REMBRANDT'S PORTRAIT OF JESUS The EYES have it!
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
O most glorious and loving God, be the delight of our hearts today and everyday. Help us realize and understand that you are the greatest cheerleader of humankind. Because you created us, you are invested in our finishing well in the race of life. We confess that, all too often, we picture you sitting with your chin on your upturned fist, like Rodin’s statue of the Thinker. We are all too convinced that you mope and wonder when we are going to get it right. Erase any notions in our heads that you purposely steer clear of us, because you are disappointed by our flaws. The faith of our childhood assures us that you are ever near, but seldom do we take time in our busy adult lives to truly ponder the nearness of you. Help us to recognize that prayer is the conversation that connects us with you. Inspire us to talk, in the name of the Christ we pray. Amen.
OFFERING INVITATION
The Gratitude Template inserted in your bulletin is based on George Ella Lyon’s “Where I’m From Template.” As you fill in the blanks with your memories and thoughts you will, in effect, be constructing a poem or a narrative of Gratitude. I think you will find it a fun instrument to play with and practice on (I can email it to you as well). Share it at your Thanksgiving table, and then if you would please share your poem with me and our Stewardship Team. Our plan is to have four selected poems read from the pulpit during our Gratitude Campaign in January. Who knows, playing with this template could give birth to a poet.
UNISON OFFERTORY PRAYER
Gracious God, pour out your blessing on the gifts we offer with open hearts and hands. We have found our way to this church and pray that “HERE” will always be a place of sanctuary, where the spirit of welcome presides. Show us the better way to care for the sheep of your pasture as we strive to transform ourselves and work to heal our broken world. We pray never to take your church for granted. Remind us that every gift is life-giving. For all that we are and have, wondrous God, we give thanks and praise, in the name of the Christ. Amen.
UNFORTUNATELY THE VIDEO FOR THIS SERMON IS NOT AVAILABLE IT WAS DELETED BY MISTAKE.
Below are the Scriptures and Sermon Text:
SERMON OCTOBER 11, 2015
WORDS SO OFTEN MISSED by Rev. Dr. Amanda J. Burr
Mark 10: 17-31 and Hebrew 4:12-16 (Bible verses from the NRSV)
Hebrews 4:12-16
Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.
Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession of faith. Ours is not high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but he, in every respect has been tested as we are, and yet one without sin. Let US therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Mark 10:17-31
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.” ’ He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’
Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’
SERMON TEXT (You know when I am being cheeky right?)
In the ancient days before Jesus walked on the earth, people believed that if anyone set their eyes upon God they would perish immediately. Two legendary stories come to mind from Old Testament Scripture, one from the book of Exodus and the other from 1st Samuel.
Exodus 33:17-20 When Moses asks to see God’ face.
The LORD said to Moses, ‘I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.’ Moses said, ‘Show me your glory, I pray.’ And God said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, “The LORD”; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But’, he said, ‘you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.’
I am sure you all remember how Steven Spielberg proved what happens to humans when they look upon the face of God, back in 1981 in the first Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark? Y can watch the proof if you look it up on the internet and click on the YouTube link. The very first thing that comes up is the famous face melt scene where the evil, wicked, mean, and, bad, and nasty Nazis found the lost ark and opened it. The evil wicked mean and bad and nasty people either hadn’t read the stories in scripture about the power of the Ark of the Covenant -- also called the Ark of God, or they didn’t believe them, and so suffered the consequences, when they opened the Ark of God to see what was inside. Duh…God was in there.
Now 1st Samuel could well be called the book of the adventures of the Ark of the Covenant. The Israelites took the Ark everywhere, even into battle, because God was in there. Those who carried the Ark were like the standard bearing soldiers of latter years, those who carry their country’s colors into battle. The Israelites enjoyed many victories attributing them to the Ark’s power and presence. So when they were defeated by the Philistines 30,000 Israelite soldiers lay dead on the battle field. The Ark containing the God of Israel was captured and taken from the Israelites. Being Israelites they naturally thought that something had gone wrong with their relationship with God and they were being punished. The Philistines took the Ark to Ashod and placed it next to the image of their own god, Dagon, in the house of Dagon.
1 Samuel 5:1-4; 6-8 (NRSV)
Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and placed it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. But when they rose early on the next morning, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off upon the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.
The hand of the LORD was heavy upon the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and struck them with tumors, both in Ashdod and in its territory. And when the inhabitants of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, ‘The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us; for his hand is heavy on us and on our god Dagon.’ So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, ‘What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?’ The inhabitants of Gath replied, ‘Let the ark of God be moved on to us.’ So they moved the ark of the God of Israel to Gath.
When the Philistines sent the Ark back to the Israelites, it had become evident to all that the God of Israel was making a statement to the whole world.
You may think from the stories told in these Hebrew Scriptures that the people of former days had rather a primitive and seemingly unsophisticated understanding of the Lord, God, but it is important for us to understand that these stories speak of a relationship not of one individual with God, but always of an entire people, generation after generation. Everything that happens to the Israelites reflects what is going on in their relationship with God. What happens in their lives causes them to reflect on that relationship, to re-examine and correct their behavior, working to show God their desire to be in right relationship.
You may wonder what stories about Moses, the Ark of the Covenant and the sadly-doomed-god of the Philistines, Dagon, have to do with the story I read to you from Mark’s gospel today, but the story in Mark is all about being in right relationship with God.
I titled the sermon based on something my friend Carol said this year when I used this passage for one of our breakfast meditations in Guatemala. She remarked that in all of the times she had heard this story she heard something she had never heard before. In honor of Carol’s hearing a word so often missed, I titled the sermon Words so often missed.
I love to remind people that this story starts out with Jesus about to leave town, so let us picture Jesus loaded down with tickets, proper form of ID, easy slip on shoes, carry-on and Coleman cooler in tow when a man runs up to him, and kneels down in front of him, which is most definitely a gesture sure to stop anyone in his tracks.
Gon-oo is the Greek verb to kneel. Forms of the word appear only 17 times in scripture -- that includes both testaments, 4 instances are in the gospels, once here in Mark’s version of this story, once when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke, and twice in Mark and Matthews accounts of the Roman soldiers kneeling as they beat and mock Jesus before his crucifixion.
Kneeling, that is falling to ones knees is an “act of imploring aid, as well as an act of expressing reverence and honour.” This is a gesture that signifies both imploring and reverence on this man’s part. He is humbling himself before Jesus, even though his timing is terrible, it is clear he has Jesus’ undivided attention. For the kneeling man this is a matter of some urgency, as if he hasn’t a moment to lose. He intends to need only a moment of the holy man’s time, since he is looking for a simple answer to what he believes is a straightforward question. But the question isn’t “how many teaspoons of sugar will help the medicine go down?” The question is: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He is asking for himself as an individual. We don’t know if he is a Jew or a Gentile at this point in time. Jesus doesn’t give him an answer right away. He doesn’t say to him: Just Believe. He doesn’t say: “Believe in me or believe in the good news, or believe in the gospel.
NO! Mark’s Jesus asks “Why to do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”
His is an interesting response, and one that doesn’t clarify much for us or the man still on his knees. Perhaps it is meant to be a rhetorical question, particularly since Jesus doesn’t wait for an answer. He changes the direction of the conversation and supposing the man kneeling before him to be a fellow Jew, he says: “You know the commandments” – this could have been a spot quiz, but Jesus proceeds to recite those commandments that pertain to how we humans are to treat one another in a neighborly way.
“You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness, You shall not defraud; Honor your father and your mother.” Through the recitation the man is still on his knees nodding vigorously.
It feels to me almost as if Jesus is purposely keeping the man on pins and needles, or at the very least his disciples, who are tapping their toes ready to get on the road. It is as if Mark’s Jesus is dangling a kind of legal carrot before the eyes of the man hungry for answers and those of us overhearing the story.
Did you notice what is blatantly missing in this commandment list? It is the first commandment of all: to love the Lord your God and worship God alone, giving no loyalty or importance to other gods.
When Jesus finishes the recitation of the commandments and the man, now with blisters on his knees, assures him that he has followed all of the commandments since he was a boy, Jesus, at last offers him an answer. The young man looking for the relief of his angst awaits the answer and Jesus, looking at him, loved him. You lack one thing; go and sell all that you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come follow me.
My friends, can you point out to me the words we so often miss in this single verse of scripture? Do you see them in verse 21? (page 43) THEY ARE the words LOVED HIM AND FOLLOW ME.
It is evident to me that the disciples didn’t hear those words either. As the rich man walks away, they, like the rest of us, ask Jesus, only about the selling all we have part, and the giving to the poor.
In the story Jesus met a man who was humbly looking for easy answers to a question that is unanswerable by humans. Eternal life is the stuff of God. Like the Israelites who found reason always to reflect on their right relationship with God, Jesus is saying to all who have ears to hear: “Work on your relationship with God. Reflect on your relationship with God. Love God, seek God first, and one way to do that is to do good to your neighbor.”
In verse 28 Jesus promises his disciples, that all they have been willing to let go of in this life, they will receive 100 fold now in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.
I believe God was looking through the loving eyes of Jesus upon the rich man and the disciples. Because they all dared to ask the tough questions they were given the opportunity to learn something about themselves.
Amen.
Rev. Dr. Amanda Burr October 11, 2015
