Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany Yr B Feb 7 2021

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Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany Yr B Feb 7 2021

Isaiah 40:21-31, 1 Corinthians 9:16-23, Mark 1:29-39, Psalm 147:1-12, 21c

 

My mother-in-law, Rick’s mom, is an amazing woman. She has enough love in her heart for the whole world. She’s worked hard her entire adult life, often working overnights in restaurants as a waitress or a manager. She has been a caterer, and has been known to bake Christmas cookies and cakes for the people in her building. Food has not only been her bread and butter, but food is also the means by which she shows her love and finds her worth. And we love her dearly. We never expect her to prepare a meal for us, but, well you know, she does anyway. She’s made garlic toast and roast beef hash, and a dish only a son could like, Cedric’s casserole. Butterfinger bars, pink squirrels, Russian teacakes…. And finally she has compiled all her recipes and gave them to each of us for Christmas. You try to say, no, you know you really don’t have to, and it rings hollow, because really, she has to, it’s who she is. She is whole and complete; she is whom she truly was created to be when she is in her kitchen. 

 

Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law. And the first thing she does is to get up and serve them. This is a story that has always made me mad. No rest, no recovery, no getting back at things slowly, the fever left her, and she began to serve them. On the surface it seems like this is just perpetuating a stereotype, the woman’s role. And then I am reminded of my mother-in-law, and I remember that what they share is that their wholeness, their health, their being fully who they are, is tied directly to their love of serving. When my mother in law is sick and cannot putz around her kitchen baking this and that, she is not herself. She is aging, and she cannot move about in her home and her kitchen as she would wish. She is losing herself. 

 

What Jesus did here was more than just heal Simon’s mother in law, as if that isn’t enough, he put things right, he restores the order of things, he makes whole what is broken, he brings her to herself, he gives her a new life. The radical nature of this story is not necessarily that Simon’s mother-in-law was healed, and not necessarily that she served, the radical nature of this story is Jesus’ capacity to restore her wholeness, to restore her value and worth, to actually give her new life. And in so doing, purpose and meaning.

 

That’s what casting out demons and healing is about with Jesus. Jesus heals a leper, Jesus heals a paralytic, Jesus heals a man with a withered hand. Jesus heals a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years, and a child who has died. It is not just removing disease, as if that isn’t enough, but these are stories about Jesus’ power to bring people into a new relationship, to bring people into right relationship with himself and with others. These are stories about making whole what is broken, these are stories about bringing healing into a fragmented world, these are stories about this absolutely new thing that God is up to. These are stories about making the dead alive.

 

The Good News is that in a broken and fragmented world, you can live a life that is whole. That is not to say that the life you live will be perfect, whole and perfect are nothing alike. Perfect is what we see set before us as a standard by those who can sell us something to make us seem perfect. Perfect is what we will be if we buy the right skin lotion, perfect is what we will be if we buy the right house, perfect is what we will be if we marry the right person, or play the right game or have the right bank account or life insurance or whatever. The harder we work for perfect, the more frustrated, depressed, angry, and resentful we become.

 

The Good News is that in a broken and fragmented world, you can live a life that is whole. When Rick and I were married, we were given the chalice that was used for Holy Communion that day. On our 10th anniversary, we brought the chalice to church with us to use at communion in celebration of our anniversary. As I was getting out of the car that day, I dropped the chalice. We picked up the pieces, and I set about putting the cup back together. It is whole, but surely not perfect. It is now filled with 36 years of growth, of such pain, happiness, heartache, joy and of sorrow. We lived together through pain and suffering, death and resurrection. We were never a perfect couple, perfect parents, perfects siblings, not perfect, but in Jesus’ love he is whole, I am whole, we are whole. 

 

It is this Good News that we must proclaim to the world. Perfect people have no time for church, broken and hurting people, you and I, come to be made whole, come to be restored to fullness of life, come to be made new in the waters of baptism, we have been born again. God already knows us; we are wonderfully and fearfully made. In baptism we are perfection and beauty and potential and existence. When we are dropped into the water there is a new creation. The water takes the calluses, the armor, the prison around our lives, and sets us free. Very shortly this is also the journey of Lent, from baptism to new life

 

Jesus is a good Jew, he goes to synagogue on the Sabbath, but then he goes and breaks the law by healing on the Sabbath. What Mark is trying to show us is that the Word of God, God in the flesh, is active and healing. Jesus knows that there is a danger in people knowing that he is the Word of God, God in the flesh. Jesus knows that it is also dangerous for him to neglect his own relationship with the one who gives him life, so he goes to pray. Wholeness and healing involve prayer, into our brokenness comes the Word, alive and active, quiet and contemplative. 

 

Jesus was fully who he was created to be as he went about healing, casting out demons, turning over tables in the temple, eating with sinners, welcoming the children. It was all in a day’s work for him, albeit hard work. And he too needed to regain his balance, find his center, kneel before his creator, and pray. 

 

I don’t think the 1st century world in which Jesus lived is much different than the world in which we live. People are broken, disheartened, there is greed and there is idolatry. Through Jesus, God offers us healing and wholeness, through Jesus, God offers us the opportunity to be ourselves. Putting ourselves, like Jesus did, in the posture of prayer brings us to a place where we can hear the call to be ourselves, to be whole, to be healed. Prayer is a place in which we find our relationship with God, prayer is a place in which we find ourselves. 

 

Come and be healed, come and be who you are called to be, come, and find yourself.  Amen

 

2 Pentecost Proper 7 Yr C June 23 2019

Audio  2 Pentecost Proper 7 Yr C June 23 2019

Isaiah 65:1-9, Psalm 22:18-27, Galatians 3:23-29, Luke 8:26-39

Luke’s story today is a story about God’s abundant grace and God’s unfailing love that calls us into relationship, and transforms us. This is a story shows us when we encounter Jesus; we will never be the same.

It is story of transformation. It is a story about a person on the margins of his community, abandoned and isolated. This man’s dis-ease makes him an outlier, he is unclean. And he is restored and therefore receives new life. Let’s take a minute to take a closer look at this person who is presented to us in Luke’s gospel today, where he is and why he is important.

First, we learn that this story takes place in Gentile territory, already we are not at “home,” we are in the country of the Gerasenes, opposite Galilee. Another marker that we are not at home, that we are on the margins, is the large herd of swine feeding. According to Jewish dietary regulations, pigs are unclean, so we know we are not in Jewish territory. This person did not live in a house, but in the tombs, which are also unclean, and which also makes him homeless. He had no clothes on, and was possessed by demons. The setting of this story, and the description of the person, alerts us so that we know this is a story that puts Jesus into a non-Jewish setting, it puts Jesus into a place to encounter someone who is just not like the others. This person did not have a chance in Jewish or Greek society. He was tossed out; he may as well have been dead.

We do that to people all the time. There are those who are tossed to the side, tossed out. We might not call them unclean in that technical sort of way, but they are people who do not meet expectations, or who come from other countries, or who think, love, or believe differently.

What we have in front of us is a very clear picture of what the kingdom of God looks like in the life of this one person, and what it looks like in our lives as well. So outside of Jesus’ circle, Jesus restores, Jesus transforms him and brings this person back into the community. Because of his encounter with Jesus, he is clothed, he is back in his right mind, and he can go home. Because of his encounter with Jesus, this person is brought back into the community; is no longer cast off, abandoned, or isolated. Because of this man’s encounter with Jesus, he is made whole, has new life, and is transformed. Jesus really has brought the dead back to life.

This is a story about God’s abundant grace and God’s unfailing love that calls us into relationship, and transforms us. This is a story about when we encounter Jesus; we too will never be the same.

This person didn’t seek Jesus out. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem when he happened upon him. Jesus truly recognized him, and knew he was not himself; he called himself Legion, possessed by many. Jesus brought him to himself. The truth of God’s love and grace and abundance called the real person forth, the integrated person, the authentic person. And Jesus expelled all that was not real, all that was keeping him a prisoner in his own body.

Our encounter with Jesus does the same. Sometimes we seek Jesus out; more often than not our encounters with Jesus are accidental, coincidental, or providential, depending on what you want to call it. Jesus encounters us in all sorts of ways. You’ve told stories about your encounters with Jesus. You recognize Jesus in a person who points you in a different direction. You recognize Jesus in someone who struggles to overcome an addiction. You encounter Jesus in a book, or in the quiet, or in your children. And when you do, you are brought to yourself, you are truly who God created you to be.

Because when we encounter Jesus, we can never be the same. The passage we read from Paul’s letter to the people in Galatia points us to the inclusive reality of God’s kingdom. In God’s kingdom there are no outliers. Paul is not saying that we are all the same; Paul is saying that in God’s kingdom each one of us matters. In God’s kingdom each one of us is at home.

And our home for now, on this side of life, is the community of faith, the gathering of people who love and worship God, the assembly in which we share the reality of Jesus in the bread and the wine. Home is the people who patiently wait for us to realize that we are not alone in our faith journey. Home is where we can be fully alive, where we go to find ourselves, home is where each person is welcomed and honored as God’s creation. Home is where we find ourselves fully alive in Christ. Home is being in relationship with God and with one another.

And the very hard part of encountering Jesus is that we must open our eyes to living the transformed life that Jesus calls us to live. And the very hard part of living this transformed life that Jesus called the man with the demons into, and that Jesus calls every one of us into, is that our culture would have us believe a very different story. Transformation turns us away from being full of ourselves. Rather than looking out for ourselves, we look out for the other, we look out for our neighbor. We are in our right mind when we spend time in prayer, when we listen through prayer and scripture study, and when we listen to others to what God would call us to, to what God would have us do, to whom God would have us be. Rather than convincing others that we are right, that our way is right, we listen to other people’s stories, we encounter Jesus in the story telling, we are filled with the real presence of Christ.

This encounter with Jesus brings us home, when we are transformed we no longer turn away from God, but are bathed in the hospitality that Jesus offers. Home is the fullness of our relationship with God, and with our neighbors. Home is not about acquiring stuff; home is not even the place we live. Home is living fully in the unfailing love of God; home is the abundant life God has for us. Home is being a wonderful and beautiful creature in God’s eye’s, no matter what, each and every one of us, not just some of us.

Like the man in our story today, who by his encounter with Jesus is restored and made whole, who is clothed in a new garment, clothed in Christ, who is right minded, who is brought home, God loves us abundantly and unfailingly so we too are clothed with a new garment, clothed in Christ, made whole, restored to fullness in God’s amazing kingdom. Today, we are invited to live the abundant life that God has for us.

So much of what we see in our culture in these days, people put out on the margins because of who they are, people killed because of who they are, call us to listen to this story with hearts of compassion. These stories show us what life in God's kingdom look like, God’s abundant love and grace, and what new life in Jesus look like. Everyone, everyone, has a place in God's kingdom, because love wins.

Thanks be to God. Amen, Alleluia.

6 Epiphany Yr B

If you choose, you can make me clean, the leper says to Jesus. Again, the writer of this gospel doesn't mince words, he gets right to the point. Jesus instructs the man to go to his priest, and make his offering. What Jesus is doing in this healing, as he did when he healed Simon's mother-in-law, and as he did when he cast the unclean spirit out of the man in the synagogue, is to restore this person to wholeness, essentially to give them new life. These stories of healing in which Mark does not mince words, are to show all who are in hearing, that Jesus, the Son of God, is bringing about God's kingdom right here, and right now.

The people who populate these healing stories are all out on the margins, because of their disease, they essentially have been cast away, they have no life, they are in effect dead. Jesus gives them their lives back. They are healed, and they get their lives back.

What do you need to be healed of to get your life back? What demon needs to be tossed out, so that you can be restored to wholeness? While that demon rules your life, while that affliction continues to keep you from others, you are not really living. You may think you are, really living, but real life is life that is healed, life that bears the scars of your woundedness, and life that witnesses to the power of love.

Namaan's lord went out from his palace, with plenty of money and his pedigree, to buy healing from the king of Israel. But money and pedigree can't buy healing. Elisha, the man of God, healed him, without show, without fanfare, without anyone watching, and Namaan's lord was mad. Namaan's lord doesn't get what he wants, but he does get healed.

This story from Kings and the accompanying story from Mark are also miracle stories whose characters are holy people. Their purpose is to show authority and power from God, who is the main character. As I was sorting through these stories this week I was imagining them as tv shows. Kings and servants, prophets, and a man with a horrible disease that is highly contagious. Hmmm, sounds just like the stuff of a crime scene investigation drama. Some of the characters even seem like the super doctors that we see in the doctor dramas on television.

But the point of these stories is quite the opposite. In the story from Kings, Naaman reminds us quite clearly that this power is nothing like super heroes or super doctors, this power is all about God. Even the commander of the army finally says “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.” But, it took him a while to get there. Naaman was a bit put off that the prophet Elisha did not himself come out to heal him. Naaman asks why Elisha did not put on a big show, make a big deal out of healing him of his leprosy, that Elisha didn't bow down to his money and pedigree. Maybe Naaman might have agreed to go see Elisha as much for the production it would cause as for the healing.

You see, these stories are about healing, but not just about the healing really, although that is a good thing, in this story about Naaman, or in the story in the gospel of Mark about the nameless leper. The stories are really about God. The stories are about God’s power and authority; the stories are about God’s amazing and abundant love. The stories are about the wholeness that comes only through Jesus. Mark wants everyone to know that God works in the world. That God is present with us, and that it is God and God alone who is worthy of our worship and praise.

You see, we are so tempted to worship other things, idols we call them. There is no God in all the earth, except the God of Israel, the God of all creation, the God who parted the sea so that Moses could lead the people through, the God who promised Noah always to be there, the God who loves us so much as to give up all power to be in our world as one of us, to be human. The God who heals, the God who offers wholeness.

And yet we are so tempted to worship other gods. The greed and consumer god. The I deserve that kind of return on my money god. The 15 minutes of fame god. The I have to be the very best at something god. The bigger, faster, cable, HDTV, iPhone, always connected god. The immediate information god. I’m not saying these things are bad, I am saying that when these things demand all of our time and attention, they become idols, and we cannot worship God and idols too.

But all of our attention needs to be on God. The leper in Mark’s story kneels before Jesus and says, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” And Jesus does. A leper in Jesus’ community is an outcast, unclean and thrown away. By healing him Jesus restores him to the community, and he goes to the priest to make that restoration obvious and clear to everyone else. He must participate in the ritual of cleansing so that everyone can see that he is no longer unclean, no longer impure. It is a testimony to God’s power and authority, compassion and love.

What do you need to be healed of to get your life back? What demon needs to be tossed out, so that you can be restored to wholeness? While that demon rules your life, while that affliction continues to keep you from others, you are not really living. You may think you are, really living, but real life is life that is healed, life that bears the scars of your woundedness, and life that witnesses to the power of love.

We long for that which we cannot have, and we obsess about those things, in effect, we spend our lives being seduced by idols, worshiping idols, and resisting the worship of idols. We spend our lives doing battle with our demons. We come here, to worship and pray and to be made into the body of christ, and we are reminded of who we are and whose we are. We remember that we belong to God.
And that it is in God and God alone that we are made whole, restored to right relationship with God
and with one another. We don’t have to give in to the seduction of the money, or fame, or the speed or the power, because ultimately it is our relationship with God and with others that holds meaning and purpose for our lives.

It is God’s power of love in Jesus Christ that creates us and restores us. It is Jesus’ compassionate touch conferred through you and this community of faith that can heal broken people in this fragmented world. Remember who you are. Remember that Love wins.