Series: “For Such A Time As This” “Favoring, Not Shaming” Esther 3

We continue our series on Esther titled “For Such A Time As This.” Favoring, not shaming, is this week’s emphasis. Giving favor to others in kindness and generosity is significant in making a positive, hopeful, joyful, and non-anxious impact in society and the lives of others. As you recall, Esther is the story of the Jews protecting themselves from persecution during the Babylonian Captivity. It is a story filled with suspense, conspiracy, and bad decisions, all being used for God’s purpose. It’s a story of a people delivered. It was a complicated time.

Thinking about dispensing favor to others is important. Dispensing shame on others is not helpful. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines favor as “approval or liking…an act of kindness beyond what is due or usual.”  The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines shame as “a feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. A person or thing bringing dishonor.” Max Lucado writes this about favor and its benefit over shame:

There are many reasons God saves you: to bring glory to himself, to appease his justice, to demonstrate his sovereignty. But one of the sweetest reasons God saved you is because he is fond of you. He likes having you around. He thinks you are the best thing to come down the pike in quite a while. If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If he had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, he’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart. And the Christmas gift he sent you in Bethlehem? Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you![1]

Bringing favor to another is a proper use of power. Bringing shame to another is an abuse of power. King Xerxes shamed Queen Vashti. King Xerxes favored Esther and made her Queen. Unfortunately, the book of Esther is a consistent use of favor and shame in manipulative ways. Ahh, but God is in it. Remember, the purpose of the Book of Esther is to help us understand that God is active in all aspects of life. The Book of Esther helps us see that God positions each one of us to accomplish God’s will.

Injustice Dealt to Mordecai (Esther 3:1-6)

The feud between Haman and Mordecai is palpable. In fact, the feud between the people of Agag (Haman) and the people of Benjamin (Mordecai) is historical. King Xerxes had promoted Hamen to be a prince above all princes. All bowed and paid reverence to Haman—all but Mordecai. Mordecai was a Jew one who bowed and paid reverence to God and God alone. Mordecai’s lack of reverence moved Haman to develop a plan to kill all the Jews. You see, Mordecai’s lack of bringing favor but shame to Haman was considered treasonable.

Haman Plots a Mass Murder (3:7-11)

Esther 3:7-11 describes Haman’s priests casting a lot before Haman. This lot casting was to demonstrate the day when Haman was to carry out his proposed pogrom in killing the Jews in his land. On the thirteenth day in the first month, Nisan, in King Xerxes’ twelfth year of ruling, the lot fell on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. That was the permission giving casting of the lot for Haman to ask King Xerxes to issue the edict to kill all the Jews throughout the provinces and that Haman would pay ten thousand talents to those who had charge of the king’s business and carried out the mass murder of the Jews. The killers would put the ten thousand talents in the king’s treasuries. If the ten thousand talents were in gold, by today’s standards, they would convert to $11.9 billion and if in silver, by today’s standards, they would convert into $161 million.[2] Hamen implemented King Xerxes’ edict, as discussed.

The Edict for Death Is Issued (3:12-14)

            It is clear that King Xerxes goes whichever way the wind is blowing, whichever advisor’s opinion carries the day. He is not a strong leader. Xerxes hands are always clean. King Xerxes ordered the Jews to be destroyed, slayed, and annihilated. All Jews, both young and old, little children, and women, were to perish. And once the edict was issued, Haman and King Xerxes sat down to drink.

The intense nationalism in the Book of Esther cannot be brushed aside or even explained away. Although we do not have evidence of the slaughter occurring in such high numbers, Haman’s plan has been carried out in history, from the persecutions of Antiochus to the Nazi ovens at Buchenwald.

King Xerxes’ edict threw the whole country, particularly the province of Susa, into chaos. Was it appropriate for King Xerxes not to tolerate the Jews? King Xerxes did not understand dispensing favor. The Jews were contributors to the economy. The Jews were not causing problems. Haman, the insider, was causing the problem. Queen Esther made an appropriate response in 7:4, “If we had been sold merely as slaves, men, and women, I would have held my peace, but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.”

In her book Roadmap to Reconciliation, Brenda Salter McNeill writes,

The system of apartheid in South Africa, a sophisticated but oppressive structure of racism…, was based…on theological doctrines that were formed at Stellenbosch University in the 1930s and 1940s. The Afrikaner nationalism and distorted Christian theology…fueled many Afrikaner’s belief that they were God’s chosen people. They saw themselves as biologically superior to other races. Therefore, they felt called to create a new segregated society…These doctrines gave the white South Africans religious justification for horrific crimes against their countrymen and women. More than 3.5 million black, Indian, and biracial people were removed from their homes…Nonwhite political representation was obliterated. Black South Africans were denied citizenship and relegated to the slums called “bantustans.” The government segregated education, medical care, beaches, and other public services, providing black, Indian, and other “colored” people with significantly inferior services. The result was a segregated society where people were dehumanized based on beliefs that were supported by bad theology.[3]

 

Christians can learn much from the Jewish plight and experience in the Book of Esther. Haman’s nationalistic plan for extermination of the Jews is no different than we saw in Hitler and other autocratic leaders who launched genocide against particular people groups. And then there is Apartheid in South Africa.

Is our country headed to a time of leadership rooted in Christian Nationalism, which would persecute certain people groups for who they are and what they believe? What would Jesus do? Would he lead with favor or shame? Amen!

 

This sermon was preached the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday,1 September 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas

 

Copyright Ó 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Max Lucado, A Gentle Thunder (Word, 1995).

[2]According to Wolfram and Alpha.

[3]Brenda Salter McNeil, Roadmap to Reconciliation (InterVarsity Press, 2015), 22-23.

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Series: “For Such A Time As This” – “Thinking, Not Blaming” – Esther 2

We continue our series on Esther titled, “For Such A Time As This.” Thinking, not blaming is key for each one of us to make a positive, hopeful, joyful, and non-anxious impact in society and the lives of others. As you recall, Esther is the story of the Jews protecting themselves from persecution during the Babylonian Captivity. It is a story of a people delivered. The Jews experienced anxiety as did the political leaders. It was a complicated time.

Life is about relationships. And to be candid, relationships can be awkward. I was having a conversation with someone last week and the subject of appropriate social skills came up. Appropriate social skills are necessary for effective relationships. And when one is aware that they lack some of the appropriate social skills, it can bring about anxiety and even panic attacks.

Thinking about anxiety and its causes is important. Blaming anxiety on someone or something is not helpful. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines anxiety as “a nervous disorder marked by excessive uneasiness.

The “marshmallow test” is a classic research project that illustrates our lack of self-control and delayed gratification. For the study, the researcher would give a child a marshmallow, and tell them that they could eat the marshmallow OR they could wait until the researcher would return several minutes later, at which time they would get a second marshmallow. Videos abound on YouTube featuring kids, in successive versions of the original experiment, waiting, playing with, and sometimes eating the first marshmallow, forgoing their chances of a second marshmallow. In January 2020, the results of a new version of the experiment were released. In this new version, kids were paired up, played a game together, and then were sent to a room and given a cookie with the promise of another if they could wait for it by not eating the first cookie. However, some of the kids were put in what researchers called an “interdependent” situation in which they were told they would only get the second cookie if both they and their partner could wait and refrain from eating. The results showed that the kids who were depending on each other waited for the second cookie significantly more often. According to researcher Rebecca Koomen, “In this study, children may have been motivated to delay gratification because they felt they shouldn’t let their partner down, and that if they did, their partner would have had the right to hold them accountable.”[1]

The tension between concluding that being interdependent is better than being isolated supplies laughter and tears. To think is always more difficult than to blame. The purpose of the Book of Esther is to help us understand that God is active in all aspects of life. The Book of Esther helps us see that God positions each one of us to accomplish God’s will.

The Party Is Over (Esther 2:1-4)

King Xerxes threw a huge party, a lavish banquet (literally “drinking party”) that the king hosts for all of his officials and ministers. The army of Persia and Media as well as the nobles and governors of the provinces are in attendance. King Xerxes displays his great wealth and the party is an annual event usually lasting more than one hundred eighty days. Xerxes had summoned his wife, Queen Vashti, but she refused to come. The disrespect and insubordination by Vashti, raised the king’s blood pressure. The party came to an end. Anxiety has disappeared. King Xerxes has calmed and cooled down. In fact, King Xerxes remembers Vashti in the passive voice. The King remembers Vashti’s fate in passive light. King Xerxes moved on. Others had carried out his order. King Xerxes’ servants prepared the new harem from which the new queen would be chosen. A young virgin from a harem of young virgins who was pleasing in the king’s eyes would replace Vashti as queen. It didn’t take long for the king to return to his old self.

Esther is placed in the Royal Harem (2:5-11)

Mordecai and his cousin Esther were Jews who had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon/Persia. Their family linage is traced to the tribe of Benjamin. A rivalry emerges between Mordecai and Hamen. Hamen was an Agagite. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. There was a rivalry between Saul and Agag. The tension is set further. Esther’s name resembles the name of the Babylonian deity “Ishtar” and Mordecai’s name that of the Babylonian deity “Marduk.” Esther’s name in Hebrew means “myrtle.” Mordecai is consistently identified as a “Jew.” Thus, all the Hebrew exiles were identified as Jews. Both Esther and Mordecai lived faithfully in a terrible situation. Mordecai told Esther to conceal her Hebrew identity. Mordecai emerges as a loyal Jew. Esther was more than a pretty face. Her humility won favor with the lead servant of the harem, and she was promoted to first place in the king’s harem.

Esther Is Chosen As Queen (2:12-18)

            Each virgin, in the harem of virgins, was prepared for their evening with the king. This preparation was a twelve-month process in the beauty parlor. Each virgin received “rubbings” that is skin treatments. Each massage involved oil of myrrh and then unnamed perfumes. Esther obeyed the Persian laws in this case. She first obeyed her cousin Mordecai and then when selected for the harem, Esther submitted to the skin treatments. Each young woman was given one chance to impress the king. If their first night was successful, they moved from the harem of “candidates” to that of the “approved” concubines. When it was Esther’s turn, King Xerxes treated her with “love,” “favor,” and “devotion.” The king was so impressed, Xerxes placed the Crown on Esther’s head. Esther became Queen.

God Saved the King (Esther 2:19-23)

            The peace in the King’s court didn’t last too long. Mordecai is put into protective custody, because two disgruntled eunuchs had plotted an assassination attempt on King Xerxes at the time of a second gathering of virgins. Mordecai somehow caught wind of the assassination conspiracy and was able to tell Queen Esther. The Queen told King Xerxes immediately and gave Mordecai credit. The conspirators were discovered and executed. This rescue operation plays an important part in another rescue operation of greater scale and significance.

Esther is the book about Jewish identity as a people, a nation. Purim, a Jewish high holy day, is a national day. It celebrates perseverance and preservation of a people. Faithfulness to God is the key to Jewish perseverance and preservation. Faithfulness vanquishes anxiety.

George Muller writes, “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.”[2] You too can exercise influence for the common good. It was the way of Esther. It is the way of Jesus. Friends, faith in Jesus is the antidote to anxiety. Thinking, not blaming is necessary for such a time as this. Amen.

 

This sermon was preached the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday, 25 August 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas

 

Copyright Ó 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

 

[1]The Staff, “Marshmallow test” redux: Children show better self-control when they depend on each other. ScienceDaily.com (1-14-20); Rebecca Koomen, Sebastian Grueneisen, Esther Herrmann. “Children Delay Gratification for Cooperative Ends,” Psychological Science (2020).

[2]George Muller in “Signs of the Times.” Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 95.

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Series: “For Such A Time As This”

Series: “For Such A Time As This”

“Now Is The Time”

Esther 1

I was reading in Craig Groeschel’s Daily Devotional, Daily Power, the other day. The scripture on which the reading is based is Psalm 63:1. It reads, “You God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” I was taken by this section in Craig’s reflection,

They call them the “dog days” of summer those weeks when the temperatures soar and make it impossible to enjoy being outside for long. The air scorches our nostrils, the heat burns our skin, and the pavement sizzles beneath our feet. You know cooler weather will come eventually, but in the meantime, you’re sweating buckets.

To be honest, I’m often stuck in the “dog days” of the news cycle about our world, country, state, and city. Something needs to break this cycle. And I know the antidote.

Now is the time to increase our critical thinking skills to address the issues of power, justice, democracy, and leadership. How are Christians to respond in such a time as this? It’s simple, but not really. Love God. Love others.

Can anything be more critical than for Christians to get back to the gospel, and act on being self-giving not self-serving? The good news of the gospel leads us to stand against hate and discrimination. The good news of the gospel leads us to stand with the LGBTQ community and immigrants. The good news of the gospel calls us to love all regardless of ethnicity, economic status, and yes, even different political parties than our own.

Some circumstances in life make it hard to believe that God is with us. Esther was an orphan in exile. Esther married a cruel despot. It’s true that wherever you are, is where God can use you. God used Esther’s marriage to save God’s people in exile in Persia. Listen carefully to John Piper’s words,

Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ.[1]

And so, we must come to terms with God being involved in all aspects of life and specifically one’s life. This is where critical thinking is essential.

Purpose. The purpose of the Book of Esther is to help us understand that God is active in all aspects of life. The Book of Esther helps us see that God positions each one of us to accomplish God’s will.

Date. In 586 BCE, the southern kingdom of Judah was defeated by the Babylonians (modern day Iraq). The Jews were exiled to Babylon. Almost fifty years later, in 539 BCE, the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians, and that proved to be beneficial for the Jewish people living in exile. The Persians allowed the Jews to return home, rebuild the Temple, and fortify the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

Authorship. The Book of Esther was written sometime after 539 BCE perhaps even as late as the 3rd Century BCE. It appears that the Book of Esther is the work of the community of faith. It recounts, in a reflective and personal way, on a specific period of time for the people of God. The Book of Esther was written under the inspiration of God. It was not accepted into the Canon, the books of the Bible, until the 4th Century CE.

Sociological Significance. Esther was part of the diaspora. She was a Jew, living in Persia. The story line in Esther continues the history of the Jews experiencing persecution.

Religious Significance. The religion of the Jews is barely mentioned in the Book of Esther. In fact, the name of God is not mentioned. The book of Esther is an anomaly among the books in the Old Testament.

Application. The book of Esther has many avenues for application. It encourages readers and listeners to trust that God is at work in their lives. Know and experience that wherever you are is exactly where you are to be. God is with you and will use you. God used Esther in her role as a wife and queen. In the daily routine, in a mediocre job, in a pit-stop along the way, that’s exactly where God can use you for God’s purposes.

It is safe to say that most humans aren’t kings and queens, but many have experienced challenging relationships. They’ve been placed in positions where they didn’t feel qualified. Or they’ve taken on roles outside their comfort zone, out of necessity. Some might describe their current situation as a “dead-end.” Can one still be used by God for God’s good purposes? Absolutely.

The Book of Esther shows us that God is for us, not against us, and will use us. I think that’s helpful to any person in any situation. It’s applicable to the person who cares for their aging parents. It applies to the person who is underemployed or unemployed. It matters to the single mom or dad who never dreamed this would be their story.

I remember when I was voting in a national election in Erie, Pennsylvania. I went to my polling place and stood in line. I checked in. I went into my booth, closed the curtain, and then my critical thinking process in each of the races kicked in. In approximately two minutes, a knock occurred on the wood frame. A poll worker asked me what was taking me so long? I told her I was thinking. To which she replied, “Thinking? Just pull the red or blue lever. You don’t need to think!” Needless to say, I kept thinking. When I left the booth, I received a glare from the poll worker.

Are you stuck in the “dog days” of the news cycle about our world, country, state, and city? Exercise critical thinking. Engage justice issues. Confront the abuse of power. Support those who are experiencing relationship troubles. Esther did.

You too can exercise influence for the common good. It was the way of Esther. It is the way of Jesus. Power and position come from God. Critical thinking is necessary. Now is the time, my friends. Amen.

This sermon was preached the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday, 18 August 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas

 

Copyright Ó 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

 

[1]John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence (Crossway Books & Bibles, 2010), 101-102.

 

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Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are The Change”

Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are The Change”

“Diversity Is Not The Enemy”

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15

John 6:24-35

There is a saying among the Ngambaye people of Chad: “one day of hunger can make a wife leave her husband’s house.”[1] We, like this wife and the people of God in the Exodus 16 reading, want what we want when we want it. We want God to solve “stuff” for us. In the Exodus text, Moses is the advocate on the people’s behalf for the loving nature of God.

As your pastor, I am the advocate on behalf of you for the loving nature of God. As followers of Jesus, you are the advocate for the loving nature of God on behalf of others. Jesus is our advocate. God’s benevolence never ends, my friends. But when we cry out to God are we claiming an idea that God is loving or clinging to God?  If clinging, we know all about God’s love, by experience. And our experience of God’s love validates that all things work together for good. Dean McDonald writes, “God in Christ has passed the test of faith, but the church is being examined every day.”[2] It is in the authentic struggle of diversity, in all its forms, that we must cling to God in what it means to love God and love others.

Let’s be honest. Miracles do not necessarily, bring about faith. Take for example the gift of Manna from heaven in Exodus 16. Often, miracles cause confusion, division, and hostility. The people of God complained and grumbled. Manna wasn’t the type of food they wanted. Why might confusion, division, and hostility be the case? If a person does not have an authentic relationship with the miracle worker, that person is left dumfounded and angry.

In John 6, Jesus admonishes the listener to stop seeking “food that perishes.” People then and now seek food that perishes because “we long for a religion of convenience, faith that satisfies our wants, rather than working for the food that endures.”[3] We are addicted to the “high” of temporary fixes. Jesus came to complete a relationship, between God and humanity. That’s a permanent fix.

The story in John 6 suggests that the focus of ministry is not what good people decide is a good idea and said idea is reasonable to undertake. But instead, trusting God to probe and ascertain our true question and authentic need. What is accomplished, then, is not what’s reasonable, but a miracle. Ministry should leave people exclaiming the transforming power of God. People talk about Jesus when they experience his incredible love. Rebecca Manley Pippert in Out of the Salt Shaker & into the World writes, “…if seekers do not see the love of Christ in us, then they most likely won’t be interested in investigating any further.”[4] Are we willing to let God probe and ascertain our true question and authenticate need?[5]

Each of us has questions about God and our experience of God’s love. The Table is a very present reminder that God has accomplished something incredible for each one of us. Some have begun to experience it and others wonder what “it” is. Let’s not be attracted to Jesus for a miracle, the idea that God can do some amazing “quick fixes,” but to an engaging, life changing relationship with the One who knows us the best and loves us the most. John Calvin writes, “Christ does not reply to the question put to him,” when we seek “in Christ something other than Christ himself.”[6]

Like the people in Jesus’ day, we have questions. Jesus didn’t answer directly then. And he doesn’t answer directly now.[7] Instead, Jesus probed to figure out what the people were really seeking. And he does the same now. Are we willing to let God probe and ascertain our true questions and authenticate needs? If so, we gain insight into what others might be asking and needing.

In the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, we eat bread and drink wine together. We confess our hunger and trust that Jesus meets us in the questions and walks with us as we discern the answers. The Reformers taught that faith itself is a gift of and from God. God creates hunger for God in each one of us. God gives each one of us the ability to believe. God will meet you in your hunger this day and satisfy it. Act in faith. Believe! Amen.

 

 

This sermon was preached the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday, 4 August 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas

 

Copyright Ó 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

 

[1]Abel Ndjerareau, Africa Bible Commentary (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2006), 106.

[2]Dean McDonald in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 295.

[3]Wayne A. Meeks in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 3, 311.

[4]Rebecca Manley Pippert, Out of the Salt Shaker & into the World (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 150.

[5]In the three paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Garrett Galvin, Curtis Farr, Deborah Sokolove, Sammy G. Alfaro, Lucy Lind Hogan, Max J. Lee, and John M. Buchanan in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 196-198, 199-200, 201-204, 205-207, 207-208, 209-211, and 211-213.

[6]John Calvin, The Gospel according to St. John, Part One 1-10, in Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, translated by T.H.L. Parker (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1961), 152.

[7]Thank you, Christopher Morse, for this insight. For more of Christopher Morse’s thinking on this subject, see David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 3, 308, 310, 312.

 

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The Journey of One Race and One Blood Isn’t Easy

Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are a Participant in the Dream”

“The Journey of One Race and One Blood Isn’t Easy”

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

Mark 5:21-43

Next week we celebrate our 248th anniversary of independence as a country. 1776 was an important year. And then eleven years later, in 1787, our government’s system of democracy was established. As a country, we value the idealism of the Declaration of Independence and the pragmatism of the Constitution.

Democracy is a modern idea that is transformative. A democratic form of government is freeing and challenging…distributive and collective. Louis Menand writes, “It is a remarkable fact about the United States that it fought a civil war without undergoing a change in its form of government. The Constitution was not abandoned during the American Civil War; elections were not suspended; there was no coup d’état. The war was fought to preserve the system of government that had been established at the nation’s founding-to prove, in fact, that the system was worth preserving, that the idea of democracy had not failed.”[1] And now, our country is once again caught in a struggle of what democracy is and is not.

Christians have a parallel journey to that of our country’s journey on what democracy is and isn’t. We are on an ongoing conversion from a life which was lost without Jesus to one which is more and more informed by the way Jesus’ words and deeds which encourages our words and deeds to be more like his. In all aspects of life we must take measured steps of making the necessary changes in character and attitude to be fully functioning human beings. Yes, this journey requires each one of us to examine our Christian beliefs. It also requires us to examine our convictions on race, privilege, gender identity, LGBTQ+ rights, human equality, sexual orientation, and gender equity.

Jesus had returned to his home town. He taught in the synagogues and the people were shocked. Notice the words of Mark 5:25, “Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’” Jesus and his initial band of followers were committed to inclusion of all. In this case, this woman was not recognized as human, much like the lepers and blind.

In Mark 5:21-43 along with Jesus, we acknowledge that being at odds with others on non-essentials is normal. However, a most significant part of the journey is to rally around our unity on the essentials. The authority of Jesus was challenged because it expressed itself in powerlessness, dependency, and relationships. Jesus did not place limitations on those who could accomplish God’s purposes. The marginalized and disenfranchised embraced Jesus, but those who held power and position rejected him. Mark 5:35 reads, “While he [Jesus] was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’” Jesus’ way of speaking and doing his ministry was difficult to embrace because it did not align with conventional expectations or values.[2]

Friends there is one race with one blood. There are women and men. There are those with different gender identities, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. Followers of Jesus understand that we are committed to a journey of building life for all people, as intended by God. We are committed to a journey that all humans are created in the image of God and deserve the same rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as the Constitution asserts. Crawford W. Loritts Jr. writes, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the handful of words and actions of the bad people but the appalling silence of the good people.”[3] In the citation just read, it is clear that the cry for holy impatience at the beginning of our country has been the same cry throughout the centuries. And it is the same is true today. Equality is still lacking. Jesus was not silent. Like Jesus, Christians are to speak up for justice and kindness.

Patience is a virtue, and it is important in our journey of conversion. But and this is a vulnerable, yet authentic but, silence is a form of unholy patience, and when Christians are silent, the journey of Christian discipleship presses pause. The statement by Jesus that he is the way, the truth and the life is paused in the silence. And so it is for the teachings of the Greatest Commandment, the Sermon on the Mount and Matthew 25. Yet the journey is not to be pressed on pause. We are called to press play. 2 Samuel 1:25 and 27 read “How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle…How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle.” Saul, Jonathan, and David spoke up and led the Israelites into battle with the more powerful and mighty Philistines.

The freedoms we have in our country should bring us together to accomplish a common vision that is inclusive, not exclusive. Crawford W. Loritts Jr., the father of Bryan Loritts, writes, “Until we come to the place where we see ethnic diversity as more than a strategy, emphasis, or an occasional feature in our e-magazines, we will always be playing catch-up.”[4] The integrity of the gospel demands that the visible transformation Christ provides be demonstrated and modeled by the unity of the one Body of Christ.[5] The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are loud voices and rightly so!

Exercise holy impatience in the journey of being one race and one blood. Claim the integrity of the gospel in your life. Demonstrate and model the unity of the Body of Christ in your words and actions. There is one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all. Do not remain silent. Amen.

This sermon was preached the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday, 30 June 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas 

Copyright 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club New York, (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001), ix.

[2]In the two paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Mark McEntire, Wyndy Corbin Reuschling, Anna George Traynham, Zaida Maldonado Perez, William Yoo, Matthew L. Skinner and Richard W. Voelz in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 108-111, 111-112, 113-116, 117-119, 119-121, 122-124 and 124-126.

[3]Bryan Loritts, ed., Letters To A Birmingham Jail: A Response To The Words And Dreams Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Publishers, 2014), 76.

[4]Bryan Loritts, ed., Letters To A Birmingham Jail: A Response To The Words And Dreams Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 85.

[5]Some ideas in this paragraph adapted from Bryan Loritts, ed., Letters To A Birmingham Jail: A Response To The Words And Dreams Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 74-92.

 

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