Sermon: A VALENTINE TO REMEMBER – February 14, 2010

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Scripture Reading: Matthew 26:1-13

A priest, a Southern Baptist preacher, and a rabbi all served as chaplains on a university campus in northern Wisconsin. They would get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk shop. One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn’t really all that hard. A real challenge would be to preach to a bear. One thing led to another, and they decided to do an experiment. They would all go out into the woods, find a bear, preach to it, and attempt to convert it. Seven days later, they all came together to discuss their experiences.

Father Flannery, who had his arm in a sling and various bandages on his body, went first. “Well,” he said, “When I finally found my bear I began to read to him from the Catechism. The bear wanted nothing to do with attacked me. I quickly grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him and, lo and behold, he became as gentle as a lamb. The bishop is coming out next week to give him first communion and confirmation.”

Reverend Billy Bob spoke next. He was in a wheelchair, had one arm and both legs in casts. “I began to read to my bear from God’s holy Word! But that bear wanted nothing to do with me. So I took hold of him and we began to wrestle. We wrestled up one hill and down the next until we came to a creek. So I quickly dunked him and baptized his hairy soul. And just like you said, he became as gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of the day praising Jesus.”

The priest and the reverend both looked down at the rabbi, who had been wheeled into the coffee shop on hospital bed. He was in a body cast and traction with IVs and monitors running in and out of him. He was in really bad shape. The Rabbi looked up and said, “Looking back on it, I probably should not have started with circumcision.”

(let us pray)

In our God Sighting readings we have been introduced to the exacting and precise laws given by God to his chosen people – laws that would set them apart from their neighbors.  We read of laws dealing with circumcision and the Sabbath and how the Tabernacle – their center of worship – would be built as well as what the priests would wear and do – down to the finest detail.

This week we also read some of the more difficult words shared by Jesus. The difficulty lies not in its understanding.  In fact, part of the problem is, it’s not complicated at all.  Its difficulty lies in the challenge laid out to us, his followers.

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.  ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,  ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.  ³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;  ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’  ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?  ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?  ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’  ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:31-40 NRSV)

We know the rest of Jesus’ story.  Eternal punishment will come to those who do not take care of the poor and imprisoned.

Would you not agree that this is an uncomfortable, difficult scripture? Whatever happened to being saved by grace?  How could our eternity be determined by the way we treat other people?  Isn’t our eternity supposed to be determined by our relationship with God through Jesus?  How do we know which hungry people we are supposed to feed, which poor people we are to cloth and which prisoners we are supposed to visit?  After all, some only want to take advantage of us – they don’t even want to try to better themselves.  Surely, Jesus couldn’t identify himself with those people or expect us to find him in those kind of people.

I made a personal discovery as I did my daily reading this week. Never before had I noticed that almost immediately after these words of Jesus, Matthew places the story of the woman anointing Jesus.

It was common to anoint guests with perfume.  At a deeper level, it was most appropriate she would anoint King Jesus in the same manner as the great kings of the past.  Or, as Jesus hints, somehow this woman understood what was about to happen as she prophetically anointed him in preparation for his burial.

The anointing only makes sense – except – this was very expensive perfume.  The selling of the perfume could have generated an amount of money comparable to most people’s yearly wages.  The disciples wait for a scolding from Jesus.  He had just told them how important it was to take care of the poor.  Surely, he was not pleased that she had wasted such a gift on him when all kinds of needy people could benefit from the proceeds of its sale.

The scolding never comes.  Instead, Jesus commends her.  Jesus says that wherever the gospel would be preached, what she had done would be shared.  And then, on top of it all, Jesus seems to dismiss the poor by stating, “you will always have the poor with you but you will not always have me.”

It doesn’t make sense.  Was Jesus being hypocritical?  Was he saying concern for the poor did not apply when he could benefit from the giving?  Some have interpreted it that way.  Great cathedrals have been built in neighborhoods occupied by the suffering poor with this as the proof text.

So what is going on here? Stanley Hauerwas, in his commentary on Matthew, shares some interesting thoughts.  First, we have to consider that if there ever was a poor person it was Jesus.  He had no home. His only possessions were the clothes on his back. He did not have a wage-earning occupation. All of his needs were met by the generosity of others.  In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Paul talks about the poverty of Jesus as he gave up everything to become one of us.

Considering Jesus’ poverty and an identification with the poor so close that whatever we do or don’t do to the least of his children we do or don’t do to him, is it possible that just as the woman lavished upon Jesus this extravagant gift, we are to lavish upon the poor our wealth?  Hauerwas says, “The poor that we will always have with us is Jesus. It is to the poor that all extravagance is to be given.  The wealth of the church is the wealth of the poor … this woman, this unnamed woman, has done for Jesus what the church must always be for the world – precious ointment poured lavishly on the poor.”

Lawrence was a deacon in the Church of Rome in the middle of the third century. He took care of the liturgical objects such as the chalices and candlesticks, as well as the treasury. The prefect of the city had heard that the Christian priests offered sacrifices in vessels of gold and silver cups.  He asked Lawrence to show him the wealth of the church. Lawrence promised to show him all the “precious possessions of Christ” if he could have three days to get the church’s wealth together. During those three days, Lawrence gathered the sick and the poor.  He lined them up at the entrance of the church and then he brought the magistrate to the church.  When the prefect entered the doors of the church, Lawrence pointed to the ragged company and said, “Here are the church’s riches, take them.”  Unfortunately, the prefect thought he was being mocked so he had Lawrence executed.

Often times in our best moments we look for ways we can serve Jesus – ways in which we can show our love and appreciation for what he has done for us.  Here, Jesus gives us an answer.  Love the poor and we love Him.

This is Transfiguration Sunday.  On this day, we remember another day in which Jesus took Peter, James and John to the top of a mountain.  It was a great day.  It was on this day the disciples witnessed Jesus in all his glory as he spoke with Moses and Elijah.  That day was so great the disciples wanted to stay up on the mountaintop forever.  However, it was not to be.  As great as that moment was and as glorious as Jesus was shown to be, it was not what Jesus was all about and it was not the culmination of what Jesus had come to do.  The truth of that day took place as Jesus walked down the mountain to head for Jerusalem where he would give up his life for a dark world in need of real life.

It is not what happens on the mountaintop, removed from the world, which matters to Jesus – even though those moments are significant.  It is what happens in the valleys filled with needy people – people in need of food and shelter, attention and love, hope and healing.

Several weeks ago, I preached at the Cornerstone Mission.  Five or so men and a couple of women sat in front of me.  I led in some singing and I read some scripture and did a little preaching.  Then I asked for prayer requests.  I had been nervously watching a big, biker-looking dude standing expressionless against the back wall with his arms crossed.  As others were sharing prayer requests, he raised his hand. I acknowledged him and he explained that he was not into the church thing but he had joined us because he had a friend dying of cancer and he wanted to be strong for his friend.  I asked him if we could lay hands on him and pray for him.  He said yes so I and the other men from the mission surrounded him and prayed.  After the service, he shook my hand and thanked me.  He said he felt a strength that would help him help his friend.  I went home that night with an unexplainable sense of peace, knowing that I had been in the presence of Jesus.

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” How can we show Jesus just how much we love him?