The Life That Really is Life

A Sermon for Proper 21 C RCL 9/26/2010, offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15; Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31

During this season of Pentecost, as we move into the Autumn months, the lectionary bombards us with readings about money and wealth and giving. It certainly seems like a carefully planned conspiracy by church leaders to prep us all for the coming stewardship season, doesn’t it?. But we have talked about money and wealth quite a bit here recently, and today I think we are ready to pursue a different tact.

Of course, the truth of the matter is that Jesus is not, in fact, primarily speaking about money and wealth in this parable today. What he is speaking about is the quality of our character, our ability to see our neighbor in need, the state of our heart. The question at the heart of the matter is this: what is the goal of our relationship with God, our journey with God through this complicated and confusing life?

Last week, a stopped by a local coffee shop to grab a cup of coffee, sit for a few minutes and go through my e-mail. I was the only patron at the time, and so the woman working at the coffee shop felt comfortable to talk with me. Of course, I had my collar on, so she talked with me about her prayers. Her daughter stopped by quickly and talked with her mother. When she left, the mother explained to me that her daughter is studying hard to pass the state nursing test, to become a licensed and registered nurse. The daughter has failed it three times already. This is her fourth attempt at it. Therefore, the mother explained that all her family is right now praying the St. Joseph novena in order for her daughter to pass the state nursing test. She said, “You know, the prayer to St. Joseph for special causes that my daughter has is slightly different from mine. So I’m praying them both, because we really need her to pass this test!”

What’s wrong with this picture? I am not opposed to the idea of praying to the saints. There are many different ways to pray, and the Scriptures do encourage us to pray for one another within the body of Christ. Whether the members of the Body are dead or alive, that doesn’t make any real difference in this. We can all pray for one another.

But look at her situation more deeply. What is the purpose of prayer? Is it simply a way for us to get what we want? Some kind of divine lottery game? So that, if we pick just the right numbers, or in the case, say just the right prayer for just the right number of days, then we will be the fortunate one who wins the prize?

Is this what prayer is about? Is this how we view our relationship with God? Perhaps that example is a bit too obvious for you, so let’s try another. How is it that we view the sacraments of the church, the usual channels of grace that God has appointed for us?

Do you honestly think if you come to church regularly, receive communion often, given to and support the church, that in some way God is going to give you more goods things than those who never darken the doors of a church?

The answer is no, no, no. God causes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and gives rain to the righteous and to the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45).

What is the primary purpose of prayer but to place ourselves intentionally in the presence of God so that we can draw close to God? What is the purpose of attending church, of joining together in worship but to be in a place where God can touch us and change us? What is the purpose of receiving communion, of participating in the sacraments but to embrace the grace that is given so that we might become the bearers of God in this dark and confused world?

What is the purpose of praying a novena to St. Joseph except to draw near to St. Joseph and to learn from him how to live a life of faithfulness and strength, commitment and devotion? What is the goal of our relationship with God but to be united to God and to our neighbor in love?

There is an old story of a man, a spiritual seeker, who visited a Sufi community and was very impressed by what he saw. Here’s a little background to help you understand this. Within the Muslim world, miracles have never been an important part of their faith. Muhammad never performed any miracles. But, over the years, Sufi communities within Islam embraced a more mystical, spiritual path, and thus they have tended to seek after and accept the miraculous.

So this man came to the Master of the Sufi community, and he said this: “Master, I am very impressed by the spiritual depth of your community, and I would like to join you here. But first, I must ask this question: Do you believe that God performs miracles?”

An understandable question, coming from a Muslim seeker. The answer from the Sufi Master is superb, in spite of its old-fasioned language. He said: “Yes, of course. But some believe it is a miracle when God does the will of man. We believe it is a miracle when man does the will of God.”

We believe it is a miracle when men and women do the will of God!

When Jesus shares this parable of the rich man and Lazarus, in no way does he offer this as a way to curry God’s favor, so that if we act well then we can avoid the fate of this rich man. There is no special formula to win God’s blessing. The purpose of Jesus’ teaching is NOT to give us clues about how we can best manipulate God into giving us what we want.

Our task rather is to submit ourselves, with love and gratitude, to the purposes and dreams and visions of God, to learn the art of contentment. St. Clement of Alexandria explained the purposes of God in this way: “Providence is a disciplinary art.”

Providence, the working out of God’s plan in the actual realities of everyday life, is a disciplinary art. It is God’s way of shaping us, correcting us –so to speak, of guiding us toward a life of union with God, where we become one with God.

My friends, let us push forward to “take hold of the life that really is life” (1 Timothy 6:19), as the apostle states so well. That life that is deep within us far beyond the superficial things of this world. That life that is lived in conscious and intentional harmony with the will and purpose of God, whatever that might be. Amen.

A Pound of Costly Perfume

Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Lent (RCL Year C - 3/21/2010), offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8

Help us, O Lord, to become masters of ourselves, so that we might become the servants of others. Take our minds and think through them. Take our lips and speak through them. Take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen.

We are marching through the season of Lent and moving inexorably toward the Passion of Christ. And so on this final Sunday before the start of Holy Week, we hear this very odd story about the anointing of the feet of the Lord by Mary of Bethany, who most likely is the same as the one known in the Gospels as Mary Magdalene.

It is quite an odd story: a woman pouring a pound of costly perfume on the feet of Jesus, and then wiping it off with her hair?! It sounds bizarre to us, and it was extremely improper according to the customs of that time. But, as always, the Gospel of John has a specific goal in mind in telling this story.

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to join us in our Bible Study on John’s Gospel, here is a bit of background which is crucial to understand this Gospel. Of the four canonical gospels, the Fourth Gospel is unique in a number of important ways.

It was the last of the canonical Gospels to be written. As such, it does not seek to re-tell the familiar stories once again, but to explain and defend the views of a particular Christian community. Everything in this Gospel is carefully shaped and edited, and we can see the effect even here in this story. Those reading this story in the original Greek would see that the same exact words are used to describe both Mary’s wiping of the feet of Jesus, and the Lord’s wiping of the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. These two events are linked in a deeper meaning. More on that in a few minutes.

This Gospel is also unique in the way that it gives crucial and exalted roles to women. Just look at this family that we see here: the family of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. In the eleventh chapter of John, we read that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” and also that Lazarus is referred to as the man whom Jesus loves.

And it is right there at the grave of Lazarus where Martha makes the great confession: “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” In the other three Gospels, this confession comes out of the mouth of Peter, and Jesus declares that he is the rock on which the church will be built. But in John’s Gospel, it is Martha, sister of Lazarus, loved by the Lord, who makes this bold confession. It comes from the mouth of a woman.

After Martha makes her confession, the Lord raises Lazarus from the dead. Soon afterward, the three siblings throw a dinner party in Jesus’ honor at their home in Bethany. And blessed Mary cannot contain herself. Her heart has been touched forever. Her love for and her devotion to Jesus overflows with an act of sheer extravagance.

In this Fourth Gospel, the defining mark of a disciple is always love. Love for the Teacher, Jesus the Messiah, and love for the disciples as well. Next week, on Maundy Thursday, we will read from the 13th chapter of John and hear about the Last Supper when Jesus washed the feet of the twelve. At that meal, after Judas left to carry out his plan, Jesus defined their new way of life in him in the simplest, most direct words: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

And so the Fourth Gospel presents to us a clear choice to make. We are given two competing models for imitation, two different ways of responding to Jesus. One is the path of darkness that leads to death. The other is the path of light that leads to abundant life.

Judas, of course, is the model of darkness. We truly do not know why Judas did what he did, why he betrayed the Master. Many people have offered various explanations. This Johannine community believed that it must have been the demon of greed which took control of the heart of Judas. But it may also have been fear. Afraid of leaving behind the traditions of his people, Judas may have been unable to receive and trust all that the Lord taught him. He was unable to see who Jesus truly is.

But the path of light that leads to life is seen in blessed Mary Magdalene. If love is the defining mark of a true disciple, Mary has this in abundance, even before Jesus gives his new commandment. Unlike the men reclining around the table, Mary does not need to be told of the importance of love. She knows it and she lives it. She is a true disciple.

A pound of costly perfume! Her gift of extravagance is getting us ready for the coming Passion, when we will stop and remember again the extravagant gift of God: the Son who comes down to give life to the world, the Bread of Life given and broken to heal this damaged creation.

I’m not about to ask you which of these two paths you are traveling: the path of Judas or the path of Mary. God has brought you here, and you agreed to come! Therefore I know which path you are on. But we need to dig deeper.

Think about it: a pound of costly perfume! The sweet fragrance of Mary’s devotion filled the entire house! So let me now ask you: does your love, your devotion fill your entire house where you live with a sweet odor, a lasting impression of goodness and truth and beauty? Can the people you live with, the people you work with, the people you spend time with – can they sense the authenticity of your devotion to the Lord Jesus? Does your life give off a sweet fragrance of genuine love?

The author Rita Snowden wrote once of her visit to a small town near Dover, England. She was taking the late afternoon tea when she suddenly became aware of an unbelievably pleasant scent filling the air around her. She asked the waiter about the source of the scent. He explained that it came from the people walking by. They worked down the street in a perfume factory and were on their way home then. When they left the factory, they carried with them the fragrance that had permeated their clothes during their day’s work.

This is what the life of a Christian is like. We open our hearts so often to the amazing love of God, we spend quality time with God, so that our souls become permeated with divine love. And when we walk down the streets, we can’t even help it! We give off the scent of the love of Christ everywhere we go.

Most Sundays, when our worship has ended, we are dismissed with these words of mission: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” Love and service: these are the things that make up a life of discipleship to Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God that Mary has shown us the way. Amen.