Enlarging the Family

The parables Jesus told were often a challenge to the social norms of his day.  He used these stories to speak about human relationships and God's love and compassion for all people, and he urged his listeners to try new and different ways of doing things that were often taken for granted.

Jesus knew many different people.  He was concerned about those who were disadvantaged or disabled, as well as about those who were in good health and in positions of leadership.  He cared for friends and relatives, and for "the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind." 

The gospel story about a wedding banquet tells us that a religious leader of the Pharisees invited Jesus to be his guest at a Sabbath meal in his home.  Jesus used this occasion to tell his listeners about humility and those who are actually in need of being served.  He said, "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host…. But…go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you."  Then he added, "When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.  And you will be blessed."

This story about the wedding banquet reflects advice from the Old Testament Book of Proverbs: "It is better to take a lower place and be honored by being invited to come up higher than it is to take too high a place and be humiliated by being asked to move lower."

The account of the wedding banquet is a valuable resource for exposing one of the strongest resistances to the reality of God's community.   God’s community is not an exclusive gathering of like-minded people.  Rather, it is a community of inclusiveness and true pluralism.  To think otherwise is to live in a fantasy world of self-containment and total control. 

Robert McAfee Brown, theologian and New Testament scholar, wrote about the wedding banquet.  "Notice that Jesus addressed not only the invited guests but the meal's host.  He had significantly different messages for them.  The guests were to be humbled about the places they chose when invited to a feast, letting the host assign places of honor.  Simply being invited was honor enough; any further esteem should come from the host."

As for the host, Dr. Brown said, "For a moment it appears that the host can do whatever he or she pleases, but Jesus quickly rejects that kind of privileged power play.  Addressing the host, he said, 'When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors…. Invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.'  If we would follow Christ, we who can afford to be in the position of 'hosts' or 'givers' are called to enlarge the 'family' instead of merely serving our own cozy inner circle."

Enlarging the family reflects the interdependence of all people -- rich and poor, the “crippled, the lame, and the blind,” healthy and sick, women and men, gay and straight, white and black, religious and non-religious.  We begin with ourselves and we move through our parish community into our neighborhoods, our places of employment, and throughout the world.

We are not self-sufficient beings; we are not completely independent.  All that has been done for us, and everything that will be done during our lifetime, is accomplished in concert with others.  Other people have made the things we possess, built the houses we inhabit, provided the modes of transportation we use, and created the wired and wireless infrastructures we depend upon for communication and information.  The ability to see and live with this interdependent reality is the true meaning of the gospel.

Our Church doors are open, and the ministries of Word, Sacrament and service to those in need are here for all who desire a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  We are all invited to a heavenly banquet, and we are also hosts who can invite others to share this meal with us.  Amen.

Living in the Presence of God

The biblical story of Jeremiah being called by God is a reminder that God knows us intimately in ways we do not know ourselves. God set Jeremiah apart to reflect and live in the presence of God.  God knew Jeremiah “before he was formed in the womb, consecrated him before he was born, and appointed him as a prophet to the nations.” 

Jeremiah did not respond enthusiastically to the call.  He protested that he did not know how to speak, “for I am only a boy.”  God, however, would not take no for an answer, but said to him, “Now I have put my words in your mouth.  Today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms.” The words of prophecy that Jeremiah would speak would both tear down and then build up God’s people.  The message was that they would be changed, transformed in order to live in the presence of God.

Today God calls us through the exemplary teachings and sacrifice of Jesus to live in such a way that we are aware of God’s presence in our lives.

The story of healing the “woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years” is a call to live in the presence of God and to keep the day of the week referred to as the Sabbath.   For Jews the Sabbath is Saturday; for Christians, the Sabbath is transferred to the day of resurrection, Sunday.  It is a day to give thanks to God for God’s presence in our lives; a time for refreshment, for spiritual nurturing, for worship, and for expressing our gratitude and love. 

Jesus in healing the disabled woman on the Sabbath demonstrated that God's compassion for people was more important than religious laws.  It was a way to reclaim the Sabbath for celebrating of God's mercy, kindness, and compassionate love for everyone.

The leader of the synagogue, however, was committed to obeying the letter of the law.  He objected because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath.  There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, but not on the Sabbath day. 

Jesus replied that if on the Sabbath you led your donkey from the manger to see that it had water, shouldn’t a human person also be freed from bondage on the Sabbath?  His statement resulted in a divided crowd: “his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.”

I recently visited a patient at the Evergreen Nursing and Rehabilitation Home in East Providence.  The person I met there wanted to show me places in the home where he liked to be during the day.  One was the lobby where we sat and talked, another was the café where people would gather for conversation or board games.  But the place that was most important was outside in a courtyard with trees, green grass, and chairs.  This was a place for him to commune with nature, a place of spiritual retreat from all the activities inside.  In a real sense it was a place of Sabbath rest. 

Jeremiah was aware of his call to bear witness to the presence of God in the life of his people.  Jesus understood the importance of healing the sick and those who were diseased in body or spirit, regardless of the day of the week.  The patient I visited was aware of God’s presence in the quiet courtyard of his nursing home. You and I live in the presence of God by choosing places of spiritual retreat and Sabbath rest.  The church is a sacred place for teaching us about living in the presence of God.  It is here that we receive the unshakable gift of God’s love and give thanks by offering to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe.  Amen.

Living by Faith

The core or center of Christian life is faith in Jesus Christ and, through him, faith in God.  The word faith is defined as belief with strong conviction; complete trust and confidence; something for which there may be no tangible proof.  The opposite of faith is doubt, and it is important that all of us question the faith we profess.  This morning’s reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews is

The Bible makes several references to faith. It explains that the source of faith is God: "By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not the result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).  

We have all heard the phrase, “Keep the Faith.” I like to add a couple of additional phrases to it, “Practice the Faith;” and then. “Share the Faith.”  Faith implies the unknown, it takes risk in hoping that our actions and behaviors contribute to a better future, a future of new life that the Resurrection of Christ is all about.

In our Epistle to the Hebrews the author begins his exhortation about faith with this definition: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.  By faith we understand that the words were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”

Following this definition at the beginning of chapter 11, the examples of people who lived by faith include Abraham and Moses. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance” By faith Abraham and Sarah who was barren received the power of procreation.  By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac having “considered that God is able to raise someone from the dead – and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”

By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth.  By faith Moses left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger.  He kept the Passover so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

It is near the end of chapter 11 that we have today’s reading.  The writer of Hebrews continues to list events that happened as a result of faith: “By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, … By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient… Time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets-- who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, [and] women received their dead by resurrection.”

These are all examples of people in our biblical history who lived by faith and, as a result, had positive outcomes. Then, the passage takes a turn and focuses on people who did not achieve the results they anticipated.  Some “were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented-- of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised”

The writer is making the point that “God had provided something better.” Here is the conclusion: “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, [so]… let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” 

Our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, has commented, “Faith by its very nature is tough. It's not a guarantee; it's not an insurance policy. It's a radical disposition, a daring act of courage…. It is the courage to affirm life in spite of death, the courage to affirm hope in spite of despair, the courage to stand up and speak up, when everyone else just shuts up. It is not proof. It is not certainty…. But it's got power, power born of a God who gives it.”

Faith is the power of God’s gift to us who choose to practice living as Christ lived, doing the hard work of love, justice and peace in a world that challenges all of us because of violence, greed, and unyielding conflict.  So, as we are “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, may we persevere always looking to Jesus as the model for living in thanksgiving to God for the gift of faith.  Amen.