Pentecost 21

People who make their living as inspirational speakers will tell you that if you want to be successful you have to be goal oriented. You have to set your sights on one thing and then devote yourself to accomplishing it. No matter what gets in your way, no matter what you have to sacrifice. Set your goal, put your mind to accomplishing it, and do whatever it takes to get it done.

Jesus takes this to a whole other level. Jesus was single focused. Jesus had his purpose, his goal in mind. He knew what he had to do and he was willing to sacrifice, to pay whatever the cost so that he could get the job done. Jesus came with the intention that he save sinners from hell. His plan for accomplishing this single minded goal was to get the job done through his own death and resurrection on the cross. Jesus would let nothing stand in his way of accomplishing this goal for you.

The Gospel writer who penned the book of Mark tells us as much in chapter 8 when he records for us that Jesus took his disciples to the side and informed them that he would be handed over to the Jewish authorities to suffer and to be killed and then on the 3^rd day to rise. From then on, as you read through to the end of the Gospel, you should take note of Jesus' focus and read the remaining chapters, the things that Jesus does, the thing that Jesus says, with that in mind. Jesus has a purpose in mind, a goal that he has set. He is on his way to die. And he will stop at nothing until his task is complete.

Our text for today, is from Mark 10. Jesus is right in the middle of his trek to Jerusalem to suffer and die. His face is set, he is resolute, he is determined. He is going to complete his mission, yet even in his determination he takes time to listen to the cries of this one single blind man who cries out to him for mercy.

This Jesus who has come to accomplish his mission has come on a mission of mercy, a mission of love, and Jesus in his compassion for his creation stops, takes time from his purpose of the salvation of the entire human race so that he can save this one. A blind man, named Bartimaeus who was crying out to him to be heard. “Jesus. Son of David. Have mercy on me.”

How many times do you suppose Jesus has heard that cry? Here in our text, the voice belongs to a beggar, blind Bartimaeus. If we read the same account from the other gospels we find out that Bartimaeus had a friend with him, a second blind man. Both requested mercy. Both were healed. Mark only tells us of one. But there must have been hundreds, thousands, crowds and crowds of people who had some illness, some affliction, a disease, a disorder, a demon. They all needed mercy. How many do you suppose there were? The gospel writers only have so much paper and ink to spend. They can only tell of a few examples, but these few represent the rest. How many do you think there were?

How many have there been? From the beginning of time, from the time of Adam and Eve up till now, how many do you suppose there have been who have cried out in their suffering to God. “Lord, Have Mercy!” There are thousands, millions, beyond billions – a countless host. Perhaps your voice has been among them. “Jesus, Son of David, Have mercy on me.” I know mine has been.

And although his face was set, although he was firm and resolute in his purpose, Jesus heard the cries of the blind man. He stopped along the way. He ignored the voices of the crowds who wanted to silence the needy. He reached out to the man in mercy and he saved him.

How often is that single little word lost on us? Our text doesn't even translate the word, it simply says that Jesus made him well. Yes. But... the text literally says that Jesus saved him. In Greek it's se,swke,n from swzw “to save”. Jesus saved him. The man needed, not just healing for his blindness, these days any old ophthalmologist with the right training and the right equipment could give him that. No, this man needed something no doctor could provide. He needed to be saved. The man asked to be healed and Jesus gave him that, but not just that. Jesus saved him. For all those voices calling out to him for mercy, begging him for help with their afflictions, Jesus comes not just to take away blindness, not just to take away afflictions – he comes to save.

So often we don't even fully understand how severe our problems really are. We ask for help when we need to be saved.

The man was blind. He couldn't see, couldn't work, needed help to get around, had to beg for food. His blindness was a problem.

The same could be said of those who were (or are) crippled. They're handicapped, they're kept from living and leading the life that people do, most people who have all of their arms and legs working in good order.

The same can be said of those who have lost jobs in this economy, those who have cancer, those who suffer from allergies, those who suffer from chronic back pain, those who suffer from old age, those who suffer from abusive spouses or parents, those who suffer from all kinds of handicaps, those who suffer under the burden of caring for another, all kinds of suffering, all kinds of pain, all kinds of needs, all kinds of reason to cry out to God for mercy.

But guess what. The thing that moved you to cry out to God, the thing that moved you to pray, the thing that brought you to your knees, with nowhere else to turn... that is not even your problem. That is not thing that you need to be saved from. That is not the thing that is causing you your big problem.

You see, we so very regularly forget that our big problem is sin.

In modern warfare, when generals and commanders decide to take out a military target they go in with a bomb that is big enough to do all the necessary damage to render the target neutralized. Even though our modern weapons are equipped with laser guidance systems and can strike a target with pinpoint accuracy, there are always those things around the target that wind up receiving damage in the explosion. We cal lit “collateral damage”. Stuff that you weren't aiming at that got blown up anyways.

All those things we mentioned, the sicknesses, the injuries, the griefs, the abuse, the pain, the loss: all that stuff is “collateral damage”. Those things that cause you pain and drive you to cry out for mercy, they were not the original target, they were not the original aim, but they have been affected. Your health and wellbeing, your peace, your sanity, your prosperity, all these things crumbled to pieces when your world got blown apart by sin.

Adam and Eve, living in God's good created perfection chose the route of disobedience. The explosion of sin went off and all of the suffering in the world is its collateral damage. Sin results in suffering.

The child crying herself to sleep after the beatings from her father is collateral damage for sin.

The husband and father pouring over his monthly budget trying to figure out what else to cut so that the family can stay afloat until he can find work is collateral damage from sin.

The soldier looking on in horror as his brother in arms is pulverized by a grenade is collateral damage for sin.

The young mother weeping beside the hospital bed as her husband succumbs to cancer is collateral damage for sin.

Yes, my friends, this world is filled with suffering. It is filled with beggars, just like Bartimaeus who sit beside the road and cry out to God, “Lord, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

And Jesus hears their cries. Their cries for mercy and their cries for help.

With Bartimaeus he stopped. In the midst of fulfilling his purpose, his plan, in the midst of his single minded goal, he stopped. Even with the crowds shushing the blind man. He stopped. He stopped to hear what Bartimaeus needed. He asked. Bartimaeus answered. He wanted to see. You might include your petition, your request. Jesus granted Bartimaeus his. Bartimaeus went home with vision. He could see.

But that was nothing special. Again, any doctor could probably do the same. If all we needed was to be healed from the collateral damage then we wouldn't have much need for Jesus. We could depend on science and medicine and technology to perform all the miracles we would need. But Bartimaeus had bigger problems. Problems he wasn't even wise enough to understand. So Jesus healed that one.

Remember where Jesus was going. To Jerusalem. And not to be Jerusalem's king. Not to be a Jewish king. Jesus came to be Heaven's King. He came to be your King.

So that he might be your king, he had to die.

If sin is a bomb and suffering is its collateral damage, then the cross is nuclear holocaust. The bigger bomb of forgiveness went off when Jesus died on the cross. In that instant all of your sin was vaporized, obliterated, completely destroyed.

Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sin. All of the suffering in your life, that occupies your time and your attention and eats away at the thoughts in your mind. That is all peripheral, incidental, marginal. It is the stuff off to the side that is not even the real issue. Jesus knows that issue. He died to save you from that issue. He died to save you from sin.

Jesus came to be a man and to walk His creation as one of us. He did this so that he might die for all of us, so that he might die to do away with sin. Sin causes so much evil, so much suffering, and Jesus permits the suffering to occur. But suffering is not our biggest problem. Sin is. And sin has been destroyed.

You very well may suffer. You very well may experience grief and sadness and pain. Your life might see hard times. But don't be afraid. Those things are not the big thing. The big thing... sin... has been removed.

When Bartimaeus requested that Jesus heal him, Jesus did not just meet his request, he did not just give him sight. Jesus saved him. Jesus saved him from sin. Likewise, Jesus has saved you. Your sin has been washed away, blown apart, done away with. You are forgiven. Heaven awaits.

Amen.

Pentecost 20

Brothers and sisters in Christ.
We could all use a little rest. Could we not?
With all the busyness and hustle and bustle of life. With all the things there are to be done. With all the commitments and requirements that are attached to our lives, we could all use a little rest. We are busy people.
And we're right in the middle of it, aren't we? This is the busy season (as though there is a season that isn't busy)! We have work to be done. Farmers are out in the fields working long hours harvesting. The kids are in school, which carries lots of obligations, such as class, homework, sports schedules, fund raisers, extra curricular activities - throw them all in the mix. Work has deadlines, stress, possibilities of being laid off or downsized. Home has it's usual to-do list of fixing and cleaning and managing. There is lots to do. So much so that we could all use a little rest. I know I could. I am sure you could too.
And so into all of our busyness and stress and into all of our desire; no, our need for rest comes God's promise of our reading from the Epistle of Hebrews. “For we who have believed have entered (that very thing that we so need) REST!”
Most of the time when we think “rest” we think vacation. We think “go somewhere”. Get away. Relax. Kick back. Enjoy life. We think travel. Somewhere south. The beech. A good book. A golf course. Some warm air. Some time to do nothing.
When God presents for us what his rest entails it looks a bit different. What God has in mind for us is less about leisure. Not that leisure is bad. Vacations, time away, a trip with the family. All of these are good things. Blessings! Gifts from God, even. And while these leisurely trips are good things they are not the rest that God has to give, that God really wants to give and that you need to receive.
God's rest is time for worship.
Remember the 3rd Commandment? “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Sabbath is a Hebrew word that means “rest”. It literally means “to stop”. It is rooted in the creation narrative where God did his work of creating and then on the 7 day he took his Sabbath – he rested. The 3rd Commandment is God's command that we do the same. And so the Catechism asks the question: “What does this mean?” It provides the answer. “We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and his Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.
God's rest involves going to church. Preaching. The Bible (God's Word). Hearing it. Gladly learning it. Listening. Studying, even.
How can that be rest? There is far too much brain activity, far too much work involved in all of those things for that to be rest. We all know what it means to go to church. You have to get up early on a Sunday morning, get the kids up out of bed, get everyone cleaned up, dressed up, and straightened up so that you can go and sit for an hour. Not exactly what we would call rest. Is it? What about sleeping in? What about relaxing? What about catching up on our personal to do lists? That's what we need, isn't it?
Not according to God. God's commandment, the God who made you from nothing, who brought you into this world, who is the architect of your very existence seems to think that this is exactly what you need. This is the very rest that you require. All that other rest is fine. It has its place. It is worth while every now and then if you can get it. But that is not the rest that you need, that you really need, that your very life is depending on. The rest that you need is the rest that God offers you today, here at church. Here in the preaching of His Word.
Why? Perhaps you already know. The reason we need rest is because we are sinners. Yes. We are sinners. Sinful people, living in a sinful world. We live through every day of our lives with the temptations to fulfill the desires of our sinful flesh – to be selfish, greedy, to get angry, to hate and despise, to lust, to covet, to be jealous, to disrespect, to steal. We carry the weight of this ever present burden every day of our lives.
Even when you go on vacation to get away from it all, your sinful nature follows you. You can struggle and fight with your sinful nature on a golf course or on a beech or a cruise-ship or at a theme park just as much as you can sitting at your desk, on your combine, or in your living room sofa. Sometimes even more so – leisure time just means your sinful nature doesn't have the distractions of work to keep itself from cooking up new ways to sin. (Perhaps that is why what happens in Vegas stay there!) We are sinners! The real rest that we really need is the rest that God offer here at church.
But look at how our text describes that rest. This might throw you for a real loop. It might even make you uncomfortable.
“Let us strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of sword and spirit, of joints and marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
That's it. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like rest to me. That doesn't even sound pleasant or desirable, let alone restful. It sounds worrisome, concerning, frightful even.
Being cut apart and dissected by a two edged sword. No thank you. Being naked and exposed, laid bare for all to see. I think I'll pass – there have been too many of those “what happens in Vegas” sort of experiences to want to have to relive them, to draw them all back into the open and have to think about them again. That surely does not sound like rest.
But it is exactly the kind of rest that we need.
In the movie The Shawshank Redemption Morgan Freeman's character, a seasoned prisoner in the Shawshank prison relayed the following quip to Tim Robbins. “We're all innocent in here.” Indeed psychologists tell us that murders and those who have committed violent crimes often construct different memories for themselves with different events and different details so that they don't have to remember the truth of the crime they committed. They convince themselves that this alternate memory is exactly the way things happened. It's true. And you do the very same thing every time you tell yourself “It's not my fault.” Every time you pass the blame for your sin along to somebody else, every time you defend yourself and your own innocence for some sin that you have committed, every time you deny your guilt and act like you haven't done anything wrong you have done the exact same thing. You have constructed for yourself a memory of the event that is more convenient for you, a memory that lets you off the hook.
The Word of God doesn't let you get away with that. Does it? God's Word sees through your lies. It sees beneath the layers of excuses that you have made. It unravels the tales you have spun to justify your actions and explain away your guilt. God's Word can't be so easily fooled. And your conscience knows it. Perhaps that's why people stay away from church. Perhaps that's why you have skipped from time to time. You feel guilty. You know your sin. And you haven't wanted to be reminded of it. It makes you too uncomfortable.
That's what God's Word does. No one can hide before the piercing, laser focused stare of God's Word. It opens you up, lays you naked and exposed so that you can no longer lie to yourself, so that you can no longer lie to God.
How can that be rest?
“Come to Me,” says Jesus, “all you who are weary and heavy laden...” All you who are weighed down with not just the cares of the world, but weighed down with guilt and sin. Weighed down with the failures of your life, with your misuse of your time and energy, with the faults, with the missteps, with the impulsive sins, with your scars from the many sins you have done with all those things that you have done, those things that you are trying to leave behind you, those sins that haunt you from your youth, from your past, from only yesterday, those things that are too painful to bring up and that you have tried so hard to bury so deeply but that just won't go away. “Come to me” says Jesus, “and I will give you rest.”
This rest is rest that only Jesus can give. Because once all of those sins are dragged back out into the open and we are naked and bare and exposed for all the world to see, we find ourselves in an uncomfortable spot. We find ourselves frightened and scared, we find that we deserve punishment and ridicule and hatred – not just from each other, from our spouse, our children, and so on – after all, how much can they condemn anyway? They are just as sinful as you are. Where we really need forgiveness is from God.
And the God who slices into your soul and spirit to lay bare all your sins, past and preset is the same one who himself was naked and exposed, who was laid bare for all to see and to ridicule and slander as he hung for you on the cross. Jesus was pierced, but not for his own transgressions. When he was divided and dissected there were no sins to be found. The blood that flowed from his hands and feet, from his side was pure – sinless, not deserving of the punishment he received. But he did it for you.
And this Jesus who died, who was pierced, who hung naked and exposed on the cross – he hung there in your place, for your sin so that when you come here to church, when you come here with your guilty conscience and your painful memories he speaks his word of pardon and forgiveness. I know what you did. I was there with you... yesterday. Last week, last month, last year, in your youth, in your anger, in your sin. I saw it all. I know it all. And I do not hold it against you. I paid for that sin with my own suffering and the shedding of my blood. I do not condemn you. Instead I forgive you.
“When I kept silent my bones wasted away within me” writes David in the Psalms (32) “through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of the summer. I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord”, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
Your God is merciful. He lays his word of law on you to convict you of your sin and then he takes that sin from you . He pays for it himself and he restores you. He restores your soul. So that you don't have to hide, so that you don't have to run, so that you can stop the internal wrestling that goes on with your heart, so that finally you can rest. And that is where our Worship comes in to the picture. It is here at church that we have come for a meeting with God. Jesus Christ himself is here with us this morning to pardon you from your sins. He is here in his word. He has commissioned me to proclaim to you pardon and peace for your sin. He has commanded that this word of forgiveness be preached and proclaimed to you so that you may have forgiveness, so that you may have rest.
Today God offer to you rest. Not leisure. Not vacation. Not time away. But Rest. From sin. From guilt, from the past that haunts you. Real rest in the confidence that comes from the forgiveness of Jesus who died for you on the cross.

Pentecost 19

Suppose you are Jesus. How would you have handled this situation?
A man runs up to you as you are on your way out of town and he wants to come with you. He is well dressed, apparently wealthy. He kneels down in front of you and tells you he wants to be a disciple. His way of asking is a bit unorthodox. “What must I do to be saved?” says the man. He wants to do something. Salvation doesn't come by doing, not by your doing anyways. So the man has some lessons to learn. How would you have handled the situation?
I would do exactly the way Jesus did? Isn't that the obvious answer?
Look at what Jesus did and do that. He was Jesus. He always did the right thing so all we have to do is what He did. Right?
But look what Jesus did. Jesus turned the man away. Ironically, he looked at him, loved him, and then made choose. Jesus and only Jesus. Not Jesus and loving myself. Not Jesus and loving my money. Jesus and only Jesus. The man chose himself and his money and he went away sad.
Is that what you would have done?
Our modern sensitivities tell us there can never be just one way. There always has to be a choice. There always has to be a middle of the road. We don't ever want to say somebody is out, that they are wrong, that there is only one way. Jesus has no problems with it. He pulls no punches. Allows no middle ground. Accepts no substitutes. It is Jesus and only Jesus. Nothing else will do.
The man was wealthy. Jesus did not have to be told that he was rich. We usually assume Jesus knew the man was rich because he was Jesus. He always knew the whole story; he could tell you what you were thinking (as in the case of the Pharisees), what you were doing before he saw you (Bartholomew), what you were going to do after he saw you (Peter)... We figure this was another one of those situations. But the man was rich. If a rich man walks comes to church, usually we can size him up pretty quickly. We know the difference. We can tell the difference between Wal-Mart and Abercrombie. Between Kia and Cadillac. Between Ford and John Deer. We are all very in touch with labels and their status. We know, and so did they. It was apparent to everyone in the crowd that this young man bending Jesus' ear was wealthy. He wore it on his back.
Not only was the man rich, he was religiously devoted. He was committed. These days we would say that He was on fire for the Lord. He committed himself to obeying the commandments. He honored his parents. He did not kill. Did not covet. Never had an affair. Never even stole – which is unusual for a business man these days. He had held up under the pressures of the busy and stressful corporate lifestyle. He was a winner at business. He was a winner at life. He was a winner at church.
Funny, isn't that usually what we are looking for? Isn't that usually what we look up to? These are the guys who write books about the right way to live. And we go out and buy them. We put them on our bookshelves, on our coffee tables. We even go to the seminar and buy the dvd. This guy did life the right way! He did it God's way! And he's rich! Maybe I can be too.
But that wasn't enough for Jesus. Jesus wouldn't accept any self made men. There was no room among the followers of Jesus for any do-it-yourself disciples. Jesus didn't come to build a winning team. Jesus didn't come to attract life's winners. Jesus came to save sinners. Jesus came to heal the sick, care for the poor, bind up the broken hearted. Jesus came, not for the healthy, not for life's winners. Jesus came for the loosers.
So the man came to Jesus, wanting to join his team, wanting to sign up and climb on board. He came with all his success and his long and impressive list of credentials. He won at life. He won at religion. He was ready to conquer the next challenge. He was ready to be one of Jesus' disciples. And his attitude was reflected in his question. “Good teacher. What must I do to be saved?” What must I do... Salvation doesn't come by doing. Not your anyway. Oh it does come by doing. It doesn't' just happen. But it is not, it is never, it could never be your doing. It is God's doing. God's doing for you!
Jesus' answer was appropriate to the question. If you want to get to heaven by doing, then there is a way. You can get to heaven by good works. (That sounds off to us. Doesn't it? We believe we are saved by grace.) But the man asks the question – what must I do to be saved. Jesus gives the answer to the question that he asked. If you want run your salvation according to doing, according to achievement, then here it is – obey the commandments. If you want a religion of good works God has given a list of things for you to accomplish. 10 things, 10 commands follow those and you will be saved. The man asked the question, Jesus gave the answer.
The man should have heard the answer and understood that the game was up, it was over before it started. He didn't have a chance. That was too tall an order. He had already broken the commandments. He was already guilty.
But he didn't. He kept going. He didn't understand the point.
“I have kept the commandments, all of them, from my youth.”
And that is what so often gets us into trouble. The man was convinced that he had already accomplished God's list of commands. He thought he was already doing all those things. He thought that because he had worked hard and disciplined himself and succeeded at everything he had ever done that salvation was going to work the exact same way.
He was wrong.
Jesus looked at him and Jesus loved him. And because Jesus loved him he showed him just how wrong he was.
“There is one thing you lack.” said Jesus. “Go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor and then come and follow me.”
The man couldn't do it. His money, all that he had worked for, the symbol of his success, give it all away? What would you do?
What is that thing that you hold on to? That you prize above all else? Is it your money? Your reputation? Your place in the community? Your intelligence? Your independence? Your will? We all have something... what's yours?
Whatever it is, lay it at the feet of Jesus. Whatever it is take it and use it not for your own glory – that is nothing but vanity. Use it instead for the service of your neighbor. Use it to show the love of Jesus to the world.
Because that is what Jesus has done for us.
Jesus has seen all of our accomplishment and he has seen the sin that lies behind each one of them. He has seen the sickness of sin that lives beneath the surface. And Jesus has come to die for that sin.
For all the accomplishments, for all the things that people have done, there is only one thing that matters, there is only one accomplishment that is worth anything and that is the one thing that Jesus accomplished on the cross. What Jesus accomplished for you.
Jesus was the only one who has truly obeyed the commandments. When the man went away sad he revealed the true condition of his heart. He couldn't give up his wealth. We all have similar idols that we insist on holding on to. Jesus did not have any idols, no other gods that he had hidden away in his heart. He had kept the commandment perfectly.
And then Jesus, the only true commandment achiever not just before men, but before God died for our lack of achievement. For our failures. For the times that we have not lived up to the mark, that we have fallen short. Jesus has taken all of our sin and he has died for it on the cross. He has even paid for that sin of pride that wants so badly to be convinced that we have actually pulled it off.
The only way to salvation is the gospel. The only way to salvation is forgiveness, not by your own merit, not by your won hard work, not by your own bootstraps, not by the purity of your own heart. It's by Jesus. Jesus on the cross for you and only Jesus. There is no other way.
Jesus sent the man away sad, poured out and dejected because he couldn't' do it. There is another way. There is Jesus. Confess yours sin to him, lay your treasures at his feet. Serve him serve your neighbor. Be forgiven.
Amen.

Pentecost 18

Dear People of St Paul,
You are a strange bunch of people.
You might think I am kidding. You might think that I am making a joke, or taking a crack at your affinity for the local sport team or just going for the shock value.
None of these are the case. You are strange! You're weird! An odd bunch of people who are completely outside of the mainstream! Your thoughts, your beliefs, your values are far and away different from the rest of the world.
And let me tell you why – as a people, as a group, as a classification you value the institution of marriage. You think it's important, worthy of protecting and preserving. You consider it to be precious, a gift even. And that makes you weird!
Yes, it is true – you're view of marriage makes you weird. But, let it be said, that is a good thing.
Consider the view of marriage in the world around us today.
Most (if not all) of your coworkers, the parents of the other kids on your ball team, the people you see in the grocery store, while they are likely to think marriage is good, they are likely to believe that it is a man made, a social institution made up by people. That it is something that has come to be a part of our society and the way we order ourselves as a people only because of a humanly devised value. A psychological construct – if you will. It's a contract, a piece of paper, a legal document that ultimately doesn't mean anything.
Some of your friends and coworkers might even believe marriage is unnecessary, outdated, old, and even useless. There is no point to it, no value to it, there is nothing positive that it has to offer. Truly modern people, evolved people (if you will) can just simply love each other sufficiently without it, some might even go so far as to say that they can love each other better without it.
But you? Not you. You see marriage – not as a piece of paper, not as a social contract, not as a means for stamping your mark of ownership on another person – you see marriage as a gift from God. You see marriage as God's blessing and you cherish this gift and desire to see it flourish for yourself and in your own family. Marriage is a part, a piece of God's own creation, established by him even before his first week of creating was done.
You after all, believe to be true our text from Genesis. In Genesis chapter 1 we get the cliff notes version of the six days of creation. But then in Chapter 2 we are taken back into the week of creation. Back to day 6. God wants us to know more. You see, the creation of the man and the woman was important, significant – the brief version offered in the first chapter is not enough so we are treated to a second look.
God made the man. He formed him from a lump of clay and breathed into him the breath of life – with every other living thing God simply spoke and it came to be, but with the man God took greater care and more deliberate intention. A lump of clay and His own Breath. Man was alive with body and soul. Of the same stuff as earth, sharing the same matter with the rest of it, but with a spiritual dimension added in that was not given to the dogs and cats and rocks and trees.
But the man was alone. There was nothing else in all creation that was like him. The creation was good but the man was alone and God said that this was “not good”. So the Lord God brought to the man all these other creatures so that he might name them, but among all the other created things in God's good world there was not one thing found that was like Adam in his uniqueness from the rest of creation. So God put him to sleep and performed a surgery on him – He took from the man a rib that was of his flesh and bone, built from the same raw materials and then God constructed a new creature: like the man but different. Of the same flesh, but unique in her construction. One who made God's creation (and therefore the man) complete. What was “not good” had all of a sudden become not just good – now, with the creation of the woman God's work was done and it was “very good”.
A man and a woman made to be “one flesh”. Two made to be one. A single unit. Two parts united together so that they make a new thing. A marriage – a one flesh union that God has joined together. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they shall be one flesh.”
This creation; this gift of marriage is such a blessing. In spite of the dishonor that this good creation and gift of God has received, those who have received this gift can attest to its goodness. Marriage completes you. When a man and woman are joined together the two parts together become better than the individuals were apart. The two help each other.
The man loves and cares for his wife so that she feels the safety and security of his love. Rather than being restrained by being “possessed” by another she knows she belongs the way she is created to be.
And the man is better with his wife than he would otherwise be alone. He is turned outside himself to the care of another and his wife turns his attention to where God would have him to serve not just her, but his neighbor.
And then God blesses this union, this joining not just with a personal union, not just with a relationship, not just with a shared space and shared emotion – God makes this union of the flesh of a man and the flesh of a woman into a new flesh when God creates from this union a life, a new person, a child that is literally the flesh of the man and the flesh of the woman joined together into a new flesh. This is a profound and beautiful mystery that we can only begin to understand. And God has given this as a good gift and a blessing for the benefit and the joy of the man and the woman, of the husband and the wife.
Dear Christians, you see and understand this mysterious and this beautiful gift. You appreciate this gift. You cherish this gift.
And how sad it is to say that this makes you weird.
You live in a world where this beautiful gift has been tarnished and stained. You live in a world where this gift is cast aside as “outdated”, as a “relic of a bygone and primitive era”. You live in a world that wants to throw this gift away and trample it underfoot by allowing and even encouraging the gift to be despised. The bride who completes you has become your “ball and chain”. The husband who you cherish and is cherished by you has become “the idiot father of your children”.
You live in a world where the mysterious joining together of a man and a woman by God has become a “contract” that we can extend to any two people who feel like having sex with each other. Marriage is more than emotion. It is more than sex. It is more than a social or a civil arrangement. It is much more.
Out of two God makes one. That is what our text says. That was the way of the original creation. No one was separate. No one was alone. God made the man and the woman to be one with each other. And this, as God said, was “very good”.
But then look what happen. Adam sinned. His wife Eve sinned. And instead of being one, instead of being joined to each other we see them pitted against each other. Notice Adam's words. “That woman you gave me”. Notice how his view had changed – the one who he had rejoiced over because she was of his flesh and bone had all of a sudden become “that woman”. Husbands, how many of you have ever thought this way of your wife?
And then notice God's word to Eve – “your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you”. Wives, how many of you have ever resented your husband? Who he is, what he has done or has not done? Why couldn't he be more romantic? Responsible? In tune with your needs?
Instead of enjoying the one flesh union, the sameness, the togetherness, the unity that God has designed and intended we so often become little more than two people occupying the same space. Our joining of one flesh as a gift from God turns into that “contract”, that “social institution”, that we hear so much about. May the Lord God forgive us for our sin.
But then consider Paul's word in Ephesians. “This is a profound mystery.” he writes. But he is talking about Christ and the Church. Christ gave himself up for us and offered himself so that he might sanctify us, cleansing us by the washing of water with the Word so that He might present us to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle so that we might be holy and without blemish.
Those of you who are married, consider your wedding day. Husbands, the day that you took your wife to yourself and pledged yourself to her. She was beautifully dressed. When you saw her she took your breath away. You pledged yourself to her to be faithful to her and to cherish her above all else. Wives, you walked down the aisle of the church to be given to your husband so that he might be the one that you love and that you cherish and who is also loved and cherished by you.
Christ has done that for you. But let us understand. Just as a bride is dressed from head to toe elegantly and beautifully and fittingly, you too were dressed. But not in clothes that you made, that you even purchased. Christ your bridegroom clothed you. Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed because they had not sinned. But you? You were exposed. You were naked and your nakedness was the result of your unfaithfulness. When Christ came to you and found you, you were like a prostitute lying in the gutter offering yourself to all manner of uncleanness and vileness. But Christ your bridegroom came to you and found you and he loved you and he cherished you in spite of the fact that you were wholly unlovable. He chose you, against all odds that anyone would even have you. He made you to be his very own. And he washed you with water and the Word, that is to say, He baptized you and in so doing he clothed you with a garment that he himself purchased for you.
When he found you, you were filthy and dirty and diseased – covered in the muck and mire of your sin. But he washed you. He cleansed you. He healed your diseases. He purified you from your sin. You have received a spiritual makeover. It's hard to recognize that you are even the same person. You have been dressed with all the wealth of heaven, dressed in the garments of righteousness made for you by God himself. Jesus Christ is your eternal bridegroom and he has chosen you for the eternal wedding feast of heaven.
So God restored you to himself. He re-joined you to him. The rift, the rupture in the relationship has been repaired and you and God are once again in communion with each other. But the same can be said for you and your husband, or your wife. Your sin tears you apart. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, you run off and hide from God and from each other to cover your shame and to cover your nakedness. But God has covered you. He has clothed you. He has washed you clean and He has restored you. In so doing he has restored you, husbands and wives, to each other.
So be weird. Cherish your wife. Honor your husband. Rejoice in your marriage.

Amen.

Pentecost 17 Mark 9

One of the benefits of our Lutheran School is the many lessons that are learned through out the day and through out the week. Our students are, to be sure, treated with a top notch education. They are taught (and taught well) their lessons of the general academic subjects. Our students can read and write add and subtract with the best of them.
In addition to that, however, our St Paul students are taught valuable lessons from the scriptures. They are taught to honor God through their life and conduct, to honor each other as fellow members of the body of Christ and they are taught that their salvation is accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These lessons are valuable beyond compare. They are lessons learned as they are taught and passed along by the teachers.
Teachers teach. It is what they do and Jesus, the Rabbi, the teacher, is no different. Jesus' ministry on earth was comprised of healing and acts of divine power, but the major component of his ministry was his teaching. Jesus taught his disciples, he taught the crowds, and then, when he gave his final commission to his disciples to go out and “make disciples”, this commission included the instruction that they teach, so that the teaching that He began would continue to go on in His name by those who carried His name. Teaching was an essential part of the work and ministry of Jesus.
And so here in our text we see that Jesus is teaching. He is doing what teachers do. In the preceding verses, Mark tells us that Jesus sat down to teach – he took the posture that teachers of his day assumed while they were teaching. The teaching began in our lesson from last week; it continues this week. We would-be disciples, that is to say, we who would be students of the great teacher, would do well to hear these lessons and apply them.
Jesus teaches us to regard the unity that we have in His name.
In our text, The disciples reported to Jesus that they had attempted to silence one who was casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Their reason? This one did not have the proper credentials as one of the 12 disciples.
The man in question was casting out demons in the name of Jesus. He was a believer in Christ. He had heard the lessons of the teacher and he had applied those lessons – he was working to further the kingdom of God among the strongholds of the devil through the teaching and preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This was good. This is exactly what God would have each Christian to do. Satan is set back on his heals when the name of Jesus is preached and proclaimed in faith. Satan deals in lies. He clouds and confuses the truth and so when the truth is taught he cannot tolerate such things and he runs away. This man was a believer. He was one who heard the true teaching of Jesus and he applied it where it needed to be applied.
The error of the disciples was that they assumed that the truth was their truth. That they owned it, that they had rights and claims upon it to authorize who could speak it and who could not. They had no such ownership. Jesus gives his church to be stewards of His truth. We may make use of it and give it out where it needs to be given. Like charities that provide food to the hungry – the church gives the Gospel and the forgiveness of Jesus where there is need, we preach the Gospel where sinners are hungry to hear it. But it is not our Gospel. We do not own it, we do not possess it. When Christians act as though the Gospel is theirs to control, they had stopped being stewards and have claimed ownership of something that is not theirs. May we be preserved from this sin.
[These days it is popular to make the opposite error. People in our own context want to assume that anyone who says the name Jesus is automatically a disciple of Jesus. We aught to remember Jesus' warning: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name... and will deceive many.” There are and will be many false teachers. Christian need to be discerning.]
Lest we only hear the command partially, let us also understand that when Christ gives to us his name he expects us to bear it. We are to be his witnesses. When we say nothing because, as we tell ourselves, “I have not been properly trained or authorized”, keep in mind that you bear the name of Jesus. You were baptized by Him into his name. It is your duty to bear witness to that name. This is included in the lesson given by the teacher.
The teacher goes on, the lessons continue...
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great mill stone were tied around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
With this lesson, Jesus our Teacher, gives to us the command that we watch closely and carefully those things that we are teaching.
Again, it our Christian duty to bear witness to the name of Jesus. While this can happen anywhere, the primary place is in the Christian home. Parents are to be teachers for their children. Fathers and mothers are to instruct their children in the Christian faith.
Parents – put the Word of God in the hands and in the hearts of your children. Often, the only prayer that is said in the home is the meal prayer. Make sure there are morning prayers and evening prayers. Read the scriptures, the Psalms. Teach your children to pray the Lords Prayer, to confess the Apostle's Creed. Teach them the Catechism. Make sure you have a hymnal at home and teach them to sing the faith through the songs of faith. These things are all the building blocks of the Christian faith. Lay down a firm foundation for your children.
Parents, be aware that the example you set is so important for your children. Be aware of what you do, but also be aware of what you do not do. If you do not regularly go to church and make that a priority, if you don't attend bible class, if you don't take time for family prayer or for personal prayer, by your example you are teaching them lessons about the importance of the Christian faith. Remember the words of Jesus – if you lead one of these little ones into sin, you would be better off to have a mill stone tied around your neck and have it thrown into the sea. That is a stern warning. Pay attention to that warning.
And this brings us to our final lesson: Jesus' teaching about those traps that cause us to sin. Your hand, your foot, your eye that causes you to sin. Jesus speaks in the extreme – you would be better off loosing your hand, your foot, your eye rather than sustaining the temptation and loosing your soul in hell. The trouble is, however, cutting off your hand or your foot, or gouging out your eye won't preserve you from temptation. Jesus teaches us that sin and temptation don't come from our hands, our feet, or from our eyes – these temptations lure us in because our hands, our feet and our eyes are all connected to our hearts. Even if we did cut off a hand or any other part of the body, we would still have our sin filled hearts to contend with. What we need to do is repent of the sin that lives in your heart.
So beware of those traps. Those temptations. There will temptation for your hand to take or to touch those things that are not yours. There will be those temptations for your feet, to go to those places that will trap you in sin. And then there are the temptations for your eyes, so that, even if you don't go, even if you don't take, even if you don't touch, simply looking with your eyes will entrap you. Beware of those things.
Jesus, our teacher, offers to us these lessons. These lessons that pertain to him, our relationship to him and to his name. He has given to us his name so that we might be his disciples. He desires that we bear His name as we go into the whole world, as we teach and instruct our children and as we wrestle with our own sinful self that is tempted by the world. And in the classroom of our Great Teacher we have not applied these lessons! We have neglected His teaching and we have failed our exams. We have not earned a passing grade.
Thanks be to God for the love and the forgiveness of our Teacher.
These days, when we evaluate students, we do it according to test scores and academic achievement tests. In order to push students to the necessary levels we apply standards so that they learn and so that they make the grade and perform at their highest level.
Jesus does not do that with us. In spite of our poor performance, Jesus does not fail us, in spite of our bad behavior Jesus does not expel us. Instead Jesus forgives us. Jesus does not count our sins against us. He himself takes personal responsibility for our error and he suffers the consequences for our bad behavior. Jesus takes the full brunt of the wrath of God on himself and he pays for each and every one of our sins.
Jesus takes responsibility for the times that we have failed to speak his name and give a witness for the hope that we have in Christ. Jesus takes responsibility for the poor example we have set, for those times that we have neglected his word or those times that our example has led others away from His Word. For those times that we have given in to temptations, he has cover those sins as well.
Our hands have reached out for those things that are not ours so Jesus gave his hands to be pierced with nails. Our feet have taken us to those places where we should not have gone so the feet of Jesus were fastened to a cross with a spike. Our eyes have coveted and lusted after those things that God has given to others so his eyes were wet with the blood that ran down his face from the crown of thorns placed upon his brow. Because of our sin and because of our failures, Jesus has died for us. He has suffered for us. He has paid the penalty for our sin.
Jesus our divine teacher has given to us His Word for our instruction. He has made himself our teacher so that we learn and then in turn teach, pointing others to Him. Learning from his great example and having been set free from our sin, let us apply these lessons and let us be teachers and examples of righteousness in our homes and in our lives.
Amen.

Pentecost 16

This past week I received a phone call from my local bank office asking me to rate the service that I had received at a recent visit. They gave me a scale of 1 to 5 and asked to rate the quality of attention I had received while I was there, how satisfied I was with how I had been treated, how likely I was to return and how likely I was to recommend my bank to other potential customers. I was happy to take the survey and answer the questions, after all, they were wanting to know how they could serve me better. And who doesn't want better service?

That is the way it should be, is it not? Isn't that after all what we expect these days. We think of ourselves as paying customers and we want the most for our dollar. After all, “The customer is always right.” If they want a few minutes of my time so that they can better serve me, it is worth the investment. Wouldn't you agree?

Not so says Jesus, however. At least not in our text. Jesus turns this whole idea on its head. Jesus' way of thinking is upside down. The opposite, the reverse. The ones who want to be first are to be the servants. The ones who want to be greatest aught to be the lowest, the slaves – even the slaves of children. Not quite what we would have in mind as we are attempting to climb further up the corporate ladder. Jesus' way of thinking to us just doesn't make sense.

Our Gospel reading this morning is actually two – two separate readings that are closely tied together. Two separate events, two occurrences that are tied together by what Jesus wants us to know about being great and about being a servant. In the world's eyes “the greatest” is the one who is served the most. In the kingdom of heaven, the greatest is the one who does the most serving. Which one will you be?

Jesus teaches us what it means to be great; great, that is, in the Kingdom of Heaven. Contrary to everyones plans for greatness, contrary to everyone's plans for Jesus his pathway to greatness leads through suffering along the via do la rosa, the way of suffering. His pathway to greatness leads through the garden of Gethsemane where he will sweat drops of blood, through the praetorium and Pilate's judgment hall where he will stand trial and be condemned, through the chamber where he would be tortured by the Roman guards and then, the pathway of Jesus, his ascension to power and to greatness will lead to Golgotha - the place of the scull, to the cross and ultimately the tomb. For all his instruction to be servant Jesus shows us what he means – he puts his money where his mouth his when he ascends to greatness by first descending to his own personal hell on the cross.

Not what the disciples had in mind and not what we would have in mind either.

But this is the substance of the first reading. Jesus was going throughout the region of Galilee and he was repeating to his disciples that same theme that first came up when Peter rebuked him – “The son of man will be given over to the hands of men and they will kill him and when he is killed after three days he will rise.” The disciples didn't understand.

I am not convinced that we would understand either. After all, this is not the sort of thing that you and I would sign up for. We don't want to follow a team that is going to loose. Likewise we don't want to follow a leader who is going to fail. Why then would we want to worship a god who is going to die? A lot of good that would do. The disciples were too afraid to ask so they said nothing. But their lack of understanding came out soon enough.

And this brings us to our second reading..

As they were walking along the way the began talking among themselves, the way any of us would do. Oh, I'm sure the conversation began innocently enough – they always do. Peter, James and John were obviously the closest to Jesus. They were the ones who always got to go on those special little outings. They went up the mount of transfiguration. They were the ones who got to see him raise Jairus' daughter from the dead. They were probably in line for the top three positions. But put them in order – who was number one? Two or three? And then the real question, who got to be number 4? If there were 12 seats at the table, who got the best seat and who was left sitting at the end.

I can recall arguing with my siblings when we were children over who got to sit in the front seat. This was in the days before airbags and car seats so anyone could sit anywhere. Each of us wanted to be first. You and I might not argue over seating in the car – we might even enjoy a nice peaceful ride in the back seat. But look out when someone cuts in front of you while you are standing in line at the grocery store, at the bank teller window, at McDonalds. What makes them so special? They should have to wait like everyone else! Doesn't it just awaken some anger and resentment deep down in your core? We all want to be first. We all want to be treated with the basic respect that we feel that we deserve. We do, after all, share that same sinful human nature.

Or which of us would not feel a little resentment if we were always relegated to the lowest positions, the serving positions. I can remember when I was in college – I sang in the touring choir. My senior year the choir director approached me and told me he recognized my natural leadership qualities – a nice way of buttering me up. He asked me to be in charge of properties – doing the heavy lifting for the equipment while we were on tour. I was insulted and refused because I wanted to be choir president.

“If anyone would be first he must be last and servant of all.”

We are quite incapable of fulfilling this command. We are too enamored with ourselves and our own potential. So Jesus shames us with His willing service to all. Jesus shows us exactly what it means to be the least and to be the servant.

Paul tells us that Jesus did not consider oneness with God something to be held on to at all costs and so he set aside his divine nature.

The one who was there at the beginning calling the shots and calling out the work of creation, the one who watched as Adam began to take shape from a pile of dirt, the one who planned for the very conception of every single human person there has ever been, the one who was active in designing the process by which life would occur and how it would be sustained, the one who was the architect behind the night sky and hung each planet in place to shine out with just the right amount of light, the one who built the mountain ranges and then painted the landscape with vegetation of various sizes and colors, the one who filled the earth with the vast complexity of life. Jesus was there for all of it, participating in all of it, a key player in every step along the way. And Jesus – the Son of God, the second person of the trinity, the one in whom the Father delights, set all of this aside to become one of us, to suffer along side us, to feel the pain that we feel, to live through the suffering and the sadness and the grief that we live with, to be tested with the temptations that we face and to endure weakness that we are so susceptible to – Jesus lowered himself to be subject to all of it.

But even that was not enough – Jesus didn't come to earth to suffer just because he wanted to relate to us, just because he wanted to know what it was like. Jesus actually wanted to save us. Our sin – our pride, our inflated view of ourselves is the root of all of this suffering. We are only getting what we have deserved and even then we are only getting the very edge of what we have deserved. What our action truly have earned is an eternity spent in punishment in the depths of hell. But Jesus wanted to save us. To save us not just from this world and its suffering. Jesus wanted to save us from that eternity of suffering in hell. So he did. Jesus set aside the power and glory that was his as the Son of God and he took on our human nature so that he could suffer the shame and the ingloriousness of the cross. Jesus suffered hell and judgment on the cross in our place as our servant so that we would not have to suffer.

“I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.” Writes Isaiah. “I did not know it was against me they devised schemes saying “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living that his name be remember no more.” “ The lion of Judah made himself the lamb of slaughter so that we could have the hope of a future redemption with no suffering.

You and I are so caught up in our selves that we forget that God has made us to be servants. We want the power, the honor the glory of being first. We want to head straight away to be princes and kings. Instead God has called us to be servants. To set aside our quest for glory and instead devote ourselves to serving God and serving one another. And what else could we do? After all, we are continually reminded of what our God has done for us. He did not seek for his own glory. He set his glory aside and he made himself our servant, submitting himself even to the shame of the cross.

Jesus has died for you. He has made himself your servant. He has paid for your sin. May you likewise be a servant.

Amen.

Pentecost 15 - Mark 9:14-29

Mark 9:14-29

Have you ever been afraid?

Sure we are all afraid in some way, at some time or another. Sometimes, especially around Halloween, we even think it's fun. I am not talking about fun. I am not talking about little now- it's-here-now-it's-not kinds of fear. I am talking about real fear. I am talking about, “Oh no. The demon just threw my son into the fire to kill him again” fear. Have you ever had that kind of fear?

That is real fear.

Few of us have to grapple with demon possession. That does not mean that the rest of us are exempt from fear. Certainly fear can be caused by a demon hell-bent on destroying your child. But you could find yourself experiencing that same fear at anything that would attempt to destroy your child – accident. Illness. Evil spirits or evil people. They all can cause fear. They all can destroy life, they all can ruin lives. Whether it be your son, your daughter, you sister, your husband, your cousin, your friend. Any number of situations, any number of people. There are many things that can cause fear. Have you ever felt that fear?

So when that fear comes, where do you go? Where do you turn when you find yourself enmeshed in that kind of fear? Who is able to help? Who is able to provide you with the much needed comfort? There is only one. Only one place for you to go. One person to whom you can turn. Only Jesus. Only Jesus can provide comfort. Only Jesus can provide solace. Only Jesus can offer true security and safety from your fear. You go to Jesus.

There was a young boy. He was possessed and ensnared by Satan. These days people think of demon possession as either a parlor trick, a game for trifling with, for fun at slumber parties. Or else he is thought of as a boogeyman man who comes to get you in the dark. He is neither of these. He is God's sworn enemy who desires most of all that you be destroyed in Hell. He is not for games nor is he for overactive imaginations. He is for real. And he enslaved this child.

The child's father understood the diagnosis. Certainly he exhibited signs for a clinical diagnosis of epilepsy. But this was no epilepsy. Epilepsy does not throw children into fire or into water. Epilepsy is random, it does not aim, it does not desire, it does not have a will. This spirit controlling this boy had a will. The father was powerless to stop it. For years he tried. For year he lived with this evil in his house and in his boy. For years he sought comfort and for years he existed without comfort. The father felt fear.

But then...

the father felt hope. You see, there was one name Jesus. A healer, a teacher, yes, but a healer. There were stories, rumors; others with illnesses, crippled hands and lame feat all had been healed. Demons, even demons had cried out when they saw him and then (and this was the best part) then they obeyed when he commanded them. The father had hope. Was this small glimmer of hope the beginning of faith?

The father went in search of Jesus. Instead he found the disciples. What a sore disappointment they turned out to be. Oh, they did their best. But there were of no help. They were powerless to save the child, to help the child. The more they failed, the more they argued. And then the scribes got into it. An opportunity to “one up” the disciples of the “great teacher”. They could step in a show who was really in-the-know about these religious matters. They failed, too. The father had seen failures before, he had lived through failures before.

But then came Jesus.

Jesus came walking up to the crowd. The crowd saw him and ran to him. Jesus addressed his disciples. “What are you arguing about.” A voice chimed in from the crowd. It was the father. I brought them my boy. He has a spirit. The spirit makes him mute. The spirit seizes him, thrashes him. He foams at the mouth. He grinds his teeth. He become as stiff as stone.”

Jesus paused. He looked past the father he addressed the crowd... the disciples... “you faithless generation. For how long am I going to have to put up with you?”

“Faithless...” “Faith – less” he called them. Without faith. Having none. Jesus had taught them. He had given them even authority to cast out demons. The authority was his authority. The power was His power. All they needed was faith, and in faith all they needed was prayer. For such afflictions God would answer the prayer.

All they needed was faith.

Isn't that what we tell ourselves? “All it takes is a little faith”, “You just have to believe”. “You just gotta keep going, you can't give up hope.” Sometimes we turn faith into “positive thinking”.

It's not just positive thinking. Neither is it confidence or assurance or determination.

After all, the father had none of these things.

Look at him. Did he have confidence? Did he trust? Was he the poster child for positive thinking? Far from it.

The father brought his boy to Jesus and immediately the demon went into action. The boy started to roll around on the ground, he started to foam at the mouth. The father had seen this so many times before. Seeing it even now must have torn him apart.

Jesus asked him, “how long has he been like this?”

Why? Why ask that question? What difference did it make?

Jesus asked, not for his own sake, but for that of the father.

The father was desperate. He had no where to go. No where to turn. He wanted Jesus to help. He heard Jesus could help. He hoped that Jesus could help. But deep down in side he doubted. He had gotten his hopes up before and had them dashed to pieces. This was a demon. There was no pill, no shot, no ointment you could give to make it go away. It just was. There was no man who had authority over such things. It didn't matter what he heard. It didn't matter even what Jesus said. The man doubted.

And so do you. If you have ever been afraid, if you have ever been really truly afraid, then you have doubted. You know you shouldn't. You are ashamed that you were so weak. But you doubted. You saw the object of your fear and it was big, bigger than you, bigger than you had the power to deal with.

And then you saw the object of your faith. A man. His name was Jesus. You only know about him because you read his name in a book. You haven't seen him. You haven't talked to him. You've got to be crazy for believing in him, believe that the object of your faith (a man who you can't see) is bigger than the object of your fear (a sickness, a situation that you can see).

You are like the man, the father, who saw his son writhing down on the ground, thrown into a fit by a devil with an unimpressive man standing in front of him asking him questions about how long this has been going on.

There was a war inside the man. Faith was there but it was weak, it was oh so weak. Doubt was there and the doubt was as loud and as strong as could be. The father wanted to believe but he just couldn't.

So he prayed.

“I believe. Help my unbelief.”

Jesus had just spoken of unbelief. He directed the word at his disciples. They had fruitlessly tried to cast out the demon. They flexed their own muscles and argued and bickered when they failed. This was not faith. Faith does not look to one's self. Faith looks to Jesus. Faith prays.

And so the father prayed.

“I believe. Help my unbelief.”

The father looked to Jesus. He looked to Jesus in prayer. Jesus answered the prayer. Jesus answered the man's prayer by giving to him faith.

Sometimes is our prayers we get confused between our will vs. God's will. Our will is always for healing, for prosperity, for a tranquil life. God's will is always for salvation. God sometimes allows the suffering, the crosses that we bear because he knows they are useful in keeping our hearts focused on Him and away from the World. Sometimes God allows the suffering. He always hears the prayer for faith. He always hears the prayer for salvation.

Jesus rescued the boy from the demon. He commanded the spirit: “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never return.”

The demon did not want to obey. It screamed. The scream must have made a horrible sound. But it obeyed. It left the boy. He was still. He was quiet. Almost like he was dead.

Jesus took the boy by the hand and helped him to stand. He stood up on his feet. Quiet, peaceful, and in his right mind. Jesus saved the boy. Jesus saved the father.

Jesus has saved you.

Have you been afraid? Perhaps. Have you wrestled with what God has promised and doubted? Have you felt in your heart unbelief? Pray. Confess your unbelief and pray. Jesus will answer your prayer. He will forgive your sin. He will rescue you from the grip of the devil. He will set you free from your unbelief and he will give you greater things than even those you have asked for. He will give you faith that believes Him to be your God and your savior.

Pray to Jesus. He will hear your prayer. He will respond to your need. He will save you.

Amen.