Year B - Proper 12 - July 29, 2018

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year B - Proper 12 - July 29, 2018

• 2 Kings 4:42-44
• Psalm 145:10-19 
• Ephesians 3:14-21
• John 6:1-21

There was this little boy whose mother packed him lunch every day of school for 7 years! Every evening, she methodically put it all together… And he could usually count on about the same thing day after day/week after week… A bologna and cheese sandwich on white bread… (sometimes peanut butter and jelly) Some kind of fruit… A bag of some kind of chips… And some kind of dessert. Ok… This was well-balanced nutrition for the 70s…. And this little boy was me… Things haven’t changed too much… 

We are not quite sure how old the little boy in our Gospel Lesson was… But we do know that possibly it was his mom that packed him a lunch so he could go to the outskirts of town and hear a wonderful teacher. We know that the areas outside villages and cities in the Mediterranean region were places of chaos… Meals did not normally take place there. In the first century, people in this part of the world did not go on “picnics.” Proper care had to be taken when preparing food to ensure its ritual purity. 

But there on the outskirts of the town assembled 5,000… The Gospel mentions men but does not to mention the women and children. (women and children were not included in the count) This would have been larger than the population of most urban settlements in the surrounding area. AND That was a bunch of people!

This was a large crowd! Just to give you an idea of how large this crowd could have possibly been, I looked for a modern reference… We are talking a third of the population of Greene County!

Now we have all these people together… And Jesus asks Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” I don’t think that the question to Philip was Jesus searching for information. This was more of a rhetorical question. This was one of the ways Jesus taught his disciples. The Gospel says that “He said this to test him…” 

I think we can all relate to Philip and his short speech on the economic situation before them. Philip was the logical choice for Jesus to ask. He was from Bethsaida, which was the nearest town. Philip would have known the local resources. So, Philip gave Jesus a very logical answer. He tries to rationally figure out how much money he would need to buy enough bread for each person to have a little taste. The price that comes to his mind is 200 denarii – (a denarii being a days wage for a working man) this would be about 6.5 months wages. This amount would appear ENORMOUS to a man like Philip. But Philip could have gone much further… 

He could have pointed out to Jesus all the logistical problems associated with obtaining and transporting such a large quantity of bread. Even if they took up an offering and were able to come up with enough money to go buy bread, where would they go and find that much bread already prepared? (enough to feed these thousands and thousands of people)... If there were to prepare it themselves, How many ovens would be required? How many bakers? How much flour? 

How long would it take for the dough to rise? And to bake? And how would they transport thousands of loaves of bread? And then what about the water or wine? You can’t eat bread without something to wash it down with. Philips answer was very logical, but not very faithful.

And then Andrew come along and tries to offer a frail solution. He offers Jesus the 5 barley loaves and 2 fish. Just a little boy’s lunch! But then joins Philip in his doubt – “What are they among so many.” This wasn’t even the good bread. This was barley bread. This was an inferior bread usually eaten by poor people. And the fish were probably small, meant to be a side dish for the bread which was after all the main course.

What if the boy were unwilling to share his lunch? What if he were to say, “I need this to take care of myself!” or – “my little bit won’t make a difference, So I am going to keep it!” The story might have been much different. But - In a gesture, much larger than that little boy, the meager lunch is offered to Jesus upon request. Then, Jesus had the disciples make the people sit down on the grass.

Jesus didn’t jump up and proclaim, “I AM GOD” and then make manna rain down from heaven. He didn’t make palm-trees spring up in the middle of the desert and feed the people with a grand banquet. But in a very bold gesture for a man with so many mouths to feed and so little food. He “took” what was given to him, He “blessed it,” He “broke it,” and He “gave it” to all the people who were seated on the hillside in the wilderness. And he gave it until they were satisfied.

However, that isn’t the entire story,  Unlike some conjuror, who would possibly say “I can do this again, and again,” Jesus takes care of what is given to him and instructs the disciples to “Gather up the fragments left over so that nothing may be lost.” And they filled up 12 baskets. 

We should remember that Paul reminded the Ephesians that Jesus could always do far more than we could either ask or imagine. This was a little boy’s lunch! His lunch was not much, but it was ALL he had to offer. Jesus transformed that little bit into plenty for thousands.

Jesus Christ needs what we can bring him. We may not have much to bring, but he needs what we have. We bring to Jesus what we have and he multiplies the quantity. Regardless if we say, “I need this for myself!” or “my little bit won’t make any difference,” Jesus takes what we offer and it somehow becomes enough. But not just enough, it becomes an overflowing abundance.

We live out a little taste of that wonderful story today, just like we do each and every Sunday. Jesus takes what we offer and uses it to feed all of us. Every Sunday is our turn to sit down on the mountainside in the grass and join that great crowd. What happened there, happens here! 

Don’t ever forget that the bread we share this morning comes directly from the abundance of one of those 12 baskets, as Jesus continues to feed us and provide for us. 

Today, through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, we bring Karsin McCray into Christ's Body, the Church. We will make promises to help her grow into the full stature of Christ. It's our responsibility, as we teach her the tenets of the faith, to make sure that she knows how Jesus takes what we bring and provides for the greater community. We are responsible for seeing that she is brought to the Eucharistic table and is given the chance to be nourished the way we are nourished here.

Come and feast at God's table. There is always enough!

Year B - Proper 11 - July 22, 2018

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III

St. James Episcopal Church

Greeneville, TN 

Year B - Proper 11 - July 22, 2018

• Jeremiah 23:1-6
• Psalm 23 
• Ephesians 2:11-22
• Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

I grew up in Southern Virginia in a town called Chesapeake.  Until I was 8 years old, we lived on a cul-de-sac lot in a 3 bedroom brick ranch in a small subdivision close to an area called Bowers Hill. Considering the size of the neighborhood, we had a pretty large lot, but to the back property line, just across the ditch, was a 2 lane highway, Route 58.

It wasn’t very long before my dad and his neighbors decided to erect a chain link fence, to keep us kids in and keep the vagrants and riffraff that wandered up and down 58 out. This fence did many things, it protected us, children, kept our family dog from running away (most of the time), but most importantly it created a barrier between our quiet home and the busyness of Route 58.

We could still hear the many trucks and cars, but we felt safe because we knew that fence was there. This was my first experience with fences…

My second experience with fences was a little different. We moved to the other side of town to a larger house. This house already had a fence. In the front on the right side was a wooden, hatched fence like you would probably find in the Wild West possibly on the “OK Corral.” This fence was very different in style and reason for existing. The previous owner had it put up to separate himself from his neighbor on the adjacent property.  

I don’t know the complete story, but I remember him saying that there was some sort of dispute between him and the previous owner about what trees and shrubs were on whose property. So the barrier was created.

As my life progressed, the other fences that I encountered haven’t really changed my opinion of them. In my high school at Frederick Military Academy, they were tall with barbed wire, designed to keep us in and the downtown harbor city of Portsmouth, VA out. The Citadel was very much the same with its fences, gates, and guard-shacks. To me, fences have always represented protection, but at the same time, it builds up a boundary that separates and divides. It is like we are trying to create our own little havens, and surround them with chain link and barbed wire.

As I got thinking about it, our society is full of fences. There are so many reasons why we build them: It could be security, and it could be fear... It could be to exude a sense of control. In some places, it’s still, unfortunately, it's about the color of your skin, in others it could be about what side of the tracks you live on. Or maybe it’s about being Christian or Jew or Muslim. Maybe Roman Catholic or Protestant, Democrat or Republican, or even Male or Female. For some of us, these become borders that we are not allowed to cross. Barriers that isolate, discriminate and segregate.

These are not fences made of chain link or hatched boards... These are fences of prejudice and bigotry, built by us because we think we are protecting something valuable. In the late 1800s the British writer Rudyard Kipling penned the famous phrase, “East is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet.” Kipling didn’t just make that up. He was reflecting on the world and the reality of the divided and divisive society in which he lived.

Oh, East is East, and West is West, 

and never the twain shall meet,

Till Earth and Sky stand presently 

at God’s great Judgment Seat;

But there is neither East nor West, 

Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face, 

tho’ they come from the ends of the earth.

There is something deep within our human nature that makes us want to divide the world into “us” and “them” ... to separate, to segregate, to protect, to control, mostly because of fear. 

The Church in Ephesus had created its own fences. As we have just heard in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, the Jews were fighting with the Gentiles for equal status in the Church. During the first few decades, this was an extremely harsh situation. The scriptures tell us that even Peter (probably the most prominent Jewish Christian) didn’t want to admit Gentiles. So they built a fence…  and divided up sides between the “circumcised” (or the Jewish Christians) and the “uncircumcised” (which were the Gentile or non-Jewish Christians).

By the time of Paul’s letter, divisions like these abounded and plagued the first few decades of the early church. These separations didn’t just separate this person from that person, they were designed to separated people from God. For the Jewish Christians, the Gentiles just weren’t allowed to be part of the group. From the uncircumcised Greek outsider, that did nothing more than being born to a non-Jewish family, to the Roman convert that enjoyed having a slice or two of bacon.  

In that society, the Jews thought these folks were the unclean, and therefore undeserving of God’s graces. Paul wrote his letter to remind the Ephesians, that this is not the way of Jesus. It’s not the way of Jesus who “has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” There is now ONE new humanity where there once was two. So now the Gentiles are Citizens with the saints and are also members of the household of God. 

In ancient culture, these were pretty powerful words. Here, two metaphors are used - “city” and “family." These are two fundamental social units that made up Jewish Life – but, now “Gentiles” are included in BOTH. Both City AND family!

By Christ’s death on the cross and his glorious resurrection, he unites Israel with the Gentiles. Jesus makes no distinction between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, the “far off” have been “brought near” and in all this reconciling work, there is true peace…

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” This is a famous line from the great American author Robert Frost. This morning, I don’t think that Mr. Frost would mind too much if we rewrote that line, “SOMEONE there is WHO doesn’t love a wall.” That someone is Jesus Christ. 

Jesus came to break down the dividing walls that we humans create in our world... walls of fear and prejudice. As the great hymn that we just sang proclaims:

In Christ, there is no East or West,

In Him no South or North;

But one great fellowship of love

Throughout the whole wide earth.

It is up to us to continue that task. This long season of the church year after Pentecost is a period of growth and vitality. This is one of the main reasons that the colors of the season are green. Green represents growth vitality and life and reminds us of the wonder and beauty of the God in the created vegetation around us. How can we grow, though, if we have a fence around us?

It is up to us to tear down the fences and break down the walls in each of our own lives, and where ever else we see them…  We also need to be careful that we don’t contribute to building them up or maintaining them.

As we reach out and grow this season, we must examine our lives and our hearts to find those invisible, but very real barriers, that we erect in our lives between ourselves and our fellow human beings. As we find them, we need to TAKE THEM DOWN link by link, board by board, brick by brick.

This morning, we have a real opportunity to go forward in the task of Christ and remove the fences and barriers that exist. As we approach the table this morning, let us remember why we call this “communion” and let us be united with each other, and united to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because in Christ there are no fences.

Year B - Proper 10 - July 15, 2018

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year B - Proper 10 - July 15, 2018

• Amos 7:7-15
• Psalm 85:8-13
• Ephesians 1:3-14
• Mark 6:14-29

The Beheading of John the Baptist by Caravaggio 1608

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer and say “Thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven” do we really mean it? Do we really mean for God’s WILL to be done? Or is it just some random prayer that we make? We say it because Jesus taught us to say it… we have always said it… but do we really really mean it?

If we look deeply into this week’s difficult and challenging lessons, we can see that they are about a clash… A clash of the will of the Kingdom’s of this world, and of God’s divine will for us to have hope in Christ.

In our Old Testament Lesson the prophet Amos has been chosen by God to straighten out the mess that Israel has got itself into… It was so crooked and messed-up, that the scripture records Amos’ vision of God holding up a Plumb-line in order to measure just how off everything is. The Kingdom of Israel under the leadership of King Jeroboam is not upright. It’s a mess and not in line with God’s will. It is teetering and wobbling, unstable. Sure to fall and fail. They’ve been focused on the wrong things, destroying the relationship that they have with God and with each other.

So, God sends Amos. But when Amos prophesied, Amaziah, the high priest, told Jeroboam that Amos was conspiring against the kingdom. They didn’t listen to Amos, and Jeroboam had Amos kicked out of Judah. Sounds like a pretty tough time to be a prophet. 

The Kingdom of Israel was so messed up and King Jeroboam wouldn’t listen to wisdom or reason and did exactly what he wanted to do. Not God’s will be done, but Jeroboam’s will be done.

In our Gospel lesson, Herod seems to follow his own will too. King Herod, (a puppet of the Roman Emperor), has had John the Baptist arrested because John, a mighty prophet in his own right, spoke out against Herod’s unlawful marriage to Herodias, his brother Phillip’s wife.

But the scripture also says that while his was locked up, Herod protected John, because Herod thought John was a righteous and holy man. His wife, Herodias, on the other hand, feared John and wanted him dead.

King Herod’s stepdaughter (and niece I might add) Salome, unnamed in the Gospel, was the young daughter of Herodias, and she danced for Herod on his birthday. King Herod was so pleased with her that he granted her whatever she asked for. He even said that she could even have ½ of his kingdom.

Salome didn’t know what to ask for, so she went to her mother, Herodias. Herodias seized the opportunity to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Salome went back and told Herod… and Herod was deeply grieved, but he didn't want to appear weak, so he granted her wish.

He didn’t have the guts to say, NO, there is no reason to kill this man. For Herod, this was the beginning of the end. Trying not to appear weak, he followed his own will, and what he did is what inevitably made him weak. This started the whole process that brought him down.

These stories are about the Kings and principalities of this world doing what they think suits them best, and the consequences of doing just that. However, they are also a stories about how these Kings used others to further their own agendas. Amaziah used King Jeroboam to oust Amos because he was so worried about Amos changing things and Jeroboam was so paranoid about the conspiracy theory, that he had Amos exiled.

And then we have the tangled web of tragedy in the Gospel story where Herod used Herodias to further his own political agenda. And Herodias using Salome to bring about the death of John the Baptist, and Salome using John to please her mother. But make no mistake about it, the blame lies not with Herodias or Salome but with Herod. Herod was certainly hesitant and deeply grieved about what he was asked to do, because he was protecting John and thought him to be holy and righteous, but instead of having to face embarrassment, he took an innocent life.

Are we not all like Jeroboam sometimes, when we are fearful of what we don’t understand, we decide to do something that isn’t in the larger plan, because we consider it to be the safe route? Then only to take the risk after we see what profit is to be gained!…

And are we not all like Herod sometimes, when we do something to save face, and make a decision that profits us even though it’s not right or fair to others? Or, as one of my colleagues suggested to me, perhaps one question we need to ask ourselves is, "whose head do we call for?"

St. Paul says to the Church in Ephesus, “In Christ we have obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.”

My friends, we are believers in Jesus Christ, and in Christ we have been redeemed and sealed as God’s own people. We make up Christ body, and are subjects in God’s divine kingdom. 

When we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,” God shows us and others the way to salvation in Christ Jesus. We then attempt to use the good gifts that God has given us to build up God’s kingdom and to follow God’s will, because it is God’s divine will to gather all things in heaven and on Earth unto God.

But being faithful to God’s will for us is difficult. We struggle every day against the Kingdoms and principalities and the forces of this world that do not want us to live a holy and righteous life. We need to be constantly assured and reminded that, when we are following God’s will, what we are doing makes a difference not only in our own lives, but in the lives of others.

So, like John, if we suffer (and possibly die) for being faithful to God’s will, then kingdoms and principalities of this world do not have the last word. We need to remember that Herod may have taken John's head, but he couldn't take his life.

Our hope is in Jesus Christ, and our just reward is eternal life with our God. The important thing that we have to remember is, regardless of how difficult our life may be, we need to be faithful and follow God’s will for our life. Sometimes it means hearing things we don’t want to listen to and sometimes it means risking who we think we are to become who God wants us to be.

“Thy Kingdom Come, O Lord… thy will be done on Earth, as it is in heaven”

Year B - Proper 9 - July 8, 2018

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III

St. James Episcopal Church 

Greeneville, Tennessee

Year B - Proper 9 - July 8, 2018

• Ezekiel 2:1-5
• Psalm 123
• 2 Corinthians 12:2-10
• Mark 6:1-13

This past week was a busy one… Not only did I make my “final move” to Tennessee, but in the context of everything thing that was going on, we celebrated the 242 anniversary of these United States of America becoming a sovereign nation.

As a bit of a history buff, what I find interesting is that the actual legal date of out separation from British Rule was on July 2, 1776. This is when the Continental Congress voted to accept the “resolution” of independence. Only after this resolution was debated and revised, was it writ in a declaration of Independence on July 4th (the Vestry folks in the congregation would know what I'm talking about)

Some years back, I led a Christian Education class and talked about the closeness and interrelatedness of the foundation of our government in this country and the foundation of our beloved Episcopal Church (I would like to do that here soon if I am given the chance).

The American Episcopal Church - Independent from, but ironically now in full communion… full relationship with the Church of England. The church, our church, has been in America since the first settlers came to Roanoke Island in 1584 in a expedition chartered by Queen Elizabeth I and led by Sir Walter Raleigh.

See, the church was an important piece of life for those that set out to colonize a new land. So important that they took their church with them. The first Christian baptism, was administered and recorded in that small settlement to the “first born” in the “new world," Virginia Dare. She was baptized in accordance with the Book of Common Prayer 1559. Baptized into the Christian faith and made part of the body of Christ by an English priest, Fr. Martin, who accompanied them on that voyage. Yes, there was a priest there and he suffered with them through the hardships that led to their mysterious disappearance.

It must have been amazing to be that mission minded, and focused on bringing not only civilization to a unknown foreign land, but to also bring their church with them. What courageous missionaries they must have been for what they were willing to do in order to share their belief in Jesus Christ as Lord with a much different culture than their own.

Today’s Gospel lesson is about mission and about Jesus words of urgency and preparation for his disciples to go out into the nearby towns and villages and proclaim the good news to repent – that the kingdom of God has come near. 

But, In today’s Gospel lesson, things aren’t exactly what they seem to be; especially to those folks whom Jesus has come home to see. Jesus has gone with his disciples to the synagogue in Nazareth. And there, Jesus begins to teach. Now, when Jesus lived in Nazareth, the people knew him there as the carpenter, son of Mary and Joseph... oldest brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, and of course his sisters. 

But, Jesus has now returned as a wise prophet of the living God, and he tried to preach and teach and they reacted like we probably would (given the circumstances) “where did this guy get all this?”...“who does he think he is?”... “isn’t he the carpenter?” They are all caught up in their perception of what they “expect” Jesus to be, rather than focus on what he has come to do. 

Jesus has come to prepare them... and teach them how to make way for the kingdom of God. He has been on both sides of the Sea of Galilee, and in the middle, preaching, teaching, and healing and performing great miracles and acts of the living God. But, now he has returned home – home to the place where he was raised, to astound and possibly bewilder the crowd with his teaching, only for them not to believe in him. The scripture says that because of their unbelief, he was made powerless there, other than laying hands on a few sick people and healing them.

Then, after it seems that his own hometown has rejected him, he uses the incident as an opportunity to prepare his disciples for the work they must do to build up the body of believers. Prepare them for their “mission” among the villages and towns... The “hard” work that they have to do. The hard work that will NOT be received by everyone, especially in their hometowns… Hard work that will be the source of ridicule and laughter to some, and the way to salvation for others, but ALL must be reached.

It’s all Mission. Mission framed and mission focused in a sense of urgency to Go Out! Go Out! Don’t stop to pack a bunch of stuff! You don’t need anything extra for your journey… just a staff. You don’t need any money, or food, or even a change of clothes. You just basically need to just put on your shoes, grab your staff and go!

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I go somewhere, there is usually some serious packing involved… At least an overnight bag, provisions for food or shelter, and definitely my computer and book-bag (I am not going anywhere without that!) After all, what would I do if I couldn’t check my e-mail? And after this recent episode this week with packing the U-Haul Truck and coming to Tennessee… and thinking about all the boxes and “stuff” in my house... And then thanking my lovely bride, who stayed back for the past 2 months and managed everything and made sure that it all came together.

So, after all that, I had to stop and think about what this passage was trying to tell us today. I felt that this was Jesus teaching us how mission is to be done. Not relying on ourselves, but trusting in God’s providence. For God to provide what is needed for what must be done. Focus on God’s providence in the face of challenge and rejection. So, it’s mission done with urgency and complete trust in what God provides. 

How come when it comes to modern mission in the church, we don’t follow that biblical example? We would rather complain about our scarce resources are than trust in God’s providence and love for us. We would rather focus on our sensitive nature and how we may feel when negative rejections come, rather than rejoicing in the many blessings that God has provided for us. We would rather be sure of our own security than to risk it boldly spreading the Gospel.

Jesus sent the disciples out, and gave them instructions, to spread a message of repentance to everyone, knowing that some will refuse them and some will listen. The scripture tells us that they went out and were able to cast out demons and they anointed many with oil and cured them. Jesus wants no less from us…

Jesus wants us to be bold. Bold and daring to be the church in the world. Bold enough to proclaim by word and example that the kingdom of God has indeed come near, and is here with us in the living body of Christ, the church. The Church...  the community gathered together in worship, engaging in dialogue, learning and challenging one another. The community where we continue to hold each other up, support each other, and reach out into the world around us... bringing everyone and everything nearer to the kingdom of God.

We can learn a lot from our history… The history of the foundation of this country is deeply ingrained and entrenched within the missionary efforts of those Christians, both lay and ordained, that have gone on before us, spreading and building up the kingdom of God as they went.

We are here today in this Christian Community because in 1842, someone saw fit to start an Episcopal church here in Eastern part of Tennessee. We share that wonderful legacy of foundation and mission, and we have the responsibility to continue to build up the kingdom of God right here in Greene County. And we have that opportunity each and every day…

Every time we walk down the street, or see a neighbor in the yard, or talk to a friend in the grocery store; we have the opportunity to share with them the terrific and life giving presence that we know in our lives, because of our relationship with Jesus Christ. And we have an opportunity to ask them to be a part of the fellowship in mission and come and worship with us. Not forcing them or scaring them into believing this or that, but inviting them to be a part of a movement – the Jesus Movement and nurturing their souls with what we have to offer.

We can only imagine the hardships that the first missionaries faced, but they trusted that God’s provision and grace would give them exactly what they would need at the time that they would need it. Since its missionary inception, this church has survived 176 years of wars, suppression, depression, economic calamity, and even ritual and liturgical change. And yet, we keep on going. We continue to be formed, informed, and transformed by the living presence of Jesus Christ in our lives, as we celebrate and worship him.

Some of you may know that the 79th Triennial General Convention of the Episcopal Church is meeting right now in Austin, Texas. The House of Deputies and the House of Bishops are voting and debating on resolutions and making decisions that will affect what we do as a national church for next several years.

In the context of this convention, Bishop Curry, our presiding bishop, has challenged us to vision the Episcopal Church, as a missionary church, a re-creation, something he calls “The Jesus Movement.” Getting us back to the roots of the Gospel message, he asks us to be part of the movement… The Jesus Movement. A movement of love and healing that advocates for justice and peace and respects the dignity of every human being. A Jesus movement that goes out in love and lives the gospel in our lives and feeds the hungry, lifts up the lowly, and cares for those on the fringes of society. A movement that offers a place of steadiness in this unsteady and ever changing world.

And as members of this Jesus Movement are each responsible, we each are responsible for our own faithfulness. We are not responsible for the response we may receive when we offer our ministries in Christ’s name, but we are each only responsible for being faithful ourselves... responsible for our own faithfulness to what we are doing.

Our challenge today is to go forth from this place and envision what that this “Jesus Movement” will look like at this time, in this place.

Using Mark’s Biblical lesson of urgency and providence, trust that God will be there with us as we reach out to others and invite them to new life in Jesus, thriving and vital, focused and engaging… what will it look like?

Year B - Proper 8 - July 1, 2018

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III

St. James Episcopal Church

Greeneville, TN

Year B - Proper 8 - July 1, 2018

• Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15; 2:23-24
• Psalm 30
• 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
• Mark 5:21-43

The Gospel story this morning is interesting. There is actually a story within a story... or is it a story within a story, within a story? For the evangelist, Mark, this is a bit strange. See, Mark almost always gets straight to the point and if you talk to some of our budding biblical scholars in the Tuesday evening bible study, you’ll understand very quickly that Mark usually doesn’t include a lot of extra details like we see here.

So if he is giving us this much detail, it’s probably something that we should pay attention to. So, let’s take a closer look at the story within the story within the story.

Jesus and the disciples have just endured the great storm. Remember last week when the storm was tossing the boat around and all the disciples in the boat were freaking out? They went to Jesus, who was on the stern of the boat asleep, and woke him up. And Jesus got up and rebuked the wind saying, “Peace, be still!”

Well, the portion of text we just heard follows that great storm. Jesus is with a great crowd that has surrounded him. His reputation has preceded him… The people have heard of Jesus and his great healing powers and have come out to see for themselves. A leader from the nearby synagogue, a man named Jairus, came by and asked Jesus to come with him and heal his daughter who was very sick.

Jesus agrees and starts to go with Jairus through the crowd, and that large crowd that was gathered started to press in on him. Here is where we get to the story within the story… During all the commotion, the mingling and the pressing in on each other, Jesus stops and asks, “who touched me?” The disciples begin to think that he is crazy because they are surrounded by so many how could they possibly know who touched him.

Jesus knew something had happened, even in all the busyness around them. He felt the power go forth from him. A woman, who was sick with what the scripture calls a hemorrhage, reaches out and touched the hem of his cloak… because she thought that just by touching this amazing healer that it would be able to make her well.

She had been under the care of physicians and spent all her money. (some of us know what that’s like) However, with one touch, she felt that she was cured of her disease. Who touched me? Jesus says… and the woman who was healed, comes forth with fear and trembling and falls down before him. She explains what happened and Jesus says very simply, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

And then the original story continues… with some who come from the house of Jairus to tell him that it is too late, that his daughter was already dead, not to bother Jesus any longer. Jesus tell Jairus to believe and takes him with Peter, James, and John to the house. When they arrive at the house, they see lot of commotion, weeping and wailing. Jesus asks them why they are weeping and carrying on like that when the girl is only sleeping.

Jesus takes Jairus and his wife and Peter, James and John into where the girl was and takes the girl by the hand, and as in Mark’s story (that is NOT known for the details), Jesus says in Aramaic “Talitha cum” … “Little Girl, get up.” The little girl got up and began to walk around, and Jesus told them to give her something to eat.

A story within a story within a story… So we’ve heard the story…  and the story within the story, but what’s the story of the story within the story that I just retold to you? What do you think the reason is that Mark spends so much time giving us the intricate details, up to and including the Aramaic words that he spoke when he told the little girl “Talitha cum?” What is the significance of having a story nestled within the story?

I think that Mark uses these intricate and interlaced stories to tell us something about the Kingdom of God. First of all, God knows that we have busy lives and that the stresses and pressures are always closing in on us. The story reminds us that Jesus is there for us and responds to us. Jairus came to Jesus and Jesus responded to his need. As Jesus does throughout the scriptures, he always meets people where they are and directly responds to their need. In the Kingdom of God, God knows what we need, and God responds. God always responds to our needs.

The story within the story reminds us that in order to receive the Kingdom that God has in store for us, we must have faith… and if we are bold enough and believe enough and have faith enough to claim the Kingdom for ourselves, and then we will receive the healing that we need.

The woman that was sick with a hemorrhage was bold and daring… she was a risk-taker, and she  believed and reached out in faith, knowing if she could just touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, then there was a good chance she would be well for the first time in 12 years.

Bold and daring… she violated everything that society said was right. She was bleeding, and yet touches another person, a great healer and teacher, risking his ritual cleanliness and her possible ridicule and death… Nevertheless, she knew that it was the only chance she had left to be well. She dared to receive the Kingdom of God and was made well.

And in the story of Jairus’ daughter, one would think that all was lost, that Jesus had lingered too long tending to others. That it was too late, she was already dead. But Jesus continues on, forward in mission to show others the Kingdom of God in their midst. He goes into the house and into where the girl was… knowing she was thought to be dead, and then risking everything (ritual impurity by touching the dead) he takes her by the hand and says, Talitha cum! Little girl, get up.

Do we let the Kingdom in? Even after we think all is lost? Even after we have given up all hope? Do we let the Kingdom in and let it take us by the hand and raise us to the new life that is found in Jesus?

If we are bold enough to reach out in faith and grab the hem of Jesus and let him heal us, then we need to be willing to let Jesus take us by the hand and raise us to new life. We have to be willing to take a risk on behalf of our faith, and let it be proclaimed by our actions in the midst of adversity. When the stresses of life start to close in on us, pressing on all sides, we must be bold and willing to ask for help… We must be willing to reach out for the Kingdom of God and grab it by the hem… and then let it take us by the hand and raise us to a new life… A new life of peace, and love.

Jesus was present to all the situations that surrounded him, yet he stayed on task and purpose through all the chaos that surrounded him. He was the most calm of those in the boat in the storm that surrounded the disciples, and he was the peaceful presence today in the midst of the chaos, pain, and death.

The Kingdom of God has in fact come very near… In the Kingdom, there is calmness, there healing, there is peace, and love, and understanding. Reach for the Kingdom, and then be willing to let it take you by the hand, and raise you to new life in Jesus Christ our Lord.