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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.
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