21st Sunday After Pentecost
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15
Psalm 90:12-17
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you
from the one for whom all things are possible. Amen
 
There’s a bit of folk wisdom
 that I think we’re all familiar with,
the wisdom that prohibits
the discussion of religion, politics and money in polite society.
 
And while this is probably a smart rule to follow
 around the dinner table at Thanksgiving
(because you just never know what Uncle Bob is going to say)
 we have taken this prohibition to the extreme,
to the point where we rarely if ever discuss these topics,
even and especially at church- the exception being religion of course.
 
 And this is a problem,
because while we might wish we could separate
each part of our lives into individual compartments and boxes,
the truth is that they are all intertwined,
what we believe about God
should impact how we deal with money and society.
 
 So as disciples of Jesus
 we neglect part of our spiritual formation
if we fail to take time to consider how our faith impacts
all the aspects of our lives,
 including how we handle money.
 
In our gospel today,
 Jesus teaches about money,
 actually, if we look closely as Jesus’ teachings
we find that they are often concerned with economics,
 
 Jesus frequently mentions the poor
 and teaches care for the poor,
 and not just in a causal here have some sandwiches and old clothes kind of way,
but care that gets at the heart of why people are poor,
 
care that overturns the systems
 that have allowed some people to amass a great deal of wealth
 while many don’t have the basics.
 “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” Jesus teaches the disciples.
 It is impossible to separate our money/ resources
 from our life of faith
 and Jesus points to this again and again.
 
The man in the gospel finds this out the hard way,
 he runs up to Jesus and asks him
 “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
and Jesus quizzes him a bit,
finds out that he’s been diligent about keeping the commandments,
 living a life of faith
and we are told that Jesus looks at the man and loves him,
 
and out of love says “you lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come follow me.”
 
and when the man “heard this he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.”
 
It’s a shock to find out
 that even if you’ve lived a godly life
when it comes down to it
you love your stuff more than eternal life.
 
Then Jesus turns to the disciples
and comments about how hard it will be for someone who is rich
 to enter the kingdom of heaven,
 it will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,
 that’s how hard it is.
 
 And the disciples look at one another and ask
 “then who can be saved?”
 Because while they might not be the most well off,
they’re doing okay,
they’ve got enough to eat and a purpose in life,
 so will it be hard for them,
followers of Jesus to enter the kingdom of God?
 
And Jesus responds to their confusion “for mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
The man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life,
and Jesus out of love
told him to do something that he knew was impossible for the man,
 revealing to him and the disciples watching,
 that he was asking the wrong question,
 
the man assumed that he had the power to achieve eternal life.
 if we’re not careful that’s what wealth will do,
it will lead us to ask the wrong questions,
it lures us into believing that we are self-sufficient,
that we do not need God
because we are able to do everything for ourselves,
 even make sure we inherit eternal life,
 
 and that Jesus says that is impossible for humans,
salvation is up to God
 and we must trust that it is so,
we must have faith.
 
Faith in God is not about hoarding everything that comes our way,
wealth is not a sign of God’s favor,
 but nor is faith about throwing every material thing away,
 
we heard in our psalm for last week
 that God created humans to be caretakers of creation,
food, clothing, housing, meaningful occupation are all necessary for life,
all provided by God,
 the key is how we use these resources
 in a way that all have what they need as God intended.
 
But because sin entered the world,
some hoard while others starve.
 
 It is because of sin
that we believe we can take care of ourselves
and I’d say it’s even because of sin
that we don’t like talking about money.
 
Which is all the more reason to talk about it,
not in the way of bragging
but in the way of working out as a community
 how to take care of the resources that God has entrusted to us,
 
and when we talk in this way,
we keep God at the center of our lives,
 
 we recognize that only God has the power to save us,
 to invite us in to the kingdom of God
 
 and because of Christ,
we believe that God has already extended that invitation to us,
we are saved,
it is all God’s doing, not ours.
And because we are saved we are freed from the need
 to believe that we can or have to save ourselves.
 
Now of course, it is always a struggle
 to determine just how much is enough,
 enough to keep, enough to give
and in this struggle there is grace.
 
This week I was reading “A Christian View of Money: Celebrating God’s Generosity” by Mark Vincent, and in it he remarked on this struggle
 
“If we experience the vast chasm between our good intentions and our hopeless inadequacy, we are blessed because we know our need for God. When God’s grace meets us, we realize that salvation means peace and wholeness, and we cannot hoard anything. We cannot be selfish with income or possessions because of the generous God we serve.” (pg 61)
 
What we need is God.
Everything else is details,
 
when we realize this
we are freed to follow Jesus rather than money.
We are freed to share what we acquire
 because we have all we need,
 
we are freed to talk about money in community
 because it is a tool to be used
 not a means of salvation,
 
a tool to follow Jesus
 in overturning the way of the world
 that leads to some amassing great wealth
 leaving some without the basics,
and yes on our own that’s impossible,
but with God, all things are possible. Amen
 

19th Sunday After Pentecost
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Psalm 19:7-14
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50

​Lectionary 26
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you
 from the one who shares responsibility for the kingdom of God with us. Amen
 
The disciples in Mark
 are notoriously dense
 
Jesus spends all this time with them
doing deeds of power and teaching them the ways of the kingdom of God
 and yet when a new situation comes along
they almost always react with the way of the world.
 
This time it’s John
who tries to be teachers’ favorite by tattling on another kid.
 “Teacher we saw someone cast out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”
I can almost see his chest puffing out
 in self-righteous pride
while Jesus makes a gesture of consternation.
Face-palm they still don’t get it…
 
The disciples have given in to
 the all too human propensity
to create insiders and outsiders
 despite the fact that Jesus’ ministry
 has been concerned with breaking down those barriers.
 
 In fact Jesus’ ministry
has been to those considered outsiders by the world,
just last week Jesus taught the disciples who to welcome
by bringing a small child into their midst.
 
So, with the patience of God
Jesus tries again to get his message across to the disciples,
Don’t stop people like this guy, he tells them
 because no one who does a deed of power in my name
will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.
Whoever is not against us is for us.
 
What concerns Jesus the most
 is the spread of his message
to as many people as possible
 and he will do anything to spread the message,
eating with tax collectors,
touching lepers,
crossing the sea to the gentiles.
 Even sharing the responsibility with others.
 
Jesus has commissioned the disciples
 to go spread the word,
 the silly dense disciples
who are frequently disappointing
yes they have been entrusted with the message-
 
so it’s little wonder that Jesus doesn’t seem too concerned
about this stranger doing deeds of power in his name,
it means the message is spreading beyond even the disciples
 
 Jesus wants as many people as possible
to hear the good news that the kingdom of God has come near
and that means a variety of ways are needed
 to get the message across
because different people respond to different approaches.
 
For example, the emphasis on the blood and suffering of Jesus
in the African American gospel songs
doesn’t really resonate with me
 
but it is a source of good news for the African American tradition
 because the songs originate in the days of slavery
when it was a great comfort for the slaves
to know that despite what their masters told them about God
wanting them to obey,
they had a savoir who had suffered just as much as they were suffering.
 
Or, again, the question have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior,
 this question makes me extremely uncomfortable.
Yet it has led many people to live a life of faith.
 
What works for me is the message
that we are saved by grace through faith as a pure gift from God
 and that is the message that informs all my preaching and teaching
 
All these approaches have a place in the spread of the gospel
what Jesus reacts strongly against
are actions that lead to the loss of faith
or interfere in the faith of another person,
for example the disciples trying to stop the man they saw
because he wasn’t a part of their group.
 
And that’s when Jesus starts to sound like an old timey mafia boss, s
peaking of hanging millstones around necks before a swim
or cutting parts of the body off that cause stumbling.
 
 While it seems a little extreme
what Jesus is trying to get across to the disciples
 is the seriousness of the responsibility of discipleship,
 
yes Jesus shares the responsibility with the disciples,
 with us
 and that is not a responsibility we should take lightly
 because while we have the power to help bring people to faith,
 we also have the power to cause them to stumble,
to lose faith
and we should take that as seriously as amputation.
 
Jesus really isn’t advocating self-mutilation
but his point is that if something starts to get in the way of the good news of Jesus Christ
we need to cut it out,
 
if being right is more important than sharing the love of God
 and news of salvation with the outsiders of society
then we might as well go jump in a lake,  
 
Jesus shares the responsibility for the spread of the reign of God with us
 it is a serious task,
 one that we do not do alone,
 it is a task shared by the community of disciples
 
Toward the end of this section of teaching
Jesus turns his attention back to the community,
the one the disciples were so eager to defend,
 
 in referring to fire and salt
he is drawing on food preparation metaphors,
often for something to become palatable it must be cooked,
 exposed to heat.
 
 The community will undergo struggles
but that will serve to make them into the best version of themselves,
 
and salt, seasoning
is essential to life,
we need salt to live
 and it adds flavor to our food,
 
 a community is seasoned by the wide variety of people it encompasses,
it needs the seasoning of many different people
to sustain the life of the community
and add flavor
 
but when many people gather
there is the possibility for conflict
be at peace with one another Jesus says
and welcome others,
they add to the flavor of the community
 even if it’s not an individual flavor we prefer
 it adds to the taste of the whole dish.
 
Discipleship, is a serious business,
like the disciples, we often get it wrong,
 we get sidetracked by who is in or who is out,
 we give preference to our own tastes,
 
 and yet Jesus still shares the responsibility
 for the spread of the kingdom of God with us,
calling us to be at peace with one another.
Offering us grace. Amen
 

18th Sunday After Pentecost
Jeremiah 1:18-20
Psalm 54
James 3:13-4:3
Mark 9:30-37

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you from the last of all and servant of all. Amen
 
There’s a term I came across recently, GOAT,
no I didn’t just learn about goats the animals that eat everything,
GOAT is an acronym standing for
 Greatest Of All Time,
 
it’s one of the pastimes of sports fans and commentators
 to debate who is the GOAT of their favorite sport.
 
 I did an internet search
 and from a cursory glance
it seems like the most popular GOAT debate is in basketball
Michael Jordan vs LeBron James,
(though Serena Williams looks to be a hot contender for GOAT of tennis).
 
 I even found an article in Sports Illustrated
titled “The Art of the GOAT Debate: MJ vs LeBron Examined”
 where the author went as far as consulting a college debate coach
to dissect the discussion.
 
 In doing so the debate coach, a Dr. Scott Harris
 made two points I found particularly relevant:
one, he remarked “People never win arguments in sports because people tend not to recognize when they’re losing as much at it. They just think ‘I’m right and it doesn’t matter what you say.”
 
the GOAT debate is really just an argument,
if it were a true debate
 those involved would be open to having their mind changed by their debate partner,
as it is people tend to go into the conversation with their minds made up.
 
The second point he made
was that before the merits of each particular player can even be brought out on the table
 you have “to establish a definition of what constitutes ‘greatest’ and the criteria used to determine greatness.”
 
 What makes someone great is subjective,
each of us admire different qualities in our basketball players,
 some place higher value on teamwork,
while others admire brute force.
 
All of which is to say that to engage in an argument
 over who is the greatest
is generally an exercise in futility,
it will never be fully resolved
because the definition of greatest is always changing
 depending on the time and place.
 
In our gospel for today
the disciples argue with one another
over who is the greatest
 leading Jesus to teach them the definition of the greatest
according to the kingdom of God.
 
Now of course they don’t just start arguing this out of the blue,
 Jesus, traveling with his disciples
 hosts another teaching session
where for a second time he tells them
what’s going to happen to him,
 
 he will be betrayed, killed and after three days rise again
and Mark tells us that
“they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.”
 
They don’t understand,
And they don’t ask for help
So they do what we all do
when we don’t understand and don’t ask for clarification,
 they concentrate on the part they do understand
 even if it’s only half the picture
 
the part they do get
 is that Jesus has said once again that he is going to die,
which means they will be left on their own without their leader
 
 so as they walk along
they try to come up with their back up plan,
 who is going to be our leader when Jesus is gone?
 Well, who is the greatest among us?
And I bet their argument went along the lines of Michael vs. LeBron,
where most had their minds already made up
and some placed higher value on teamwork,
while others admired brute force.
 
Jesus of course knows what they’re talking about
but he asks them anyway
and they’re embarrassed
 because it’s pretty awkward to get caught talking about who is going to take over
 after the one asking you the question is dead
 
and this is where Jesus sits down
- signaling that he’s going to start teaching again,
 and teaches them the definition of greatest
according to Jesus’ way, according to God.
“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”
 
and then like the good teacher that he is,
 he gives them a concrete example,
he takes a child in his arms and tells them
 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
 
Now this wasn’t like an ancient Lamb Time,
 where there was a time set aside for the children to come up
 and for everyone else to see how cute they were, aww.
 
Children, vulnerable and dependent on others for survival and protection
had no value socially,
 they had nothing to offer in terms of honor or status.
 
Despite the varying definitions
the GOAT in that time would definitely have had lots of honor and status,
which you gained or lost based on who you associated with.
 
This is who Jesus tells the disciples to welcome,
the socially invisible,
 and that by doing so they are welcoming God.
 
 This is what it means to be the greatest Jesus says to his disciples,
 climb down the social ladder,
welcome and care for those without status.
 
What motivates your actions matters,
when you welcome according to Jesus’ way
 you are practicing welcoming
 out of love of neighbor and God,
 
you are not welcoming because of what that person could do for you
but for who they are,
 a person created by God.
 The one who does this,
acts without regard for personal status on behalf of other,
 this one is the greatest.
 
According to this definition
Jesus is the GOAT.
His teaching, his actions and even his very existence
overturn what it means to be the greatest of all time in the world.
 
Jesus, Son of God,
fully God became fully human,
 immortality becoming mortal,
 seeking out the least- the sick,
 the poor, those without direction and certainly without status.
 
 This is where God on earth can be found,
not among the most religious or the most righteous
 but among the most sinful,
the ones most in need of forgiveness.
 
and for his troubles, for his love
 Jesus will die,
he will be killed, for daring to forgive sins,
 for loving people because they are children of God
 and teaching others to do the same.
 
But his love is so strong it overcomes death,
 on the third day Jesus rises again,
just as he said,
 for us,
 not because of what we can do for him
but because of who we are,
 children of God.
All of us loved by the Greatest of All Time. Amen
 
https://www.si.com/nba/2018/06/11/michael-jordan-lebron-james-greatest-of-all-time-debate
 

Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 116:1-9
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ
grace and peace to you from the one who is the messiah. Amen
 
There are a lot of tongues in our lessons for today.
Both Isaiah and James mention that small but important body part.
 
According to James
the tongue is a slippery creature (pun intended)
 “with it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.”
 
 for such a small part of our body
the tongue wields disproportionate power,
 like a rudder that steers a great ship
 or a spark that sets a forest on fire
 a word on our tongue has the power to build up or tear down.
 
James seems to find the tongue a mostly negative influence,
calling it a “restless untamable beast full of deadly poison”
James is concerned with the alignment of word and deed,
especially as it relates to Christians.
 
 In the last couple of weeks in James
 we’ve heard him call on believers to be doers of the word,
not just hearers
saying that faith without works is dead
 
 now he’s turning it around,
 just as what we do should reflect what we say we believe,
so should what we say
 
James is highly sensitive to hypocrisy
 and to him it seems hypocritical
for someone to praise God in one breath
and in the next be horrible to another human,
one made in the image of God.
 
What we do and say matters,
because these actions reveal who we really are.
James says “Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs?”
 Trees are known by the fruit they produce,
 and we will be known by what we produce,
 it doesn’t matter if we call ourselves fig trees
 if all we produce are olives.
 
 It doesn’t matter if we call ourselves Christian
 if we don’t say and do Christian things.
What we say matters because it reflects who we truly are.
 
And yes I’m am bold enough or foolish enough
to still believe and proclaim this
 in an era where what people say
 and how they say it
seems to matter less and less.
 
I maintain my belief that words are powerful
even more so when we don’t give them their due.
What we say matters.
 
 Isaiah on the other hand
 has a decidedly more positive take on the tongue.
 
 In our first reading we hear the prophet proclaim
“The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.”
 
 The prophet Isaiah has been sent to the people of Israel
living in exile in Babylon,
 
 conquered militarily
and removed from their home in the promised land,
 all they have left are words,
 the promise of God
that they will one-day return home.
 
God has appointed Isaiah to speak those words to the people
 but the job of prophet is not simply speaking
but first listening to the word of God.  
 
Isaiah praises God for the gift the teaching tongue
 followed immediately by praise to God
 for opening his ears each morning
to first listen to God.
 
and because Isaiah listens to God
he is able to stick to the job God has given him
 even though he is mistreated because of his message,
 
 the job of prophet is not only to sustain
but to point out the often uncomfortable truth,
 the truth that people have more responsibility for their current misfortunes
than they’d like to admit
 
people who often get upset with the messenger
and go to extreme lengths to shut them up.
 
 The life of a prophet is not easy
 but because Isaiah is listening to God
 rather than the people
 he is able to be steadfast in his call
 even proclaiming “the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced;”
 
The shame that the people try to put on Isaiah doesn’t stick
because Isaiah is listening to God not the people.
 Who we listen to matters.
 
Who we listen to,
even in the background,
 forms our concept of the world and ourselves,
if we are not careful about who we listen to,
 it will be the loudest often most negative voices
that shape our view of ourselves and the world.
Who we listen to matters.
 
The importance of all this speaking and listening
come to a head in our gospel for today
 with Jesus questioning the disciples
 “who do you say that I am?”
 
 knowing that their answer
 will reveal who they’ve been listening to,
 who they’ve become.
 
The disciples have been with Jesus for a while now,
we’re about halfway through the gospel of Mark,
 they’ve heard Jesus’ teachings,
seen him heal and do miraculous deeds.
Now Jesus takes his disciples of Caesarea Philippi,
 and while this may seem like a minor detail
it tells us that Jesus is setting the scene.
 
You see Caesarea Philippi is an ancient place of idol worship,
a spring is located there in a cave
that, long before Jesus and his disciples wandered there,
was dedicated as a shrine to the Greek god Pan.
 
 Later King Herod added Caesarea to the name of the place
 to honor the Roman ruler Caesar.
 
Jesus takes his disciples
to a place where the prevailing culture
 is shouting loudly,
the availability of other gods,
 the bowing down to the Roman empire
 and it is here he asks them two questions:
Who do people say that I am?
And Who do you say that I am?
 
What Jesus is asking the disciples with these questions is:
 who have you been listening to?
And who are you because of what you’ve heard?
 
the disciples report what they’ve heard people say about Jesus,
 John the Baptist, a prophet, Elijah,
figures out of the history of Israel
and when Jesus presses them for their answer
Peter opens his mouth-
 he’s always the one speaking-
 and he says “You are the messiah”
 
He gets the right answer.
And Jesus tells them not to tell anyone about him.
 
Why Jesus keeps telling the disciples
 to keep his deeds and identity a secret is a mystery,
but it might have to do with what happens next.
 
 When Jesus tells the disciples
what is going to happen to him,
 the suffering, rejection, death
and after three days resurrection
Peter, who has just proclaimed Jesus the messiah
 opens his big mouth again
and with the tongue that just uttered a blessing
rebukes him, tells Jesus he’s wrong.
 
What Jesus describes is not the messiah that Peter is thinking of,
 the one for whom the Israelites are waiting is a King of the line of David,
who will come and throw out the oppressors
who have taken over the land of the Israelites
 and bring them freedom to purify and restore Israel.
A dead messiah, no that’s not right Peter says
 
and Jesus turns and corrects him.
 
“Follow me, you’re upset because you’re listening to humans not God. you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
 
Yes Jesus is the messiah,
but he’s not the messiah Peter or we want him to be.
 
We often talk about Jesus like he’s a magic genie,
someone who if we say the right thing will grant our wishes
solve our problems
and bring prosperity and freedom,
 of course prosperity and freedom as defined by humans.
 
But if we listen to Jesus carefully
and watch what he does,
 we find that what Jesus is most concerned with
 is his quest to identify with the lowliest,
 
again and again he seeks out those outcast by society
 and offers them what other humans have denied them,
 healing, food, dignity
 and for his troubles he will be rejected and killed.
 
 This is the divine way.
And Jesus expects his disciples to follow the divine way.
 
 what Jesus is saying when he talks of cross bearing
and losing and saving lives
 is that if you are listening to God,
 and you say that you follow God,
 and you live your life according to the divine way,
you will get push back,
 
 people will treat you like the prophet Isaiah,
 but like the prophet Isaiah
you’ll be able to endure, stick with it,
 because you’re listening to God
and not the people
 and there is no shame in following the divine way,
 it is the way of everlasting life with God.
 
Jesus knows that living in this way is extremely difficult,
that our sense of self-preservation will often overrule
our desire to follow God,
 
 on the way to the cross Peter denies Jesus three times
 and all the disciples abandon him,
 Jesus knows that this will happen too,
 and when he is raised up on the third day
who does he go to?
 
His disciples.
 Because while the divine way is difficult,
it is also one of forgiveness,
and second chances.
 
No matter how many times we abandon him for ourselves
Use our tongues for both blessings and curses
Jesus will welcome us back
 because Jesus is the messiah
according to the divine way. Amen
 

15th Sunday After Pentecost
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
Psalm 15
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-8, 14-23

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you
from the one who sees us for who we really are and who still loves us. Amen
 
Today our lessons are about extremes.
 
On the one hand we have Jesus in our gospel
 calling the Pharisees
who criticize his disciples for not washing their hands
 hypocrites
 
They are so focused on human tradition
and what they do
that they’ve forgotten the meaning behind their actions.
 
Doing too much of the right thing
can become the wrong thing Jesus says,
 intention matters
 and that comes from within our hearts,
 not what we put into our bodies.
 
On the other hand,
 we have James who proclaims
“But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”
 
and goes on to compare people
 who hear but don’t act
 to someone who briefly looks in a mirror
and immediately forgets what they saw.
 
 Looking in the mirror doesn’t do much good
 if you don’t remove the lump of spinach you see between your teeth.
 
James wants doers that act,
not hearers who forget
 and warns “If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.”
 
You’re doing too much,
 
 you’re doing too little
 
seemingly opposing messages
but when we look at them closer
we see they have a common denominator:
 
both are about what’s in your heart
and the importance of taking time
to examine what is in your heart, your intentions
 because if you don’t
 no matter what you do or do not do,
 you’ll get into trouble.
 
What we have here is a message of law.
 
As Lutherans
 we tend to focus more on the gospel,
the good news
 
but remember we are a people of both/and,
 we are saint and sinner at the same time
and we need both the law and the gospel
 
 it’s just a matter of timing,
 we need the gospel when we despair
 and we need that law when we get cocky,
 
we are saved by God’s grace,
and we are flawed human beings,
which is why we need help to work on our flaws,
and that is where the law comes in
 
the law acts like a mirror
and if we don’t like what we see when we look at our reflections
then it’s time to make some changes
 
But the thing about the law
 is that it doesn’t just reflect back
who we are on the surface,
 the carefully cultivated public image
 that minimizes flaws,
 
 no the law reflects back who we are in our hearts,
from where, as Jesus remarks to the disciples “evil intentions come”
 and he lists all sorts of evil intentions,
 murder, slander, adultery, the usuals
but also pride and folly,
intentions that, if we are unaware of them
 shade our actions and turn them on their heads.
 
The Pharisees to whom Jesus is speaking,
 are faithful people,
they understand the law as a gift from God
 - they’re not trying to earn salvation by following the law,
 
the law is a gift from God
that when lived out
 acts as a witness to the other nations.
 
The intent behind living out the law
is to bring people together.
 
But the pharisees have become so focused
on the act of living out the law
 that their efforts to live faithfully
have actually separated them from the people
 for whom they are to be an example
it has separated them from their neighbors.
 
The pharisees are shocked by Jesus
because he has gone back to the original intent
and in Jesus’ way of doing things
 reaching out to the neighbor
is more important than keeping clean,
 
 in fact,
 if you follow Jesus,
you should expect to get your hands dirty in the service of others
 
And how we serve matters
It might seem like an obvious statement but
it’s important to listen to those we serve.
 
A couple of years ago
one of the officials of our partner synod in Tanzania
came and talked to the leaders at the fall theological conference,
and part of his message was that
“some of you are doing too much without listening to what we need.”
I believe he was referring to a couple of larger churches
 who had partner relationships with Tanzanian congregations
and would help them financially
 but would dictate what their financial help would go to
 and this, the official said, was hurting the Tanzanian churches.
 
At some point
the help became less about the true needs of the Tanzanian church
 and more about what the church in the states was doing
 
it was easier to sell people on say building a church in Africa,
 which had tangible results
with glossy pictures
easily hung on a church bulletin board
 or posted to a website as an example international mission,
 
that was more appealing than a general gift of money
 that could be put towards the things the Tanzanian church needed most,
 which might not have translated well into pictures
or measurable outcomes
but which would empower the recipients to do ministry
 in their own place, in their own way.
 
We must examine the true intentions in our hearts when we act,
 and yes even when we serve.
We have to ask ourselves,
 is this really out of love of neighbor?
Or is this about us feeling good about doing something?
 Who are we actually serving?
 
 On the other hand,
 if we say we believe something
our lives should reflect that belief.
 
I’ve seen a meme go around on the internet that says
 “Sometimes the best evangelism is simply telling people you’re a Christian and then not being a complete jerk.”
 
We’re called to share this awesome life changing message with others,
it loses a little something when our own lives don’t reflect the awe of the gospel,
even a little bit.
 
 Saying that we are Christian
 does not give us the right to do whatever we want,
in fact it’s quite the opposite.
 
When we say we are Christian,
or followers of Jesus
 or however else you like to put it
there has to be the intent backing up the words,
 
 intent that acknowledges that it’s a difficult thing to follow Jesus,
it makes us uncomfortable at times,
 it requires us to search our hearts before we act,
and it requires us to act on what we believe
to get our hands dirty,
 to change the way we think and live.
 
And yes,
learning to live in this way takes a lifetime.
 
 A lifetime of hearing and doing and searching the heart,
 a lifetime where sometimes we do too much
and sometimes we do too little
 
but wherever we are on our journey of faith we are not alone
 
Claimed by God at our baptisms
we are made members of a community,
 a community who lives this life together,
who is there to point out when we’re going too far in one direction or the other,
 
 a community that gathers to confess our sins to God
 and receive forgiveness,
 
 a community where Christ brings us to his table
to renew us with his body and blood,
 then sends us back out into the world to live intentionally.
 
So,
 gathered in this community
take some time,
yes right now,
 
 search your heart,
 ask yourself some tough questions.
 
 Then come to the table that Christ has prepared for you,
 bread for the journey. Amen
 
Elisabeth Johnson's commentary on workingpreacher.org was of great help in composing this sermon

14th Sunday After Pentecost
Joshua 24:1-2, 14-18
Psalm 34:15-22
Ephesians 6:10-20
John 6:56-69

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you from the Holy one of God. Amen
 
The book of Joshua
 is an epic worthy of Hollywood,
 
in the prequel the people of Israel
 have been wandering around in the desert for forty years
 traveling to the promised land
 
and they make it all the way
to the point where they can see the promised land
on the other side of the river
 
but before they can cross, their leader Moses,
who God used to bring them out of slavery in Egypt
and who led them through the desert all those years,
 dies
 
and the people are left by the riverbank
in sight of the promised land.
End film, roll credits.
 
now as the lights dim
and the new epic begins to unfold before the audience
we see God,
 instructing Joshua, Moses’ assistant
 to take over the leadership of the people
 and to cross over the Jordan river into the promised land,
 
 oh and by the way
people already live there
so you’ll have to conquer it by military force,
 
 and what unfolds before the audience
 is an action movie worthy of the genre,
 there are spies who infiltrate
 and only escape with the help of a prostitute,
 
rivers stopped so the people can cross on dry ground,
cities overthrown with trumpets,
multiple kings brought low
and the land divided among the people
 
 and while the movie could end there
it doesn’t,
 we see a montage of the years passing
and the people settling in
and Joshua growing older
 
until the final portion of the movie
where an old Joshua brings the people back together
and before he dies,
reminds them of all that they have been through together
and how it was God who brought them there,
 
and the excitement builds
as the people remember the glory days
and then Joshua lays it out for them,
 
there are still some of the other people living in the land
 and they’ve kept worshipping their false gods which are a temptation
and so the people of Israel have a choice to make,
worship those false Gods,
or the one true God,
 
the choice is yours Joshua says
 “but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
 
and a great cheer goes up
 and the people, inspired by their history
 and Joshua’s bold choice
 say ‘of course we choose the Lord’
 
 and the credits roll
 and we all leave feeling righteous in the choice to serve the Lord
because that is clearly the only choice to make.
 
If only that truly were the end.
 
Because after the drama and the rousing speeches
and the cheering crowds all fade away
the story continues
 reality sets in,
 
the reality that it is difficult to resist the temptation of those other gods
who are frankly easier to follow,
 it is difficult to tell your friends and neighbors
 I’m sorry I can’t eat that bacon cheeseburger
- it’s not on the approved list of food given to us by God,
it’s hard to say I can’t go on that trip,
 it falls over the sabbath.
 
And the histories tell us that the people slowly turned to other gods,
away from the one true God
because the teachings were difficult.
 
“This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”
 say some of Jesus’ disciples today
in response to his lesson at Capernaum
 where he tells them that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood will live
because he, Jesus is the true bread of life.
 
“Does this offend you?” Jesus asks them
then continues teaching,
without changing or compromising his lesson.
 
And we hear that because of this
many of his disciples turned back
and no longer went about with him,
 the teachings were just too difficult
 
but John assures us that Jesus knew that this would happen
 and he lets them go,
but he does check in with his closest followers
 and here we have another decision scene,
it’s not as dramatic as the one in Joshua
 but perhaps closer to our own experience,
 
Jesus asks the twelve,
 those who have been traveling with him the longest,
“Do you also wish to go away?”
 
 and Simon Peter answers him
and I can almost hear him shrugging and looking uncomfortable
 as he finally says  “Lord to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy one of God.”
 
Lord where else can we go?
This response strikes me as a far more realistic depiction
of choosing to follow God,
 
it’s less a dramatic climax
and more a moment
 
a moment when someone asks you outright if you really believe all that stuff
and you realize that the teachings are difficult,
 and while you may not understand or agree with them all
embedded in them are the words of eternal life
 and there’s nowhere else to go for those
 and so you shrug and look uncomfortable and stick it out
 because you have come to believe that Jesus is the Holy One of God.
 
This is a difficult teaching we follow,
eating flesh, drinking blood,
 the dead raised, the promise of eternal life,
 the expectation that we love our neighbors as ourselves
where the definition of neighbor extends to those on the margins of society
 and even our enemies.
Why would we logically choose this?
 
Well, mostly because it’s not about logic or even us.
Martin Luther, in his explanation of the 3rd article of the Apostle’s creed
in the Small Catechism says this:
 “I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him.”
 
That we believe even a little bit
 is through the grace of God
and the work of the Holy Spirit
who has brought us to the point
 where we can echo Peter’s confession,
 
and yes this too is difficult,
 some people take more work than others
we do have free will after all and some people are just plain stubborn
 
 but we trust that the Holy Spirit,
who Jesus sent to be our advocate,
does not give up,
 even on the tough cases.
And when we do come to believe, even a little bit
the Holy spirit continues to be with us
 as we live out our faith
and the difficult teachings of Jesus
 made even more difficult by the opposition of the world around us,
 
we heard the Holy Spirit working through Paul in our second reading,
offering encouragement to the community in Ephesus
 reminding them of all of the gifts from God
that will help them live out Jesus’ teachings,
righteousness, faith, salvation, the word of God, prayer,
 
Paul likens all these gifts
to armor that a soldier would put on
 as defense against the swords of the opposition.
 
This image I think made more sense to the early Christians
who were practicing an illegal religion
and could very well expect to be confronted by soldiers
if they were found out,
the people to whom Paul is writing were on the defensive.
 
But for our purposes
 I think a better image might be that of tools in a tool box.
 
We are no longer on the defensive
 but there is still much work to be done
 as we build our community
and share in God’s mission of redemption for the world.
 
So God has given us tools,
righteousness, faith, salvation, the Word of God, prayer and more,
 they are all available to us
to help us in our work
 
 but just like other kinds of tools
 we need to learn how to use them,
 either figuring it out on our own
or even better have someone teach us,
 it takes practice, perseverance to live into the faith given us
 
 Living into our faith
 and the difficult teachings of Jesus
doesn’t happen overnight,
in fact it takes a lifetime of practice, lifetimes even
 
for the broader community, the church
 it has taken thousands of years to get to where we are today
and we’re still not done learning and growing, making mistakes even.
 
 And yet over all these years people have stuck with it,
through the arguments and schisms,
the danger and exclusion,
the extra human rules,
the struggle to love everyone,
why?
 
 Lord, to whom can we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy one of God. Amen
 

10th Sunday after Pentecost

2 Kings 4:42-44
Psalm 145:10-18
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you
from the one who is faithful in all words and loving in all works. Amen
 
We have a God whose love and works
surpass human understanding.
 
We can’t explain how Elisha
 was able to feed a hundred men
 with a little bit of bread and corn
let alone Jesus feeding five thousand
with five loaves of bread and two fish
 
Jesus’ walking across the top of the sea of Galilee in a storm
defies the laws of nature that God set in place,
and these are only the examples
we have from the readings for today,
 the Bible is filled with stories that we can’t explain,
 
 at least with head knowledge,
logic and reason
 
But with heart knowledge,
our ability to accept the reality of mysteries
 we know that these stories tell us the truth,
 the truth about God and what it means to be a child of God.
 
As a society,
we’ve come to depend almost entirely on head knowledge,
for something to be true it must be able to be proven.
 
Now I’m not discounting science and measurable outcomes,
 the ability to understand the world around us
is a gift from God and has done much good,
 
 but we limit our experience of life
 if we rely only on head knowledge
and dismiss the power and truth of heart knowledge,
 truth that defies explanation
and yet exists in the world.
  
So what do we who live in a world of logic do
with truth that defies explanation?
 
I think our best course
 is to follow the lead of the psalmists
who in the face of the inexplicable
takes the time to describe their experience,
 however contradictory.
 
Have you ever noticed that about the psalms?
Especially the psalms of lament,
 the psalmist goes on and on about how awful life is
 and then at very end they give praise to God,
 and it seems to go against everything that came before,
 
 but we recognize the truth in these psalms
 because that’s how people of faith live,
 with the ability to tell God everything that’s going wrong
and at the same time still praise and trust God.
 
Our psalm for today is a psalm of praise,
in praising God,
 the psalmist describes the actions of God,
who upholds all who fall and lifts those who are bowed down,
 who satisfies the desire of every living thing,
who is near to all who call,
 
and throughout this litany of what God does
there is a kind of refrain
 as the psalmist says: “You Lord, are faithful in all your words and loving in all your works.”
 and later again “you are righteous in all your ways and loving in all your works.”
 
Even if we don’t understand what God is doing with our head knowledge,
we know with our heart knowledge
that God is faithful to God’s promises
and God acts in love.
And so we live into that truth.
 
It’s why we baptize babies like Royce.
Yes she doesn’t understand what that splash of water was about,
 and if we’re honest we don’t always fully understand either,
 
 but she does understand love
and ultimately that’s what is at the root of what happens at the font,
 
God loved the world so much
that God sent Jesus,
and in his death and resurrection
 Jesus bridged the gap between God and humanity
 
 and God who is faithful in all words
claims us as children of God,
 
and God who is loving in all works
 gave us a sign of that promise
so that on the days when we have doubts
we have a moment in time to point to and can say
 I am baptized! I am a child of God! I am loved!
 
And though we only baptize once,
 the water and the word are just the beginning of the baptismal life,
a life where we live into the love and identity that God has given us,
 
which is why we all promised to continue to live in community with Royce
and we promised that as she grows
 to bring her to the table
and to teach her the creed and the ten commandments, and the lord’s prayer,
and when she can read we’ll place the scriptures in her hands,
all the while continuing to surround her with love,
as we strive to do with all God’s children.
 
And we pray with Paul
 that God work through this community
 to strengthen her inner being with the power of the spirit,
 
that Christ may dwell in her heart
as she is rooted and grounded in love,
 
and we pray that she grows into some understanding
 but most of all
that she knows with head and heart
the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.
 
 That is our prayer for Royce,
 and for all God’s children,
including those of us gathered here,
 
 that we may be filled with all the fullness of God
 and that secure in our beloved identity as children of God
we may overflow with praise for the one who is faithful in all words
and loving in all works. Amen



 
 

9th Sunday After Pentecost
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm 23
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
​
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you from the one who is our unity and peace. Amen
 
We live in a world divided.
 I know, it’s an obvious statement,
 one so obvious that it hardly needs saying
everywhere we turn it seems like another division is appearing,
 another crack in the ground beneath our feet
separating us from our neighbor,
 it’s chaotic and tiring
 and frankly sometimes it’s hard to know what to believe
or if it will ever settle down.
 
into this division
Paul proclaims that our unity and peace come from Christ
 
And in the midst of the daily conflict
this sounds perhaps a bit hollow,
a nice sentiment to be sure, but idealistic,
out of touch with reality,
 we’ve become so tired by everything around us
that we even question the peace of Christ as hollow optimism.
 
yet, when we dig a little deeper,
 this unity and peace in Christ
 that Paul proclaims on behalf of God
 is based entirely on reality,
 
 it is a message of hope
 because it is unity and peace
 that have arisen from chaos,
 much like what swirls around us today
 
Chaos is nothing new to us humans
we heard God speaking through the prophet Jeremiah
in our first lesson,
“Woe to the shepherds who scatter the sheep of my pasture! Says the Lord.”
 
and God goes on to promise
 to gather the scattered together again
 and to raise up from David a righteous branch,
who shall lead and bring about justice and righteousness.
As Christians we believe that God fulfilled that promise in Jesus
 
Jesus,
who we see in our gospel
having compassion for the crowds
because they were like sheep without a shepherd,
 
pressing in on Jesus and his disciples
such that they couldn’t even eat,
 and when Jesus and the disciples get in a boat
 to go to the wilderness, to rest
and get back in touch with God
 the crowd anticipates where they are going and follow them,
 
wherever Jesus goes
 he creates an uproar
because the people,
the everyday people on the ground,
need so much,
 education, health care, food, hope.
And they find it in Jesus who is our unity and peace
 
Unity and peace that comes about
through the sacrificial actions of Jesus
 as Paul reminds the Ephesians: “For he [Jesus] is our peace, in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is the hostility between us… he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one spirit to the Father.”
 
Jesus brings peace and unity by crossing boundaries,
often invisible and stronger than physical barriers.
He sees a crack in the ground as a place to build a bridge or take a bigger step,
he sees people on the other side as friends he hadn’t met yet,
 he sees all as beloved children of God
who need the loving direction of a good shepherd
who will see the sheep through the peaks and valleys of life
 whose sheep are unified through the shepherd.
 
And ironically
Jesus’ peace disrupts the world,
because it is true peace,
where all live in harmony with one another,
 
as opposed to the peace of the world
where one group finally dominates another group
 and there is an absence of open conflict.
 
Jesus’ peace
 is a peace that must be practiced,
 it starts small and begins to grow.
 
In our second reading
 Paul is giving the Ephesians a pep talk
 before they continue with the mission of Christ
and in the part we heard today
he reminds them
 that though they are one community
now they started out as two,
 
two communities that the world said would never get along,
and even in Christ,
 at the beginning
there were conflicts,
fights over what was required for a person to become part of the community,
 
and now people who started out as divided strangers
 “are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord…”  
 
Sometimes when a community is established
it’s hard to remember just what it took to get that way
 
Peace and unity,
even peace and unity in Christ
 is a state that is intentionally grown into
which means ultimately that there’s hope for us
and the world around us
because in Christ we are called be growers of peace and unity.
 
Peace and unity grow
when we take the time to listen and try to understand
 someone who holds a differing opinion than ours,
 
peace and unity grow
when we reach out instead of pushing away,
peace and unity grow
when we build bridges and cross boundaries
to reach the children of God on the other side,
 
peace and unity grow
when we know that we have enough
 and work to share the extra.
 
And yes this is hard work,
 so there are times
 when we need to go to the wilderness,
 to reconnect with God,
to regain hope for the large task still ahead of us
 
so that when the seemingly endless crowds
 push in around us
we can still look with compassion
rather than contempt
 
as we remember that we too
were once in that situation
 but like lost sheep
 Jesus found us,
brought us into the fold
and continues to care for us like the good shepherd that he is,
guiding us in unity and peace. Amen
 

8th Sunday after Pentecost

Amos 7:7-15
Psalm 85:8-13
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ
grace and peace to you
from the one who destined us for adoption as Children of God. Amen
 
Identity and purpose,
these are the threads that run through our scripture today,
 calling us to consider who we are
 and what that means for our lives.
 
 And who we are,
 Primarily
 are people chosen by God.
 
 Our reading from Ephesians
 hammers this home again and again,
 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ… He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will...In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance...you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.”
 
God has acted decisively in regard to our identity,
there can be no question,
we are God’s
and while we use a variety of images
to try to explain this,
the end result is always the same,
 
God has chosen us,
not because of anything we have done or earned
 but because that’s who God is.
 
 We are God’s because of the grace of God.
 
And the appropriate response is to live for the praise of God’s glory.
 
When faced with such a gift,
what can we do but offer praise to God?
 
And how do we praise God?
In worship, prayer and song certainly
but also with how we live our lives,
consciously living out God’s vision for the redemption of the world,
a vision lived and taught by Jesus,
 
 one where all people have value
 and are treated accordingly,
value that is based on their God given identity
 and not on the many ways that the world has found
 to define and divide people,
 rich or poor,
 healthy or sick,
 by place of birth,
color of skin,
what value they’ll add to the economy, age,
the list goes on
 
And here’s the hard part,
 the world,
 those with power
don’t like when we live for the praise of God’s glory in this way,
 
 and sometimes we have to admit
that when we have power,
we aren’t always comfortable living for the praise of God’s glory either,
 because at times the blessings of the world
 seem to outweigh the blessings of God.
 
But that doesn’t change who we are
 and what we are supposed to do,
 and yes this is difficult,
 
our passage from Ephesians
 is a kind of pep talk to the community,
 building them back up before sending them out into the world again,
a world that is unreceptive to their message,
that will resist it in all ways possible.
 
The prophets are familiar with this resistance,
 two prophets join us today,
 in the Hebrew scriptures and in the gospel.
 
 Amos is called by God to pronounce judgement on Israel,
 and when he does he is confronted by the priest
 on behalf of the king,
who says ‘I know you have a message, just go someplace else and share it, the king and the land can’t take it, I won’t kill you, just go away.’
 
to which Amos responds (I paraphrase of course)
 ‘I feel you buddy, I was minding my own business tending my farm and my flock when God told me to go prophesy to the people. I don’t see myself as a professional prophet, just someone who is doing what God told them to do.’
 
In other words,
 this isn’t about earning a living as the priest suggests
 but a response to the call of God,
however inconvenient that may be.
God works through all of us,
 not just the professionals.
 
And then we have our friend John the Baptist
and the end of his story,
 
John who dared to tell the King what everyone knew,
 that it wasn’t lawful for him to marry his brother’s wife Herodias,
who hated John for pointing that out
because she had more power married to Herod than his brother Philip.
 
 So Herod puts John in prison
but protects him
because he has some respect for John as a holy man,
 
 but then comes the night where Herod hosts a banquet
and is pleased by his daughter’s dancing,
 and in front of everyone present,
all his officials
Herod promises to give her whatever she wants.
 
She consults her mother
and runs back to ask for the head of John on a platter
and Herod is presented with a choice:
 protect a man who he knows to be righteous and holy
 in front of all his officials
or maintain the facade of his benevolent power and do as requested.
 
And we know which he chooses
John is beheaded in prison
 and that is the end of that prophet.
Everything is at stake when we proclaim the message of God.
 John lost his head,
Jesus was crucified,
 but that was not the end.
 
God is bigger than the resistance the world puts up
bigger even than death,
in God life goes on,
and so does the message we are called to proclaim,
and more than proclaim we are called to live,
 
The message that God
 “set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”
 
And when God says all, God means all.
Even the people we don’t think deserve it.
 
At the youth gathering
 Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber spoke about grace
and her struggle with the fact that God’s grace is
 “Both for me and my haters.”
 
 She confessed she struggles with the wideness of God’s grace,
Her struggle is not a particular to her
 we all do at times,
because it just doesn’t seem fair
 
 and yet the only way that God’s good news
 can be good news for us,
is if it is good news for the people we can’t stand,
even for the people who have hurt us,
 because when it comes down to it,
we don’t deserve God’s grace either.
 
And yet
God claims us as Children
Has included us in the inheritance of redemption
And marked us with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit
So how can we not live to the praise of God’s glory? Amen
 

2nd Sunday After Pentecost
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Psalm 81:1-10
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
Mark 2:23-3:6

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you
from the one who chooses abundant life over safety. Amen
 
Jesus right from the beginning of his ministry
 chooses abundant life over safety.
 
We have two prime examples in our gospel for today.
 In the first story
 Jesus’ disciples are hungry,
 and so as they walk through a field
they pluck heads of grain to eat.
 
Some Pharisees see this
and complain to Jesus.
 The grain was not the problem
 they were not stealing it,
Jewish law demands that farmers
 leave a certain portion of their crops in the fields
for the poor, widowed and orphaned to glean,
 and that is what the disciples were doing.
 
The problem was that the day happened to be the sabbath,
the seventh day of the week
 given by God to the people to rest,
 therefore, also in Jewish law
 work is forbidden on the Sabbath
 and that is what concerned the pharisees.
 
Jesus responds to this legal question
with a legal answer
- rabbis love to debate the law so this is not unusual,
 he gives them a precedent example
of when a law was broken
because someone was hungry, in need,
and there was a higher purpose at stake.
 
It was not legal for David to eat the bread of the presence,
 but doing so allowed him to fulfill his God given call
 to become King of Israel.
 
 According to biblical scholar Matt Skinner,
none of these arguments would have been new
or even unreasonable to the Pharisees
 
 and even though the story doesn’t tell it
I can just imagine a debate ensuing
about how hungry someone must be
to justify breaking the law.
 
 But we don’t get that,
the story ends when Jesus reminds the Pharisees
 that the sabbath was given as a gift to humans,
and claims power over the Sabbath
 “So the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath”
of course the pharisees don’t like that claim of authority but that’s a whole other sermon.
 
In entering into this debate,
in effect the pharisees are valuing the law over quality of life
 while Jesus is valuing quality of life over the law.
 
His point is
what good is keeping the law
if it takes away life rather than gives it?
 
Now I don’t want to portray the pharisees as the bad guys
 as so often happens,
they are deeply religious and sincere leaders
who want the best for their community,
 
 the problem is that they have gotten caught up
in following the letter of the law
rather than the spirit of the law.
 
And if we’re honest with ourselves
 we can probably think of a time
 when we were guilty of the same thing,
focusing so much on something supposed to give life
that it actually took life away.
 
But Jesus is clear,
 if it comes down to a decision between following the rules or abundant life,
 he will choose abundant life.
 
This choice is reinforced in the next story.
 Jesus enters the synagogue on the Sabbath
 where there is a man with a withered hand
 
and now the pharisees are on the lookout for Jesus
 and his sabbath breaking ways,
they’re waiting for him to break the Sabbath
 by healing the man so they can go tell on him.
 
And Jesus knows this,
 so he tries to enter into a legal debate with them again
 offering them the familiar argument
that it is lawful to save a life on the sabbath
 
but this time they refuse to respond,
 they have passed the point of reason
and this makes Jesus angry and sad at the hardness of their hearts,
 that they are so intent on catching him doing something wrong
 that they refuse to celebrate the life giving intent of the sabbath with giving life.
 
So Jesus heals the man,
restores his ability to work
and provide for his family
 and raises up the whole community along with the man.
 
At this the pharisees and the Herodians,
presumably people with the ear of King Herod,
 begin conspiring against Jesus,
working on a way to destroy him.
 
Already at the beginning of chapter 3 of the gospel of Mark
Jesus has begun walking toward the cross
by choosing abundant life,
putting his own safety at risk
 by defying the definition of how he is supposed to act
as defined by people with some measure of power.
 
Choosing life sets Jesus on a path to his death,
a death which leads to abundant life for all
because even in death
 Jesus defies what’s supposed to happen
 when God raises him from the dead to abundant life.
 
This abundant life Jesus offers to us,
freely as a gift.
 And out of joy we proclaim Jesus Christ to others
 and offer our lives in service following Jesus’ call
to live in the same way he did,
choosing abundant life over safety.
 
Paul, in our reading from 2 Corinthians
speaks to what happens when we live lives of service to Jesus.
 
Paul notes that we have a tendency
 to forget while doing ministry
that the power comes from God and not from ourselves-
 
like the pharisees we end up focusing on the wrong thing
forgetting that God is the creator of the universe
and that we are creation.
This, is why, Paul says,
we have the treasure of life in clay jars,
our bodies are impermanent
 prone to breaking,
 a reminder that only God is forever.
 
And with our fragile impermanent bodies
we are to follow Jesus
which means choosing abundant life over safety.
 
 Paul goes into great detail about just what this looks like
“We are afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not driven to despair,
 persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For 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. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”
 
In contradiction to the ways of the world
 in Jesus death is followed by new life.
 
The world around us tries to tell us differently,
playing on our need for safety and security
 to bring out fears
and pit us against one another.
 
But we have the antidote to those fears,
Jesus Christ
 
Because when we have Jesus
 we have all we need,
we have abundant life
 and nothing, not even death,
can separate us from the love of God. Amen