Naaman the Leper 2 Kings 5 Proper 9C Ordinary 14C Pentecost +7

We find in the tale of Naaman the Syrian a masterfully told narrative. Immediately upon reading, we are caught up in the plot, or the problem. There is a great man, honourable man, strong man, but he has contracted a disease. However, the word for leprosy used here is not the worst kind that would separate him from everyone. It may have been something so simple as eczema or psoriasis, but any skin disease was considered suspect because after all it could be leprosy. Then we have a shock: an un-named slave girl suggests the cure. What is even more shocking is that Naaman listens to this unnamed slave girl.

The cure lies in the power of a prophet in Israel. The prophet is unnamed, but we know who it is because we have already been reading about the miracles of Elisha in chapter 4: he causes the widow’s oil lasted longer than it should have, he raises the Shunammite woman’s son, he purifies some poison stew, and he feeds 100 people with very little food, we the readers have no problem believing that Elisha can cure Naaman’s leprosy.

But there is this one little problem. Israel and Syria do not have a good relationship, if you turn over to chapter 6 you find that Syria and Israel are at war. How in the world will a commander of the army of Syria (Aram), march into Israel and ask for healing? He does it with dignity and pomp and circumstance and lots of money, like any VIP would do. Surely the king of Israel won’t turn down a load of money. 10 talents of silver A talent could weigh anything from 50-80 lbs and silver today is worth about $225 a pound. 6,000 shekels of gold would be 150 lbs of gold, gold is worth about $400 a pound today, and 10 changes of clothes in a day when most people wore their clothes until they rotted off of them. But the king of Israel takes it as a trick.

Meanwhile Elisha knows what is going on and sends a servant and says to send Naaman to him that ‘he may learn there is a prophet in Israel’. What does the VIP expect when his chariot and his entourage stops at Elisha’s door? The red carpet? Flashing paparazzi photography? Of course. After all this is the treatment that commanders receive. Instead he gets nothing but a servant, possibly a slave to deliver the healer’s message: go dip in the Jordan river seven times. And he has a righteous fit. I’ve tried to think of a similar situation and what I thought of was Donald Trump with all his money arriving at a tribal shaman’s house asking for a cure. It looks this ridiculous. And then for the healer to send a servant? That is dishonourable. This means the prophet is not even giving him the time of day to see him. This is when you have stage 4 cancer and your oncologist sends a medical assistant to give his or her orders, and you never see the doctor. But his servants see the heart of the problem. It’s just too easy. If it was difficult, would  you have done it? Of course you must give a difficult task to a hero in order to make the story sell. Perhaps he will kill a giant with nothing but a slingshot, or take on  the 12 tasks of Hercules that start with killing a lion, and killing the nine headed dragon… Perhaps he will have to fly a fight plane through a trench and make a precise shot to destroy the death star, or take the one ring and throw it in the fire of mount doom, At very very least he should have to lift a heavy hammer and defeat his evil brother.

 Naaman hoped for such a task, instead he is told to dip in a dirty river. Talk about anticlimactic! For instance: would the so called Oklahoma river-that we know is really the Canadian make you clean? No, it might give you Ecoli. And everyone knows that Syrian’s rivers are much better than Israel’s little stream called the Jordan. His servants persuade him, just as the servant girl persuaded him to try this in the first place. He is clean, he is cured, he rejoices and wants to worship the God of Israel, which shows not only is he physically healed but spiritually as well. Elisha won’t take payment and Naaman wants dirt, probably because he believed that gods were geographically located and if he had Israel’s soil perhaps Israel’s god would give him favour. But there is a subtle message in the fact that he brought with him gold and silver and took back dirt.

In the story of Naaman, God has turned everything upside down. Social conventions, status quo, the responsibility of kings and governments, and in the midst of this we even ask ourselves the question of who has the right to health care? The story is even more topsy turvy for us, because a Syrian is a powerful man and the Syrians we know are now refugees wondering the earth. But this story addresses the issue of the nobody as the Syrians wander the earth. Who had the power in this story? Well God of course, but who has the voice of God, the authority? The servants. God’s cure is given in grace, not with difficult tasks to complete. And God has absolutely no respect for the boundaries, geographical, social, political, and economic that we humans erect.

 Surely, the boundaries that we place around God’s love cannot and will not hold God back.

Jesus refers to this story in Luke 4 when he addresses the synagogue in his hometown

Luke 4

“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. ²⁵ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. ²⁷ And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Is it any wonder they wanted to throw him off the cliff?

Lent 3 C Isaiah 55:1-13 If you are thirsty

These words from Isaiah are often quoted.

⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. ⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

Usually when we don't understand something, a person will quote this to make us feel better. 

It  does not make me feel better.

If they were used in the context they were meant they probably would have encouraged me. 

Seek the Lord while you while he may be found. 

He was found. 

He was found by the Exiles in Babylon. Even when they thought he had stayed behind in Israel. He was found. 

It was in the pain that they found that God could be found. 

And when they found him, they burst into song.

Advent 2 C Luke 3:1-6 Malachi 3:1-4 Psalm 126 Prepare! Cont.

Malachi reminds us that the next time he comes it won't be as a baby but a judge. I don't like that. I'd much rather hold a baby than face a judge.

People are more generous around the holidays. Angel trees are rapidly taken care of. The today show had collected more than 14,000 toys as of yesterday.

But what about the rest of the year? When the children are hungry and the toys have been sold to buy food? What then of our generosity? Where are the thousands of donors?

I would rather preach a fluffy happy message about the love of Baby Jesus. But the Scripture doesn't allow it.

Advent 2 C Luke 3:1-6 Malachi 3:1-4 Psalm 126 Prepare! cont.

Malachi 3  1 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. ²But 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; ³he 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. ⁴Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. (NRSV from www.bible.oremus.org)

There is a tiny or not so tiny element of fear in the anticipation of His coming. 

Who can endure the day of his coming? The ones who thought they were prepared were not. They completely missed it. The ones who were busy, out working, were the ones who saw the angels singing in the heavens, proclaiming his coming. The shepherds were prepared. The religious authorities were not. 

Who can endure the day of his coming? 
We find an answer if we keep reading the chapter. "Then those who revered the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord took note and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the Lord and thought on his name."

They revered the LORD and they spoke with one another: which is I hope what you will be doing this Sunday morning, the second Sunday of Advent. 

Who can endure the day of his coming? 
Buried under the wrapping paper, tinsel, and lights, I hope you find a rugged manger-bed with a screaming baby inside, letting the world know he has come.

The Righteous Branch Advent 1 C Jeremiah 33:14-16

I will be posting comments on the Advent passages at least weekly, sometimes more. Check back often for updates.

(All Scripture from NRSV) 14 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
16. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called, "The Lord is our righteousness."

Jeremiah is confined in the court of the guard when he receives this message. God certainly uses those who are jailed for his purpose. The chapter and vision begin quite negatively. The Chaldeans (Babylonians) are coming to fight. God has hidden his face in anger and will allow this tragedy to happen. But in verse 6 he says he will 'Bring it to recovery and healing; I will heal them..." The focus suddenly moves from doom and destruction to hope and healing.

The metaphor for healing in this passage is the righteous Branch.
What do we know about this righteous Branch?
Simply from the passage itself.

1. It will spring up.
2. It will spring up for David.
3. It is a he.
4. He shall execute justice in the land.
5. He shall execute righteousness in the land.
6. Because of this Branch, Judah will be saved.
7. Because of this Branch, Jerusalem will live in safety.

Multiple green lights flash to the listeners.

To spring up, a plant must be ALIVE.


The Disney movie, Wall-E, the main character is post-apocalyptic story about a robot left on the planet earth for clean up after humans leave the earth because they destroy it with trash. Wall-E's only companion is a cockroach until ship lands and a sleek robot named Eve emerges. Wall-E immediately falls in love. He shares everything with Eve; until Eve finds a living plant, opens a compartment, houses the plant and shuts down. Wall-E sits by her for what seems like forever until a the ship returns to collect Eve. He attaches himself to her ship and travels to her mother ship where he finds humans who have lived for generations. There the captain discovers that Eve has brought a sign of life on earth and that is safe to return.

Wall-E was not marketed as a Christmas movie. But it is.

The Branch grew out of a dead land and brought life to the people. The Branch (plant) changed every person's (and robot's) life.

This is what the Righteous Branch will do. He will bring light and life to a dry, dead, parched land.

And with Life he will bring Justice. Hebrew: Mishpat. 
This is a great Word study on Mishpat.

To be continued....

Luke 19:1-10 Shake you up

The gospel of Luke is full of ironies. Those who seek their lives lose them. Those who refuse to give away their money walk away sad. The one who gives away his money rejoices. Those who sacrifice their dignity receive recognition.


Which brings us to today’s text: A short tax collector climbs a sycamore tree to see Jesus. But there is no way to receive the full meaning of the story without reading the chapter that comes before. There was a rich man in chapter 18. He asked Jesus what must I do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to give away his riches and he went away sad, for he was rich.

In a HUGE contrast, we stumble onto the story of Zacchaues, the short tax collector who climbs the sycamore tree. He doesn’t even ask Jesus what he must DO to inherit eternal life. It seems to be nothing but his encounter with Jesus that inspires him to give away his wealth.

There is a system in our world. It screams, “There is not enough for everyone, so we must hoard what we have.” If you have ever watched the show "Hoarders" you know what damage this idea can bring when taken to its extreme. Have you ever tried to pry someone’s hand open? I remember trying to get little dangerous choke hazard-like objects out of my toddler’s hands. Their little fingers can hold tight. It takes some skill to pry without hurting, doesn’t it?

Then there is the system called the Kingdom of God. This system screams, “There is enough for everyone, so share what we have.” The fingers do not need to be pried, because when one embraces this system, the wealth comes flying out the door.

There are two ways you can open a soda can. One is without shaking and one is with shaking. Without shaking you get a calm, cool drink. With shaking you get an explosion that cannot be predicted. Jesus shook up the soda can of Zaccheaus life. And when it was opened, there was no end of the spraying of joy to the entire community.

Let Jesus shake you up. Embrace the Kingdom of Abundance, let go the Kingdom of Scarcity. Enter into the Kingdom of God where the short become tall and the rich become poor.

Luke 10:38-42 Erma Bombeck or Martha Stewart

"My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?" Erma Bombeck

If Mary is Erma Bombeck, then Martha is Martha Stewart. Who am I? Everyone who knows me screams "Erma Bombeck/Mary." In my senior pastor days I have been known to prop up commentaries on cannisters of sugar while cooking. The only reason I cooked was to keep my kids from starving. I have never been known to cook for pleasure. While other girls were learning how to prepare meals, I had my nose in John Wesley's Journal.  Am I saying this is one of my favorite passages? Yes! Validation for neglecting housework!

I know kids today are not going to know who Erma Bombeck is...but my child did laugh when I told her last night that the title of one of Erma's books was If life is a bowl of cherries, why am I living in the pits?
My favorite of Erma's titles is The grass is always greener over the septic tank. Mary may have laughed at this title, but Martha was too busy trying to keep the house clean.

Really Martha, give it up. It's just going to get dirty again. If you make the bed in the morning, I promise it will be unmade at night. If you wash the dishes, they are just going to get used. Order takeout and sit at Jesus' feet.
 
This passage is about priorities. We get too busy to listen to Jesus. We get too wrapped up in nonessentials to care about essentials. Mary and Erma know what is important. Do you?

Wanted Help from an Unwanted Helper Luke 10:27-37 Good Samaritan

While studying the passage this week I kept thinking that I must turn this around. We always see ourselves as the hero in the story; of course I would help that person. Of course I would stop. I would give. I would love. Or at least I thought that as an innocent child the first time I heard it. Then I grew up and realized how dangerous it was to stop and offer anyone help along the road. People get killed doing such things. What in the world was Jesus talking about? Is he really asking us to risk our lives to show compassion? (That is a sermon for another day, but I'm sure most of you can guess the answer based on the story of the Gospel.)

So that was my first response...but then my mind kept moving and I remembered the time (see my earlier post on this passage by search the Gospel of Luke, cause I can't figure out how to link back), that I was broken down on the side of the road and I received unexpected aid. Perhaps part of the message of this passage is in how we receive aid, not just how we give aid.

Jesus does not label the man going from Jericho to Jerusalem, but we assume it was a Jew. Most likely he is going from Jericho to Jerusalem because that is the last leg of the journey for Jews traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem while avoiding Samaria. The man is on the road because he is avoiding Samaritans. It was a dangerous road, and the travelers knew it. They knew the risk and took it anyway to stay away from those they despised.

The inevitable happens and the man is stripped, beaten, and left for dead. No one knows his social, religous, or economic status now. The "nice" people avoid him. They certainly don't want to touch an unclean, bloody body. They are on their way to religious service anyway and they don't have time to stop. The original listeners expected this. Of course no one expected Priests and their helpers, the Levites to show compassion to ordinary people. But they did expect the one who showed compassion to be LIKE THEM. The next guy to come along is supposed to be the average everyday Joe. Ouch.

Average Everyday Joe is the one beat up in the ditch. He is not the one stopping to help. The one who stops to help Average Everyday Joe is Average Everday Outcast. The very one Average Everday Joe hoped to avoid on the road is the one who stops and helps him when he is down. Average Everyday Outcast does not just stop, he is moved with compassion the way Jesus is moved when he heals (the only other time this word is used of another person other than Jesus in Luke is when the father welcomes the Prodigal home). He doesn't just stop to see if the guy is OK, he poors oil and wine on them (not cheap supplies here), bandages him (risking uncleanness or infection himself), and puts him on his own animal...this would be like putting the bruised and bloody in the backseat of your Buick.

He takes him to an inn and pays...and then he says, whatever other charges are encured, I will pay. Do you know what a risk that was? It's like saying, "Here's a blank check" or even better, "here's my credit card, use it however he needs it."

What happens when Average Everyday Joe awakens? That is the part of the story I wish Jesus had told! How did he feel when he found out he had been helped by Average Everyday Outcast?

Most of the time we think we are showing the grace of God when we work: when we stop to help, when we give money to a cause, when we feed the hunger, when we give a week for a mission trip...and that is true: we are.

However, this story tells me that sometimes we show the grace of God by receiving the love and care of another human, maybe even one that we had once despised.

Monday, Sept. 24, my 2 daughters & I took a road trip to a state park. After we swam for a while, we drove to a small SW OK town where I went to high school. I only lived there 2 years, but graduated from HS there....had not been back for over 10 years and neither one of my children had ever been there. It is a town of less than 2000, so there is not much site-seeing to be done...






After a brief hike cut short by the sound of a rattler in the grass, we got in the car and drove the 10 miles to M------. If you have never driven in SW Oklahoma or West Texas you cannot imagine what it is like to drive where the land is flat, flat, flat, and you see so much sky you wonder why God made hills. We are about to M----- with the music cranked as high as it will go and my 7-year-old says, "Mommy, I just heard a pop." I said, "So." She said, "Mommy the car is shaking." I still didn't notice anything...then I heard this awful sound...and well, turned off the radio. Blowout. We are in the middle of NOWHERE. M---- is about 2 miles away...so I drove at 25 with blinkers on until we got to town. Pulled off in a parking lot and got out to look at my shredded tire. I started digging in the back of the station wagon for the jack and spare. A loud, old 68 Ford pickup with 2 guys in the truckbed rattles by. I see them turn around. The 2 guys in back jump out before the truck stops. They almost have the tire off the car before the hit the ground.

"Need some help?"

"Sure. But my jack is sorely lacking."

"Don't worry. We can lift the car if we can't get the jack to work. We ain't afraid of work."

The two guys bent over the tire are 20-somethings...wiry, tall, heads shaved, wearing nothing but boots and jeans. Tattoos cover their heads, faces, backs, chests, arms, hands....Their dad and older brother stood back and watched If this had been the city I might have been scared, but I figure if I started talking we'd figure out we went to high school together.

"I'm Kelly."

"We're the _______." They say in unison. I vaguely remember the family name. I ask them if the remember my brother.

The guy behind the truck. "Yeah I remember him."

They have the tire changed by now, and tell me where I can get a decent used tire for a fair price. They jump back in the pickup and tell me to follow them to the tire shop. So I do. Tattoed arms waving, they point to a tiny auto shop.

I don't know how you remember high school, but there are certain families that are labeled in small towns as losers. I don't know how it started with this family, but they had a certain label. It may have been something their great-grandpa did...but teachers and kids at school have a certain idea of a kid with a certain last name. Sometimes the kid chooses to live up to it, sometimes they try hard to overcome it.

Here I am in a tiny farming town in southwest Oklahoma living inside the parable of the Good Samaritan. Believe me, no one would have guessed the dust covered 90 Ford Taurus I drive is the car of a college professor. At the moment I looked like an Okie (I do say it proud, Vince Gill, but I did look like one). My station wagon is loaded down with junk cause we have been on a day trip at the lake. My 2 kids & I have just been swimming and digging clay. I had my hatch up and junk spread around on the gravel, just trying to dig for the spare tire. Did cars drive by and see my distress? Oh yes. Who was it that stopped? The guys that got beat up in school because their family was labeled.

More on Palm Sunday Year C John 12:12-16

Today I was talking to my Biblical Interpretation class about the historical reasons behind Jesus' death. I was struck by the idea that he could have avoided Jerusalem during Passover...knowing it was already a hotbed of political strife, why did he go? Of course we have the theological and biblical answers...Luke 9:51 "And he set his face to Jerusalem." He made up his mind he would go, humanly knowing what Rome did with "insurrectionists." What was he thinking as he rode the back of the donkey into Jerusalem? For just a moment did he wish that he could accept the praise, use his power, knock Pilate and Herod off their thrones, and take over? I know, he settled that back in the Temptation narrative...but did it ever come back? We welcome him with open arms, and then turn so quickly. God, don't let me do that this year.

Liturgy of the Palms Liturgy of the Passion Year C John 12:12-16

The Triumphal Entry in the Gospel of John is placed strategically between Mary of Bethany's anointing of Jesus and the Greeks' wishing to see Jesus. Therefore, Jesus has been anointed for death--foreshadowing of crucifixion, and Gentiles begin to seek him--foreshadowing of salvation offered to all. Unlike Luke, John does not spend much time on the Entry.Only four verses set the stage for the pain and the passion. Mark's account gives us more material also. John seems to enjoy having people state the obvious without knowing why they are saying it.

The people proclaim, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord--the King of Israel!"

What is the obvious?
Jesus rides on the back of a donkey entering Jerusalem at Passover?
Mighty Messiah?
Military Mayhem?
Maybe More?

Expectations and hope fill the air. Palm branches wave. Some scholar say the waving branches of Palms stem back to Maccabean times, celebrating military victory.

What are my hopes this Palm Sunday? Do I wish for God to do violence to get revenge on my enemies? Do I wish for God to punish the "sinners" of the age?

Or do I expect God to forgive and forget? Do I expect grace to be offered to even those who stand in the crowd crying crucifiy him five days later? Do I realize I am in that crowd?

Lent 5C John 12:1-8 Mary's Anointing of Jesus. "What if I gave it all?"

I've been meditating on this scripture for the past 2 days. The thought that keeps rising to the top is, "What if I gave it all?" Interesting that John places this passage directly after the raising of Lazarus. Mary's brother has just died, and she did not use this perfume on his body? I've never thought of that. She saved it for Jesus. And ask she pours it out, does she truly realize that his death is coming? Some scholars say she would have heard the evil heartbeat of the Jewish leaders who sought to kill her friend. She bought if for his burial, but she pours it on his feet before he dies. Is she telling Jesus she understands that he will give it all? Is she saying she is giving all she is because she knows he will give all he has? Why does Judas question her motives? There is always someone out there who will question one who gives without wanting something in return. For those who cannot do that, they cannot believe anyone else will. Judas believes everyone has a scheme like he does. Perhaps he thinks Mary is after a blessing.  Interesting that Judas will be the vehicle by which Jesus is sold into death. We know what his motives are.

What if I give it all to a crucified man?  There's nothing left he can give if he dies (according to Mary). Therefore, she pours out her year's wages at his feet. Would I do the same? Or am I Judas, sitting there wishing I could be like her, but knowing I cannot due to my own selfishness?

Lent 4C Luke 15 The Jealous Older Brother and the Loving Father

I don't think this parable should be called the Prodigal Son. I would like to rename it, "the Jealous Older Brother." I remember the first time a teacher pointed this out to me...that the message might not just be the father who forgives and the son who returns. There is the older brother who sits home and gets angry when the spoiled brat returns. The parable never says the older brother changes his mind. Perhaps the message to most of us sitting in the pew that we are the older brothers. Are we envious because God is generous? Yes. What about all the years I gave to God while "They" were out sinning? Don't they count for something? No. Not really. Its about God's love and forgiveness...not about our righteousness.

Lent 3 C Luke 13:1-9 Did they deserve it?

This passage concerns Jesus discussing the idea of "Did those bad people deserve what they got?"  Apparently the people are asking Jesus' opinion of a horrible act of violence by Pilate (how about that for foreshadowing) against Galilieans who worshipped at Jerusalem, and the fact a tower collapsed near the pool of Siloam. They seem to be thinking perhaps the collapse of the tower was retribution for the massacre. But no one in particular caused the collapse. We call that a natural disaster. But these people had no frame of reference for natural. It was only God or nothing.

I fear we are often guilty of that same reasoning. Sadly some religious leaders have jumped on this and publically proclaimed that God was judging (fill in the blank). Today it is Haiti and Chile. Tomorrow there will be more disasters because that is the way the earth works. Plates shift, tornadoes rage, hurricanes flood, and blizzards freeze.

Jesus' message here needs to be our message. "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

We are all sinners. We all deserve death. Yet Jesus offers us forgiveness if we repent. All of us are in the same boat. We will all drown without the Lifesaver.

Everyone who thirsts Lent 3 C Isaiah 55:1-13

"Eat what is good" Now that is a good quote for Lent!!! Have you ever seen the movie, Chocolat, in which a woman opens a candy shoppe in a Catholic village DURING Lent?

Ok, I will confess I gave up sugar and wheat for Lent. So far so good...only one lapse into Mardi Gras (Pink Swirls, I was weak)...I'm finding it easier than the year I gave up Ebay.

Back to Isaiah, this text is about feasting on that which we did not earn--a beautiful picture of God's grace. In a bad economy, no one gets a "free lunch." We work our fingers to the bone for pennies and hope we have enough at the end of the day to feed our babies. I feel guilty that I long for wheat and sugar when there are so many starving for any food in this world.

So may the God who provides manna in the wilderness and quail from nowhere, and water from rocks provide for us. May those who have plenty, give, and those who have none, receive. Amen.

Lent 4C Luke 15:1-32

Lent 4C Luke 15:1-32

Please note this is not a complete sermon as the others were. I’m simply posting some thoughts and notes before I complete the sermon.

Luke 15:1-7
I have never understood the parable of the lost sheep until I heard a preacher preach it a couple of years ago. His name is Tim Green & he teaches at Trevecca Nazarene University. He illustrated the lost sheep this way:What does it mean to leave the ninety-nine and go search for the lost sheep?If you were the security guard for a high dollar car lot, and you noticed that one car was missing from your one hundred…and you left the lot unguarded in the most crime-infested part of town to look for it…then you would understand the search for the lost sheep.
Luke 15:8-10
A woman loses a coin…she has ten silver coins…now this I can understand. I remember losing a 20 dollar bill once. I think it went down the seat in the car. Never found it. Whoever bought the car must have been happy…I also lost a cell phone down the panel of my van once. See, I understand losing stuff!!!
Luke 15:11-32
The crown jewel of Luke 15 must be the prodigal son story. I know there are tons of messages in this little passage, but what I keep coming back to is the older brother.
I grew up in the church and worked hard on my righteousness…and to understand God’s grace, I must understand that God loves all of us the same…nothing I can do will make him love me more or less…yet God rejoices when one that has left returns…
Lord, I want to rejoice…and remove my jealousy…for I have been the older sibling.

Lent 3C Luke 13:1-9

GIVE THEM ONE MORE CHANCE
Luke 13:1-9
Isaiah 55:1-13

Am I being punished for my sins? At some time or the other we all ask this question. When tragedy strikes: we search high and low for a REASON.

Photo courtesty of bigfoto.com

Someone tells Jesus, Pilate, the Roman governor, murdered some people from Galilee while they were sacrificing in the Temple. The question, “Were they worse sinners than we are? Is that why they were killed?”

If only Jesus had answered, “Yes.” We would be happy to know that, “To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Life would be neat and clean. Only bad people would reap bad consequences. The good would get good, the bad would get bad.

Jesus did not answer yes.

Instead he says, “not at all. Unless you repent you’ll all perish.” Sounds heartless and cruel. You’re all going to end up like them if you don’t get your act straight.

He goes on to site another tragedy “18 men died in the tragedy of Siloam by a tower falling on them. Unless you repent you’ll end up just like them.”

OUCH

“Tragedies occur, whether intentionally by oppressive governors such as Pilate or accidentally by imperfections in the kind of world we live in. In neither case must one conclude that tragedies are necessarily an indication of divine judgment against sinners. Rather, in view of the uncertainty of life and the unpredictability of the future one must be warned to examine one’s own life and repent.” (Jirair Tashjian www.crivoice.org)

We don’t have reasons for most tragedies. We would like to say, “those sinners in ________ pay for it by their earthquakes, mudslides, and floods.” We like to pat ourselves on the back and say they are worse sinners than we are, therefore those things don’t happen to us. We read the Bible. We go to church. Then terrible twisters tear up our state we wonder if our sins will wipe us out too.

Many times when we hear of or even experience tragedy we examine our own lives and say, “What if that were to happen to me? Would I be ready to die?” This is the right way to respond! That is what Jesus is saying, “Yes, yes, bad things do happen. We don’t know why. But when they happen let’s see if there is anything in our lives that needs changing.”

When we hear of a child dying because she found a gun in her father’s drawer, we all go home and check the safeties on our guns and buy gun cabinets with locks.
When we hear of a child overdosing on Tylenol from the medicine cabinet we go home and lock ours up even tighter.
When we hear of a dog getting rabies and biting someone we make vet appointments and take our animals in for shots.

Often it takes a tragedy to wake us up, to make us live responsibly, to examine our inner selves.
When we hear of someone dying we wonder, “When will it be my turn?” Until we face a death of someone our own age we think death is all for someone else.

What does a fig tree have to do with a tragedy?
Will the fig tree produce fruit next year? God longs for it to happen.

In other words, let’s give them one more chance. Jesus tells us its time to repent. Repent means to open your eyes, realize you’re heading the wrong way, and turn around and go the other way. If you turn on the wrong side of the exit ramp heading to the interstate you open your eyes right away to the problem and get out of there! You see the consequences in front of you in the form of an oncoming tractor trailer rig that make you into roadkill. It doesn’t take long to turn around when you’re scared.

Repentance means you open your eyes to the consequences of your behavior, and you turn around as fast you as you can to get away from it.

In the first part of the passage Jesus judges, “REPENT OR YOU WILL PERISH.”In the second part, “GIVE THEM ONE MORE CHANCE”two sides of the same God Judgment and grace

Oh how he longs for you to bear fruit

"Is anyone thirsty come and drink even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk—it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen and I will tell you where to get food that is good for the soul!" Isaiah 55:1-2 NRSV

Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near Let the people run from their wicked deeds. Let them banish form their minds the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Come and eat at God’s table.
And when you do the the trees of the field will clap their hands because God’s salvation has broken into the history in the person of Jesus Christ.

Lent 2C Luke 13:31-35

The Fox and the Hen

Luke 13:31-35

Luke 13:31-35 Jesus, having been warned that Herod, a Jewish king given power by the Romans, wanted to kill him, smartly remarked, “Go and tell that fox…”
Now calling someone a fox in this respect is NOT a compliment. This is not the Fonz talking about a girl he met! This is an insult, and the rumor that Jesus had insulted him was enough to send Herod into a rage and order Jesus to be executed.What does a fox do? My only concept of foxes comes from cartoons. The fox runs after the chickens. Many have seen the Fox and the Hound, a story about a hound dog and a fox becoming friends as cubs but having to part ways because of their differences. Foxes are generally seen as cunning, sneaky.Sometimes they kill all the hens in one roost. It is a man like this that Jesus tells, “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 Jerusalem”

And then he calls himself a hen as he mourns Jerusalem. “I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.”

“Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem.…” Jerusalem was a symbol for the entire nation of Israel, the holy city, the place where prophets are killed. How Jesus longed to comfort his people and to show them He LOVED them! But they are not willing!
If you ever loved someone who resisted your protection, then you understand the pain of Jesus’ lament. All you can do is open your arms. You cannot make anyone come into your embrace. Meanwhile, you find yourself in the most vulnerable posture in the world –arms (wings) spread, breast exposed. If you really want to protect, then you find yourself in a vulnerable position.
Even chicks know to stay close to their mother. And human mothers know the sound of their baby’s cry…the baby who doesn’t want to be separated from the place where love, food, and care comes from.
It is the fox who chases the hen…Herod, the king, chasing Jesus. Who is going to win when the fox enters the henhouse? But the story plays out a different way then expected.

Once a firefighter came upon an eagle’s nest after a forest fire had raged across the landscape. The eagle, stiff, charged, dead—the firefighter kicked the bird away. All of a sudden peeping filled the air. The chicks had survived because the mother had given her life to save them.
Jesus did this for us.

Yet even when Jerusalem kills prophet after prophet, God keeps sending more. This gracious God is the mother hen who makes repeated attempts to gather her chicks, but the chicks refuse and go their own way. God coaxes, he pleads, but he does not force.

God allows us to go our own way when we choose, and then we suffer the consequences of being outside of his spread of wings.
Psalm 91:4 He will cover you with his pinions (the outer part of a birds wing, the part that enables flight), and under his wings you will find refuge.”

When we insist on going our own way God opens up his arms to us. When you sit with arms crossed, aloof, you are giving the sign you want to protect yourself. But when you open your arms to anyone you not only risk rejection, you expose your heart to the world. You make yourself completely vulnerable.
The hen spreads her wings to protect the chicks and they are nailed to a cross.
And the hen sees the fox coming and when he slithers up to her she sounds an alarm and the chicks scatter. But the fox kills the hen.

She told the fox she would rather die than let him have her chicks.

And she does.

(A special thanks to Richard Fairchild at http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/c-le02se.php for inspiring and influencing this sermon)