Proper 27 B BE THOU A BLESSING MOTIVE FOR MINISTRY
I Kings 17:8-16
The word of the Lord came to Elijah the prophet, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
Psalm 146:(1-3), 4-10 BCP 522
Hebrews 9:24-28
Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Mark 12:38-44
Teaching in the temple, Jesus said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.
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BE THOU A BLESSING, MOTIVE FOR MINISTRY
11/1/2006
Charles Scott, Church of the Good Shepherd, Indianapolis
Proper 27 B BE THOU A BLESSING MOTIVE FOR MINISTRY
I Kings 17:8-16
The word of the Lord came to Elijah the prophet, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
Psalm 146:(1-3), 4-10 BCP 522
Hebrews 9:24-28
Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Mark 12:38-44
Teaching in the temple, Jesus said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.
BE THOU A BLESSING, MOTIVE FOR MINISTRY
11/1/2006
Charles Scott, Church of the Good Shepherd, Indianapolis
Once again the Revised Common Lectionary ties the readings for the day together in a way that one message leaps out to us. The motive for ministry is not for the personal gain of the minister, it is for the salvation, the health of those to whom he ministers and to the glory of God.
In Mark, the poor widow wishes to honor God by making an offering. Though she does not teach as the Rabbis wearing the holy garments, Jesus’ words memorializes her, making her an icon in the Gospel. She will never be forgotten but will forever be held up as one whose ministry was in deeds, not words: “she put in all she had; she gave all.”
From my viewpoint, it is easy to see the sacrifices you all make, and I’m not talking here about the money. You don’t have to tell me you have good intentions and love God and the Church; that is readily apparent. God certainly sees and knows the difficulties of your life and your devotion in spite of those difficulties.
Elijah stands at the head of the succession of Old Testament Prophets. He teaches, as did the widow in the temple, by example as well as by his words. His teaching to honor the one God and to do away with the many idols earned him the enmity of Ahab and Jezebel, the rulers of Israel. As in the days of Jesus, the authorities were feckless. Ahab and Jezebel hired their own priests. Elijah was not popular at court. In today’s readings, he is itinerant, and hungry. He stopped a poor woman gathering wood for a fire and asked for a bite to eat. She, like the poor widow in today’s gospel had nothing. Her cupboard was bare. She had nothing baked.
“Bring me something in your hand”, said the prophet. “My hands are empty,” she replied.
I know my sense of humor is a little strange but think on Elijah’s conversation with this poor woman. She has said, “I have nothing but a little flour and a little oil, I’m gathering wood to make a fire to bake the little food that I have then my son and I shall die."
Elijah says, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.”
In plainer words, he said: Don’t die woman, you can do that later, first do your duty. I’hungry."
After that to me humorous retort, the woman fulfilled the requirements of hospitality and was blessed.
“For thus says the Lord the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” The prophet assured her the famine would not last and the land would again be blessed with rain, prosperity would return. One word for grace in the language of the mideast in that time was "rain."
Elijah, who watches from heaven has a message for the Bride of Christ, the Church. Don’t die yet, you’ve work to do. There are many around you to whom you owe the Good News that has blessed your life. Send showers of blessings on them. Be hospitable, share the bread of life. Take the little bit of flour you have and make the bread of life. Anoint the sick with the holy oil.
Turn your attention to the middle line of the passage from Hebrews from today’s epistle. It fits very well with the Old Testament reading and the Gospel, for it is about dying and our work.
Hebrews 9 “But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
Christ appeared once at the end of ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Our prayers mentions sin often. A visitor, couple of years ago commented that the old 1928 prayer book went on too much about sin, blood sacrifice and salvation.
She, like most of us, think of sin only in terms of breaking a specific commandment of God. We think of the commandments, count up how many times we have broken them and then feel guilty’ or at least try to drum up an emotion of guilt, then we make our confession and feel we have dealt with sin. Then we leave Church, and under the pressures of the world forget our resolve to live a Godly, righteous, and sober life.”
As I recounted that worn out litany of woe, you may have mentally yawned and let your mind wander, thinking you’ve heard that before. To put it bluntly in Brooklynese: You don’t know from sin! What do you know about sin? If you think the tidy little package we put around it at communion is the whole story you’ve found the preface but missed the plot.
We think of sins as trespasses and transgressions of the law. That is the “milk” statement, appropriate for grade-schoolers. What is the rest of the story? What is the meat?
Both the Hebrew word in the Old Testament and the Greek word in the New Testament translated into English as our word “sin” means more than breaking a law or a commandment of God. The primary meaning of the word is “miss.” Our baseball team has come to the end of the season. To make it to the series, this game must be won. There will be no do overs, no second chance. The bases are loaded, it’s the last of the 9th inning and our team is one run behind. The count is 3 balls and two strikes, and here comes the pitch. . . . .the batter swings and misses. The game is over, its lost. The game is over, the series is over and the result is written into the record book as the end of a losing season, because the batter missed.
Going back in time, a hunter is hungry, his family is hungry. He has been stalking a deer for hours. Finally, the deer steps out of the brush into a little clearing between the trees. The hunter puts an arrow onto the bow string, pulls back the string until it bends the bow and lets the arrow fly, but it misses. The arrow missed the mark. The hunter missed. The family goes another day without food.
That line, “missed the mark” is exactly the meaning of the Greek word translated into sin in our new testament.
I can show numerous examples from the Bible how a person or community of God Missed the mark, struck out, and went home empty handed resulting in not only offending God but also in depriving the community of needed sustenance.
Think of this congregation and of your own life. We are all, every one of us under judgment and that not only from the community around us. Individually and collectively we are responsible to God, our selves, and those around us for our use of time, abilities, opportunities and stewardship of goods.
The parabolic teaching of Jesus makes it clear we had best not go to the Father’s house empty handed.
Israel, after leaving Egypt, wandered forty years in the desert and occasionally whined, saying they should not have left Egypt. Some wanted to return to Egypt. Had they done so, they would have missed the opportunity God presented them of establishing a nation that has presented us with righteous laws, moral examples, prayers, and Jesus the Messiah who lead us to know the heavenly Father.
I think the analogy holds here. God has provided us with far more than Israel had. Indianapolis is not a wasteland, a desert place. We have plenty of opportunity, but perhaps not much time. I think we would rather not be like Israel and have our people dying on the journey before we reach Canaan and build the temple.
We can make self-fulfilling prophecies about how long it will take to make ourselves ready and to complete the tasks of building a complete physical, teaching, worship and service structure. The longer we talk about it before we begin the more certain it is that some of us, if not all will strike out.
There are very specific things we can do now to hasten the day. One is to prepare ourselves for our future ministry and to begin serving this very day. We need people to prepare for teaching roles, now.
God sent Abraham out to be a blessing. That was the work of Israel. That is the heart of the Great Commission – go teach, baptize teach. Be a blessing to the neighbor.
Jesus, in Hebrews 9, sets the example.
"But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
Jesus sends us out to be a blessing.
By the sacrifice of yourself, hitting the mark, and showing others how to hit the mark, you can put away sin, stop the misses and achieve the goal of salvation for all.
And now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, be ascribed as most justly due, all might, majesty, power and dominion, world without end.
Amen.
Charles R. Scott, Pastor
Church of the Good Shepherd, Anglican
2060 E 54th Street
Indianapolis, In, 46176
http://www.goodshepherdindy.org
