Sermons for the Month
Sexy? Not Really. Faithful? Absolutely!
DATE: July 9th, 2006
SERVICE: Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
TEXT: Mark 6:1-13 and Ezekiel 2:1-5“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN Let's imagine, for the sake of discussion, that God came to us in a vision and told us to proclaim a difficult message. And, let's imagine that there were no promises of glory or acclaim if we did what we were called to do. In fact, imagine that we were told that our words will very likely fall on deaf ears. Yet, no matter what our audience says to us, no matter how they look at us, we are to spit out the words that God puts in our mouths, even if it's nothing but lamentation, mourning and woe. What would we say? "No thank you, Lord, I am honored by your request, but I would rather not put myself in that position." Then what??? Well, I'm not sure what would happen; the Bible does not say much about the people who said "no". Instead, we read about people like Ezekiel who opened his mouth and swallowed hard to consume God's word, so that he could spit it out again. Amazingly, before he did so, he knew what he was getting into; I imagine he was not too thrilled about it, but at least he knew. This priest was among the people of Judah who were carried off to Babylon against their will. While there he received a vision of God in which he is told that he has been chosen. God is sending him to the people of Israel. And, by the way, they are an impudent and stubborn people, so they may or may not hear what he has to say. Then, in case Ezekiel was focusing on the "may listen" part of that statement, God later corrects himself. "Oh, did I say that they may or may not hear you? I misspoke; they will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me." (Ezekiel 3:7) So, God says, I'm going to make you like flint, like the hardest stone, and you will stand firm against them. So, Ezekiel speaks and he does so in such a way that they know there has been a prophet among them. He makes it clear to these people in bondage that their guilt has piled up to such an extent over the centuries that their defeat by the Babylonians was nothing compared to what they deserved. And, their punishment is not over. If you take a moment to read the book of Ezekiel it quickly becomes obvious that ignoring him would have been difficult. When the word of the Lord comes upon him it is a strong word; for example, he proclaims this concerning the destruction of Jerusalem: "…all flesh shall know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out of its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again. Moan, therefore, mortal; moan with breaking heart and bitter grief before their eyes. And when they say to you, "Why do you mourn?" you shall say, "Because of the news that has come. Every heart will melt and all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will turn to water. See it comes and it will be fulfilled." (Ezekiel 21:5-7) Now that's cheery, don't you think? Wouldn't you be thrilled to proclaim such a word? And what would happen if you did? What would happen if I did? Wouldn't the seats empty and the psychiatrist called in to do an evaluation of the stressed out pastor? Fortunately, God has not put words similar to Ezekiel's in my mouth. I am from another era - as are we all. Our word focuses on the love of God that comes to us in Jesus, for which we can breathe a corporate sigh of relief. Still, though, we have some things in common with Ezekiel. We have been called, we are asked to trust and we are expected to remain faithful regardless of the response to our message. All of these elements are present in the second half of today's Gospel lesson Jesus where we read that Jesus called and sent out his disciples. As they went out they were required to trust God. They were to take nothing for their journey - no food, money, extra clothes - but instead trust that God would provide. So they began their ministries with a profound act of faith. They are to focus on the mission and be faithful. If they are rejected, they are to move on; their responsibility is faithful proclamation, not success. By the way, it's interesting to note that this account is sandwiched between two stories of rejected prophets - Jesus being rejected by his hometown people and John the Baptist being killed by the king. It's almost as if a warning is being offered to those who are sent out to witness to Jesus: "Do not expect to be welcomed warmly; if even John and Jesus were rejected, why it should not be the same for you?" Well, we hope that what was true for Jesus and for John will not be the same for us. No one likes rejection. But, we must be very careful not to be so concerned about being rejected, so focused on "success" (which we usually measure with numbers) that we are unfaithful in our proclamation. For example, it is my responsibility, and that of everyone who is participating in worship, to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that is meaningful and that can be heard. It is not our "job" to entertain or to offer advice or to always make sure you feel good when you leave worship. That's appropriate sometimes; but it's also appropriate to feel challenged or repentant or reflective or deeply moved. And, more important than what happens here, is what happens "out there". All of us are called to witness; all of us are asked to trust and are expected to remain faithful. OK, then, if all of us are called, then what exactly is it that we are supposed to do? That's a reasonable question, especially for us task oriented types. After all, according to the Gospel lesson, Jesus gave instruction to his followers before they went out; shouldn't we have some guidance too? Somehow, though, what they did does not seem to fit in 21st century America. If you summarize their actions, though, the picture becomes clearer. The disciples not only trusted and were faithful, but they also told people that they could start over, and brought hope and healing to their lives. So, perhaps that's what we are to do too. How we do that depends on the individuals gifts that God has given us, and the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Perhaps some of you have seen this advertisement that is in Lutheran publications. It shows a woman wearing overalls and a sun visor, on her knees, doing manual labor and it says, "Sexy? Not really. Faithful? Absolutely." It then describes the grueling work, blistering heat and disgusting smells that goes along with showing neighborly love to others who suffered in the Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005. The ad is for Lutheran Disaster Response and is encouraging people to volunteer in long-term recovery efforts to bring help and hope to suffering people. That's one way to proclaim the love of Jesus, to offer new life, hope and healing. There are hundreds of other possible responses to which God is calling us; we should be discerning how we will respond, not if we will do so. Will our words and actions always be well-received? That certainly wasn't the case for poor old Ezekiel, or for John or even Jesus. Will what we are called to do always be "sexy"? Those we were sweating buckets to pass out water at the July 4th parade, and risked dog attack, know that is not the case. When we trust God and respond to God's call will we always experience measurable success? Not really. But will we be faithful? Absolutely. AMEN