Mark 8: 27-33
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’
One of the things that I am really enjoying about this summer at St Paul is the combined Adult Sunday school class that Mark Crenshaw and I are leading together. “Our Faithful Neighbors” has been, so far, a wonderful exercise in thinking and talking about what other faiths believe and how that impacts us as Christians. Having been a student of the religions of the world for many years, I am enjoying the conversation about what we know, what we don’t know, and what we’d like to learn about our brothers and sisters of other faiths as well as other sects within Christianity. Much of what we are discussing and doing together is about forming our perspective and reflecting on our own faith in new and deeply formative ways. It really is fascinating to hear the stories of others, both in the class and from other faiths, and it really is helpful to hear about how other faithful people and groups see the world and respond to life.
Jesus chose 12 disciples. From their eyes came 12 different perspectives on him and his life and ministry. So this question about who people say that he is and who they say that he is is a very important one. I just think it is too bad that we don’t have a response from every one of them. Wouldn’t it have been fun to have a response of some sort from all of them? I think that hearing their answers to this question might have given us a little more insight into who they were.
One of the most popular answers to the sermon topic survey was the desire to know more about the disciples. Here are some things we know according the legend and the gospels themselves:
• Andrew was Peter’s brother. In John, Andrew brings Peter to Jesus, declaring him the Messiah. He also brought the boy with the 5 loaves and 2 fish to Jesus for the feeing of the 5,000.
• Philip was always bringing people to Jesus: he recruited Nathaniel. He was, however, skeptical that they would be able to feed 5,000 people. He is the one who asks Jesus to show them the Father, and Jesus responds by asking him how he could have been with Jesus all this time and not realize that he is one with the Father? He was from the same town as Peter and Andrew.
• Nathaniel/Bartholomew was skeptical that anything “good” could come out of Nazareth but was converted when Jesus told him he knew him before they ever met. He was one of the ones gathered at the seashore when Jesus appeared to them a third time after his resurrection and ate breakfast with them.
• John was believed to be the beloved disciple. He was probably the one who followed the crown taking Jesus to the high priest when he was arrested in the garden, and since the high priest knew him, he was allowed to go into the courtyard with Jesus while Peter had to wait at the gate. This is likely the only disciple mentioned as present at the cross, the one to whom Jesus “gave” his mother. He is probably the one summoned to the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene, the one who went in and saw that the body was gone and then believed. He sat next to Jesus at the last supper and asked who it was that would betray Jesus. Early in the book of Acts, he was brought with Peter before the Temple authorities because of their preaching. He gets to go to experience the transfiguration with Peter and James. He also goes with them to the garden to pray with Jesus but falls asleep while waiting for Jesus. His mother asks for seats for him and his brother James next to Jesus in heaven.
• Thomas is often called a doubter because he couldn’t believe the account of the risen Christ when the other disciples told him they’d seen him after the crucifixion until he had seen Jesus for himself. He said that they should all go with Jesus to the tomb of Lazarus so that they could “die with him.” He was also one of the ones who saw Jesus and ate breakfast with him by the shore on his third appearance to the disciples after the crucifixion. He also asks Jesus how they will know where Jesus is going and how they will know how to get there when Jesus talks of going to the Father in John 14.
• Judas Iscariot ...the treasurer of the group, sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and then was sorry for what he had done and gave the money back; then he took his own life.
• Matthew/Levi was a Tax Collector. He gave a great banquet for Jesus in his home. Others asked why Jesus would call a tax collector (probably a thief) to be his disciples. This is when Jesus announces that he has not come for the righteous but for the sinner.
• James, the brother of John, was one of the Sons of Thunder, as called by Jesus. It was his mother who asked for places for him and John next to Jesus in heaven. Jesus asks them if they can “drink the cup he is to drink,” and they say yes. He also attended Jesus at the transfiguration, in the garden where he and the other slept while Jesus prayed in agony, and at the seashore where the risen Jesus appeared and shared breakfast with them.
• James, son of Alphaeus
• Thaddeus/Judas, son of James
• Simon the Cananaean/the Zealot
• Peter was first called Simon. His name is changed in our lesson for today, when he responds that Jesus is the Messiah. Then he challenges Jesus’ prediction that he will have to die, and Jesus rebukes Peter. He is also called the Rock upon which Jesus will build the church and the one to receive the keys to the kingdom of God. He also calls Jesus the Holy One of God when Jesus gives a difficult teaching about riches and getting into heaven and many other disciples leave. He was called while at work as a fisherman. Peter’s mother-in-law was healed from a fever early on in his ministry, so we know he was married. He asks Jesus how many times he should forgive someone in the church who wrongs him. He asks Jesus what will happen to the disciples who have left everything behind to follow him. Jesus commands Peter to get out of the boat and walk to him on the water, and he does at first but then begins to sink. He is in the small groups that go with Jesus to the transfiguration, go with Jesus to pray in the garden, go to the temple court with Jesus after he is arrested, and this is where he denies Jesus 3 times. At the last supper, when Jesus begins to wash their feet, it is Peter who protests but eventually asks for all of him to we washed by Jesus. In the garden when the soldiers come to arrest Jesus, Peter pulls out his sword and tries to defend Jesus. Peter is summoned to come and see the empty tomb. At Jesus’ appearance at the seashore where they share breakfast with him post-resurrection, Peter is asked 3 times if he loves Jesus and then told to care for his followers. He is a great preacher in the book of Acts and is brought before Temple authorities because of his preaching after the ascension of Jesus.
They all go through periods of unbelief and misunderstanding. While they believe what Jesus tells them about his going to be with God and they come to the conclusion that he is truly of God and the son of God, they also at times are confused by his parables about the way God intends for the world to be. They wonder who can be saved when he tells them how difficult it is for a rich person to get into the kingdom of heaven. They are all on the boat together when a storm comes up and they fear that they will die as the boat is tossed on the water. Jesus questions their lack of faith when they call on him to save them, and they wonder who he could really be when he is able to calm the water. They ask him questions, like who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and when will he return and restore the kingdom of God. Jesus tells them that they will all be persecuted, too, as he will be. They do things that ignore Sabbath policy, like plucking the heads off grains of wheat as they pass the field during the travels and do not wash their hands before a meal. Yet, they complain when the woman uses expensive ointment on Jesus in preparation for his burial, saying it should have been sold and the money given to the poor. At the last supper they promise never to desert him when he says they will, but only 1 is recorded to have shown up at the cross, and they hide when he has been crucified for fear of the same fate coming to them. Matthew even tells us that after his resurrection the disciple meet Jesus where he had told them he’d be, and they worship him, but some doubted.
Who were these men, this band of 12 people who were hand-picked to be Jesus’ closest companions?
What I wonder is how much more we might have known about them had we heard the answer they each had for the question Jesus asks in today’s reading: who do you say that I am?
Perhaps Phillip would have said that Jesus was one who should be known as the Son of God since he brought people to Jesus. And maybe Andrew would have said that Jesus is the Son of God because he is able to do things only God can do, like multiply loaves and fish into a feast for 5,000. Nathaniel or Bartholomew might have called Jesus Messiah because he knew him the way only God could know him—completely and before they had ever come face-to-face. John might have called Jesus Messiah because he demonstrates the love of God in a perfect way. And Thomas might have said that he’d need some kind of proof before he could answer the question. Judas and Matthew might have framed the question in terms of what they stood to gain by answering—Judas might finally have the answers he, himself, needed so desperately, and Matthew might have wondered what wealth and power being with the Messiah might bring. James, son of Zebedee, might have just offered whatever his brother had to say, and we just really can’t have a clue as to what the other James, Thaddeus, or Simon the Zealot might have said.
But we know what Peter said: “You are the Messiah,” and then he denied him.
The question, my friends, is not who do they say that he is. It is this: who do you say that Jesus is?
Because of Jesus, we know by tradition that these men who were his chosen band of brothers all went to untimely and brutal deaths. Because they were ultimately committed to the ministry and message of Jesus, they all died at the hands of someone who wanted to put down the movement. That says that they believed what he said, what he did, who he was, and who they were because of him. They believed; their lives spoke the truth about Jesus; they were his witnesses just as he asked them to be.
What we know about these disciples, besides the sparse details we can gather by reading the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, was that they believed in Jesus and they loved Jesus and they gave their lives so that his message of love, forgiveness, and the coming of God into the world would not die. The disciples of Jesus are our brothers, our companions in faith. They are us.
And so today, they pass the torch, and we must stand ready to receive it. It is a simple entrance exam into this band of followers who continue to preach the good news of love, the forgiveness of sin, and the healing of brokenness that comes to us through Jesus as a gift from God. It is only one question, and your life will speak your answer. Are you ready to receive this call, this invitation to a transformed life?
Who do you say that he is?
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Disciples Got Talent, Part 1
Mark 3: 13-19a; 6: 7-13
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
13 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. 14And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, 15and to have authority to cast out demons. 16So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
7He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ 12So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
Just in case you haven’t yet set your DVRs or TiVos, you still have 2 days before the beginning of NBC’s smash summer hit, “America’s Got Talent.” I’ve never actually seen a full episode of this show, and I don’t know whether I’m proud of that or embarrassed by it. But I don’t live completely under a rock; I have seen that clip from “Britain’s Got Talent”—you know the one I’m talking about because you’ve all seen it, too: the one where an ordinary looking Scottish woman takes the stage and the judges and audience are practically laughing her off until she begins to sing “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical Les Miserables. Susan Boyle is now an international sensation with her own recording contract, and I suspect that this is not the first sermon that has mentioned her. Newspaper articles, internet news stories, network and cable news shows alike have been reporting on her for a while, although now that she has had what some might call a “break down”, the news seems to have slowed about Ms. Boyle, along with the apparent interest of the world. We just can’t commit to someone who is not in the news every day.
But here is something I have learned upon investigating her story a little more closely: the music industry is changing.
I read an article comparing Susan Boyle to U2 soley because they now share a business manager. While it is an obvious stretch to compare the 2 musical acts, there is a contrast that is easily pointed out between them and their respective rise to fame. U2 is a band who became famous along what Ben Quinn of the Christian Science Monitor calls the traditional route: “the culmination of years of gigs and creeping critical acclaim.” There seems to be a new way to rise to the top of the music game now and rather quickly, at that. Just find your way on to some unscripted television talent show, and you could be the next Kelly Clarskson. When I was a kid, it was called “Star Search”, but it was not the way Michael Jackson became famous. That was a lifetime of work coupled with a famous family, and a pretty big price to pay for becoming a household name.
Now rewind history about two thousand years. Imagine a live show called Galilee’s Got Talent, and the judge is a locally known teacher and healer named Jesus. He’s got twelve open spots, and he’s ready to take auditions. Those in line for the job are people that are basically unknown, whose talent has only ever been seen or discerned by their family and maybe some friends. But mostly they fish. Their days are taken up with the ones they catch and the ones that get away. But this risk they take on this locally known teacher and healer will put them on the fast track to fame. Twelve unknown, regular guys are taking the world’s stage, not realize that overnight they will be asked to live very different lives and will be remembered, literally, forever. Relative nobodies yesterday; Disciples Got Talent today. No years of gigs, no creeping critical acclaim. Come to think of it, no critical acclaim to speak of for a long time and absolutely no gigs prior to this day by the sea when Jesus calls.
Here’s what we know about the twelve disciples:
• There were 12 of them, as named in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and kind of in John chapter 6.
• Most of them were fisherman; Matthew was a tax collector.
• Judas was the betrayer.
• Peter was a hothead.
• All of them were a little chicken—afraid of the things that happened to them when they were with Jesus.
• They were a little confused by all the talking Jesus did about what would come to pass—his death and resurrection.
• Basically, they often just didn’t get it.
• Oh, and we know that Jesus called James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James “Sons of Thunder,” but we don’t know why.
We know why Bono and U2 are famous.
When Susan Boyle opened her mouth to sing on British television that first time, we figured out why she’d be famous.
But these guys, they were just ordinary Simons and Johns and James—nothing particularly special, not working toward becoming famous teachers and healers, not planning on being the seed of an entirely new religious movement that would last for centuries into a time when people drove cars to the local house of God and updated their tweets on Twitter and had them forwarded to Facebook if they were really smart, when email was a thing of the past. But Jesus saw something in them, and their lives were instantly changed forever.
Sadly, though, they weren’t offered recording contracts or concert tours. They weren’t even offered tenure-track teaching jobs or a lecture circuit. They weren’t given their own reality shows about what its like to be a Disciple. They weren’t even sent out with provisions for their journey. But he did tell them to heal and to teach. He told them to offer themselves and to receive the hospitality of others as long as it was offered. He told them not to fret failure or the absence of success but to keep at it.
So we can add one thing to the list of stuff we know about the disciples: they had perseverance.
Would you try out for this show? Reality television is now called “unscripted.” Would you try out for the chance to be the next Disciple, one who is called on to leave your notions of life behind and try on a different kind of life for a time? If Jesus were offering you the contract today, would you sign? If your name were being called, and you were asked to go taking only a few things, not even all the things you might need, would you walk out on the stage and open your heart to whatever it was that Jesus had to say to you?
You may be asked to go to those members of our community in Grant Park who never enter our doors because there is too great a chasm between their life situations and ours. You may be asked to step outside the zone in which you are comfortable and do something here that you’ve never done before and never thought you could, like teach children or be an important presence in the life of youth. You may be called to examine your life, what you really need, what you can give to the church—probably more than you think you can spare. You may be asked to pray for or even go to Iran where people are being killed in their homes because they chose to protest the recent election results in Tehran. You may be asked to look at the world differently, telling the story of your faith by making different choices about the way you live, where you live, the kind of car you drive, the way you treat the environmental backdrop around you, the way you spend your money. You may be the next contestant on Disciples Got Talent.
If Jesus showed up in your life today and simply said, “Follow me,” would you go? Maybe that has already happened, and you don’t know what to do next. Maybe you know what you’re being called to do, and you don’t want to do it. Maybe you don’t know how to start. Maybe you are afraid. Whatever your situation, this is the time and place for you to take up your staff, leave the baggage behind, and begin to follow where Christ leads. If you need help, stay here for a while and learn how you can grow into God’s vision for your life. But when it is time to get moving, get moving. Sing your hit song. Play that big gig. Say yes to Jesus.
It’s fun to picture the twelve disciples coming across a stage of sorts by the sea, with Jesus sitting at a table and 2 big cue cards on the table in front of him face down: one with a huge X on it, and one with a huge check mark on it. With absolutely no credentials, tour under their belts, or critical acclaim, they got the check mark, the big “Yes.” And so they went, and their lives were changed. And because of them, so were ours.
Jesus calls you and waits with a giant check mark to show you as you enter the stage of Christian faith and service. You’ve got talent, friends, God-given talent that God waits to use in you when you say yes to God. Are you the next star in the story of Jesus?
Are you a Disciple?
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
13 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. 14And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, 15and to have authority to cast out demons. 16So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
7He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ 12So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
Just in case you haven’t yet set your DVRs or TiVos, you still have 2 days before the beginning of NBC’s smash summer hit, “America’s Got Talent.” I’ve never actually seen a full episode of this show, and I don’t know whether I’m proud of that or embarrassed by it. But I don’t live completely under a rock; I have seen that clip from “Britain’s Got Talent”—you know the one I’m talking about because you’ve all seen it, too: the one where an ordinary looking Scottish woman takes the stage and the judges and audience are practically laughing her off until she begins to sing “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical Les Miserables. Susan Boyle is now an international sensation with her own recording contract, and I suspect that this is not the first sermon that has mentioned her. Newspaper articles, internet news stories, network and cable news shows alike have been reporting on her for a while, although now that she has had what some might call a “break down”, the news seems to have slowed about Ms. Boyle, along with the apparent interest of the world. We just can’t commit to someone who is not in the news every day.
But here is something I have learned upon investigating her story a little more closely: the music industry is changing.
I read an article comparing Susan Boyle to U2 soley because they now share a business manager. While it is an obvious stretch to compare the 2 musical acts, there is a contrast that is easily pointed out between them and their respective rise to fame. U2 is a band who became famous along what Ben Quinn of the Christian Science Monitor calls the traditional route: “the culmination of years of gigs and creeping critical acclaim.” There seems to be a new way to rise to the top of the music game now and rather quickly, at that. Just find your way on to some unscripted television talent show, and you could be the next Kelly Clarskson. When I was a kid, it was called “Star Search”, but it was not the way Michael Jackson became famous. That was a lifetime of work coupled with a famous family, and a pretty big price to pay for becoming a household name.
Now rewind history about two thousand years. Imagine a live show called Galilee’s Got Talent, and the judge is a locally known teacher and healer named Jesus. He’s got twelve open spots, and he’s ready to take auditions. Those in line for the job are people that are basically unknown, whose talent has only ever been seen or discerned by their family and maybe some friends. But mostly they fish. Their days are taken up with the ones they catch and the ones that get away. But this risk they take on this locally known teacher and healer will put them on the fast track to fame. Twelve unknown, regular guys are taking the world’s stage, not realize that overnight they will be asked to live very different lives and will be remembered, literally, forever. Relative nobodies yesterday; Disciples Got Talent today. No years of gigs, no creeping critical acclaim. Come to think of it, no critical acclaim to speak of for a long time and absolutely no gigs prior to this day by the sea when Jesus calls.
Here’s what we know about the twelve disciples:
• There were 12 of them, as named in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and kind of in John chapter 6.
• Most of them were fisherman; Matthew was a tax collector.
• Judas was the betrayer.
• Peter was a hothead.
• All of them were a little chicken—afraid of the things that happened to them when they were with Jesus.
• They were a little confused by all the talking Jesus did about what would come to pass—his death and resurrection.
• Basically, they often just didn’t get it.
• Oh, and we know that Jesus called James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James “Sons of Thunder,” but we don’t know why.
We know why Bono and U2 are famous.
When Susan Boyle opened her mouth to sing on British television that first time, we figured out why she’d be famous.
But these guys, they were just ordinary Simons and Johns and James—nothing particularly special, not working toward becoming famous teachers and healers, not planning on being the seed of an entirely new religious movement that would last for centuries into a time when people drove cars to the local house of God and updated their tweets on Twitter and had them forwarded to Facebook if they were really smart, when email was a thing of the past. But Jesus saw something in them, and their lives were instantly changed forever.
Sadly, though, they weren’t offered recording contracts or concert tours. They weren’t even offered tenure-track teaching jobs or a lecture circuit. They weren’t given their own reality shows about what its like to be a Disciple. They weren’t even sent out with provisions for their journey. But he did tell them to heal and to teach. He told them to offer themselves and to receive the hospitality of others as long as it was offered. He told them not to fret failure or the absence of success but to keep at it.
So we can add one thing to the list of stuff we know about the disciples: they had perseverance.
Would you try out for this show? Reality television is now called “unscripted.” Would you try out for the chance to be the next Disciple, one who is called on to leave your notions of life behind and try on a different kind of life for a time? If Jesus were offering you the contract today, would you sign? If your name were being called, and you were asked to go taking only a few things, not even all the things you might need, would you walk out on the stage and open your heart to whatever it was that Jesus had to say to you?
You may be asked to go to those members of our community in Grant Park who never enter our doors because there is too great a chasm between their life situations and ours. You may be asked to step outside the zone in which you are comfortable and do something here that you’ve never done before and never thought you could, like teach children or be an important presence in the life of youth. You may be called to examine your life, what you really need, what you can give to the church—probably more than you think you can spare. You may be asked to pray for or even go to Iran where people are being killed in their homes because they chose to protest the recent election results in Tehran. You may be asked to look at the world differently, telling the story of your faith by making different choices about the way you live, where you live, the kind of car you drive, the way you treat the environmental backdrop around you, the way you spend your money. You may be the next contestant on Disciples Got Talent.
If Jesus showed up in your life today and simply said, “Follow me,” would you go? Maybe that has already happened, and you don’t know what to do next. Maybe you know what you’re being called to do, and you don’t want to do it. Maybe you don’t know how to start. Maybe you are afraid. Whatever your situation, this is the time and place for you to take up your staff, leave the baggage behind, and begin to follow where Christ leads. If you need help, stay here for a while and learn how you can grow into God’s vision for your life. But when it is time to get moving, get moving. Sing your hit song. Play that big gig. Say yes to Jesus.
It’s fun to picture the twelve disciples coming across a stage of sorts by the sea, with Jesus sitting at a table and 2 big cue cards on the table in front of him face down: one with a huge X on it, and one with a huge check mark on it. With absolutely no credentials, tour under their belts, or critical acclaim, they got the check mark, the big “Yes.” And so they went, and their lives were changed. And because of them, so were ours.
Jesus calls you and waits with a giant check mark to show you as you enter the stage of Christian faith and service. You’ve got talent, friends, God-given talent that God waits to use in you when you say yes to God. Are you the next star in the story of Jesus?
Are you a Disciple?
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Burned by the Word: Isaiah, and how Sometimes it Hurts to be a Christian
Isaiah 6:1-13
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
My daughter, Joy, is on the cusp of being able to get into things that could hurt her. A few weeks ago she figured out how to roll over, and now her favorite thing to do is roll all over our living room floor. She can quickly make it across the room, so there is no leaving her for a flash to run into the kitchen and grab a drink of water. There is no putting her down to answer the phone in another room. There is no leaving her just long enough to go to the rest room on the other side of the wall. She’s mobile; therefore, she’s dangerous. Sure, it is exciting to see her learning all kinds of new ways to explore the world around her, but I can hardly stand to think about the kind of accidents she could get into and really hurt herself. I would love to spare her of any pain at all, if only I could figure out how to avoid the situations her life will surely encounter that will be difficult and painful.
I know as well as you do, however, that this is not possible. Joy will grow and learn and experiment and explore, and she will come home with broken skin, perhaps bones, and from time to time, a broken heart. To keep her from feeling pain would be to keep her from experiencing life as she was created to experience it. It would keep her from living her life at full stretch, the way God intends for her to live.
We feel this for ourselves, too. We do not like to experience pain or suffering. We want life to be easy. We want to live the joys and happinesses of life and avoid the pain and sorrows at just about all costs. Consider our brother Isaiah, whose story we receive today. The king of Judah named Uzziah had reigned for 41 years. During that time Judah had grown in land and prosperity. It had lived peaceably with its neighbor to the north, Israel. They had formerly been a unified nation, but throughout their history as 2 separate nations, Uzziah’s reign represented a time of peace between the 2 kingdoms. But on the horizon was the rise of Assyria who would, in just a few years time, who would cause the fall of Samaria in Israel and Jerusalem in Judah and the destruction of the temple. The people of God had come to enjoy a kind of domesticated Hebrew life, even a kind of domesticated God who seemed to be always on their side and supporting their prosperity and growing dominance over others.
Then, God called Isaiah, and everything changed.
Knowing he was from a people who had displeased God, Isaiah immediately freaked out when God called and began pleading with God not to put him on the spot. To say he was a man of unclean lips was to say that he was from a people who were not faithful to God in their practice. They did not refer to God with proper reverence in worship. Their words were likely empty praise, giving thanks to God for life all the while believing that it was their own hands which had brought them prosperity. I even imagine them gathering to hear the Word of the Lord read in worship, to pray the psalms, and then to go away from the temple patting themselves on the back and getting back to the work of expanding the kingdom and bringing wealth to the land. They likely were not interested in what brother Isaiah had to say.
The kind of transformation Isaiah and the people of Judah faced was one that would change their world of power and prosperity to one of crisis and subservience to another nation. The wealth they had built for themselves would disappear before their eyes. They would watch their nation crumble to the power of another, and they would be distraught—wondering what happened and how they would get out of it. Would they ever see economic prosperity again? Would they ever have religious independence again? Isaiah was being called to a very difficult job: to bring hope to a people who would find themselves drowning in a sea of hopelessness. It was a huge job. It was probably meant for someone who was really prepared, had studied for it, was someone that people would listen to.
God called Isaiah.
God called a man who was afraid of the job. God called a man who had no idea how to respond to the presence and voice of God. God called a man who was not only not worthy of the job but also, and probably more importantly, not ready for the job. Isaiah was none of the above, at least in his own opinion. But God fixed that. The seraph was the member of God’s court in charge of healing. So the pain that Isaiah experienced was actually pain that helped him to heal that in his life which held him back from being able to say yes to God. The vision of God in the holy temple tears Isaiah apart; he is made painfully aware of his shortcomings and inadequacies. He calls himself out as being of “unclean lips,” and a seraph places a hot coal to his lips. But this is ultimately a healing action, and God’s call in his life is not just to get his own self and life straightened out but also to do all he can to help straighten out the broken, hurting world in which he lives.
The rest of Isaiah’s story and legacy is his engagement on God’s behalf of what is wrong in the world by imposing a vision of what is right. God’s vision for the world is still alive and could be close at hand if Isaiah can help turn the hearts of the people. It is a hard job; nobody wants to change, especially when things seem to be going so well with or without God. Why would the people of Judah want to listen to Isaiah when they are living in a period of prosperity and cannot see the devastation coming on the horizon? It was hard work for Isaiah; painful work. And it was the call of God upon Isaiah’s life.
Much of what we are called to do as Christians is hard work. And sometimes we have to go through our own kind of hot coals on the lips to be truly ready to be a follower of God in Christ. Isaiah is an example of someone who declared himself unready, unworthy, and the last one on earth God should call. Yet, without his career as a prophet, where would the people of God be today? Without the example he set of speaking truth to power and hope to hopelessness, where would the people of God be now? Because of Isaiah, we have a tradition of hoping for things that seem impossible which prepared us for the story of Jesus: his life, death, and resurrection. It was the story of Isaiah that echoed when Mary Magdalene came to the empty tomb and believed what she saw there.
And it was those hot coals that made it possible. It was the coals—the pain of being called and transformed for a life of service to God that touches even our generation of faith and give us courage to say yes to God’s call in our lives. And God is still calling.
God calls us to stand up for repentance, for change. We need to participate in the prophecy of the Word of God in this time and this place. Where are the places we see injustice? Where are the walls that need to be torn down, the words of hope that need to be spoken, the hubris that needs to be checked so that God’s word of salvation and hope can be heard and believed and lived out in our lives?
Before he could truly live into God’s purpose for his life, Isaiah had to experience pain and accept the humility with which one must respond to God’s call. How has your life as a Christian been painful? Can you relate to the story of Isaiah—a story of calling of a very ordinary person with some skeletons lurking in the proverbial closet?
Is God calling you to something hard, something big, something painful, for which you don’t think you are ready? God’s vision of restoration is still at work in the world, and to make a God-sized vision come true, God still needs Isaiahs, people of unclean lips, of prideful nations, who will say yes to the painful and glorious work of the transformation of the world. You see, these people, these ancestors, these brothers and sisters of ours are not far away, fanciful characters of the past. They are you and me. I am Isaiah, and Isaiah is you. We are called to speak truth when no one wants to hear it; to be faithful to the word of God and the hope that the world can and will change, and that we are an important part of making that change a reality. We are today’s prophetic voices; we are the ones sharing the hope of Christ with the world—the world that is hurting because of occupation, economic hardship and injustice, hatred and violence, and isolation from God.
But friends, we believe that things can change or we wouldn’t be here today. We believe Isaiahs are still out there spreading the message of God, and some of us are those Isaiahs. Our dear brother of long ago simply said yes. He didn’t know what God would ultimately ask of him, but he said yes anyway. In retrospect, it was probably the easiest decision of his life, the one he worked the hardest to fulfill. It wasn’t easy. It caused him pain, and probably the loss of some friends, family, and in the short run, respect. But because of Isaiah, the unworthy and unready, the story of Christ has been heard, accepted, lived, and passed on for generations. The faithful members of the Civil Rights Movement in this country, Archbishop Desmund Tutu and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, and the many, many faithful fighting hard against discrimination directed legally, theologically, and personally against members of the LGBTQ community are the Isaiahs that God continues to call.
And we gather here today waiting for the next word from God.
Whom will the Lord send? Who are the Isaiahs here today? Who will go into the world with the good news of hope and God’s grace? Will it be you?
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
My daughter, Joy, is on the cusp of being able to get into things that could hurt her. A few weeks ago she figured out how to roll over, and now her favorite thing to do is roll all over our living room floor. She can quickly make it across the room, so there is no leaving her for a flash to run into the kitchen and grab a drink of water. There is no putting her down to answer the phone in another room. There is no leaving her just long enough to go to the rest room on the other side of the wall. She’s mobile; therefore, she’s dangerous. Sure, it is exciting to see her learning all kinds of new ways to explore the world around her, but I can hardly stand to think about the kind of accidents she could get into and really hurt herself. I would love to spare her of any pain at all, if only I could figure out how to avoid the situations her life will surely encounter that will be difficult and painful.
I know as well as you do, however, that this is not possible. Joy will grow and learn and experiment and explore, and she will come home with broken skin, perhaps bones, and from time to time, a broken heart. To keep her from feeling pain would be to keep her from experiencing life as she was created to experience it. It would keep her from living her life at full stretch, the way God intends for her to live.
We feel this for ourselves, too. We do not like to experience pain or suffering. We want life to be easy. We want to live the joys and happinesses of life and avoid the pain and sorrows at just about all costs. Consider our brother Isaiah, whose story we receive today. The king of Judah named Uzziah had reigned for 41 years. During that time Judah had grown in land and prosperity. It had lived peaceably with its neighbor to the north, Israel. They had formerly been a unified nation, but throughout their history as 2 separate nations, Uzziah’s reign represented a time of peace between the 2 kingdoms. But on the horizon was the rise of Assyria who would, in just a few years time, who would cause the fall of Samaria in Israel and Jerusalem in Judah and the destruction of the temple. The people of God had come to enjoy a kind of domesticated Hebrew life, even a kind of domesticated God who seemed to be always on their side and supporting their prosperity and growing dominance over others.
Then, God called Isaiah, and everything changed.
Knowing he was from a people who had displeased God, Isaiah immediately freaked out when God called and began pleading with God not to put him on the spot. To say he was a man of unclean lips was to say that he was from a people who were not faithful to God in their practice. They did not refer to God with proper reverence in worship. Their words were likely empty praise, giving thanks to God for life all the while believing that it was their own hands which had brought them prosperity. I even imagine them gathering to hear the Word of the Lord read in worship, to pray the psalms, and then to go away from the temple patting themselves on the back and getting back to the work of expanding the kingdom and bringing wealth to the land. They likely were not interested in what brother Isaiah had to say.
The kind of transformation Isaiah and the people of Judah faced was one that would change their world of power and prosperity to one of crisis and subservience to another nation. The wealth they had built for themselves would disappear before their eyes. They would watch their nation crumble to the power of another, and they would be distraught—wondering what happened and how they would get out of it. Would they ever see economic prosperity again? Would they ever have religious independence again? Isaiah was being called to a very difficult job: to bring hope to a people who would find themselves drowning in a sea of hopelessness. It was a huge job. It was probably meant for someone who was really prepared, had studied for it, was someone that people would listen to.
God called Isaiah.
God called a man who was afraid of the job. God called a man who had no idea how to respond to the presence and voice of God. God called a man who was not only not worthy of the job but also, and probably more importantly, not ready for the job. Isaiah was none of the above, at least in his own opinion. But God fixed that. The seraph was the member of God’s court in charge of healing. So the pain that Isaiah experienced was actually pain that helped him to heal that in his life which held him back from being able to say yes to God. The vision of God in the holy temple tears Isaiah apart; he is made painfully aware of his shortcomings and inadequacies. He calls himself out as being of “unclean lips,” and a seraph places a hot coal to his lips. But this is ultimately a healing action, and God’s call in his life is not just to get his own self and life straightened out but also to do all he can to help straighten out the broken, hurting world in which he lives.
The rest of Isaiah’s story and legacy is his engagement on God’s behalf of what is wrong in the world by imposing a vision of what is right. God’s vision for the world is still alive and could be close at hand if Isaiah can help turn the hearts of the people. It is a hard job; nobody wants to change, especially when things seem to be going so well with or without God. Why would the people of Judah want to listen to Isaiah when they are living in a period of prosperity and cannot see the devastation coming on the horizon? It was hard work for Isaiah; painful work. And it was the call of God upon Isaiah’s life.
Much of what we are called to do as Christians is hard work. And sometimes we have to go through our own kind of hot coals on the lips to be truly ready to be a follower of God in Christ. Isaiah is an example of someone who declared himself unready, unworthy, and the last one on earth God should call. Yet, without his career as a prophet, where would the people of God be today? Without the example he set of speaking truth to power and hope to hopelessness, where would the people of God be now? Because of Isaiah, we have a tradition of hoping for things that seem impossible which prepared us for the story of Jesus: his life, death, and resurrection. It was the story of Isaiah that echoed when Mary Magdalene came to the empty tomb and believed what she saw there.
And it was those hot coals that made it possible. It was the coals—the pain of being called and transformed for a life of service to God that touches even our generation of faith and give us courage to say yes to God’s call in our lives. And God is still calling.
God calls us to stand up for repentance, for change. We need to participate in the prophecy of the Word of God in this time and this place. Where are the places we see injustice? Where are the walls that need to be torn down, the words of hope that need to be spoken, the hubris that needs to be checked so that God’s word of salvation and hope can be heard and believed and lived out in our lives?
Before he could truly live into God’s purpose for his life, Isaiah had to experience pain and accept the humility with which one must respond to God’s call. How has your life as a Christian been painful? Can you relate to the story of Isaiah—a story of calling of a very ordinary person with some skeletons lurking in the proverbial closet?
Is God calling you to something hard, something big, something painful, for which you don’t think you are ready? God’s vision of restoration is still at work in the world, and to make a God-sized vision come true, God still needs Isaiahs, people of unclean lips, of prideful nations, who will say yes to the painful and glorious work of the transformation of the world. You see, these people, these ancestors, these brothers and sisters of ours are not far away, fanciful characters of the past. They are you and me. I am Isaiah, and Isaiah is you. We are called to speak truth when no one wants to hear it; to be faithful to the word of God and the hope that the world can and will change, and that we are an important part of making that change a reality. We are today’s prophetic voices; we are the ones sharing the hope of Christ with the world—the world that is hurting because of occupation, economic hardship and injustice, hatred and violence, and isolation from God.
But friends, we believe that things can change or we wouldn’t be here today. We believe Isaiahs are still out there spreading the message of God, and some of us are those Isaiahs. Our dear brother of long ago simply said yes. He didn’t know what God would ultimately ask of him, but he said yes anyway. In retrospect, it was probably the easiest decision of his life, the one he worked the hardest to fulfill. It wasn’t easy. It caused him pain, and probably the loss of some friends, family, and in the short run, respect. But because of Isaiah, the unworthy and unready, the story of Christ has been heard, accepted, lived, and passed on for generations. The faithful members of the Civil Rights Movement in this country, Archbishop Desmund Tutu and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, and the many, many faithful fighting hard against discrimination directed legally, theologically, and personally against members of the LGBTQ community are the Isaiahs that God continues to call.
And we gather here today waiting for the next word from God.
Whom will the Lord send? Who are the Isaiahs here today? Who will go into the world with the good news of hope and God’s grace? Will it be you?
Eating the Bible
Ezekiel 3:1-11
He said to me, O mortal, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. He said to me, Mortal, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it; and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey.
He said to me: Mortal, go to the house of Israel and speak my very words to them. For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel— not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. He said to me: Mortal, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears; then go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them. Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’; whether they hear or refuse to hear.
Several years ago I saw a new product that REALLY got my attention. I try not to fall victim to marketing campaigns, but I couldn’t believe this one. It was a little package of mints, like LifeSavers, except these were square. There was a picture of one of them on the outside of the package, and I noticed it had a cross on it. The wrapper had the phrase, “Pass the Word!” written on it. I cracked up there in the store! I had never seen, heard, or even thought of anything like this. You may have heard of them; they are called “Testamints”. When you buy a bag of the things, each one is wrapped in scripture. They are an easy way to get the Word of God out there in the hands of all kinds of people—maybe even people who don’t know anything about the Word of God. Now, it is not my intention to be flippant about the Testamints, although I suspect there may be other and better ways to teach people the Word of God than by printing it on the wrappers of mints.
When I was in the third grade, we moved to a new city and a new church. The first Sunday we were there, my mom and dad helped me find my Sunday school class which was Mrs. Lang’s class. It was for 3rd – 5th graders, and there were about 8 of us in that class. I loved Mrs. Lang; all I really remember about her was that she was always there, she was sweet, and I loved her a whole lot. She was the first teacher I ever had who made me memorize scripture, and I’m pretty sure she was also the last. Mine to remember was the parable of the lost sheep. I’m not sure we were actually supposed to memorize it word by word as much as we were supposed to learn it. I was so embarrassed when I couldn’t remember the whole thing! The only other thing we’d had to learn in Sunday school was the Lord’s Prayer, and since we said that in church every week, that wasn’t so hard to remember. But the parable of the lost sheep has a few more details that you might remember—at least for a 3rd grader it did. Luckily, Mrs. Lang gave me another chance to learn the story. I suspect she would have given me a hundred more chances to get it right.
The very first lesson of Disciple I Bible study involves an exercise in which the participants in the class talk about the first Bible they ever received. Where did it come from? What do you remember about it? The first one I ever remember receiving was quite large. I think it must have been printed on paper that was at least 11 x 17 inches, because it was almost hard to carry it. It was the one that kids at my church received when we finished third grade. It had pictures and was written in English that was supposed to be a little easier to understand. And it had a blue cover. I still have it at home, and one day I’ll show it to Joy when she is big enough not to eat the pages or rip them out.
Do you remember your first encounter with the Word of God?
Part of my intent in designing summer messages that introduced us to some of the characters in the Bible was to help us understand and think about the fact that the people described in the Bible were real, flesh and blood children of God just like you and I are, and they were called for a purpose just like you and I are, and their “Yes,” to God took their lives on some pretty amazing and interesting paths, just like yours and mine do—although we are hesitant to think of ourselves on equal playing ground with the characters of the Old and New Testaments, aren’t we? We tend to place the people in the bible on a kind of supernatural pedestal and assume that they were a little larger than life and somehow a little closer to God than we are today. The truth is that they are us, and we are them. Last week we talked about our brother Isaiah and his call to speak the word of God to people who had grown convinced that they really didn’t need God anymore. He brought words not only of conviction but also of hope to the people of God. And today Ezekiel: our brother, the prophet, who saw great visions of God, gave life to dry bones, and brought the Word of God to God’s people when they were in exile in Babylon.
So, as for relating your life to Ezekiel’s, I wouldn’t start with the first chapter. There you will find his vision of human beings with 4 faces, a great chariot, something described as a wheel within a wheel, and an incredible throne. He was, after all, a priest, and you know that we come up with some crazy things from time to time. We talk about things that no one else talks about; we tend to be a little nerdy about the Bible and God stuff; we even use words like justification and sanctification, and we know that people stare at us, befuddled. But one of the things that draws me into the story of Ezekiel is his willingness to embrace the vision of God, outrageous as it is.
We enter his story as the inaugural vision seems to be winding down: God has approached Ezekiel and has begun to give him his assignment. ‘Speak to your people, who are stubborn and won’t hear you, and tell them that I am God and that bad times are coming.’ Ezekiel got the fun job.
In the verses immediately preceding chapter 3, we find out that the scroll Ezekiel is invited to eat has words written all over it—on the front and the back—and the words were words of lamentation, mourning, and woe. These were the words that Ezekiel had to swallow, take into his being, and then share with others—whether they wanted to hear it or not. And the scroll was sweet in his mouth; the Word of God was very pleasing to his mouth.
And then came the instruction: go to your own people, people you know, people who know you, and speak the words of lamentation, mourning, and woe to them. You won’t even have to learn a new language or new people. God has such high hopes for Ezekiel: “Surely, if I send you to them they will listen to you,” God says in verse 6. Ezekiel was a priest who was asked to eat scripture and then sent to the people of his community to tell them that they were in trouble with God. Sounds just like us, doesn’t it?
We are not priests. Well, except for Laura and me, the rest of us here are members of the congregation. We do not actually eat the Bible. Who needs to eat paper or even vegetables when we have a range of tasty fiber bars to choose from these days? And I doubt that any of you will leave here today and go walking down your street telling all your neighbors how disappointing their lives are to God. Ezekiel, our brother?
But it’s the way he did it! Ezekiel likely had spent his childhood in the Temple, gathering with other children to hear the Word of God from the Torah and its interpretation from the priests. He had been trained in the story and proper worship of God. He had heard the stories of other people and their experiences with God while contemplating his own. And then this happened!
What God wanted for Ezekiel was that he would take God’s Word not just into his mind but into his whole heart, soul, and mind. God wanted the Word to be Ezekiel’s essential being. It is one thing to know what holy scripture says; it is quite another to live it out in your life. For generations, the people of God had relied upon simply knowing what the Torah said: about God and God’s power, God’s love for God’s people, and God’s mercy and forgiveness for people who rebel. But they had lost the ability to live in that knowledge. They relied upon their own power and the power of Babylon to provide a comfortable, entertaining life. And God knew that words would not necessarily win them over. It would take much more: it would take faithfulness, vision, and keeping the Word of God close in your heart, your soul, your mind—your very being.
Then the Word of God would just eminate from you. It would pour out of your life, out of everything you did. It would turn you all into priests, the kind who live sermons with your lives and only use words when it is absolutely necessary. You wouldn’t have to tell your neighbors how sinful they are; you would tell the church how much it needs to change by opening yourself to others in ways the church doesn’t yet.. You wouldn’t have to remind anyone to love others; you would enjoy watching them respond to your good example. You would not have to convince people that forgiveness is the way to go—holding grudges would be a thing of the past. Have you ever considered the influence of your behavior on the people around you?
Our brother Ezekiel reminds us of the fact that having a relationship with God requires more of us than reading the words on the page. Having God in your life is having God IN your life. It is telling the world about the selfless love of Christ with your life and how you give of yourself expecting nothing in return but love to be given freely. It is taking God’s Word into your very being and letting it live and grow there for others to see—a witness far more meaningful than words on a mint wrapper.
What are the things you know by heart? Is the story of God’s love for the world in Jesus Christ one of those things? Does your life speak the sweet Word of God? If you need a little help, I bet we have a scroll or 2 around here that you could snack on for a while. Thank you, brother Ezekiel, for your strange visions, for saying, “Yes,” to God, and for reminding us that its not about how many verses we memorize but how much our lives reflect God to all to whom you send us.
It truly is the Word of God—honey, lamentation, and all—for the people of God.
Thanks be to God!
He said to me, O mortal, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. He said to me, Mortal, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it; and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey.
He said to me: Mortal, go to the house of Israel and speak my very words to them. For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel— not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. He said to me: Mortal, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears; then go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them. Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’; whether they hear or refuse to hear.
Several years ago I saw a new product that REALLY got my attention. I try not to fall victim to marketing campaigns, but I couldn’t believe this one. It was a little package of mints, like LifeSavers, except these were square. There was a picture of one of them on the outside of the package, and I noticed it had a cross on it. The wrapper had the phrase, “Pass the Word!” written on it. I cracked up there in the store! I had never seen, heard, or even thought of anything like this. You may have heard of them; they are called “Testamints”. When you buy a bag of the things, each one is wrapped in scripture. They are an easy way to get the Word of God out there in the hands of all kinds of people—maybe even people who don’t know anything about the Word of God. Now, it is not my intention to be flippant about the Testamints, although I suspect there may be other and better ways to teach people the Word of God than by printing it on the wrappers of mints.
When I was in the third grade, we moved to a new city and a new church. The first Sunday we were there, my mom and dad helped me find my Sunday school class which was Mrs. Lang’s class. It was for 3rd – 5th graders, and there were about 8 of us in that class. I loved Mrs. Lang; all I really remember about her was that she was always there, she was sweet, and I loved her a whole lot. She was the first teacher I ever had who made me memorize scripture, and I’m pretty sure she was also the last. Mine to remember was the parable of the lost sheep. I’m not sure we were actually supposed to memorize it word by word as much as we were supposed to learn it. I was so embarrassed when I couldn’t remember the whole thing! The only other thing we’d had to learn in Sunday school was the Lord’s Prayer, and since we said that in church every week, that wasn’t so hard to remember. But the parable of the lost sheep has a few more details that you might remember—at least for a 3rd grader it did. Luckily, Mrs. Lang gave me another chance to learn the story. I suspect she would have given me a hundred more chances to get it right.
The very first lesson of Disciple I Bible study involves an exercise in which the participants in the class talk about the first Bible they ever received. Where did it come from? What do you remember about it? The first one I ever remember receiving was quite large. I think it must have been printed on paper that was at least 11 x 17 inches, because it was almost hard to carry it. It was the one that kids at my church received when we finished third grade. It had pictures and was written in English that was supposed to be a little easier to understand. And it had a blue cover. I still have it at home, and one day I’ll show it to Joy when she is big enough not to eat the pages or rip them out.
Do you remember your first encounter with the Word of God?
Part of my intent in designing summer messages that introduced us to some of the characters in the Bible was to help us understand and think about the fact that the people described in the Bible were real, flesh and blood children of God just like you and I are, and they were called for a purpose just like you and I are, and their “Yes,” to God took their lives on some pretty amazing and interesting paths, just like yours and mine do—although we are hesitant to think of ourselves on equal playing ground with the characters of the Old and New Testaments, aren’t we? We tend to place the people in the bible on a kind of supernatural pedestal and assume that they were a little larger than life and somehow a little closer to God than we are today. The truth is that they are us, and we are them. Last week we talked about our brother Isaiah and his call to speak the word of God to people who had grown convinced that they really didn’t need God anymore. He brought words not only of conviction but also of hope to the people of God. And today Ezekiel: our brother, the prophet, who saw great visions of God, gave life to dry bones, and brought the Word of God to God’s people when they were in exile in Babylon.
So, as for relating your life to Ezekiel’s, I wouldn’t start with the first chapter. There you will find his vision of human beings with 4 faces, a great chariot, something described as a wheel within a wheel, and an incredible throne. He was, after all, a priest, and you know that we come up with some crazy things from time to time. We talk about things that no one else talks about; we tend to be a little nerdy about the Bible and God stuff; we even use words like justification and sanctification, and we know that people stare at us, befuddled. But one of the things that draws me into the story of Ezekiel is his willingness to embrace the vision of God, outrageous as it is.
We enter his story as the inaugural vision seems to be winding down: God has approached Ezekiel and has begun to give him his assignment. ‘Speak to your people, who are stubborn and won’t hear you, and tell them that I am God and that bad times are coming.’ Ezekiel got the fun job.
In the verses immediately preceding chapter 3, we find out that the scroll Ezekiel is invited to eat has words written all over it—on the front and the back—and the words were words of lamentation, mourning, and woe. These were the words that Ezekiel had to swallow, take into his being, and then share with others—whether they wanted to hear it or not. And the scroll was sweet in his mouth; the Word of God was very pleasing to his mouth.
And then came the instruction: go to your own people, people you know, people who know you, and speak the words of lamentation, mourning, and woe to them. You won’t even have to learn a new language or new people. God has such high hopes for Ezekiel: “Surely, if I send you to them they will listen to you,” God says in verse 6. Ezekiel was a priest who was asked to eat scripture and then sent to the people of his community to tell them that they were in trouble with God. Sounds just like us, doesn’t it?
We are not priests. Well, except for Laura and me, the rest of us here are members of the congregation. We do not actually eat the Bible. Who needs to eat paper or even vegetables when we have a range of tasty fiber bars to choose from these days? And I doubt that any of you will leave here today and go walking down your street telling all your neighbors how disappointing their lives are to God. Ezekiel, our brother?
But it’s the way he did it! Ezekiel likely had spent his childhood in the Temple, gathering with other children to hear the Word of God from the Torah and its interpretation from the priests. He had been trained in the story and proper worship of God. He had heard the stories of other people and their experiences with God while contemplating his own. And then this happened!
What God wanted for Ezekiel was that he would take God’s Word not just into his mind but into his whole heart, soul, and mind. God wanted the Word to be Ezekiel’s essential being. It is one thing to know what holy scripture says; it is quite another to live it out in your life. For generations, the people of God had relied upon simply knowing what the Torah said: about God and God’s power, God’s love for God’s people, and God’s mercy and forgiveness for people who rebel. But they had lost the ability to live in that knowledge. They relied upon their own power and the power of Babylon to provide a comfortable, entertaining life. And God knew that words would not necessarily win them over. It would take much more: it would take faithfulness, vision, and keeping the Word of God close in your heart, your soul, your mind—your very being.
Then the Word of God would just eminate from you. It would pour out of your life, out of everything you did. It would turn you all into priests, the kind who live sermons with your lives and only use words when it is absolutely necessary. You wouldn’t have to tell your neighbors how sinful they are; you would tell the church how much it needs to change by opening yourself to others in ways the church doesn’t yet.. You wouldn’t have to remind anyone to love others; you would enjoy watching them respond to your good example. You would not have to convince people that forgiveness is the way to go—holding grudges would be a thing of the past. Have you ever considered the influence of your behavior on the people around you?
Our brother Ezekiel reminds us of the fact that having a relationship with God requires more of us than reading the words on the page. Having God in your life is having God IN your life. It is telling the world about the selfless love of Christ with your life and how you give of yourself expecting nothing in return but love to be given freely. It is taking God’s Word into your very being and letting it live and grow there for others to see—a witness far more meaningful than words on a mint wrapper.
What are the things you know by heart? Is the story of God’s love for the world in Jesus Christ one of those things? Does your life speak the sweet Word of God? If you need a little help, I bet we have a scroll or 2 around here that you could snack on for a while. Thank you, brother Ezekiel, for your strange visions, for saying, “Yes,” to God, and for reminding us that its not about how many verses we memorize but how much our lives reflect God to all to whom you send us.
It truly is the Word of God—honey, lamentation, and all—for the people of God.
Thanks be to God!
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