GOD COMES TO PEOPLE THROUGH PEOPLE
1 Samuel 3:1-10; 1 Corinthians 6: 12-20; John 1: 32-51
By Pastor Mark Becker
Saint Paul Lutheran Church
Stillwater, Minnesota
January 15, 2012

Are you ready to meet your Maker?   Are you ready to come face to face with God?
Now the irony of this question is that most are likely thinking that I am saying: Are you ready to die?   But the Biblical truth (from beginning to end) is that God comes to people through other people right here and now, on this earth.

Let’s begin with a little teaching time. At the time of Jesus, Israel’s idea of the ongoing connection between God and themselves relates to Jacob’s dream in the beginning of Genesis.   Do you remember it?  Jacob was fleeing from his brother, Esau, and the sun had begun to set, so he lay down to sleep under the stars. For a pillow, he took a nearby stone, and put it under his head, and there Jacob slept - and dreamed that there was a ladder which reached from the earth to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on that ladder.   Perhaps some of you who are old enough to remember an old Sunday School song which (wrongly interpreted the story) and had you singing “We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, every rung goes higher, higher, children of the cross.”   It was a nice song, but terrible theology, for it seemed to say that we climb our way to heaven.  

Now – here is the connection:   The people of Israel believed that this stone under Jacob’s head was the point of contact between heaven and earth, because after all,  he dreamed that angels were ascending and descending upon that stone.   Therefore, they took the stone, or what they thought was that stone, and they placed it in the Temple of Jerusalem, in the Holy of Holies.   

Thus, everyone believed that God was there - in the Temple - and here, (they thought) was the point of contact between God and humanity. Therefore, in order to meet God, the temple in Jerusalem is where you went. Now hear this:  When Jesus died on the cross and “breathed his last”, the text from Mark says “the curtain of the temple” – that is the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple “was torn from top to bottom”. That clearly means  that the movement of God is from heaven to earth, and from God to humanity,and God is now out among us. 

Now, hear the final verse of the Gospel reading for today as Jesus says “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon” what….?  Upon “the Son of Man”, which is Jesus Himself.” Jesus is saying that He replaces that stone upon which Jacob lay his head.   He is saying that – after his death and resurrection – He will be the point of contact between heaven and earth, and between God and humanity.

Further, the letters of Paul emphasize that we (the church) are the body of Christ on earth, and as Paul says to the Corinthians in our lesson for today: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?”   Do you not know that God resides in you and that you are the ones through whom God comes to people. - It is a high privilege and a great responsibility. 

The purpose and the meaning of the church is to be a Christian community where individuals can know and be known, where struggles and sorrows can be shared, and where we bear one another’s burdens and support each other in a broken world.   The church is the body of Christ in the world today, and that is where all can come and be a part of a community that cares about them. AND if that is not quite happening here, then we need to work harder and harder to make it happen.   God means to use people to come to other people.   In groups – and with other people – we are so much more likely to experience the presence of God then when we are all by ourselves. Therefore, I think that the best thing we can do in this church is to find more and more ways to be friends together-  as we are the body of Christ for each other.   Perhaps  that might happen in a book discussion group, or in circle Bible study groups, or in Covenant groups or Fellowship gatherings.

A couple of weeks ago there was an article in the Pioneer Press about a woman in a high rise who noticed that people there were fairly isolated and not connected with each other. So she started a craft and sewing group.   Then people got together and relationships began to develop and the place became a community. In fact, the sewers served others in that high rise community by repairing clothes, - and I thought that is exactly the kind of thing that could happen in a church.   I encourage you to think of things that you would like to do with other people and imagine how that might look right here. Then we simply need to make sure the doors are open and the community will build itself up, one group at a time.   God comes to people through other people.

 In our readings today, we first see that God uses people to help others to LISTEN for the voice of God.   Notice in the first lesson how young  Samuel hears the voice of God calling.   But he doesn’t recognize it and gets up to ask the old priest Eli what he wanted.     Eli says ‘no – its not me’ and sends the boy back to bed.  On the third trip into Eli’s room, Eli realizes that the boy is really hearing the voice God calling , so he says, “Go lie down - and - listen.´ Eli is saying to Samuel that if you want to hear the voice of God, you have got to listen. That is a word from God for us today as well:   Listen and be alert to the voice of God.  People in the spiritual community – like none other - can help each other to listen with expectation. We are here to remind each other of the ways that God will speak to us through others or through the events of one’s life, or even through nature or art.   Listen for the voice of God and you will hear it.  

Two men were walking along a crowded sidewalk in a busy downtown area. Suddenly, one of them said, “Listen to the lovely sound of that cricket.” And the other said, ”How can you hear the sound of a cricket in the midst of all this traffic noise around us? The first man had trained himself to listen to the sounds of nature.  He took a quarter out of his pocket, and dropped it on the sidewalk. When the quarter struck the sidewalk, several people nearby looked down.    “Look,” he said, “We hear that for which we listen.”  

God came to Samuel and Eli helped him - to “Listen”. We come today to hear a Word from the Lord. And we come listening to all kinds of things.  We come with our ears attuned to voices that are NOT the Lord’s voice. We come listening to logic of all kinds. We listen to the voices of warning and voices of anxiety.   We listen to the right and to the left politically. We listen to economists and to stock brokers and statisticians, and we listen to pop culture and to the music of desperate and often confused people.   But when our ears are tuned to listen to many voices, we might not hear the Word of the Lord.   It really takes an intentional effort to ‘LISTEN’ as Samuel listened, and we (in the community of faith) are especially here to help each other to listen to that “still small voice” of God.

Then in the Gospel reading, we see how God is at work through people . Philip says to Nathaniel,   “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph,” Nathanael said,   “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?  And Philip said, “Come and see.”   Again person to person, God comes to people through other people, as we help each other to (not only to listen to the voice of God) but to SEE the presence of God in Jesus Christ. 

A church located in the city realized  that there were many homeless people in the neighborhood, and every winter there were reports that some of these who had to sleep out in the open, had frozen to death.   So the church made the warmth and safety of its building available to care for some of the homeless. It had its risks, but each evening during the winter, volunteers from the church would spend the night in the shelter, providing food, clothing and lodging for as many of the homeless as their building would hold. Most volunteers reported that the experience of spending the night with the street people had actually strengthened their own faith.   After the shelter was opened, one of the pastors was interviewed on a radio talk program. The person asking the questions was a “opinionated fundamentalist” who felt that the church should be involved with simply preaching the old time gospel and not distracted by providing shelter to homeless people. You could hear that the man didn’t think much of the people being served, and at one point he jeered, “Where is Jesus in all this?”   For a moment the pastor hesitated and then responded calmly, “you just have to be there.” Come and see”.

“Come and see”, said Philip to Nathaniel. “Come and see.”    As one who has worked with sheltering homeless as we did every night during the month of November in my last church, I would have to say, that such work actually does bring you face to face with Jesus, every single night.   Jesus who said “what you do to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you do unto me” IS there, and I actually think that this experience was the most powerful spiritual growth movement of my time with that church. Now if you haven’t seen the face of Jesus in someone who is homeless or poor, or hungry or sick or hospitalized or in a nursing home, then you need to have someone remind you “come and see”.   The work of God coming to people through other people happens all the time, as we help each other to listen for the voice of God, and as we help each other to see the face of Jesus in the people of this world.

Now in the second reading is a warning against behaving in ways that keep others from listening to - or from seeing God in the world today.   The setting of this letter to the Corinthians was that there were converts to this church who thought that God was only interested in what they did spiritually, so that what they did with their bodies didn’t matter.” Frankly their spirituality was accompanied by a spirit of indulgence with food, drink and sex, and Paul is suggesting that where moderation is abandoned for sexual promiscuity or gluttony or drunkenness, then the witness that invites others to listen for God’s voice or to see the presence of Jesus is damaged, often beyond repair. Actually this Word of God today says that things like hunger and sexuality can actually become forms of idolatry, and the false gods of our time.   Now to be clear, I think food and drink and sexuality are all gifts of God for the good of people.   But they are meant to have boundaries around them to keep us -- and our witness -- healthy.

Finally, our witness to the world is to follow the lead of John the Baptist and take the focus off of ourselves and place it on Jesus.   We can suggest to others, Come and see Jesus and his kindness and forgiveness and you will know more of God. Look at his compassion for those who are rejected by others; look at his hand on the back of a leper whom no one else will touch. Look at Him talking to the woman in public, treating women as equals, when other men treated women as objects and possessions. Look at Him interrupting the stoning of the woman caught in adultery, loving and forgiving her but sending away those who would kill her – Come and  see Jesus in these ways, and you will hear the voice and see the presence of God. 

Look at Jesus turning the other cheek and lifting up the value of giving and not hoarding. Look at Jesus on the cross, taking the suffering of the world without retribution, letting it have its way with him, and defeating it by rising above it. Show them Jesus on the cross, and you will show them what it means to see God active in this broken world. Tell them to look past all that they see and hear about the flaws of Christians and look to Jesus and listen closely to hear what God wants them to hear about love, and peace, and grace - as his very nature and demeanor. 

People of God, you are the ones that God intends to use in this world - where God comes to people through other people. It is your privilege and it is your responsibility.      AMEN

 _______________________________________________

SHAPED BY LOVE
By Pastor Mark E. Becker

Saint Paul Lutheran Church, Stillwater, MN
August 14, 2011

Matthew 15: 21-28

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “ It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith!” Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

I don’t know about you, but there are parts of this story that I really don’t like. What IS Jesus doing here anyway? A poor woman asks Him to help her tormented daughter, and – at first – He doesn’t seem to respond. In fact, He doesn’t say a thing – He ignores her. It seems very un-Jesus-like, don’t you think? What do you think is happening ? Is He – thinking about it?  Is He – pondering what He should do or perhaps HOW he should care?  Is He – testing her faith?   Or – Is He just ignoring her – and hoping she’ll go away? 

And then Jesus says something that I would never have expected Him to say – “It’s not fair,” he says, “to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’   OUCH   What IS going on here?  Can this be our beloved and loving Jesus? Is it even possible that Jesus really thought like this, or responded so coldly?    One commentator said that perhaps Jesus and the woman are bantering a bit, and that Jesus and she may just have a twinkle in their eyes as they comment back and forth.    But most scholars seem to agree that there really isn’t a clear and easy way to understand this.

So speculate a bit with me, please - as we all must – when we read of Jesus and the Canaanite woman. First – think about this: Jesus is in foreign territory, away from home, and this does play a part in the story in a couple of ways. Jesus has left home for a little R and R. He has gone to Syria, in the region of Phoenicia, specifically to the district of Tyre and Sidon.   This means He is beginning to venture beyond His normal territory. This is really Matthew’s point in telling us of the location.  

Now, when you leave home (where you are comfortable) – when you leave home to go to a new place where things are different and people are different, you begin to learn some things about yourself – uncomfortable as that might be. For example, when I went to Germany, and when I went to Africa, I think I came to a better sense of who I was as an American Christian .  Some of that was confirming and comforting, and some of that was disturbing. But these were important things to learn something about myself.   Richard Rohr writes in “Simplicity: The Art of Living”,  that to find a new way of life “You have to leave the world where you have everything under control.” Control is, after all, an illusion.

So, do you suppose that Jesus entered this foreign land – where He WAS a stranger – and there, He became more clear about His mission to all people? After all – this Canaanite woman is the first Gentile or foreigner (i.e. non-Jew) in the Gospel to recognize Jesus fully and to respond in faith. It is true, then, that from this time on, Jesus reaches out more and more to Gentiles – to all people – and not just to the people of Israel. So, it could be that – in this foreign and strange place, Jesus Himself found greater clarity about His identity and His purpose. And maybe Matthew chooses to share this story so that we – his readers – might also broaden our vision beyond our expected limitations for God’s saving love.

Remember – the first people who read this might not have been perplexed at all by Jesus’ response. In fact, it might have been what they expected.   First Century Jewish people would have thought it appropriate for Jesus to ignore this foreigner clamoring after Him. Salvation IS expected for GOD’S people, NOT FOREIGNERS, and especially NOT Canaanites. These were – after all- the ancestral enemies of the Jews. So it seems Jesus does really what is expected as He ignores her, and then as He reminds her: I was sent only to the house of Israel.

Now, besides being a Gentile – a stranger to the Covenant – this was also a WOMAN, a woman trying to engage Jesus in conversation IN PUBLIC. And reputable women in that day did not speak with men in public, not even relatives.  That would be a scandal. So, though Jesus’ words to this woman might startle us, those first century readers (to whom the Gospel was written) would have likely thought “He’s right – salvation isn’t for her. Who does she think she is – trying to talk to Jesus – and in public yet?! Send her away!” - which is exactly what the disciples did say. It was the expected response.

But could it be that the story – and Matthew’s telling of it – is setting us up to hear something unexpected? Maybe its purpose is to show us that Jesus is clarifying His identity and His mission. And maybe it is also to show us that there are unexpected ways for our day that God’s grace expands beyond cultural boundaries to INCLUDE PEOPLE WE MIGHT NOT INCLUDE.

The question comes up time and time again in the Church: Who is in – and who is out?  Each generation – or each era in the life of the Church - brings different people before that question: Who is in – and who is out? The criteria differ: Sometimes it has been ethnic or racial criteria (Jew/Gentile – Black/White – Norwegian or Swede or German); and sometimes it has been moral criteria – with issues ranging from divorce to homosexuality. Who is in – and who is out? Sometimes the issues have been theological or Biblical interpretation – or sacramental issues (Baptism or Holy Communion) that ironically divides the Body of Christ. Who is in – and who is out?

Though there is much to commend for wrestling with such things, we still need to remember that when we ask: Who is in – and who is out?, WE FOLLOW JESUS BEST WHEN WE ARE SHAPED BY LOVE.

The witness of Jesus in this story of the Canaanite woman and in other Gospel stories is that, though we might live in a culture that excludes others – for ethnic – or gender – or class distinctions, as followers of Jesus, we can’t stay that way. If we follow Jesus, love always supersedes cultural bias.

But what if the issues are moral? Then – are there indeed some in and some out? This is where it gets tough – because here we all have to discern truth – and (if we are to follow Jesus) to discern without judging or condemning. Now consider – for the Canaanite woman, it was more than race and more than simply being a Gentile, and it was more than gender. Her daughter was possessed of a demon, and in that day, when it was believed that all diseases were caused by past, sinful actions (and that was especially true for demon possession – which likely was mental illness) this woman (and her daughter) would have been seen as very bad and sinful people – in fact, immoral people.   For first century readers, therefore, there is all the reason in the world for Jesus to ignore or reject her. Yet the key here (which Matthew wants us to see) is that – when it comes to God’s love and when it comes to people who respond to God’s love in faith, THERE SIMPLY ARE NO REJECTIONS. 

In this story of the Canaanite woman, Jesus –it seems- was literally responding in love (and perhaps shaped in mission) by the faith of this woman. This again might be just speculation, but might it be true that this story is showing us that Jesus – from His human perspective –  HAS CHANGED HIS MIND, as He is moved and shaped by the love of God? Jesus says: “Woman, great is your faith. Your daughter is healed.”   Now, I’m not sure if this is Jesus changing his mind, or simply EMERGING. But it does witness to us that there is a grace in being able to change one’s mind.

A periodical I’ve read faithfully for over 38 years, The Christian Century, runs a series now and then entitled: “How my mind has changed.”   Here well known theologians and thinkers have the humility to say “I now see things differently.” If we are to follow Jesus, that is the way we have to approach issues and opinions and especially people – with the humility to sometimes say – “Though this is what I thought” or “though this is what I now think”, I MAY BE WRONG. Especially when it comes to judging and discerning truth which may include or exclude others, the witness of Jesus for those who follow Him is to be shaped by love alone.

I think it was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book, Ethics, who said that it is a symptom of human sin to always want to be right. Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because they wanted to know what was right.   In fact – they wanted to BE RIGHT because Adam and Eve wanted to be like God – and not under God. And so it came to be that in the history of all humanity, BEING RIGHT BECAME MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEING SHAPED BY LOVE. Then, It came to be that people would fight and stand over against each other in the name of that which they believed to be RIGHT. And sometimes they called it “God’s will” and sometimes  “God’s plan”, and it was said with such a proud self-RIGHTEOUS spirit.  

I’ve heard it said that – on the day of Judgment – our greatest sin may not be things about which we are most ashamed, but rather things about which we are most proud. To be proud and right – without humility - (without love) tears the fabric of any community and all relationships,  and that is perhaps what has shaped our world today more than anything else.

When doing pre-marital counseling or in preaching the sermon at a wedding, I’ve often liked to share with couples that, when Judy and I got married, my parents sent me a shaggy-haired little doll. It arrived in the mail – with no explanation – no signature – and no indication of who might have sent it. I suspect my father, but he never would admit it.   There was a little sign around this strange little creature’s neck which read: “The man who gives in when he is right is weak, spineless (and at the bottom in tiny little letters) AND MARRIED.”

It is important in this world – and in all of our relationships – and in all of our attitudes toward people – to be humble and loving as Jesus was. Jesus might just be witnessing from the heart of God that grace comes through the ability to change one’s mind in order to love that person. 

Jesus’ witness always leans in the direction of love for people, and away from judgment and rules and regulations. Jesus’ witness is about “loosening up” and not being uptight about being right. It is about openness to others and their needs and concerns. It is about witnessing to the power of grace.

Gerhard Frost wrote: “When your options are either to revise your beliefs or reject a person – look again. Any formula for living that is too cramped for the human situation cries for rethinking. Hard-cover catechisms are a contradiction to our loose-leaf lives.”

(Seasons of a Lifetime, by Gerhard E. Frost, page 57. Copyright 1987, Augsburg Fortress)

Jesus leads us always in the direction of grace:
– grace to change one’s mind;
– grace to say “I’m wrong,” sometimes; 
- grace to say “I’m sorry” if needed;
- grace to love rather than judge.

Jesus always leans in the direction of love, and when love shapes us, the boundaries or barriers that exclude or separate people begin to break down.                                               AMEN

 `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````