Sermons and thoughts on faith on Scripture from my time at Old Presbyterian Meeting House and Falls Church Presbyterian Church, plus sermons and postings from "Pastor James," my blog while pastor at Boulevard Presbyterian in Columbus, OH.
Today's gospel is Mark's account of the feeding of the 5000. At least there were 5000 men, which I assume means there were a great deal more than 5000 folks all told. The several versions of this event are generally well known and well liked stories. They are also the subject of two very different sorts of interpretation. One, quite popular when I was growing up in the Church, spoke of a "miracle of sharing." Inspired by Jesus the crowds began to share the food they had hidden away in robes and knapsacks. And in the end, there was much more than was needed.
But another take on the story insists that Jesus miraculously produces all the food. It is a story about his divinity, they say. Jesus is able to give food to the hungry crowds in the wilderness just as God fed the Israelites with manna during their wilderness wanderings.
I tend to go more with the second interpretation, but I wonder if focusing on the mechanics of the miracle doesn't miss the point somehow. I can believe with all my heart that Jesus miraculously fed the 5000, but if I can't trust Jesus to provide what I truly need, what difference does that make?
I have always suspected that Glenn Beck says outrageous things just to be outrageous, so I don't generally worry about responding to what he says. His recent comments about the Church may well be more outrage for outrageousness sake, but nonetheless he makes a bold assertion that can't go unchallenged.
"I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!" Beck goes onto hold up a swastika and communist hammer and sickle as he insists that a concept dear to many Christians is simply code for communism and fascism. Now I have no idea what is behind Beck's assertions. I assume that he is a Christian. And I know that "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion." But some opinions are simply wrong, and I have to assume that Beck's opinion on social justice either ignores what it says in the Bible, or doesn't know what it says there.
My colleague Steve Lindsley (click here to read his blog) says in his blog that of the nearly 8000 verses found in Bible almost 2000 of them - roughly a quarter - address issues of social and economic justice. With so many verses there are lots to choose from, but since Steve's already done the research, here are some he listed.
If there is a poor man among you....you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand...but you shall freely open your hand to them, and generously lend them sufficient for their needs in whatever they lack (Deuteronomy 15:7)
I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor (Psalm 140:12)
Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also, do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, to the orphan or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place (Jeremiah 22:3)
Jesus said, Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:42)
Beck's outrageous statements about social justice clearly are not rooted in a firm knowledge of the Bible. But aside from his theatrics, Beck is simply doing what many of us do on a regular basis. Our Bible's, at least the ones we refer to in our minds, seem conveniently to be missing all the passages that might challenge our beliefs and certainties, our biases and prejudices, our political or economic leanings. Conservatives join conservative churches and liberals join liberal churches and we both selectively read the Scriptures to claim that we are the ones who got it right.
But once the Bible becomes a resource to be used in confirming what we already believe, is ceases to reveal God to us. Instead it becomes an instrument employed in proclaiming a God created in our own image.
But I can't find much hope in a God who is patterned on me or anyone else I know. I don't think the world is going to be saved by getting everyone to agree with me or with Glenn Beck. I think it much more hopeful to encounter a God who is not at all like us, who in Jesus returns love to those who kill him, who keeps sticking with humanity despite how hopeless we seem to be, and who promises to someday turn all human hearts so that we long to trust and follow God's ways rather than our own.
Find something on your church's website, or a sermon that offends you or concerns you? Before you take Glenn Beck's advice and "run as fast as you can," you might want to see if you have just encountered the God is not like you, and who is seeking to transform you into something more than you could ever be on your own.
"I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"
In today's gospel, Jesus journeys to his hometown and teaches in the synagogue on the Sabbath. At first the people are astounded at the words he speaks and the deeds he performs. But then they recall that they know Jesus. He's the carpenter, son of Mary and brother to James, Joses, Judas, Simon, and some unnamed sisters. "And they took offense at him. "
As we get to know people, we come to recognize certain patterns in their behavior and we have expectations of them. Hence we can sometimes say of someone, "She's just not herself today," meaning that she isn't acting in ways that conform to our expectations. And when Jesus returns to his hometown following his baptism and beginnings his ministry, he no longer fits into the categories and expectations his old neighbors have of him. They simply cannot make sense of this Jesus. They cannot fit what they see and hear into their previous understanding of who he is. And so they cannot accept or embrace him.
Most of us have small encounters of this sort from time to time. A friend or loved one surprises us, and we struggle to accept this part of them we've not seen or noticed before. Sometimes friendship, and even marriages, come to an end when someone cannot accept the "change" in the other.
Many of us also grow up and develop notions of who God is and how God should act. And quite often, Jesus surprises us and violates those expectations. At times I've wondered how often I may have missed God in my life because God came to me in ways I didn't expect.
I take it as an absolute given that God is far beyond our comprehension, and therefore much bigger than any of our expectations for how God should be or act. And so I suppose we should all expect to be surprised from time to time.
I've always liked the story in today's gospel reading. Jesus is headed to the home of a religious leader to heal his daughter when a woman who has suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years touches him. She hopes to be healed without being noticed. Presumably she worries that people know she is "unclean" because of her illness. But Jesus doesn't let her remain anonymous. He realizes he has been touched, that healing power has gone out, and he seeks the woman out.
This frightens the woman but it need not. Jesus blesses what she has done, calling her "Daughter." The term has real significance. Her disease has not only impoverished her, her "unclean" status has cut her off from community. But Jesus designates her "Daughter," a member of the household. She has not only been healed, she has been restored to her place in the community, in the family.
In that sense her healing echoes what happens with Jarius, the synagogue leader. There a daughter is also restored, and a family is made whole. In one case it is an important leader in the community; in the other it is an unnamed, poor, unclean woman. But in both cases Jesus sets right and restores.
It is interesting how harsh and demanding religion, including my own notion of it, can sometimes seem. Yet surely we get terribly off track when we forget that first and foremost, Jesus came to restore, to heal, to make whole. And Jesus offered this healing and restoration freely to all. Oh that we all could have the heart of Jesus.
We tend to think that if it's free, it's not worth anything. But the prophet calls exiles, and us, to come, buy food without money. Can we really trust ourselves to something we don't earn or deserve, to God's love offered as free gift?
When I was twelve years old, my family moved out to “the country,” as we called it.It was old family land that had once been a farm.It had not been farmed in decades, but once we moved out there we were able to put up a fence so we could have horses.And we didn’t just have horses.We also had a pair of donkeys named Angelo and Annabelle.
Now how it was we acquired these donkeys probably qualifies as one of those “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” moments.Somehow my father had found out about an elderly woman who had seven or eight of them.I think she was moving into a retirement home, and so she was trying to find good homes for her pets.We took two.
We tried to ride them a few times, but that was generally a disaster.They either just sat there or they threw you off.And so they were little more than novelties or conversation pieces.They weren’t really good for anything.Well, they could bray so loudly that you could hear them for miles.And they were quite good at escaping.
Our horses would occasionally get out, but they would normally just eat the grass on the other side of the fence.The donkeys, on the other hand, would go on excursions.I bet I’m the only who got pulled out of school to go home to help catch the donkeys who were trotting down the road and startling drivers.
At some point the novelty wore off and we decided we should get rid of the donkeys.Now it was our turn to find them a good home.We told everybody and anybody that we were giving away donkeys.I think we even put an ad in the paper, but no takers.At some point, after trying to give them away for years, my parents decided to run a classified ad offering them for sale.They asked something like twenty-five dollars a piece for them, but you could get a deal and buy both for forty.
We had been trying to give them away for years, but they sold on the very first day the ad ran.And we got calls for a week from others interested in buying them.When they found out the donkeys had already been sold, some wanted to know if they’d been picked up yet, offering to pay us more than the advertised price if they could have them.Who would have ever thought it?A bidding war for our worthless donkeys.
Many of us have an innate suspicion that if something is free, it’s not worth anything.If we don’t have to earn it or pay for it, something is wrong.“There’s no free lunch,” goes the old saying.And yet, in our scripture for this morning the prophet shouts, You that have no money, come, buy and eat!Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
These words are originally addressed to exiles in Babylon.The Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and carried its people into exile some fifty years earlier. The Hebrews struggled to understand what it meant for God’s people to be defeated in such a manner.Were Babylon’s gods more powerful?Had Yahweh abandoned them?Was this their punishment for not living as God had called them to live?But now, after a half century of exile, the prophet begins to speak of rescue and restoration.God has not abandoned them.God is more powerful than Babylon.Draw near to Yahweh who is about to work salvation for Israel.
The image the prophet uses is that of the marketplace.If you’ve ever been to a third world country, you’ve likely seen something similar to what Isaiah has in mind.Vendors hawk their wares, vying for people’s attention.They call out, “Yo, look what I have.Wouldn’t you like some of these?”The market bustles as the vendors shout and buyers haggle over price.
But one vendor says, “Ho, look here.”You that have no money, come, buy and eat!Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Now many of us have limited experience with markets of the sort Isaiah has in mind, but we know all about marketing and vendors hawking their wares.They assail us on our televisions, in the movie theater, in papers and magazines, and on our computer screens.“Ho, look here!Look at this!Can’t you see how cool or popular or happy this will make you?You know you have to have it.”
And we get caught up in the songs of the market.Yes, we do want that.Oh, yes, that will make us happy and popular; it will keep us from looking old; it will satisfy our longings and fill our insecurities.
But in the midst of all the songs of the market, one rings out a bit off key.“Ho, look here!I have what you really need, what will feed your deepest hungers and give you life at its fullest.And it is all free.Come, you with no money or you with a lot.Come, whoever you are.”
– But if it’s free, surely it’s not worth anything.
We Presbyterians, indeed most Protestants, speak of being put right with God by grace, a free gift from God.God offers us full and abundant life in Jesus, and it’s all free.But even thought we speak of grace, even though we sing of Amazing Grace, we don’t trust free gifts.If it’s really free, if people a lot worse than us can just get it, that doesn’t sound right.And so we turn it into something we deserve.We say that we get God’s grace if we believe the right things.We turn faith into the thing we do to get God’s love. Or we simply forget about grace altogether and say God loves us if we keep the rules and are good enough.
In case you haven’t noticed, I happen to be a man, male in gender, and I share a problem with some other males; I’m not all that good at relationships.That can be a problem in general, but it is also a faith problem.I’m pretty good at studying the Bible and figuring out what it might mean, but having a relationship with God is something else.Having a deep, intimate relationship with God means realizing and trusting how much God loves me, a love that is like that of a mother or a father, freely given without strings attached, a love that desires only the best for me, that longs for me to sense that love and come to it.But I keep making faith about figuring out the intricacies of the Bible or plumbing the depths of the most difficult theological concepts… my own version of being good enough.
But Jesus says, Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
And in the midst of all the clamoring voices of our age that claim to have the answer or the product or the possession that will make us happy, fulfilled and content, a voice cries out. “Ho, look here.”Everyone who thirsts come to the water.You that have no money, come, buy and eat!Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Come to the table, whoever you are.Find here God’s grace poured out for all, God’s love that embraces you, that longs for you, simply because God loves you.
I am prone to associate God with the big and the grand, but in today's gospel reading, Jesus says that the kingdom, God's coming rule, is like a tiny mustard seed from which grows a large plant. Actually Jesus twice speaks of the kingdom as being like seeds, and I can't help wondering about the small things around us that are seeds of the kingdom, even if they look little like the kingdom in its final form.
I also wonder about all the opportunities that I have, that we all have, to scatter seed. Any time we do not stand by silently in the face of injustice, any time we act in ways that help others even though there is no personal benefit for ourselves, any time we return kindness when we have been hurt or wronged, any time we choose to love someone we would rather hate, another seed of the kingdom falls to the earth.
Such acts may seem far too small and insignificant to make any difference in the world, and on their own this is likely true. But when God waters and gives growth to these seeds...
You've probably seen the bumper sticker urging people to "Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty." I think Jesus would smile at this bumper sticker. Random and senseless speak to something without much seemingly practical purpose, and the tiny seeds of the kingdom can seem quite impractical, in no way a match for all that is broken, hurting, and oppressive in our world. But Jesus says the kingdom begins in just such impractical ways.
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
I've been away for almost a week, on vacation in Miami. While there I did something I've almost never done. I read a book while sitting on the beach. I usually spend any beach time playing in the waves, but the water was a bit chilly, so I read. And the book I had brought was The Shack, by Wm. Paul Young.
I know that I came to the party a bit late on this one. A lot of you probably read it some time ago, but I had not gotten around to it. The beach provided a perfect opportunity however, and once I started it I had a hard time putting it down.
Something about Mack, the main character in the book, resonated with me, and I found his experiences at the shack very illuminating. Through them he moved from knowing a lot about God (or at least thinking he knew a lot about God) to developing a relationship with God that allowed him to entrust himself fully to God's care.
For me, trust and faith are often fairly mechanical things. I believe them on a certain level and even act on those beliefs at times. But I'm not sure I would usually describe my faith in terms of relationship and intimacy with God, and watching Mack journey toward intimacy with God was very moving to me.
I think I will always be a theologian at heart, and so I mean no slight to theologians or theology by this. But I wonder if I could sometimes do with a bit less theologizing and a bit more relating. I wonder if I don't need to spend less time considering and contemplating God, and more time connecting to God. And I also wonder exactly how I go about that.
Give ear to my words, O LORD; give heed to my sighing. Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
This plea from the opening of Psalm 5 is a common one amongst the Psalms. Often the Psalms speak from the experience of suffering and of feeling abandoned by God. Sometimes they can be quite strident in demanding that God act according to God's character, to stop the wicked from prospering and the righteous from suffering. It is not at all uncommon for a psalmist to call God to task.
I have those moments, more than I'd like to admit, when God seems distant or absent altogether. But I don't often react emotionally toward God. I rarely shake my fist at God or demand that God act as God should act. Perhaps that is because I am such a thoroughly modern person. God does not seem that involved in day to day life. I don't need God for the sun to shine or the rain to fall. God is so distant from much of life that it almost seems normal for God to be distant in my own life.
It is hard to get angry at someone who doesn't have a lot to do with your world and your life. I can believe in God without really expecting anything of God. But it is hard to be in relationship with a God who isn't real enough to shake a fist at or say a "Thank you" to.
The Old Testament readings are following the story of Joseph this week. Many of us know about Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers who then told their father that a wild animal had killed him. But of course God will eventually use Joseph to rescue not only his own family but also all of Egypt.
Because Joseph is the "hero" in this cycle of stories, it is easy to forget what a pain in the rear he was. He was a spoiled brat who got special treatment from his father. The dreams he had about his family, and even his father, bowing down to him turn out to be true. But Joseph seemed to relish sharing these dreams with his kin. I have a feeling that Joseph was an easy fellow to hate.
Funny how God's promiseoften moves forward through less than savory characters. Jacob, Joseph's father, is a cheat and a scoundrel, but God's promise runs through him.
The world is full of people I think are scoundrels. It is full of folks who are spoiled and whom I find easy to dislike. But in the Bible, God is often at work in the strangest places and through the oddest folks. I wonder where God is at work that I never notice because I'm sure God would never be associated with...
Today's gospel is Mark's account of the feeding of the 5000. At least there were 5000 men, which I assume means there were a great deal more than 5000 folks all told. The several versions of this event are generally well known and well liked stories. They are also the subject of two very different sorts of interpretation. One, quite popular when I was growing up in the Church, spoke of a "miracle of sharing." Inspired by Jesus the crowds began to share the food they had hidden away in robes and knapsacks. And in the end, there was much more than was needed.
