"Who Is Our Neighbor?"

            My series of sermons on Jesus’ parables continues this Sunday (August 2nd) with the popular parable of the “Good Samaritan,” in Luke 10: 25-37.  In his teachings, Jesus uses parables to answer a question or illustrate a point. 

            This parable occurs in the context of a debate between Jesus and a scribe or lawyer.  Luke, the Gospel writer, records that a lawyer stood up to test Jesus with a question.  In Jesus’ culture, such a test is really a challenge to the honor of the teacher—in this case, Jesus.  The lawyer asks, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  The basis of this question is the Jewish understanding that they are a covenant people who belong to God.  God has set the Hebrews apart as a special, chosen people.  As a chosen people, the Hebrews believe that God has promised them eternal life in God’s own kingdom.  So, the lawyer is really asking Jesus, “What must one do to remain in good standing as part of God’s covenant people who have been promised eternal life?”

            Although this is a very crucial question which everyone contemplates—the question of life after death—keep in mind that the lawyer and Jesus are engaged in a public debate.  Recognizing that his interrogator is an expert in Jewish law, Jesus answers the lawyer's question with another question:  “What is written in the law?  How do you interpret it?” Jesus’ question is also a challenge back to the lawyer.

            The lawyer responds with an exquisite answer that goes to the heart of what it means to be faithful to God.  He says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”  I love the lawyer’s answer to Jesus’ question.  He says that we should love God with our whole being (our heart); with the very essence of who we are as an individual (our soul); and also with all of our personal resources, including our very physical strength and our deepest intellect.  In sum, we should love God with all that we have and all that we are, in all of the dimensions of our existence. 

Then, the lawyer adds that we should “love our neighbor as ourselves.”  That is, the lawyer sets up a threefold type of love.  We love God, love our neighbor, and love ourselves.  And, we love in this priority:  God, then neighbor, then self.  We are to love ourselves because if we can’t love ourselves, then we can’t love anything. 

            Jesus responds to the lawyer’s answer by saying, “You have given the right answer; do this and you will live.”  Now, in the context of a public debate between Jesus and the lawyer, it is important to see that Jesus’ reply is a put down of the lawyer, causing him to lose face in public.  We need to keep in mind that the lawyer is publicly recognized as an expert in Jewish law.  In response to this question about inheriting eternal law, Jesus has asked the lawyer what the law says.  In other words, Jesus shifted the debate to the lawyer’s area of expertise.  But, Jesus' response, “You are right,” actually assumes that Jesus understands the law more deeply and, therefore, is above the lawyer when it comes to the lawyer’s own area of expertise.

Jesus overwhelmingly wins the first round of the debate with the lawyer.

            So, the lawyer seeks to justify himself by launching into a second round of debate with Jesus.  “And, who is my neighbor?” the lawyer asks.  The question of who is our neighbor is highly charged in a highly regimented society, such as first century Israel.  In Jesus’ society, as in many societies across history, there were clear boundaries which separated people into different groups, with specific rules about how persons were to treat each other.  For instance, there were divisions between men and women, Jews and Gentiles, etc.  So, the lawyer’s question concerning who counts as the neighbor we are to love is a very tricky trap.

            It is at this point in the debate that Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan.  The parable is his answer to the lawyer’s challenge. Jesus begins the parable with the words:  “A man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.”  The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was very steep, descending nearly 3300 feet over 17 miles.  It winds through many narrow passes, providing excellent locations for bandits to lie in wait of travelers.  Notice that Jesus provides no details about the man who was beaten and robbed.  Based upon Jesus’ description, the man cannot be classified or categorized in any way.  He is simply a human being in need of assistance.

            Almost immediately after the attack, there is a ray of hope for the victimized man, a priest is also traveling along the road.  Yet, instead of stopping to help the victim, he passes by on the other side.  Similarly, a Levite passes by without offering assistance.  Within Jewish society, both the priest and the Levite are highly respected persons.  Yet, neither offers the victim any help.  At this point, the parable has reached its climax.  We know that a third person will see the victim and this third person will break the pattern by stopping to help the beaten man.  Undoubtedly, Jesus’ listeners would have expected that this third person will be a very faithful, devout Jew.

            Yet, Jesus has a surprise for his listeners.  The third person is not a kind, faithful Jew.  Instead, he is a despised and hated Samaritan.  Although both Jews and Samaritans shared a similar faith and similar sacred texts, they disagreed bitterly over how to interpret God’s Holy Word and the implications of that interpretation for how they lived their lives.  For the Samaritans, Mt. Gerizim should be the center of worship, whereas for the Jews the center of worship was the Temple in Jerusalem.  The animosity between Jews and Samaritans was so great that Jews avoided all social contact with Samaritans out of fear that they would become ritually impure. 

            Of course, the man lying in the ditch couldn’t care less about ritual purity.  He is in desperate need of help.  When the Samaritan sees the beaten man, he is moved by pity and compassion.  He stops and offers first aid to the beaten man.  Then, the Samaritan gets the broken man up on his own animal and gets him to an inn where he can rest and recuperate.  The Samaritan even pays the innkeeper to care for the victim.

            At this point, Jesus asks the lawyer, “Which of the three, do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”  Still repulsed by the thought of a Samaritan being the hero in the parable, he can only respond:  “The one who showed him mercy.”

            In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus defines “neighbor” not in geographic or cultural or national terms.  Instead, for Jesus, our “neighbor” is simply the person who needs our help.  For 21st century Christians, the question becomes, “Who needs our help?”

Come, join us this Sunday, as we explore the implications of the Good Samaritan parable for following Christ in the 21st century.  Christ United Methodist Church is located at 4530 A Street in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Our classic worship services are at 8:30 and 11:00 on Sunday mornings. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

“7 or 77 or 490 or Infinity”

              At our 8:30 service this Sunday, July 26th, I will continue my summer series on “The Parables of Jesus.”  Our focus this weekend is the parable of “the unjust servant,” which appears in Matthew 18:  21-35.  (Our 11:00 service will be different this weekend, as we will be celebrating our Vacation Bible School.)  

            As with last week’s parable, it is important to begin with the context in which Jesus tells this story in order to fully appreciate the moral of the parable.  In the verses immediately preceding this parable, Jesus has been instructing his disciples on how to resolve conflicts within the church.  Jesus says, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.  If the member listens to you, you have regained that brother.” (Mt. 18:15)  If, on the contrary, the offending member rejects the one-on-one overture, then the victim should take two or three other members of the church to confront the offending member, again.  If that doesn’t work, then the entire congregation should be brought into the discussion.  If the sinful member refuses to listen even to the entire congregation, then he or she should be expelled from the community of faith.

            Jesus’ explanation prompts Peter, his disciple, to ask:  “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive?  As many as seven times?”   (v. 21)  Now, Peter’s willingness to forgive another person seven times would seem to be very generous.  However, Jesus “ups the ante,” when he replies:  “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy times seven.” (v. 22)  Seventy times seven is 490.  Yet, Jesus does not mean that we should literally forgive someone up to 490 times and then stop forgiving them.  Rather, Jesus is suggesting that we should be willing to forgive someone, whenever they wrong us—without counting the number of wrongs.  That is, we should be willing to forgive an infinite number of times.  Writing in The New Interpreter’s Bible, M. Eugene Boring observes, “The difference between Peter’s proposal and Jesus’ pronouncement is not a matter of math or linguistics, but of the nature of forgiveness.  Whoever counts has not forgiven at all, but is only biding his or her time (1 Corinthians 13:5).  The kind of forgiveness called for is beyond all calculation, as the following story communicates.”

            The following story is our parable for this weekend.  It begins with a king who wishes to settle up accounts with his various deputies.  One of those deputies is a man who owes the king 10,000 talents, which is an extraordinary amount of money.  A talent is the largest monetary unit in Jesus’ day.  It is the equivalent of six 100-ounce silver bars.  One talent alone is equal to the wages of a manual laborer for 15 years.  In monetary terms, 10,000 talents would be more than all of the taxes collected in Judea over a 10 year period in Jesus' day!  It is beyond all calculation. 

            The person who owes the king 10,000 talents did not borrow this much money for personal expenditures.  Instead, he was most likely a civil servant, working on behalf of the king.  Through incompetence or mismanagement, he has lost 10,000 talents, as a governmental official working for the king.  Clearly the debt is unpayable.  Both the civil servant and the king understand that the debt cannot be repaid.  So, the unjust servant begs for mercy.   Surprisingly, the king is moved by the servant’s contrition.  The king decides to forgive the servant and wipe the accounting ledger clean.

            As he was leaving the king’s palace, by chance, the civil servant encountered another man who in turn owed him a hundred denarii.  A denarius was roughly equivalent to a day’s wages.  So, 100 denarii would represent 100 days’ wages.  This amount of money is not an inconsiderable sum, as it equals about a ⅓ of a year’s salary.  Still, in comparison with the amount which the civil servant owed the king, it is exceptionally small.  In fact, 100 denarii is 1/600,000^th of the 10,000 talents owed by the civil servant. 

            Despite the generosity of the king who has just forgiven him a debt which he could never repay, the civil servant grabs the man owing a hundred denarii and demands that he repay the debt immediately.  When the borrower cannot repay him, the civil servant has him thrown into prison until the debt is repaid. 

            The civil servant’s lack of empathy and generosity—after the king has been so generous with him—distresses others in the town.  So, they report back to the king who had so generously forgiven the civil servant.  The king is angered when he hears how uncharitable and unmerciful the civil servant has been.  So, the king reverses himself and has the civil servant arrested and thrown in to jail, where he is tortured.

            Matthew, the Gospel writer, makes it clear that the parable is an allegory for our relationship with God.  In the parable, the king represents God, and debts refer to our sins.  Therefore, the civil servant who owed 10,000 talents represents each of us, who have an enormous debt of sin for which we are accountable to God.  The other man who owed the 100 denarii debt represents the normal, “ordinary” sins that occur between various human persons.  For Jesus, the parable of the unjust servant becomes a negative example of how we should treat others.  Rather, than holding others rigidly accountable when they wrong—or sin against—us, we should be more willing to forgive.  This is because the wrongs that we suffer at the hands of others pales in comparison with the amount of sinfulness which God forgives us. 

            Answering Peter’s originating question from this perspective, we should be willing to forgive our brother an infinite number of times for all of the wrongs that they inflict upon us, in view of how much we depend upon God’s forgiveness and generosity towards us.

Come, join us this Sunday, at Christ United Methodist Church.  At our 8:30 am service, we explore the implications of what it means to forgive others in response to God’s willingness to forgive us.  At the 11 am service, will celebrate the accomplishments of our Vacation Bible School this past week.  Christ United Methodist Church is located at 4530 A Street in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Our classic worship services are at 8:30 and 11:00 on Sunday mornings. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

"In God We Trust?"

            This Sunday, July 19th, I will continue my summer series on “The Parables of Jesus.”  Our focus this weekend is the parable of “the rich fool,” which appears in Luke 12: 13-21. 

            In order to appreciate this parable fully, it is important to examine the context in which Jesus tells the parable:  Our scripture opens with Jesus teaching.  As he is speaking, a man in the crowd asks, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”  Apparently this person is unhappy with the way his older brother is executing their family estate.  Jesus declines the invitation to arbitrate between the two brothers.  Based upon what he says, it appears as though he senses that the man’s request is driven by greed.  In declining the man’s invitation, Jesus observes, “Take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12: 15) 

To illustrate and drive home this claim, Jesus follows up with a parable about a rich farmer.  One season, the rich farmer’s crops produce abundantly and his harvest is so great that he does not have room in his barns to store the crops.  This presents a huge problem for the farmer, who eventually decides to tear down his barns and build much bigger ones.  The rich farmer thinks to himself, “I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And, I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, and be merry.”  (Luke 12: 19)

Jesus’ audience would have interpreted the rich farmer’s wealth and abundant harvest as signs of God’s blessing and favor.  But, notice that in his inner thoughts, the rich farmer does not give God any credit or offer any thanks to God.  Neither does the rich farmer share from his wealth with his community, especially those who are poor or marginalized.  Instead, the rich farmer turns his back on God and his community.  He shuts everyone out of his life, so that there is nothing in the story, except for the rich farmer and his possessions. 

The rich farmer begins to trust in himself and his affluence, rather than trusting in God. 

This quickly elicits a harsh judgment from God:  “You fool!  This very night your life is being demanded of you.  And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:  20) 

            Writing in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Alan Culpepper is struck by the richness of this parable.  Culpepper identifies five separate angles for moral reflection:

1.      Preoccupation with Possessions.  Throughout the inner monologue which the rich farmer has with himself, the possessive pronoun, “my,” becomes dominant.  The rich farmer refers to my crops, my barns, my grain, my goods, my soul. 

2.      Security in Self-Sufficiency.  Culpepper notes that the rich farmer trusts only himself for security.  He has no use for a community of family and friends who support him, and he has no use for God’s love as a source of security.  He trusts only in himself and his possessions.

3.      The Grasp of Greed.  Culpepper observes that the rich fool’s innermost thoughts “reveal that he has no sense of responsibility to use his abundance for the welfare of persons less fortunate than he.  Greed has eaten away any compassion he may once have had.”

4.      The Hollowness of Hedonism.  Despite his good fortune, the rich fool has a limited vision of what the good life entails.  His vision is limited to eating, drinking, and making merry.  As Culpepper observes, “The greatest good he can imagine is a life of maximizing his own pleasure.”  This is a very limited vision.

5.      Practical Atheism.  Although the rich fool may claim a faith in God, he lives and manages his prosperity as though there is no God.

In my sermon this weekend, I intend to explore this parable through a lens that will draw from several of the moral dimensions that Culpepper identifies.  That lens is trust.  That is, where do we place our trust?  In Jesus’ parable, the rich farmer erroneously puts his trust in his money and possessions.  Others have erroneously put their trust in political or economic power, their fame, their intellect, their weapons, other people, or science and knowledge. By contrast, followers of Christ are called to trust in God, and God alone.

Come, join us this Sunday, as we explore what it means to put our faith and trust completely in God.  Christ United Methodist Church is located at 4530 A Street in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Our classic worship services are at 8:30 and 11:00 on Sunday mornings. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

An Update

Hello, you may have noticed that my blog has been on a hiatus for the past two months.  But, I am pleased to announce that my blog will be returning in a few days, so please check back by the end of this week.

Over the past two months, I've been in the process of transitioning, as I have moved from serving as pastor of Meriden United Methodist Church, in Meriden, Kansas, to becoming the new pastor at Christ United Methodist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska.  I began as pastor of Christ Church, effective 1 July, and I'm looking forward to resuming the weekly blog on my sermons.  So, I hope that you'll continue to check out my blog.  Thanks.  Richard

What Makes a Good Leader? The Essence of Christian Leadership

            This week, I will continue with my six-sermon series on “Christian Leadership.”  (The entire series is listed at the bottom of this post.)  We began the series last week with the question, “Who does God call to leadership?”  In that exploration, we concluded:  “Everyone is called to be a church leader some of the time, but no one is called to be the leader all of the time.”

            In the second exploration in this series, we will attempt to define what Christian leadership is.  In other words, What is the essence of Christian leadership?  To ground our examination, we turn to the story of King Solomon in the Hebrew scriptures.  Solomon was the third and final king of the “united monarchy,” which included both the lands of Judea and Israel. 

Solomon ascended to the throne upon the death of his father, King David.  Solomon had a long and prosperous reign, filled with honor and achievement.  He was a “winner” in the sense that he was always victorious over his enemies, vanquishing them in battle.  Under Solomon’s reign, the Hebrews became an international power among the other nations in their geopolitical sphere.  It was King Solomon who built the first Temple in Jerusalem.  Yet, despite all of his other accomplishments, King Solomon is best known for his wisdom in governing. 

            Our foundational scripture reading for this Sunday concerns Solomon’s actions and decisions as he begins his reign.  The passage is 1 Kings 3:  1-15.  The principal storyline concerns Solomon’s journey up to the “high place” at Gibeon, where he offers “a thousand burnt offerings on the altar” to God.  During the night, God appears to Solomon in a dream.  In the dream, God asks what special gift Solomon would like to have as ruler of the Hebrews, God’s chosen people.  Solomon responds, “Give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil.” 

God is impressed.  Solomon could have asked for long life or riches or victory over his enemies.  Instead, Solomon asks for understanding and discernment, in order to be a wise leader.  God agrees to bestow great wisdom upon Solomon but because of Solomon’s purity of intentions, God also promises to give Solomon all of the other things that he could have asked for, but did not.  God promises Solomon riches and honor and longevity of life, under the condition that Solomon remains faithful and obedient to God’s laws and commandments.

Within the Christian tradition, Solomon is highly viewed as being an extraordinarily wise and faithful king.  King Solomon is traditionally viewed as the role-model for faithful, Christian leadership.  Yet on the contrary, our scripture is ambivalent about Solomon.  On the one hand, Solomon does come across as a humble leader who is faithful to God, and completely focused on becoming the best leader he can be.  On the other hand, the scripture also portrays Solomon as self-centered and negligent. 

The negative dimensions of Solomon are manifested at the beginning of the story, before Solomon goes up to Gibeon to pray and worship.  First, Solomon establishes a marriage alliance with Egypt, marrying an Egyptian princess and bringing her to live in Jerusalem.  This decision violates divine commandments and indicates Solomon’s unfaithfulness to God.  Further, the writer of 1 Kings 3 observes that Solomon has prioritized building his own royal palace in Jerusalem over building a Temple for the worship of God.  Since Solomon had put his own house ahead of God’s house, the Hebrew people ended up going out to “high places,” such as Gibeon to worship , since there was no Temple in Jerusalem.  For the historical writer of 1 Kings, this represents supreme selfishness and negligence by Solomon.

So, when we read this scripture completely, taking into account all of its nuances, we end up with a mixed assessment of Solomon.  In some respects, Solomon appears as a humble, self-sacrificing person, who is exclusively focused on ruling wisely as King.  Yet, in other respects, Solomon appears to be a negligent leader who is completely self-centered and focused on his own self-aggrandizement. 

At this point in our study of King Solomon, we must ask:  What does the story of King Solomon tell us about the essence of Christian leadership? 

It seems to me that the story of King Solomon highlights five key attributes that contribute to the essence of Christian leadership:

1.      Love for God.  From the beginning, Solomon’s relationship with God is grounded in Solomon’s love for God.  Despite the flaws and disobedience chronicled at the beginning of chapter 3, Solomon has a great love for God.  The writer of 1 Kings lifts up Solomon’s great love in verse 3, as his motivation for journeying up to Gibeon to make offerings on the altar at a “high place.”

2.      Obedience to God.  When God asks Solomon what gift he would like as he begins his reign, Solomon first acknowledges that God has “shown great and steadfast love” to his father, King David, because David was obedient and faithful to God.  Solomon recognizes that this obedience and faithfulness to God is a critically important attribute for a Christian leader and, accordingly, he pledges to begin putting God’s interests and will ahead of his own personal interests.

3.      Self-sacrifice.  Similarly, when he chooses a gift from God, Solomon asks for discernment and understanding so that he may become a wise and effective ruler.  As God observes, Solomon could have chosen something for his personal self-gain, such as wealth or honor.  Instead, Solomon sacrifices personal self-gain in order to be a better and more faithful leader.

4.      Wisdom.  Wisdom enables Solomon to discern God’s vision for the people.  Throughout history, God is always inviting the faithful into a partnership dedicated to establishing God’s Reign on earth.  When we seek to become disciples of Christ, we are committing ourselves to this reign-building work.  Yet, in order to work meaningfully and effectively, the workers need a plan, a vision.  A Christian leader must discern and understand God’s vision for the community of faith that they lead. 

5.      Empowering.  Not only must the Christian leader have wisdom to envision God’s plan, but the Christian leader must also have the ability to describe God’s vision -- and empower the faithful to work effectively to realize God’s vision.  Although this attribute is not manifested in our passage, throughout his reign King Solomon was able to articulate God’s vision and empower his followers to work on implementing God’s vision.

These five attributes are the essential requirements for faithful, Christian leadership.  In the Hebrew scriptures, Solomon possesses these attributes and demonstrates the essence of good, faithful leadership.  Yet, at the same time, Solomon was flawed and sinful.  He disobeyed God’s laws at times as well as succumbing to selfishness.  Solomon was far from being a “perfect leader.”  Yet, Solomon recognizes his own weaknesses and flaws.  Out of this self-awareness, Solomon responds to God with an attitude of penance and humility.  This humility is also an important attribute of Christian leadership.

Come and join us this Sunday, May 10th, as we celebrate Mother's Day and continue our exploration of what Christian Leadership means.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  Our classic worship starts at 10 am. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

 

List of Topics in the “Christian Leadership” Series

May 3   “We Are All Called to Leadership”

May 10  “What Makes a Good Leader?

                                 Defining Christian Leadership”

May 17  “Power – And, Vulnerability”

May 24  “The Spiritual Dimension of Leadership”

May 31  “Inclusivity and Openness”

June 7   “Care and Maintenance of your Next

                              Pastor:  A Congregational Guide”

"Living Waters, Healing Waters"

            This Sunday, April 26th, my congregation will celebrate “Earth Sunday.”  The theme for our celebration is “Living Waters, Healing Waters.”  Part of our focus during the service will concern the importance of being good stewards of the water and other natural resources that God has entrusted to our care.  We will also focus on the pivotal role that water plays within the Christian faith. 

            I have chosen John 4:  7-15 as the foundational scripture for my proclamation during this service.  This scripture tells the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.  Regular readers of this blog may recall that I recently preached on this text.  (See my June 28, 2014 post, entitled “Beyond the Safe Walls of the Church.”)  In that previous sermon, I focused on the relationship between Jesus and the un-named woman from Samaria.  By contrast, I intend to focus this week on what Jesus says about water.

            As the story unfolds, Jesus and his disciples have stopped at a village well to rest from a long journey they are making from Judea to Galilee.  It is the middle of the day, as Jesus waits by the well for the rest of the disciples who have gone to buy food in the market.  Jesus is hot and thirsty.  As he waits for the disciples, a Samaritan woman comes to the well to draw water for her household.  Jesus asks the Samaritan woman to give him a drink of water from her bucket.

            It is important to understand that there was great animosity and social strife between Jews and Samaritans at that time.  Although both groups have the same sacred texts and share a common faith, they disagree bitterly over how to interpret those texts and live out that faith.  Their most important point of contention concerns the correct location of their “holy of holies” sacred site.  For the Samaritans, the correct location is Mt. Gerizim; for the Jews, it is the Temple in Jerusalem.  The social tension between the two groups had escalated to such a heighth that Jews had no contact with anything Samaritan due to a fear of ritual contamination.

            Jesus’ request for water perplexes the Samaritan woman because drinking from her container would mean ritually contaminating himself.  So, she asks Jesus, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?”

            Jesus’ reply is unexpected and unconventional:  “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 

            Now, the term, “living water,” can have two possible meanings in Aramaic.  First, it can refer to running water, such as water running in a brook or gurgling up from a spring.  Second, it can refer to life-giving water.  Of course, Jesus is using the second meaning of life-giving water, but the Samaritan woman misunderstands, thinking that he is referring to the first definition of running water, and she is flabbergasted.

            She responds, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep.  Where do you get that living water?”  Given the context and her interpretation of “living water,” we can appreciate how astounding Jesus’ claim appears to her.  Afterall, here is a man without rope or bucket, who just a moment ago was asking for help in getting a drink from the well.  Now, suddenly, he is claiming to have superhuman access to running water.  This conversation is not coherent.

            Jesus clarifies:  “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.  The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

            It’s at this point that we realize Jesus is using “living water” as a metaphor for the loving grace which flows down upon us through his life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection.  Living water is an especially poignant metaphor.  Adequate water is absolutely essential for biological survival and flourishing.  Water is the signature resource that astronomers and astrobiologists focus on in their search for extraterrestrial life because it is hard to conceive of life existing without water.

            Water is also pivotal in Christian faith:

Ø  In the Creation Story contained in Genesis 1, God begins by moving over the face of the waters.

Ø  At a water well, Jacob met his future wife, Rachel, and helped water her sheep.

Ø  When the Hebrew people escape from their slave-bondage in Egypt, God parts the waters of the Red Sea to provide an avenue of escape from the pursuing Egyptian army.

Ø  Jesus sought out John the Baptist to be baptized by water; when he emerged from the baptismal waters of the River Jordan, a voice from heaven identified him as, “…my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Ø  As we’ve seen already, Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well and asks for a drink.

Ø  On the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus used water to wash the disciples’ feet, teaching us to serve one another.

In the Christian tradition, water heals and water is sacred.  In the Sacrament of Baptism, we use water as the physical substance which points beyond itself to that inward, spiritual grace which God offers to us from the deep reservoirs of God’s limitless love.  With the tactile substance of water, we welcome persons into the family of Christ, while also anointing them for ministry as Christian disciples.  At Baptism, water also offers healing.  Just as physical water is very effective for physical cleaning, so also Baptismal waters point to the spiritual cleansing, forgiveness, and healing that Jesus offers to those who truly repent from their sins and shortcomings.

Yet, much of our planet’s water is dirty and polluted.  Even more distressing, social scientists warn that our planet is facing a water shortage challenge in the near future, if appropriate conservation measures are not taken soon.  We have grossly mismanaged our water resources.

As the only earthly organisms created in the image of God, we have been charged with stewardship of God’s good Creation.  This is both a privilege and a responsibility.  Water, along with all of the Earth’s other natural resources, do not belong to humans.  Instead, they belong to God, the Creator, who has entrusted humans with the responsibilities of stewardship and careful management for a relatively short time.

 

Come and join us this Sunday, April 26^th, as we celebrate Earth Sunday and recommit ourselves to the task of stewardship of water and all of the natural resources which ultimately belong to God the Creator.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  Our classic worship starts at 10 am. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

"Seized by Terror and Amazement"

             As an ordained pastor for over 30 years, it seems to me that on Easter Sunday, there are always two separate congregations attending Easter Worship.  The two congregations intermingle and worship together.   Frequently, there are members of the same family, sitting together on the same pew, yet, they belong to separate congregations.  These two congregations are:

1.      The “true believers.”  This group is firmly convinced of the Resurrection and they harbor no doubts that through faith in Jesus they will have eternal life with God.

2.      The second group is the “quiet doubters.” Although they would like to belong to the “true believers” congregation, they have doubts that Jesus really was resurrected from the dead.  However, they are silent about their doubts because it might be considered impolite and it would upset others at the Easter Service.

In my faith journey, I have belonged to both congregations—both the “true believers” and the “quiet doubters.”  So, I think that I know how both congregations think and feel, as they gather for worship on Easter Sunday.

Let me focus a bit on the quiet doubters.  For this group, the resurrection is at odds with what we know from science and real life experiences.  For instance, we know that over the first 3 days of death, the physical body begins to decay and some post-mortem bloating may set in.  This raises serious questions about the resurrection of Jesus.  People are not just resurrected from the dead, as the scriptures claim for Jesus of Nazareth.  “Perhaps,” the quiet doubters may say to themselves, “Jesus was not really resurrected.  Perhaps his disciples just made up the resurrection because Jesus was such a special moral leader.”

The level of doubt may range along a continuum from some persons who completely reject the Resurrection as an actual event to others who basically accept the Resurrection, even though they retain a twinge of doubt and uncertainty in the back of their minds.  “Quiet doubters” may attend Easter services for a variety reasons, but they generally refrain from openly sharing their doubts.

As a pastor, who in the past was a “quiet doubter,” I feel it is important to point out to both congregations that there is a “bright red thread,” or common theme, that runs throughout all four gospel accounts of Christ’s Resurrection.   This red thread is so obvious that it is almost impossible to overlook.  Yet, many Easter services ignore or downplay this red thread. This red thread is that in all four gospels there is profound doubt expressed by some of Christ’s followers, concerning the Resurrection:

Ø  In the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus’ disciples meet him on the mountain following his Resurrection, “they worshiped him; but some doubted.” (Matthew 28:17) 

Ø  In Luke, when the women returned from the empty tomb and their encounter with the two men in dazzling white, their words seemed to the disciples to be “an idle tale, and they did not believe them.”

Ø  And, of course, in John we have the story of “doubting Thomas,” who said:  “‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’” (John 20:25) 

Ø  In Mark’s account of the first Easter morning, when the women arrive at the empty tomb and encounter the man in white, they run away from the scene because they are seized by “terror and amazement.”  (Mark 16: 1-8)  In Mark, when the disciples are afraid, it usually indicates that they lack sufficient faith in Jesus Christ.  For instance, when the disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee during a fierce storm, they become terrified.  Then, Jesus calms the sea, reassuring the disciples and asking them:  “Why are you afraid?  Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:  40)

Frequently, we overlook the disciples’ doubt in our rush to shout “Alleluia!” and sing “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.”  We ignore the red thread in our rush to plan Easter egg hunts and scrumptious Easter dinners with our family and friends.  Amid the Easter eggs, jelly beans, ‘peeps,’ chocolate bunnies, and Easter lilies, we always manage the avoid discussion of the disciples’ doubts.  Yet, regardless of which Gospel account you turn to, there is always at least one person who has doubts and is not sure about the resurrection. 

I think that we should pay more attention to the disciples and other followers of Jesus who had doubts about the Resurrection.  As a former “quiet doubter” myself, I have always found it easier to identify with “doubting Thomas” and the others who did not initially accept the reality of the Resurrection.

Yet, in each case, the doubts of Jesus’ followers eventually gave way to assurance of the Resurrection reality.  Through Jesus’ appearances and words, through the mutual support of the community of faith, through the growth and maturation of their faith, Jesus followers become convinced of his resurrection and they ultimately become … people of the Resurrection.

So this brings us to the central question of Easter, regardless of whether we are “true believers” or “quiet doubters.”  This central question is this: 

What does it mean to live as a Resurrection people?

In my message on Sunday, I will suggest that to live as Resurrection people means that we must learn to see with new eyes: 

First, we need to avoid the trap of seeing Jesus’ Resurrection as just another unconnected miracle performed by God.  Instead, we must view the Resurrection as part of the overarching story of God’s Creative work in the universe.  This story begins when God created the universe and judged it to be very good.  However, God’s creative activity is not limited to just the beginning.  God is continually at work creating and redeeming the world.  Ultimately, God promises to transform all of Creation and make it new.  As the New Testament Book of Revelation says:  “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, …[and God said], ‘See, I am making all things new.’”(Revelation 21: 1-2, 5)  In God’s New Creation, the old will be transformed.  Jesus’ Resurrection is the “tipping point,” when God begins to transform this universe into the New Creation described in Revelation.

Secondly, as a Resurrection people we must live towards the future and this New Creation which God has begun through the resurrection of Christ.  In other words, we are not enslaved by the past.  Instead, God intends for us to look forward to the future and Creation’s final redemption.  The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is an example of this forward way of looking and living.  Too often, when the community of faith gathers to celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we dwell on how the sacrament was first established.  We look to the past and remember how on the night when he was betrayed by Judas and denied by Peter, Jesus gathered with his followers in the Upper Room where he instituted the sacrament.  Although how the Lord’s Supper was established is very important, it is perhaps even more important to remember that the Lord’s Supper points forward to the future New Creation, when Jesus will join with all of his followers and feast and drink at the heavenly banquet in the kingdom of God.  (See Mark 14: 22-25 and Matthew 26: 26-29)

Finally, as Resurrection people, we no longer need to live in fear and dread of death—either the death of our friends or even our own death.  Through the Resurrection, God has provided conclusive proof that death is not the final word.  Rather than being the termination of our existence, death is a transition from this life to New Life with God through Jesus Christ.

 

Come and celebrate Easter with us this Sunday, April 5th.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  Our classic worship starts at 10 am. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.