Sermon June 10, 2007
Proper 5
June 10, 2007
Readings
The Lesson: 1 Kings 17:8-16 (17-24)
The Epistle: Galatians 1:11-24
The Holy Gospel: Luke 7:11-17
Sermon
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
The lay preachers who preached in the Easter season met last week. One of them shared something very personal-that I am going to share with you. He said, “when the sermon usually starts-I space out-I never really listen. But now that I have preached-I listen very closely!” Years ago we had a young woman who grew up here, listening to me much of her life, and she came back one Sunday and came up to me after the service and said, “I listened to the sermon today!” And I said, “good, I’m glad.” And she said, “No, you don’t understand-I listened. All the years that I attended church here-I never listened to the sermons. You know what, it wasn’t bad!” Yeah, I know. I really do understand. You hear so many jokes about people falling asleep in the sermon, but actually, my experience is that most people go far away before the sermon ever starts. We used to have a guy in the parish (he say right there) as soon as I got up in the pulpit, he went out, BAM. It was like the lunestra kicked in every Sunday about 10 minutes into the service. Usually he woke up as the sermon was ending. Usually.
The point is, sermons, listening to people standing above us, talking at us in religious language, isn’t just boring-it sends us far away, usually, into a kind of reverie. I remember talking to a psychologist once who was working with me on self-hypnosis, and he said, “don’t worry, when people are using their beta waves, they’re even more receptive to your sermons. Uh huh. Sure.
This summer, I will be preaching to you 8 times(counting today)-all on the gospel of Luke. In the Easter season I asked you each week, “who are you going to be on April 8?” I have a different challenge for you this summer: listen. A)I will keep the sermons short-between 10 and 12 minutes. B)I will focus each time on the gospel. C) I will try to connect each week’s gospel with the other weeks. D) I will raise the question each week, “why does Luke include this story or this teaching here. And finally, E) I will tell you how I think we are supposed to respond, how Luke wanted us to respond-to his reading.
Listen: short sermons; focused on the gospel; connected to the other gospel readings; asking why this story is included; and how we are encouraged to react.
So, here goes. If we didn’t have Trinity Sunday last week, we would have heard the story of the healing of the centurion’s slave from chapter 6. Luke loves to do this-to balance the healing stories of men and women. If you listen closely you realize that the real ministry in this story isn’t to the young man who died-but to his mother. A woman in a patriarchal society. Luke tells us that she is a widow. That means that when her only son dies, she will die also-of poverty and hunger. Jesus has pity on her.
Luke was very aware of the story of Elijah and the healing of the son of the Zarephath widow. There were lots of similarities: ––Both Elijah and Jesus come to a gate (1 Kings 17:10, 17; Luke 7:12). Both involve a widow whose only son has died (1 Kings 17:17-18; Luke 7:12). Elijah cries out to the Lord, and Jesus has compassion (1 Kings 17:20-21; Luke 7:13). Elijah stretches himself upon the child, and Jesus touches the bier (1 Kings 17:21; Luke 7:14). "The life of the child came into him again" and "The dead man sat up and began to speak" (1 Kings 17:22; Luke 7:15). Both Elijah and Jesus "gave him to his mother" –– the wording in the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament is exactly the same (1 King 17:23; Luke 7:15). The mother said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true" and the crowd said of Jesus, "A great prophet has risen among us" (1 Kings 17:24 and Luke 7:16)
So, Luke is aware that Jesus is like Israel’s great prophet, Elijah and wants US to know that, too. Luke wants us to see that Jesus reached out to help all peoples-Romans, slaves, widows. Luke wants us to see how much power Jesus had-not only could he heal-like last week-he could even raise people from the dead.
Luke wants us to see how important “touch” is to Jesus. Jesus is supposed to be “quarantined” for 7 days after touching a dead body-or the dead man’s stretcher.
This is early in Jesus’ ministry. Luke is showing us that he is full of power, aching with compassion for those who are hurting, disregards religious rules if they get in the way of the good news. I need to point out something to you: There has been no mention of faith. The mother has not asked Jesus for help –– has not demonstrated faith in Jesus. The action here is solely at Jesus' initiative, and depends solely on his power. When he speaks, things happen.
Luke underlines this. It’s all about Jesus.
This is a terrible story. Preachers dread these healing/resurrection stories. When we hear this story we know we are supposed to be happy that Jesus has so much power-but we wonder-why he didn’t have mercy on us when we experienced a terrible loss-why didn’t Jesus touch the stretcher of our parent, our child, our spouse, our sibling, our friend. This woman shows no faith-and we pray to Jesus all the time. Jesus had compassion on her-what about us?
The lay preachers who preached in the Easter season met last week. One of them shared something very personal-that I am going to share with you. He said, “when the sermon usually starts-I space out-I never really listen. But now that I have preached-I listen very closely!” Years ago we had a young woman who grew up here, listening to me much of her life, and she came back one Sunday and came up to me after the service and said, “I listened to the sermon today!” And I said, “good, I’m glad.” And she said, “No, you don’t understand-I listened. All the years that I attended church here-I never listened to the sermons. You know what, it wasn’t bad!” Yeah, I know. I really do understand. You hear so many jokes about people falling asleep in the sermon, but actually, my experience is that most people go far away before the sermon ever starts. We used to have a guy in the parish (he say right there) as soon as I got up in the pulpit, he went out, BAM. It was like the lunestra kicked in every Sunday about 10 minutes into the service. Usually he woke up as the sermon was ending. Usually.
The point is, sermons, listening to people standing above us, talking at us in religious language, isn’t just boring-it sends us far away, usually, into a kind of reverie. I remember talking to a psychologist once who was working with me on self-hypnosis, and he said, “don’t worry, when people are using their beta waves, they’re even more receptive to your sermons. Uh huh. Sure.
This summer, I will be preaching to you 8 times(counting today)-all on the gospel of Luke. In the Easter season I asked you each week, “who are you going to be on April 8?” I have a different challenge for you this summer: listen. A)I will keep the sermons short-between 10 and 12 minutes. B)I will focus each time on the gospel. C) I will try to connect each week’s gospel with the other weeks. D) I will raise the question each week, “why does Luke include this story or this teaching here. And finally, E) I will tell you how I think we are supposed to respond, how Luke wanted us to respond-to his reading.
Listen: short sermons; focused on the gospel; connected to the other gospel readings; asking why this story is included; and how we are encouraged to react.
So, here goes. If we didn’t have Trinity Sunday last week, we would have heard the story of the healing of the centurion’s slave from chapter 6. Luke loves to do this-to balance the healing stories of men and women. If you listen closely you realize that the real ministry in this story isn’t to the young man who died-but to his mother. A woman in a patriarchal society. Luke tells us that she is a widow. That means that when her only son dies, she will die also-of poverty and hunger. Jesus has pity on her.
Luke was very aware of the story of Elijah and the healing of the son of the Zarephath widow. There were lots of similarities: ––Both Elijah and Jesus come to a gate (1 Kings 17:10, 17; Luke 7:12). Both involve a widow whose only son has died (1 Kings 17:17-18; Luke 7:12). Elijah cries out to the Lord, and Jesus has compassion (1 Kings 17:20-21; Luke 7:13). Elijah stretches himself upon the child, and Jesus touches the bier (1 Kings 17:21; Luke 7:14). "The life of the child came into him again" and "The dead man sat up and began to speak" (1 Kings 17:22; Luke 7:15). Both Elijah and Jesus "gave him to his mother" –– the wording in the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament is exactly the same (1 King 17:23; Luke 7:15). The mother said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true" and the crowd said of Jesus, "A great prophet has risen among us" (1 Kings 17:24 and Luke 7:16)
So, Luke is aware that Jesus is like Israel’s great prophet, Elijah and wants US to know that, too. Luke wants us to see that Jesus reached out to help all peoples-Romans, slaves, widows. Luke wants us to see how much power Jesus had-not only could he heal-like last week-he could even raise people from the dead.
Luke wants us to see how important “touch” is to Jesus. Jesus is supposed to be “quarantined” for 7 days after touching a dead body-or the dead man’s stretcher.
This is early in Jesus’ ministry. Luke is showing us that he is full of power, aching with compassion for those who are hurting, disregards religious rules if they get in the way of the good news. I need to point out something to you: There has been no mention of faith. The mother has not asked Jesus for help –– has not demonstrated faith in Jesus. The action here is solely at Jesus' initiative, and depends solely on his power. When he speaks, things happen.
Luke underlines this. It’s all about Jesus.
This is a terrible story. Preachers dread these healing/resurrection stories. When we hear this story we know we are supposed to be happy that Jesus has so much power-but we wonder-why he didn’t have mercy on us when we experienced a terrible loss-why didn’t Jesus touch the stretcher of our parent, our child, our spouse, our sibling, our friend. This woman shows no faith-and we pray to Jesus all the time. Jesus had compassion on her-what about us?
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