On the Way to Wonder

The Teacher, author of Ecclesiastes, now turns his thinking to the meaninglessness of all the oppression that takes place in our world.

“I saw the tears of the oppressed—

and they have no comfort;

power was on the side of their oppressors—

and they have no comforter. (Ecclesiastes 4:1)”

“And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another.  This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (Ecclesiastes 4: 4)”

The Teacher notes that the foolish are too lazy to work, not wanting to disturb their own peace,  and yet those who work are often motivated by envy.  He concludes that this cycle is also meaningless.  There does seem to be a spectrum of motivation to work that runs from a lazy, I don’t care about anything attitude, to a greedy, envious desire to possess more and more.  One person is satisfied with little effort while the other is never satisfied.  A valid question is raised here.  What motivates me to reach out beyond my comfort zone?  

As a new widow who is reinventing life, I realize I don’t get out of bed in the morning to get a cup of coffee for my husband, jump in the shower to rush off to work, hustle children to school, nor plan to grab a moment with a friend as I look at my busy social calendar.  Being busy has been a way of life and so retirement and widowhood are a major change of pace.  Being in school years ago structured my life and then I graduated.  The birth of a child, a move to a new home, town or job, or even a medical diagnosis can throw us into a restructuring to our time.  We may not know oppression but we do need to be aware of the forces motivating us.

I am reading the book The Four Winds that talks about how a family is upturned by the dust bowl years.  It is heart wrenching.  In the face of the oppression from nature, from the rich, from poverty the mother and her two children hold themselves together as “the explorers club,” moving from Texas to California, from comfortable farmers to immigrant laborers, and battle envy just to stay alive.  Let us take a moment to look at our hearts to ask what motivates our busy life styles.  Where we are envious, Lord forgive.  Where we are insensitive to the needs of others, Lord forgive.  Lord have mercy on those struggling to survive in relief camps and those ravaged by wars and natural catastrophies.  Lord, have mercy.  May we never be too lazy to help someone in need. 

First Reading: Deuteronomy 5:12-15

12Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 14But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. 15Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

Psalm: Psalm 81:1-10

Raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob. (Ps. 81:1)

 1Sing with joy to God our strength

  and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.

 2Raise a song and sound the timbrel,

  the merry harp, and the lyre. 

 3Blow the ram’s horn at the new moon,

  and at the full moon, the day of our feast;

 4for this is a statute for Israel,

  a law of the God of Jacob.

 5God laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph, going out over the land of Egypt, where I heard a voice I did not know:

 6“I eased your shoulder from the burden;

  your hands were set free from the grave-digger’s basket. 

 7You called on me in trouble, and I delivered you;

  I answered you from the secret place of thunder and tested you at the waters of Meribah.

 8Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you:

  O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

 9There shall be no strange god among you;

  you shall not worship a foreign god.

 10I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

  Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12

5We do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. 6For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

 7But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 11For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Gospel: Mark 2:23—3:6

23One sabbath [Jesus] was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 25And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” 27Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

 3:1Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” 4Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Children’s Sermon   Jesus says to the man in the Temple in our text today “Stretch out your hands”.  We have a game with the same name.  I bet you have all played this game.  Stretch out your hands to your friend.  One person is palms down and the other is palms up under the hands of the first.  The one on the bottom tries to quick slide his hands out, flip them over the top hands and slap them.  Or the bottom person can move one hand to cross over to slap the opposite hand of the friend.  How many would agree that stretching out your hands to another can be a bit of a scary posture.  You might get hit hard and that hurts.  Jesus today tells a man to “stretch out his withered hands” in front of everyone and exposes the man’s weakness. Pentecost is about learning how to stretch out our hands to God, not to receive a slap but a healing.

Let us pray:  Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer.

SERMON

The first Sunday in Pentecost we read about Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night.  This triggered a conversation about the rebirth that is needed to understand the Kingdom of Heaven. We cannot see God and we cannot see the wind.  Both are real and dynamic.  So even as the Israelites turned to the snake on the pole in the wilderness and were saved, we turn to Christ on the cross and are saved.  Jesus started changing our thinking from Law to Gospel.  Our Pentecost journey starts with putting our hands on top of Christ’s nail pierced hands and learning to sense and anticipate his movements and synchronize our response to his. 

 Last week we looked at three groups of people who came to Jesus by day: the gawkers, the power aware people like the Scribes, and the groupies who think of Jesus as belonging to their group and don’t want to share.  All the people so far are entering the game with Jesus in some way but I suspect they are feeling like their hands are in some way being slapped for falling short.  We might say that the object of the game is to not be slapped but to be so synchronized with the other person so that we can anticipate the move and respond correctly. 

Today’s text revolves around that dance.  Faith is a response to the first three commandments of the big ten that we studied in Luther’s Small Catechism and that are found in Exodus 20.  #1: You shall have no other gods before Me. #2: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God, in vain. #3: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  The religious leaders question, 

“Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 

The disciples are walking through a grain field on the Sabbath and plucking heads of grain.  They are confronted about their actions.  The Sabbath became a “thing” when the Ten Commandments were given to Moses.  A whole body of laws had grown up defining what God meant by commanding us to remember the Sabbath and honor it.  At creation we are told that God created in six “days” and on the seventh rested.  That seventh day of rest became known as the Sabbath and obviously did not mean he stopped interacting with his creation but the belief was that he stopped “work” and that needed to be defined.  We don’t want to offend the God who created and sustains us.

The disciples were not confronted for stealing because the Jews were to leave the edges of their fields for the poor and the traveler to get food.  The disciples were confronted because plucking heads of grain was considered harvesting which was defined as work.  Many of us can remember when stores were closed on Sunday, the day we now celebrate as a kind of Sabbath.  In Kenya we often fasted for Sunday dinner, eating a bowl of popcorn and listening to a tape of a service from the States as we listened to the lions roar in the distance.  During elections, everyone fasted.  Turn to your neighbor and share a special tradition in your family that made Sunday a bit special and restful.

Jesus confronts the criticism of the religious leaders by referring to Scripture, 1 Samuel 21, and King David.  David, not yet king, is fleeing from King Saul who wants to kill him.  David goes to Nob, a town about two miles north of Jerusalem where the Tabernacle is.  The priest gives him bread that has been consecrated for only the priests and gives him the sword of Goliath whom David had killed.  Jesus seems to be challenging the leaders with their own history that shows that the laws of God are more than strict, rigid rules to judge us.

It reminds me of the Tales of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.  In the first book, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, four children from London step through a “thin place” in time and end up in Narnia.  The great golden lion Aslan oversees Narnia.  The children have adventures with the Wicked White Witch who has made the kingdom always winter but never Christmas.  Aslan gives his life to fulfill the code of the land and the children are distraught.  The next day, they are met by Aslan resurrected who tells them there is a “deeper magic” written before the dawn of time, “ if an innocent being willingly offered his own life in place of a traitor’s, the deeper magic would reverse death itself and restore them to life.”  Jesus is trying to help us see that a deeper magic that we call grace is at work in our world today.

Jesus is asking us to reflect on how we understand the game “Stretch out your hands”.  Do we think God gave the Law because he wants to slap our hands and make us red and sore or is he inviting us into a game that grows relationship?  That is a tough question.  We associate the game with red hands and pain.  We associate games with winners and losers, with right and wrong.  We associate laws with police, courts, and judges. We want to associate God with love but at the time of Jesus, pleasing God was associated with the Law.  Good people were blessed and the man with the withered hand was obviously a sinner as was the man born blind.  People came to the Temple or church with sacrifices for their sins.  We open our services with confession and absolution – forgiveness.  We know we have flubbed up last week and we don’t want to stretch out our hands and have to show it to everyone.  Could it be that Jesus pulls the example of King David from history to challenge them and us to see grace in the Old Testament, the deeper magic?

  We know that the priest who shared the bread with David and the priest’s whole family were slain by King Saul.  Breaking of rules in the kingdom of this world brings punishment and opens us up to accusation but Jesus is stretching not only our hands but also our hearts to understand that sometimes there is “deep magic” that takes the cruel punishments of law and transforms them into resurrection and life.  David and his men ate the bread and lived to become King.  The speeding man did get his wife to the hospital in time for medical help in birthing.  The policeman who shot the intruder did stop an intended rape.  The doctor who cut out the tumor delayed the progress of cancer.  We do not always see the whole picture and the leaders were focusing on the breaking of the law about working on the Sabbath and missing the bigger point.  

“The sabbath was made for humankind, 

and not humankind for the sabbath;”

Jesus continues to clarify.  We are back to the chicken and egg tension of two weeks ago.  Which came first, the creation of people or the creation of Sabbath?  There is no need of a Sabbath if there are no people but if God had not created, would there have been a designation of a Sabbath?  We cannot grow into relationship with God unless we place our sin stained hands on his nail pierced hands.  It is as we confront our sinfulness and humble ourselves that the condemnation of death is transformed into resurrection.  The Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between God and his creation.  He never gives up on us and never walks away from the game.

Perhaps we think of Sundays as times to sleep in or spend time with the family, or go for a bike ride. We can recharge our spiritual batteries without going to church.  But when we come to church we may not hear the best sermon but we go through those traditional disciples of confession, prayer, communion, worship and fellowship.  Many times it may be flat but then sometimes a word triggers the truth we need to hear to face the next week.  The routine of worship becomes a ritual that grounds our week in the grace of God and away from the slaps of life.  We are reminded,  “13 You yourself are to speak to the Israelites: ‘You shall keep my sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, given in order that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 31:13. “

Jesus and the crowd move into the Synagogue.  The leaders are not happy and are still wanting to catch Jesus breaking the Sabbath.  Mark says that Jesus is angry.  We often think that Jesus only gets angry during Passion Week when he visits the Temple in Jerusalem and chases out the money changers.  Our text today says that Jesus is angry when he sees the leaders’ hardness of heart.  They are standing in the Temple and Jesus is asking if the Sabbath, even if seen as a Law, was meant for good or bad.

“Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, 

to save life or to kill”

It seems to me that Jesus is asking a question that might be like asking who is buried in Grant’s tomb.  The answer is obvious but the leaders go silent, refusing to testify that the Sabbath is not a game of slapping but a game of relationship.  The Sabbath is about life.  Jesus is angry and calls the man with the withered hand forward and tells him, “Stretch out your withered hands.”  WOW.  I don’t know about you but I am guessing you could cut the tension in the room with a knife.  

The man who has been slapped with the label of “sinner” must choose if he is going to put his withered hands in the hands of Jesus.  For me, this is a hugely challenging scene.  Am I going to put everything that defines me as a sinner, that which I have done and that which I have not done, into God’s hands?  It is so easy to be like Nicodemus and be confused.  It is so easy to be a gawker and enjoy watching Jesus heal others.  It is easy to debate where the power comes from like the Scribes.  It is easy to think Jesus is not in my group.  But when Jesus calls us to “stretch out our hands,” enter the dance with him, I hear him calling me to faith and not to judgment.  The kingdom of heaven works by a deeper magic that was decided before the dawn of time and not by the rules of this world where we may or may not move fast enough.  Jesus is calling us into healing that the whole world can see.  The man was restored. The Pentecost journey involves us in the “deeper magic,” a journey of restoration as we stretch out our hands and lay them on the nail-pierced hands of our Savior.  We can trust that God loves us.

Let the people of God say, “Amen!”

 As I pondered Ecclesiastes 3 this week, I thought of this song that is based on a poem that was written by St. Francis of Assisi in 1225.  He based his poem on Psalm 148.  More recently William Henry Draper put it to music about 1919.  It was written for a children’s celebration.  The words are the second oldest words used in our hymns.  The Teacher struggles with the seeming meaninglessness of life as he observes all the circles of life and the inability to control whether the inheritor of our toil will be foolish or righteous.  This hymn draws us to the vastness of our universe and the vastness of God’s creation that praises him.  Let’s sit back for a moment and enjoy.  Blessings.

All Creatures Of Our God And King – David Crowder Band

When my youngest son was about three, his pet hamster died as our friends drove onto our campus for a meeting.  It did not respond to revival efforts and so we grabbed a spoon, buried it by the banana tree, said a prayer and greeted guests.  I knew I would hear about this later.  Sure enough two weeks later we drove to the beach for vacation.  My daughter who carried her little brother in her lap reported their conversation.  “Did Jesus die for the hamster’s sins?” Asked the little guy.  His big sister who was only about fourteen, answered that Jesus died for peoples’ sins.  The little guy thought and finally answered, “I know!  Jesus’ hamster died for the hamster’s sins.”  For sure heaven could not be heaven without our beloved pets.  Most of us have faced that mystery in some form or another.  The Bible is just not that clear.

The Teacher at the end of Ecclesiastes 3 ponders the similarity of life found in humans and life found in animals.  We recognize that the life found in humanity and the life found in animals is different than the life found in vegetation.  Animals seem to communicate within their species, show emotions and attachments, and devotedly love us.  Facebook often has entries showing the attachments between people and many different types of animals and their gratitude for being helped when in trouble and remembering people over decades.  The Teacher with all his wisdom, speaks into this observation centuries ago.

18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?  Ecclesiastes 3:18-4:1

Animals were in the Garden of Eden and were created life forms.  We believe they too are part of the cycles of life, birth and death.  Romans 8:20-21 shares, “ For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay—the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command—will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy.”   It gives me hope that there will be “talking beasts” ala Narnia in heaven.  I am also thankful for the gift of prayer and the ability to communicate my concerns for his creation and those I care for.

In any case, let us pray for God’s creation today.  We can pray for the environment and the people who care for it.  We can pray against pollution that destroys the innocent.  And we can thank God for the devoted love, beauty and toil our animals give to us.  Seeing all of life restored will be wonderful!!!! 

17 I said to myself,

“God will bring into judgment
    both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
    a time to judge every deed.”  Ecclesiastes 3:17

The Teacher, the author of Ecclesiastes, now in chapter three turns his thinking towards justice.  He realized that wicked and corrupt people are in places of authority.  The righteous often come to trial also.  This certainly rings a bell as we are watching court trials in the news right now.  Regardless of whether we agree or disagree with recent court decisions, we hear the cries of “foul play.”  Most of us probably remember the 1995 movie “Braveheart” and the cry for freedom against the oppression of the English.  As American students we pondered the efficacy of “taxation without representation.”  The 1997 movie Amistad reenacted the court trial surrounding slavery.  We want our courts to be fair and just.  Gangs and terrorists who create their own system of justice, we do not trust.

The Teacher resolves his cynicism by realizing that God will eventually judge all and bring justice.  That is hard to trust and believe but God says:

Deuteronomy 32:35 

35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay.
    In due time their foot will slip;
their day of disaster is near
    and their doom rushes upon them.”

Romans 12:17-19.

 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[a] says the Lord.

Let us pray today for our legal systems, the people sitting in seats of authority and those facing judgment.  May we also be willing to forgive and leave judgment to God.

14 I know that whatever God does endures for ever;

 nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; 

God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him.  Ecclesiastes 3:14

Yesterday we pondered “satisfaction” that the Teacher, identified as Solomon, son of David, one of the wisest men that has lived.  He says satisfaction is the gift of God available to any person seeking him.  The very next verse the Teacher, in the midst of this essay on the meaninglessness of life, comments that God’s works endure forever and we cannot improve on God’s works.  Truly?

The Teacher first despaired because of the circles of life.  The sun rises and sets endlessly and so what is the point he ponders.  That makes me think of all the artists who have tried to capture a dazzling sunrise as the reds and oranges and purples fade in and out of our view.  We try to prolong the beauty but we do not improve it.  The Teacher despaired at death and yet I have seen sculpture of babies and old couples embracing and there is beauty of love that cannot be improved.  Each phase of life has its own beauty and tenderness.  The Teacher ponders our toil and he realizes that when we find satisfaction in our work, we have been blessed.  A very famous painting is of an old man praying over his evening bread by Eric Enstrom has captivated hearts for ages.

Print – Grace by Eric Enstrom; Daily Bread Man Praying At Dinner

Let us bow our heads today and thank the God that what he does is good and ask for a heart to appreciate the lives we have been given – an attitude of gratitude for his blessings.

“Gift of God”

12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

      We named our first child, a boy, a variation of the name “John.”  John means “gift of God.”  I was surprised to read these two verses that share the Teacher’s definition of not only contentment but also that sense of being gifted and blessed by God.  In the midst of the Teacher’s struggle with the seeming meaninglessness of life, he reflects that finding satisfaction with our lives is a gift from God.  Certainly as I ponder our commercials encouraging us to buy this or that product, go on this or that cruise, indulge in this or that luxury, it seems like there is always a push from culture to make our life better. Our culture encourages us towards dissatisfaction.  Either that or we are buying insurance to protect us in this or that mishap.  I see the people in my children’s age group buying into homes with prices that boggle my mind.  Finding satisfaction is an elusive dream.

      How would you describe satisfaction?  The Rolling Stones cut the song “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” and released it August 20, 1965, and it shot to the top of the charts.  As I closely listen to the lyrics and not just enjoy the beat of the music, I find the words are just what the Teacher of Ecclesiastes would say.

The Rolling Stones – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Official Lyric Video)

The Teacher concludes that “satisfaction” comes from God and is a gift.  It is available to the rich and the poor, to the talented and untalented, to all of us everyday, in the midst of our toil.  Let us think of a few things that give us that warm sense of contentment.  Maybe it is a smile from a friend.  Maybe it is just being able to sit with a loved one as that person declines with dementia.  Maybe it is a sunrise or sunset.  Lord, help me not to grumble today but open my eyes to see your gifts that bless my life.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”  Ecclesiastes 3:11

Everything Is Beautiful

We enter our third week pondering the book of Ecclesiastes written by The Teacher, a son of King David, and often identified as King Solomon.  After opening with the startling statement that all of life is meaningless,  the Teacher shares how he has used his wisdom to investigate life.  He realizes the circles of life, the common themes that run through history that often feel like we are fated to repeat the errors of the past.  Not only do dynamics like the seasons or the defining of days with night and light feel like being caught in a hamster’s wheel, a person’s hard efforts might be inherited by a fool who squanders all that has been worked for.  Death comes to us all.  But then at the end of chapter 2 the Teacher realizes that the satisfactions found in our lives is a great blessing regardless of whether we are remembered.  Those famous lines at the beginning of chapter 3 offers hope as we realize we are not doomed to be stuck at any point as life keeps turning and perhaps as we turn our eyes to God things will get better. 

The Teacher now realizes that each aspect of life has it’s own beauty in it’s own way.  I do not know if microscopes were invented then to see the beauty that is too small for the human eye to see.  Nor were there telescopes to understand the vastness of the universe and its beauty. My mother used to say, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, said the little old lady as she kissed the cow.”  Parents love and cherish differently abled children.  Artists find beauty in amazing places.

Take a moment and think of five things that you find beautiful and cause your heart to say thanks to God.  Lord, open our eyes today to see the beauty all around us and may it lead us to praise you.

First Reading: Genesis 3:8-15

8[Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” 14The Lord God said to the serpent,
 “Because you have done this,
  cursed are you among all animals
  and among all wild creatures;
 upon your belly you shall go,
  and dust you shall eat
  all the days of your life.
 15I will put enmity between you and the woman,
  and between your offspring and hers;
 he will strike your head,
  and you will strike his heel.”

Psalm: Psalm 130

 1Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;
 2O Lord, hear my voice!
  Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
 3If you were to keep watch over sins,
  O Lord, who could stand?
 4Yet with you is forgiveness,
  in order that you may be feared.
 5I wait for you, O Lord; my soul waits;
  in your word is my hope.
 6My soul waits for the Lord more than those who keep watch for the ​morning, more than those who keep watch for the morning.
 7O Israel, wait for the Lord, for with the Lord there is steadfast love;
  with the Lord there is plenteous redemption.
 8For the Lord shall redeem Israel from all their sins. 

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:13–5:1

13Just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. 15Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
  16So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
 5:1For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Gospel: Mark 3:20-35

[Jesus went home;] 20and the crowd came together again, so that [Jesus and the disciples] could not even eat. 21When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” 22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” 23And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
  28“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—30for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
  31Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” 33And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” 

CHILDREN’S SERMON:

​How many of us remember the 1972 commercial for the Hall of Fame, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!”  I looked it up because I was curious what he ate.  Do you remember?  Was it the pie, or a hamburger, or the bag of potato chips?  I remembered the famous line but I did not remember the commercial.  The commercial shows Ralph sitting on the edge of the bed holding his head and  groaning, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”  His wife, in bed with back to us, agrees that he did.  He moans again, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”  The wife says that actually she ate it.  He moans again “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.” The wife says, “Take two Alka Seltzer, Ralph.”  Scene returns to Ralph sitting on the edge of the bed smiling.  Wife asks if he took Alka Seltzer.  Ralph grins, “The whole thing.”

Let’s pray:  May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer.

​SERMON

Last week we started the Pentecost journey with Nicodemus who went to Jesus by night with his questions.  Jesus told Nicodemus that the journey of faith starts with rebirth.  God is like the wind and we look to God even as the Israelites looked to the snake lifted up on the pole in the wilderness, and they were saved.  Nicodemus came by night but our text today talks about three other types of people watching Jesus who came by day.  Perhaps we will recognize these people in our world or in ourselves. Like Ralph, we know we have a problem.  We feel like something is wrong and we go to Jesus but it could be something we ate or perhaps something we bought into from our world that has left us all kerfluffled. Then again it could be like Ralph’s spouse or our friend who ate something that is upsetting our lives.  What does spiritual Alka Seltzer look like?

In our text Mark talks about  three types of people coming in “the crowd” to Jesus.  Some say, “He has gone out of his mind.”  Others say, ’He has Beelzebul.”  But then there are those who consider Jesus part of their family and are trying to help him, ”Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside.”  What are you looking for as you come to church today?  Perhaps you are like the first group, looking for a good church service but not serious about applying the crazy, illogical things the Jesus preaches.  But then you might be like the Scribes realizing faith brings power over evil, illness, and temptation but the source of faith’s power is your question.  Others work hard to protect Jesus and the church from the strain of dealing with all the odd people coming for help.  Church is our family and we want to be comfortable in those relationships.  Family acts in a certain way.  None of the three are looking for Alka Seltzer, spiritual peace. 

Rubbernecking:  “He has gone out of his mind.”

According to the Internet, “rubbernecking” is when people slow down at an accident to see what is happening.  Often a traffic jam is caused by these sight seers or gawkers.  The first set of people are coming to Jesus to check out what’s happening.  Today we have many options for learning about Jesus.   Some people like being able to sit in their pajamas, with a cup of coffee in hand, and watch a well constructed church service with good sermons on social media. If they don’t like what the preacher is saying, they can switch channels. They might be like the people in Jesus’ audience who considered Jesus out of his mind but they came to observe him anyway.  It is possible to enjoy being part of something, enjoy reaping the benefits of being present but not let that meeting become life changing.  We might call it entertainment.  It’s good to be able to tell others that we went and we know what they’re talking about and give our opinion. We want it on our resume but we don’t want to be fanatical.  We remain not so committed. We groan about our upset stomach but we don’t know what we want to do about it.  When the commercial comes on about where to mail our money, we groan, hold our head and moan, “I can’t believe I watched the whole thing.”

​As I ponder the Memorial Day we celebrated Monday, I could not help but reflect on the difference it made for families where a loved one had gone to war and perhaps been killed.  Those soldiers changed the whole trajectory of many lives.  My father and my son were soldiers and I reap the benefit of their soldier’s commitment to protect my freedoms but I have not had to pay that ultimate price. Many of us lived through the Vietnam era and the social debate around it.  Today many watch reports on Ukraine and on the Middle East and are numb. Some threaten to move to Canada but actually they enjoy the benefits of being Americans. Relationship with Jesus is not an observer sport, though.  It is not a good show if it fits our schedule.  Relationship with Jesus is “eating the whole thing.”

​Jesus challenged the norms of his day and ours.  When we “eat the whole thing”, we are challenged to change our lifestyle.  Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount turned values upside down when he called the “poor in spirit” blessed.  The gospels challenge us to share our resources, include the stranger and we are to forgive our enemies and love those who persecute us.  Well, we aren’t persecuted that much and forgiveness is what I want to receive, but I do not necessarily want to forgive the guy who cut me off in traffic.  We like the idea that Jesus was God and died for our sins but when it comes to our lives, many will scratch their heads and wonder if some of the ideas are “crazy” and meant for a time in the past when Christians were a minority.  After all, we think, “I am not a bad sinner like that other person.”  We just don’t use that language anymore as it seems judgmental, “crazy.” Curing our spiritual stomach aches includes changing our values and actions.  We’ve got to take Alka Seltzer!

Another challenge is that ​Christianity now has so many different expressions. Perhaps there is a cheaper brand of Alka Seltzer, we ponder.  Our arguments among ourselves about who is right about this or that, plus questions about if we should go to this or that church, often leave us confused and uncommitted.  For faith to go from entertainment and search to internal life truth is a journey that involves eating the alka seltzer.  We can’t sit on the edge of the bed like Ralph holding our heads and our stomaches moaning.  We have to go to the medicine cabinet and take the alka seltzer. Commitment to relationship in a world of many choices is hard.

 Navigating churches and church services can also leave new people holding their heads and moaning, “I​  can’t believe I stayed for the whole service.”  Challenges for knowing when to sit or stand or where to locate bathrooms often confuse the visitor. Many people are willing to check Jesus out but so much of what is said seems “crazy.”  It is a challenge to truly participate in a new church setting.  It was true for Jews who turned to Christianity and it is true for us today.

Relationship is not just going to hear Jesus speak but means learning new patterns of interaction.  ​Seeing Jesus as “crazy” can be code for entertaining but not quite me, too hard a life style, to many strange rituals and just foreign.  Christianity just doesn’t quite seem to elicit a life-changing commitment. Involvement remains superficial and faith never grows.  Jesus is fun to watch and listen to but eating too much can give people a stomach ache.

​

POWER: ’He has Beelzebul.” 

​Just being in the ocean, does not make you a fish, right!  Just being in church does not make you a Christian.  Just purchasing the medicine does not make you well. ​The second group of people in the audience was the Scribes.  They are the “religious people” who were aware of religious power. The scribes saw themselves as the religious experts of Judaism.  They were the spiritual elite.  They were the holy men who prayed, fasted, and carried out rituals of faith.  If anyone represented God, it was them.  Hence someone doing miracles and healings must be drawing power from some other source than theirs.  They reasoned that Jesus must be in league with Beelzebul, Satan.  They were confused about spiritual power and how it is used.  

Today we have a similar problem. Going to church to discover who this Jesus is, starts the journey but making faith a powerful dynamic in our lives is a step deeper.  For some it is a search for power. Jesus was not just entertaining.  He was changing lives.  His teaching was life changing as many chose baptism seeking forgiveness.  Miracles changed lives.  He even raised the dead.  Jesus not only talked in a crazy way, he walked the talk and made a difference in the lives of many.  Tax collectors became disciples.  Prostitutes got saved.

Today ​we tend to think that as long as the hero accomplishes good by our evaluation, that is all that matters.  “Good” is measured by what I want, not what God wants, and I become the judge.  My teenagers would say that white magic that does good is not dangerous and is even helpful and good. Many believe the “the end justifies the means.”  We love Dumbledor in Harry Potter. Commercials offer us all sorts of products and then in the quick voice at the end divulge that the product could result in death or some other complication for some people.  Evil disguised as good is so hard to evaluate.  Politicians debates “the right thing to do” all the time now.  This argument divests Satan of power and ignores that he is called “the Father of Lies.” This mistake is core to our text today.  When we credit Satan with good, we have totally misunderstood God.  We look for Santa Claus and a bag of gifts rather than the God of the universe.  We have put our faith in the wrong place.  Worshiping Satan is not forgivable.

​Jesus directly confronts the Scribes.  If Jesus is from Satan and undermining the works of Satan then he is defeating himself. Jesus’ ability to caste out evil spirits, heal, and do miracles is based on power that comes from God. God is active and working today.  Do not be deceived by imposters!  A cheap knock off drug is not the real alka seltzer.  Ralph does not buy that his wife “ate the whole thing” because he is the one who is sick.

 FAMILY: “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside.”

​It seems that there is a third group of people in our text today.  That is the birth family and some friends of Jesus who hear him being called crazy or Satanic.  They come to rescue him from misrepresentation and exhaustion.  They know they are “family” but they have drawn a very tight circle around that definition.  I fear many Christians fall into this trap.  We are convinced that Jesus must act and do exactly as our group expects and we reject faith  found by  those who are different.  The expressions of Christianity found in so many different denominations and groups while reflecting God’s love for diversity, can lead to an overprotectiveness and a closing of our ears to the experience of others.  It might be captured in the phrase “we’ve always done it this way.” 

It is easy to become intolerant of new believers who have not matured in their faith.  It is easy to be scared of foreign believers who do not do church the way we do. It is easy to settle for “comfortable” rather than seek to be “vital” in our expression of faith. Jesus rejects this “cozy Jesus” or “MY friend Jesus,” stance.  Jesus points to the crowds and calls all who believe his family.  Faith is not about making me comfortable but is meant to be reaching out to “the other” to create community – the kingdom of God.

  Our text today ends with Jesus asking, ““Who are my mother and my brothers?”  Who are the people truly in relationship with Jesus?  Jesus then, “ looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”  As we go through the Pentecost season and we reflect on our relationship with Christ, I pray the Holy Spirit will reach deep within our hearts so that we are not just gawkers or miracle seekers but we become hearers of the Word and better doers of the Word.  May we not be powerless followers of rituals but may our lives speak to a faith that impacts our values and gives us power to face the challenges life gives us.  And may we be open to the young in faith who are our little siblings, the old who are our elders, and the stranger who comes to be part of our family.

  ​Like Ralph in our opening commercial, we often bemoan our plight in life.  It’s been a rough day and we are overwhelmed.  Take two Alka Seltzer! Really?  Just watching them fizz in the glass on the bedside table, while fun to watch, does not help.  Refusing to drink the medicine because it was not prescribed by our doctor but our wife, does not help. It is not until we drink “the whole thing,” until we truly live in relationship with Jesus that we reap the benefits of faith.  As we journey through Pentecost season may we have hearts open to drink “the whole thing.”

Let the people of God say, “Amen!”

“Turn, Turn , Turn”

This week we finished chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes and started chapter 3 that opens with the words, “There is a time for everything.”  The verses that follow were set to music by Pete Seeger in 1959 and made even more famous by the Byrds in 1965.  As we ponder verses 1 to 8 we also spent time this week remembering the price paid by many in the wars to protect our country.  Then later this week many sat by their televisions and listened to the news about the court decisions surrounding former President Trump.  Terrible heat is claiming lives in India and Mexico.  The Middle East and Ukraine continue their conflicts.    Wow.  We have much we could pray about in addition to the personal concerns of our lives and our families and our own communities.  Our hearts long for the turning of dynamics that the Boyd’s sing about.  We want war to turn to peace.  We want to turn our eyes to birth and not death.  We want healing and not killing.  We want to embrace life, the energy to keep searching, and the strength to keep that which is good and throw away that that is harmful and destructive.  Perhaps most importantly, we need to turn our hearts and minds to God for our answers and not government, hospitals, schools or ourselves.  Again I am focusing on the song “Turn, Turn, Turn” but this week sung by the Boyd’s.  May you enjoy this blast from the past and allow it to turn your thinking to the Eternal One.  Blessings.

The Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn!