Will Rice - Sermon #42 "Unleashing the Unnerving Power of God"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Luke 8:26-39

Unleashing the Unnerving Power of God

So you believe in God right? Most of us do. And many of us pray to God, occasionally asking God to do stuff for us or others. But most of us would also prefer that God keep things neat. As good mainline protestant Christians, we like God to work within the bounds of good taste and the laws of physics. But what are we to do with this story?

This is a great story. We have a graveyard, a possessed guy, talking demons, a herd of pigs. This is a story that you wouldn’t want to take place in your neighborhood. This is a great story when it happens to someone else, somewhere else. It is a great story to keep safely tucked away in the Bible.

26Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.

Ok, there is a little confusion about where they were. The Gospel of Luke along with the Gospel of Mark say “the country of the Gerasenes.” Matthew’s gospel says the country of the Gadarenes and both are footnoted with the possibility that it was actually the land of the Gergasenes. Exactly where they stopped off is a little muddy, but we can assume that it was east of Galilee across the Sea of Galilee putting Jesus and the disciples somewhere in what we now know as the disputed area of the Golan Heights. The point is that the land they step off into isn’t the kind of place the disciples would have chosen to spend an evening. That phrase “which is opposite Galilee” may be kind of telling. It is not just geographically opposite, but spiritually opposite. Galilee is the land of the Jews, this place is the land of the outsiders.

We also need to put this passage in context. The disciples are getting off a boat that nearly just sank. In the passage right before this, Jesus asked the disciples to take a little boat ride. During the trip, he fell asleep and a big storm came up threatening the sink the boat. They woke Jesus up and he stilled the storm. Now let’s consider that having a guy in your boat who can control the weather is nearly as frightening as being in a sinking boat.

27As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs.

Now that’s the kind of greeting you are looking for. So the man is naked, he has demons and he lives in the tombs. That reference to tombs is worth noting. Tombs were the place of the dead and Jewish Law frowned on being around anything associated with the dead. There is a whole unclean thing going on here. They are in the land of the outsiders, and now a man who lives in the tombs is involved. And it is only going to get worse.

28When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— 29for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.)

Just put yourself in the place of the disciples for a moment. You are tired, probably hungry after following Jesus around all day fighting off crowds and trying like heck to understand the meaning of all these parables. At the end of the day, Jesus makes you get on a boat. A storm comes up that nearly swamps the boat. You wake Jesus up and he stills the storm, which is cool because you didn’t die, but it is a little freaky that your new friend Jesus can tell the weather what to do. Now he has taken you to a place where good Jewish fishermen shouldn’t go and now you are in this place and this guy comes toward you. Forget the possession issue for a moment, here is a guy who has been chained up in a graveyard under guard but kept breaking free. I would be a little shaken up.

28When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”—

One thing the gospels are consistent about is that the only ones who ever seem to really understand who Jesus is are the evil spirits. The disciples are surprised every time Jesus does something that reflects his nature as the son of God. Everyone around constantly seems to be oblivious to his identity, except these unclean spirits.

They can see him coming from a mile away. They can see him coming and they know what he is going to do. Let’s go back to the fourth chapter of Luke:

31He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. 32They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. 33In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34“Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

The unclean or evil spirits are quite content with the status quo and don’t want Jesus to come along and cast them out.

30Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him.

“My name is Legion; for we are many.” Legion is a technical term for a military unit of about 6000 soldiers. So when he says, we are many, he doesn’t mean many like 10. This is a pretty serious demon issue.

31They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

This is a perplexing line. Did the demons really like it there, or were they afraid they would end up somewhere like New Jersey. I had to read up on some Jewish thinking regarding demons. There seems to be some suggestion that spirits were assigned to certain geographical territories.[1] And so if they were made to leave their place, they wouldn’t really get to do their thing anymore.

32Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission.

Obviously the unclean spirits really didn’t want to leave the country because they chose another option, entering into some pigs. Just think of the context here for a moment. These nice Jewish fishermen who are having a really bad day to start with, now suddenly there are pigs. Pigs for these Jews are just the picture of unclean.

Leviticus 11:7:

7The pig, for even though it has divided hoofs and is cleft-footed, it does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you.

Remember where they are:

26Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.

Back in Galilee, there would not have even been any pigs.

Demons, graveyards, now pigs, this is just going from bad to worse.

And into these pigs, this is where the demons want to go. I didn’t even know that animal possession was a possibility though it does explain some cats I have known.

32Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

I just love that this is in the Bible. Now such a bazaar series of events would certainly make the evening news if it happened today and there would be a number of questions. The EPA would want to know who was going to clean up the pollution the rotting pigs have caused that is wrecking the water quality in the Sea of Galilee. The SPCA would be quite interested in how
these animals could be treated so poorly. There would be lawsuits raising questions over who was going to pay for the pigs and if they should have been running loose in the first place. Not to mention problems in the market where those who invested in pork futures are making a killing due to the rising cost pork products.[2]

Anyway, I digress.

34When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear.

As one should expect. We might want to stand up and applaud Jesus for this miraculous act of healing this man from what ailed him, but this is some spooky stuff. The guys herding the pigs are freaked out enough that all their pigs are gone. Now they bring back some witnesses and they see all the dead pigs and this guy, the one that had been chained up in the graveyard all these years, sitting calmly. And now it’s decision time. This Jesus fellow, the one who just showed up in the boat with his friends is obviously quite powerful in one way or another. And now it’s decision time. Do you really want someone like this hanging around?

Do we really want someone with this kind of power hanging around? I mean in theory, of course, but really? What kind of orderly, uplifting church services could we have with a character like this around? The gospels show us that every person with an unclean spirit is going to run up to him and say they know him. Our neighbors would hate us if large herds of animals got involved. A guy like this could really mess with the peaceful thing we have going on here. And a guy with this sort of power would constantly make us rethink what we are doing. We would have to constantly look at our priorities we would be challenged in our every attempt to be
comfortable and forced to consider possibilities that aren’t very pretty.

“Jesus, would you mind terribly just getting back in the boat and going home?”

37Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.

And Jesus agrees. I sure the disciples helped. “Yeah, Jesus could we please go home?”

38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him;

Once again, the only one in the story with a clear picture of what is going on, the once possessed man wants to go with Jesus. Which kind of makes sense. We know how people are right. This is the naked guy who was living in the tombs and had to be chained up. “I am much better now.” Of course he wants to go to Jesus. Who do you want to hang out with, the people who think you are a nut or the guy who just saved your life?

38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Jesus has a bigger challenge for the man. No one wants Jesus to stay in this area. They want nothing to do with this guy who casts out demons and allows them to enter into pigs that go running into the water. And this guy gets to stay and witness to them. I mean think about it, if you were the one guy there in this strange land that did believe, wouldn’t you have wanted to get into the boat. Isn’t it more fun to hang out with people who already believe?

Really, isn’t it more fun to hang out with people who already believe?

So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Alright to sum up: Jesus and the disciples go to this creepy place and are approached by this creepy guy, the guy knows who Jesus is and Jesus wants to help out by casting out his demons, the demons don’t want to leave the country so they go into some pigs instead, the pigs run into the water and die, everyone gets freaked out and asks Jesus to leave, except the guy he healed who wants to go with him, but Jesus makes him stay and preach at home.

So, who are you in the story? Are you one of the faithful disciples, who probably were kind of wishing they had never gotten on the boat and come to this weird place in the first place? Are you Legion? Maybe its not demons, maybe its something else in your life that is quite content with the status quo Do you need to believe in who Jesus is in order to start believing Jesus can help you? Are you one of the people who really wished Jesus would just go home and stop creating havoc and causing them to reconsider everything they know and believe? Are you the healed one, wishing you could just stay with your master, but instead are being called to a much more difficult task, sharing what you have learned with everyone you can? Are you ready to unleash the unnerving power of God? Is there something in your life that you need God to help you with but you are too afraid to let go. Are you unwilling to accept the possibility that God can truly help you because you are afraid of what that might look like or you are afraid it might be kind of messy or force you to face the limitations that you have places on the power of God? What might you ask God to do if you were really ready to unleash the unnerving power of God?

Should we ask Jesus to get back in the boat? Or do you want to stick around and see what might happen?

[1] R. C. Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1949), p. 101
[2] Bob Deffinbaugh, “The Gerasene Demoniac” in Highlights in the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ, on Bible.org,

Will Rice - Sermon #41 "Empty Jars"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

1 Kings 17:8-16


I must have been about twelve years old. It was the dead of winter in Eden, New York. I was with my good friend Dan. Dan was a Jehovah’s Witness and he lived in a cabin way out in the country at the end of a dirt road. We went sledding. That’s what kids do in the winter in Eden, New York. We went to this great hill in the woods about a miles walk from his home. It was a great, long, steep hill that ended in a low gully that, even in the dead of winter had standing water. I had on my pair of boots for that winter, a pair of water resistant leather insulated boots with thick soles. Dan had on the ugliest pair of rubber snowmobile boots I had ever seen. After a whole day of sledding and walking through the water in that gully, my feet were soaked and cold. We started back to his house but my feet were so wet and cold and I was so uncomfortable, I actually had trouble walking. Dan saw my distress so he sat down in the snow, told me to do the same. He took of his ugly rubber snowmobile boots, then he reached over and pulled off my boots. He put his boots on my feet, picked up my boots and walked the rest of the way home in his socks, while my feet were as warm as toast. I didn’t realize it until this morning that his action was one of the most powerful Christian witnesses I ever experienced.

I want you to think for a moment of one of your most prized possessions: something you just love, something you just can’t live without. Now I want you to picture giving it away.

The scripture today is picking up in the middle of the account of the life and ministry of Elijah the Tishbite. He told Ahab the king of Israel at the time that there would be a severe drought and famine in the land. Then, it tells us in the beginning of the chapter, that he goes to the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan river, where he drinks from the wadi and is fed by ravens. He stays there until the drought and famine are in full force and then…

8Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9“Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”

Alright this is another one of those things where you miss a lot if you don’t read between the lines. Elijah leaves Gilead and goes all the way up to Zarapheth. Zarapheth is not a place where nice Jewish prophets are supposed to hang out. This is a place where people worshiped other Gods. This was the land of the Phoenicians who worshipped the god Ba’al. So, we can assume that the people there, in this land of other Gods, will do bad stuff, right?

10So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.”

I like to take whatever chances I can to help you read the Bible better so listen to this. Whenver you are reading and hear mentioned: a poor person, a barren woman, a leper, or a widow, something is likely to happen. Consider it a flag. The authors of scripture do not throw widows around will-nilly.

So Elijah the Tishbite asks her for some water. Keep in mind there is a drought in all the land, and what does this Ba’al worshipping widow do? She turns around to go get him some water. But Elijah the Tishbite is obviously delirious from the journey because he asks for something else.

11As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

O.K. Now he is pushing it. Perhaps he doesn’t remember that there is a drought and a famine going on. And add to that, she is a widow and in the time of Elijah a widow would have had trouble getting by even without a drought and famine.

12But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

Notice that. “As the Lord your God lives.”

She had just enough for one little meal before they both die from starvation. But, Elijah is persistent, as prophets must be, and he keeps trying.

13Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son.

Bold move. “I heard what you said, but do what I say anyway” And here is why:

14For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.”

Remember what she just said to him, “As the Lord your God lives.” Elijah is telling her to do this on the promise of a God that she doesn’t even believe in.

14For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.”

So what does this woman do, this widow of Zarapheth, this woman from the land of the Phoenicians, this woman who is on her way to make one last simple meal for her and her son before they both perish?

15She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

This widow has made a choice, go and make a last meal for her and her child, from her nearly empty jar, or trust this man and give to him from her nearly empty jar. Think about how severe a decision that is. I know people say, “the church is always asking for money.” But has the church ever asked you to make a choice between feeding your children and giving to the church? This is what Elijah the Tishbite has asked.

I was reading this passage from one of my study Bibles and it had this footnote:

The widow had faith in Elijah’s words, did as he requested, and she and her son were blessed with abundance as long as the drought lasted.

Not to disagree with the biblical scholars but they weren’t necessarily blessed with abundance.

16The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

They had a little oil and a little meal for bread, they had enough to survive on, not abundance. The reason I point this out is that there is a subtle difference between good and bad theology. Christianity has been severely damaged by preachers who say, “give your money to God and you will get more back!” “Send as much as you can and you will find a new Cadillac in your driveway.” That is not how it works and that is not the point.

The widow gave, not out of expectation of a blessing, but out of trust. She, for one reason or another, trusted that if she listened to this representative of God, that God would take care of her and son.

Now many of us are there. We give of our time and talents and treasure, not expecting that God will return our gifts with abundant blessing, but out of simply trust and obedience. But most of us, me included, give out of our abundance, not out of our scarcity.

Think about it. Popular culture tells me that I don’t have nearly enough. I need a bigger TV, a bigger truck, a faster computer, better tasting deserts, higher-speed internet access, a much cooler cell phone, better shoes, a more relaxing vacation, new furniture, a larger home etc., etc., etc. But really, in the grand scheme of things, I have more than I need materially. I have plenty to eat and drink, I have a comfortable place to live and transportation. I give back to God out of my abundance not out of my scarcity. I give out of my extra.

And it is not just about money and possessions. We very often talk about our time being a much more precious commodity than even our money. But we are not actually as busy as we like to think we are. The average American watches television over four hours a day , many spend more than that just surfing the internet. The forty hour work week which many enjoy wasn’t really implemented until the 1940s . Before that, many people worked 50, 60 and 70 hour weeks. As busy as we feel, we still give out of the abundance of our time.

But what might happen if we gave out of, not just our abundance, but out of our scarcity? Not just out of our full jars but out of our empty jars. What might happen in the world?

I spent a lot of time thinking and praying about this week. This is hard stuff. But when we actually engage in giving from our scarcity, we really get to see how all this stuff has a hold over us. It is pretty easy to give from our abundance. It is just about choices. If I have four coats and I decide to give one away, I just choose which one I like the least or use the least. But, if I have one coat, and I give it away, I have to think about what life will be like without a coat.

Think about the woman in today’s passage:

12But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

This wasn’t, “If I give you a cake, I won’t be able to make a pie for after supper that we would eat even though we were full.” This is, “If I feed you, we don’t eat.”

Things change when I move from giving from my abundance to giving from my scarcity. When I give from my scarcity, or at least from my perceived scarcity, when I give away something I need, or even something that I really want, I really have to come face to face with the fact that no thing I have, no possession, is of any actual value. My value, my happiness doesn’t come from any thing, it comes from God. Now this is hard stuff. My value, my happiness doesn’t come from any thing, it comes from God. And this doesn’t even pertain just to material things. My happiness, my value does not come from anything I profess to possess. MY time, MY talents, MY accomplishments are not the sources of MY value or MY happiness. All that stuff comes from God.

And now I am in trouble because in this particular area, the gospel comes directly into conflict with the world.

I want to look real quick at another piece of scripture, Mark 10:17-22:

17As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'" 20He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." 21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

People hate this passage, because it raises the question, “So I am supposed to give away all my stuff?” No it doesn’t say that. The man asks Jesus what he has to do to fully inherit the promise of God and Jesus says, “Let go.”

Let go and instead of only giving from your abundance, trying giving from your scarcity. Not just the extra from the top of your full jars, but give from the depths of your empty jars.

Trust in not your own abundance, but God’s abundance.

A few weeks ago I preached sermon called “One” and in it, I challenged you all to take a week off from judging others. I have to tell you, I have never gotten so much response from a sermon. A number of you told me, in person, via email, or on the phone, how hard it was or how rewarding it was or both. So, I thought I would try again. Here is your assignment this week. Give something away. Anybody can do that. I have a pair of shoes I never wear. I am not going to let you off the hook that easy. Give something away that you actually need. That may be too easy for some of you because then you will just go replace it. Give away something that you love. Give away something that matters to you. Give something not from you abundance, but from your scarcity. Give something from what you would consider your empty jar. It can be anything and it doesn’t need to be material. Maybe for you it means giving away your day off. Maybe it is some money you set aside to spend on yourself. Maybe it is letting down a boundary and giving away a part of yourself that you protect.

Now let me lay down a couple of guidelines. Number one: Think this through. I am not responsible for your actions. Don’t give away your rent money. That is not going to help anyone. Don’t give away a family heirloom that you will forever regret. Unless, maybe you have another family member you could give it to, a family member who may be forever changed by your generosity.

Guideline number two: Be prepared to be freed by giving it away. Be prepared to accept the freedom that comes from knowing that nothing you possess can bring you closer to God, only letting go can.

I don’t ask this lightly. I have been thinking and praying about this all week and I say again, this is hard. When I think about my prized possessions and letting go of them, I get very uncomfortable. But, that in itself tells me something.

Give away something, not from your abundance, but from somewhere else, from your scarcity, from your empty jars, from a place that makes you nervous. Let go. Trust that God’s abundance is enough for you. Amen.

Will Rice - Sermon #40 - “One”

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

John 17:20-26

Our reading today is part of what biblical scholars call Jesus’ high priestly prayer. This prayer has three basic parts. Jesus prays for himself, for his disciples and for the church universal. What we heard today was from that third part. Jesus is praying for the church, the whole church.

20“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,

This is a transitional phrase from the part about the disciples (on behalf of these) to the part about the church universal (on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word.) I often refer to all Christians as disciples, however, Jesus is praying here for the specific disciples who were his original followers. We are, in this passage, those who will believe in Jesus through the word of the disciples. And Jesus is praying for us. And what is he praying?

20“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one.

There is a temptation to stop right there. Jesus is praying for us, that we may all be one. That sounds really great. Let’s do that. And many of you are thinking, “Yes, let’s do that.” And by that, we are all thinking totally different things. The idea of us all being one is a complicated one and Jesus is about to make it more complicated:

21that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

So we should all be one, like the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. So the oneness we are to share is just like the oneness the Father and the Son share. But what does that mean? Let’s take a shot at this. Jesus is asking God that we may be one as Jesus and God are one. Does being one mean being the same? Well that doesn’t work biblically or practically. Could you say Jesus and God the Father are the same? In a limited sense you might get away with it, but you would have to leave out all those little details about Jesus, like being born in human form, walking in human form, and dying in human form.

To quote from U2’s Bono, “We’re one, but were not the same.”

“Same” would also be a hard word to use to describe any two people. We may be united in some way, we may be similar in our humanity, but it would be a limited use of the word to say that I am the same as a young female Christian in Liberia.

Come to think of it, I am not even the “same” as everyone who is sitting in this sanctuary today. We are in many ways similar. We share many common beliefs, but by no means are we the same.

Since it is a little fuzzy how we are to be one, let me move on to why. Perhaps we can understand how we are to be one if we can know why we are to be one. Jesus may answer this in the very same line, “so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

So if Jesus is talking to God and about us, perhaps he is saying that we should be one, so that the world (everybody else who doesn’t yet believe in Jesus through his disciples) may believe that God has sent Jesus. I want to be clear on this that we, the ones who already believe in Jesus through the word of the disciples, should be one so that “they,” everyone else ,may believe that it was indeed God who sent Jesus.

If we are to follow this line, some have suggested that this is a sort of unity of public witness.[1] If we are unified, others may believe that Christ was sent from God. But unified how? Let’s look at two different dimensions of this “public unity:”

First, there is unity of faith, the idea that we hold common beliefs, especially in the areas of worship and confession. And second, there is unity of our love and mutual service for each other and for the world.[2]

Let’s start with that first one, unity in faith. We may think we have that one licked at least as a congregation. We all worship the same and believe pretty much the same stuff, right?

You don’t have to prick the skin very hard to get someone agitated in the church. Church people fight about everything. People got mad when we changed the bulletins from single fold to two fold not to even mention changing the order in which we do service or not serving communion in a service that expects it every week. And let’s not even get started on music. But that is just surface stuff, what if we go deeper? In any one of our three services, I could find people with drastically different opinions on major issues, theological, social, moral, and practical.

Let’s take for instance…

I would guarantee I could find someone in this room who thinks the church should take strong stand against homosexuality, who might say that anyone of a differing sexual orientation shouldn’t even be allowed in our Christian community or at least we should make an effort to change their behavior. I bet I could find someone else who says we say we should go out of our way to welcome gays, lesbians and bisexuals into our community expressing grace and hospitality to all of God’s unique children and embracing them for who they are. I could probably find a few somewhere in between, some wishing we just wouldn’t bring it up and others just asking us to be more tolerant in general.

Well that is a sticky one, how about one we can all agree on? What about salvation? We all agree on salvation right? Will only Christians be saved? Some say yes, some say no. All Christians or only certain Christians? Should we be responsible to convert faithful Muslims to Christianity? What about someone who doesn’t go to church? Are they ok if they live a good life? What about someone who goes to church but doesn’t live a good life? How do you know if you are saved? What does salvation mean anyway? It is about this life or about the afterlife? What happens after death for those who haven’t been saved? If you have a clear answer to any of those, I guarantee there is someone in this room who doesn’t share your answer.

There are so many points of doctrine and belief that we don’t even know each others positions on. What exactly is sin? What about the commandments? What about divorce? Is it ok to drink? What about gambling? How are we to understand the Bible?

There is certainly a “diversity” of beliefs within this congregation, and even more so when you take the United Methodist Church as a whole and even more so when you take the entire “Christian Church” as a whole. As ironic as it may seem, I do not find this passage on unity speaking against that. If the purpose of this unity is so that the world might believe that Jesus was indeed sent by God, then some amount of passionate diversity actually needs to be part of our unity.

A lack of difference of opinion would not necessarily reflect unity, rather, a lack of passion. I mean, how many of you have ever had a heated argument over whether birdseed should be sold by weight or volume? But this stuff is important. Our core beliefs are the basis of our entire worldview. Or at least they should be. If we are Christians and we don’t argue at all about what we believe, it may seem to others that we just don’t care.

Blind lack of diversity, can reflect apathy and even worse, it can lead people to do stupid things. Imagine if people understood unity to me blind adherence throughout the history of Christianity. You know someone had to stand up and say that slavery was not ok because up to a point, the Christian church supported it. Someone had to stand up in the life of the church and say, “you know what? Women ought to be treated as equals to men, especially in the life of the church” It can be our passionate diversity that makes us a strong witness. It tells people that we are committed, not close minded. It tells people that we actually care about what we believe and are on a constant journey to better understand and live out our beliefs.

But…

What about that other dimension of unity of public witness I mentioned: the unity of our love and mutual service for each other and for the world. That’s the one I am hung up on. This passage talks of unity. Jesus asks that all who believe in him through the word of the disciples may be one, like Jesus and the Father are one, so that the world may know that God sent Jesus. Jesus then asks again, that we may be made completely one, so that… and now I am reading from verse 23.

23b“so that the world may know that you have sent me and loved them even as you have loved me.”

So that the world may know that God loves them as much as God loves Jesus. Man, from living in the world day to day, especially knowing young people who are just lost, looking to drugs and alcohol and bad relationships and material possession to fill the emptiness inside them. When I look at people racking up inconceivable credit card debt to buy more things thinking that it will give them some self worth, I tell you people really need to know that God loves them as much as God loved God’s own son.

Let me lay this out again. For the moment, we are the ones that believe through the word of the disciples. Jesus prays that we may be one, just like Jesus and the Father are one, so that the world may believe that God sent Jesus. Then Jesus prays that we may become completely one, so that the world may know that God sent Jesus and that God loves Jesus’ disciples as much as God loves Jesus. So that the world may know that God loves them as much as God loves God’s very son.

I know it drives people nuts, but I actually believe we can change the world. I think one way to begin changing it is to let people actually know that something greater than them loves them. If only we could convince people of that.

Maybe we can. Let me reread for you how this passage ends:

25"Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. 26I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

Jesus made his name known to the disciples and will continue to make it known. Why? So that the love with which God loved Jesus may be in us and in the world. So that Christ may be in us and that God’s love may live in us and through us so that the world may know God’s love. So that the world may know that God loves them as much as God loves Jesus.

This is a radical love that Jesus is talking about. Love like God has for Jesus, love like Jesus has for us. To make it more radical consider where and when Jesus says this. This talk of love comes at the end of his prayer for himself, then his disciples, then us. Jesus prays this prayer at the end of chapter 17 in John’s gospel. The next chapter begins Jesus walks to the cross where his love is expressed through painful humiliation, for us. That’s love.

We are supposed to let that love live in and through us? Well, yeah. If this passage doesn’t make it clear, back up. John 13:34, where Jesus says,

34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

But you know, I think we still get hung up that other dimension of public unity. Some Christians spend a lot of time thinking about other Christians to determine if they measure up. I hear phrases like, “he’s not very Christian,” or “she is going to hell.”

There is a really fine line here. It is ok to disagree. I am not saying “lets just all get along.” It is ok to actually work through our differences. I mean if someone walked in here and said, “I want to join your church but I like to murder people, is that ok?” We would say, “We are glad you are here, but no it is not ok to kill people.”

Our unity of belief is something we should work on and that is hard. It means we have to argue over points of belief over what it looks like to be a Christian, over what our stance on issues facing society should be. But that should add to and not get in the way of our unity of love and support.

You see diversity, debate, delving into the depths of our understanding these are good things. It is when it turns into petty bickering and gossip that the bus stops.

Dan Dick and Evelyn Burry write in their book, A New Kind of Church:

Judging the activities of individual members of the community of faith, while interesting and enjoyable to some, does nothing to transform the world into the kingdom of God. When we perpetually lift up the mission of the church, we help people see what they are saved for, instead of what they have been saved from.[3]

You may not realize this, but the perception people have of the Christians church is not always pretty. If you read the paper and watch the news the picture that is painted of us Christians is of a bunch of bickering spoiled brats.

This past week The Reverend Jerry Falwel died. I must admit I was never especially fond of the man because he said some very hurtful things including blaming feminists, the ACLU and other groups for bringing God’s wrath upon America and causing the September 11th attacks and hurricane Katrina. However, the reaction to his death among Christians was not helpful. On one side, there were liberal Christians publicly shouting “hurray.” On the other hand a fringe Christian group was immediately sharing plans to demonstrate at Falwel’s funeral because they perceived him as being too tolerant.

If the Christian church really wanted to make a strong witness about the life of this man they would ignore the politics and the theology and anything we didn’t like about him and talk about love and mutual service for the world. We should be constantly lifting up the mission of the church and even Falwel did that. Forget for a moment the Moral Majority and lets talk about Liberty Godparent Parent Foundation a Falwel ministry that moved from condemning unwed mothers to giving them a place to live and options. Or what about the Elm Home to help people with substance dependency issues put their lives back together?

I am by no means supporting these specific ministries or anything about Falwel except to say that where our unity lies is in the mutual understand of our need to change the world in the name of God.

I am telling you all, our way of being Christians right now is affecting the future of Christ’s church. We may be killing the chances of inviting a whole new generation to know the love of God through Jesus Christ and the unity that can only be found in God We have a choice as Christians, shrinking or growing. We can be bicker about conformity or morality or we can get to work changing the world and opening the doors to a new generation of Christians who are much more interested in knowing what they have been saved for, what they are called to do than what sin we are saving them from.

Ok, but I hate to leave you with lofty big picture stuff. What are you supposed to do about this tomorrow? There is a piece that I posted a link to on my weblog called “Saving the Darfur Puppy.” It is about our human tendency to get overwhelmed by big problems and do nothing while we react intensely to much smaller problems. We are enthralled when a lost puppy falls in a hole and rescuers work for hours to get her out, yet we flip the channel when the story comes on about the hundreds of thousands of dead in Darfur. So, let’s make a big problem a small problem. How can you change the world one life at time? I challenge you to take a week off. Not from work, not from your diet. Take a week of from judgment. Give yourself a break. For a week, don’t worry a lick about who is a Christian, who believes like you believe, who is not morally upright, who might be cheating on their taxes, who hasn’t been in church for a while. Take a week off. Here is what you can do with all the free time. Convince one person that the God of all creation loves them. Just one. I don’t care if it is your neighbor or an orphan in Rwanda. I don’t care if you have a conversation or send someone a million bucks. I don’t care if it is your kid or a perfect stranger.

20“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one.

25"Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. 26I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."
[1] Bruce D. Marshall, “The Disunity of the Church and the Credibility of the Gospel” in Theology Today, Vol. 50 No. 1, April 1993, online at: http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1993/v50-1-article8.htm, accessed 6 September, 2003; internet
[2] ibid.
[3] Dan R. Dick and Evelyn Burry A New Kind of Church, A Systems Approach (Nashville: Discipleship Resources 2000-2006) 56-57

Will Rice - Sermon #39 - “When You’re Tempted to Go Back to Your Old Life: Living as an Easter Person in an Ordinary World”

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

John 21:1-14

Our passage today starts out:

21After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias

After Jesus called them to become fishers of people, after all the teaching and the healings and the miracles and the parables and the arrest and the crucifixion and the resurrection the post resurrection appearances including the one where even Thomas’ doubts were overcome, here they are back doing exactly what they were doing before these things.

But I can’t be too overly critical. They were fishermen right? That was how they earned their living and we all have to earn a living, right? I mean when service is over on Sunday, I get to hang around here, but most of the rest of you have to go back out into the world and go to work or take care of the kids. You have to do some things you don’t like and some things you are not proud of. At times, the things that you learn and experience here come into conflict with the world and you have to make decisions that might not always jive with your faith.

So these disciples, just because they have gone fishing after the resurrection, may not have totally blown it, but, at the same time, I am disappointed in them.

After these things, here they are back doing exactly what they were doing before these things.

This story sort of paints of picture of them as saying, “Well all that Jesus stuff was nice, but lets get back to normal.” I remember feeling like that was going on early in my Christian journey. It may have been my first Easter. I was really into all this stuff, so I went to all the Holy Week services and we had an Easter Vigil on the night before Easter. And I got up on Easter morning and went to sunrise service and then to the service in the sanctuary. When it was all over, I was totally psyched. Christ is risen! Now I was still pretty new to church so I didn’t have any church friends at the time, so when it was all over, I just sort of stood there and watched as everybody just go back into their cars and went home. And then I did the same, and made some lunch and took a nap and then walked the dog and read a book and had dinner and went to bed and got up the next morning and went to my job and went home, etc. The whole thing was just sadly anti-climactic to me. It kind of made me sad.

And it really made me sad the next week when I went back to the church on Sunday, a week after the place was packed to overflowing, to see that the place was nearly empty. I felt, at first, disappointed in my fellow worshippers. Then I thought I was disappointed in myself. Then I realized I was just disappointed. Because in that moment of Easter, everything had changed. What I realized was yes it had, but no it hadn’t.

Things had changed, in that I was already beginning to be transformed by the power of the Gospel, but they hadn’t in that I wasn’t seeing the results in my day to day life. Part of that is the assumed boundaries we have been the sacred and the secular. Culture teaches us that it is actually ok to have a religious side and a secular side, acting one way at church and another way at work. Culture says that, but not the Gospel.

So here is the tension we all live in. At some point on Sunday, whether you like it here or not, we throw everybody out. We send you back into the ordinary world. You have to go back to fishing, or refining or teaching or whatever, but remember that your occupation is not who you are because who you are is defined by your relationship to God in Christ.

But let’s go back to the text.

3Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

I just love the metaphor there. They go back to work but they get no results, because something is missing. You see, no matter what we try to do, not matter how we try to engage the tension of living as Christians in an ordinary world, we aren’t going to get very far without Jesus.

4Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.”

I love that Jesus doesn’t say, “What the heck do you think you are doing? Why aren’t you out spreading the gospel?”

6He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

Jesus doesn’t criticize them for going back to fishing. Neither does he remind them of all the other stupid things they said and did before the crucifixion and after the resurrection. What he does is appear to them to remind them of what they already know. And historically we know this worked. The disciples got to work spreading the good news.

But what about us? What are we supposed to do? We come here, we hear the Easter gospel proclaimed and then we are politely asked to leave. And some of us take with us the idea that there is a separation between the sacred and secular. In other words, we deal with the tension by saying “church is church, but life is life.”

Others of us struggle with trying to be a Christian in the world.

It is not very realistic to think that most of you will leave here today, quit your jobs and become full-time Jesus followers. Actually, not only isn’t it likely, it is probably not a good idea. Even for me, it is not that simple. I am not a full-time Jesus follower. Let me explain. Jesus asked his disciples to drop everything and follow him. And, at least in scripture, none of them asked about tenure, salary, retirement, or the health benefits that the Jesus Company offered. But even for me, a full-time clergy person, I think about those things. I originally wrote that as, I have to think about those things. No, I choose to. And because I choose to live with security and stability, I have to earn a paycheck from a religious institution and I am not necessarily free to drop everything and follow Jesus.

I need to say that again in case you missed it. Because I earn a paycheck from a religious institution, I am not, necessarily free to drop everything and follow Jesus.

Some people say, “But you work for God.” That is not necessarily true for me any more than it is for most of you. I work for the church. I have a boss and expectations. I work for the church. That doesn’t automatically make me a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Sometimes, in my case those go together well, other times, not as well. I believe that the church is doing the work of God in making disciples of Jesus Christ. Fortunately that goes very well with I feel called and empowered to do which is lead and train and empower people in making disciples of Jesus Christ. But say that I feel called and led to follow God in ways that don’t go with the perceived mission of this church. What if I wanted to invite groups of people to come and worship with is that would make you all uncomfortable or even drive some of you away? Or what if I feel called and led to follow God in ways that you may agree with but don’t fall within my job description? What if I feel called to head to Darfur to bring relief to the 2.5 million people who have been driven from their homes or help to stop the genocide which has killed close to a half a million people.[1] Would the church want to keep paying my salary, even if I wasn’t here?

Also, even though my full-time vocation involves the church, there are other parts of my life. Being a full-time Jesus follower, being a true disciple of Jesus Christ would mean that my identity as a disciple would not end when I punched out at the end of the day, it would be reflected in everything I do.

You can work for nearly anybody and be a follower of Jesus Christ. And you can work for nearly anybody, including the church, and not be a true follower of Jesus Christ. I know refinery workers who are true disciples. It doesn’t even mean that they are evangelizing at work or necessarily trying to change the world through their work, it is a question about the totality of their lives. Are they reflecting the Easter gospel? I have met pastors who might raise some questions about whether or not they are true disciples. I am not even talking about the ones who get on the television news with some scandal. I am talking about pastors who may be good pastors, may be good leaders, but, in the totality of their lives have not decided to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

It is easy to get too narrow focused about this and get frustrated. People come to me and say, “Well I can’t be a Christian at work, they won’t let me.” Maybe they won’t let you hang up scripture verses, maybe it is even deemed inappropriate to talk about your faith, but you can always be a Christian, you can always live out the Easter gospel in your life. I mean just think about the power of this message and how it can shape your life.

Christ was born and lived among us. God wanted a relationship with us so bad, that God came here. Our God is not some far off God disinterested in the affairs of us human beings. God knows and loves us intimately. I can live that out by finding ways to let others Christians and non-Christians alike, especially others that are in need, know that they are loved. I don’t even have to even necessarily tell them about God or Jesus. I can reflect the love of God through my actions. Is there someone where you work or where you shop or where you eat or where you take your kids who needs something that you can give? Maybe that is just kindness. When I got out to eat with church folks, they often like to pray at the table. Prayer is always a good thing. A lot of time people will say that it is their way of witnessing. Ok, not bad. But you know what blows me away, is when I am at a restaurant with someone and they talk to the servers like they are important. When you look someone in the eyes and say, “How are you?” and really wait for a response. You may be the only person who has cared about that person all day. That is an Easter moment.

Christ taught us. Scripture gives us lessons from Jesus about love and tolerance and peace. Jesus taught us how to live, not out of rules, but out of grace. I can live that out in my life by learning, reading scripture and then, not hurling scripture at others, but by following it myself and letting others see Jesus through me. Is there a situation where you work or where you shop or where you eat or where you take your kids that could be better handled by you based in the teachings of Christ? Some people remind themselves of this with those cute little WWJD bracelets. Let me give you a little tip though. If you wear one and people can see it, please try to do what Jesus would do. Otherwise you give us all a bad name. Perhaps you want to tuck that bracelet up under your sleeve and let it remind you to treat others with grace and dignity and respect even when they have wronged you. How about living out Matthew 5:38-41:

38“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.

Christ Died for us. God’s desire for reconciliation with God’s people is so great that he allowed himself to be tortured and killed. I can live that out in my day to day life by just trying to live into that kind of love from my creator. If God is that interested in reconciliation with me how much more interested must God be in reconciliation with the whole world. That doesn’t always mean, in my life, winning people for Jesus, it means trying to create a world of peace and love around me. Is there someone or some group of people in your life that you need to love in such a way that reflects a God that loves us all so much that he would die to make sure we knew?

Christ overcame death itself. Therefore I can have hope and peace in any situation and I can try to share that hope and peace with those around me who are suffering and mourning. That doesn’t mean that I say to someone who has just suffered loss, or has just begun to face a horrible reality, “Don’t worry, God loves you.” It sometimes just means that I get to be the calm presence in a stormy sea. It also means that I can believe in the power of resurrection in any situation whether I am standing with someone facing addiction or imprisonment or poverty or hopelessness that I believe that God can prevail. Is there someone where you work or where you shop or where you eat or where you take your kids who needs you to be that calm in the storm who needs the calm reassurance that comes from understanding the Easter Gospel?

Christ will return in the ultimate representation of God’s grace, the Kingdom of God. Meaning for me, no matter what, there is ultimate hope and that while I will work and serve God, God is the ultimate author of the story and I can live in the confidence of that. Is there someone where you work or where you shop or where you eat or where you take your kids that needs that kind of hope? Can you find a way to share it with them?


When the service is over all of us are going to go back to fishing in one way or another. Some of you will go back to your jobs, others back to taking care of kids and parents. Some of you will go back to jobs that seem to clearly reflect your beliefs other that seem to be disconnected. I will continue in my job as pastor but still, live out other parts of my life as a parent and husband, as a consumer, as a friend and a son and a brother. We have to go back to the ordinary world, but we never, ever have to go back to our old lives. We are Easter people, people who are being changed more and more into the image of Christ through the power of the Easter Gospel and that will be reflected in the totality of our existence, not just here on Sunday morning.

Amen



[1] "Hundreds Killed in Attacks in Eastern Chad", Washington Post, 2007-04-11. online at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR2007041001775.html

Will Rice - Sermon #38- “How to Meet the Risen Christ Today”

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

“How to Meet the Risen Christ Today”

What you are hearing is O Mio Babbino Caro as performed by one time child prodigy and internationally acclaimed violin virtuoso Joshua Bell[1] If you got a chance to hear him play this live, if you could get tickets, they would run you about $100 a piece.

But if this masterful musician was playing right in front of you, would you notice? Maybe not. He did a little experiment one day earlier this year. He put on plain clothes. He took his violin, not just any violin, but the Gibson ex Huberman, handcrafted in 1713 by Antonio Stradivari, a violin that reportedly cost Bell $3.5 million. He got in a cab then got on the subway and got off in L'Enfant Plaza Station, the sort of nucleus of transportation of Washington D.C.. If you have ever been there it is a place that sort of hums with activity, busyness and power.

Joshua Bell, found a spot amongst the hustle and bustle, opened his case, through some singles in the case to give people the right idea and starting playing. Bell is not a guy he stands still when he plays. He plays with his whole body, leaning into the notes, and standing on his tiptoes when he hits the high ones. He played a total of six classical pieces over the span of 43 minutes. 1,097 people passed by. Someone actually videotaped the whole thing and you can watch it online. Here is an excerpt of what happened from the account in the Washington Post:

Three minutes went by before something happened. Sixty-three people had already passed when, finally, there was a breakthrough of sorts. A middle-age man altered his gait for a split second, turning his head to notice that there seemed to be some guy playing music. Yes, the man kept walking, but it was something. A half-minute later, Bell got his first donation. A woman threw in a buck and scooted off. It was not until six minutes into the performance that someone actually stood against a wall, and listened. Things never got much better. In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run -- for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.[2]

We are in the second week of our series, “What Happened After Easter?” Sometimes we forget that the risen Christ hung around for over a month after Easter and there is a lot we can learn from the events surrounding that. This week’s focus is “How To Meet the Risen Christ Today?”

13Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

Yeah, I have been there. I realize now that for most of my life Jesus was walking with me but I didn’t recognize him. But I had an excuse, I didn’t know him yet. The two people in today’s story seem to already know him. There may have been some good reasons for these two followers of Jesus to not recognize him. First of all, they thought he was dead. No matter how much Jesus talked about being raised from the dead, no one seemed to ever get what he was talking about. Earlier in this same chapter, after the women had visited the tomb, found it empty, and encountered the men with dazzling clothes who told them that Jesus was risen, the women had reported back to the disciples.

10Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

And Cleopas wasn’t buying it either.

22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.”

So they are not really expecting Jesus, maybe that is why they didn’t recognize him. Or maybe he looked a little different. Sometimes people don’t recognize me after I shave or get new glasses or when they see me in WalMart in shorts and a baseball cap. I imagine if I had died and been risen, there might be the same effect.

Scripture sort of hints that there were other forces at work here:

16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

The author of Luke’s gospel has alluded to this concept before. In chapter 9:

44"Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands." 45But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was concealed from them, so that they could not perceive it.

Actually, maybe it was there own despair that kept them from seeing. Jesus engages them in conversation, and look at their response.

17And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad.

Whatever the reason, they just like the thousand people who walked past Joshua Bell that morning in L’Enfant Station, had no idea what they were experiencing. I also wonder how many of those people in the subway were walking down their own Emmaus Road. Walking along, through the subway station, caught up in their own despair, loneliness, hurt, desperation. I wonder even, if one of those people was praying, “Dear God, life is just so hard. If you could just give me a sign.” I wonder if anyone was praying that as they walked past this man that is so gifted by God that when he was four, his parents started him in music lessons “after they saw that their son had strung rubber bands across his dresser drawers and was replicating classical tunes by ear, moving drawers in and out to vary the pitch.”[3]

“God, if you could just give me some sort of sign! Give me some sort of proof of goodness and beauty”

So, what if Jesus is around us, Jesus is walking with us, Jesus is trying to have an encounter with us but our eyes are kept from recognizing him?

But our story doesn’t end there.

After this man, Cleopas, tells Jesus all about Jesus and about how their hopes have been dashed by his crucifixion. Jesus jumps in and he clues us in on one of the ways we can open ourselves to the possibility of an encounter with the risen Christ:

25Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

If we want to have an encounter with the risen Christ. If we want to be open to the possibility of experiencing the very real presence of God in our lives, we need to start with scripture. One of the ways I stay healthy as a pastor is by having other pastors as friends who keep me in line. I remember calling one once and saying,” I just don’t really feel God’s presence in my life right now.” She asked, “Are you reading scripture every day?” To which I answered, “No.” Of course. We believe that God is revealed to us in scripture. If we are not reading scripture, it is going to be very difficult to meet the risen Christ.

What else does this passage tell us about meeting the risen Christ? After Jesus reveals himself in scripture, he reveals himself in something else.

28As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.

If we want to have an encounter with the risen Christ, if we want to be open to the possibility of experiencing the very real presence of God in our lives, we need to attend to the sacraments. Sacraments are very special gifts that God has given us to help us to have an encounter with God

In our tradition of Christianity, we have two sacraments, one which we already talked about today, baptism and one which we will experience in a moment, Holy Communion. Because it is illustrated in today’s reading, I am going to focus on Holy Communion. I think that there is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding this sacrament.

There is a lot going on when we come to the table. We come to give thanks for all God has done for us and in us. We come in fellowship, as community, as the gathered body of Christ. We also come to remember and re-present, Christ’s sacrifice for us. We come to receive a foretaste of Christ’s final victory and catch a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. And, we come trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to create for us and in us an encounter with the risen Christ.

A lot of pastors are really thrilled about weekly communion and I think it is ok. However, I have to tell you, if I take communion seriously, I really need three weeks off to get ready for the next one.

When we come to the table to experience this sacrament, this use of ordinary things to experience the extraordinary grace of God, we need to come expecting to meet the risen Christ.

As I get to the third way we can be attentive to meeting the risen Christ, I want to talk about one of the dangers of misunderstanding sacraments such as Holy Communion. Holy Communion is “the sacrament that sustains and nourishes us in our journey of salvation.”[4] However, there is a risk in thinking that this is the only way we can encounter the risen Christ. Sometimes when we don’t have communion at one our services that celebrates the sacrament weekly, someone will come up to me and say, “Will, I can’t believe we didn’t have communion this week. I need it every week or I become totally disconnected with God.” If we go too far down that road, we miss the power of the sacrament and we miss the possibilities of the other ways we can meet the risen Christ.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.

I want you to picture this scene. This is the Middle East two thousand years ago. These people are not sitting at a grand table with fine china and gold chalices eating big, fluffy loaves of bread. They are sitting on the floor around a low table in a dirty, dusty room with little light. There are no dishes, the cups may be wooden, the bread was baked over the fire and might not look like bread to you. Jesus is sitting in his robe dirty from the day’s journey. You can smell the dust and the sweat and the cooking fire as he lifts the bread and says.

Boruch atoh adonoy,
elohaynu melech ho-olom,
hamotzi lechem min ho-oretz.[5]

31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.

Their eyes were open, at an ordinary table, with ordinary bread in an ordinary room. While communion is a sacrament, all of creation can be sacramental in its ability to help us have an encounter with the risen Christ, if we will be open to the possibility.

If we want to have an encounter with the risen Christ, if we want to be open to the possibility of experiencing the very real presence of God in our lives, we need to pay attention to the simple things in life. The risen Christ is not only present at the communion table, but at the supper table. The risen Christ is not only present in the things of the church but in the things of everyday life. The risen Christ is present in the simply beauty of every created thing.

Christ is revealed to us in scripture. We can meet the risen Christ in the sacraments. But if we limit ourselves to those things we miss all the ways that Christ is present in ordinary life, in the good and in the bad, the clean and the dirty. It is nearly cliché to say it but if you are paying any attention at all, how can you miss the presence of the risen Christ when you hold a newborn for the first time. For me, I cannot help but sense the presence of the risen Christ when I stand in the hospital as someone takes their last breath.

The risen Christ is present in the beauty of nature and in the chaos of the inner city when crime and violence and poverty run rampant. The risen Christ is present whenever human communities come together to find ways to create peace. And yes, the risen Christ is present, in ways we cannot understand when something goes horribly wrong and a young man succumbs to depression, anger, rage, mental illness or whatever separation from the love of God that causes someone to commit unspeakable acts of violence. And the risen Christ is their in the mourning and the loss and the healing.

But we miss the opportunities for all these chances to meet the risen Christ if we are not paying attention, if through our own preoccupation our eyes are “kept from recognizing him.”

Do you want to meet the risen Christ today? Make the decision right now that it is important to you. I invite you to keep your Bible handy and read scripture every day. I invite you to this table. Everyone is invited, but come expecting something very powerful. And I invite you to pay attention to the simple, ordinary parts of daily life. That might be a violin virtuoso playing right in front of you. Or, it may be the risen Christ walking right beside you.

[1] If you would like hear Joshua Bell’s music, you can hear samples at his website at http://www.joshuabell.com/.
[2] Gene Weingarten, “Pearls Before Breakfast”, The Washington Post, April 8, 2007, online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html; internet
[3] ibid.
[4] This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion, (Nashville, The General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church, 2003, 2004) 7
[5] Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

Will Rice - Sermon #37- “Wonderfully, Abundantly Wasteful”

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

John 12:1-8
1Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” 6(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”[1]

“Wonderfully, Abundantly Wasteful”

When I first met my wife Alisha, I had already made the decision to go to seminary. I had made the decision to go, but I was sort of dragging my feet because I had a really great job that paid pretty well and allowed me a ton a free time. But, about the time I first met Alisha, the company I was working for decided to restructure and I was told my job would be gone in a month.

As we were first dating, my job ended. I applied to seminary and was trying to figure out exactly how I was going to survive for three or four years of school with no job and no money. I had money saved and I received a nice severance package from my job, but it was pretty clear that in a few months I would be broke. I was facing a very uncertain financial future, but I certainly wasn’t acting like it. I had met a girl that I liked quite a bit and I was responding in that totally illogical way that people do when they are in love.

I took her out to dinner, I bought her gifts, I sent her and took her flowers. And then, I did something totally outrageous. I decided that I really wanted her to be my wife. So I, a person who actually had no job, nor any real plans for having one for the next three or four years, went out a bought a ring that was worth more than the truck I was driving at the time. And then, I went to planning the perfect place to give it to her.

Our first real date had been on the shore to Town Lake in downtown Austin. One of the wonderful things about Austin is that at certain times of the year right a sunset, large clouds of bats swarm from underneath the Congress Street Bridge that crosses the lake. If you have never seen it, it may sound kind of odd, but trust me, it is an amazing site. So that was our first date and I wanted to recreate it, but I wanted to make it better. There are boats that give group rides out on the lake for people to get a better view of the bats, but that wasn’t good enough. So I rented my own boat. And that wasn’t quite enough so I got a hotel on the lake to cater dinner and have it waiting on the boat when we arrived. So we went to the boat, got on, rode out to the middle of the lake, enjoyed a lovely romantic dinner, just the two of us, with the city of Austin surrounding us. I don’t think we ever got to see the bats, I couldn’t wait. I pulled out that ring and asked her to marry me and she said yes.

Now many of you are thinking, “How romantic.” Others of you are adding it all up: the ring, the boat, the dinner. Yes, trust me; we are talking about a lot of money!

1Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

As we, in the church, come to the end of Lent, the events surrounding Jesus are coming to a fever pitch. If we don’t look carefully, we don’t see the tension and chaos in this very sentence. We are coming to the end of the road, to the end of the journey. The time is drawing near. In six days, Jesus will share a Passover meal with his followers, then proceed into the garden where he will be arrested, then questioned, then beaten and eventually executed. The place is growing near. Jesus is in Bethany, very close to Jerusalem where the fateful events will occur. The tension and controversy are so thick you can feel it. He is at the house of Lazarus, the one that Jesus just raised from the dead. This act has continued to enrage the religious leaders and cause them to plot against Jesus. Jesus knew the tension. In chapter 11:

54Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there with the disciples.

But now, here he is, days away from death, just a couple of miles away from Jerusalem and standing in the midst of the controversy.

2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.

It occurs to me at this point that Jesus is just trying to cause trouble. Lazarus was recently dead. Jewish law was very clear that the dead were unclean. If you even touched a corpse, you were ritually unclean and had to go through some time and ritual of purification before you could do certain things in community, especially things like eat, and especially things like celebrate the Passover which is six days away. Not that they had written a specific law about whether or not you could eat with a recently dead man, I am sure that it would have been frowned upon. But here is Jesus, sitting at the table, eating with his friend Lazarus.

3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

The Bible throws the name Mary around like we are all supposed to know who we are talking about. There are far too many Marys for us not to include some last names. There is Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and now another Mary. This Mary is the sister to Martha. They are from Bethany and their brother Lazarus has just been raised from the dead.

3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

I want to clarify exactly how costly we are talking about. Nard comes from a very particular plant, the nardostachys jatamansi plant to be specific, which is only found in the Himalayas of India.[2] Remember these are the days before air freight and Wal-Mart, so getting your hands on something like this took some money. How much? Well scripture gives us a clue when Judas says:

5“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”

One denarius was about one day’s wages. So we are talking about a year’s wages worth of perfume. The old wisdom about engagement rings was you should spend two months salary. Here is a gift that cost a whole year’s salary. This all makes what I thought was an extravagant gesture to ask my wife to marry me seem quite insignificant.

3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

This is an extravagant moment. Not only did she spend the money, she is showing her love in an extravagant way. She is down on her hands and knees anointing his feet, rubbing this wonderful perfume into his feet and then wiping his feet with her hair, which is even more unusual in context. Women’s hair was to be kept up. It certainly wasn’t ok to be using it to wipe a man’s feet. And the fragrance from the perfume, the fragrance from this act of devotion is just filling the room.

This is an amazingly spontaneous moment of gratitude and worship, by a person who just can’t help but show her love for Jesus. It seems a little different from how we worship most of the time. Amen?

But there are moments as humans when we do something just crazy. We celebrate God in ways that seem crazy to many outside the faith and even more inside the faith. Since Jesus isn’t walking around any more and we can’t anoint his feet, we tend to build stuff. Massive cathedrals with stone and stained glass. Monuments to our overwhelming love and gratitude.

But then Judas speaks up:

4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”

And Judas has a very good point doesn’t he? God doesn’t need our stuff. God doesn’t need material things. Wouldn’t our money be better spent taking care of the poor?

That’s what a friend of mine says whenever he sees a giant church or cathedral. “Why do they need that?” he asks. “Couldn’t they give that money to the poor?” And there is always part of me that agrees. But then there is another part that says, maybe they just can’t help themselves.

The money I spent on my then girlfriend, now wife was crazy and totally out of character for me. I tend to be frugal. I would rather give my money to the poor than spend it on myself. But, I couldn’t help myself and there is something wonderful about that.

But let’s look back to the scripture a moment.

4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” 6(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)

Often this sort of thing is true in our reaction to people’s over exuberant response to God. Judas’ response had nothing to do with the poor. It is implied that he would have rather had the money for himself.

I often want to have the guts to challenge someone who says, “I think churches spend too much on things like buildings and stained glass and organs. They should give that money to the poor.” I want to challenge them by saying, “how much money have you given to the poor lately?” Perhaps they hadn’t given any. This wasn’t about the poor it was about taking exception to an overly exuberant response to God.

And it is not always even about money and things. We tend to get nervous anytime we experience people who are expressing their love for God and dedication to God in overly exuberant ways. Maybe they say amen too loud. Maybe they raise their hands in worship. Maybe they actually talk to their friends about their faith.

3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Jesus didn’t need the year’s salary worth of perfume, God doesn’t need us to build giant tributes to the almighty, Alisha may have still married me without all the money and effort. Perhaps we need to be careful about how we use the resources we dedicate to God and in the name of love, however that doesn’t mean we should be any less exuberant in our response to the God who gave us and gives us everything.

Perhaps we, at times, need to better channel our response, but not temper our response. You see, we are about to finish our journey with Jesus to the cross. When Jesus reaches Jerusalem, he will make the ultimate sacrifice, he will die on a cross to show the unbelievable depth of the love of God, a love that says, “I love you more than you can ever imagine and I will let my son, my very self suffer at your hands to show you how far that love goes.” And then, three days later, God will show that his love and power is greater than that, greater than death itself, God will use the moment of tragedy on Good Friday and turn it around into a moment of triumph, a moment that says there is nothing so bad that God cannot bring good from it.

And on Easter Sunday, Pastor John will preach about that, we will together, for an hour, celebrate the resurrection and the power of God, and then we will say amen, throw some money in the plate, and head to brunch, completely missing the power of what happened.

3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Mary understood what was going on and her response was appropriate. Yeah maybe Judas was
right, maybe it would have been better spent on the poor, but no one in this story is taking a year’s wages and giving it to the poor. You see, this isn’t about giving, it isn’t about money, it is about responding appropriately to the extent of the gift that is given. And it is not about responding out of duty, out of guilt, out of some desire to earn God’s love, it is about a totally spontaneous response to God’s amazing gift to us.

I didn’t have to do any of those things to ask Alisha to marry me. In fact, I didn’t even have to ask her to marry me, I couldn’t help myself.

Jesus isn’t here for us to anoint, but what is the equivalent of responding to Jesus’ gift to us by anointing his feet with a year’s salary worth of perfume?

Is it giving more money? Not just a little more, but enough to make our friends think we are a little nuts?
Is it spending more time in God’s presence? Not just a few extra minutes, but enough that makes people think maybe we are taking this a bit far?
Is it dedicating ourselves to God’s service in outrageously demanding ways?
Is it creating something, whether it be a building or a program that absolutely radiates praise to the creator of the universe?

Our journey is almost over. We are getting closer and closer to the cross with Jesus. We are getting closer and closer to Easter. When the day comes and God’s glory is revealed to all of us, how will we respond? With a polite amen, or something completely over the top?
[1] The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] L. Thomas Strong, III, “Nard” in Allen C Meyers, Atrid B. Beck, eds., Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000) 948

Will Rice - Sermon #36 - “Prodigal, Repentance, Fatted Calf and Other Terms that Don't Tend to Come Up in Polite Conversation”

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

“Prodigal, Repentance, Fatted Calf and Other Terms that Don't Tend to Come Up in Polite Conversation”

From Luke 15:
15Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable:
11b“There was a man who had two sons.

Wait a moment. Does anyone have a Bible and know what I have just done? I have skipped over 10 and half verses. I have warned you before about keeping your eyes on preachers with slick PowerPoint presentations. However, today, I do this with the most honorable of intentions. The assigned reading today is the parable contained in verses 11-32. Verses 1 through 3 just do a nice job of setting that up.

There is some grumbling going on. Thank God there is never any grumbling in the church these days! The Pharisees and the scribes, in other words, the religious folks of the day, were aggravated at who Jesus was hanging out with. “Tax collectors and sinners” is a sort of general term here for the riff-raff, those not adhering to the proper teachings of the “church.” Think about it this way, there are some exceptions, but most of you would rather see me sitting in the fellowship hall sharing a pot-luck dinner with nice church folk than stumble into me at the Whiskey River Dance hall on Saturday night.

So that is the setup, but what am I leaving out? Stories about lost things.

4“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?
8“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
The scripture also tells us that these are parables about repentance.
10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

But what is repentance? Let’s come back to that one.

Anyway, this setup piece and these stories about lost stuff prepare us for today’s reading famously called, “The Story of the Prodigal Son” which might not even be the best title. What is unfortunate about the famous stories in the Bible is that those who already know them think they already know what they mean and those who don’t know them rarely get a chance to hear about them because people think everybody already knows them. So let’s slow down a bit.
As Christians, we need to spend some time in the dictionary trying to figure out what we are talking about. What does prodigal even mean?

prod•i•gal
–adjective
1. Wastefully or recklessly extravagant: prodigal expenditure.
2. giving or yielding profusely; lavish (usually fol. by of or with): prodigal of smiles; prodigal with money.
3. lavishly abundant; profuse: nature's prodigal resources.[1]
Now with that definition in hand, let me read you the story.
3So he told them this parable:
11b“There was a man who had two sons.
12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ 20So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. 25“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ 28Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘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. 30But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ 31Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

Who is the prodigal one here?

prod•i•gal
–adjective
1. Wastefully or recklessly extravagant: prodigal expenditure.
2. giving or yielding profusely; lavish (usually fol. by of or with): prodigal of smiles; prodigal with money.
3. lavishly abundant; profuse: nature's prodigal resources.[2]

The son?

13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.

Or the father?

22But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

11b“There was a man who had two sons.
12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them.

Inheritance and divvying up of property is fairly normal stuff in that culture.

The firstborn was entitled to a double share of the inheritance. So, if there were two sons, the property got divided up three ways. The first son got two shares, the second got one share. Dividing property was normal, asking for it before your father was dead, well that was kind of tacky.

My father and mother used to joke with me and my sisters that they were going to give us each our own distinct colored labels so that we could mark things in the house that we wanted when they died. They would catch us talking between ourselves saying, “I am getting that table” and “that piano is mine” and they would say, “You know we are not dead yet.”

13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.

We jump to all sorts of conclusions about this dissolute living. The phrase translates more literally, “he scattered his property recklessly” which nearly everybody in my generation is guilty of. We have too much credit card debt; we spend too much on our cars and televisions, etc. We draw conclusions about what this means in our story based on something the older brother says later:

30But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!

Now, you just heard the story. The older brother wasn’t with him, he hadn’t even come out of the field to see him; he is just making that up. Siblings do this all the time. They embellish the story to get their sibling into even more trouble. I have never done that.

14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.

So he has a run of bad luck. He wastes his money. The famine comes. He gets a horrible job. This feeding pigs thing is certainly in here on purpose. The boy is a Jew, Jesus is telling the story to Jews. For Jews, pigs were unclean. You weren’t supposed to even touch them and this boy has to feed them. And on top of it, he is hungry. He is even willing to eat the stuff the pigs are eating. Some of you in this congregation have raised pigs. That is just gross.

17But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!

Here in Lent, when we are talking about repentance, this is sometimes quoted as the moment of repentance. But it is just a moment of common sense. “Wait, I could go work for him! It is no worse than this!” I remember, in high school, giving up my farm job for a job at a fast food restaurant, and not a nice one like What-a-burger. After about two weeks, of standing on a tile floor getting splashed with grease, I was back on the farm. I don’t think I was repentant, I just “came to myself.” And so the boy came to himself and he practices a little speech:

18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’

He is practicing a bit of a prayer of confession. I have sinned, I am not worthy, can I have a job? But look what happens:

20So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.

If you hear nothing else I say today, hear this. I want you to notice the sequence of events. The son has practiced his little confessional speech but he has not delivered it. The father, the one who has a perfect right to be angry, hurt, and dishonored by this boy, who does not know that he is coming to plead for forgiveness, this father acts first. The son has not confessed, repented, made up for it, explained himself, for all his father knows, he is just walking home.

This is the kind of God we worship.

It is easy to rewrite this story in our heads but the father, before he hears anything from the son, “was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.”

“He ran” is startling alone. This is the father, the head of the household, in that time, truly the king of the household, running was far beneath him. This was shocking behavior, prodigal behavior. He sees, he runs, he embraces, he kisses. He doesn’t wait for explanations, confessions, promises of better behavior. The father is not looking to have his honor restored, he doesn’t want to know where his money is. No test, no penance, he just sees, runs, embraces, kisses. Who is the prodigal here?

The son is probably a little surprised at this reaction, but still launches into his prepared repentance speech.

21Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

The father is not listening. There was more to this speech, “treat me like one of your hired hands,” but the boy never gets to it.

22But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

He doesn’t wait for the son’s repentance. He is already lavishing him with love. The ring, a sign of status, of high family position, the sandals, certainly not something the hired hands got to wear. And the fatted calf, that might take a little explanation. Without getting into too much detail, slaughtering the fatted calf meant there would be a lot of meat. Now please remember this is like 2000 years ago in the Middle East. You couldn’t butcher this, have it separated, packed in plastic Styrofoam and freeze the part you didn’t need. Meat went bad pretty fast, so when you were killing the fatted calf, not only were you having a party, you were having a big party! This is lavish, prodigal behavior.

All the son has really done is walked home. The son who has said the equivalent of “I wish you were dead, give me my money” has simply walked homem, mumbled a little bit of the speech he had written to see if he could get a better job on his Dad’s farm, and the father has run to him, embraced him, kissed him, clothed him, honored him and is now throwing a party for him.

I could go into the older brother’s not so graceful reaction, but I don’t even think I need to. In lent, as we journey to the cross and beyond, part of what we talk about it repentance. Remember this series of parables is about repentance:
10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
But what does that mean? Too often we hear this word in an overly limited sense as in “too feel bad about” or “to regret.” But the Greek word, metaneow, actually conveys a sense of turning -- of changing one’s mind. My favorite translation of metaneow is to turn one’s heart toward God.

Too often the emotion that is tied to repentance is sorrow. We think of ourselves or others on their knees filled with remorse and regret. But the true emotion of repentance is joy.[3] Because the true work of repentance is in the hands of God. The story doesn’t say the father scolded the son and sent him to his room to think about what he had done, he threw a party! He killed the fatted calf.

I wonder, in what ways, during Lent, as we journey with Jesus to the cross and beyond, we need to “come to ourselves.” In what way do you need to turn your heart toward God and realize that God is already watching for you, waiting to embrace you, kiss, you honor you. Practice your little speech all you want, God is probably not going to let you finish. This isn’t about regret our feeling bad, this is about simply turning around and letting ourselves be embraced by our prodigal God, our lavish, recklessly extravagant God.

Before we finish, I want to put this story back in the context we found it.
15Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable:
After a couple of stories of lost things Jesus tells the amazingly rich tale of the prodigal father which raises the question for us, are we willing to be a prodigal church?

prod•i•gal
–adjective
1. Wastefully or recklessly extravagant: prodigal expenditure.
2. giving or yielding profusely; lavish (usually fol. by of or with): prodigal of smiles; prodigal with money.
3. lavishly abundant; profuse: nature's prodigal resources.[4]

If part of our role as a church is to be an outpost of God’s kingdom, if we are to be conduits of God’s love, if we are to make tangible the amazing grace of God, are we willing to be this recklessly extravagant with the love of God?

When people come near us, are we running and embracing and kissing them? (figuratively in most cases) Are we clothing and honoring, are we throwing a lavish party? Or when people come near are we pausing and evaluating, waiting for proof of their intentions?

I want you to think about this for a moment

If you are going to accept God’s grace, who is waiting for yours? Are you waiting for someone to repent so you can forgive them? Do we expect people to feel sorry for their bad behavior before they are truly welcome back into our lives? Into our church?

Are we imitating the extravagant party-throwing grace of God or sitting in judgment? Of ourselves, of others?

As we come to the table today, it is especially important for me to say that all are welcome. It doesn’t matter is you have worked everything out with God. Just “come to yourself” and make the turn toward God. God will do the rest.

[1] prodigal. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prodigal (accessed: February 26, 2007).
[2] prodigal. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prodigal (accessed: February 26, 2007).
[3] Brian P. Stoffregren, “Luke 15.1-3, 11b-32, 4th Sunday in Lent - Year C” at Exegetical Notes at Cross Marks Christian Resources, http://www.corssmarks.com/brian/luke15x1.htm
[4] prodigal. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prodigal (accessed: February 26, 2007).