Who is This Child?

today's sermon at Faith United Church, UCC, International Falls, MN

Text: Luke 2:41-52

I always have such a difficult time with moving on so quickly after Christmas. I remember when we lived in California—when the kids were little—taking a walk around the neighborhood the day after Christmas and it just made me sick to see Christmas trees thrown in the gutter for trash pickup on the afternoon of December 26!

It’s only 2 days after Christmas and we have the story of Jesus in the temple at the age of 12! Wait! He was just BORN a little over 48 hours ago! Don’t we need more time to think about the wonderful story of the manger birth, the singing angels and the shepherds trooping off to Bethlehem to see this wondrous thing that has happened?

Of course there aren’t many stories about Jesus growing up. There are a few that didn’t make it into the bible that tell of him performing child-like miracles as a toddler and young child, but the first and only biblical account is an important story when Jesus was 12 years old.

I have a set of books that provide cultural settings for all the gospel readings in the lectionary. The author provides helpful background information for our understanding of what is happening here between Jesus and his parents. As in many other cultures and times, a son in the Middle East at the time of Jesus (especially the oldest son) usually had a strong emotional bond with his mother and a marked sense of his own importance, to the point of being "spoiled" and of concluding that "his every word to women is like law." Having been raised in the tender protection of the women in his family, it's understandable that he eventually felt the need to join the men in the community; at this point, the young boy was "unceremoniously shoved out of the comfort of the women's world into the harsh and hierarchical men's world."[1] It seems that Jesus was probably in the midst of this kind of transition, in the gray area between one time in his life and another when he went with his family to Jerusalem.

It was in that gray area that Mary and Joseph both lost sight of him. Parents today can hardly imagine how anyone could travel any distance without realizing their son was missing, but scholars tell us they were probably traveling with a large group, including numerous kids, and everyone probably thought Jesus was with another part of the group.

When they finally found him, he was sitting squarely in the middle of a gathering of adult men, not, in some unnatural way, giving them all the answers to their questions, but engaging them "man-to-man," in an adult conversation about the questions pressing on them all. And the scholars of the Sanhedrin, like all those who heard the report of the shepherds, like Mary and Joseph hearing the prayer of Simeon on a previous visit to the temple, were "amazed" at what they heard.

According to another scholar, "It was not unusual in ancient times to tell stories of renowned people who at the age of twelve or so gave an indication of their coming stature." But this is no miracle story about Jesus, as much as we may have been taught otherwise: in fact, this one glimpse of Jesus as a youth left later sources dissatisfied, and that’s why they created stories of Jesus as a child performing the kind of miracles one might expect from a six-year-old.[2]

Instead of "miracle" stories which read more like stunts than the great wonders recounted in the familiar Gospels, this week we hear a quietly impressive story about Jesus the youth: "The text does not assume that Jesus is engaged in a contest and besting his opponents as though this were some first-century version of Jeopardy. [Instead], Jesus is engaged in a lively and respectful conversation and demonstrating a wisdom well beyond his years."[3]

Jesus seems to think that his parents should have known he’d be in the temple, but perhaps they weren’t really ready for that yet. So the story tells us he went home with them to Nazareth and implies that he was a “normal” teenager, aside from the fact that he “increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.”[4]

But getting back to the Christmas story… it has to be one of the most amazing stories ever because it has inspired thousands of other Christmas stories, songs and movies. These stories are not just about the birth of Jesus… many of them are about the seeming “magic” of Christmas, or the change of heart that sometimes happens to people during the Christmas season.

Several years ago I read David Baldacci’s wonderful book, Christmas Train, the story of a journalist taking the train from New York to Los Angeles at Christmas time because he’s been banned from flying. The things that happen and the people he meets on the extended train ride awaken in him a long-lost Christmas spirit.

This week I read a book by Garrison Keillor called The Christmas Blizzard. It seemed really appropriate! It’s about a depressed wealthy man who wants his wife to go with him to spend Christmas at their Hawaii home instead of in their Chicago high-rise. His wife isn’t feeling well and as he’s debating whether to go on ahead or not he gets a call to go to his hometown in North Dakota to visit an uncle who may be dying.

He gets stranded there by a blizzard and has some very odd experiences—some may be hallucinations—in some ways almost a modern-day Scrooge-like story. But in the end he has a Christmas awakening that turns him around and sets him on a better and happier path in life.

Although the biblical Christmas story isn’t magic, it is wonderful because it reminds us how much God loves each and every one of us! God’s gift of love isn’t just for the wealthy or the powerful, it’s for the poor and the unnoticed and the “dregs” of society like shepherds who live in the fields with their sheep. It’s for you and me and for the average and the smart and the successful and the homeless and for every classification that human beings can come up with to put on one another. It doesn’t matter to God who we are or what we do, God loves us and gives the gift of love to everyone.

And that love is like a light shining in the darkness—it grows and brightens every corner. And as the Christ Child grows into the boy in the temple and the man who made a difference to everyone he met, that light shines brighter and brighter, bringing hope to all the people and joy to the world. AMEN.

Endnotes

[1] John J. Pilch, The Cultural World of Jesus Year C.

[2] Paul J. Achtemeier, Feasting on the Word

[3] William Herzig, New Proclamation 2006.

[4] Luke 2:52, NRSV.

Make Ready

my sermon from Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009 at Faith United Church, UCC, International Falls, MN.

Text: Luke 3:1-6

Why is Luke every historian’s favorite gospel? Why do we treat Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth as the “real one”—the one it wouldn’t be Christmas without hearing?

Probably because Luke adds all those lovely historical details that make the story come alive. Luke’s wealth of names, places, dates and events animates the ancient world, making it seem less like “scripture” and more like story time.

But what if we put today’s gospel text into a bit more current historical context—bringing Luke’s setting a little closer to home?

How about this?

In the 1st year of the administration of President Barack Obama, when Tim Pawlenty was governor of the state of Minnesota, Shawn Mason was mayor of International Falls and Doug Grindall was County Engineer in Koochiching County; during the time when Karen Smith Sellers was Conference Minister in the Minnesota Conference of the United Church of Christ, the Word of the Lord came to … YOU! And YOU went out into your neighborhood and appeared before your city council, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Suddenly the beginnings of the Christmas story may seem a bit too real! It’s so much more comfortable and cozy to read Luke’s version, to feel the life pulsing through ancient characters, to sit here safely in the 21st century and know that this happened, like Star Wars, “long ago and far away.”

We don’t want the Christmas story TOO up close and personal! Today’s text is perhaps most disturbing when we move it into our own place and time. Suddenly, it begins to dawn on us how daring and bold John the Baptist’s message really was!

Of course, we can comfort ourselves with the thought that the first-century world to which the Baptist was called to preach was a very different place from the postmodern world of today. But was it really all that different? Luke describes it for us in traditional political terms all of us can recognize. First-century civilization was organized into political entities. There were local boards, city officials, regional directors, territorial governors and heads of state. Existing organizationally separate from this political structure was a religious structure. The religious leaders thought they wielded considerable authority. Political leaders tended to leave them alone until they threatened to interfere in something deemed important to the state. The two groups John the Baptist singles out, and the most reviled by the general population as needing behavior modification, are those the people in the street thought were always in their pockets—the “tax collectors”—and on their backs—the “soldiers.” (Luke 3:12-14)

Okay, so maybe the first century WASN’T all that different from the world we inhabit at the end of the first decade in the 21st century. But surely we can reassure ourselves that a raspy, rugged John the Baptist-type figure was needed in those days because it was a pre-Christian era, as yet untouched and unmoved by the Good News of the gospel. That culture was organized around the worship of pagan gods or simply designed around the political and economic powers of those who were rich and powerful, those who lived by different rules and standards than common people, those with money and status who became, themselves, popular cult figures.

So, now we can see what a difference there is between the 1st and 21st centuries, right?

Uhh… Well… maybe not!

The truth is, like John the Baptist, we are all now living in a pre-Christian era.

Yup, pre-Christian, not post-Christian. This is not a post-Christian era because “post” implies that Christianity was something we had so absorbed that it became part and parcel of popular culture. Can we honestly look at ourselves and our culture and claim it to be post-Christian? Has it ever really been a Christian culture in the first place?

The truth is, like John the Baptist, we are still living in a pre-Christian age. Humanity as a whole has yet to be touched, transformed and fine-tuned into communities that are the body of Christ. Facing this truth sets us free to do John the Baptist ministries. John’s message is still the precise one this culture needs to hear proclaimed: “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

Are you ready to stand out in a crowd like John did?

Are you ready to ruffle some feathers like he did?

Are you ready to speak out against customs and conventions that defy God’s ways, as John the Baptist did?

Are you as ready to look odd or foolish for the sake of the gospel as John the Baptist was willing to do?

Are you just as ready to live life “in God’s way” as John was?

If you are, then it’s time to make ready for the coming of Christ and the love he brings into the world—to all people, no matter what religion they may be!

Of course, things have changed since John the Baptist urged the crowds who followed him to participate in a “baptism of repentance.” Because Jesus entered into human life as a newborn baby, lived a human life as a simple man, and died on the cross that we all might live, we can now offer a message of salvation accomplished, offer a baptism of new life, and offer hope and love that transcends all human experience.

That’s why Advent is a season of preparation—a time to make ready. Christmas is not just the celebration of the birth of a baby; it is the beginning of a nuclear chain of events that transforms human existence. Christmas is not just recognizing God’s gift of the Incarnation—it is also our acknowledgment of what this Incarnation now means for EVERYONE. [1]

God is love, and Jesus came to teach humanity all about that love.

How are you sharing that love?

As a congregation we have begun a new ministry that I think prepares the way of the Lord. Our SOS [2] community shelter has its first guests this week while it’s been our turn to be the host site. And I found it exciting and rewarding. What a wonderful thing to open our doors to people who need a place to stay, and to provide a room with some semblance of homeliness because of the generous donations of church and community members! I find myself looking forward to seeing our guests one again tonight before they move on to the next location tomorrow afternoon.

Volunteers provide food, friendly faces, a warm welcome and conversation. And just as we were told (by the people from Bemidji) at the very first planning meeting, I find myself realizing that I am receiving at least as much as I am giving—if not more—simply by being involved in this project.

Advent is the time to make ready…to prepare the way of the Lord and to prepare a way FOR the Lord. We decorate our homes and churches, we give gifts, we celebrate love and joy, we recognize God’s amazing gifts to us and respond by loving and living as if we really are the Body of Christ. That’s how we make ready. That’s how we bring Christ into all the world—by living love! Amen.

Endnotes:

[1] Leonard I. Sweet, Homiletics, October-December, 1997, vol. 9, number 4, pp.59-61.

[2] Servants of Shelter

Living Commitment

Texts: Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17 and Mark 12:38-44

Today we get the rest of the story about Ruth and Naomi that began last week when we heard about how Naomi and her husband Elimelech, along with their two sons, moved to the country of Moab in order to get away from the famine in Israel. While they were living there, the sons, Mahlon & Chilion, married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. Then the guys all died, leaving Naomi & her daughters-in-law without men to take care of them.

Naomi heard that the famine was over and decided it was time to go home. She told Ruth and Orpah they should go back to their own families. Orpah ended up doing that, but Ruth refused. She loved Naomi and pledged to go wherever Naomi went and that Naomi’s people would be her people & Naomi’s God her God.

So, they returned to Naomi’s home town, which happened to be Bethlehem, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Last week we heard how Ruth insisted on going back with Naomi to a strange land where she would be unknown. Plus neither of them had husbands or sons to take care of them.

These two women are very marginal. They have no means of survival. How will they be treated by Elimelech’s family? On top of that, Ruth is from Moab, which is just about like being a Samaritan. The Israelites looked down on anyone outside their own kin. It wasn’t a racial thing, it was a religious thing. Those who didn’t worship Yahweh, the one true God, were frowned upon and sometimes even considered unclean. Inter-marrying wasn’t encouraged because of the fear of losing the religious identity they had in worshipping the one true God. That fear still exists today because about 90% of children raised in mixed Jewish-Christian marriages aren’t raised as Jews but are assimilated into an overwhelmingly Christian/Protestant atmosphere.

But in any case, Ruth has pledged her loyalty to Naomi and to Naomi’s God. They went to Bethlehem and, apparently, the word of Ruth’s loyalty got around the community.

As the story continues, we learn that, of course, Ruth & Naomi needed food to survive, so Ruth suggested to Naomi that she allow her to go into the field belonging to Naomi’s husband’s kin, Boaz, who is a rich and prominent man. Ruth would follow behind Boaz’s workers and glean from what is left after they have harvested the ears of grain. Naomi gave her permission, and away she went.

Well, as you might guess, Boaz noticed Ruth and asked about her. When he found out who she was, he told her to stay only in his field and to follow closely behind his women workers. He would give instructions that no one was to bother her—meaning that the young men couldn’t take advantage of her. He also saw to it that she was properly fed and told his workers to leave her some of the good stuff as well as what was left over. When Ruth asked him why he was so kind to her, he explained that he had been told all that she had done for Naomi.

So Ruth was able to glean enough food for herself and Naomi. But it couldn’t go on like that forever. Naomi is determined to gain some security for Ruth—in other words, a husband. She tells Ruth that Boaz is a kinsman—meaning that there is a next-of-kin obligation to provide heirs for Elimelech (and for Ruth’s husband, Mahlon, although that’s not mentioned). Naomi tells Ruth that Boaz is winnowing wheat on the threshing floor and Ruth should go to him and uncover his feet—a sign that she is available to him.

Ruth does this, and according to our reading, they get married and live happily ever after. But we missed all the fun part in between! Boaz is quite shocked to wake up & find Ruth sleeping at his feet. Ruth tells him that she wants him to fulfill the role of next-of-kin and asks for his cloak, which is another sign, similar to the uncovering of his feet.

Boaz is willing, but says there’s another kinsman who’s in line before him. If he won’t fulfill the obligation, Boaz will. The next day Boaz goes to the city gate to look for this other kinsman. Once he finds him, he also gets witnesses. Then he says Naomi has land to sell belonging to Elimelech and will this next-of-kin redeem it? The man says sure, but then Boaz tells him Ruth is part of the deal and the deal is to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance.

The other man says, “I can’t redeem it for myself without damaging my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”[1] So Boaz declares that he will acquire Naomi’s field so that it may be kept in the name of Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion. He sets everything out very clearly, including the fact that he will be taking Ruth as his wife, and does all this in front of the witnesses. They, in turn, bless him and they also bless Ruth, saying, “May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you produce children … and bestow a name in Bethlehem; and through the children that the Lord will give you by this young woman, may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” [2]

So Boaz took Ruth as his wife, and she bore him a son. The women of the neighborhood praised Naomi for finding a way to secure her own future, as well as that of her faithful daughter-in-law. We can be confident—from the rest of the story—that Ruth and Boaz will take care of Naomi. In fact, this child, who is named Obed, is called Naomi’s child and Naomi becomes his nurse.

And now, finally, we have the punch line! In the end of verse 17 of chapter 4, we are told that Obed became the father of Jesse and Jesse the father of David. And we all know the importance of that—Jesus was a descendant of David!

Naomi, Ruth and Boaz are all examples of living commitment. Naomi, even though she was bitter about her lot in life, cared enough about her daughter-in-law to figure out a way to make her life better and more secure. Ruth loved and trusted her mother-in-law and was willing to do whatever would help both of them. Boaz acted honorably—for all we know he did what he did at least partially out of sexual attraction, but he also apparently acted out of a true sense of justice, realizing his responsibilities towards those who were marginalized.

Our gospel reading also tells a story of living commitment. Jesus points out an impoverished widow who gives the only two coins she has to the temple treasury, believing that her gift, small as it may be, is significant when added to all the other gifts.

We all make living commitments to different things, such as our marriages, our families, our jobs and our church. We give of ourselves and our resources so that we AND others may thrive. It is in this giving that we demonstrate our faithfulness to God and demonstrate to others what God’s love is like. AMEN.

Endnotes:

[1] Ruth 4:6, NRSV.

[1] Ruth 4:11-12, NRSV.

Who Cares?

Text: Ruth 1:1-18

I’ve had a few weddings where a very brief quote from the book of Ruth was used for the scripture reading: “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

Beautiful sentiments, but all the more powerful because they were said by one woman to another woman—a daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law.

The book of Ruth is a wonderful story about women who survive against the odds and against the way things are in their society. It also demonstrates a different view of the God of the Hebrew Scriptures—or Old Testament.

Elimelech and Naomi left Bethlehem in Judah and went, with their sons Mahlon and Chilion, to the land of their ancestors, to Moab, the land of their cousins—cousins with a tenuous and sometimes violent past.

There was no love lost between the people of Judah and the people of Moab. Here’s what the book of Deuteronomy says about their status: “No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD, because they did not meet you with food and water on your journey out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.”[1]

So, there’s lots of bad blood over a case of poor hospitality and then later over some angry rhetoric. Seems like there’s nothing new under the sun. But Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon and Chilion went there anyway. Why? Because there was a famine in Judah.

There may have been a conversation like this before they left: “I don’t care that we’re enemies! Who even remembers what it was all about? They are people just like we are. When was the last time we had a battle? Nobody can remember anymore! They have food! If we go there we will be able to find food—and maybe more!”

No history of anger, hate, violence—or any kind of bad blood—should ever stop people from showing compassion and kindness to others. When we hold onto hate we forget that God calls each and every person precious. Each and every person is precious to God. Who cares? God cares!

So, they went to live in Moab and after awhile Elimelech died. Naomi’s sons eventually married Orpah and Ruth. Hmmm, a problem has cropped up! Mahlon and Chilion married women from Moab! They married women who were from a people who were enemies of the people of Judah. Even if things were now peaceful between their two nations and intermarriages happened often, they were still forbidden. But Mahlon and Chilion didn’t see enemies—they married people.

And then THEY died too. So there were three women with no means of support in the culture of either of their lands. Back then, when a man died, his brother was required to marry the widow in order to provide heirs for the dead brother! So Naomi, Orpah and Ruth were out of luck because they were now outside the system. Their life situation didn’t fit into the norms of how things were supposed to be.

Since there were no male relatives in Moab to care for Naomi and her daughters-in-law and do the right thing by providing sons for them, and since there was word that the famine in Judah had ended, Naomi decided to set off for home. Along the way she told Orpah and Ruth to return to their own families. She would live out her days in bitterness and poverty.

I’m sure this was a very difficult moment because Naomi cared about Orpah and Ruth. She called them daughters. Her affection for them went beyond the required, ‘You married my son so I will love you’ idea. She wanted them to be able to be cared for and supported, and she knew she couldn’t do that. She didn’t want the bitterness of her life to ruin their lives.

Though she convinced Orpah to leave and to seek the care of her mother’s family, Ruth was not convinced. She vowed to stay with Naomi no matter what.

Orpah wasn’t a bad person for going back to her home, and Naomi wasn’t a bad person for being bitter about her situation. But Ruth did something extraordinary. She took on the role that was reserved for men. She would care for her mother-in-law in the same way that a son would. She would never leave her. She would worship Yahweh, her mother-in-law’s God. She would learn the ways of Naomi’s people. She would become part of those people. Naomi and Ruth would live out the rest of their days connected to one another.

That was a big step of faith for Ruth because—for her—there was great risk in continuing this journey. “Leaving Moab, Ruth would face not only a language barrier, a food barrier, a social etiquette barrier, and a religious practice barrier; she would also face the constant subtle and not-so-subtle reminders that she was 'not one of us.’”[2] Remember that the people of Israel were forbidden from dealing with the Moabites.

The kind of love that Ruth and Naomi had for each other is called Hesed—that unconditional, life-affirming love that comes from God. It is the love that oozes through those two rules we’ve been given: Love God unconditionally. Love everyone unconditionally. [3]

Ruth’s decision to stay with Naomi has great significance, not just for the two of them. Ruth has been traced as the ancestor of David and Jesus, and her love for Naomi has been lifted up as an example for all to follow.

And who cares about all of this? WE should! Even though this story shows us that some things never seem to change—like hatred of “foreigners” and others who are different from us—LOVE can overcome our fears and our prejudices.

This story shows that the God of the Old Testament was not always pictured as a wrathful, vengeful God. This story demonstrates God’s compassion and calls us to reach beyond the boundaries of race and clan and kin and gender and sexual orientation and even beyond the boundaries of what some people call “normal families.” This story demonstrates what I’ve always known to be true—that sometimes your friends make better family than your relatives; that people can create their own families to love and care for one another and non-traditional families shouldn’t be criticized if they work.

God’s love is big enough for all of us, and at the table we ALL become one family. The love of Ruth for her mother-in-law, Naomi, is an inspiration to us. It calls us to CARE for one another and to remember that God’s love never leaves anyone out.

And Naomi recognized Ruth’s love, care and determination. “When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.” [4]

And next week we’ll hear the rest of this story. AMEN.

Endnotes:

[1] Deuteronomy 23:3-4 NRSV.

[1] Gary Charles, Feasting on the Word, quoted at

http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/november-1-2009.html

[1] Rev, Kirk Moore, at

http://unioncongregationalucc.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/sermon-whereveryougo/

[1] Ruth 1:18, NRSV.

Take Heart!

Texts: Psalm 34:1-8 and Mark 10:46-52

Some famous people in history have made comments that fit with today’s gospel reading. In the 17th Century Thomas Fuller said, “Seeing's believing, but feeling's the truth.” In the 19th Century Mark Twain said, “You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” And in the 20th Century Antoine de Saint Exupery said, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”[1]

So what does it mean to “take heart?” For Bartimaeus it means that although he’s an unimportant “nobody” to everyone else, he’s a very important “somebody” to Jesus.

This isn’t just another healing story, although it might appear that way. In the context of the greater story, Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus’ ministry is getting close to coming to an end. Hard times lie ahead, but the disciples certainly don’t understand that. They have been busy anticipating a glorious military or revolutionary victory and wanting to be sure they get to be recognized as VIPs when Jesus becomes the victorious new leader. They expect to defeat the oppressive Romans and usher in a new government of Jewish rule.

Where have they been all this time? What have they been doing instead of really listening to what Jesus has had to say all along?

Somehow, much of what has gone before, much of what Jesus has said and done, much of who Jesus is, has gone right past them. It's not much of a stretch to say that they have been, in their own way, blind.

We’re told that Jesus and his followers came to Jericho and now they are leaving Jericho. We can only guess that while they were there Jesus healed people and made a difference in their lives. So there’s probably an even larger crowd following him now.

And here they are, outside Jericho, where a miracle happened in the Old Testament—Joshua and his band marched around the city walls 7 times and blew their trumpets and the walls fell down. Jericho, though, is probably "a place full of violence and intrigue, with bandits and revolutionary groups within Judaism organizing resistance to Rome"[2]

Part of what’s going on in this story is Mark’s prelude to the long and central account of Jesus' passion and death in Jerusalem, another place of intrigue and revolutionary groups seething with anger at Rome. So we are to see that Jesus' journey was not a sudden departure from peaceful preaching in the countryside to the wild and dangerous ways of the city. There has been trouble brewing for some time now, and not just in Jerusalem.[3]

The Roman occupied territory is in political turmoil and it’s going to get worse. But on this day, as Jesus and the others are leaving Jericho there is an important encounter.

Because Bartimaeus was blind he couldn’t work, so he was relegated to the lot of being a beggar. He sat by the Jericho city gate—where the way is narrow and there's no way around him—with his cloak spread out to catch the coins tossed into it by passers-by who might take pity on him and throw him their spare change. It certainly wasn’t fair, but people discriminated against the blind in those days and the only thing they could do to earn a living was to beg for the mercy, kindness and spare change of others.

But, Bartimaeus, like everyone else, had heard the stories about Jesus of Nazareth. And when he heard people saying that Jesus was coming down the road, he shouted out in hopes that Jesus would notice him. The people nearby tried to shush him up—why would Jesus want to be bothered by a blind beggar, anyway?—but Bartimaeus persisted. Apparently HE didn’t think himself any less deserving of the Messiah’s attention than anyone else!

And we need to pay attention to what he shouts—“Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!” (“Son of David” is a messianic title—it’s the first time in the gospel of Mark anyone has called him that—other than the demons and his own disciples, that is—and Jesus has forbidden them to tell anyone who he is.) Now the secret seems to be out that Jesus is the messiah: and this blind beggar seems to have a better understanding of who Jesus really is than his own disciples, James and John.

Just as last week Jesus asked James and John what they wanted him to do for them. In today’s reading he asks Bartimaeus the same thing, “What do you want me to do for you?”

James and John wanted preferential treatment and prestige. Bartimaeus asked Jesus to let him see again.

Jesus told him, “Go, your faith has made you well.” And whether it was eye-sight or insight or both that Bartimaeus received, everything was different. He had thrown off his cloak when Jesus called for him—I can just imagine all the coins flying in every direction! He gave up his means of survival. Suddenly he had eyes to see and he never looked back! He followed Jesus on the Way.

For awhile now (according to Mark’s gospel), the disciples have been given inside information about Jesus’ fate, but they repeatedly show themselves to be blind. But now Bartimaeus, the blind man who can see, becomes a disciple.

The Twelve were insiders all the way, privy to Jesus’ painful disclosures about his approaching passion. But they heard all and heard nothing, saw all and still were blind, while a blind beggar had the vision to understand, throw off his cloak and follow.

Bartimaeus could probably have quoted Psalm 34…. “This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who hear him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in [God].” (Psalm 34:6-8)[4]

Remember the rich man two weeks ago who could not give everything up and follow Jesus? While Bartimaeus doesn't possess much, the little that he has, his cloak, is something that he needs to survive, and his casting it aside is a sign of his trust and his faith in Jesus. He knows that he won't need it again; he's confident that he won't be returning to his spot by the side of the road, begging in order to live. Bartimaeus is “Faith sit[ting], leaning forward, ready to leap at the opportunity to answer God's call whenever it might come, and it shows itself willing to shed whatever holds it back from the journey.”[5]

Bartimaeus was not afraid to trust Jesus and to ask for sight. The crowd tried to shut him up when he called out to Jesus. After all, he was only a beggar, he wasn’t important. (Once again, did no one notice that it was exactly the people like Bartimaeus that Jesus responded to?) When Jesus called for Bartimaeus to come to him, the people around Bartimaeus said, “take heart, get up, he is calling you.”

I’m not sure that was something they needed to say to Bartimaeus because he already had faith and he knew who Jesus really was. But “take heart” is a message to us. It’s a message of hope and a promise that we are heard just as Bartimaeus was heard.

“Take heart” is a call to all God’s people to put away our fears and venture out into new territory because God is with us in all our endeavors.

As the psalmist says, “I sought God, and God answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

Take heart! God will guide us. God IS guiding us. All we need to do is trust and have faith like Bartimaeus and be willing to meet Jesus and follow him.

Take heart! Our imagination doesn’t have to be out of focus!

Take heart! We are on the way! AMEN.

Endnotes:

[1] http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/october-25-2009.html

[1] Megan McKenna, On Your Mark: Reading Mark in the Shadow of the Cross

[1] http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/october-25-2009.html

[1] From “The Lord is Good” sermon by Rev. Sue Hamly, Oct. 29, 2006.

[1] André Resner, The Lectionary Commentary.

Enfolding Love

Today's sermon at Faith United Church, UCC, International Falls, MN

Texts: Genesis 2:18-24 and Mark 10:2-9

Marriage is almost certainly the most challenging relationship there is between people. And what the bible quotes Jesus as saying about marriage has been misinterpreted by people who don’t understand the Middle Eastern culture in Jesus’ time, or don’t want to admit that Jesus cared more about people and justice than he did about the established institutions of his day.

Here are some facts about life, marriage, and divorce in Jesus’ time:

First, marriages were not instituted by the couple falling in love. Marriages were arranged by the parents involved. So, for a man to divorce his wife was to dishonor his parents, who had chosen the wife and contracted for her purchase (bride money or dowry--remember, women were owned by their men). Divorce broke the 5th commandment to “Honor your father and your mother.”

Secondly, marriages were between two extended families, not two individuals. When a male from one family and a female from another family were offered in marriage, it was frequently for social, political, or economic reasons; and the two families became one united family. When a man divorced his wife, it split the family into two groups that usually ended up feuding. Bloodshed often followed.

Third, while Roman law allowed a woman to divorce her husband as well as a man to divorce his wife, Jewish law did not allow women to divorce their husbands. Only husbands could divorce wives.

Fourth, it was easy for a man to divorce his wife. In some periods of history, all he had to do was say three times, “I divorce you” and that was it. By Jesus’ time, a written statement saying “you are not my wife and I am not your husband” was all that was required.

And last of all, there was no welfare system, or safety net, in Jesus’ time. Divorce was extremely cruel to women and children because a woman had to be under the care of a man all her life or she and her children had no means of support. When a husband divorced his wife, she had five choices: she could try to get her father, brother, or other male relative to take her and her children into his home; she could prostitute herself; she could steal; she could sell herself and her children into slavery; or they could starve to death. No wonder Jesus prohibited divorce! It was a justice issue! [1]

The other thing going on in the first century was that there was that pesky command in Genesis that people should “be fruitful and multiply.” Men wanted heirs to pass along the family name and honor, and that definitely played a role in thinking about marriage and divorce, but it was also an issue of God’s imperative. God commanded people to “be fruitful and multiply.” If a marriage wasn’t going to be “fruitful” with children, that wasn’t just rotten luck—to some it was a sign that the relationship wasn’t blessed by God. And it was (of course!) generally assumed that a “barren” marriage was the fault of the woman.

If God wanted humanity to be fruitful and multiply and a marriage wasn’t producing children to carry on not only the family name and honor but also the name of the God of Israel, then why shouldn’t there be divorce?

So it’s not surprising that when Jesus was asked about divorce, he quoted from the book of Genesis about God’s purpose for marriage and what kinds of behavior best uphold that purpose. But then he quoted from the wrong chapter!

Jesus starts with the vitally important affirmation from Genesis 1 that all people—women and men—are made in God’s image. But when he wants to say more about God’s intention for marriage, Jesus doesn’t go to Genesis 1 (be fruitful and multiply); he goes to Genesis 2:18 where it says, “It is not good that the human should be alone.”

So, God creates us for community in enfolding love. To become more fully who we are, who God made us to be, we need to walk alongside another who will be with us for the long haul, who sees us at our best and our worst and will tell us the truth about both, who knows us deeply and loves us unconditionally, or as the rock band U2 says in their song entitled “One”: “We’re one/but we’re not the same/we get to carry each other.” [2]

Jesus’ statement that remarriage after divorce constitutes adultery should not be taken as a reason to tell women to put up with abuse or “go home and try harder.” Remember, the most common reason a man in Jesus’ culture would have wanted a divorce was if the marriage wasn’t producing children who could serve as heirs. Jesus’ word on marriage pulls the rug out from under that. because he says, in effect, that a man who leaves his wife in hope of finding another marriage “fruitful” with children shouldn’t have children at all. Women and men, Jesus teaches, aren’t for use as baby factories or tickets to respectability, and a relationship isn’t to be taken up or put aside with those things in mind. [3]

A positive understanding tells us Jesus is saying that a marriage, like any other relationship, shouldn’t be evaluated based on its perceived “fruitfulness” in terms of children, but instead on what Paul would call its fruitfulness in the Spirit. A relationship between two people that helps both live more fully in the world and in their identity and vocation as human beings made in God’s image is blessed by God. Other considerations are incidental.

In the first-century Mediterranean world, what Jesus had to say was liberating because it gave women a chance they wouldn’t have otherwise had. He sought to protect women in his time because they didn’t have the rights and privileges men did. Today we may need to protect some people from unhealthy, abusive relationships, and saying Jesus forbids divorce is not the way to do it.

We are all called to be in community with one another and that means healthy relationships, whether we are part of a couple or part of a larger group of family, friends, congregation or the greater community. The enfolding love found in healthy relationships has the potential to set us free for authentic right relationship with one another—each of us loved uniquely as God’s child, each challenged and supported to grow in community. AMEN.

Endnotes

[1] Adapted from Note #5503 from Judy Boli to “Sermonshop Sermons” on Ecunet.

[2] From Sarah Dylan Breuer, http://www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/

[3] Ibid.

Peaceful Productivity

today's sermon at Faith United Church, UCC, International Falls, MN

Texts: Proverbs 31:10-31 and James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

Once upon a time there was a little girl who hated to do her homework. She had a rather comprehensive math test coming up and was feeling quite stressed. As you can imagine, she put off her studying until the last minute and then worked just hard enough to, hopefully, pass the test. That night, her father was going past her room just as she was saying her bedtime prayers, and this is what he heard: “Now I lay me down to rest, and hope to pass tomorrow's test. If I should die before I wake, that's one less test I have to take. Amen.” [1]

That little girl was hardly the woman described in today’s reading from Proverbs. But she is probably more like us than the wise and perfect wife whose “works praise her in the city gates.”

It’s good to know that we aren’t the only ones who don’t live up to those qualities of perfection defined in Proverbs. As I see it, only God can live up to the standards and ideals we just heard attributed to the perfect wife.

Here’s what the passage is NOT about: commentaries warn against allowing this passage to be used to abuse, control or put down women. The “ideal wife” is a standard that is impossible to live up to, and yet people throughout the ages have tried to emulate this image, or have at least believed that women ought to be able to achieve it. In fact, when I went looking for a picture to put on the screen for this sermon I found a so-called “Christian” web site that was all about the biblical mandate for women to be submissive to men.

When you look carefully at today’s passage from Proverbs, you see that the woman is doing all the work so that the man can have the prestige of sitting idly at the city gates participating in discussions with the elders of the community. Who wouldn’t like to have such privilege—either male of female? If a spouse did everything so that we could sit back & relax & discuss politics and community gossip, that would be the life, wouldn’t it? (On the other hand, it might also get boring, eventually.)

But if you look even more closely, it would appear that this husband has probably relinquished his power! His wife not only runs the household and teaches the children (wisely, you notice!) but she also runs the business and manages the real estate! And she’s good at it! She sounds a little like Super Woman. Has he given her all the credit, or is it a case of “behind every good man is a great woman” and she is letting him take the credit while she works behind the scenes?

Or is this a case of praising the wisdom of women and demonstrating that Sophia (Wisdom) is woman personified?

Whatever the case may be….. we can learn from this passage if we DON’T take it literally. The qualities of a capable wife, as listed in Proverbs, are actually the qualities of a capable Christian!

If we read this passage literally, it may sound like this woman should be—or should try to be—like Super Woman up there on the screen, but the text doesn’t say that this woman is working herself to the bone or driving herself into oblivion by putting others first. What she is doing is giving of herself for her family. In much the same way, we are called to give of ourselves for God’s family. And that doesn’t mean we should burn ourselves out. We come to worship each week—and participate in other activities of the church—to refuel and rejuvenate ourselves. If we don’t refresh our souls and spirits with God’s love and empowering strength, we won’t be able to serve others—wisely or otherwise.

Yet, productivity is a good thing. And productivity in the quest for peace is even better!

What wisdom do we glean from all this? James tells us to “show by [our] good life that [our] works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.” When what we do is inspired by the wisdom that comes from loving, following and serving God, “a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”

There is enough misery, greed and jealousy in the world that we all should be inspired to be highly productive in working toward peace with justice. Technology has made our world too small for isolationism, nationalism, economic imperialism and religion-ism.

Christians aren’t the only people in the world and we need to understand that there are other paths to God—other faiths that seek to teach wise and compassionate ways to live and love. Within all faiths there are radicals, but the ones who are important are the ones who strive for peaceful productivity—seeking justice and equality for all the people of the world.

Anyone who criticizes people of other religions, needs to remember that “It is Christians who call God ‘rational’ who, in that God's name, have done a history-full of irrational things to other religions and [even] to Christians themselves. In times past, Christians drove Jews and Muslims out of Europe… slaughtered Jews in pogroms and Muslims in the Crusades. In the New World, Christians converted Indians at the end of a sword and persecuted gays and kept slaves and suppressed women… [W[hite Christians burn[ed] crosses in the front yards of black Christians—and then burned those black Christians themselves. Radicals of all faiths have sinned in the name of religion. If we, as Christians, want to begin a dialogue on the role of violence in religion, we need to cite some of our own sins as well as theirs… [and] we had all better learn to talk so Christian a language that there is no doubt about its meaning.” [2]

Jesus, who was always a Jew, embraced all the people, not just his own clan. In a similar manner, James tells us that “where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”

The qualities of a “capable wife” are those qualities showered upon all people by our generous and loving God. We cannot be God, but we can be God-like in our treatment of the other people with whom we share this planet. With grace and with “wisdom from above” we can be productive in working for peace with justice, remembering that God created all humankind in God’s image, and wisdom dictates that we serve God by loving our fellow human beings and by seeking to restore the unity that God intends for us all. AMEN.

Endnotes

[1] Note #9 from Judy Boli to “Sermonshop 2006 09 24” on Ecunet.

[2] Adapted from “From Where I Stand” by Joan Chittister, OSB, Sept. 22, 2006, Vol. 4, No. 21.

Wisdom vs. Fear

Today's sermon at Faith United Church, UCC, International Falls, MN

the Rev. Sue Judson Hamly

Texts: Proverbs 1:20-33 and Psalm 19

Before we get into the wisdom of the bible as found in Proverbs, here’s some conventional wisdom—or contemporary proverbs—you may have heard before:

1. If you're too open minded, your brains will fall out.

2. Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

3. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a mechanic.

4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

5. If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

6. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

7. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

8. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

9. A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

10. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.

11. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.

12. No husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes.

13. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand. (that’s my favorite!)

14. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

15. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.

16. Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.

17. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

18. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

19. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.

20. Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world. AND …

21. Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused.

What wisdom do you pay attention to? What guides your life and your decisions? In today’s reading from the first chapter of Proverbs, we can gather that not very many people are paying much attention to God’s wisdom. This passage seems, to me, to be particularly appropriate this week.

At seminary we were urged to always preach with the bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. These days it might be more appropriate to say we should preach with the bible in one hand and the internet in the other if we want to relate biblical messages to the world around us.

Some things that happened in the past few days have led me to feel I could be in agreement with Wisdom who is crying out in the streets, intersections and at the city gates.

What utter craziness we had this week when many, many school districts refused to air the President’s speech to the nation’s school children and youth! How vividly I recall sitting on the floor of the El Dorado school auditorium watching John F. Kenney’s inauguration! It made an impression on me that I remember almost 50 years later! Why in the world wouldn’t people want their children to hear the President of the United States encouraging them to do well and stay in school?

One of my facebook friends posted an article telling of a school district in Texas that refused to show President Obama’s speech on Tuesday and then 2 days later loaded all the students up and took them on a field trip to hear a speech by former President Bush. Which one disrupted their schedule more? Do you think there’s some prejudice going on here? What about disrespecting the office of the President?

There was an exchange between another 2 facebook friends—one of whom used to live here and the other still does. The first one wrote, “My favorite quote from Texas (so far) is ‘You talk smart, you’re not from around here.’” The other friend replied that her son had had something very similar said to him in Kentucky recently.

Wisdom, who is always portrayed in the bible as a female figure, lives the calling of a prophetess, carrying her message—that is Yahweh/God’s message—into the very heart of the city of the people of God—in the squares and at the busiest corners. And the word that she delivers is one of distress. The people, it seems, have committed offenses particularly heinous to the practitioners of wisdom. Those offenses are: “being simple,” “scoffing,” and “hat(ing) knowledge.”[i]

Israel’s wisdom teachers have a deeply held conviction that a gracious God has placed at the people’s disposal the ability to understand what God wants them to be and to do. “God has created a world of order and coherence” and by studying nature and human nature in that world it is “possible to understand God.”[ii]

But it seems there are still people who are afraid of knowledge; afraid of anything or anyone different from them; afraid to learn; afraid to grow; afraid to get to know people they’ve been taught to fear. I’ve even heard it here. Some people are afraid of having homeless people in our building. Good heavens! This is a small town, it’s possible we might even know them!

The President’s address to Congress Wednesday evening concerning his health care plan is another crazy thing that happened this week. The speech wasn’t crazy, I thought it was excellent and intelligent! But the fact that he had to debunk a whole list of wild rumors was sad. I actually know at least one person who believes that there will be a panel of “non-medical people” who will make decisions that will prevent the elderly from getting health care if this plan is approved. Fear has been spread by those who want to prevent any health care reform from passing.

Why we wouldn’t want affordable health insurance for ALL the people is beyond me, but fear often trumps wisdom.

In Proverbs, the prophetess Wisdom has arisen to declare a word from God to which the people need to pay attention! “But the gist of that word is that the people are already closed to and ignorant of God’s will for their lives.”

What follows sounds like punishment from God for not paying attention, but really what happens is “that having had no use for God in their prosperous times, the people have no idea how to turn to God now that they are in great need.” [iii]

Our God is gracious and loving and that love extends to ALL the people, not just a few of us. Psalm 19 reminds us of that graciousness, compassion and generosity. God has created this incredible universe and “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.”[iv]

The psalmist also tells us that God’s law is perfect, reviving the soul, and the decrees of God are sure, making wise the simple. There’s that wisdom again. We have no need to fear because God’s wisdom is right there in front of us. God calls us to choose wisdom over fear, and to open our eyes to the goodness of God’s people and God’s creation.

Fear calls us to hunker down while wisdom calls us to embrace change and grow in love. When we accept our role and identity as God’s creatures and live in trustful response to the gift of God, we can thrive in the glorious liberty of unencumbered creatures, loved and empowered by our Creator.[v]

God’s great wisdom calls us to give up fear and choose life and love—for self, for others and for God, who truly is our rock and our redeemer. AMEN.

---

[i] Texts for Preaching, Brueggemann, COusar, Gaventa, McCann and Newsome Jr., Westminster John Knox Press, p. 505.

[ii] Op. cit., p. 506.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Psalm 19:1, NRSV.

[v] Adapted from Texts for Preaching, p. 508.