Saint Lawrence of Rome was Martyred in the year 258 AD. Lawrence was one of the 7 deacons in Rome who was placed in charge of distributing the gifts of charity to the needy. The Roman emperor Valerian coveted the wealth of the church and demanded that Lawrence hand over the treasures of the church or he would be executed. Lawrence went out and gathered together all the poor and needy people who had been helped by the church and brought them before Valerian saying, “Here. These are the treasures of the church.” Emperor Valerian was so enraged at Lawrence that he burned him alive, roasting him on a griddle.
Lawrence is worthy of our remembering for two reasons. One, because of his faithfulness to Christ even when he was threatened with death. In today's world, where everything is relative and no one wants to stand for anything, we can learn from Lawrence who stood boldly for the truth of the Word of God and he clung relentlessly to a confession of Christ crucified for sinners. Secondly, Lawrence is worthy of our remembrance because he rightly understood how the Christian faith is put into action. The Christian Faith is not just a collection of high ideals or some helpful tips for living. The Christians faith is revealed in actions of love and mercy. The Christian faith urges us and even requires of us that we regard each other with the same love that Christ has for us.
This is the example of Lawrence. When it was demanded of him that he produce and surrender the treasures of the Church, Lawrence brought forth those things that are truly the Church's treasures: not silver or gold, not money or jewels – the treasures of the Church are those things that are treasured by Christ, the poor, the humble, Those who Jesus refers to as “the least of these my brothers”. These are the churches true treasures. Because these are the things that are treasured by Christ.
Our text reminds us that we often forget this very thing. Our text reminds us that we are so often tempted to show regard for those things that are of the least value. James writes,
“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”
My friends, haven't we all done that very thing? When some drive here to pay a visit to our church, don't we treat them with special honor if they are nicely dressed? Don't we treat them with greater respect if they have some earthly distinction.
What if Coach Tressel paid our humble little church a visit – wouldn't we go to great trouble to make sure he was comfortable. Wouldn't we want to make an impression on him so that he would come back? Wouldn't we consider it a special honor for our church if someone of his stature decided to join our congregation? Wouldn't we tell our friends and co workers that we attend the same church where the Coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes attends?
Why do we, as the Church, as the assembly of believers in Jesus, as the gathering of those who are disciples of the One who was the friend of sinners, why is it that we are so concerned about worldly power and worldly wealth? Why are we so much like the world? Why are we not more like the One who came to save us from the world?
James warns us that this preferential treatment is sin. He tells us that when we draw such distinctions we are “judges with evil thoughts.”
Evil thoughts! Have you had them? I know I have.
Instead of giving in to such evil we ought to pattern our lives after that of Saint Lawrence. We ought to look for those we can help, those we can care for. We ought to look for those places and those people to whom we can love and show mercy. Why? Because that is what Jesus has done for us.
James makes this hard and harsh statement that we often struggle with. “Faith without works is dead.” says James. “No it's not.” we say. “Faith is a free gift. Salvation has nothing to do with work. I am saved by grace.” We always want to run God's word back at him, to throw His Words in His face so that we can wiggle out from under those words that make us uncomfortable. We like God's mercy when it's directed at us. We like it less when we have to direct God's mercy at others.
Yes, our salvation is God's free gift of love and mercy. Yes God gives us this gift with absolutely no strings attached. No, you haven't done a thing to deserve it. But if you takes this free gift and treat it like you have deserved it, if you take this free gift and resent the type of people who have lined up beside you to also take advantage of it, then you have not understood the true nature of the One who came to give the gift.
Jesus came in love. Jesus came in mercy. Jesus came seeking out those who were blind, those who were lame, those who broken, those who were possessed by Satan, those whose lives were a shambles. And he came to heal them.
In our Gospel text from Mark 7, a man is brought to Jesus who was deaf. This man's friends begged and pleaded with Jesus to please heal this man. They begged and they pleaded for Jesus to touch him.
Why did they want Jesus to touch him? Because no one else would. You remember from a few weeks ago, the discussion with the Pharisees about washing. They didn't touch anyone or anything. They kept their hands off of anyone who they thought might make them dirty. They pretended to be pure as the driven snow, they pretended that their hearts were oh so nice and squeaky clean. Jesus reminded us last week that we are not made unclean by things that are outside of us. It is what is inside, it is our hearts that are unclean.
But Jesus? While everyone else kept their hands away from these poor, these crippled and lame, these defiled human beings. Jesus went to them and he touched them. And when he touched them he healed them. He took their uncleanness into himself. He made it his own. And when the unclean came away from an encounter with Jesus, they went away clean. They went away with their uncleanness scrubbed clean.
All because of the touch of Jesus.
So the unclean came to Jesus by the thousands. Crowds of them followed him where ever he went. And even when Jesus was tired, even when he was weary from all of the needs of all of the people, Jesus didn't quit. And the gospels tell us why. It was because he loved these people. He felt, deep in his heart, deep in the core of his soul great love and mercy for these people. He could do nothing else. He saw they were lost. He saw they were sick. He saw they were broken. Those who were lost, he found them and he re-oriented them so that they were moving in the right direction – they were moving in his direction. The sick he healed – he took their sickness into himself. Those who were broken, he healed them. They went away whole.
This is what Jesus has done for us. He has taken our uncleanness. He has taken our sickness. He has taken our disrepair. And he has touched us. He has placed his hand of mercy on us. He has taken our uncleanness and our sin into himself. He has made it his own. All of our suffering, all of the consequences of our sin, He has paid that price. For you and me there is no condemnation. There is no judgment. There is no punishment. There is only freedom. There is wholeness. And because Jesus has healed us, because Jesus has repaired us, because Jesus has forgiven us, there is joy. There is rejoicing, there is mercy and there is love.
This is what Jesus has done for us. For you, and for me. So then, why is it that we show such partiality? Why is it that we are so prone to judging those who are the least? Those who also have been broken? Those who also need to be healed and saved by Jesus.
I recently saw one who was broken. One who was so shamed of herself she averted her eyes from looking at anyone. She thought she was gone, that she was beyond help. She was locked up because she was arrested for drug possession. She had turned to drugs because her life had been horrible. She lived through things that we wouldn't want to hear about. We would cover our children's ears if she were to tell us her story. But she was broken.
We forget that we too are broken. We lie to ourselves and tell ourselves that we are strong. We tell ourselves that we are whole. We tell ourselves that we can do it, that we have done it. We think that the least of these aught to clean themselves up and be more like us. We aught to remember that in truth we are more like them – we have just been afforded the luxury of covering it up.
But Jesus found us. He came to us and he touched us. He came in our uncleanness and sin and he washed us. He took our sin into his own body and he paid for it on the cross. He bleeding and his suffering and his dying took away our guilt and took away our sin. We have been made clean because Jesus has not judged us as we have deserved instead he has given to us mercy.
How, then, can we share that mercy? How can we take that gift of mercy that Jesus has so generously given to us and how can we make certain that His mercy is given everywhere?
Jesus is a giver of mercy. Our God is a mercy God. Let us make St Paul a place, a clinic for the mercy of Jesus.
Amen.
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