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"Down By the Sea"

2/13/2019

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Luke 5:1-11, 1 Corinth 15:3-11, Isaiah 6:1-8

 
(Who remembers when I talked about my home state, Ohio, last fall? Do I have any fellow Ohioans? OK it’s time for more Ohio trivia…)
Ohio. Where you consider Kentucky “the South.” Michigan is “the North,” and during college football season, it’s also a curse word.  How do you pronounce the word, W-A-S-H?  We Ohioans pronounce “wash” “warsh.” With an extra “r.” 
        Who knows what  pop is?  It’s what the rest of the world calls soda, pepsi, coke, etc.
 The polar vortex last week?  Felt like home sweet home. 
Recently I came across this statement on the internet: “24 astronauts were born in Ohio. What makes it about your state that makes people want to flee the earth?”  Oh dear.
They say (in Ohio) that you can take the girl out of Ohio, but you can never take the Ohio of the girl. When I moved to New York to go to college, then seminary, I never thought I would be spending the bulk of my life and my ministry here.  I slowly became a NY transplant – having left the city that launched a thousand jokes about “Mistake on the lake” “the river that caught fire” Even the mayor’s hair caught on fire, once.  That’s my city.  Cleveland, Ohio.
So I understand why Jesus had to leave Nazareth.  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” his disciple Nathaniel pondered (John 1:46).  Not to mention that the hometown people rejected Jesus after his first sermon – unable to accept his new status, ready to run him out of town (in this case over a cliff) causing Jesus to sadly state:  “A prophet is never accepted in his hometown” (Luke 4:24).  What cinched it for Jesus was the news that his cousin John had been arrested.  Jesus was starting a new phase in his life – a time now of public ministry.  However, Jesus didn’t choose Jerusalem, the capital, the official seat of all things Jewish to spread the Gospel’s good news.  Instead he chose to go eastward, to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, or called the sea of Gennesaret, and made his home base in Capernaum, a fishing village on the northern shore. Jesus got in the boats with the fisherman.  He exchanged preaching in the synagogue with teaching from the boat off the shore.
 Jesus traveled along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, traveling to Jerusalem and Judea and back.  He encountered all sorts of people, from Jewish zealots, conservative religious leaders, hated Samaritans and despised foreigners, loathed Romans. Jesus’ ministry along the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee was significant: Here he gave more than half of his parables and it is estimated that twenty-five of thirty-three were performed in the general Galilee area -- eighteen miracles performed in the villages near Capernaum. 
The significance of the Sea of Galilee in Jesus’ ministry is highlighted by the fact that some of the first and some of the last events in his ministry involving his disciples occur here. In Luke’s passage today, Jesus tells the disciples to go out in to the deep water and let their nets out.  Their catch was so great, the boat nearly sank-- (Luke 5:4) -- Peter -- falls on his knees and exclaims, “go away, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Nonplussed, Jesus replies, “I will make you fishers of people.” At the end of Jesus’ life, an incident is recorded in the gospel of John, after Jesus was crucified and resurrected -- the disciples return home to the sea to fish. Jesus appears on the lakeshore, and again encourages them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat after a night with no catch, and the catch was huge. It is down by the sea, not so much in the synagogues or temple, that Jesus forges a new family of faith, beginning with a handful of fishermen.
The sea in general has a negative connotation throughout the Bible. To them, the sea appeared alien and threatening.  The flooding waters of the sea were often a tool of God's judgment: as in the Great Flood in Noah’s time, which covered the earth.  Later, when the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, Pharaoh’s armies were drowned (Gen. 6, 7; Ex. 14). Jonah was thrown into the depths, swallowed by a large fish, because he turned disobeyed God (Jonah 2:3-6).  
In the New Testament, the sea continued to symbolize chaos, evil, and evil beings. The depths of the sea are seen as the home of demons, a place called the Abyss, the home of evil spirits, according to Jewish tradition. The sea was the home of the terrible dragon, Leviathan (Isa. 27:1, 51:9-10).  It was believed that someday the devil himself will rise from the sea (Rev. 13:1). Only God could control the sea (Ps. 65:5-7, 77:19, 89:9, 93:3-4; Ex. 14-15; Isa. 51:10).  
In his ministry, Jesus demonstrated his authority over the sea and its destructive power. He walked on the stormy water (Mark 6:47-50; Matt. 14:22-33; John 6:16-20). He calmed the storms on the sea (Mark 4:35-41; Matt. 8:23-27; Luke 8:22-25) . He even empowered Peter, his disciple, to walk on the water (Matt. 14:28-32). These acts showed that Jesus had power over the sea and all it contained. Jesus’ teaching and training of his disciples proved that Jesus has authority over the leviathans dwelling in the dark depths of our hearts. Jesus knows how to bring calm and peace to us, he knows how to draw out the abundance of goodness in us, as he did to the Sea of Galilee.
          Having grown up by the Lake Erie (can you imagine a spookier name for a body of water)—I understand the why Jesus would carry out a powerful ministry by the sea. The sea spoke to Jesus –for the sea reflected the human condition – and the sea was the perfect training grounds for Jesus’ disciples.
The people were afraid of the sea – they didn’t know how to swim -- but yet took their main sustenance from the sea.  In the gospels, it is never recorded that people ate meat. Meat was a rarity. Fish was the common meal.  When Jesus feeds the multitude, it is bread and fish (probably dried fish, since fresh fish was beyond the reach of the poor.)  Even the rich grumbled at the cost of fish: The Greek biographer Plutarch reports a complaint that "a fish sells for more at Rome than a cow...)
        Jesus took fishing practices and made them into outreach practices for people: Jesus encouraged his disciples to: “toss the net from the other side,” “go to the other side,” “go out into the deep.” He taught them how to go through the storm, to be still, to have peace in turmoil; to feed people, to teach people from the shore – the marker between the known world and unknown world. The disciples are called to give witness to how God is with us in the storms. How God is with us in the dark. In the depths of the seas. How God is with us when our nets are empty and our spirits are discouraged. The waves fomented by our fears can be stilled, in the boat, in the deep, with Jesus. We can achieve the catch, with Jesus at our side. Jesus brings out the best in us.  Peter recognized this.  This is why he fell on his knees, saying those heartfelt words: “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”  Peter recognized his faults, the dangerous and stormy seas within himself, in the presence of Jesus.
Jesus chose ministry by the sea, because we, like Peter, are like the sea – full of potential for new life, possibilities, nourishment, spirituality: as well as the presence of danger, demons and destruction. Jesus calls us into relationship with God. Jesus teaches us to fish for our very lives; just as he fishes us out of the deep.  He teaches us to fish for the lives of others – others who live in that deep, who can’t escape the abyss on their own.  They need help.  We need to fish.   
        Our lives are a sea.  Jesus has made us fishers of the deep. Fishers in the storm, in the abyss, in the fear, in the stillness, in the promise. We are all called on a journey to new homes, places and situations. We are called to the shore, where Jesus is. In the light dawning down by the sea. We are called: follow me – he says -- it is time to fish – and from the depths will come a new humanity – forged in water and spirit- of dreams that ebb and flow with the waves, where the shore, carrying the voice of Jesus, beckons the sea and turns us into fishers of people. Amen.
 

 

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"Face to Face"

2/7/2019

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​1 Cor. 13: 1-13; Luke 4:21-30:   

Some time ago, a pastor created a huge backlash on social media when she left a note on a St. Louis Applebee's restaurant bill refusing a gratuity to a server.  The patron identified herself as a pastor, scratched out the tip on the receipt and included the words, "I give God 10 percent, why should you get 18?”  A friend of the server took a photo of the note adding the comment:  "My mistake sir, I'm sure Jesus will pay for my rent and groceries." The pastor’s name was clearly seen on the posted receipt. The post went viral, with thousands of comments posted within hours.  The pastor has since called the note on the bill a "lapse in judgment" which "brought embarrassment to her church and ministry."

Whatever you think of tipping, the comments and actions of the server, and of the Pastor, we leave in an age where our actions or words, with the slightest provocation, can go viral. Pictures meant for private viewing are shared for millions to oogle at. Microphones pick up words that politician's later regret. Jobs are lost, reputations ruined (or enhanced, depending how you look at it). Look at the huge #metoo movement which dozens of careers for right or wrong have been destroyed. Read Facebook and read how trolls and falsified and exaggerated stories abound. Telephone and security cameras capture fights, stealing, bullying, good deeds.  Images and their stories, both good and bad, are daily news fodder.

What is the real truth underneath it all?  We see only what the social media sites, the news channels, the stockholders, want us to see.  We see dimly, because it is hard and takes integrity, to capture even the complexity of one simple story – or even one person’s life. We don’t know what was going on for the Pastor to leave the comment she did.  We don’t know the server’s situation either. But we know there is more to this story.  There always is.  The biggest story is what if this server and pastor just met, face to face, and talked?  Would it make a difference?

Our passage from Luke today is the second half of the lesson which began last week.   Remember -- we called it Jesus ‘first sermon in Nazareth’ – this is the first public encounter of Jesus in the synagogue that Luke tells us about.  Jesus selected a reading from Isaiah 61, which harkens back to the Law of Moses, the law of Jubilee, when rest and restoration was ordained for the land and society. God had anointed Jesus to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release of captives, recovery of sight of to the blind, let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. So in this special year, land allowed to rest, land returned to the original owners, the enslaved set free.  It is a remarkable law, an impossible law, the law that has never been followed. Yet Jesus chose this humanly impossible law, and said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your midst.”  Jesus asserts his ministry will be a ministry of Jubilee, a ministry of restoration, recuperation, healing and hope. 

Yet the people of Jesus’ home town didn’t see this clearly.  Jesus, the enactor of the Lord’s favor?  Jesus, a prophet?  This Jesus -- Joseph’s son, a mere carpenter? Is he deluded or what?  The people of Nazareth heard the rumors on the grapevine, all the wonders Jesus performed in Capernaum. The miracles. The healings.  Now that’s what they came out to see. Not this fantasy nonsense of a law that Moses was never able to enforce.  Wake up Jesus.  But Jesus raises the stakes.  Look at the prophet Elijah, he says. There was severe famine in the land, in his day. But Elijah was sent to the widow in Sidon, a foreigner, not to Israel’s widows.  Despite all the lepers in Israel, look at the Hebrew prophet Elisha, sent to cleanse the Syrian, Naaman. Another foreigner.  Why?  

Because God’s blessings are for all people.  That’s not the image the people of Nazareth could accept. How dare Jesus insinuate they lacked faith.  That their vision was dim. Limited. That Jesus could accomplish what no other prophet or politician ever had. What a tizzy Jesus created.  Enraged, they drove Jesus, and planned to throw him off a cliff.
​
Paul tells us today in his famous passage on love that now we see dimly.   In the ancient world, mirrors were made out of polished metal, and the image was always unclear and somewhat distorted.  The city of Corinth was in fact famous for producing some of the best bronze mirrors in antiquity. But at their best, they couldn’t give a really clear vision. And that’s what happens with us.  Our prejudices, presumptions and judgments cloud our vision.   None of us have 20/20 spiritual vision.  There are no glasses, no laser surgery that can give us the vision we are created to obtain someday.  However, Jesus is that corrective lens that can bring our sight more in alignment with the divine vision.  Through Jesus we can see more clearly, face to face, the kingdom of Love God has laid down, in the law of Jubilee, in the Law of Love in Jesus’s ministry and sacrifice on the cross.  Like God sees Jeremiah – whom he has known since he was formed, knew his path before he was born.  God sees clearly and seeks to correct our vision through Jesus.

Because of this, Paul uses this phrase of seeing God face to face to describe complete, unhindered fellowship with God, only accessible through the practice of love. It is not surprising that Paul’s words about seeing face to face crowns this beautiful passage on love.  Because love is the polish that burnishes our lives. Love perfects how we see the world around us, to bring our sight, millimeter by millimeter, into alignment with the vision of Jesus.  Love carefully polishes away the judgments we hold which get in the way of caring. Love removes the stains and dust that distorts the image of God, so that we can live as love dictates and mirror the attitudes and actions of Jesus.  Seeing each other face to face chips away at presumptions we make until we can take in the whole person – just who they for, for whom they are.

         This is what love does. The impossible. Love is the divine social platform, that tells the story, presents the facts, brings good news to us as God sees it.  We face the impossible every day in our choices in front of us – like Jesus did. Jesus chose to see people, sinners, outcasts, up close and real.  Face to Face.  Jesus calls us to extend ourselves, especially when it’s hard.  To see that caring transcends language, nationality, or any other barrier we can put up. Sometimes all we need to do to do is be open in the moment, and let the need arise. It is our choice.  Will we push Love away, drive it out, enraged at the challenge?  Will we stick to “fake news” whoever proclaims it, the titillating stories, the scandalous images that swamp us each day?  Or will embrace the gospel vision, even if we see but dimly what is being revealed? 
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Let us do the impossible, as Jesus teaches us.  Be a people of restoration.   Recuperation.  Bring rest to the weary.  And meet each other face to face.  And there, as we spend time with each other, with our neighbor, the stranger, we realize there is Jesus, his promise, a holy social media, that seeks to heal, to encourage, to upbuild, to show us what justice and peace look like, and ultimately fill us  with images of gospel truth, fulfilled in our midst. Amen.

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    Moirajo is a minister, social worker, wife, mother, writer and animal lover. That's just for starters. Join the story, there's so much we can share together! 

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