"How Do You See?" - a sermon for the community of Zion Lutheran Church

Hello friends -

I hope this post finds you well! It's been a busy few weeks here in Pelican Rapids - this past weekend my aunt, mom, cousin, and grandmother made the trek to PR to spend a few days in town - and it was a blast! We got to get out on a hike at a nearby state park, look around Pelican Rapids, eat at our beloved local Cornfield Cafe, and attend church Sunday morning at Zion. Here's the manuscript from this Sunday's sermon:

Sisters and brothers, grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Son of David our Healer. Amen.

One summer day, after I had just finished my fifth grade year in elementary school, my dad decided that he wanted he, my brothers, and myself, to go to our local barber and get a flat top haircut – where the hair is simply buzzed flat at the top of your head. My dad thought it would be neat if we all looked the same.

Well, I tell you what. I came out of that barbershop that hot summer afternoon looking like a total fool. I had large glasses to boot and looked pretty ridiculous, while my dad stood beaming at his three sons whose haircuts all matched. “Isn’t this cool, guys?” he asked. “This is awesome.” Well, at least, he thought so. The way we saw things, the way we perceived things in this situation was a night and day difference.

We encounter this same dynamic in our gospel text for today – Jesus is working in a situation where different people have different opinions and they see things differently from person to person. Jesus is in his last days of public ministry, for soon he will be going to Jerusalem, participating in the Triumphal Entry into the city, and a week later be handed over to the Roman government at the call of the Jewish people to be flogged and hang on a cross and die. He has told his disciples two times already that this must come to pass, forewarning them of his death and resurrection. There’s an interesting response from the James and John, two of the disciples, here: “Teacher, we want for you to do for us whatever we ask of you” – and what they want is an increase in status, an increase in favor from the rest of his followers.

The disciples have a hard time understanding and seeing what Jesus has been trying to teach them – and this gets at the core of our text for today. While the disciples want to sit in glory and drink the same cup of suffering that Christ has been given, they don’t understand that Christ has a radically different message. The way of following Jesus is not looking for prestige or power, but rather living a life of servanthood, a life committed to mercy and grace. As Jesus instructs his disciples, “but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” – Jesus does this to remind his disciples, and even us today in the pews – that living a life of importance or status does not rest in claiming glory in religious terms or expectations, but in how you serve and live for others in a broken world yearning for wholeness.

This comes to fruition in the story at the end of our passage for today – the disciples perceptions of prestige and power are totally turned over by a blind man named Bartimaeus. This blind man, a beggar to boot, gets it. He understands, calling Jesus the Son of David and asks for mercy, for him to heal his blindness – “My teacher, let me see again.” The disciples – who want their status elevated, are face-to-face with Bartimaeus, who wants his status erased. There’s a disconnect here. The disciples cannot see in terms of faith, while Bartimaeus cannot physically see. Immediately Jesus heals him, and sends Bartimaeus into the world as a man who can see clearly.

In the story of Bartimaeus, we see the kingdom as it should be. The last, a blind man and a beggar, are made first. The disciples, who desire power, are left to question their motives and wants. This is just as true in our society today – different churches, class structures, and people of God have vastly different opinions on what it means to be a person of faith, and everyone interprets faith with a different understanding. Today, we baptize Lydia Andrienne Gilbert as a child of God, called by the Spirit, and welcomed into the faith journey that some days she will see clearly, while others there will be struggles and questions. It’s difficult wrestling, but extraordinarily meaningful, as we ponder what it means to see Jesus and his work among us.

This begs the question, then, my friends. Who are you? Do you see yourself in James or John, who desire power and glory for the sake of importance? Or are you more like a Bartimaeus, who sees clearly what a life of faith should be like? We are all disciples, yes, but the way that we look out into the world after hearing the Gospel is so incredibly important. How do you respond to what God is doing in your life? The Spirit is moving, each and every moment. How do you see? Amen. 

God's peace, friends - 

Dean

"What is the Price for Witnessing to the Reign of God?" - a sermon for the community of Zion Lutheran Church

Hello friends -

I hope this finds you well! My supervisor is on vacation to sunny, warm, Arizona - so I've been solo pastoring for the past week and a half - and all's gone well, so far! Dale will return February 8th - we're awaiting his arrival back to northwest Minnesota. Here's the sermon from this past Sunday - talking about following the reign of God amidst disbelief, rejection, and death:

Sisters and brothers, grace to you and peace from God our Creator and God’s Son Jesus the Christ. Amen.

            Friends, I’ll be honest with you. I struggle with this text. I struggle with what to say – both this time around and the first time I preached on this passage from Mark back in July at another congregation I served in. The 6^th chapter of Mark is not the promise-filled message of reconciliation that we are most often used to hearing. Instead, there’s this. There’s rejection in a small hometown village. There’s people being sent out two by two with almost nothing to their name and relying on total strangers to provide complete hospitality and there’s wiping dust off of feet if the message isn’t heard. There’s a beheading in a musty prison and conniving behavior in the royal palace. There’s a lot going on in this passage, and I struggle often with locating where the Gospel is found in the face of rejection. What do we do when the communities we spend time in spreading the Gospel don’t respond as we’d hoped? What is the price for witnessing to the reign of God? They pay the price like this: Jesus leaves his hometown. The disciples clean off their sandals and carry on. John the Baptist ends up dead.

            The characters in our story for today were really only being human, as best they know how. When Jesus pulls into his hometown of Nazarath with his disciples and begins to teach in the synagogue and is expecting belief and adherence and instead what he gets is “You’re just a simple carpenter”, “You’re just the son of plain Mary”, “Where did you get this wisdom and power, Jesus?” The people know him, you see – they’ve watched him grow up, advancing in both wisdom and years – and he went off for a while to begin his ministry, but now he’s returned and all the old perceptions and understandings of this once-child are back again. They can’t get past his family; his occupation. To expect full belief in the fact that Jesus was the Son of God would be too much right now – so Jesus heals a few people and leaves town. The price of witnessing to the reign of God is disbelief.

Jesus soon sends his disciples on the way ahead of him, giving them power to do his work of casting out demons and healing the sick. The way Jesus does this, though, is limiting – they are to travel lightly, with almost nothing on their person, which requires the disciples to depend fully on the hospitality of others. Their message may or may not be received. This is “How to Be like Jesus 101” – just as Jesus depends on his word being spread through the Spirit’s help in acceptance of teaching and genuine hospitality, so he requires the disciples to do the same. Jesus’ life and ministry was always risky – there is always a chance of being caught, always a chance of not being welcomed – and he wants the disciples to experience this. In case you aren’t received, wipe the dust off your feet and carry on. The price of witnessing to the reign of God is rejection.

Then we turn to John the Baptist in the prison cell. Faithfully proclaiming Christ’s coming and work for years, baptizing people into the promises of God, here he sits – soon to be beheaded due to a scheming palace royalty who wants nothing more than the forerunner of Christ dead. King Herod tries to defend John – he likes the man, you see, but is perplexed by all his talk about the law and Christ and the Gospel – but ultimately, after promising Herodias anything she desires, has to follow through with the execution orders. The head of John the Baptist arrives in the banquet hall on a platter, and the scene ends with the disciples taking John’s body away to a tomb. The price of witnessing to the reign of God is death.

            The price of witnessing to the reign of God, of proclaiming the way life should be here and now, is disbelief, rejection, and death. It’s powerful, scary stuff, for you in the pews and for this guy up here in the pulpit. Jesus knew this – he prayed that his cup might be taken from him if it be God’s will. Yet, Jesus proclaimed the Gospel all the way to the cross where he bore all the sins of humanity for our sake so that we might not only life in abundance here and now but also life eternal in the new heaven and new earth when all things are made new. If we have Jesus as our model, if we have Jesus who we profess to follow, then too many times over in our churches and communities we’ve been afraid of rejection because of our faith. Because in the face of the world telling us that disbelief, rejection, and death are normative and the order of the day, we have a God who is working for belief – whether it comes in the form of Christianity, whether it takes beyond this lifetime. We have a God who is working for acceptance – of all people from all nations and all creeds, and above all, a God who is working for resurrection and new life that will once and for all silence sin and death. And God’s not doing it alone – God is using us – every one of you – to participate in this world-changing revolution. The Spirit is moving. How will you respond? Amen. 

Dean