A love that knows no bounds. Lent 2019, Week 4, John 4:1-42

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

Chapter 4

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, "Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John" 2 —although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— 3 he left Judea and started back to Galilee. 4 But he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" 13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." 15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."

16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." 17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!" 19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." 25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." 26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."

27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?" 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?" 30 They left the city and were on their way to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." 33 So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?" 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps. ' 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."

The Gospel of Our Lord

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

We are wall builders.  We love to erect barriers between people.  And those barriers have a way of valuing people on one side, and devaluing people on the other side.

This story is ripe with barriers.

First of all, Jesus encounters a woman.

Women were mere property in Jesus day.  Devalued.  One example of this lower status was that their witness was not permitted in a court of law.

 And secondly, she was a woman of Samaria.  The Samaritans were biracial.  Half breeds.  Their heritage was that of being the descendents of Jews and Canaanites through intermarriage.

They were dispised.

Thirdly, this woman had been divorced.  Not just once but five times.  And now she was living with yet another man.

One of the things I realized was how deep the prejudice against her is, even in our thinking today.

How many of us, when we hear this story, immediately make a moral judgment against her?

There must be immorality, right?  She was likely little better than a whore.

Except, this is the thing.

Divorce was a husband’s right.  Not a woman’s.

Women were considered the property of their husbands, and husbands were free to dispose of their property at will. 

Why is it that we jump to conclusions about her moral character, while at the same time not considering her husbands’ actions, and the possibility that this woman might have been a victim??

One final note regarding the context of this encounter.

It is midday.

The normal time for the women of a city to go to the well to draw water would have been during the cool of the morning, or the evening.  Not during the heat of the day.

It was a social time.  A time to interact with one’s friends.

That this woman came at midday, at a time when no one else would typically be at the well, was itself a sign that the barriers that isolated her and devalued her were very much in place.

"Give me a drink."

With that simple request Jesus shattered the boundaries that isolated this woman.

Give me a drink.

"How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?"

Racism exists.  Still.

Not too long ago we still had different drinking fountains for whites and colored.  And some wish we still did.

There are barriers between peoples.

Much attention is being given to the wall that President Trump is seeking to build on the Mexican border. 

One doesn’t have to go to the border to find such barriers between people.  Throughout the Columbia Basin Hispanics and Whites exist side by side, but like the Jews and Samaritans of Jesus’ day, there is a boundary between us.

Prejudice runs rampant.

So does religious prejudice.  Samaritans were not “pure” Jews. 

Oh, they counted Jacob as their ancestor.

This is much like the Muslims today counting Abraham as their ancestor.  That connection does little to overcome the divide that religious prejudice has caused.

Give me a drink.

Jesus is shattering the barrier between them.

One of the most remarkable things about this story is the depth of the conversation that takes place between this woman, and Jesus.

There are some who have suggested that this woman was in fact the first Christian theologian.

Normally religious debate and discourse would have been reserved for the men.  Women, if they were present, would have been expected to remain silent.

But even more than that, there would not have been any sense that they were capable of understanding the issues.

And yet there she was, conversing with Jesus, about their faith and the hope of the Messiah.

And it is to her that Jesus reveals his true identity.

Finally there is the matter of her husbands.

"Go, call your husband, and come back."  Jesus says.

Yeah, well, Jesus, that’s where we’ve got a problem.  “I have no husband.”

"You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!"

Yet one more remarkable thing about this interaction is that though Jesus knows she has had five husbands and another man to boot, he does not judge her.  He commends her for telling the truth, even though what she says is not exactly the whole story.

What follows is not a conversation about her sinfulness, (and remember, having had five husbands may be more of an indictment of her husbands than her), but rather a conversation about the coming Messiah, and the Savior of the World.

What can we make of all of this??

As I said at the beginning, we are wall builders.  We love to erect barriers between people.  And those barriers have a way of valuing people on one side, and devaluing people on the other side.

This story is ripe with barriers.

And yet Jesus reaches across those barriers to encounter and save the people.

In reaching across those barriers Jesus sees and loves a person. 

He doesn’t see a woman, who is mere property, but a person beloved of God.

He doesn’t see a Samaritan, despised by the Jews, but a person, with needs and desires like everyone else.

He doesn’t see an immoral divorcee, but rather a person whom he came to save.

In short, Jesus so loves us that he doesn’t see any of the barriers that we erect, but rather the child of God that the Father loves.

All this is so very important for us, because we are the Samaritan woman.

By that I mean that were it not for the barriers being knocked down, we would never have come to believe in Jesus as the Savior of the World.

We are not Jewish, afterall.

We are the descendents of the Gentiles, of pagans, of barbarians.  That is unless you are of Jewish heritage.

But Jesus doesn’t see that.

Jesus sees each of us as a beloved child of God, of great value, so much so that he would give his life for us.

We are the Samaritan woman, the ones to whom Jesus offers the living water that gushes up to eternal life.

Amen

The Dance Year C, Lent 4, Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

Standing there.

Waiting.

Longing.

Looking.

Running.

Embracing.

Such is the love of God.

Such is Jesus’ love for you, and for me.

It searches us out.

It finds us.

God embraces us.

“I don’t care what you’ve done,

I don’t care where you’ve been.

I’m just glad that you’re home.”

The lost have been found.

God’s throwing a party.

A celebration.

Will you join it?

Will you put on your party clothes and join in the singing and celebration?

A man had two sons.

One wandered far from home and there he lost himself.

He had sought the good life.

He didn’t find it.

One thing led to another.

With each passing day the distance between himself and his home grew farther.

This is the story of many of us.

We have lost our way, until that day when we come to our senses and realize how far off we are.

And then somewhere from deep within we heard the call of our God to come home.

And while we were still far off, the Father ran to greet us, embrace us, and welcome us home.

‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:13

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

We who once were far off and been brought near.

Let the party begin.

And out in the fields, working diligently and faithfully, is the other son.

This is the son who always knew who he was.

He stayed home.

He was obedient.

Hardworking.

Faithful.

The kind that you can always count on to be there.

On that day he returned home after a hard day’s work.

And there was a party going on.

A party to which he had not yet received an invitation.

“What’s happening?”

Learning that his brother had returned home, and that his dad was throwing a party, he became angry.

Now he was the one who was far off.

Hearing that he was standing outside, the Father went out to invite him into the party.

But he remained angry.

'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him! '

And he stood outside, looking in.

God’s throwing a party.

·         Some will rejoice and join in the dance.

·         Others will remain outside, angry.

A man had two Sons.

One wandered off, and eventually came home.

The other faithfully worked through the day, but then stayed outside and refused to come home.

And God simply wants to throw a party for all of us.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.  (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)

On the night before my Father died, he asked me what my favorite bible verse was.

I quoted these words from Paul.

Dad asked me to back up and read verse 15 because that was his favorite verse.

And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.

There had been a distance that had grown between my Father and I.

In that moment though, I who had been far off, was brought near.

I had spoken of our ministry of reconciliation as God was busy reconciling me to my Father.

Grace surprises us in that way.

To a certain extent I was also the obedient Son working in the fields.

Out of the six of us, I had been the child that had followed my dad into the ministry.

And when the time came, Karla and I welcomed Dad into our home to care for him for those few weeks before he died.

Because of that experience, I believe that in some ways we can be both the child who was afar off, and the one who remained home.  At one and the same time.

But regardless who we are, the one who was lost and then found, or the one who remained at the Father’s side all those years, or both, there is now a party going on.

• Some will rejoice and join in the dance.
• Others will remain outside, angry.

That’s how we respond to the grace of God.

We celebrate with God.

Or we get angry.

The first issue the Christian Church was forced to deal with was the question of the Gentiles and whether they could become Christian.

The Holy Spirit moved where it willed, and one Gentile after another, those who had been far off, were brought near by the blood of Christ.

But those who had been faithful Jewish people all their lives were not so sure about this.

God was throwing a party for those who had been lost had come home, but those who had been the faithful obedient children of Israel, were angry.

The Bible had not even been written  yet, and Christians had already been divided between the Prodigal ones and the faithful obedient ones.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

With every passing generation the same issue remained.

Whenever God threw a party to celebrate the lost who had been found, there were those who chose to remain outside, angry.  How could you welcome those people home?

That’s the tragic twist of Grace.

Grace embraces the lost and wayward but offends the obedient ones.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

And in our sinfulness, too often, those who have been near are now far off, for the offense of grace has separated them from the party.

God wants to throw a party for all his children, and we object to the guest list. . .

There is a reason why Christians have become so divided over the centuries, with hundreds of different denominations and groups.

I think it is this simple.

It has been nearly impossible for God to get both Sons in the party at the same time.

I ask you this.

In this parable of the Prodigal Son, who was the rebellious one?  Who separated himself from the Father’s love?

Who?

The answer is that both of them did.

·         The younger son when he left home and journeyed to a foreign land.

·         And the elder when he remained outside consumed by his anger.

And then there is grace.

God counts neither one’s trespass against them.

He just wants to have a party and celebrate being a family.

That’s what it means to be the Church.

It means joining in the party God is throwing. 

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

That, my friends, is cause for a celebration, not indignation. 

And God won’t be happy until both Sons are dancing.

Amen

Neither do I condemn you. Lent 2019, John 8.1-11,

John, Chapter 8

2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

Imagine standing before God and Jesus on the Day of Judgment.  And imagine that the Accuser begins to read the litany of your sins for which you will be judged.

Do you suppose that it will read:

·         She was too loving.

·         He was too forgiving.

·         She was too merciful.

·         He was too compassionate.

·         She was too accepting.

Do you suppose, if those were the charges levied against you on the Day of Judgment, that God would then condemn you??

No.  Of course not.

For this is all the stuff of grace and near to the heart of God.

And though we can never be perfect, and everything we do is in some way tainted by sin, it is better for us to err on the side of grace, than the law.

We, however, often feel most righteous when we are most judgmental, and condemning.

Some lament the fact that we simply don’t preach against sin enough in the Church.

I quote a Dr. James Emery White from his blog page:

“In 1973, psychiatrist Karl Menninger published a book with the provocative title, Whatever Became of Sin?  His point was that sociology and psychology tend to avoid terms like “evil,” or “immorality,” and “wrongdoing.”  Menninger detailed how the theological notion of sin became the legal idea of crime and then slid further from its true meaning when it was relegated to the psychological category of sickness.

Sin is now regarded as little more than a set of emotions that can be explained through genetics.

So something like lust is not a wrong that threatens our own health and the well-being of others; it’s simply an emotional urge that is rooted in the need to propagate the human species.  It’s fixed in our genes.”

And hearing someone say something like that, there is a whole chorus of voices that say “Yes, that’s what wrong with our world.  We need to take a strong stance against sin, and for righteousness.

What is the world coming to anyway?

One of the things we do is focus on certain sins more than others.

And frequently that means that we focus on other’s sins, not our own.  And we particularly love to focus on sexual sins.  That has been the case for a long time.

Imagine how righteous those scribes and Pharisees felt when they brought that woman before Jesus who had been caught in the very act of committing adultery.  I mean, really, in the very act. . .  One would assume she’d been pulled naked from the bed and her lover’s arms.

The judgment couldn’t be questioned at that point.

“Jesus, what do you say?”

People who committed adultery were to be stoned to death.

If a man raped a woman in the city, both of them were to be stoned to death—the man because he raped her, the woman because she didn’t cry out for help.

If, however, the rape took place in the country, the woman’s life was to be spared.

If a man rapes a virgin, who is not yet engaged, in other words a young girl, he is required to make the girl his wife and cannot divorce her.

And so the Law of Moses goes.

And it’s not only sexual sins that count.

Rebellious and stubborn sons are also to be executed by the elders of the town.

Even Jesus, at times, preaches a very strict understanding of the Law.

In Mark 10:11 he says "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

Yes indeed, whatever happened to sin?

Whatever happened to sin?

So there this woman was, standing before Jesus, having been caught in the very act of adultery.

She is without defense.

Then Jesus does a curious thing.  He bends down and starts writing something with his finger on the ground.

“When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.”

Wouldn’t you love to know just exactly what it was that he wrote on the ground???

Some have speculated that he was writing down the sins that these scribes and Pharisees had committed.

Or perhaps Jesus wrote something like “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;”, that’s from his sermon on the Plain in Luke.

He says something similar in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew:  "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. 2 For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.

In Romans, Paul writes:

“Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.”

As Jesus wrote with his finger in the dust, the woman’s accusers left one by one.

Finally, she was alone with Jesus.

"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."

“Neither do I condemn you.”

“"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  John 3:17

Such is the heart and the love of Jesus.

He is unwilling to condemn because he came to save.

Those among us who are ready to condemn will cling to the final words of Jesus “do not sin again”.

Forgiveness is possible, but only if true repentance is found.  Sin no more.  And if you are not willing to repent and sin no more, the condemnation remains.

Actually, I’ve come to believe that true forgiveness means that ‘your sins are no more’, not that you will ‘sin no more’.

Paul makes it quite clear in the seventh chapter of Romans that our battle with sin continues.  He writes:

“For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.”

This is the thing, though.

We are forgiven by the grace of God, even though we will continue to struggle with sin all the days of our lives.

We are forgiven.

Forgiveness isn’t contingent on our never sinning again.

Yes, Jesus forgives us to set us free.

But his offer of forgiveness is renewed each and every day.

One of the most important things I’ve learned about this is that forgiveness is not contingent on our repentance, but rather that our repentance is in response to God’s forgiveness.

Repentance is the turning around, turning from our sinful ways, toward God.

And this turning, or better, returning to God, is only possible because of the forgiveness freely offered to us in Christ Jesus.

And so we, like this woman, stand before Jesus and hear those most wonderful words:  “Neither do I condemn you.”

As a Church we simply cannot be too loving, too forgiving, too merciful, too compassionate, and too accepting.

No amount of grace is too much grace.

Because grace, in all its lavish abundance, is precisely what transforms the lives of sinners and sets us free and brings us back to God.

Amen

Year C, Lent 3, 1 Corinthians 10.1-13, Luke 13.1-9, The Time of Trial

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

Life can be difficult at times,

tragic in fact.

Some people have the privilege of skating through life with nary a challenge.  Everything just seems to go well for them.  They prosper and flourish in every way.  Life for them is good.

For other people, life just seems to be one challenge after another.  These are the ones who hear Paul’s words that God “will not let you be tested beyond your strength” and wonder if this could possibly be true, because they are at the breaking point and there doesn’t seem to be anyway out at all.  Still others are struck down and die without ever having even a chance to do anything about it.

When we look at those two groups of people it is very tempting to conclude that they are each getting what they deserve. 

People who have enjoyed the good life tend to think that they have made all the right choices.

And those who suffer one tragedy after another wonder what in the world they did wrong to deserve all this.

In the “Sound of Music” this sentiment is expressed in the song “Something Good”.

“Perhaps I had a wicked childhood
Perhaps I had a miserable youth
But somewhere in my wicked, miserable past
There must have been a moment of truth

For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should
But somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good.”

There is a reason why we often love the sentiments expressed in this song.

If nothing comes from nothing, if there is always a reason for good or evil, and if it can all be traced back to our actions, one way or another, then life is manageable.  We are in control.  And there is comfort and security in that.

Make good choices and live the good life.

Make bad choices and beware of what is to come.

Only one problem.

Life doesn’t work that way all the time.

Sometimes something does come from nothing.

There is innocent suffering and tragedy. 

And there are people who experience a life of privilege for no other reason than where and when to whom they were born.

There is good and evil in the world, and sometimes good people suffer and evil people prosper.

Life simply isn’t always fair.

Just because someone experiences evil does not mean they have sinned and deserve it.

In our Gospel lesson we read:

“At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. [Jesus] asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.””

In this passage Jesus is telling us two things.

First, that the people in question, those who were slaughtered by Pilate while they worshipped and those who died when the tower collapsed, had done nothing to deserve this fate.  They were innocent of any wrongdoing.   Their suffering and death made no sense, it just happened.

But then Jesus goes on to say “repent, (or) you will all perish just as they did.”

In the first breath Jesus says they have done nothing to deserve this suffering.  In the second breath he says repent or you will suffer as they did.

Those two statements seem contradictory.

But they are not.  The important thing, though, is how we hold them together.

First of all, the truth is that life is fragile, and because of that, sometimes tragic.

Death can strike at any moment.

Babies die in the womb.

Children die of disease and accident.

Young people die.

Middle aged people die.

Old people die.

And the where and the when and the how of these deaths are so often inexplicable.

This is simply the truth of life.

People don’t deserve losing a baby to miscarriage. 

Nor did Karla and I somehow deserve having four healthy babies in four pregnancies.

I’ve buried a lot of children and young people in my years of ministry.

Neither they or their families did anything that deserved such a fate.

Accidents happen.

Disease happens.

And sometimes pure evil happens to people who are innocent of wrong doing.

I mean, isn’t this what we witness again and again in all the mass shootings that occur, most recently in New Zealand???  People just going about their business, in this case gathering for worship, when a deranged gunman opens fire and kills fifty innocent people.

Evil happens.

It doesn’t mean that those who suffer because of it did anything to deserve it.

But then why does Jesus say, “repent, or you will all perish just as they did.”

I’m going to try and answer that.

When I look back at my life there are numerous experiences and situations that stand out to me that could easily have resulted in my death.

I remember a drunk driver nearly killing me when I was in first or second grade.  My older brother pulled me out of the way of the crashing car.

I remember falling asleep while driving only to be awakened by the air horn of a passing truck whose driver had seen me sleeping and sounded his horn to wake me up.  He might have saved my life, that moment.

My mitral valve failed.  That I’m alive today is a credit to the advancement of modern day medicine and the skill of my surgeon, Dr. Sewick. 

That I didn’t die that last night of my drinking is largely the result of Karla staying by my side and caring for me.

And most recently, I had a bowel obstruction this last year.  Even today, with all the advancements of modern medicine that can result in the death of one’s intestines, and could have killed me.

What these experiences have taught me is how fragile life actually is, and how in the blinking of an eye it could be over.

When that happens, what is lost is the opportunity that each new day offers to us.

For example, had I died that last night of drinking I would have been deprived of the opportunity to experience sobriety once again, the new life.

“Repent!”  Jesus says.

“Repent for the Kingdom of God has come near.”

The repentance Jesus preaches is not just a turning away from evil, but also a turning toward God.

In fact there are many people who are not evil in any sense of the word, but who do not as yet have any significant relationship with God.

The world is not divided between the non-religious people who are all bad, and the religious people who are all good.

It’s much more of a mixed bag than all of that.

There are some incredibly good people who are not people of faith, and there are some incredibly faithful people who are guilty of all sorts of evil. 

But all of us, whether people of faith, or people without faith. . .

All of us, whether we are by nature good, or struggle with our evil impulses,

All of us have the opportunity to repent.

To turn our hearts and our lives toward God and to experience the grace, love, and faith that God offers.

All of us, through repentance, have the opportunity to experience the Kingdom of God, and his reign of love and peace.

But this is the thing.

We have the opportunity to repent and grow closer to God today, but there is no guarantee that we will have that opportunity tomorrow.

What if tomorrow never comes?

One of the saddest days I’ve experienced was when my first child, Katie, left home for college.

What overwhelmed me was that my opportunity to be her dad on a day to day basis was over.  All those things that I had been putting of ‘til tomorrow’ were not going to happen now.  The opportunity had passed.

Now is the time.

I think that is what I’ve learned.

Now is the time because tomorrow never comes.

The only thing we have is the present moment.

We can choose to love, or hate.

We can choose to have faith, or not.

We can choose to walk with God, or not.

We can turn our lives around through repentance, or not.

This we can do today, but not tomorrow, for tomorrow never comes. 

What Jesus is telling us is that you never know when or how life will end, so make the most of this moment, and the opportunity to repent and believe in the Kingdom of God.

I’m left with a question that this text raises for me.

If today were the last day of my life, would I be at peace with the way I lived this day as being the final and defining moment in my life?

Or to put it differently, if you knew this was your last day, how would you live?

Amen

Showing Mercy, Lent 2019, Week 2, Luke 10:25-37

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" 27 He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." 28 And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend. ' 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" 37 He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” the lawyer asked, “what must I do?”

This was a test.

In the lawyer’s mind it was more about ‘checking Jesus out’ than it was about a genuine inquiry into the requirements of the law.

After all, he knew the answer.

He was wondering if Jesus knew the answer.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."

And Jesus responded “do this, and you will live."

The issue here between the lawyer and Jesus is not the question of what is to be done.

They both know the answer and agree upon the answer.

Love God.

Love neighbor.

Pretty simple.  Just do it.

Ask anyone here the same question.  We’d probably respond likewise.

Yup, “Love God and Love your neighbor” sounds like Jesus. 

The devil’s in the details though.

The devil’s in the details.

I mean that literally.  It’s in the application that we face temptation.

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Implicit in that question is the conviction that though we are to love our neighbor, we are not required to love all people.

Just some.  Our neighbors. 

But who are they?

It struck me as I wrote this that how we answer that question says a lot about our religious and political positions.

If you are a conservative Republican, or a right wing evangelical Christian, you’re going to tend to answer the question in one way.  For example, you might lift up the unborn child as the one we are to love and protect. . .

But if you are a liberal Democrat, or a progressive mainline Christian, you’re likely to answer in a different way.  For example, you might lift up the cause of one minority or another that has been oppressed.

We all agree that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, but we tend to disagree as to who that neighbor is and is not.

"And who is my neighbor?"

And so Jesus told them a parable.

We know it well.

One man, half dead alongside the road.

A priest.

A Levite.

Both passed by.

But then a foreigner, a Samaritan stopped.

And it was the foreigner who showed mercy and cared for the unfortunate man.

"And who is my neighbor?"

"The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."

Now comes the real question.

Is this an obligation or an opportunity?

When we respond to this commandment as an obligation we ask questions such as “who is my neighbor?” and “who am I required to show mercy to?”.  What must I do to inherit eternal life?

The emphasis is on ourselves.  That and the reward that we seek—eternal life.

And because of this we are worried not about the other person, but about whether we have met the requirement to earn the reward for ourselves.

It’s all very self centered, isn’t it.

But if we can get out of ourselves and our preoccupation with our future and reward, then we have the opportunity to love our neighbor.

“Who is my neighbor?”

Who do you have the opportunity to love?

Who do you have the opportunity to show mercy?

In other words, who is in need of our loving mercy?

I’m a Mister Rogers fan, from the days when I cared for our children as they were growing up.

His theme song goes as follows:

“It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Could you be mine?
Would you be mine?

“It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood
A neighborly day for a beauty
Could you be mine?
Would you be mine?

“I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you

“Let's make the most of this beautiful day
Since we're together, might as well say
Would you be my, could you be my
Won't you be my neighbor?”

Who can we be a neighbor to?

Who can we show mercy to?

Who is it that needs to be loved, today?

Jesus says,

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

Just as I have loved you, love one another.

“Who is my neighbor?” We ask.

Who does Jesus love?  Who did Jesus care enough about to offer his life on the cross for them?

Who is it that occupies a special place in Jesus’ heart?

Who is it that Jesus is concerned about?

 Jesus loves the unlovable.

Jesus shows mercy to those who need mercy.

Jesus forgives those who need forgiveness.

Who is our neighbor?

Who are we to love?

Who are we to show mercy to?

Who are we to forgive?

Who is welcome in this place?

I think that if we want to know who God is calling us to love and show mercy to, we ought to think about whom it is that we are most uncomfortable showing love and mercy to.

Why?

Because the reason that we are uncomfortable showing love and mercy to them, is the reason they so desperately need to experience the love and mercy of God.

The question is not “who is the neighbor I must love?” but rather “who is the neighbor that needs my love?”

And the second question is, “how can I, by loving the neighbor in need, bear witness to the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus?”

Amen

Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Year C, Lent 2, Philippians 3.17 — 4.1, Luke 13:31-35,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Jerusalem.

City of David.

City of God.

The Holy City.

A place set apart.

A sacred place for Jewish people, for Christian people, and for Muslim people.

Jerusalem.

The name itself means “City of Peace”.

Of Jerusalem Isaiah wrote:

In days to come

the mountain of the Lord 's house

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be raised above the hills;

all the nations shall stream to it.

3 Many peoples shall come and say,

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob;

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths."

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 He shall judge between the nations,

and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.

John writes in Revelation:

And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

"See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them;

they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them;

4 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."

Jerusalem.

It stands as a beacon on a hill for all that is good and right and Godly.

And it also, at one and the same time, represents what is wrong with the world.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Jerusalem, the City of Peace and the place of war.

As such it epitomizes that which is right about religion, and that which is oh so wrong.

What is wrong.

One could identify many different failures, I suppose.

Today, three stand out to me.

Religion has failed when it becomes the cause of hate, when it is used to oppress, and when it promotes a nationalism that divides the people of the world and sets one against another.

It is hatred that caused a gunman to enter the mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand and gun down Muslims in their place of worship.

It is hatred that caused another gunman, not long ago, to enter a synagogue in Pittsburg and gun down many Jewish people during their worship.

And it was hatred that led Dylann Roof to enter Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina and gun down those people gathered to study the Bible.

Hatred is often fueled by a marriage of religion and racism. 

It has no place in any of the religions of the world.

Oppression.  Exploitation.  Abuse.

Religious faith gone wrong has been used in all three.

The marriage of power and religion has been a bad trip.

Women have been subjected to abuse and shamed into submission in the name of religion.  This is not something that just occurs in some distant far off land.  I’ve seen it in my own congregations.

Slavery, among other things, has been justified on the basis of religion.

And people have been devalued and subjected to oppression—deprived of basic civil rights and access to the necessities of life, all in the name of religion.

And finally, a few words about nationalism.

When I choose to use the word “nationalism” I’m not referring to simply patriotism, or any other healthy appreciation for one’s own country.

It’s alright to get teary eyed at the sight of Mt. Rushmore, or to stand in awe in the nations capital.

It’s alright to be proud to be an American, or Norwegian, or South African, or Chinese.

Nationalism is something different.

It is exalting one’s own nation at the expense of all others.

“Deutchland uber alles” or “Germany over all” was the marching song of the Third Reich during WWII.  It epitomizes the nationalistic spirit.

Nationalism is often, though not always, the result of the union of religion and patriotism, of the belief that one nation is superior to all others because of its special relationship to God.

And nationalism has been used to justify wars throughout history.

Religion has failed when it becomes the cause of hate, when it is used to oppress, and when it promotes a nationalism that divides the people of the world and sets one against another.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

All Children of Abraham and people of faith.

Cousins, if you will.

And of all people, we should know that there is a different way.

Paul writes:

For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I particularly love that phrase “Our citizenship is in heaven.”

Jewish people recite the “Shema”:  “Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.”

Muslims have the shahada, "There is no god but God; Muhammad is the messenger of God"

And Christians confess “Jesus is Lord.”

Though our faiths differ in substantial ways, as children of Abraham these basic statements of faith mean that each of us in our own way acknowledges the Lordship, the Sovereignty of the God who created the heavens and the earth.

To recognize the Lordship of God is to reject the supremacy of anyone people or nation over all others.

It is to confess that all people are created by God and because of that have intrinsic worth and value.

Rather than seeking to destroy one another in the name of religion, we are to care for one another in the name of God.  Big difference.

Religion gone wrong has been used to oppress, exploit, and abuse, using power to subdue.

For those of us who are Christians, though, there is a different way, and that is the way of the Cross.

In Phillipians Paul writes:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.

To follow Jesus on the way of the cross, if it means anything at all, means that we surrender all power and instead, serve one another as Christ has served us, giving his life for us.

It is to lift each other up, not put each other down.

And in doing this, we are following Jesus commandment that we love one another as he first loved us.

Religion that is true, is a religion that embraces love, not hate;

Justice, not oppression;

And unity, not division.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

That too often has been the reality with which we have lived.  But in Isaiah, we hear of another vision for the Holy City of God.

They will not hurt or destroy

on all my holy mountain;

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

Amen