Sermon for June 27th, 2021

Thinking about our gospel reading this week, I was struck by the incredible joy that the two healings would have brought.

 A woman bleeding for 12 years and a 12 year old girl raised from the dead.

 The woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, would have spent twelve years separated from her community. Her presence would have made the community, well, any who encountered her, unclean. She had been desperate to be healed. The text tells us that “She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse.” Then she hears about this Jesus who is performing healing miracles. She struggles to get through the crowd that surrounds him. She has faith that even touching his cloak would make her well.

She touches his cloak and immediately is healed. Her bleeding stops. Jesus notices that something has occurred, and tells her that “your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” She can rejoin her community, she no longer need to worry about what is happening to her body that no one had seem capable of healing. That is all in the past now. Now she can be healed from the loneliness and the mental and emotional pain these twelve years have caused.

Our other story, begins early. A leader in the synagogue comes to Jesus and tells him that his daughter is sick and asks Jesus to come and heal her. Jesus was on his way to her bedside when the woman with the hemorrhage interrupts the scene.  

After she is healed, Jairus learns that his daughter has died in the moments Jesus spent healing this other woman.

Can you imagine the anger, the heartbreak Jairus is going through. If she hadn’t touched his robe, If Jesus hadn’t stopped to ask about it and bless her, maybe Jesus would have made it to her bedside in time. But, now his daughter is dead. Jesus hears this news and tells them, Do not fear only believe. They get to the house and it is filled with mourners already, Jesus sends them out of the house, leaving only the parents, three of the disciples, and Jesus in the room. He holds the girls hand, and says little girl, get up. Like he is just waking her up from a short nap. Or trying to wake her up for school (the first attempt, not the get out of bed now the bus is at the end of the drive time or the, we needed to leave 5 minutes ago time).

She gets up, and starts to walk around. From bedridden, to dead, to walking around in the space of minutes. Jesus tells them to give her something to eat, and that’s it.

I can not begin to imagine the joy that these people and their families felt at the sudden healing. Hope was or was nearly lost, and suddenly heal and your loved one is restored to you.

At the same time, I wonder what the other families and people around town thought. Certainly other little children died that day. Other people went without healing and would die from their illnesses. Why Jairus’ little girl and not mine? Why was that woman healed and not me or my mother, or my wife?

Estimates are that 120 people die globally each minute. That’s 2 every second. In the approximately hour that we worship here today, 7,200 people will die. Which ends up at nearly 180,000 people will die globally today, June 27th, 2021.

Miracles do still happen, but miracles are not the norm. They are times in which the kingdom and power of God breaks through and reveals itself. They are glorious, and incredible things. Why the hemorrhaging woman? Why Jairus’ daughter? Because those were the people God chose to reveal God’s self through. God remains the source of all life, healing, and redemption, even when we are ill and no miracle comes. God remains the source of healing when medical workers spend hours and days and weeks using their expertise and medicine to heal the sick, develop vaccines, do surgeries, and even when that all fails and death comes.

Both healing stories leave us at the height of the emotion and joy. A woman healed; a daughter resuscitated. What happens though in the hours, days, weeks, or years? Does Jairus’ daughter live to marry, have children and grandchildren? Does her first pregnancy end her life? Did a different illness or accident take her life before she married or even saw her next year of life?  

These healings are incredible. They are life altering and continue to this day to have impact as we read and hear them. They remind us that in the kingdom of God

God himself will be with [mortals];
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.” Revelation 21:3d-4

Jesus promises healing and an end to weeping. We can have faith in God’s trustworthiness knowing that great is God’s faithfulness and steadfast love. The healing might not take the form we had hoped, but God continues to care and sustain you, from now until eternity.

God is the healer of your every ill, and light of each of your tomorrows. God will give you peace beyond your fears, and hope beyond all your sorrows.

Sermon for June 20th, 2021

Grace and Peace to you from the one who was, who is, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The last time I preached on this Gospel text was June of 2009. Kym and I were members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, in Sheldon. Pastor Ron Nelson was on vacation, and I had been asked to lead worship that week.

That year we were nearing the Churchwide vote on the Church’s social statement on Human Sexuality and the Ordination of People in committed same-gendered relationships. We were also in the throughs of the recession. There were plenty of reasons why people were afraid and anxious. Anxious for the economic situation of their families and community, anxious for the future of the congregation and church. I am certain that there were other personal and community storms brewing in the members of the congregation, but I have forgotten those. Kym and I were excited and anxious because our wedding was only a few weeks away.

When I preached on this gospel text of Jesus calming the sea and storm with the simple phrase, Peace be still. I was focused on Jesus’ words not only to the storm, but also as a word to the disciples and to us today. Peace, be still. Jesus can calm the storms in our hearts and minds.

This is a valuable message to us today. Peace, be still. Christ calls you to trust in God and put aside your worries. Worries about your economic realities, worries about the price of corn, dairy, beef, or pork, worries about drought and changes to our global and local climate, worries about the pandemic, worries about cancers, gallbladders, and any other of a myriad of the stresses and concerns that we have today. Peace, be still. Or as it is put in Psalm 46, Be still and know that I am God.

But this text is more than about Jesus as our personal life coach, telling us to trust God, envision our future success, and worry less. This gospel reading is an apocalypse.

When we think about apocalypse, most of us think of big, end of the world type things, the book of Revelation, movies and books about a nuclear war and the end of life and civilization that follows, maybe you are a fan of the Kirkman’s Walking Dead, or Romero’s Day of the Dead zombie movie franchise.

But, apocalypse is really about revelation. We don’t read the Apocalypse of John (the Greek title), but we read the book of Revelation. Something is shown that was once hidden in apocalyptic literature in the Bible, The book of Daniel, God speaking from the whirlwind in Job is another example of apocalyptic literature of the bible. In these texts, God reveals something about God’s self and God’s plans.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus tells the disciples that they should cross to the other side of the sea of Galilee. They are going to be traveling from the Jewish cities into the Decapolis, out of Israel and Judea and into the Greek lands. But the sea of Galilee is known even today for sudden violent powerful storms that seemingly come out of nowhere.  

Jesus falls asleep in the boat. Other boats are also following. A sudden violent storm arises. The sea is swamping the boat. The disciple fear that they will die, drown.

Storms are interesting in the Bible. They are chaos and chaotic. God subdues chaos, in Job we heard God talking about just this,

Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?— 9when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, 11and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?

God has made all things subject to God’s will. The storms, the wind, the rain. The great “chaos beasts of Leviathan, Behemoth, and Tiamat, are just playthings for God.

Storms are controlled by God and God alone, God alone can bring order and peace from chaos. Storms become signs of God and God’s presence and judgment.

When the disciples are crying out to Jesus, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” We do not know what they were expecting Jesus to do. It probably wasn’t that Jesus would quiet the storm. They were panicked. This was an all-hands-on deck situation, they need more hands to bail water, muscle to wrestle the sail. Maybe they thought Jesus would pray to God, and God would calm the winds and water.

Throughout the Gospel of Mark, we are presented with the disciples misunderstanding of who Jesus is. He is a teacher, he is a folk healer, and he is an exorcist, but the disciples just don’t seem to get that Jesus is the messiah, the Son of God, true God from true God.

We are told that Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. This isn’t a prayer to God that the storm cease. Jesus’ himself rebukes the wind and says to the sea, Silence. Jesus directly commands the chaos to be still. Jesus reminds the water of its bounds.

The words that Jesus uses are important, Jesus rebukes and tell the seas Silence. In the first three chapters of Mark, these are the words used to describe Jesus’ casting out of demons, Jesus, the exorcist.

This powerful storm is more than just a sudden but common squall on the sea of Galilee. This storm is demonic, destructive of the natural order, it is attempting to prevent Jesus and the disciples from crossing to proclaim their message to the gentiles. But, Jesus here is casting out the demons not just those that have possessed individual people, but even the spirits that have come to inhabit the world.

In this short reading, Jesus the odd folk healer / exorcist / and prophet is revealed to be God, with power not only over the demonic powers that have inhabited the natural world, but over the chaos, the storms, the chaos beasts of Leviathan, Tiamat, and Behemoth. Jesus displays the power that God alone has. The question from the disciples that end the text, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Is a rhetorical question. We know the answer, the reader knows the answer, Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, but more than just an earthly ruler and King, Jesus is God incarnate. Jesus is God come to bring order out of chaos and to cleanse the unclean spirits of the world.

Ultimately the unexpectedness and surprising reality is that the Jesus who can still the sea with a single word, silence, will instead chose to enter into creation, enter into suffering, to redeem and forgive sins.

Our Gospel reading today is an apocalypse, Jesus is revealed to us as truly God, capable of commanding the wind and sea. Jesus is revealed as the Christ, who has come to bring about order from the chaos and who has come to cast out the demons and powers that control the world.

Our God who can calm the wind and silence the seas, says also to you, Peace be still! Your sins are forgiven, the battle is already won. Have faith, trust in God, ‘all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’

Sermon for June 28th, 2020

Grace and Peace to you from the one who is, who was, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. 

Let us pray, 

Prepare us, O God, for your service. Let us come before you with eager and humble hearts and with disciplined minds. Cleanse us, enlighten us, and kindle us, that we, with all the faithful, may call upon you in true devotion, rejoicing in the wonder of your saving love. As we serve you in your holy house, grant that we may glorify you with heart and mouth and hands: to your honor, to the salvation of your people, in the power of your Holy Spirit. 

Amen. 

This week there are going to be a lot of bad sermons preached. A lot of sermons are going to miss the point of the texts. I hope that this is not one of them.  

Some of the texts are difficult, confusing, and are regularly preached without a close reading of the text. Well preparing to write this sermon I was absolutely confused by the gospel reading and are Old Testament reading from Jeremiah. I kept trying to figure out if I was missing the point, or why they just did not seem to make sense to me.  

And so, I did what I do every time a text confronts me and seems difficult or confusing, I read the larger context that the text is in. So, for our reading from Jeremiah, I read several additional chapters before and after our reading for today. For gospel reading, I had to look back and see the rest of the chapter from Matthew that this small text came from. In both cases I discovered a wealth of information that would have been lost to me and thus to you because I just stuck to these short passages.  

I didn't remember the story of Jeremiah and Hananiah.  The story begins, Jeremiah in the first year of Zedekiah the King receives the word of God to prophesy that the Babylonians, who have already conquered Israel taken people from the land of Israel and transported them to Babylon and have ransacked the temple taking away all the gold from the temple. The candle holders, the incense burners, the bowls, plates, and even the Ark of the covenant. That the Babylonians, would not be a short ruler of Israel but would be a ruler of Israel for quite a long time. Jeremiah was called to tell the people of Israel to build your houses where they are and to live their lives. Jeremiah was telling the people not to rebel or fight against the Babylonians , but rather to accept their fate and know that their God promised to return them in return all the things that have been taken from them in time, before this time Babylon would rule over them and much of their neighboring kingdoms. As a sign of this Jeremiah formed a yoke out of wood and wore it around everywhere, he went.  

At the same time another Prophet started to preach in Israel, he was telling the people that they should rise up and fight the Babylonian King, that the Lord would empower them to bring back all the gold from the temple and all the Exiles from Babylon. The King Zedekiah liked the message of Hananiah and prepared to go to war with Babylon.  

And thus, we get to this meeting between Jeremiah and the prophet Hananiah. Jeremiah repeats the exact words that Hananiah had spoken. Then said the prophets who came before prophesized war famine and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms As for the prophets who prophesied peace when the world word of that profit comes true, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the Prophet. What Jeremiah is saying here is a sarcastic comment against the prophet Hananiah saying that everyone else prophesied the destruction but Hananiah gives us this wonderful image of peace. But peace isn't what God is commanding now. When Jeremiah said these things, Hananiah was so angry that he took the yoke off of Jeremiah's back and snapped the wood and said this is a sign that God told me to show you that just like I snapped the yoke from around Jeremiah's neck God will snap the yoke that the King of Babylon has placed amongst you.  

Jeremiah then goes away without a response to what Hananiah just done. But then a vision comes to Jeremiah from God and God tells him because Hananiah has broken the wooden yoke, the yoke around Israel's neck will no longer be wooden what will instead become like iron. The yoke will be harder and the slavery worse and longer because of the words of this false Prophet and all the Israelites who are listening to him over God's true word. God also tells Jeremiah to go and say these things to Hananiah and prophecy to Hananiah that because he is a false Prophet, he will receive the rewards of a false Prophet and within the year he would be struck dead. And so, it came to pass that within the year Hananiah was dead and the people of Israel would suffer under the rule of the King of Babylon for many decades and several generations.  

Our reading from Matthew this week talks about whoever welcomes you welcomes me and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me and the people who welcomes those who I sent receive a reward and whoever gives even a Cup of cold water to these little ones in the name of a disciple truly I tell you none of these will lose their reward. I know a lot of sermons are going to be about welcoming this week. About welcoming others into your midst and that's a good message but that's not what this text is talking about. This isn't a text talking about radical hospitality, this isn't a text about opening your arms up to a stranger all these things appear in the gospel and all these things are good but this week's text is specifically a message to the disciples.  

In the past few weeks our gospel readings have all been from the 10th chapter of Matthew. In this chapter Jesus calls and sends the 12 disciples out into the land of Israel. God tells them that they're going to heal the sick preach that the Kingdom of God is near and raise the dead. He tells them that they're going to do the very things Christ has been doing. But then he also tells them but not everyone who I send you to will accept you and when that happens you should shake your dust off your shoes and leave. And then he talks about the fact that Jesus doesn't come to bring peace but a sword. Families will be divided because of the message that they are called to share; communities will be divided.  The disciples have much to fear. Just as the people of Israel called Christ the Prince of lies and from Beelzebub, so too the disciples will be attacked. Some will even be killed; they certainly will be persecuted. And Jesus tells them do not be afraid. That's a terrifying thing to hear from Christ. Jesus the Messiah, has told you to go out spread the good news, but the good news won't always be received well, not only will the good news not always be received well but sometimes people will be outright hostile towards it and because they're hostile towards this good news the gospel they will attack you and you will suffer because you bear the name of Christ and bear the gospel.  

And so, with all of that, we then hear this week's reading. Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a Prophet in the name of a Prophet will receive a prophets reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; And whoever gives even a cold Cup of water to one of these little ones in the name of the disciple--truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.  

After telling the disciples of all the sufferings they might face, of the difficulties of proclaiming the good news, of healing the sick, and proclaiming sins forgiven, Christ offers these words of welcome, these words of comfort. Yes, there will be suffering, and some people reject you because they rejected Christ and the message of Christ, but others will welcome you. And they will welcome you because they welcome Christ’s message and then in welcoming Christ’s message they are welcoming God. And the people who welcome you will receive their reward, the reward of the prophets, the reward of the righteous. And that reward is Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and the life everlasting. Those who welcome the disciples welcome Jesus and welcome God the Father and because of that they will receive their reward.  

What good news do these texts bring to you, to us?  

What these texts tells us is people often will accept easy answers. They will welcome false prophets because the false prophets don't challenge them; the false prophets tell them the word they want to hear, regardless of if that is God’s Word.  

The gospel isn't always easy on us. Yes, the gospel tells us that our sins are forgiven, that Christ has done the work necessary for our Salvation and for our reconciliation with God. That is comforting but when we read the gospel, we also see how much we fall short of what God desires for us. We hear that all have sinned and all fall short of the grace of God.  

When we read the scriptures, we want to place ourselves in the role of the victor of, the hero of the stories, but when we're honest with ourselves a lot of the times we probably should be closer to the villains.  

In our order of confession and forgiveness of sins, at least the one that we say the most often, we say, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Our God who is merciful, yes even who loved us while we were sinners chose to come to earth, become a human become an abused, despised, vulnerable, and weak human, to be persecuted, prosecuted, tortured, rejected, and ultimately die on the cross so that we might know God and be saved.  

The gospel isn't always easy message. The task of sharing the gospel isn't always an easy task. Sometimes when we share the gospel, when we share God's word, when we share God's love; we are rejected.   

Just because the gospel isn't always easy to share and just because we might be rejected and the message rejected, that doesn't mean that we should stop sharing it. It doesn't mean that we should stop going out and spreading the good news. Even when other people reject the message of Christ crucified for all of our sins, a message that calls for the liberation of all of God's people and all of God's creation, a message that calls on us to love all people regardless of who they are or what they've done. We don't know what seeds the Holy Spirit is planting in those who reject us. We're going to hear in a few weeks several parables because the gospel readings for the last three Sundays of July are different parables of Jesus. And one of the parables that that is valuable here is the parable of the seeds sown in different soils.  

I like that parable. One of the things that I take from it is the seed is scattered and grows where it will, where God has created the right environment for it to take root and grow. A lot of times when we read it, we talk about the fact that well there's good soil and there's bad soil and there's rocky soil and there's roads and the seeds grow only in good soil.  

But in many ways the gospel is a very special seed, because the gospel when it's planted and nourished and supported by the Holy Spirit can grow in whatever soil it's planted and it changes the soil that it's planted in. I'm thinking of, I don't know if any of you have seen, but there's a city I think in Pennsylvania where the city was abandoned because there's a fire in a coal mine underneath the city, and the even the pavement is cracked open and plants are growing where they really ought not to be. The gospel is like that, even in the cruelest person you can imagine the gospel could take root and change the soil.  

And so, my friends my brothers and sisters, my siblings in Christ, I remind you to boldly proclaim the good news, share the gospel wherever and whenever by your words and by your actions. Yes, your message might be rejected. But even in that rejection God might be planting seeds for new growth.  

Let us pray, 

 By your word, eternal God, your creation sprang forth, and we were given the breath of life. By your word, eternal God, death is overcome, Christ is raised from the tomb, and we are given new life in the power of your Spirit. May we boldly proclaim this good news in our words and our deeds, rejoicing always in your powerful presence, through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. 

Amen.