Love These People

A Sermon for 5^th Sunday in Easter; Acts 11:1-18, Psalm 148, Revelation 21:1-6, John 13:31-35

 Years ago, I went to some sort of conference on some ministry program or another, you can tell the program is not what captured my attention. Truth is I’m no longer sure if I was actually there, or if I have simply incorporated it into my story, either way it is a part of my world view. The speaker walks on to the stage, right past the podium, all the way to the other side ~ turns around and walks all the way across the stage again; only then goes to the podium. Without any introduction, the first words are “If you are not here because you love these people ~ leave!” Everyone’s attention is captured; everyone instinctively knows the truth they have just heard, without love, what we do doesn’t matter.

So, I was a little surprised when I was drawn to Acts, and not John’s Gospel reading this morning, and its focus on love. Three phrases from Acts stood out:

• What God has made clean; you must not call profane
• not to make a distinction between them and us, and
• who was I that I could hinder God?

I was all ready to start with who was I that I could hinder God until I read a blog post Without a Doubt on verse 12 not make a distinction between them and us. The author, my colleague Steve, got to digging around in the Greek and learned ‘doubt’ is a cognate or similar, translation to ‘not to make a distinction’ Further digging revealed that the Contemporary English Version translation is The Holy Spirit told me to go and not worry (Pankey).

And of course, Bobby McFerrin’s little song Don’t Worry Be Happy popped in my head. I was going to play it, but it is too long. The gist is, McFerrin runs through a list of life’s potential troublesome moments

you don’t have a place to lay your head,
your rent is late,
you don’t have any cash,
you ain’t got no style,
you got no gal to make you smile.

His advice is don’t worry if you do it will make your troubles double; so don’t worry be happy (McFerrin).

I got to wondering “What has Peter got to worry about?” He has just raised Dorcus, beloved disciple, from the dead, and many came to believe, which is great (Acts 9:36-43). Then He has a vision about forbidden foods, in which God says what I have made clean do not call profane (Acts 10:9-16). A vision can be an exciting thing, at the same time it can be a two-edge sword because God wants something. Then 3 strangers from the Roman centurion, Cornelius, show up asking for Peter (Acts 10:17-20). What could go wrong here? He goes to Caesarea (Acts 10:24) which is the capital of the Roman province, in the middle of Gentile territory (Easton). That puts him at risk of being seen as assimilating, adapting, to the majority Roman Empire’s culture, which is the opposite of God’s people being different (Peterson). Cornelius tells Peter So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say. (Acts 10:33) While Peter is preaching the Holy Spirit is poured out on the Gentiles (Acts 10:45). Peter’s response is to baptize everyone he can lay hands on, all of them gentiles. And then, like after every other church event, they share a meal, Peter sits at table with Gentiles (Peterson). There are all sorts of troublesome things here.

And trouble is where Peter is this morning. All I described happens in chapter 10. This morning’s reading is from chapter 11. Here Peter is called before a gathering of apostles and the believers, in Jerusalem, to explain what happened. He does so in a clear orderly way, focusing on God’s presence in every step (Gaventa and Petersen). Peter don’t worry, he’s happy, he knows he’s doing God work:

• Going to Caesarea, to the home of a Roman Centurion, and breaking the barrier of separation between Jews and Gentiles, is doing God’s work,
• preaching Jesus to Gentile, is doing God’s work,
• baptizing all in Cornelius’ household is doing God’s work,
• sharing a meal at a Gentile table is doing God’s work.

There are lots of things to worry about; but Peter don’t worry, he’s happy to be doing God’s work.

So ~ what about our troubles today? Today’s troubles:

• There is a rise in religious intolerance; in the middle east against Christian minorities, and in India, Burma, and China against Muslim minorities.
• There are all sorts of legislative machinations concerning abortion; a state legislator claimed pregnancy by rape is a gift from God (Stone), another lawmaker and former police officer, claimed that most rapes that he investigated were consensual (William).
• There are all the troubles around immigration, beyond the issue of the wall, and increasing numbers of people crossing the border,
  • there are the continuing concerns with DACA,
  • the lack of workers in agriculture, construction, hospitality, and other industries who are no longer able to recruit the number of temporary immigrant workers they have in recent years.
• There are threats to the economy, such as tariff conflicts, and Brexit.
• There is a vague threat of war in Venezuela with the effort to bring about a change in government.
• There is the threat of accidental war with Iran as tensions rise over the balance of power in the Middle East between Arab and Persian powers of Saudi Arabia and Iran, and their allies.
• There are the conflicting ideas about changing rain patterns slowing the planting season, breaching levies flooding towns and farmlands, and stopping barge traffic on long flooding rivers.
• There is the escalating violence in Blytheville.
• And of course, there are the changes at St. Stephen’s

All these involve crossing some sort of boundary or another, some sort of change or another. They involve how we see others, how we judge others, perhaps unaware, perhaps intentionally, and they involve how we see ourselves, our traditions, our faith, our understanding of God as right or simply better.

We face the same challenge Peter did, thought without, at least so far, a divine vision. But even with a vision, we, individually and as a community, face the decision the apostles and the believers in Jerusalem faced. Knowing nothing we do can bear fruit without God (Mast). We ponder

• does not changing hinder God?
• does changing hinder God?
• is this change of God?
• is God the only arbiter, and/or judge?
• is the direction unilaterally, singularly, directed by the Spirit?
• is God cleaning hearts (Gaventa and Petersen)?
• is the change loving each other, your neighbor, yourself, your enemy, your spouse, your children, your friends, your bus driver, your mailman, your pharmacist, everybody, as Jesus loved ~ loves ~ everyone, so that others know God/Jesus/Spirit’s presence in and through us (John 13:34-35) (Bates)?

In pondering we realize that loving as Jesus loves means accepting radical change in which God invites and enables us, to extend further, and embrace wider, so that individually and together we each become more (Ditewig). We realize how such love is hard, this it is never without sacrifice, pain, and challenges (Lewis).

These are challenging questions. They would take the heart of everyone, and there may come a day when our hearts fail; but not today. Today we don’t worry, today we be happy, today ~ we trust in God and in doing God’s work, after all, we do love these people (Wikiquote).

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References

Bates, J. Barrington. “The Way of Love, Easter 5.” 19 5 2019. Sermons that Work.

Ditewig, Br. Luke. “Change.” Meeting Jesus in the Gospel. SSJE. Cambridge, n.d. Email.

Easton, M. G. Easton’s Bible Dictionary. Public Domain, 1897. Olive Tree.

Epperly, Bruce. The Adventurous Lectionary. 19 5 2019. <http://www.patheos.com/blogs/livingaholyadventure/author/bruceepperly&gt;.

Gaventa, Beverly Roberts and David Petersen. New Interpreter’s One Volume Commentary. Nashville, n.d.

Harrelson, Walter J. The New Interpreters’ Study Bible. Abingdon Press, 2003. E-book.

Keener, Craig and John Walton. NKJV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes. Nashville: Zondervan, 2017.

Lewis, Karoline. Real Love. 19 5 2019. <workingpreacher.org>.

Mast, Stan. Old Testament Lectionary — Axts11:1-18. 19 5 2019. <http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/sermonstarters/&gt;.

McFerrin, Robert Jr. “Don’t Worry Be Happy.” Universal Music Publishing Group, 19 5 2019.

Pankey, Steve. Without a Doubt. 19 5 2019. <wordpress.com/read/feeds/333491/posts/1310831034>.

Peterson, Brian. Commentary on Acts 11:1-18. 19 5 2019. <http://www.workingpreacher.org/&gt;.

Sakenfeld, Katharine Doob. New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Nashville: Abingdon, 2009.

Stone, Michael. Missouri Rep. Calls Pregnancy By Rape God’s ‘Silver Lining’. 4 5 2016. 17 2019. <patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2016/05/missouri-rep-calls-pregnancy-by-rape-gods-silverlining>.

Wikiquote. The_Lord_of_the_Rings:_The_Return_of_the_King#Aragorn. n.d. 18 5 2019. <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings:_The_Return_of_the_King#Aragorn&gt;.

William. Missouri Lawmaker Says Most Rapes That He’s Investigated. 17 5 2019. <mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/news/missouri-lawmaker-says-most-rapes-that-he-s-investigated-areconsensual->.

 

 

 

The reign of Chris the King is not there, but here; not then but now.

A sermon for Christ the King

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Psalm 100, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46

If you children are old enough you might remember Fraggle Rock, one of Jim Henson’s many creations. My kids loved it. One of their favorites, and one of mine, is a short little book titled If I Were King of the Universe (Abelson) it tells the tale, of Junior Gorg, whose mom and dad are the Queen and King of the Universe. However, since they are the only Gorgs, Junior gets to all the chores; he polishes the armor, fetches the crowned jewels, stands guard, serves as jester, unless of course he is washing windows and sweeping floors. But is favorite chore is gardening, and chasing the Fraggles who steal the radishes.

Of course Junior dreams of being King, and how the Fraggles would work for him; how he’d eat breakfast in bed, or tickle his toes in the sun, and stay up late. But in the end, he realizes how much he likes doing his chores especially chasing Fraggles. So he’ll just keep on being Junior Gorg, “After all, being Prince of the Universe isn’t all that bad!”

I expect all of us dream of being King or Queen of the Universe, or some such auspicious status. To be honest if I woke up one morning and discovered I was King of the Universe I’d follow Junior’s advice, especially if today’s bible readings were a part of the coronation.

Ezekiel was written in the mid to late 500 BCE when Israel is living in captivity. (Ellingsen) At one level it reads like a divine rescue mission. (Epperly) On the other hand, Ezekiel lays bare the truth that “The disparity between the wealthy, poor, and middle class, destroys the nation, [and] undermines justice …” (Epperly) Margaret Odell points out that the biblical shepherd metaphor is always a political one. (Odell) She reminds us that the oldest recorded legal code Hammurabi’s and notes his belief that “he was appointed by the gods ‘to promote the welfare of the people, to cause justice to prevail’” (Odell) Ezekiel reminds us God’s kingdom is different than kingdoms of our making. (Jaconson, Lewis and Skinner)

Matthew’s account of Jesus’ apocalyptic tale of separating sheep and goats includes an uncomfortable judging story. I’m always uncomfortable of judgment stories, I like to believe I’m among the blessed sheep; but am ever so aware of my own goat-ness.

Like you I’ve helped to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcomed a stranger, clothed the naked, healed the sick, and visited a prisoner or two. I’m also keenly aware of the times I could not, and the times I did not, help the divine image bearer right in front of me. But Kingdom life is not a balance the scales kind of thing. It’s James Liggett’s observation that sets me on edge. He notes that the goats do not know when they failed to help the Jesus in front of them, and we know that. What’s startling is that he points out that the sheep, the righteous ones invited into the Kingdom, did not know when they had helped the Jesus in front of them. (Liggett) They were just as oblivious to the presence of God, in the least of these, as those who walked on by. Like Ezekiel, Matthew also invites us to recognize the Kingdom of God is different. Moreover, we are also invited to take a peek, because of the Kingdom of God is, in part, already here. (Jaconson, Lewis and Skinner)

Truth be known, Matthew is doing more than inviting us to take a peek, he, as Jesus does, is inviting us to participate in Kingdom life right here, right now. Karoline Lewis writes “I absolutely … believe that God needs us for the kingdom to be more that it could be without us.”  (Lewis) In short, we are invited to make a difference, not only in helping those who are in need or oppressed but in eliminating the roots causes of injustice and unrighteous disparity. (Lewis) We won’t easily admit it, but there is such an opportunity blistering across the news media today.

If Jesus were to have told this parable today he would likely include a line that’s something like:

I was an illegal immigrant and you welcomed me;

and I was an illegal immigrant and you scorned, or took advantage of, or rebuked me.

But then again Jesus has already said it. Throughout Old Testament Law, beginning with the Tenth Commandment (Ex 20:10) the law applied to everyone in the household including the gēr or the alien, the foreigner.  (Strong’s) In so much that Ezekiel reminds us that the shepherd is all about politics; and that the oldest legal code we have is established for the welfare of the people and for justice to prevail; and that by Jesus’ parable when we welcome the stranger, the alien, we welcome Jesus; the answer to our immigration problem is a political one that provides biblical justice for all, and prevents the powerful from exploiting the vulnerable.

I invite you to join me in my daily prayer discipline and pray, by name, for all our elected officials.

A closing observation or two. It’s important to remember that though we’ve our part to play in the Kingdom’s presence, we cannot speed up nor impede its arrival. Secondly, judgment is not so much about punishment, as it is about bringing into the light the reality that’s already present; the one Paul tells the Ephesians about, the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know Jesus, as hungry, or thirsty, as naked, ill, in prison, or  ~  as an alien in a strange land.

Junior Gorg got it half right, being King of the Universe is best left to the one so designated from first light. The other half, however; is that we can, by the power of the spirit of wisdom and revelation, bring divine justice to all, and glean a bit more of life in the Reign of Christ our King.

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References

Abelson, Danny. If I Were King of the Universe. New York: Henry Holt Co., 1984.

Carey, Greg. “Working Preacher.” 23 11 2014. Commentary on Matthew 25:31-46.

Ellingsen, Mark. Christ the King (Proper 29), Cycle A. 23 11 2014. <http://www.lectionaryscripturenotes.com/&gt;.

Epperly, Bruce. The Adventurous Lectionary. 23 11 2014. <http://www.patheos.com/blogs/livingaholyadventure/author/bruceepperly&gt;.

Fever, Kyle. Commentary on Ephesians 1:15-23. 23 11 2014. <workingpreacher.org>.

Jaconson, Rolf, Karoline Lewis and Matt Skinner. Sermon Brain Wave. 2 11 2014.

Lewis, Karoline. Dear Working Preacher. 23 11 2014. <workingpreacher.org>.

Liggett, Rev. James. Sermons that Work. 23 11 2014.

Odell, Margaret. Commentary on Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24. 23 11 2014.

Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. Wordsearch, n.d.