June 23rd 2013 1 Kings 19: 1 - 17

1 Kings 19: 1 - 17 Sermon

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow." ³Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.

⁴But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." ⁵Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." ⁶He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." ⁸He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. ⁹At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" ¹⁰He answered,

 "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

¹¹The word of the LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."

 Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; ¹²and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" ¹⁴He answered,

 "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

¹⁵Then the LORD said to him,

"Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. 18Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

***

            Elijah is a prophet on the run. He has said his piece, proved his point, and murdered his opposition, well most of his opposition. Those who remain opposed to Elijah, remain in power, and Elijah becomes a prophet on the run.

           

            It is not hard to come up with the Elijah’s of our time. People who have taken a stance (right or wrong), and ended up fleeing home because of persecution from those in power. Today the names Edward Snowden or Julian Assange come easily to mind, as well as just this week Chen Guangcheng a protestor of China’s one child policy. Today, the nameless women raped in the military, come to mind, and even the many people estranged from family or friends. All are challenging a system which they must flee for their own safety or wellbeing. Snowden left the USA to China, Guangcheng left China to the US, Assange is stuck in an Ecuadorian Embassy in London, our military women who came forward after a rape were often ignored and dishonorably discharged, and for one reason or another families are seperated indefinaetly. It is no different for Elijah. After leaving his servant in the safety of the city of Beersheba, Elijah flees into the desert, alone.

            The desert is a wilderness place, a place alone, and if you have ever challenged the reigning authority, you too have felt indescribably alone, you too have wondered if anyone was on your side. Alone, Elijah went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. I imagine Elijah, like that broom tree, all alone in the vast empty landscape. I imagine the two together, and Elijah taking what little comfort he could in the shadow of its sparse branches, a Giving Tree, of nothing but shade.

            Sitting down Elijah asked that he might die saying: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, I am no better than my ancestors." ⁵Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Perhaps you too, have felt without the strength to go on, yet remained unwilling to give in to the opposing power. Perhaps God gave you more than you can handle, and God had to show up to change the outcome.

            Out there in the desert, an angel touched Elijah and said to him, "Get up and eat." ⁶He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." I appreciate that the angel has to come a second time with instructions to journey on. Simple food and drink was not enough. Elijah needed to hear encouragement from a messenger of God. He needed to hear that his life was worth living, his journey worth continuing, his prophesy worth telling. I think about what it must be like to be in exile and be reminded you are not alone. I think about Snowden, and what it must be like to hear the news, up in arms reporting on the NSA’s surveillance. I think about the women discharged from the military, hearing the government finally addressing the problems of a system of power and rape. I think about what someone who has fled an oppressive family system feels hearing another’s encouraging family story. I think about the people that I know, and the times when I, have felt alone standing up to systems of power. In the midst of that isolation I remember what it was like to be affirmed in that call as a prophet. I remember what it was like to hear the reminders that there is more than the shade of the broom tree, hearing encouragement that the journey was worth continuing. Elijah got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

⁹At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah was a prophet on the run, but he ran the wrong way. He went to the place he knew he could meet the Lord, he went to Mount Sinai, where Moses had been. All alone there with God, Elijah answered

 "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

¹¹The word of the LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; ¹²and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. The Lord was not where Elijah expected the Lord to be, and the Lord did not sound like Elijah expected the Lord to sound. Instead, after all his journey through the desert, all he heard was sheer silence. Elijah had gone looking for God in the wrong place and was greeted with silence. For a prophet to go looking for the Lord, and to find silence is frighting. Yet, the Lord was speaking in the silence. The Lord was sending Elijah away in the silence.

When Elijah heard the silence, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said again, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah answered the same as before,

 "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

¹⁵Then the LORD said to him,

"Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son as prophet in your place. 17Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. 18Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

           

            The Lord sent Elijah back. What use is a prophet alone in the desert? The Lord sent Elijah back from the desert wilderness, to another type of wilderness, the wilderness of Damascus, a city. Damascus was a wilderness of false Gods, and false prophets, and false kings. God called Elijah to crown a new king, and anoint a new prophet. And the Lord reminded Elijah that he was not alone, not only was the Lord with him, in the angel, and the Word of the Lord, in the silence, and in speech, but Elijah was accompanied by other believers, seven thousand of them!

            So, I think about those  prophets in our own time, who have taken a stance, right or wrong, and ended up fleeing their home because of persecution from those in power. I think also about those prophets’ grave loneliness. “I alone and left,” they might say. But, I think about the angels and the multitude telling the prophets they are not alone. There is shade, and cakes, and a jar of water, and the Word of the Lord, and the Lord’s silence, and the Lord speaking directly, telling us to journey on, perhaps to another wilderness entirely, but that even the prophet on the run is not alone.

June 16th 2013 1 KINGS 21:1-20 NRSV

1 KINGS 21:1-20   NRSV

¹Later the following events took place: Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. ²And Ahab said to Naboth,

 "Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house; I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money."

³But Naboth said to Ahab, "The LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance."

 ⁴Ahab went home resentful and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him; for he had said, "I will not give you my ancestral inheritance." He lay down on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat.

⁵His wife Jezebel came to him and said, "Why are you so depressed that you will not eat?" ⁶He said to her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, 'Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard for it'; but he answered, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'" ⁷His wife Jezebel said to him, "Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

⁸So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal; she sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. ⁹She wrote in the letters, "Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; ¹⁰seat two scoundrels opposite him, and have them bring a charge against him, saying, 'You have cursed God and the king.' Then take him out, and stone him to death." ¹¹The men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them. Just as it was written in the letters that she had sent to them, ¹²they proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the assembly. ¹³The two scoundrels came in and sat opposite him; and the scoundrels brought a charge against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king." So they took him outside the city, and stoned him to death. ¹⁴Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, "Naboth has been stoned; he is dead."

¹⁵As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, "Go, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead." ¹⁶As soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab set out to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

¹⁷Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: ¹⁸Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules in Samaria; he is now in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. ¹⁹You shall say to him, "Thus says the LORD: Have you killed, and also taken possession?" You shall say to him, "Thus says the LORD: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood."

²⁰Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" He answered, "I have found you. Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD.

***

            In first grade one has a tendency to think, bigger is more. Bigger pieces of cake are fought over; bigger slides are sought after; bigger toys are ogled at. I remember my teacher trying to help us learn, that sometimes, less is more. She regretfully told us, that when she was little, she would convince her younger brother to trade her his dimes for her nickels. Each thought they were getting the better deal, the younger brother got the bigger coin, and my teacher got the smaller coin which was worth more. Sometimes less is more.

            King Ahab is like my first grade teacher as a child. King Ahab, like an older sibling, has power over Naboth, a commoner. With the power King Ahab says to Naboth,

           

 "Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house; I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money."

            I think King Ahab, like an older sister, fully expected to get what he wanted. He thought he had purposed an offer Naboth couldn’t refuse. Naboth would come away with his vineyard’s value in money, or even a better, bigger vineyard. Who would’t trade something smaller for something bigger? ³But Naboth said to Ahab, "The LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance."

            I imagine all the work and time Naboth and his ancestors had put into cultivating those grapes. I imagine all the family memories at the vineyard. I imagine Naboth offering to the Lord the first fruits of his labor. I imagine, unlike King Ahab, Naboth was one who knew bigger was not always better. Naboth was one who knew the Lord was paramount. I imagine Naboth, in a sort of matter tone, telling the king, "The LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance," Even if he said it in a gentle tone, I doubt the King’s response would have differed, because when a younger sibling says no, no matter the reason, it usually makes the older sibling upset.

                King Ahab went back to his palace resentful and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him. In fact, Ahab misremembered the conversation, all King Ahab remembered was hearing, “no,” rather than, “why.” Naboth had said, "The LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance," but King Ahab remembers Naboth’s answer as, “I will not give you my ancestral inheritance." King Ahab’s greed caused him to fail to see the will of the Lord. King Ahab’s greed caused him to fail to see rightly.

            He lay down on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat. His wife Jezebel came to him and said, "Why are you so depressed that you will not eat?" He said to her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, 'Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard for it'; but he answered, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'" His wife Jezebel said to him, "Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

            I wonder what would have happened if Jezebel went to Naboth and heard the story first hand? Would she have heard the part about the Lord? Would she have seen the, “why,” instead of the, “no?” But she was so caught up in the same greed as King Ahab that the very thought of someone telling King Ahab, “no” was unconscionable to her. “Do you now govern all of Israel?” she said. In other words, “Aren’t you the older sister?” Your bigger, your better, your should get what you want.

So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal; she sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. She wrote in the letters, "Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; seat two scoundrels opposite him, and have them bring a charge against him, saying, 'You have cursed God and the king.' Then take him out, and stone him to death." The men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them. There are many things for which Jezebel could have blamed Naboth. Yet, of the ten commandments, she chooses to blame him for cursing God, the one thing we know he has not done. Instead all we know of Naboth is he has praised and honored God. Jezebel doesn’t know this, she never asked, she could not see beyond her greed.

As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, "Go, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead." As soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab set out to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

Can you imagine; a loved one has just died, and as soon as the obit is printed someone is at your door ready to scoop up your deceased loved ones land? The audacity and cruelty of King Ahab astounds me, but I think greed can do this to best of us. Its an addiction of sorts, to keep up with the Jones’, to not care that our clothes come from factory workers in deadly conditions in Bangladesh, to not care that our oil comes from countries with deadly oppressive regimes, to not care that our drugs come from deadly gang wars in Latin America, to not care that our pesticides are killing off bird and bee alike, to not care that our prisons have killed the innocent, the Naboth’s among us, to not care that we are swindling our younger brothers for our own wealth, a nickel for a dime. King Ahab has this kind of greed, and it has made him deaf to the Lord. King Ahab was so deaf to the Lord, that the Lord sent his prophet Elijah to meet King Ahab face to face. It is not the first time Elijah and King Ahab have met. Elijah had warned King Ahab to honor the Lord, and when King Ahab did not honor the Lord a drought came which Elijah had predicted.

This time, the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules in Samaria; he is now in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. You shall say to him, "Thus says the LORD: Have you killed, and also taken possession?" You shall say to him, "Thus says the LORD: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood." Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" He answered, "I have found you. Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD.

It is important to notice the words Elijah used, “You have sold yourself.” In all the wealth that King Ahab had amassed, in the many things he bought and swindled, he sold himself. Moreover, with each property he gained, he lost the part of himself where God was alive. King Ahab, “sold himself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord.” Sometimes, bigger is not better. Sometimes, more is not more, Sometimes it is not worth trading a nickel for a dime. Because sometimes what you loose in order to gain, is yourself and God. Sometimes, less is more. 

June 9th, 2013 1 Kings 17:7b-24

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1 Kings 17:7b-24

There was no rain in the land.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying,

⁹"Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there;

for I have commanded a widow there to feed you."

¹⁰So he set out and went to Zarephath.

When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks;

he called to her and said,

"Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink."

¹¹As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said,

"Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."

¹²But she said,

"As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked,

only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug;

I am now gathering a couple of sticks,

 so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son,

that we may eat it, and die."

¹³Elijah said to her,

"Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said;

but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me,

and afterwards make something for yourself and your son.

¹⁴For thus says the Lord the God of Israel:

The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail

until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth."

¹⁵She went and did as Elijah said,

so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days.

¹⁶The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail,

according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill;

his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.

She then said to Elijah,

“What have you against me, O man of God?

You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance,

and to cause the death of my son!”

But he said to her,

 “Give me your son.”

He took him from her bosom,

carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging,

and laid him on his own bed

. He cried out to the Lord,

“O Lord my God,

have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying,

by killing her son?”

Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”

The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah;

the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.

Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said,

“See, your son is alive.” So the woman said to Elijah,

“Now I know that you are a man of God,

 and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

SERMON (PASTOR) 

          I was only a boy when Elijah came to my mother and me, but I remember it well. Our town, Zarephath, was dust brown. Plants were shriveled and broke off underfoot with a snap like a wishbone. The people too were shriveled up with hunger, as was their money and jobs. The sea lapping against the harbor seemed a mockery of our thirst for rain, so much water, yet a land unquenched.

            After a journey in the wilderness, Elijah came into town like a wild man. His beard was long and white and his hair likewise was in disarray. His clothes were the same dust brown of the city, and he was one of the few people who looked poorer than my mother and me. Since she was widow, and thus in turn I an orphan, we had no means of supporting ourselves, until I grew old enough to work. I remember the day Elijah came because it was the day our food was to run out. I had heard mother weeping at night, muttering to herself that we were to die for lack of food. She didn’t know I knew, but I knew.

            I often peeked in my mother’s meal jar. When you have so little to eat, you want to know how much is left. I knew we could starve. I had seen other children starve from the famine. We had only one measly portion of meal left, enough for one small cake between us both. The day Elijah came, my mother was out by the town’s gate gathering sticks to build a fire to bake the last cake.

            This wild man, who was a Jew, not a worshiper of Baal like us, called to her. This was very extraordinary because Jews and worshipers of Baal do not mix. Yet, I suppose because he was so desperately poor he said to her,

            "Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink."

            In our culture, when a stranger asks for food and drink you must give it to them. So, my mother went toward home for the vessel and the water than she carried the day prior. It had become a wonder to me how she carried our water jug on her head. She was so weak with hunger, that to look at her, I would have assumed the weight would crush her, but somehow the routine of lifting it and placing it in line with her bones was still routine. The wild man even asking my mother for this drink seemed too much, didn’t he know the weight she must lift?

            ¹¹As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." I remember the fear and anger I felt when he asked this. He was asking for our last piece of meal. He was asking for our final meal. The meal my mother cried over, and the meal I checked every day as it’s contents became smaller and smaller. I looked at my mother and she at me, and although it was contrary to custom, she tried to say no. She said,

"As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked,

only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug;

I am now gathering a couple of sticks,

 so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son,

that we may eat it, and die."

            It was the first time she said it in front of me, and I was glad she did. It felt like a secret weight lifted off us both. Neither of us had spoken of the impending doom, we can kept it locked away, but there it was, plain, simple, truth. The wild-man’s countenance changed; with compassion he reassured her,

"Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said;

but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me,

and afterwards make something for yourself and your son.

¹⁴For thus says the Lord the God of Israel:

The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail

until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth."

            Looking back, I don’t know what it was about the way he said it, but we trusted him. We trusted a man poorer than ourselves that, there would be food to eat. My mother, almost as a final offering, brought him the little cake, and ourselves a tiny cake. She had wiped the jar and the jug empty in making them, two tiny cakes, one for us, and one for Elijah, and yet, they filled us, belly full.

            Each day after that, I would rise in the morning and peak in the jar of meal, and the jug of oil, and there was always just enough for that day. I still, to this day, do not know how my mother and Elijah came up with that meal and oil every day. I think they knew I was peaking. I wonder if they too wanted to relive that miracle and instead of filling it, put in that little bit, just to see me peak and be reassured with wonderment every day. It was as Elijah, the wild-man prophet said, the jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

            Another miracle happened with Elijah too. He stayed with us, as odd as it was for a man to to live with a widow and her son. Not only being a widow did my mom not have much of a choice, but I think as long as the meal and oil kept coming, she was glad to have him there. She was glad to have him until I became very sick.

            My mother seemed to think that if Elijah could cure our hunger, he could cure anything. Anything perhaps but my mother’s grief over my father’s death. She, like many who grieve, blamed herself. She would weep her, ‘if only’s,’ and, ‘I should haves,’ out in the night. I knew it was not her fault. I knew peopled died because they died, not because of someone else’s sin, but it was the belief at that time that God was somehow punishing us for our sins. They tell me, I got so sick that I had no breath left in me, that the life in me was all out. My mother supposedly, said to Elijah,

“What have you against me, O man of God?

You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance,

and to cause the death of my son!”

            My death would have been a grief to big for her to bear. People would have blamed her for both my father and my deaths, and moreover, she would have blamed herself.

           

            Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” He took me from her arms, and

carried me up into the upper chamber where Elijah was lodging, and laid me on his own bed. From downstairs my mother heard Elijah, the prophet, cry out to the Lord,

“O Lord my God, have you brought calamity

even upon the widow with whom I am staying,

by killing her son?”

            He asked it as a question to God, “Have you?” Was God responsible, was God punishing my mother for our sins? Was this God’s doing? “Have you?” Elijah questioned. It was like a test to my mother’s theory of sin and death.

            Then as if to test more, to make an experiment of he and my mother’s grief and a trail of God’s compassion or punishment, he tried to revive me. He said he stretched himself upon me three times, and cried out to the Lord,

                        “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”

            The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the Lord seemed to prove that it was no one’s sin, nor was it the Lord who killed me, because I was brought to life. I remember taking a huge breath, and opening my eyes to see Elijah’s eyes staring at mine right over my face, face to face, he was stretched out on top of me, this wild-man, this prophet. The absurdity revived me instantly, and I began to cry.

            Elijah picked me up, though I fought him in doing so. He had really scared me, to wake up with someone staring in your face, but he carried me down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave me to my mother; who was so astonished and overjoyed that she just clung to me.

            Then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” My life was the proof of a loving God, who did not punish people for their sins, but instead sought to bring life, and love, and abundance into an unjust world.

            My mother said to Elijah,

“Now I know that you are a man of God,

 and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

            My mother changed that day, she lived as one free from grief. She lived as one who knew, the truth of the Lord was a truth that brought life to the dead, that brought food to the poor, and brought joy to the grieving.

June 2nd, 2013 Luke 7:1-10

To listen to this sermon, click below:

https://www.myrecordbox.com/s/audio_file/9020/7aaa284b988f9c80f0769552762912ec

LUKE 7:1-10

¹After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people,

he entered Capernaum. ²A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly,

and who was ill and close to death.

³When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him,

asking him to come and heal his slave.

 ⁴When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying,

“He is worthy of having you do this for him, ⁵for he loves our people,

and it is he who built our synagogue for us.”

⁶And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house,

the centurion sent friends to say to him,

“Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; ⁷therefore I did not presume to come to you.

But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.

⁸For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me;

and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes,

and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes,

and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.

⁸For I also am a man set under authority.”

 ⁹When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him,

and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said,

“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

¹⁰When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

***

            I’ve got a friend who is really sick. I have a friend whose been sick for a long time. I have a friend who is finally giving up hope, in healing, in God. I have a friend who is in desperate need. This friend has been a sister to me, a listener, an adventurer, a comforter, a guide, someone who knows my story and walked with me piece by piece. Like the salve for the Centurion, Susie, makes me wish I was worthy of having Jesus heal a friend for me.

            I wish I had the power to command armies; a Centurion of a hundred healers, and legions upon legions of doctors. I wish I could be so upstanding, so generous, and so kind, that even elders of another religion would appeal to the healer among them and earnestly say, “She is worthy of having you do this for her, ⁵for she loves our people, and it is she who built our synagogue for us.” I wish I could offer some proof good enough. ‘She is a pastor, she loves her people, she loves you Lord.’

            Yet there is nothing I can do, or be, that would make me worthy of having Jesus heal my friend. There is nothing anyone can say or suggest that makes me worthy to have Jesus heal Susie. There is nothing at all. I am not even worthy to tie the thong of his sandal, much less have him come in my house and heal my friend. It is likewise for the Centurion. For Jesus, as a Jew, to enter the Centurion, a Gentile’s house, would have made Jesus unclean, and defiled him in the customs of the time. The Centurion would not have been worthy for Jesus to come in his house, no matter the grandeur of the house. It would have been lavish as the commander of an army, and there is a lavishness about being a pastor with a manse, but like Jews and Gentiles, Jesus and I are too different for me to be a worthy host.

            I can imagine Jesus going with my friends to heal Susie. Though she lives in Florida, I imagine Jesus walking down Ninth Drive and “When he was not far from the manse, I, the pastor, sent friends to say to him,  “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; ⁷therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.”

            I am not worthy to have Jesus heal my friend, but I do have the faith, that he can. I have faith that Jesus is doing everything he can to find healing for Susie. I have faith that through the wisdom of the doctors, and the love of her family and her friends, and  her persevering spirit that healing will come.

            This is the point in writing my sermon when Susie called. Immediately she sounded different, there was an old familiar hope in her voice. “Kate,” she calls me, “When’s the last time we talked?” “About a week ago, when you had to come home from camping from the pain,” I say.  Then she proceeded to update me that a friend of her sister’s, was a specific type of doctor, and spent an hour with Susie, listening, and giving her hope, giving her answers that made sense, giving her a process to toward healing. I listened to Susie’s story for some time. I was staring at that last written piece of text on screen that read.

            “I am not worthy to have Jesus heal my friend, but I do have the faith, that he can. I have faith that Jesus is doing everything he can to find healing for Susie. I have faith that through the wisdom of the doctors, and the love of her family and her friends, and her persevering spirit the that healing will come”

            There were tears in my eyes. Healing was coming. Jesus was at work in healing my friend. Jesus is at work in healing Susie. I listened to her for awhile, and then shared the miracle that was at work half way though the sermon. The miracle that I was not worthy of, but believed in. The miracle that you did too.

            Like the Centurion, who says to his soldiers, “go” and they go. I too am one with authority. I had asked you to pray, and you did. You had the faith to pray. You knew Jesus was at work healing. While it is not our prayers which healed Susie, our prayers were acts of faith, a faith in Jesus’ ability to heal, a faith in the authority of God in Jesus, an amazing faith, a faith like the Centurion who says, “Only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.”

            This faith of the Centurion, and the faith of our prayers, amazes Jesus when he hears. The scripture says,

 ⁹When Jesus heard the Centurion, Jesus was amazed at him,

and turning to the crowd that followed Jesus, he said,

“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

            Yet, I know this amazing faith can be found in this church in Baker City, Oregon. This is the faith of our prayers, and our proclamations, of half written sermons, and Prayers of the People. This is our amazing faith in Jesus who heals the friend of the unworthy, who heals the slave of the Centurion, and who is healing my friend Susie. This is the faith, that knows that while we are unworthy, we will return to the house and find the slave in good health, find Susie with good news, find Lindsey Bingman back in Molly’s class, find Makela with a transplant, find Andy Ferns with a job and more than month sober, find Boston Marathoners this week finishing the last mile, find a school shooting thwarted in an Albany, Oregon, and find Guantanamo’s hunger strike working.  This is the amazing faith of our prayers, that while we are unworthy, Jesus heals. This is an amazing faith, that while we are unworthy, Jesus heals.