The sermon manuscript from the fourth Sunday in Lent.
Based on John 9:1-41 - The Healing of the Man Born Blind.
The story of the man born blind in John’s Gospel reads like the script from the TV show Law & Order. Produced by Dick Wolf, it ran for 19 years, artistically documenting the struggles and triumphs of the criminal justice system in New York City. It had drama and mystery and intrigue. A great cast of characters we could all relate to. And the main characters always seemed to have some life altering moment. This morning’s story from John could be a lost episode of Law & Order. It’s got all the makings of a good drama. Intense dialogue. Intrigue. Mystery. A cast of characters we can all relate to. Just imagine - Law & Order: The New Testament...
“In the Jewish temple system, the people are guided in their lives of faith by the Pharisees. In John’s Gospel, the power of the Pharisees is challenged by Jesus, the Son of Humanity. These are there stories.”
In this episode of Law & Order: The New Testament the plot is driven by Jesus’ healing of a man born blind. The show opens with Jesus and his disciples continuing their journey to Jerusalem. Today they encounter a man who was blind from birth. The drama begins with the disciples and Jesus in a dialogue about the cause of the blindness - who sinned to make this happen? Jesus declares that sin is not the cause. He rubs the man’s eyes with mud made of dirt and saliva. And sends him to the pool.
The drama continues when the man discovers that he can see, but upon returning to the village, there is confusion over who he is and what has happened. As as he walks into the village, the whispers begin. “Is that the guy who used to beg on main street?” “ I don’t know - sure looks like him.” The man begins to frantically defend his healing - “It’s me, I promise you.” He fumbles in his wallet for his I.D. card….
The confused neighbors take him to the experts, the Pharisees. The remainder of the episode involves tense questioning of both the healed man and his parents. There are multiple interviews and commentary from the “experts” - those law abiding Pharisees. The Pharisees’ arguments provide intrigue. Facts are uncovered - the healing took place on the Sabbath, surely this man cannot be of God, can he? The mystery of the healing must be solved - just who is this Jesus. And all the while the man who has been healed gets the run around by the so-called experts. No one celebrates the healing. They all get lost in arguments.
The episode concludes with Jesus, who has been absent for most of the show. Having over heard the shouting match, Jesus talks to the man he healed, who ironically has never seen Jesus. Its a brief exchange that leaves the man confessing his faith in Jesus. Jesus comments that he has come into the world as a reversal, so that the blind may see and those who can see may become blind. The Pharisees overhead this statement and question Jesus about their blindness - surely we are not blind, are we? Jesus leaves them with the statement that their sin remains, as good as declaring them blind to his activities on behalf of God. The Pharisees miss their life-changing moment. The camera pans out. The show rolls to credits. Cue the theme music.
It is a story riddled with drama. Perfect for our high-strung viewing pleasure. And with such great characters, the ratings are sure to be high.
This story from John almost preaches itself. That’s what good stories do. The theme of light and darkness that starts from the prologue of the Gospel, sets the tone right out of the gate. Jesus has come as the light of the world. He is different from the darkness of the world - the brokenness, the sin, the separation from God. He has come to demonstrate how God engages the world - in self-sacrificing love and healing. Today, we encounter this in two ways from Jesus; his statement and his signs.
Jesus declares, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” The “I am” statement points us back to Moses and the burning bush. When Moses asks who shall I say send me God tells him to say “I AM WHO I AM.” God is the great “I am” - the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the living. Jesus takes up the divine name as part of his ministry and uses it to declare exactly who he is and what he has come to do.
The second moment comes when the Pharisees ask about a sign - “How can a man who is a sinner preform such signs?” The clue from John is found in the word “signs.” The signs moments are key moments in John’s Gospel. We encounter the signs of Jesus in the turning of the water into wine at the wedding in Cana, the feeding of the multitude in the wilderness, Jesus walking on water, or the raising of Lazarus. In the signs, John is telling us something important and true about Jesus - that is what the signs are meant to communicate. The sign in the healing the man born blind points us to Jesus, who renews our ability to be in relationship with God.
Jesus is the sign. Jesus is the light of the world - literally. Jesus is the way for us to encounter God. The lesson for us to take away is not so much about physical sight. It’s about how we encounter and engage Jesus, and thus, about how we renew our relationship with God. The result of the man born blind’s healing is that he confesses his faith in Jesus. That’s it. Jesus’ act of healing brings about a confession of faith and a life that is now engaged in a relationship with God. While this is not the end-all-be-all of Jesus’ ministry, its a starting point for the community that follows him. We are drawn into a relationship of trusting and knowing that Jesus is the light and salvation of the world.
The problem with the Pharisees is that they think they know it all. They were not open to God’s continuing revelation in their midst. They were not open to what Jesus could teach them about being in a relationship with God and with the world. The Pharisees spent all their time trying to prove that they are right. They do everything by the book, that is to say the law. They live out their call to keep the law, but they do it with such a judicial hammer that they completely cut out the light of Christ that has come into the world.
One of the rules they follow is the Sabbath. The Pharisees guarded the Sabbath with an iron fist – so much that they could not see God at work when Jesus was giving new life to the man born blind. According to the Pharisees, the man could not possibly have been healed outside of their system of healing. But it was not so much the healing. It was the method. Jesus, a sinner according to their rules, was wrong.
What makes Pharisees is us here in the season of Lent is our quest to play God. And we come by this naturally. It’s a part of our broken world and the fallenness of sin. From an early age we learn to build walls and boundaries. Churches and denominations assume the power to decide who is in and who is out of the kingdom of God. And sometimes we get caught up in this movement. We attempt to mark the boundaries of God’s kingdom. We decide who is in and who is our based on rules that are not of God’s decree. And we fall into the trap of the Pharisees. We struggle to see God at work. We struggle to encounter the light of Christ.
Jesus does not get caught up in the game of the Pharisees - he simply heals. He does not kneel down to the man born blind and ask if he wants to be healed - “Do you want to be healed…ok…fill out these forms…sign on the dotted line…get them notarized at the court house…see you tomorrow.” This is not how Jesus works. Jesus encounters those in need and reaches out to meet those needs. And we are called to deal with it.
In a time of requirements and forms and red-tape, Jesus simply heals and demonstrates God’s saving love for the world. Its no deeper than that. Jesus heals because that’s what God does. God heals. That’s grace. And we are called to follow. We are called and empowered to live out the depths of God’s grace. That’s the heart of baptism.
Baptism is not our event - it’s God’s promise for now and forever more. We are invited to participate, to wade into the waters of new life. The waters of God’s promise. As we draw near the cross, we are reminded of our need for God’s grace, and for what God has already done for us, and for the world, on the cross.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
The Exodus - Redeeming Waters
This is the manuscript from the third movement of my congregations 2014 Lenten theme - God's A-gonna Trouble the Waters. We are exploring images of where God is at work in the waters of the Old Testament.
The first week we read the creation story of Genesis 1 - Creating Waters.
The second week we read the Noah story of Genesis 7 and 8 - Flood Waters.
This week's story comes from Exodus.
As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. 16 But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. 17 Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.”
19 The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. 22 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24 At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. 25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
The first week we read the creation story of Genesis 1 - Creating Waters.
The second week we read the Noah story of Genesis 7 and 8 - Flood Waters.
This week's story comes from Exodus.
Exodus 14:10-31
As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. 16 But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. 17 Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.”
19 The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. 22 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24 At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. 25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
The Exodus - Redeeming Waters
God’s a-gonna trouble the waters. True story. God has indeed trouble the waters. That’s what God has been doing for a long time. Long before you and I got here God was troubling the waters. Now when I say troubling, I mean stirring things up with creative power. God troubles the waters on our behalf. Not as we expect or always ask for, but as God intends for the sake of the life of the world.
The priest, or shall I say poet, writing in the shadow of exile in Babylon, in the darkness of oppression, in the moment of wondering where God was at work in the world, penned the creation epic we know as Genesis 1. God troubles the waters in Genesis, Pastor Casey led us through that story two weeks ago. God’s spirit, the creating Rauch, hovered over the deep and organized the primordial waters of chaos into a dynamic world that God the creator called “good.” We come from that word “good.” We who are created by God bear the image of the creating, nurturing God we encounter in Genesis. But that’s not the whole story.
Last week we heard the story of Noah and the flood. The story where God troubled the waters of the world to counter the conflict and violence into which the world had spiraled. But God did not loose hope. There was Noah and his family and the animals, spared by God, lifted above the waters that rushed from the deeps and from the sky. The ark sheltered God’s hope for the future through the flood and the rainbow in the sky would serve as a reminder for both God and humanity of God’s commitment to the life of the world.
We continue with our Lenten theme this week with another story about how God troubles the waters. This time we find ourselves in Egypt, in exile, in a period of time when the people of God wondered where God was at work in the world. For 430 years the people had been crying out for God to deliver them from slavery in Egypt. And God heard their cries.
Enter Moses and the burning bush, and the divine call to go back to Egypt to serve as the catalyst for the Exodus. Reluctantly Moses goes. After quarrels and plagues and Passover and the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, the people of God are told to leave Egypt. They hurriedly move out into the unknown future that God has set in motion.
But cataclysmic change is always difficult. When the road got rough in the desert outside of Egypt, when the people were caught between water and the angry army of Pharaoh who had changed his mind, there was grumbling and fear. “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?!” Slavery in Egypt seemed better that death in the wilderness. Moses, why have you led us to our deaths? Was God in this to begin with? Where is God now?
God was indeed moving, and it is in the waters that God will act on behalf of the people. Moses is told to raise his staff and split the sea, but this is just a prop for God’s Spirit. The same Spirit that moved over the waters at the beginning of time, the same Spirit that calmed the waters of the flood, the creating Ruach of God moves in this moment. God’s creating Ruach moves, the waters are driven back, and a way of deliverance is made for the people. God makes a way from the death of slavery to the new life of God’s future.
The story of the Exodus from Egypt is the defining story for the people of Israel. It’s a creation story, narrating the creation of God’s people out of the chaos of slavery in a foreign land. It’s a story of how God creates life out of death. It was the moment of moments for the people of Israel. They would tell it to the kids and their grand-kids. They would remember it every year at Passover. They would weave the Exodus story into the fabric of their history. Over and over again in the giving of the law, God would remind the people of their rescue. “I am the LORD, your God, who brought you out of Egypt.” The psalmist would craft poetry to remember this day.
When Israel was a great nation, the story of the exodus told of the beginning of their rise to power and how God had established them as God’s chosen people. When they were in exile once again in Babylon, it was a story of hope, serving to remind the people of what God had done for their ancestors, kindling hope of what God would do for them in the future. Isaiah takes up a pen and writes, “Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to cross over?” Isaiah 51:10 serves as a reminder to the people of what God had done for them, redeeming them out of the death of slavery.
In the Exodus we again encounter a God who creates out of chaos. The people of Israel had been living in a state of chaos - oppressed, not allowed to live out their identity as God’s people. God chose to act on their behalf. God chose to give them life. It is once again in the waters that we see God move, creating a people out of the death of slavery and bringing them to new life. God’s spirit, the creating Ruach, moves over the waters and makes a way for the people to cross over from slavery into freedom. The word deliverance in verse 13 points to the saving act of God through the waters of the Reed Sea. It’s a word that points to what God has done for us on the cross. It points us to our redemption in Jesus Christ. We have been redeemed because God has already troubled the waters.
The journey to the cross and resurrection of Easter is a journey to the saving waters of baptism where God meets us and claims us as God’s own. God does indeed trouble the waters. God moves into the deep places of our lives, the places where sin has a strangle hold, the places where we are no longer ourselves because of our bondage to sin, and God sets us free. God’s creating Rauch moves into lives, troubling the waters, bringing us to new life in Christ.
God has indeed troubled the waters. In baptism God moves us from death in sin to new life in the kingdom of God’s creating. This has been done once and for all on our behalf. And God continues to meet us in the chaos of our lives.
In the chaos of sickness or debt or depression or loneliness or divorce or depression - God sends folks to remind us of God’s love and faithfulness. Sending a Moses to remind us of God’s creative power, to remind us that God has already made a way for us through the chaos.
Or perhaps we are called to be that Moses for somebody else - drawn into the moments of chaos to be God’s presence for others - to help remind each other of the way God has made for us to new life. A full life in God’s creative love.
God creates a way from death to life for us through the resurrection of Jesus. God makes a way through the cross for us to fully live into ourselves by the love of God poured out through the world through Jesus Christ. God troubles the waters with an everlasting promise on our behalf. The exodus story is our story - for we are a people of God’s creating.
The priest, or shall I say poet, writing in the shadow of exile in Babylon, in the darkness of oppression, in the moment of wondering where God was at work in the world, penned the creation epic we know as Genesis 1. God troubles the waters in Genesis, Pastor Casey led us through that story two weeks ago. God’s spirit, the creating Rauch, hovered over the deep and organized the primordial waters of chaos into a dynamic world that God the creator called “good.” We come from that word “good.” We who are created by God bear the image of the creating, nurturing God we encounter in Genesis. But that’s not the whole story.
Last week we heard the story of Noah and the flood. The story where God troubled the waters of the world to counter the conflict and violence into which the world had spiraled. But God did not loose hope. There was Noah and his family and the animals, spared by God, lifted above the waters that rushed from the deeps and from the sky. The ark sheltered God’s hope for the future through the flood and the rainbow in the sky would serve as a reminder for both God and humanity of God’s commitment to the life of the world.
We continue with our Lenten theme this week with another story about how God troubles the waters. This time we find ourselves in Egypt, in exile, in a period of time when the people of God wondered where God was at work in the world. For 430 years the people had been crying out for God to deliver them from slavery in Egypt. And God heard their cries.
Enter Moses and the burning bush, and the divine call to go back to Egypt to serve as the catalyst for the Exodus. Reluctantly Moses goes. After quarrels and plagues and Passover and the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, the people of God are told to leave Egypt. They hurriedly move out into the unknown future that God has set in motion.
But cataclysmic change is always difficult. When the road got rough in the desert outside of Egypt, when the people were caught between water and the angry army of Pharaoh who had changed his mind, there was grumbling and fear. “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?!” Slavery in Egypt seemed better that death in the wilderness. Moses, why have you led us to our deaths? Was God in this to begin with? Where is God now?
God was indeed moving, and it is in the waters that God will act on behalf of the people. Moses is told to raise his staff and split the sea, but this is just a prop for God’s Spirit. The same Spirit that moved over the waters at the beginning of time, the same Spirit that calmed the waters of the flood, the creating Ruach of God moves in this moment. God’s creating Ruach moves, the waters are driven back, and a way of deliverance is made for the people. God makes a way from the death of slavery to the new life of God’s future.
The story of the Exodus from Egypt is the defining story for the people of Israel. It’s a creation story, narrating the creation of God’s people out of the chaos of slavery in a foreign land. It’s a story of how God creates life out of death. It was the moment of moments for the people of Israel. They would tell it to the kids and their grand-kids. They would remember it every year at Passover. They would weave the Exodus story into the fabric of their history. Over and over again in the giving of the law, God would remind the people of their rescue. “I am the LORD, your God, who brought you out of Egypt.” The psalmist would craft poetry to remember this day.
When Israel was a great nation, the story of the exodus told of the beginning of their rise to power and how God had established them as God’s chosen people. When they were in exile once again in Babylon, it was a story of hope, serving to remind the people of what God had done for their ancestors, kindling hope of what God would do for them in the future. Isaiah takes up a pen and writes, “Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to cross over?” Isaiah 51:10 serves as a reminder to the people of what God had done for them, redeeming them out of the death of slavery.
In the Exodus we again encounter a God who creates out of chaos. The people of Israel had been living in a state of chaos - oppressed, not allowed to live out their identity as God’s people. God chose to act on their behalf. God chose to give them life. It is once again in the waters that we see God move, creating a people out of the death of slavery and bringing them to new life. God’s spirit, the creating Ruach, moves over the waters and makes a way for the people to cross over from slavery into freedom. The word deliverance in verse 13 points to the saving act of God through the waters of the Reed Sea. It’s a word that points to what God has done for us on the cross. It points us to our redemption in Jesus Christ. We have been redeemed because God has already troubled the waters.
The journey to the cross and resurrection of Easter is a journey to the saving waters of baptism where God meets us and claims us as God’s own. God does indeed trouble the waters. God moves into the deep places of our lives, the places where sin has a strangle hold, the places where we are no longer ourselves because of our bondage to sin, and God sets us free. God’s creating Rauch moves into lives, troubling the waters, bringing us to new life in Christ.
God has indeed troubled the waters. In baptism God moves us from death in sin to new life in the kingdom of God’s creating. This has been done once and for all on our behalf. And God continues to meet us in the chaos of our lives.
In the chaos of sickness or debt or depression or loneliness or divorce or depression - God sends folks to remind us of God’s love and faithfulness. Sending a Moses to remind us of God’s creative power, to remind us that God has already made a way for us through the chaos.
Or perhaps we are called to be that Moses for somebody else - drawn into the moments of chaos to be God’s presence for others - to help remind each other of the way God has made for us to new life. A full life in God’s creative love.
God creates a way from death to life for us through the resurrection of Jesus. God makes a way through the cross for us to fully live into ourselves by the love of God poured out through the world through Jesus Christ. God troubles the waters with an everlasting promise on our behalf. The exodus story is our story - for we are a people of God’s creating.
Monday, March 10, 2014
On Being Tested by the Tosser- Jesus in the Wilderness
Lenten Blessings.
This is the manuscript from the sermon preached on the first Sunday of Lent. The sermon is based on Matthew 4:1-11.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."
But he answered, "It is written,
'One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
'He will command his angels concerning you,'
and 'On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
'Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.'"
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” This declaration from God serves as the finale of the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan and the beginning of his trip into the wilderness. This is a hinge moment for Matthew’s story of Jesus. It is only after God names him as “beloved son” that Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tested. Right here in Matthew’s Gospel we know who Jesus is. We now follow the action to understand what this means for us and for the world.
Jesus is led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tested. No post baptism party for Jesus. The movement had to get started. And it begins in the wilderness. 40 days and 40 nights of fasting. The devil sitting shotgun. This may go down as the worst road trip ever.
The word that Matthew uses for the devil is the Greek diabolos. The English renders it quite literally. Clarence Jordan has an interesting take on the etymology of the word diabolos -
(Diabolos) comes from dia meaning “around, through," and bollo meaning “to throw.” Our English word ball comes from that. Diabolos means “one who throws things about” - one who stirs things up - gets them confused. The work of the devil is just to get us muddled.
With this understanding we can describe what the devil is trying do in the wilderness with Jesus. The devil is the "tosser." The devil is in this scene to toss things about, to muddle things up, to get Jesus confused over how he will live out his ministry. The devil is the one who will test Jesus about how he will live out being God’s “beloved son.”
The first testing involves something we all experience, hunger. Matthew tells us that Jesus is hungry, and who wouldn't be after forty days without food. It’s the basic and probably most pressing need that the devil goes after first. “If you are the Son of God,” the devil begins. But this is not a question of identity. Jesus knows exactly who he is. The devil knows exactly who Jesus is. We too have been told by Matthew just a few lines ago. No, this statement is more subtle. The devil is speaking in Greek syntax. The way to hear this statement is “since you are the Son of God.”
And here’s where the test comes in. And it’s a test of means. How will Jesus demonstrate the kingdom of heaven? Since Jesus is the Son of God, he has the power to react to his hunger. Surely he could have turned stones into bread. He could have satisfied his own needs. But that’s not what his ministry will look like. “Humanity shall not live by bread alone,” Jesus replies. Humanity shall not live alone with bread. Bread, representing the basic, stable food of the people’s diet, is meant to be shared. Community is born out of the sharing of bread. Twice in the Gospel we will witness Jesus’ ministry as the sharing of bread with the hungry masses in the wilderness. In the waning hours of his life Jesus will share bread with his disciples, including Judas, as a symbol of the new community created through the cross. Jesus will turn himself into bread for the world. The ministry of Jesus will be the sharing of bread with others, specifically those in need, and not Jesus himself with bread alone. The power of Jesus will be to build community and extend the kingdom of heaven into the world.
The second testing is about how Jesus will encounter the world. What will be the message of his life and ministry as the implementer of the kingdom of heaven? The scene moves the devil and Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple. Again the devil leads with “If you are the Son of God,” and again we should hear, “since you are the Son of God.” This time the devil quotes scripture to open the test, pulling a page out of Jesus’ play book. “Since you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written…” If you jump the angels will come, sweep you up in a blaze of glory, and all will see that you are truly God’s son. You’ll be famous. The phone will be ringing off the hook. You’ll need an agent to manage your gigs. They’ll want you for photo-ops and book signings. Perhaps even the Romans will take note and ask for advice. You will been seen as all powerful and the world will respond in awe.
Jesus again knows the test. He knows the world is fickle and is always on the look out for the next headline. The next front-page story. The message of the kingdom will not be a flash of power. Jesus points again to scripture, “you shall put the Lord your God to the test.” Jesus will not force God’s hand. Instead he chooses to display his power in a more subtle and radical way. The message of the kingdom of heaven will be one of humble service. Jesus opens his life to those in need. He heals the sick, dares to break social norms by hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors, and voices critique of the religious leaders. His true power will be displayed on the cross, a foolish move according to the powers that be. By God brings life out of death. The resurrection of Jesus demonstrates God’s ultimate power, something the world cannot control. Jesus, in his ministry of humble service, demonstrates the to the world the message of God through acts of healing and mercy.
The final testing will engage the method of Jesus’ ministry. How will Jesus go about the work of bringing the kingdom of heaven into the world? This time the devil skips the pleasantries and gets straight to the point. From a high mountain the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” The devil, the one who casts things about, assumes power over the whole world (maybe there’s some truth here), and would gift it all to Jesus for the simple act of worship. The devil knows the goals of the kingdom. He knows Matthew 28; “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” And here they are for the taking. All nations, lined-up and ready for Jesus. No sweat, no tears, no work, no blood, no cross, no death. With this act Jesus could take control of everything. With one fell swoop he could own it all. But there’s a catch.
At the heart of this is idolatry. And Jesus names it. “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” Or perhaps more clearly, “trust the lord…trust God’s vision for the world.” We worship who we trust; God. The devil is asking for Jesus to trust him. But Jesus knows this is false. We are to trust, to serve, to worship God alone. And this is what will mark the life and ministry of Jesus. He will trust the the kingdom of heaven is God’s vision for the world. He will put in the sweat and the tears and the work. He will walk to the cross and to the tomb. He will trust God with his life and ministry.
With all accounts settled, Jesus dismissed the devil. The testing is over. Now the journey of his ministry will begin. Our Lenten journey marks the final leg of his journey. His life is set on Jerusalem and the trial that is to come. Jesus will remain faithful until the end, and through his sacrifice, the whole world will be set free. And we are invited to follow.
As we enter the season of Lent we acknowledge that we are sinful people. We name that we fall short, that we would probably fail every test the “tosser” would throw at us. But it’s important not to get stuck in this trap. The truth of Lent, with it’s movement towards the cross, is to remember that the words God spoke to Jesus, God also speaks to us. “You are my beloved son…you are my beloved daughter.” We have been set free and given new life through the resurrection. Jesus has already met all the tests of the “tosser” and dismissed them as false. We are God’s beloved children.
Today, and everyday, we are invited to be a part of the world that God is creating through Jesus. We are invited to be a part of the kingdom of heaven. And this life embodies the movement of Jesus’ own life and ministry. We are called to share bread with others. To tell people of God’s abundance and Jesus Christ who gave himself away as bread for the world. We are invited to live lives of humble service to our neighbors and strangers alike. We are called to trust in God’s vision for the world. And we have been set free to follow Jesus in this way of life.
Remember, you are beloved children of God. May God bless you on the journey.
This is the manuscript from the sermon preached on the first Sunday of Lent. The sermon is based on Matthew 4:1-11.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."
But he answered, "It is written,
'One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
'He will command his angels concerning you,'
and 'On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
'Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.'"
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
On Being Tested by the Tosser - Jesus in the Wilderness
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” This declaration from God serves as the finale of the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan and the beginning of his trip into the wilderness. This is a hinge moment for Matthew’s story of Jesus. It is only after God names him as “beloved son” that Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tested. Right here in Matthew’s Gospel we know who Jesus is. We now follow the action to understand what this means for us and for the world.
Jesus is led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tested. No post baptism party for Jesus. The movement had to get started. And it begins in the wilderness. 40 days and 40 nights of fasting. The devil sitting shotgun. This may go down as the worst road trip ever.
The word that Matthew uses for the devil is the Greek diabolos. The English renders it quite literally. Clarence Jordan has an interesting take on the etymology of the word diabolos -
(Diabolos) comes from dia meaning “around, through," and bollo meaning “to throw.” Our English word ball comes from that. Diabolos means “one who throws things about” - one who stirs things up - gets them confused. The work of the devil is just to get us muddled.
With this understanding we can describe what the devil is trying do in the wilderness with Jesus. The devil is the "tosser." The devil is in this scene to toss things about, to muddle things up, to get Jesus confused over how he will live out his ministry. The devil is the one who will test Jesus about how he will live out being God’s “beloved son.”
The first testing involves something we all experience, hunger. Matthew tells us that Jesus is hungry, and who wouldn't be after forty days without food. It’s the basic and probably most pressing need that the devil goes after first. “If you are the Son of God,” the devil begins. But this is not a question of identity. Jesus knows exactly who he is. The devil knows exactly who Jesus is. We too have been told by Matthew just a few lines ago. No, this statement is more subtle. The devil is speaking in Greek syntax. The way to hear this statement is “since you are the Son of God.”
And here’s where the test comes in. And it’s a test of means. How will Jesus demonstrate the kingdom of heaven? Since Jesus is the Son of God, he has the power to react to his hunger. Surely he could have turned stones into bread. He could have satisfied his own needs. But that’s not what his ministry will look like. “Humanity shall not live by bread alone,” Jesus replies. Humanity shall not live alone with bread. Bread, representing the basic, stable food of the people’s diet, is meant to be shared. Community is born out of the sharing of bread. Twice in the Gospel we will witness Jesus’ ministry as the sharing of bread with the hungry masses in the wilderness. In the waning hours of his life Jesus will share bread with his disciples, including Judas, as a symbol of the new community created through the cross. Jesus will turn himself into bread for the world. The ministry of Jesus will be the sharing of bread with others, specifically those in need, and not Jesus himself with bread alone. The power of Jesus will be to build community and extend the kingdom of heaven into the world.
The second testing is about how Jesus will encounter the world. What will be the message of his life and ministry as the implementer of the kingdom of heaven? The scene moves the devil and Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple. Again the devil leads with “If you are the Son of God,” and again we should hear, “since you are the Son of God.” This time the devil quotes scripture to open the test, pulling a page out of Jesus’ play book. “Since you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written…” If you jump the angels will come, sweep you up in a blaze of glory, and all will see that you are truly God’s son. You’ll be famous. The phone will be ringing off the hook. You’ll need an agent to manage your gigs. They’ll want you for photo-ops and book signings. Perhaps even the Romans will take note and ask for advice. You will been seen as all powerful and the world will respond in awe.
Jesus again knows the test. He knows the world is fickle and is always on the look out for the next headline. The next front-page story. The message of the kingdom will not be a flash of power. Jesus points again to scripture, “you shall put the Lord your God to the test.” Jesus will not force God’s hand. Instead he chooses to display his power in a more subtle and radical way. The message of the kingdom of heaven will be one of humble service. Jesus opens his life to those in need. He heals the sick, dares to break social norms by hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors, and voices critique of the religious leaders. His true power will be displayed on the cross, a foolish move according to the powers that be. By God brings life out of death. The resurrection of Jesus demonstrates God’s ultimate power, something the world cannot control. Jesus, in his ministry of humble service, demonstrates the to the world the message of God through acts of healing and mercy.
The final testing will engage the method of Jesus’ ministry. How will Jesus go about the work of bringing the kingdom of heaven into the world? This time the devil skips the pleasantries and gets straight to the point. From a high mountain the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” The devil, the one who casts things about, assumes power over the whole world (maybe there’s some truth here), and would gift it all to Jesus for the simple act of worship. The devil knows the goals of the kingdom. He knows Matthew 28; “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” And here they are for the taking. All nations, lined-up and ready for Jesus. No sweat, no tears, no work, no blood, no cross, no death. With this act Jesus could take control of everything. With one fell swoop he could own it all. But there’s a catch.
At the heart of this is idolatry. And Jesus names it. “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” Or perhaps more clearly, “trust the lord…trust God’s vision for the world.” We worship who we trust; God. The devil is asking for Jesus to trust him. But Jesus knows this is false. We are to trust, to serve, to worship God alone. And this is what will mark the life and ministry of Jesus. He will trust the the kingdom of heaven is God’s vision for the world. He will put in the sweat and the tears and the work. He will walk to the cross and to the tomb. He will trust God with his life and ministry.
With all accounts settled, Jesus dismissed the devil. The testing is over. Now the journey of his ministry will begin. Our Lenten journey marks the final leg of his journey. His life is set on Jerusalem and the trial that is to come. Jesus will remain faithful until the end, and through his sacrifice, the whole world will be set free. And we are invited to follow.
As we enter the season of Lent we acknowledge that we are sinful people. We name that we fall short, that we would probably fail every test the “tosser” would throw at us. But it’s important not to get stuck in this trap. The truth of Lent, with it’s movement towards the cross, is to remember that the words God spoke to Jesus, God also speaks to us. “You are my beloved son…you are my beloved daughter.” We have been set free and given new life through the resurrection. Jesus has already met all the tests of the “tosser” and dismissed them as false. We are God’s beloved children.
Today, and everyday, we are invited to be a part of the world that God is creating through Jesus. We are invited to be a part of the kingdom of heaven. And this life embodies the movement of Jesus’ own life and ministry. We are called to share bread with others. To tell people of God’s abundance and Jesus Christ who gave himself away as bread for the world. We are invited to live lives of humble service to our neighbors and strangers alike. We are called to trust in God’s vision for the world. And we have been set free to follow Jesus in this way of life.
Remember, you are beloved children of God. May God bless you on the journey.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Ash Wednesday - On Being God's Dirt and Watered Gardens.
Lenten Blessings.
This is the manuscript from the sermon preached on Ash Wednesday 2014. The sermon is based on Isaiah 58:1-12.
Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.
3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
Is. 58:6 Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
10 if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
I have in my hand a jar of dirt. As dirt goes it is ordinary dirt. But it does not come from just anywhere. This dirt comes from my family’s homestead in Fayette County. Since the late 1800s my family has been working this dirt. This dirt has been ground into hundreds of pairs of blue jeans, stuck under countless fingers nails, plowed up, cussed at, and given thanks for, all in the act of planting crops in order to take in a harvest and feed a family. This jar of dirt reminds me of where I have come from, my roots that are buried deep in the rich earth of Texas - and that I am thankful to be back here in Texas after a few years away. This jar of dirt reminds me boldly of one of the clearest facts about life. One day, this is what I will be - Dirt.
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” With these words spoken we are drawn into the season of Lent, the forty day march to the cross of Good Friday and the resurrection of Easter morning. Lent always starts with this talk of dust and death. Every year we trudge up to the altar, eyes on our shoes, and receive a little ashen reminder of the truth that our days are numbered. The ashen crosses on our foreheads remind us that we are dust, we are bound to return to this dust and there’s nothing we can do about it.
“Remember that you are dust.” This phrase is found all the way back in Genesis chapter three where God is dealing out punishment for the taking of the fruit of the tree that was forbidden. The word used by the author is the Hebrew word “ophr” which literally means soil or dirt. What God tells Adam is a reminder that he is dirt; he was taken from the dirt at creation, and dirt is that to which he will return after death.
This same Hebrew word “ophr” is used in Genesis 2:7 to describe the building blocks of all us humans; dirt. God uses the dirt from the ground to create the first humans, the adam, the creatures of the earth. God breathed the breath of life into the dirt figure and gave us life. The heart of our Lenten reminder, “remember that you are dust,” is to remind us of where we have come from and where we are going. We could just as well have said, “Remember that you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.” We are creatures of the earth. We are dirt. And to dirt we shall return.
But this claim is not to be taken lightly; quite the opposite actually. This claim about dirt is to remind us that we are indeed creatures with numbered days. Today is the day when we are confronted with the truth that we are not long for this world. We are human. We are mortal. We will one day die. And while we journey through the world of the living, we are sinners. Ash Wednesday is the day when we are truly honest about who we are as humans. We are confronted by our mortality and our sin. And because of this we embark on the journey of Lent where we turn from our sinful ways and return to God through fasting and prayer.
The Israelites in today’s story from Isaiah must have been going through an Ash Wednesday moment. Having returned from exile in Babylon, the people are trying to put the community back together again. They were making an attempt to return to the rhythm of the law, reaching out to God through fasting.
But community is a muscle that must be exercised. Their time in Babylon had left the people scarred. Reminded vividly of their own mortality, having their own “dirt to dirt” moment in exile, the people’s attempt to restart the heart of their lives grounded in God was not going well. They cried out to God wondering why their fast had not been noticed from on high. God answers. And God does not mince words.
Their fasting was self centered. Listen to the critiques from God through the prophet - “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and you oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.” The critique from God is that the people’s fasting is self-centered. It does not acknowledge or live into the community God established through the covenant with Abraham. It does not live out the law given to Moses. The law that establishes how the people are to live as Gods holy ones, examples to the world of God’s hospitality and mercy. God does not want to see selfish acts of humility - a fast turned inward, ignoring the needs around them. God is not condemning the act of fasting, God is condemning the motives behind the fasting. When we are guided by selfish motives, when we act only out of our pride, as if to say, “God, look at how good I am, look what I have done for you.” But we have missed the point. This is not a return to God.
Instead, God declares through the prophet, “Is this not the fast that I choose, to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free?!” God points to a fast that reorients the people, that reorients us, to life in relationship with one another; bread for the hungry, a home for the homeless, cloths for the naked, not hiding from the people in our midst - family, neighbors, and strangers alike. Life in God’s community is the sharing of resources so that all have enough. It is making sure that all people’s needs are met. It’s working through the tense moments between family or friends with love and care. This type of fasting builds community and demonstrates the very heart of God. And when this type of fasting is done God’s power moves through the community in amazing ways. Listen to what the prophet says…
“The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; as you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.”
This is the essence of Lent, that we are reminded of who we are. We are dirt. We are held captive by sin and cannot save ourselves. We are mortal. We will die. We are parched and imperfect and in need of living waters. But we are not along. We are God’s dirt. And through the power and love of God, we are brought to new life and we become like a watered garden. God meets us in the parched places of our journey, where we may very well feel like dirt, and does not abandon us, but waters us back to life.
The words from Isaiah today help us to remember that the parched dirt of our being is transformed into a “watered garden” through the power of God. We are earth creatures, dirt of God’s own making, turned into watered gardens, cast into vessels that are empowered to give life to the world. Through Christ we have become a community that can nourish and help others to grow. Through baptismal waters, God’s living, moving waters, we have been brought to new life. The days of Lent, the movement towards the cross, are saturated with the powerful waters of God as we are drawn into these baptismal waters of Easter.
This year during the days of Lent we will explore the ways that God works through ordinary water to bring life to the world. We we move through water stories in the Old Testament, reminding ourselves of where we have come from. Of where God has already been at work in our world on our behalf. We will explore the creation waters in Genesis chapter one. The saving waters of the flood. The redeeming waters of the Exodus. The still waters of the 23rd Psalm. The living waters of God’s promised future in Isaiah. Joins us as we explore where God’s promise meets us in the waters of our story.
“Remember that you are dust. And to dust you shall return.” With these words we are drawn into Lent. We are reminded of who we are and where we are going. But we are not alone. We are God’s dirt, created and nurtured and transformed into watered gardens. So come to the waters. God is waiting.
This is the manuscript from the sermon preached on Ash Wednesday 2014. The sermon is based on Isaiah 58:1-12.
Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.
3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
Is. 58:6 Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
10 if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
On Being God's Dirt and a Watered Garden
I have in my hand a jar of dirt. As dirt goes it is ordinary dirt. But it does not come from just anywhere. This dirt comes from my family’s homestead in Fayette County. Since the late 1800s my family has been working this dirt. This dirt has been ground into hundreds of pairs of blue jeans, stuck under countless fingers nails, plowed up, cussed at, and given thanks for, all in the act of planting crops in order to take in a harvest and feed a family. This jar of dirt reminds me of where I have come from, my roots that are buried deep in the rich earth of Texas - and that I am thankful to be back here in Texas after a few years away. This jar of dirt reminds me boldly of one of the clearest facts about life. One day, this is what I will be - Dirt.
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” With these words spoken we are drawn into the season of Lent, the forty day march to the cross of Good Friday and the resurrection of Easter morning. Lent always starts with this talk of dust and death. Every year we trudge up to the altar, eyes on our shoes, and receive a little ashen reminder of the truth that our days are numbered. The ashen crosses on our foreheads remind us that we are dust, we are bound to return to this dust and there’s nothing we can do about it.
“Remember that you are dust.” This phrase is found all the way back in Genesis chapter three where God is dealing out punishment for the taking of the fruit of the tree that was forbidden. The word used by the author is the Hebrew word “ophr” which literally means soil or dirt. What God tells Adam is a reminder that he is dirt; he was taken from the dirt at creation, and dirt is that to which he will return after death.
This same Hebrew word “ophr” is used in Genesis 2:7 to describe the building blocks of all us humans; dirt. God uses the dirt from the ground to create the first humans, the adam, the creatures of the earth. God breathed the breath of life into the dirt figure and gave us life. The heart of our Lenten reminder, “remember that you are dust,” is to remind us of where we have come from and where we are going. We could just as well have said, “Remember that you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.” We are creatures of the earth. We are dirt. And to dirt we shall return.
But this claim is not to be taken lightly; quite the opposite actually. This claim about dirt is to remind us that we are indeed creatures with numbered days. Today is the day when we are confronted with the truth that we are not long for this world. We are human. We are mortal. We will one day die. And while we journey through the world of the living, we are sinners. Ash Wednesday is the day when we are truly honest about who we are as humans. We are confronted by our mortality and our sin. And because of this we embark on the journey of Lent where we turn from our sinful ways and return to God through fasting and prayer.
The Israelites in today’s story from Isaiah must have been going through an Ash Wednesday moment. Having returned from exile in Babylon, the people are trying to put the community back together again. They were making an attempt to return to the rhythm of the law, reaching out to God through fasting.
But community is a muscle that must be exercised. Their time in Babylon had left the people scarred. Reminded vividly of their own mortality, having their own “dirt to dirt” moment in exile, the people’s attempt to restart the heart of their lives grounded in God was not going well. They cried out to God wondering why their fast had not been noticed from on high. God answers. And God does not mince words.
Their fasting was self centered. Listen to the critiques from God through the prophet - “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and you oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.” The critique from God is that the people’s fasting is self-centered. It does not acknowledge or live into the community God established through the covenant with Abraham. It does not live out the law given to Moses. The law that establishes how the people are to live as Gods holy ones, examples to the world of God’s hospitality and mercy. God does not want to see selfish acts of humility - a fast turned inward, ignoring the needs around them. God is not condemning the act of fasting, God is condemning the motives behind the fasting. When we are guided by selfish motives, when we act only out of our pride, as if to say, “God, look at how good I am, look what I have done for you.” But we have missed the point. This is not a return to God.
Instead, God declares through the prophet, “Is this not the fast that I choose, to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free?!” God points to a fast that reorients the people, that reorients us, to life in relationship with one another; bread for the hungry, a home for the homeless, cloths for the naked, not hiding from the people in our midst - family, neighbors, and strangers alike. Life in God’s community is the sharing of resources so that all have enough. It is making sure that all people’s needs are met. It’s working through the tense moments between family or friends with love and care. This type of fasting builds community and demonstrates the very heart of God. And when this type of fasting is done God’s power moves through the community in amazing ways. Listen to what the prophet says…
“The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; as you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.”
This is the essence of Lent, that we are reminded of who we are. We are dirt. We are held captive by sin and cannot save ourselves. We are mortal. We will die. We are parched and imperfect and in need of living waters. But we are not along. We are God’s dirt. And through the power and love of God, we are brought to new life and we become like a watered garden. God meets us in the parched places of our journey, where we may very well feel like dirt, and does not abandon us, but waters us back to life.
The words from Isaiah today help us to remember that the parched dirt of our being is transformed into a “watered garden” through the power of God. We are earth creatures, dirt of God’s own making, turned into watered gardens, cast into vessels that are empowered to give life to the world. Through Christ we have become a community that can nourish and help others to grow. Through baptismal waters, God’s living, moving waters, we have been brought to new life. The days of Lent, the movement towards the cross, are saturated with the powerful waters of God as we are drawn into these baptismal waters of Easter.
This year during the days of Lent we will explore the ways that God works through ordinary water to bring life to the world. We we move through water stories in the Old Testament, reminding ourselves of where we have come from. Of where God has already been at work in our world on our behalf. We will explore the creation waters in Genesis chapter one. The saving waters of the flood. The redeeming waters of the Exodus. The still waters of the 23rd Psalm. The living waters of God’s promised future in Isaiah. Joins us as we explore where God’s promise meets us in the waters of our story.
“Remember that you are dust. And to dust you shall return.” With these words we are drawn into Lent. We are reminded of who we are and where we are going. But we are not alone. We are God’s dirt, created and nurtured and transformed into watered gardens. So come to the waters. God is waiting.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Ash Wednesday - Naming Death. Affirming Life.
I must admit I rather enjoy Ash Wednesday. Probably more than I should.
You see, Ash Wednesday is macabre. It names the reality of death in our midst. A reality we spend a great deal of time trying to ignore and erase.
We live in a world full of distractions and solutions and temporary fixes for the reality of death.
We spend a great deal of time and energy trying to ignore the presence of death in our lives. We sell ourselves out to the idols made of cloths and cosmetics and diets and surgeries and material possessions and visible symbols of vibrant life too many to name. Some of these are important to life, but they can be used as a method of escape. All in an effort to put a mask on the specter of death in our world. We literally become slaves to the power of death because we spend so much time trying to undo its very common and unstoppable effects. At least in the american context.
And this is why I love Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday names and unmasks our tireless efforts to hide from death.
Ash Wednesday is the day when we who are God’s children are truly honest about who we are. We are dust. And to dust we shall return.
The ashen mark of the cross on our foreheads stands as a stark reminder of where we are going. Dust.
The ashen mark of a cross on our foreheads stands as contrast to all we do to try and avoid death - the cloths and the make-up and the cosmetic surgeries and the promises of eternal youth present in magazines and on TV and the material symbols of a vibrant life. Ash Wednesday is a reminder of the fact that we cannot outlast the marks of time and we can take nothing with us.
We are dust. And to dust we shall return.
Ash Wednesday is the day where we are honest about death. And it is good for us.
The above mentioned litanies are all ways that we try to avoid death. And they hold a great deal of sway over our lives. They distract us from God and our call to follow Jesus. They can be described as the “principalities and powers” - the New Testament phrase that describes those things that attempt to take our attention and lives away from God. In essence they are idols or institutions or ideologies that promise life, but in reality can only give death.
William Stringfellow writes;
“Death is the only moral significance which a principality proffers human being beings. That is to say, whatever intrinsic moral power is embodied in a principality - for a great corporation, profit, for example; or, for a nation, hegemony; or for an ideology, conformity - that is sooner or later superseded by the great moral power of death. Corporations die. Nations die. Ideologies die. Death survives them all. Death is - apart from God himself - the greatest moral power in this world, outlasting and subduing all other powers no matter how marvelous they may seem to be for a time being. This means, theologically speaking, that the object of allegiance and servitude, the real idol secreted within all idolatries, the power above all principalities and powers - the idol of the idols - is death (An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in A Strange Land, pg. 81).”
To lives held captive to the idol of death, Ash Wednesday is a reminder that we are God’s created ones. To God we belong. And to God we will return.
Ash Wednesday is a counter-cultural message to the world. We do not belong to that with which we fill our lives - our jobs, our possessions, our consumptive natures. We belong to something greater.
Ash Wednesday reminds us who we are. And whose we are.
We are dust. And to dust we shall return.
We are dust, but not waste. We are created out of the dust of creation, the nourishing dirt used by God to form us and shape us. The dust/dirt that received the breath of life. The dust/dirt creatures that were called “good” by God. Remember - we are dust!
And to dust we shall return. We are not long for this world. Numbered days. Numbered heart beats.
But all time given to us as gift. To grow. To share. To live. To love.
To dust we shall return. But not yet.
Ash Wednesday reminds us of who is ultimately involved in our life. The one who has set us free through Jesus Christ from our struggle with death. Set us free so that we can join in the struggle of God for abundant life for the world.
Ash Wednesday names death as part of our life.
Ash Wednesday affirms life as our gift from God. A gift given to us now. And into our future with God.
Remember. We are dust. And to dust we shall return.
You see, Ash Wednesday is macabre. It names the reality of death in our midst. A reality we spend a great deal of time trying to ignore and erase.
We live in a world full of distractions and solutions and temporary fixes for the reality of death.
We spend a great deal of time and energy trying to ignore the presence of death in our lives. We sell ourselves out to the idols made of cloths and cosmetics and diets and surgeries and material possessions and visible symbols of vibrant life too many to name. Some of these are important to life, but they can be used as a method of escape. All in an effort to put a mask on the specter of death in our world. We literally become slaves to the power of death because we spend so much time trying to undo its very common and unstoppable effects. At least in the american context.
And this is why I love Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday names and unmasks our tireless efforts to hide from death.
Ash Wednesday is the day when we who are God’s children are truly honest about who we are. We are dust. And to dust we shall return.
The ashen mark of the cross on our foreheads stands as a stark reminder of where we are going. Dust.
The ashen mark of a cross on our foreheads stands as contrast to all we do to try and avoid death - the cloths and the make-up and the cosmetic surgeries and the promises of eternal youth present in magazines and on TV and the material symbols of a vibrant life. Ash Wednesday is a reminder of the fact that we cannot outlast the marks of time and we can take nothing with us.
We are dust. And to dust we shall return.
Ash Wednesday is the day where we are honest about death. And it is good for us.
The above mentioned litanies are all ways that we try to avoid death. And they hold a great deal of sway over our lives. They distract us from God and our call to follow Jesus. They can be described as the “principalities and powers” - the New Testament phrase that describes those things that attempt to take our attention and lives away from God. In essence they are idols or institutions or ideologies that promise life, but in reality can only give death.
William Stringfellow writes;
“Death is the only moral significance which a principality proffers human being beings. That is to say, whatever intrinsic moral power is embodied in a principality - for a great corporation, profit, for example; or, for a nation, hegemony; or for an ideology, conformity - that is sooner or later superseded by the great moral power of death. Corporations die. Nations die. Ideologies die. Death survives them all. Death is - apart from God himself - the greatest moral power in this world, outlasting and subduing all other powers no matter how marvelous they may seem to be for a time being. This means, theologically speaking, that the object of allegiance and servitude, the real idol secreted within all idolatries, the power above all principalities and powers - the idol of the idols - is death (An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in A Strange Land, pg. 81).”
To lives held captive to the idol of death, Ash Wednesday is a reminder that we are God’s created ones. To God we belong. And to God we will return.
Ash Wednesday is a counter-cultural message to the world. We do not belong to that with which we fill our lives - our jobs, our possessions, our consumptive natures. We belong to something greater.
Ash Wednesday reminds us who we are. And whose we are.
We are dust. And to dust we shall return.
We are dust, but not waste. We are created out of the dust of creation, the nourishing dirt used by God to form us and shape us. The dust/dirt that received the breath of life. The dust/dirt creatures that were called “good” by God. Remember - we are dust!
And to dust we shall return. We are not long for this world. Numbered days. Numbered heart beats.
But all time given to us as gift. To grow. To share. To live. To love.
To dust we shall return. But not yet.
Ash Wednesday reminds us of who is ultimately involved in our life. The one who has set us free through Jesus Christ from our struggle with death. Set us free so that we can join in the struggle of God for abundant life for the world.
Ash Wednesday names death as part of our life.
Ash Wednesday affirms life as our gift from God. A gift given to us now. And into our future with God.
Remember. We are dust. And to dust we shall return.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)