“Who do YOU say I am?”  (Mark 8:27-38)
Life is full of questions.  There are the routine, mundane questions of “what should I have for breakfast this morning?”  There are questions with perhaps greater significance like “Where did I park the car?” Or much more important “Who will win the election?”  There are questions such as “Is there life on Mars or Venus?”  that capture our imagination and leave us waiting for definitive answers.  There are questions of timeless and eternal mysteries like “Where does the missing sock in the dyer go?   But then, there are questions that we must each answer for ourselves and only we can answer.  Questions like “What are you going to be when you grow up?”  “How will you choose to spend your life’s energies?”  “What do you think God’s dream is for your life?” 

Jesus asks two critical questions in our story.  One is “who do people say the Son of Man is?’ and the other is a more direct and immediate question “Who do you say I am?” 

It is interesting to notice the order is which Jesus asks these questions.   He begins his inquiry with a more general type of question, wanting to know what the people thought of him.  Often, with complex or difficult issues, it is easier to name what other people think or say  rather than offer a self -revealing response.  (I don’t know what I personally think about a given issue but I know that 85 % of  “Seven Sharp” viewers are against it)  

Jesus asks the disciples “who do the crowds say that I am?”  He wants them to be poll reporters.  They answer him; some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some say one of the ancient prophets.   Jesus has learned some valuable things and he has opened a conversation of great significance.  Let’s notice and observe what each of these answers have in common to the other.  Each of their answers places Jesus as a forerunner.  As one who is preparing the way for the Messiah who is yet to come. 

Though Jesus has proclaimed and demonstrated that the kingdom of God is at hand.  The people must not have quite believed it and thought that the day was still yet to come, it hasn’t happened quite yet.  Always coming – but never here.  It is a very convenient answer.  It allows people to keep searching.  It allows people to keep defining the Messiah the way they want to, it allows them to keep looking and not have to decide the truth.  If the Messiah is still coming and not yet here, then we do not have to commit our lives to him. 

Fred Cradock, an American preacher and author, writes, that to believe that Jesus has come means that we can no longer shape him to fit our dreams.  The first and very difficult task of the Messiah is to stop people from continuing to look for one.  I sometimes wish he would just say “Ta Da!”  Here I am.  And so Jesus moves the disciples toward a moment of decision by asking “who do people say I am?”  The answer to the question is important to Jesus but even more so to those who answer the question.  With their response they tell of how they are living their lives, will they look past the Messiah in their midst or will they embrace the love and grace that is before them and with them?  

If we were to ask that same question on the streets today, who do the people say that Jesus is?  What would we hear? Jesus is an illiterate peasant trying to save a few others, he is another Buddha, he is just a special man who lived and died thousands of years ago.  One comic I enjoy says “I love Jesus, it is his fan club I can’t stand”  And some may never have heard of him.    

In spite of how much the world hears about “American Evangelicals”, more and more people speak of America as becoming a post-religious country.  As a culture, religious roots are being left behind – or certainly not holding the sway and influence churches may have had.  In some ways this may be a very good thing.  For it moves us out of our comfort zone, we as Christians have to be more deliberate and intentional about expressing our faith.  And when we do, we stand out from the culture as a whole.  I remember how strange I felt when I was staying with a family in New Zealand who did not go to church, even on Christmas, and I wanted to go to service even if that meant going by myself.  They thought it quite strange that I would give up Sunday mornings in my pajamas and drinking coffee with the paper just to go hear some windbag in stain glass windows.

Bringing the question closer to us as followers, who, do we as a congregation, say that Jesus is?  How does our relationship with him guide us as we grow in faith?  Do we trust that God has a dream for us as a church?  What do we feel Jesus is calling us to do and become?  What does our sense of Jesus cause us to do today? Following Jesus is the journey of

giving up control,  surrendering to the gift of grace, sacrificing our delusions of glory,  joining in God’s ongoing operation to salvage a broken world.

This is what it means to “give our lives,” to “take up our crosses,” and to “deny ourselves.” It is the move to step off the throne and put Jesus there, where he rules with crucified hands and a heart overflowing with love. This is a continuing journey for all of us. We never master it. We never become experts. Over time, we realize that’s OK, because it’s not our job to rule the world, or increase our little corner of turf, or even to become impressive.  We are here to love and serve, to lift up and encourage, to look out for the interests of other, and to let each person know that they are eternally valuable in the sight of their God.

In the journey of faith, the most crucial question is the one that Jesus puts to Peter. There is no more important issue than one that Jesus raises.  Who do you say that I am?  Who do you say that I am?  It is not a question that the church can answer for us.  It is not a question our families can answer for us. It is not a question that we can put off forever and say I’m still thinking about it. 

The journey of faith is not one that searches forever, it comes to some answers along the way.  We leave the starting blocks and strive on, seeking to know God deeper, (or to borrow from Godspell, we hope to see God more clearly, day by day).  Every day we need to have a sense of who we are calling on when we call on God.  We make decisions about where God fits into our lives.  The question is not just one of theological debate and reflection, it is a question that probes the very center of our souls.  It calls us to faith.  It is the essential question.  Who do we think Jesus is? 

In seminary, a story was circulated that helped keep us humble, if we got to thinking that theological knowledge would somehow exempt us from growing in our own faith,.  In the story Jesus has suddenly returned to earth, with the question  “who do you say that I am”  and all the religious leaders of the world gathered and they formed a  committee,  of course.  and they study the question for two years, they are seeking to find the “right answer”,  when they are done they come to Jesus and say..”you are the eschatological manifestation of the divine logos who has transcended the numinous and appeared in the space-time continuum to declare God’s parausia” and Jesus said “what?!!”  Jesus is not looking for a theological response here, he is looking for an answer of the heart.  He is looking for a commitment of a life, he is looking for what Peter said,  You’re the Messiah.  You’re the Christ, the anointed one, the redeemer.  Later, Jesus begins to unfold what this means that he is the Messiah that he would be have to be killed and that he would rise again. 

And coming even closer, Jesus asks each of “who do you say that I am?  We don’t answer the question so much with our lips as we do with our lives.  Where do we place our emphasis and priorities?  How do we serve others, especially the poor?  What do we do with the gifts that God has entrusted us?  Do we live as though Jesus has come, and shown us what the Kingdom is like?  Who do we say Jesus is with our lives?  These are some of the deep, centering questions of faith that call to each of us, that begin a dialogue, that move through time, changing and challenging us and always calling us to faith.  Amen.

“Pleading for Crumbs, Given a Loaf” (Mark 7:24-37)

Intro:  Our reading this morning comes from the Gospel of Mark.  It contains two stories of amazing healing, that take place in very different ways.  Mark has told us just before this passage that Jesus could not perform miracles in his home town and that he has taken a retreat.  All that takes place in this passage has Jesus in Gentile territory.  //

(for Setting the Theme) Isn’t there is something irresistible about the smell of bread baking?  I know whenever I pick up the scent of freshly baked bread I can’t contain myself.  My nose goes straight up and I’m on a mission until I find the source of that wonderful smell.  It gets me in trouble sometimes…I bump into things (or at least gets me some funny looks).  Perhaps some of us remember bread being baked at home, or at grandparents houses and remember how that smell could fill a house.  There is something it that calls out “come and get me”, something that is warm and inviting. 

In a way, the woman in our story is responding to Jesus like that.  She is in need, hungry for a cure for her daughter and she is on a mission and will not give up until she is satisfied.  Now Jesus is out of his usual territory, he is on a retreat, trying to get away from it all.  But word about him is following him wherever he goes.  This woman has heard about him and believes that he is indeed the messiah, someone who could help.  But would he help?  She was not a Jewish woman.  She knew that she had no claim to him as the Savior of Israel, but still she approaches him and engages him in a real discussion of ministry and mission.  This particular passage is one of my favorites because it shows to us a very human Jesus.  A Jesus who is willing to learn, one who can recognize change and growth in himself.  He knows he is different after this meeting with this woman.  

Now this whole exchange can fall hard on the ears as we encounter a Jesus who is not all welcoming, all loving, with time for everyone who comes by.  Here we see a Jesus who is tired and wanting to be left alone.  But work comes and finds him.  (he didn’t take it home with him, it followed him on vacation).  This unnamed woman comes and begs him to cure her daughter. At first Jesus ignores her, but she persists, chasing after the life she knows he can give.  The disciples are getting more and more annoyed with her, saying master make her go away, she keeps “barking” at us. 

Jesus stops to speak with her.  And we don’t know with just what tone of voice he said it, but he says,  “I can’t help you, it is not right to take the food from the children and give it to the dogs.”  What he most certainly means is it is not right to take the blessings meant for the people of Israel and give them to those who are not of Israel. 

The woman is not daunted by this, she takes his phrase and turns it, saying “yes, but dogs are allowed to eat of the crumbs”,  all she wanted was a crumb, that would have been enough. She just wanted a little morsel of the greatness she saw in him.  Just enough to help me she pleads.  And Jesus knows she has him.  He thought he has sent just for the people of Israel, but his calling was more.  There was healing that needed to be giving to given to all.  Israel may have been the chosen people for God to express God’s love for the world but there were people, real people, right in front of Jesus who may not have been of the house of Israel, but who needed to healed just as much. 

So Jesus says, because of your words, your daughter is healed.  It is not because of her faith, or her actions, but her words.  She helped Jesus learn something.  He needed to lift his eyes higher, to grasp the fuller meaning of his ministry on earth.   She came asking for crumbs for herself, instead Jesus gives her a loaf that will feed the world.  Her request is granted, her daughter is made well, but Jesus is now fundamentally changed. 

We see the change reflected in the feeding stories that create kind of a bookcase around this passage.   The chapter before this we read of the feeding of the 5000.  Where Jesus takes the loaves and the fishes and feeds that whole crowd with 12 baskets left over.  Without going into too much detail the way that story is written and the numbers that are used, it emphasizes how Jewish this occasion was.  Jesus was in Jewish territory then and he was offering this miracle to Jews.  Then if we turn past our story this morning into chapter 8 of Mark, we will find another miracle feeding story, also including bread, it is the feeding of the 4000.  But this time it is Gentiles being fed.  The symbols involved point to serving the whole world.

As we consider the deaf and mute man who was healed, we see just different this healing was.  While the woman’s daughter was healed from afar, without any physical contact.  The man was the opposite.  The process involved  most close contact.  Spit, and fingers in the ears and all that.  Not so tidy, if you ask me.  But is shows how Jesus is willing to be involved in making changes in lives, sometimes that change comes with some yuckiness. 

Look at what changed for him.  To be able to speak and to hear,  those are the gifts given to the man who was trapped within a world where he do neither.  The core of one person is expressed and shared with another, not by seeing, or feeling or thinking.  It is through speaking and hearing that we come to know one another and to love one another.  The deepest truths of the human heart are expressed when one speaks and another hears. 

Jesus comes to him and says “be opened”.  It is a liberating command, not coercive.  He is now  free to become someone new, someone whole.  As Jesus has just been opened himself to a world that was fuller and richer and more wonderful than he first imagined.  There was more for him to do.   He had learned something.  And the man was now free to go and learn and make mistakes and learn from those too.   

We are set free like that.  We, who like the woman and the man in our story, who aren’t Jewish.  We, who have no more claim to Jesus as a Messiah than they did.  We who come empty-handed, needy but full of hope.  We are here hungry and filled with needs, looking for forgiveness, a new beginning, wholeness, healing, guidance.  We, who should be pleading for crumbs, are given not the dogs share, but a loaf.  A whole loaf.  All of God’s love and hope and blessing comes to us as bread,   as Jesus who says I am the bread of Life. We do not get the crumbs, but get a meal prepared for God’s children.  Thanks be to God.  

When this woman stood boldly and demonstrates her faith by her persistence, Jesus learns from her, and has compassion for her and lays aside his personal exhaustion and his desire to be alone. If Jesus was testing her responses, she proved herself by her unwavering commitment to stay in place and speak, she knew that it was the right thing for Jesus to heal her daughter and she had faith that he could do it.

What a radical notion: the mission of God begins with the covenant people, and only reaches completion when the whole world is brought in! In the rest of the gospel, Jesus expands his ministry and dealt compassionately with Gentiles and Samaritans. He set in motion a spirit that has proved capable of breaking down all barriers and distinctions between slave and free, rich and poor, king and peasant, Jew and Samaritan. It seems idealistic, and unworkable in the real world, that this bold, joyous, perhaps foolish sprit could be at work, but at times it does.

In the forties and fifties the daily broadcasts of a well known radio announcer was heard all over the States and overseas, from such a wide audience there naturally came fan mail and letters.  A whole host of secretaries were in place to sort each days mail and they would select one or tow to pass on to him. (they tried to guess at ones that he would want to personally respond to.) one day a letter came that was not outstanding in anyway. It was a poorly written, It was written by a man who said he was a shepherd in North Dakota. scribble, with misspelled words and incorrect words and in shaky handwriting.

It was written by a man who said he lived alone in the hills, 20 miles from nearest neighbor, his only companions were his dog, the radio and a violin. The radio was the main contact to the outside world. For years the shepherd considered him an old acquaintance. He was writing because his violin was out of tune, and he asked if someday the commentator would play an A on the piano to get his violin back in tune. Normally such a letter would have been discarded. At best a form letter may have been sent.

But one day, right in the middle of a national broadcast, right in the middle of commentary on world affairs, there came a pause.

“Shepherd of North Dakota Hills are you listening?” Then a note was struck clearly and loudly on the piano. “This is your A. This is your A.” If only for a moment, the ways of the world were interrupted and its conventional wisdom challenged. If only for a moment barriers came down, crumbs overflowed on the floor. Someone who was used to being overlooked was noticed and got what they needed.  The right thing prevailed.

When we have the chance to say and do the right thing, may we each find the courage to say what’s right, and bring down barriers that divide, and may we come to know how good and pleasant it is to live in unity. Amen.

“Winter is Past”  (Song of Solomon 2:8-15)

Intro:  Our reading this morning is from Song of Solomon, or Song of Songs as some bibles have this titled.  It is a stirring celebration of love.  An American storyteller,  Garrison Keillor from Minnesota, once shared that in his youth, when things got dull in the Lutheran church, that he would reach for a bible and if no one was looking, he would sneak a peek at Song of Solomon.  He described how this got him in trouble once because he was blushing so much that he got caught by the pastor and had to stand up and read it out loud.  Don’t worry Barry will read it for us.  .  (Prayer)

I’ve never been one for picking birthday or anniversary cards.  Monica and I celebrated our 34^th wedding anniversary this past June, but I ask you to use a little bit of imagination and try to picture me 33 years younger, I want to recreate a moment for you.  (Card Skit)

When it comes to the physical love and longing between two people, many in the church and synagogue have said, “That’s kind of a private thing.”  This passage, and whole book of Song of Solomon, has been a source of great debate and embarrassment for the church over the years.  It is difficult for two main reasons; first its straight forward sexual images and references, and second the lack of any specific reference to God.  There are some scholars who advocate that it is an allegory of God’s passion for Israel or for the church.  And that may be, but this morning I would rather take the scripture at face value of two human lovers in love and consider what it may say to us. 

In many marriages, and long term committed relationships, there can come a point where couples turn to each other and say “what happened to us?”  “What happened to the way we used to be?”  “Where has the passion gone?, the playfulness, the fireworks?  Life partners sometimes begin to reminisce “Ah, remember how our love used to light up the sky! (imitate fireworks) , and then they lament, “now it feels kind of fizzled out, and we’re lucky to light a sparkler once in a while.”

So many things can be named as “culprits” when one looks for reasons why relationships cool off.  Too much work, too much stress, too many kids, too much time together, or too much time apart.  Or there can be “not enoughs”, not enough attention to each other, not enough compassion, not enough trust.  Whatever it is, something is off balance and has somehow sapped strength from the relationship and left in it’s place a longing for what might have once been, or what one has always hoped for and not yet found. 

I think every relationship goes through the excitement of “beginning”, with the wonder and newness of it all.  Then it grows and matures in differing ways.  Some grow in ways that are lasting and fulfilling, others end in ways no one intended, and some may continue but have a sense like there is something missing.   I don’t want to focus on what can go wrong in a long term relationship.  There is plenty of evidence on what makes a relationship fail, I’d like to consider what helps things go right. 

Song of Solomon is not a prescription for making things better.  It is a description of love

in full bloom. This passage is part of one of the most beautiful love poems even written.

It tells us of how good love can be, it describes with great beauty the power of love, and the beauty of two people committed to each other.  It is most certainly the songs and poetry of two people courting, who are in that “everything-is-wonderful phase” of a relationship.  You know the time, when the other can do no wrong, and they think the same of you. 

And while this is written from the “head over heals in love” time of a relationship, we see

in it things that will continue to serve this couple well not just for the moment, but over a

lifetime, through the ups and downs that will come.  There is much here to give us insight

into what makes a relationship last.

As we read, we see immediately there is an anticipation of being with the other, a looking forward to just seeing the other.  This passage starts “the voice of my beloved!”  He is coming to be with me.  Just the thought of being together sends spirits soaring.  Part of the joy of being committed to another is just spending time together, whether it is out discovering the world together, or spending time on the porch.  A simple appreciation and recognition of the pleasure that comes from the other being near can make a world of difference.  It may sound strange to say to someone you love, but just stating “I like you, and I like being with you”  can make somebody else’s week. 

With each of the two individuals, there is a special appreciation for the moment.  They are content with the present and there is a desire to make the most of the day.  They long to seize the moment before them, now that the winter has past and spring has arrived, they will go out and enjoy the beauty of creation.  And by doing so they are renewing and refreshing themselves.  Love blooms once more. 

They expand the other’s world by calling the other beyond the walls and lattice that they find around themselves.  One says to the other, come look at the world out here.  There is so much more than we ever imagined!  Look!  Let’s discover it together.  Growing love always has the desire to discover what life has in store on any day and every day.  Perhaps one of the most wonderful invitations someone can offer another is to join in the journey of life’s discoveries saying to a cherished loved one; “Come, let’s grow old together”.  “Let’s spend our days seeing how love grows and changes over time, how it renews everything”.  And yet they will still feel love is somehow always the same. 

The “Godfathers of greetings” cautioned that lasting relationships are not all about laughter and sexuality, both certainly are part of enduring marriages.  We see in these scriptures, a joyful desire for the other.  There is an earthy appreciation of each other’s physical attributes, we read he is likened to a stag and she’s a beauty who is compared to everything from a rose to a beautiful horse.  The lovers describe each other in colorful detail, but they are not possessing or objectifying the other.  Nor or they trying to determine who and what the other person is.  The physical aspect of their relationship is uplifting, it gives life to their love.  It is one way they share with the other and celebrate the goodness of creation. 

In every relationship, the other should not be taken for granted, and opportunities need be taken to express appreciation for other.  Sexuality, and sensuality are ways of affirming and valuing others.  They are part of intimacy, a special, even sacred, closeness between people.  It can be expressed in a variety of ways from holding hands, to making love.  It is present when the closeness and caring is felt and real.  People’s looks change, but the way we look at our loved one doesn’t have to, the eyes of love see the constant beauty and value of the one closest to us.    

Song of Solomon is a beautiful book.  It is not a “how-to” marriage manual, it is a poem sung between two people.  It tells us and reminds us of how good love can be.  It can be read without blushing, for in it we see goodness and love, both of which are created by God and are gifts from God, part of God’s plan, to be enjoyed and to be thankful for.  Amen.