Why Sabbath?

Mark 2:23-3:6

One sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

In Simon Sinek’s book, “Start with Why”, he points out a common pattern of great leaders.  While many of us start with “what” we do, great leaders begin with “why” we do it.  For him, the key, is to begin everything with WHY.  Marketing, advertising, product development, a political campaign or a movement to change the world; to really connect with people, leaders must begin with WHY.  It turns out that beginning with WHY makes connections in our brains at the deepest and most lasting levels.  From that deep beginning in WHY, then you can talk about HOW you want to do something and then talk about WHAT doing something might look like. 

In this Gospel lesson, the Pharisees were focused on WHAT people did on the Sabbath.  Was Jesus harvesting grain on the Sabbath?  Was Jesus traveling on the Sabbath?  WHAT was Jesus doing on the Sabbath?  When Jesus got to the Synagogue, he saw the man with the withered hand and he tried to get the Pharisees to go deeper.  He wanted them to consider WHY they did Sabbath.  Is the Sabbath something that gives life or takes it?  Jesus wanted them to really think about the Sabbath and not just do what they’ve always done.  Their silence left Jesus angry.  They wouldn’t even try to go deeper.  This is the only time in the Bible we read that Jesus is angry.  Even the cleansing of the Temple was not done out of anger.  

The Pharisees were stuck.  The rules God had given them to help them better connect with God and one another… the rules themselves had become their god.  Jesus asking WHY was seen as Jesus questioning god.  They were worshiping the Law rather than the One who gave the law.  Jesus knew that they were stuck in their fear of Jesus’ power and out of a fear of the wrath of the Roman Empire crashing down on them.  All that fear caused them to be unable to even talk about HOW we do Sabbath, let alone WHY.  

But you and I… we don’t have to be stuck that way.  We can think about the question the Pharisees refused to engage. So, WHY do we do Sabbath… or maybe a better question is WHY does God think Sabbath is a thing we humans should keep?  I think a bunch of ancient and modern day Pharisee types believe we need to do the Sabbath “because God says so”.  But “because I say so” has never been a satisfactory answer from anyone and it’s also not a real answer to WHY, is it?  So, WHY does God think a Sabbath is a good idea for us?  Well, it’s not to boost God’s self esteem.  God did perfectly well for all that time before humans showed up on the scene, thank you very much, so I’m sure God is just fine without us stroking the Divine Ego.  Keeping the Sabbath is also not some sort of a rung on a ladder that will help us climb up closer to God.  Ever since God breathed life into the lump of clay that became humanity, God’s been deeply and intimately connected to you and me and all of creation.  We certainly can’t get any closer to God than God has already gotten to us and every other molecule of all of creation.  So then WHY Sabbath?  

When Jesus said to the folks gathered in the Synagogue, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath” he hit the WHY of doing Sabbath, right on the head.  God has told us to do Sabbath… to take one seventh of our lives as off-time… time apart… down-time… battery-charging time… God asks us to do that, because the One who designed us… the One who created us… the One who loved us into being… is also the One who best knows how we tick as human beings.  God didn’t just create us… God also wrote the instruction manual for us!  

And this one-seventh time off thing isn’t just meant to be for us humans.  God, it turns out, has designed all of creation to work that way.  Donkeys, oxen, livestock, migrant labor, men, women, boys and girls… everyone and every living thing needs one seventh of their lives spent in Sabbath time… a time of rest… a time of renewal.  

Folks often think of the ten commandments and all of God’s Law as something put in place to get in the way of us having fun… either that or a set of random rules sent by a god who just likes rules for rule’s sake.  But that isn’t the WHY of the ten commandments… that isn’t the WHY of the Law.  The best way I have heard to think about God’s Law is that God’s Law defines the playing field for being human.  Following the law keeps us on the field… it keeps us in play… it keeps us being fully human.  When we break the Law we go off the field, out of bounds, into foul territory… and when we do that, we are operating as LESS than the human being God created us to be.  

Playing by the rules.  Following the commandments was never about God setting traps for humans.  It was always about God, the One who made us, sharing with us how our human machine runs best.  God’s desire for us, and for all of creation, is for us to live an abundant, joy-filled and purpose-filled life.  The WHY of Sabbath is that Sabbath is a necessary component of experiencing that abundant life!  May we take steps toward that Abundant life, looking to the One who made us and loved us into being to guide us toward that goal, by taking Sabbath, by doing Justice, by loving Kindness and walking humbly in this world in love.  Amen.  

Bueller, Bueller, Bueller

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 3rd Chapter

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 

Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have

seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday.  Now, I’m a solid Trinitarian… Father, Son and Holy Spirit… sort of guy, but the preaching pitfalls on this day are legion!  Because of that, many Episcopal priests get the Deacon to preach and Lutherans are just now getting on board with Deacons… but either way, I don’t have a Deacon.  Others choose to simply lull the congregation to sleep with a history lesson on how the doctrine of the Trinity developed to avoid the theological pitfalls.  While still others just jump head first into one heresy or another trying to use water, an egg or even an apple pie to explain the infinite nature of God… and, of course, they fall miserably short.  In an attempt to avoid being either boring or heretical, I’m just going to talk about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off! 

Believe it or not, that’s not quite as crazy as it sounds!  Both Ferris Bueller in that iconic 80’s movie and Jesus in this lesson use the exact same, unique, technique to communicate with their audience.  In the movie, at various times, Ferris turns and looks right into the camera and talks, not to the other characters in the film, but to you and me in the audience.  It’s shockingly different!  It grabs your attention and that’s just what Jesus does toward the end of this lesson in John’s Gospel.  Both Jesus and Ferris break the fourth wall!

But before we get to that we’ve got to back up a little.  The Pharisees were a group of faithful Jewish folks who, about three hundred years before Jesus came on the scene, began to get uncomfortable with how much of the outside world’s traditions and ways were infiltrating the traditions and ways of the Jewish people.  The group that rose up in reaction to that change eventually became known as the Pharisees.  They were super strict, very legalistic, and an ultra exclusive group created to, well, “Make Judaism Great Again” and push back against all that change.  But then came Jesus.  

The Pharisees... ol’ Nicodemus in our story was one... didn’t know what to do with Jesus.  Jesus did miracles that they believed could only be done through the power of God, and at the same time Jesus lived a life that included every sort of foreigner and sinful person he ran into… a way of living they believed alienated you from God!  How could those two things both be true?  Nicodemus and the Pharisees had worked very, very hard for three hundred years at this point to safely place God in a very well defined and thoroughly theologized box… a box where God would be safe and sound and not subject to the ways of a changing world.  That night Jesus told Nicodemus… there is no box!   

Nicodemus couldn’t grasp any of it and who can blame him?  This was strange stuff!  Born from above… water, Spirit, and wind... What?  Imagine hearing this stuff for the first time... It’s just WEIRD!  But Jesus wasn’t TRYING to be confusing.  Jesus genuinely wanted to open Nicodemus up to the truth that God was bigger than he could imagine.  That God could not be contained in that box that he and the Pharisees had built.  

The truth and enormity of God’s nature and love is impossible to fully wrap our minds around.  The metaphors and doctrine we use to talk about God don’t fully contain God… they’re just the best we can do… they’re the best even Jesus could do!  They give little windows into the way God works, but never the full picture.  We can talk about how we experience God… as the Creator, as the Son, Jesus, and as the Holy Spirit… and they are true, but even that truth is just a part of the infinite that is God. 

At the end of this encounter, Nicodemus still didn’t really understand what Jesus was trying to tell him.  Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.”  And then it happens!  Jesus turns and breaks the fourth wall.  The Greek grammar makes it clear that Jesus is no longer talking only to Nicodemus.  Before we had been watching a scene where Jesus talked with Nicodemus, but now suddenly, Jesus turns and talks directly to you and me too!  Jesus says to us, “If I have told ya’ll about earthly things and ya’ll do not believe, how can ya’ll believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”

Jesus isn’t mad, he’s simply turning to the camera and telling us all… Nicodemus isn’t alone here folks… the fullness of God is beyond your understanding too!  And it turns out that’s alright.  We don’t need to fully wrap our minds around God to receive the gift of God’s love and grace.  “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  Jesus's got this… God’s got this!  

Our part in this is simply to believe… but not believe with our intellect.  This isn't about getting everything figured out in our heads… it's not about checking all the correct doctrinal boxes.  Our part in this is to do as Nicodemus did.  In spite of not having it all locked down, ol' Nick kept following Jesus.  He tried to get his fellow Pharisees to treat Jesus with justice.  He even followed Jesus after Jesus died, helping Joseph of Arimathea care for Jesus’ body.  

That’s what believing really is.  It’s not certainty.  It’s not getting God to fit in a box we can imagine.  It’s taking the next step to follow Jesus, even when you can’t fully wrap your mind around any of it.  Real faithfulness is following Jesus, living our lives in the Jesus way of living… struggling to be in a loving relationship with our neighbors and with a God we’ll never fully wrap our minds around and trusting that God's infinite love has got us, even when we can't ever fully get God.  Amen. 

Blowing Through Doors, Burning Down Walls

A Reading from Acts, the 2^nd Chapter

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

The first time I met Kelly’s dad, I was meeting a police captain and an Army sergeant major.  When our daughter brought a boyfriend home a few weeks ago, he had to meet me, BUT he ALSO had to go to church for the first time… not just the first time at THIS church… the first time he had EVER gone to any church in his entire life!  I think between the two experiences, he probably wins.  Plus he seems to be a good guy so I don’t mind him winning that contest.   

But that encounter brought to the front of my mind, something that’s been in the back of my mind for a while.  And that thought is that it might not be a bad idea, with uniquely “churchy” things, not to assume everyone knows about “churchy” things these days and I might ought to back up and start at the beginning from time to time.  So today is Pentecost, which is one of those uniquely “churchy” things, so let’s back up to the beginning!

Pentecost is one of the three big Jewish festivals where, as a faithful Jewish person back in the day, you would, if at all possible, make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate.  It happens fifty days after Passover.  Passover (another churchy thing) was the celebration of the people of Israel being freed from their bondage in Egypt where they were slaves.  Fifty days after walking out of Egypt, the people found themselves parked at Mount Sinai, where they were given the ten commandments.  That was the first Pentecost.  Now, this wasn’t so much about getting a new set of rules as it was about the creation of a new community… it was the beginning of a new way of living together as God’s people.  The old way of living in Egypt had ended.  A new way of living had begun, not as property, but as God’s children.  

The Pentecost we read about today is the story of an event that happened many years later on that Jewish festival day.  That’s why there were Parthians, Medes, and people from lots of other difficult-to-pronounce places gathered in Jerusalem.  When the SECOND Pentecost happened that day, it echoed many of the same themes as the FIRST Pentecost.  Like the FIRST Pentecost, this second Pentecost was also the beginning of a new way of living together as God’s people.  Because of that, some people call it the “Birthday” of the Church… although calling it the “Baptism” of the Church is probably better since the Holy Spirit comes to us in Baptism.  This second Pentecost, also opened a new way for God’s people to live together… a new, radically-inclusive way of living… a way all people could be included as Children of God.    

Here in the book of Acts (which is the sequel to Luke’s Gospel) the symbols of wind and fire (two of the most unpredictable things you can imagine) bring together people from all over the known world and now, through the transformational power of this Holy Spirit… things that have always divided people are blown apart.  Cultures, borders, languages, walls… everything that humans do to keep people apart from one another are burned away by this Spirit.  This second Pentecost is about God presence, in the form of this powerful, mysterious, Holy Spirit, bringing the world back together from all the millions of ways that it has been torn and broken and shattered apart.  

And that work… the work of the Holy Spirit blowing apart walls and shattering divisions and bringing people together in an inclusive community of equal human dignity… That isn’t JUST the work of the Holy Spirit.  When we are Baptized, we are baptized with that same Spirit and we too are also given the Holy Spirit’s work to do in the world.  

In Baptism we are asked in the liturgy to renounce Satan and stand up against all the forces that rebel against God’s desire for this inclusive kind of community.  We are asked to renounce the evil powers that corrupt, destroy and diminish other human beings and creation.  We are asked to accept the loving and inclusive Way of Jesus and trust in his ways of grace and love.  In Baptism we promise to continue to build this new, unified community with study, fellowship, worship and prayer.  We promise to stand together and persevere in resisting that divisive, hateful, evil.  We promise to both speak and live the ways of Jesus… live the Good News WAY Jesus lived… a way of love that is stronger than hate… a way of unity that is more powerful than division.  We promise to serve the Christ that lives equally in ALL people and we promise to strive for justice and peace in all the world and respect the dignity of every human being… a dignity that transcends every wall and border.

In the FIRST Pentecost God brought together the people of Israel.  Freed from the indignity and evil of slavery in Egypt… Freed from the people who saw them as less than human.  God rejected that evil notion and formed them into a new community.  In the SECOND Pentecost, the Holy Spirit blew apart national boundaries, cultures and languages and burned down the notion that only some were God’s chosen people and then that Holy Spirit again formed a even wider, more inclusive, unified community.  

Now at TODAY’S Pentecost… at OUR Pentecost, we look at out at the same sorts of powers at work in our world… powers that continue to to divide, build walls, reject the presence of Christ in every person and reject the dignity God gives every human being…  And at OUR Pentecost, the Holy Spirit blows and burns against all of that evil once again and insists that God’s vision for creation will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!  At our Pentecost the Holy Spirit is again burning and blowing... and God is again calling each and every one of us to join in the work begun in that first Pentecost and continued in the second Pentecost.  So, come Holy Spirit!  Burn the divisions and blow down the walls!  Move us boldly to confront the evil that demonizes and divides, and empower us to join with you in this new day, creating the world God intends for this to be!  

Acts 10:44-48

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

John 15:9-17

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

This week I saw a picture of a guy in a swimming pool.  He was up to his neck in water BUT, he was also pouring a bottle of water over his head to cool down.  Literally up to his neck in water, he was trying to refresh himself by pouring a little, tiny, 12 oz. bottle of water over his head!  The water was streaming down his face in little rivulets but it never hit his shoulders…. BECAUSE HIS SHOULDERS WERE UNDER WATER!  

You might laugh at that, and you probably should.  It’s literally swimming in irony.  But here’s the thing:  I think that’s EXACTLY how we all-too-often think about God’s love.  We know God’s love is amazing and powerful and refreshing and wondrous.  SO, we all-too-often assume it must be something in desperately short supply.  The world tells us valuable things are always in short supply, SO this valuable thing MUST be something that we’ll need to work and worry and think and pray about in order to get and feel lucky to have, in even a tiny amount that might fit in a tiny, little-bitty container… like water in a 12 oz. bottle.  We ASSUME God's love is this rare, scarce thing when the REALITY is that you, me and all of creation… we’re literally SWIMMING in it!  Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest and mystic says, “We cannot ATTAIN the presence God, because we’re already, totally IN the presence of God.  What’s absent, is AWARENESS.”  Like fish swimming in water, you and I, and all of creation… we SWIM in the presence and love of God.  We breathe in God’s love with each breath, we are immersed in God’s presence with each moment of our being. 

In that lesson from the Book of Acts, you see the way God’s love functions.  God’s love isn’t small and isn't contained!  It doesn’t wait for Peter to be done blathering on with his sermon or anything else for that matter.  God’s Spirit doesn’t wait to be called or invoked or for just the right, human created rite.  God’s Spirit FALLS!  BAM!  On EVERYONE!  Like a deluge bursting through a broken dam, God’s Spirit FALLS!  

To Peter’s credit, THAT did get his attention and he stopped.  Stopped talking, stopped preaching, just stopped.  And he noticed.  He saw.  He was able, in that moment, to abide in the love of God which had FALLEN on that crowd.  And in that moment of abiding, he understood that it is not us who choose God... it is God who has already chosen us!  ALL of us!  Who are we to limit the waters of Baptism... the deluge of God’s love!?  And clearly no containers with labels like “Jew” or “Gentile” (or any other label for that matter) will contain the flood of God’s love either!  God’s love FALLS!  Full force... on you, me and on all of creation! 

That’s what Jesus was trying to get the disciples to see in the Gospel lesson.  He was trying to get them to stop frantically scrambling for just a tiny, small, teeny-weenie 12 oz. bottle of God’s love…. something that they might snatch and fight and keep to themselves for those times when they were running low.  Jesus was trying to get them to stop… to abide… to realize that what they were looking for… what they assumed only came in a limited, particular, tiny, hard-to-come-by container was actually the stuff in which they had always been swimming!  The fact was, that the Love they were looking for… the presence of God they were longing for… it was the exact same stuff they had ALWAYS been immersed in from before they were even a twinkle in their parents’ eyes.  

Jesus is still trying, even today, to get his disciples to do the exact same thing.  To stop.  For just a moment… stop.  Stop searching, stop running, stop frantically working.  Stop figuring, stop calculating, and stop theologizing.  Stop racing, stop strategizing, stop preaching… and just for a moment… not forever, because none of that stuff is intrinsically bad… but just for a moment… Jesus is asking us to stop everything… and notice… to stop everything and abide... abide in God’s love.  To be still and know.  To listen, and hear that still, small voice.  To be conscious of your next breath and know, that the Holy Spirit is in that breath and in every breath that miraculously happens without you noticing.  Jesus is asking us, for just…one…moment to STOP… to stop and notice that the love we seek… the belonging we seek… the peace, joy and the contentment we desperately seek… the stuff that the world would have you believe is so rare, so limited, and so small that it could only fill something little like a 12 oz. bottle... THAT stuff is actually the very stuff in which you and me and all of creation lives and moves and has it's being.   

Jesus knew, among many things, that enormity of God’s love is part of what makes it so hard for those disciples then, and us disciples now, to do that… to notice… to abide.  Awareness of God’s love, Jesus tells his disciples, will likely take some practice and the way we practice being aware of God’s love for us, is by loving the people around us... not with a sentimental love, but with a love that drives us to do what’s in the other’s best interest and by living lives of gratitude, compassion and generosity.  May we, like Peter, stop.  Stop and notice, how the Holy Spirit has fallen on us and all of creation and by loving our neighbor a little more each day, live into the realization that we’ve all been swimming in God’s infinite love all along!  Amen.