3rd Sunday after Pentecost (Pr. 4) June 1, 2008 “Series A”
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, Creator of the universe and author of life on this planet we call earth, we give you thanks for our life, and the opportunity we have to live in communion with you. We thank you for your Word, first revealed to Israel through the Torah and the Prophets, and ultimately through the gift of your Son, Jesus the Christ. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, open our hearts to your Word, that we might grow in faith, and through your grace, empower us to live in fellowship with you and with one another, that we might witness to your redeeming grace to those who come after us. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
What a joy it is, to again stand in this pulpit, as I attempt, through the help of God’s Spirit, to proclaim God’s Word to you. Now, one might think that having a couple of months off, even due to illness, that I would be refreshed, with my creative juices overflowing. But I assure you that, before I sat down at my computer, many hours were spent in thought. And even when I finally got to that point, I had to learn a few new tricks, since our old computer died during my illness, and the new computer just isn’t the same. Even the keyboard doesn’t seem to fit my hands the same way as the old one did.
And then I had to deal with the fact of following Josie’s sermon from last Sunday. There have been many lay persons from our congregation who have stepped into this pulpit, and delivered very good sermons, and last week was no exception. Even though Josie is my wife, which sometimes I interpret as a license to be more critical of her than others, which may explain why I wasn’t allowed to read her sermon before she preached it, she did an excellent job. But then, I let her read my sermons before they are preached.
But it is joy to be back. Even though I have to contend with the fact that my joy needs to be tempered with an even greater joy, experienced by Pastor Blair. I am indeed grateful that Ralph had agreed to, for the second time in less than a year, come out of retirement to serve our congregation as a result of my illnesses. In fact, Betty even mentioned to me last Sunday, on her way out of worship, that she was glad to see me back, indicating that the stress of active ministry has an effect on the whole family. And so I thank both Ralph and Betty for your service to St. John’s.
Now, as we turn to our Gospel lesson for this morning, Jesus concludes his extensive teaching of his disciples, referred to as his Sermon on the Mount, with these words: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven…” And then, Jesus tells the following parable: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not all, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell – great was its fall!”
Those of you who are familiar with these three chapters of Matthew’s Gospel entitled the Sermon on the Mount, will realize that Jesus’ teaching of his disciples stresses a more stringent and radical observance of God’s commandments than even the Pharisees, those who at that time prided themselves in living a righteous life, adhered to.
In this block of Jesus’ teachings, a pattern can be detected. Jesus says, “You have heard… Then quoting from the Old Testament a certain commandment, Jesus offers his own interpretation of that commandment by saying, “but I say to you…” And what Jesus has to add to the previous commandment is more stringent. For example, in verses 27 and 28 of chapter 5, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Now I hate to admit it, but who among us can fulfill this teaching of Jesus? Even in my confirmation class I have heard our girls describe some rock star or teen star as “hot,” or some of our boys describe some female celebrity as “totally awesome.” The implication is, that even as a young adult, lust pervades our life, even though there is no way that we can ever hope of having a relationship with the person we find so endearing to us. Nevertheless, we all have all fantasies of lust.
To be sure, according to Luke Timothy Johnson, a renowned Professor of New Testament at Emory University, whose college course entitled “Jesus and the Gospels,” was loaned to me on DVD by Pastor Blair during my illness, Matthew’s Gospel definitely has a personal aspect to it. Matthew was concerned that the church needed to take the teachings of Jesus seriously, and emphasized that as Christians redeemed by the grace of God through Christ’s death and resurrection, we needed to live our lives according to the way God intended us to live.
Thus, as we consider the teachings of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, we are all left to feel more than a little inadequate as to what it means to live our lives as a Christian. And the truth is, according to Dr. Johnson, not even the disciples of Jesus, were able to live their lives according to Jesus’ teachings. They all failed, in one way or another, not only to uphold his teachings, but to truly embrace Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.
Yet, as I proceeded through these lectures of Dr. Johnson, I discovered that each of the four Gospels included in the New Testament, were not written in isolation, but written by authors who were intimately involved in the life of the early church. And their Gospels were written for the Church, to direct communal life, more so, than individual life.
According to the Gospels, the community of Christ’s church had to be strong in upholding the basic truth, not only in proclaiming Jesus’ death and resurrection for our redemption, but also of upholding his teachings of what it means to live in community with God and with one another.
This brings me to the crux of my message, and that is that the communal aspect of the Gospel message is all but lost in our present day society. If I might quote Dr. Johnson, “There are many persons who call themselves Christians in America, but there is not much church in America. Even among those who claim to be Christian, they tend to be highly individualistic. There are many in America who claim to be spiritual, but not religious. Even those who are committed to a particular religion, tend to pick and choose what they will and will not embrace of the Scriptures, claiming consumer choice.”
There is so much I would like to share with you regarding the insight that I have learned from these lectures, including how the media has used and influenced our individualistic suspicion of organized religion with fictional and pervasive works such as “The DaVinci Code.” But that is beyond the scope of my message for the morning.
What I would like to say, however, is that fact that each of the Gospels that are recorded in the New Testament have an organic connection with the early church. In other words, they were written by persons living in community with the church, with the support of God’s Spirit working
through the church, and intended to give instruction to the life of the church for generations to come. In fact, all of the writings of the New Testament were intended for the church, the community of those who were redeemed by Christ’s death and resurrection – not specific individuals.
Thus, when I read this parable in our Gospel lesson for this morning, I not only think in terms of how I, as an individual, should be building my house upon rock, grounded in the Word of God. I also hear this as a message to the church, to the community that has been formed as a result of our relationship with the crucified and risen Son of God. It is a message that says to us, let our house be built upon the rock of faith, based solely upon the grace of God in Jesus the Christ, and according to the Scriptures.
It is here, in the life of Christ’s church, that we learn the true meaning of the Gospels. It is here, in the life of the church, that we learn what it means to lose our individualism, experience the meaning of life lived in community with others who are identified by table fellowship with our crucified and risen Lord, and who can support us to live our lives as our Lord has called us. And it is here, in Christian fellowship, that we truly come to know the forgiveness of Christ, as we forgive one another.
In today’s individualistic society, we tend to overestimate our own value, and to underestimate our need for the communal life of the church, including its creeds and expectations for our life. And yet, we might all learn, including myself, the joy of submitting to this communal life in Christ, by recognizing that God’s Word works in and among all who live in community with the church, and can be proclaimed with integrity as God’s Spirit works through your wife, as she preaches a sermon. It is a realization that in this community called the church, persons are called and empowered to care for one another, even in retirement, that the life of the church might continue.
Today, I stand in this pulpit, joyful to be here, but humbly thankful for the news of God’s redemption in Jesus the Christ, and his work among you, who have been empowered by God’s Spirit to continue the work of Christ’s church. For it is God who deserves the Glory, not only for our own redemption, but for the ongoing life and redemption we experience as a congregation of Christ’s church.
Amen.
