Sermon Pentecost 4 C at St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Mt. Airy

The Audio can be found at: https://soundcloud.com/tigerowl/pentecost-4-c-2016  [Air Conditioners are noisy.]
The Text Follows:

Luke 7:36-8:3
7:36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table.
7:37 And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.
7:38 She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.
7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him--that she is a sinner."
7:40 Jesus spoke up and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher," he replied, "Speak."
7:41 "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
7:42 When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?"
7:43 Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt." And Jesus said to him, "You have judged rightly."
7:44 Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
7:45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.
7:46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
7:47 Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."
7:48 Then he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
7:49 But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
7:50 And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
8:1 Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him,
8:2 as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
8:3 and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

Forgive us, God, when we fail to walk with you; guide us back to you, and fill us with your love and grace that we might better serve you. Amen.

“We are living in strange times.  WASHINGTON — A Republican senator told conservatives Friday they should pray for President Barack Obama and suggested a biblical passage that says, "Let his days be few."

Georgia Sen. David Perdue told a gathering of religious conservatives that "we need to be very specific about how we pray." He suggested using Psalms 109:8, which reads: "Let his days be few, and let another have his office."

As the audience at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" conference laughed and applauded, Perdue said, "In all seriousness, I believe that America is at a moment of crisis."

The next lines of the Psalm read: "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow."

Kristen Orthman, a spokeswoman for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, said Perdue's comments "left the impression he was praying for the death of President Obama."”

May his days be few;
    may another take his place of leadership.
⁹ May his children be fatherless
    and his wife a widow.
¹⁰ May his children be wandering beggars;
    may they be driven^[a] from their ruined homes.
¹¹ May a creditor seize all he has;
    may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
¹² May no one extend kindness to him
    or take pity on his fatherless children.
¹³ May his descendants be cut off,
    their names blotted out from the next generation.

While this was not the words of a Preacher, but the words of a Christian, I had to have a serious debate – internally  - about forgiveness.  This internal dialogue was already going on as I kept reading the Gospel lesson for today.  The bottom line of the lesson is one of forgiveness.

Remember the story… Jesus was invited to supper at the home of a Pharisee. Jesus ate with a lot of different people.  He even ate with the “tax collectors and sinners,” but also the Pharisees! It may be that by the time of Luke was beginning to record his story of the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, the believers may have begun to look at the Pharisees as the “outcasts,” as the Pharisees had done to the “tax collectors and sinners” during Jesus’ day.  As Jesus was in the home of this Pharisee, this woman entered and began anointing Jesus with the ointment from the alabaster jar she brought with her.  She is not anointing his body prior to burial as in the other accounts nor is her ointment described as being costly. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair.  

The Pharisee who had invited Jesus, was just a little unsettled to have this uninvited woman paying so much attention to his guest. Jesus’ host thought to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him--that she is a sinner."  Little did he know that Jesus could read minds.  Jesus spoke up and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher," he replied, "Speak."
Jesus went into story telling mode, "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?"  Jesus’ host Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt." And Jesus said to him, "You have judged rightly."

It is at this point that Jesus moves into action and teaching. He turns toward the woman, then he speaks to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.  You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."
Jesus may have stunned his host, knowing that he is a guest in the house of the Pharisee.  Jesus was very aware that the other guests gathered were watching every move he made and listened to every word he said.  After the stunned silence Jesus speaks directly to the woman, "Your sins are forgiven." "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."  Can you imagine the murmuring that was going on among those other guests?  The primary question around the table began was, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

Sometimes I’m just as clueless about the broad parameters of what it means to Forgive.  In reading about the news reports, Senator Purdue is reported to be laughing and smiling, as he alluded to the unscheduled demise of the President of the United States.  I’m having a difficult time – understanding how it is in a gathering of Christians, people can laughingly applaud the application of a Psalm of death on the current President.  Now I must admit, the Senator did not read the following verses, but since 2009 the Psalm [even on bumper stickers] has been around the conservative community. Forgiveness comes with great difficulty, for the ministry of Jesus calls for all of us to recognize the face of faith in everyone we meet.  I started this sermon with this prayer, ‘Forgive us, God, when we fail to walk with you; guide us back to you, and fill us with your love and grace that we might better serve you.’ We are called upon to see the God child in everyone we meet. 

Perhaps that is a lesson we can all learn from one who left us this week.  A signature phrase that we heard on Friday at the Memorial service of Muhammad Ali, ‘Service to Others is the Rent you Pay for your Room here on Earth.’

Even though there were a few folks who have never forgiven him for his stance on the war in Vietnam, or his conversion to Islam, they are the ones who have lost the meaning of forgiveness.  Character and Care are elements of a man who was capable of building bridges and friendships across racial, religious and political challenges.  He truly was one to break down walls of difference.  This citizen of the world knew what it meant to be forgiven and more specifically what it means to forgive.  May we all strive to like Ali, another one of the Greatest, and more importantly a child of the God – Allah and Father of us all.  AMEN.

Sermon for St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Mt. Airy 6/5/2016

Audio can be found at : https://soundcloud.com/tigerowl/pentecost-3-c
Text follows:

Sunday June 5 - Third Sunday after Pentecost Readings Complementary Series 1 Kings 17:17-24 Psalm 30 (2) Galatians 1:11-24 Luke 7:11-17 Semi-continuous Series 1 Kings 17:8-16 [17-24] Psalm 146 (8) Galatians 1:11-24 Luke 7:11-17 Prayer of the Day Compassionate God, you have assured the human family of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Deliver us from the death of sin, and raise us to new life in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Gospel Acclamation Alleluia. A great prophet has ris- | en among us!* God has looked favora- | bly on us! Alleluia. (Luke 7:16)

1 Kings 17:17-24
17:17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
17:18 She then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!"
17:19 But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed.
17:20 He cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?"
17:21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again."
17:22 The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.
17:23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive."
17:24 So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."

Psalm 30
30:1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. 
30:2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 
30:3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. 
30:4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. 
30:5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. 
30:6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, "I shall never be moved." 
30:7 By your favor, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed. 
30:8 To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication: 
30:9 "What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? 
30:10 Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!"
30:11 You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 

30:12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

Galatians 1:11-24
1:11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin;
1:12 for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
1:13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it.
1:14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.
1:15 But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased
1:16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being,
1:17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. 
1:18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days;
1:19 but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother.
1:20 In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!
1:21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia,
1:22 and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ;
1:23 they only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy."
1:24 And they glorified God because of me.

Luke 7:11-17
7:11 Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.
7:12 As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town.
7:13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep."
7:14 Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!"
7:15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
7:16 Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen among us!" and "God has looked favorably on his people!"
7:17 This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.

Easter was really early this year.  That’s the discovery I found in trying to figure out why I had never preached on the lessons from last Sunday or this Sunday.  Easter and Lent are determined by Passover which is in the Hebrew calendar.  There are 3 to seven Sundays between the Baptism of Jesus and Ash Wednesday, depending upon the date of Easter.  This year was only 4 Sundays, thus they need more lessons from Pentecost to the beginning of the next advent.  In spite of my own feelings of inadequacy, the lessons for last week and this week are in many ways important enough not to be left out of the scriptures we can read and study and learn from.  The disciples have gone from being fishermen on a boat to being walking travelers following Jesus, literally from Town to Town.

Again we are like the disciples are walking with Jesus.  When the seminary moved from downtown Philadelphia in 1889, the students and the faculty walked down Germantown Avenue to worship here at St. Michaels.  Let me take a pause here, How many of you watched the recent version of Roots that was on television this past week?  In the four episodes, there was an emphasis on travel.  That travel was by boat, by horse, by cart and of course by foot.  As a people walking seems to be that one way of travel that keeps us in touch with our neighbors and our strangers.  In the context of Roots foot travel without passes to authorize travel was dangerous. 

Yet in this neighborhood it is not impossible to put in quite a few steps to get what needs to be done on a weekly basis.  We don’t walk to downtown Philadelphia, but we do walk to the ACME.  Often in the last twenty five years I walked to work at the seminary.  If the library wasn’t closed for repairs, then there isn’t much we absolutely need that isn’t available by walking.  There have been a few times when I’ve even walked to the top of Chestnut Hill just for fun.  When in better health, your pastor was present on the street.  She probably knows more people on the avenue that most of us gathered here put together.

In one sense Jesus has modeled that type of ministry.  He was present to people.  He walked the same walks that they were familiar with.  His disciples used that time of walking as a time for conversation and learning.  Jesus seemed to be constantly teaching.  From the first 10 verses of the seventh Chapter of Luke to the next seven verses, Jesus and the twelve are on a hike from Capernaum to Nain.  For them no distances seem to be too far.  Not unlike the travel of Chicken George from North Carolina to Charleston, South Carolina to both win and lose a cock fight and his freedom, which he thought he had won.  In the last Episode his son walks from North Carolina to Tennessee to find his father who had been fighting for the North in the Civil War. 

I wonder if we would be willing to walk from Capernaum to Nain?  It’s about as far as from St. Michaels to Graterford Prison.  Would we be ready to not just walk alone, but to walk with a big crowd?  We wouldn’t be just walking and enjoying the scenery, we would be talking with one another about what calls us to walk and share the lessons we have learned while with Jesus.  I would suppose that is one reason we never see a Jehovah’s Witness walking alone.  The disciples were walking and talking to others about what they knew about Jesus’s teaching and what they were continuously learning as they traveled together.

It is in this context that Jesus approached the gate of the town of Nain.  A man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town.  When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep."  Coming forward Jesus touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. Then Jesus said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!"  We should not be surprised that the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.  We should also not be surprised that fear seized all of them.  I’m not sure about you, but even with age and experience, I’m not sure that the first thing I would do would be to glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen among us!" and "God has looked favorably on his people!"  My first response would more likely be, “What did Jesus just do?”

Given the outside the box activity of Jesus, it was inevitable that the word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.  It is important to remember, that neither the widow nor anyone in the funeral procession asked for Jesus’ help. Jesus saw the need and acted. (Remember last week in the first part of this seventh chapter, the Roman centurion first sent a delegation of Jewish elders to ask for Jesus’ help – and they reported how worthy the centurion is to receive his help, having built their synagogue.  Yet later he sent friends who report that the centurion is unworthy to have Jesus come to his house. This probably indicates the centurion’s knowledge that it brought defilement for a Jew to enter a Gentile’s house. He was not worthy to have Jesus defile himself, even though Jesus seems ready and willing to do so.

This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.  Do we do the same?  How much and how often do we speak about what’s happening right here at St. Michael’s?  How often do we offer to meet here on Saturday and Sunday?  How often do we offer to walk with others, as they struggle for answers, to all of life’s questions? 

Each of us is a God walker.  Each of us is God talker.  Each of us knows exactly what the people of Nain were experiencing when they said "God has looked favorably on his people!"  We may not have all we want, or for that matter all that we need, but that should not stop us from sharing with everyone we meet what God has done for each and every one of us.  As the word about Jesus spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country, it can also continue to spread on the Germantown Pike.  With our walking and sharing, with our talking and learning, we have a lot of ground to cover from here to Chestnut Hill, and on a good day to Plymouth Meeting and on a Great Day we may make it as far as Graterford.

AMEN.

My thanks to Brian Stoffregen, Lucy Lynn Hogan and a host of others.