The Reward of Love

A Sermon for Proper 12 A – RCL (7-24-2011)

Offered by Nathan Wilson Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Genesis 29:15-28; Psalm 105:1-11, 45b; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Themes:         Jacob and Rachel, parables of the kingdom, love of Christ                     

Title:               The Reward of Love

My dear friends, I have a question for you to consider: What is the reward of love?

What reward do we receive when we love something, or love someone?

Throughout this summer, during this Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary, we find ourselves wrestling once again with many of the parables of our Lord Jesus Christ. And today is certainly no exception, for we are given a whole bunch all together en masse – 5 parables, in fact, are found here in our Gospel reading.

We could easily lose our way if we attempted to look at the setting of each parable and it’s original meaning when it was first spoken. There is just too much detail to consider for that in this setting. So let me focus on the parable of the pearl of great value. And let me suggest that here in this short parable we can, in fact, most easily identify the one common theme that runs throughout all of the Lord’s parables.

Listen to it again: “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

What do you notice? Do you see what happens in this little story?

This merchant fell in love with this pearl of great value. He loved it! He made a decision that he was not going to live without it. And, while the story does not speak to the future, it is certain that the merchant never departed from that pearl, that he never sold it nor gave it away. He could not have done so.

He loved that pearl. And so I ask you in all earnestness: what was his reward?

What is the reward of love?

           

Do you see the connection between this parable and the declaration of Christ that “whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me”…because “those who lose their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37-39)?

There is no rational way to explain the merchant selling all that he has in order to buy this one pearl. There is no rational explanation for the man selling all that he has in order to buy that one field in which he hid his treasure. There is no rational way to explain loving Jesus more than any other person, and indeed more even than your own life.

How do you explain this? We cannot. This kind of behavior is the fruit of love.

The one thing that is the common link to all of these parables of the kingdom, and in fact to everything that the Lord taught in all the Gospels, is, quite simply, himself.  

My friends: this is the amazing message of the kingdom: that entrance to the real presence of the living God is now possible and attainable through this one individual person, Jesus the Messiah.

You see, there is no secret to the kingdom of God, as if we could sit here and identify the ten characteristics and qualities of the kingdom of the heavens.

We cannot ever, ever do that, because the message of the kingdom is Jesus!

The incarnate One is himself the seed which is cast abroad into the good soil, where he is buried and where he produces an abundant harvest.

He is himself the mustard seed that is taken and sown – read, buried – in the field, and subsequently produces a tree capable of providing shelter for all who come to him.

He is himself the yeast, which is mixed in – or, once again, buried – in the dough and then who slowly changes the entire mix of humanity.

He is himself the pearl of great price for whom those who love him are willing to give all away.

He is himself the net cast into the sea, who did gather – while he walked the roads of Palestine years ago – and who continues to gather all types of people into the community gathered around him.

When he first began his public ministry, Jesus began by saying, “the kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:15). By which he was explaining that the kingdom has come, because HE has come.

When he looked at the rich young ruler and declared that he lacked one thing, it is clear that the one thing lacking was a loving relationship with himself!

Jesus Christ is himself the message of the kingdom! He is the treasure that is old and yet ever new!

And this is why I say, over and over again -  as I am certain you are tired of hearing me say, that there is no such thing as Christianity, as if we could talk about some set of ideas or principles or concepts or some other such non-sense!

Christianity does not exist. But what does exist are actual communities of human beings who love and worship an actual and historic man who we know by experience to be the Son of God, the Incarnation of God in the real world.

Do you see, my friends, how the journey by which we come to a place of deep faith and trust in Christ is like falling in love rather than like learning how to change the oil in your car?  

We do not learn trust; we fall into it. We discover it. Or, perhaps more truly, it overtakes us.       

Speaking of the process of falling in love, did you hear these beautiful words from the ancient story of Jacob and Rachel? “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.”

Jacob did not learn to love Rachel by diligently studying all of her attributes and characteristics. He could not help it; it overtook him, and he fell into love with Rachel.

And so we come back around to our initial question: what is the reward of love?

Is it to be loved in return? Perhaps, though that is quite a selfish goal, and if this is the true motivation of the lover, then we may doubt whether this is love after all, but rather a careful plan to secure a good life and happiness for oneself.

But what about you: What is the reward of loving Jesus? What do we gain by falling in love with him? What reward do you expect for your love of Christ?

St. Gregory the Great, who served as the Bishop of Rome in the 6^th century, had this to say about the merchant who found this pearl of great value:

“Solomon justly says of such love, ‘Love is strong as death’ (Song of Solomon 8:6), because just as death destroys the body, so ardent desire for eternal life cuts off the love for material things. For love makes insensitive to extraneous earthly desires the person whom it has swept off his feet” (In Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Matthew 1-13, p. 287).

I appreciate his insight into the love of the merchant for the pearl which caused him to ignore the cost of the extraneous earthly things required to procure it, but I object strongly to his understanding of the object of this love.

St. Gregory calls this the “ardent desire for eternal life”. Really? The ardent desire for eternal life? Let me ask you this: did Jacob serve his uncle Laban for 14 years because of his ardent desire to be married? Or was it because he fell in love with Rachel – with that particular woman?

It’s absolutely silly to talk about being inspired by our love of the abstract concept of eternal life. But it is true and real and authentic to be inspired by our love of a particular, unique person: and that one is the incarnate One, God in human form, the Lamb of God who has come to redeem us and set us free.

Now, I recognize that some of you here this morning could possibly be disturbed, because you may not feel as if love for our Lord has swept you off your feet.

If that is your condition this morning, do not despair. I am certain that even Jacob eventually lost that feeling of being “lost in love” with Rachel. But what did not change was his commitment to her, his commitment that he would not live his life without her, no matter what!

And after all, it is this kind of commitment that is the surest sign and the clearest testimony to your love for Christ , whether or not you feel that love at any given moment. 

The merchant made a commitment to that pearl of great value. No matter what, he would not live without that pearl. He had to have it in his life.

You and I are here today because, on some level, we have each made that kind of commitment to Christ. We will not live without him in our lives. 

My friends: take some time this week, or during this summer, to reflect upon your commitment to Christ, your love and devotion to him. When it first started. Where it developed. And let us all reflect upon how we can let that love grow in our hearts, like the mustard seed, until it becomes greater than any other commitment in our lives.

For I promise you that the reward which comes from that kind of love and commitment to Christ is worth the price. Amen.  

The Careless Sower

A Sermon for Proper 10 A – RCL (7-10-2011)

Offered by Nathan Wilson Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Genesis 25:19-34; Psalm 119:105-112; Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Themes:         the birthright, understanding the word of the kingdom, the good soil

Title:               The Careless Sower

Just imagine this scene, my friends:

Such a large crowd of people gather to join us as we hear the word of God in our worship that this place cannot contain all of them! They are drawn by the power and beauty and mystery of this word, and more are drawn than this house of worship can hold. So we have to go outside and meet outside so that everyone can hear and see!

Can you imagine such a thing?

Our Lord Jesus Christ had a problem that we can only dream about having.

There was such a crowd of people gathered around him that he was not able to speak freely or to teach as he wished. So he got into a boat while all of the people stood on the beach and patiently listened to the many things that he had to teach them.

I guess folks there didn’t go away for the summer, and I guess they didn’t have their children so involved in sports that they were too busy to stop and listen to the word of God!

Oh well, what can we say? Many people are still drawn like this to listen to Jesus, in many different parts of the world, but not so much in this part of the world right now.

Things have certainly changed here in American society.

But, things have NOT really changed in the hearts of individual human beings.

In this great parable of the sower, the Lord describes 4 different types of responses to the message of the Gospel, the word of the Kingdom.

Here, the Lord places people into 4 general categories as described by types of soil which receive the seed cast out by the sower: the hard-trodden path, the rocky ground, the thorn-choked ground, and finally, the good soil.

I know that all of you here have heard this parable many times before. BUT the crucial importance of this word of the kingdom demands that we stop and reflect once more and ask ourselves: what kind of soil am I?

This was clearly the original intent when Jesus first sat in the boat and spoke to the crowds who gathered around him. Why did they come? What did they want from him? And better yet, what were they willing to give to him?

It is too easy to simply assume that, of course, WE are the good soil, that WE are ones who hear the word, who embrace it, who understand it, and who an abundant harvest.

Are we? Do we truly understand the word of the kingdom?

The Lord is clear in emphasizing that those who are the good soil are the people who hear the word of the kingdom and who understand it.  Do we understand the word of the kingdom?

It has been said that if you gather together a group of regular church-goers and ask them to summarize on one piece of paper the teachings of Jesus Christ, it is certain that you will get many references to the golden rule, to the beatitudes, to the commandment to love God and our neighbor.

But what seems always to be conspicuously absent from such summaries is any reference to the kingdom of God. And yet, Jesus talked far more about the kingdom than anything else.

Do we actually understand this word of the kingdom? And better yet, do we understand it in such a way that we have embraced it, taken it into our hearts and nurtured it and given it a place to grow, just like the good soil does to the seed that is cast upon it?

Is it true that trouble or persecution or hardship in your life does not hinder your growth in the kingdom? Is it true that your worries about money, your anxieties about the future, do not strangle the full flowering of your trust in God’s kingdom?

We must ask ourselves this question, again and again and again. Because we are always on the journey with God through this life, and it is very important not to take the openness of our hearts for granted.

But there is another aspect to this parable, one that offers a word of encouragement to go along with this word or warning.

Jesus is the sower. He leaves the house where he spoke in private with his disciples, and he goes out into the world to speak with the mass of humanity full of need and pain. And here he comes to cast the word of the Kingdom abroad to all people.

Jesus is the sower who has come to cast the seed, and who continues to cast this seed abroad through his Body on earth today, the Body of Christ.

We are part of that Body. We have been brought into this Body through the water and the Holy Spirit as given in baptism, and so we have been brought into a new life where Jesus continues to cast the seed of the kingdom out to every new generation.

Jesus is the sower, and he sows now through us.

But, note, please that he is not a careful sower.

His concern is not for taking care of the seed; it is not to ensure that not of it is wasted.

Quite the contrary: this sower seems intent, in fact, on wasting the seed, on casting it far and wide, onto every corner of the earth and into every human heart.

After all, it is the One he calls Abba who makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

God is notoriously careless and flippant in the distribution of grace and blessings. This divine sower can afford to be careless with the seed, because his supply can never run out! 

And this, my friends, gets us to what I believe is at the very core of our human dilemma.

We love control. We love to be in charge. In fact, most humans are quite obsessed with controlling their environment and with controlling the course of their lives. In many cases, we even make great efforts to control others as well.

This is nothing new, of course. We have the great ancient stories of the patriarchs and matriarchs of Genesis to demonstrate how this obsession to control has been central to the human condition in every age.

But to truly receive and understand the word of the kingdom means that we give up our desire to control, our obsession with being in control.

Instead, we rest in full trust in the goodness of God who loves us more than we can ever dare to imagine.

Because we know that the sower continues to cast abroad his grace in the kingdom of God, and we know that nothing will thwart the abundance of his harvest.  

What kind of soil are you, my friends? Are you ready to embrace the word of the kingdom, to open your hearts to the word, and to allow it to take root and to bear fruit in your lives, and so to give your life away for the sake of God’s kingdom?

If you do, I promise you that you will never be disappointed.  Amen.

Isaac loved Rebekah

A Sermon for the Proper 9 A – RCL (7-3-2011)

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:             Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67; Song of Solomon 2:8-13;

                        Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Themes:         marital love and intimacy, enjoyment of life, pleasure

Title:               Isaac loved Rebekah

Isaac loved Rebekah.

My friends, did you notice that one little line which was added at the end of this ancient story which describes how Isaac was given a wife from among Abraham’s own people? The text says: “Isaac took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her” (Genesis 24:67). 

Did you catch it? “He loved her.” That little sentence is completely unnecessary for this story to work. In a purely utilitarian view, those three words make no difference at all.

And yet, in fact, that sentence makes all the difference. Isaac loved Rebekah! And it mattered! And it was important, important enough to be included in our sacred scriptures.

And just after this story, we read responsively a passage from the Song of Solomon about the passion between lovers. Why is this love poem included in the Bible?

Once again, from a practical point of view, what do we gain by hearing and reading this ancient love poem? It seems so unnecessary, and yet, my friends, God deems it otherwise.

All of this is a clear witness, my friends, that God intends for us to live a life that is full of love, enjoyment and pleasure.  

Just two weeks ago, we heard here in worship the story of creation from the first chapter of Genesis. After each aspect of the universe was created, God observed what was there and declared that it was good.

And at the end of the sixth day, when all living beings, including humans, had been created, the text states this:

“God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

There is a clear sense in this text that God delights in the beauty of the universe.

Indeed, it is hard to imagine that it would not be so!

Nearly every human astronaut has remarked on the breath-takingly beautiful view of the earth from space, and on all of the beauty of the stars and the galaxies that they observe on their journey. And so can we even begin to imagine the extent of beauty that God observes every second millions and millions of times over?

It is true: God delights in the universe. And it is also true that God wants us to delight in the gift of life as well.

It is not enough just to do our duty. It is not enough to just to follow the rules and the commandments and the guidelines of God for life.

That can never be enough, because duty leaves us cold and lifeless.

Duty is never enough, because what God wants more than anything else is passionate people who love deeply: people who deeply love God, and one another, and who love those who are special to their heart.   

The Westminster Shorter Catechism, a puritan teaching tool from the 17^th century, is quite famous because it begins with this first question and answer,

Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

To glorify God and to enjoy God forever! To enjoy God.

Have you ever thought about enjoying God, about enjoying the ability to be in God’s presence? Just soaking up the beauty and goodness and faithfulness and creativity and generosity of God?

It is clear that many people enjoyed being in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Not everyone, that’s for sure. Not the Pharisees, not those who were so concerned with making sure that all of the rules were followed, that all of the traditions were carefully maintained. Not those who were anxious and afraid of making a mistake.

But many others did. “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ (Matthew 11:19).

You can see why this charge was leveled against him! After all, his first public act of ministry was to create 150 gallons of good wine for a wedding feast!

And what happened when he healed Peter’s mother? They had a feast.

And when he called Zacchaeus out of the tree? They had a feast.

And remember the feast when Mary Magdalene came and anointed the Lord’s feet?

And what was, in fact, the last time that he gathered with his closest friends? It was around a table, eating and drinking.

And what did he leave to his people as the primary way for us to remember him when we gather together?

We call it the Eucharist, of course, and it is a simple feast which is meant as a foretaste of the great wedding banquet to come.

And what does the Bible say about God’s plan for the future of humanity? The goal toward which God is directing the movement of human history is described as a feast, the great wedding feast of the Lamb in the new Jerusalem, where the tree of life will provide food in abundance for all. 

This is a deep truth, my friends, one that we all need to take to heart.

We are beings of flesh and blood, and this is the way that God intended it to be.

We are meant to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh: the love of those close to us, the intimacy of passion, the myriad of food and drinks from the earth, music and the arts and all of the creative gifts of humanity.

All of this is good, part of the creation which God has called “very good.”

But, of course, a word of warning is needed.

This is not to say that the way to a full and abundant life is simply through partying, eating and drinking and sensual pleasures! Hedonism is what we call that, and it is most often a way of life for those who do not want to face the fact of their own mortality.

It is a very different thing when we enjoy the goodness of love and the beauty of creation in a spirit of gratitude to our Creator, and in joyful celebration of God’s faithfulness and goodness.

When celebrated in this way, as a foretaste of the greater joy which we will have one day in the nearer presence of God, then all of these gifts of love, enjoyment and pleasure are sanctified by our true motivation and intention to glorify and enjoy God forever.

Isaac loved Rebekah. And God loves us. And we are here to glorify God and to enjoy God here in this good and beautiful world, and even in the life beyond the grave.

Thanks be to God. Amen.  

  

Obedient From the Heart

A Sermon for the Proper 8 (RCL A) 6-26-2011

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Genesis 22:1-14; Psalm 13; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42

Themes:         obedience, sin, righteousness

Title:               Obedient from the Heart

My friends: what image comes to your mind if I suggest to you right now that God longs for each one of us to fully and willingly obey God’s commandments?

Do you think of a place like Jonestown, where blind obedience to authority leads to a dangerous loss of freedom and safety?

Well, let me suggest to you this morning that obedience from the heart, as St. Paul so carefully explained, is in fact the pathway to a life of joyful freedom and life.

Of course, obedience is a word which we shun in our society today. We do not like anything at all that suggests the curtailing of our individual rights and freedoms.

And yet, sacrifice and obedience are the themes of this Sunday, and we must grapple with these if we are to understand what it means to live in Christ.

We begin, rather directly, with the sacrifice of Isaac. The text is quite clear.

God tested Abraham’s trust and Abraham obeyed. Abraham did in fact offer his son.

Remember that what matters in the realm of the spirit is the intention of the heart.

For God’s purpose, the sacrifice of Isaac was complete, because Abraham clearly intended to obey the divine command, regardless of how it might appear to affect himself and his future.

But let’s also be clear about this: God had no desire for Isaac to die. And God had no intention of allowing this sacrifice to be carried out to completion. But it does seem that God needed to see what Abraham would do.

Abraham trusted in this God, the One who had spoken to him so clearly on numerous occasions before, the One who had made such profound promises to Abraham and his descendents.

In this relationship, Abraham had never had reason to doubt God. In fact, just the opposite! At this point in his life, Abraham trusted God completely. This trust means that he was willing to obey what God commanded.

Abraham was willing to sacrifice that which was closest to him – even his son, his heir – out of love and loyalty to God.

What are you willing to sacrifice to God? And, honestly, what do you think might happen if you actually make that sacrifice, if you actually take that step forward in trust and obedience?

OK. Abraham is a mythical kind of man, so far in the past and shrouded in the mists of time. It may be difficult to think of him as a real model which we can follow.

Here are two true, more contemporary examples of what happens when we step out in obedience.

There is a story retold by church workers in the mountains of southwestern China working among the Lisu people of a Lisu man early in the 20^th century who had a deep longing to worship a God of all things whom he did not know. One day, this man found on a mountain path a single page that was torn out of a Christian catechism book written in the Lisu language. On this page he read the following:

Question: Are there more gods than one?

Answer: No, there is only one God.

Question: Should we worship idols?

Answer: No…

And that was the end of the page. As soon as that man returned to his home, he destroyed the altars in his home and threw away his traditional idols, in obedience to these words he had read and which spoke to him with the force of truth. But immediately, his daughter became very ill. His family and neighbors taunted him, suggesting that he had offended the spirits whom he had thrown away.

This man knew nothing about how to pray to the one God, but he thought that perhaps he could reach God with his voice. So he went and climbed up to the peak of the highest local mountain, perhaps 14,000 feet up, and he cried out: “O God, if you are really there and you are the One I am to worship, please make my little girl well again.”

This journey of his up and back down the mountain took some time, but when he arrived home again, he found his daughter completely well, and also that she had begun to recover at precisely the time that he was praying on the mountain peak.

He was willing to sacrifice the comfort and safety of the traditions that he inherited, and he was willing to sacrifice the respect of his friends and neighbors. With enthusiasm, he was willing to follow even the smallest bits of truth that he had, eager for more. This man went on to study the scriptures in depth and he became an effective and powerful evangelist for the gospel throughout the entire region (Renovation of the Heart, by Dallas Willard, p.149-150).  

Now consider another true story of sacrifice and obedience, closer to home.

Henry Covington was not a good man. This Brooklyn native had become completely caught up in the inner-city world of violence and drugs which is all too common. After spending years in prison as a young man, he finally reached the very bottom when all seemed lost. One dark night, as Henry hid behind trash cans along his street with a shotgun in his hand, waiting for other dealers from whom he had stolen to hunt him down and shoot him, he prayed and asked for one more chance. “Jesus”, he prayed, “give me another chance, and I will give my life to you.”

His would-be assassins never arrived. So, in the morning, Henry Covington threw away his drugs, his money, his guns and the only life that he had ever known. Henry made the decision to become clean. It wasn’t easy and he continued to pray, especially one day soon after when the police came into his home looking for evidence. They had known that Henry was a dealer and now they came to take him in. Henry had thrown everything away, except for one thing. On his bedside table were two red notebooks: in one of these, he had been writing Bible passages, especially verses from the book of Proverbs. But in the other notebook were his notes of all of his past dealings, with names of suppliers and sources and dollar amounts and the types of products, the names of important clients and everything. He was going to burn that notebook, to destroy that evidence of his past, but he hadn’t gotten to it yet. Henry watched in silent horror as one of the officers walked over and picked up a notebook and looked through it page by page. But then, the man tossed it down on the bed with disregard and ignored the other one.

A few minutes later, the police officers left Henry’s apartment without finding any incriminating evidence. Henry Covington knew that God had spared him, and he has now gone on to become the pastor of a church in Detroit which offers vital assistance to that city’s homeless and drug-addicted population (Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom).

Did these crucial events in the lives of these men happen by coincidence or by the force of good luck?

What happens when we make the choice to be obedient to God, when we decide to live in harmony with God’s kingdom, as best as we know how?

What really happens when we begin to obey God as best as we are able?

Both the Lisu man in China and Henry Covington in Brooklyn were only able to begin to follow God with a small step, but they made that step in the light that was available to them at that moment. They obeyed, and God responded.

When we follow God by our own free will, we place ourselves within the realm of God’s kingdom.

And in this realm, God’s will is done. In the realm of the kingdom, we become willing participants in God’s on-going plan to spread the life-giving influence of this kingdom to more and more people.

Abraham is our original archetype of one who trusts and obeys God, even when this obedience demands sacrifice. But the sacrifice which God desires is in fact the obedience of love from the heart, and when we take the step that is before us in faith and in trust, we are able to become free and joyous co-workers with Christ in sharing his free gift of eternal life with all people.  

May it always be so among us. Amen.