Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
July 8, 2007
2 Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30
Galatians 6:1-10, 14-18
Luke 10:1-12, 16-20
Our scripture lessons today remind me of the ordinary time we are living in as we settle into the long season of Pentecost in our life of worship. Today’s scriptures show us some very ordinary people who witness to God’s kingdom on this earth in extraordinary ways. Ordinary people like us. Ordinary people who are doing something quite extraordinary this morning by coming to church. In fact attending church is becoming quite counter cultural in a world where Sunday morning has become a time to sleep in, or languish over coffee and the Sunday papers, or go off to play in natural environments or in man made playgrounds. For many others, Sunday morning is yet another day to go off to work in a world which demands that goods and services be made available 24/7. Setting aside time for church becomes increasingly difficult as ordinary people like ourselves are pressed into prioritizing our time by the priorities of the world. I can’t tell you how many people have said flat out to me that they don’t have time for church anymore. And while I feel the anguish of their busy life consumed by the demands and pleasures of this world, what I hear them saying is that church is no longer a priority. That is, until they need the church. And then they expect it will be here for them. Even though they are not here for us.
I know that in a world like this we have all felt our time squeezed by places to be and things to do on a Sunday morning. But every one of us here today has set aside time and made worship a priority. And our decision to be here is not only becoming increasingly counter cultural; our being here witnesses to a gospel which is counter cultural. Our presence in this place sends a message to the world that what we do here matters, even though we don’t matter. We send a message that being here makes a difference in our life and our life makes a difference in the communities we belong to. And being the difference which makes a difference is what the gospel is all about. It is what our baptismal covenant calls us to be as we grow our faith, and it is what our celebration of Eucharist calls us to do as we go back into the world to live our faith. What we believe and what we do about it are what enables ordinary people like us do extraordinary things. Things which challenge cultural norms and social expectations for the sake of higher purpose and greater good.
Such ordinary people show up in our scripture lessons today. And the extraordinary outcomes of their love and service to God and to the people they serve is clear. Take the servant girl in our story from the second book of Kings. She has been abducted from her homeland in Israel and made to become servant in the home of Naaman, the conquering enemy. By the world’s standards this girl should not even think of doing anything helpful for the man who has kidnapped her. But this servant girl, formed by her Jewish faith, would not abide the suffering of anyone, not even an enemy of her people. She tells her mistress of a prophet who can heal her husband. Namaan is a desperate man, so he takes the girl’s advice, but on his own terms. Naaman can’t imagine that he can be healed by anyone other than a king of Israel. He will let no ordinary person do this extraordinary work. The problem is, that when the king receives Naaman’s letter, he tears his clothing in anguish over being asked to do something he is inacapable of doing for a person he is unwilling to do it for. When the prophet Elisha hears of his king’s anguish he offers to heal Naaman. This simple man, this ordinary prophet will do the work God has prepared him to do—even for this enemy of his people.
We get the sense that Naaman will grudgingly go to Elisha because he is so desperate to be healed of his leprosy which, in biblical times was a broad reference for many kinds of skin disease. Even so, Naaman wants the healing to be on his terms. He has expectations about how a great leader should be healed and who should heal him, and Elisha does not satisfy any of them. Naaman complains that of all the wide and deep and beautiful rivers he would gladly bathe in, Elisha tells Naaman that in order to be healed, he must immerse himself in the muddy Jordan. Namaan is so insulted by this ordinary man who will only communicate to him by messenger that he becomes angry and threatens to go home. But Naaman’s ordinary servants convince him to do as Elisha has instructed. Needless to say, Namaan experiences an extraordinary healing in these ordinary circumstances surrounded by these ordinary people who make it happen.
Likewise, in our gospel lesson from Luke, we see how 70 ordinary men are able to transform the lives of people they are sent out to minister to in their homes. Jesus has appointed these persons to be his disciples. They are to go in pairs to bring the good news of love and peace and healing to people who will receive them. Jesus instructs his disciples to say to them, “the kingdom of God has come near you.” And indeed it has. Jesus intends for us to know that God works through such ordinary people to bring his kingdom to this world. On the other hand, Jesus is so blunt to say that these disciples are not to waste their time with people who will not receive them. But Jesus wants his disciples to know that by their very presence among the the people who reject them, kingdom of God has also come near to them. They are simply not ready to receive it. When they complete their mission, the 70 return with joy over their success. But Jesus reminds them, their mission is not about their personal success; it is about the difference they have made for God’s kingdom in this world.
Such ordinary people these are. And so extraordinary, too. Ordinary people made extraordinary by the integrity of their faith in God and their faithfulness to a God who has called them to do what they must to make a difference for good in this world. Despite the ways they are ridiculed or scorned, abused or ignored or, or demeaned by people who feel superior to them. I know there are many in our world today who look at us in a similar way; people who are out on our lakes this morning, some who are drinking their third cup of coffee as they read the NY Times, and some who are making twice their regular salary by working on a Sunday. I imagine they are wondering why anyone would waste their time being in church when they could be anywhere else doing any number of wonderful things which make them feel just wonderful. I imagine they wonder why anyone with a brain could believe in a God whose existence they cannot prove, or trust a God who, in their limited understanding if him, allows bad things to happen in the world. They undoubtedly wonder why anyone would worship a God who makes unreasonable or unrealistic demands on their life, in a world which is demanding enough. And why would anyone willingly give their money or time or talent to an institution which does not yield a tangible return for their investment.
I imagine that this is how we who are gathered here today appear to a world who believes we are lacking so much by the choice we make to actively engage in worship and ministries of the church. But regardless of how we look to the world, our presence here is testimony to a God who is near to us; our being here is testimony to how much we love the world and how much we care about the well being of all of God’s creation. Worshiping in this place helps us to know what love hopes for us and what love expects of us. We know that love will make us vulnerable and forgiving, and we know that the world will see our vulnerability and willingness to forgive as a sign of weakness. We know that love will make us generous and compassionate and that will be a sign of stupidity in a world where only greed and selfishness satisfy our wants and deserving. We know that when others recognize the presence of God in us by the ways we are present with them, it can be a scary thing, and people will reject us. But we know that our presence can also bring an endearing response which invites people into God’s presence with us. We know that the world will never really appreciate the difference our presence makes in the lives of people who need us to help them and heal them in their need; we know that the world will always perceive us as an alien people, doing for others what the world cannot or will not do. We, however, will always see ourselves as servants in a world where only leaders matter. And even our leadership will always take the form of servanthood.
More than anything, our being in church reminds us that we are in this world to serve God’s purpose for us in it. This is why people like us worship together regularly in a place like this. Because it makes a difference in our life so that we can make a difference in the lives of others. Church is where we learn to love the world as God loves. Church is where we learn to serve the world as Jesus served it. Church is where we learn to live the good news of the gospel with integrity and are willing to suffer the consequences for it. Jesus tells his disciples in every age that by their presence and by their ministry in the world, the kingdom of God comes near us. Ordinary people like us become extraordinary witnesses to the gospel in the world, and all without losing our status or our integrity as ordinary people who serve an extraordinary God.
Every Friday evening, NBC nightly news ends with a segment called “Making a Difference.” This past Friday an ordinary young woman became extraordinary enough to be featured in that segment. Catherine Rohr was one of many ordinary Wall Street traders making a good living in a seemingly glamorous and high profile world, until she left it all to teach business and personal finance to inmates about to be released from a Texas penitentiary. Catherine told reporters that after a visit to the Texas prison, she became deeply engaged with people she spent a lifetime ignoring. She was struck by their intelligence and their backgrounds which showed them to be highly motivated to succeed, but terribly misdirected in their choices for doing so. Catherine believed these inmates had great potential for changing their lives. She thought she could be the difference that could make a difference for them. Catherine said that as a professing Christian who has experienced God’s grace in her own life, she felt it was time to help others to experience that grace. She wanted to use her financial skills and her talent for teaching to help these men become good and productive people in the world. She could only change their life, however, if she was willing to change her life. So she left Wall Street for a Texas prison. The feature highlighted the fact that Catherine’s new role of serving prison inmates was making a huge difference in the rate of recidivism. Fewer than 5% returned to jail compared to the national average of 60 to 70%. Catherine’s work was making a huge difference in the lives of men who were able to leave jail with jobs waiting for them which changed their lives for good. It was clear that by Catherine’s presence in the lives of these inmates, the kingdom of God came near them.
But we are not so different from Catherine. We are not so different from the servant girl, or Naaman’s servants, or the prophet Elisha, or the 70 men Jesus sent out to be his disciples. By our own faith and by our own religious practices God prepares ordinary people like us for ministries of love and service to others. When we become God’s presence in the world our ordinary life makes an extraordinary difference for good. And the kingdom of God truly does come nearer to us.