Who Are You?

Sunday, September 16, 2018
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Mark 8:27-38

Did someone you know ever do or say something so unexpected that you just turned to them and said, “Who are you?” You thought you knew them so well and their response just seemed unbelievable. Maybe it was your children, or your spouse, or your best friend and you just felt at that moment that you didn’t even know who they were! That is the situation both Peter and Jesus found themselves in on that day in Caesarea Philippi.

Caesarea Philippi is a place of breathtaking beauty. Located 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee it sits at the base of Mount Hermon, which rises over 9000 feet between modern day Syria and Lebanon. The seasonal snowfalls in winter and spring, feed the many large springs that eventually flow freely into the Jordan River.It’s a place of beauty, but also one that in the time of Jesus was the center of diverse religious temples and pagan rituals. The springs and the mountain today are still contested by the nations of that area for the use of the water. So amid the backdrop of beauty mixed with conflict we get to overhear Jesus ask his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” It was fitting question to ask among the various other gods that were worshipped there. And given the recent confrontations with the Pharisees, it was important for Jesus to know just what people were saying. So the disciples said, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others one of the prophets.” But Jesus had been with these disciples for a long time now – day in and day out – and he wanted to know what they thought. “But who do you say that I am?” he asked them.

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” You would have expected Jesus to be overjoyed at this profession of faith by Peter, but instead Jesus tells the disciples not to tell anyone. That’s an unexpected response until we delve deeper into the text because Jesus knew that Peter’s idea of a Messiah was different than what Jesus was really all about. Peter, the disciples, and most of the people who heard Jesus’ message wanted an earthly Messiah. They wanted a powerful ruler, who would overthrow the Roman Empire with force and take control. They wanted a Messiah who would end all the years of cruelty and fear due to the Roman occupation. They wanted a Messiah who would save them from ridicule, rejection, pain, and suffering. Peter and the other disciples were going to follow Jesus to a glorious celebration, a grand victory where they would no longer feel like losers. That’s the Messiah they thought they were following.

So when Jesus said he must undergo great suffering, rejection and be killed they were shocked. This was not where they thought this journey was headed! When Peter took Jesus aside, he must have had quite a conversation with him. I’m sure he told Jesus to snap out of it, calm down, wait a minute… This is not the person I have come to know as the Messiah. I’m sure he looked at him and said, “Who are you? What are you talking about? We are not going to let anything happen to you. Sure, you’ve upset a lot of people by your radical ways of teaching and your miracles, but death on a cross? Tortured and publically humiliated like a common political criminal? Absolutely not! We’re not going to let that happen! We’ll fight to the death to protect you Jesus!” And I’m sure Peter expected to hear Jesus say, “You’re right, Peter. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m just tired, worried and not thinking clearly.”

But instead………“Get behind me Satan!” I can assure you, Peter didn’t see that coming. Satan? Peter left his former full-time occupation as a fisherman behind to follow Jesus.
Peter was with Jesus 24/7 traveling from village to village sometimes without a warm welcome. They were friends. What kind of friend calls you Satan?…A friend who is compelled to speak the truth in love. A friend who had to set the record straight. Peter may have asked Jesus, “Who are you?” but now Jesus is really asking Peter the same question, “Who are you, Peter? I thought you knew me. I thought you understood by now what my mission was? I thought you were my disciple, my follower. Who are you?” Jesus was the Messiah, but not the Messiah they were looking for. Jesus was following the will of God and the consequences of that would result in suffering and death.

Suffering, however is not always redemptive. Ask any group of people who have ever been oppressed and they will tell you their suffering was not redemptive. Ask anyone who has suffered a medical illness or lives with an incurable disease and they will tell you their suffering is not redemptive. Talk with someone who cries day after day, year after year to have their affliction of poverty, abuse, – whatever it may be – taken away from them and they will tell you their suffering is not redemptive.

But Jesus’ suffering was redemptive. God took the evil that was meant to destroy Jesus and transformed it. Evil thought it would bring everything and everyone down, but God raised Jesus up. And God through Christ raises us up too. Jesus is with us in our suffering. He is with us in our pain. He is with us when all seems hopeless. Jesus is our hope. He is our Messiah- not the kind that will rescue us from all trouble, but who will bring us through it.

The question Jesus asked then is the same question he asks all of us. “Who do you say that I am? Do we believe Jesus is a messiah who will do whatever we want? Or is Jesus The Messiah who shows us who God is? How we answer that determines who we are as followers of Christ.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu once asked, “If being Christian became a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict us?” It’s a challenging question because the life of a Christian is counter-cultural. Like ancient Caesarea Philippi, we are surrounded by a myriad of other gods who try and lure us away from the one true God. The voices of deception urge us to retaliate when we are hurt, but Jesus says we must love all our neighbors. The voices of narcissism try and deceive us to put ourselves first, but Jesus modeled for us that we are to care for others in a self-sacrificial way. Our culture needs to see the true Messiah and we need to be Christ’s hands and feet, his voice and his face in this world.

Who are we? We are followers of the Messiah. Sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Through our baptism we know who we are and whose we are. As a community of believers, who transformed by the body and blood of Christ, become the body of Christ in the world. What if our church is the only body of Christ that someone will ever encounter? The answer to Jesus’ question “Who am I?” must be evident not only in our professions of faith, but in our actions. Amen.

 

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Be Opened

Sunday, September 9, 2018
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Mark 7:24-37

Last week the focus of the scripture readings was on listening. In order to be doers of God’s word, we first need to listen to God. I spoke about how God’s word can be discovered through the scriptures, through various signs, and through each other. The Holy Spirit’s voice can speak to us through other people. In fact, Mark begins his gospel with the voice of John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness to “prepare the way of the Lord.” At Jesus’ baptism in Mark’s gospel when the Spirit descends on him, the voice of God speaks from the heavens. “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” That same Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness as though he himself was possessed only not by a demon, but by the Holy Spirit.

In today’s excerpt from Mark’s gospel that same Holy Spirit led Jesus to Tyre, a relatively wealthy area north of Galilee. It was Gentile territory where those who were not Jews and who were not followers of Jesus lived. Jesus wasn’t planning on preaching to the Gentiles there. In fact, he had already stated that he felt his mission was to the Jews. But one encounter, one woman, changed all that. She changed the course of history that day and no one even knows her name. Mark only refers to her as the Syrophoenician woman. Yet what she said and did that day will never be forgotten.

That Syrophoenician woman pushed her way through the crowd into the private house where Jesus and the disciples were staying in and begged Jesus to heal her daughter. She spoke up despite the fact that women at that time dared not speak directly to a man without first being asked. She spoke up despite the shock from the crowd. The Syrophoenicians were called dogs. It wasn’t a good term. Just like the derogatory terms that are used for different ethnic groups today. It’s easy to justify labeling people with derogatory names when that’s the accepted norm of society or when you feel they’ve hurt you or someone you care about in some way or another.

And shockingly, when this woman approached Jesus he identified her as a dog too. Every time I read this passage it’s hard for me to understand why. Why would Jesus call her that? He was always defending the outcasts. Was he just saying that to open the original disciples and our ears a little, and get us to listen to how it sounds when we call people by derogatory names? Was he saying it because she was a part of a group of people who were wealthier than the rest, and she was asking for something to be taken away from those who had less? Or…. was Jesus momentarily tempted like he was in the wilderness, this time to go along with the norms of that time regarding the Gentiles? Was he actually being tempted to believe that God’s mission was only for the house of Israel? If he was being tempted, the Holy Spirit provided a way out through the voice of the Syrophoenician woman herself.

Jesus said, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” He felt God’s mission was for the chosen people of Israel, and they came first. But the unnamed woman really listened to Jesus, and she got Jesus to listen to her through her persistence. Her daughter’s life was at stake and that meant putting herself out there and risking it all for the sake of love.

We’ve all been there. We know what it feels like when someone we love is suffering.
We’re willing to do whatever we have to in order to try and help them. Like this woman, we’d beg if we knew it would help. And this woman was no different from any of us, except that she had a lot to risk. She knew her status in society. She knew she was an outcast in the eyes of the Jews, but the prospect of losing her daughter was worse than anything anyone could say or do to her. And so she opened herself up to the possibility of losing even her own life if it meant saving the life of the person she loved. She opened herself up for the sake of someone else. And when that happens, the Holy Spirit is present. It opened up a space for the Holy Spirit to speak – through this outcast – and tell everyone – including Jesus – that God’s plan of salvation and healing is not just for a certain group, but for everyone – even those we think don’t deserve it.

The Holy Spirit spoke through this woman and Jesus listened, and hearts were opened that day. Jesus’ own heart was opened up by the encounter with the Syrophoenician woman, and as a result he opened up the ears of the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. After that man could hear, he then could speak of God’s grace.  We are all able to speak the words of God’s healing love when we allow ourselves to be opened up by the Spirit of God too. This story shows us the power of speaking up for others, for persisting, and for listening. Jesus lived his life in response to God’s mission. And through his own humanity he showed us how we need to constantly be listening for direction from the Holy Spirit to open our hearts.

That’s what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit opens up the hearts of those who are willing to listen to God’s word and then everything changes. It gives us a way out of temptation. It changes our prejudices to compassion. It moves us from fear to courage.  It transforms our doubt to faith. It changes our very lives and brings healing not only to ourselves but others if we are willing to listen and open our hearts.

People are still begging for crumbs today – crumbs of compassion, crumbs of justice, crumbs of hope, crumbs of love, crumbs of peace. This story shows us how easy it is as humans to be tempted to comply with the unjust systems we live in. We can become so accustomed to societal norms that we don’t even realize we are a part of an unjust system. Yet, this story also shows us that God always provides a way out. God can always open hearts by empowering us through the Holy Spirit to speak the truth, to speak up for others, to persist in seeking justice, and to truly listen and allow ourselves to be opened up to new possibilities that God is calling into being.

As we leave here today, may we all listen like Jesus to hear the voice of God through each other in order to bring healing and peace to those around us. May we listen so we can truly do God’s Work through Our Hands each and every day. Amen.

Listening For God’s Word

Sunday, Sept. 2, 2018
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21 -23
James 1:17-27 & Deut. 4:1-2, 6-9

 

“Listen to me, all of you, and understand.” These words spoken by Jesus centuries ago, are meant for us today as well, perhaps even more so. Listening today is becoming rarer as in this ever increasing age of technology people are constantly surrounded by the noise of cell phones, televisions, traffic, loudspeakers, endless advertising, and endless noise. There’s hardly a moment of just pure silence. People have become so accustomed to noise that they don’t even know what to do with the silence. After about 30 seconds many people start fidgeting. The wheels begin turning in their minds, and they quickly start thinking about anything to get rid of the discomfort of silence.

That’s what silence has become – a nuisance, something to be avoided at all costs. Ever since I was little I would go to sleep with the sound of a fan to lull me to sleep, and as an adult that practice continued. The sound was comforting. Total silence was disturbing, until I spent a year on the plains of North Dakota on seminary internship. It was there that I experienced in that rural setting the beautiful sound of silence. Eventually, the silence allowed me to hear what I had been missing.  The sound of the wind, the chirping of the crickets, the echoes of a distant animal, the sound of my own breathing.

Our avoidance of silence has caused us to lose touch with ourselves, and with our Creator. Listening is more than just hearing, it’s understanding. That is what Jesus tried to teach us. “Listen to me,” he said, “and understand.” Listening goes deeper than simply hearing the sound of something – whether it is a thing or a living creature. Listening opens our heart and enables us to really grasp what is actually happening. It keeps us focused on the present moment. Listening is hard work though, but it’s worth it because it creates a space for something new to be born. Ideas, solutions, inventions, and possibilities all begin to grow in the soil of listening.

How many arguments, conflicts, and wars would end if we listened especially to one another? If instead of planning our next words, what if we simply listened first to what the other person was saying, and really let ourselves be opened to their point of view? We don’t have to always agree with one another in order to listen. Yet, through listening we can be opened a new understanding.

This is what James is addressing in his letter when he says we must “be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.” God commands us – yes, a law –to “care for orphans and widows.” God commands us to love. Yet, in order to be doers of God’s commandments we have to truly listen to God’s word first. God’s word comes to us in many ways. It comes to us through scripture, through worship, through music, through signs all around us, and through conversations with each other – including people, and perhaps most especially with people we don’t always agree with. We hear God’s word through the concerns and cries of those around us.  How can we do God’s will and care for the needs of others if we don’t even know what those needs are? How can we mend relationships if we don’t even take the time to listen to what is in their heart?

There’s a real connection between listening and the heart. Medical research has recently discovered a link between hearing loss and the health of the heart. They have found that the blood vessels of the inner ear need an oxygen rich nutrient supply and if it doesn’t get it due to cardiovascular health problems, hearing can be affected. In fact, they say that the “ear may be the window to the heart.” And hearts can become hardened, not by what we put in, but by what we allow to fester than is already inside – anger, hatred, resentment, and so many other negatives emotions growing out of control. When Jesus says that “it is from within” that all our sinfulness resides rather than what is on the outside, he is calling us out to look into our own hearts for the problems we are often so quick to blame on external circumstances and people. Jesus is telling us to go deeper than what we hear and see, and listen to our own motives, listen to what God is calling us to do and be, listen to the concerns of others and we will renew our own hearts. And in the process healing and connection with each other can take place.

“Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.” What does produce God’s righteousness- God’s justice and mercy – is an open heart, a forgiving heart, a compassionate heart, a loving heart. Listening has the power to heal. God wants to feed the world physically and spiritually, to heal the world, to bring peace to the world. When we open our hearts and truly listen to God and one another amazing things can happen. May the Holy Spirit open our ears and our hearts that we may be doers of God’s word. Amen.

Lord, to Whom Shall We Go?

Sunday, August 26, 2018
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
John 6:56-69

Today marks the last of the five Sundays of the Bread of Life discourse from the gospel of John. Jesus has told us over and over that he is “the Bread of Life that has come down from heaven.” He has said how he is the bread that will nourish forever unlike the normal bread that we eat. He is giving his flesh and blood for the life of the world, and he gives eternal life. Jesus wants us to abide and remain in a close relationship with him always. As I said last week Jesus has said these things over and over again because it is a matter of life and death that we get it. Like the physical food we eat, we need more than just one meal. We need several meals in a day. To eat all our food all at once would leave us ill. In the same way we need to hear Jesus’ words multiple times so that we can better understand and digest it.

Today, though, we hear that the first disciples found it really hard to accept this information from Jesus. They said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” Jesus knew this offended them. Scripture tells us that most of the “disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.” In plain language, they left Jesus. They were not a fan of what he was saying.

In the book by Pastor Kyle Idleman called Not a Fan, the author explains the difference between a fan and a follower of Jesus. He says fans are people who know about someone. They know information, but they don’t really know the person. For example, fans of a particular celebrity may know a lot about that famous person’s interests or lifestyles, yet they’ve never really met that person or had a deep conversation with them. They may have pictures of them and wish they were like them, but it’s only superficial. There are sport fans of a particular team or even individual – they know all about the sport and all about how good that person is at playing that sport, but they still don’t really know that person. They are “enthusiastic admirers.” And Idelman argues that we – modern day disciples – are no different than the first century disciples. Many of us are fans who admire Jesus, who quote Jesus, who believe in Jesus, but do we really follow Jesus? That’s a bold statement to make, but one that rings true, even for myself. That is the question Jesus is asking us to examine today. Are we a fan or are we a follower?

Yes, these disciples who followed Jesus to hear him preach, who witnessed miracles including the feeding of the 5000, all left Jesus. They left because what he was telling them was too difficult to accept. What he was asking of them was too much. He wanted all of them – body and soul, flesh and blood, and they were not ready to give up everything for Jesus even though he was about to give up everything for them. The disciples wanted to be fans of Jesus not followers. They wanted what Jesus could give, what Jesus could do for them. And though they wanted to follow Jesus, they didn’t want to follow him so far that they might possibly lose their own lives. If we’re honest most of us don’t either.

The first disciples were right. Jesus’ teachings are difficult. They are hard to accept. Because they require a lot from us. To be a follower of Jesus means to be in a very deep relationship with Jesus – not an admiring fan relationship – but a relationship that is willing to lay our lives down just like Jesus did. A follower of Jesus means that our lives are no longer lived for ourselves, but Jesus becomes first before everyone and everything. That’s not something that we want to hear or do. Idleman reminds us that “when Jesus had a large crowd, he would most often preach a message that was likely to cause them to leave.” That’s hard to hear. It’s hard to hear that preaching the Gospel may upset people. But as Lutherans we believe that Jesus’ message not only convicts us, but frees us. Most people just want the words that evoke happiness and joy, not the words of law that convict us to face the truth that we are all sinners in need of a Savior. And we are in need of a Savior. That’s why Jesus didn’t beat around the bush, or drop hints. Jesus told it like it was because we can’t be all that God created us to be if we hide from the reality of our own sinfulness. We can’t reflect the light of Christ, if we don’t empty ourselves completely to let that light in. In order to put on the spiritual armor of God, we need to take off the sinfulness that’s weighing us down.  Being a follower of Jesus costs a great deal and Jesus asks us if we are really ready to do that. Jesus asks, “Does this offend you?” The answer is yes.

We- like the early disciples – want to be a follower of Jesus and yet do things our way. We want to believe, yet not make a serious commitment. We want the free food so to speak like the crowds of over 5000 that Jesus fed, yet we don’t want to have to do anything ourselves. This is difficult to accept, because Jesus is asking us to give everything over to him. He is asking us to surrender our very lives to him and let Jesus be in charge. He is asking us to let go of the fear, the hatred, the prejudice, and the grudges we hold, and focus on Jesus as our top priority. That’s hard.

If we are a follower and not just a fan of Jesus, then we can no longer live the way we lived before we encountered Jesus. It means following him wherever he wants us to go even if we don’t even know where that is at the time. Following Jesus is not just a matter of belief; it’s a matter of trust. It’s putting our whole lives in Jesus’ care and trusting that he will not let us down. It’s doing what he asks even if it seems really hard or impossible knowing that God will provide the way.

There are many example in our Scriptures. Look at Noah – portrayed in modern times in the movie Evan Almighty. God asked him to build an ark because a flood was coming, but everyone made fun of him. They couldn’t see any storm coming. They didn’t hear any voice from God. People thought Noah was crazy and I have to wonder if we wouldn’t think that ourselves if it happened right here today. But Noah listened to God. Noah believed that God’s promises are true, even if they may seem crazy and hard to understand. Was it hard to accept what God was asking him to do? Absolutely, but Noah was not a fan. Noah was a follower of God.

In our first reading, Joshua gathers the leaders together and asks them to make a decision. There are many gods in the region that people are worshipping. But Joshua asks them to make a choice. He asks them to choose between the gods of their ancestors or the one true God, the God who brought them out from the land of slavery and protected them throughout their journeys. Joshua could have gone with the crowd, the popular choice and chosen to follow false idols, but he didn’t. He chose to follow the one true God. Joshua was not a fan. He was a follower of God.

Being a follower and not just a fan means that we follow him so closely that people can’t tell us apart. When they look at us they actually see Jesus reflected in the lives we live – lives that reflect the love, compassion, and mercy of Jesus. It means getting involved when people are treated unjustly. It means speaking the truth in love even if that may not make us well-liked. It means feasting on God until we are so full that we are overflowing with God’s grace.

“Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” He’s directing that question to us too. “Do you also wish to go away?” He wants to know if we are a fan or a follower. Simon Peter answers with the voice of the Holy Spirit, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” Abiding in this faith doesn’t mean we always get things right, but it does keep us focused on where to go to find direction, comfort, strength, forgiveness, courage, and grace for the journey. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” May we feast daily on this blessed assurance. Amen.

Abiding in the Bread of Life

Sunday, August 19, 2018
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
John 6:51-58

How many times is he or she going to repeat the same thing over and over again? Have you ever thought or even said that? Maybe it was a teacher at school that just kept going over the same thing until you were ready to scream. Or maybe it was your grandmother or grandfather who kept telling you the same stories over and over again every time you saw them. Maybe you liked the stories, but after a while you just couldn’t bear to hear them one more time. You might have become exasperated beyond belief, or maybe so bored that you just tuned it out. And what about the flight attendants and their emergency safety monologues? How many times do you have to hear that your seat is going to turn into a flotation device? “Come on” you say to yourself, “let’s move on and talk about something else.”

This Sunday is the fourth of five Sundays that we are focusing on the 6^th chapter of John’s gospel known as the Bread of Life discourse. For the past four weeks we have heard Jesus say “I am the bread of Life that has come down from heaven.” He has said over and over again how he is the bread that will nourish us forever unlike the normal bread that we eat. He is giving his flesh and blood for the life of the world. Some of you may wonder why on earth Jesus had to say the same thing over and over again. Isn’t once enough? Was he saying it because he just thought the first disciples didn’t get it? That last question might be hitting on something, because Jesus felt this was important enough to say it over and over again. He wanted to make sure the early disciples and us today get it.

Like the flight attendants giving the emergency safety talk, Jesus felt this information was a matter of life and death. And it was. And it is. Jesus gave everything – his whole self– flesh and blood so that we would not ever be separated from God. It was a matter of life and death for Jesus, and it’s a matter of life and death for us today. Jesus showed us how to live. He showed us how to love our enemies. He showed us how to love so much that you’d sacrifice everything – even your life – to set someone free.

That’s why he went over and over this discussion about the Bread of Life. Just like the flight attendants important safety message, Jesus is giving all of us the most important safety message we will ever hear. Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we have eternal life if we abide in him. Jesus said, those of us who feast on Jesus have eternal life. Christians often misunderstand the phrase eternal life to mean “going to heaven,” and that is a part of it. But in John’s gospel Jesus describes eternal life in the present tense. In verse 47 Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.” And again in verse 54 he said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life.” This is an important choice of words. He didn’t say will have eternal life; he said have – present tense. Eternal life therefore is not just something that we have to look forward to when we die it is something that we who abide in Jesus have now. Jesus said, “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly.”

That’s what our journey of faith is; it’s an abundant adventure filled with joys and sorrows, but nourished and sustained by God who is with us always. Our journey of faith therefore is not toward eternal life, but deeper into it. The closer we abide in Jesus, the closer we get in our relationship with him, the further we travel into eternal life. And when our earthly life is over we will go deeper into eternal life with God face to face. Eternal life therefore, isn’t something we work towards it’s something we live into by abiding in Jesus.

And Jesus offers this invitation to abide in him, to grow closer to him every day in so many ways. Through the waters of baptism we are refreshed and reborn, through Jesus’ real presence in the bread and the wine of the Eucharist we are fed and nourished, and through the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit we are sustained and drawn ever closer to abide ever deeper with God. We often abide in so many other things that lead to death and not life. Fear, worry, anger, or resentment are common places we often abide in. And when we abide in those places too long it’s difficult to get out of them. They fill is up and when we try and let them go we feel empty. We don’t know how to fill up that space. Jesus tells us to feast on him, and he will fill us up in a way that is life-nourishing.

Jesus is inviting us to abide in him always. When we abide in Jesus – no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in – we can abide in gratitude, and hope, and love. We can abide in the assurance that Jesus’ promise to abide, to remain with us always, is true. We can take vacations, see the most beautiful things on earth, experience the most wonderful events, but those things all have a finite time frame. They come to an end and we are left with a sense of longing for them to remain. We are left with memories and pictures. But what Jesus offers never ends.

Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life.” This important message that he emphasizes over and over again is more important that any flight attendant emergency safety information. His promises are true. We don’t have to wonder if his love will keep us afloat. We don’t have to worry if there will be enough grace to keep us breathing. What Jesus offers will never fail. It’s love. It’s hope. It’s joy. It’s grace. It’s life-saving. It’s eternal, and it’s now. Abide in that. Abide in Jesus ….always. Amen!

 

Grace Coming Down

Sunday, August 5, 2018
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
John 6:24-35

 

The gospel readings for the next five weeks are from the sixth chapter of John, known as the Bread of Life discourse. This is a change from the gospel of Mark assigned for year B in the Church calendar. Why this sudden turn or shift in direction? It’s a question we encounter in our everyday lives. The twists and turns in our journey of life can be filled both with joyful surprises and unwelcome heartbreaks. And it’s those unwelcome heartbreaks that can leave us feeling empty and lost.

In our gospel reading today the crowds that have been following Jesus, followed him all the way into the desert where they found themselves feeling empty. Jesus was aware of this, and he turned to Philip and asked him, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” Philip started to panic. He knew that not only could they never afford to feed that large of a crowd – over 5000 – (not counting women and children because they weren’t counted) but there were no markets anywhere nearby. Fear started to set in pretty quickly. The disciples believed that they didn’t have enough. All they could see was five loaves and two fish. This story echoed the story we read from 2 Kings where it looked like there was only a handful of food available to feed a large crowd of people.

Yet, Jesus, like the prophet Elisha before him was able to see beyond what was there. Jesus and Elisha knew that God is a God of abundance. God is a God who provides. God is a God who wants to feed the world. And God is able to do just that. The problem is that we humans so often see things out of a lens of scarcity instead of the eyes of faith. We see what is in front of us – the lack, the problem, challenges to face – and they are there – lots of them. But that’s not all there is. There is more. God is more. And God meets us in the midst of the storms. There is abundance just waiting to be tapped into.

In our readings today, God provided food – more than enough food – for everyone to eat, plus some. There were 12 baskets full of leftovers. God fed the people with what was already there. When they saw lack, Jesus saw more. It’s there; we just have to see with the eyes of faith, with the eyes of abundance and possibility instead of lack and scarcity.

God provides for all our needs. God is able to feed the world, and we are the instruments through which God will accomplish that. The children’s story, “Bagels From Benny” by Aubrey Davis illustrates how God feeds the world through ordinary people like you and me. Miracles like the loaves, and fish still happen, sometimes even through bagels. Look around there is an abundance of God’s grace in the ordinary right in front of you. Give thanks and see the abundance. Amen.

Loaves, Fish, and Bagels

Sunday, July 29, 2018
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
John 6:1-21

 

The gospel readings for the next five weeks are from the sixth chapter of John, known as the Bread of Life discourse. This is a change from the gospel of Mark assigned for year B in the Church calendar. Why this sudden turn or shift in direction? It’s a question we encounter in our everyday lives. The twists and turns in our journey of life can be filled both with joyful surprises and unwelcome heartbreaks. And it’s those unwelcome heartbreaks that can leave us feeling empty and lost.

In our gospel reading today the crowds that have been following Jesus, followed him all the way into the desert where they found themselves feeling empty. Jesus was aware of this, and he turned to Philip and asked him, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” Philip started to panic. He knew that not only could they never afford to feed that large of a crowd – over 5000 – (not counting women and children because they weren’t counted) but there were no markets anywhere nearby. Fear started to set in pretty quickly. The disciples believed that they didn’t have enough. All they could see was five loaves and two fish. This story echoed the story we read from 2 Kings where it looked like there was only a handful of food available to feed a large crowd of people.

Yet, Jesus, like the prophet Elisha before him was able to see beyond what was there. Jesus and Elisha knew that God is a God of abundance. God is a God who provides. God is a God who wants to feed the world. And God is able to do just that. The problem is that we humans so often see things out of a lens of scarcity instead of the eyes of faith. We see what is in front of us – the lack, the problem, challenges to face – and they are there – lots of them. But that’s not all there is. There is more. God is more. And God meets us in the midst of the storms. There is abundance just waiting to be tapped into.

In our readings today, God provided food – more than enough food – for everyone to eat, plus some. There were 12 baskets full of leftovers. God fed the people with what was already there. When they saw lack, Jesus saw more. It’s there; we just have to see with the eyes of faith, with the eyes of abundance and possibility instead of lack and scarcity.

God provides for all our needs. God is able to feed the world, and we are the instruments through which God will accomplish that. The children’s story, “Bagels From Benny” by Aubrey Davis illustrates how God feeds the world through ordinary people like you and me. Miracles like the loaves, and fish still happen, sometimes even through bagels. Look around there is an abundance of God’s grace in the ordinary right in front of you. Give thanks and see the abundance. Amen.