Christ’s Promising Word

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
January 31,2010
No Home Advantage
Luke 4:21-30

Nothing Like Home Court Advantage

In sports there is nothing like having the “home court advantage.” It is like having an extra person on the team. Take for example my beloved Minnesota Vikings.

Two weeks ago the Vikings took on the Dallas Cowboys at the Minneapolis Humphrey Dome. One of those Teflon-domed stadiums which my father still insists is held up by all of Hubert Humphrey’s hot air.

Minnesota had the “home advantage” and they creamed them. Minnesota won 34 to 3.

And then last week it was the other way around. Minnesota played the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome and the Saints had the “home court advantage.” And despite a valiant effort, Minnesota lost in overtime: 31 to 28.

The noise was deafening. Brett Favre even had special blue earplugs for himself and his offensive line. “The noise just wears on you,” he said. “You cannot hear the snap count.” And it makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Had that game been played in Minnesota would the score be the other way around?

Jesus’ First Sermon

Today’s gospel reading is a continuation of last week’s gospel reading. We pick up on the very same verse were we left off. Jesus is at his hometown of Nazareth. And being a good Jewish boy he goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And there he is asked to read the lesson and give the sermon.

And so, Jesus opens up the scroll to the prophet Isaiah chapter 62. And he reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, release for the captive, recovery of sight for the blind…, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Healing. God’s healing for the entire world.

And then, Jesus rolled the scroll back up and gave it to the attendant. And Jesus sat down and all eyes turned on him. And Jesus said the first line of his sermon, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

And then Jesus went on to spell out exactly what he meant. And wouldn’t you just love to be there to hear the rest of that sermon? I know I would. That was last week.

The Crowd’s Reaction

And now this week we hear the rest of it. The crowd’s reaction. At first, the people are pumped up. And all spoke well of him and were amazed at the powerful gracious words that came from his mouth.

But then it hit them. This was Joseph son. And if truly was God’s anointed one, God’s prophet, God’s messenger…well, he should prove it. Miracles. Miracles. Do us some miracles.

And where he should start is in his own hometown. They should have the “home court advantage” over everybody else. “Doctor, cure yourself!” Do your healing miracles for the hometown crowd first. They should be the #1 beneficiaries of his miracles. They should be the winners, if he truly was God’s Messiah.

No Home Advantage in God’s Kingdom

And Jesus said to them “No way!” God’s grace is for everyone. There is no “home court advantage” in the kingdom of God. Men aren’t before women. And Jews are not before Gentiles. And my tribe, my folks, my people are not before anybody else. The healing power of God does not work that way.

In fact, Jesus says, look back at the early prophets. Go back in the Hebrew Scriptures. There were many widows in Israel during the time of a great famine. And yet the prophet Elijah was not sent to any of them except for a gentile woman in at a border town in Sidon. To us that would be northwest Canada.

And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha and none of them were healed except Naaman the Syrian. Another northerner. A Canadian. You want a private doctor, Jesus said. You want a personal physician. You do not want the Savior of the world. You are only thinking of your own personal advantage.

And people became so enraged that they tried to drive him out of town and throw him off a cliff. But Jesus passed through their midst and went on his way.

What Makes Us Angry & Resentful?

What is there about us that gets angry and resentful when God’s grace and mercy gets shown to someone else? What is there about us that makes us angry and enraged when God takes somebody different from us and makes of that one our equal?

Jesus’ ministry is to all. Especially to those who have no claim to special favors before God—the last, the least, the little and the lost. There is no home court advantage in the kingdom of God.

The people on the top are no more important than the people on the bottom. The people are closest to Jesus in the tribe (say us church folk) are no more precious than those who are far away (those who do not go to church). God’s grace is meant for everyone.

Dad, what were you?

I had a very good friend in seminary who was a second generation Norwegian. As tall and blonde as you will ever see. His dad came over from Norway and finally settled in Florida. My roommate, Bruce, he came from Florida.

And once while I was in Florida, Bruce’s dad started ranting and railing about all of the immigrants in Florida. The Mexicans and the Cubans.

And Bruce just stated at his dad in total disbelief and finally said, “My word, dad, what were you? You were an immigrant. You were an immigrant too, when you first came to this country. Why do you begrudge the same opportunity for someone else just because they come from the south rather than like you did from the north?”

Enough Sand for All of God’s Children

Two young children were once on an ocean beach with two pails and two shovels fighting over the same patch sand. They were arguing and fighting. Hitting, punching, kicking, scratching.

And finally their mother came over, picked them up and turned them right around and said, “Stop fighting. Look around you. Look here. There is enough sand on this beach for all of God’s children.

And so it is with the grace of God. There is no home court advantage in the kingdom of God. But that is no worry and no problem. For when it comes to grace, there is enough. There is always more than enough for all of God’s children in the world.

© 2010 Pastor Paul Jaster

Third Sunday after Epiphany
January 24, 2010
Jesus Jubilee
Luke 4:14-21

Another First

Today we experience another first.

Two weeks ago it was the Baptism of Jesus when Jesus first began his public ministry of teaching, healing and preaching. And then, last week it was his first miracle when Jesus changed the water into wine. And now today it is his first sermon given in his hometown church.

And I love this story about Jesus in Luke 4. Because it gives us a little insight into worship life back in the days of Jesus.

Back in the days of Jesus, the men would gather in a synagogue like we do now to sing songs, pray prayers, read a set of lessons from the bible and then have someone expound on it. In fact, the entire first half of a Christian service (what our worship book call “The Word”) is taken from the Jewish synagogue.

Here Jesus attended worship in his own home town. As far as we can tell, Jesus went to worship every Sabbath. He was a good Jewish boy. And he was invited by the leader of the synagogue to come up and read a lesson and then expound on it.

And isn’t that interesting? Any Jewish male could be called upon on the spot to read the bible and then expound on it. Could you do it? Outside of Dave Sprague or Bill Bursley, could you do it?

And what Jesus does is he takes the scroll, the scroll of Isaiah. And he rolls it to a place in Isaiah: Isaiah 62. And he begins to read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of God’s favor”—that is God’s Jubilee.

And then, Jesus sat down. And he began to give his sermon. His inaugural address. His very first sermon and he said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Wow! What an amazing thing was happening. God’s promise. The power of God’s future was breaking into their everyday.

Part of that Same Healing

Today we have another Service of Healing. In just a few moments we will be inviting you to come forward like we have done in the past…. It can be for any need—physical, mental, spiritual. And we will lay our hands on you and say a prayer and then anoint your head with oil.

And let me say again what this is not. It is not a piece of magic or “faith healing” the way that some do it on TV. Just because we lay our hands on you and pray doesn’t mean that your ailment will instantly go away.

But it’s not an empty ritual either. It is not lacking in significance or power. One of the promises of God IS physical healing—“the recovery of the sight of the blind.” And Jesus is part of that physical healing as Jesus displayed in so many of his miracles. And either that wholeness, health and healing comes in THIS life. Or else it arrives in the life to come.

A Personal Example

Let me give you one very personal example. Very personal. My first wife of four years came down with cancer. Priscilla was her name. She was diagnosed with stage four malignant melanoma. We discovered it in February. She died in November.

And over the summer, my family gathered to do in my parent’s home the very Service of Healing we are doing today. One by one we gathered around to lay our hands on her, anoint her with oil and pray for her. She died a few months later.

Does that mean she had no faith and that she ticked off God and that our prayers failed? I certainly do not think so. She died very much at peace, whole and content. Amazing healing did take place over those months even though her body was clearly going downhill.

And at the age of 33, she said things like, “Gee, Jesus died at the age of 33. I’ve already lived a full life. Would I like to live more? Of course. But not that long ago a lot of people did not live past the age of 30.”

And she said, “And I’ve had four years of very happy marriage. And a lot of people married even longer don’t have that.” She had the feeling that her life had already had a fullness and completeness to it. She wished she had kids. But it didn’t look like that was going to happen anyhow. And that’s a different story.

But what I like best is what she said to her mother. Her mother was really stressed out by her illness and her impending death. And her mother said to her the way that mothers do, “I wish it was me and not you. I wish I could give my life for you.”

And Priscilla said, “You don’t need to, mom. You don’t need to give your life for me. Someone else already has. Jesus has. Jesus gave his life for me. So please don’t worry and be sad.”

Some illnesses Cured Through Dead and Resurrection

Not all healing is physical. And there is more to wholeness than just reversing illness and postponing death. Sometimes the only way an illness can be healed is through a death and resurrection. It is an entire package. An entire package of God’s promises.

And what Jesus is saying in his first sermon is that the power of God’s future is breaking in “now” to our everyday. And those promises are coming true in the arrival, the person and in the ministry of Jesus Christ.

So, please rise and join me in the hymn of the day. Hymn 612 – “Healer of Our Every Ill.” Great title isn’t it? And great lyrics. And then, we will invite you to come forward.

© 2010 Pastor Paul Jaster

Second Sunday after the Epiphay
January 17, 2010
Jesus Steals the Show
John 2:1-11

The Party is Saved

On the Second Sunday of Epiphany we move from water to wine. From the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan to his first miracle at a wedding feast.

And we have been to enough weddings to appreciate the problem. The guests drank more wine than was expected. The wine supply was totally depleted.

And the wedding was headed to disaster. There is no quicker way to ruin a good party than to shut down the bar.

And so, Mary called her son aside and laid on him the problem, “They have no wine.”

And despite an off-putting response, “Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My hour has not yet come,” Jesus comes through anyhow.

The party is saved. And 120 gallons of water are turned into vintage wine.

Wouldn’t It Be Great If…

And wouldn’t it be great if Jesus were around like that today to solve all our problems for us?

Just think how handy he would be to have at parties to get us out of a fix when we underestimate the food and drink.

Or, better still what he could do to solve the problems of world hunger and the terrible shortages of food and drink around the globe. Jesus would be pretty handy to have in Haiti right now.

And look what Jesus could do for all the contaminated waters of the planet Earth including our own Lake Erie. Why, he could turn them into Chardonnay and Cabernet, of course! Except for in Milwaukee and Saint Louis where he would turn them into a tasty brew.

And imagine how many marriages would be saved is Jesus were around to zap away the problems which drive married folks apart.

The First of the Signs

But more is going on at Cana than Jesus getting a newly wedded couple out of an embarrassing fix.

This is the first of the signs that Jesus did to manifest his glory. The first. And the disciples believed in him. It was the first public step that led Jesus to his “hour”: his being lifted up upon the cross that was to become his throne of glory.

Jesus is not interested in band-aid solutions or magic tricks. Jesus is not a fix-it man who comes calling at our door at our command.

He is the Savior of the world whose coming has an “hour” and a purpose—to get to the root causes of sin and death which plague us all.

This Miracle Would Ring Some Bells

One has to be immersed in the Old Testament to understand what is going on. The miraculous appearance of abundant vintage wine would have rung some bells for the disciples—some wedding bells.

For that is precisely what the prophets said would happen in the days of fulfillment.

God would appear. God would take his people as a husband takes a bride. God would love them. Care for them. Provide for them.

And there would be a wedding feast—a joyous party!—with gourmet food and an abundant supply of the finest wine. You can read of it in Isaiah 25 and in Isaiah 62, which is our First Reading for today.

And it is exactly what Jesus says elsewhere in so many of his parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like a marriage feast.”

And here it was happening at Cana…at this wedding…an abundant supply of the finest wine. A sign of God’s wedding. A sign of God’s coming to repair a marriage which had been broken.
For do not let us forget, this is part of our history, too!

A Broken Marriage

God had married his people through the Ten Commandments and through the solemn vows spoken at Mount Sinai.

But the marriage soon went sour and the luscious wine of marriage immediately ran out. God’s people rebelled…and disobeyed.

And for many pious Jews the occupation of their land by Rome was a painful sign of Israel’s unfaithfulness and of just how many of the Jewish people longed for the “time of wine” to flow.”

And many engaged in Jewish rites of purification to keep themselves ready for the coming of their God.

A Marriage Saved through Jesus Christ

But here it was happening at this wedding. Wine, the very best wine.

It rang a bell for those who saw and who believed. A close, loving relationship with God is restored, not through the Jewish rites of purification, but through the saving work of Jesus Christ.

No doubt they understood it better when his “hour” finally came. No doubt they understood it better when Jesus died the death that brings us back to God and mends the fracture lines of a broken marriage.

No doubt they understood it better when Jesus took a cup of wine and said just hours before his death, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

But here it was. Happening already. Christ’s saving power breaking through into this wedding, this plain ordinary wedding, saving this marriage from disaster.

And that is the whole point of it. God’s saving power of the future has come down to earth through the ministry of Jesus Christ to break into our everyday.

Mary did not know “how” it would happen. She did not tell her son how to do his business—like we do in so many of our prayers.

She did not even grow discouraged where her son icily put her off. She simply laid the problem on his heart. And told the hired help to do whatever he commanded.

And in the very end, her faith in him was not in vain.

The Lesson to Be Learned

I don’t know what lesson you want to draw from this story for today.

To early Jewish Christians it probably explained why the Jewish rites of purification were no longer needed or necessary, but that certainly doesn’t mean much to us anymore today. We never engaged in those water rites of purification.

Personally, I think this story is telling us that we should drink more wine and less water (including those watered-down American beers!).

And that we Christians should only drink the finest wines because that is what we will drink with Christ in heaven. Life is just too short to drink bad wine.

But if you need a more “religious” lesson, perhaps it is this—that the saving work of Jesus Christ breaks through into our everyday and into our disasters big and small.

And that perhaps we can see that best when we are regular participants at this meal and gather around this cup of wine and have our eyes focused on the marriage feast to come.

From water to wine. From baptism to the Holy Communion and the Eucharistic Meal. From the washing of our sins in Holy Baptism to God’s great heavenly feast. That is the movement of Christian ministry and mission…and of the Christian life.

© 2010 Pastor Paul Jaster

Baptism of our Lord
January 10, 2010
Behold, the Beloved
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

What Does God See in Jesus?

Back in seminary I had a prof named Bob Bertram who loved to teach by asking questions. You can discover many wonderful gospel “good news” things, Bob said, if only you ask the right questions.

And so, we come to a day like today—the Baptism of our Lord—and Bob would sit down before the class and ask a question like this: “What does God see in Jesus? Not just what do we see in him? Or even: What do we see of God in him? That is not the question—at least, not yet. But first this: What does God see in Jesus?”

And after we students stumbled around a little bit with wild stabs and guesses, then Bob would go on to answer his own question.

The thing about Jesus which made such a difference to God. The thing that made the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descend upon him like a dove. The thing about Jesus which made God burst all his buttons with pride and say like a proud dad, “You my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

The thing about Jesus which made a difference to God is that it was “we sinners” made a difference to Jesus. Jesus loved us. Sinners mattered to him. Jesus did not write sinners off. We were his…his “beloved ones.”

And anyone who meant so much to Jesus as we sinners did, Jesus was entitled and authorized by God himself to bring home with him to his Father’s house, his Father’s home, his Father’s party.

This is what made God look Jesus in the eye and say, “Aha! I see myself in him. He is a chip off the old block. He is my Son, the Beloved One.”

It is the same glimmer that I see in the eye of almost every dad in this parish as they look at their own kids and they see a bit of their own self in them. And with pride they say, “This is my beloved one. My beloved son or daughter. He or she reminds me of me.”

Puzzle: Why Did Jesus Undergo a Baptism of Repentance?

It is something of a puzzle, isn’t it? Why should Jesus come to John the Baptist and under go “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”? Why? Why? Why?

Jesus was the sinless, faithful, obedient Son of God. Why in the world should Jesus come to John the Baptist to be baptized by him?

It should really be the other way around, shouldn’t it? John should be baptized by him. Wasn’t Jesus the stronger one? Wasn’t Jesus the one who was more powerful than John…the one who would baptize not just with water, but also with the Holy Spirit and with fire?”

And even John the Baptist caught the horror of it. And he tried to prevent this “anomaly” from happening. “Do you come to me?” John said, “I need to be baptized by you.”

But Jesus insisted that this was the way to fulfill all righteousness. This was the way to complete the promise made to Abraham: that through Israel would come “a kid,” in fact, a whole bunch of kids who would be a blessing to all the world.

Jesus Steps into Our Stead

And there you have it. Jesus steps into our place. Jesus steps into our stead. Jesus undergoes a baptism. A dying and a rising that was meant for us. And Jesus did it, not because he had to, but because he chose to.

Call it grace. Call it mercy. Call it love. Call it a foolish stupidity that only a love-struck sucker could understand. Call it anything you want.

But this…this is what made God look Jesus in the eye and say, “Aha! This is my kid. This is my son. My grown-up son. Who looks like me. And acts like me. And loves like me. This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased.

And We Become Boots on the Ground

And when we are baptized with Christ and cling to him in trusting faith that title spills over past Jesus and on to us as well. The heavens again open. And the Holy Spirit descends on us in bodily form. And the very voice of God says to us: “You are my beloved one! You are my beloved sons and daughters. With you I am well pleased.”

We become God’s demonstration people. We become what the children of Abraham were always meant to be—boots on the ground. Faith and faithful ones active in love. The ones through whom God works to bring a great blessing to the world. God’s work. Our hands.

God’s Work. Our Hands

Today we install another church council for the coming year. These are the ones who lead us in this mission and this ministry—to be the baptized, to be God’s beloved ones, to be the ones who bring blessing to the world. To be the ones who love others the way that God has loved us. Love begetting love. “Lead,” I say. “Lead.” It is not their job to do all the work alone.

And so, in just a few moments we will say to them: “You are to see that the words and deeds of this household of faith reflect him in whose name we gather.”

And we will say to them, “You are to work together with other members of this assembly to see that the worship and work of Christ are done in this congregation, and that God’s will is done in this community and in the whole world.”

“Are you ready to accept and faithfully carry out these duties?” we will say to them. “Yes,” they will say, “Yes, by the help of God.”
And then we will say to you, “Will you follow their lead and share in this mutual ministry that Christ has given to all you who are baptized?” And you will say, “Yes, by the help of God.” At least, I hope you will. I hope that you will say it. And I hope that you will mean it.

God Bursting With Pride

And if you listen carefully at that moment—at that very moment—you may even hear the heavens open and God burst with pride and say: “Yes, yes, these are my beloved sons and daughters with you I am well pleased.”

The thing about Jesus that made such a difference to God was that it was “we sinners” who mattered so much to Jesus. We were his. We were his “beloved ones.”

And anyone who meant so much to Jesus as we sinners did, Jesus was entitled and authorized by God himself to bring home with him to his Father’s house, his Father’s home, his Father’s party.

And where the party begins is here. With his baptism and with his mission and his ministry.

This is what makes God’s buttons burst with pride and makes him say of us as well, “You are my beloved sons and daughters. With you I am well pleased.”

© 2010 Pastor Paul Jaster