“Sanctified Solitude” (John 6:1-15)

John 6:1-15

 

Pastor Tom Johnson, July 26, 2015

We live in the information age. Some studies suggest that we are bombarded with over 100 thousand words a day—that is about 23 words per second. It is enough information to crash a laptop computer. People walk down the sidewalk with friends, talking, reading their smartphones, and trying to obey traffic signals and signs all at the same time. We are warned not to do so while driving a car. Information overload can impair our performance just like alcohol. There are few warnings out there, however, for us to avoid overloading our minds with information or overwhelming our spirits with the chaos and confusion of this world. There is more evidence that we can only process so much information. And it likely to be very unhealthy for our brains. Just last week, there was an article in the Tribune about police officers suing for overtime pay because they felt that they could not put their smartphones away because they would receive texts and emails all hours of the day and night.

One of the threads in our Gospel reading today is the relentless demand ministry has on Jesus—the toll life in this present world has on the eternal Son of God made flesh. Jesus’ humanity can only handle so much. He has a human brain, a body of flesh and blood, and apparently a truly human tolerance for the hustle and bustle of life. The crowds follow him. The first century paparazzi sticks to him like a fly on flypaper. And so Jesus flees to the mountain. He takes his disciples with him. He maketh them to lay down in green pastures. He makes them sit in a remote place. Our text says there was a great deal of grass in the place. Enough for 5,000. Last week’s Gospel reading had a similar invitation to the Apostles who were also feeling exhausted by the world’s demands and lack of food: “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while” Jesus says (Mark 6:31). Jesus is the Good Shepherd who takes care of his sheep. He leads and feeds them. He satisfies them. He is the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that leads his people Israel into the wilderness and feeds them the bread of heaven.

But he also takes care of himself. He understands his own need to be strengthened in his humanity. He thirsts. He hungers. He is worn down by the demands, concerns, and confusion of this present world. The crowds have eaten to their satisfaction and have experienced this miracle. They want to force him to be king. Jesus reads their hearts. But he also monitors his own heart and mission and supervises his own soul. “When Jesus realizes that they are about to come and take him by force to make him king,” our text says, “he withdraws again to the mountain by himself.” One early church father, Chrysostom, says this:

“He went up to the mountain as a lesson to us to retire from the tumult and confusion of the world. For solitude is appropriate for the study of wisdom. Jesus often went up alone onto a mountain in order to pray, even spending the night there. He did this in order to teach us that the one who will come most near to God must be free from all disturbance and must seek times and places away from all the confusion.” I think this is similar to what Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount: to go into our “prayer closet in secret so that our heavenly Father, who sees in secret, will reward us” (Matt 6:6). He rewards us with the assurance of his grace and presence. When the Apostles looked for believers who might be open to the Gospel, they went outside the city to the river “where they supposed there was a place of prayer.” There they found Lydia who is the first European convert to Christianity (Acts 16:13). Finding this quiet place is the original design for that weary band of Israelite slaves delivered out of bondage in Egypt and from the chains of hard-hearted Pharoah—the Sabbath day—a day off—a break from daily labor—finding our rest in God’s word, his promises, and his gifts—gifts that include rivers and mountains—all of God’s creation.

Jesus' example encourages us to set aside a few minutes a day to pray, a quiet walk with our thoughts and prayers with God, a greater appreciation for public worship and our gathering here to receive the Word made flesh—the Bread of heaven. Jesus’ example may make us consider taking a week or a weekend off to be still and know that he is God. Today God says, “Go—go into the wilderness with me. Go deep into that prayer closet and let God help you sort through the archives of your soul. Take a vacation from the weary journey of a pilgrim.” Even if just for an hour, find your peace and rest in Christ. Follow Jesus to a remote place. And like him, embrace the way of the Cross. Reject worldly shortcuts to advance yourself and become king. Choose instead the Cross of Calvary.

Jesus does just that. He chooses an honest confrontation with the weakness of humanity. In his strength and perfection, he chooses to lay down his life for the sheep. This same Jesus, who is wearied by the confusion and chaos of this world, takes a momentary step away from the world and a giant leap toward our salvation. For he is the King of kings and Lord of lords who will not be overwhelmed by the world but overwhelms the world by his love. He overwhelms sin, the devil, the world, and death itself by the Good news of his death and resurrection. He is our respite. He is our peace. He is our hiding place. He the rest for the weary.

Praise the One who breaks the darkness
With a liberating light; 
Praise the One who frees the prisn’ners 
Turning blindness into sight. 
Praise the One who preached the Gospel, 
Healing eve’ry dread disease, 
Calming storms, and feeding thousands 
With the very Bread of Peace.      (Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness, v. 1).

Guest Pastor Rev. Dr. Douglas Groll

Rev. Dr. Douglas Groll

July 19, 2015

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. ³¹He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. ³²And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. ³³Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. ³⁴As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. ⁵³When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. ⁵⁴When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, ⁵⁵and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. ⁵⁶And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

In Jesus’ Name, Dear Friends,

Of course they were hurrying around with deep deep needs as sheep without a shepherd….they had every reason to be:   The Board of Commissioners had just raised the county sales tax to 10.25%  meaning that for every ten fish sold in the market, one would have to go to the county.   Herod and Pilate could not agree on a budget……Herod kept going over to Caesarea every other day…..but Pilate kept threatening the veto.   The synagogue schools were at the point of closing down because the local Pharisees and experts in the law could not be paid because all their retirement and pension fund had been used to beautify the Roman government centers of Sephora and Caesarea. ….the government’s part of the pension fund had not been paid in ten years.  No one had an answer to the violence brought about by poor schools, lots of drugs, lots of guns.  Each Tuesday or Wednesday the heavens were filled with helium balloons launched in memory of an infant, a child, a teenager slain the weekend before.  The heavens themselves began to smell of death.

 On the International front talks had broken down or seemed at an impasse between

the Roman negotiators  and the Barbarians from the North about their right to produce their own 300 pound rocks to throw in their own catapults under development.   The Roman Senate

was mired in acrimonious  debate…each side accusing the other of selling out.     Everything was spilling over into the courts…..the judges of the highest court in the land were using such phrases as “nothing short of ludicrous”…..gobbeldy gook”….”nonsense”…in describing the opinions of the other judges.  

If one could ever say that there is purely a religious or spiritual side of life…..there was even discord there…..The Pharisees and the Scribes…..seemed locked in perennial debate about liturgies, clerical collars versus neckties, diametrically opposed positions….or at least never really discussed positions on the role of women in the church, the Affordable Care Act or same sex marriage.   So the Sheep sought a Shepherd….Is it any wonder?

And all sorts of people came forth to be shepherds…..on the secular side alone at least 15 from one party and three or four from the other…..telling the world that they would be secular leaders, yet each one tried to outdo the other in appealing to religion.…while spiritual leaders simply seemed to sit back and shout at each other …..pretending to be religious….but not hesitating to give political opinions.  Sheep without a shepherd….and  would be shepherds sometimes just as bad as Jeremiah described them in our Old Testament lesson for the day…..sometimes really good people….Christian people…who simply got caught in the evil systems or the system….or institutions that want to do good but cannot change fast enough to help or act.   

And they had come too Him…..day after day…evening after evening….the needs….the sickness…the anger ……the alienation…the shouted words….the blood….day after day….evening after evening….it tired the disciples….it tired our Lord….And yet they kept coming….like sheep without a shepherd.   But that was back then….a simple society…nothing at all like our own this day.  When does the next bus leave for the wilderness?

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. ³¹He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. ³²And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. ³³Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.

So this is the scene.  Way back then….but perhaps not so far back.   Sheep…..sometimes innocent….many times guilty……themselves…Ezekiel 34 really paints that  picture….the whole blame cannot go on the shepherds….sheep and goats themselves beat each other out for the water and the grass……Here we have shepherds here we have sheep…..good, bad, confused, participants in what seems to be the endless…and perhaps most depressing scene of our condition. 

But now another side of the equation.   Jeremiah promised a Shepherd who would care….and Mark and the other evangelists….writing sometime just before or just after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D… not at all immune to the complexities of cruelty….having just described the beheading of John the Baptist a chapter before…not at all immune to homicide…yet the tell of a Shepherd who cared…a shepherd who loved….and a shepherd who healed and fed.  They told and tell us of a God who has acted…taken the initiative and continues to save in the midst of what seems to be bewildering situations.  The evangelists would have us know that there is a Good Shepherd there if we allow him to lead us.  ….if we see…him…hear him and follow him.

The offer is there…..He reaches out….He is there.  Can we listen….can we let Him lead us? Can we slow down to hear his will….and his good news for us?

Let me tell you about the Oblivious Shepherd and his Oblivious sheep who did not have a clue.   Early in my ministry..around 1968.. I served two small congregation of peasant farmers in rural Venezuela.   One of our congregations was in a village called Quebrada Seca….it literally means Dry Gulch….small farmers who had been re-located because of the agrarian reform program of the government.  In any event about the only thing most of them shared was their poverty.  Our small Lutheran mission had worked there for years.  Each Christmas the high point of the celebration was the live Nativity.   Early in the year we had purchased a property right along side the street.  It was a beat up thatched house, made of mud..It waited for us to tear it down..but we decided that it had to be the site of the Live Nativity.  And so, the night before Christmas…or a day or so before….in the afternoon.  The entire cast….Mary, Joseph, the Donkey…the Wise Men….Some Angels…all came parading down the street to stop in front of the beat up house..now the scene of the manger.   Everyone was in their place.   Mary in Blue and White….the donkey…the angels…the magi…..  And then all of a sudden….out of the blue…one of the local shepherds…..a sort of eccentric loner who lived in the mountains… came driving his herd of sheep right through the manger scene….right in front of the Christ Child and Mary and Joseph.  He whistled…he led….he pushed….he was in a hurry….the whole herd passed by in a matter of a minute….   But what struck me then and still does to this day..is that the man never knew he had been in the middle of the great drama of all time….

The Babe was there inviting….the Babe was there offering…. The shepherd  was busy…He was noisy…and the sheep…well…they just wanted to get to the next pasture…..to the next water hole…completely oblivious to the world around them.

IT DOES Not Have to be that way!  This part of the sixth chapter of Mark’s Gospel is really the transition bridge to the feeding of the 5000.   This is….only the set up for the miracle…  To see the sheep without a shepherd…but now to actually be fed by the Shepherd himself.   Mark used the same words about breaking  The string of verbs (“took bread, … blessed, broke, and gave”) is identical to that in the account of the last meal (14:24). In the account of the feeding of the 4000 that follows in Mark 8:1–9, the sequence of verbs is the same, with the exception of the second, which is “give thanks” (eucharisteō) instead of “bless”

Mark was writing to a New Testament people…a people acquainted with adversity, sadness, persecution…..the lack of earthly shepherding….   And yet…. He offered the real shepherd….the suffering shepherd who would continue to tire and suffer with the people to whom he ministered then and for whom he would die and rise again….. A people …those people for whom he would offer himself…..in the bread and the wine….a flock of sheep…weak, vulnerable….and often tired…like those first apostles….sent to serve…sent to suffer…sent to weep…sent to go back into the crowds…back to hearing of the hurting….back to trying to serve…..and educate  and legislate….and protest……but sent at the same time to reach out to oblivious shepherd and sheep alike…with a word…”You are not alone……with a presence…with a ministry….wherever it may take us.  Amen.  

“The powerlessness of a king” (Mark 6:14-29)

Mark 6:14-29

Pastor Tom Johnson, July 12, 2015

Our gospel reading from Mark has all the elements of the tabloids: abuse of power, royal scandal, sexual misconduct, ghosts haunting the living, and senseless violence. Why would this story be so important to include in the overall message of the good news of Jesus Christ? What can we learn from this tragedy? How can we be encouraged in the midst of the misuse of power? How can we grow in grace when evil, sin, and death seen to have won the day? This I believe is the purpose of this account and story.

From the very beginning, King Herod’s head hardly seems fully functional. He hears about Jesus and all the great things he is preaching and the miracles he is performing. Guilt for what he did and fear of the consequences drives him to superstitious madnesss. Herod does not see Jesus as his own person, but a reincarnation of John the Baptist. Why such fear? Why is King Herod so paralyzed from the neck up by irrational belief? Perhaps it is because Herod’s power is on loan from the Roman state. He is a kind of puppet-king with no true, royal lineage. To say it another way, he is the head of the Judean people as king but his head has never been fully attached. This account of Herod gives us a number of cues to let us know that Herod is as much a slave of sin as he is master.

John speaks out against Herod for marrying his brother’s wife. Herod wants to silence any public criticism. He fears having a bad reputation with his own subjects. So Herod arrests John in order to silence him. There is no First Amendment to protect John. There is no separation of church and state. So Herod arrests John but keeps him close because he finds John entertaining.  Herod knows John is righteous, a holy man, and a prophet. And because of that, Herod fears John. That is what our Scripture says: “Herod feared John.” We are in on that little secret: that the king is afraid of the one who is supposedly under his power. So, John is under arrest but also under Herod’s protection. But in a sad and twisted turn, Herod does not even have the power to protect his prisoner. Part of his powerlessness is due to his foolishness.

Herod’s daughter Herodias dances at his birthday party. He is so entertained, happy, and proud of his daughter, he makes an outrageous outburst—probably a thoughtless word more to impress his guests than follow through on his offer. “What do you want for such a beautiful dance, Herodias my daughter? I’ll give you anything you want up to 50% of my estate,” Herod says. Herodias is as cunning as she is nimble on her feet. She asks mom for advice before responding. Mom sees an opportunity. She may not be the head but she is the neck that will turn the head. She calls Herod on his bluff: “Give me John the Baptist’s head on a platter—now.” How can Herod refuse? How can he take back his word? He must save face to save his own head. He cannot let his birthday party guests down. So, the king must take orders from his daughter to carry out this royal crime and abuse of power. In so doing, loses his own head.

In many ways, this story foreshadows another leader, Pontius Pilate, and his arrest and execution of Jesus. He too is a slave to the mobs who cry out “Crucify!” He too is under enormous pressure from his wife who has a nightmare. And like Herod, Pilate will sentence Jesus to death against his better judgment and will. He is the “head of state” but his head also seems hardly attached. These tragic acts by the authorities, and the background to them, reveal that our struggle against evil is even worse than what we may have thought. Just as Scripture says: “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). Even the powerful are powerless. Even perpetrators are victims. Even those who cut off heads have had their heads of authority cut off long ago. This problem with evil is bigger than we often imagine. It is a corporate illness. We can call it “sin,” our “fallen human nature,” or simply “evil.” We are all guilty of sin and victims of sin from head to toe.

A month ago, nine sisters and brothers in Christ were killed in a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Three of those killed were pastors. It is pure evil. Evidence suggests that the alleged killer is a white supremacist. By killing these church leaders, he may have thought that he was cutting the head off the black community. But that would be a lie. And a lie cannot live forever. The head of the Church is Christ. And when the powers tried to cut him off by crucifying him, it only secured our salvation. In his crucifixion and rising from the tomb, Jesus overcame death, the devil, and all the world’s sin. In President Obama’s words about the tragedy, he said, “As a nation, out of this terrible tragedy, God has visited grace upon us. For He has allowed us to see where we’ve been blind.” How can he be so bold? Because God’s people see behind the mask of racism, hate, and murder. Underneath that mask, we see a sinner in desperate need of the grace of God. We see our true condition. Instead of cutting off the head of that community, Dylan Roof encountered the grace of God. Some of the family went up to the alleged murderer and offered him forgiveness: “I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you,” a daughter of one victim said. “We have no room for hating, so we have to forgive,” said the sister of another. “I pray God on your soul,” said another.

I also pray those words will not be received as the haunting of the ghosts of those he killed but as an encounter with God’s amazing grace—the head of the Church, our Savior, Redeemer—the One restores heads to bodies in the resurrection—who forgives and assures us that we have a place at the eternal banquet of the true King.

Faith of our fathers!We will love both friend and foe
in all our strife
proclaim thee too, as love knows how,
by saving word
and faithful life.
Faith of our fathers, holy faith,
we will be true to you till death.                     (From hymn Faith of Our Fathers)

“Is not this the carpenter?” (Mark 6:1-13)

Mark 6:1-13

 

Pastor Tom Johnson, July 5, 2015

There is a tradition for newly ordained pastors. Sometimes it includes being ordained in their home congregation. Sometimes they preach their first sermon in their home congregation or are invited to preach early on in their ministry. My good friend, Pastor Ryan Tietz, will be preaching for the first time in his home congregation, St. James, in Lafayette, Indiana next week. He just received a call to be professor of Hebrew at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is just now preaching there the first time even though he has been ordained for quite some time. He is very excited. Although, his sermon text is from Amos which is about the rejection of his ministry by his own people. Ironic.

I was never asked to preach in my home congregation. It is Covenant Presbyterian Church in West Lafayette, Indiana. Maybe it is because they called Tom Johnson to be their associate pastor about the same time I was ordained. I met Tom Johnson while I was in seminary. He is a really nice person. He has been serving at my home congregation for over 18 years now. I really don’t blame them for choosing that Tom Johnson over this Tom Johnson. I don’t think they take offense at me. I don’t take any offense at them. It’s just good to know that it is possible for Tom Johnsons to be received well in ministry. Although, I will say, it would be awkward for this Tom Johnson. The congregation would remember little TJ making a mad dash to the donuts after service—or the Tom Johnson who had to mow the church lawn for a whole summer because he snuck into the sanctuary with his friend, pulled pipes out of the organ consul, and blew into them like a flute. Not that Tom Johnson, I assure you!

This morning we join Jesus on a visit to his hometown. He begins to teach in his home synagogue. And they are quite impressed. “Preach it, rabbi!” they thought. “He is really good. Such wisdom and depth! What great power and authority!” And then they catch themselves. “Wait a minute…hold on, everyone. The last time we saw this rabbi he was covered in sawdust. Hard labor in the wood shed had callused his hands. We know his mom, Mary, and his brothers and sisters. “What sort of résumé is that? His origin is too close to ours. Our stories are too similar. We know he is mere flesh and blood. Do you remember that one time he stayed back in Jerusalem and his family could not find him? His parents were beside themselves. We all were.” And because people in Jesus’ hometown expected less from Jesus, they received less from him. And Jesus himself could not believe that they would so carelessly cut themselves off from all the blessings God had in store for them.

The truth is we cut ourselves off from God’s blessings all the time—just like the people in Jesus’ hometown. We do this when our vision of God is small. We do this when we remake God into our own image like people in Jesus’ hometown. God has made us in his image. God created us to reflect his love, creativity, and care for this world. Theologians call this the Imagio Dei. It is a very profound truth but just as simple: God made us. And he molds us to do his work on earth. We have not made God. We do not mold and shape God. And yet, that is exactly what we try to do. Just look at recent news and our reaction to it. It is good to do some soul searching as a nation in reaction to horrific violence and death. It is good for us to work together for laws that support our values and laws that bring glory to God. But it is not good when we speak of God or of Jesus in mere human terms and categories. “Is not this the carpenter?” Would not Jesus be a Republican? Would he not be a Democrat? Would he not take our side on this or that social issue? We presume we have got this Christ-figure figured out, well-categorized, and working for us. But what we have really done is diminish our vision of who Jesus is. He is not American. It makes me cringe to say that—especially just one day after the 4^th of July. He is Savior of the world. He loves all people. He is on humanity’s team. This Scripture reminds us that we should not despise the humanity in others.

I believe this is critical in our message to the world around us. I know it is probably not our intention but many non-Christians think that we follow a God who despises certain people, takes sides against them, or excludes them from his plan. We may not introduce doubt to the world by the question “Is not this the carpenter?” but we do when we define by mere human categories or remake God into our image. Sadly, many in the world sees a judge of sinners instead of a friend of sinners.

“Is not this the carpenter?” Yes, he is. Our Savior made furniture and homes with his hands. He got his hands covered in sawdust. He took gnarly branches and stumps and made beautiful beams and joints. He used tools with an artisan’s skill. This is the same eternal Word made flesh—the flesh and bones of a carpenter. He is the Son of God through whom heaven and earth were made. He not only has sawdust on his hands; he also has stardust on his hands. He is maker of heaven and earth. He works with wood. He works with dust and breathes into our nostrils the spirit of life. He knits us together in our mothers’ wombs. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. And the Carpenter has only begun his craft. The Carpenter puts his hands to the wooden cross. He transforms this Roman tool of death into an instrument of forgiveness and salvation. He rises from the dead to whittle, carve, and remake us. The Carpenter fashions us again into his own image with his nail-marked hands. And he says, “I make all things new.”