Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
Jeremiah 28:5-9 Psalm 89:1-4, 15-19 Romans 6:12-23 Matthew 10:40-42 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who welcomes us. Amen Today we have a very short gospel text where the word welcome is repeated over and over. Now when we hear this word we perk up a bit because “welcome” is such an important concept in Christianity, particularly because we are called to keep expanding the community Sharing the message of Christ Growing the community So when we hear this passage as Professor Rolf Jacobson remarks we hear it as a command. We place ourselves in the role of the welcomers who will receive the reward that Jesus is talking about and yet when we back up and look at the whole passage that this little chunk of gospel is a part of, we realize that rather than a command, this passage is a promise and the disciples are not the ones who will be doing the welcoming, rather they will be the welcomed. Our gospel for today comes at the end of what is known as The Missionary Discourse, we’ve heard parts of it over the past two weeks. Jesus summons his twelve disciples, gives them power over unclean spirits and then he sends them out instructing them to travel light, not to pack extra sandals or clothes not even food. as they travel they are to proclaim the good news that the kingdom of God has come near and to rely on the hospitality of those they encounter for their livelihood, it’s a very vulnerable position and Jesus tells them up front that it’s not going to be easy, “see I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves” he tells them, and predicts that they will be beaten and driven out of towns that the message they bring will divide families, that as disciples they are to take up the cross and in following Jesus expecting to lose their lives, but do not be afraid Jesus tells them, this is something bigger than just yourselves and at the very end, our gospel for today, Jesus promises that despite all the hardships the disciples can expect there will be those they encounter who will welcome them and take care of them and in doing so these people they encounter are welcoming Jesus and his father. The disciples represent the full presence of the one who sends them. Those who welcome the disciples are the ones who will receive the reward. Jesus’ call to discipleship is first and foremost a call to vulnerability, to dependence on others, a call to be present with others, to accept their hospitality and in that way bring the presence of God. Now this is a very different picture of discipleship and even evangelism than we are used to, we’re used to being on the action end of things, of going out and making things happen Of doing things for people, which sometimes turns into doing things to people, We generally think it’s others who are supposed to accept our message and way of doing things. But that’s not what Jesus tells the disciples, he tells them simply, go and be among people, to offer the message of the kingdom of God and to expect that most people will reject it and you, but some will receive it and you, and that makes the whole thing worthwhile. This is a hard for message for us who are so individualistic, who love to depend on ourselves, who like to make things happen, but sometimes it just doesn’t work that way. Sometimes change, of mind, of way of being takes the small everyday presence of many people. I’ve experienced this a little bit myself, as a woman pastor. This week marked the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women in the predecessor bodies of the ELCA and it took ten more years before a woman of color was ordained. The big decision was made 50 years ago but the culture didn’t change overnight, it took years of my foremothers serving to get to the place where I could pursue ordination without my gender being the primary focus of my resume. And yet along the way there have been reminders that it was not always so, my seminary was built in the 1960s, they didn’t anticipate female students, so on the main classroom floor while the men’s bathroom was just across the hall the women’s bathroom was tucked back in a corner by the office section, and not all denominations ordain women, I’ve been in some places where I’ve been the first female clergy that people have encountered and they haven’t quite known what to do with me, especially on CPE where most of the patients in the hospital were either Baptist or Catholic, I often got ‘are you a nun?’ and ‘what do I call you? Mother?’ And I would tell them what to call me And go on with my job. My presence a stronger argument than any words For women serving as pastors. Some interactions are not so mild, one of my friends, upon meeting a new colleague out in the community, (she wasn’t wearing clergy attire at the time,) introduced herself and was treated warmly but as soon as she got to the part where she explained that she was the new pastor the colleague withdrew his hand from the handshake and refused to acknowledge her existence, but her presence in that community was a living testament to what the colleague rejected. Jesus gives each of the disciples gifts then sends them out to be the presence of God wherever they go. Jesus gives each of us gifts and calls us to be the presence of God wherever we go, discipleship, evangelism is a way of life, it’s not something we do on Sunday mornings or at special times and then go back to doing whatever we want, who we are, how we live, the way we treat others all show those around us what it means, for us at least, to be in relationship with God and when our actions fail to reflect the ways of God people notice. One of the major critiques of religion is the hypocrisy of those who practice it imperfectly. People notice how we live And yet if the expectation to live perfectly sounds impossible, you’d be correct, no matter how hard we try we will never be perfect, God knows this which is why God offers us grace in Christ who is perfect, Offering forgiveness when we mess up and confess and repent, allowing us the chance to grow in faith and life with God, sending others into our lives, to bring the presence of God with their own God given gifts To bring the kingdom of God near to us. this is the life that Jesus calls us to live, lives that give witness to the grace of God who receives us as we are and who encourages us to witness to the kingdom of God with our whole selves even as we are called to grow and be changed by the witness of others we encounter along the way. Rather than attempted perfection I think the opportunity for forgiveness and the commitment to growth, to do better is a much more compelling way of life The grace of God sets us free from the need to be perfect and the accompanying fear of failure The grace of God calls us to be vulnerable To dare to be the presence of God And to allow others to be the presence of God , with their own God given gifts, to us And Jesus knows that at times this is difficult that some we encounter will expect perfection immediately, or will reject the message of grace, That in the process of living this way we will lose our lives, the lives where we’ve always done it this way, but in losing our lives we will find new life, and God promises that there will be people along the way who will welcome us, and encourage us, even if it’s as simple as offering us a cold cup of water. All this is possible because Christ first welcomes us, Forgives us, And sends us out. The kingdom of God has come near. Amen
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3rd Sunday After Pentecost
Jeremiah 20:7-13 Psalm 69:7-10, 16-18 Romans 6:1-11 Matthew 10:24-39 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who calls us to take up the cross and follow him. Amen Jesus does not hold back in our gospel for today as he teaches about discipleship, what it truly means to follow him. to be a disciple says Jesus means uncovering the things that society would rather keep secret, it means that some will want to do bodily harm to you, that families will be divided, That you will lose your life. Jesus clearly wasn’t working with a PR firm on his marketing for recruiting disciples. It is not an attractive picture he paints and I’ll admit in the past I’ve struggled with this passage. And yet this year, in the midst of all that is going on in our society and world, I found this passage oddly comforting. perhaps because the world is so uncomfortable now and at its heart the gospel is meant to comfort the distressed and to disturb the comfortable And my life is generally speaking, comfortable. But Jesus knows that in the way of the world comfort of one individual or group is achieved at the expense of another individual or group and the systems that are comfortable will fight to the death to preserve their comfort. Jesus has come to bring abundant life for all And that means dismantling the systems that oppress people. And the first step in that is to bring out into the open the things those in power would rather cover up. “For nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered proclaim from the housetops” We are in a time of uncovering right now, what was remarkable about George Flyod’s death was sadly not the way he was treated but that it was recorded for all to see. The holiday Juneteenth has been observed since 1866 and yet many people are only learning about it this year Scholars and epidemiologists have studied for years in preparation for a global pandemic and now after the proverbial horse has escaped the barn the results of their studies are being widely disseminated. And while it may be uncomfortable for those of us hearing about these things for the first time, imagine the relief of those who have known all along who have been reduced to whispering in the past that now are able to proclaim from the housetops. Jesus lets us know that no matter how hard we try to avoid certain topics of conversation, they will eventually be brought out into the open, and that is liberating, for everyone. What we are experiencing is the next step on the arc toward the liberation of all. And Jesus knows that this will divide people. That’s what Jesus means when he says “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth, I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” The sword, The liberating message of Jesus has two edges, law and gospel, the law to show us how we have fallen short and the gospel to comfort, and actually these two are often the same message, how it is understood depends on who hears them, for those who have been comfortable at the expense of others Jesus’ message of liberation will sound like law, for those who have been oppressed the message will sound like gospel, good news. Jesus says that to be a disciple we must take the side of the oppressed, This is what the call to take up the cross means the cross, was an instrument of state terror designed to make a horrifically painful example of anyone who tried to defy the empire, Those who were crucified were killed Because they were seen as a threat to the status quo A threat to the comfort of those in power. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus To openly talk about the secrets of society To take the side of the oppressed To take on the powers of the world. Why would we want to be a disciple? Because to be a disciple Also means that we are known and valued by God Jesus knows his message is difficult, three times in this passage he says do not be afraid and in the end affirms the value of each individual disciples, “even the hairs of your head are all counted, so do not be afraid.” to be a part of the Jesus movement is to be a part of something much larger than yourself and at the same time be known and valued for your own individual gifts and talents, and it is because we are so valued that we are able to take risks for others. Paul picks up a variation on this theme in his letter to the Romans. Writing looking back through the lens of the crucifixion and resurrection He says “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life...The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Christ died and rose for us To set us free from sin being turned in on ourselves, taking care of our own comfort at the expense of others. In relation to God the matter of sin has been taken care of by Jesus but just because God forgives us does not mean that we keep sinning rather it means that we try to live without sin and this is a daily struggle. This is the essence of the baptismal life The daily dying to sin And rising to new life in Christ All because God has unequivocally claimed us. Today happens to be my baptism birthday, 33 years ago my parents brought me to the font And God claimed me. While it’s hard to believe that that baby needed to be forgiven for anything, what that moment did was start a lifelong journey to live a life bigger than myself and sometimes that means setting aside my own comfort and security for the sake of others just as Jesus set aside his own comfort and security as he went to the cross for the sake of the whole world. This is Jesus’ call to all of us, to face discomfort, division and fear, not because it might save us, but that it might save someone else. Jesus expects this of us because it is exactly what Jesus himself did but we do this secure in the fact that we are known by God, who values us and knows every last detail about us, down to the number of hairs on our head. We are in a moment in time where we are being called to set aside our own comfort and act for the sake of others whether it is wearing a mask in public, or taking the time to learn about how the sin of racism infects the ways of the world, challenging the powers that say some are more valuable than others. And we are up for the challenge Not because we are particularly brave But because we are so thoroughly loved by God. Amen 2nd Sunday After Pentecost
Exodus 19:2-8a Psalm 100 Romans 5:1-8 Matthew 9:35-10:8 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who dared to die for us. Amen Welcome to the time after pentecost, often called ordinary time, symbolized by the color green. In this green season our scriptures and prayers will point us in the direction of growth, growth in faith, in discipleship, in understanding, in what it takes to build the kingdom of God. And this season will stretch on and on, for the next few months, it will be fall before we see a color on the altar other than green and that too holds true to the theme of the season because growth takes time. And growth is difficult at times, do you remember growing up, when you hit a growth spurt and literally felt growing pains, aches in your bones as they stretched toward your full height? In his letters Paul writes to a church experiencing growing pains, to many he writes of specific difficulties, the Thessalonians were afraid of church members dying before the return of Christ, the Corinthians had all sorts of conflict and it seems like he just missed the Philippians, in his letter to the Romans, Paul is writing to a church that he has never met but whom he wishes to visit, and because he’s never met them, and realizes that he might never meet them he presents his rationale for the gospel in a more measured tone, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham and his main point is that God does the work, all Abraham did was trust in the promise, had faith. For us, Jesus does all the work and our role is to trust the promise, have faith. That’s what is leading up to our reading for today where Paul concludes: “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.” We have peace with God! Paul proclaims, given our sinful and broken relationship with God it would be reasonable (using human logic) for God to want to even the score, punish us, make us hurt in the same way we made God hurt “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” God settled the score or however you want to put it, and the end result is that God has promised that through Christ we will share in the glory of God. We have been set free in our relationship with God but that freedom does not absolve us of responsibilities, rather it allows us to turn our attention to the broken relationships of the world, relationships that will insist that they are fine the way they are, relationships that will resent and push back against even the suggestion that they need to be examined, which is why Paul says that even as we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God “we also boast in our sufferings” So, what (asking our pentecost question) what does this mean? What does this mean for us today? What it means is that we have work to do, examining the broken relationships in this world, to acknowledge them, understand them and work toward healing them. Sadly there are many candidates for this work, but at the forefront right now is the relationship between the white community and the black community within this country. It is a relationship that is broken and has been broken for hundreds of years, and it is also one that some will insist is fine and will resent even the call to examine the relationship. But this is exactly what Jesus has set us free to do, it is what he did and calls us to do, to go to the places that are hurting and in need of good news. We heard in our gospel that as Jesus went around all the cities and villages proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God he encountered whole crowds of people that needed healing and hope and “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few” One person teaching and healing is not enough, so Jesus sends the disciples out to do the same things that he has just been doing, and he knows it’s not going to be easy or that everyone will receive their message but that it is important work to be done and he promises that whatever happens they are loved and cared for by God, they are free to take risks because God is their safety net. We are free to take risks since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God, which means that nothing can separate us from the love of God, even if the work we do in working on human relationships is difficult and produces suffering, but we know that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Hope does not disappoint us. It may be hard to look around the world right now and have hope. But that’s only if we confuse hope with optimism. Optimism looks at all the hard and difficult things of the world and says, ‘I don’t know how but it will all turn out okay.’ Hope takes a hard look at the realities, the seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and says ‘nevertheless I trust that there will be new life.’ This week in my reading I came across a passage which speaks directly to this kind of hope, I have returned to a book I read in seminary “The Cross and the Lynching Tree” by James H. Cone, a prominent black theologian, reading it is part of my own work examining the broken relationships in this world and working to acknowledge them, understand them and work toward healing them. I invite you to join me in this work and will in the near future be offering some ideas for how you can join me. In one part Dr.Cone describes hope in the black experience as expressed through the spiritual “Nobody Knows” He says “The first three lines accent despair; Nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen, Nobody knows my sorrow. Nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen, But the last line accents hope with an exclamation: Glory Hallelujah “Nobody Knows” reaches the peak of despair in its repetition of the first line in the third. African Americans did not doubt that their lives were filled with trouble...Trouble followed them everywhere, like a shadow they could not shake. But the ‘Glory Hallelujah’ in the last line speaks of hope that trouble would not sink them down into permanent despair...In another version of ‘Nobody Know,’ the dialectic of doubt and faith is expressed with a focus on Jesus’ solidarity with the one in trouble. “Nobody knows the trouble I see, Nobody knows but Jesus, Nobody knows the trouble I see, Glory Hallelujah.” ...In the second version of “Nobody Know,” the source of the hope is Jesus, for he is a friend who knows about the trouble of the little ones, and he is the reason for their ‘Hallelujah.’ His divine presence is the most important message about black existence.” (pg 20-21) Hope is the belief that the future will triumph over the often seemingly insurmountable hardships of the present. Jesus is the source of hope. He had compassion on the crowds, he pointed out and preached against a broken system and for his trouble he was crucified on a cross and nevertheless he rose from the dead on the third day, he is new life in spite of death. And he did it all for us, his life and death and life again, so that we too could have new life, peace with God. As we look around our world and see the brokenness and suffering, Jesus, who has set us free, calls out to us, “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” and sends us out to work for new life grounded in the hope of the resurrection, the hope of Jesus. Hope that does not disappoint. Amen |
AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
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