This Sunday Sermon: Who do you say that I am?

Did you ever notice that the disciples spend a lot of time not understanding what Jesus is saying to them?  We never get to hear the first thirteen verses of Matthew chapter 16, not on Sunday morning anyway, but they deal with a situation in which Jesus becomes frustrated with his disciples because they fail to understand what he is talking about, and in the passage following to today’s Gospel (the passage we will hear next week) the disciples will fail to fully understand Jesus, yet again.

But the question that Jesus asks his disciples at the beginning of today’s Gospel lesson: “Who do people say that the son of man is?” is such a simple question that I imagine the disciples were relieved to hear it.  It is something they knew they could answer.

To give Jesus the answers he wanted, all they needed to do was repeat what they had been hearing around them. “Some say you are John the Baptist,”  “others Elijah,” “or Jeremiah”  “or one of the other prophets."  Easy peasy.

But then Jesus asks them another question “who do YOU say that I am?”

This question is not so easy to answer.  Jesus wants to know what the disciples actually think and the only one brave enough to step forward and give his opinion is Simon Peter.  Peter is not known for thinking before he speaks or acts, in the Gospels he shows himself time and time again to be the one who acts out of the passions he has at the moment, even if he ends up being wrong he does not censor himself.  And in this moment Peter’s impulsiveness works in his favor.  While the other disciples held back, pondering Jesus’ question, Peter blurts out “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."  

Jesus seems rather pleased with Peter’s answer, saying to him “Blessed are you Simon Peter,” but then he says something a bit strange, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”  

Out of his impulsiveness and passion Peter is given the right answer, not by anything he saw Jesus do, but by God.  The faith inside of Peter allowed him to express something that could not otherwise be expressed.  And while Peter will almost immediately misunderstand what it means for Jesus to be “the Son of the living God,” his faith will allow him to hold onto that knowledge in the midst of his misunderstanding.

 But the question still remains, “who do you say that I am?”  is a question that we all should really answer.

Who DO we say that Jesus is?  If someone came up to you on the street and asked you “what do you believe, who is Jesus?”  What would you say?  

You of course have several options, you could give the same answer as Peter, or you could repeat the Nicene Creed.  While we do believe that Jesus was the Messiah, would we be able to explain why that’s important?  What about the Nicene Creed?  We say it every Sunday because we believe it, and it does spell out the very basics of our beliefs, but does it truly express how Jesus fits into our lives?  

Who do we say that Jesus is?  Not just in this place with our words and our music, but who do we say that Jesus is with our lives?

When we say that Jesus is the Son of God, what does that actually mean for us?  When we proclaim Jesus as our savior, what are we actually saying?  Being able to answer these questions is not merely important because someone might start quizzing us on the street, it is important because if we can’t articulate who Jesus is, then how are we supposed to know who WE are as his disciples?

If we believe that Jesus is the Word of God, the revelation of God in the world, than what does that mean for us as people who profess to follow him?

Paul struggles with this question in his letter to the Romans.  In today’s passage he tells the Christians in Rome “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”  We gather here on Sunday mornings to worship together, to be renewed in our faith and to offer back to God all that we have, but our worship of God does not end as we walk out those doors today.  Paul encourages his readers to look at their lives in a whole new light.  As Christians, everything we say and do becomes our spiritual worship of God.  What we believe is not just expressed in words, but our whole lives are our statement of faith.  So who do we say Jesus is with our lives?  This is a question we each need to ask ourselves every day.  Like Peter we may not fully understand what we profess with faith.  God, the nature of God in the incarnation, is far too big for us to ever fully understand.  If there is no mystery in our beliefs it means our beliefs are too small, too easy.  

This can be so frustrating.  We live in an age of humanity where mysteries are not really tolerated, and in most cases I think that is right.  But faith is about transformation, not understanding.  We cannot expect to be able to fit Christ’s call to love and peace into this world.

Paul contrasts being conformed to the world with being transformed by our faith.  Choosing the latter means not being able to choose the former, we are not really supposed to fit into this world. 

Every day we should be asking ourselves, does my life reflect the love of God shown to me in Jesus Christ?  Does my life reflect Christ’s compassion and forgiveness?  Does my life reflect Christ’s encouragement to be faithful and courageous?  Does my life reflect Christ’s sacrifice? Or do I shy away from God’s calling?  Does my life reflect a belief in a god who is engaged with the world, or a god who has conformed to the apathy of our society?  Choosing not to be “conformed to this world” but instead to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” is an every day sort of endeavor. 

We should not be discouraged with the difficulties we face, even the disciples struggled and faltered.  But it is important to always challenge ourselves in our Christian journey.  We are not expected to be perfect.  God has patience and knows how scary it can be to live by faith, and perhaps that is why we are the body of Christ in this world together.  Separately we are called to be disciples of Jesus, but together we are Christ’s body in the world.  We are here to give support and encouragement to each other; we are here to be each other’s strength when our own fails. 

Later in the Gospel according to Matthew Jesus says to his disciples “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”  It doesn’t take much to make the body of Christ present.  When we gather together to support each other in our faith we make Christ visible to all who see us.  In the Epistle Paul reminds us that we need each other, that together we are one body.  

And together our lives will answer Jesus’ question “who do you say that I am?” 

Amen.

Pentecost Sermon

It has officially been fifty days since we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Day. For forty days after his resurrection Jesus stayed with his disciples and continued his teachings about the Kingdom of God. Then he ascended into heaven and he was gone just as he said he would be. But the story doesn’t end there because after the disciples return to Jerusalem they gathered together with other followers of Jesus. And the room suddenly filled with a violent wind and tongues like fire, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. The Advocate that Jesus had promised them was there giving them the power to continue Christ’s mission in the World. If this was a movie that would probably be a good place to end. The story of Jesus which began with his birth and reached its climax when he was killed and resurrected would conclude as he ascended into heaven. And all the loose ends are wrapped up nicely as his followers all go out into the world to spread the good news. The End. Role credits.

 Now of course we know that life is not a movie, and the end of one story is always the beginning of another story. As summer begins and we enter ordinary time, and it is hard not to feel like the important part of the Christian narrative is over. In many ways this is where the story of Christianity really begins. When Christ was among his disciples the focus was almost entirely on him, he was the leader, and the disciples were perfectly happy to follow him forever.

Do you remember what it was like learning to ride a bicycle for the first time? For most people this is something that happens at a pretty young age. Many people start with training wheels, but eventually the training wheels have to come off and that is when the real training begins. I remember being on my bike with my dad standing behind me holding the bike so that I wouldn’t fall over. The only reason I ever had the courage to start pedaling was because I knew he was back there holding my bike up. And then suddenly he wasn’t there anymore, he had let go and it was entirely up to me to ride or fall. I rode a bit and then I fell onto the neighbor’s front yard. And while I did not want my Dad to let go, he knew that if he didn’t make ride by myself I was never going to be able to do it alone. So I would ride and fall, and ride and fall, but eventually I was able to keep going without falling.

 When Jesus died on the cross the disciples were too scared to really do anything, and when he came back and spent time with them after the resurrection all they wanted to do was to continue being a disciple. All of their confidence came from having Christ at their side, any bravery they had came from knowing that Christ was there to help them. The disciples remind me of children who are first learning to ride a bike. They were never going to really learn as long as Jesus was there, they would never really be able to go out and put into action everything that Jesus had taught them because they would always defer to him. But even though Jesus was no longer there in the flesh it does not mean the disciples were left all alone. The Holy Spirit would be there, giving them the strength they would need to go out and bring Christ’s love to the world.

In the Gospel lesson today Jesus tells his disciples “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, `Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.” Well, in the presence of Christ the disciples drank their fill of living water, it was now their turn to be the rivers of living water for others. And it is our turn too. The Christian Church has had its ups and downs, we are still learning how to be followers of Christ. It is not an easy thing to learn, like anything worth doing, being a Christian takes a lifetime of practice. And since that first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit blew into the upper room and made that diverse group of Christians truly hear each other, and Peter declared “in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy,” followers of Christ have been practicing their faith all over the world.

Certainly the Church has fallen down, made mistakes, and gotten lost along its way. And as the Church we too will do the same thing. But what is important is that we get up again, brush ourselves off, recognize our mistakes and our wrong turns, and aim to do better. The celebration of Pentecost is not merely the celebration of the disciples being filled with the Holy Spirit, it is not just the beginning of THEIR journey as the body of Christ. It is a celebration of us as well, we are part of that same body, and like the disciples we too have been given the Holy Spirit. A living spring of water flows in this place, and in each of us. Today we are reminded that God wants each of us to be a part of his story, no matter where we are in our lives and what we do for a living we are called to be Christ’s body, we are called to be that spring of water for each other and for the world.

 I suppose the obvious question is: How do we do that? I think Saint Augustine of Hippo offers a simple answer: “Love, and do what you will: whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good.”

Sermon: The Good Shepherd and a Mother's Love (with a Carole King tag)

May 11, 2014

You can still see the shepherds and their sheep in the hills surrounding Jerusalem, and when two shepherds meet, their flocks mix together becoming one large flock of sheep.  But as they turn and go their separate ways the shepherds call out to their flocks and the sheep separate, each sheep knowing the voice of his shepherd and following him.

 

Our Gospel reading today ends at verse ten but it is in verse eleven where we hear Jesus call himself the Good Shepherd.  We are used to hearing about Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  He is good because he cares about his flock, and he does not abandon us to death.  In today’s Gospel passage Jesus refers to himself as ‘the gate’.  The sheepfolds used to be rudimentary enclosures made of stone with thorns lining the top to discourage anyone from climbing in.  There were no doors only an opening in the stone fence. At night A shepherd would lay down in front of that opening, putting himself in the way of any intruder who would try to come in and steal or kill his sheep.  Jesus does the same for us, he puts himself between us and death, he protects us from those things that will truly hurt us.

And he leads us.  Jesus goes before us and we are meant to follow.  We are not forced to go with him, but instead he calls us trusting that we will hear his voice and follow him.  It sounds so easy; all we need to do is listen and follow.  But we know from experience that it is not that easy because we are surrounded by so many sounds, so many different voices calling to us that there are times when we don’t seem to be able to hear Jesus calling us at all.  What are all these other voices calling to us and telling us to follow them instead?  We are pulled in every direction by consumerism and societal expectations.  We are told that we should be concerned with what we own and wear, or with how much money we make.  We are told that if we own certain things, or eat certain food or live a certain lifestyle than our lives will find meaning.  There are voices telling us that we need to look a certain way or sound a certain way to have value.  And there are the voices in our own heads, like the voices of fear and hate which won’t let us let go of old pain.  There are the voices of anxiety which fills our heads with fears about the future, or shame about the past.  Each of these things calls to as as if they are our rightful shepherds.  Each of these voices calls to us, pretending to know us, promising to solve our problems, promising to give our lives meaning.  And sometimes these voices sound so exciting, they promise instant gratification, they promise certainty and comfort and an easy road. 

With all these different voices trying to get our attention, it is no wonder that we find Jesus so hard to hear.  But he is calling us, his voice is quiet and beckons without demanding.   We can hear his voice most clearly when we read scripture and when we gather together for worship, and when we can see him go before us in the cross and resurrection. 

But we are left with a choice.  Who do we follow?  While we know the answer is of course, Jesus, if we were honest with ourselves we know that this choice is not an easy one to make and fully commit to.  The voice of Jesus is not always a comfortable voice to follow.  He does not offer instant gratification, and he does not lead us down an easy road.  But when we choose to follow the voice of Christ and choose to put our faith in the Good Shepherd we are given true peace, and our lives are given real meaning. 

In our psalm today we are reminded that the peace and comfort that God gives us comes from doing what is righteous even when we are confronted with all the other voices that want to lead us astray. 

Verse 4 says:

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

   I fear no evil;

for you are with me;

   your rod and your staff—

   they comfort me.

God does not promise that he we will always lead us in sunshine and safety, but that even when we are in the dark and troubling places, even if we are at deaths door, if we follow our true Shepherd we have nothing to fear.  Because Christ goes before us, even death loses its sting.

I think the hardest thing for us to learn is to trust Jesus.  The world is so different from the kingdom of God making most of the things Jesus tells us to do seem unrealistic and even downright crazy.  He tells us to love our neighbor, and that our neighbor includes strangers.  He tells us to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek.  He tells us not to worry even though our lives are filled with a million little things to worry about.  He shows us that the path he leads us down is a path that goes through the cross and that we are expected to pick up our own crosses and follow him.  So it takes real trust in Christ in order to follow his voice.  We need to trust that he sees our path better than we do, and that he will not lead us astray because the path that he leads us down is a path of love, real love. 

Today we celebrate Mother’s day, and perhaps Mother’s know better than anyone what real love feels like.  Most Mothers know what it feels like to be willing to sacrifice her own life for the sake of her child.  It doesn’t matter how good or bad that child is, or how old that child is, she loves him completely.  That is how God feels about all of us, that is how God wants all of us to love each other.  We are loved completely therefore we are called to love each other completely as well.

This is not an easy task, but it is a beautiful one.

Amen.

Sermon Second Sunday of Easter

Sermon Second Sunday in Easter                                                     4/27/2014

John 20:19-31

It has been seven days now since we had our Easter celebration and yet the gospel story this morning picks up just a few hours after Mary Magdalene tells the disciples what she experienced at Jesus’ tomb.  And while we have proclaimed Christ’s resurrection, said our Alleluias and eaten our Easter candy, the disciples have yet to join in the celebration.  In today’s Gospel we are pulled back, back to Easter Day, back into the story where we are reminded that the events at the tomb are by no means the end of the Easter story.  The disciples do not seem to believe what Mary has told them, if they had believed surely they would be out looking for Jesus, but instead they have locked themselves inside, afraid of the persecution that may be waiting for them outside.  

I can only imagine how they must have felt. The disciples have had their lives turned upside down.  They had given up everything in order to follow Jesus and follow him they did, for three years.  And quite suddenly they find themselves without him, without his leadership, without his strength and wisdom to guide them.  They are lost without him.  Then all of a sudden, in the midst of their grief and despair, Jesus appears among them.  Only then, after they saw him, after they saw the wounds in his hands and his side did they finally rejoice. 

And Jesus wastes no time, in the Gospel according to John it is on Easter day that Jesus gives the disciples his Great Commission, telling them “As the Father has sent me, even so I have sent you,” this Gospel makes quite clear that the mission of the church is inextricably linked to Christ’s resurrection.  The lives we live as Christians cannot be separated from Christ’s saving action on the cross. 

 But what Jesus gives the disciples to do is no easy task, the disciples are sent into the world, just as Jesus was, and they are given the unique responsibility of forgiving or retaining the sins of others.  At first glance this looks as if Christ has given the disciples the ability to be the judge and jury over all those they meet, and certainly it has been interpreted that way, but it is not the privilege of judgment that Christ bestows on the disciples.  It is the responsibility of evangelism.  Jesus gives the disciples the responsibility of bearing witness to the work of God in the world. Earlier in the Gospel Jesus had given them the commandments to love God and to love their neighbor, and through his own life and death he has shown them what it means to live out those commandments.  Now it is the disciples turn, by living as Christ has taught them to live, they can demonstrate God’s Grace to the whole world, they are called to forgive people by letting them know that through Christ they are freed from sin and death. 

 Jesus breathes on all the disciples, giving them the Holy Spirit and commissioning them to continue his work in the world.  All the disciples that is, except for Thomas.  Poor maligned Thomas.  His name forever marred by the epithet “doubting.”  Where had Thomas gone off to during this oh so crucial moment in the life of the church?  If the disciples were all so scared of being persecuted, then where was Thomas?  In my imagination Thomas is the only one brave enough to go out, and in the hour of Jesus’ appearance Thomas was out buying groceries for the group.  Of course we can never know for sure where Thomas was, all we know is that he was not there.  What must it have been like to be Thomas, to return to your friends only to discover that they had had this incredible experience in your absence, not only did Jesus appear amongst them, but he breathed the Holy Spirit onto them and gave them a new mission in life.  It is not an enviable place to be in, the odd man out.  No one wants to be the outsider, the one who doesn’t quite get the joke, or understand the reference, No one wants to be the only person who wasn’t there. I don’t blame Thomas for not believing.  

For Thomas to believe what the other disciples shared with him would make him the only disciple NOT given the Holy Spirit, the only disciple NOT made into an apostle, the only disciple NOT given the opportunity to see Jesus once again.  Who, thinking their loved one dead, wouldn’t immediately demand to see him upon hearing that he was, in fact, alive?  Who wouldn’t want to touch that person, to embrace him?

But Thomas would have to wait a whole other week before Easter would come for him.  But eventually Jesus returns to the closed up house he presents himself to Thomas who immediately upon seeing Jesus declares quite powerfully “My Lord and My God!” Not only does Thomas believe when sees Jesus, he sees Jesus for who he truly is, he understands and declares it loudly “My Lord and My God!” 

Christ’s response “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” is not meant to shame Thomas, or to set him up as a foil to the other disciples.  None of the disciples believed before they saw, and that is okay.  Christ understands who we are, he knows that doubt is part of human nature.  Thomas’ encounter with the resurrected Christ is not meant to make us despair over our own doubt, rather it is a story of promise and it is meant to give us hope.   Thomas was not physically present at the Great Commissioning, but he is still blessed by the Holy Spirit and counted among the apostles, and in his interaction with Thomas, Christ assures us that we too, are blessed and called to represent Christ’s love in the world.  

This calling starts for us at baptism where we are marked as Christ’s own forever.  At baptism we are made part of the body of Christ and as a part of that body and supported by our fellow pilgrims we are sent out as we are representatives of Christ to the world.

It is hard to believe that only a week ago we were celebrating Easter.  If it weren’t for the dwindling shelves of half-priced Easter candy, you would hardly know that the season ever happened.  I find it a little frustrating at times, while we are in the midst of the somber season of lent the world around us is  decorating with Eggs and bunnies and pastel colored flowers.  And when we finally get to the Easter season and it is time to rejoice and celebrate the world has already moved on.  But you know I think that is right, the Easter we are celebrating is something entirely different, something far greater that cannot be contained to just one day of the year.  Christ has overthrown death, not just for himself, but for all of us. Christ is the light in the darkness.  There is nothing left for us to fear, wherever we are, Christ will meet us there, there is no locked door, no amount of despair or resentment or doubt that can stand in his way.  The Easter story continues with all of us, like the disciples we are called out of our locked rooms and asked to take the joy we experienced on Easter Day, the joy of a life renewed by Christ and we are to share that joy with a suffering world in need of some good news.