“OUT OF STRUGGLE COMES GREAT BLESSING”
Acts 2: 14a, 22 – 32; Psalm 118: 19 – 24; I Peter 1: 3 – 9; John 20: 19 – 31
A homily by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Does the thought ever occur that some of the most beautiful and comforting words ever recorded in the Bible were said as a direct result of someone’s personal struggle and doubt?
Here are those beautiful words to which I refer: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.” (John 20: 29, Jesus, speaking to Thomas.)
And here is the doubt and struggle to which I refer: Thomas says, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”[1]
It may well be that we expect too many quick and instantaneous answers to our doubts and struggles, as we come to the place where Doubting Thomas did, to belief in Jesus Christ, and particularly, in the reality and power of His resurrection.
It doesn’t help that we live in a society where quick, easy and facile answers are the expectation….After all, we can simply push a button, and we have instant results, instant answers to our questions and problems, in many cases. Is it not true?
But the walk of faith isn’t that way. It isn’t in the age in which we live, and it wasn’t in the time when Our Lord walked this earth and ate, drank and walked with His disciples.
Consider how long and awkward that week was between the first Easter Sunday when Jesus appeared to His disciples who were locked away in that upper room, and the appearance we read about today….In between, Thomas made his famous pronouncement: “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
Now John does not narrate the time that elapsed between the uttering of Thomas’ words and Jesus’ appearance, but that time that passed must have been awkward! It must have seemed like an eternity, with the 10 who had witnessed Jesus’ resurrection firsthand trying to understand why Thomas couldn’t accept their witness. And Thomas must have felt like the “odd man out”, the only one who couldn’t believe and who hadn’t “seen the Lord”.
In this situation, there were no easy or quick answers.
Thomas and the other 10 disciples had to live this one out, until the Lord would step in to meet Thomas’ needs in the way that would move Thomas from unbelief to firm belief.
Thomas’ situation is like our situation, oftentimes….We demand proof of the spiritual realities that would allow us to put our feet forward in faith to come to belief.
And we struggle as we seek the assurances we need.
Others see our struggle, some of whom are trying to come to faith themselves, while others are further down the road of belief, and who earnestly want others to take the first step as well, stand, looking back at us as if to say, “Well, come on!”
But each of us must walk begin the journey alone. Surely that was the case with Thomas: No amount of talking or pouring over the facts of Jesus’ resurrected appearance would have convinced Thomas. Only the Lord Himself could provide the grounds for Thomas to say, “My Lord and my God!”[2]
Where is the proof to be found today? The proof, that is, of the power of Jesus’ resurrection?
First and foremost, it is to be found in Holy Scripture….For the writer of the Fourth Gospel goes on to say, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing in Him you may have life in His name.”[3]
And the proof is also to be found in Christians who have already come to a place of believing themselves, their own faith journey, in many cases, made possible by the witness of other Christians. Truly, the saying that says, “Christianity is often caught, not taught” is supported by years of evidence. And, it is also true that, the deeper, longer and harder the struggle a person has to come to faith, the more evident and firm is the resulting faith.
And then, I think, the Lord continues to provide the evidence we need as we are able to place our trust more and more in Him. Another saying says, “I believe in order to know, and I know in order to believe.” Simply put, as we grow in faith, we also grow in assurance with the help of the Holy Spirit.
May our faith walk and faith struggle be the source of comfort and assurance to others, as they, too, come to know the Lord personally and fully, coming to that place where we say with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!”
AMEN.
[1] John 20: 25
[2] John 20: 28
[3] John 20: 30 - 31
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
The Feast of the Resurrection, Year A
“COME AND SEE – AND BELIEVE”
Acts 10: 34 – 43; Psalm 118: 14 – 17, 22 – 24; Colossians 3: 1 – 4; John 20: 1 – 18
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Easter Sunday morning, March 23rd, 2008
“Come and see,” we read again and again in John’s Gospel account….
We first encounter it in chapter one, verse 39, where Jesus says in response to the question, “Where are you staying?” “Come and see,” He replies.
A short time later in the same chapter (verses 45 – 46), we encounter the same words again. Philip says to Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” In response, Nathanael says to Philip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, and Philip says, “Come and see.”
And yet again, when Jesus came to Bethany upon the death of his friend, Lazarus, He asked Lazarus’ friends where he had been buried. In response, they say to Jesus, “Come and see.”[1]
John’s entire Gospel account can be summed up in this phrase: “Come and see.”
“Come and see”, in order to believe.
And here, in John’s recounting of the events of this Easter Sunday morning, the theme is clear: Mary Magdalene, came to the tomb, but then runs to summon Simon Peter and the Beloved Disciple when she finds it empty. They, too, come to the tomb, look in and see the linen cloths and the face cloth lying, and the tomb empty. Then, John tells us, the Beloved disciple comes to believe (verse 8).[2]
The same progression occurs with Mary….Beginning in verse 11, she, having already come to the tomb, stands outside weeping. Her recognition of Jesus begins when she sees the empty tomb and the angels (verse 11), and her believing is complete when Jesus calls her by name (verse 16).
John makes clear some things about his Gospel account, and his intent in writing down the factual events involving Jesus’ identity, Jesus’ purpose in coming to us, dwelling with us in His full humanity, Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. We can summarize them best by recounting what John himself says about the written record he has left for our benefit. Here are the salient points John makes, it seems to me:
The truth of the written record: “He (the Gospel writer) who saw it has borne witness – his testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth, that you also may believe.” (John 19: 35: the eyewitness account at the foot of the Cross.)[3]
The purpose of the written record: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20: 30 – 31)
John’s invitation in the written record, is: Come and see – and believe!”
The written record we have of Jesus’ mighty act in saving us from our sins and our hopelessness has one central purpose: to invite us to come to the written record, to see in that record the truth of the events that took place through the eyewitness accounts of the disciples-become-apostles, and to come to believe not only the truth of these accounts, but the truth of Jesus Christ.
Scripture points consistently beyond itself to the truth of God, working in human affairs, saving us time and again all throughout history, saving us ultimately in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Our task as believing Christians is to come to the Lord through the written record, to see the Lord in the written word, and to believe the truths we read there.
Oftentimes, this process: come – see – believe, is a struggle…Much of what we read in the sacred pages of the Bible is difficult to accept. But, if we are to be faithful to God’s intent in sending Jesus Christ, we cannot take away anything of what the Bible says to us, nor can we add anything to it. To do so is to depart from the anchor of our faith, Holy Scripture.
We must ask the Holy Spirit to enable us when we encounter difficult sayings or things that are hard to understand. Eventually, we will know all that God has for us to know. St. Paul puts it best in I Corinthians 13: 12, “Now I know in part, then I shall understand fully…”
One final word: The process of come – see – believe is not intended to end with us. The Christian faith is not intended to be like the Dead Sea, which receives water, but shares no water with any other place or body. We cannot be like that. For God intends for us to share the Good News of Jesus Christ in sacramental living, that is, living a life whose outward and visible signs of the marks of Christ are testimony to the inward and spiritual grace of Jesus Christ’s presence within us.
So, our lives are to show forth this invitation: come – see – believe.
_________________________________________________________
[1] John 11: 34
[2] Simon Peter apparently takes a little longer to come to belief, for Jesus has yet to rehabilitate him with the question Jesus asks of Peter three times in chapter 21, “Peter, do you love me?” (John 21: 15 – 19)
[3] In a similar vein, see also John 21: 24, which reads, “This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.”
Acts 10: 34 – 43; Psalm 118: 14 – 17, 22 – 24; Colossians 3: 1 – 4; John 20: 1 – 18
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Easter Sunday morning, March 23rd, 2008
“Come and see,” we read again and again in John’s Gospel account….
We first encounter it in chapter one, verse 39, where Jesus says in response to the question, “Where are you staying?” “Come and see,” He replies.
A short time later in the same chapter (verses 45 – 46), we encounter the same words again. Philip says to Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” In response, Nathanael says to Philip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, and Philip says, “Come and see.”
And yet again, when Jesus came to Bethany upon the death of his friend, Lazarus, He asked Lazarus’ friends where he had been buried. In response, they say to Jesus, “Come and see.”[1]
John’s entire Gospel account can be summed up in this phrase: “Come and see.”
“Come and see”, in order to believe.
And here, in John’s recounting of the events of this Easter Sunday morning, the theme is clear: Mary Magdalene, came to the tomb, but then runs to summon Simon Peter and the Beloved Disciple when she finds it empty. They, too, come to the tomb, look in and see the linen cloths and the face cloth lying, and the tomb empty. Then, John tells us, the Beloved disciple comes to believe (verse 8).[2]
The same progression occurs with Mary….Beginning in verse 11, she, having already come to the tomb, stands outside weeping. Her recognition of Jesus begins when she sees the empty tomb and the angels (verse 11), and her believing is complete when Jesus calls her by name (verse 16).
John makes clear some things about his Gospel account, and his intent in writing down the factual events involving Jesus’ identity, Jesus’ purpose in coming to us, dwelling with us in His full humanity, Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. We can summarize them best by recounting what John himself says about the written record he has left for our benefit. Here are the salient points John makes, it seems to me:
The truth of the written record: “He (the Gospel writer) who saw it has borne witness – his testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth, that you also may believe.” (John 19: 35: the eyewitness account at the foot of the Cross.)[3]
The purpose of the written record: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20: 30 – 31)
John’s invitation in the written record, is: Come and see – and believe!”
The written record we have of Jesus’ mighty act in saving us from our sins and our hopelessness has one central purpose: to invite us to come to the written record, to see in that record the truth of the events that took place through the eyewitness accounts of the disciples-become-apostles, and to come to believe not only the truth of these accounts, but the truth of Jesus Christ.
Scripture points consistently beyond itself to the truth of God, working in human affairs, saving us time and again all throughout history, saving us ultimately in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Our task as believing Christians is to come to the Lord through the written record, to see the Lord in the written word, and to believe the truths we read there.
Oftentimes, this process: come – see – believe, is a struggle…Much of what we read in the sacred pages of the Bible is difficult to accept. But, if we are to be faithful to God’s intent in sending Jesus Christ, we cannot take away anything of what the Bible says to us, nor can we add anything to it. To do so is to depart from the anchor of our faith, Holy Scripture.
We must ask the Holy Spirit to enable us when we encounter difficult sayings or things that are hard to understand. Eventually, we will know all that God has for us to know. St. Paul puts it best in I Corinthians 13: 12, “Now I know in part, then I shall understand fully…”
One final word: The process of come – see – believe is not intended to end with us. The Christian faith is not intended to be like the Dead Sea, which receives water, but shares no water with any other place or body. We cannot be like that. For God intends for us to share the Good News of Jesus Christ in sacramental living, that is, living a life whose outward and visible signs of the marks of Christ are testimony to the inward and spiritual grace of Jesus Christ’s presence within us.
So, our lives are to show forth this invitation: come – see – believe.
_________________________________________________________
[1] John 11: 34
[2] Simon Peter apparently takes a little longer to come to belief, for Jesus has yet to rehabilitate him with the question Jesus asks of Peter three times in chapter 21, “Peter, do you love me?” (John 21: 15 – 19)
[3] In a similar vein, see also John 21: 24, which reads, “This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.”
Saturday, March 22, 2008
The Great Vigil of Easter, Year A
“DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION?”
Romans 6: 3 – 11; Matthew 28: 1 – 10
A homily by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Easter Eve, Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
“Do you believe in the resurrection?”
“Do you believe in the resurrection?”…that was the very first (or maybe the second, I can’t remember) question I was asked by the Vestry last May when I interviewed to become your new Rector….
Now, you’ve got to admit, it pays to be careful around these Vestry types…they just might ask some sneaky questions, trying to flush out a prospective pastor like one would scare a bird out of a bush.
But their question didn’t scare me, not at all.
I said (I hope boldly), “Yes, I do.”
(Then, since they were on a roll, they went on to ask me another question, “Do you believe in the Virgin Birth?” Again, I said, “Yes, I do.”)
After these two questions (and maybe some others, I can’t exactly remember) and answers, we got into a general discussion about the inability of many who are ordained who cannot affirm these central truths of the Christian faith, or at least not without considerable reservation.
As I think about it, being asked if I believe in the resurrection is about like asking if, as an American, I believe in the basic human rights that are guaranteed to us in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
For we Americans, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of which it is a part is the foundational document which defines who we are, what we believe to be important about ordering our common life, and how we will conduct ourselves as citizens of this great country.
For Christians, Holy Scripture is our foundational document. It defines what we believe, it tells us what is important about our life in Christ, and it tells us how we are to conduct ourselves as Christians.
To deny the truths of the Bible in their literal and spiritual senses is to deny the very foundation of our faith.
For Scripture points beyond itself to the reality upon which it is based, the reality of God’s acting in human affairs through the person of Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, who came to redeem us from sin, and to deliver us from sin’s result, which is death.
Now, let’s return to the resurrection.
I said a moment ago that the truths of the Bible have literal and spiritual aspects to them. That is so.
So, it is first to the literal truths of the Bible as we read them, those events concerning Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection:
Jesus really died: The truth of the resurrection rests to a large degree on the truth of Jesus’ death. Among the observations we can make about the certainty that Jesus really died and was buried, are the following:
Romans 6: 3 – 11; Matthew 28: 1 – 10
A homily by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Easter Eve, Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
“Do you believe in the resurrection?”
“Do you believe in the resurrection?”…that was the very first (or maybe the second, I can’t remember) question I was asked by the Vestry last May when I interviewed to become your new Rector….
Now, you’ve got to admit, it pays to be careful around these Vestry types…they just might ask some sneaky questions, trying to flush out a prospective pastor like one would scare a bird out of a bush.
But their question didn’t scare me, not at all.
I said (I hope boldly), “Yes, I do.”
(Then, since they were on a roll, they went on to ask me another question, “Do you believe in the Virgin Birth?” Again, I said, “Yes, I do.”)
After these two questions (and maybe some others, I can’t exactly remember) and answers, we got into a general discussion about the inability of many who are ordained who cannot affirm these central truths of the Christian faith, or at least not without considerable reservation.
As I think about it, being asked if I believe in the resurrection is about like asking if, as an American, I believe in the basic human rights that are guaranteed to us in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
For we Americans, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of which it is a part is the foundational document which defines who we are, what we believe to be important about ordering our common life, and how we will conduct ourselves as citizens of this great country.
For Christians, Holy Scripture is our foundational document. It defines what we believe, it tells us what is important about our life in Christ, and it tells us how we are to conduct ourselves as Christians.
To deny the truths of the Bible in their literal and spiritual senses is to deny the very foundation of our faith.
For Scripture points beyond itself to the reality upon which it is based, the reality of God’s acting in human affairs through the person of Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, who came to redeem us from sin, and to deliver us from sin’s result, which is death.
Now, let’s return to the resurrection.
I said a moment ago that the truths of the Bible have literal and spiritual aspects to them. That is so.
So, it is first to the literal truths of the Bible as we read them, those events concerning Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection:
Jesus really died: The truth of the resurrection rests to a large degree on the truth of Jesus’ death. Among the observations we can make about the certainty that Jesus really died and was buried, are the following:
- Jesus’ identity is confirmed by the Sanhedrin, the crowds who called for his death, by Pilate in his retorts to the crowds, by the insults that were hurled at Jesus as he hung on the cross, and by the sign which was affixed to the cross over his head;
- A crucified man did not get off the cross alive;
- Jesus’ execution was public, and was witnessed by a large group of people in a public place; and
- he site of his burial was known, and was guarded by a posted guard.
Jesus really rose again: The truth of the resurrection is dependent upon the reality of Jesus’ death. In fact, the miraculous aspect of the resurrection is deepened by the certainty of the death. We may observe the following with regard to the truth of the resurrection:
- Holy Scripture takes great pains to tell us that Jesus had a real, physical presence with the disciples. Notice how Luke tells us that He asked for something to eat,[1] and how He told the disciples to touch Him, as He said, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.”[2]
- The eyewitnesses include not only the women who came to the tomb, but the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples, His mother, and then a crowd of 500 people all at once.[3]
And now, let’s turn to the spiritual truths of Jesus’ death and resurrection….
Spiritually, Jesus’ death retains its importance because His death means that God had put Jesus away, out of God the Father’s presence, as Jesus takes our sins onto Himself…..The Apostles’ Creed affirms this reality when it says, “He (Jesus) descended to the dead.”[4]
Jesus’ resurrection signifies the literal and spiritual victory over death, sin and the powers of evil. As He rose again on Easter Sunday morning, all the forces that were arrayed against Him suffered defeat, for they could not keep Him in the grave. Death was conquered, and He arose, never to die again. And, as He said, at the end of all things, He will return again and His reign will have no end.[5] We are offered hope for the same destiny as a result of accepting it in faith.
Now, many today – both inside and outside the Church – cannot accept the literal reality of Jesus’ resurrection. Their reactions to it are varied, but they might include: 1. the resurrection was merely a fantasy made up by the disciples to cover/deal with their grief at Jesus’ death; 2. It was mass hysteria that caused the purported sightings of Jesus which were reported by the disciples; and 3. Ancient peoples had a far different mindset and world view (now antiquated and surpassed, by the way, of modern knowledge, wisdom and scientific discovery) which affected their perceptions of reality.
“Do you believe in the resurrection?”
That was the question that was posed to me last May, as I said.
And the answer still is, “Yes, I do, both literally (as an actual, historical event) and spiritually.”
“Why?” you might ask….
Here are some of the reasons:
- 1. It is far better for me to allow God to be God, and to recognize that the One through whom the entire world was made can certainly overrule the physical laws of nature and raise Jesus from the dead;
- Allied to this first point is that I must allow Holy Scripture to judge me, not the other way around; and
- Something happened to cause the disciples, that fear-filled little group, to become fearless proclaimers of Jesus’ resurrection (remember, the Romans were “equal opportunity killers”, and to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection was to invite one’s own death – as the records shows, that many of the disciples suffered martyrdom for their faith in Christ).
And then, finally, I’ve seen too much evidence of the risen Jesus’ work in people’s lives…Those who can see Him waiting for them at the hour of death, those who have had their lives completely turned around from destructive, sinful lifestyles when nothing else had worked, those who suffer death for their faith, knowing that the reality of the resurrection is greater than any other reality this life can offer to us.
“Do you believe in the resurrection?”
______________________________________________________________
[1] Luke 24: 41 - 42
[2] Luke 24: 39. See also Jesus’ instruction to Thomas to touch his hands and his feet (John 20: 27).
[3] I Corinthians 15: 6
[4] Book of Common Prayer (BCP), 1979, p. 96
[5] The Nicene Creed (BCP p. 326) affirms this reality.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Maundy Thursday, Year A
“IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME”
Exodus 12: 1 – 14a; Psalm 78: 14 – 20, 23 – 25; I Corinthians 11: 23 – 32; Luke 22: 14 – 30
A homily by The Rev. Gene Tucker given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL on Thursday, March 20th, 2008
“Do this in remembrance of me,” we read in tonight’s Gospel, Luke 22: 19.
“Remembrance”…. “Remember”…..
If we take a look at our dictionaries, nearly all of them define “remember” as being able to recall or recollect a memory in our minds, a memory of some past event.
But the ancient Jews had a far different understanding….to them, “remember” meant to “re-member” or to “put together again”, as if to bring into the present the very person and power of an event that had happened in the past.
You see, we Westerners are the ones who separate mind from body, spiritual from physical, present and past. The ancient peoples didn’t do that….they had a far more holistic understanding of life, seeing it as an interwoven fabric of mind, body, spirit and soul, which were all bound together by the great events of God’s acting in His people’s lives, events which happened all over again, in a sense, every time an event was recreated or re-enacted.
In their holistic sense of all these things, they were at a far greater advantage than we 21st century Christians who live in a western culture are.
So, what exactly is it that we “remember” this Maundy Thursday evening, which is the evening of the Last Supper, and the occasion of the giving of one of the two great dominical sacraments?[1]
What is it that we are bringing forward by our re-enactment of it, to re-member (or, as we said above, “put together all over again”) tonight?
The re-enactment of the Holy Communion, the Holy Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, or the Last Supper (to name some of the ways Christians describe this holy meal that we take part in this evening) is an event which combines Good Friday and Easter Sunday themes.
Let me explain:
It is a Good Friday event in that it remembers, brings back together, our Lord Jesus Christ’s suffering and death for our sins, and for the sins of the whole world….Notice the language that is used to describe the Lord’s sacrifice on our behalf, His atonement, His “at-one-ment” for our transgressions….the language of the Communion prayer is filled with re-membrances of Christ’s suffering and death. We use His words as we take the bread and the wine into our hands: “This is my body, this is my blood.” And we recall, that is, to bring forward in actuality into this present moment that past event, Christ’s sacrifice for and His satisfaction of the debt our sins created. We bring it forward, to “re-member” it with all the power of the original event of 2,000 years ago. Our spiritual forebearers, the ancient Jews, would look at it exactly that way.
So the Communion event is a Good Friday event.
But it’s also an Easter event, for it remembers Christ’s victory over death, as we recall “His mighty resurrection and glorious ascension”[2], even as we affirm that we are to continue this memorial “until His coming again.”[3]
And, because Our Lord uses (deliberately, I think) language that indicates His actual presence in the Sacrament, we acknowledge that He is really present with us in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. For He said, “This is my body”, and “This is my blood.”
By the gift of Himself on the cross, we are freed from the power of sin and its debt. And so we recall the heavy price our Lord Jesus Christ paid for the debts our sins created.
And, we recall His victory over death on Easter Sunday morning. For Our Lord’s resurrection is the “first fruits”[4] in the victory over sin and death that will one day – at the great and last day of the General Resurrection – be ours as well.
__________________________________________________
[1] A dominical sacrament is a sacrament ordained and given by Christ (the Lord – hence the name) Himself.
[2] Book of Common Prayer, 1979, page 335
[3] Ibid., page 334
[4] See St. Paul’s use of the word “firstfruits” in I Corinthians 15: 20 – 23.
Exodus 12: 1 – 14a; Psalm 78: 14 – 20, 23 – 25; I Corinthians 11: 23 – 32; Luke 22: 14 – 30
A homily by The Rev. Gene Tucker given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL on Thursday, March 20th, 2008
“Do this in remembrance of me,” we read in tonight’s Gospel, Luke 22: 19.
“Remembrance”…. “Remember”…..
If we take a look at our dictionaries, nearly all of them define “remember” as being able to recall or recollect a memory in our minds, a memory of some past event.
But the ancient Jews had a far different understanding….to them, “remember” meant to “re-member” or to “put together again”, as if to bring into the present the very person and power of an event that had happened in the past.
You see, we Westerners are the ones who separate mind from body, spiritual from physical, present and past. The ancient peoples didn’t do that….they had a far more holistic understanding of life, seeing it as an interwoven fabric of mind, body, spirit and soul, which were all bound together by the great events of God’s acting in His people’s lives, events which happened all over again, in a sense, every time an event was recreated or re-enacted.
In their holistic sense of all these things, they were at a far greater advantage than we 21st century Christians who live in a western culture are.
So, what exactly is it that we “remember” this Maundy Thursday evening, which is the evening of the Last Supper, and the occasion of the giving of one of the two great dominical sacraments?[1]
What is it that we are bringing forward by our re-enactment of it, to re-member (or, as we said above, “put together all over again”) tonight?
The re-enactment of the Holy Communion, the Holy Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, or the Last Supper (to name some of the ways Christians describe this holy meal that we take part in this evening) is an event which combines Good Friday and Easter Sunday themes.
Let me explain:
It is a Good Friday event in that it remembers, brings back together, our Lord Jesus Christ’s suffering and death for our sins, and for the sins of the whole world….Notice the language that is used to describe the Lord’s sacrifice on our behalf, His atonement, His “at-one-ment” for our transgressions….the language of the Communion prayer is filled with re-membrances of Christ’s suffering and death. We use His words as we take the bread and the wine into our hands: “This is my body, this is my blood.” And we recall, that is, to bring forward in actuality into this present moment that past event, Christ’s sacrifice for and His satisfaction of the debt our sins created. We bring it forward, to “re-member” it with all the power of the original event of 2,000 years ago. Our spiritual forebearers, the ancient Jews, would look at it exactly that way.
So the Communion event is a Good Friday event.
But it’s also an Easter event, for it remembers Christ’s victory over death, as we recall “His mighty resurrection and glorious ascension”[2], even as we affirm that we are to continue this memorial “until His coming again.”[3]
And, because Our Lord uses (deliberately, I think) language that indicates His actual presence in the Sacrament, we acknowledge that He is really present with us in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. For He said, “This is my body”, and “This is my blood.”
By the gift of Himself on the cross, we are freed from the power of sin and its debt. And so we recall the heavy price our Lord Jesus Christ paid for the debts our sins created.
And, we recall His victory over death on Easter Sunday morning. For Our Lord’s resurrection is the “first fruits”[4] in the victory over sin and death that will one day – at the great and last day of the General Resurrection – be ours as well.
__________________________________________________
[1] A dominical sacrament is a sacrament ordained and given by Christ (the Lord – hence the name) Himself.
[2] Book of Common Prayer, 1979, page 335
[3] Ibid., page 334
[4] See St. Paul’s use of the word “firstfruits” in I Corinthians 15: 20 – 23.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Palm Sunday, Year A
“WHO IS THIS?”
Matthew 21:1–11; Psalm 118:19–29; Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12; Psalm 22:1-11; Philippians 2:5–11; Matthew 26:36 – 27:66
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, March 16th, 2008
“Who is this?”
That’s the question the onlookers ask of those who are crying “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
“Who is this?”
That is the question that has come to generations of people since the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago.
“Who is this?”
That is the question that has led some within the Church – both in our own day and in the very early centuries of the Church’s existence - to question, or to try to explain away – the central message of Jesus Christ’s identity: His passion, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven.
For, as St. Paul says so clearly, “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling to Jews and folly to Gentiles.”[1]
There’s no getting around the central meaning and theme of the Christian faith: That Jesus Christ came as King and Lord, but also as Suffering Servant.[2]
And both of these themes: King and Lord, but also Suffering Servant, are present in the scene that Matthew lays before us as Jesus makes His way into the Holy City of Jerusalem on this Palm Sunday.
So, before we look more closely at the question before us this morning, “Who is this?”, let’s look more closely at Matthew’s reporting of the Triumphal Entry.
In order to understand the setting and the context for today’s reading from chapter 21, we need to back up into chapter 20.
We begin by looking at chapter 20, verses 20 – 28….Here, the mother of the Sons of Zebedee (James and John) comes to Jesus and asks that each one of them be given a place of position and power in Jesus’ kingdom. But Jesus’ response is summarized in verse 28, where we read, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Next, we turn to verses 29 – 34. Here, we see that Jesus is passing through Jericho on His way to Jerusalem. And along the way, He encounters two blind men, who cry out to Him, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” The two are healed, and begin to follow Jesus along with the large crowd that are travelling with Him to the Holy City, 12 miles to the west, and 4,000 feet higher in elevation.
Now, we are ready to look at today’s passage, Matthew 21: 1 – 11. Presumably, the healing of the two blind men serves to identify Jesus as “Son of David” to the crowd. But this title for Jesus appears throughout Matthew’s Gospel account….Consider Matthew 1: 1, which reads, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.”
Right from the beginning, Matthew records this title for Jesus, which is filled with kingly association and power. To the first century Jew, the hearing of this title, Son of David, would have brought royal images to mind. (The point was not lost on Jesus’ opponents in the ruling councils of His time, who use this kingly association to good effect when they hand Him over to Pilate. They recognized the significance of the royal claims that “Son of David” represented, even as they also understood the significance of Jesus as Prophet.[3] Both titles created alarm in the ruling councils of Jesus’ day.)
But there’s something else at work here, as we see this Son of David, this kingly figure, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey….
And it is an association that would not have been lost on Jesus’ disciples, nor on the crowd which spread their garments and palm branches along the road that day: It is the image which the Old Testament prophet Zechariah records in Zechariah 9: 9, heard in verse 5, “Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass.”
We should pause here for a moment…..notice the key words king and humble. Those two words don’t seem to go together, do they? No, our human expectations are that a king will ride into the city on a white charger, sword held high in victory.
But this is not the image we have before us….We have the image of the king, riding into the city in humility, on a lowly beast of burden, a donkey.
Zechariah’s image is of the king who conquers,[4] who delivers Jerusalem and then extends his reign from “sea to sea”, but who rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. Moreover, this king stands in victory on the Mount of Olives.[5]
This image might well prompt us to ask, “Who is this?”
The two images, king and humble, don’t go together at all, do they?
That’s what many in the early Church thought, too…..We’ve just finished our Lenten Study Series, concentrating on some of the early heresies that challenged the Church to look closely at what it had received as truth from the Apostles.
In answer to this central question, “Who is this?” some of the movements we looked at this Lent came to vastly different conclusions about this humble king.
We looked at Marcion, who claimed that Jesus’ death was the work of the evil Old Testament God Jehovah, who was evil, vindictive, and judgmental. But, Marcion claimed, the God and Father of Jesus Christ is loving, kind, always wanting to shower us with all sorts of good things, but who never judges us.
And, at about the same time, the Gnostics claimed that Jesus Christ was a divine figure, but not really human. Moreover, they claimed, Jesus didn’t really die, since He wasn’t really human.
Finally, we looked at Arianism, that fourth century movement that denied Jesus’ divinity, claiming that He was just a human being like us, a “good guy”, a “charismatic figure and great teacher”, but nothing more.
The net effect of all these three challenges to the Apostolic faith that had been handed down through Jesus’ Disciples-become-Apostles had the same bottom line: 1. (Marcion) There’s no need for Jesus to suffer and die for us because God loves us and doesn’t judge us; 2. (Gnostics) Jesus’ death only seemed to occur…in reality, it didn’t because Jesus wasn’t really human. Besides, having special knowledge of the way to God is the key to salvation anyway; and 3. (Arianism) Since Jesus was the “first created being”, He wasn’t divine at all….He was just like us in almost every way.
All three make a mockery of the events of Holy Week. They attempt to gut the cross of its significance, and try to explain away our sinful condition as human beings that made Jesus’ death a necessity.
They all try to say, “I’m OK, you’re OK.”
But the question lingers, “Who is this?”
It is the question that is squarely before us this morning, and which ought to be before us all through this Holy Week.
For we cannot approach Easter Sunday morning, when Jesus rises victoriously from the grave, conquering all the powers of sin and death that would try to divide His divinity from His humanity, without walking alongside Him on the way to the cross on Good Friday.
“If anyone would come after me, let him take up their cross and follow me,” He said.[6]
“Who is this?”
To answer that question, there’s no getting around the events of this Holy Week….For the central Christian message – if indeed the message we hear is truly faithful to the Apostolic witness as we have it in Holy Scripture – is that Jesus Christ came as king, yet in humility, to suffer and die for us, to become the payment for our sins.
That is the doctrine of the Atonement, Jesus’ sacrifice making “at-one-ment” possible with God the Father, which is at the central core of the Christian faith. It is the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, given to all believers on Maundy Thursday evening during the Last Supper, which we, as believers today, celebrate not only as a commemoration of Jesus’ death and sacrifice, but as a unique means of Jesus’ continual presence with us in the bread and the wine every time we gather to receive this Sacrament.
“Who is this?”
Who is Jesus to us?
King? Prophet? Conqueror of death and sin? Payment for our sins and the sins of the whole world?
-Or-
A great teacher? A charismatic figure? A “good guy” who got a bum deal from Pilate? A human being just like us?
How do we answer?
________________________________________________
[1] I Corinthians 1: 23
[2] Drawn from Isaiah 52: 13 – 53: 12.
[3] The concept of prophet draws its significance from Deuteronomy 18: 15, where we read, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me (Moses) from among you; from your brethren – him you shall heed.” Many in Jesus’ day were looking for such a prophet…Notice that the Jews ask John the Baptist (John 1: 21) “Are you the Prophet?”
[4] Zechariah 9: 9 – 17 is well worth reading.
[5] See Zechariah 14: 4.
[6] Matthew 16: 24
Matthew 21:1–11; Psalm 118:19–29; Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12; Psalm 22:1-11; Philippians 2:5–11; Matthew 26:36 – 27:66
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, March 16th, 2008
“Who is this?”
That’s the question the onlookers ask of those who are crying “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
“Who is this?”
That is the question that has come to generations of people since the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago.
“Who is this?”
That is the question that has led some within the Church – both in our own day and in the very early centuries of the Church’s existence - to question, or to try to explain away – the central message of Jesus Christ’s identity: His passion, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven.
For, as St. Paul says so clearly, “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling to Jews and folly to Gentiles.”[1]
There’s no getting around the central meaning and theme of the Christian faith: That Jesus Christ came as King and Lord, but also as Suffering Servant.[2]
And both of these themes: King and Lord, but also Suffering Servant, are present in the scene that Matthew lays before us as Jesus makes His way into the Holy City of Jerusalem on this Palm Sunday.
So, before we look more closely at the question before us this morning, “Who is this?”, let’s look more closely at Matthew’s reporting of the Triumphal Entry.
In order to understand the setting and the context for today’s reading from chapter 21, we need to back up into chapter 20.
We begin by looking at chapter 20, verses 20 – 28….Here, the mother of the Sons of Zebedee (James and John) comes to Jesus and asks that each one of them be given a place of position and power in Jesus’ kingdom. But Jesus’ response is summarized in verse 28, where we read, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Next, we turn to verses 29 – 34. Here, we see that Jesus is passing through Jericho on His way to Jerusalem. And along the way, He encounters two blind men, who cry out to Him, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” The two are healed, and begin to follow Jesus along with the large crowd that are travelling with Him to the Holy City, 12 miles to the west, and 4,000 feet higher in elevation.
Now, we are ready to look at today’s passage, Matthew 21: 1 – 11. Presumably, the healing of the two blind men serves to identify Jesus as “Son of David” to the crowd. But this title for Jesus appears throughout Matthew’s Gospel account….Consider Matthew 1: 1, which reads, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.”
Right from the beginning, Matthew records this title for Jesus, which is filled with kingly association and power. To the first century Jew, the hearing of this title, Son of David, would have brought royal images to mind. (The point was not lost on Jesus’ opponents in the ruling councils of His time, who use this kingly association to good effect when they hand Him over to Pilate. They recognized the significance of the royal claims that “Son of David” represented, even as they also understood the significance of Jesus as Prophet.[3] Both titles created alarm in the ruling councils of Jesus’ day.)
But there’s something else at work here, as we see this Son of David, this kingly figure, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey….
And it is an association that would not have been lost on Jesus’ disciples, nor on the crowd which spread their garments and palm branches along the road that day: It is the image which the Old Testament prophet Zechariah records in Zechariah 9: 9, heard in verse 5, “Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass.”
We should pause here for a moment…..notice the key words king and humble. Those two words don’t seem to go together, do they? No, our human expectations are that a king will ride into the city on a white charger, sword held high in victory.
But this is not the image we have before us….We have the image of the king, riding into the city in humility, on a lowly beast of burden, a donkey.
Zechariah’s image is of the king who conquers,[4] who delivers Jerusalem and then extends his reign from “sea to sea”, but who rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. Moreover, this king stands in victory on the Mount of Olives.[5]
This image might well prompt us to ask, “Who is this?”
The two images, king and humble, don’t go together at all, do they?
That’s what many in the early Church thought, too…..We’ve just finished our Lenten Study Series, concentrating on some of the early heresies that challenged the Church to look closely at what it had received as truth from the Apostles.
In answer to this central question, “Who is this?” some of the movements we looked at this Lent came to vastly different conclusions about this humble king.
We looked at Marcion, who claimed that Jesus’ death was the work of the evil Old Testament God Jehovah, who was evil, vindictive, and judgmental. But, Marcion claimed, the God and Father of Jesus Christ is loving, kind, always wanting to shower us with all sorts of good things, but who never judges us.
And, at about the same time, the Gnostics claimed that Jesus Christ was a divine figure, but not really human. Moreover, they claimed, Jesus didn’t really die, since He wasn’t really human.
Finally, we looked at Arianism, that fourth century movement that denied Jesus’ divinity, claiming that He was just a human being like us, a “good guy”, a “charismatic figure and great teacher”, but nothing more.
The net effect of all these three challenges to the Apostolic faith that had been handed down through Jesus’ Disciples-become-Apostles had the same bottom line: 1. (Marcion) There’s no need for Jesus to suffer and die for us because God loves us and doesn’t judge us; 2. (Gnostics) Jesus’ death only seemed to occur…in reality, it didn’t because Jesus wasn’t really human. Besides, having special knowledge of the way to God is the key to salvation anyway; and 3. (Arianism) Since Jesus was the “first created being”, He wasn’t divine at all….He was just like us in almost every way.
All three make a mockery of the events of Holy Week. They attempt to gut the cross of its significance, and try to explain away our sinful condition as human beings that made Jesus’ death a necessity.
They all try to say, “I’m OK, you’re OK.”
But the question lingers, “Who is this?”
It is the question that is squarely before us this morning, and which ought to be before us all through this Holy Week.
For we cannot approach Easter Sunday morning, when Jesus rises victoriously from the grave, conquering all the powers of sin and death that would try to divide His divinity from His humanity, without walking alongside Him on the way to the cross on Good Friday.
“If anyone would come after me, let him take up their cross and follow me,” He said.[6]
“Who is this?”
To answer that question, there’s no getting around the events of this Holy Week….For the central Christian message – if indeed the message we hear is truly faithful to the Apostolic witness as we have it in Holy Scripture – is that Jesus Christ came as king, yet in humility, to suffer and die for us, to become the payment for our sins.
That is the doctrine of the Atonement, Jesus’ sacrifice making “at-one-ment” possible with God the Father, which is at the central core of the Christian faith. It is the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, given to all believers on Maundy Thursday evening during the Last Supper, which we, as believers today, celebrate not only as a commemoration of Jesus’ death and sacrifice, but as a unique means of Jesus’ continual presence with us in the bread and the wine every time we gather to receive this Sacrament.
“Who is this?”
Who is Jesus to us?
King? Prophet? Conqueror of death and sin? Payment for our sins and the sins of the whole world?
-Or-
A great teacher? A charismatic figure? A “good guy” who got a bum deal from Pilate? A human being just like us?
How do we answer?
________________________________________________
[1] I Corinthians 1: 23
[2] Drawn from Isaiah 52: 13 – 53: 12.
[3] The concept of prophet draws its significance from Deuteronomy 18: 15, where we read, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me (Moses) from among you; from your brethren – him you shall heed.” Many in Jesus’ day were looking for such a prophet…Notice that the Jews ask John the Baptist (John 1: 21) “Are you the Prophet?”
[4] Zechariah 9: 9 – 17 is well worth reading.
[5] See Zechariah 14: 4.
[6] Matthew 16: 24
Sunday, March 09, 2008
5 Lent, Year A
"DEATH LEADS TO LIFE"
Ezekiel 37: 1 – 14; Psalm 130; Romans 6: 13 – 23; John 11: 1 – 44
A sermon by: The Rev. Gene Tucker, Given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL on Sunday, March 9th, 2008
Death leads to life….
“Don’t you have that backwards, Father?” you may be asking….Shouldn’t it be “life leads to death?” You know: we live, we get old, we die. That’s the way life is, it ends in death, right?
No, I didn’t get it backwards….Death leads to life.
“How so?” you may ask…..Lazarus’ death leads to life, and Jesus’ death on the cross leads to life. Both are resurrection accounts. Moreover, Lazarus’ death leads directly to Jesus’ own death. For the raising of Lazarus is – for the writer of the Fourth Gospel – the immediate cause of Jesus’ own death. John tells us that some of those who witnessed Lazarus’ raising go to the Pharisees and begin planning to put Jesus to death.[1]
Let’s look a little closer at the issue of death leading to life:
Lazarus’ death was not the end of the story. For Lazarus’ death provided the occasion for new life to begin, life after death….Lazarus heard the Lord’s voice say, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who was bound with linens cloths and with a face covering, came out of the tomb when the stone was rolled away. So the man who had been dead for four days (to the ancient Jews, a person’s soul lingered around the body for three days, in hopes of reuniting with it), a man who was really dead, came back to life.
And Jesus’ death is not the end of the story, for on the third day, Jesus rose from the tomb, casting off the linen cloths and the face covering, rolling the stone away.[2] Jesus’ death leads to life, the new life we have in Him by coming to belief in Him.
Jesus’ death leads to life, for all of us who have been baptized. For in the waters of baptism, we are buried with Christ in His death. And if we are buried with Christ in his death, we shall also rise to new life by the glory of the Father. That’s St. Paul’s image as we read it in Romans 6: 3 – 4.
Jesus goes forth to His death and resurrection with victory in His hand. Having conquered the powers of death by raising Lazarus, He is now ready to enter into His “hour”,[3] that time that John describes as the time when Jesus is most in command, most in control. Jesus willingly lays down His life for those who will come to believe in Him. No one takes Jesus’ life from Him. John makes that clear.
But let’s go back to the business of death….Death means the end of hope, the end of any possibility that human beings can help the situation.
Maybe that’s why Lazarus’ sisters, Martha and Mary, express faith that Jesus could have helped their brother. “If only you were here”,[4] they each say to Him. Perhaps that’s why the onlookers said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”[5]
That’s what baptism, our spiritual death and rebirth, signifies: a complete loss of hope. For as we are lowered into the waters of baptism, we give up any hope of being able to help ourselves out of the sin that we find ourselves in. We are unable to help ourselves, there’s no way humanly possible that we can fix the mess we find ourselves in.
And it is at that point of hopelessness that we hear the Lord Jesus’ voice calling us each by name, saying to us, “Come out”. Come out of the waters that threaten to swallow us up. Come out of the bondage of sin that binds us like linen cloths. “Be raised to new life”, Jesus says to us in the Sacrament of Baptism.
As we make our way through this earthly life, there will be times when the power of sin threatens to bury us again, to try to reclaim us and seal us in that hopeless state. But the power given to us in our baptisms calls us to cry out in hope to the Lord who conquered death that day in Bethany, and who conquered death that day on a cross outside the city walls.
And so we come, out of the watery tomb of baptism that symbolizes our sinful condition, delivered by the power of the one who conquered death, not once, but twice.
For, you see, death leads to life.
“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
(I Corinthians 15: 57)
AMEN.
[1] See John 11: 45 – 53.
[2] Notice the similarities between Lazarus’ raising and Jesus’ resurrection: both accounts mention the linen cloths, the face covering, and the stone which is rolled away. John want us – apparently – to make a deliberate connection between the two accounts.
[3] John recalls Jesus’ use of this word, “hour”, found many places in the Fourth Gospel. The word describes the time of Jesus’ glorification: His suffering, death, burial, resurrection and ascension into heaven.
[4] See verses 21 and 32.
[5] Verse 38
Ezekiel 37: 1 – 14; Psalm 130; Romans 6: 13 – 23; John 11: 1 – 44
A sermon by: The Rev. Gene Tucker, Given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL on Sunday, March 9th, 2008
Death leads to life….
“Don’t you have that backwards, Father?” you may be asking….Shouldn’t it be “life leads to death?” You know: we live, we get old, we die. That’s the way life is, it ends in death, right?
No, I didn’t get it backwards….Death leads to life.
“How so?” you may ask…..Lazarus’ death leads to life, and Jesus’ death on the cross leads to life. Both are resurrection accounts. Moreover, Lazarus’ death leads directly to Jesus’ own death. For the raising of Lazarus is – for the writer of the Fourth Gospel – the immediate cause of Jesus’ own death. John tells us that some of those who witnessed Lazarus’ raising go to the Pharisees and begin planning to put Jesus to death.[1]
Let’s look a little closer at the issue of death leading to life:
Lazarus’ death was not the end of the story. For Lazarus’ death provided the occasion for new life to begin, life after death….Lazarus heard the Lord’s voice say, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who was bound with linens cloths and with a face covering, came out of the tomb when the stone was rolled away. So the man who had been dead for four days (to the ancient Jews, a person’s soul lingered around the body for three days, in hopes of reuniting with it), a man who was really dead, came back to life.
And Jesus’ death is not the end of the story, for on the third day, Jesus rose from the tomb, casting off the linen cloths and the face covering, rolling the stone away.[2] Jesus’ death leads to life, the new life we have in Him by coming to belief in Him.
Jesus’ death leads to life, for all of us who have been baptized. For in the waters of baptism, we are buried with Christ in His death. And if we are buried with Christ in his death, we shall also rise to new life by the glory of the Father. That’s St. Paul’s image as we read it in Romans 6: 3 – 4.
Jesus goes forth to His death and resurrection with victory in His hand. Having conquered the powers of death by raising Lazarus, He is now ready to enter into His “hour”,[3] that time that John describes as the time when Jesus is most in command, most in control. Jesus willingly lays down His life for those who will come to believe in Him. No one takes Jesus’ life from Him. John makes that clear.
But let’s go back to the business of death….Death means the end of hope, the end of any possibility that human beings can help the situation.
Maybe that’s why Lazarus’ sisters, Martha and Mary, express faith that Jesus could have helped their brother. “If only you were here”,[4] they each say to Him. Perhaps that’s why the onlookers said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”[5]
That’s what baptism, our spiritual death and rebirth, signifies: a complete loss of hope. For as we are lowered into the waters of baptism, we give up any hope of being able to help ourselves out of the sin that we find ourselves in. We are unable to help ourselves, there’s no way humanly possible that we can fix the mess we find ourselves in.
And it is at that point of hopelessness that we hear the Lord Jesus’ voice calling us each by name, saying to us, “Come out”. Come out of the waters that threaten to swallow us up. Come out of the bondage of sin that binds us like linen cloths. “Be raised to new life”, Jesus says to us in the Sacrament of Baptism.
As we make our way through this earthly life, there will be times when the power of sin threatens to bury us again, to try to reclaim us and seal us in that hopeless state. But the power given to us in our baptisms calls us to cry out in hope to the Lord who conquered death that day in Bethany, and who conquered death that day on a cross outside the city walls.
And so we come, out of the watery tomb of baptism that symbolizes our sinful condition, delivered by the power of the one who conquered death, not once, but twice.
For, you see, death leads to life.
“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
(I Corinthians 15: 57)
AMEN.
[1] See John 11: 45 – 53.
[2] Notice the similarities between Lazarus’ raising and Jesus’ resurrection: both accounts mention the linen cloths, the face covering, and the stone which is rolled away. John want us – apparently – to make a deliberate connection between the two accounts.
[3] John recalls Jesus’ use of this word, “hour”, found many places in the Fourth Gospel. The word describes the time of Jesus’ glorification: His suffering, death, burial, resurrection and ascension into heaven.
[4] See verses 21 and 32.
[5] Verse 38
Sunday, March 02, 2008
4 Lent, Year A
"THE PURPOSE OF LIFE"
I Samuel 16: 1 – 13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5: 1 – 14; John 9: 1 – 38
Reflections by The Rev. Gene Tucker for Sunday, March 2nd, 2008
(An explanatory note: Yesterday’s sermon at Trinity, Mt. Vernon, was given by the Rt. Rev. Peter H. Beckwith, 10th Bishop of Springfield, on the occasion of his annual Homecoming to Trinity Church. These reflections are written for the purpose of being posted to Trinity’s website as a service for those who might consult the website for the weekly sermon posting, not to supplant or replace the Bishop’s teaching.)
Ever think about the purpose of life? Or, more specifically, do you ever think about the purpose of your life?
I think it’s natural to do that….natural, of course, if we remember that to reflect on such a basic set of questions as: “What am I doing here on this earth?”, or, “What is the real meaning of my life?” is essential to quite a number of things, like: 1. a realistic assessment of our talents and abilities as those talents and abilities connect with our situation in life, 2. such an assessment allows us to determine what are the most important concerns/activities in life, and 3. what is my ultimate purpose in being born, growing up, and so forth.
And it is the last of those three, “What is my ultimate purpose?” that has the most to do with the “big picture” of life. Seeing the “big picture” allows us to put everything else in perspective. The “big picture” has to do with the things of God, for each of us (as a friend of mine once said) has a hole in our lives that only God can fill.
And that, it seems to me, is the bottom line of today’s Gospel account, the very familiar healing of the man born blind….what is the ultimate purpose of life.
But before we draw some conclusions from this important sign,[1] let’s look briefly at some of the features of the written account itself:
A two level drama: Just like Nicodemus’ night-time visit[2] and the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well,[3] today’s encounter also plays out as a two level drama. Notice that the Pharisees, as they enter the scene at verse 13, are consumed with the idea that this healing took place on the Sabbath day. They allege (verse 16) that “This man (Jesus) is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” Again and again, they cross-examine the healed man, his parents, and the onlookers who witnessed the miracle itself.
But against the Pharisees’ preoccupation with the legalities of Sabbath-keeping stands the miracle of the healing itself….some of the witnesses attest to the man’s condition – blind since birth – and the man himself attests to his healing. The tension grows as the man begins to upbraid the Pharisees for failing to accept the truth of what had happened.
We might be tempted, as the text unfolds, to want to shout to the Pharisees, “How could you miss the central point, the central meaning so badly?”
The reader’s perspective: Remember, as we read Holy Scripture, that we have what scholars call “the reader’s perspective”. That is, we know “the rest of the story” (as Paul Harvey would say). We know the outline of the story of Jesus. We know how it ends – in His victory over death. We also see His victory over disease, demon possession, and the forces of nature. And so, as we read through this healing account, we want to add our knowledge of the story to the characters in the story. For that is the response that the Gospel writer intends. We want to “fill in the blanks” for the Pharisees, for the healed man, and for the man’s parents and neighbors. We want to say, “Don’t you get it? We do!” That response wells up within us, an unstoppable stream of life-giving faith.
Now, let’s turn to the implications of the story, for the man born blind, and for us. For the implications have everything to do with life’s ultimate purposes:
The man born blind: As part of the two-level-drama that unfolds in this text, Jesus’ disciples ask, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents?” Theirs is a normal, everyday concern in the first century: a physical ailment, sickness, disease, or some other conditions as well, were often attributed to some manifest and notorious sin (or sins).
But Jesus immediately puts another understanding onto the man’s condition, and it is one that we are uncomfortable with: Jesus answers, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.”
“What?” we might respond. Do you mean that the man’s burden (that of being blind from birth), his exclusion from Temple worship,[4] his life of begging, all of these were part of his being the agent of God’s power, so that God’s power to could seen and experienced? The man’s whole life to the point of his healing were for the purpose of demonstrating God’s power?
We’re not comfortable with that idea, are we? “Doesn’t seem fair,” we might add.
But that’s exactly the point Jesus makes….the man’s condition – and the entire story of his life to the point his healing – is for the purpose of showing God’s power.
Our life’s purpose(s): A concise answer to the main purpose of our lives is provided by the Westminster Catechism,[5] which says:
(Question) “What is the chief end of man?
(Answer) “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.”
So, this answer is entirely consistent with Our Lord’s comment about the blind man’s condition….the man’s life’s purpose is to glorify God by being the agent of God’s power to heal, made clear in the healing itself and the man’s subsequent witness to that healing.
Our purpose is to show forth in our lives God’s power to heal, to restore, to change the directions of our lives (especially when we go astray from God’s desire and plan for His people).
We glorify God by providing the raw material for God to work with, to heal, to restore, and to redirect. Then, we glorify God by giving God the credit for the works done in our lives by His power, just as the man born blind did.
Along the way to our own healing/restoring by God’s power, there is loss, hardship and pain for us, just as there was for the man born blind. But God turns all things to His glory and our good at the point where we are touched by God’s power. As St. Paul puts it, “All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”[6]
So, the question comes to each of us: “What is the ultimate purpose of our lives?”
How do we answer?
[1] Remember that chapters 2 – 11 of John’s Gospel account are often nicknamed by biblical scholars “The Book of Signs” because so many of Jesus’ miraculous works (signs) are recorded there. John’s intent is to record those might acts so that Jesus’ identity as the only-begotten Son of the Father would be revealed to the world.
[2] Chapter three, read two Sundays ago.
[3] Chapter four, read last Sunday.
[4] Remember that persons with a whole host of physical deformities and maladies were excluded from the worship of God’s people. Blindness was just one of those conditions that made outsiders of people within their own nation.
[5] Formulated 1647 – 1648, this quote is taken from the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Catechism, which has been historically used in the Reformed tradition (Presbyterians, e.g.).
[6] Romans 8: 28
I Samuel 16: 1 – 13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5: 1 – 14; John 9: 1 – 38
Reflections by The Rev. Gene Tucker for Sunday, March 2nd, 2008
(An explanatory note: Yesterday’s sermon at Trinity, Mt. Vernon, was given by the Rt. Rev. Peter H. Beckwith, 10th Bishop of Springfield, on the occasion of his annual Homecoming to Trinity Church. These reflections are written for the purpose of being posted to Trinity’s website as a service for those who might consult the website for the weekly sermon posting, not to supplant or replace the Bishop’s teaching.)
Ever think about the purpose of life? Or, more specifically, do you ever think about the purpose of your life?
I think it’s natural to do that….natural, of course, if we remember that to reflect on such a basic set of questions as: “What am I doing here on this earth?”, or, “What is the real meaning of my life?” is essential to quite a number of things, like: 1. a realistic assessment of our talents and abilities as those talents and abilities connect with our situation in life, 2. such an assessment allows us to determine what are the most important concerns/activities in life, and 3. what is my ultimate purpose in being born, growing up, and so forth.
And it is the last of those three, “What is my ultimate purpose?” that has the most to do with the “big picture” of life. Seeing the “big picture” allows us to put everything else in perspective. The “big picture” has to do with the things of God, for each of us (as a friend of mine once said) has a hole in our lives that only God can fill.
And that, it seems to me, is the bottom line of today’s Gospel account, the very familiar healing of the man born blind….what is the ultimate purpose of life.
But before we draw some conclusions from this important sign,[1] let’s look briefly at some of the features of the written account itself:
A two level drama: Just like Nicodemus’ night-time visit[2] and the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well,[3] today’s encounter also plays out as a two level drama. Notice that the Pharisees, as they enter the scene at verse 13, are consumed with the idea that this healing took place on the Sabbath day. They allege (verse 16) that “This man (Jesus) is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” Again and again, they cross-examine the healed man, his parents, and the onlookers who witnessed the miracle itself.
But against the Pharisees’ preoccupation with the legalities of Sabbath-keeping stands the miracle of the healing itself….some of the witnesses attest to the man’s condition – blind since birth – and the man himself attests to his healing. The tension grows as the man begins to upbraid the Pharisees for failing to accept the truth of what had happened.
We might be tempted, as the text unfolds, to want to shout to the Pharisees, “How could you miss the central point, the central meaning so badly?”
The reader’s perspective: Remember, as we read Holy Scripture, that we have what scholars call “the reader’s perspective”. That is, we know “the rest of the story” (as Paul Harvey would say). We know the outline of the story of Jesus. We know how it ends – in His victory over death. We also see His victory over disease, demon possession, and the forces of nature. And so, as we read through this healing account, we want to add our knowledge of the story to the characters in the story. For that is the response that the Gospel writer intends. We want to “fill in the blanks” for the Pharisees, for the healed man, and for the man’s parents and neighbors. We want to say, “Don’t you get it? We do!” That response wells up within us, an unstoppable stream of life-giving faith.
Now, let’s turn to the implications of the story, for the man born blind, and for us. For the implications have everything to do with life’s ultimate purposes:
The man born blind: As part of the two-level-drama that unfolds in this text, Jesus’ disciples ask, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents?” Theirs is a normal, everyday concern in the first century: a physical ailment, sickness, disease, or some other conditions as well, were often attributed to some manifest and notorious sin (or sins).
But Jesus immediately puts another understanding onto the man’s condition, and it is one that we are uncomfortable with: Jesus answers, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.”
“What?” we might respond. Do you mean that the man’s burden (that of being blind from birth), his exclusion from Temple worship,[4] his life of begging, all of these were part of his being the agent of God’s power, so that God’s power to could seen and experienced? The man’s whole life to the point of his healing were for the purpose of demonstrating God’s power?
We’re not comfortable with that idea, are we? “Doesn’t seem fair,” we might add.
But that’s exactly the point Jesus makes….the man’s condition – and the entire story of his life to the point his healing – is for the purpose of showing God’s power.
Our life’s purpose(s): A concise answer to the main purpose of our lives is provided by the Westminster Catechism,[5] which says:
(Question) “What is the chief end of man?
(Answer) “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.”
So, this answer is entirely consistent with Our Lord’s comment about the blind man’s condition….the man’s life’s purpose is to glorify God by being the agent of God’s power to heal, made clear in the healing itself and the man’s subsequent witness to that healing.
Our purpose is to show forth in our lives God’s power to heal, to restore, to change the directions of our lives (especially when we go astray from God’s desire and plan for His people).
We glorify God by providing the raw material for God to work with, to heal, to restore, and to redirect. Then, we glorify God by giving God the credit for the works done in our lives by His power, just as the man born blind did.
Along the way to our own healing/restoring by God’s power, there is loss, hardship and pain for us, just as there was for the man born blind. But God turns all things to His glory and our good at the point where we are touched by God’s power. As St. Paul puts it, “All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”[6]
So, the question comes to each of us: “What is the ultimate purpose of our lives?”
How do we answer?
[1] Remember that chapters 2 – 11 of John’s Gospel account are often nicknamed by biblical scholars “The Book of Signs” because so many of Jesus’ miraculous works (signs) are recorded there. John’s intent is to record those might acts so that Jesus’ identity as the only-begotten Son of the Father would be revealed to the world.
[2] Chapter three, read two Sundays ago.
[3] Chapter four, read last Sunday.
[4] Remember that persons with a whole host of physical deformities and maladies were excluded from the worship of God’s people. Blindness was just one of those conditions that made outsiders of people within their own nation.
[5] Formulated 1647 – 1648, this quote is taken from the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Catechism, which has been historically used in the Reformed tradition (Presbyterians, e.g.).
[6] Romans 8: 28
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