Easter Season 2007 Cycle C

This Marvel is the Lord’s Doing!

Easter 1, April 8, 2007

Title: Life is the Lord’s doing

Speaker: Linda (homilette)

Music: Annette

Worship Leader: Kathy R.

Visuals for the season: Embroidered Tree of Life tablecloth from 10KVillages on center panel of Easter hangings? Flowers, white drape on cross, candles, still in circular chair configuration.

Texts: Isaiah 65:17-25; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Acts 10:34-43; John 20:1-18

Isaiah 65:17 For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. 65:18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. 65:19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. 65:20 No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. 65:21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 65:22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 65:23 They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD-- and their descendants as well. 65:24 Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent--its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

Psalm 118:1 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever! 118:2 Let Israel say, "His steadfast love endures forever."….118:14 The LORD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. 118:15 There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: "The right hand of the LORD does valiantly; 118:16 the right hand of the LORD is exalted; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly." 118:17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD. 118:18 The LORD has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death. 118:19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. 118:20 This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it. 118:21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. 118:22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 118:23 This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 118:24 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Acts 10:34 Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 10:35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 10:36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. 10:37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 10:39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 10:40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 10:41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 10:42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 10:43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 20:2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." 20:3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 20:4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 20:5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 20:6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 20:7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 20:8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 20:9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 20:10 Then the disciples returned to their homes. 20:11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 20:12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 20:13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." 20:14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 20:15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 20:16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). 20:17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" 20:18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Contemporary quote: I would much rather live in a world where I am surrounded by mystery, than in a world so small my mind could fully comprehend it. -- H. E. Fosdick

Introduction:

A pastor visited the preschool Sunday School class,

looked into their young serious faces,

and asked the children,

"Why do you love God?"

There was silence for a bit as the kids thought about it

and then a small voice came from the back:

"I guess it just runs in the family."

At the risk of being perceived as just a tad offensive,

I want to follow this up with a quote

from a high school biology teacher.

It was shared by a student who is now a pastor

on a lectionary discussion e-list…

This teacher taught life sciences

as a discipline broader than just teaching-to-the-test biology…

and he would often tell his class,

"A person can be measured by the size of their 'but'…"

If you are tempted to take offense,

let me hasten to say that what I can see in my script

but that you cannot

is that this but only has one “t”…

So think about this…

How often do you hear people easily let themselves off the hook with a quick, “Well, yes, but…”

Or, “I’d help you with that, but…”

Or, “It’s fine to dream, but…” ?

The biology teacher was actually presenting his students with a profound thought: "A person can be measured by the size of their 'but'…"

No buts, no partiality…

In the text we just read from Acts, we hear Peter wrestling with one of his “but” issues….

He has just been invited to come to the Roman centurion Cornelius’ house. And a few verses before our text begins, he tells Cornelius and those assembled in his house,

“You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.”

This was a huge “but” issue….

Peter is breaking the very Law that defined him as a Jew.

Go to the house of a pagan? A Roman?

A centurion in the army of the very empire that just executed his master, Jesus??

But, God, I simply can’t; this is an impossible demand….

Instead, Peter hears God’s reversal of this but…

But God has shown me

that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.

And in today’s text (printed in your bulletin),

Peter shows that he truly has gotten it:

"I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 10:35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 10:36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all.

Preaching peace:

No partiality;

no ifs, ands or buts letting God off the hook for us….

God’s message is preaching peace…

God wants to gather us all into the life of God,

like Isaiah’s vision of shalom,

of peace and wholeness like “the days of a tree”—

the tree of life on our Easter banner—

the vision of shalom where

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,

where

They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain.

Peter goes on to give one of the most succinct summaries of the Christian faith found anywhere in Scripture.

He talks about the message God sent to the people of Israel,

preaching peace by Jesus Christ,

and how that message spread;

he says in verse 36:

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

Notice, God’s anointing of Jesus with the Spirit and power

was so that he could go about doing good

and healing all who were oppressed by the devil…

Toyohiko Kagawa, a Japanese man born on July 10^th, 1888 took Bible classes from Presbyterian missionaries to learn English;

he said, “I read in a book that a man called Christ

went about doing good.

It is very disconcerting to me

that I am so easily satisfied with just

going about.”

(Kagawa became a famous Christian philanthropist, noted for his labour activism and efforts in bringing universal adult male suffrage to Japan, organizing the Japanese Federation of Labour, as well as the National Anti-War League; he also worked with Japan's most impoverished, worked for women's suffrage and a peaceful foreign policy; he was imprisoned several times for his efforts but eventually awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1955.)

Doing good was the first part of what Peter points out as important in Jesus’ ministry; the second part of that sentence is

“healing all who were oppressed by the devil

for God was with him.”

We peace and justice types might have been a bit happier if he’d left off that bit about the devil and just said “healing all who were oppressed…”; that opens up some scope for us to insert our favorite cause.

But remember that the word “devil”

comes from a Greek word (diabolos)

meaning “slanderer”

and suddenly this text takes on a new layer of meaning.

Peter has finally figured out why his master, Jesus,

kept insisting on paying attention to the little ones, the rejected ones,

the poor ones, the female ones, the powerless ones…

His insight that God doesn’t want him to

“call anyone profane or unclean,”

that God truly “shows no partiality

but in every nation anyone who fears him

and does what is right is acceptable to him”

opens up a whole new light of understanding

in how oppression works…

The devil slanders those whom God loves,

calls them profane, unclean, unfit to associate with…

and then you can treat them with contempt, with violence,

as being less than yourself,

maybe even as not completely human…

And then, of course, you can justifiably oppress them.

Those who believe and live by slander and oppression,

who profit from it,

are completely unnerved by anyone who lives differently,

who lives out of the reality of God’s love for all….

in fact they will threaten, oppress,

and kill to maintain their status quo…

"Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian." -- Dennis Wholey

We know how this worked out for Jesus; Peter tells the group in Cornelius’ house:

They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;

but God raised him on the third day…

Did you hear that reversal?

BUT God raised him on the third day….

Thanks be to God! in Isaiah’s joyful words, God is about

“to create new heavens and a new earth;

the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.

But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating…”

If we asked God the reverse of the question the pastor asked the kids,

“God, why do you love people so much?”

I don’t think that even God would do better than the child did:

"I guess it just runs in the family."

And this is the family that Scripture tells us in a wide variety of ways

that we are born into, adopted into, invited into…

Conclusion:

So, how big is your but?

Are you easily satisfied with just going about?

Or are you, like Toyohiko Kagawa, being drawn

to going about doing good?

Of continuing Jesus’ ministry

of healing all who are oppressed by the devil…

by slander…?

Do you find yourself letting yourself off the hook,

saying easily, “Well, yes, but…”

Or, “I’d do that, but…” ?

Or, “It’s fine to dream, but…” ?

Does your use of this tiny, powerful word

stand up to the measure of who you really are—

a disciple, a friend,

a sibling of the resurrected Lord?