"Come and See" A Sermon for Easter 2026

 

And now...the Easter sermon! 

The Easter Vigil featured the story of the resurrection from Matthew's perspective. This morning's Gospel was the John telling of the story.

And the joy of the night before carried over into this morning's celebration back at St. Barnabas.

Text: John 20:1-18

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One of the fun projects we’ve done here at St. Barnabas in these last couple of years is the painting of our Easter rocks.

I invite my friends Kris and Sally to come here from Tallahassee with their rocks and paint pens and we spend about an hour or so letting our creative juices flow.

We paint them with lots of colors and images with a word or a message of hope and encouragement.

And then we put them out around the city with the intention of an unsuspecting person finding them and brightening their day.

We also put on the back side of the rock some kind of identifier that this piece of rock art is brought to you by St. Barnabas in Valdosta.

We blessed our basket of Easter rocks last Sunday…and gave everyone an opportunity to take a couple to put out there in the world.

Easy enough assignment.

But I had someone come up to me with this one rock…beautifully decorated with hearts and a message of “Love.”

“I can’t put this out.”

OK….I’m thinking why not?

“I don’t think you want this out there?”

Now I’m totally confused.

Why in the world would I not want a message “Love” put out in the world?

I mean, that’s the point of this exercise.

“You don’t know what this says…”

And I’m like, “Yes, I know what it says….I saw all of these rocks. I was the one who sprayed the sealant on all these rocks!”

She flipped the rock over.

I saw that it had a hashtag with the church’s name.

I’m still confused as to what the problem was with this rock.

“Yeah OK….Hashtag Saint…..”

And that’s when I saw it.

Instead of St. Barnabas… it was inscribed “Saint Barabas V-L-D”

I thought I knew what I was seeing…but clearly I did not.

My eyes and my head were looking for one thing…only to find something else.

It’s funny how when we expect to see one thing…it’s hard for us to recognize the unexpected.

Such was the case with Mary Magdalene…Peter…and the other disciple.

They knew what had happened to their friend and teacher.

Peter was still carrying the guilt that he hadn’t stood up for Jesus.

The disciples had all scattered when the Romans showed up to arrest him.

Mary Magdalene and the other women had stood by helpless…crying…and horrified by the spectacle of seeing Jesus die on the cross…watching Roman guards cackling and picking over his clothing like vultures.

This was all real.

And their pain and sorrow were real.

Mary had thought that she could go to the tomb in the pre-dawn hours after the Sabbath to properly care for Jesus’s body.

What she hadn’t anticipated was to find the stone rolled away…and an open and empty tomb.

Whoa!! This is NOT normal.

Mary runs and finds Peter.

Then Peter and the other disciple are racing each other…likely with Mary joining in this sprint.

They get to the tomb…Peter goes in…and…uh oh.

There’s the head cloth neatly folded over there.

There’s the linen wrappings tossed aside over there.

Unlike Lazarus…there was no need to unbind this body!

John tells us the other disciple then got up the nerve to go into the tomb…saw the same thing and “believed.” But then he and Peter went home.

I’m thinking that they did one of those slowly backing up from this scene…blinking their eyes a few times…oh my goodness, this is…wow!  He’s really been raised from the dead?!

Remember: this whole ‘dead person brought back to life’ is not normal for them…any more than it is for us.

So they go home.  Home is safe. Home is normal.

Mary…still half out of her mind with grief…finally looks in the tomb for herself.

She doesn’t see the head band…or the linen wrappings.

She sees two angels…sitting in the place where these two items had been.

Whaaaaatt?

She begins wailing again.

The angels are confused and concerned.  This ought to be good news that Jesus has risen.

“Woman, why are you weeping?”

Now she’s confused.

“Why am I weeping?? I came here to care for Jesus’s body and he’s gone!”

“Woman, why are you weeping?”

Is there an echo in here??

Mary turns around and sees some strange guy…asking her the same question.

Through the tears in her eyes…she looks at this man.

“OK, look mister! I don’t know who you are but if you took Jesus’s body you better give him back…”

“Mary!”

That voice.

That tone.

He said he was the shepherd…and the sheep would follow him because he calls them by name and they recognize his voice.

Just like Peter and the disciple…she blinks…looks again…and realizes…this is Jesus.

It’s really him.

She wants to touch him…to hang on to him…to never let him go again.

But in the words of the great modern theologian Sting…

If you love somebody…set them free.

And Jesus has a job for her to do.

“Go tell the others that I am ascending…to our common Father and God! Go my beloved sister. Go tell them to come and see what you have seen.”

Come and see.

That is the overarching theme that we’ve been hearing for several weeks now…building to this moment of Mary Magdalene seeing the resurrected Jesus…and being tasked with becoming an apostle to the apostles.

Nicodemus took the risk to venture out into the darkness to come and see this rabbi who seemed to have a message that was striking a chord with the people.

The Samaritan woman at the well… like Mary Magdalene… became an apostle to her people…the rival Jewish faction… telling them to come and see this incredible man.

Even Jesus was told to come and see where they had laid his friend Lazarus…so that he could call him out of his tomb.

It brings us back to that field with the shepherds at Christmas…when they are told to come and see this new life that was destined to be the one to show them the way to abundant life.

When the unexpected happens… when something extraordinary occurs… the response is to come and see.

And once we have seen it…don’t we naturally want to share this amazing thing?

That’s what Jesus is counting on…and that’s God’s purpose in this feat of the resurrection:

Come…and see…take this in…and then go and share.

And share in ways that are meaningful.

Not standing on street corners with sandwich boards and bullhorns.

As people of this Easter time…we are to share in a manner that changes lives.

We share through telling our stories….how we’ve been touched and shaped by the God of Love…who transforms us.

We bring those stories to those who have not known that type of Love coming from the church…and give them a different experience of what it is to be “Christian.”

We make Jesus manifest through our caring and kindness to our frail and vulnerable friends and family members.

We show that love in our interactions with strangers who may be struggling…or that co-worker who is going through a difficult time.

We do it by letting others see the light of Christ that is within us…shining out through the ways that we live and move and have our being in the world.

Imagine what it would be like if others…having met us… in our revived and renewed Easter selves…turned to their friends and said, “There’s something different about these people…they don’t seem like what I’ve heard about ‘Christians’ from the news.”

Think about it.

“Come and see!”

Easter is the time to emerge out of whatever fears or doubts we’ve had…and to trust that the God of Love will never give up…and will carry us through to a life filled with hope.

That’s worth sharing…so that others may come and see.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

Don't Be Afraid: Get Rolling! An Easter Vigil Sermon

 

I don't get many opportunities to preach at locations other than St. Barnabas. So when the opportunity arose to be the preacher for our joint Easter Vigil at Christ Episcopal Church with our sister parish Christ the King, I didn't want to pass it up. Besides, having a seminarian at St. Barnabas afforded me the luxuary of NOT having to write a sermon for Maundy Thursday...something I knew my fellow clergy were going to have to do. 

It also helps that I love the Easter Vigil. Yes, it's long service. But it is also the culmination of everything we've been building towards through Lent, and there's something so magnificent about starting in darkness and then throwing on all of the lights to shout, "Alleluia!" 

I was pleased that this sermon was very well received, and they enjoyed my sense of humor. See what you think.

Text: Matthew 28: 1-10

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As I was looking over our Gospel reading…I found myself humming a classic blues tune first made famous by Big Joe Turner ….

Shake, Rattle, and Roll.

Because in Matthew’s depiction of the resurrection…there’s a whole lotta of shaking…and people getting rattled…and now they’re on a roll in this story.

I said this to the St. Barnabas congregation on Palm Sunday that when Jesus shows up…things get shaken up.

From the moment he entered Jerusalem…the city was in turmoil…meaning it was shaking. His presence was sending shockwaves through the community.

When he died on the cross….again…the earth shook…the curtain in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

And now we have another earthquake…another earth-shattering moment.

The scene is filled with the flashing light of this angel…swooping down from heaven…to open the tomb by rolling away the stone.

The Roman guards are also shaking…and quivering in their boots.

We can imagine their terror.

I mean, this was supposed to be an easy job.

All they had to do was stand watch in front of this tomb hewn in a rock and make sure nobody tries to break in.

Little did they know that the God of Love had other plans…and that when angels are on a mission from God…they aren’t playing.

In fact…this angel put period on this whole event by sitting a top that giant stone…maybe even throwing a bit of attitude to say, “You can’t top this!”

The two Marys were also rattled by this whole thing.

This is some seriously otherworldly stuff to be happening just as the light of dawn is breaking!

The triumphant angel looks at them.

This supernatural being can see that look in their eyes…and calmly…and kindly says the most often repeated words in Scripture.

“Do not be afraid.”

“Really, dear faithful women, It’s OK.

Yes…I know I was very dramatic with that entrance…but really…come and see.

Come and see this empty tomb…see it for yourselves….Jesus is not here. God has raised him. Go and tell the others!”

The Marys take off.

They are mix of fear…with a dose of confusion…and a heavy dash of hope.

They go sprinting over the rocky terrain as the light of day keeps growing brighter.

Just as they round the corner on the path…a familiar voice calls out to them:

“Greetings!”

They stop.

They stare.

They blink several times.

Mary looks at Mary Magdalene.

Mary Magdalene’s face brightens with a smile.

Is it?

Could it really be?

With no words…the Marys move closer to Jesus and kneel down before him.

Their bodies are shaking from the adrenaline that is coursing through their muscles.

And like the angel…Jesus speaks those words of courage:

“Do not be afraid.”

Mary and Magdalene: you are my apostles to the apostles.

My beloved sisters…I am with you and will gather with all of those who ran to the four corners at Galilee. Go and tell the brothers! It’s time to roll!”

And so they ran…now powered with hope and joy and a sense of purpose…as the sun’s rays lit up their path.

A day that for them had started in darkness is now full of new light.

They have seen it for themselves: Jesus is alive! And he is with them and us now and always!

This is the story we tell every year in the church.

It’s our story…one that has given encouragement to so many over the millennia.

This is the culmination of all that we heard in the tracing of the history…the story of a God who made a cosmos out of chaos and has found a way when their appeared to be no way out from under the crushing rule of tyrants and bullies.

The God who can and will breathe new life into those who say they are too tired…too weak…too discouraged to keep pressing for a world where we care for our neighbors who live in isolation and fear and liberate people from their self-limiting doubts and depression.

The message of Easter is the confirmation that mercy…justice and compassion are the way to life…and that those who struggle against powers and principalities can turn to this word for the blessed assurance of the real truth: Love wins.

And here’s the best part: this is not just our history…and some story out a book that councils curated centuries ago.

This Easter message is our present….our now…if we are open enough to hear it…and brave enough to proclaim it.

Yes…I know…according to the rubrics…deacons are the ones that the church has given the authority to “proclaim” the Gospel.

But when we hear those words of the Gospel from the deacon…it’s not them that we’re hearing: it’s God.

And it’s the God who is Love in Action telling us to “Go!”

“Don’t just hear this Good News and think ‘Well isn’t that a fine thing that happened?’

Let these words shake us up….let them rattle about in our heads…and then let’s get rolling out there to live…and speak…and share that there is a better way to be.”

And when the deacon dismisses us at the end of our worship…sending us out in the name of Christ…that’s not an invitation to go to coffee hour…really it isn’t!

That is a directive to leave this place…and be that light of Christ in our communities.

Because the world needs to hear from us who have known and experienced a God who seeks out the marginalized…the outcasts…and the easily dismissed and ignored and puts them into the center of the story.

The God who knew that the most reliable messengers were the women who came to pay homage to their friend Jesus…and found an empty tomb…and the women who have continued to carry the message of Christ to their communities.

And the world is waiting to meet the Christian who sees the injustices that are happening and is brave enough to take a stand alongside those who are the tired and poor yearning to breathe free.

Our Easter story is one of power and purpose and building our confidence to declare that Love will win…and nothing will stop the forward movement of that Love.

And so we say with one voice…to shake…rattle and roll the rafters of this building:

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Feeling the Absence of God: A Good Friday Sermon

 Maybe it's the difficulty of the times we're living in and just the constant sense of doom and gloom that hangs over the nation that I found myself really struggling to write a sermon for Good Friday. 

I mean, it's a day that commemorates the brutal killing of Jesus by the state. And we've witnessed in this country repeated killings...both through numerous executions carried out in Florida...and the extrajudicial taking of lives by ICE in major U.S. cities. Maybe it just all felt too raw and real for me to think through the Gospel of John's telling of the Passion to want to preach about it.

And so I turned to the Psalm...number 22..."My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?"

Because that's where I am at on so many days right now.

Text: Psalm 22, John 18:1-19:42

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“My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?”

Those must be some of the loneliest words in all of Scripture.

Psalm 22 captures the lament of those who have been on the receiving end of human cruelty.

Each verse describing that sense of what it feels like to be innocent…and yet treated with disrespect and derision.

In other Gospel passages about the crucifixion….that first verse of the psalm are the only words we hear Jesus utter from the cross.

And we can imagine why this particular psalm…believed to be written by King David…would have been on Jesus’ mind at that moment.

Because…at that hour… the crucified Jesus was truly powerless.

He was vulnerable.

And he was scared.

He’s just like us.

It would be nice to think that…as Christians and people who believe in God… we pray all the time…and regularly stay in conversation with the Holy One.

But…at least it’s been in my experience…the times when we are the most likely to turn to God in prayer is when we’re in trouble.

We might put up those prayers like Anne Lamott: a very simple Help! Help! Help!

Get me out of this situation!

And when we’re in that place…of deep worry and fear…the worst feeling is to call out our prayer…and only hear crickets in return.

It’s one thing to feel abandoned by friends…and another when it’s your family.

But to feel the absence of God….that’s harsh.

The psalmist captures that depth of the hurt we feel when it seems God is silent:

“I am poured out like water;

All my bones are out of joint;

My heart within my breast is melting wax”? (14)

While John’s Gospel doesn’t have Jesus repeating that opening line of the psalm while he’s on the cross…the evangelist does reference it when talking about those who are gloating…and taking pleasure in his pain.

The indifference and lack of empathy from those inflicting the torture makes the point about the inhumanity that the psalmist observes.

All this tracks with the way that tyrants and bullies have always behaved…especially when challenged.

And certainly Jesus posed a threat to the Roman Empire.

He has been flipping over tables in the marketplace of the Temple and exposing the whole system as corrupt and oppressive.

He’s been chastised for healing sick people…giving them the agency to walk…and to see…and leading them toward the God of Love.

He conversed with a Samaritan woman…and treated her with the dignity denied to her by others…breaking down the rift between cultures.

And when Pontius Pilate…an agent of the state known for his ruthlessness… demanded to know “What is truth?” Jesus didn’t dignify the question of his bully with an answer.

Because Jesus wouldn’t obey…because he refused to bend the knee…and kept encouraging others to see in themselves their worth in the eyes of God…he was put to death.

This pattern has been repeated throughout history.

In our own country…the black Christian theologian James Cone has challenged us to see in the cross the lynching tree…and to accept that Jesus was the first victim of such brutal hatred.

Cone sees in Jesus the body of victims of racism…the people killed for simply existing in black skin and having the audacity to think that they could live their lives in peace alongside white people.

Cone extends this out to all those who are the marginalized “others” mocked…scorned…and dehumanized by the dominant culture.

And there’s been plenty of that going around lately.

Neighbors turning on neighbors….and arrests of innocent people for the crime of being black or brown and speaking another language.

The memes passed around on social media laughing at the idea of sending people to the swampy Everglades to be alligator food.

There’s no escaping the truth of what Good Friday and the cross stood for then…and now.

It is a collision between those who choose force as a means to threaten and dominate others…acting as “the packs of dogs” who encircle those they see as “weak”…and the ones who choose power with others…non-violence… and don’t provide answers to empty questions.

Which is why it makes sense that some of our Gospel writers have Jesus turning to Psalm 22 in this critical moment at the end of his earthly life.

And we can imagine Jesus praying through the whole thing as he is dying.

Because while the psalm captures all that is wrong with what is happening in the moment…and expresses lament for the inhumanity of the situation he’s in…it also has language that provides a source of comfort and hope…that God will hear his cry and will meet him in this hour of need.

This is why when people ask me what book of the Bible I would recommend they read…I always cite the Book of Psalms.

Psalm 22 not only expresses the grief and the fear of the abyss…it’s also a life ring of promise in what is a hopeless situation…and trusts in a God who will respond to the brokenhearted.  Hear these words:

“Praise the Lord, you that fear him”

“I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him”

I can even think that Jesus clung to the psalmist echoing the sentiments that his mother declared to Elizabeth during her pregnancy:

“God does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty,…but when they cry to him, he hears them. The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the Lord shall praise him.”

The psalmist names our pains…and doubts…and yet keeps turning back to God…believing that despite it all…God is hearing our pleas.

Did God abandon Jesus on the cross?

No…

God was there throughout…in the same way that God is with us…in us…and around us in our moments of distress as well as our joys.

Through Jesus…God has moved closer to our existence…and our struggles against the most powerful forces that try to keep us down.

Through our faith and trust in God…we can survive and weather the storms that come at us…even in these most trying times.

One day…we too…like the psalmist…will be able to speak confidently to the saving deeds that God has done.

And we will be able to declare that our times of distress are finished.

In the name of Our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

We Shall Overcome: A Palm Sunday Sermon

 It has been a while since I've posted my sermons. That's how busy these past several weeks have been. And so let's get back in the saddle, so to speak, and share the sermons from Palm Sunday through Easter ( my seminarian preached Maundy Thursday and did it as Jesus having his internal monologue on how to say good-bye).

There was a particularly providential occurence this Palm Sunday. The day before was the third No Kings protest across the nation (and globe, for that matter), denouncing our U.S. administration and its steep turn toward authoritarianism. While I chose not to go head on into comparing the reasons for these increasingly large gatherings and the message that we don't like dictators with Jesus's ride into Jerusalem...No Kings was very much on my mind as I wrote this sermon. Maybe it was on your mind, too. See what you think.

Please note: I did NOT preach on the Passion of Christ from Matthew's Gospel. And if there is anyone with any influence over the lectionary reading these posts, please send a message to the church that we should be sticking to PALM SUNDAY and not slapping us with GOOD FRIDAY at the same service.

Text: Matthew 21:1-11

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Please be seated.

I know I’ve said this before and I am going to say it again: I wish the church didn’t assign the Passion Gospel for Palm Sunday.

OK…end of critique of the lectionary.

I want us to take a breath in…and breathe out…do that again…and once more….

That act of breathing is the means of calming the nervous system down…and resetting us…as we take a moment to rewind the tape of this morning…and go back to that entry into Jerusalem…with Jesus riding into the city on a donkey.

Because that march into Jerusalem is an important part of this story…and we shouldn’t race past it.

It holds symbolic meaning both back then when it happened…and it remains very relevant for us now.

If you want…pull out that Gospel lesson from your bulletin...and let’s do a quick refresher.

Jesus and his disciples are at the Mount of Olives….which is to the east of Jerusalem.

He tells a couple of them to go into Bethphage and get a donkey and a colt.

Now…this is actually a humorous point…and we had some discussion about this in our Midrash class the other night.

Matthew quotes “the prophet” but actually he’s taking words from both Isaiah and Zechariah about predictions of who will be coming to save them from their occupiers. What Matthew didn’t understand was the poetic language of Zechariah…that their king would be humbly riding on a young donkey…a colt…not that there would be a donkey AND a colt.

Always important to remember that Scripture should be taken seriously…but not literally.

The crowds are gathering…they’re shouting “Hosanna!” which means “Save us!”

“Save us, Jesus, from this oppression!”

“Save us, Jesus, from this tyranny!”

What we don’t hear in this account of Matthew is what’s happening on the other side of the city.

Pontius Pilate…who by historical accounts was a brutal and inflexible Roman Governor…was coming with the Roman Army from Caesarea Maritima…on the west side of Jerusalem.

The Roman Empire…which occupied Jerusalem…and stretched from points in Europe…Africa…and Asia…had no tolerance for upstarts challenging the authority of the Emperor.

And so it was customary that when a major Jewish festival such as Passover was coming…Rome would want to exert control.

Passover was a particularly tense time.

Jews from all over would be gathering and remembering the story of their liberation from slavery in Egypt.

Pilate would ride into Jerusalem in his chariot…his soldiers descending on the city with their spears and their war horses…to make sure the Jews of Jerusalem didn’t get some wild idea of rioting against their newest Pharaoh.

Jesus knew this was the routine.

And so his entry into Jerusalem wasn’t a coincidence.

This was an intentional action.

It was provocative…and it was a signal to Rome: We Shall Overcome.

Tyranny will not win.

There is another kingdom…a better reality.

Jesus was demonstrating to the people that there was an alternative to their world ruled by fear and intimidation…and this reality has come closer…and is right now.

It has come on a donkey…with crowds cheering and throwing coats and palm branches on the road.

This parade coming from the East was loud….more raucous than the precision march of the Roman Army.

A desperate and demoralized people have poured out onto the streets…looking to Jesus as the answer to their prayer!

Hosanna Son of David!

Hosanna to the highest heaven!

And while some welcomed the arrival of Jesus…with their shouting and singing his praises…we see in this story that his march into Jerusalem caused turmoil.

In fact…the Greek root for that “turmoil” is “seismo”…as in seismic…just like the earthquake that would shake the city at the death of Jesus.

Seems when Jesus shows up…things get shaken up.

And that’s the importance of this story.

When Jesus draws near and becomes manifest…it causes not only shifts in the earth…he challenges our very being to shift and change.

We see it in the Passion reading with the wife of Pontius Pilate.

While her husband is holding the fate of Jesus in his hands…she’s begging him not to have nothing to do with ‘that innocent man.’

Clearly…there’s something about Jesus that has rattled even her…a Gentile.

If only Pilate the politician had listened to the woman…how different things would have been.

He rattles those who want to keep the status quo…those who don’t want to make waves…and just go along to get along.

When the crowd assembles in front of Pilate….it is a convenient and curated gathering of those who would have been allowed into his courtyard.

When they cried out “His blood be on us and on our children!”—a phrase that has been twisted by Christians into a dangerously antisemitic trope—they had no idea that the blood he would be shedding would redeem them…and the whole world.

Jesus has a way of disrupting and disturbing us out of our hum drum ways.

He is the reminder to us that we should not live our lives based on the premise of doing what is good for me…and not for thee.

He tugs on those invisible cords that remind us that we are only one part of the creative order…and we must care for the world around us…the people…the plants…and the animals.

And when Jesus enters…as that king…triumphant and riding on the foal of a donkey…he is defying the idea we have of kings and Emperors…and is establishing that true power is not held by the political and religious elites: it belongs to the people.

What a message to have in our country today.

A vision of resilience and resistance to those who claim supremacy by force…by holding a procession in the name of love, compassion, and mercy.

That life force is still with us…and it is still facing sometimes violent opposition.

But it keeps summoning us to join the battle against brutality…and walk in the way of love.

May this Holy Week be a reminder to us to stick with Love because Love is the way…the truth…and the life.

In the name of Our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speak the God You Know

 

It was a really, really rough week for me, personally. I came down with a nasty head cold Monday morning that kept me in bed almost all week. I made myself get up Friday and pound out this sermon, praying that I would actually be well enough to travel to Valdosta to preach it.

And I was and I did. 

See what you think.

Texts: 1Sam 16:1-13; John 9:1-41

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There’s a portion of one of the canticles in Morning Prayer that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

It’s from the Second Song of Isaiah…which quotes from the 55^th chapter of the prophet:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, says the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,

And my thoughts than your thoughts.”

In both the first reading from this morning in First Samuel…and in our Gospel…there’s a theme of people thinking they know more about what God wants and what is right with God than what is really true about God and God’s thoughts.

Samuel initially thinks that Eliab…the very tall eldest son of Jesse…is the man God wants as the new king of Israel.

Tall men are important men, right?

Wrong.

Fortunately…Samuel was able to park his own prejudices to follow God’s lead…and he anointed David.

Then in our Gospel…Jesus and the disciples come upon a blind man as they’re travelling.

The disciples…caught up in the cultural beliefs of the time…want to know who sinned to cause this man to be blind.

Thankfully…we are living in times now where we know “sin” isn’t the reason for a physical difference.

Sadly…there are still places and people who profess belief in Jesus…who think that one can be healed of a disability.

I have friends who tell stories of well-meaning family members taking them to tent revivals hoping for a cure.

The experiences not only failed to change them…in many instances…they left my friends angry and embittered toward religion.

While the story of the blind man is one in which this man gains his sight…for the first time in his life…this passage is telling us more about everybody else in the story.

And it’s saying a lot about the way people respond to change.

The blind man is pleased…maybe even a bit overwhelmed.

He has never been able to see his surroundings.

He heard the voices of people…but now he sees faces.

This is a new experience…and he’s just getting used to this reality.

Meanwhile…the people in his village see him and they don’t recognize him…even though he’s been living with them as a beggar his whole life.

But now that he’s not dependent on them…they don’t know who he is.

The religious figures are up in arms when they hear it’s this Jesus character again…and they demand to know more about all of this from the blind man.

Still not satisfied with his answers…they call out his parents. And his parents are like, “Hey…he’s an adult talk to him about it.”

With each new group…with each inquisition…the blind man’s recounting becomes firmer and with more conviction.

And as his faith and trust in the truth of his story grows…everyone else…from his family…to his synagogue…to his community…refuses to see…and will not accept his answers.

It’s as if they have become blind to the light that is glowing through his now opened eyes.

In the end…he’s cast out.

This is a tale familiar to anyone who has dared to speak their truth…to tell their story…only to be faced with hostility and rejection from the hearers.

One might hear the acronym “L-G-B-T-Q-I-A” in place of “blind” and substitute “the Christians” for “the Jews” and get the same idea.

          Too often…faith communities have turned their backs on members when they “come out.” This change in the person’s identity challenges other people’s prejudices…and they are unwilling to accept a new reality.

In our current climate…there’s a real concern about the identity of Christianity.

In an interview a few years ago…Russell Moore…the editor of Christianity Today and former head of the Southern Baptist Convention…talked about a pastor who was confronted after preaching a sermon on the Beatitudes.

The parishioner was angry about “blessed are the peacemakers” and that the preacher had presented Jesus as having empathy.

“Where did you get those liberal talking points?!”

The preacher…a bit stunned…responded…”I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ.”

You’d think the parishioner might apologize at that point but no they did not.

“That doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak!”

As Moore said, “When we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself becomes subversive to us, we’re in a crisis.”

I have heard many people say to me that they don’t want to identify as “Christian” because of the growth of the White Nationalism Movement within Christianity.

They don’t want to be seen as having any part of the church that cheers on war…thinks nothing of those who have lost access to healthcare coverage…and demands that women be silent in church and society.

I get that.

I don’t want to be part of that church either…and certainly not that version of Christianity.

If we look back at the Gospel lesson for a moment…the thing that we see is that as this poor blind man is being interrogated by everyone…Jesus is nowhere to be found.

It’s when the man has been turned away by his community that Jesus comes back to seek him out.

This is when the man makes his confession that he does believe in Jesus…”The Son of Man.”

He believes in the Jesus who heals.

He believes in the Jesus who sees.

He believes in the Jesus who sought him out and did not cast him away by telling him:

“Go figure out how to get through life, buddy.”

This is the Jesus who…like with Nicodemus…tells us he didn’t come to condemn the world…

But he is going to judge it.

He’s going to look for those of us who will profess our love of God…and demonstrate that love of God by the way we love our neighbors.

He’s searching for…and calling into service the people who see the needs in their community and find ways to meet them.

The ones who don’t let our human differences of skin color…ethnicity…language…gender… ability…orientation…or identity get in the way of extending kindness… especially in times of anxiety and uncertainty.

We know a Jesus who loves…deeply and unconditionally.

If this is the Jesus we know…we have nothing to fear in asserting that truth in the face of a culture or even a church that is blind to that Jesus.

Because even if we face rejection by others…we can have confidence that Jesus will be there to whisper,

“Well done, good and faithful one.

Keep the faith. And keep going!”

In the name of Our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

 

 

 

The Apostle to the Samaritans

As our country has decided to upend everything in the Middle East by bombing Iran, killing schoolchildren and teachers at an elementary school, and blowing through a billion dollars a day in munitions...it is a grim reminder to me that the world would likely look a whole lot different if we had elected a Hilary Clinton or a Kamala Harris instead of this mad old man as our president. 

And Christianity in the United States would probably be a lot better off if the loudest mouthpieces for the faith weren't the ones who have mistaken the flag for the cross.

I don't dive into all of that in this sermon. However I couldn't help but delight in the realization that the Gospel story of the Samaritan woman at the well happened to fall on International Women's Day this year. And that the multiple symbolic elements in this story spoke to a story of how women are at the center of reconciliation.

See what you think.
 

Text: John 4: 5-42

 +++

It’s not every time that the Gospel assigned for a given Sunday pairs so nicely with the celebrations happening in the secular world.

But this is one time where all things fell into alignment so that we in the church experience this long dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman on the same day that people throughout the world are marking International Women’s Day.

And wouldn’t you know the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day…Give to Gain… is about “sustainability.”

And we just heard about “living water.”

Isn’t that an amazing occurrence?!

God never seems to waste a moment to remind us that the spiritual and the secular live in the same world.

Time to prick up our ears and pay attention.

And we have a lot to think about here in this reading.

 As I told the people in the Midrash class the other night…this exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is the longest…and deepest…conversations Jesus has with anyone in all of the Gospels.

That it happens between Jesus…a Jew of the Jerusalem Temple sect…and this Samaritan Jew adds a whole other layer to what John is wanting us to see.

The Jews and the Samaritans are not friends.

The bitter rift happened centuries earlier with the conquest of the Assyrians…the various exiles…and disagreements over the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple.

When Assyria took over an area…they were known for bringing a bunch of other tribes into it.

As a result…Samaria had a mix of various pagan groups who then became enmeshed with the remnant of Jews who were not carried off to foreign lands.

Because of this syncretism…they adopted a type of Judaism that was foreign to the Jews who returned to Jerusalem…and tensions frequently stayed at the boiling point between the two groups.

Jesus and the disciples had been out in the Judean countryside and were going north toward Galilee.

Now…they could have taken a longer route around…but the direct path to Galilee went through Samaria…so off they went.

This trek was tiresome…and Jesus decides to send the disciples off to find food while he takes a break in the middle of the day at Jacob’s well.

Along comes this woman with her water jug.

Most women would have gone to the well earlier when it wasn’t so hot…but she’s by herself.

She sees Jesus…not one of her kinfolk…sitting there without a bucket.

I want to take a pause here…because even this small detail of the story is an interesting set up…for what’s going to happen.

When I pray our Eucharistic Prayer C…I intentionally…and with the bishop’s permission…I expand the language in the Prayer Book to not just list the God of our Fathers…as written in the Prayer Book…but I say the names of the God of our Mothers.

And when I do…I note that Jacob has two women who were his wives….and technically also had two more women.

And where did he first meet his wife Rachel?

At a well.

And this well…. out in the Samarian countryside…. is on land that holds special meaning for those who first heard John’s Gospel.

Because this is the land where Jacob…who had stolen his twin brother Esau’s birthright…came in great fear and worry to meet his brother…the big red-headed hunter… after so many years of separation.

Jacob was ready for the worst.

But Esau surprised him with a hug and a kiss.

And the two men were reconciled at this spot where Jacob would then place this well.

So here we are again….this time…a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman…two people from opposing sides…meeting in this place of forgiveness.

Jesus looks at her.

Sweat is dripping from his brow…and he’s feeling his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth.

“Give me a drink?”

We can imagine the shock on her face.

First…he’s a Jew.

Second…he just talked to her like he knew her.

And third…where’s his bucket?

She probably looked at him with suspicion.

But soon suspicion turns to curiosity as this conversation goes from, “Give me a drink from this well water” to “Let’s talk about living water.”

Now…just like Nicodemus last week…this Samaritan woman is thinking Jesus is talking about living water…as in… flowing water…y’know…like what’s in the well.

She could have walked away…but instead…she wants to know what he’s talking about?

“Living water?

This is our ancestor Jacob’s well here.

What living water are you talking about?”

“Oh, my dear woman. This water only quenches the thirst of the mouth. But there’s a much deeper well…a stream of living water…that once you drink from it…you’ll have water that will change your life forever!”

The way Jesus presents this living water…that idea of a never-ending spring that bubbles and flows so abundantly that one never thinks about thirst again…this was intriguing.

Of course she wants some of this water.

“Go, call your husband,” says Jesus.

Ahem.

Here the truth comes out.

She doesn’t have a husband.

In fact…she’s had five husbands.

And right now…the one she’s hanging with…isn’t even really her husband.

We might imagine that this is why she’s not joining other women to fetch water in the morning.

Perhaps she’s one that others whisper and gossip about.

But Jesus isn’t hung up on her personal life…and most scholars agree that the reason we learn this factoid about her is to highlight his prophetic wisdom.

But for her…the fact that he knows this…and doesn’t shame her…but remains in conversation and community opens her up.

She is now even more curious about this Jewish man.

For centuries…her people and his people haven’t seen eye to eye on anything…even though they both have religious roots that sprung from the same tree.

And yet…he has said things to her that clearly means he sees her…he knows her…he accepts her.

Is this the Messiah?

Is this guy really him?

The barriers between these two cultures have crumbled.

Ancient hatreds no longer matter.

This man has met her…in her perfect imperfection…and she has met him in his tired yet unconditional love.

And this conversation has filled them both up so much that neither Jesus nor this Samaritan woman have any need for water out of the well…or that food brought back by the disciples.

In fact…she’s so over this need for well water that she left her water jar behind!

She rushes back to her people…her fellow Samaritans…her mind and her heart overflowing with amazement at this stranger…this Jew…that she met at Jacob’s well.

She wants others to know what just happened to her.

This Samaritan woman is telling her people “Come and see!”

“Come and see this man, this man who met me at our well…and met me as I am without harsh judgment. This man whose words are like living water.”

The Samaritan woman is as much an apostle to this group as Mary Magdalene will be later in the story to the disciples.

Both of these women…having had an experience of Jesus…are moved to share this incredible encounter with others.

Both having met… and been met by Jesus in their own circumstances…these women have been changed in profound and invisible ways to help sustain them through their difficulties.

He has given them a taste of that drink of wisdom that will never leave them thirsty again.

 

Through their testimony… that wisdom of God…the living water…begins to spread.

Seems women might be important players in shaping and moving the world toward mercy…compassion…and justice.

Both Mary Magdalene and this Samaritan woman have brought many others…both then and now…to taste and see that there is something nourishing and sustaining…loving…life-giving and liberating in this One who was sent to teach us to care for ourselves and each other and the resources all around us.

Come and see.

Go and share.

In the name of Our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.