of God’s command to love, not just the one you know, but the stranger as well.

The term “radical hospitality” gets batted around on occasion.  If we wish to practice it, then we can look to Alban to see how it is done properly.

The podcast can be found here.

---

---

If you are a fan of science-fiction or fantasy novels, you may be familiar with the author Robert Paul “Tad” Williams.  If you are not a fan of science-fiction or fantasy novels, then know that he is an international best selling author.  He has written a few series and one of them, Otherland, is a four book series.  All four of these books were dedicated to his father; however, his father, like some of you is apparently not a fan of science-fiction.

The inscription in book one (1996): “This Book is dedicated to my father Joseph Hill Evans with love. Actually Dad doesn’t read fiction, so if someone doesn’t tell him about this, he’ll never know.”

Book two (1998): “This Book is dedicated to my father Joseph Hill Evans with love. As I said before, Dad doesn’t read fiction. He still hasn’t noticed that this thing is dedicated to him. This is Volume Two – let’s see how many more until he catches on.”

Book three (1999): “This is still dedicated to you-know-who, even if he doesn’t.  Maybe we can keep this a secret all the way to the final volume.”

Book four (2001): “My father still hasn’t actually cracked any of the books – so, no, he still hasn’t noticed. I think I’m just going to have to tell him. Maybe I should break it to him gently. Everyone here who hasn’t had a book dedicated to them, take three steps forward. Whoops, Dad, hang on there for a second…”

From 1996 to 2001—five years—Dad did not crack one of his son’s books to see the dedication.  My recommendation, if someone you know publishes a book, take a few minutes and at least flip through it.  You never know.  Now, and don’t let this sting too much, but as astonishing as that story is, what is even more astonishing is that I know Christians who haven’t seen the inside of a Bible in the last five years—if not longer.  So today, and I don’t know if this is technically a sermon or not, I want to encourage you to do more with your Bible than just dust if off when you think I might be stopping by.

So, how do we begin?  My friend Thomas à Kempis writes, “Our curiosity often impedes our reading of the Scriptures, when we wish to understand and mull over what we ought simply to read and pass by.  If you would profit from it, therefore, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and never seek a reputation for being learned.”

That is truth.  There are many mysteries contained within the words of Holy Scriptures and many of those mysteries are without answers.  Take for example, within the book of Daniel, there is a passage known as the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.  It speaks of sixty-two weeks here, desolation, a week of a covenant, a half week following where sacrifices cease, and so on.  It is fascinating.  People drown in this, seeking to know what it means and how to apply it to today, going as far as to predict the day of Jesus’ second coming.  As Brother Thomas pointed out, their curiosity at delving the mystery impedes them from seeing what God has revealed; therefore, we should read and know these passages, and then feel confident in moving on, knowing that God will reveal the meaning behind such passages when he chooses.  But there is a difference between something that is a mystery to us all that should be read with simplicity and faith, and a mystery or passage that can be understood with a bit of study.  And don’t say, “Oh, study!  That’s what we hired you for Fr. John.”  Nope.  That’s not how it works.  As we read today, even the disciples had to study and have tutoring lessons: Jesus only taught in “parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.”

Just using the first parable, I want to show you what a bit of study can do and further the understanding of Holy Scripture and of God—and trust me, I didn’t know all this before I sat down and started studying this week.

The parable: “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

On the surface, this is a parable about the Kingdom of God and how much of the work is done in secret, in the soul of the one who would believe.  We don’t see this work—the germination of the seed, the putting down of roots, etc.—just as we don’t see the work of the Holy Spirit and how it begins within a person’s soul until, like the plant breaking the surface of the ground, the person’s faith becomes obvious and begins to grow.  As the plant matures, as the soul matures in faith, both produce good fruit.  When the harvest is ready, the farmer brings that fruit into his storehouse, just as God brings us into his eternal kingdom.  A careful reading shows us these things, but through our study, we can learn so much more.  

Consider this: at the end of the parable, Jesus said that the farmer “goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”  Simple enough, that’s what a farmer does and we understand that’s what God will do, but through study, we discover that this is actually a quote coming from the book of the Prophet Joel.  What is the book of Joel about?  Briefly, a plague of locust had swarmed through the land and destroyed everything, which led to a great famine.  Joel says to the people, it is because of your sin, your turning from God, that has brought this plague upon you.  He uses it as a opportunity to tell the people how God will punish those who turn from him.  Then, towards the end of the book is the verse that Jesus quoted partially: 

“Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
for the wine press is full.
The vats overflow,
for their wickedness is great.” (Joel 3:13)

Joel is saying, the Kingdom of God is at hand and your judgment is near.  And further, a student of the Scripture would then be reminded of other passages in Joel, in particular, the great message of hope and of the Messiah: 

“Then afterward
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves,
in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.  The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.  Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Joel 2:28-32a)

And then, the student of Holy Scripture, will also remember… St. Peter quoted that passage on the Day of Pentecost! (cf. Acts 2:21)  On the day that God poured out his Holy Spirit upon us all.

On the surface, you have this innocuous parable about a farmer planting seeds, but as you dig and study, you discover the entire Gospel message: the people have turned away from God, but the Kingdom of God is at hand and judgment is near, the Messiah is with us, God is giving himself and pouring out His Holy Spirit.  

That is only one example of where study can lead you with just this one short parable (don’t get me started on how the resurrection is also revealed in this passage or we’ll be here all day!)

Because we have such easy access to Holy Scripture (87% of Americans have a Bible in their homes and on average, these homes have three or more copies/source), we can sometimes take if for granted, but it is not like this everywhere.  In the mid-1980s  a large shipment of bibles entered Romania from the West, and the dictator’s lieutenants confiscated them, shredded them, and turned them into pulp. Then they had the pulp reconstituted into toilet paper and sold to the West.  That was thirty or so years ago, but there are plenty of stories like it still today.

In our church, we process the Book of the Gospels, we hold it high, the book can be censed, it is brought out into the midst of the congregation so that you can see it, it is sealed with the Cross of Christ, the text itself is kissed.  We do these things, not for tradition or for ritual.  We do these things because this is God’s Word to us.  It is His love letter to His people and just as you do or may have read and reread a love letter from a sweetheart until its falling apart because you’ve folded and unfolded it so many times,  so I encourage you to do the same with Holy Scripture and discover what God has to speak to you today.  

Let us pray: Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The podcast can be found here.

---

---

A fellow had just been hired as the new CEO of a large corporation. The current CEO was stepping down and met with the new hire privately in his office, where he handed him three numbered envelopes.

“Open these if you run up against a problem you don’t think you can solve,” the first CEO said.

Things went along pretty smoothly for the first six months, but then sales took a downturn and the new CEO began catching a lot of heat. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The message read, “Blame your predecessor.”

The new CEO called a press conference and tactfully laid the blame at the feet of the previous CEO. Sales began to pick up and the problem was soon behind him.

About a year later, the company was again experiencing a slight dip in sales, combined with serious product malfunctions. Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO opened the second envelope. The message read, “Reorganize.” This he did, and the company quickly rebounded.

After several consecutive profitable quarters, the company once again fell on hard times. The CEO went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope.

The message said, “Prepare three envelopes.”

About a week ago one of those funny memes circulated on Facebook.  I’ve no idea if Teddy Roosevelt actually said it, but he was quoted: “if you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”  It is easy to blame others, reshuffle, reorganize, put up smokescreens, but on many occasions, our problems arise from inside our own skin.

To my knowledge it was never required reading, but if you attend Deacon Janie’s class, you will most likely have to read Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  It is a fun monster read, but it also explores this idea of the “other” person in us all.  That “other” who has a tendency to get us into trouble.

Dr. Jekyll writes: “With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to the truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.”  Continuing on he says, “If each, I told myself, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil. It was the curse of mankind that these incongruous personas were thus bound together—that in the agonized womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling.”

St. Paul sums up the issue that Dr. Jekyll is experiencing: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do… For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”  Yet Jesus says, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”  So within us all are these polar twins, Jekyll and Hyde, constantly divided and at war within us, however, in order for us to stand firmly in our faith, those divisions must cease.  So how do we evict the evil and remain righteous?

First, we must understand that until we are reborn through the resurrection, we will always have this battle with in us, but the battle within can be brought into some control.  

It is an old story, but one worth repeating:

One evening, an elderly Cherokee brave told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

“My dear one, the battle between two ‘wolves’ is inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

The other is good. It is: joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a moment and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee replied, “The one you feed.”

To subdue this battle within, we must not feed or entertain the evil desires that spring up inside of us.  We must overcome them and perhaps one of the best ways of doing that is by practicing acts of righteousness, of good.  You want to rail against someone—pray for them instead.  You’re invited to participate in something that is not becoming—go and perform some act of charity instead.  Whatever the “other” Mr. Hyde is pressing you for, turn it into good.  When you fail, remember the words of Jesus, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter.”    As St. John tells us in his first epistle, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  There is only one catch to that statement.  Jesus continues, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”

“Guilty of an eternal sin.”  That one has confused and concerned people for centuries.  What did he mean?  Have I committed that sin?  Am I eternally damned?  Many have written on this topic, but it was Billy Graham who put it into words I can understand: “The unpardonable sin is rejecting the truth about Christ. It is rejecting, completely and finally, the witness of the Holy Spirit, which declares that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who alone can save us from our sins.”  The unpardonable sin is recognizing that Jesus is the only one who can redeem the Mr. Hyde in you, knowing for certain that he can and is willing to atone for your sins, and then rejecting him outright.  The eternal sin is the intentional and unwavering rejection of the Truth—of Jesus—for by refusing Him, He cannot save you.

There is story of a magnificently handsome young man sitting in a congregation.  After service the young man stayed for confession.  He confessed so many terrible sins that the priest was horrified.  The priest says, “You must have lived long to have done all that.”  The young man replied, “My name is Lucifer and I fell from heaven at the beginning of time.”  “Even so,” said the priest, “say that you are sorry, say that you repent and even you can be forgiven.”  The legend has it that the young man looked at the priest for a moment and then turned and walked away.  In his pride, he could not ask for forgiveness.  He refused to try again to follow the ways of God and left that place eternally damned.

St. Josemaria writes, “You tell me that in your heart you have fire and water, cold and heat, empty passions and God: one candle lit to St. Michael and another to the devil [you are trying to be on good terms with both]…. Calm yourself.  As long as you are willing to fight there are not two candles burning in your heart.  There is only one: the archangel’s.”

There is a battle that rages within us all, but there is only one flame that burns: the flame of Truth.  Through the grace imparted to you, practice your faith and overcome evil with holiness, recognizing that nothing is possible without Jesus and the Holy Spirit working within you.  Do these things and in the day of trial, you will stand.

Let us pray: “Holy Michael Archangel, defend us in the day of battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust down to hell Satan and all wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.”

The podcast can be found here.

---

---

A young man was the youth pastor in a rather conservative church.  At one meeting of the youth he decided to teach on evangelism.  The church was conservative enough, that films had never been shown within its walls; however, the youth pastor decided it was time they introduced some modern tools to engage the youth, but so as not to upset anyone, he selected a film that documented the work of missionaries.  We’re talking simple, safe, black-and-white religious-oriented movie. He showed the film, but less than hour after the film projector had been off the group of elders in the church called him in and asked him about what he had done. They asked, “Did you show the young people a film?” In all honesty he responded, “Well, yeah, I did.” “We don’t like that,” they replied. Without trying to be argumentative, the youth worker reasoned, “Well, I remember that at the last missionary conference, our church showed slides—” One of the church officers put his hand up signaling him to cease talking. Then, in these words, he emphatically explained the conflict: “If it’s still, fine. If it moves, sin! You can show slides, but when they start movin’, you’re gettin’ into sin.”

The church has been largely unsuccessful, but this has not deterred the church throughout the ages from trying all sorts of angles to keep folks from “gettin’ into sin.”  Some of those attempts were extreme.

In the fall of 1541 a certain preacher entered Geneva, Switzerland with a serious plan to bring religious reform to the city, so that the folks there would quit sinning. One of his first acts was to draft a set of laws that would govern the populace. Some of the laws were fairly typical of his day: swearing, gambling, drunkenness, and sexual immorality were outlawed.

But some of the other laws were probably as strange then as they seem now. People were not allowed to play cards, speak disrespectfully to others, feast, dance, sing, create art, wear jewelry, or skip church. Oh, and all children had to be named after characters from the Old Testament.  There were plenty of male names to go around, but I’m guessing there were a lot of Ruths and Esthers.

First time offenders were usually let off with a simple warning, but second time offenses drew a fine of some sort. For those who were bent on wearing earrings to the town dance, steeper penalties were enacted. Some lawbreakers were banished from the city. A dad who insisted on naming his son Claude spent four days in jail. A rebellious kid who got into a fight with his parents was beheaded. Women found pregnant out of wed-lock were drowned (along with her lover if he could be found). In the enforcement of his rules, the preacher was no respecter of persons. His step-son was found guilty of adultery and his daughter-in-law was caught behind a haystack with another man. All four of the criminals were executed.  

Today, this preacher is considered one of the great theologians and his teachings provide the foundation for many churches.  History has a way of washing away the dirt, even so, I’ve never really been a fan of John Calvin. (There’s a rant just waiting to boil over!).  But it wasn’t just Calvin.  From the beginning, the religious have attempted to legislate morality and the same was true for the Pharisees in the time of Jesus.

Our Gospel reading today begins with the third of three conflicts Jesus has with the Pharisees.  In the first, Jesus is found eating with the wrong sorts of people, leading the Pharisees to ask Jesus’ disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”  The second incident involved fasting.  The Pharisees asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”  Today, they call Jesus out because they believe that Jesus and his disciples are “working” on the Sabbath.

We know that keeping the Sabbath holy is in the top ten commandments (#4): “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work.”

What were Jesus and the disciples doing?  As they were walking along the road they passed a wheat field.  Reaching out, they pulled a stalk of wheat and nibbled on the grain.  The pulling of the stalk was viewed as “harvesting,” therefore, it was work.  They had committed a most grievous sin! 

Jesus does not deny that they have plucked some wheat, but instead, he points to another incident when David and his men were hungry and also broke the law by eating the bread that was reserved for the priest, yet David and his men were not condemned.  (It is a completely different sermon, but Jesus has just set himself on an equal plain with great King David.)  Jesus then says, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”  Jesus says, “You’ve got it wrong.  The Sabbath was given, not as something to be legislated.  It was given to you as a gift.  It was given to you as a time of renewal for your body and your spirit.”  The very next incident in our Gospel shows this.

It is again the Sabbath and Jesus enters the synagogue.  There is a man with a deformed hand and Jesus asked him to stand so that everyone could see him.  Jesus then asked the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?”  They knew the answer.  They knew what was right, but they were so caught up, not only in maintaining the law, but also proving Jesus wrong, that they refused to say anything.  “They were silent. [Jesus] looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”

The key to understanding these incidents occurs when Jesus asked the man to stand in the center of the room.  The man does, and Jesus asked, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?”  You see, Jesus was not asking about the law, Jesus was asking about the man.  By having him stand in the center of the room, he was asking the Pharisees, “What do you see?  Do you see someone who is suffering?  Do you see someone who is deprived of a full life?  Do you see someone afflicted?”  That deformed hand could also represent a deformed soul.  Somewhat caught up in sin.  Someone who has been emotionally harmed.  Someone who has given up on life.  And Jesus could very well have asked, “What do you see?  Are you unwilling to forgive them, to heal their souls, just because it is the sabbath?  Are you unwilling to restore them to spiritual health, because of some rule you have established?  This is the sabbath for crying out loud!  Of all days, this is the day of healing, of rest, of renewal, of worship, but you are so worried about someone plucking a head of wheat that you can’t be concerned with those souls that are dying all around you.”

I’ve always said that no one wakes up and decides, “Oh, I think I’ll become a heretic today.”  It comes from strong held beliefs.  The same applies to the Pharisees.  I don’t believe they intentionally sought to oppose God, but over time, they had these strong held beliefs about God and how He worked and that is through the application of the Law.  They then became so obsessed with this application of the Law that they no longer saw the person as the pinnacle of all God’s creation.  Instead they saw the person as a “project.”  Someone who needed to be legislated into holiness.  When Jesus entered the scene, they could either recognize the truth he was speaking or reject him, become hard hearted.  They chose the latter and like petulant children, they stuck their fingers in their ears and cried out, “We can’t hear you.”  But, because Jesus was gaining followers, because the people they so desperately wanted to legislate into holiness were following after this trouble maker, the Pharisees, Herodians and others begin looking for a way to destroy Jesus.

What does this look like in our own lives?  Imagine, if you will, that it is the sabbath and you are the man in the temple, the one with the withered hand.  You’ve not been able to care for yourself or your family.  You are in constant pain.  You are looked down upon because you are a drain on society.  You are considered sinful, because God does not afflict the righteous with such trials.  Jesus ask you to come and stand before everyone in all your brokenness and sinfulness.  Imagine you are that man. 

Now here is a truth: it is the sabbath and… you are that man, that woman.  You are the one afflicted, hurting, looked down upon, sinful.  Jesus, the one and only source of your healing stands before you, but someone raises a question and in so doing, reminds everyone of God’s Law: “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?”  Question: How would you like for Jesus to respond?

Today’s lesson: “Go and do likewise.”

Let us pray: 

Father of love, hear our prayer. 

Help us to know Your Will 

and to do it with courage and faith. 

Accept the offering of ourselves,

all our thoughts, words, deeds, and sufferings. 

May our lives be spent giving You glory. 

Give us the strength to follow Your call, 

so that Your Truth may live in our hearts 

and bring peace to us and to those we meet, 

for we believe in Your Love.

Amen.