What Is God’s Role In Suffering?
1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
Third Sunday of Lent March 7, 2010
Years ago, an elderly woman died. Her name was Mary. She was very active in the congregation, but she never thought anything was any good! Everything was bad. She complained about everything.
At the first women’s group meeting after Mary died, the group members discussed a memorial gift to the congregation. The worship space was not air conditioned at that time, and one suggestion was for a gift to be made in Mary’s name towards the air conditioning project. One wag quipped, “Oh no. That wouldn’t be appropriate at all. Mary thought the purpose of coming to church is to suffer!!”
Not so long ago that that’s what many people thought the purpose of Lent to be: that it was a 40-day long season, during which we were to suffer! “How could you make yourself suffer?” That was the Lenten question. What would you “give up” for Lent?
During the Ash Wednesday service, the “Invitation to Lent,” includes these words: “I invite you to the discipline of Lent – self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love – strengthened by the gifts of word and sacrament.” Classic Christian practices of discipline and even deprivation are indeed useful for our Lenten journeys. But that is true only if they serve a positive purpose!
For instance, consider the practice of fasting. During Lent I am fasting from sweets, for a positive reason: for the purpose of becoming physically healthier – especially during Lenten days of sickness, or rain and snow, when I haven’t been able to get out on my bicycle. (I have to admit I broke that fast when Patty made some biscotti and baklava for a gathering of friends! But that was only temporary!)
What if you fasted an hour a day from TV or from the computer – and if you devoted that time to praying over short passages of the Bible, or just simply sitting in prayer? That would be a positive Christian practice: the turning back towards God and God’s desires for you. As I quote Frank Honeycutt in the bulletin notes this morning: “It’s important to remember that these disciplines have no inherent saving value, but they are vitally important, principally for giving the Holy Spirit room to work in our lives. In short, the Spirit is given space to get at us.”[1]
The point of Lent is not suffering in itself, as if suffering is good for us! The point is returning to God, so that God the Holy Spirit can immerse us in grace and forgiveness and salvation. What good news there is in that!
Be that as it may, on this third Sunday in Lent, we are given two passages that refer to incidents of great suffering.
What is God’s role in suffering? Isn’t that one of the Big Questions? These two passages give answers that are as different as they could be! Will you look at them with me?
The passage from First Corinthians is a text of terror.[2] It is from the section – of chapters eight, nine, and ten – in which Paul is responding to a question the Corinthian Christians have asked: Is it ok to eat the meat of animals that have been sacrifice to idols? Does that sounds a bit arcane to you? The real issue, though, is as challenging for us as it was for that first century congregation. The real issue is idolatry. It’s the First Commandment: who or what do we devote our best time and energy towards? Is that God? Or do we give our best time and energy to serving something else; something that we put in the place of God?
Paul’s writing in this section of First Corinthians reflects the context: this congregation was embroiled in destructive internal dynamics. The people in this tiny congregation were sniping with each other rather than building each other up. They were taking advantage of each other in power plays. Wealthy members flaunted that over members with few material resources. One man was sleeping with his step-mother. Other members were suing each other. Does it sound to you that the Corinthian Jesus people were giving their best time and energy to serving God? Or were they serving what they had put in the place of God – personal ambition, or sexual lust, or maintaining wealth and status?
Paul speaks to that, in this section of First Corinthians. First, Paul offers himself as a positive model of serving God. (That’s in chapter nine, for your Bible study.) This morning, though, we’re in the text of terror that is chapter 10 – and here, Paul is referring back to the stories of the chosen people wandering in the wilderness, as a negative warning! Paul writes: God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” (Here Paul refers to the golden calf Aaron and the people made, for a god to worship, when Moses was delayed from coming back down Mount Sinai.[3]) Paul writes: We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. (Here Paul is recalling that men of the chosen people were defiling themselves by having sexual relations with Moabite women, for God’s sake![4]) Paul writes: We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents.[5] And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.[6] These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.
I leave it to you to decide, in your interpretation of the Bible, whether any of these negative warnings which refer to incidents reported in the book of Numbers have any relevance to you and me today. Yes, it’s in the Bible. But here is the question that will guide your interpretation: What is God like? Do you think that God causes suffering?
In fact, listen to what Paul writes next: So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. Well – does God test us? (One of the primary reasons for avoiding the Elizabethan English version of the Lord’s Prayer is the false teaching in the phrase, “Lead us not into temptation” – as if God conducts divine sting operations.)
In saying such a thing, I am not simply giving you my personal opinion. If I may be so bold, I am giving you the perspective of Jesus, in this morning’s story from Luke! Jesus’ point of view could not be more different from Paul’s teaching.
In this story, some people come to Jesus with the headline ripped from that day’s newspaper. They’re asking, What is God’s role in suffering? At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Do you remember what Jesus says in response? He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them – do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
With both examples, Jesus is asking, “Do you think God singled out those who died?” He answers his own question, “No, I tell you.” According to this passage, God does not cause suffering! But then, remember what Jesus adds, in both cases? “But unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
To repent is to return. To repent is to turn away from what makes for death, and to turn back to God and God’s desires for you – so that God the Holy Spirit can immerse you and me in grace and forgiveness and salvation.
What good news there is in that! The problem is that it often takes bad news to turn us back towards the good news of God in Jesus the Christ. And that is how Jesus is using the three tragedies that have happened in recent days, there in Galilee. He is teaching from them. Jesus is saying that we do not live forever, and so there is some urgency that we repent; that we turn away from what makes for death; that we turn back to God and what God desires for you and me – so that God the Holy Spirit can immerse you and me in grace and forgiveness and salvation.
That repentance, that turning back to God, is the primary theme of Lent.
Blessings on your Lenten practices. Blessings on your continuing journey through this holy season.
In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
[1] Frank Honeycutt, Marry a Pregnant Virgin (Minneapolis: Augsburg Books, 2008), page 94.
[2] Phyllis Trible’s phrase, in her book, Texts of Terror.
[3] Exodus 32
[4] Numbers 25:1-9
[5] Numbers 21:5-6
[6] Numbers 16:13-14, 41-49
“God Is Determined To Save Us!”
Luke 13:31-35 Second Sunday of Lent February 28, 2010
There’s lots going on in that story from the gospel of Luke. There are Pharisees, there is King Herod, there is Jesus, there is the entire city of Jerusalem – and all this in just five verses! Are you able to get a handle on all that’s going on in this scene? (That would be like dropping someone from back then into today’s political environment, and expecting him to immediately understand “Tea Party” populism and polarized politics and health care reform!) So, let me offer some orientation.
There is great political intrigue swirling around Jesus in this story. (It amuses me when a contemporary American declares that religion should not be mixed with politics – because Jesus was neck-deep in politics every day of his ministry!) In the story, we read, At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to [Jesus], “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” Here’s what’s happening. We’ve got one party of religious leaders (the Pharisees) trying to triangulate Jesus, by warning him about a political leader (Herod), who claimed that he was motivated by religion!
Got that? In fact, it’s even more complicated than that! The Pharisees were only one of several groups of religious leaders. There were also the Sadducees; and there were the Essenes; and there were the Scribes; and there was the family that produced the hereditary Chief Priest of the Jerusalem Temple. Do you think those parties of religious leaders were on the same page? Nope! They were all the time squabbling, arguing, disagreeing; with entirely different ideas of the future for God’s people. And now, here’s this small town rabbi named Jesus in the mix.
Here’s more. King Herod was only the local king, based in Jerusalem. He was a Jew – but I suspect that he used religion as a justification for his political positions (much as happens today, among some of our politicians who talk about God a lot). But, of course, Herod didn’t have much real power – because the region was under Roman occupation. Garrisons of centurions and soldiers were stationed in Palestine, to enforce military rule. The Romans had installed a regional governor you may have heard of, named Pontius Pilate. He reported to the Caesar in Rome. (So – in everything he did, Herod had to be careful not to make the Romans angry with him. Herod was able to exercise power only as it was convenient for Rome to have a vassal king.)
And so, probably, Herod was worried that Jesus might cause civil disruption out in the hinterland of Galilee. That could make the Romans think that Herod couldn’t even control his own people.
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to [Jesus], “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”
What’s motivating the Pharisees, in this scene? In the gospel stories, aren’t the Pharisees painted as the villains? The Pharisees are the ones who police the religious rules: are the people properly obeying those rules? The gospel writers portray the Pharisees to be opposed to Jesus because he’s all the time pointing out how inconsistent they are in enforcing those religious rules.
So, why are they warning Jesus here? Could it be that it’s convenient for them to use Herod as a bogey-man? Maybe they can use Herod to scare Jesus away. If he flees, well then, the Pharisees will find life to be easier without this trouble-maker!
Or, could it be that the Pharisees, as a party of religious rulers, are not as monolithic as we often assume? When the gospel writers cast them as the villains in the Jesus story, it’s as if they all agree about Jesus! But could that be the case? Have you ever known a group of people in which there is total unanimity? Don’t even the closest of friends and family and working partners disagree with each other over many things?
We read that some Pharisees come to warn Jesus. Could it be that some Pharisees were indeed open to the idea that Jesus could be the Christ, the Messiah of God?
Isn’t this fun, peeling apart all the intrigue and the possibilities? For those in the congregation who have been working through the Book of Faith studies, and for William and Mary students taking the “Jesus and the Gospels” course, this is the “Historical Approach.” It’s important to know the history behind a passage such as this one. But even if we spend years studying the history, the passage will remain closed to us as gospel. So — here’s what strikes me, this time through this story. I am struck by how determined Jesus is, to be faithful to the work that God has given him.
Some Pharisees come to warn Jesus that Herod wants to kill him. Remember what Jesus says in response? He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’”
“On the third day.” Did you catch that? There’s one of those numbers that signals something to us; much as when we encounter the number, “40,” in the Bible. It’s right in our faces: this is a God thing the gospel writer is telling us about. God is working here. Jesus cannot stop doing the work God has given him to do. He must continue. He must walk straight into the danger, all the way to Jerusalem, which is where he will be killed – because that is what Jerusalem does to prophets.
But what does Jesus want for the people of Jerusalem? What a poignant image: of Jesus-God as a mother hen, desperately wanting to gather together her chicks. Here’s the sad thing. Unlike chicks in a barnyard, who scramble back under the mother hen’s wings when there is danger, the human beings that God desires to gather together are not willing! Not willing! And so, God can only yearn. God is unable to make them return.
What a stunning Biblical image of God. What pathos!
But still. Jesus is determined to continue the work God has given him to do. God is determined to work salvation.
And that’s where the gospel is in this story. Because – isn’t that the way God still is? God is determined to save you and me! That’s true, even though we are greatly distracted by all that’s going on in the barnyard. We turn away from God, instead acting as if it’s all up to us. But what’s the result of all the time and energy we give to that delusion? It only makes us aware of how far we fall short, of how much we haven’t done, which only makes us feel bad about ourselves – when all God wants to do is to welcome us back, in love and forgiveness and salvation. We measure our worth by what we accomplish, and the bad news is that we can never accomplish enough – when all God wants to do is to enfold us in the good news that the purpose of our lives is to praise and give thanks to God. (Here, chickie, chickie!)
Instead, we turn away from that good news. Again and again, we turn in on ourselves, fearful, self-centered. We react out of that fear. That reaction is often anger, which causes our relationships with others to be broken, and also our relationship with God. That’s what our sin causes: that brokenness.
Does God give up on us? No! God continues to pursue us. Herod cannot scare God away. Our stubborn sinfulness cannot deter God. God’s love is a patient, determined love!
God cannot help it! It’s because of what God did to you and me when God baptized us. In your baptism, God said to you: “You are mine.” And now God says, “I cannot give up on you, or let you go, or turn away.” God is like the mother hen, with her wings spread open…
The season of Lent reminds us of our need to return to God.
How determined God is to save us! What good news!
In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
Come Along, You Who Are Hungry And Thirsty
Luke 4:1-13 First Sunday in Lent February 21, 2010
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
That wilderness landscape is barren. When I was there, I took some close-up pictures – of the ground! – because I had never seen such terrain. The dirt and the rocks are the same color: a drab tan. There is no water.
There is a strip of green growing things not far away, along the banks of the Jordan river. People live along the river banks, because there’s water! They’ve done some irrigation for their gardens and farms. Also not far away is the 10,000-year old town of Jericho. It is the oldest continually-inhabited town in the world because it is an oasis in the desert wilderness. Springs come up from the ground, so fruit trees flourish and other food can be grown. (I took another picture from a high spot, with the edge of Jericho in the middle of the picture – to show how suddenly the oasis ends and the desert barrenness begins.)
“Wilderness” is what we read in the New Revised Standard Version, in worship. Other versions of the Bible translate the Greek word to be “desert.” That is more literally true. But, keeping in mind that the terrain is the barren dirt and rock of a desert, I do appreciate the metaphorical value of the word, “wilderness.”
Think of that. The wilderness is a place where it’s easy for you to get lost. Right? When you’re lost in the wilderness, you’re trying to find the way out. (Will you even make it out?!) Moses and the people of God wandered in the desert wilderness of the Sinai for 40 years, according to Exodus and Deuteronomy, and it’s easy to see why: that land is either flat or suddenly mountain! Moses and the people wouldn’t have wanted to go in a straight line, because that would have meant climbing up and down those mountains! Instead, they wound around the mountains. And they quickly lost their way! They wandered – for 40 years! For 40 years, they didn’t know where they were going, and they didn’t know when they would get there. They only knew that God would tell them when they had gotten there.
Think about that for a minute. What a metaphor for the spiritual life! (Hopefully your periods of wandering haven’t lasted for 40 years.)
Here’s how this morning’s story in Luke begins: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
Does it startle you to notice that Jesus is led into the wilderness by God the Holy Spirit? (Isn’t Trinitarian theology interesting?) Jesus is led by the Spirit away from the green strip of vegetation along the Jordan; where he was baptized; where there’s irrigation; where there’s food and drink; where life can flourish. Jesus is led by the Spirit into the barren, dry, tan-dirt-and-rocks of the wilderness, where he spends 40 days. (Have you noticed that significant number that we come across in various places of the Bible? Have you noticed that the season of Lent is 40 days long?) At the end of the 40 days, according to the story, Jesus was more than hungry. The Greek is translated, “famished.”
When have you experienced this?
When have you been lost?
When has life been barren; when you’ve known emptiness, or even despair?
When have you suffered deep hunger and thirst?
Jesus is famished! We find this theme, often, as we pray the words of the Psalm writers expressing their experiences, in their journeys with God. Here is what the Psalm writer says in Psalm 42:
As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?
In Psalm 63, we read this prayer:
O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
All hunger is hunger for God. All thirst is thirst for God.
How often do you recognize this? When someone tries to satisfy a feeling of hunger by buying something, for instance, he doesn’t realize that his hunger is for God. When someone who is thirsty for self-esteem compensates by bullying someone, she doesn’t understand that her thirst is for God.
In the story from Luke, Jesus is in extreme danger. The reason why the temptations are so dangerous for Jesus is because he is hungry, literally and metaphorically! He is thirsty, again, in both senses. Suffering from such need, Jesus is in deadly danger of succumbing to the temptation to be self-centered.
Jon Pahl, our Theologian in Residence last week, said that sin, at its heart, is turning in on ourselves. You and I turn in on ourselves, which means that we turn away from God and from other people. It is when we are hungry that we are most in danger of being self-centered, of being sinful in that way; of being deluded to think that the purpose of life is to satisfy our physical needs for comfort (the first temptation for Jesus); or that we are to pursue our own personal power (the second temptation); or that we are to be successful or even sensational in t he world’s eyes, rather than faithful to God and the work God gives us to do. (That’s the third temptation).
Jesus is famished. He is great danger as the devil tempts him.
What about you, as this season of Lent begins? Is this a dangerous time of hunger? (Isn’t it always a dangerous time, depending on how the day is going?!)
God the Holy Spirit feeds us through the practices of Christian faith. For instance, there is the essential practice of reading the short passages from the Bible that are set out in a daily lectionary. (I declare to you that you will remain Biblically illiterate, not even knowing what is in the Bible, unless you use a daily lectionary. This practice is that important!) There are the equally fundamental practices of worship, and prayer, and study, and mutual conversation and consolation, all of which happen in Christian community, such as this congregation. There are countless other practices of the Christian faith. There is, for instance, the practice of exercise and diet control – a Christian practice when you are conscious that you are caring for God’s creation that is your body. There is the practice of giving away money and time to work that advances God’s kingdom.
Through these practices of the faith, God the Holy Spirit feeds us when we are hungry and thirsty
I invite you into a holy Lent of such practices. Choose one or two practices for these 40 days. (Who knows? The practices might turn out to be more than temporary!)
Pay attention to what the Spirit is doing with you, through these practices. Notice: How is the Spirit feeding you? How is the Spirit transforming you, to live as if Jesus has actually risen from the dead.
After such a holy Lent, what a joy-filled Easter it will be!
In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
The Lenten Journey: From Truth To Transformation
Psalm 51 Ash Wednesday, 2010 February 17, 2010
We begin Lent with some shocking truth-telling, in word and action.
The action will happen in a few minutes. I will dip my thumb into some ashes, make the sign of the cross on your foreheads, and say, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Wait a minute! We will die?! That is a shocking truth to tell in our culture! How much money and time is spent in the quest to deny that truth? (How much is spent on age-hiding cosmetics and hair colorings, and plastic surgery, and even most exercise equipment?)
The truth has intruded on you if your health has ever been broken. A pastor friend of mine named George Sims was recently hospitalized for pancreatitis, which can be life-threatening. I called him last week, to ask how he’s getting along. Thank God the doctors caught the pancreatitis early and have treated it effectively. But still, George will be stuck at home for at least several more weeks, while God heals his physical brokenness. George said, “This is the first time I’ve been sick like this. I have an out-of-town trip scheduled in a couple of weeks, and I’m going to have to cancel it!” He is shocked at his brokenness.
Do you know the truth, that we’re going to die? Some of you have experienced health so broken that you thought you were going to die right then!
What does God do with such an experience? Some who recover from such an encounter find that God has transformed them! The result is joy! God the Holy Spirit transforms you to know that each day is a gift! The Spirit transforms you to be more loving. You are transformed – to be more likely to seek the good in a situation. You become more hopeful, more patient. Those are some of the marks of a Christian! And, as the Spirit transforms you and me to live a Christ-like life, others see that. Others are attracted to follow Jesus!
How does that transformation begins? Here’s one way. It’s when God the Holy Spirit breaks into our consciousness with the shocking truth, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
The life of Christian faith is the journey from truth to transformation.
Christians who practice Lenten disciplines are especially aware of that.
Let me use some words of Walter Brueggemann. When we begin with truth that shocks us, this is “an act of bold faith, albeit a transformed faith. It is an act of bold faith on the one hand, because it insists that the world must be experienced as it really is and not in some pretended way. On the other hand, it is bold because it insists that all such experiences of disorder are a proper subject for discourse with God. There is nothing out of bounds, nothing precluded or inappropriate. Everything properly belongs in this conversation of the heart. …
“But such a faith is indeed a transformed faith….It is…faith in…God…who is present in, participating in, and attentive to the darkness, weakness, and displacement of life.”[1]
Have you known the darkness, the weakness, the displacement of life? Of course you have! Then why do we work so hard to deny those experiences of life? Do we think we can avoid them next time?
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” That’s where you and I begin the journey to transformation.
The Psalm writer sure expresses that truth, in those words we spoke to begin tonight’s worship service.[2] Remember that we prayed this:
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
in your great compassion
blot out my offenses. …
For I know my offenses,
and my sin is ever before me.
These words are shocking to us! Why? Well, what’s our cultural mantra? “It’s not my fault!”
The Psalm writer declares this to God:
Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight, …
Certainly, our sins hurt other people. But here the Psalm writer is telling the truth that our sins are ultimately against God, because it is God who created us and every other human being, and it is God who wants us to love each other as God loves us.
When you prayed the words of Psalm 51 to begin tonight’s worship, did you notice the two uses of the word, “broken?” We prayed:
Let me hear joy and gladness;
That the body you have broken may rejoice. …
And then:
For you take no delight in sacrifice,
or I would give it.
You are not be pleased
with burnt offering.
The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit;
a troubled and broken heart, O God,
you will not despise.
Brokenness. Sinfulness is, quite simply, brokenness. Because of our sin, our relationships with others are broken. Or love affair with God is broken.
What is your most frequent sin? For me, it’s the sin of pride that most often breaks my relationship with God. In my pride, I think it’s all up to me. I lose sleep worrying about all kinds of things that I have no control over – because I don’t have the faith – to trust – that it’s God who will do what God wants to do. How little I can do! “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” That’s the shocking truth. That’s the bad news.
But we need to know that bad news for transformation to be possible! God needs to convince us that that bad news is true before we can even know that we need the grace-filled Good News of Jesus the Christ! Here’s the way it works. That truth, that bad news, the law, drives us to our knees. Then the Spirit can open us to the gospel.
The life of Christian faith is the journey from truth to transformation.
That journey is what Lent is all about. We begin Lent, tonight, with shocking truth-telling, in word and action. When we speak the words of Psalm 51, the truth is in our mouths. When we bear the sign of the cross in ashes, the truth is on our faces. What we say and hear and see tonight makes it difficult to continue the cover up, to keep on denying what is true.
Can you and I save ourselves from what we know is true? Of course not!
It is Jesus the Christ who has died to save us. He is risen! And he invites us to follow in the life of resurrection. Here is what that means: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.[3]
Can you tell how that’s happening with you, on the journey of Christian faith? Do you notice the Spirit marking you more deeply as a Christian; how the Spirit is drawing you into such practices as love, and seeking the good, and hopefulness, and patience? In other words, God the Holy Spirit draws you more deeply into living a Christ-like life! We’ll be looking into those marks of a Christian, on the Wednesday nights of Lent.
I invite you into the Lenten journey that begins this evening, in this congregation. We will share together the practices of Lent – the worship, the prayer, the study and mutual conversation and consolation.
After such a holy Lent, what a joy-filled Easter it will be!
In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
[1] Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984), page 52.
[2] Psalm 51
[3] Romans 12:2, to quote from what the apostle Paul writes in the theme chapter for our Wednesday nights in Lent this year.
Who Gives Results?
Luke 5:1-11 Fifth Sunday of Epiphany February 7, 2010
Have you ever felt like Simon Peter, in this morning’s story from Luke? He’s exhausted. He’s worked long hours. That hard work has yielded no results. What a waste of time and energy!
Have you ever felt like Simon Peter?
Years ago, I found some note cards with this quote: “First give yourself to God. Then do the work God gives you.” I used up those note cards long ago. And I have no idea where the quote came from. But I often think about it. I think it means three things. God calls us to our work. (Once again, you’re hearing a stewardship sermon!) It’s the work that matters. Doing the work has value, regardless of any results, because it is work that God calls us to.
Back to the story in Luke. We’re at the Sea of Galilee. (In the story, it’s called “the lake of Gennesaret.[1] But it’s the same place.) There isn’t much beach! Many people are pressing in upon Jesus, trying to hear what he’s teaching. They have a deep hunger. We read: “the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God.” (The word of God! It’s what Jesus is speaking. There’s nothing yet written that’s called “the word of God.) To create some space, Jesus asks Simon Peter to actually row him out into the lake a little bit, in one of his boats. Jesus can sit in the boat and teach from there. Then, more people could see and hear him.
Simon is probably willing to do this because he owes Jesus a favor. The day before, Jesus had healed his mother-in-law. Jesus needs Simon’s skill with the oars, to keep the boat in place, so it doesn’t drift. Also, now, Simon has no choice but to listen to what Jesus is teaching the crowd! (Think of this. The healing, yesterday. Now the teaching. Presumably, Simon had also heard Jesus teaching in the tiny town’s synagogue the day before. Simon has not yet committed to following Jesus, but do you see how Jesus is reeling Simon in?)
What Jesus says next would have been absolutely astonishing. When [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
One commentator writes this: “What a preposterous suggestion. Peter was exhausted. He and his partners had fished all night and caught nothing. They worked at night for one simple reason – the fish in the Sea of Galilee (and elsewhere) feed at night. In the daytime they hide under rocks. Furthermore, they congregate around the streams and springs at the edge of the sea where oxygen-rich fresh water flows into the lake.”[2] Further, nets were used for shallow water fishing.
So – now that the sun has risen, Jesus says, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch?” Preposterous!
“Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.” Is there exhaustion and exasperation in Simon Peter’s reply to Jesus? Certainly! Is there, perhaps, even jeering sarcasm in Simon’s voice as he says, “Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”
The commentator paraphrases that to be: “Listen Teacher! My boys and I are professionals. We know where the fish feed – it’s along the shore, and the best time to catch them is at night. That’s why we were out on the lake all last night. We’re not stupid! We have just worked the fishing areas and caught nothing. We are now dead tired, and I have stayed awake a few more hours – to serve you. You rabbis think you know everything and now you order me to fish during the day in deep water. Very well! Let’s go out and we’ll see who knows what about fishing!”[3]
Then what happens? When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
Who gives results?
Have you ever worked as hard as you can – and seen no results? Of course! Plenty of times! How about the converse? Haven’t there been times when you really haven’t put in much effort – but there was all kinds of good response?
Who gives results? God does! Isn’t this one thing this preposterous story is telling us?
When you and I know and trust that God gives results, we are transformed! When we receive that grace from God, we’re not so hard on ourselves. Of course we need to work hard! We are called to use the talents and energy that God has given us, to do the work that God gives us to do. But, when you and I know and trust that God gives results, we realize that it is not up to us. It is up to God.
In the story from Luke, God gives results that are unbelievable. They are once-in-a-lifetime results. And Simon Peter and his partners – James and John, sons of Zebedee – are transformed!
Think about this for a moment. For these fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, the size of this catch is like winning the powerball lottery would be today! It’s like going to Las Vegas and hitting the jackpot! These guys are rich! How will they respond?
As the story concludes, we read, When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. Did that happen that simply? Is it possible to imagine that Peter and his partners simply left this once-in-a-lifetime catch on the beach, to rot? Recent archeological evidence suggests that Peter and his brother, Andrew, and his partners owned a fleet of fishing boats.[4] These boats were much larger than simple rowboats: a commercial fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee and was more than 26 feet long and seven feet wide.[5] It even had a sail, for when there was wind! Would these fishermen have left these boats on the beach, to rot?
Here’s what I suggest to you: that the disciples continue their profession of fishing, even as they are following Jesus. But they are transformed. When you read the gospel stories closely, you see that this could easily be true. Is Jesus teaching all day, every day? In nearly every episode we read of Jesus’ teaching and healing, they’re within a day’s walk of their home villages. They fish at night. Some days, they’re spending with Jesus, listening, watching, being transformed.
I say all of this because it’s bad news to think that we have to leave everything to follow Jesus! That causes you and me, who live in the world, to feel guilty! Instead, the good news of Jesus the Christ comes to us in our earthy, material world, in our work, in our everyday lives. When we are fulfilled in our work, that’s a sign that God has called us to do the work! “First give yourself to God. Then do the work God gives you.” We are transformed! We see that it is God who gives us purpose in our work. Are there any results? God gives them, too.
Simon Peter and his partners are transformed. Remember his reaction to the preposterous catch of fish? It’s a reaction of fear, in the presence of the holiness of God! We read, But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; … Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”
That is to be the purpose of our work. That is to be the purpose of all that we do in our daily lives, since the good news of Jesus the Christ has come to us in the earthy, material world of work and everyday life. Our actions and our words witness to the good news that has come in Jesus the Christ. People want to know why we are filled with such joy! In that way, we “catch people.”
God gives us our work. God gives us our purpose in our work. God gives us results.
What good news. What grace. What transformation.
In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
[1] Gennesaret was the Greek name for a small, fertile, heavily populated area west of the Sea of Galilee.
[2] Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008), page 141.
[3] Ibid., page 142.
[4] According to archeologist and teacher Dr. Lamonte Luker.
[5] The remains of one, miraculously found and preserved in 1986, are on display at Kibbutz Ginosar, at the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
“What Is This Thing Called Love?” 1 Corinthians 13
January 31, 2010 Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany
Love is in the air! Can you walk into a drug store without being assaulted by Valentine’s Day displays? (That’s been true since December 26, when the Christmas displays were taken down!)
What is this thing called love? Is it expressed by Valentine’s Day cards and candy? Is love romantic? Is it physical? (More than one person has commented on the fact that our Theologian in Residence will be talking about “Sex and Salvation” on Valentine’s Day weekend!)
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love…” Remember that sappy song?
“Make love, not war,” chanted anti-war demonstrators in the late-60s and early-70s.
“All you need is love,” sang the Beatles.
Is love something sappy? Is it mushy? Is it a magic ingredient, suddenly making every situation of conflict just fine and dandy? I wonder what would happen if someone got together a group of Israeli Zionists and Israeli Arabs and started to sing, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love…”?
What is this thing called love? Here’s what the apostle Paul writes: love is a gift of God the Holy Spirit. This morning we read one of the most familiar passages in all the Bible. One reason for that is how often First Corinthians 13 is read at weddings.
(Did any of you see the movie, “The Wedding Crashers?” Two guys simply show up at weddings, uninvited. They’ve found that receptions are a good way to pick up chicks. And they make the wedding services themselves to be as interesting as they can. Do you remember the scene where they bet each other what the reading will be? “First Corinthians 13,” says one of the guys. When the reading begins, he’s right! The other guy gives him ten bucks.)
When the apostle Paul wrote this chapter in his first letter to the congregation at Corinth, was he even remotely thinking about weddings in 21st century America?
At a wedding, what are you thinking and feeling? If you’re not romantic at a wedding, then you’re a cold hearted soul! At weddings, we’re like this: “Awwwwwww.” “Isn’t she beautiful?” “Isn’t this wonderful?” We hear First Corinthian 13 read, and we dab our eyes at the joy of it all.
Well, this chapter is from a letter Paul wrote to a congregation of Jesus people that he had founded. And here’s what was going on, among the people Paul was writing to. There were power struggles in the congregation, with different leaders battling for influence, and belittling Paul. People were fighting over food laws. People were arguing about what is proper dress. At the Holy Communion meal, where people brought food from home (it was a full meal), the rich were getting drunk and bloated, and the poor were leaving hungry. There was a man sleeping with his step-mother. Members of the congregation were suing each other in pagan courts.
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love …” That would solve everything, right?
In First Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul is describing love that only comes as a gift from God. It is love that is tough. It is love that prevails when there is anger and disagreement. It is love that holds community together.
In the Corinthian congregation leadera are engaging in boasting and one-upsmanship, and Paul could compete quite well! Paul has the most to boast about! Instead, Paul writes that any of his abilities or accomplishments are worthless, if he is not motivated by love. If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is what God is doing! That’s true – even if we don’t see or know what ultimate fulfillment will look like. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.…For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known….
What will that look like, when love is fulfilled? What is your vision?
God is love! “I have been fully known,” writes Paul. In God’s love, God fully knows us! God loves us – with love that is tough; love that prevails when there is anger and disagreement; love that holds community together. (That love is a necessary gift from God, to hold together the most basic community of a husband and wife – and so it is fine to read this passage at a wedding; hopefully, looking beyond the romance!)
So, now: considering the toughness of that love; love that is impossible for you and me to manufacture on our own; love that can only be received as a gift of God – close your eyes. Think of where your life with others is most difficult.
………………..
Where is there tension?
…………………
Where are you enduring and working your way through conflict?
…………………
Keep that difficulty, that tension, that conflict in mind, and pray over these words:
Love is patient;
love is kind;
love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
What God Has Done In Christ
Ephesians 1:3-14 Second Sunday of Christmas January 3, 2010
Whenever there is a Second Sunday of Christmas, the purpose of the day is teaching. Notice that about the lessons appointed for this day. They are teaching passages. The Jeremiah prophecy proclaims what God will do (and what Jews still wait for), restoring God’s disobedient and scattered people. For Christians, the two New Testament passages teach about what God has done, in becoming flesh in Jesus the Christ.
The gospel passage is a Prologue to the gospel of John.[1] John does not begin with a story of Jesus’ birth, as we find in Matthew and Luke. Instead, what we read this morning is a poetic description of who God is, who the Word is, what God has done.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. … And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. …
What marvelous language, doing what only poetry can do: leading us deeply into mystery that cannot be explained. In this case, the mystery is God – from the beginning; before the beginning; now become flesh, living among us human beings. Wow! What mystery to contemplate – now that the hoopla off Christmas is over; now that we can take the time to consider what Christmas means; what God has done in Christ.
There is not always a Second Sunday of Christmas! It depends upon what day of the week is December 25. How many days are there of Christmas? Twelve! This year, Christmas fell on a Friday. Last Sunday was the Third Day of Christmas. Today is the Tenth Day of Christmas.
Christmas ends with The Epiphany of our Lord. When is The Epiphany? January 6! What does The Epiphany commemorate? The arrival of the Magi (which could also be translated “astrologers” or “wise men”). This is a story that is only in Matthew’s gospel, which is much different from Luke’s version of the events of Jesus’ birth. (In Luke, for instance, there are no Magi, but there are shepherds.) But we like to merge and combine both accounts – and so, we have both shepherds and wise men in the Christmas pageant, as if there is only one story of Jesus’ birth! (But that’s ok, huh? It’s fun!)
I want to call your attention to the reading from Ephesians this morning, for the teaching it contains. I thought to do this weeks ago, while working through the Advent journey book that many of you used, as you prepared yourselves for what God would do in your lives this year, at Christmas. On the 13th day of that Advent journey, we were asked to ponder this: “Jesus is the true Messiah. What difference does this make in your life?”
That’s an important question! It’s important because many claim to be “spiritual,” but not “religious.” Have you ever heard someone say that? Have you ever wondered what that means? Here’s what I think: that it’s a way of staying self-centered (which is highly prized in our culture). To say, “I’m spiritual, but not religious” often means that a person reserves the right to construct his or her own set of beliefs, rather than submitting to formation in a particular faith tradition that is greater than himself or herself.
Does it really matter, anyway, to be formed in a particular faith tradition? “Aren’t all religions the same?” “Don’t we all worship the same God?” “Aren’t we all going to the same place?”
The author of Ephesians (a follower of the apostle Paul), has some definite views about all of this! I want to spend some time with the passage we read this morning. The author is se verses are explicit about what God has done, specifically, in Christ. The author is teaching this to a tiny, first century group of Christians. In fact, their day-to-day experiences of religious pluralism and many competing “philosophies of life” were very similar to what you and I encounter today.
The form of a letter by Paul, or by one of his followers, in the New Testament, includes an opening greeting, and then introductory verses of teaching. The letter to the Christians at Ephesus begins in this way: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, as I read the verses appointed for this morning, underline or circle every reference we come to, of “in Christ,” or “through Jesus Christ,” or “in the Beloved,” or “in him,” or “on Christ”:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.
How many circles do you have? Ten? Eleven? See how much God has done — in Christ? The author is very specific.
Now. I am well-aware that, ever since the Emperor, Constantine, proclaimed Christianity to be the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire in the year 313, there have been Christians who have used a Scripture passage such as this to exclude and judge. There have been Christians who have said a variation of this: “Either you believe this, or you’ll go to hell.”
Well, here’s what I would propose. Beliefs are important. But beliefs alone are worthless. Instead, beliefs must inform a way of life. The Christian way of life is described by “the fruit of the Spirit” in another Pauline letter: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”[2] (Do you see in that list any ideas for New Year’s Resolutions?!) Another Pauline teaching is this: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. … And be thankful. …”[3]
I see the teaching in Ephesians as an invitation into that way of life, as we are formed by the Spirit to imitate Christ.
Let me go through the phrases in Ephesians teaching us what God has done, in Christ.
- In Christ, God has blessed us.
- In Christ, God chose us before the foundation of the world.
- Through Jesus Christ, God destined us for adoption as his children.
- In the Beloved, we are beloved.
- In him we receive redemption, forgiveness, grace.
- In Christ we see the mystery of God’s will, which is God’s plan for the fullness of time.
- In Christ we receive an inheritance of salvation.
- Our hope is set on Christ.
- In him, we are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit, as the pledge of our inheritance of salvation.
Sit in prayer with all of that!
What good news!
I pray that, through our words and actions in our day-to-day lives, we will demonstrate that God has, indeed, done all of this in Christ.
I pray that our words and actions will invite others into this grace-filled, joyful way of life!
In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
[1] John 1:1-18
[2] Galatians 5:22-23
[3] Colossians 3:12-12, 15
What Does Christmas Point Towards?
Titus 2:11-14 Christmas Eve, 2009
Isn’t tonight magical? What a lovely worship space. What beloved music. Don’t you adore that Christmas story from the gospel of Luke?
Christmas touches emotions deep within us.
Why does Christmas make many sad?
Is it because we know that when this magical evening ends, and the sun comes up tomorrow morning, we’ll still be ourselves? In the morning, perhaps, you’ll enjoy the tree, and the gifts, and maybe even something special for breakfast. But by tomorrow afternoon, will anything be different?
Many folks feel a let-down every Christmas.
Indeed, some of us will feel more piercing emotions, of sharp grief. So many of us have suffered loss, and it does no good to try to cover that up at Christmas. A marketing machine has been working on us for the past two months, to spend lots of money and time, to “get ready for Christmas,” to have “the best Christmas ever” – as if that’s the point! But if this is all there is, then we feel loss. We compare this Christmas with celebrations past, and we miss those loved ones who are not with us this year.
Will you feel sadness tonight when we sing “Silent Night” with our lit candles? Tomorrow? When you say “goodbye” to those visiting? When you take down the Christmas decorations? On the Epiphany, when the 12 Days of Christmas are over?
Instead, I would like to point you towards the good news of Jesus’ birth! The Spirit is able to fill us with joy – joy that lasts; joy that is more than temporary – only when Christmas points beyond itself.
What does Christmas point towards? That is in the reading from Titus, of all places.
Titus is a tiny book. It’s a New Testament letter of only 47 verses. It might have been written by the apostle, Paul, but it was probably written by an anonymous church leader continuing the tradition of Paul’s theology (which, of course, Augustine emphasized and then Luther picked up on). A central theme of Pauline theology is that “Salvation and the hope of eternal life are made possible only by the mercy and grace that comes to believers in the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”[1] Now. How do we respond to that mercy and grace? That’s what Titus is about.
In particular, this sentence catches my attention, in the Christmas reading from Titus: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In that sentence, do you hear the past, and the present, and the future?
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,… (There’s the past. That’s what God has done, in the birth of Jesus the Christ!)
Next comes the present. Here’s where we are now: …training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly,…
And here is the future, our hope for fulfillment, because there is so much that is unfulfilled: …while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Christmas points towards that hope. Christmas brings joy when it points beyond itself, to “the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” That will be when God will make all things new! That will be when God “will swallow up death forever,” and when “the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces.” (Isaiah 25:7, 
That is what Christmas points towards, because salvation has come to us! Salvation has come into our flesh! God, born a baby, has brought salvation into the joys and sorrows of our day-to-day human lives! What wonderful, joyous news! But the stupendous wonder of what God has done in Jesus has little meaning, if we try to cover up or deny our desperate needs.
So, tonight, we love what we’re doing! The candles, the decorations, the music and songs and story are beautiful. They touch us at a deep place, in our desire for fulfillment.
It is in our hope that the Spirit fills us with joy. We yearn for the completion of what God promises in the birth of this baby, Jesus. That’s what Christmas points towards: what God is doing and will do in all of this.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
[1] From the introduction to Titus in the Lutheran Study Bible – which would make a great Christmas gift! (Oops! Too late …)
The Reversal That is The Christian Life
Advent 4 December 20, 2009 Luke 1:39-55; Micah 5:2-5
It is Advent. The themes of this season remind us to be filled with hope, as we wait and watch for God’s advent, as we watch for how God is coming into the world. We are looking for where the kingdom of God is – the kingdom that Jesus the Christ brought, when he was born a baby, when he lived as a human being. We are waiting for the kingdom to be fulfilled, as God has promised.
Where is this happening? Look for signs of reversal!
Reversal is all through those beloved verses we call “the Magnificat” (from the phrase, “My soul magnifies the Lord…”). These are words of a psalm uttered by Mary, who will be the mother of our Lord. (Another possibility is that the words are spoken by Mary’s kinswoman, Elizabeth, as some Biblical scholars think. Your Bible will have a footnote indicating that, at verse 46. Let’s assume these words are from Mary!)
This morning we read part of the elaborate story, found only in the gospel of Luke, preceding the birth of Jesus. The story includes the angel visiting the priest Zechariah in the temple, while Zechariah is performing his duties in the holy of holies, to tell him that his elderly and barren wife, Elizabeth, will have a child! (I talked about this story last week: it’s the news that John the Baptist will be born. Remember that Zechariah does not believe the angel, and so he’s struck dumb until the baby is born, when he’s given the ability to talk again?) Well, by the time we get to this morning’s verses, the angel has visited a second person important to the story. This one is an impoverished, 12-year old girl living in the backwater village of Nazareth. She’s named Mary, and the angel tells her that she too will become pregnant (this time without benefit of a human male), and that her child will be the messiah!
In today’s portion, Mary visits Elizabeth when the elderly woman is six months pregnant. It’s a joyous meeting! Here’s what we read: In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (You see how Mary “who believed” is contrasted with Zechariah who had not believed the news the angel had brought to him!)
But what difference will any of this make? For that, listen again to the psalm placed on Mary’s lips. In particular, listen for how God has worked reversals! (That’s the verb tense: this is what God has done!)
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
This is strong language! Bringing down the powerful from their thrones and lifting up the lowly, filling the hungry with good things and sending the rich away empty: God is all about reversing human assumptions of the way the world works.
Indeed, consider how the entire Jesus story is a parable of a God who is reversing human assumptions.
- Who does God choose to be the parents of the messiah; the Christ; the anointed king from God? Does God choose royalty? No! Mary and Joseph, instead! And Mary and Joseph are no account people, from the no account village of Nazareth! (But isn’t the messiah to come from Bethlehem, the home of the great King David. We read that mainstream prophecy this morning, from Micah 5:2-5a.
- How does Jesus himself react whenever his followers push him to be the king they expect? He resists any talk of earthly power. He does not even defend himself when the Roman ruler, Pilate, accuses him of being a king.
- Think of this: in Jesus, God touches the untouchable and loves the unlovable.[1] (What kind of a God is this?! No one would have expected this!)
- Think of the resurrection itself as a stunning parable. This Jesus is seen again, alive – after everyone had seen him dead? But how can that possibly be true? Doesn’t this reverse every bit of the empirical data of our human experience? Doesn’t death win?
In Luke this morning, the psalm spoken by Mary magnifies the Lord for what the Lord has done – bringing down the powerful from their thrones and lifting up the lowly; filling the hungry with good things and sending the rich away empty. This is what the Lord has done in sending the messiah, but here is even more of the parable: most do not know that God has accomplished this! But we strange people, citizens of the kingdom of God, know that what Mary proclaims is the truth; that God has done this, that God will fulfill this.
And so, you and I pray, “Your kingdom come.” You and I watch for that kingdom as it comes! Where is that? We see the kingdom come wherever God is reversing the assumed “way of the world” – in which the rich and powerful and strong count for more than those who are poor and marginal and weak. We are partners with God when we encourage those reversals, nurturing the kingdom in which the poor and lowly are blessed, as Mary realizes that they are. The 20th century Catholic lay woman Dorothy Day put it this way: “I firmly believe that our salvation depends on the poor with whom Christ identified Himself. ‘Inasmuch as you have not fed the hungry, clothed the naked, sheltered the homeless, visited the prisoner, protested against injustice, comforted the afflicted…you have not done it to Me.’”[2] Dorothy Day wrote about being “in the forefront of the struggle for a better social order where there would not be so many poor.”[3] Dorothy Day had meditated on the Magnificat.
I am well aware that this kind of talk is often heard as law rather than gospel, as bad news, rather than good news. Here’s what I mean. It would be bad news if your conclusion is that you can never do enough – which is true! But the good news is that it does not depend upon you and me. The work is given by God. Results are brought by God. Here’s the good news: that you and I have been freed from worldly concerns (if we allow ourselves to be; if we allow ourselves to live in God’s grace). Here’s the good news: that you and I have been freed to serve others. We have been freed to give ourselves away. (How about that? This is a stewardship sermon!)
Mary, mother of our Lord, calls us to the reversal that is the Christian life. “God does not work in the world in ways we expect, because God’s mercy breaks the bounds of our narrow imaginations.”[4] And so, we act in unexpected ways, when our lives are marked by the reversal that is forgiveness. We act in unexpected ways, out of the reversal that is compassion. We reverse the assumptions of those who say, “How can God do this to me?”; and bring each other to see that God is present in our sufferings; that God is suffering with us. (That is a primary witness about God, that Mary’s baby will bring.)
In our own suffering, out of our own desperate need for compassion, we act with compassion.
That is the reversal that is the Christian life.
In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
[1] Mark Ramsey’s phrase in “Belonging,” (Journal for Preachers, Advent, 2009, page 23)
[2] Robert Ellsberg, ed., Dorothy Day: Selected Writings (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1992), page 271.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Tom Long, Testimony (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), cited by Mark Ramsey in Journal for Preachers, Advent, 2009, page 20.
“What Should We Do?”
Luke 3:7-18 Advent 3 December 13, 2009
When I say the word, “should,” what do you hear?
Do you hear obligation? “I should include hand-written notes in the Christmas cards, rather than a photocopied letter.” “I should decorate the house the way Mom used to.” “I should exercise and lose 20 pounds.” “I should pray.” “I should read the Bible every day.” When you hear the word, “should,” do you feel guilt?
The word, “should,” leaps out at me, from this morning’s story in Luke. John the Baptist is proclaiming a startling and unsettling message of coming judgment. “Bear fruits worthy of repentance,” he says. And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” … Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” … Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?”
Do you hear the crowds and the tax collectors and the soldiers asking out obligation? No! Instead, they are feeling compelled, from within themselves, to respond to what John is bringing before them! They’re not hesitating. They aren’t agonizing or calculating. They’re feeling called. They’re wanting to act.
According to the story in Luke, there are crowds of people coming out for John’s baptism. You remember how harsh John is towards some of those in the crowd. You see, some are still thinking the rules for salvation are the same as they always have been. They are assuming that they’re in – because they have inherited salvation. They are descendants of Abraham! But John is declaring that everything is changed. John lashes out at those who don’t get the new reality that God is bringing; the radically different conception of righteousness, of being in a right relationship with God. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
That harsh speech does not deter others who are in the crowds. We can imagine the religious leaders’ horror as some, even tax collectors and soldiers, come forward, asking “What should we do?” Of course, this is shocking and even offensive – because Jews working for the Romans as tax collectors are hated by all other Jews, and Gentile soldiers are despised by all Jews. The occupying Roman empire is cruelly oppressing the people living in the region around the Jordan. The empire is imposing onerous tax burdens. The empire is keeping a lid on civil unrest by military force. (They are calling that “peace.” The famous pax Romana, the “peace” of the Roman Empire was maintained at the point of a spear, and by the frequent use of crucifixion as capital punishment.)
So – it is shocking to see who is responding to John the Baptist’s summons!
It is also shocking to see that God is working this way, through John the Baptist. You see, John is the son of Zechariah. You may remember the story, two chapters earlier in Luke: that Zechariah is a priest “who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah.” Zechariah’s work is to preserve proper ritual; to ensure that worship is done the right way, so that purity is maintained, and salvation is assured. In the first chapter of Luke, Zechariah is serving in the inner sanctum of the great temple in Jerusalem. It is his duty “to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense.”[1] It is here, in the holiest of places, in the center of the universe for God’s people, where an angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah, to tell him that his barren wife – well beyond her childbearing years – will have a son. (It’s a great story! Zechariah doesn’t believe the angel; and so the angel strikes Zechariah mute; and it’s not until John is born that Zechariah is able to speak again – you may remember how that story goes.)
What’s important to me, considering where we are this morning, two chapters later – as John appears, fully grown – is how radically unexpectedly God is acting through John. The priesthood was handed down from father to son. Here is what everyone would have expected: that John would grow up to be a Temple priest himself, entering the sanctuary of the Lord and offering incense, maintaining the established order, as his father had done.
Instead: “the word of God [comes] to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”[2] In the wilderness! Far from Jerusalem. Far from the temple in Jerusalem, where the proper worship of God is prescribed and guarded and where purity is maintained, so that salvation will be assured for those who worship properly. What does John call the very religious leaders, like his father, who are guarding the proper worship of God? “You brood of vipers,” he says to them! And who responds to what God is doing through John? Precisely those who are prohibited from even entering the temple, those who are unclean – such as tax collectors extorting their own people to benefit Rome; such as soldiers in the Roman occupying army, who aren’t even Jewish!
Here is what is happening: through John the Baptist, God declares the centuries-old religious rules of worship and purity and salvation to be null and void! John the Baptist declares that the coming Messiah is bringing salvation.
And some in the crowd are transformed! And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” … Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” … Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?”
It’s all about transformation.
That’s what God is all about with you and me, too, isn’t it? Isn’t this why God the Holy Spirit gathers us together as church? God’s advent disrupts our comfort, so that we will look for what God is doing, what God is bringing – so that our lives will be transformed. Last week we read this about John the Baptist: He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.[3] “Repentance” means turning away from what makes for death, and turning to God, who gives forgiveness and salvation.
None of this is otherworldly! All of it shows up in the way we live our daily lives. We see that in the story in Luke, in John’s response to the question: “What should we do?” The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
All of these actions would have been radical transformations, compared to the way most people, tax collectors and soldiers acted. Radical generosity. Ethical behavior governed by justice. In those behaviors, we see the transformation being worked by God. In those behaviors, we see salvation, visible in everyday human life.
My favorite description of the transformed life is Paul’s list in Galatians 5:22-23 – the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I have found that, when I am open to God’s advent, when I allow God the Holy Spirit to come into my life; to transform me so that I respond by living in those ways; then I know salvation! And I demonstrate to others what salvation looks like!
What about you? What have you found, in your own journey?
This season of the church year is all about openness. Advent is all about being alert to what God is doing. It is all about the hope and joy that comes through transformation. We eagerly respond to God’s advent when we see it: “What should we do?”
What transformation the Spirit works within us and among us! It shows up in our daily lives! It is for the sake of the world!
What joy!
In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
[1] Luke 1:9
[2] Luke 3:2
[3] Luke 3:3
The Refiner’s Fire
Malachi 3:1-4 Advent 2 December 6, 2009
Anybody know where to find the book of prophecy named “Malachi?” It’s easy! It’s the last book in the Old Testament!
This morning’s passage from Malachi is strange and even unintelligible to most folks. So, I’d like to get into it, in a non-traditional way, compared to most sermons. First, will you pull out your order of service, and follow as I read the passage again?
See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight – indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
What thoughts do these words evoke in you? How does it sound to you: to endure? To be refined? To be purified? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. The “descendents of Levi” are the temple priests. The prophet is pronouncing God’s judgment upon them because they are conducting temple sacrifices improperly. “The ‘refiner’s fire’ refers to heating precious metals such as gold and silver to burn away impurities,” according to my Lutheran Study Bible. “Fullers’ soap” is especially harsh stuff.
This is not describing experiences that are pleasant!
But you’ve known such experiences. You could be walking through such fire right now. You and I suffer difficult periods that refine us: periods of grief, of loss, of disappointment and defeat.
So, first: What is an experience that you’ve suffered?
Now: How does God come to us in such experiences?
That’s a question of Advent.
I’m not saying that God causes suffering, which is what Malachi seems to be saying! I think the witness of God in Jesus the Christ contradicts that message of Malachi. But this passage, appointed for Advent worship, raises a question about the spiritual journey that we usually don’t entertain: Where is God’s advent, in experiences of suffering? Because God does indeed enter in – into every experience of our lives.
That’s not only true in our personal lives, but also in a much wider sense – when pain of the world surrounds us. The suffering of the people of Afghanistan, and of Iraq, and of those in the military and those diplomats who are trying to build peace and justice. The suffering of the people of Palestine, and of Israel. The suffering of African families caused by AIDS. The despair of those without work in this country. The anxiety, more severe this Christmas than most years, being suffered by those facing economic challenge.
Does God come to folks in such experiences?
Yes! God comes, born a baby, in circumstances of poverty and homelessness.
We are called to follow that Jesus – “Emanuel, which means, ‘God is with us’”[1] – even when we are being refined by fire.
Even then – where is God breaking in, bringing hope?
Where do you see God’s advent?
In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
[1] Matthew 1:23
Are You Ready?
Luke 21:20-36 Advent 1 November 29, 2009
Soon, you’ll be hearing the question over and over: “Are you ready for Christmas?”
You’ll hear it all the time because it’s a way folks make conversation during these weeks. And, of course, by “getting ready,” they mean doing all the gift buying, and card writing, and laying in supplies for guests, or getting travel arrangements in place, and such, right?
“Are you ready?”
That question arises, as well, from this morning’s story in the gospel of Luke. But there, the question refers to something much more significant than preparations for a recurring, annual celebration of Christmas. Let’s get into this.
The passage appointed for today does not include the first verses I read. But I think they’re necessary, to give us context. These are words as from Jesus: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those inside the city must leave it, and those out in the country must not enter it; for these are days of vengeance, as a fulfillment of all that is written. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people; they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
Whew!
Now. You need to know something here. All of those things had happened to Jerusalem, and to its residents, by the time the gospel of Luke was put together! What a cataclysm!
Consider something else that’s important for interpreting this passage. Consider how far removed we are from the people who put the Bible together – from their ways of life, from their assumptions, from their world views. In the case of this story from Luke, consider: they didn’t even have cable news services! They didn’t have the Internet! They didn’t even have that nearly extinct communications medium known as “a printed newspaper.” Now think of this. The members of the first century Lukan community lived their entire lives within a radius of 50 or 60 miles. What was beyond that little world? There were ideas, but they weren’t accurate, as we understand geography and cosmology. Here’s my point: it sure would have been easy for that ancient community to think that what’s happening to them is happening to the entire world! And so, it would have been easy for some to think these events that had happened in the city of Jerusalem have cosmic significance and, in fact, that what’s happening is the end of history. (Some of God’s people had been looking for since the apocalyptic prophecy in the book of Daniel; in other words, for nearly 200 years.)
The passage from Luke reflects that view of cosmic cataclysm: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
I like the way Eugene Peterson translates those verses in The Message: “It will seem like all hell has broken loose – sun, moon, stars, earth, sea, in an uproar and everyone all over the world in a panic, the wind knocked out of them by the threat of doom, the powers-that-be quaking.” “It will seem like all hell has broken loose” is appropriately strong language! This is thought to be the final cosmic conflict between heaven and hell!
“Then,” we read, “they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory.” “The Son of Man coming in a cloud” – that’s a quote from the apocalyptic prophecy in Daniel. Notice: ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory is good news for the Jews who are Jesus people! Remember that we read this: “Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” This would have sounded good to these people in Jerusalem who were experiencing such suffering!
The next thing that happens in the passage is that Jesus uses the fig tree for an object lesson: When you see new leaves sprouting on the tree, you know that summer is near. “So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” Then, this: “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Doesn’t that sound like the expectation that the end would come, that immediately? “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Well, did this happen so dramatically, this final cataclysm? No.
But the end does come for us, all the time. We suffer the death of an old way of life. Or, we suffer literal death. So, the passage does hold meaning for you and me. Even if you and I are not sitting on the edge of our seats, looking for the end of the world, there is an urgency here. That is because our catholic faith includes a sense of anticipation, of being alert for what God is doing, of looking for the future that God is bringing into being.
That describes the themes of Advent. Advent is the four week season that begins today. Advent is a season of hopeful waiting. An advent is a “coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important.”[1]
In one sense, these are weeks of anticipating the arrival of Christmas, so that we will celebrate fully and mindfully. But there is a greater sense, indeed, an ultimate sense, in this morning’s passage from Luke: Advent is a reminder to anticipate the coming or arrival of what God has in mind ultimately; of what God is bringing into being; of the grand and glorious good news that God will fulfill.
Are you ready for that?
The daily practices of the faith – of prayer, of reading the Bible, of conversation with others in the community of believers – are necessary for us to be alert because, otherwise, the busy-ness of these next weeks will simply sweep us along. Waiting in hope requires a spiritual focus – because there is so much distraction. There is so much noise.
I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago. I was in a suburban Richmond motel lobby, sitting with those who were arriving to meet with the Virginia Synod Candidacy Committee. The Candidacy Committee is the group that approves candidates for professional church leadership to continue for the next year of seminary each year and, ultimately, to be ordained as pastors or commissioned as rostered lay leaders. Obviously, when a candidate arrives early for his or her interview, those moments before the appointment are stressful! My job is to provide some pastoral presence. (My title is “Chaplain to the Candidates.” Impressive, huh?)
So, Tuesday a week ago, I was sitting in the lobby of a Comfort Suites motel in a Richmond suburb. The TV monitor showing an episode of “Cold Case.” The piped-in music system was playing a Paul McCartney song. (I think it was “Silly Love Songs.”) In another part of the lobby, six or seven guys were gathered for a sales meeting. The phone on the check-in desk was ringing, and guests were checking in and out. Down the hall, someone was running a floor cleaning machine. And I was trying to stay focused on what the pre-ministerial candidate in front of me was saying to me!
What is the noise in your life that distracts you from hearing what God is saying to you?
What is the noise in your life that distracts you from staying alert to what God is bringing into being?
Where do you need to clear away space, so you can be waiting hopefully?
What are you waiting for?
How might Jesus fulfill your hopes and expectations?
May I suggest something? That you practice Advent, to answer those questions.
In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia
[1] According to dictionary.com
