THOMAS GIVES JESUS THE FINGER

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

THOMAS GIVES JESUS THE FINGER 

by Jack D. Sypal

Dateline: Jerusalem, April 23, 20:19:31

This is the third in a series of interviews with first shapers in The Way, or as we know them today, Christians.  Earlier I covered conversations with Peter and with James and John.

This week I was fortunate enough to stumble across Thomas who was between trips to India. He was generous enough to give me some time as his acolytes unloaded burros with goods from India and then reloaded their packs for the pending journey back. I was intrigued by the number of woodworking tools they were packing and questioned Thomas about them.

It appears, even though he has very limited vision, that Thomas is a builder. He claims with a good plumb bob, an accurate square, a hand full of marbles, and a pan of water, even the blind are able to build. Working as a fisherman when he was recruited by Jesus the Messiah, aka Jam-Man, Thomas first learned the lessons of his rabbi and then his rabbi’s trade as a builder.

“I wouldn’t have believed that my building skills would be so important, but Raj Gondophares has commissioned me to build him a palace. So, I have come back to Jerusalem to get my tools. It’s not that they don’t make tools in India, but I’m used to these. They are the tools the Jam-Man also used and gave to me.

“Yeah, that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it.”

One of the first things you notice about Thomas is his vision. His eyes are milky white and he is almost sightless. He walks with one of his acolytes now, but he was most often seen walking with Jesus or one of the other disciples back in the day. His nicknames, Ditto or Didymus, even Thomas itself, meaning twin, were not given him because he was genetically related to one of them or anyone else for that matter; he was so-called because he was always connected to another disciple by touch.

“I know the guys say that I went to India because of a night vision, but the truth of the matter is that I just had a vision. The night and the day are both alike to me. Maybe it was at night.

“I wasn’t going to go, but the young man I was walking with that day ran off when this merchant and soldiers showed up. I felt a little like Samson for a while there. One minute I felt like I was in control of my life and my destiny, the next minute I was seized and made a slave for the entertainment of the merchant Abbanes.

“Abbanes took me to India; I started talking about the days of walking with the Jam-Man and how he had lifted me up from the life of drudgery and social death from my blindness and how he had taught me to build things; and, pretty soon, I was given permission to build a church.

“I’m sure that they didn’t believe that I could do it, but, when I did, people were really impressed and asked me to build another. Finally, Raj Gondophares told me to build him a palace.

“Okay, I’m back here in part to let the Raj cool off a little. He told me to build him a palace the gods would be proud of. When he said that, I recalled the young, rich kid that came to the Jam-Man that day. I didn’t think that I could convince the Raj any more than the Jam-Man could convince that kid…so, I decided to help the Raj along. I took his money and gave it to the poor. Each day when he would ask me how things were going, I told him that the work on his palace was progressing magnificently. One day he came out to see the palace, and, of course, nothing was there.

“When the Raj asked for the money back, I told him that I had spent it on building the palace that God would be proud of.

“‘But where is the palace?’ he asked me.

“I told him that I had given his money to the poor and that these people would be the living stones that would build for him a magnificent place in heaven.

“I guess Raj Gondophares doesn’t have a sense of humor and couldn’t appreciate the living conditions of the poor. He definitely didn’t get the Jam-Man’s memo about loving one another, so I decided to come home and get my tools while he cools off. I should really be able to show them how to build with my own tools in my hands.”

Asked about his tools, Thomas was more than willing to show them off. I was surprised at how well they seemed to fit his hands and how lovingly he handled them. I reminded him that he had said earlier that all he really needed was a square, a plumb bob, a hand full of marbles and a pan of water, and then indicated that I saw many more tools than that.

Thomas explained, “Well, of course you need more tools than that for all of the adornments, but plumb bob and square along with the marbles and the pan of water keep everything just so, you know.”

I understood the use of the plumb bob and the square, but asked him about the marbles and pan of water.

He clarified it for me. “Oh, yeah, put a marble on top of something you are building, and you can tell the lean by which way the marble rolls. The pan of water can tell you how far you’re off. If the water starts running out on one side, you know you’re in trouble. Then it’s time to do some serious shimming. Usually the marble is enough, but they can get away from you sometimes, and then you have to go looking for them. The pan of water is also more accurate. Sometimes I need to have one of my helpers check it out, but for the most part you can skim the palm of your hand over it and feel the variation on the walls of the pan. For the most part, the plumb bob and the square do the job. The rest is showing off.”

As interested as I am in these stories, I am most interested in those early days of The Way. In order to get back on track, I asked Thomas why he was known as Doubting Thomas, a term he dismissed.

“The guys never called me Doubting anything. That came from a bunch of people who didn’t want to believe that a blind guy could be part of the gang with the Jam-Man.

“You know, in those early days, soldiers were everywhere. They were looking for us because they claimed that we had stolen Messiah’s body in order to scam Rome. We had our safe house, really, it was just a safe room, where we gathered, but, too much activity around there, and it wouldn’t have been safe anymore. So, I volunteered to slip out at night when people wouldn’t be as likely to notice me moving around without a lantern or a torch ’cuz, like, I didn’t need one. I knew that part of town pretty well, and so I could get around by myself easily. All I needed to do was get away from there before it got too light and then not come back until after it was dark again.

“During the day, I could get the news and talk with some of my friends. Mostly I hung out with the beggars outside the temple or at one of the city gates. I liked the Dung Gate the best because the people were pretty friendly there. In this way, I picked up some change and bought food for the rest of the guys.

“I did say that I would lead any of them out, but they were pretty scared. Rocky was so full of self-recrimination I wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t go and do the same thing the Bag Man had done. And the rest of them were suffering from extreme disillusionment.

“I was more interested in living and being around the living. That room got to be like a tomb of its own, and I’ll tell you, ten guys living in one room for any time at all makes the stink of the tomb smell sweet. Nate the Great had a particular issue with flatulence that made close confines challenging. Now you know how he got the great attached to his name.

“One night when I returned, the guys were all excited. They said that the Jam-Man had come and stood among them, that he had spoken with them and then breathed on them. Philip said that he didn’t even have halitosis like Lazarus had had.

“I told them that it was a nice try, but I wouldn’t believe them until I put my finger in the marks of the nails in his hands and put my hand in the hole in his side. I mean, that’s how a blind guy sees, ya know?

“So, it was a few days later when the Jam-Man showed again. One minute he wasn’t there, and then, all of a sudden, he was. When he called me, I wasn’t really sure that it was him. He sounded like himself…sort of…but…different. He told me to give him my finger, so I did. I gave him my reading finger and then knew it was him. From where I stood, the marks were just dark spots, but there is no way that you could fake those holes.

“Of course, I claimed him. It wasn’t so much that I had ever doubted him, but I did question the other guys. They’d pulled some fast ones on me before, but the Jam-Man, he always treated me like real people, ya know?

“There were so many political maneuverings in those days—the issue of Beloved, some trying to prove that the Jam-Man hadn’t risen, the ‘Gentiles are Welcome’ program, whether women were to be acknowledged as disciples. The thought of me being blind was just too much for many early followers to swallow, so they thought that it would be better to call me a doubter than blind, so to them I became Doubting Thomas.

“I mean, what do I care. I’m going back to India. I have my own life to live, and it is going to be a long way away from them. I’ll do fine as long as Raj Gondophares chills a little. I mean it’s not like he’s really going to miss the money.”

Before I could ask anything more, Thomas rushed on.

“I’m afraid that I’m going to have to go. Mummsy is over at John’s place, and a few of the other guys are back for a conference. Rocky’s supposed to be there with the other guy with sight trouble, Saul or Paul, something like that. He’s annoying because he never fully recovered from the flash blindness on the Damascus road, and he’s always talking about having the thorn in his flesh being removed and his self-consciousness about writing so big. I keep telling him to just get on with his life. You can’t live backwards—that’s like being dead. The Jam-Man is all about life and living. Maybe he’ll come around.

“In the meantime, Mummsy has probably made her famous chicken casserole again ’cuz Rocky’s going to be there. She really does know how to cook other things. You know, she’s a pretty good cook, but, somehow, she’s just got to push Rocky’s buttons.

“Well, it’s been nice talking. Luv ya, man.”

With that, Thomas got up and walked over to where his acolyte was waiting with his burro. He pushed his elbow out a little nudging Thomas. Thomas took his elbow and off they went.

It's Not About the Blind Guy, John 9:1-41

Before we begin, I want you to take a moment to think about one thing that you know well enough to teach someone else. It doesn’t need to be complicated or involved, and I’m not trying to say that it is the only thing or the most important thing you know. I just want it to be something that you feel competent in and something that you are comfortable sharing with others.

 

For me, this is one of the most difficult stories to preach on. And yet, it is one of the stories that I might be most qualified to talk with you about, but there is the difficulty. I could talk with you about this text for the next day or so and not run out of material and never get to the good news. So, let me say from the beginning that this text is not about a blind guy. It is all about identity, community, and acceptance.

Let us begin. At the beginning of this story, the identity of the person born blind is firmly established. He has a family. He has a job, that is, begging, and he has a community, the other professional beggars sanctioned by Scripture. His identity is that of the blind beggar. It is not an identity that people are going to study for, but he is recognized by his community and welcomed there. Where ever he would go to beg, he would be known and welcomed. He is one of a number of people who are permitted by Mosaic law to beg. Indeed, God’s people are commanded to share their alms with those who have the right to beg. Because he is an adult, he has probably been begging for years. He has made enough money at this job to support or help support himself and his family.

Although he is to be supported by the alms of the people, and is mentioned favorably in Leviticus 19:14, “Do not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God! I am the Lord,” he is not allowed into the synagogue. As this story begins he is outside of the synagogue with his own identity. What happens next is that this man’s entire identity changes in a matter of moments. Afterwards this man who was formerly blind loses everything that has meant anything to him. His status in the community changes—those around him, his neighbors and others, challenge whether he is the same person or someone who looks like him amid his protestations of claiming to be the same person he used to be.

He is challenged by the synagogue court, brought before the Pharisees, and questioned about this new life he is leading. He is challenged to prove that he was not sighted before. At last his parents are brought before the synagogue, and, in fear, they turn away from their son and make him speak for himself since, as a sighted person, he is able to enter the synagogue.

Finally, after further questioning, the man is cast out of the synagogue, the synagogue he was not able to be part of before, and he sits outside the synagogue destitute. He has no identity. He has no profession. He has no community. He has no family. He has this gift of new vision, but no one to share it with. No one to share it with until Jesus finds this man again.

This story, which has most oftentimes been preached as this amazing miracle, a story of celebration, may be one of the greatest struggles in and of the Scriptures. As Jacob’s confrontation at the Jabbok river with God, that great wrestling match back in Genesis, resulted in a change in Jacob’s identity, so now the man who was formerly blind has a new identity. Jacob’s wrestling match changes his name from Jacob to Israel for he wrestled with God, and he carried the limp from his hip being dislocated for the rest of his life. This man will wrestle with seeing for the rest of his life, and yet he is never named. So, what is this story about?

As I said, I do not believe that this story is about the man born blind. It is all about identity, community, and acceptance. Further, I believe that this story is for us today and challenges us in all kinds of ways. Again, let us begin.

I cannot think of a time when we, that is the Church, have been challenged in our identity the way we are being challenged today. The old days of being able to be the moral compass of our communities, of being places where we could quietly study the Bible and get baptized, confirmed, married, and buried are gone. The days of living in a world where people assumed that everybody is Christian and that we lived in a Christian world (an illusion we often carry), are gone. The days of living quietly in our own corner of the world without concern for what is happening in other parts of the world is long time gone.

I tell you today, Christ is standing before us, mixing up the stuff of creation, God’s spit and dirt, forming us into a new Adam, a new community, with new ways of living. This is the world of artificial joints and limbs; heart transplants, kidney transplants and even lung transplants. We are living in a cyber-world that not only allows instant communication, but demands it. We live in a world that not only doesn’t care about the poor among us, it brags about creating systems that will continue to deprive the poorest of the poor of their very dignity. The days of food baskets anonymously showing up on our neighbors’ doorsteps as they did so many times in the midst of the Great Depression are long gone.

It is time for us to have our eyes opened. It is time to wrestle with the disapproval of those around us. It is time to even leave our families for the vision of God’s possibility kingdom before us. It will not be easy. But when it is all said and done, the one who searches out the outcasts will find us too, and that one will reveal himself to us, reminding us that we have met before, and that we will be able to walk together with a new identity received in the new life given to us in baptism, in the relationship with new eyes to see God’s work in the world, shaped from clay in his image, and claimed as children of God.

It has been many years since Daniel Berrigan said this, but his words are still true today. “The mark of a Christian is that you must look good on wood.” We are called, gathered, and challenged to see the world around us—to see the world around us with all of its sores and scabs, and then we are sent into that world to be the body of Christ for our neighbors, to be the ones who will stand before the outcasts of the world with words of encouragement and acceptance.

We are the ones who can offer the purifying waters of Siloam to a mud-covered, thirsty world that it might be sent with the living waters of endurance and hope, with the character of Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is a hope that gives new identity. It is a hope that comes with pain. It is a hope that depends on and builds new communities of faith. It is a hope that accepts the gifts we have been given and uses them.

The man born blind receives his sight so that we might see. He suffers the challenges of that world so that we might know that there is life beyond rejection. He wrestles with his seeing and shows us the way to true vision in the one who makes all things possible, Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior. No, this story is not about the man born blind, it is about us today, the people of Albany Lutheran Church. You did not ask for it, but Jesus, while he was passing, stooped down and opened your eyes. What do you see? What are you going to do about it?

Again, let us begin. Remember that thing that you know well enough to teach? When are you going to start teaching it? How can we help you make that happen?

New World Vision

March 26, 2017

John 9 “I am the light of the world.”

Leviticus 19:14 “You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; You shall fear your God: I am the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 27:18 “”Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind person on the road.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”

New World Vision

When, in a world of fearful darkness where disability and misfortune are regarded as signs of sin, Jesus and his disciples encounter a man born blind, Jesus sheds new light on the condition of blindness. It is not about sin, but “that the works of God might be revealed....” In a world of darkness, Jesus claims a place of light and vision: “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

 

Jesus’ bold, challenging statement continues to lead Christians in their faith. In the Eucharist service, the assembly proclaims the great mystery of their faith: “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” With this proclamation they recognize the historicity of the crucifixion, Christ’s continued presence in the world, and an eschatological future that includes Christ in all of history.

 

For a world that does not see the opportunities of community wholeness, but instead maintains a place of separateness, blindness continues to be a choice rather than a physical condition. In this darkness, however, Christ’s light continues to shine showing us a new way to live.

 

Christ continues to take the creative dust of the world and makes mud for the eyes of the blind to be washed away to enable them to see new ways of living. And from the baptismal waters, the cleansed, just like the blind man sent to wash in the pool of Siloam, see new ways of living and are sent into the world to witness to and cooperate in revealing God’s work of healing wholeness.

 

This new way of interacting with the world will not always be easy. There will be those who, like the Pharisees, challenge this new vision, but, with Christ’s presence before them, the faithful continue to believe and worship in their churches and daily lives in the daylight of Christ’s resurrection world.

Correction: Former Blind Guy Sues Jesus!

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET           

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

 

Correction

Former Blind Guy Sues Jesus!

 

Dateline: Jerusalem, March 26, 09:01:41

by Jack D. Sypal

Some may not be able to admit that they are wrong, but we at The AngelUS Trumpet value revealing the complete truth. What follows is a corrected copy of Mr I. Seituwel’s statement published in today’s earlier edition. We apologize for this extreme case of parablepsis and over-correction resulting in mishandling the first paragraph in his statement of the situation. The full article is included for your convenience.

On Sabbath Day last, it is alleged that Jesus gave sight to a man who was blind from birth. Now this same former blind man is suing Jesus for lack of income, loss of companionship, and severe emotional distress.
I spoke with this man at length. What follows is Mr. I. Seituwel’s story in his own words. It is a rather lengthy statement, but I think you will find it enlightening, both as to how this itinerant “do-gooder” works and the ramifications of his actions.

“I was minding my own business, begging as I always did outside the city wall, when this guy came up and spit on me. It wasn’t the first time I had been spit on, so I was prepared, sort of, but then this guy smeared mud all over my face. Afterwards he said, “Your face is dirty. Go wash your face in the pool of Siloam.” He wasn’t as nasty as some have been, so I went.

“Little did I know that, when I washed my face, my sight would be given to me and that getting my sight would be the beginning of myriad, nightmarish problems.

“The first thing that happened after I washed my face was that this excruciating pain hit me in the head. I now know that it was light, but who would have thought that it would be so painful. When things started flying at me from all directions, I suddenly fainted. I guess it was sensory overload, or at least that is what some of the doctors have said.

“After that, the guys I used to hang with refused to talk with me because I didn’t belong anymore. Other people refused to recognize me at all. My friends have left me. Even my family turned on me.

“In the meantime, my means of making a living is gone. Having sight means that I can’t beg outside the city wall.

“Some think that I had been faking it all along, and so they have brought fraud charges against me, and the police are after me.  

“The temple is after me because they think I’m a new disciple of this Jesus guy, and they want me to point him out to them. I can’t get them to understand that I never saw the person and probably couldn’t identify him anyways.

“I still don’t know what half of the stuff I see is. I have to close my eyes and listen to stuff or touch it in order to know what most stuff is. I’m terrified of moving around the country because I don’t know if what I am seeing is safe or not. The other day I saw something dark in front of me, and, when I stepped on it, I fell all the way to the bottom of a cistern. I could have broken my neck. As it was, I was pretty scraped up. Who knew? If my eyes hadn’t been opened, if I had been using my stick, I would never have had that problem. Everyone wants me to be sighted, but I have no idea what that means!

“If I had asked for this, it might be different. But, I was just sitting there minding my own business. I want my life back. Short of that, I want compensation for all of the insults and disparaging comments I’ve endured. I never had much before, but I had blind faith and a good reputation. Now what do I have?

“People ought to be more considerate before they start showing off with their special powers. Did I ask for this? No!!! So, I think that it is only right that he ought to pay for my troubles.”

Former Blind Guy Sues Jesus!

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET           

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

 

Former Blind Guy Sues Jesus!

Dateline: Jerusalem, March 26, 09:01:41

by Jack D. Sypal

On Sabbath Day last, it is alleged that Jesus gave sight to a man who was blind from birth. Now this same former blind man is suing Jesus for lack of income, loss of companion-ship, and severe emotional distress.

I spoke with this man at length. What follows is Mr. I. Seituwel’s story in his own words. It is a rather lengthy statement, but I think you will find it enlightening, both as to how this itinerant “do-gooder” works and the ramifica-tions of his actions.

“I was minding my own business, begging as I always did outside the city wall, when this guy came up and spit on me. It wasn’t the first time I had been spit on, so I was prepared, sort of, but then this guy told me to go wash my face in the pool of Siloam. It’s not as nasty as some, so I went.

“Little did I know that, when I washed my face, my sight would be given to me and that getting my sight would be the beginning of myriad, nightmarish problems.

“The first thing that happened after I washed my face was that this excruciating pain hit me in the head. I now know that it was light, but who would have thought that it would be so painful. When things started flying at me from all directions, I suddenly fainted. I guess it was sensory overload, or at least that is what some of the doctors have said.

“After that, the guys I used to hang with refused to talk with me because I didn’t belong anymore. Other people refused to recognize me at all. My friends have left me. Even my family turned on me.

“In the meantime, my means of making a living is gone. Having sight means that I can’t beg outside the city wall.

“Some think that I had been faking it all along, and so they have brought fraud charges against me, and the police are after me.  

“The temple is after me because they think I’m a new disciple of this Jesus guy, and they want me to point him out to them. I can’t get them to understand that I never saw the person and probably couldn’t identify him anyways.

“I still don’t know what half of the stuff I see is. I have to close my eyes and listen to stuff or touch it in order to know what most stuff is. I’m terrified of moving around the country because I don’t know if what I am seeing is safe or not. The other day I saw something dark in front of me, and, when I stepped on it, I fell all the way to the bottom of a cistern. I could have broken my neck. As it was, I was pretty scraped up. Who knew? If my eyes hadn’t been opened, if I had been using my stick, I would never have had that problem. Everyone wants me to be sighted, but I have no idea what that means!

“If I had asked for this, it might be different. But, I was just sitting there minding my own business. I want my life back. Short of that, I want compensation for all of the insults and disparaging comments I’ve endured. I never had much before, but I had a good reputation. Now what do I have?

“People ought to be more considerate before they start showing off with their special powers. Did I ask for this? No!!! So, I think that it is only right that he ought to pay for my troubles.”

A Story Looking for a Home John 7:53-8:11

The Story of the Adulterous Woman, or at least that is what we have come to know it by, is one of those really interesting stories of the Bible. We read it tonight from the Gospel of John, but its place in the longer proclamation of John’s Gospel is somewhat tenuous. It carries with it a footnote stating that the earliest accounts of John do not have this story in it. It further states that some Bibles place this story at the end of John and others place it in the Gospel of Luke.

 What we know is that, after Jesus was crucified and raised up from the grave, stories were told about him and about the contacts that people had had with him. Many of these stories were collected into what we now know as the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), but there were some stories that were not immediately included. In fact, there are a number of stories that have never been included. We know this from the end of the Gospel of John when the Gospel writer states, “These stories have been told so that you might believe. There are other stories, but if they were all told, they could not be contained in a book.” Apparently, this story is one of those extra stories, and the importance of it for the early Christian community was so important that it was eventually included in the accounts that we have about Jesus. It was an orphan story that was crying out for a place, and it has eventually found its place here in the Gospel of John.

 Let us understand that there are a number of problems with this story. For instance, if we read the laws concerning adultery and the penalties for committing adultery in Deuteronomy, we see that, if a woman is to be punished for adultery, the man she committed it with should also be brought forward and stoned. Yet here we find no man. The scribes and Pharisees have only brought the woman. What to do?

 Another problem is we see Jesus writing on the ground, not once but twice, yet we are never told the significance of the writing. What about that? (I had a classmate in seminary that used to draw cartoons of various biblical passages, and he drew one for this story. In the first frame, you see Jesus and a woman and an angry crowd. In the second frame, Jesus is facing the crowd saying, “Let the one without sin throw the first stone.” In the third frame, you see Jesus with his finger on the ground, and you see what he is writing. It’s a tic-tac-toe board.)

 This is an orphan story looking for a place, and, as I looked at this story more carefully, thinking about what is going on, I came to believe that what we have is a story that is not about sin but rather of repentance and forgiveness. That is why it’s importance was great enough to merit inclusion in our greater narrative of God’s love and caring. For indeed, it found its way into our spiritual narrative; it demanded to be included in our Scripture place; and, although its place is tenuous, it is a part of our spiritual identity today.

 I have come to think that this story is like us. Each of us has our own story of how we came to be here this evening. Each of us has our own story of faith and challenge, of sin and the need for forgiveness. We hear these words of Jesus, “Let those around you without sin be your judge.” And with these words we discover that we are incapable of being judges. We seek and find a place of forgiveness and the need for that forgiveness. In that time, we find our place in the faith story and our stories of community, of our need for one another, and the work we need to do to be forgiven and the work we need to do to forgive.

 This challenging story is not just looking for a place in Scripture, it is looking for a place in our hearts. And with this story, we too cry out for a place of inclusion with our own stories. We too cry out with the need of recognition and value and peace.

 So, we come to this place, gathered together, sharing our stories of joys and sorrows, our successes and our failures; sharing our lives, that communal creation story, that continuous narrative of our need of God’s love, that thing we call the living word of Christ among us, being the living word of God’s hope-filled activity in the world. We are not seeking to be the ones who judge but the ones who seek to proclaim Christ’s words of grace and love.

 Jesus stooped down, and he wrote on the ground. He wrote in the dirt, in the humus, and, through this, we are reminded of our humanity. We are reminded of our first ancestor being handcrafted from the dirt and God’s breath being breathed into us and the words that created us. As the spoken word gave life to us from the goodness of the humus, so now the writing in that humus promises new ways of living for all humans, and we find our own human identity. Through this earthy writing, we find the words of life, and light, and loving forgiveness.

 We stand before Christ, always in a state of needing forgiveness and always in that state of grace, of God’s underserved love and forgiveness. This unusual status calls us, names us, and holds us as God’s children in God’s world. May we always know God’s love and forgiveness as we go out among God’s people, as we gather here, as we share our stories, as we live into the ages in Christ’s living word for the sake of the world.

Merely to Remind Myself John 3:1-17

After I lost my sight for the first time, my mom bought me a number of record albums of musicals. You might remember albums, they were those 12 inch diameter vinyl discs. You put them on a thing called a record player, and then you had to take the needle arm and place it on the record album. I know, it was primitive, but that was the way we did things in those days.

One of the albums was the Hans Christian Andersen musical with Danny Kaye, and one of the songs I liked the best was a song that Hans Christian Andersen sings while he is walking down the road one day. Here are the words as I remember them:

“I write myself a note each day, and I put it in my hat./ The wind comes by, the hat blows high, but that’s not the end of that./ For ‘round and ‘round the world it goes./ It lands here right behind myself./ I pick it up, and I read the note/ which is merely to remind myself/ I’m Hans Christian Anderson.”

There are times in our lives when we need to be reminded of who and whose we are. Today’s text is one of those reminders. In the midst of the darkness of our world, as we long to see the light of truth, as we wander through the testings of our lives, we need to know who and whose we are and what value we have.

In the searching, we discover that who we are has little to do with what we do, but everything to do with whose we are and what God is doing for us each and every day. We need to be reminded that it is not what we do, it is what God has done and is doing today.

How many times have we seen the signs at sporting events that say 3:16? The first time I saw one of those signs, I thought, “Wow! What a great testimony.” And then I saw it more and more. I even heard it announced on the radio stations that broadcasted the games.

In an interview after one of the games, one reporter asked a sign bearer what it meant to them? The woman’s response made me cringe. She said something like, “It means so much to me that God loves the world this much and unless people believe in God’s love, they will all be damned.” This woman had found the perfect way to makes God’s amazing gift of love and caring into a club to beat people with. This is because we have all learned this verse and carry it with us in so many ways, but we have forgotten the verse that goes along with it: “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” Not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

In these few words, we are reminded that we are not the ones who save people. It is Jesus who saves—Jesus, the only son of God, in the communion of the Holy Spirit. We can assure one another of the forgiveness of our sins, but it is God who does the forgiving. On Sunday mornings, when we confess our sins and I make the declaration of forgiveness, it is not me that is forgiving you. It is God who forgives you; I am only the vehicle of transmission.

Yes, we claim that we have sinned in thought, word and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have declared before God and one another that, by ourselves, we are hopeless sinners, and so we turn to God, justified by Christ’s death and resurrection, for that forgiveness and hope that we need for the future. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we receive what we need.

Now any Christian can hear the confession of another Christian and assure them of God’s love and forgiveness absolving them of their sins, but, in our public worship, it is the privilege of the pastor to give that public assurance. So it is that I can say, “In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake, God forgives our sins. As a called and ordained minister of the Church of Christ and by Christ’s authority—by Christ’s authority—, I declare to you the forgiveness of all of your sins.” And when that declaration is made, I seal you in God’s love, not in my name, but in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

It isn’t me, it is the continuing work of Christ in the Holy Spirit that continues to forgive and hold us in that right relationship with God and one another. Indeed, “God so loves the world that God gave his only son, that whoever believes in him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

This everlasting life is something that is given to us in Baptism. In those waters, with God’s Word, through the work of the Holy Spirit, we die and are raised up into new life. We hear those words that Jesus commanded his disciples to do at the end of Matthew, “Go into all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Baptize them into that new relationship of love and caring.

So it is that we come today to witness Nicodemus coming to Jesus in the night, in the darkness of his world, in that most creative time of God--the night—remembering that in the darkness God creates the light; in the darkness of night God speaks all of the cosmos into being, that in the darkness of the world, even we were brought into being and invited to share in the benefits of creation; and, in the darkness of the night and our world, Christ’s light of hope continues to shine. This light shines in a way that does not condemn the world but lights the way forward in hope and forgiveness in and through the work of Christ.

I write myself a note each day, and I put it in my hat. The wind of the Spirit comes by, the hat blows high, but that is not the end of that. For ‘round and ‘round and ‘round and ‘round the world, the Spirit blows, and it drops my hat behind myself. I pick it up, and I read the note, which is merely to remind myself that I am Peter Todd Heide, a child of God, baptized in the waters of Baptism, and claimed by God.

As the serpent is lifted up in the wilderness so the Son of Man will be lifted up that all the world will see and know of God’s desire for the healing wholeness that only comes from Godself.

May you always walk in the assurance of God’s love for you.

PERFECT, Matthew 5:38-48

As we come to the end of the fifth chapter of Matthew, roughly 1/3 of the way through the Sermon on the Mount, we encounter some of the most difficult language thus far. “Do not resist evil doers.” Really? I am just going to say that this is a less-than-helpful translation from the Greek. The people who heard these words first had a great advantage.

1. They knew the times they lived in; therefore, they did not need to have the context of the times explained to them.
2. They understood Jesus’ words and didn’t have to have them translated.
3. They knew that just these eleven verses were not the whole sermon. They knew more was coming that would more fully explain what it meant to live in the kingdom of heaven, and
4. They didn’t have someone standing in front of them trying to explain what Jesus meant without the context of the whole sermon.

So, as we come to the end of our reading of Jesus’ words for us in Epiphany, understand that we will be coming back to other parts of his sermon throughout the year. Indeed, part of the sermon is assigned for Ash Wednesday, just a week and a half away. These words will continue to challenge us as we wrestle with what it means to be the body of Christ for the sake of the world.

Before talking more about Jesus, let me tell you a story. Emma stood in the middle of the room screaming with tears running down her face. Her mother came into the room and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Johnny hit me,” Emma shrieked.

“She hit me first!” Johnny retorted.

“That’s enough.” Mom said. “Say you’re sorry to one another and give each other a hug.”

Emma and Johnny looked at each other for a long time, and then each of them mumbled, “I’m sorry.” Then they hugged. As they hugged, Johnny whispered, “Tattle-tail,” and then he began to squeeze as hard as he could. Emma held her breath and started to get a little red in the face, but stubbornly refused to say anything. Finally, Johnny released her. Emma stepped back and kicked Johnny in the ankle as she appeared to lose her balance from the hug.

Mom said, “That’s better. Now play nice. Lunch will be ready soon.”

As she left the room, Johnny picked up a block and threw it at Emma. She ducked the block, and, putting her head down, she butted Johnny in the stomach. Suddenly, a hand grasped each of them, and Mom’s voice, no longer conciliatory, said, “That’s it. Go to your rooms and don’t come out until you can be friends again.”

Be honest. Don’t you wish that the problems of Syria could be solved this way? Or, don’t you wish the issues surrounding our last election could be solved like this?

Now I could tell you that the whole argument got started because Johnny broke Emma’s favorite crayon, or I could tell you that Emma wouldn’t answer Johnny when he asked her what she was doing, but little of that will change the fact that Emma and Johnny are living in an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth (plus a little interest) world. It is this tit-for-tat world that Jesus wants to address.

“Stop escalating the violence!” Jesus says. Understand that Rome is in power and returning punch for punch with Roman power will only get you crushed. Power does not rest in muscular strength, power rests in endurance and peace. Therefore, when the Roman soldier tells you to carry his load for a mile, smile and carry it two miles. If you show that you are willing to carry the load, you take away the soldier’s power over you.

“Yes,” Jesus says, “there is evil in the world, but if you are my follower, then you do not need to respond to evil with evil’s methods. Instead of responding to evil with evil, respond in a way that recognizes the person in front of you as a person. Treat that person as you would like to be treated, because, if what you see before you is an enemy and that person is stronger than you, then you are always going to be crushed.”

This is the beginning of what Gandhi understood. This is what Martin Luther King, Jr. understood. If Gandhi had organized an army to fight the British, we would be living in a very different world today, but instead, Gandhi chose to turn the imperial power of the British against itself.

Martin Luther King, Jr. did not organize people around him with great speeches of strategy, planning the overthrow of white privilege and power. He spoke to the nation with words of hope and vision. He did not speak of strategy but of dreams. How differently we would have heard “I have a strategy…” rather than “I have a dream…”.

It is sometimes hard to imagine what a world of de-escalation might look like, and so I wish to share this story with you. In the early days of the Massachusetts Bay colony, John Winthrop noticed that his wood pile was diminishing much faster than he thought it should. Suspecting someone of stealing wood from his wood pile, he was enraged. So, he decided to wait in the shadows one night to see who was taking his prized wood. Around midnight, one of the men from the colony who had fallen on hard times, showed up and started to load up some of the wood. Stepping out of the shadows, John Winthrop said, “Friend, I see thou hast need of wood, and I have plenty. Help thyself to what you need.” John Winthrop wrote, “In this way, I ended the thievery.”

God has given us so much—enough to share. I know that there are times when that sharing makes us feel uncomfortable, but, when we remember that God’s abundance is for all of creation, not just those who believe, or not just for those who believe like us, we begin to have a glimpse of God’s amazing love for all of God’s people and the privilege we have been given to share the news of God’s love—a love that reaches beyond the category of enemy to person; a love that goes beyond our differences and embraces our common needs; a love that does not objectify those around us with labels of black and white, male and female, old and young, gay and straight, abled and disabled, Republicans and Democrats, residents and foreigners, English-speaking and some other language, Lutheran and pick your denomination, but as children of God’s loving creation. Christ died once for all. And we build on that foundation waiting to be tested.

The Lord told Moses to tell the people, “You shall be holy for I, the Lord, am holy.” Indeed, we are separate from the world because God is separate from the world. We are “In the world but not of it,” as Luther has said. And we are perfect as God is perfect—not perfect in the sense of being without sin, but perfect in the sense that we are complete, whole, what God has created us to be. We are one in Christ.

As we have heard in the Sermon on the Mount these last few weeks we are blessed, not by our own work, but in Christ’s love; we have been assured that our saltiness is restored in Christ, and our light shines out in Christ; our righteousness is fulfilled in Christ; and we have learned the ways of Christ; so now we find that our wholeness, our holiness, our perfection, is not from us, but from Christ himself.

As we are gathered in worship today, hear these words of Christ for you.

“You are blessed, that is, you are assured of God’s presence in your life. Christ is with you.”

“You are the salt of the earth and light to the nations.” That is, you are essential qualities needed for the body of Christ to continue in health and to thrive.

“Your righteousness will exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees.” That is, through Christ, all things are possible and our ability to raise people up from the valley of the shadow of death’s darkness into the resurrection of Christ’s light is our mission and ministry by grace, through faith, in Christ alone.

And having learned what it means to be followers of Christ, “Do not escalate the level of violence in the world. Be wholly perfect as your Father in heaven is wholly perfect.”

Your Faith Has Saved You: Luke 17:11-19

In my first remembrance of this story I was in my Sunday School room in the old annex of St. Mary’s Lutheran Church on 65^th St., Kenosha, Wisconsin. We had the latest technology: a film strip projector and a record player. With the DING! after each piece of the story, frame by frame, we saw Jesus walking down the road with his disciples, ten lepers waving to Jesus from a distance, ten lepers asking for mercy, and Jesus sending them off to the priest at the temple on the horizon. While the other nine were still in sight, we saw the one leper facing Jesus and then bowing down before Jesus. In the last scene the one cleansed leper had his hand in the air, one foot raised and the other almost on the road. Maybe he was running, or skipping down the road, or even dancing.

It was told as a morality story of what happens when you don’t say thank you. You might end up like one of the other nine unhappy lepers who weren’t cleansed, but, if you said thank you, you could be cleansed and happy. DING!

We were told that saying thank you was an act of faith; Jesus likes children who say thank you. If we wanted to stay in good relationship with the people around us, we should always say thank you. Right after our lesson we got Kool Aid and cookies. We all politely said thank you, and then, we all got another cookie! We were more enthusiastic in our thank you the second time, but no more cookies came our way. Lesson learned: saying thank you gets you another cookie, but, saying thank you more than once, gets you nothing. DING!

That was almost 60 years ago, yet I can still visualize the room right down to the saddle shoes Kathy Anderson (name changed) was wearing. The cookies were vanilla sandwich cookies and the Kool Aid was red. How far we have come since then. Today, St. Mary’s Lutheran Church has moved to a new location. I am writing on a computer that has the capability of downloading film footage with depictions of the Biblical story. Images of stained glass windows and major art work covering this text are available. There are articles on leprosy from magazines and journals. All are available in minutes. DING!

Over the years, in this story, I have come to appreciate the challenges of identity within it and how faith informs that identity. I have also come to understand that the cleansing that takes place is for all ten of the lepers. Still, saying thank you continues as a central part of this story, and, more than that, glorifying God (δοξάζω, doxazō) leads to giving thanks (εὐχαριστέω, eucharisteō). DING!

Just a chapter ago, Lazarus (God has helped), in the arms of Father Abraham, and the rich man, in Hades, are separated by a chasm (Luke 16:26). Neither can cross this region between. This passage in ch. 17 where Jesus and his disciples are journeying in the region between Galilee and Samaria introduces us to their alienation from society.  Jesus walks with an entourage in the region between, not crossing the chasm but filling it. DING!

Now in the region between, the Lazaruses of the world are able to be recognized and cleansed. In this region between, faith and new identity is found. In this region between, new ways of living are being forged. In this region between, the afflicted are lifted up from the polarization of Abraham’s arms and Hades into a world that finds communal wholeness in Jesus’ presence, glorifying God and giving cause for thanksgiving for this new, gracious relationship of mercy and salvation. DING!

This region between not only challenges us to think about the identity of the lepers who are cleansed and their place in the world, but it challenges us to think about who this Jesus is. Although in ch. 2 Jesus is identified as coming from Nazareth in Galilee, his identity depends on getting to Jerusalem. It is the Jerusalem Jesus that matters to us because that is where we receive our salvation. It is this Jerusalem Jesus that the leper has faith in. Jerusalem Jesus rises from the tomb. DING!

In this region between, an itinerant Master (Jesus) meets some unclean outcasts on the road. We have no idea of how long these lepers have been together, but there is a group identity of being unclean outcasts that has held them together for a period of time. They may be lepers, but they have each other. They are a community of inclusive isolation, caring for and depending on one another. From a distance, they approach as one. They ask for mercy as one. They may be begging for nothing more than food, but Jesus chooses to interpret mercy as asking to be made clean. When Jesus commands them to show themselves to the priest, they go as one. And on the way they are made clean (καθαρίζω, katharizō) as one. DING!

The lepers notice that their skin disease (leprosy) is gone as they are traveling down the road to go to present themselves to the priest. They are no longer unclean outcasts; they have been cleansed; they have received catharsis. But has their group identity changed? After all, who is going to believe it? Doesn’t this experience need some processing time? Maybe sticking together and sharing the experience is a way to maintain their group identity.

One of them, however, is willing to change how he thinks about himself. He is willing to change his identity, to associate with the source of his cleansing rather than the old community of inclusive isolation. It is this identity changing move that makes the difference. The one formerly known as leper has chosen to identify himself with the Master rather than with the others formerly known as lepers. No longer is this one, AKA leper, he is faithful and in his faithfulness he doxologizes God and gives eucharistic thanks. DING!

Jesus responds to this thanksgiving with wonder. Weren’t there ten of you? Where are the other nine? If you are willing to change your identity, shouldn’t there be more of you who are willing? DING!

It’s possible this thankful one has not come of his own accord. Perhaps, when the ten find they are cleansed, the group identity of their shared disease may no longer be strong enough to keep them in community. They are no longer able to live together in the region between as one because now their own social prejudices separate them. There is one among them who is a Samaritan (Σαμαρίτης, Samaritēs), a foreigner (ἀλλογενής, allogenēs). Their oneness is broken. They are unable to find a new commonality in the Master. Instead they choose old ways of segregation.  So the Samaritan turns back and glorifies (δοξάζω, doxazō) God giving thanks (εὐχαριστέω, eucharisteō) that there is a new community of Jesus and his followers to belong to. The cleansed has been linked to a new oneness. In the region between this is possible because Jesus, unlike the rich man, is able to see, recognize and appreciate Lazarus(es) covered with sores and show mercy. DING!

I prefer to interpret the Samaritan’s actions as choice freely made rather than the result of prejudicial treatment, but, in either case, his identity changes: he becomes a follower of the Master.  I believe that this passage is more about trusting who and whose we are, rather than the plight of the other nine. It is more about those times when we live in those regions between as foreigners to those around us, when we are dis-allowed by our culture, when we don’t seem to fit in with the people we find around us (as in the other nine). (I am not discounting the need in the 1^st century to quarantine people as a means of discovering whether a particular disease was dangerous and contagious.)

Can we see today where people are quarantined unjustly? Can we recognize groups of socially ostracized people who need merciful wholeness in Christ and understand that only some will be able to change their identity? Can we acknowledge that some others will benefit from those communities of cathartic healing-wholeness without embracing their new identity?

Is it possible that we have made the church’s identity that of the modern leper, segregated from the rest of society by our own practice of inclusive isolation that is crying for mercy and cathartic healing-wholeness? Are we, as the church, willing to turn away from those practices of communal quarantine that keep us separated from one another? Can we find our way into the region between where the chasm of despair is mercifully filled with the Master’s cathartic healing hope? Is there space for doxological praise and eucharistic thanksgiving for the healing forgiveness that comes from the cross and resurrection, the cross and resurrection sending us out into the world able to recognize and acknowledge others in need? Can we, when we hear those words of healing, “Go, your faith has saved (σῴζω, sōzō) you”, proceed, skipping down the road, or dancing, maybe even running, with a hand in the air, one foot raised and the other almost touching the road praising God and giving thanks, not thanking God for what we will get, but for what we have? If we can, imagine with me what the world might look like then.

Jesus, Master, have mercy!  DING!