Stop fearing, trust God!

Sermon Audio May Be Found Here!

Immediately. If you have not already noticed the frequency of this word in the Second Gospel you will now. Mark loves immediately. We might translate it as “all of a sudden” or “just then”, as we are sick of hearing immediately, but that’s the word. And back then, just like today, life can change immediately.

The call from the hospital at 2 o’clock in the morning. The knock at the door from an old friend. The news alert dinging on a smart phone. The birth announcement that you never thought would come. Immediately changes everything. Today’s Gospel lesson is all about immediately. Even if you never received the phone call that shook your soul, had your life shatter to pieces right in front of you, or feel a joy that persists even to this day this passage still speaks to the truth of our frail, profound human existence. And yet, it speaks to more than that. In the face of life and death, Jesus immediately changes everything.

Today’s good news floats between two interwoven stories of Jesus’ healing, which fit together into one neat, if a little bit lengthy, package. In the first section a synagogue leader named Jairus seeks out Jesus to heal his daughter from a deadly illness. As the crowd pulses and pursues this traveling teacher Jesus says nothing to the request, but immediately goes to heal the young girl.

All of a sudden, from among the swarm comes a woman who had given up everything in her life to seek wellness. Nothing worked. She spent her last coin to find a cure, but alas sickness continues. Finally after more than a decade of desperation she turns to Jesus wondering, “What will happen if I can just touch his garment?” When she does, she feels the hemorrhaging stop and Jesus is immediately aware of his power leaving. He asks his disciples a seemingly silly question, “Who touched me?” They thought he was crazy. “How can you say, ‘who touched me?’” in the middle of a crowd. The woman though, knowing what had happened, comes up thinking she is busted.

We might not all know what it is like to suffer for twelve years, but we all need healing of some kind or another. Whether mind, body, or spirit we seek wellness somewhere beyond ourselves. For this poor woman the last twelve years of isolation, pain, and ridicule taught her to believe that she is wrong. Her bleeding would have made her impure and her religion would have quarantined her from others. A decade of believing she was immoral for having an illness meant that even when she finds healing from Jesus she responds to his question with fear and trembling and falling down. The healing is not just about her bleeding, Jesus calls her daughter and in this moment she is restored to life in community. Immediately Jesus changes everything for her.

At that same moment, messengers from Jairus’ home came to tell the synagogue leader his daughter is dead. They say, “Your daughter is dead, Why trouble the teacher any further?” This is the type of question that can immediately destroy hope. When Jesus hears it he responds saying, “Do not fear, only believe.” We do not get Jairus’ reaction to this statement. The cynics among us might hear him say, “Sure, I’ll believe when I see my daughter alive.” And yet, Jairus walks with Jesus, Peter, James, and John. So sweetly Jesus speaks to his daughter, “Little girl, get up.” Then, again he makes sure she is restored to her community, as she tells the family to eat something with her. Immediately Jesus changes everything for this family.

A lot is changing in our national landscape. In this week alone a landmark trade bill was passed, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act and struck down the ban on Same Sex Marriage, and just yesterday the Episcopal Church elected its first ever Presiding Bishop of color. We might be overcome with joy or suffering from grief.

The truth from today’s Gospel story that speaks into our ever changing lives is that immediately Jesus changes everything for us. This story is not just about God helping us get through a tough moment though. There were other women suffering who did not touch the cloak of Jesus who kept on suffering. There were other children whose fathers did not run up to Jesus in a crowd who got weaker and weaker. This story is not about receiving healing for a moment; this story is about our eternal salvation.

Jesus said, “Do not fear, only believe.” If you are already living life afraid it is hard to hear the words “Do not fear,” and do anything but wonder, “How?” Perhaps a better way to understand these words is “From this moment moving forward, do not give into fear, instead trust in God.” of “Give your heart over to Jesus for from God is not just healing but life everlasting.”

We all need healing and immediately Jesus can change everything. For as some of us celebrate this week, others in our land feel bitterness. I clearly see the need for healing not just within ourselves as individuals, but for us as a larger community.

People keep posting “Love Wins” on FaceBook. I do not like that phrase. Not because I do not love Love, but rather because Love does not create losers. As Paul writes to the Corinthians:

"Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends" (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

We need love. All of us together. Love never ends, nor does it create a winner or a loser, but instead it brings us into the transformation that Jesus showed in the healing of this woman and this girl. And this healing happens when we believe, when we give our hearts over not to fear, oppression, winning and losing, and bitterness, but rather when we trust God giving our hearts to the healing love of Christ.

Do not give into fear, trust in God, for Jesus changes our lives immediately!

Not Your Mama's Rapture

The Rapture might just look a little different than this.
(picture credit: https://www.swrc.com/media/wysiwyg/rapture.jpg)

There is an awful experience that I hope you have never endured, even though I think you probably have. Maybe this event occurs in a pivotal romantic relationship. Sometimes it happens on the playgrounds of our youth. And sadly, this scarring incident can take place in the innocence of our family of origin. Almost every single human being walking the face of the earth has at one point or another felt the suffocating heartbreak of being abandoned.

Whether you were not the right fit for someone, you were not fast enough in the schoolyard, or you were mistakenly seen as not enough by a parent or sibling that cold feeling of being left out can mark us for the rest of our lives. At times when my own insides were hollow except for the sting of rejection I would instinctively look to God, my strength and my redeemer. I can recall distinct moments when I leaned on this teaching that God’s Spirit always stuck with me no matter where I went, what I did, or what happened to me (Luke 24:49; John 3:8; John 14:26; Acts 2:4). If this belief is true, like I hope it is, then today’s Gospel Lesson from the Daily Office leaves me confused and on the verge of that empty sensation.

Luke 17 (our lesson for today) along with several other passages from Holy Scripture (Matthew 24; Daniel 12; Revelation) state that the moment of judgment separates some from God. Whether it is sheep and goats or wheat and chaff it seems that Jesus points out that some and not all receive a welcome inside, instead of where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Sticking with our current lesson, Jesus tells us that “On that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left” (Luke 17:36-37). So how are we to make sense of these two teachings: God’s presence remains with us no matter what AND one will be taken by God and the other one discarded?

I do not have an easy answer to this, for no one has ever experienced the moment of rapture as it is popularly described. Perhaps some have been taken away, but for those of us who remain if we observed such an occurrence would we really want to talk about it? All sarcasm aside, the way that we interpret the End of Days needs some real attention. For we can so easily slip into a practice of believing that whatever we are doing is right and will lead to being swooped up by God, while others will be left looking around as God beams us up to heaven.

While I hope in my heart that God did not, does not, and will not abandon us, there is also reason to believe in this Truth more than just the feeling of one preacher. In this same passage from Luke 17 Jesus answers the Pharisees’ (not his favorite lads) question about the Kingdom of God’s coming by saying, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There it is!' For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” Jesus was assuredly talking about his earthly work, but that kingdom continues as we recognize the Christ within us. Additionally, if we are to believe that the Kingdom of God is already here then more of Jesus’ words are not so cryptic and like what the head of a cartel might say, but rather clues to how to live into the kingdom life.

Jesus tells his disciples, “On that day [when the Son of Man comes, which is happening NOW], anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back… Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it.” The moment of God’s Coming is not some distant time in the future, but right this very second.

We must not be distracted by the tasks of the hour, but live every moment recognizing that the Kingdom of God exists around us and within us. One might be distracted by trying to secure life instead of living in the presence of Christ that is within us all. When we focus too much on security we miss the Son of Man returning. Other instances when we focus on locking up more profits, more success, more things distracts us from seeing the richness God bestows to us in every moment. Does this mean we no longer farm, work, eat, drink, or go about our daily life? No, rather God’s constant “rapturing,” as the Son of Man comes to us in ourselves and in our neighbor means that our lives are altered not ended.

That feeling of being left out stings our entire being whether it at recess, by a lover, or in our family. We may take Jesus’ words to mean that God will leave us out if we are not careful; however, we are the ones who choose whether to take part in a relationship with the Almighty. Christ eternally comes to us in every moment. The Spirit always dwells with us. Our Creator leaves imprints on every fabric of our being. We cannot opt out of God’s love for us. We might choose to focus instead on securing this life, but in that moment we are not cast into the outer darkness, rather we miss that Christ’s presence is with us calling us ever deeper into relationship with the Divine.