St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
June 5, 2016
Year C: The Third
Sunday after Pentecost
1 Kings 17:8-24
Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17
God Doesn’t Owe Us Anything, But Gives Us Miracles of New Life All the
Time
In
today’s gospel lesson we pick up right where we left off last week.
If
you were here, you’ll remember that we heard the story of the centurion’s
highly valued slave who had become gravely ill.
The
centurion sends a group of Jewish elders to ask Jesus to heal the slave, which
he does – from a far – Jesus never comes into physical contact with the slave
or the centurion.
It’s
a miracle.
And
then in today’s passage, we hear the story of a widow who has lost her only
son. They’re carrying him out of the village, taking him to his burial place,
when Jesus arrives.
It’s
a sad scene and we’re told that Jesus, like any of us would, has compassion for
the widow, understanding of course the pain of losing a child but also the fact
that the widow has most likely lost her main economic support.
Without
her only son, maybe some other
relatives would take care of her – or maybe not.
Compassionate
Jesus says, “Young man I say to you, rise!”
And
the dead man rose and began to speak.
Don’t
you wonder what he had to say?
It’s
a miracle.
Miracles.
To
be honest, I find miracles to be a very difficult subject because they raise
the tough question of why some people receive a miracle and others don’t.
After
all, back in the time of Jesus there must have been lots of widows who lost
their only sons.
There
must have been lots of masters who lost their highly valued slaves.
Just
like today there must have been lots of good, honest, hard-working, and loving
people who faced all kinds of misfortune – yet Jesus didn’t raise every dead
person, didn’t heal every sick person, didn’t fix every problem, right?
I
find miracles difficult because in my job I’m often with people who are in
extreme situations – the doctor has just given a grim diagnosis, a relationship
is crumbling, there’s been an accident, the pile of bills is overwhelming –
people in extreme situations who often pray really hard for a miracle, who
sometimes even expect a miracle - if
they only pray hard enough.
And,
as you’d guess, they often ask me to pray for a miracle, which I understand but
try to resist, preferring to pray for strength, grace, patience, courage, and
faith.
And,
then, if the miracle doesn’t come, people are sometimes bitterly disappointed
and sometimes even angry at God who, it seems, has let them down so terribly.
All
perfectly understandable, right?
As
I’ve thought about this, though, I keep coming back to a fact that we often
forget: God doesn’t owe us anything.
God
doesn’t owe us anything.
Everything
that has been, is, or will be, is all thanks to God.
We
didn’t do, can’t do, anything to deserve life.
So,
God doesn’t owe us anything.
But,
God still gives us miracles of new life – all the time.
It
seems to me that miracles aren’t really about physical healing, as wonderful as
that is.
After
all, the centurion’s slave eventually died, as did the widow’s son, as did
Lazarus.
The
people who ate all of that bread and fish that Jesus had multiplied got hungry
again – got hungry the very next day.
Miracles aren’t so much about physical
healing but they are maybe the most extreme, most dramatic, signs of who God is
and what God does all the time.
God
doesn’t owe us anything, but God still gives us miracles of new life all the
time.
During
one of the beautiful afternoons this past week, Sue and I were sitting outside
with a friend, enjoying the feel of the sun on our skin. This good feeling got
our friend to think cosmic thoughts and he mentioned that it takes eight
minutes for the light and the warmth of the sun to make it’s way through the
cold death of space to earth, giving just the right amount of light and warmth
for the flowers outside church to bloom and for all of life, all of us, to
exist.
It’s
a miracle.
God
doesn’t owe us anything, but God still gives us miracles of new life all the
time.
For
the past couple of weeks, we’ve been praying for our sister Jeanette who, as
you know, had major surgery a couple of weeks ago.
Although
she’s doing very well now, her recovery hasn’t been a straight line and there
were some tough days. Throughout that experience, I was struck by the genuine
care that the Medical Center staff showed her. For these professionals who deal
with sick and suffering people everyday, Jeanette wasn’t just a body – she wasn’t
just a problem to be solved - but a person of great value.
As
it happens, I was visiting her in the ICU when the doctors and nurses came to
perform a procedure that would determine how much longer she spent in the
hospital.
Jeanette’s
son was there, too, and we were asked to step outside. As they closed the
curtain I could see on their faces the hope and determination that they could
use their skill and their technology to help her.
A
few minutes went by – a few tense minutes of waiting in the hallway when I
could feel tears forming in my eyes – and then one of the nurses (who looked
like she was about 11 years old, by the way) pulled back the curtain just a
little and with a big smile gave us a thumbs up.
It’s
a miracle.
God
doesn’t owe us anything, but God still gives us miracles of new life all the
time.
On
Monday I got a call from a funeral home asking if I was able to conduct a
funeral here for a long ago parishioner named Linda Davis, who had died very
suddenly. One minute she was the picture of health and the next she was gone.
Very
difficult.
Of
course I never say no to a funeral and over the next day and a half with the
help of Linda’s daughter, Diane, we put together the service that was here on
Wednesday afternoon.
Now,
I was expecting maybe a handful of people to attend – after all there had been
very little notice. Being optimistic, we printed 50 bulletins.
There
were over 100 people here in church.
And,
I was so moved by the outpouring of love for Linda - Linda who obviously had
meant so much to so many – meant so much that they dropped whatever they were
doing and came to church, even though, as I discovered, there weren’t too many
regular church-goers in the congregation.
During
the service and after, people told great stories, were even able to laugh, and
tears of joy got mixed in with tears of sadness.
Linda
is with God now and will be very much missed, but healing has begun – and
Linda’s love lives on.
It’s
a miracle.
God
doesn’t owe us anything, but God still gives us miracles of new life all the
time.
I’ve
mentioned before how some of the clergy here in Jersey City gather for prayer
at the sites of homicides, one week after they’ve occurred.
One
disturbing thing I’ve noticed lately is that the makeshift shrines with candles
and bottles and t-shirts aren’t lasting for even a week. It’s like these
murders never happened.
Anyway,
on Thursday morning I was the first to arrive at Audubon Park, where Tyrell
Franklin had been shot and killed the week before.
As
I was sitting on a park bench wondering if anybody else would show up, a woman
stopped, looked at me, and said with a lot of surprise:
“Are
you a priest?!?”
“Yes,
I am.”
She
said, “I’ve never seen a priest sit in this park before!”
And
then she told me her name and gave me her story, or part of her story, a sad
and familiar story of addiction, addiction for more than twenty-five years,
failed attempts at getting clean while people around her either kicked their
addiction or ended up in an early grave.
She
asked me to pray over her and then some of her “friends” called to her and she
was gone.
Not
five minutes later, there she was again, saying, “I’m back!”
I’ll
admit that I thought that, OK, now she was going to hit me up for money, but
no, she just wanted to tell me more of her story and to ask why she couldn’t
get clean despite trying so many times.
Where
was her miracle?
I
didn’t have an easy answer to that, but told her that I’d add her to our prayer
list and lots of people would be praying for her.
She
liked that - and I think and hope that for a few minutes anyway she could see
the possibility of new life and know that she’s not alone in her struggle.
And,
I’ve decided I need to spend more time sitting on park benches in my priest
outfit and see what happens!
It’s
a miracle.
Miracles
aren’t so much about physical healing but they are signs, signs of who God is
and what God does all the time.
God
doesn’t owe us anything, but God still gives us miracles of new life all the
time.
Amen.
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